Everything seemed to freeze, the moment Sasuke's eyes met Naruto's. Even the wind ceased to blow, the thunder stilled.

Blood leaked from his eye sockets, crimson tears dribbling down his pale face and hitting the dirty ground.

A powerful, dark aura surrounded Sasuke, as he approached Naruto, and the blonde boy felt like he'd been paralysed. He couldn't move one muscle.

Slowly, the Kyuubi's chakra started to recede, and more blood poured from Sasuke's eyes, his fingers twitching from the pain it caused him to use his eyes despite the seal.

It felt, like every ounce of power was being drained out of him, as if it was being ripped right away from him, as Naruto's eyes dulled and looked into the distance dreamily.

An evil smirk formed on Sasuke's face, when he felt the blond's control slip away, as he surrendered to him.

Kill those two. He ordered telepathically. Naruto moved without hesitation, walking towards Kakashi and Sakura. For a short moment, a small bit of Naruto's chakra regained control, but Sasuke suppressed it immediately, giving him no chance to influence his actions.

Kill them!

His head felt like his skull was slowly breaking in two pieces, his eyes feeling ready to pop out and he knew he'd have to hurry, because he didn't know how much longer he could stay conscious with this increasingly unbearable pain ripping through every fiber of his body.

Kill them now!

Naruto raised one of his claw like hands, ready to strike, as Sakura stood in front of him, frozen in place.

"N-Naruto." She whispered, her voice cracking and trembling. The blond raised his hand towards the sky, just as it darkened unexpectedly.

Something soft tickled Sasuke's cheek, a soft caress he, being the love starved human he regretted being so often, felt the need to lean into.

Outstretching his left hand, he caught something very soft and delicate in his hand.

It was raining raven black feathers.

His eyes widened, as he looked upwards, watching more and more feathers falling down from above.

"Wh-What-" He couldn't even find words that could describe his confusion. "What's h-happening?"

Hands grabbed his bruised upper arms in a tight, but not painful grip. And there were black strands of hair tickling his forehead.

"Stop, Sasuke." A painfully familiar voice whispered. "Stop it."

Blood red sharingan looked at him, as he dared to glance up.

The pale skin, the black hair, features so much like his own, yet different. He was looking into the face of his own brother.

His eyes widened considerably, mouth slightly agape, while his whole body began to shiver uncontrollably with horror and grief.

"Y-You're dead." The words were barely comprehensible, due to his violently trembling lips. "I.-I...k-killed you."

"Sasuke. Stop this. It's wrong and I know that you're aware of it."

He fell to his knees, clutching each side of his head desperately, while he tore at his dark hair.

"You're...you're not real. Get out of my head!" The pain returned suddenly, forcing him to curl up, as a horrible scream of agony tore from his lips. "GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY HEAD!"

"Stop this! Don't punish the innocent. Forget about revenge. Forget about your hatred!"

He screamed again, all his muscles clenching.

"Stop this before it's too late. Don't let my sacrifice be in vain."

His body ceased all movement for a moment, as his eyes widened even more. Was he really...Was he really making his brother's suffering in vain, by trying to make those responsible for his brother's torment feel at least some semblance of the suffering they had caused his brother?

Had everything he'd done so far, been completely in vain? Had he really been living a lie once again?

It felt as though the ground beneath him was crumbling and shattering into tiny little pieces, cutting open his feet, as, for another time, his reality crashed down on him, all the lies he had kept believing in raining down at him.

Every time he had found something to believe in, something he could keep on living for, it turned out to be deception.

He was still on his hands and knees, the cold ground beneath him being the only thing that kept him in contact with the real world.

Vision blurring uncontrollably, he covered his mouth with his hand, as his stomach made a lazy turn and clenched up painfully.

Heaving and retching, he coughed up yellow bile that was so bitter, it burned on his tongue. His abdominal muscles cramped with the effort. And there was a hand patting his back, and another one holding back his bangs, but he couldn't really pay attention to it.

It took some time before his stomach was even emptier than it had been before.

