A/N: Just a quick one-shot, can be taken from any character's perception. I don't want to influence your POV so I won't say which pairing I was thinking of when I wrote this.

Although I never state names, all Naruto characters are copyright Kishimoto Masahi

I Loved You

I don't think you ever really loved me. I think I became this illusion you built. God, I loved it when you looked at me like you did. A look that only seemed to get more and more intense as time went by. But...I don't think it's me you were seeing. I think you tried to make me something that I'm not and can't be. I refuse to be.

I love you.

I wish it was me you loved. Wish that veil would move aside from your eyes so you could see me.

You don't even say my name anymore.

I can barely remember what it sounded like coming from your lips.

I have to look away now when you look at me. I can't stand to look at those beautiful eyes and know that somewhere, inside, you're seeing someone else. Maybe it's who I used to be. The person I was when we met. Years flowing by, I think you're trying to keep that person, trying to capture that person. I hate to tell you, love, but they're long gone.

All you have now is who I am.

Do you even see my sadness? Do you feel it when we shift in the dark. At one time, we were one. Now...now when we connect, there's nothing for me coming from you. I don't feel you like I did before.

Look at me, I'm crying now...how pathetic, right?

But it hurts. And it's okay to cry when you hurt, right?

Why am I even bothering to ask...you don't hear these silent words. You can never give me an answer. You never see me cry. No one does.

You're only there when it's suitable. You only come to me when you need me. No. Not me...just someone. And I'm always willing, always waiting with open arms.

You're violent when you come home from missions. You're violent and angry and desperate and...and...everything I feel inside when your eyes turn away. You're harsh, pushing me to the wall, force your way into my mouth. And I let you. I let your hands wander. Let you take me. Violate me the way you want.

Because I love you.

And this is as much as I can get from you. Your emotions for me aren't mine. I don't have your heart although you offer it so readily. Because it's not for me. And I hate it.

So, I hate you.

But, god...I love you.

You're so innocent. So very and completely innocent in your ways. You don't understand how harsh reality is. Even with your missions, when blood has long stained your hands and you come home so angry. You come home that way because you can't understand how cruel the world is. And I wish I could keep it that way. Wish I could always stay here and protect you from it all.

But I can't stay. You have to see how I'm dying. I can't be caged like this anymore. I want to be happy again.

Just once more.

Just once more, kiss me. Let your hands roam my skin, your warm fingers splay across this chest. Let me be with you, surround you, arms tight around your neck. Let me breathe your name into your ear, eyes closed tightly, trying to remember what it was like when I truly believed you loved me.

And then the door closes behind me, as I leave you in the folds of the blankets of the bed and the night.

Crying on the floor of the front hall, until I get my strength to stand. Get the strength to take the last bits of myself. So when you wake, I won't exist...

I leave nothing behind.