Author's Note: I know I was supposed to be working on the next chapter of "Queen of Hearts", but I couldn't help but notice that I hadn't put anything in for SasuSaku Month yet, so I wrote this. It only took me, what, two or three hours? I'm not sure. But a lot of emotion is in this. I listened to two different songs. "A River Flows In You" by Yiruma (I'm not sure about the spelling) and "Never Meant To Belong" from the Bleach OST. This is probably the saddest story yet. Originally, I was going to have an actual umbrella appear at the end, but I liked the metophorical umbrella of light instead. And yes, this kind of sounds a bit religous. I was inspired by Kyouko's death from Puella Magi Madoka Magica, so yeah. Her father was a preacher, and had his own church, so, yeah. But I made Sasuke sound like he was dead, which isn't exactly right. Anyway, this takes place during the time skip, just to clarify things. I hope you all enjoy this. It's kind of dark, and I apologize. I had some emotions I had to get out, and I didn't want them tainting "Queen of Hearts". That story isn't meant for angst. Update is coming though, so hang in there. Enjoy...?

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Simple as that. And even simpler, I own nothing. Nothing at all.

The sunlight was fading as I was walking home from assisting Tsunade-sama with healing the patients that had arrived at the hospital. They'd come en masse, huge swaths of them, like a thick clump of Monarch Butterflies in the spring fields of cherry blossoms in high summer. So many wounded people. So many injured hearts. So many tears. So much rain. So much pain and suffering that I couldn't take it anymore.

I'd longed for escape. The stars were calling to me, even though the heavens bore their tears upon their sleeves, holding on for as long as they could. It seemed like the Earth was suffering. It seemed like the planet itself was in pain, and my voice alone couldn't heal it. Even if I clasped my hands to my chest tightly above my own crying heart, praying into the spring field of cherry blossoms, the heavens wouldn't smile. The universe was crying.

As I walked the streets under the tender cover of night, my own heart throbbed with an injury I couldn't heal with my medical ninjutsu. It wasn't a wound a medic could patch up. The sky reached down to me, offering to cradle me in gentleness and harmony, anything to ease the pain in my heart, but I turned away. Only one person could heal me, hold me, comfort me. Only one person, and he wasn't here. Only one person could protect me from the storm of sadness that ravaged the village around me, and he wasn't around to offer me solace. My only source of comfort, was the bright and cold silver moon above my head.

My pink hair blew past my cheeks in the gentle wind as I continued down the path, the path toward where it had all began, as well as where it had all come to an end. The river flowed within me, begging for release, as the heavens trembled above me. My heart lightly tapped against the piano inside me, the strings pulling after each key was gently pressed. I wanted to cry. I wanted to just let it all out, but I had to wait until I was alone first. I couldn't cry underneath the swirling stars that threatened to rain down upon my head.

I knew of one place where I could cry. Only one place, and yet, I knew his presence lingered there. Perhaps I wouldn't ever heal, but this was the only place where I could let my emotions fall to the earth beneath me, and feel safe. Was it because he was still there, protecting me? Was it because I prayed there every night before I walked home to walk with him in my dreams? I wasn't sure. But my heart was leading me toward that one place, the composition playing in my skull offering me little comfort. It was my heartbeat, hampered by sadness and my own piece of loss.

Time didn't wait as I continued onwards, from the place where he no longer existed, my jade eyes glistening with barely restrained tears as I walked on. My footsteps lightly tapped against the pavement, as I neared the place where he'd spoken my name for the last time. My feet fell into a rhythmic pattern, harmonizing with the peaceful piano of my heart, soothing the ripping ache against the strings within the instrument. I was only human after all. Such things as these would affect me.

The sounds of my inner piano and soft footfalls echoed in my lonely ears, my lips trembling as I approached the place where I would forsake my soul. Only for him to return. I would surrender my heart for him to return. It had only been one year, and yet, the memory of his lingering goodbye still shook me to the core as if it had only happened yesterday. I'd prayed to Kami-sama over and over every night, and yet, he still hadn't returned. Had Kami-sama heard my voice? Had my heart reached her? I didn't know.

The bench called to me as I broke away from the main stretch of the village, all alone, isolated, has he'd said to me that day. We'd been alone on the very spot my feet were planted on. He'd gotten so mad at me back then. I'd not known the depths of his pain, and I'd spoken my mind, only to be hurt in the end. He'd lashed out, as he should have. It was because of my ignorance that I'd been wounded, that my shield had taken its first scratch. All of those memories, all of that pain, was buried in this very spot.

