Chapter 16

"The Grief Carved Into The Stone"

A/N: This is the most emotional chapter I have written so far. A lot of the mysteries in Madara's life are revealed to Sakura. Thank you to my readers and thank you for all the reviews from so many people! Again, go check out Olliya's works, I highly recommend her fics, she's talented :). Also, again, check out Yomi-Gaeru's artwork on tumblr, amazing! This story will be about 25 chapters long in total, so I hope to keep it interesting and riveting! Thank you guys 3

The sound of high winds rattled the windows of her small apartment. The sound broke Sakura out of her deep sleep as the branches from the tree outside her window made a "tap tap" noise on the glass; like nature's rude alarm clock.

Sakura slowly opened her eyes, The ceiling was blurry at first, but as her eyes began to adjust she squeezed them shut again as she yawned loudly. Yesterday had been an exhausting, albeit wonderful, evening. They watched the Avengers Endgame movie and Madara seemed to enjoy it. Then they feel asleep talking about Destiny 2's new DLC, Shadowkeep, with Madara explaining how to rank up faster and what the new Raid was going to be like. She loved hearing him talk about something that excited him, there didn't seem to be much that did. He mentioned going to Rockfest next month, a huge concert with his favorite bands that only happens once every few years. He got all excited as he listed all the bands playing for Rockfest 2019. Disturbed, Ozzy Osbourne, Five Finger Death Punch, Godsmack, and several other bands were going to play. Sakura just rested her head on her pillow listening to him go on, waving his hands very animatedly, and he just sounded happy to be with her. It was so endearing, to have him talk to with such interest, and share his loves with her in earnest.

She doesn't know when she fell asleep during the conversation, but she remembers Madara letting her rest her head in the crook of his arm, and then that was it.

She looked over to where Madara had been sleeping, and noticed he was gone. She sat up in the bed, and stretched. Did he leave already? She slid out of bed, and grabbed her hoodie from where she had left it hanging on the door knob. I guess I'll go make coffee…

As she opened the door to leave her room, she jumped back with a squeak; Madara was standing there holding two coffees, and he too almost jumped at her sudden appearance. "Gah! Son a bitch!" He exclaimed. When he jolted in surprise, some of the hot coffee had spilled on to his bare hands.

"TAKE IT! JUST TAKE IT!" He yelled, shoving the coffees into Sakura's hands and running into the bathroom. She could hear the facet turn on as Madara tried to cool off his hands.

Quickly she put the coffees down on her dresser and ran into the bathroom, but Madara was already on his way out and she collided into him, bouncing off and landing on her butt on the floor. Madara dashed over and knelt down beside her, placing a hand on her back. He was trying to look concerned, but Sakura could see he was trying stifle a laugh. "Are you, heh…are you okay?" He managed in-between his laughter.

"My butt hurts!" She whined, as Madara grabbed her forearm and helped her to her feet. He was still chuckling. "I think you'll be okay, your butt has a lot of cushion…" He winced when she slapped his arm with indignant force. "I don't have a big butt!" She protested.

Madara smirked at her, "That's up for debate…NOT that I don't like it, now put that down!" He added when he saw her hand come up again.

The morning came and went as Sakura and Madara drank their coffee, and Sakura left to the bedroom to get dressed. That left Madara in the living room, twiddling his thumbs for who knows how long. He pulled out his phone, checking the time. Its been an hour and a half…. He grunted impatiently when he saw Sakura emerge from the bedroom. She was dressed casually in dark wash jeans and a black turtleneck with the word "sweet" on the front; she had her typical coat on over it. Her hair was straight and rather pretty, he noticed. She walked over and sat down next to him on the couch. "I'm ready! I had to cut out most of my routine, but I managed haha." Madara smiled with her but his mind was asking the question, "How long is her NORMAL routine?"

Sakura started fidgeting with her hands in her lap, Madara noticed her body language and quirked an eyebrow, "What's up?" He asked. He was looking at her face but she was averting her gaze.

"I…well.." She was having trouble finding the words, but she took a deep breath and just let it all out at once. " I know you apologized to me for the whole mess before…but I know it was my fault in the first place. When I lied to you, that no one knew about us, the second it came out of my mouth I was kicking myself. I just feel so bad, and if I take your apology and just move on, it would feel like I'm just taking the easy way out for what I did to you. I'm so sorry." When she finished she finally let her eyes move from the coffee table she was staring at to meet Madara's gaze, which hadn't shifted from her the whole time.

