Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Shatter
"Your heart shatters beautifully." It was the only compliment he ever gave me.
I had expected it to be different somehow. Maybe something dramatic, with rain gushing down, and confessions of love to be pouring out.
I thought I'd be on the brink of hysteria, and tears would come bursting out. Even a anguished cry or two, but life doesn't work that way.
The only part it got right, was the location. Of course, it'd be this place. Valley of the End..What a fitting name.
Naruto's body laid a few feet away. His peeled off skin-still healing on its own- despite its owner having the life drained out of him.
His head nearly lopped off, with only a sliver of skin keeping it attached. It was like a hinge on a door. Needless to say, I'll never look at a door the same again.
He was right. They were going to kill each other if they fought. When is Naruto ever wrong?
The air was still. Kakashi's blood stains still sprayed upon the corner of Hashirama's eye. It gave the illusion of him crying blood, and blood was indeed spilled.
Sai was by the shore. His body soaked jet-black from the very ink he used. He looked like a elegant stroke of a kanji character he used to make.
Ugly hags actually know what elegant means?
Sai would've said something like that for his last words. If only he had time to say it. I guess explosions don't wait for anyone.
And then there was him. The boy who chipped away at my heart from the time he knocked me out on a bench.
People think I had my heart broken on that day I confessed my love, or maybe the day when the retrieval team came back with members tight-rope walking on the line between life and death.
However, it was a gradual process, really. A dab of hope, a sprinkle of dreams, and a pinch of longing aged out, and became love over a span of two years.
But, love doesn't break hearts. It was the thought that the pointless little thing I carried deep within myself, would never be enough for him. That was probably what dealt the killer strike.
Funny how the one person I prayed to be dead and gone-before I reached them-would be alive. He was the one person I had hoped to not hear his final words.
Naruto, Kakashi, Sai...I could bear with theirs, because there was so much more for me to remember them by, other than their-
Regrets
Dreams
Goodbyes
But him? What's there to block out his ending scene? The fleeting moments of childhood nostalgia? The ache that came from lying on a stone bench? The ache that came, grew, and stayed?
He was lying under the green glow of my hands, with his right side nearly entirely gone. He was breathing on purely one lung, and his left leg was burnt to the point where it seems like the muscle and skin had melted right off.
I had managed to stop further bleeding in his leg, and had started to work on what remained of his abdomen, when he regained consciousness.
It was remarkable that he was still living, nonetheless conscious. He was pushing through it, on will alone.
This man never ceased to amaze me, even in his final moments.
"S-Sakura.." he managed to rasp out, with his bangs flicking in his eyes, and mixing in the red liquid.
"..." There was no point in telling him not to talk, when it was obvious there was nothing to stop him if he wanted to. I couldn't look at his face.
"Burn me.. in it.." He had to take breaths between each word."The com..pound..burn it all...yours."
I popped in a few soldiers pills, and decided to regenerate his lung. If he wanted to say his will, then he will have his fucking god damned will, whether Kami likes it or not.
I just hope I'll be alive enough to carry it out, or at least write it down.
"Are you..afraid?" He hacked out some blood.
"I knew it was coming."
"...Are..you afraid?.." He asks again.
"...Yes."
"Glad..you were..the one...alive." My eyes flickered to him when he said this. "..I won't...say sorry."
"I know."
"I wish..it could've..been..different."
"Don't do this." Let me hate you. Let me blame you, and pretend that everything's okay.
He ignores me.
"They'll...build a memorial for him." He faintly nods towards Naruto's direction.
And for you? The title of the monster, created by the very flames of Konoha's corruption. A beast, denied of even a grave stone. A monster who will forever be the hated symbol of that accursed clan.
I don't respond.
"Just..like the day.. after the massacre." He smirks lightly.
At his comment, I realized that the sun was beginning to rise. Rays of light were shining warmly down, but somehow I still felt numb to the core.
