Wow...I started this...on the first of last month and I'm FINALLY done... OO
This fic was requested by DarkHeartlessAngel, and I had a good idea for a story based on what she suggested, so voila!
I listened to a LOT of music while writing this. Mostly 3 Days Grace, Evanescence, Nightwish, and Within Temptation. 33
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Naruto. Or any of the characters in this fic. TTTT
I also do not own rights to 'The Poet and the Pendulum', which is what the italicized words at the beginning are from. (I do own a copy of the CD -Dark Passion Play- though X3)
-for DarkHeartlessAngel-
He was found naked and dead,
a smile on his face, a pen and
1000 pages of erased text.
Naruto sat in the middle of his old classroom, surrounded by faceless students.
"Lets play a game, Naruto." One of them said.
"What kind of game?" he questioned, stupidly.
"Tag." they all whispered in haunting syncronicity, pulling out gleaming kunais.
He backed up against the wall as they all moved closer, kunais raised.
Someone stepped out from behind them, chuckling and shaking his head.
"Sasuke!! Help me!!"
"They're just playing, Naruto. Just like me." Sasuke reached into his weapons pouch and drew out a kunai of his own, throwing it with a deadly accuracy towards Naruto's heart.
A shrill scream of pure terror reverberated through the room before a sickening thunk was heard, and the cry was silenced.
"Sleep, Naruto." Sasuke murmered, bending down next to him and forcing his lips onto the blonde's.
"Sleep. And never wake up."
The next thing Naruto saw was the sun shining through his semi-broken blinds, nagging him to awaken.
"Wha..."
He looked around, making sure of his surroundings.
According to his alarm clock it was 9:30 in the morning, he was an hour and a half late for training, and he should have eaten already.
Falling back onto his pillows he sighed, shivering.
"That...was one seriously messed up nightmare..."
- - -
Back at the training grounds his teammates were waiting for both him and Kakashi.
Half an hour passed and Kakashi finally arrived, but when they had been waiting for over an hour for Naruto, Kakashi decided to send Sasuke to look for him.
- - -
Sasuke opened Naruto's front door and stepped inside, looking around at the small apartment.
"Oy, dobe. You in here?"
He walked further into the house and found Naruto's bedroom.
Opening the door quietly he looked in.
Naruto was fast asleep, curled up against one of his pillows.
"Naruto?"
Sasuke reached out and shook his friend lightly by the shoulder.
Naruto's eyes shot open and he looked over at Sasuke, a look of pure terror etched onto his face.
"Naru...?"
"Go away, Sasuke!! It's all your fault!"
"Naruto, what's the matter?"
"It's all your fault..."
"What is my fault??"
"If you weren't there, I wouldn't have died. You should have helped me!!"
Sasuke backed up a few steps.
"Naruto, Kakashi-sensei told me to come bring you to the training area. So please, come on?"
Naruto shook his head wildy, and burrowed under his blankets.
Sasuke could hear him mumbling under the sheets and leaned in closer to hear.
"Every night...can't sleep...if I sleep...I'll die..."
The blonde cringed as Sasuke pulled the covers back.
"What do you mean you'll die?"
"If I sleep...they'll come and kill me. You'll come and kill me."
"Naruto...I'd never do tha..."
"HOW ARE YOU SO SURE?! You did it so easily in my nightmare..."
Sasuke crawled into the bed beside his friend, pulling him closer and drawing the blankets back over them.
"Sa...What..."
"Shh...Maybe if I'm here you can sleep better."
Naruto mumbled a barely audible thank you and nuzzled his face into Sasuke's shirt, trying to hide the flaming blush that was quickly spreading across his cheeks.
"Sasuke...?"
"Yeah?"
"Um...in...in my nightmare...you did something."
"Besides ki...killing you?"
"Yeah...You...um...you kissed me."
"What? Sorry, I didn't hear you."
"You kissed me!!"
Sasuke stared at the blonde ninja that was apparently trying to meld with his shirt.
"I did?"
