She still remembered the days when he used to smile. The days when he used to laugh, and joke, and be annoying, and loud, and obnoxious, and goofy, and…himself. She remembered when he used to be happy…

Chapter 7: Beyond The Horizon

Cold. That's all he could feel. A bitter cold that clung to him like a wet sheet. He felt as if he were drowning. Going deeper into the darkness that surrounded him. As he fell deeper, even the cold seemed to fade away. There was nothing. All was gone. His spirit was shattered, his mind was wrecked. The bitter after taste of despair sat upon his lips, a poison that ate away at his tongue.

The darkest parts of hell couldn't conceal the sorrow in the teen's heart, nor could a light pierce the shadows that surrounded him. He was alone, now and forever, cursed by the one he loved.

Or used to.

No light.

No darkness.

Nothing.

No pain.

No pleasure.

Empty.

The past clouded the judgment of those that looked to the future. Only those who could hold on to their present, accept their past, and embrace their future could move on.

He couldn't accept his past.

It was loathsome, degrading. Nothing about it appealed to him. Nothing he wanted to keep. But it was everything he couldn't run from. All the sins that he'd committed, all the pain he'd endured. They would forever haunt him, regardless of how he closed his eyes. Regardless of how he tried to shut it all out. There would be no escape, not until he turned and faced it all.

His memories had returned, full force.

Shifting ever so slightly, he felt himself on a bed. In his seventeen years of life, he had become well acquainted with the lumpy, spring loaded mattress. So the first thing that came to mind while waking up was how he got back to his closed off box of a home. He leaned up, holding his head as he felt like it was loaded with much more than it could contain.

"Finally up."

Naruto didn't flinch. He didn't jump or scream. He just sat there. He had already been aware of the person, knowing instinctively that it could only be her. The person who was the main focus of his memories. The star of his dreams and the savior of his nightmares.

"Ino…"

Ino stood silently in the doorway to his room. She looked down, hearing the dead tired voice escape the blonde's lips. It was as if all life had been drained right out of him. Even the chill of the air felt like the shinigami was hovering nearby.

She had walked Hinata back to her home, her father having summoned her right after the meeting with the Hokage. So she had been on her way home herself, lost in the pleasurable thought of the plan that was to be implemented against the Uchiha. But first, she had wanted to go back to where Naruto and Sakura had been, hopefully to finish what she had started. Instead, she found Naruto a bit ways off, unconscious on the ground.

The first emotion to cross her features of course was shock. Then almost instantly, pure unbridled rage. Logic failing, Ino immediately pegged Sakura for the blonde's current position. However, remembering that it wasn't safe for the teen to be laid out on the side of a road, she quickly scooped him up and headed towards the only place she could think of, aka, his apartment. It wasn't truly viable, but she knew that they couldn't go to the hospital. Nobody would be able to figure out what was wrong with him. Going back to Tsunade wouldn't prove any better and taking the blonde back to her own home was asking for a night of interrogation should her father return anytime between dusk and dawn.

She used his keys in his pocket to open the door and once again found herself tending to the unconscious teen in his room. A sad smirk had found its way onto her face as she felt déjà vu. The only difference was that Naruto was actually alive this time. Taking his temperature and making sure he was comfortable, she found out that he had only passed out. He wasn't running a fever or anything. He was just tired. Throughout the whole ordeal, Ino kept checking up on the blonde anyway, stroking his hair from his face and hoping that she'd be able to catch his sleepy gaze when he first awoken.

She also fully evaluated everything up until then. Now, for the first time since she had started worrying about the blonde, she could honestly say that she wanted to be with him, more than as comrades or friends. She wanted to experience what Sakura had missed out on, what Hinata had always wanted, and what several other girls secretly swooned to. Of course, she would feel bad about taking Naruto first, seeing as Hinata had never done anything to anybody. Thinking about it, Ino felt like she was getting ahead of herself. Naruto knew about the feelings Hinata had for him. But he never returned them. He still went after Sakura.

But now, he may fall back towards the Hyuga heiress. Ino held her chest as she felt a pain in her heart. Again, for the first time in her life, Ino felt something that she thought that she was too good for. Complete and true jealousy.

"They're back." Naruto mumbled, looking out the window. Ino was snapped from her thoughts and looked at the blonde. She rose an eyebrow in confusion.

