A/N: Ello, this is my first story to be drug out of my notebook of death and doom...and death. I would apperciate kindness, but if you feel compeled to be unjustifiably cruel, then so be. At least spare me the flames because of the couple, it is not fair to us who like this genre to be insulted because of it. Do I insult you because you smell bad?, no I don't, therefore don't insult me.
Warning: Shonen-ai (don't like? ...hit the back button), major charater death, a bit depressing, a happy ending- ha, fooled you, I was lying, 'cause I'm a liar, and my fav: being too late to fix anything. bwhahahahahaha...lol...sigh, becomessuddenlydepressed aw, emoness got the best of me.
Disclaimer: Why do I have the sinking feeling that this will become painfully repetative...I don't own Naruto or any of the charaters.
Twilight Haze
Sakura looked at the lifeless body of her teammate, the tears immediately prickled her eyes as she looked up to Sasuke who stood
emotionless on the opposite side of the unresponsive Naruto. His stance was rigid, the twilight haze that covered the two boys made the
scene appear unreal, a dream, a nightmare, anything but reality. The infamous deed done, he held the bloody sword loosely, as if it had
served its sick purpose and he had no need of now. Sai appeared between them, failing to notice the body that lay motionless on the
ground a few feet from him. He looked form Sasuke's stolid face to Sakura's mournful tear streaked one, and he followed her gaze to
the spot where Naruto lay, drenched in his own unforgiving blood. Cold seeped into Sai's heart as the vision swam before his black eyes,
turning him numb for a split second before the pain washed over him. Sakura fell to her knees, knowing that she should comfort Sai, but
knew no way how. Head in her hands she closed her eyes, knowing that Naruto was gone, that she couldn't save, just as she couldn't
save so many others before him. More tears spotted her cheeks, another dead friend, another loved one gone, one less teammate, how
many was she to lose before it ended? Sakura raised her head to look through blurry eyes at Sai. He was doubled over, arms clutching
his stomach, his head resting on his knees, his pain physically hurting him, tears splashed the ground below him. Tears, for the loss of pure
love, for the loss of the one he loved more than himself, more than life, more than anything. He looked up at Naruto's blood soaked
body, thin tears decorating his porcelain face, the fading twilight haze making his lover look all the world to be just a child who drifted off
to sleep.
"Please, just give me a chance. He's gone, I'm here, right here beside you, I always have been and I always will. Understand
that I'm never going to push you away, hurt you, abandon you, I'm not like him, I'm not him and I never will be. He could never
loved you as I do. He's not coming back for, you know that. What are waiting for?" Naruto could hear the sincerity in his voice,
he looked up at Sai's usually unemotional face splayed with different emotions, apprehension, fear, but above all love. He was
speechless, the truth hurt he never was coming back for him, and as the seconds ticked by Sai's face became shadowed by
rejection. He turned away from the silent boy and began to walk away, his heart slowly breaking with each echoing step.
"Wait…" Naruto whispered, half hoping the other boy would hear him, half hoping he wouldn't. The raven haired boy froze but
didn't turn. "You…you're right," Naruto said reaching out to Sai, "He's not coming back, and you are here." he turned the boy
around and pulled him into a close hug. Shocked Sai stiffened then relaxed as Naruto buried his face into the pale boy's chest.
He wrapped his arms around the smaller boy, wishing with every hope that lay in his heart that they could remain like this
forever. Naruto pulled away a soft smile on his lips, a true smile, not the fake he had been using since that ill fated day. Sai
smiled back, "I promise I'll never leave you." he said. Naruto's smile widened a fraction, "I know." he said as he grabbed Sai's
hand, pulling the taller boy along. Sai closed his eyes, pure happiness pushing away every doubt that this wouldn't work. Sai
opened his eyes clinging desperately to the memory, only to have it slip through his fingers. There was no happiness now, only pain, and
that's all that would ever be there from this cursed twilight night to the end of his days. Sakura looked at Sasuke, his face remained
impassive, dry. But deep in his eyes laid the undeniable truth, that he loved Naruto in his twisted dark way, nut not enough to spare him,
not enough to surrender his avenger's life for. He put vengeance above the one he loved, he always had, and he always would, even as
Naruto passed on into death's waiting arms. He looked at Naruto, wanting more than anything to say those words. The blue eyed
boy looked up at him, childish happiness lighting his features, already knowing how Sasuke felt, he could see it in his onyx eyes,
just waiting for the words to be confessed. Naruto held Sasuke's hands in his own, unconditional love obvious in his eyes, the
happiness that he loved someone and was loved back radiating off of him. But Sasuke couldn't, because for him most things are
best left unsaid, because once those words were said out loud it had gone to far. And he couldn't let that happen. He pulled
away from Naruto, trying to ignore the pain on the younger boy's face, the tears that clouded his blue eyes, and he walked away
knowing deep down that this wad just practice for the day he would truly walk away from his home and from Naruto. Choosing
power over love, he was far to good at it. Beneath it all though, he loved him, but he had never said it out loud, he had turned his head
and let all the chances pass him by.
"Don't you care?" Sakura sobbed, tearing Sasuke from his memories and thoughts. She watched his face for any change, there were none.