Naruto nodded, still not looking at him.
"Was it okay?"
At this Naruto paused, and slowly looked up at Sasuke.
"...yeah..."
"Could I do it again?" he asked, innocently.
Naruto's blush, which had been slowly ebbing away, returned tenfold.
"Okay..." he whispered.
They both leaned in, mouths touching clumsily, both of them about as red as the tomatoes Sasuke liked so much.
And then Naruto woke up.
- - -
He looked up at his calendar and wished he could just crawl under a rock and hide for the rest of the day.
It was October 10th. His birthday.
Any sane person would have stayed inside on the day everyone in the village decided it was time to beat them up.
But Naruto got up, dressed, and headed out the door, taking his normal route to Ichiraku's.
He had been wished a muttered happy birthday by the owner and his daughter, as there were other people there.
When he had paid for his ramen and said an equally quiet 'thank you' to them, he began walking through the village with no real path in mind.
A sharp rock hit his head with surprising accuracy and he turned to face a group of some of the village boys who were holding as many rocks as they could carry.
They started throwing them at Naruto, visciously, making sure that most of them hit their targets.
One of the older ones lobbed a larger rock at Naruto's back as he was turning to run and he fell over, coughing.
"Stop!!"
The boys walked closer, surrounding him. They started kicking him wherever they could reach, his stomach, his back, anywhere.
When they finally stopped he was curled up on the ground, bruised and bloody, with a small trail of blood trickling out of his mouth.
"Lets get out of here before someone finds us." the leader of them said, giving him a final kick in the side, and they all turned and walked away, leaving Naruto to die.
His vision began fading, but the last thing he saw was Sasuke. He felt himself be picked up, but then lost conciousness.
- - -
When he next woke up he was lying in one of the hospital beds, staring up at the ceiling. When he tried to get up he felt at least three pairs of arms pushing him back down onto the bed.
"You can't get up, Naruto, not yet."
He coughed, and turned to look at the person that had spoken to him.
"Sasuke?? What are you doing here?"
"You were lying in the middle of the road bleeding. I'm not mean enough to leave you there, dobe."
Naruto looked over at Tsunade and Sakura who were standing a little bit away from the two of them.
They nodded, confirming Sasuke's statement.
"You may want to rest a bit more, Naruto, alright?" Tsunade said, walking over to his bed and pulling the sheets back over him.
Naruto nodded and rolled over, falling asleep almost instantly.
Sakura decided that she would come visit again in the morning, and bid Tsunade and Sasuke goodnight.
"I should be heading home as well, probably."
"Actually...Sasuke, could I talk to you for a second??" she asked, a worried look on her face.
"Sure?"
"It's about Naruto...Whoever beat him up knew what they were doing...I'm not sure if he'll ever recover..."
"You mean...he might die?"
Tsunade nodded, eyes beginning to tear up.
"Sasuke...would you mind taking care of him? I don't mean to impose on you, but you are one of his closest friends..."
"It's fine. I'll stay here until he's ready to leave and then he can stay at my house."
Tsunade sighed.
"Great. Do you want me to set up some bedding for you?"
"I can just sleep on the window seat, I'll be fine."
Tsunade nodded, turning on her heel, flicking off the light and heading back to her office.
- - -
Naruto sat up, groggily and looked at the window that was interrupting his sleep pattern.
Why is Sasuke here??
He coughed, harshly, and fell back onto his sheets.
Sasuke woke up at the sound and got off the window seat, walking over to Naruto's bed.
"You alright, dobe?"
"Nnn...Stop calling me that, Sasuke."
"I was worried about you, and the only thing you can say is that you wish me to stop calling you by your nickname??"
"Some nickname..."
"Sorry. Are you okay?"
"Well, I'm still really sore from where those guys kicked me, but other than that, I'm fine."
"Tsunade says you have to come stay at my house for the next little bit."
"Why??"
"...Because...there's a chance that..."
"Are you guys awake??"
Tsunade walked into the room louder than normal and stared pointedly at Sasuke with a 'he doesn't need to know' look.
