Okayzz... I'm becoming more of a bitch the more I write, no?

Disclaimer: Me no own...SO LET'S GET THIS F*CKING SHOW ON THE ROAD!

The Value of a Soul

Chapter 21: Sacrifice

His life-blood made an appearance with every cough that racked through his body. Neji watched in shock and horror at what the blonde had done.

Naruto looked up at Sasuke, whose hand had released the sword. His hand went into spasms, and grew his nails into claws. Reaching out, he hooked the claws into the skin of the raven, right below his neck, and yanked him down.

The force of the wrench made the raven comply lest his skin tear off completely. Naruto looked him straight in the eye.

"You...I won't let you hurt Neji...ever." Unlatching his fingernails from the youth's skin, he tore into his chest, and grabbed a hold of his heart. The blonde saw the look of shock in the raven's eyes as he ruptured the organ completely, drenching his arm in blood.

Pulling out the sword, he coughed, spewing out another puddle of the crimson liquid.

He grimaced, and grinned weakly up at the brunet.

"Sorry about that. I couldn't let you get stabbed, now could I?" Snapping back to his senses, The emperor immediately carried the blonde over to the two medics, who glanced at him in shock. Tsunade narrowed her eyes.

"Not again?" Neji shook his head stubbornly.

"No. This time it was Sasuke." A nearby man, who just happened to be Itachi, approached them, and looked down at the blonde.

"Sasuke? Sasuke did this?" Naruto smiled weakly.

"I took care of him...Sorry about that Itachi," he apologized. The raven didn't even blink.

"How?" he asked. Naruto held up his right hand chuckling lightly before coughing again, and spilling more of his life fluids.

"This is the...the remains...of his heart," he admitted. Itachi ran his eyes over the membrane like strands of bloody muscle.

"I see. How fitting for my brother who claimed he had no heart," Itachi murmured in a deadpan. Naruto caught a flash of grief in his eyes. He smiled apologetically.

"I couldn't...couldn't let him...hurt Neji," he explained. Tsunade's face creased with worry.

"Your wounds...they aren't healing like they always do," she stated. Even the snake, which was lying on Naruto's chest, had to hiss in worry. Naruto rolled his eyes.

"It's because...that damn fox...isn't in...me..." he hacked up more blood, and winced. "Wow...at least...with you I...fell unconscious...I think...he severed part of...my aorta," he commented, grinning wryly at Neji, who still had shock clearly imprinted on his face.

"Wha...what happened?" Hinata asked, shocked because of more than one reason. Naruto shook his head.

"Couldn't...let that...bastard kill...Neji...could I?" he replied, glancing down at the snake. He sighed. "Really hope...Aesculapius...doesn't...mind," he added. Tsunade shook her head.

"I really will never understand you, Lord Naruto," she commented. He sighed, and ended up spilling out more blood.

"Not you too...don't...call me...that!" Neji looked up at her, then looked back down at Naruto.

"Naruto, what are you? I want to know," Naruto laughed, a bubbly happy laugh that ended in coughing and blood. Neji didn't understand why he felt so happy. Neji was sure he himself wouldn't feel happy if he was dying.

"Ah yes. I did...say you would...find out in...due time...did I not?" The blonde broke of into a violent fit of coughing, and slumped onto the ground tiredly. "I am..." he paused, and looked up at the brunet, an unreadable expression on his blood stained face. "But first...Neji...What...am I...to you?"

"What sort of question is that?" the brunet deadpanned. Naruto shrugged slightly.

"I...ask it...like it is," he informed, laughing dryly before hacking, and falling back, the strain on his throat making his voice hoarse. "But I...I am no one...nothing important...I was born...I'm dying...I am nothing...Neji," Naruto rasped. The emperor didn't know why, but those words grated painfully in his ears.

"Naruto, it's no use in lying," Tsunade informed. He shook his head.

"I'm...not lying...it would be...pointless...now wouldn't it?" he asked. She nodded.

"But-" Sakura was about to voice her doubts when he raised a hand to silence her. Surprisingly she did.

"I know...what I told you...earlier...and I wasn't...lying...but...this...is also the...truth..." he gasped out. Neji knelt beside him.

"You did all of that for the sake of Rome, for my sake, and you say you are nothing? Tell me what I want to know, Naruto. What are you?" The blonde smiled amusedly.

"I know that is what...you wanted to...know...so I will...tell you...I am not a human...being...as I have told...you...many times...before. I am the...son of...Aphrodite and...Ares...but you may...know them...as Venus and...Mars. I am a...demon vessel...due to the...creations of...Chaos," Naruto finally explained. Neji's face undeniably had shock written clearly and undeniably on it.

"You are a son of gods, and you allowed me to treat you as I did?" Neji questioned. Naruto smile turned wry.

"You said you do not believe in gods. Would it have made a difference had I told you back then?" Neji mentally smacked himself for his stupidity.

"But why? If you were so high, then why did you come down and suffer by my hand?" he askd. Naruto's lips twitched.

"I did it...so I could somehow...change you...so I would...be able to save...your soul...but I realized...that wasn't the only...reason...I did...I did it all...because...I..." Neji leaned down, wanting to hear what the blonde had to say.

"I...I love you...Neji...I couldn't bear...to let you die...But he was too...close..." Naruto's head lolled weakly, and the brunet cradled his upper body, his face still written over with shock, and not much else.

"What is love? What does it feel like?" he asked, his voice a breath below a whisper. Naruto smiled, and reached up, placing his left hand on the pale cheek of the prince.

"Love is...love is feeling...strong affection...for someone and...if you love...someone...you would die for...that person...Neji...at least that's...how I figure it," the blonde rasped. Neji bit his bottom lip.

"N-Naruto..." the blonde glanced up at the raven girl. He smiled.

