Well hello! I live and bring you something new! Skip to the end in the footer if you want to know what the heck is going on with my stories!

This is a new series of stories that will be a collection of drabbles inspired by songs. I have no idea how often or when I'll update it, but sometimes when listening to a song, an idea pops into my head that wants to be written. Those ideas will be written and posted here! Please note that these aren't exactly song fics as I won't be directly posting the lyrics in the story, nor will I be directly mentioning the band or the song itself in the story. Anywho, let's get on with this thing!

This first one is inspired by a new single from Muse titled "Madness" from their upcoming album. If you haven't given it a listen, I recommend doing so (maybe while reading this story!)

Well, onwards. I don't own Naruto or else I would be filthy stinking rich and I would have a Muse concert live in my office at least once a week.

Madness

A girl with pale, pink hair and dull emerald eyes stood at a small and humble looking unmarked grave. Her posture was filled with regret and sorrow seemed to emanate from her very core. One would hardly believe that this girl was the Sakura Haruno, prized apprentice of the Hokage. Her dull eyes stared at the unmarked grave, seemingly staring through the grave and staring straight into whatever thoughts were plaguing her mind.

"I hate people who lie to themselves!"

Try as she might, Sakura could not stop herself from revisiting memories that she really didn't want to think about. The memories of her past madness were stuck there in her mind, unwilling to leave, unwilling to go.

Each of these memories involved him, and it frustrated her, because she had better memories with him to focus on than these. That day that everything changed was what triggered these memories. They had started off as sparse reminders of the mistakes she had made, but quickly evolved into something more terrifying. They didn't just remind of her mistakes, they reminded her of her missed opportunities, they reminded her of her failures.

When she first realized what her memories were doing to her, she tried with everything she had to let him go. It was her only option if she was going to survive. But she couldn't do it. They had never found his body, how could she possibly let him go? There were several eye witnesses who saw him die in the fiery explosion that ended the war. Her friends had spent countless hours trying to calmly explain to Sakura that there was no body because it disintegrated in the flames, that no body, not even his, was built to last through that.

So she couldn't let him go, and thus, couldn't escape memories of her madness. And so as the years passed, the madness of her memories plagued her and began to swallow her whole. Slowly, piece by piece, what made Sakura herself began to disappear under the weight of guilt and regret from her past madness.

"Sakura-chan, wanna go on a date with me?"

"I wish you were here... Naruto." Sakura whispered as a tear rolled down her cheek. It had been four years since that horrible day, that would go down in history book's as the shinobi's greatest victory. But to Sakura, there was no victory that day. There was only a horrible loss.

So while the history books would record that day as the day the Shinobi Alliance banded together to stop Tobi once and for all; Sakura would only remember it as the day she lost the man she had finally realized she loved... without being to tell him that.

"What I'm saying Naruto... is that I love you." Sakura squeezed her eyes shut as the memory of that particular madness again sprang to mind. She had been trying to protect him, but she only ended up hurting him more.

However, before that day when everything changed, this particular memory of her madness wasn't a bad one for her. Because to Sakura, it had set things in motion. After she told Naruto she loved him in an effort to keep him from having to deal with Sasuke, she found herself reflecting more and more on the idea.

She hadn't seen much of him after they returned from the Land of Iron, but her admiration for him grew each and every day. Thoughts of love and Naruto continued to flutter in and out of her mind as the Fourth Great Shinobi war began. Feelings, real feelings began circulating through her body whenever she thought about him. These feelings weren't feelings reserved for a friend, they were reserved for something more.

When Sakura had this realization, she initially wrote her feelings off. She told herself that she only thought she loved Naruto because she hadn't seen him for so long, and that she was fighting a war to protect him. She rationalized then that her "love" for Naruto was just a byproduct of her missing a good friend and teammate.

"Sakura-chan, wanna go on a date with me?"

"NA-RU-TO! HOW MANY TIMES HAVE I TOLD YOU NO! KAMI!"

More tears slid down Sakura's cheeks as another memory of her madness flashed back into her mind. This particular memory was shortly after Naruto returned from his training trip with Jiraiya. She had a particularly long day of training and was in a foul mood when Naruto caught her and asked her out on a date for the millionth time in his life. If she had not been in such a foul mood, she probably would've been more gentle. But she was grumpy, and unleashed her fury on Naruto. He asked her for a date, and she in turn practically bit his head off before sending him flying with a powerful punch.

She later felt bad about it, but she was a prideful girl and hated admitting when she was wrong. So instead of apologizing, she continued to act like she was annoyed at him, which in turn made him annoyed with her...

Sakura took a calming breath and tried to blink that memory away. She was truly mad back then to treat Naruto so poorly. What she wouldn't give to go back and time and accept his request, she could only imagine the happiness a date with him would create. If only she had known back then how mad she had to be to turn down Naruto... If only her madness wasn't in control back then...

"It's not important whether the things you do are large or small. What's important is the magnitude of feelings you have for Naruto."

Yamato's words from all those years ago rang through Sakura's mind, kindly guiding her away from the memory of one of her many missed opportunities. Yamato's words helped her finally figure out what it was exactly that Naruto needed... It just took her a while to figure that out. When she finally realized that all Naruto wanted and needed from her was simply love, she became excited. Because for once in her life, she would be able to come to his rescue.

