Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto!

WARNING: it's kind of late and I don't feel like re-reading thisright now. So, it might be a little blah. I'll read it again tomorrow after school and make sure it doesn't sound too stupid or anything.


Naruto looked up at the darkened sky. What a perfect day it was to kill himself. It was going to rain just for him.

The blond 18 year old stood at the edge of a small cliff, looking out at the grassy plain before him. Thunder rolled through the black clouds, a small tree stood alone in the plain. The sky was just beginning to spit its lightning. The scene in front of him was bizarre, making him wonder if it was just a dream.

Naruto reached into the pouch at his side, taking out the already bloody kunai, and raised it to his own throat. Tears streamed down his frightened but determined face.

His hand wouldn't move. Time passed gracefully. A loud thunderclap made him jump slightly and the first real lightning bolt struck the little tree, sizzling and splitting the trunk. Naruto laughed nervously. Perhaps he should just wait for the lightning to kill him instead.

He closed his eyes with a sigh, and wondered if anyone had found the note yet…

Flashback

Naruto sat at three in the morning, planning the death that he would finally deliver himself. Blood that had already dried crusted his skin around his wrists, but he wasn't dying just yet. No, he would do this properly.

Naruto laughed at the thought, making him sound half crazy. He was going to perform suicide properly. Maybe he really was crazy.

Lighting the single lamp on his desk, leaving the rest of the house in the dark, Naruto reached for a piece of paper, a pen, and a kunai. It took him three more pieces of paper to get the note exactly the way he wanted it.

To Whoever Bothers To Read This,

I cannot handle this anymore. The stares from the people in the village, the doubters, the kyuubi… All of it. I've finally realized that becoming Hokage would not make a difference in the slightest. The people would still hate and reject me. I never really cared what others thought of me, until now, because it is too hard to be alone.

I've lost what friends I had, I've never had my parents… There is so much that I would like to say, but I don't think anybody would listen. Whoever you are reading this, if you know me, know that you won't have to put up with my sad, pathetic existence anymore, and if you don't know me, then know that you never will.

And to the people who might be a little curious: Sasuke, I still think you're an asshole, but we were friends, I guess, and Sakura, don't get all teary eyed over me, it's not your fault, and Kakashi-sensei…you perv.

Later.

And Naruto pulled out his kunai, cut his finger, and wrote his name in blood near the bottom. Looking at the finished piece in approval, Naruto glance up at the clock and opened the near by window. Now he would wait for the morning light.

End Flashback

When morning finally came, Naruto left the note/letter on his bed, near the bloodstains on his sheets where maybe people would notice it, if anybody bothered to come looking for him. Then, he dashed out the door, leaving it unlocked behind him as he exited his empty apartment for what he hoped would be the last time.

Naruto had run as fast as he could until he found the perfect place. People might never find his body here… it was so far from the village. Naruto guessed that it was near 8:00 now, seeing as it had taken him nearly three hours to reach his destination.

Naruto felt a light raindrop hit his nose. Why wouldn't the hand holding the kunai move? Why was he suddenly so frozen? He had made this decision long ago.

People had noticed Naruto's change in the past few months or so. After his eighteenth birthday, his smiles faded, he ditched all the infuriating orange clothes in his closet and burned every scrap. He then began wearing black and red a lot, taming his wild blond hair, and brooding a lot. Most people said that he was beginning to act like Sasuke, but Naruto didn't care who or what he was acting like.

He had come to realize many things since his past birthday, and none of them good. Naruto missed the days when he was happy, hanging with his friends, dreams as big as the sky. He used to grin so big, and he had been so confident. Naruto would smile just thinking about the memories, and he would cry too.

And so, as he stood at the cliff's edge he thought back on his life. He thought back on being lost and alone in the crowds of the village, people either throwing disgusted glances at him or avoiding looking at him at all.

Thunder clapped again. Naruto jumped once more, being shaken out of his thoughts, and he lost his balance.

In wide-eyed terror he watched as his foot slipped over the edge, and he began to fall in almost slow motion. No, not like this, he thought. This wasn't part of the plan. It wasn't supposed to be this way! And in that instant, Naruto didn't want to die, though he knew that it was too late now. He closed his eyes.

He was falling, and nobody was around to catch him.

Naruto never fell.

He opened his eyes to find himself in the arms of Sasuke Uchiha. The raven-haired boy glared at him, and suddenly Naruto was angry at him for stopping what could have finally been his end.

"How the hell did you get here?" he demanded through gritted teeth.

"Your welcome," Sasuke said curtly.

Naruto pushed himself away. How dare he! How dare that stupid, conceited asshole actually show up to save him! "I would have rather been saved by anyone else," Naruto told him. "Are you going to start caring now, Sasuke?" he demanded. "Is the great Uchiha finally lowering himself down to my level?"

"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke sneered.

"No!"

"Shut up!" Sasuke suddenly punched Naruto square on the chin.

The blond boy was flung backward, and he knew there would be a bruise, if there wasn't already. He turned, sneering. He didn't bother to stand, he just glared.

"You stupid selfish brat!" Sasuke raged.

What was he angry about, Naruto wondered. Suddenly he noticed that in Sasuke's shaking fist was a crumpled piece of paper, one with Naruto's name written in blood at the bottom of it.

"How did you find me?" Naruto asked.

"I know about this place," Sasuke answered curtly. "I've been here before. When I got this," he held out his hand and dropped the paper onto the ground before him, "I ran here as fast as I could."

"Why here?" Naruto asked, his eyes on the note he had written.

"Because, Naruto…" He glared a moment more, then his gaze dropped. "You and I aren't so unalike as I had thought before."

"What is that supposed to mean?" the blond asked suspiciously.

"Don't you think that I ever tried to do this? Wouldn't you think that I had tried to kill myself before too?" Naruto stared up at him in surprise. "One day I stood right there, right at the cliffs edge, just like you were. It was raining that day too. But you know what? I was too weak to go through with it." He fell silent, but his look was dangerous.

Naruto couldn't believe that Sasuke Uchiha had just admitted to being weak. Silently, and with his head down, Sasuke approached Naruto, and crouched down beside him. "You little fool," he muttered.

He reached down a hand. Naruto stared at it in surprise for a moment when he finally realized what it was that Sasuke wanted.

Unsure of himself, Naruto placed his hand in Sasuke's and the other boy helped him up. Thrown slightly off balance again, Naruto stumbled and ended up right against Sasuke's chest. Oh god, Sasuke would kill him for this.

Sasuke, though, did something then that Naruto never would have dreamed he would do; he reached up and placed his arms gently around Naruto, holding him close. "Stupid dobe," Sasuke said heatedly, even though he was holding Naruto so tenderly.

Naruto, to say the least, was very confused at that point. His eyes were wide, and tears began to flow. Finally he returned Sasuke's embrace. The clouds broke and it finally began to rain.

And so, standing upon a cliff, Naruto and Sasuke stood in each other's arms as the rain began to pour and the thunder rolled in the background.