He turned his body to face her, his expression serious, "Listen, Sakura…In retrospect, this has been a really strange situation, with a lot of risks involved. It's also been moving faster than you and I can keep up sometimes. I'll accept your apology, but let's just take it as a lesson learned, and move forward. Can you do that?" He asked, leaning to place a gentle and lingering kiss on her lips. Sakura sighed into his kiss, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders, and her heart felt like it was nurtured with his acceptance.

Madara smiled at her, and checked his phone again. "Its time to go, are you ready?" Dear God, please be ready, he thought.

Sakura stood up, smoothing her coat down . "Yep! Its going to be really cold today so I wore a turtle neck under my coat, but I can't find my scarf..."

"You'll be fine." He replied quickly, trying to avoid another waiting session.

Gathering their things, and after he put on his now-dry peacoat, they exited her apartment. Madara waited for her to lock her door and they headed down the walkway to his truck parked on the street outside the complex. Sakura rubbed her arms with her hands, there was heavy humidity in the air, and it made the cold was pierce through her jacket. She felt Madara's arm wrap around her shoulders, and she leaned into his body, feeling the fabric of his peacoat against her cheek. When they reached the truck he withdrew his arm and walked around to the driver's side. Sakura waited for the sound of the door unlocking and then opened the door. She climbed into the truck and seated herself on the passenger's side. Being in the truck again brought back a lot of familiar sensations and memories from that one cold night. She inhaled deeply, taking in that fresh smell his truck interior always had. Madara started turning the key and the truck made its signature loud roar as it turned over. He buckled his seatbelt and shifted into gear, pulling out onto the street.

Sakura looked out her window, observing all the clouds rolling through the sky. "How long did you say it takes to get there?" She asked.

Madara looked at the time on his dashboard, "Its 2:00 right now…we'll get there about 3-ish. Traffic won't be bad once we hit the back roads."

The traffic was worse than he thought, it seemed everyone was on the road today. The traffic slowed to a crawl on the freeway because of a simple fender-bender where a car rear-ended another. The cars had pulled over to the side of the road, and the two drivers were out of their vehicles, arguing with each other. It shouldn't have slowed down traffic, but there are always those special people who have to slow way down to get a look. Sakura could see Madara's frustration as he white-knuckled the steering wheel.

After a few bouts of cursing and swearing, they finally reached the backroads at about 2:45 pm, with 40 minutes to go. Sakura gasped at the sight before her, and had to roll down her window, even though it was cold outside. This view was worth it. She stuck her head out and gazed at the endless fields of green. Ancient gnarled oaks dotted the hills, and lined the road they were driving on, towering over them like a woodland archway. Newly bloomed wildflowers added splashes of purple, yellow and pink to the beautiful canvas. This is so beautiful, she thought. It occurred to her that she never drove this way herself, and what a shame, because the scenery was so peaceful and almost ethereal.

The cold air hitting her face was becoming too much, her eyes were starting to burn from the moving air and frigid temperature, so she sat back and rolled up her window. She looked over at Madara, who had his eyes forward and remaining as quiet as he had been since hitting the backroads. She placed a hand on his thigh, and he gave her a slight smile in return. But it was more a smile out of acknowledgment, not a happy smile, she knew that much. He was melancholy, and the closer they got to the cemetery, the more palpable that became. Sakura placed her hands back in her lap, and then a question emerged in her mind.

The same question that she had asked before, but Madara had declined to answer it then, defensively so. But he had promised to tell her someday. She wondered if today might be that day…

"Madara…?" He looked over at her, slightly startled. His mind must have been far off, he had almost forgotten someone was in the truck with him.

"Yes?" He finally replied. She shifted uncomfortably in her seat, turning to face him. Trying to swallow the lump in her throat before she asked her question. "What happened with your job as an officer? Does it have to do with your brother? You don't have to answer if you don't want-.." she went quiet when she observed Madara flinch and furrow his eyebrows. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked…" She said quickly, but to her surprise, Madara shook his head.

