Title: Tears Don't Fall, They Crash Around Me

Warning: More sadness.

Distribution: Hmm, check the terms on my profile.

Disclaimer: I do not own NARUTO; as always, However, I do own this story.

A/N: I am at a loss of words.

--

"Sasuke-kun!" She took a step forward and staggered to a halt, clutching her chest in pain.

This was so very bad. After five years of not seeing him, she had succumbed to calling him Sasuke-kun again without a moment's hesitation. He was lying on the ground. Motionless.

Had she killed him?

Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn't have. She wasn't that good. It had to be a trick. It was a clone on the ground. Yes, that's right. That's better. A shadow clone. She closed the distance between her and 'it' and nudged it with her toe, cursing. It didn't disapparate or turn into a log.

"Sasuke!" She said again, getting down on her knees, closer to him. He didn't move. "Oh fuck," she muttered, trying to keep the tears in her eyes from spilling. "Damn it, Sasuke-kun, get up. You can't go out like this. You haven't revived your clan, yet."

She pulled her hand away from her chest, not registering the blood on her hand and began to give up her last chakra reserves to the boy who broke her heart. She felt his heart beat increase, signaling that the chakra was helping. She breathed a sigh of relief and immediately regretted it when she felt the dull ache in her chest increase to a throb. She pulled her hand away from Sasuke and put it back to the gaping wound she had been dealt just above her heart.

"Please, Sasuke. You can't kill your brother and then die. It's not right. There will never be any Uchihas ever again and the only one left with a sharingan will be Kakashi. And possibly Tobi. I heard that he had a sharingan, you know."

The information didn't provoke him like she hoped it would. "Sasuke-kun, please," she begged, more blood flowing through her fingers. She was getting light headed. Where was that back-up squad she called for, damn it?

As she was about to pass out, she watched in amusement as his eyes flickered open. He sat up abruptly, causing Sakura to fall back with a gasp. Only then did he notice her. His eyes widened at the blood flowing from her wound, and he moved over to her, removing the hand that had been trying to stem the blood flow.

"Sasuke...kun..." she said again, willing her eyes not to close.

"Sakura," he responded, cradling her head in his lap, "What happened to you?"

"I'm sorry I scared you like that," she tried to giggle but it came out more of a wheeze. "I shouldn't have just appeared out of nowhere. Your seal.. It..."

"What happened with my seal?" He asked worriedly, not justifying the twitch on his neck with a second thought.

"It... it consumed you... and..."

"Stay with me, Sakura," he pleaded, his hand now on her wound. He pushed a blueish color chakra into her for a few seconds and drew back exhausted. He found that he barely had enough for himself: how was he going to give her strength?

"Iruka and Shino are dead," She said quietly, wincing as she let out a hiccup. "I think Kakashi-sensei and Asuma are too, but I couldn't check, I had to get to you."

"What happened!?" He demanded again, causing her to flinch.

"I told you! You allowed the seal to consume you and you killed them! When I surprised you... I managed to knock you to the ground and you got really angry. You were so quick I didn't even see..."

"What?"

"Your katana... you stabbed me... here," she said, indicating the flowing wound in her chest. "I couldn't heal myself because my chakra levels are so low due to that guy Suigetsu. He's pretty strong," she managed a weak chuckle. "But I got him. He'll live though, I'm sure."

"I stabbed you?" He asked quietly, noticing her chakra signature flicker. He was getting increasingly worried.

She smiled up at him, flinching when something wet landed on her cheek. It's beginning to rain, she realized. "I'm sorry that it has to end like this, Sasuke-kun. I would've liked to help you revive your clan."

He didn't even have time to blush as she closed her eyes.

"Sakura, don't you dare," He commanded, shaking her gently. Her eyes fluttered open again and he looked up at him with sad jade orbs.

"I'm sorry, but everything's so fuzzy."

It began to pour. Sasuke was drenched to the bone, trying to sheild Sakura from the impending thunder storm.

"Just hold on," he said again, glaring into the forest.

