Weather-beaten adj

1. Showing signs of exposure to the weather

2. Tanned or hardened by exposure to the weather

- - - - - - - - - - ~Weather Beaten~ - - - - - - - - -
Day 0
Prologue
(And the Sun Sets)

A single small figure dangled over the Hokage Mountainside, one leg dangling over the railing and a single white flower hanging limply in his hand, fluttering in the slight breeze.

Shadowed eyes stared down at the rows of black crowding around the coffin, merely a small black speck down below. The angry grey clouds rumbled ominously above. It was raining but he didn't care. The water dripped into his eyes, and drenched his black clothes, but he didn't care.

Nimble fingers twirled the white flower in his hand thoughtfully. At first, he had planned to go to the funeral. He was suppose to have met up with Sakura on the way.

The roads have been empty as he had began walking there, and as he went passed the tall, tall stairway leading up to the Hokage Mountain, he just had a sudden urge to skip the funeral and climb up there.

He just didn't… care anymore.

The Sandaime was dead. It was a shock to him. He had always been Hokage, before he was even born, and the idea of him gone was.. strange.

But the Sandaime's death isn't the reason why my heart is pounding. Why my chest fucking hurts like as if I was being stabbed viciously over and over and over again…

And Shikamaru… Shikamaru was dead. Wasn't he suppose to be some sort of genius with a 200 something IQ? Why did he of all people die?

Why.. What is this feeling…?

The figure looked up. The rain was finally letting out. He tried to get up but to his annoyance, his legs only twitched. And suddenly, like a light was flicked on, he was suddenly aware of how cold his body felt. His legs were fully numb. The feeling tingled painfully up and down his limbs.

Shit.. How long have I been up here?

Resigned, he sat back down and watched the funeral process from above here. The black dots were going one by one by the casket, probably dropping their flowers and giving the Sandaime and all the fallen their last respects. Then, one by one, they left, one black speck after another.

The longer he looked at them, the more the (desperate, desperate) anger grew in him. Until his fists clenched painfully into the palm of his skin, and the stem of the flower nearly broke in half. The thought of getting worked up over such a stupid, stupid reason, didn't occur to him. He didn't care that black was the colour of mourning.

He had a strange, almost absurd thought that Naruto would've liked his funeral to be orange.

Sasuke felt a bubble of laughter erupt from his throat, and he didn't stop himself. He laughed and laughed and laughed, until tears pricked his eyes but he wouldn't let them fall because he hasn't cried since he was seven, and he didn't stop before he dimly realized that he must look really crazy right now.

But he was mourning, wasn't he? This pain was normal, wasn't it?

And somehow, somehow, all of this was because of Naruto. The dobe. The deadlast. The stupid orange-wearing idiot who didn't just worm his way into his life, but kicked the door down, screaming all the way, tackled him into the ground, and became his best friend.

He had thought about the scene over and over in his head. Naruto had told him to protect Sakura before he went off to battle Gaara. Alone.

He should've been there. God, he should've been there.

A few flashes of killer intent. Enough to make his blood freeze. A giant frog. The Kyuubi..

The last thing he remembered was the doctors, looking down at him with such pitying eyes, and then..

...nothing.

He didn't know when things started to go wrong. He was supposed to be an avenger. It was a lonely path but he had chosen it. Friendship was something trivial, because no matter how nice it was, it would one day end. By either time.... or his own hands.

And all I can feel this emptiness, this desperate hopelessness, this lack of something that I never even knew I had.

Sasuke closed his eyes, leaning his forehead against his knee.

He didn't know how long he had stayed up there, how long he had just sat down, blank of all thoughts. But it must've been hours, because when he opened his eyes again, the sun was setting.

A moment of complete silence, the once clear blue sky burning a glorious orange (orange.) hue before…

Darkness.

The flower dropped from his lifeless hands, and slipped off onto a long road to the ground.

- - - - - - - - - ~WB~ - - - - - - - - -

"I'm quitting being a ninja."

The sentence shot out at him, and his eyes widened despite himself. He turned back to Sakura, who had stopped in the middle of the road, her messy pink hair hiding her eyes.

A long silence.

"Good. You weren't meant for it anyway."

Sasuke turned away from Sakura and walked off. And for the first time, she didn't follow him.

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(And somewhere, deep in ROOT Headquarters, on a small cot in a dark room, clear blue eyes snapped open)

TBC

A/N

Yes. I know how this must look. Stupid author writes a story, doesn't update for MONTHS, and comes back with a new story.

I would like to say that, no, "Tribute to Memory," is definitely NOT being discontinued.

Funny thing is, I began this chapter, fully determined to finish the next chapter of TTM, and somehow.. I got this.

Weather-Beaten is a oneshot.. For now. It depends on the reader response, I don't want to waste time on a sucky story. (Although I might post it anyway…)

Rated T for language, use of alchohol, gore, and implied sexual scenes.

For more info, check my profile.

~L. Syrup