Chapter 9 Pictures of You


Previously:

"Sasuke…" Naruto whispered.

Naruto stretched out his arm to touch the raven in front of him… but before he could do so Tsunades voice rang again…

"Sasuke Uchiha Time of Death... 6:48..."

Then once again… everything faded into black.


PICTURES OF YOU CHAPTER 9: THE FINALE

Naruto opened his eyes, feeling a little dizzy and disoriented. He looked around and wondered where he was. But he knew one thing. He was definitely out of that dark void. But how? he didn't touch anything... did he? he couldn't remember. But he did remember the last words he last heard and it brought a painful pang in his chest... what did it all mean? He craned his head to look at his surroundings and in one swift glance he knew he was in the operating room, he saw Tsunade and Shizune around an operating table. But his eyes zeroed in on the person in the table. His eyes grew wide and his palms sweating. His heart beat grew frantic, and he found it incredibly hard to breath. He clenched his hand over his heart…

"Sasuke…"

He was completely unaware of everything around him. He could only stare soullessly at the sight before him, watching, braking. Naruto didn't even wonder why they couldn't see him…All he wondered about… was why Sasuke was the one in the table and not him… it was supposed to be him…

He came close and as panic was boiling up inside him he watched with warped attention at what was happening before his very eyes.

'"Damn... DAMN IT ALL... this... This isn't supposed to happen..."
Tsunade slammed her fists hard on the table, silently weeping. Shizune gently put her hand on the doctors' shoulder giving it a tight squeeze.
"It isn't your fault Tsunade-sama... You did the best you could..."
Tsunade pounded her fists once more harder, than the ones before, causing Shizune to inwardly flinch at the mere pressure of the pump.
"How... How could he... He was waiting for him Shizune... How could he just leave?"
Shizune closed her eyes. Then mechanically turning her head she opened then again and looked at the wall clock...
"Time of death..."

"TSUNADE-SAMA! SHIZUNE-SAN!"
Both women whipped their heads at the slammed open door of the operating room...
"There's been an accident! Sasuke Uchiha's..."
Tsunades' face quickly morphed from shock to utter rage at the brown haired man before them. Shizune just stared blankly and waited for the brown haired man to talk once again. But the man was proven speechless when he saw the body at the table...
"Tha-that's..." The man closed her eyes again and solemnly nodded at the man before him. The room once again quitted, Tsunade trembling bedside of the operation room table.
Shizune once again shifted her vision to the clock...
"Sasuke Uchiha Time of Death... 6:48..."

As Shizune finished those last words, the man snapped out of his stupor. Slightly shaking as he desperately tried to regain his composure."I-It's, Sasuke Uchiha's patient."Both Tsunade and Shizune stiffened eyes wide and alert. Hearts pounding in their chests… then, they simultaneously thought…

'No… it can't be…'
Then the man opened his mouth again saying the words they dreaded to hear the most.
"It's Naruto…"'

Naruto still standing on the side of the room, watching, frozen on his spot, eyes grew wide.

"No…"


After the man came in, Narutos' body was rushed in the operating room. He watched himself as the doctors frantically readied him as much as possible for the operation. He watched his body… no his past self, as he reached for Sasukes dead body… But he didn't know that then… He heard himself call out to Sasuke…

His eyes grew wide. He could recall this exact incident. this fleeting moment of consciousness when he woke up from that dream, no nightmare of his parents dying before his very eyes! What was happening? Why was he seeing these things? Why didn't anyone notice him…

How could there be there when he was right here… Unless…

"Give me the scalpel will have to operate on him ASAP! Shizune ready the tools!"

I stared at them frantically trying to save me. Sasuke's body discarded for the time being. I slowly walked over to Sasukes' body, like a shadow drifting swiftly, and unnoticed by all.

"Tsunade-sama! He's convulsing!"
Shizune gasped as she tried to hold Naruto down.
"We need more gauze! He's bleeding too much! Get the sponge!"

His eyes grew wider if possible… unless all these had already happened and he was…

He brought his hand to his mouth, shaking slightly… he slumped on the ground as his knees grew weak to stand. Then a cool relief swelled in his chest.

Calmness overtaking his expression- Serenity. Then he knew what he had to do.

