Ahhh! Prostrates self before you all I'm soooooo sorry! I know I said it would be two weeks, but somehow, I managed to miss four weeks of school, and then I was really busy catching up, and then I got caught up writing something original for fictionpress, and I just now wrote this! It's the second to last chapter, though, so that's exciting. There's a lot of random dialogue in this, and some major ANGST. So, this said, I'll just quit talking and let you read. If I respond to reviews today, I won't have time to post, so I promise, next chapter I'll respond to reviews for both this chapter and chapter 35, okay? And everyone who reviews twice will get double treats. Again, I'm sorry for being a terrible updater! Now read!

But Home Is Nowhere…: Steal Away The Darkened Pages

"I used to think I loved her," Naruto admitted quietly, eyes cast to the center of the blossom in his lap. "I used to think she was the most perfect person in the world, and that one day she would suddenly realize we were meant for each other. We were going to be perfect together, you know." He turned a wry smile on Sasuke who was sitting next to him, silent. He was smiling too, a softer smile, but a smile nonetheless. "But you came along and ruined everything. One day I'm sitting here mooning after Sakura, confident that one day she'll love me, and the next I'm sharing a locker with you and listening to your deathly romantic poetry and falling in love with you."

Naruto didn't know why he was talking like that, but it seemed their encounter with Sakura had mellowed him a little, bringing out his darker, more sarcastic side. Or maybe it was just that he thought Sasuke ought to know. He wasn't sure.

"If it makes you feel any better," Sasuke broke the small silence that had come over them. "I used to think I hated you. I was going to spend the rest of my days being cruel to you and punishing you for throwing paper wads at me. I even considered poisoning you." His smile became a smirk now, and his tone was dry as he continued, "But you just couldn't let me go on living my life the way I was supposed to. You just had to actually have a brain, and hell, a heart. You just had to write like I write. One minute, I'm plotting to kill you for attempting to take me out with a spit ball, and the next I'm afraid to let anything near you, because I don't want you to get hurt."

Naruto was forced to feel warm and fuzzy inside before he let the irony of the conversation sink in and laughed. "What a couple of hopeless romantics we are, huh?"

"Completely hopeless."

"Well, as long as we're on the same page." (1)

"We are indeed." Sasuke stood suddenly, and offered his hand to Naruto with a flourish. "Where to now, my love?"

Naruto laughed and stood, taking Sasuke's hand. "That way." He nodded his head in the direction to their left, and set off walking, pulling Sasuke with him.

"What's this way?"

"I don't know."

"Okay."

After an hour or so of random wandering, Naruto's eyes lit up, and he was forced to cut Sasuke off in the middle of a sentence to squeal, "Gelato!"

Sasuke gave him a slightly disturbed look, not having noticed the small gelato stand positioned across the street, and thus confused by the random proclamation. "Huh?" Naruto bounced up and down gleefully, pointing across the street and grinning.

"Can I go get some gelato?" He turned big blue eyes on Sasuke. "Please?"

Sasuke smiled softly. "Sure." He fished around in his pocket for Money and managed to produce a twenty, handing it to Naruto. "Let's go."

Naruto smiled again. "No, you stay here! Hold Mango."

"Mango?"

Naruto nodded. "Yes, Mango. It's what I named the flower!"

"When did this happen?"

"Just now!" Sasuke gave him a wary look, and he mellowed slightly. "You don't like it?"

"No, I love it! It's a wonderful name for a flower." Naruto beamed, handing the plant to Sasuke.

"What flavor do you want?"

"I don't know. Surprise me."

"Alright!" Naruto perched on his toes and kissed Sasuke's cheek before bounding off across the street. Sasuke watched him go with a dorky smile on his face. The blonde stood in line for a few moments, and then he began to order. As the man at the stand started scooping, Sasuke turned around to examine the display in the window of the store he was standing in front of. It was nothing special, just some mannequins wearing some weird pink furry things.