"What's back?"

"My memories. They're all back."

Naruto's voice was colder than the chilling air. It was low, even and held no emotions whatsoever. It was as if he were silently talking to himself, or no one at all. It raised goose bumps on Ino's skin, making her rub her arms in indifference. She walked over to the bed and sat down on the edge, leaning her head against his shoulder. He didn't move.

"It's funny you know?" He said, with no sarcasm. "How things really do tend to be so fucked up for those who try to be saints? Like how God tends to put all the faithful through harsh trials, making them suffer while saying there's a light at the end of the tunnel. Testing how true their faithfulness is, pushing them to the point where they may break. What's the point?"

Ino sat confused at the blonde's words but didn't show it. After several seconds of thought, she started understanding what he meant, but she still didn't see the relevance.

"All this time, I've been trying to protect everyone, even the ones who wanted me dead. I turned my back on a girl who really loved me for a girl that only loved me as second best."

Ino stiffened, knowing that he was referring to Hinata and Sakura.

"Naruto-kun…not everyone felt that way."

"Then there's my so called best friend…" Naruto continued as if he hadn't heard her. "The one I spent all these years trying to find. Trying to pull back from the darkness. Risking everything, body, soul, existence. Only to find a deranged piece of shit that only wanted to end my life and those of everyone I cared about. And what did I do? I still brought him back. I never gave up. How ironic that my tenaciousness be the downfall of me."

It was silent. The world seemed to have stopped spinning, leaving only the wind blowing over the halted soil. Sasuke lay, unable to move but still conscious at his feet. Debris still fell, uplifted from Naruto's Rasenshuriken. The Uchiha groaned and howled out, trying to get his body to respond, so he could kill the person who only wanted to save him.

"Why? Why are you so much stronger?" Sasuke shouted, tears of blood running down his face as his eyes repeatedly shifted from normal to mangekyou. Naruto could only look down on the person whom he still called a friend. The same person that even now was still trying to kill him. Unable to move, body broken and damn near paralyzed, but still with enough blood lust for someone who only cared.

"I'm stronger because I have something and someone I want to protect. Someone that I want to save. I told you, I'd take you back to the village, even if I had to break every bone in your body! You're my friend Sasuke! I won't let you destroy yourself!"

Sasuke grunted, rage still in his eyes. Naruto didn't see it, nor did he want to. So he trudged over to the downed Uchiha, holding his violently bleeding side. His vision was blurring even now, having a small bit of healing power left. It was only enough to get him back to the village and then in the hands of someone with a bit more medical experience.

He picked up Sasuke and slung his arm over his shoulder. All the while, Sasuke shouted threats and profane extremities. Naruto ignored, always the positive thinker, wanting Sasuke to become what he used to be. To go back to the past where they were just gening. Fighting Haku and Zabuza. Saving each other in the Forest of Death. Acting as brothers…

'Even if…he's stronger…' Sasuke thought. A sadistic smirk made its way onto his face. 'I'm going to win. If I can't beat you physically, dobe, I'll take everything else from you. I promise!'

Naruto smiled, not knowing what the Uchiha was thinking. He still held onto the past, clinging to it like a safety blanket. So it obvious that he was completely oblivious to the upcoming events. The events that would forever change him and the leaf village from that day forward.

"Look…we're almost there…" Naruto called as the village gates came into view. After a while, the two had settled into silence. Sasuke, planning for tearing the blonde apart and Naruto trying to stay conscious as the wound on his side proved to be worse than he expected. He coughed up blood stumbling slightly.

"You're gonna be dead before we even get back." Sasuke mumbled. Naruto thought that it was because he was worried about him, but couldn't see the small smirk on Sasuke's face. As they neared the gates, audible gasps were heard and then the groaning of the door opening.

"Has Anbu alerted the Hokage?" Naruto asked one of the guards.

"Yes, several minutes ago. They should be here shortly!"

Naruto nodded and then continued his trudge forward into his home. Konohagakure, The Village Hidden in Leaves, would finally be able to rest. Peace would ensue from that day forward. Akatsuki was gone. Orochimaru was gone. Danzo was gone. Madara Uchiha was burnt toast. The Kyubi no longer existed. Now to top it all off, Naruto had finally brought Sasuke home. Yes, peace was sure to follow…they all naively hoped.