He came closer to Sasukes body as He held out his hands stroking away raven locks from the cold face in front of him. Either Naruto was oblivious to all the screaming and fussing over his probably dyeing body, or he simply ignored it. After all it was now "unimportant" anyway...

Every scream and shout just drawled in the background as Naruto stared at the lifeless body in front of him, all energy leaving his body… he cleared his throat, pressing the image of Sasuke's corpse in front of him. It was just so unfathomable, seeing how Sasuke would look like if he died… He didn't look dead, it were as if he was merely asleep…

Naruto opened his mouth and tried to swallow, trying to calm himself, telling himself that this must be some horrible dream… that this was not real. And the fact is, it irritated him, it irritated him because he knew, that he knew better.

Naruto choked back his tears in reassurance, his heart gripping him tightly in his chest."I'm sorry for pulling into this mess..." he lets out a shaky sigh, not really knowing what to say, his misty, dead, tear stricken blue eyes obstructed his sight as he continues to hold the cold being in front of him...'why is he so cold?...'

"Doctor! We're losing him!" Shizune exclaimed.
"Ready the Defib! We'll have to resuscitate him!"
Tsunade rubbed the too metallic plates and brought it to Narutos' chest.
"CLEAR!"

Naruto silently caressed Sasukes' forehead. All the noises quieted down until all he could hear was his oh so fragile heartbeat and the still one in front of him. He continues to cares the pale, perfect face until he realized that said face was getting wet. Wet from his very own tears.

Was he crying? Well, it seems appropriate enough. The love of his life is dead...

Dead right before his eyes.

Yet he just couldn't come to terms with the fact. Or maybe the realization that Sasuke was gone had already sunk in somehow, and what he was feeling right now, was acceptance.

Acceptance of both of their demise.

"S-sasuke... You bastard."

Naruto cried, his tears now streaming from his face, his bangs covering his eyes from sight. But the clear blue eyes were still dripping with tears.

"W-why did you leave without me… huh?
What the fuck was wrong with you? Are you really so much as a bastard to disobey a dying man's wish... Huh? You asshole..."Naruto lightly pounded on Sasukes' lifeless body."After everything you did... How could you just throw everything you had built up just like that... How could you throw away everything just like that...

You're such an idiot... I-I didn't even... Get to... Show you... I didn't even get to show you, just how much I love you... But... you still..."

Naruto laid his head on Sasukes' chest- right above his still heart.

"Sasuke... You were never supposed to die for me. You were never supposed to be the one here. Because everything you did, from the day I met you... up till the last beats of your heart...It was always enough Sasuke...

Just you being there was always enough...

But I guess now... you won't be there at all...

Are you happy now... Huh, Sasuke?
By doing this... You've just taken away my everything. You've taken yourself from me...

You know... You really make me wish that I've never met you..."

"Tsunade we're flat lining!"

His dead eyes held no tears when he said the following lines.

"Because I'd rather have lived my life alone then feel this pain of losing you..." he sunk to his knees.
"Sasuke... Sasuke, I'm sorry I loved you...
I'm sorry I could let you go after all. I'm sorry that... That all your suffering was in vain..." tears now flowed from those dead icy blue eyes.
Naruto bit his bottom lip hands shaking and eyes dead yet despite all this he smiled...
"But I couldn't help but be happy...
Thank you... Sasuke... because now, even just a little i get to give something back..." and that was when he offered his 1000 watt smile, his eyes forming into the perfect slits his teeth shining but this time his cheeks were stained with tears that was unshed for so long.

Because this is what he needed to do… this was the only thing he could now do- To console Sasuke. To be with him…

He looked back then...
He stared at the deep pools of the eyes the person behind him held, the two of them seeming to be in a dimension of their own, the same deep onyx eyes that stared at him piercing directly through his soul. He took his hand and those blue eyes once again shone with life as the room once again morphed as their hands connected.

For the last and final time...

"Beep beep."

Tsunade let out a heave of relief.
"It's done the operation's over... He's beginning to stabilize...

Uzumaki Naruto will live."

Tsunade let out a shaky breath, her shoulders slumming from the intense operation she just performed and slowly she closed her eyes to calm herself, Relief flowing through her system. But that relief was short lived as Shizunes voice disrupted her millisecond of peace.
"Tsumade-sama, what about..."