"Its not a short story…but…I believe I can share that with you now…just promise me one thing, and I mean promise me." He looked at her, his eyebrows still furrowed, and he had pain in his eyes.

"Yes?" She said.

"Promise me, that once you hear it…if it's too much for you, please tell me, so that…I can move on…" He said quietly. Sakura didn't know what to make of that, what was this story involving? Did he kill someone? Her mouth felt dry, and she licked her lips trying to wet them. "I promise."

Madara sighed deeply, and his shoulders slumped slightly, he sat quietly for a minute, dredging up the memories in his mind. He hadn't shared it with anyone, never feeling the need to open up about it, and instead, had conjured walls around the memories, locking them away in bunker deep within. But against his better judgment, he relaxed his hands from the steering wheel, and then began his story.

"10 years ago…I was working night shift, on patrol…"

—

10 years earlier…. 11:00 pm, 6 miles from the QualiMart Superstore.

Madara yawned loudly, stretching his arms out as far as he could. Suddenly switching from day patrol to night patrol was a huge pain the ass. But he was covering for one of the officers who normally worked night shift, who was out on medical leave for knee surgery. Madara had drawn the short straw, and was tossed on night shift. He chugged an energy drink to stay awake. He tried to drink it fast, because he accidentally grabbed a diet Monster from the store, and it tasted like feet. Crunching the can and stuffing it into the small trash bag he kept Behind his side of the car, he leaned back in his seat and watched the traffic going down Main Avenue. His partner, an impatient, dark-haired little firecracker, groaned in frustration next to him.

"There's nothing to do! We've been sitting here for hours!" she said, in an almost whining voice.

Madara rubbed his temples, trying to stem the coming headache he was developing. "Anko, this is going to be a long night if you keep making that awful noise." She quirked an eyebrow and glanced at him. "What noise? I'm just voicing opinions."

"That's the awful noise I'm talking about." He said, looking out his window. It was a hot night, and the air conditioner in their patrol car was subpar at best. Madara rolled their windows down to allow a cross breeze through the car. There was a sudden buzz in his pocket, he reached in and pulled out his cell phone, a simple flip-style because he hated the new touch screen ones. It was Izuna, this was the third time he had called. Flipping open the phone he answered, "What's up bro, I'm on duty." He said casually. Izuna replied with a huff.

"Ugh, bro I needed you to take Tobirama's Playstation back to his house! You forgot again!"

Madara rolled his eyes, "Izuna, I wasn't the one who borrowed it. You have legs, keys, and a car, go take it back yourself."

Izuna decided to turn on the guilt trip, "I worked all day, I'm exhausted, can you just bring it back when you get off shift? I was going to go to bed."

"Well, congratulations, welcome to adulthood, where you don't go to sleep when you want and everyone disregards your feelings. I'm crashing as soon as I get off, so its not going to happen." Retorted Madara with a mockingly joyful tone in his voice.

"That's cold."

"Bro, I can't do anything about that right now. Tobirama's been hounding you because you flaked on him, just take it to his house, its a 15 minute drive for pete's sake!"

"Fine, but you're a bad brother." said Izuna sarcastically.

"Aww, that's the nicest thing you've said to me all week." Replied Madara with an equally sarcastic tone.

"Yeah, whatever. We're still on for practicing that song I wrote, right? I gave you the lyrics and chords yesterday."

"I'll call Hashirama, but I think that should be fine, its pretty toned down for what you normally write-"

Anko tapped him on the shoulder, interrupting him, he mouthed "what?" to her and she pointed to the street, where a guy was stumbling around in the middle of the road, obviously under the influence of some sort of substance. He nodded quietly to her and quickly wrapped up his conversation.

" Ah, I have to go Izuna, there's a crackhead wandering in the middle of the road."

"Have fun!"

"Always. See you tomorrow."

He closed his phone with a *snap* and tucked it back into his pocket. Anko was calling in the code for "suspicious person" and waited for her to finish on the radio before exiting the car with her. He regretted wearing his long sleeve uniform, the hot air made him feel sticky and uncomfortable. They approached the strange man standing in the middle of the road, being careful to not surprise him Madara called out to him from a distance.

