He shouted at them, "Let me die with him this time! That's where it keeps going wrong!"

"You know for beings outside the realm, resurrection is impossible. This death will be your final." the voice echoed all around him.

"I know. But we've suffered through too much already. The reason he keeps resurrecting to a life of pain is because I didn't die that day." he said somberly.

"Are you sure of this?"

"You already know. You taught me, remember?"

"Then you will go back. And you will finish it the way it was intended."

.

They stared at each other from across the valley. Each standing at the base of a statue, they glared at each other. One with envy, one with betrayal.

Sasuke's eyes widened as he seemed to remember something. Then they softened as he looked at his closest friend. Someone who, knowingly or not, remained his friend through different lives.

Naruto noticed the look, and thought he might've finally gotten through to Sasuke, but then the black haired boy's eyes hardened and the hideous wings unfurled from his back.

Sasuke prepared his Chidori in his hand, and Naruto prepared the same attack. They jumped, hands reaching out for their target.

A heart.

A forehead.

Just as Naruto was about to lay a cut into his forehead protector, Sasuke flapped his wings at the last second. Naruto's Chidori-covered hand tore through his heart at that moment, and Sasuke impaled Naruto with his own arm. Naruto looked on in confusion, but then Sasuke's next words eased his pain, even if he didn't know why.

"We can rest now, it's okay, it's over."

Naruto smiled in content, even as they fell deeper into the lake and their vision was blurred.

Sasuke smiled and, even though they weren't visible, he cried tears of joy.

Their ultimate finality, their absolution, had come.

.

It was a party at Ino Yamanaka's house. People were celebrating for the purpose of celebrating. Some because they had survived another mission, and some because they just felt like it. The group of 10 friends were sitting in a group, as they were laughing and conversing with each other.

The original point of the party was Ino's twentieth birthday, but people just fell into their own thing, and nobody minded that.

Hinata Hyuga sat with them, but felt guilty for having it now. Every once in a while she got this sense like there was something missing, like there was someone who was supposed to be there, with her.

"Oooohhh, look at them. Those guys are hot!" came Ino's voice. When Hinata looked over to where she was pointing, her heart stopped.

There were two older men, both with brown hair, but one had it long, and the other had it short. Next to them were two guys their age, one with black hair in a peculiar style, and one with blond spiky hair and a bright smile. All of them had silver eyes.

They were certainly all interesting, but it didn't compare to what she felt when she looked at the blond one. He had a presence that just attracted her. He was looking around the house, as if he was looking for someone, and then his silver eyes fell on her, and he instantly smiled even wider. He walked over to her and asked, "Would you like to dance?"

She widened her eyes in surprise before hesitantly accepting his outstretched hand. They walked to where other couples were dancing, and they began to fall in rhythm with the music as they danced. Hinata was so lost in confusion and attraction that she didn't even notice when she said, "I missed you."

She heard him chuckle and say, "I missed you too, Hime."

That statement brought her back to reality and she realized what she'd said. She didn't even know this man! What had posessed her to say that? And why had he responded like that?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that." said Hinata.

"Yes you did." he said.

Now she was really confused, "I'm sorry?"

"I... apologize. You look and act so much like one of my closest friends, I won't do it again." he said.

She cocked her head. He noticed her expression and said, "She is... gone. The woman who was my best friend has already passed away."

Now she felt bad. Kami, why was this man affecting her so much? She didn't even know him. Speaking of which, "Umm, I don't know your name. Mine is Hinata Hyuuga."

"Naruto."

No last name? Well that wasn't really all that uncommon, Tenten never used her last name, if she had one. She was an orphan though.

The music started to kick up. Naruto grimaced, "And now they've ruined what could have turned out to be a splendid conversation. Want to take a walk? It's the middle of the night, so there won't be many people out."

She smiled hesitantly, "I would like that very much."

As they made their way to the exit, the Konoha 10 were all staring at them in surprise and a little concern. They looked back at the other men who were with Naruto.

They were smirking.

.

Hinata and Naruto had been conversing for some time now, and were enjoying each others company.

Naruto narrowed his eyes in the direction of a bush to his left, and Hinata noticed.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked before silently activating her Byakugan. She looked suprised before looking back at Naruto with a bit of hurt.

A shadow shot across the ground and connected to Naruto's. He saw it but didn't bother dodging.

Ino jumped out and aimed a unique hand sign at him. Her eyes glazed over and she slumped for only a split second before she was aware again. She looked at him in fear, "Guys! My Mind-Transfer wont work! It's like he just reflected it!"

Naruto twisted his heel and kicked outward, breaking the shadow's hold over him. Shikamaru jumped out from the bush and jumped in front of Hinata holding a kunai and panting slightly.

Naruto looked at them with a bored and annoyed expression, his silver eyes glowing fiercely.

Shikamaru glared back, "What do you want with Hinata?"

"Well I had wanted to just keep talking, but just like the music in there something had to ruin the mood." Naruto said.

"Don't give me that, you are obviously not just here for a date. Do you just want the Byakugan? Is that it?" Shikamaru shouted. Hinata looked at Naruto with steel after those words.

"If I wanted the Byakugan I would have taken it. Those eyes don't mean anything to me, it's the person who has them that does." Naruto replied.

"What's so special about Hinata?" Shikamaru asked.

Naruto bristled, "What isn't special about her? She was there to save me from Pain when he meant to destroy me, even though she was no match for him. She just kept getting up, over and over again as Pain beat her down. She refused to yield to him, even as I screamed at her to get away. She said she was... being selfish." He looked down sadly, before he looked up again, "She died from her wounds that night, and even though I was able to destroy Pain for what he did, it didn't BRING HER BACK!" A massive shockwave erupted from him, shattering all if the windows in the area.

He calmed down before looking straight into Hinata's eyes, "I know what you are going to say. 'You're thinking of someone else, I didn't do that. I don't even know you.'" He smiled wistfully, "This instance of you does not know me, but I know you very well. Your birthday is December 27th, and because of that you enjoy the winter. You like cinnamon buns almost as much as I like ramen, it's the one food you let yourself 'eat impolitely' as you would say. Your favorite word is 'confidence', and you love pressing flowers. You would sometimes teach me the meanings of different flowers on the missions we had together. I loved learning from you, and those healing ointments you made were wonderful. You were always there for me. Now, I have an opportunity to make up for my failures. And I will NOT let my brothers, or you, down."

And with a muted thrum, he disappeared in a flash of white light.

Alright, this was a dream. No seriously, I had this in a dream, and I wrote it down as fast as I could, because it was fading. Unfortunately I only remembered the ending, and since I don't like beginning with the end in mind, I decided to change some things and make it the beginning.

So tell me what you think.

Oh! DO NOT INSTALL WINDOWS 10 IF YOUR HARD DRIVE IS OVER HALF FULL! It ruined my OS and even after I rolled back to 8.1 it took it's problems with it. I had to Image and factory reset my laptop, permanently erasing 909 Gigs of movies, games, music and pictures. That's almost a Terabyte of stuff that I lost.

Back to the point, I'm moving right now and free time is scarce, but expect chapter 2 of One within the next couple days.

This was also my first attempt at emotional writing.