Death of My Heart

Strawberry Seraph

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto in any way shape or form so NYAH!!!

Chapter One

A dark shadow flitted through the trees on the trail of its prey. The bone-white mask with three jagged, blood red markings on each side seemed to glisten in each stray ray of sunshine it caught. The shadow landed in the clearing its prey took refuge in. It was the end of the trail after a long chase. The hunter finally caught up to its prey.

The prey, a tall, dark-haired man, stood his ground proudly, his red gaze piercing, three whirling tomoe in each of his eyes giving him an eerie, almost inhuman appearance.

The shadow, a fox masked ANBU, straitened from a crouch on the far edge of the clearing.

"Uchiha Sasuke," the soft, emotionless voice spoke from behind the mask, steel wrapped in silk, "Your life is dictated forfeit on grounds of treason, as a missing-nin and traitor of Konoha, a subordinate of Orochimaru as well as a murderer of not a few Leaf shinobi and our allies in Suna. You have been deemed a danger to both Konoha and its inhabitants. As such, you are to be summarily executed."

Fox's last statement was punctuated by the unsheathing of pair of kodachi strapped across his back with them unmistakable sound of air itself parting before a blade, or in this case, blades.

Sasuke, if these words affected him, didn't show it, save for the smallest of flickers of emotion showing in his eyes.

"You have changed, dobe."

"The one you called 'dead last' died several years ago," Fox said coldly, before, in a burst of chakra, he slashed his kodachi through the air in front of him, forming razor sharp blades of compressed air and sent them towards his enemy. His rival. His friend.

"Are you so sure of that?" Sasuke asked as he sidestepped most of the attacks but one stray gust slashed across his sound hitae-ate before dashing forward and, in an unexpected move, smashed a fist into the emotionless mask that was his opponent. The force from the blow caused him to be slammed into the trunk of a tree on the far end of the clearing.

Fox's head slammed back with a snap and after a few moments spent in a motionless state, a tinkling sound resonated clearly, like the shattering of the finest of porcelain. Cracks spider webbed outward starting right in between the narrow slits that substituted for Fox's eyes. Shards fell freely to the ground, revealing a face that hadn't seen the light of day in years.

Cleft marks, three on each cheek were the defining factors on Fox's face, as were the fangs bared in an empty, humorless grin which was in truth, closer to a snarl than anything else and the red, demonic eyes that glared accusingly at the Uchiha who stood so haughtily in front of him.

Fox pushed himself upright and brushed the remaining shards from his hair into one hand, "I am sure because I witnessed his death," he said before raising his hand and opening it, letting the glimmering bits of porcelain fall to be caught by the wind and scattered, "No one can reclaim the shattered remnants of the bond Uchiha-san and Uzumaki-san shared. A person without bonds is not a person at all. Uchiha-san should know this best."

Fox continued his strange speech even as he approached the traitor, "Uzumaki-san is dead because the first bond he made was ruthlessly severed by the one he proudly called 'brother' and became a no-one." Fox was so close to the dark-haired male that they were almost breathing the same air, "Are you a no-one too?" he hissed, an inhuman thrum in the back of his throat, giving his voice an almost bestial quality.

Sasuke's eyes widened before he vanished in a puff of smoke as a kunai slashed through the air where his throat had been previously located but not before the tip drew a thin red line of welling blood.

The unmasked ANBU merely stood in the middle of the clearing, now alone, his prey had disappeared yet again, escaping like water that slipped through his fingers.

Fox closed his eyes and took a breath of the late afternoon air, the setting sun casting a rosy glow over the last piece of his shattered mask that he held, clenched in his fist.

"I cling to what I have Uchiha, even though it pains me, even though I truly do not wish to. I wished that I could truly kill Uzumaki within me, and be set free of the festering hooks you set within my skin, within my heart."

"…After all… I was the one that said you cannot truly kill your heart, was I not?"

Not a breath after, the clearing was as empty as it was before either's arrival save for one lonely kunai planted in the bark of a tree, like a silent sentinel over the broken remains of what had been a friendship, guarding the crystalline porcelain shards.

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