Disclaimer – Naruto and all related characters are not owned by me.

Fallen Leaves

Or, more precisely, a fallen leaf.

That was, after all, what the man called the last Uchiha was. A single leaf, drifting from far away from his brethren on that giant Oaken tree he called Konohagakure. Many leaves clung together in the branches from birth, sheltering each other from the harsh winds of the still frigid early spring. Together, they grew from mere buds into young leaves, growing each day under the ever warmer sun of the spring. Some would be lost to the wind and others to the young deer that grazed upon their branches. Life moved on, though, and they continued to grow, each on dreaming of the day they too would become fully grown.

Sasuke was not like those leaves. He had no desire to remain clinging to that branch he'd been born under, that barren, shriveled up, dead piece of wood known only as Uchiha. There were no more leaves there, only his own.

That was the harshness of being born Uchiha Sasuke.

Those other fools could cling to their precious branches and sheltered kinship. Such things were commodities he did not possess…nor did he wish to have them.

"Naruto…"

Another of those fools, he knew. That ridiculously fake grin, incorrigible energy, and obnoxiously loud dream only served to annoy him further. He was loud. He was hyperactive. He was overly-annoying. But, despite all that, the brightly clad genin had managed to pierce pass the many layers of carefully constructed indifference and caused the avenger to loathe his very existence.

And beyond the loathing, there should've been nothing else.

Uchiha Sasuke should not feel such things as happiness or camaraderie. Such things were distractions, falsehoods to lure him into thinking that perhaps staying attached to that Oak called Konoha was a good thing. Yet he did.

Past the loathing, annoyance, and hate, there seemed to live something else; a warmness that existed only when he was with that detestable boy. It was faint; perhaps nothing more than the warmth produced by a match a mid-winter's day, but it was there.

And he knew why. They were connected by that ability to survive. A leaf with no other leaves to shelter would become so much stronger, so much more than any other leaf could be. And they had both been able to survive through the frigid nights and windswept days.

He acknowledged that. He had to. It was by snuffing out that brightly burning match that a far greater fire could be lit. A fire called Mangekyou. That power was attainable. He had won. All he had to do was reach out his hand take it and it was his.

He did not. A foul wind blew that day and something within the boy sparked again. Sasuke never did acknowledge what it was, despite his knowledge of it. Regret. He would regret taking that fruit. At the time, he dismissed it as disgust at the thought of becoming anything like that bastard Itachi. But he knew differently. It was a different sort of regret.

And the Uchiha knew that the flame burned stilled. Perhaps it was burning more brightly than his thirst for vengeance. And more than that, he knew it had to be quenched with dispassion and apathy. More and more, he focused upon that solitary goal that he still strived for and those pesky things called emotions were doused with…nothingness. Nothing fed their flame, nothing let them breath, and so as the years passed, he was certain that nothing existed besides his desire to slaughter.

"…I'm sorry."

Dispassionately, he could stare his old friends in the face without any sense of guilt weighing down upon his conscious. No longing for days gone past or reminiscing of simpler times filled with laughter, for them, and derisive chuckles for him. It was a liberating feeling, he'd come to realize, to be able to do anything without worthless nostalgia and unwanted feelings weighing him down. There was a certain degree of ironic humor in the thought that the man most commonly thought of as a monstrous serpent had been the one to calm his bloodlust towards his former comrades.

It was even more ironic that those very team-mates were among the few people that the Uchiha was willing to kill. Looking back, his delusions of a cool, calm exterior only served to cover up the unbroken bonds that still dominated his actions. The effects were different, motivating him to completely annihilate the bond between him and the fox-bearer, but those bonds still pulled and tugged at him.

Until now, Sasuke had never really regretted any action he did. He never would, either. Even here, with the heart of Uchiha Itachi finally clenched in the grip of his Chidori, the dying Uchiha would have done things exactly the same way, time and time again. It should have been a moment of elation for Sasuke, but there was no joy in the sobriety of the moment. Both of their deaths were assured; numerous wounds had claimed his body long ago.

There was no joy, no regret, merely a feeling of anguish.

Because somewhere, deep within the very core of his being, Uchiha Sasuke had truthfully believed that he would be able to destroy Itachi…and live. And somewhere, even further than that, Sasuke had come to understood that he would never be able to fully sever his bonds with the Oak of Konoha. He even looked forward to the day when he might finally summon the knowledge and courage to return.

Now, that was impossible. And the only thing he could do, he would do, was apologize. Even as his breathing became more labored, the only things he wanted to say were apologies to the brother he had left behind. Somehow, he knew that he wouldn't be forgiven just yet because death isn't an apology.

And it was finally as his field of vision began to fade that it struck Sasuke. He had wanted to be a leaf that floated on the wind for all eternity. But even leaves on the wind are just slowly falling leaves, forever destined to hit the ground and crumple once more.

Sasuke did the only thing he could.

He laughed and then he died.

Owari

A/N – First piece of fiction in quite a while. Just a basic look at Uchiha Sasuke who is – in my opinion – one of the most misrepresented characters within the Naruto fandom.