"Good morning, Granny Tsunade!"
She nodded at Naruto, smiling slightly.
"So I'm guessing Sasuke told you about the arrangements for the time being?"
"Yup. So when can I leave??"
"Just as soon as I do a few more tests. Sasuke, would you mind waiting outside?"
"Hn."
- - -
"Sooo, Sasuke, what are we gonna do at your house?"
"No overly physical activities, so please don't jump on my couch."
"But why nooottt?"
"You just got out of the hospital, and I was told that you should rest a lot in the next few weeks."
And I don't want you getting hurt...
- - -
They walked into Sasuke's house, and Naruto was told to wait in the living room while Sasuke prepared them some dinner.
"Can I have some ramen?"
"No, Naruto."
"Why?"
"Because I don't have any"
"BLASPHEMY!! How can you not have ramen??" Naruto shouted, wandering into the kitchen.
"Because I never really expect company, so I don't buy much food. Ramen is not the main staple of my diet, incase you hadn't noticed."
Naruto stood there for a second, pouting, when he suddenly wobbled and collapsed, making a loud thumping noise echo through the kitchen.
"NARUTO!!"
- - -
He was running through a forest.
He didn't know what was chasing him, but whoever they were, they were trying to kill him.
"COME PLAY WITH US, NARUTO!!"
Naruto tripped over a tree branch and fell forward, scraping up his arms. He spun around, wide eyed, to stare at the faceless children that stood over him.
"Play with us."
"Play with us."
"Play with us."
He shook his head, terrified.
"Why won't you play with us, Naruto? We mean you no harm." the children whispered, pulling out more kunai.
"Hold still, our game will only take a second to play."
"NO!"
One of the children swung their foot at his face, knocking him backwards.
They all started laughing, advancing on him with kunai's raised.
- - -
Naruto shot up in bed, gasping.
Sasuke looked up from the book he'd been reading, boredly.
"Are you alright, usuratonkatchi??"
The blonde turned to stare at Sasuke, before he began coughing violently.
"Naruto...?"
Naruto looked down at his hands in shock, and tried to hide them from Sasuke.
"What's the matter? Why is there blood on your face?! Show me your hands NOW."
He shook his head nervously.
Sasuke grabbed his hands and pulled them toward him to look.
"You were coughing up blood Naruto, I need to take you back to Tsunade!!"
"No...I don't want to get up..."
Sasuke grunted impatiently.
"Fine, let me get her then, just...stay put, okay? I don't want you getting hurt."
Naruto nodded, silently.
- - -
Tsunade had left some medicine for Naruto, and told Sasuke that he could tell him, but she wasn't to blame for the results.
Sasuke lightly shook Naruto's shoulder.
"Naruto? Wake up."
"Nnn? Why?"
"There's something I need to tell you..."
Naruto opened his eyes a bit more, and turned to look at Sasuke, who had pulled up a chair next to the bed.
"The reason you've been coughing up blood...is because you're going to die...I don't know when, but it won't be much longer."
The only response he got was a blank stare.
And then Naruto started to laugh.
"You're joking, right Sasuke?"
"No...No I'm not, Naruto. I'm completely serious. I wish so hard that I wasn't, because I don't want you to die...I need you. I lo...You're my best friend."
"You what me?"
"I said you're my best friend."
"No, what were you going to say before tha..."
Sasuke leaned forward and pulled Naruto against him, pressing their lips together quickly.
"I love you."
"Ah...?"
"That's what I was going to say, I love you, Naruto."
Naruto smiled, eyes watering slightly.
"I...I love you too, Sasuke."
He started coughing again, worse this time.
"But...you should have told me when we had more time."
"I'm sorry..."
"Can you come sleep over here with me?" Naruto asked softly, a light blush spreading across his face.
Sasuke nodded and pulled up the covers, wrapping the two of them up tightly, holding onto Naruto.
Naruto tilted his head slightly and kissed Sasuke again, smiling into it.
