Echoes

((A/N: all right, this...I had no idea where this came from. This is a Sasuke centered fic, with an almost empty feeling of angst to it.))

(Thank you x 1,000,000,000,etc. for reading and reviewing. I am very open to suggestions, as I encourage them. I will try anything.)

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I've run out of smart ass remarks for disclaimers, so...

You got to hide, and then everyone looks for you, and when they find you, they hide too...And you're passing them all and looking in all the laundry places and shit, and it's a big game, and people keep giggling, and then you don't see them again. Then you're walking around alone...there's this wierd moment that you realize you're alone...You realize at that moment, the exact moment...it's already over. You're walking, and everything's empty, but the wierdest thing is that it's not empty at all. The wierdest thing is that you're more alone than anyone, but that more people are thinking about you than ever before.
- Titus, from Feed, by M.T Anderson

Echoes

Something was different. Changed.
He couldn't even bring himself to glance backward.
That's what Sasuke thought, as he faced the empty streets of Kohona, sakura blossoms tumbling through the air before landing on the ground. They were the only thing that were in color. Narrowing his eyes, he took a step, finding it didn't echo despite of how hollow this place seemed.
Somehow, he couldn't look back. An impending fear, like a calm before the storm, made him pick his pace into a run.
No one was around, it was like the village had died. No smells of food, flowers, people, anything. No warm sounds, no sounds of children laughing or screaming, adults scolding or talking, Naruto yelling in that loud, irritating, stupid voice of his.
Naruto...surely he must be here. A sort of urgency took hold of him, like a knot in his chest. He knew it was fear.
No one said he had to admit it.
So with soundless footsteps he tore his way, almost desperately, through black and white streets and buildings. It was creepy, and Sasuke didn't like it. Somehow, finding Naruto would make everything normal. Make this dark Kohona right again. He ran a hand through his hair, finding a petal caught between the strands.
He stopped, and looked at it in his palm, the pink almost stinging his eyes. He held unto it, closing his hand to a fist. So far, Naruto was nowhere to be found. There was still one place.
Not daring to look back, he gritted his teeth, willing himself to speed up. He reached the forest, and took to the tree's branches.
His eyes widened; all of the trees were dead, skeletons with bare branches that raked the skin if one wasn't careful. He leapt through them quickly, feeling like an outcast to their once welcome bark. It was terrifying, in some way Sasuke couldn't place, looking up to see their twisted forked ends at the gray sky. He kept moving, and when he found that bastard he'd tell him what was going on.
What he had remembered as the glistening, sparkling river had dried into a messy stream of dry soil, the bank no longer lush. What used to be the bridge Kakashi used to make them wait on with solid boards and light red rails was rickety, and missing wood. Sasuke stopped dead, and closed his eyes, willing the scene away. He recalled hearing Sakura's and Naruto's annoying, simultaneous,
YOU'RE LATE!
And Naruto...what did he say every day...?
Good morning, Sakura-chaaaaan!
Sakura...surely she was here...maybe at her house...Naruto may have left, but Sakura wouldn't.
Opening his eyes, he frowned. He'd have to travel back through that forest.
And he did, as fast as he could. Nothing made sense. Petals still flitted through the air, blurry at his top speed. He clutched his own in his hand, his brow furrowing. This felt to real to be a dream, and yet...
He reached the village, the one he called home. It didn't look like home to him. Home was when he heard Naruto being shot down by Sakura, who had no interest in training with him. Home was when he'd feel satisfaction after a long day, with barely the energy to walk home, the sunset glowing over the fences that disgrace to Hokage kid followed Naruto around would hide beside. Home was when sometimes, very rarely, Kakashi would put away his book to look him in the eye and tell him what he couldn't do in a light tone that no one could mimick.
Hell no!
B-But Sakura-chan...
I'd be much better off with Sasuke-kun...
No. You're weaker than Naruto. Get stronger and you won't waste my time.
...My, teamwork has been suffering...
You always say that...
Do I really...?

Hey! Hey! Hey! Naruto Nee-chaaaan!
Sakura was a smart girl. She'd explain what happened.
Sasuke felt his throat seem to close up as he reached her door, the pink blossoms wisping by in a hypnotic way. He knocked, and didn't hear an echo or anyone answer. After a second or so, he opened the door, and looked around. Her room was upstairs, that he knew. Her house...it looked...so empty. A chill went down his spine as he climbed the stairs, which did not acknowledge his weight. Everything was darker, like someone dimmed everything. Maybe it was him.
Or maybe it was why he didn't look back to whatever waited behind him, like a nightmarish blackness ready to spring that terrified him so.
Somehow, he knew which room was hers, despite the fact he had never been inside of her home.
Clicking open the doorknob, he opened the door carefully, a sort of tension running through him. If she wasn't here...
But she was. He walked in, to find her on the ground, her pink hair somehow breaking through the dimness, black and white. Her shoulders were hunched forward and shuddering, her legs sprawled to each side. Sasuke's eyes widened, and he reached out to touch her, but she recoiled, almost flinched. He pulled back, confused. Walking around, he turned to look her in face, when he took a step back.
He wanted to leave, he really did, but he feared whatever was behind him far too greatly.
She was crying, the tears like a river that no longer existed here. Her eyes were narrowed with such pain, the green bright and alien to his colorless world. Her fists were clenched as she held a picture, now wet due to the storm in her eyes.
Sasuke glanced at it, and saw it was that picture of Team 7. At the time, Sasuke thought it was a bit stupid, seeing as he wasn't exactly a picture person.
But looking at Sakura so upset, something curled tighter in his stomach. Cement came to mind. He went to ask her, What's going on- but was cut off as she screamed, a deafening sound, the first ever.
She managed through sobs, pulling her hair absently with one hand, digging into her skull. Sasuke just stared; overwhelmed. Why did you have to leave, Sasuke! YOU TOOK EVERYTHING! You even...you even took Kakashi... She chocked. Naruto away...w-why did you leave me? She let out another horrific cry as she gathered the picture in her hands, then...
She tore it to pieces.
A moment of silence, of stillness, was born. A moment in which time stopped, and so did his heartbeat.
But moments can like these can only last so long, as with life, time moves on. And Sakura, her heart wrenched with pain, made a clumsy grab for the pieces of the picture and held them to her chest, weeping harder than before. She had fallen, and for the first time, no one was there to help her up.
He whispered. At first, it seemed she didn't hear him. But then, she looked up at him through bloodshot emerald eyes, her face smudged with water, her breath coming in heavy rasps.



Sasuke was shoved roughly out of his sleep. He gasped, and looked up, to find Orochimaru standing over him. Sweat beaded his face, which he brushed off quickly. Orochimaru didn't like weakness. We have work to do... The man smiled, eerily snake-like, before he walked away, expecting Sasuke to follow.
He ran a hand through his hair as he stood up, finding a petal there. He shook his head. It was just a dream. Just a dream...
As he followed that Sannin through the dense forest, pink petals, long dead, covered the ground.
And Sasuke kept walking, to terrified to ever look back.