Tsunade tensed once again, harsh reality crashing down on her. The joys of having saved Narutos life, well to at least prolong his life, was now something she wasn't so sure she should be rejoicing about... Tsunade shifted her gaze to Shizune.
Shizune asked hesitantly shaking her head to the other body in the room, with Tsunade following her gaze.
A deep and heavy silence filled the room, the scent of life and death mixing with the rusty copper flavor of heavily opened her mouth.

"Take his body to the morgue...I-I don't want it to stay in this room for a second longer..." Tsunades' voice was shaky as she stared forlornly at the comatose from in front of her.
"...yes. S-should I call-"
"Yes." Tsunade whipped her body stopping Shizune mid-sentence. Her sapphire eyes dead, but healed a burning passion, a passion of resolve and acceptance.
A passion of resolve and acceptance... Despite her still flowing tears. Cuz' either way, she needed to face this shit.
Her voice came steady as she said this...
"Call Itachi...Send him my deepest condolences..."


When Naruto opened his eyes he was yet again back in that dark void. He looked around. There were no pictures and there was also no Sasuke. But he was standing in the same spot he last saw Sasuke in this odd place. Naruto was standing in that slither of white in the dark void. He looked down and then suddenly realized that he was holding onto that camera again, standing in the exact same spot as Sasuke was, in the exact same position, with the exact same camera. He looked ahead and there right in front of him was a picture…

The picture Sasuke was looking at?
He leaned in slightly closer to the picture examining it. It was a picture of a green meadow and a blue sky with a tree and a man. A dark haired man was sitting on a rock just below the tree, staring off to the space beyond a blue river.

Naruto unconsciously lifted his hand, his eyes hazy as if he were in a trance. And ever so slowly Naruto brought his fingers to touch the picture, to touch the man in the picture. Then a flash of light burst out of the image wrapping around Naruto until it consumed him completely.

Naruto opened his wide cobalt eyes. Once again scanning the premises, he was in an open field. The sky was rivalling his eyes once again.
" How long has it been since I last saw a sky like this?" everything was just so much in peace. He looked down once again. The grass that flowed around him was as light as green could be. The field seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see. And right in front of him was a single tree, a tree at its full bloomed glory. A river just in front of it, that seemed to stretch to the farthest corners of the world. Just beyond it was yet another field. A field of varying flowers.
'I guess the grass is greener on the other side...'
But as he took one step forward he felt something weighing on was still his camera, he still had it. He check it and took out its film, it still had one shot left. He cradled it in his hands and brought it to his eye.

He paused, a smile gracing his lips.

The shutter went off, and by magic a picture was in his hands...

A picture of a certain raven haired man... he saw Sasuke sitting on the rock beneath the tree. His back was facing Naruto but his face was adjacently tilted to the side. Making his bright smile just shyly visible...

The Same exact picture they had stared at…

'About time dobe...It took you long enough to go all through that.' was what echoed through the clearing by the voice Naruto knew all too well as he slowly walked beside the rock... Sasukes' smirk coming into view

"yeah, sorry for making you wait..."

And with that Naruto vanished. His camera left behind along with the as Naruto diapered his form was slowly appearing in the picture. Standing beside the raven haired man that seemed too smiled up at him as he too looked down and offered his brightest and most beautiful smile. And with that, was their final picture together...

""Pictures of us...""


Xx Six Months Later xX

"Sorry miss Tsunade but is he alright? Is my brother alright?!"

the echo of their foot steps resounded through the empty halls as Tsunade and a red headed blue eyed man walked beside her. The other looked at her worriedly, panicked, and lets just say he was a little out of his wits end at the momment.

"He's been comatose for six months... We were keeping him alive for that long now." this was followed by impregnated silence as the man beside Tsunade was glaring, while wiping his eyes from the tears that abstracted his sight.

He suddenly came by the hospital not too long ago claiming to be Naruto Uzumakis' brother. The man-who stated that his name was Kurama Namikaze- demanded to see the blonde. But off cores Tsunade didn't believe him at first. But when the papers were finished and the story was told it was hard NOT to believe him. Just looking at the man and the resemblance would be uncanny. Despite the red long hair, the tall physique and the slightly sharper features, just by looking at the man's eyes which were the same exact replica as Narutos', which had the same exact flare as Naruto's, it was hard to doubt their blood relations.