- - -
When the two of them woke up it was already the next day, and Sasuke helped Naruto walk down the stairs, sitting him down at the kitchen table.
"What are we having for breakfast, Sasuke?"
"Do you like waffles?"
"Yeah we like waffles, do you like pancakes, yeah we like pa..."
"Naruto...I didn't mean break into song..." Sasuke said, sighing.
Naruto stuck his tounge out at him in return, but answered an affirmative for his breakfast.
- - -
"So...how much longer do I have, Sasuke?"
"I don't really know, you'd have to ask Tsunade. Why are you even asking??"
"I...I wanted to know how much time I have left to be with you..."
Naruto lowered his head and looked away from Sasuke, tears stinging his eyes and trailing down his face.
"Naru...Stop crying...come here."
He pulled Naruto into his arms and held him tightly, waiting for his tears to stop.
"I love you Naruto...even if you are gone, I'll still always love you."
Naruto hiccuped and started crying even harder, holding onto Sasuke, never wanting to let go.
- - -
One morning a few days later, Sasuke woke up, saw that Naruto was still asleep, and went to go make them some breakfast.
When he came back into the room Naruto still hadn't woken up so he walked quietly over to him and shook his shoulder lightly.
Something was wrong.
Usually whenever he did that, Naruto would mumble something unintelligable about ramen and roll over slightly.
He put his hand on Naruto's shoulder again and noticed that Naruto seemed colder than normal. He leaned over to kiss him, another morning routine, and noticed that there was no air coming out of Naruto's open mouth.
- - -
Sasuke woke up, screaming.
"Huh...? Sasuke, what's the matter?"
He looked over at Naruto, who was staring up at him groggily.
"Ah! Sasu...!" Naruto was pulled against Sasuke very abruptly.
"I don't want you to leave...you can't..."
"Sasuke..."
"I don't want you to die..."
- - -
Later that day the two of them went to go visit Tsunade again.
"Are you absolutely sure he is going to...going to die?"
"I've done all I can, Sasuke. I've healed all of the major wounds, but they hurt him pretty badly..."
Sasuke bit his lip, rarely seen tears stinging his eyes.
"I don't want Naruto to...to die...I love him..."
He reached over, taking a hold of Narutos hand, gripping it tightly.
Naruto leaned on his shoulder.
"I'm tired..."
Tsunade looked over at him, a look of extreme worry crossing her face.
"Did you not get enough sleep last night?"
"No, I slept fine...but...I'm just tired. Not really the normal sleep deprived tired, but I'm sleepy and I don't feel like moving much. It's too much effort..."
"Naruto...that's not good. At all. You don't have much time left..."
"How much longer?"
Tsunade turned around and walked over to a chair, steadying herself.
"A week...at most."
"WHAT?"
Soon after that outburst Naruto started coughing again, a thin trail of blood dripping from his mouth onto his pant legs, staining them a harsh red color.
He looked up at Sasuke, a pained look in his eyes, as if begging for him to make whatever was happening stop.
Sasuke could only look back helplessly.
- - -
When they got back to the house Naruto was ushered into bed, with the promise of a nice warm bowl of ramen.
Sasuke walked up the stairs to the bedroom, tray with ramen on it in his hands.
"Naruto, your food is ready. How're you feeling??"
"Raaaaaaameeennnn..." Naruto cried, pitifully, reaching out for his favorite food.
"Normal, apparently. Want me to feed it to you?"
Naruto nodded, smiling. "Ahhhh" he said, opening his mouth wider then it needed to have been.
Five minutes later Naruto had downed the rest of his ramen and was laying curled up against Sasuke, who was running him fingers lazily through the blonde's hair.
"Sasuke?" Naruto murmered, sleepily.
"Hm?"
"I love you."
"I know."
"I know you know, but I just wanted to say it because it needed to be said at the present moment, you know."
"I love you too, now shush and go back to sleep, you're just confusing yourself."
