Two months away and look at what the guilt trip has created… another chapter turned out in a whole four hours. SEXY! Anyways… I'm tired… it's nearly three in the morning… and I didn't finish my homework for school in the morning… (at least now you know where my priorities are… in my little fantasies). Good night.

Chapter 59: And So I Grieve

Naruto froze, not sure if he had even heard his friend correctly. He had to bite his tongue to keep from asking what Sasuke was talking about, because as dumb as Naruto was known to be, nothing could ever mistake the look of utmost hatred that was painted across Sasuke's features. He took a step backwards and laughed it off, trying to keep his pessimistic side away.

"Sasuke, stop saying things like that. It really hurts, you know?" He pleaded with his friend, but it didn't look like any of his words would get through.

"Good." Sasuke barked in reply. "I hope it hurts you a hell of a lot. You deserve every minute of pain you're in." Sasuke lunged forward, pulling back his fist and aiming a Chidori attack straight for Naruto's gut. The blonde stumbled backwards, just barely avoiding the attack, but his clothes weren't so quick to get out of the lightning attack's way, and he ended up losing half of his favourite orange jacket, which he had started wearing open. Sasuke took the defence in stride and continued his assault, throwing in a chakra enhanced kick or two at his rival. As many attacks hit as missed, but Naruto couldn't find the will to fight back. Sasuke ignored the lack of response from his opponent and continued to bash the blonde, verbally and physically.

"You ever wonder why you were left alone?" Sasuke sneered. "I was orphaned by my brother killing my entire family, whereas you were just abandoned. Who would want a demon for a child, anyways?" Naruto flinched at the words, and threw a punch or two, but nothing he did connected with Sasuke's body. He could feel the terror starting to take over him at the sight of one of his deepest fears.

Nearly five years ago, he had been plagued with a series of dark and bloody dreams, and every morning for months he would wake up seeing the same blood red Sharingan eyes glaring at him with so much hatred as he was seeing at that moment. He shuddered, taking another step backwards before seeing an opening in Sasuke's attack to run to the other side of the roof, towards the door that lead downstairs. He vaguely wondered what people would think to know two of Konohagakure's strongest shinobi were currently fighting each other instead of the enemy, but he couldn't think of that for too long, as Sasuke was fast on his toes, and refused to allow his rival a second to catch his breath.

Naruto was trying his hardest to quench his fears, telling himself this wasn't Sasuke but the curse seal speaking through his rage, but every word that Sasuke said cut through him bitterly and there was only so much he could stand up against.

"You're at the root of every problem in this village." Sasuke continued. "If you didn't try to show off so often, I wouldn't have had to go seek power in Orochimaru. I could have been happy with my life, if you hadn't stepped in and shown me how weak I was. How could someone as dumb and worthless as you possibly be surpassing me in being a genin when you only passed because Iruka favoured you? You wouldn't have even passed if Iruka hadn't empathized with your stupid pain." Naruto was shaking, but he pulled out a kunai to defend himself with, steel clashing with the blue flesh of Sasuke's hand. Sasuke pulled the kunai from Naruto's hand and hit knocked him across the jaw with his fist. He didn't even notice the blood on his hands.

"Hell, if you hadn't been on team seven, I could have gotten someone on our team who didn't waste everyone's time and money. Do you realize this entire war is your fault? Akatsuki has made it their life mission to tracking you down, why don't you spare us this misery and go with them? I can't believe how selfish you are. Iruka died because of you. You killed Iruka!!" Naruto shook his head, trying to block out Sasuke's words, but they were just too loud, and they cut just too deep, and as much as he wanted to believe that Sasuke wasn't in his right mind, everything he was saying made sense.

"You can't mean that." He whispered, but Sasuke merely laughed at him and continued to attack. Naruto kept on trying to defend himself but was failing miserably as he couldn't keep out both Sasuke's words and his fists at the same time. He felt like such a coward for letting Sasuke get to him so effectively.

