A/N: This story follows the song Ready for Love by Cascada. I do not own it nor Naruto, so you can burst into tears now.
The lyrics are in bold italics. In a way, they represent the thoughts of the main character - even though he is male and the singer is female.
She looked up mournfully. "I'm sorry, "
You took a piece of my heart
"...but it's over."
He took a step back. He felt his heart cease to beat. "What - ?"
I never thought that this could fall apart
She took in a sharp breath. "I do love you, but ..."
You said you fell in love
Her face smoothed over to become indifferent and blank. "I can't live this way anymore..."
And this was more than I had
Another backwards step. The stony expression she wore ripped his heart into innumerable pieces. He could not believe what he was hearing.
Of course, he had always been afraid of losing her. He had even tried to imagine what that could possibly be like, but this was beyond his darkest nightmares. The unemotional, glacial look in the eyes he so adored was beyond what he could ever hope to bear. Now his heart began to beat - faster and faster, tearing itself apart because of the speed at which it was pounding...and the pain that quickened the pace.
Ever been afraid of
She turned her back to him. "Your..."special abilities" are beginning to cause me to worry for my safety. I don't think I can continue to handle it ... Anyway, I'm going to make my own life. I've found something better. Safer. All of my aspirations will come true in an instant - I just can't include you ..."
Another life
"...the happiness I've been dreaming about is so close. I'm going after it ..."
Another happy ending
"...goodbye."
cuts like a knife
With a flick of her heel, she sprinted off before he could reply.
He stood for a moment, utterly shocked. Thupthupthupthupthupthup. His chest was going to split soon.
This cannot be happening...
He took a hesitant test step to make sure he could still move. When he was certain that he still had some strength left, he ran after her. His feet were giving way as he swiftly rounded the corner of the building she had just bolted by. Faster than ever, he ran, and his thoughts hastened with him.
No. It has to be a dream. Either that or genjutsu. Or maybe the tsukuyomi! One way to find out...
Naruto flung himself against the stone wall to his left. He struck hard and rolled to the ground. He quickly jumped up, roughly smeared the blood from the new gash on his cheek, and continued after the pink haired kunoichi.
Not a dream. Then, why...?
A flash of her hair around the next bend.
NO.
He heard her footsteps slow. He skidded to a halt before reaching the curvature. He looked carefully around the corner without stepping out completely.
Another place, another time
She stretched out her hands - the same hands that had so often caressed his face as she told him that he would always be the only one for her, never another.
She grasped the waiting hands of another. It was like the sun shining as she looked into the new one's face - the same sun that was once his.
Another hand to touch, another sun to shine
Then he, Uzumaki Naruto, watched as his former girlfriend, Haruno Sakura, stood on her toes to tenderly place a kiss on the lips of a waiting Uchiha Sasuke.
"NOOOOOOOO!"
Sakura and Sasuke snapped their attention to the cry. Sasuke showed no emotion, but Sakura paled when she saw who it was that released such a sound.
A deep, wounded, yet furied roar had left Naruto's throat. The city whirled around him. His eyes were wild like the beast that raged within him, and his breath continued to raggedly heave in and out - getting faster and faster. It was as if his chest were being ripped out. He leaned heavily against the wall as his breath dragged in and out like a thousand kunai knives were attached to each. Digging his nails into the stone wall next to him, he forced himself to turn around and tear back the way he came.
Sakura took one step towards the space he previously occupied. "Wait - !"
Sasuke caught her hand and pulled her gently back. Sakura looked into his face, but could not interpret the blank expression. She slipped her arm around his waist, and together they turned away and strode off.
You got me deeper than deep
Naruto ran like a horde of Oni was on his heels. Tears streamed down his face and his mind clouded over - he did not even know where he was anymore.
and I'm constantly blinded
He passed the Hokage residence, the school, even the ramen shop. He came to a stop at the training grounds, hoping that he could find something that would divert his thoughts from his weeping heart. He looked at his surroundings, and recognized the vicinity to be the place where he had his first survival lesson with Sakura - where they often trained as members of Team 7. Those memories, now seven years old, burned like coals in his bosom. He tore away his gaze and began running again. His body took over, since his head was not able to make any proper decisions, and his feet continued to fly through the village. Soon he was on the mountain, sitting atop of the carved head of the Fourth Hokage.
Naruto stared at a blurred image of his feet. The tears made it impossible to see anything clearly. He could not go anywhere without being reminded of her - Konoha had become another word for Sakura.
He continued to sit there for an exceedingly lengthy amount of time. He tried to think about anything - anything but her. He failed miserably, and the consequences were dire. His face contorted in pain, and he grasped the sides of his head in such a way that should have reminded him of the demonic Gaara, but no other thoughts could gain precedence in his brain.
Nothing except Sakura and amaranthine anguish.
Raindrops began to spatter on his sagging shoulders. Naruto did not particularly care, but, nevertheless, he stood up slowly yet kept his head bowed. He decided to return home. No place was safe from the revenant of Sakura that would always hover near, but if home was where the heart is, he could better tend to his wounds there in person. Even so, he knew the pain would not cease there either...
