AN: mah.. I was in kinda a morbid mood when I wrote this. You'll probably say it's predictable.. but whatever. Anyway.. as usual.. I own no Naruto characters, except for my OC Kaiya, who happens to be the main character in this oneshot. xD

and just another side note.. Kaiya isn't usually this weepy and emotional.. I just thought it'd go better with the story this way..

prologue:

Kaiya's POV:

It was when we were eighteen…a year after Sasuke had come back to the village… Hokage-sama had assigned us a mission. Naruto, Sakura, Sai, Sasuke, and I… we were to capture two rogue grass shinobi. The mission was going fine…until it took a dramatic change…

Normal POV:

"There!" Sasuke exclaimed leaping onto the bridge.

"Don't do anything stupid!!!!" Kaiya scolded running after him.

"Hurry! cut the bridge!" The second nin ordered.

"hai!" his subordinate agreed, cutting the top ropes of both sides as his team member landed next to him.

"Go back!" Sasuke ordered pushing Kaiya towards the other side.

"Other rope!" the nin ordered.

"hai!" The other nin announced, cutting the second rope of that side.

"No!" Kaiya shouted as the bridge beneath their feet tilted sharply to the left, causing both Konoha shinobi to fall off of it.

"So this is it." Sasuke thought as he fell. His fall was stopped by a hand reaching down and grabbing his. "What?"" he questioned looking up to find Kaiya looking down at him, her other hand gripping onto the rope of the bridge.

"hold on!" she ordered.

"Let's go!" the grass shinobi ordered, running off as he was closely followed by his team mate.

"It's not going to hold." Sasuke said through his teeth.

"It will! It will." Kaiya reassured, tears pricking her eyes, as the rope began to strain and stretch closer towards breaking point.

"It can't support both of us." Sasuke said calmly.

"YES IT CAN!" Kaiya shouted desperately. "I'm not going to lose you again!"

Sasuke looked up at her again, onyx eyes meeting silver, "Kaiya... I'm sorry...about the past. about everything." he said, releasing his grip from hers.

"no!" Kaiya screeched as she watched him fall into the ravine.

"Hn. Somehow.. I always pictured myself dying in battle...or old age.. Not like this." Sasuke thought, closing his eyes as he continued his fall. "I never even got to tell her how I really felt..."

"Hurry!" Naruto shouted, noting the clouds forming.

"Oh my God!" Sakura gasped looking at the mottled bridge.. "Where are they?"

Sai looked over the edge of the ravine.. "Look! In the middle!" he said pointing to where Kaiya was clutching onto the rope.

"C'mon!" Naruto coached, walking along the rope.

As soon as the three comrades had gotten Kaiya back onto the land, Sakura began healing her wounds. "What happened?" the pink haired kunoichi questioned her friend.

Kaiya shook her head, wiping the tears staining her face.

"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

Kaiya bit her lip, to hold back the tears from pouring over again, "He.. He fell... to save me..."

"huh?" Naruto asked looking from Kaiya to the ravine and back again.

"The shinobi we were chasing... We were on the bridge.. and they cut it.. We fell.. I managed to hold on.. and grab Sasuke.. but the rope was breaking.. so.. he let go...to save me..." she explained looking at the ground.

Sakura gasped.. "Sasuke-kun..." she thought sadly, tilting her head so her hair hid her face..

Sai looked at Kaiya, a contemplative look on his face..

Naruto walked over to the ravine side, looking down it, as though hoping his long time rival and friend would appear, his trademark smirk on his face. "Sasuke..."

"Why?" Kaiya questioned looking up into the clouded sky, her tears blending in with the rain. "Why would you do that you bastard?!" she questioned, as though he would miraculously appear and explain himself.

Kaiya questioned looking up into the clouded sky, her tears blending in with the rain. she questioned, as though he would miraculously appear and explain himself.

she trudged along the roads of Konoha, people passing by, laughing, completely carefree. "You know you died before you could regain the trust of the villagers... They don't miss you... they say it's a good thing you died... one less danger..."

Finally coming to the memorial stone she stopped in front of it... "... I think losing you for the third time.. is worse than the other two times... I can't even hate you this time."

She carefully traced 'U' into the stone with her finger.. "Back when we were kids...I could never figure out why you stopped talking to me... my mom finally told me...but by then it was too late to patch things up... that was the first time I lost you.."

'Chi' came next in her tracings... "And then when you left to be trained by Orochimaru...I still never figured out why you left that time... I hated you after that... betraying your village... leaving everyone behind without explaining anything..."

Finally she traced 'Ha' into the stone... "And this time...this time...I'm more confused than ever...Why would you die for me? There's no reason..."

'Sa' followed after a space.. "You shouldn't have done it..."

Tracing 'Su', she smirked to herself, thinking "I hope your happy... You must have a twisted sense of humor...because for some reason everyone thinks I'm going to become suicidal now..."

Finally coming to 'ke', she paused, eyes opening in realization, and finally admitting something to herself, she bowed her head and finished tracing the letter... "I love you too..." she murmured, a tear sliding down her cheek. "There are easier ways to say it though.." she advised in a shaky voice.. "You didn't have to trade your life for mine...You could have just said it..."

"I guess... this is goodbye then..." she said, tracing a line under his name..

"Who're you saying goodbye to?" A familiar voice asked from behind her.