It didn't register in his mind when some random person across the street shouted, "Hey kid, wait a sec!" But when he turned around, he realized that Naruto had paused in his crossing of the street and was standing still, a look of confusion on his face, and that the car that was speeding straight towards him was neglecting to slow in the least, and was, if anything, speeding up. And suddenly, nothing was real.

The sound of the orchid hitting the ground wasn't real, and the sight of the beautiful flower split in two and covered in dirt was merely an illusion. And there was no reason to be afraid of getting hit by the car as he ran into the street to push the blonde out of the way, because everything was a dream now. Until the pain.

3333333333333

Naruto was marginally confused when he felt something come barreling into him, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying to the ground a few feet from where he had been standing originally. Someone was screaming, a woman he thought, and he couldn't fathom why. Accompanying her screeching, though was another noise, one of higher pitch and more terrifying implications. He was almost afraid to look up.

When he did, he couldn't help but blink a few times. Laying there in the middle of the street was someone who was much worse off than them, and a few feet down the road, there was a car, the windshield completely shattered, the glass stained red. And then it registered. That person had been hit by a car that was heading for him. They'd pushed him out of the way.

Terror shot through him, why was that body wearing the same clothes as Sasuke, and why the fuck wasn't Sasuke standing on the sidewalk where he'd left him?

Somebody was kneeling at his side, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder and asking quietly, "Hey kid, you okay?"

He turned blurry eyes to the stranger, asking quietly, "What happened."

"That car was heading straight for you and that other guy just ran out into the street and pushed you out of the way."

Naruto didn't want to hear that. "What?"

"He got hit instead of you." The stranger nodded slightly towards the body that was lying a few feet away.

"Oh God." Naruto shot to his feet, ignoring the pain that lanced through his chest and left arm, falling to his knees beside the body, turning it over slightly, tears already streaming down his face. "Sasuke?" The boy didn't answer. Didn't even open his eyes, or respond to being moved. "Sasuke, come on!" He began to shake the boy in his arms, attempting to bring him out of whatever trance he was in. "Sasuke wake up dammit! You can't do this to me!" He was practically shrieking now, and there were several people standing around, giving him sympathetic looks. He turned helpless eyes to one of them. "Help. Oh God, please help him! He can't die!"

The stranger turned away, so he turned to another, and another until someone finally told him that they'd already called an ambulance, and that it should be here any second. This comment was punctuated by a siren, and minutes later, a paramedic was tearing Naruto away from Sasuke. "Is he okay?" Naruto asked, his voice thick with despair, tears still running down his cheeks. He already knew the answer.

The man that was examining Sasuke turned sad eyes on Naruto, giving a sympathetic shake of his head. "I'm sorry, kid. He's gone."

"What?" Naruto stood still for a moment, and then, when the man who had been holding him back loosened his grip, he tore forward. "No! That's not true. You're lying." He pushed past the paramedics and fell next to Sasuke again, looking at his face, trying to find any sign of life, but there was nothing. "Come on Sasuke! Don't do this to me. You aren't allowed to do this. You can't just make me love and then leave me." He had gone from yelling to whispering in the space of a few seconds and was now sobbing through his words. "Please…please!"

He didn't respond.

TBC…

A/N: My excuse for the bad writing is that I absolutely stink at writing angst, so, please forgive the terrible LACK of style or refinement. And please don't kill me. I know you all wanted something happy, but I couldn't do it. I guess I just have a sickly morbid streak in me. I'm sorry! I guess that's all I have to say, though. One more chapter and a prologue and this is done, even if you all quit reading now 'cause you hate me. Haha. This chapter's title is from "God Called In Sick Today" by AFI. Hope you liked it at least a little.

Bye bye.

ISAN

1. I know this conversation seems pointless, and doesn't really make sense, but I figure nothing in this story has a point and most of it is completely lacking in sense, so why not continue?