Scar: Huh, she really brought the angst with this one...

I did not!

Vincent: This is angst, trust me on that.

Cloud: Yeah! Vincent is world-renowned when it comes to sensing angst.

Vincent: ...Thank you, Cloud.

Alucard: ...Does this really classify as angst?

Kyuubi: Not really but it has some elements of angst.

Sephiroth: It's just kind of morbidly depressing but it has a happy ending.

Kyuubi: ...Are you sure we're looking at the same thing?

Sephiroth: ...What? I think it has a happy ending...

Naruto: ...You're definition of happy scares me.

Itachi: ...But I like his happy.

Naruto: I figured you would...

Scar: I need a drink...

...THIS IS NOT ANGST!

Vincent: What ever helps you sleep at night, miss...

IT'S NOT!

Kyuubi: Now that I look at it again...

Alucard: ...Midnight-sama does not own Naruto but she's very proud of Kyuubi's character portrayal.

Kyuubi: I finally play a major role in this series, it's about damn time!

...Quiet you.

---

Never

She was a demon in her own right and took out thirty of Konoha's finest before she was captured. Her hair was the color of blood, she wore the clothes of one in mourning, and an unholy fire burned in her eyes.

When her death was decreed all stopped to see her breath her last. But before she was executed, she had one last request. She wanted to speak to him. Of all of the people she could've spoken to, she wanted to speak to him.

She took his face in her hands and gently pressed her lips against his forehead. "We are not like the rest of them," she gently said. "No matter what we do or how hard we try, we cannot belong." Her mouth opened and he flinched as she licked his cheek then nuzzled him. "You are the child I never got to hold in my arms, the son I never loved, the brother I never had, the lover I never touched," she whispered. Her hair caught the sunlight and burned as her pale skinned glowed. She looked like a Valkyrie ready to march into the depths of hell.

"Never let them see you cry," she snarled. "Never let them see your pain! Never give them the satisfaction of knowing that you actually care." Her name was a whisper heard but always forgotten but he remembers her words. "Never," he fiercely whispered. "Never," she smugly said.

She faced her death with honor and dignity. Before the blade slit her throat she sought him out in the crowd. She found him then smiled. "Good bye, son, brother, and lover! When we meet again, I'll be sure to properly introduce myself," she happily cried out.

Then she was dead. When he buried her, he put one word on her tombstone: NEVER. "Who was she," his companion asked. "I don't know but she was one hell of a woman," he said. Kyuubi purred quietly in agreement as Naruto and Itachi stood in front of her grave. "She was like me," Naruto quietly said with a bitter laugh. "But she didn't care about what people thought. She was selfish, impulsive, and cruel but her face lit up when she smiled…" "I thought you said you didn't know her," Itachi said in amusement and suspicion. "I didn't," he causally said. Itachi narrowed his eyes then nodded in understanding. "You're not her. She was weak." Naruto gritted his teeth and whirled on Itachi in anger. "She was alone," he screamed. "So are you."

In that moment, Itachi thought he saw something break in Naruto's eyes. "You are alone," Itachi flatly said. "And you will always be alone no matter how much people you surround yourself with or how much people you believe you love." Naruto was used to this but the tears still stung his eyes. "Why do you always do this," he desperately asked. "Why can't you just…" Itachi raised an eyebrow but otherwise remained impassive. "Why can't I just what," he mockingly asked. "W-why can't you just love me," Naruto asked. "Is it that hard? Am I that disgusting?" Itachi looked at Naruto and frowned. "Love is weakness, a virus that eats away at mind, body, and soul," he explained. "I can't afford to have any weaknesses therefore I can't afford to love."

Kyuubi twitched in annoyance at the stupidity of this human and wished that he could rip out its throat. "Love is power,' the demon quietly said. "Love has won wars and killed millions. In love there is unity and is unity there is strength. You assume too much, human," Kyuubi sneered. "You can't even begin to understand the true concept of power and you never will."

Both Itachi and Naruto were shocked into silence. When the demon spoke, which was rare, he usually spoke of death, blood, and revenge. But for Kyuubi no Kitsune to speak of love? It was as disturbing as it was enlightening because what did demons know of love?

"I am older than any of you mortals will ever wish to be and what I know has been lost to humans for millions of years," he said. No boasting or pride was heard in those words, it was just a concrete fact. "The grave that you two now defile with your nonsense is the grave of someone who understood the concept of power. When she died, she was more than either of you could ever dream of becoming."

Itachi sneered but had no intention of leaving. "Even with the Sharingan and all the techniques you have learned you will always be an inexperienced child compared to her, Uchiha," Kyuubi drawled. "You aren't even fit to stand in her shadow. And Naruto…" The boy scowled but remained silent. "You still have much to learn," Kyuubi said in a surprisingly gentle tone. "You are both very powerful but you will never be able to wield the true extent of that power skillfully."

The demon then shut his eyes and went into his coma-like state of wakefulness. Naruto and Itachi now stood in silence then Naruto spoke. "She was like me," he brokenly whispered. Itachi looked at the grave of a stranger then made a decision. "Never," Itachi vowed. "I refuse. I will not allow you to become her." "Never is absolute," Naruto quietly said. "I'm well aware you that," Itachi mirthlessly chuckled. They stood there staring at the grave of a stranger as an unspoken promise echoed through eternity.

---

...Well?

Scar: Huh.

Vincent: Yep.

Itachi: Yeah.

Naruto: ...Did I miss something?

Cloud: ...Yes. But if it makes you feel any better, I did too.

Kyuubi: Wow, you two are so BLONDE...

Cloud: Oh, yeah? Well if we're BLONDE, then you're a shameless manwhore!

Kyuubi: ...Was that supposed to hurt?

...I think it was.

Sephiroth: ...So the truth is supposed to hurt?

In this case, yes.

Alucard: How...

Sephiroth: Odd?

Alucard: Yes, thank you.

Sephiroth: No problem.

Alucard: As I was saying... How... odd.

...Please review to save me from my own madness.