He pressed his lips lightly against Naruto's and heard the blonde drift off to sleep mumbling "But I'm not confused, the unicorns told me to follow them to the magical cave of joy and wonders..."
"...I believe that's one of the oddest things he's ever said..."
- - -
Sasuke held Naruto's hand tighly as they walked through the park the next day, to make sure that he wouldn't suddenly collapse.
"Sasuke? Can we sit down for a moment, I'm feeling a bit dizzy..."
Sasuke nodded, and they walked over to the nearest bench.
"Mm...thanks, Sasuke."
Naruto leaned his head against Sasuke's shoulder, sighing.
"Are you alright, Naruto?? I could take you back to the hospital if you want...get Tsunade to look at you again."
Naruto shook his head sadly.
"She said I only have a few days left, at the most."
Sasuke leaned down to press his lips to Naruto's, comforting him.
They stayed on the bench for a few more minutes, looking around at all the people that passed them, and looking up at the clouds.
After a minute and a half of Naruto proclaiming that one certain formation of clouds looked like a bowl of ramen,Sasuke decided that it was about time for them to go.
They stood up and began walking again.
A few steps down the path and Naruto stumbled a bit, nearly falling over.
"Naruto! Are you okay??"
Naruto nodded, but started coughing harshly, clinging to Sasuke's arm.
A second later he was being held tightly while Sasuke ran with him in his arms to the hospital.
- - -
Sasuke sat by Naruto's bed, fingers twined with his.
"Nnn..."
"Naruto!! You're awake!!"
"Sa...suke?"
"I thought I'd lost you. Damn it, Naruto, I can't lose you!!"
"I'm...I'm sorry..."
Sasuke sighed and ran the fingers of his free hand through his hair.
A knock was heard at the door and Tsunade peered in.
"Oh, he's awake. That's great." she said, smiling happily, but with a sad look in her eyes.
She turned to look at Sasuke.
"Naruto will have to stay here from now on, Sasuke, but you're welcome to stay as well..."
"Alright."
- - -
The days passed by slowly and Naruto's condition got steadily worse.
One morning when Sasuke woke up, he looked next to him and saw the blonde lying there, crying silently.
He wiped the tears away with his thumbs, cupping Naruto's face in his hands and bringing him closer to kiss him.
Naruto smiled, but started coughing immediately after.
Sasuke lulled him back to sleep by rubbing a hand along his back, calming him and stopping him from crying.
"Naru?"
The only sounds he could hear were the beeping of the machines in the surrounding rooms, and Naruto's soft, quiet breathing.
Sasuke sighed, staring down at him sadly.
Sleep well, for now...but please, Naruto...PLEASE wake up again.
- - -
When Naruto next opened his eyes he saw a number of his friends crowded around his hospital bed, looking worried.
"Uhh...guys?"
"Oh, good, you woke up, we were really worried that you had d!"
"Sakura, please shut up..."
"Okay..."
- - -
They all spent a while laughing and talking, like every was normal again. But happy memories don't last forever, and soon Tsunade was telling them that visiting hours were over and they had to return to their homes.
Sasuke smiled as the last few people left the room, and he twined his fingers with Naruto's, leaning over from his seat to give him a light kiss.
"Sasuke, aren't you going to come with u..."
Sakura stopped talking abruptly and the two boys looked over at her.
"No, Tsunade said that I could stay here with Naruto."
"Eheheh...um...hi, Sakura-chan..."
"Di...did you guys just kiss each other?"
"Yes, we did. What about it?"
"It's about time..."
"What?"
"Do you know how long we've been waiting for you two to realize how crazy you are about each other? Ages! I thought you had chickened out, honestly! Wellll, see you in the morning, I need to talk to the others. Good night, guys!"
"Uh..."
"Good night."
Sakura ran out of the room, giggling slightly.
All the boys could hear after she left was "Hey, Ino-pig! You owe me twenty bucks!"
"Girls...are so weird..."
"Mhm..."
"Gghhhkk!"
"Naruto!?"
Naruto clawed at the sheets, coughing roughly, blood trailing out of his mouth.