"If you hadn't gone and played hero, I would have been given the power I needed to kill Itachi and we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place. Every little pinch of pain is well deserved for you, dobe. If you hadn't interfered with Orochimaru's plans he wouldn't have raped you." Naruto looked away in shame at that comment, ceasing all efforts to protect himself. If anyone else had said these things to the blonde he would have laughed and told the guy to fuck off, but because it was Sasuke, the last person he could trust, it was like a knife in the back. But Sasuke wasn't done there. He planned to take out every last one of his frustrations, and his words kept cutting into Naruto deeper and deeper. He cried out when Sasuke suddenly pulled a shuriken from its holster and sliced it across his chest.

"If you had kept to yourself instead of playing your stupid tricks, you wouldn't have been stuck in that fucking stupid illusion and you wouldn't have lost your goddamned body. The Kyuubi being released was your stupidity at believing the first person who comes along who claims to be your mother. How many people died there? How many villages did that demon destroy? How many villages did you destroy by just living?"

"Yamero… Sasuke…"He put up his hands to defend himself. "Please, don't do this to me."

"It's always about you, isn't it?"

"You told me I had people who cared."

"What a lie! I don't see anyone coming, whore." Naruto flinched at the degrading name.

"Sasuke, stop hurting me like this. You promised." He whispered, pleadingly. "You swore to me you would never turn against me. You promised you would never look at me with those eyes." Sasuke sneered, throwing another punch to the man's gut.

"There's another thing. Thanks to you, my eyes are permanently this way." He tackled Naruto to the ground, not caring to notice that he had slammed his rival's head down hard on the cement roof, and began delivering blow after blow while he had the younger man pinned beneath him. In a quick show of superiority, he flung his hand to the side and held up the kunai that had been tossed aside, twirling the weapon thoughtfully between his fingers. Naruto remained motionless beneath him, staring at the dull metal, waiting for his rival to decide what to do.

In a flash, the kunai was swept down and pressed roughly against the soft warm skin of Naruto's neck. He closed his eyes to the pain, feeling the blood trickle down his throat and drip from the back of his neck onto the dusty ground he was pressed into. Sasuke leaned forward, his body weight pressing against the knife even further, and licked at the tears that were trailing down his friend's cheeks.

"Feel that pain?" He hissed, crushing his lips against Naruto's, biting and pushing against his lips until they were swollen and bleeding. He made sure the kiss was fierce and deep and was as painful as the knife digging into the tanned skin. "You don't even deserve to breathe the sa-"

"Kill me, then." Naruto interrupted. "End my life and rid the world of one more evil monster. Everything you said was right. I've killed thousands of people, and my existence is ruining this village. Maybe you did become the monster I was always afraid of, but I'm no better, am I?" he lifted his arms and wrapped his hands around the one that Sasuke was using to hold the kunai against his neck and pressed down harder.

The younger Uchiha took in a sharp breath and closed his eyes, ripping the blade up, slicing into the tips of Naruto's fingers, and threw it aside.

"Naruto, I…" He hesitated, seeing the defeated look in his friend's eyes. They were dull and lifeless, but he was not dead, yet. "I broke my promise…" He said, his voice cracking slightly. He too remembered the promise he had made when Naruto had finally confessed to being terrified of Sasuke in that way, but he had broke the promise. He lowered his own wounded hand to the wound he'd inflicted on his friend and never noticed when his whole body began to shake from shock. Not only had the curse seal drained him down to his last shred of chakra, but he felt as though he was waking from a nightmare, only to find his reality was far worse. He had allowed the curse seal to take over, not noticing it through the rage he felt, and when it had finally receded, it was too late and he was left to deal with the consequences.

His blood mingled with Naruto's for a moment before he pulled his hand away, sharply, and stumbled backwards off of his rival. For a few moments he just stared at the tanned man's body, which still had yet to move, until he couldn't bear to look any longer and he fled from the rooftop, ashamed of what he had become in his quest for revenge.