"Hey buddy! You trying to get run over?" He yelled. The man spun around and almost fell down. The two officers got close enough to get a look at the man's face. Anko used her flashlight to illuminate him. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and he was covered in sweat, with blotchy red patches on his skin, and what looked to be fresh track marks running down his arm. He was part rambling, part slurring, as he slumped to the ground, and then started making a creepy giggling sound. Madara knelt down in front of him, the man went silent and seemed to be going to sleep. Snapping his fingers in front of his face, Madara attempted to rouse the guy. "Hey man! Don't nod off here! Wake up! There you go, good job."

The man had responded to the snapping sounds with a startled "WHA-What?" He looked at Madara and Anko through his bloodshot and glassy eyes, and when he realized they were cops he shot off the ground, running down the street.

Madara and Anko gave chase with Madara shouting into his radio. "Suspect 10-54 fleeing on foot, in pursuit Main Avenue and 10th street!" He caught up to the man and attempted to tackle him to the ground, but quickly realized that the suspect was covered in so much sweat it made him slick like a beaver running through the woods. He slipped right out of Madara's arms and pulled away. "UGH that's disgusting!" He shouted to himself, his hands covered in the suspect's perspiration. Anko gained some ground and managed to grab hold of the man's belt, yanking him to the ground and pinning him down. Madara sat on his legs as the guy squirmed and screamed, trying to pull his hands away from the handcuffs. "I didn't do anything!" he cried out as loud as he could, followed by a string of threats dotted with every cuss word he knew. He even tried to bite Madara, but Madara was too fast and pinned his head down to the pavement with his hand on the back of his neck. Anko wagged a finger at the hapless man, " Tsk tsk tsk, shouldn't be biting, biting is bad, honey". She lectured him like she would a disobedient child.

Madara sneered. Searching the man's pockets he pulled out a small plastic bag with white powder, enough in it to get 20 people high. "WOW! You were really prepping for a party weren't you? What's your name, sir?" asked Anko. The suspect, however, was not going to cooperate, as it commonly goes.

"I don't gotta give you shit! I have a right to remain silent! Fuck you!"

Madara finished cuffing him, and patted him on the back. "Suit yourself, but we already found your little bundle of joy in your pocket. Next time get high in a place where cops aren't sitting bored out of their minds." He was about to pull the man up when another patrol car pulled up. Two officers hopped out, and helped yank the man to his feet. Madara looked at one of them, recognizing him as Shisui, his cousin, but he didn't know the other one. "Hey, can you get this guy down to the station for fingerprinting?" He asked, wiping the man's sweat off his hands with a handkerchief he kept in his pocket. Shisui took one look at the guy as the other cop shoved him into their patrol car.

"Aw man…that guy's going to sweat all over my seats."

Madara stared at him blankly, "Hey cousin, I'm covered in it, don't start with me. Anko, can you fill them in, I'm going to head back to the patrol car and use the hand sanitizer."

Anko acknowledged him and started giving the officers all the info. Madara heard the man vomit in the backseat of Shisui's patrol car and then Shisui yelling. "AW FUCK! Now I gotta to throw away the car!"

He laughed to himself as he made his way back to his own vehicle. Opening the door he reached for the hand sanitizer he kept tucked in the side compartment. It was a good thing to have, he learned. The kind of crap a cop comes in contact with would make anyone nauseous. He sat in the driver's seat and shut the door, opening the computer on the dashboard he started typing in some information. After about 5 minutes he saw Anko approach. She opened her door and got in, sitting down with a grunt. "Whoo! Wasn't expecting that guy to be able to run like that!"

Madara nodded while reading something on the screen. "Yeah, he was all slicked up like a greased pig. Sounded like one too…"

A call came in on the radio, 10-51, 11-79…11-44. Madara paused and listened. Car accidents weren't uncommon in this area, a lot of stoplights and interconnecting roads made the perfect set-up for fender benders and road rage. Deaths, however, were not common. Especially not deaths involving an intoxicated person. His thoughts were interrupted by an officer on the radio, giving descriptions of the car. "4-door sedan, red Chevy Cruz, LP# 876B24L…"

Madara's heart fell into his stomach, and all the blood seemed to drain from his face. Anko looked at Madara with wide eyes, she knew. "Madara…"

Dispatch continued on the radio, "Driver of red sedan, 1144, roll coroner. 1185 for evidence tow. 10-97 en route Sage Street and Valley BLVD intersection"

