Behind A Bloody Smile
A/N: First fan-fiction one-shot! Tell me if I'm doing good by reviewing, please!
Rating: T
Genre: Action, Angst, Friendship, Family, Romance.
Warning: SPOILER ALERT!
"Even in death, souls are very much alive in our hearts."
-Anonymous
His eyes.
They were barely open, gazing to similar ones, similar, alike, yet so different.
His older brother's eyes were darker.
"Aniki..."
That drew in alert attention from his sibling, the elder immediately at his side to where he laid. "Otouto..."
"Take...'em." The younger could barely breathe, voice rasped, his eyes no longer seeing, but he motioned to his bloody eyes with his weak hand. "Take them. Niisan...protect the...clan."
The eldest's eyes watered, stinging with frustration, sorrow, and loss. "My little brother..."
He took his much smaller and colder hand in his, rubbing it against his cheek. "My beautiful little brother..."
The younger managed a smile at his beloved older brother.
"Never surrender...Madara-niisan."
Yin. And Yang.
Uchiha. And Senju.
Foe. And friend.
The battle was harsh, painful, anguished.
They stood before each other, hunched, injured, bloodied, shaking, panting...dying.
"I..." The darkest silhouette slumped forward, the other rapidly coming to his aid, which resolved on both of them laying down at the hard and uncomfortable ground, still facing each other, faces close.
Brown eyes intently looked into fainting onyx.
"Ma..."
"Hashi..."
"...dara."
"...rama."
They kept their gazes looked, watching each other's life fade away. Tears peaked out of the brunette's tired eyes. Eyes that have seen the pain and suffering of his closest friend only centimeters away.
The raven's lips lifted into a smile, an actual smile, making the long brown haired male gasp lightly in shock.
"Thank you...Hashirama."
Blood.
Lots of it.
It kept pouring out of her trembling lips like a waterfall, her heart pounding hard against her rib cage, the sound deafening to her ears.
She felt arms around her, a soft groan behind her. A chin rested against her clad jerky shoulder.
She eyed the child in front her. No. Not just a child. Her child. Her sweet baby boy. Tears escaped her eyes and a sob broke through her.
Chapped lips pressed against her temple from the man behind her. Dried and blood-soaked lips.
She pressed closer into him, their bodies united by a long giant pierce in both of their abdomens that isn't supposed to be there, more of that warm red liquid seeping out of them, like rivers of their life line.
Both of their eyes, a pair of blue, and a pair of gray, set their eyes on their offspring. Their baby. Their little savior. Their Naruto.
"We love you..." The mother only just spoken, voice low if not nonexistent.
"So much..." The father gave the last of his energy into those final words.
A smile graced their lips as their world darkened.
Trust.
He trusted him.
His hand outstretched toward his best friend, his eye sockets empty as he gave his closest person the last of his essence.
He could no longer judge the face of pure, unadulterated, dread and grief that was plastered across his fellow Uchiha's face the moment he took, gently, his teammate's eye.
"Shisui..."
He smiled. "I can only ask of you this," he walked smoothly, even blind, to the cliff where it would end his miserable, lamentable life. He could feel his comrade walking with him, can practically taste his desperation. He stopped at the edge.
"Protect the village. Make the Uchiha name a proud one."
And with a last, bloody smile, he leapt, hearing his brother-like friend sob his name, as his life came to an abrupt end.
It was night.
It was a very windy, cold night. One that could come from a horror movie.
And to the victims, it was.
Two of them, one male, one female, on their knees. Behind them, their soon-to-be killer.
Their eldest son.
"Father...Mother..." He spoke, ruby eyes downcast.
The mother smiled sadly, not looking at her primogeniture son. "It's okay..."
"We understand." The father finished.
The distressed boy, merely a teen, took in a sharp intake of breath, attempting to hold in his composure. Not for his pride. For his parents.
The father chuckled somewhat darkly. "We might think differently. But I am proud of having you as my child."
The son choked down a heartbreaking sob, his hands, smeared with blood of many others, sweated and trembled as he held the blade that would end his parents life.
The woman grinned widely, almost gleefully. "We are indeed, proud of you."
"Take care of your younger brother." The man spoke, the first smile he ever gave appearing.
"I-I will..." The son raised the weapon, tears inevitably rolling down his ivory cheeks. His younger brother. His otouto. His everything from this moment on. Yes. He will indeed protect him. Until his own demise.
"You truly are..."
"A gentle child."
Water.
There was lots.