Inside and only several meters away from the gate, Naruto paused. He couldn't go in further on his own without falling out.

"We'll have to wait here." Naruto mumbled, finding it harder to talk by the second. Sasuke was laughing in his head, hoping to be the one to watch the blonde drop dead in the middle of the road.

"Come on, you can make it to the hospital!" Sasuke called, hiding his enthusiasm with his trademark scowl.

"I wish…" Naruto responded, still not realizing the undertone the Uchiha was hiding. "It won't take long…I can feel Sakura-chan coming closer anyway."

A light bulb went up over Sasuke's head instantly. He almost through his head back and laughed maniacally but he was still in pain as well. Several yards ahead, Naruto saw Sakura stop, hands to her chest and tears in her eyes. Then a smile slowly formed as she beamed in excitement. She dashed towards them, eyes never leaving Sasuke. As soon as she reached them, she practically dove onto them, more so Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun, you're actually back! Kami-sama, you're really home!"

Sasuke was remembering the time where he had almost killed Sakura, for the third time. He found it amazing that the pink haired girl would still have feelings for him after three times, but he shrugged it off. Actually, now was perfect. It was because of Naruto that Sakura wasn't dead by his hands, and now that was all going to come back around to haunt him.

Several yards away, some of Naruto's friends watched the scene silently, deciding not to make themselves present since the old team 7 was finally being reunited.

"S…Sakura, pain…" Sasuke groaned, making the pink haired teen blush and lean up. She quickly pulled Sasuke to his feet with her monstrous strength, failing to notice the blood on all three from Naruto's wound. Naruto had hit the ground hard when the pink haired girl had jumped at them. His strength was just about gone. He stood up slowly, not wanting to further injure himself and was about to make himself visible to the girl. However, Sasuke beat him to it.

"Sakura, I need to get to the hospital." Sasuke said with a fake moan. Sakura nodded eagerly, and pulled out a small pouch of soldier pills. In her haste, she accidently dropped several but popped one in Sasuke's mouth anyway.

"Sasuke-kun, please don't leave me alone again!" She whispered as she stepped closer to him. Naruto froze on spot. Sasuke caught the movement out of the corner of his eyes.

"Why would I ever do that? Sakura…I want to be with you. That's the only reason I'm back now. I don't care about anyone else. Anyone." He shot a quick glance at Naruto, which went unnoticed by Sakura alone. Sakura hugged Sasuke, crying into his chest. Her words became muffled and unreadable.

"Sas…Sasuke…" Naruto was saying but fell to his knees. Sasuke smirked at Naruto before making Sakura look up at him. He whispered something to her and she nodded, never even bother to look Naruto's way. He was invisible to her. Her world was now taking up by the visage of Sasuke, and Sasuke alone.

"Yes! Yes, I'll marry you Sasuke-kun!" Sakura shouted to the world. That was the last thing she said before shunshining them both to the hospital. Naruto was speechless, looking at the empty air in front of him. So quick, but so much. Everything had gone wrong just like that. In the blink of an eye. He was supposed to be the one to get Sakura. He was the one that was supposed to have been the girl's hero.

Before he lost consciousness, he grabbed two of the soldier pills that Sakura had dropped and disdainfully ate them. Feeling some of his strength returning, he shunshined to the only place where he could think…

Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji watched with wide eyes and fallen jaws.

"Wha…what the hell was that?" Chouji stuttered out.

"It's like forehead didn't even see him! Like he was invisible!" Ino breathed out. Shikamaru frowned darkly.

"No. It wasn't just Naruto. Sasuke is the only person she saw, everything else was damned." Shikamaru spat with venom, actually making Ino flinch. "Did you see the look on Sasuke's face?"

"Yeah!" Chouji bellowed a bit loudly. "It was like he was totally doing it on purpose, just to hurt Naruto!"

"No way, Sasuke wouldn't do that…would he?" Ino asked, not sure of herself. Shikamaru shot Ino a dark look that she wouldn't forget anytime soon.

"You should know the answer to that by now. Do you honestly still have feelings for that prick?"

Ino opened her mouth to reply, to maybe even take up for Sasuke, but she found herself at a loss for words. There was no way in hell she could deny that Sasuke had done that on purpose. It was obvious.

"We need to find Naruto." Shikamaru said beginning to walk away.

