This is just a test in writing styles. I know it is a bit odd, but it was a fun experiment in a kind of structured stream of consciousnes. It gives me a chance to write something … not light and fun exactly, but without pressure or the normal rules of writing. I like the concept as well. I always thought I was one for sappy romances, but lately I have been getting into reading/writing tragedies. Let me know how it turns out. Also, there is no clear gender on Sasuke, so you can think whatever you like.

By the way, I have posted a poll on my profile for a bunch of oneshot ideas I had. If you have any interest in any of them, please vote and I will write them.

~*G*O*L*D*E*N*~

All my memories seem to begin when my head hit the steering wheel. I feel like that should be a morbid statement, but as I am truly dead, it just seems natural. Are the people below me on the earth truly alive or am I? I feel … alive. Is life reserved for the beings on the earth?

I remember a white face. Welcome my child. I do not mean the angels currently guiding me away from my death. They are wrong: not because they say I am dead, but because they believe I will be happier with them. As I look at the white faces of the angels, I can not help but think I have seen a more beautiful face in my life now gone.

Hurry. The angels prompt me. Why? It will be better for me not to dwell on my other existence. But, that reality had the white face. That life can not reach this one.

"NARUTO!" A voice reached me from that other world. In the time (seconds? minutes? hours? days?, I could not be sure), since I came here, I could hear nothing from the world hidden by clouds below me, except that voice. What is Naruto? No, Who is Naruto?

I am Naruto.

"Your name is Naruto? Then, you are Japanese like me? You do not look Japanese."

A soft chuckle surrounded them then. "My mother was Japanese, not my father. My father moved us here to America, but in return, my mother would get to name their kids with Japanese names. I suppose it gave me good luck, though, because it led you to me."

"That is such a stupid pick up line."

"But did it work?"

NO! I can not go back there, they say. That voice could belong to the white face. I move to go after it, but they block my path. The sight of their white faces in my path only encourage me to continue because their faces are wrong. The clouds behind them were white, too. Everything here seemed to be white, but none of it was my white. The white that made all things right.

I rush through the clouds without feeling them, but now, I can remember what it is to feel. Warm. Cold. Soft. Hard. A touch. There is something touching my hand. I know that sensation well.

"Your hand is sweaty. Are you nervous about something?" That voice was teasing now.

"Not anymore. Your hands are just as sweaty as mine."

"They are not!" A stinging feeling.

"Hey, why did you hit me?"

"You deserved it."

"What did I do?"

"After spending hours trying to build up the courage to hold my hand, you insult my hands."

"But … but, you did it first."

"I am allowed to because you made me wait so long, dobe."

"Teme!"

I can clearly see the creatures of that world now. However, the closer I get, the more I start to feel as if it is not another world, but my world. Not anymore! I want that world again. This world is … nothing. Things are here, but they do not interact with you. Everything is just one thing. All things are the same, nothing is separate. That white face was not mine; it was a separate face. It was something I could treasure because it was not a part of me; it was not necessary, but still there.

"Why do you stay with me?"

"What are you whining about this time, dobe?"

"I'm serious, teme! Why … why do you stay with me? You could have so much better. You don't need me."

"If I only went after the things I needed, my life would be incredibly dull."

"Please. Answer me."

"… I love you. I don't need to, but I do."

Love is something from that world. Love can not exist here because there is no choice in anything. I don't want that. I want to choose. Maybe my choices will be wrong, but it will only make the ones I get right even more special. I knew love once, only once, but it made my life worth living. It showed me a new part of life.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Some deep breaths.

"Are you … (groan) sure? I can stop."

"No you can't … (moan). You better not!"

"But you're bleeding."

"That is supposed to happen. Just … (pant) just give me a second, then you are supposed to move slowly."

"You looked it up didn't you (chuckle)."

"Shut up! Ah!"

"Are you okay!"

"FINE!" A sensation unlike any other began.

"(groan)You … you were the one (hiss) who said we had to … ooooh … move slowly."

"The pain is worth it."

A touch is not always gentle, I remember now. Touching can be … painful. That word does not exist here. The angels plead with me now. That word has a counterpart: pleasure. How can one exist without the other? Even now, the pressure on my hand is painfully hard as something cold and metallic is digging into my skin, but I feel a great pleasure from it because I know it means something extraordinary.

"I love you."

"Yeah, I know, dobe."

"Teme!"

"I love you, too. What do you want?"

"Why do you assume I want something?"

"Your rubbing the back of your head, which you only do when you are nervous or embarrassed about something. Either way, when 'I love you' comes with it, that can only mean trouble."

"I … suppose you will think it will be troublesome for you."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing yet."

"(sigh) What do you want?"

"Marriage."

"What?"

"Will you marry me?"

"We are at home, doing laundry in our underwear, and you think now is a good time to ask that. You don't even have a ring!"

"I'll get one."

"USURATONKACHI!"

"Great! We can have ramen at the reception, teme."

My world had a way of fusing beings as well. Though it may not have been as complete as this world, the connection was real. I had been united with the white face. Why did that bring me pain? I thought I wanted that. The bonds of the living are incomplete. The angels were back now, observing me from a distance. They looked at me with pity.

"You quit your job!"

"I don't want to talk about it!"

"We have to talk about it!"

"No we don't! I don't answer to you! I don't answer to anybody!"

"Is that why you quit! Because you could not stand your boss!"

"No! Yes! I don't know!"

"Which is it? Do you even know why you quit?"

"I had to! They wanted me to put thousands of people out of work just so they could keep them starving and homeless because of their debt to the company!"

"… Naruto … Look. I know you have a big heart, but you could have at least talked to me first. Maybe we could have talked to the company or helped those people find other jobs. At the very least, we could have made a plan for how to deal with the loss of your income."

"What's the point? You've always made it quite clear that you earn all the money we need! You don't need me!"

"Naruto!"

"Don't! Don't talk to me!"

"Where are you going?"

"Out!" Keys jingled. An engine roared.

"Naruto! NARUTO!"

That was not right. That was not how the voice of the white face was supposed to sound. My white face was never to be sad or scared, but I left my white face alone like that. I need to get back. You only have a moment. I will change the white face. Suddenly everything turned black.

OWWWWW! IT HURTS!

"Naruto? Naruto?" The voice became more important than the pain. "Naruto, can you hear me?"

"So…rry … Lo..ve … Love … you … always … Sa … Sa …. Sa … su … ke."

"I love you to."

The pain was gone. I could feel nothing. It was white again, but now I knew my love was okay. This white would always remind me of my precious one. I was ready to become white.

Everything will become white one day.

All my memories began when I pulled the trigger near my head. In the other world, it was a stupid thing to do, but here it was just a fact. A face had haunted me in that world, one pale from death. Now, we share the same white face.

Welcome my love.

~*A*N*G*E*L*~