"Are you alright?" Naruto's voice asked almost timidly, with this soft and caring tone of voice Sasuke didn't actually deserve.

Wide black eyes stared at him, before Sasuke broke free from him in a matter of seconds.

Slowly, he crawled backwards, away from the blond who didn't quite understand why the Uchiha seemed so terrified of him.

He slowly approached the other boy, stopping immediately, when Sasuke came dangerously close to the edge of the third Hokage's stone head.

"Sasuke, what's wrong?" The horrified expression on Sasuke's face only intensified and the blond yelled for him to stop, but the Uchiha was at the edge and let himself fall backwards.

Naruto watched with horror in his eyes, as his best friend fell, ten, fifteen, twenty meters, an incredulous expression stuck on Sasuke's features.

"Shit!" Naruto yelled and couldn't seem to tear his eyes away, no matter how much he wanted to. He was leaning so far over the edge, that he was almost falling down himself, but there were two gloved hands holding him.

Sasuke's former teammates could do nothing but watch, as the dark haired man hit the ground.

Naruto closed his eyes, tears running down his face uncontrollably.

The clouds above their heads ceased all movement, and it started to rain, thick drops of water making the leaves of the many trees around them bend, some of them even getting ripped off and knocked down into the quickly growing puddles.

Next to him, he could hear Sakura sob frantically, while he covered his eyes with his hands, shaking his head trying to deny the fact that he had not been able to save his best friend.

A gasp made him look up, blue eyes already beginning to look puffy and red from crying.

It was Kakashi, whose visible eye was widened, while he looked down in disbelief.

Naruto followed his gaze and all color drained out of his face, as he watched the dark figure twenty meters below them trudge somewhere into the depths of the forest, clearly injured, but obviously still alive enough to move.

"Naruto, Sakura!" The two of them nodded quickly, knowing that there was no room for them to show their relief.


It felt strangely warm. The blood leaving his body quickly wrapped him into a warm, almost comfortable red blanket.

Wasn't he supposed to feel cold while the only source of warmth in his body was steadily dripping out of him? Was this hell's welcoming gift for him, a small semblance of the awaiting purgatory?

Or was he simply delusional, bizzare pictures flashing before his eyes, as words tumbled from his lips, maybe prayers, maybe obscenities, maybe only a mix of incoherent sobs and giggles he concocted somewhere in his raw throat. And maybe there really was something like a god who pitied him enough to let him die that undignified death, curled up on the dirty ground, bleeding to death from wounds he had inflicted on himself, with a weapon he had taken from the very person who wanted him to live the most.

With blurry, unfocused eyes, he glanced down at the ragged slashes across his wrists, strangely satisfied with the thought that he was ruining his body, destroying this empty, tainted shell of his.

And there was a strange, distorted melody in his head, voices singing out of tune about hate and death and betrayal. Voices of the dead, buried deep beneath his body, calling him to them, reaching out with their decaying hands. The dead that still resided in his head, in his heart, unwilling to let him go, unable to let him go, for he was still clinging to them too tightly, because all he cared about was dead and gone. So was it really too much to ask to just want to vanish along with them?

Slowly, he felt his eyelids start to feel heavy, as his vision faded, until all he could see were dark blurs among blinding white light, as he entered a place where he didn't have to remember all the blood, and all the corpses littering the street, those pale, long-fingered hands touching him, needles piercing his skin and the wonderful silence of brightly colored oblivion, as well as the longing and craving that followed.


With one arm, she tried to shield her eyes from the rain. Once her bloodline limit was activated, every raindrop touching her eyelids felt like a small dagger stabbing her eye.

She had ran through the same damn forest for over half an hour, starting to feel like she was walking in circles, because everything just looked the same.

And now it had started to rain, as well, which meant that Kiba would have to stop his search, because every trace of scent was being erased.

A burning sensation in her eyes made her aware of the fact that she'd used the byakugan for too long.

She was just about to turn them off and give up, when suddenly, half a kilometer away, she spotted someone sitting on the forest ground, leaning heavily against a tree.

It was Uchiha Sasuke, undoubtedly. And he was injured.