I'm running around but there's no place to hide
... and he was certain that sleep would not come.
Naruto arrived home and pushed open the door. He did not bother to flip the bolt - if someone planned to assassinate him that night, he would save them the trouble of having to take the time to pick the lock. He did not care what happened to him that night, as no manner of death could prove more tortuous than the one he was already experiencing.
He pulled off his drenched T-shirt and jeans, then slipped on a pair of cotton shorts. He flipped back the wrinkled covers and collapsed onto his bed. For a while, he just stared at the patterns on the ceiling, but even that did not help. Everything made him think of her. Every pattern in the ceiling made her eye, her hair, her smile. The sound of the air conditioning was memories of hot summer days at her house. The press of his pillow against his head made him think of the times on missions where they slept under the stars, when he would sit up with his back against a tree or rock as she slept with her head against his chest and his arms wrapped securely around her. Then they would switch watch and he would lay his head in her lap as she stroked his hair. More recently, on such nights, she would comment on how he would say odd things while he slept - speaking mostly of his worries.
I start to talk in my sleep,
No longer would her scent lull him to sleep. His pillow became like a rock as he longed for her lap.
But she had torn herself away, and in the process, the essence of Uzumaki Naruto was eradicated.
Our souls have divided
She said "special abilities." His thoughts were bitter. The Kyubi...She'd never feared it before, why would she now? Does she doubt my control?! I would never ever even DREAM of hurting her! Why...
Why can't they forgive me these demons inside
He curled into a ball, clutching his abdomen like it was about to spill open. Blindness returned with the tears as his heart continued to bleed onto the sheets.
Deeper than deep and I'm constantly blinded
His body began to convulse. He released a morbid scream. It was as if Sakura had just been brutally murdered in front of him, and he could not do a thing to stop it.
My heart starts to shiver for I was letting up
He knew that any would-be assassins would know all about that day if they came as he slept - if he slept.
I start to talk in my sleep,
He knew that it was truly over.
'cause our souls have divided
Why...
How can it be that you're ready for love
"WHY?!"
Ready for love ...
His thoughts continued to hammer inside his head, each sending out a shock wave that further injured the part of him that would have been called a soul had it not been so utterly razed.
When he thought he could sustain no more damage, his brain finally decided that an emergency shut-down was necessary. He was thrown into unconsciousness, but not until a terminal word slipped through his lips.
"Sakura..."
How can it be that you're ready for love ...
Naruto awoke the next morning in a blissful ignorance, as the memories of the previous day's events had not yet raised their ugly head. But when he turned on his side, the agony came rushing back, for he had looked at his bedside table and seen a picture that was taken just two weeks prior - the professional, framed photograph of Sakura and him on their anniversary. They had been dating for three years.
He thought that he knew everything about Sakura, heart and soul - that she had gotten over Sasuke a long time ago.
Time will tell
Apparently, he was dead wrong.
He roughly pulled aside the covers and swung his feet over the side of the bed. Clutching his muscled chest, he sat in a slightly hunched postition. To his amazement, the pain was not as harsh as it had been the night before. He found that he could function and think clearly. It was as if some foul curse had been lifted off of him, though the acerbic side-effects still lingered.
A single day had helped me break this spell
He looked over at the pile of discarded clothing from the night before, and the pain struck him afresh. He had forgotten the precious item he was carrying in his jeans pocket when his spirit was riven.
A small, velvet box was laying on its side in the middle of the hardwood floor. The force of the spill it had taken had forced the lid open, revealing the glistening, silver ring forged into the shape of a cherry blossom with a single diamond resting in the center.
It had been commissioned three months before then, and he had undertaken mission after mission to pay for it. Now it lay on the cold floor instead of around the warm finger it was intended for.
Naruto rose from the bed. Forcing himself to stand upright, he walked past the manifestation of now darkened memories. He had to get out. He had to forget.
Opening the front door, the bright noon sun stung his dead eyes. Konoha was its usual self - semi-bustling and ignorant of outsiders. Naruto felt like more of an exile than he had been when the village shunned him for his dual existance. He nodded and even tried half smiling to people he recognized. Apparently word had already spread through the small village, for he was recieving sad smiles and the occasional "She doesn't deserve you, anyways" or "What a little #& !" Nothing helped. Believe it or not, he did not want them to say such horrible things about Sakura. Naruto was blaming himself for it all. All he wanted someone to talk to him about, well, anything except for what happened. He did not want to be by himself with his thoughts, which were sure to betray him to more affliction when they got the chance.
Don't want to be alone
Konoha did not seem to care or even notice. But, then, Konoha never understood him. It had rejected him since the day of his birth because of the lethal enemy that lay inside him, though he did nothing to contribute to the beast's attack nor its housing.
When will I be understood
He began to ponder if he would ever be truly accepted by all for what he was and what he had. It was a dream that he had always associated with paradise - a Shangri-La that seemed unattainable to one such as he.
When is my kingdom to come
The distraction was short-lived. Heaven, too, was synonymous to Sakura. He could not escape her, but she had eluded him completely. Sakura had moved on before their relationship was even over.
