AN: Hey guys, yes I still exist. It has been a while. This hit me today in my Linguistic Phonetics class so I decided to write it down, when I made my roommate read it, she said I had to post it. I don't know where Juugo randomly popped into my head but he's there so I guess I must like him. Anyways, read it, review it, lick it, share it, whatever you cool kids do nowadays. But if you had a strong emotional reaction, let me know please! It makes me feel good, even if it's anger toward me...
Warnings: Character deaths... umm room for interpretation on number. Minor spoilers if you're still really really far behind, like 100 episodes (ahh the anime... ick). OOC Sasuke, kinda.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. If I did, there would not be *SPOILER ALERT* friggin zombies fighting the dang war and Naruto would not be the all righteous hero and Sasuke would not be chillin calmly in some basement at Madara's place.
Sasuke stumbled back like he had been physically hit. Maybe he had. His chest felt like it had fallen victim to one of Sakura's chakra infused punches and he couldn't inhale to replace the air that had been forced out of his lungs. 'Dead? H-how…' Sasuke's thoughts scrambled and swirled dizzyingly in his head. "No!" His mouth worked on its own, his voice breathless, his voice breathless and choked.
Juugo caught the young missing-nin as he stumbled backward. He had seen Sasuke lose his temper and that was scary, but Sasuke losing complete control because of grief, well, that was terrifying. He was thankful Suigetsu and Karin had been sent out to scout the battlegrounds for the limited number of Madara's followers. He glared at the ancient Uchiha, anger rising in his chest, "What do you mean the Jinchuuriki is dead? I thought you gave orders to capture, not kill. This entire war is all for nothing now!"
Sasuke pushed away from Juugo, his eyes unconsciously blood-red with the Sharingan. He gathered enough breath to grit out in a voice shaking with anger, "How?"
Madara barely spared the two members of Taka a backward glance as he replied on his way back to the battlefield, "The villages decided they needed to win at all costs. The Raikage's brother was not a logical choice and the child volunteered. He died by his own hands, the little brat. He was useless anyway after he overused the Kyuubi's chakra. Excuse me now, I have a war to finish."
Juugo watched the Sharingan fade from his leader's eyes before they clenched tightly shut under onyx bangs. Sasuke couldn't believe what he had just heard, "Tch. Suicide, eh, usuratonkachi? You always were an idiot." The ninja sank to the floor and Juugo watched his leader finally sink fully into madness. Sasuke punched the ground and screamed, "YOU MORON! It wasn't supposed to be like this! You were supposed to die by MY hands! Mine alone," his voice cracked and became soft yet harsh, "You were supposed to save me, damnit," a choked dry sob and hands twisted harshly into ebony locks, pulling hard enough to tear out the follicles, "It… it wasn't supposed to be like this…"
Juugo stood silently by as Sasuke rose from the ground, eyes snapping open, Mangenkyo flaring. He followed closely behind as Sasuke entered the battlefields for the first time, one by one, unable to regain control of himself, unable to stop himself from killing every shinobi he saw. Juugo watched as the remnants of the Fourth Great Shinobi War burned with his leader's Amaterasu. He looked on sympathetically as Sasuke fell to his knees by a blonde corpse, all blood and dirt, more so than flesh. Juugo's chest tightened when the raven threw his body over the corpse in front of him, as his scream rang through the still air. Juugo closed his eyes and tried not to think as he slid his blade through Sasuke's throat. He tried not to see Sasuke's mouth form its final word, a quiet, "Naruto…" slipping passed stained lips. Juugo tried not to feel his heart pull from his chest as his best, and only, friend's blood spilled, warm and thick, over his hand. "Finally, Sasuke, finally you can go back to him," the cursed man whispered looking toward the sky where the sun shone uncharacteristically bright.
AN: Sooooo room for interpretation on a lot of things. Why did Juugo kill Sasuke (was Sasuke truely the one who went insane? notice I didn't say anything about Juugo's changing)? Why did his heart really hurt? Who's corpse did Sasuke die with, Naruto's or some random person? Why would Naruto volunteer? & Did Sas really want to be saved?
Did anyone catch the subtle little hints back into the series I put? My roommate didn't catch most of them, if you caught any, please let me know what you caught!
Okay, that's all folks! Review please! Flames will be used to burn the rest of the corpses not consumed by Amaterasu (along with Sasuke's)