It was like when you have a fever, and no matter how many blankets you shovel on, you'd have this sick feeling in your stomach that'd never fade. It was like that, and more.
"You choose now to display your sense of humor." His stomach started to look normal-with the skin reforming back enough to close the gap of stomach that was missing.
His right lung was crudely grown back, but it was working at least.
I knew I could never stop the massive internal bleedings within him, and just the sheer amount of blood loss already chained him to his fate.
"Must be..from the lack of blood."
I feel his chest twitching underneath my hands, when I scoff at this.
It was probably cough from the blood seeping into his lungs and all that, but one part of me still wants to interpret it as a laugh.
My eyes fade in and out of focus, as I near the point exhaustion. No one speaks for what seems to be like hours.
I hardly even noticed when he raised his remaining hand to my face. He runs his calloused thumb across my jaw line, too tired to even make it to my cheek.
"No tears?.."
"..."
"Your heart shatters beautifully." For some reason, I hear that line loud and clear. He said it no louder than the hum of my glowing hands, but it resonated throughout.
I finally forced myself to look at him. He was battered, bruised, with lacerations filled with puss and blood, decorating his face.
Yet, some part of me still managed to bubble up with the same feeling I had so many years ago.
His eyes were the pure pools of black, that I stared shamelessly into each morning, as we sat in the academy desks.
The same eyes that stared hopelessly, just before collapsing in the Forest of Death.
And those very same eyes, closed for the very last time, as I watched helplessly.
The funerals were quick. Everything felt like I was watching a movie. It was a disconnection from the world.
There were lots of tears. Some from people that knew them. Most from people that didn't.
Ino blubbered. Always was a loud crier.
Shikamaru smoked. Even though he hated it.
Chouji dieted. Because food didn't taste all that great.
Kiba cursed. To bring some life.
Shino stood. When others couldn't.
Hinata broke. Shattered, without her spine.
Neji spoke. As if to make up for the times he didn't.
Tenten hugged. Didn't know what else to do.
Lee ran. But he could never outrun the truth.
As to me..I was alone.
People gave their sympathies. They praised me for being so strong. For not shedding a single sob or cry from then, until now.
Poor girl. Losing her best-friend, mentor and teammate. Had to see the traitor.
How tragic. It'll be alright. They'd want you to be happy. She was so lucky. Such a tough woman.
Her whole team decimated. Who'd have known? Heard she loved the psychopa-Shh!
I heard her tempers off the chain now. Must be. Better watch her. Gonna lose it like him.
How silly. They should know not to measure things in liters of tears.
His funeral was the simplest and easiest to clean. I watched it all burn down. Ino wrapped her arms around me. I think it was all just a formality.
No one really ever talked to him. I doubt they even knew who he was. Not counting the whole massacre, vengeance, and destroying the whole village part.
They were just there because of how much he mattered to Naruto.
They were just there because of me.
I planted rows and rows of Sakura trees on the compound. The ashes made the trees flourish more than any other tree in Konoha or any other village.
"Ino, you can stop with the hiding." I called out to her, as I plucked out another weed.
"Forehead! Who said I was hiding?"
"Your piglet snout did." She rolled her eyes at me.
"We aren't twelve anymore."
"Twelve was a long time ago, wasn't it?" I mused. It almost sounded like I was talking to myself.
Ino cleared her throat, to fill that awkward space. "You look well, Sakura."
I could hear her subliminal message in between. Better than what everyone expected.
"Why don't you move in with me, Sakura? I'm sure my parents wouldn't mind. "
"Ino." I stood up to meet her eyes, "We've been over this. I'm fine here. I'm content."
"Don't you lie to me. Living here? They wouldn't want you to be content. They'd have want you to be hap-"
"Please don't finish that."
She stared at me, as if to read what was going through my mind.
Without saying a word, she squeezed my hand, and left.
The rain drummed down quietly on my patio awning, as I nursed my cup of sake. A summer shower.
Your heart shatters beautifully.
"Is that why you loved breaking it, Sasuke-kun?"