"And now I'm hallucinating..." she sniffled, wiping her eyes.

"Well then it must be a pretty realistic hallucination..." the voice sad again.

"I'll go ask Tsunade-sama to recommend a psycho-analysist..." she muttered, turning around only to come face-to-face with a very familiar face.

"Sasuke!" Naruto gasped from the gate before rubbing his eyes to make sure he wasn't just creating an illusion.

"Dobe." the Uchiha nodded in acknowledgement.

"What happened? How'd you get here? What about the fall?" Naruto asked frantically.

Sasuke blinked.. "I'm not a prodigy for nothing.." he smirked, "Turns out one of the weaker techniques Orochimaru taught me is pretty handy in falling situations.."

Naruto looked annoyed at the Uchiha's cockiness for a moment before breaking into a wide grin, "Well it's good to have you back..."

"So did you have my funeral yet?" he smirked.

"A couple days ago.. What took you so long anyway?" Naruto questioned.

"You try going halfway across the continent with no chakra." Sasuke said matter-of-factly.

Naruto grinned again, "You have no idea how happy everyone is going to be.."

"Everyone?" Sasuke questioned skeptically, raising an eyebrow.

"Ok, ok..." Naruto admitted, "All of the rookie twelve.."

"All of the rookie twelve?" Sasuke asked again.

"Fine, fine! Most of the rookie twelve." Naruto sweatdropped.

Taking this to be more believable, Sasuke nodded.. "Do you know where Kaiya is?" he asked.

Naruto shook his head.. "But I know a good place you could check..."

Kaiya gasped. "But you.. the ravine...you.. how could you...??" She stammered.

"..How could I survive?" Sasuke finished for her, an amused expression on his face.

Kaiya merely nodded..

"Let's just say I'm a hard guy to kill..." he smirked.

"Don't act so confident!" Kaiya scolded, her tears still indiscernible from the rain.. "I was worried about you! I thought you... died..."

Sasuke shook his head, "Do I look dead to you?"

"I.. I dunno..." Kaiya said looking unsure... "You could still be some weird illusion..."

Grinning lopsidedly, Sasuke walked towards her, opening his arms.. "Can you touch illusions?"

Biting her lip, Kaiya walked towards him, touching his hand. Reassured that he was really there, she let out a choked sob and hugged him tightly.

Taken aback by the gesture, Sasuke slowly wrapped his arms around the girl, returning the hug as he rested his head on hers.

"I...I love you!" she said suddenly.

Caught off guard again, Sasuke looked down at the girl to find sobs still wracking her body.. "Why are you crying?" he asked holding her face between his hands as he used his thumbs to wipe the tears from her silver eyes.. in his opinion, the most beautiful eyes he had seen.

She shook her head in response, burying it back in his neck.

"...Kaiya..." he said after a few minutes. Slowly moving away, he tilted her chin upwards so their eyes met.. He carefully leaned his head down and gently pressed his lips against her forehead, and then down to her lips.. Breaking the kiss, he straightened and looked down at the stunned girl.. "I... love you too. Now can you please stop crying? My shirt's already wet from the rain..." he said grinning.

A small smile graced the girl's face as she nodded, unsure of what to do now..

"Let's go back to the village..." Sasuke suggested, linking his hand with hers.

"Sasuke!" Kaiya sat up in her bed, looking around frantically. She slumped back into her pillows.. "So it was only a dream... he's still gone..." she thought, curling into a ball, and clutching a pillow. It was a clear crisp night in Konoha village, two years after the Ravine…Most of the Rookie twelve had become married by this time… some even having kids of their own. However, one kunoichi's mind continued to be worry-ridden.

A figure in the tree outside of Kaiya's apartment shifted... "I'll tell her in the morning..." he told himself, watching the grief wracked girl close her eyes, slipping fitful sleep again.

"You really should have hurried to tell her you were back earlier..." the figure next to him sighed.. "And I don't see why you dragged me along with you anyway..."

"Quiet, dobe." Sasuke scolded Naruto. "You're the only one in the village who knows that I'm back.. who else was I going to bring along?"

Naruto crossed his arms stubbornly.. "Well you owe me. I had to make up an excuse about why I couldn't eat dinner with Hinata and the kids tonight..."

Sasuke merely nodded, watching his ex-best friend and current fiancé toss and turn in her sleep. "Is she that worried about me?"

"You know... it sounded like she was dreaming about the time everyone thought you died..." Naruto commented.

Sasuke looked sharply at the rokudaime hokage.. "What makes you think that?"

"Oh nothing..." Naruto said sarcastically. "The mutterings about the ravine gave nothing away." he sighed dramatically, wondering why he ever appointed such an unobservant person to be the ANBU captain.

Sasuke let out a 'hmph'... "It must be hard on her...always worrying about me and if I'll come back from my mission this time or not..." he thought, his expression softening.

"Mah, go on... I'll go home." Naruto encouraged his friend.

"It's really creepy how he can tell what I'm thinking." Sasuke thought nodding his thanks as he quickly slipped into her room via the window. Slowly he walked over to the bed and lay down next to Kaiya, wrapping his arms around her protectively. This gesture instantly calmed her breathing, and she turned around to face him, grinning in her sleep while murmuring "Sasuke..."

Smiling to himself, Sasuke gently kissed her temple before closing his own eyes, and drifting into a contented slumber.