"Sa...!" he coughed again, slumping forward onto the sheets, shaking.
"Hang on, I'll get Tsunade!"
Sasuke raced out of the room, almost running into Tsunade's office door.
"TSUNADE!! TSUNADE, OPEN UP!! NARUTO'S IN TROUBLE!!"
Seconds later they were rushing down the hallway to Naruto's room, praying they weren't too late.
"Naruto??"
The blonde was sprawled out on his bed, a pool of blood trickling out of his mouth onto the sheets.
Was he...?
"NARUTO!?"
They could see his back moving, signaling that he was still breathing.
Tsunade bit her lip and reached over to the phone, calling the other nurses from their wards.
- - -
Naruto lay on a bed in the emergency room, hooked up to all sorts of machines. He looked pale and tiny, not at all like Sasuke knew him to be.
"Naru?" he whispered, walking over to him.
He grunted, and blinked his eyes open slowly.
"Yeah?"
"It hurts...so much...seeing you like this..."
"I'm sorry..."
"It's not your fault, Naruto. It was those damn brats that love beating people when they're already down."
"Sasuke?"
"Hm?"
"I'll always love you...even after I'm gone..."
"Me too. I love you Naruto, forever."
Naruto smiled peacefully, closing his eyes. But they shot open again as he sat up and started coughing violently, blood staining the sheets, his hands, and his shirt.
Tears rolled down his cheeks and he looked over at Sasuke.
"Kiss me...one last time."
"Naruto! You aren't going to die!! YOU CAN'T!!"
He put his bloodstained hands on Sasuke's face, pulling him closer, jamming their lips together in a desperate attempt to show him all the love he had had pent up since they were in the academy.
Sasuke wrapped his arms around Narutos trembling shoulders, holding him tightly.
"Sasuke...I..."
Naruto's voice was getting quieter, and his eyes were closing.
"I love you."
He slumped forward in Sasuke's arms, as his last breath left his lips.
"Naru...Naruto... SHIT!! WAKE UP!!"
Sasuke cradeled his friend's lifeless body in his arms, tears streaming down his face and he shook, all the while murmering a steady mantra of wakeup...wakeup...wakeup...
- - -
A week later they were all gathered in the graveyard, rain pouring down on them, as they stood around Naruto's tombstone.
Sakura stood on the left, with Ino, TenTen and Hinata. They were all crying.
Sasuke stood in front of it, holding a single red rose.
He bent down and laid the flower on Naruto's grave, biting his lip so that he wouldn't lose it in front of everyone.
Turning around to face the others, he looked down at the ground as he walked past them.
"You can all go home if you want...the rain is terrible."
His shoulders shook slightly as he said that and he looked back over his shoulder at the embellished stone.
Naruto Uzumaki
You brought sunshine to our lives,
but it was washed away by the cruel rain.
We'll miss you always.
- - -
Sasuke sat on his bathroom floor, head burried in his arms, curled up in a little ball.
Sobs shook his shoulders and he cried harder than he had ever cried in his life.
"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO LEAVE ME, DAMN IT!? WHY COULDN'T THEY HAVE HURT SOMEONE ELSE?!" he screamed at the sky that rained harshly on his roof and windows.
Pulling a kunai out of his weapons pouch, he smiled slightly and whispered "I'll see you soon, my love", before plunging it into his heart.
He collapsed onto the floor, blood pooling out of the wound onto the pristine tiles, staining them a grusome red.
The last thing he saw before he blacked out was Naruto reaching out to him. "Come on, Sasuke. It's time to go."
Sasuke smiled at Naruto's slightly illuminated form, nodding with his last bit of strength.
"I'm ready."
-end-
Whew...16 pages of writing...-falls over-
TTTT Geez...I was actually crying when I writing the ending...
(Sorry if I made any of you cry!)
PLEASE review? 3 gives you a virtual cookie in advance
Also, if you want to draw fanart of it, feel free to, just let me know afterwards so I can see all of your lovely art. :)