He had spent so much of his life being shunned, and hated for something beyond his control, that all he needed was someone to love him. She couldn't wait to run into him and finally confess to him, and finally bring the man that she loved happiness. Unfortunately, that was never meant to be.

After receiving news that Naruto was engaging Tobi, Sakura, along with many other shinobi, rushed to the battlefield to join him. Sakura sadly, arrived too late. When she was about three miles away from the battle, a fiery explosion lit up the night skyline. It was so large and bright that it made it appear as if the sun was out again. She ran the last three miles quicker than she had ever ran with a feeling of dread in her stomach.

She desperately screamed out Naruto's name as she arrived at the scene, her eyes scanning the smoldering crater for any sign of the man she was supposed to save. Her desperation grew with each second as she was unable to find him.

"Sakura... I'm sorry." Kakashi's grave voice rang out through her mind. "He's gone. He sacrificed himself to put an end to all this; he said he didn't want anyone else to die because of him."

"I wasn't supposed to see your end so early damnit." Sakura whispered. "Why did you leave before I could tell you that I realized... that I..." She choked back a sob as she dropped to the ground.

"I need to love." Sakura whispered so quietly that only one with excellent hearing would catch. "I NEED YOUR LOVE!" She screamed loudly this time. The tears she had been trying to hold back burst forth and streamed down her eyes, creating a steady waterfall of sorrow.

"Why did you leave before I could tell you..." Sakura's voice fell back down to a whisper. "Why did you go before I could show you that I really do love you. Why aren't you here when I need you more than anything?"

"I CAN'T FORGET YOU!" Sakura screamed. "I just want... I just want you to come back. I want to see your eyes when you can finally trust in my feelings for you... I want to stop being destroyed by my madness, I want to undo all the damage my madness caused... I..." She squeezed her eyes shut in frustration.

"Don't cry Sakura-chan." Naruto's gentle voice called out. It was comforting to hear his voice, but strangely enough, Sakura couldn't identify what memory was currently stuck in her mind. Her tears slowly trickled to a halt, as she felt a familiar presence around her. Her breath hitched when she felt a pair of arms snake themselves around her waist.

"I'm sorry for being gone so long."

Again, Sakura was unable to place the memory where Naruto's words were coming from. Sakura suddenly felt someone place their chin on the top of her head. It felt like him, the presence felt like him... But it couldn't be... He couldn't be real. Maybe her madness had finally destroyed her...

"I really didn't have much of a choice though. That bastard Tobi tried to escape into that different dimension during my and Kurama's final attack, we had to go after him if we wanted to stop him."

Sakura tentatively peaked her eyes open and glanced down. The pair of arms that were wrapped around her waist were covered by black sleeves. The memories of her past madness that had been plaguing her over the years suddenly came to a complete stop, freeing her from her sorrow and regret for the first time since that terrible day.

"So after we beat that bastard, well... let's just say space-time jutsus aren't really my thing."

The voice that Sakura had missed so much for the past four years sheepishly explained. She wanted to turn her head to see if the owner of the voice was really who she thought it was, but was scared to. She wasn't sure what she would do if this was just the next stage of her madness swallowing her whole.

"But I had to figure out a way to come back. I mean... I still haven't become Hokage yet! So it took me and Kurama a while, but we finally figured out a way to send me back to this dimension, and here I am. A little late... but better late than never, right Sakura-chan?"

"Na-Naruto?" Sakura quietly questioned.

"It's me Sakura." Naruto soothed.

Sakura spun around and her eyes watered when they connected with the sapphire eyes of a man whose "death" had driven her mad.

"You're... you're... we..." Sakura stammered out in shock. She took a deep breath to clear her mind. She had a second chance, one she didn't think she would ever get.

"I love you. I figured out that I love you. Please believe me, trust in..."

"I love you too Sakura." Naruto interrupted Sakura with a cheesy grin. "But you probably knew that already."

The madness from Sakura's past washed away and was replaced with a feeling of warmth at Naruto's words. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and held him as tight as humanly possible.

"I'm not... I'm not going mad right now am I? You're really here?" Sakura asked quietly.

"I'm never going anywhere again Sakura, that's a promise."

"Good." Sakura smiled a genuine smile for the first time in who knows how long.

I had ya going for a while there didn't I? You were probably thinking, "What the hell NaruDeeds, you're using this awesome song as an excuse to write a story without a happy ending? What happened to you man? Where are your morals?!" I can't resist a happy ending, so Naruto lives!

I hope you enjoyed it. It's certainly not my best piece of writing, but it was interesting to write for me. With this being a different piece than I normally do, I'm especially curious for your thoughts. Good, bad, ugly, awful, horrendous, I should be ashamed for writing such a garbage story under the inspiration of such a fantastic song? Review and let me know!

As for an update on the rest of my stories:
I sorta had my computer and car decide to team up and wage an all out holy war on my wallet. They both decided to take a crap at the same time which was real swell of them! The annoying part was that my computer had all of my fanfiction handily stored away. A friend who is much smarter with computers than I has told me I can get my old comp fixed and get all my files back, but it's gonna cost some money. Which, thanks to a newly renovated car and new computer, I do not have.

But don't fret!
I plan on getting things squared away within a month then I can push out some quite late chapters to Guardian, and bring a Jinchuriki's Strength to a close so I can get onto the next one!