Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. In any way, shape or form. I also do not own 'Enjoy the Silence' by Depache Mode.
A/N: Hellohello! This is set a little bit after -SPOILER- Pein's defeat, disregarding the whole Madara/Danzo-takes-over thing. POV switches with each hyphen. Enjoy! ^_^
Over My Dead Body
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(Words are very
unnecessary
they can only do harm)
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"Sasuke."
He freezes as his name is said by a familiar voice.
The Uchiha turns and tries to ignore the pang that hits him as he looks his old teammate in the face. He nods once, in cool greeting.
"Naruto."
.
The boy once known as a "knuckleheaded ninja" watches the other boy carefully, remaining alert for any hint of an attack.
He remembers when they used to fight, as members of Team Seven. There were lots of sparring matches, both physical and verbal, but they were rarely anything serious.
It's serious now.
There are no smiles. There is no teasing, no banter. There is nothing but ice, hanging thick in the air and solidifying between them. Anybody looking at them would see only two young shinobi, two more boys ruined by the harsh and unforgiving world of the ninja.
And nobody would ever guess just by looking that they had once been friends.
.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto inquires, with uncharacteristic calmness.
Sasuke keeps his face impassive. "One reason, and one reason only: I want Konoha destroyed." His tone is cold. This village demolished his family, and now it will pay the long-overdue price.
The blond's frown deepens. "I won't let you do that, Sasuke."
"I don't need your permission." Sasuke clamps his mouth shut immediately after the statement leaves it; he almost allowed the word 'dobe' to slip from his lips, purely out of habit.
.
Destroy Konoha? He has to be joking!
But since when has Sasuke possessed anything resembling a sense of humor? No, this is the truth.
It's sort of ironic, he supposes. He's been trying to get Sasuke back to the village for so long, and now he's returned of his own volition-but not with reconciliation on his mind.
Naruto shakes his head. "Yeah, I guess you're right about that. You don't need my permission." His expression hardens. "But if you want to wipe Konoha off the map, then you'll have to go through me first."
.
Guess I should have seen that one coming. Of course, the loudmouth would never allow the destruction of his home, his village; the village he wants to become Hokage of and protect. He will do everything possible to keep Konoha safe, until the end.
The end which, if he doesn't get out of Sasuke's way, will be very soon in coming.
The raven successfully avoids imagining Naruto dead and broken by his hand, because there is really only so much one's willpower can take.
.
Naruto's heart is pounding. Is this it, then? The final clash between them?
Uchiha Itachi once asked the blond if he could weigh Sasuke against the village. When that happened, he brashly answered that in that situation, he would find a way to stop Sasuke without killing him.
Looking back, he realizes what a foolish thing that was to say.
The last time they fought all-out, Naruto held back ever so slightly because he didn't want his friend dead. But Sasuke had fought differently; he had fought with the intent to kill, and perhaps because of that, he had won.
Naruto still doesn't want the Uchiha dead. But how can he beat him without mortally wounding him? Especially if Sasuke still has no qualms about killing his former friend?
There is no easy answer to this one. And the clock is ticking down on his chances to talk Sasuke out of his suicidal mission before something devastating happens.
.
"You don't have to do this, Sasuke." The Uchiha stiffens as those words, laced with an underlying hint of urgency, hit him.
"I don't know what your reasoning is," the blond continues, "but you have a choice here. You haven't killed anyone here yet; there's still a chance that you could-"
"What? 'Make things right'?" Sasuke cuts him off with a harsh laugh. "Even you can't possibly be that naïve."
Naruto winces. "I could talk with Tsunade when she wakes up. We could work something out that doesn't involve either of us dead."
The raven's eyes narrow. "You don't have a clue," he hisses with sudden vehemence. "Do you honestly believe that I want the pity of the Konoha higher-ups? Do you think I want their mercy? Do you believe, even for one moment, that I want anything to do with this gods-curst village?" The amount of hatred in his voice conveys perfectly the message that the answer to each question is a resounding "No".
"You don't know what Konoha has done," he continues, subduing somewhat. Memories of his brother's last moments hit him with reverberating force. "You have no idea."
.
