"You are my enemy now. I can never come back to you." Sasuke's whisper fell into the night and was muted by the blackness on the horizon.

We're not enemies, bastard. We have done nothing to you. We tried to help you.

"But you could not do anything, could you? And after all, it's your village that killed my family," he softly answered his imagined teammate.

It was their village too, Sasuke. They made their choices, like Itachi. They all knew what they were getting into. I know it's messed up, man, but it's just how it happened. You can't let it get to you like this. You've put us through enough already.

Sasuke sighed roughly and shut his eyes tightly to keep in the tears. The wind blew through the clearing he was sitting in prompting him to pull his jacket tighter around his arms. He dropped his forehead to his raised knees and smelled the coming rain.

"But I can't let go of this, Naruto, you should understand. You do all you can to get me back, would you not do the same for me? Or Sakura or Kakashi? Or any of the thousand other friends you've made?" he returned with an almost desperate tinge to his voice.

But it's not the same! Listen, Sasuke, I love you and all of my precious ones, but I wouldn't take down innocent people! You can't justify destroying our home like this. Think of the family you have here, not your family that is gone.

"I don't have family there, and it's not my home. You all cannot replace what I've lost, and a few pretty words will not change my mind." Sasuke's quiet murmur was firm, but the tears rolling down his cheeks defied his words. They were his family.

Sasuke, please, be reasonable. If you threaten Konoha, I will have to kill you. Don't make me go through that. Please, don't do this to us again.

"I'm sorry Naruto. I'm sorry for what this is doing to you and Sakura. I'm sorry we never got to have our team, or even really got to know each other and grow like we should have. I'm sorry I'll never get to tell you that." His strangled voice trailed off and he inhaled raggedly.

This time, Naruto's voice did not answer him in his mind. Sasuke was not surprised. He would not want to answer himself either…

He would destroy Konoha. To find vindication, he would have to kill them if they got in his way or he would die fighting them. Honestly, he would rather they kill him, because he did not believe he could live with himself if he really hurt them (any more than he already had).

Perhaps this was the last calm night he would witness. Maybe tomorrow he would have to fight his best friends and watch them die. Tomorrow, he could get his revenge. There was no happy ending to his tale.

No matter which path he took in his labyrinth, he would find a bitter dead end.

What had been distant thunder now shook the trees, and wind ripped and howled past the boy in despair. The sound of the torrents of rain covered his sobs and masked the moisture leaking from his beautiful eyes that could see no path but the one to death.