"It's not my position to care." he said, his icy voice slicing through the magic the twilight haze had created.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sai gasped through the pain that still tore at his chest, the tears not quite dry on his porcelain face.
Sasuke smirked, "I never knew him as you did," the hurt was buried beneath the bitter tone he used. "Sakura, his best friend. Sai," he
paused, almost allowing the hurt show, almost, "…his lover." He closed his eyes, the smirk renewed itself on his flawless, viscous face,
and then, he opened his eyes. The three Sharingan symbols spun, forming into Itachi's signature Manydrayke Sharingan. Before she could
look away Sasuke locked her gaze, and her world turned black and white, the blood red sky loomed over her.
"No…" she gasped. Frozen in place she watched every friend, every teammate, every loved one fall, dying over and over again.
Everyone that she had failed, every life she had let slip away, every ghost that haunted her. Everyone one of them tearing open her barley
healed wounds open. Measureless time passed, each moment filled with her sobs and her pain, before it ended, the world returning in all
its glory of twilight colors. But Sakura remained curled up on the ground shaking, unable to fix the damage so soon, tears staining her
face, her eyes unfocused, lost in her world of ghosts that never really left. Sasuke turned his gaze toward Sai, his heart so broken he gave
no fight as he fell to the cold ground, Sasuke catching his gaze with the blood tainted gaze that now defined him. Sai hung limply, held only
by the invisible chains that forced him to look at the scene before in the black and white world. He couldn't look away, yet even if he
could have he wouldn't have, this way, masochistic as it was, allowed him to see Naruto, alive, if not for one last time. The sight before
him broke his heart a he looked upon Naruto's last moments, Naruto tear streaked face looked to the dark figure that stood before him.
It hurt to see Naruto this way, but what hurt more were the words his supposed lover whispered every so caringly to his heartless killer,
"I never stopped loving you." Tears ran down Sai's face, it hurt more than anything that Naruto had died, leaving him behind, but it hurt
more to now have this knowledge that his last words were of unconditional love, and they were not for him. He watched Naruto fall to
the ground in all his golden glory, the twilight haze surrounding him, finally portraying him as the angel he has always been. Sasuke's thin
sword was through his heart, a crimson mist surrounding the unforgettable wound. Naruto's last gasping breaths tore at Sai's already
aching chest. It didn't matter that Naruto loved Sasuke more than him, his love for his teammate would never falter, he had promised he
would never leave Naruto, but Naruto had never returned the convenient. "I never said I loved you…" Sasuke's cold voice melted into
the chilling world around the scene, his beautifully bloodied sword falling gracefully to the ground. There was a flicker, the scene going
blank, as if skipping a part, then it returned. Sasuke raised himself, unforgiving sword in sword in hand, from kneeling beside Naruto.
Naruto's body went limp, giving in to the dark pull of death, lulled to everlasting sleep by the haunting lullaby death sang in his ear. A look
of rest, of nirvana, covered his angelic face like a sheet before it slipped off, revealing the mask of a lifeless face. The scene began again,
continuing relentlessly, each time tearing Sai's already shredded heart to pieces, with each proclamation of love, tear, and last breath. He
heard Sasuke snigger and cold reality crashed down around him, part of him crying for the scene to return, just to see Naruto's face once
again, part relieved beyond words that now all he had to face was the lifeless face of his lover. He looked up at Sasuke, the dark angel
standing tall against the night sky. He very presence chased away the sun, the twilight haze was only a mixture of Naruto's sunshine and
Sasuke's dark shadows. Now that Naruto was dead, the sun had no place in this time, the night had taken its place, covering the scene
with the blackest darkness. Too hurt to hate the avenger, Sai could only look at him sadly. He had no words to say to him, he didn't want
an explanation, for he already knew why, vengeance. On that horrific night all those years ago Sasuke had been born into the life of an
avenger. Heartless, distant, focused on vengeance, Sasuke stayed true to his label. Sasuke turned his back on the scene of devastation he
was leaving behind. Pain, misery, loss all things he could inflict and not feel. He walked, away from Konoha, betraying his home for the
second time. And he walked away from Naruto, his broken archangel, leaving him behind for the third and last time. Sasuke felt an
indescribable pain claw at his heart, just as he had last time. Last time he had left Naruto, bloody and broken in the rain, now he was
broken beyond repair. Satisfaction, he told himself, was what he was feeling, the accomplishment of gaining what could his family, his
pain, the losses he suffered. Yet, underneath the satisfaction was the undeniable realization that he had lost the most important thing in the
world in the twilight haze of that evening. Naruto had been the only thing he truly had left, and vengeance had done away with him, now
he was lost forever. How could he avenge that loss for what he was the cause of? "I never stopped loving you." He pushed the
thoughts from his head, he had no room for regret just as he no room for love, no room for him. And he never would, no matter how he
secretly wished he could rewind time. To perhaps have the second chance to say those three words. But it was far too late. And in this
life that he had chosen he was never granted second chances.
RT: What if it sucks, what if ppl don't like it...? mumbles to herself What if its too sappy, ew.. sappiness, thats not healthy.
Gaara: What the hell are you talking about?
RT: Don't eavsdrop, I'm talking to myself. continues to twitch and mumble
Gaara: er...