A/N: A sad story... a songfic using After All by Delerium. I do not own Naruto or Naruto Shippuuden, nor do I own any of the music featured in this fanfiction. No copyright infringements are intended, and all rights are reserved for Masashi Kishimoto, and the musical rights are copyright to Delerium. If you flame, you will get a very angry review reply. i don't take crap from readers, but if you do like it, good for you! Please review! (nicely)

~She knows the voices in her mind,

~they tell her to leave,

~she's tired of smiling madly,

~until silence comes very silently.

Setsuyo rocked back and forth on her toes, clasping her fingers in hew own hair. Her gaze rested on the face of her equally distraught lover, Yakushi Kabuto. She had a weird urge to just run away, to leave this uncomfortable confrontation, to feel her long gold and red hair fly in torrents behind her in the wind of her escape. But she couldn't move, not now. The fake smile faltered, and fell completely off her face. Sick of holding a fake smile in front of her Kabuto, she gazed him straight in the eye. Saying nothing, her eyes spoke for her. they said, 'Stay with me forever'. An eerie silence rung around the enclosed tree circle. The black midnight sky stretched out high above the treetops, the black colour reflected in a small pond in the clearing.

~a noise in her mind.

The silver-haired shinobi just slowly shook his head, gazing back at her with equally pain-struck eyes, but a final decision was evident.

~after all she has nothing inside

~no good to give

~no meaning to live.

Setsuyo took her hands out of her hair, and her bright purple eyes shone dimly from the light from her skin, a pale, whitish glow. Kabuto's step backwards made her inwardly cringe, and gasp out loud.

~the mist engulfed tonight

~every single star

A thin wall of glass seemed to separate the two lovers as they backed away from one another, slow but deliberate steps carrying them further and further away from one another.

~after all they shared

~how could he simply say no?

~after all they shared

~he turned away from her to go.

Setsuyo's tears silently built up behind her wide fucia eyes, but she held them back. Blinking, she decided to try and stop him fro leaving her. Taking a mad leap, she threw herself at the man about to leave the premmesis. Her hand caught onto his arm. A mad light shone in her eyes as she closed the distance between their lips for the last time.

~She said she wouldn't cry

~that was really just a lie.

As they pulled away from each other, Kabuto still wore the sad but decisive expression. She gazed closely at his face, but he stepped a little aways.

~She knows the noises in her mind

~nothing's left but screaming silence.

Another step backwards, and Setsuyo held her breath. The silence pounded in her ears, but she ignored that. Her heart was pounding alot harder. Her eyes hardened, and she glared balefully at the man.

~after all she feels numbness inside

~the feeling's gone

~she's upsidedown.

A small sad smile graced his lips for one split seconds, then he turned. Leaping into a tree, he paused on the branch he rested on, and glanced back.

~The picture's behind her closed eyes,

~this time you went too far.

Setsuyo had fallen to her knees, her head down, hands covering her face. A shrieking sob racked her lithe form on the ground below Kabuto.

~After all they shared how could he simply say no?

~after all they shared he turned away from her to go.

~she said she wouldn't cry,

~that was really just a lie.

"Setsuyo..." he murmured, turning away. Wipping out a kunai, he bit down on his lip, then decided on it. Flinging the kunai out behind him, he leapt away quickly. The kunai struck her full-on in the back. Blood gushed out around the knife, but it hit no vital organs. Kabuto had made sure of that. She sat up, reached around, and yanked the weapon out of her flesh. A sick tearing sound came from the wound. he had left, forever. A numb feeling spread from the wound, up to her neck, and over her face. She had ost too much blood. As she fell back onto the ground, splashing in her own blood, the last uttered words from her lips were:

"Wait for me, Yakushi Kabuto...I'll see you soon..."

Just before she was swallowed up by the black abyss of death, her last words rang in the air. A single flake of snow fell, and it was over.