What's that supposed to mean? Naruto has no clue what Sasuke's talking about. What has Konoha done that's so bad it made him want to destroy it?
Ack! Focus! Why Sasuke's doing what he's doing isn't Naruto's concern at the moment. His top priority is to take what Sasuke's doing and convince him to..er, not do it.
"You have a point; I don't have the slightest idea why you have a problem with the village. But whatever your issue is, it doesn't give you the right to make a decision like this! Were you planning on killing everyone? Sakura? The rest of the Rookie Nine?" He gets angrier with every word, and attempts to calm himself down.
"I can't let you ruin hundreds of lives, just because Konoha's given you problems with yours."
.
Sasuke almost chokes on his own fury as Naruto's mini-speech concludes.
'Problems'? 'Problems'? He feels his face transform into a deep scowl; a veritable mask of rage. They murder my entire family, ruin the life of my brother, ruin my life as well, and you categorize those as mere 'problems'?
He briefly casts his gaze skyward and searches for his cool, calm, collected façade. When he finds it, he looks down again and allows his face to resume a neutral expression.
"This discussion is pointless," he says, pleased with the way his voice comes out sounding almost bored rather than nervous. "There's too much you don't know, and besides, nothing you can possibly say will make me change my mind. Now get out of my way and let me finish what I set out to do, or.."
His breath catches in his throat and he hopes the blond doesn't notice.
.
"Or what? You'll kill me?" Some part of Naruto's rational mind tells him he must be completely insane to taunt Sasuke at a moment like this, but he resolutely ignores it.
Said Uchiha's eyes have drifted; they now stare at a spot directly to the side of Naruto's head. He opens his mouth.
"Yes."
Cold. Solid. Decisive.
.
Something icy hardens in the pit of Naruto's stomach. He means it.
Yes. Yes I will.
I will kill you if I have to.
You are in the way, so I will strike you down if I must.
Sasuke swallows hard.
Please don't make me do it.
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Naruto tries to catch his old friend's eyes, but Sasuke is still looking stubbornly at anything but the blond.
"I'm not going to kill you, Sasuke," he says quietly. "If it's a death match you want, you won't get it from me."
No response. Naruto continues.
"You may not have a problem with getting rid of me, but.." He shrugs.
"I refuse to kill my best friend."
And that has become the difference between them.
.
"You won't move, then?" Sasuke is surprised to hear that his voice is coming out sounding perfectly normal, despite everything. Despite his silent desperation.
Naruto is firm. "No."
The word cuts as deeply as any blade or kunai knife.
Sasuke closes his eyes.
He doesn't say a word; he just moves with speed he never knew he had, and-
.
The pain hits in less than a second; Naruto can't believe he didn't see this coming; part of him wonders if maybe he did see it coming; but it's not like he could've gone on for long anyway, not already exhausted from the battle with Pein-
.
Blood. It covers Sasuke's arms, coats his senses. It's all he can smell, all he can see; he tastes it in his mouth and almost vomits.
It's the blood of his best friend, the only person he had left in this vicious world.
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-and his vision is going dark in a sluggish kind of way, and something is throbbing, and it hurts; and if this is dying it really sucks, and somewhere in the haze of his quickly shutting-down brain he registers that Sasuke is finally looking him in the eye.
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I'm sorry.
He wants to say it so badly, but he can't-no, he won't-so he says nothing and simply stares into dying blue eyes, hoping his message gets across.
.
His ex-teammate is looking at him, finally, and there's pain in those dark eyes.
Teme..if you thought you'd regret it, you shouldn't have done it!
But he doesn't bother saying it, because he gets the feeling Sasuke already knows, and saying it won't help anyway.
I kept hoping you'd come back… I just really wish it hadn't been for this.
After that, coherent thoughts refuse to come to him anymore.
.
The light in those eyes fades; Naruto's body slumps, and Sasuke withdraws his hand from the other boy's chest in silence.
He begins to move quickly; this will not be for nothing, he will make sure of it by killing the elders as he intended to.
Sasuke has nothing left to lose; it has been so since a few seconds ago, when he rammed Chidori through Naruto's heart and felt his own break.
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(Enjoy the silence)
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Owari