"Why?" Ino called.

"Didn't you see all that blood. Even with those soldier pills, Naruto's going to be in trouble if he doesn't get to the hospital."

"How do you know he didn't go there already?" Ino asked again.

"Because Naruto would never go to the hospital on his own accord, and because of what just happened. Think, Ino. You're acting like the Uchiha obsessed fangirl you used to be." Shikamaru caught Ino off guard again, speaking coldly towards her. She had never wanted to be on the Nara's bad side when he was serious. But once again, she couldn't deny that he was right. She had all intentions of coming to propose to Sasuke, wanting to forget how he had betrayed the village. How he had almost killed her friends on several occasions. She knew almost nothing about the boy yet she still claimed to love him, even after three years. Shikamaru was right, it was obsession. But not as bad as Sakura's…

She stopped that line of thinking before it got too far. Right now was the time to find the knucklehead. She walked towards the area where team 7 had just had its make shift reunion. Her gaze caught the few spots of blood that dotted the ground and she turned away sadly. She closed her eyes, using a clan technique to sense if Naruto had gone far or not. Surprisingly, she could feel the path of his shunshin, which shouldn't have been possible. Most ninja couldn't produce a strong enough chakra distortion to leave behind residue, and that's because the shunshin wasn't meant for traveling long distances. It was usually used to get outside of a building or several feet away from a potential enemy. The longest recorded shunshin was only a one hundred meter radius. So as she prepared to see if she could physically follow Naruto through his shunshin, she almost passed out as she felt his chakra signature all the way on the Hokage Monument.

It took her several minutes and almost a dozen shunshin's the reach the Hokage Monument. Taking several minutes to catch her breath, she looked over at the blonde, sitting on the Fourth's head and looking out over the village that he had saved on many different occasions. Even as the wind blew, his hair bellowing in the wind, he seemed rock still. Ino slowly walked over to him, her first train of thought being to scold the boy back to his senses and get him to the hospital. However, as she approached, she saw his wound already healing rapidly and tears streaming down his face.

"Naruto…" She whispered.

"Why are you here?" He called, voice deep and hoarse at the same time.

"I…Why are you crying?" She asked, not wanting to tell him that they had seen what had happened.

"It's nothing…go away." He called and then silence enveloped them. Even the wind died down. Instead of taking the route that she would've several hours ago, Ino walked towards the blonde and sat down next to him.

"Holding it in isn't going to make it any better." She said and put an arm around his shoulder. He tensed but relaxed several seconds later.

"Is it so wrong…to want just one thing in my life?"

Ino's eyes widened. "What…what you mean?"

"When we were younger…what did I ever do to anybody? What did I do to deserve to be hated by the entire village. To be beaten and ridiculed, segregated. And then to have my education sabotaged in the academy. I was placed on a team where my sensei thought I was useless, I was in love with a girl who would beat me for giving her a compliment and my so called best friend would try to kill me. All I want...wanted was a little happiness in my life. But I stopped that too when I decided not to give Hinata the chance she deserved…when she risked her life for me, almost died for me…yet I still went to Sakura."

Ino frowned at hearing what had happened when Pein attacked the village.

"I took on the world, survived the damn war to make everyone happy, to make sure you were all safe. And in the end…I'm left with nothing…"

Ino's lips were sealed. Her heart ached, and she felt as if the burden that Naruto carried over those years were finally dumped onto her. Her own eyes watered at the thought that the usually loud shinobi was speaking as if he were to be put to death. There was nothing left for him and all she was doing was sitting here speechless. She couldn't do more for him and seeing him like that now, she felt pure hatred toward Sakura and Sasuke. The next thing she knew, Naruto was crying into her shoulder, letting out all the anguish, pain, heartache, and regret that had accumulated over the years. He was pouring out his soul…and in the end there would be nothing left…

As Naruto finished speaking, everything seemed to vanish. Ino looked him in the eyes and felt her spirit crumble. He was a shell. A fragile, brittle outward appearance of what used to be Uzumaki Naruto. There was no sadness, anger, or happiness. Just the glare that made her heart ache, and the silence that enveloped the world, far beyond the horizon. He faced away from her, gazing back outside.

"Was I asking too much…to have anything at all…Am I destined to know true pain…just like Nagato had wanted…" The ensuing silence that followed chilled Ino to her core.