And the water engulfed him, lulling him, encouraging him, to fall into the sweet dark abyss.
But his thoughts were plagued. Set on a memory, of a young child now grown.
Of the child of the prophecy.
His smile, his words, his blinding blond hair and sparkling blue eyes echoed throughout his foggy mind.
A thought occurred to him.
He's been searching for a name.
A title.
A weak smile refined his aging appearance, nearly covered by his mane of white, extravagant, hair.
His last thought made his still heart soar.
'The Tale...of Uzumaki Naruto.'
'...Perfect.'
Almost.
There.
His light.
His everything.
He is almost there.
The gentle child stumbled, wheezing, as he raised his numb hand, two blooded fingers directed at his last hope.
The teenage boy staggered, terrified, back against a wall. He was cornered. There was no escaping this end. He will have to die in his older brother's, his once beloved aniki's, hands.
A dry cough came out, blood spattering slightly, as he finally reached his younger brother. His otouto. The boy who entrusted with the Uchiha name.
His fingers poked his foolish little brother's forehead.
Shock was evident in his sibling's onyx eyes at the old, uniquely brotherly, gesture.
Looking into those dark orbs, the elder remembered his otouto's laugh, smile, blushes, and calling of his name, his untainted innocence from when he was a child. He remembered when he held him in his arms for the first time, when he cradled him when he'd cry. He always protected his little, foolish, brother. Even now.
Those memories made a dying, bloody, yet graceful, smile stretch across his face.
His everything's eyes widened even more, astonished. Feeling slightly nostalgic.
His elder brother's phrase echoed from the past. 'Sorry, Sasuke. Maybe next time.'
But this one was his last words.
"Sorry Sasuke...This is the last time."
Breathing.
It was hard.
It was impossible.
She tried to ease the strain with her blood-soaked hands, of the dark masked man's grip, to no avail.
She was dying.
Her eyes overflowed with tears, the last sight, a rainbow. A beautiful rainbow. A bridge. A hope.
To peace.
Peace.
Behind her eyelids, she saw her Yahiko. The orange haired man giving her a wide grin. She saw her Nagato, the red haired male mustering a shy lopsided grin. Her sensei, the old hermit laughing, loudly, expressively, with all of them.
Then she saw him.
A smile slowly twitched at her lips.
She will become a pillar to a bridge where it would be held by that boy.
That child.
Uzumaki Naruto.
Hope.
A must.
He has to.
He must.
For the sake of the village. For the sake of shinobi.
He must not allow to let the boy live.
He jerked, blood squirting out of his tight lips.
A cynical laugh resounded behind him.
A dark, evil-possessed, smile.
He shivered. He could not do it.
He was dying.
Death was knocking at the door.
Rather hard, rather vengeful.
A secluded image crossed his mind. His friend. His once teammate. His comrade.
'Sarutobi...'
No. He could do it. He made a last try, a last hand sign.
His suicide was in vain.
Uchiha Sasuke.
Hatred.
Fate.
It was a curious thing.
The young man wondered this, as he was held in the arms of the boy who changed his life. Who was, and still is, his hope.
He locked eyes with white tearful orbs, so much like his. Her eyes, so innocent. Angst-filled. Yet, so...
He saw a bird.
A free bird.
Freedom.
The young man let a smile enhance his features.
He felt his blood, dripping unto the boy he rested on.
"Why?" The voice behind him said shakily.
His smile only widened.
"Because you called me a genius."
Yin. And Yang.
Hate. And hope.
Foe. And friend.
The battle was a rough, merciless, violent one.
Two males.
Once friends.
Once bonded behind a bloody smile.
Now laid beside each other, profiles facing each other.
Onyx eyes.
Sapphire eyes.
Blond hair.
Raven hair.
Pale skin.
Tan skin.
Different personalities.
Different clans.
Different souls.
Yet...
Uzumaki Naruto panted quietly, cheeks stained with tears. He stared into his best friend's dark bottomless pit eyes, determined to save him.
So...
Uchiha Sasuke wheezed out coughs, blood slipping down his chin. He stared back into his once sworn rival, his once closest comrade, losing himself in the ocean blue eyes, helplessly seeing his hope.
They were so...
They both raised their hands at the same time, their hands uniting in between them, pressed palm against palm. Eyes locked. Lives linked. Souls joined.
...so ...alike.
"Thank you...Naruto."
A/N: Soooo? I felt moody when I wrote this so...xD Watcha think? This is actually made of my favorite moments in Naruto Shippuden and the manga...So...REVIEW! Onegai~!