The day was silent. Not a bird chirping, not a rustle of leaves on the wind. Raven locks lay limp with sweat as he stared at the body in front of him. It was unreal. For years he had secretly hoped for this, yet, he felt no satisfaction. He knew why, but the deep, deep river of denial that was sweeping him off his feet prevented the brotherly love for the boy, no, the man that lay at his feet.

A screech pierced the air, and everything came back. Birds scattered, screeching in disapproval at the sudden loud noise. The wind picked up his hair, mussing up the natural perfection that decorated the back of his head. The sweat on his shoulders cooled, making him shiver slightly, goosebumps rising along his stomach and arms.

Angry green eyes bore into his very being, blaming him, killing him. He could see every muscle shift on her slender body, first, she prepared to lunge at him, but then her muscles relaxed and she buried her face on the blood stained jacket of her fallen comrade.

"Why?" She asked through angry tears. He did not say a word. Nothing could justify his actions in her mind. His eyes were burning with an intensity enough to make him scream, but he did not move, did not make a sound. Instead, he chuckled inside his mind. This was his friend's last prank, last bit of revenge. He did not even move when he felt the blood trickle down from his eyes. The trail cooling in the wind, leaving a long thin scab.

The long slender sword in his hand flashed red in the sunlight, so he dropped it. He wanted nothing to do with it anymore. The clatter made the girl, no, the beautiful woman she had become jolt in fright. Another screech. One more desperate than anything he had ever heard in his short life. Dark blue fell against the young man's jacket, contrasting enough to make him blink, an afterimage burned into the back of his eyelids.

The woman with the dark hair pushed the green-eyed accuser out of her way, not caring of her rudeness. Her hand lit up with green fire, and she slit his bloodstained jacket open, revealing the armour plated fishnet underneath. The woman's hand paused over the green gemmed necklace he wore, before she pressed her hand over top of the gash he had inflicted.

Something hard and solid hit the side of his face with the force of ten men. He flew back, hitting the side of the crater their fight had created. As his vision cleared, he stared up at the sky, unmoving, unthinking. Green eyes entered his vision once again. Her hand was raised, her face was angry. He saw her tense to swing so he shut his eyes. A reflex he told himself, surely not to shut out the look of pain in her eyes that would haunt him for years.

He felt her hand, her soft hand, make contact with his cheek, but it stopped there, gently caressing his face. She traced her fingers along his cheekbones, along his lips, his nose, and his eyes… He didn't want her to stop, but she did. He opened his eyes, and she was holding her hand to her chest and crying. He was tempted to look away; he had always hated making her cry.

"Why?" She asked weakly, not expecting an answer. This time, he chose to give one. His mouth felt dry and unused as he croaked out his words.

"I don't know anymore." The woman bent forward and collapsed onto his chest, giving him a view of the body and the woman screaming at it, pounding on his chest with her bloody fists, digging into his pouch, plunging the blade into her own heart. He watched as her body fell. Her mouth curled in love and satisfaction, her hand curling around her fallen love.

He was glad that she was asleep, his green-eyed comrade. He had always loved her, since they were mere children, playing at a game called ninja, still thinking the world was just and fair. He ran his hand through her silken tresses before closing his eyes. He knew that he would never see this woman again. His injuries were too great. He could feel his life slipping out of his limbs, staining the woman's skin and hair. He rubbed his thumb on her cheek, wiping her tears, before letting his hand fall, and smiling for the first time in years.

All was white. Everything was white, and he was nothing. He was everything. He was… something. A hand wrapped around his, he looked up into an ocean of cerulean. A broad smile decorated the man's scar-less face. At his shoulder, a lavender eyed angel gently held on, love for the blonde overpowering every other sense.

"Am I…?" The blonde looked sad, and grabbed the dark haired woman's hand. He nodded twice, and turned around, jerking his head, indicating that he was to follow him.

"It was our time." He said, his voice light and airy, despite their situation. He looked around, the white was something now. People he knew, some he only recognized. His mother, who welcomed him with open arms, his father's disapproving grunt, even his brother whose face had lost the years of sleep loss, and held a tender, loving look for his little brother. He felt no animosity and drifted over to his family's waiting arms, warmth was spreading over his limbs to the point where it was becoming painful.

He threw a glance over at the man he considered his adoptive brother, and saw that he was unaffected, currently in the middle of an embrace given by a short woman with long red hair and a man with familiar blonde hair. Another glance showed that the woman with dark hair was unaffected as well, she was embracing a woman with dark hair like hers and warm but equally blank eyes. The pain was intensifying, pin pricks of light dotting and dancing in his vision until he could see no more.

He opened his eyes with great difficulty. White again, and he sighed. A weight on his stomach made him look down, only to see a mop of messy pink spread out over his stomach, tickling his sides with every breath.

He tried to sit up, but grunted when pain lanced through his shoulder. The pink mop sat up quickly, sleep still clogging her senses. She stared at him, and he stared at her. With a clumsy and pained smile, she stroked his cheek, her warm fingers soothing any doubts that he possessed.

"Welcome back to the world of the living, Sasuke-kun…"

END