Naruto paused, his gaze finally leaving the outside world. He straightened his back, and then swiftly turned, letting Ino's head fall to his bed. He rolled her to her back, leaning over her and pinning her down by her wrist. Ino's eyes widened as she gazed up into the stoic face of the Uzumaki.

"N-Naruto-kun, what are you doing?" She gasped out, both fear and confusion rushing through her head.

"If I were Sasuke…would you ask what I was doing?"

Ino's eyes widened. Her throat began to dry as her eyes clouded.

"You said it yourself Ino. If you would have gotten to Sasuke before Sakura, you would have let him do whatever he felt like to you."

"No…" Ino whispered out, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.

Naruto leaned down, his face only inches from the Yamanaka's. He felt her tremble, breath catching in her chest.

"Are you really over him Ino?" He whispered into her ear. "Am I really what you want? Or am I second best, just like with Sakura?"

Naruto sucked on her neck, drawing a pleasurable gasp. Ino's body jerked from the unexpected contact and her breathing quickened.

"Na…ruto…" She gasped out, shutting her eyes tight. Suddenly she pushed him away, standing swiftly and backing away towards the door. "No…what's gotten into you? You're not the Naruto-kun I know…you're acting like…"

"Like Sasuke?" Naruto finished for her, a humorless chuckle following.

"Why? Why would you do something like that?"

Naruto frowned, and stood up. Ino froze again, wanting to back away more as he slowly walked towards her. Finally, as he did make it right in front of her, she found that she was pinned again, against a wall.

"Because it's you Ino. You're starting to act like the saints I was talking about. Bad things happen to good people."

Ino didn't know how to respond. She didn't truly know what he meant.

"Ino…if Sakura would have taken me instead of Sasuke that day, we wouldn't be here now. I would be with her, happily taking whatever she dished out at me. And when, or if, I finally saw the shit I was going through, I would have somehow ended up with Hinata. But none of that happened, and here I find myself with you in my room again, trying your hardest to keep the little piece of light there is left in me."

Naruto pulled Ino into a hug, but her arms hung uselessly to the side as she comprehended what he was saying.

"You're acting like I did, not too long ago. When I still tried to hold on to the piece of light in Sasuke that wasn't there. I wasted my life for him and her. Now, I'm in the position of Sasuke, looking at you across a gorge that will never be filled. The longer you try to catch me, the further away I'll get."

Ino's arms wrapped around Naruto, catching him off guard.

"Dammit, shut the hell up, baka!" She was crying. "You're so stupid!"

"Ino…"

"How can you get further away…if I never plan to let you go?"

Naruto's eyes widened. Everything that he had just said seemed to freeze in the air around them.

"You're right. Me and you would have never been in this position had things gone down the way we wanted them to at first. But like I said before, what ifs are just that. We can't reverse time so all we can do is move forward. Even if you weren't my first choice and I wasn't yours, we're here now! What I feel for you, Naruto-kun…I'm not comparing it to Sasuke. I'm not looking at anyone else. I just want you, and you alone! Our lives may have fallen to ruins, and trying too hard to be a saint was just asking for that. It's our faults for not knowing when to give up. Sometimes it's for the best. You and I are totally different people now than we were several weeks ago. I'm trying to grow up, and take the world seriously and you're finally trying to think of yourself above others."

Ino chuckled tiredly, feeling just as drained as Naruto. She leaned unto him, sighing deeply.

"I guess all I'm saying is…it doesn't matter how we got here, or why. It only matters what we do now…What I feel for you is real Naruto-kun, and not based on what I could've had with the Uchiha." Ino smirked. "Actually, if I were to compare it, this would be the grand luxury prize of the century."

Naruto closed his eyes, letting out a long sigh. He pulled Ino even closer.

"Since when could you give pep talks like that?" He asked silently.

"Since you stopped." She whispered back.

They stood in silence for several moments, both dead tired and finally coming to terms with a semi-peace. Naruto felt as if Ino had accomplished what he couldn't. She had saved someone from plunging into darkness. It brought a sense of regret to him, but he quickly shook it away. He knew that it was finally time for him to stop acting like a saint, a savior. He was human, just like the rest of the world.

"Okay, I got one important question." Naruto said as he released Ino. Ino cocked an eyebrow.

"What?"

"Want a drink?"