"Yes?" She switched her weight from one foot to the other.

"If you're...I-I mean I hope I'm not offending you...but if you're a son of gods as you claim...how come you're...sorry to be blunt...dying?" Naruto smiled.

"I have...not yet...attained...the age that gains...immortality," he informed. Her mouth made a silent 'o' shape. Neji bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted steel.

"How...how can you be so happy when you're..." Naruto laughed yet again, his eyes twinkling despite the pain in his chest.

"Dying?" he finished for the brunet. "Quite...quite simple...really...I have lived out my...my purpose...and I'm dying because...I got to save...the one...the one that...that I...love," the blonde gasped, as blood flooded up his throat. He retched, and coughed up more of the sticky liquid.

Neji lowered his eyes to the ground, refusing to meet the blue eyes that he knew would soon fade. When he spoke, the state of his own voice shocked him, as it did everyone around him. He himself sounded so insecure and unsure of his next step. Never in his entire life had he ever sounded like that.

"But...but why me?" he asked quietly. "Why do you love me, when all I did was treat you like a slave?" He bit his lip in frustration, breaking through skin, but not going deep enough to bleed. "Why?"

Naruto reached up, and placed his blood soiled hand on the alabaster face of the emperor, smiling wryly at the contrast the crimson made with the pale skin. Naruto wheezed, and his breathing grew ragged and erratic.

"I...I can't really...have a direct...answer to that...but...I-I love you...because you know...what it's like to...be...be called a monster behind...your back...I could...understand you and...sympathize with...you...I was always seen...as the demon within me...instead of...who I truly was...but everyone...managed to hide it...so well..." Naruto broke into a violent bout of coughing, and his breaths became harsh rasps.

"But you...you chose a different...way...of dealing with it...so when I began...to realize that...I knew I wanted...to help you...to show you what you...did wrong...to love you...but...I guess I did two things...I chose to die...so you could live...and I...my mission...I failed," Naruto rasped. His hand slowly slipped off the brunet's cheek, and fell limply to the ground as he stared up into twin pearls.

"Naruto..." Naruto's head lolled over, and his smile brightened, but at the same time grew sad.

"Neji...look over to the east," Naruto commanded. For some strange reason, the brunet complied with the simple request, not yet relinquishing his hold on the blonde. Naruto laughed softly. "Do you see it... Neji? The sun is rising..." he murmured.

Indeed, the gaseous orb had made its appearance, peeking over the mountains situated in the east. The battlefield was bathed in a rich shade of peach, with streaks of pale purple and blue staining the sky. Naruto's eyes closed temporarily, the smile still on his face.

"Your victory...rises with the sun...Neji...Kurama has made...made sure of...it...Neji...the battle has been won..." Naruto murmured softly, weakly caressing the porcelain cheek. "I...have served my purpose...Neji...Rome...is again...yours..." the blonde breathed, pausing to catch his quickly dispersing breath.

"I really wish...I could...stay here...with you...but it doesn't look like that'll be...happening," Naruto continued, weak laughter at the end of his sentence. "But Neji...please..." Naruto's arm suddenly latched around him, soon followed by his other. "Remember...I will love you...always...do not...ever...ever...forget that...Neji...ever..." the last word was strained and breathed out, before it faded away into the crisp morning air.

The blonde fell slack and crumpled ungracefully to the ground, falling from the brunet's grasp and colliding heavily with the fallow. Neji simply stared, his eyes wide.

He could feel something twinge in his chest, before contorting painfully. His hand automatically flew to the fabric, and clutched it tightly as he let out a small gasp. He could feel the ever growing pain. He didn't understand. Why did it hurt so much? It hurt so much more than it had all those other times.

A choking sound ripped itself from his throat, and out his lips. His vision blurred and he felt warm moisture dripping down his cheeks. He started.

Was this blood? He held a hand to his face, and drew it back. He couldn't see red on it. It was clear. Was it water? What was happening? He tried to staunch the endless amount of water that seemed to be flowing from his eyes.

He could feel sounds trying to ease their way out of his throat, but refused to let them out for some reason that even he didn't know. He stared at the rising sun.

"Yes..." he choked out, despite his tears that he didn't know were tears. "Victory rose with the sun...but came at too high a price."

Hinata watched the spectacle through surprised eyes. She would have never thought she'd see the day that her brother would show so much emotion, especially over anyone. She thought it was rather cruel to deem him so socially inept, but even she could not see him falling in love. Was this truly it?

She thought about the situation, and ran her tongue over her teeth at the irony of it all. All the maidens who had hoped to get lucky with the emperor, always died in the end because of him. This youth, who actually did penetrate through his mental defence, too died because of him, but not by his hand. Naruto had died to save his life.

She stepped over, and tentatively, almost cautiuosly placed a slender hand on his shoulder. She could see that he was ignoring it deliberately, but he didn't shrug it off, which encouraged her.

"Brother," she called. He didn't reply. She bent down beside him. "Brother," she repeated. "He wouldn't want you l-" She was interrupted by a chorus of cries from a group of soldiers. She turned and gasped."The sun!" she exclaimed.

Neji tore his gaze off the blonde, and looked over to the east, to be met with one of the most frightening sights of his life. Oh sure, he had seen the moon when it was in the crimson shade of blood, but this... His mouth opened in a soundless gasp.

This time, the sun's light still shone, but it's face was covered with a disc of black, fading the light to shadows. His gazed moved slowly back to the smiling blonde.

Do you know that the sun is shielding itself from us? Do you know that the sky mourns?

Yep. It's exactly what you think it is. Solar eclipse. Put it in for good measure. And for anyone who didn't know, this is not the end. I just wanted to dedicate a full chapter to the fact that Naruto dies. Yea. I'm a colossal bitch.

-Jeya-