The radio was fuzzy, with a lot of interference, but the words came into Madara's head loud and clear. His heart was pounding and his mouth went dry. Panic set in. Anko was still looking at him. She could see, even in the dark, he'd gone pale. "Madara, I know what you're thinking, but-"

But Madara was not listening. His body began acting on its own, throwing the car in gear and screeching onto the road, he sped towards the location called in on the radio. His head was pounding, and over and over again he begged and begged in his mind that he had misheard the vehicle description, misheard the codes. Cracks began to form in his heart as he dialed Izuna's number. It went to voicemail. He cursed out loud and dialed it again, hoping his brother would pick up and make this all go away. Voicemail. He threw the phone behind him and yelled, "FUCK!". As he sped along the road, Anko was white-knuckling the armrest. "MADARA! Slow down!" she yelled as he hit the gas, going 85 on the road. He flipped the sirens on and Anko watched as cars pulled over to give them the right of way.

The location mentioned on the radio was about 15 minutes away, but to Madara it felt like hours. Finally they reached the accident, they could tell by the numerous emergency lights flashing in front of them.

Madara swallowed hard, taking in the site in front of him. Torn metal, broken glass everywhere. An 85' 2-door Toyota Tacoma sat off to the side with its front end smashed in. But the red car…it was barely recognizable. Madara slammed on the breaks, throwing the car into park and getting out, not bothering to shut his door. Before he could approach the red car closely, he was stopped by two officers, Sasori and Iruka. He tried to get past them but Iruka put his hands on Madara's shoulders.

"Madara, no." He said, his eyes full of concern, and apprehension. Madara looked at Sasori and back again at Iruka

"That's my brother's car…I need to get to him…Help him." he couldn't keep his voice from cracking, his throat felt tight, and his words came out in a low desperate rasp. Sasori, a cop he didn't know well, averted his gaze from Madara's, unsure how to relay the information. Iruka kept a grip on Madara's shoulders.

"You don't want to see this, Madara, you don't…a drunk driver t-boned his car. He didn't suffer. You don't want to see this." He tried to convince Madara but it only seemed to make him angrier.

"Don't try to fucking tell me what I can handle! That's my little brother!" He tried again to push past him but Iruka kept grabbing him, and Sasori stepped in to help restrain him. He struggled with them, until he caught a closer look at Izuna's mangled car. His eyes widened with shock and dismay when he saw blood had pooled outside of the crushed driver's door. The air bags had deployed, but he could see the material of the airbags were stained with spatters of bright crimson.

Madara's mind went blank, and everything around him, all sounds, became a sort of white noise reverberating in his ears. The voices of Iruka and Anko seemed muffled, like he was underwater, drowning. Weakness struck his legs, and he dropped to his knees. He could barely talk. He felt like he couldn't breathe. Blame began rampaging through his head as his world began falling apart in front of him.

"I should h-have…just…t-that fucking Playstation…" His voice was cracking.

Anko watched helplessly as her tough and stoic partner fell apart. A heaving sob escaped Madara's throat. His head dropped down, and hot tears of grief and pain began to pour down his face as agony shattered his heart. Anko knelt down and placed and arm around him, feeling like she had to do something, even thought she knew Madara didn't care who was there. His sobs came in violent waves, anguish pouring down his face in streams of sorrow. This is all my fault. Over and over again, it repeated in his mind, driving him to self-directed rage. His whole body heaved as if he was about to vomit, everything in him wanted to die as the tears came in a merciless frenzy.

There was movement nearby. The driver of the other vehicle had started yelling drunkenly at the cop detaining him. Madara's eyes found his. The man was hammered beyond belief, swinging his arms as the cop pulled handcuffs to subdue him, obviously indifferent to the crime he had just committed. Something snapped and rage crept into Madara's vision, clouding his mind further, and everything turned red around him. He got up and began charging at the man, a guttural, animal-like noise escaping his mouth.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" He screamed, his body hunched like an animal as he charged. Anko, Sasori and Iruka all grabbed him, and were shocked as he actually began dragging them along, despite them exerting all their strength on him.

"NO MADARA!" Shouted Iruka. But he didn't hear him. There was nothing in front of him but the image of the man who just killed his little brother, and he wanted to kill him back.

