DISCLAIMER: All Naruto-affiliated characters do NOT belong to me, TREESHIE, in any shape, way, or form.

PROLOGUE

…I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad.The dreams in which I'm dying…are the best I've ever had.
-Tears for Fears, Mad World-

"Itachi."

He shifted his head ever so slightly, his Sharingan drilling dark holes into the tree next to Kisame.

"Hn." 'That meant what,' Kisame supposed.

Their fast pace was undaunted as they conversed, flitting in and out of the Konoha forests – right towards Konoha itself.

"Are you sure about this? I could go in alone; there is not much to deal with there…anymore. It is your hometown… I will understand if attachments are still–-"

"There is no problem," Itachi cut in smoothly, monotone as always. But his eyes were smoldering.

Kisame decided it was probably wise to shut up, because there weren't "no problems" like the Uchiha had said… Hell, just looking into his eyes right now almost made Kisame pee his pants. And after years of partnering, he'd already gotten used to the Uchiha's eyes somewhat – more so than anyone else, he thought.

So right now was a really bad time. Samehada twitched in annoyance across his back, having sensed Kisame's fear. He did not like a weak master. But he didn't harbor any ill intent towards Itachi either… he was not afraid, but still unwilling to act. Samehada was not a fool.

'Great. Now I'm thinking as if Samehada was a real person.' Kisame mused wryly. He was going mad, that was for sure.

Itachi's tense chakra spiked up another notch, Kisame silently noticed. 'He's not fine, that egocentric bastard…'

Konoha was spread out clearly in front of them; they'd reached the rocks resembling what had once been the front gate. The supposedly emotionless Uchiha looked for one second with a dimming Sharingan, before swiftly turning his head to the other side. Out of the corner of his eye, the Hoshigaki caught the slight movement. He himself looked over Konoha with a gaze of…pity. Of anger, of worry, of relief…but mostly out of pity. For Konoha or Itachi, he did not know.

Because everything was no more…

Konoha had finally fallen.

The entire world seemed fuzzy, swinging on nothing but a weak door hinge… Back and forth, it rocked and blurred, swimming more out of focus with every passing second. Even the clouds were out of norm... why was the sky so… black?

Propped against a rock while sitting, he attempted to move his arm - but nothing happened. 'Why can't I move?' The fact he was as weak as a fly right now didn't bother him. In fact, right after that…

'What's a fly?' he wondered. 'Where am I? … Who am I?'

He was calm. The memories were blurry just like his eyesight, but he was calm – as always. Why was his eyesight blurry anyway? There seemed to be water dripping down his face… And though the skies were black, with no sunlight at all, there was no rain… the rocks he could see from his point of view were all dry, albeit covered everywhere in copious amounts of…red…liquid…

Then he thought over what he had just said.

'Rocks…rocks. I remember what they are. Skies…clouds! I know those too. But what is that red liquid?'

"Oi! I found someone," yelled a scratchy voice behind his head. He felt it sounded familiar, but he could not turn and see the man's identity. His body still refused to do more than allow his eyes to slowly blink – resulting in more liquid sliding down his cheeks.

Footsteps. Crunching rocks, sloshing puddles… 'There's no rain, but there's sloshing?'

"Aa…" This voice sounded familiar too… "Nara Shikamaru."

And then it all came rushing back.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed, endlessly, endlessly… his body finally moved, and he crawled within himself, clutching his head. The screams were relentless, and behind him Kisame winced. They stayed that way for a few minutes, Kisame and Itachi just standing over the supposed genius as he screamed his soul out.

"Ahh…kuh…kuh-huuh… Damnit, damnit, damnit, DAMNIT IT ALL TO HELL!!" he roared hoarsely, not even caring once he realized the Akatsuki were there in front of him. They had not… it wasn't them that had… k-k-killed…everyone…

And he knew the liquid sliding down his cheeks were tears now. Pouring down his face like rain, against the black smoke in the sky…

Panting, he stopped screaming and slowly tilted his head up to once again look at the skies. There were no more clouds…none of them were going to ever float by him again, no matter how much he wished it so. His beloved, most important clouds… his most precious, ever-dearest people…

In exhaustion and despair, he fainted once again. Itachi and Kisame briefly shared a look, and then nodded.

After emergency medication was done by the Uchiha, Kisame picked Shikamaru up and slung him over his shoulder. He, after pausing a second to gaze at Itachi, then sprinted out to the forests once again.

The Uchiha lingered back for a while longer, his crimson eyes looking everywhere around the tattered Konoha. As if he was trying to remember everything about it for the last time.

There were no more survivors in all of Konoha, save for the Nara.

Eyes narrowing, he relinquished his Sharingan as onyx black swirled into view. With one last look, he turned around to join Kisame.

'Konoha has fallen. How pathetic.' He didn't bother to point it out to himself that he knew he was denying something.

In the dark smoke covering the entire city, ashes started to fall into the puddles of blood and tears.

The one survivor of an entire nation of powerful Ninja continued to cry, and cry, and cry…

He cried till there were no more tears, but even then his silent screams still continued.

But there were no comrades to listen to him anymore. He was dying, twisting in horror and pain…dying, wishing to die so fretfully…but he could not, they would not let him…so much hurt overloaded his mind and soul…

Because Konoha was dead. And Nara Shikamaru was not.

TO BE CONTINUED...

A/N : 07.15.2008

Eh… it's short. Reaaally short. I'm pretty sure I could have made it more… sad-ish. My writing skills are still kinda non-existent. Hope you thought it was okay. And I'm still fuzzy on the whole details of this story… what a sad authoress, huh?

If you guys think it's good enough to continue, please tell me. If you need more material, just say that too and I'll post another chapter… And I'm sorry if you think Shikamaru is sorta OC. Eh, I need to work on understanding him a bit more. I thought I could connect to him easily because of our lazy natures and the way we tend to remain calm, but guess not?

Another thing – there will be romance, but I haven't quite decided if Shikamaru will really gain it. And just to clear things up, I'm not that big of a fan of him. Rather…

NEJI FOREVERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. luvluvluvluvluvluvluvweeee.

Shikamaru's just rather interesting, so…yeah.

Anyway, since I'm a beginner, if I get at least like… TWO reviews… than whoopee! :D (If I make any mistakes regarding anything from a character's behavior or their place/history in the original Naruto series, then please tell me)

thanks.