Hi readers!
I know, first fic in a looooong, long time. This isn't a songfic, as I find them kind of difficult, it's just inspired by the Fray. I hope you like it!
And I don't own anything to do with Naruto or the song. The plot is mine though.
How to Save a Life
"And I would have stayed up with you all night,
Had I known,
How to save a life."
Sasuke pounded his fists on the floor
Sasuke pounded his fists on the floor.
"No…"
The monster inside of him roared and wrenched his insides apart.
"Why?"
The question dripped off his lips like the poison it was. All he asked for was a different answer.
But Sasuke should have known that the answer was, and would always be the same.
The tears pouring from his eyes stung his cheeks like acid as he turned his face upwards to meet the eyes that had haunted him for so many years.
Yet they held no horror for him now.
Sasuke smirked at Naruto out of the corner of his mouth. The blonde's eyes were fixed on the man who stood before them.
"Give up. It's over." Naruto panted, winking at Sasuke. 'We did it'. Sasuke smiled,his eyes shining.
In a flash Sasuke felt a stabbing pain in his chest and his vision jerked black sickeningly as he felt himself slam up against something hard. The breath was forced out of his lungs. In the darkness of his mind, he felt a hand close around his throat, cutting off his airway. It squeezed tightly, maliciously, gloating its power over his weak, helpless form. How could he have thought he could stand up against his fear? He would never, could never be good enough, never good enough to defeat this final obstacle, save his friends from the torture that would come.
He opened his eyes to find two black orbs, hovering inches away from his own.
"So brother," Itachi said, grabbing the kunai that was still embedded in Sasuke's chest, " You thought you could destroy me?" The man before him chuckled and twisted the kunai.
The pain in Sasuke's chest was excruciating. He gritted his teeth and resisted the urge to cry out, biting his lip until it bled. At least Itachi had let go of his throat.
"You will cry yet, my dear otouto," Itachi murmured, his eyes sparkling with some kind of sadistic pleasure as he crunched the knife upwards, dragging it through skin and bone. Sasuke yelled Naruto's name, reaching for the last spot of light as the pain blurred his vision and spattered his mind with stars.
"Listen to your boyfriend scream. It's pathetic." Itachisneered to Naruto as he pulled the kunai free and pushed himself right up against Sasuke.
"You're not worthy of the name Uchiha."
Sasuke felt the world around him grow colder and struggled to keep open his eyelids. They were heavy, so heavy...
"Naruto…" he croaked, his throat dry, the words hardly escaping from his cracked lips. His last chance.
"You disgust me." Itachi said quietly, turning away from him. Sasuke fell to the floor, his head spinning and breath hitching in his throat. He knew he was not dead yet. The kunai was buried deep, but whilst it remained in his body, he would not bleed out. Now it was just a matter of time. He prised open his eyes to search for his friend.
Naruto was fighting Itachi with everything he had. His eyes flashed red as the power of the demon inside him grew and festered and fed upon its host. Long ragged claws burst from his nails, causing long streams of blood to run from the slits they had forced themselves through. Itachi's slashes left cuts on Naruto's arms and face that healed instantaneously.
"No one," his voice was shaking, "No one treats Sasuke like that."
Itachi sent a flurry of kunai at Naruto who raised one hand, conjuring a circle of blood red chakra around him that deflected the barrage of knives.
"So you got yourself a stronger fuck buddy," Itachi sneered. Naruto launched himself rashly at the older ninja, summoning a great ball of swirling energy in one hand that Itachi only just managed to avoid. However, Naruto's attack clipped Itachi on the shoulder and the older male's eyes widened as he caught sight of the blood blossoming through a great rip in his cloak. Naruto landed, panting, murder in his cat like eyes. He knew the Uchiha was tiring and now he took his window of opportunity.
"I'm not just his fuck buddy," Naruto whispered hoarsely, stealing a quick glance at Sasuke. He looked so small, so weak. Blood covered his face, his clothes. it shone dark in his black hair. The blonde glared back at Itachi and threw himself for the finishing strike, screaming to the night the one thing he knew to be true. "He loves me!"
There was a thud.
Sasuke tried to scream, to shout out to do anything to help. But his voice would not come.
All he could do was look as Itachi passed his hand right through Naruto's chest. In another world it could have been comic, one of Naruto's jokes, where Sasuke would just smack him on the arm with a quick, "Dobe," and all would be forgotten. But Naruto's wide, staring eyes, the trickle of blood at the edge of his mouth and the look of disgust on Itachi's face as he pulled his fist out of the smaller male's body and wiped his hand on his cloak were all too real. This wasn't a joke.
Sasuke's body somehow found strength he didn't know he had. Without knowing quite how he got there, he found himself kneeling by Naruto, cradling the blonde in his arms. Naruto slowly opened his eyes and smiled weakly up at Sasuke, seemingly unaware of the tear in his orange jumpsuit and the great hole that lay beneath it. Sasuke stroked the bloodiedc hair from Naruto's forehead, surveying the damage. There was so much blood. Too much blood.
"We showed him, didn't we?" Naruto said weakly, choking a little. "But you know what you have to do."
Sasuke had to stop his hurried thoughts to process the beautiful smile on Naruto's face.
"Don't do this," Sasuke pleaded. He didn't know what to do. If only Sakura had been here. What good was the title of genius, the name of prodigy, when you couldn't even save the one person you cared about more than the world. Itachi had hit home. His triumph was in destroying Sasuke's heart and here it lay, bleeding and smiling beautificially. Smiling so hard it made Sasuke's heart ache.
"Naruto."
"Hmm?" Naruto's voice was tiny.
"I really do love you." Sasuke choked on the words, drawing his own kunai from its pouch.
"I know that teme. But you must have known, Naruto lifted his hand and closed it over Sasuke's on the handle of the kunai, "I love you too."
Sasuke looked up from the broken body of his best friend, lover and the only person he'd ever truly cared about and gently eased his blade from the blonde boy's chest.
His tears evaporated into steam, flakes of salt sticking to his eyelashes as his eyes started to change, morph until they were the splitting image of the pair that inhabited the cold soul of the man stood before him. The two brothers looked at each other, one with a soul as cold as the blackest night of winter and one, buring with the scorching flames of loss. Loss so complete and total that it overwhelmed all thoughts of afterwards.
"Now we can finally fight fair," Sasuke smiled through the pain. It hurt, more than anything ever had before.
"Because now," the whirls in Sasuke's eyes started to spin faster.
"Now, neither of us has anything to lose."