Without thinking, she started to run, slipping and tripping, but managing to reach him within a minute.

Her throath scratched painfully and she drew cold air in through her mouth, which felt awfully dry.

She entered the clearing, feeling the rain soaking her within less than a few seconds. Shuddering, she walked left and saw the outlines of Sasuke's body.

She jerked to a halt, the moment she really noticed, what she was seeing.

Violent shivers ran through her body, and her trembling hand closed over her mouth, trying to stifle a scream, even though her vocal cords seemed to have frozen along with her body.

Without being able to tear her eyes away, without being able to move, she could only stare at something so horrible and beautiful at the same time.

He was sitting, his boneless form leaning against the tree for support. His head was lowered, so that she couldn't see his face, and his black hair was dripping wet, while his soaked shirt clung to his every muscle.

Deathly pale skin seemed to glisten in the rain, and for a moment, the pool of crimson red blood around him, seemed like the perfect contrast to his milky white skin.

She inched closer, feeling strangely out of place in a picture that displayed such utter perfection.

Leaning down, she observed his face curiously, delight flooding through her. He was simply beautiful, and his defenseless expression, only served to make him all the more appealing.

Her body moved closer to him, without her permission, and something within her wished to run her tongue over those pale, bluing lips. Her hands itched to move underneath the dark shirt to touch porcelain skin and feel strong muscles. And it made her feel almost nauseous to have such thoughts on her mind, while blood kept flowing out of the cuts on each of his wrists.

She brushed hair out of his face, before leaning down, pressing one ear against his warm chest. Her whole face burned red, and she wanted more than anything, to close her arms around his waist and embrace him, like the sad, little boy that he truly was within.

His heartbeat was weak, but it was still there, and it seemed like the most beautiful melody she had ever heard.

She touched one of his wrists, before letting chakra rush to her palms. Slowly, very slowly, the cut started to close, and she realized, as she sat above him, straddling his hips, that her lower legs were already soaked in his blood.

"D-on't." A dark voice ground out right next to her ear, and she noticed, that Sasuke's chin was resting on her shoulder, his shallow breathing feeling warm against her skin, tickling it gently.

"Please...just let me-." die. He didn't finish the sentence, but she knew. And his voice was very close to begging, and for some twisted reason, she felt accepted as a human being, as someone who had the power to change something, for the first time in her life. It brought tears to her eyes.

"Sasuke." She whispered comfortingly and instinctively hugged him closer. His eyes closed and his expression softened, when one of her hands found its way into his dark hair.

Her smell reminded him faintly of the times his mother had sat beside him, sipping tea, while they watched the sunset together.

Most of the times, he had fallen asleep with his head in her lap, while she stroked his hair softly.

And maybe, if he really tried, he could imagine the dark hair tickling his nose to be just a little darker and the shoulder, against which he was leaning a little less bony.

Slowly, he grew heavier in her arms, as his skin felt less and less warm against hers. Her eyes closed, as she listened to his shallow breathing, and tears streaked down her cheeks.

"I-...I'm...sorry." he gasped out, and neither she, nor he knew what he was apologizing for. Maybe for falling asleep instead of listening to his mother go on and on about his father being selfish and her work not being appreciated. Maybe for being too weak to save them, that night. Maybe for making Hinata witness this and relying on her.

"I know." She said softly, and somehow she did know. And a painful smile made the corners of her mouth twitch, when she heard him breathe out in relief.

A second later, his breathing stopped. She let him go and looked at his face closely.

"Forgive me, Sasuke." She murmured. Leaning down, she rolled up his sleeves and examined the cuts on his wrists closely, before letting the palm of her right hand rest on one of them, green chakra healing the wounds.

"I can't let you die."


Nyehh...didn't particularily like this chapter...description isn't really all that good. What really frustrates me, is that this could be a true masterpiece, if I wrote it in German, but in English it's just way harder. Maybe I'll try to write each chapter in German and then translate it...

Anyways, thanks for waiting, and as promised, I updated earlier than last time.

Please read and review. And thanks for reading!