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It Ends Tonight

Sasuke's Requiem

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He would leave tonight.

Ever since his run-in with the Sound Four, he had known that he couldn't stay. They had been right. If he just stayed in Konohagakure, he would remain as weak as he was now, with no way of gaining enough power to kill the one man he lived to destroy. Cutting off all ties was what he needed to do, and it was what he was going to do. Nevermind what he wanted to do. What he wanted didn't matter anymore. What he wanted wasn't an option. If he stayed here, the bonds he held would become the cords that bound him to the dying, decaying tree that he saw was Konoha. And he, as one of that tree's many leaves, would die and decay with it if he remained, as all the other leaves would.

But he wasn't staying. He was leaving.

He would become part of the melody that was Otogakure, the Hidden Sound, and rise above the pitiful falling leaves. For while the leaves die, the song lives on. And he wasn't a leaf. He was the song. He had always been the song.

Your subtleties,
They strangle me.
I can't explain myself at all.
And all the wants,
And all the needs,
All I don't want to need at all.

He turned the picture frame down on his way out. He need not be reminded of them now. They were what held him back. They were leaves. He was the song. He was different from them. He wasn't a leaf. He would never be one. He would always be the song.

He made little noise as he walked down the cobblestone streets. He looked with disdain at the village where he had been born and raised, the village that had done nothing for him, and that he would, in return, do nothing for.

The walls start breathing.
My mind's unweaving.
Maybe it's best you leave me alone.
A weight is lifted.
On this evening.
I give the final blow.

And then there she was, in front of him. The one who held him back and wouldn't release him.

Coldly, icily, he asked her, "Why are you prowling around here in the middle of the night?"

She turned her emerald eyes away from his hostile gaze. "I knew you'd come this way...If you were to leave...So I just waited here..."

His sharp voice cut into hers once again. "Get out of here...and go back to sleep."

He pushed past her, ignoring her again as her shoulders began to shake with unreleased sobs. Tears slowly rolled down her face as she turned to look at his back, as she had done for so long. He heard her shaking voice easily in the dead silence of the night.

"Why won't you say anything to me? Why do you always keep so quiet? You never say a single word to me..."

He didn't look at her, his indifference stabbing like a knife into her heart.

"I told you, I don't need your help. Don't try to look after me."

She continued to cry softly as she spoke. "No matter what, you just always hate me, don't you...? You remember, don't you?"

He said nothing, only waited for her to finish talking so he could go.

"When we became Genin, the day when our three-man team was first decided...The first time we were by ourselves, you were so mad at me..."

He replied to her query, voice unfeeling. "I don't remember that."

She laughed nervously. "Yeah, I guess you're right. That's all in the past, huh? That's when it all began, though. You and me...Along with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei..."

He remained silent and unmoving, waiting for her monologue to end.

A falling star.
Least I fall alone.
I can't explain what you can't explain.

"We did all sorts of missions, just the four of us. It was painful and difficult at times. Even with that, though...I still enjoyed it." She paused here to catch her breath, then started to talk again.

"I know all about your past, Sasuke. Even if you get revenge, though...It won't bring anyone happiness, not even you, Sasuke...Nor me."

Expressionless, he spoke.

"I already know."

He could hear her sharp intake of breath. He knew what she was thinking. Why would he intentionally do something that would harm him?

"I'm different from all of you," he told her detachedly. "I can't be following the same path as you guys. Up until now, we've done everything as a group. But there is something else...I must do...Deep inside my heart, I've already decided on revenge...For that reason only, do I live...I'll never be like you or Naruto."

She was crying again, but she did not let that stop her from speaking.

"Do you really want to go back to being alone? You told me how painful it was to be alone! Right now, I know your pain! I may have friends and family...But..." The volume of her voice dropped. Sasuke strained his ears to hear her words.

"If you were to leave...To me...To me...I would be just as alone as you..."

He remained stoic, his voice unfeeling.

"From here on out...We all begin new paths."

He could hear her sobs. He did nothing to calm her.

"I...I love you with all my heart!"

He waited for her to speak again, but again, said nothing.

"If you were to stay with me...There would be no regrets...Because, every day we'd do something fun, we'd be happy...I swear! I would do anything for you! So...Please, just stay with me..."

She was met with silence. He said nothing.

"I'll even help you with your revenge...I don't know what I could do...But I'll try my best to do something...So please...Stay with me...Or take me with you if you can't stay here..."

He looked back at her, over his shoulder, sneering at her.

"You really are...Annoying."

You're finding things that you didn't know.
I look at you with such disdain.

He saw her tears. He saw how the flow from her eyes intensified at his hateful words. And he ignored it. He turned away from her and let his feet carry him away from her again.

"Don't leave!" She cried out, a final attempt to make him stay, to keep him by her side always.

"If you do, I'll scream!"

A futile attempt. It would do nothing for her. His mind was made up. He had already decided, and no amount of pleading nor tears would change his mind. From this day on, he wasn't a leaf. He was the song.

Now I'm on my own side.
It's better than being on your side.
It's my fault when you're blind.
It's better that I see it through your eyes.

He vanished from her sight.

"Sakura..."

She heard his voice behind her, betraying no emotion. If he was remorseful, if he regretted what he was about to do, he did not show it.

"Thank you."

A sharp blow to the back of her head was the last thing she felt. He picked her up gently and set her on the wooden bench in the street, a light kiss on the forehead left as his last farewell to her.

That night, Uchiha Sasuke, the avenger, walked out of Konoha and out of the lives of the leaves forever. He was not a leaf. He was the song. While they died, he would live on.

He was the song.

He would always be the song.

When darkness turns to light, it ends tonight.

-Fin-

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Author's Note: I had the inspiration to write this early in the morning after an argument with my best friend. I decided to pour what I was feeling at that point into a story, using pieces of a song I always listen to when I am upset. This is the result of that argument and this song, It Ends Tonight.