I turned to the bench sadly, the tree raining cherry blossom petals from the east, the spring field of cherry blossoms sending its blessing that prayer reaches Kami-sama tonight. I took a shaking step toward the bench that would become my altar, holding the heart that would be my sacrifice, clutching the kunai that would bid my blood to the heavens that choked on sobs above me. My actions would not be selfish. Even if Haruno Sakura were to die, my body would live on. My heart could not live in a world where he no longer existed. That world, that place my heart cried for release from, dwelled in the gentle wind behind me.

The long forgotten leaves of the trees above me bent and swayed as the heavens released their tears, the rain falling down upon my head as I reached the bench, gazing down at the seat lovingly. He'd left me there, to drown in my own tears. He'd buried my feelings for him down in that bench, and turned away from them, never to again return. My fingers traced the cold stone lightly, as I lost myself in the rain that fell from my cheeks. So many memories were created here. My fairy tale had found its end here, at this forsaken spot that would become my altar.

My tears flowed from my ethereal jade eyes, as I lifted my hand from the stone. I gripped the kunai in my left hand, and slit my right palm, wincing at the pain slightly, before grabbing at the cherry blossom petals that swirled along the seat of the bench. My kunai clanged to the ground as I reached into my pocket, grabbing the discarded blue headband that belonged to him, the one I was longing for. I'd waited for him, and he hadn't returned. I clutched the blue headband in my bleeding right hand, before I fell to my knees on the bench, holding my hands together tightly, and dropping my head.

The light from the moon shone down upon me as I let my tears fall free. The streams of light that painted the sky walked the path created by the tumbling stars, giving the rain that fell beside me a celestial appearance of spiritual elixir. Drinking rain would soothe any ache within the heart, I knew. But I wasn't ready to let go yet. Time cured all wounds, I knew. But I wasn't ready to take steps away from him. I didn't want to lose him in the current of Time. I wanted to keep him here, with me. In the present, where he belonged.

But it was a losing battle. He sought the past, not the future. He walked the present, but his heart rested in the past. Why was that? My tears began to burn as I clutched his headband to my heart tightly, holding back sobs. My heart rested in the future, the future filled with happiness, light and love. His dwelled in the shadows, bound by the darkness of his past. The river of Time wouldn't flow backward. He was lost to me, out of my reach forever. Was his fate inevitable? Would I be unable to save him? My tears fell harder as the wind ruffled my hair across my wet cheeks.

My emerald eyes glistened with the rain that cascaded from the weeping heavens, the wind swirling through the air around me. The moon shone down upon me as I cried into my clasped hands, the cherry blossom petals showering my cerise hair, the sweet scent layering upon the droplets that tumbled from the sky, my elixir dappling the earth underneath me. The blue cloth of the headband swam in my teary sight, as I clenched my hands tighter, refusing to let go. Wind swirled in a circle all around me, sweeping blue fire and light up from the ground, the luminous azure flames enclosing me with their light and promise.

Chakra. I'd summoned chakra. And yet, fire was still fire. A prayer was still a prayer. It didn't matter to me that I was wasting my energy on this one strenuous task. I would relinquish everything all for this one purpose, if need be. If sacrificing my soul was what it took to bring him back to the light, so be it. I'd give Kami-sama my life one thousand times over without hesitation. My fire, my magic, it blew through the air around me, tinged silver in the moonlight as I watched the luminous water droplets fall from the sky.

As my chakra circled me aimlessly, growing in strength as I concentrated on reaching Kami-sama, something inside my heart broke. A key to the piano that had played restlessly this entire time shattered like glass, my tears falling to the ground below me. Kami-sama had heard my voice. Now, pieces of my soul were leaving me, all to save him. She'd heard my prayer. She'd heard the sound of my heart crying for her to save the one I was longing for, the one I wished to surround with light. Joined by the shimmering strength of my chakra, my spirit had made contact.

Please.

My own voice echoed across my mind, the letters etching themselves into the fabric of my fragile heart with swirls and loops, the hindered piano playing the notes as softly and tenderly as it could manage. The keys croaked with protest, but the comforting presence of my chakra bore the power it needed to continue. My heart's voice, it softly rose through the pattering of the keys, the pulls on the strings. Even as I cried, the fire that swirled through the air around me in an arcane circle remained strong, gently laying my tears to rest as the stars rained down upon me. I held his headband in my hands tightly, screwing my eyes shut tight.