All he wanted, the only thing in his tunnel vision, was that of predator and prey. He was going to get to the man responsible for taking his brother from him. His eyes red with rage, he almost pulled away from his fellow cops, and then the taser came. The electric shock ripped through his body as Sasori held it to his lower back, firing the voltage into him. He dropped to his knees on the ground with an involuntary, sharp howl. The cop handling the drunk, pulled the man to safety, locking him in a patrol car, out of Madara's reach, just as he regained control of his limbs. He screamed in rage and despair. Lacking oxygen from his exertions he felt himself becoming lightheaded, everything went hazy…the last thing he saw was his brother's dead body, still pinned in the red Chevy Cruz, severed from the waist down…

Then everything went to black.

—

Madara sighed deeply, recounting his story was exceedingly difficult, he had a lump in his throat that wouldn't go away. Sakura had moved to be right next to him as he spoke, resting her head on his shoulder and intertwining her arm through his. He had paused after the part about blacking out. She couldn't tell if it was because he needed to gather himself, or if he was hesitant to tell her what happened after that.

Madara cleared his throat, after what seemed to be an eternity, he found his voice again, "After that night, I was put on paid administrative leave. But I found out anyway, that the guy had been released on bail…I couldn't live with the fact that he walked around while my brother was dead. So..one night…I paid him a visit."

Sakura noticed the tone change to a low, ominous one. She looked up at him, his eyes could have burned patterns into wood. She sat up and watched him diligently, waiting for him to continue. Her stomach, however, was uncomfortable.

"I found out where he frequented, and where he lived. I waited, until a few days later, I found him on the stairwell of his apartment complex."

Sakura swallowed hard. Her mouth was dry. Madara continued.

"He was drunk, again, when I found him..and he didn't notice me behind him. There were no cameras in that complex, i looked…and then when he stumbled near the stairs, I sort of…gave him a little…push…."

Sakura's heart clenched in her chest. "Did he die?" She stammered. Madara shook his head. "At the time I was very disappointed, now I might be relieved. He broke a few bones, lacerated his liver and suffered a serious head wound, but he didn't die. In fact, he actually recovered. I, however, was called into the Chief's office soon after that."

Sakura stayed quiet and listened intensively.

"Somehow, they knew. My logs into the system showed that I had sought the man's information around that time… and when the police chief confronted me, I denied everything. But he knew better. He gave me an ultimatum…quit the force, or they could launch a full investigation and I could lose my job and go to prison for attempted murder. I chose the former and handed in my badge and firearm… "

Sakura stared at him wide-eyed. She didn't know how to feel about this. This man next to her, had at one time tried to kill someone in cold blood. She didn't know what that felt like, the desire to harm someone in such a way…but then again, she'd never lost someone important so violently, much less at the hands of someone's pure recklessness. She mulled that over in her head for a minute, trying to see it from Madara's state of mind back then…she came to a realization, that if she were him back then, she might want to push that guy down a flight of stairs too…maybe even worse.

Sakura hadn't realized, that they had already reached the cemetery, and Madara had already parked in front of the large, forlorn steel gates. She looked at Madara, his eyes were closed and he was gripping this steering wheel hard. This had taken a mental and emotional toll on him. She leaned over and placed a hand on his cheek, which caused him to turn his head and look at her.

His eyes were searching hers, looking for any reaction, any indication that she wanted to leave. She could see he was waiting tentatively, for any sign on her face, in her eyes…When he saw her wide eyes didn't change, he closed his again, turning away

Sakura didn't have anything to say, but she had something she knew she wanted to do. Bringing her body close to him, pressed a kiss to his lips. His eyes snapped open in surprise. She wrapped her arms around him in a warm, accepting embrace. When she broke the kiss, she brought her head down to rest in the crook of his neck, burying her face his hair. She spoke softly, gently into his ear.

"I had no idea…what you've gone through, I'm so sorry, Madara, I'm so sorry…" She squeezed her eyes shut as her empathy pulled agony from his heart into her own. She felt a hot tear threaten to fall. "Was there no one there for you?" She asked, trying to keep her own voice from breaking.