The man then begged to see Naruto. Learning about the news that his brother was alive...Well, still alive, technically. Shook him to his very core, Kurama has been a zoologist assigned to do research in the most secluded parts of North Africa. After the separation he had been washed away to an Island around the shores of North Africa, he suffered memory loss because of the trauma from the plane crash and had only recovered bits and pieces of his real family. He was then taken in by a rich man, and was raised as the refined young man that he was today. He tried his best to look for his family, but all they discovered was the dead bodies of a man named Minato Namikaze and a woman, Kushina Namikaze who he then found out was his parents. After a few years of therapy he had finally recovered at least sixty percent of his memories. But when the time came to look for his still missing brother, he couldn't do it. He was too afraid of planes since the incident. And it had effectively mimed him of any form of travel outside North Africa. Communications were hard to come by. But when he had heard of Sasuke Uchihas' death and the blond man named Naruto connected to the story, he bolted out of the lab but couldn't leave the country because of some more...pressing matters that were at hand.
But still, he pushed through nail and dirt to get here.

And now here he was 6 months later in his old, worn out shirt and shorts. His fiery red hair was filled with dirt and he hadn't seemed to have showered since that long too...
Tsunade can't help but pity, and at the same time hate the boy. For being gone while his brother suffered. But she didn't voice it out...
After all this man seemed to have understood that already.
And she could practically hear his heart break as he mentally beat himself up...
"He actually flat lined but was able to survive after resuscitating him for thirty minutes…"
The guild in those blue eyes worsened as the man's face morphed into a painful scrawl

Yeah it might hurt him, but that didn't mean Tsunade's gonna beat him any less because of it…

Tsunade sighed as she closed her eyes in contemplation. Everything was so quiet now, so different from those hellish days that happened only six months ago..
"... God... I-I hope I'm not too late" the man's voice was a desperate growl, steps echoing in the empty halls. But as Tsunade opened the door in room 305 she couldn't help but think...

'Too late...'

In the bed as the sun was shining through the opened window sill was a Lying Naruto. A small smile that seemed permanent now, was on his lips.
And faster than Tsunade could rush by his side...

Faster than the red haired man could scream "Naruto!" the steady beeping that indicated Narutos' steady existence of life...

Went dead...

Xx FIN xX


Authors note: haha what a way to end it!

First of all before you read this little* note of mine. I'd first like to apologize for the poorly edited chapter. I plan on Re-EDITING everything once i finish the series. I know this chapter is kinda all over the plcae, but belive me when i say that i like edited this and then re-edited it again. And this this was the out come, believe me when i say that this was the most decent thing i came up with.. *sigh* I promise to do better next time. My half beta didn't do squat for this chapter and it was the finalle... But I'll still put a good word for her below. well anyway. I promise I'll re edit it again hopefully with my half beta. ON WITH THE REAL AUTHORS NOTE!

SO... yeah that's pretty much it. I'm sorry to those who wanted a happy ending. Honestly when i was writing this fic down I never really thought about the ending AT ALL. so when the series was about to end i was kinda at a loss. I serious case of writers block. I was stuck between killing of Naruto or Killing of Sasuke. So i simply chose both.

Also I'd like to thank all of those who had supported this fic of mine. this was my very first series and I'm not sure if you guys could relate, but you guys reviewing, following, fave'ing' and supporting this humble fic of mine brought lots and lots of smiles on my face. It was year ago that i began my fic writing, i was never really so confident in it. and i know, up till now that i have a long way to go to better my writing skills, and i just wanted you guys to know that your continuous support is what motivates me the most. through all the crap that life may have thrown my way. I still hadn't given up on this story, and that because of you guys ;)

special thanks to theOrangeStar802 for being the great person that she is. I might hate her at times and I'm pretty sure the feelings are mutual but she too stuck with this fic of mine. and i could honestly say that I count have done it without her ^_^

Oh and P.S. Don't be too sad my Lovies! there will be an EPILOGUE ;)

OH and Of course! REVIEWWWWWWWWWWW! =)