Please…

The strings pulled once more, a bow running across the length of them, the gentle fingers that he held my heart with leaping from string to string to cradle them softly, lightly as the bow swept across the strings. The notes were filled with sorrow as they reached for the crying heavens above me, the piano inside my heart, beside the strings bearing no solace. My heart was sobbing. My soul was breaking. My spirit was shattering. My tears were burning the sides of my face as they flowed through the cracks and crevices that laced each and every plane that marked my cheeks on their way down to the ground. The song my heart was playing…It was melancholic.

As my chakra swirled around me, blowing past my cheeks to cradle the pink strands that rested there, the wind that carried my strawberry hair through the air brightening the fire. My spirit was calling out to Kami-sama, begging for assistance. I couldn't return him alone. I needed help. Would the heavens entrust me with their power? Did I have what it took to save him? To cradle him in the radiance I held about myself? Could I stop the rain? Kami-sama blinked her gentle onyx eyes, and looked down upon me, her soft smile reassuring.

I lifted my head, my eyes widening as the face swam in front of my emerald eyes. My hands clutched the headband closer to my chest, as Kami-sama's long raven black hair blew in the wind, my chakra flashing across her eyes like fire. The blue rippled through the onyx of her irises, so much like his, as I watched her smile down at me, her right hand reaching down toward me. Her fingers brushed at the air in front of my clasped hands, having crossed thousands of miles within the span of one of my heartbeats. The tips of her fingers gently rested upon my tightly woven hands.

Ready?

I nodded, as luminous starlight flowed through my hands as I held them together, drawing them closer and closer to my chest. Comfort flowed through my veins, solace shimmered like the gray moon above my head. The celestial chariots danced through her black hair as she sent power flowing through me. I would save him now. Looking into her onyx eyes, I knew without a shadow of a doubt that I could return him to the village. But the rain wouldn't stop. It continued falling, despite the hollow power running through my veins. I wasn't strong enough, and I knew that.

So my tears kept flowing. Even after she pulled away, my chakra still flowed, swirling through the air around me, my prayer echoing through my veins. Kami-sama drew back into her shelter of the moon, offering me one, last regretful smile. She'd given me the truth. She'd answered my question. I wasn't strong enough to save him, even with the power she'd bestowed upon me. It was hollow, empty, vacant. There was no substance. My belief in myself wavered. Would I myself become lost to the current of Time? Would I follow in his footsteps, walk the same path he treaded into the darkness of despair?

My fire remained strong, as my tears continued falling, the moonlight shining down upon me. I wouldn't give up. I would learn to control this power she'd given me, even if the way to do so was treacherous, and wrought with danger. I wouldn't stop until I got him back, until I could hold him in my arms, safe and free from the shadows that bound him to his wildest nightmare. I would release him from all of the pain and suffering that had plagued him for so long, The Black Death sweeping across my heartstrings softly, gentle as a whisper. Would I fall to despair too? Would my light fade, as his had before me?

I closed my eyes, and drew his headband from my clasped hands. The blue cloth brushed across the sides of my wet mouth as I parted my lips, the cold metal stinging my warm face as I held the headband close. My eyelids limply shut as the rain continued falling, the heavens weeping in pain all around me, sobbing for my war-torn fate. I took this path. I would walk it, even if death should await me at the end. I would take the road less traveled by, following after the lone hawk that flew across the sky, searching for power, for strength. I wouldn't rest until I cradled him in my arms. That…Was absolute. My pink bangs rippled across my temples as I kissed the headband tenderly.

Thanks to you, I know what it means to be alone…

Then I let it fall. I let the headband fall into the swirling blue fire that was my chakra. It wouldn't burn. But the piece of my heart that had broken would cradle it, as I bid my blood one last time. The cherry blossom petals inside my hands were stained with blood, matted thick with it. It was a promise. I promised that I would bring him back to the village. My sparkled with the strength of my resolve as the song inside my heart continued playing, the wind strengthening as Kami-sama nodded down to me from her seat in the sky, carrying the blood soaked petals up into the air.

My chakra fire faded as the headband continued falling toward the seat of the bench beneath me, my knees pushing me off to stand beside the altar of prayer. My elixir cascaded down upon me from the sky, wetting my lips with the sweetness of the cherry blossom petals that blew from the east, swept up from the spring field to my right. I could barely taste the rain on my tongue, but it brought comfort. My lips curled up into a smile as I looked up at the moon, the umbrella of light shielding my heart from the darkness that crept across the horizon. I tightened my bleeding right hand, and narrowed my emerald eyes. I wouldn't give up on him. I would save him, no matter what the cost. I would stop the rain. As the headband clanged to the bench seat, I closed my eyes.

Don't worry. I'll be beside you, Sasuke.