Title: The Valley of the End
Author: Zer0Gravity
Anime: Naruto
Category: Romance (yaoi), angst
Warning: This one-shot contains YAOI (ya-o-ee), which translates 'boys-love' or male homosexuality. If you are offended by this or feel extremely uncomfortable with this subject, then please to not read this fiction.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters. If I did, I'd be rich by now. Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto, which we all adore so much!
Author's note:
I tried retelling the event of the Valley of the End in my own words. The Valley of the End, or Shuumatsu no Tani, was the area with the huge waterfall and pretty water battles that Naruto and Sasuke fought in around…was it episodes 128 to 134? But anyway, for those who haven't watched those episodes yet, this fic contain SPOILERS.
Some couple episodes after the Chuunin exams end and after Sasuke meets Itachi again, Sasuke decides to leave Konoha. He decides that in order to become stronger than Itachi, he must go somewhere else to train. Before that, Orochimaru's dogs visited Sasuke (and gave him a little beating) in order to persuade him to follow them. When everyone found out that Sasuke left, Shikamaru was ordered to form a team as a Chuunin to get Sasuke back. One by one, they each fought one of Orochimaru's followers while the others went to chase Sasuke, until it was only Naruto and Sasuke left. They fought at the Valley of the End, a legendary area where Naruto lost and after that, Sasuke disappeared.
This battle is actually my most favourite battle scene I've seen so far. The water effects are excellent; the moves are even better…yes, and they run on water! –And use all the amazing chakra stuff.
Anyways, I don't think that the people who produced Naruto did it quite correctly – they took out one scene that most fangirls would love to see. So I have tried to correct it the best way I could.
Here lies the truth!
Shuumatsu no Tani
We can't see anything but each other… in this intense light we share the same complexion… Why? We're letting go of something we never had. How we shared what went before, and how distinct our desires seem now. Do we stand like opposing forces when we brush with familiarity. How we are the same, yet we never were the same.
The short blond gazed into the dark eyes of the boy standing in front of him. The dark haired boy's features lifted as the blond smiled shyly at him.
He is...the same as me.
I locked my small finger with his finger. I looked at him and his face responded mine.
Sasuke.
--
Suddenly all the light on the earth seemed to fall into shadows. The clouds were rapidly moving in. All he could hear was the crashing of the waterfall and the bristling of trees. A band of light was falling upon him, though he wasn't the centre of it.
Sasuke watched as the thread of light swallowed up in the centre of Naruto's forehead. He was standing behind the boy's unmoving body, beaten and passed out on the ground.
His Konoha headband shifted in his hair and unfurled to fall over his face. It fell slowly downwards and hit the ground with a loud reverberation next to Naruto's head. Sasuke fixed his eyes expressionlessly on him.
"Naruto…" he murmured softly, "I…"
Something wet touched his face. Looking up, he started to feel the droplets of rainfall falling upon him. They tapped on him, escaping into his shirt through the two torn holes at his back exposing bare shoulder blades. Be felt every raindrop, thousands, millions, seeping through his hair and down his arms and legs.
An abrupt ripple of pain spasm up his left arm into his shoulder, leaving him careening over in shock. He gasped blood from his mouth and felt his knees buckle, finding himself slumped over the blonde's body in efforts not to tremble.
Swallowing the stale taste from his mouth, Sasuke slowly lifted his head from Naruto's shoulder and his gaze fell upon the boy's closed eyes. There was no warmth to feel in the cold air. He just watched him, his own impassive face reaching upwards down Naruto's. He brushed his lips across the boy's cheek and over his own limp lips.
The water hung onto his face and then let go. He closed his eyes.
--
Father looked down at me, and for the first time, I thought I saw a flicker of approval in his eyes. He gave me a slight nod and said, "You are my son indeed."
A smile sputtered on my face as it dawned on me that he actually said what I wanted him to say. It was the happiest day of my life.
--
I placed my cup down and stared at my plate, "Oto-san hates me. He's always going on and on about Nee-san instead."
Mother looked at me softly and placed her own cup down. "Oh Sasuke, don't say that. You know what? I'll let you in on a little secret." She leaned over to my ear. "At night, when he's alone with me, your father only talks about you."
--
We were sitting outside our porch watching the sun set. Itachi rubbed my hair affectionately, like he always did.
"There are no other brothers like us in the world," he said.
I looked at him and grinned. I watched him say his next words.
"I'll always be with you. As the wall you must overcome."
--
Itachi's face zoomed down on me.
"Even if you were to hate me…"
--
The image of my parents lying dead upon the other flashed vividly in front of me. My heart seemed to stop and my chest suddenly burned with intense pain.
I didn't know who was screaming. But then I realised that it was my own voice, yelling, shrieking, in fear.
"Noooo!"
Itachi was suddenly there. It was like he stepped out from the shadows. The voice he spoke in wasn't the same voice that Itachi always spoke with.
"You are like me, one who is capable of awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan."
Without warning, I was outside and my brother was looking down at me from where he stood perched up high against the moon's full glare.
"However, there is a special condition."
Itachi's eyes were different. Everything about him was different.
"Your closest friend, you must…"
--
The ground is moving too fast… Can't catch up…
Naruto slowly opened his eyes. It took more effort than he thought it would. His vision blurred in and out of focus and he felt immensely drained.
Something tickled his face. It took a moment for him to realise that it was hair. Silver hair. Kakashi's hair.
He was being carried on his sensei's back while darting through the trees. Back to Konoha? Back home. Where everyone was going to be there. And Sasuke was going to be there too.
Naruto barely lifted his head and he let his eyes wander. He suddenly realised that the dark haired boy wasn't anywhere. Could it be...?
"..Kakashi-sensei?" he whispered. Kakashi slightly turned his head toward him, acknowledging that he was awake. "…S-Sasuke..wh..?"
His voice left him. There was no air in his lungs. He had failed to bring Sasuke back. Sasuke was gone.
The medical ninja swiftly joined them. He heard them telling Kakashi about the others. Everyone was not in critical condition, except for Chouji and Neji who were dying as they speak.
Naruto saw the edges of his vision start to fade. He stared straight ahead and thought he saw everybody running together in front of him. And they were all okay. He blinked and they were gone.
Everyone...
He closed his eyes and every other thought was lost.
--
Sasuke stood there in the middle of the woods clutching his arm.
His brother had it. The higher form of his clan's kekkei genkai. He remembered that the Mangekyou Sharingan was an advanced mode of the basic Sharingan. However, to obtain it, there was one condition.
Your closest friend, you must…kill him.
Sasuke's face averted from the ground and shot up toward the sky. He stared unblinkingly wide-eyed.
I will not do as you want me to!
He stalked off toward the direction of Orochimaru's palace in a slow limp. The rain continued to plummet for him.
I will gain power my way. I will surpass you my way… for sure.
Author's note: And that's what really happened. Sasuke kissed Naruto. ;)