"Sasuke-kun," her voice was so low, he could barely hear her. "I love you, you know that, right?"

"I know that," he said, leaning down and planting a kiss on her lips.

When he retracted her head, he saw her eyes closed again. And when he shook her gently this time, she didn't wake up.

The back-up team was only a minute away when they heard the shout. Naruto recognized it as Sasuke, bellowing a name. The name made him shiver, and it wasn't from the rain.

"Sakura," he whispered and quietly noted that Tsunade had picked up her pace.

Seconds later they arrived in the clearing. The Uchiha hadn't moved, still holding onto her broken body. Tsunade let out a half-growl half-whimper and ran over to try to revive the dead while Naruto slowly approached Sasuke, ignoring the chilly rain drops that dripped down his face. Beside him, Shikamaru stood looking sorrowful, and Hinata touched his arm gently. He couldn't see the tears in the pouring rain, but he knew they were there. Everyone in the clearing was crying. Naruto, Sasuke, Tsunade was sobbing as she tried to heal Sakura's still bleeding wound. Hinata backed away towards Shikamaru, who caught the shy girl's elbow and allowed her to sob uncontrollably into his vest since Naruto was otherwise occupied.

Naruto looked down at Sasuke, still cradling the pink-haired kunoichi's head.

"Sasuke?" He asked softly, reaching out and gently laying a hand on his ex-best friend's shoulder. The remaining Uchiha looked up, his sharingan was spinning, and Naruto could see the pain and confusion it held. There was something else in there, spinning with the three prongs. Guilt. He could see the guilt, and as Sasuke spoke, he found he could hear it in the raven-haired shinobi's voice.

"It's my fault," Sasuke said, his voice a splinter away from breaking. "I did it. The seal consumed me and she tried to stop me. I guess I stabbed her. I don't know."

Naruto nodded, and tugged on Sasuke's shirt. He watched the dark boy as he gently laid Sakura's head on the ground, and watched as Tsunade was still sobbing, still carefully trying to heal the broken body.

Sasuke stood, walking with Naruto towards the woods. As soon as he got there, he pulled his hand back, creating a fist and smashed it mercilessly into the near by tree-trunk of a weeping willow.

The two men stood there, angry and sad, consumed now with grief at the loss of their team mate. Their balance. Sasuke pulled his now cut up hand away from the tree truck where it had made the trunk splinter slightly. He watched Sasuke's bruised knuckles begin to bleed. Sasuke didn't even feel the pain from the torn up hand, and he allowed tears, which he hadn't cried in a very long time, to flow from his eyes and on to the soaked ground, mixing with the rain. His head was hung. Naruto, for once, was at a loss of words, torn between comforting his best friend, his girl friend, or running over to the body of his first crush who was now laying un-moving on the grass.

He blinked, watching for a split second as the tear that left his cerulean eye slid down the side of his face and mix with the rain and blood of the battlefield.

Though he couldn't see every tear being shed, he could feel them. Everytime one slipped, he swore the Earth shook as they crashed around him, shattering his heart into a million pieces.

Tears don't fall, they crash around me' There was a truth to the words that Naruto didn't want to admit. He never wanted to feel this way, and now as the terrible feeling was coarsing through his veins, he felt as if with every tear that hit the forest floor, he was going to die. He was suffering so badly, he wanted this to end. He wanted it to be better. He wanted her back, not just for himself; for everyone.

"SAKURA!" At this, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata and Shikamaru all snapped their heads up towards the fifth Hokage, watching her as she screamed again, and to Sasuke's amazement, said girl coughed. Well, gasped, choked, wheezed and then coughed up blood. She opened her eyes on the ground, which were immediately confused, and Sasuke was immediately at her side, littering kisses on her face, begging her not to leave again.

And Naruto heard her voice, "I promise I won't."

--

Ahh, it saddens me. I was listening to Tears Don't Fall by Bullet For My Valentine and I have a very emotional connection to that song: someone I used to love was the one who first brought it to my attention and it just gave me an idea.

So there it is in words.

I hope you enjoyed.