Madara didn't respond with words, but she felt his arms come up and wrap around her, enveloping her in a tight, tormented hold. "I've always been alone." He said, barely above a whisper. He pulled away just enough to place his hands on her cheeks. He saw tears streaming down her cheeks, and smiled as he wiped them away with his thumbs. "You're going to get me started now…" He chuckled sadly, turning his gaze over to the cemetery. He sighed, his shoulders dropping slightly. "Let's go…" He said quietly.

They got out of the truck, the cold wind had picked up, scattering leaves around their feet in solemn dance. Sakura intertwined her arm around his, and walked close with him as they passed though the gates that stood sentinel, guarding the threshold between the living, and the dead. She felt a drop of rain hit her face, and she looked up at the sky. Dark grey clouds filled her vision, a stark contrast with the bright and lush green fields they treaded on.

Madara stayed quiet as they walked the path through the graveyard, emotionless stone monuments lining the path on either side. Concrete angels with their arms open, and welcoming hands kept watch over the many gravestones on the ground. Some very old, stained with dirt and weather-worn…others were new; clean and white, but cold all the same.

As they walked, Madara stopped abruptly. Sakura looked up at him, confused. He looked over to their left, peering at a particularly clean gravestone. He curled his fingers through hers and held her hand as he led her off the path, being careful to avoid stepping on the markers. About 25 feet off the path, was Izuna's grave. It lie under the cover of an old Weeping Willow. Its soft branches swayed in the wind, the leaves creating a song of nature's solemnity as the cold breeze made them dance. Madara knelt down on one knee, inspecting the gravestone, brushing leaves and and any dirt away from the surface with his sleeve. Sakura knelt down beside him and let her eyes scan over the words. His name was carved in Bold letters, and the image of a guitar pick was etched into the stone, and two musical symbols next to it.

She looked over at Madara, his face was solemn, and his jaw was hard set. He was trying so hard to be tough, even now, but for who? She recalled his story, the guilt he carried. When his voice broke her thoughts, she had to strain to listen, his voice was so low and subtle, his tone deep and husky. "…every day…I wish I had told him to just go to bed…that I would take care of it…"

She reached over and placed her hand on his cheek, he looked over at her, his eyes glassy and hooded. She spoke softly, but held his gaze firmly.

"Madara, this wasn't your fault. You didn't get drunk and get behind the wheel. Nobody could have predicted this. You've carried this for ten years, by yourself. You don't have to do that to yourself anymore."

He placed his hand over hers, holding it to his cheek. She saw his shoulders had slumped, and she could feel his hand was shaking. He tapped a finger to his head. "Its never been that way in here," he replied. Sakura took his hand in her free one, and held it to her chest. "…just let me in, even this once." She whispered, her eyes held their gaze, burning into his. It seemed like something broke in him, and he lowered his head, his hair falling freely over his face.

Without a second thought, she acted on the sudden urge to hold him close to her. She reached and grabbed him, her hands taking hold of his peacoat in their grip, and pulled him to her chest, feeling no resistance from him. Wrapping her arms around him, she didn't care that her knees were starting to hurt having been resting on them on the pebble-studded grass the whole time. Droplets of rain began to fall more rapidly, bouncing off her coat. But she held him close, hoping that somehow her embrace could give him comfort. His body shuddered in her embrace, and then she heard it. A sound that made her heart sink in her chest. Long and quiet sobs reached her ears as he buried his face into the crook of her neck, hot tears soaking her turtleneck sweater. His hands fell limp onto his lap as all his carefully constructed walls collapsed in defeat and pain. She felt helpless as his chest heaved with every rasping breath, years of self-blame and anguish pouring out of him like a broken dam. His weeping sobs piercing every fiber of her being as she held him as close to her heart as she could.

All she could do was remain where she was, as the rain came down, soaking them both, one heart reaching out to mend the brokenness of the other.

The rain seemed fitting now…

"I won't let you be alone anymore..."

A/N

I had to seek out a real police officer to ask about the police codes. But the codes were for "collision", "fatality", "pedestrian under the influence", "notify coroner's office" and "roll ambulance"

Okay I'm gonna go cry in a corner. This hurt, and hit really close to home. Thank you to Ollia who has been a constant beacon of support while I write this story. I hope now that the hard part has been written (I've been dreading it for weeks now) I can write the more uplifting parts coming soon! Thanks guys! As always, reviews are love!

Cheers!