Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me.

Naruto's hand is stuck in his chest. As he pulls it out, his sleeves drip large rubies. The flesh has a suction hold on his wrist as if the body wants to keep his hand there, right next to his heart.

But he draws his hand out, and slumps to the floor onto his knees. He feels tired, dizzy and confused, he grits his teeth as his eyes flash red for a split second and then he feels more alert again. He can hear the forest quietly teeming with life, like it always does at night. And as he withdraws his hand, the other falls backwards, arms and legs flaying in all directions like a puppet whose strings were cut before the end of the show.

A last "ku" sounds from him, and he's gone, Naruto watches as his skin turns from deathly white to a lustrous, glowing paleness. Naruto thinks it's like a slice of the moon. The moon's light is just the reflection of the sun, really. He touches it cautiously, then tenderly, and leans over that young, pallid face and strokes his high cheekbones, wiping away earthy specks of dirt and blood.

Then, he gathers him into his arms and starts going back to Konoha. To fulfill his promise of a lifetime. And…

Hopefully the cicadas will keep him awake, their chirping is like the pulse of the forest, throb throb throb throb throbbing into his ears and under his right hand.

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Sasuke opens his eyes. The tree canopy overhead is blurry. It is composed of yellow leaves. It wasn't autumn when he closed his eyes before. Strange. Maybe he's dreaming again. That's okay. It's a nice dream, even though the air smells dark blue, like his old clan shirt, and rusty, like…like his cellar. But obviously he isn't there, so Sasuke breathes a sigh of relief, which forms a little cloud in the cold air. His mouth and cheek taste as red as tomatoes. And that deep sigh hurts him everywhere.

The rain is warm. His stomach feels really, really sticky, so he puts his fingers there to investigate. He can't see what the substance there is, but it feels slick and slightly grainy when he rubs his thumb and index finger together, smeared with that substance.

His wrist is starting to feel really heavy. Suddenly he feels a squeezing sensation. He remembers one time when one of his snake summons constricted his arm. It felt numb, and he had…well. He was never good with snakes. Whatever, or whoever is doing it isn't doing it out of spite, he can tell, the touch is achingly gentle and is guiding his hand to the side of his hip.

The rain is very warm, and keeps on falling, and falling and falling. This is okay too because his cheeks feel very, very cold. Like the sensation he feels before he breathes out chakra to produce a freezing jutsu similar to Goukakyuu no jutsu - the coldness is penetrating his skin from within like closing his mouth with needles in them.

And the sun is shining brilliantly, he observes through his eyelashes. So brilliantly it draws tears into his eyes and he's crying too. Because it's so beautiful and he hasn't seen light for ages.