...I'm going to make my own life... He contemplated her words.
All of my aspirations will come true in an instant... Sasuke.
"She was never over him."
...I just can't include you ...
Another boy, another life
...the happiness I've been dreaming about is so close. I'm going after it ...
Another happy ending,
"So, I was just her backup. The second choice. Boy, was I an idiot!"
He wheeled around and slammed his fist into the side of a nearby building, leaving a hole the size of a small car. The people that had been surging around him gasped audibly, and there were a few slight screams as they all seemed to stagger back as one body in an effort to get out of the way.
Naruto's breath heaved in and out in large huffs. His now slitted eyes did not even notice the pitiful fools around him - just the blood that dripped from his smashed knuckles.
Then realization hit him - he was still alive. His blood was still flowing, and his heart was still beating. Sakura was gone, yet, somehow, he was not.
And I'll be alive
Naruto's eyes transposed back to their original color and form. He straightened up, let his healing hand fall to his side, and walked through the human-lined path that was being made for him as he walked away. They did not, could not, and would not understand.
Maybe in another world at a different time things could have worked out differently.
Another place, another time
But the Konoha he was in would not allow that.
He was on the bridge now - the same one where Team 7 had met so many times in the past. He stroked the railing he had leaned against countless times while Sakura and he held hands.
Her hand was not in his now, nor was her face radiating the brilliant light that would shine on him whenever he caressed her cheek.
Another hand to touch, another sun to shine
The ultimate betrayal. His pain now had a name.
Dusk was settling on the town that hated his name. He had been out later than he thought, but time did not matter to him anymore. His vision began to blur like it had before.
You got me deeper than deep and I'm constantly blinded
He started to run. His head was gone again, so his feet took over - carrying him out of the village and through the woods with alarming speed and not stopping until they reached a lined road.
He was at the top of a large hill that the street slithered over. From this vantage point, he could see a fair distance in either direction he chose to look. Down the way he had been running, he could see the nearby town where Konoha bought most of its goods, as cars were not allowed to enter the village due to security measures.
Naruto flinched. He and Sakura had been on missions there and visited on several occasions to pick up special items for the Hokage.
No escape.
I'm running around but there's no place to hide
He turned around. From there, he could see the mountain of Konoha - now seeming like a quintet of scowling faces, rather than the dignified ones he idolized.
Naruto smirked icily and defiantly tilted back his head. He began to talk, but the speech, along with his movement, was like that of a sleep-walker. He got steadily louder and louder until it was suddenly strong and intelligible.
"You could never let me have anything, could you?!" he yelled at the village. "It wasn't enough to revoke love, the life-giving waters, from my childhood, so you had to take my sunshine, too, right?!"
I start to talk in my sleep, our souls have divided
He stalked into the middle of the road and beat his chest while he roared.
"Well?! Here I am, Konoha! What are you waiting for?! You've never held back before! You've stolen from me since I took my first breath, so why stop there?!"
He ripped off the headband he had so proudly recieved seven years earlier and hurled it to the ground.
Pointing a blood-streaked index finger at the village, he continued.
"You would not even be standing if not for my father and me! Why, then?!"
Why can't they forgive me these demons inside
He fell to his knees as the hurt and the insanity flowed.
"Tell me WHY!!"
His sight was completely obscured by tears.
Deeper than deep and I'm constantly blinded
His chest rapidly rose and fell with his breathing, shaking his entire body.
My heart starts to shiver for I was letting up
His eyes were half shut and he sobbed as he began to sleep-talk again.
"S-sakura..."
I start to talk in my sleep, cause our souls have divided
A delivery truck was leaving the trading town, and it sped down the road on which Naruto knelt.
How can it be that you're ready for love
Naruto continued to call. Her face floated in his vision.
"Sakura."
How can it be that you're ready for love ...
Lights appeared at the top of the hill. A horn blasted through the silence. But Naruto just asked the question he had been asking for two days.
"Why...?"
How can it be that you're ready for love ...
A shadow moved in the cover of darkness. It flitted from rooftop to rooftop until it reached the wall of Konoha. Instead of leaving the village, it turned by the last row of buildings and dashed into a dark alley, where it stopped. Walking nonchalantly down path, it stopped a few feet away from a smaller shadow that sat on the ground.
Staring directly across to the barely visible adjacent side, the first shadow spoke. "Mission accomplished."
The small shadow stirred slightly. "Excellent. How did you manage it?"
"Heh. I didn't even get my hands dirty, except when getting his girlfriend away from him. Once he'd lost his heart, he lost his mind. The fool got hit by an eighteen-wheel truck when he was disoriented in his dreary thoughts."
"Exquisite. With him out of the way, the plan will execute without a hitch."
Evil laughter erupted from the shadows. A light flicked on in a window just above them to the left. As the panes opened, the alley became significantly brighter.
"Who's out there?!" called a voice from a silhouette that was leaning out of the house.
The small shadow stood. "Until the proper hour, then?" The space was emptied without a sound.
His features now illuminated, Sasuke, the first shadow, turned his back to the light and disappeared into the midnight pitch.