Naruto was left lying on the nearly destroyed cement top, staring at the clouds. As a bitter hot wind blew across his broken body, he lifted his torn fingers to the sky and wondered how it could look so blue when all he could see was the blood that was trickling down his arm, the pool beneath his head and the death that he had been denied.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

Sasuke's mind was blank as he knocked out yet another sand ninja. He didn't take the time to catch his breath, and instead moved on to his next enemy, aiming to put his entire being into his battles, but his chakra limit should have been reached a few minutes earlier, and he was running on empty. His last battle had shown several mistakes he wouldn't normally have made, but instead of stopping to examine the problem, he pushed ahead further, stubborn about fixing it through experience, though deep down, he knew he was just doing it to rid himself of the pain he knew he would feel when he allowed himself to stop. He couldn't stop.

He didn't see when a Sound ninja came up behind him to aid his comrade, bringing the hilt of his katana down hard on the back of Sasuke's head, causing him to collapse to the floor in a heap, unconscious.

The last thought running through his mind before the darkness engulfed him was that Itachi had been right. He was weak, and until he could control his anger, he would always be weak.

Kakashi, who was fighting a few feet away, saw Sasuke go down out of the corner of his eye and raced towards his student to help. He was surprised to see the younger man go down so easily, but attributed it to the stress of the war and nothing more.

He used the metal plate on the back of his fingerless gloves to smack the attention of the two shinobi away from the unconscious genin lying in the dirt. He hunched over, ready for whatever attack they threw at him, and was disappointed when all they had was general ninja weapons and the mediocre bunshin. If they had been from Konoha, they would barely be genin, much less the jounin status they held. Again he wondered how Sasuke could have lost so quickly to these two, but shoved the question aside until they were dealt with.

He lowered his hitai-ate over his Sharingan eye, he hardly needed it with these two, and charged at them, using the speed he had built up throughout his years. They were startled by the speed, but tried to keep up, despite their odds. Obviously they hadn't been taught when the right time to turn tail and run was, and he was in no mood for a lesson. Drawing a double-sided kunai, he put his hands together in as quick skill, calling up a bunshin, and together they knocked the two out.

He looked around, but their area had been cleared, the rest of them either running from the sight of the ruthless copycat ninja, or because they had already heard of his reputation.

Grateful that he had gotten to Sasuke before anything happened to the younger man, he slung him over his shoulder and headed back to the centre of the village where the injured were being treated, and Sasuke would be safe enough to wake up and give him some answers.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

By the time Sasuke had made it to the hospital and admitted, Sand and Akatsuki had retreated, satisfied by the large dent they had created in Konohagakure's defence. Many were dead, and many still were missing or severely injured. It took a few hours for the ceasefire to register in the minds of the villagers and shinobi, and when it did, they finally started looking for loved ones.

Ino stood in front of what used to be her family's flower shop, tears streaming down her face. The flowers were unimportant to her, but the sight of her best friend frantically digging through the rubble caused her a great deal of pain. Because both Ino and her father, Inoshi, were needed to help protect the village, her mother had opted to help out as well, using her skills as a medical ninja at the hospital.

The Yamanaka family had left the shop to Haruno Yuri and her husband, Sakura's parents, knowing they were not a ninja family, and wanted to keep them out of harms way. They didn't think the battle would reach so far into the village.

Ino looked around her, noticing there were many other shops on the street they were on that had been destroyed in the attack, but people who were there said the Yamanaka's flower shop was the first to go down. Ino squeezed her eyes shut as her ears caught the broken sobs of her closest childhood friend, as she pulled back another burnt piece of wood. It was doubtful Sakura would find anyone alive in the place; it had been burnt to the ground. One man had kindly told Ino that the man and woman looking after it refused to leave their friend's shop, willing to protect it like they would their daughter. She kept her mouth shut, not knowing if Sakura was ready to hear such things just yet.

"Sakura-chan, please stop." She exclaimed, turning back to the charred remains. "You're only serving to get your hopes up. They didn't make it." She sniffled, and made her way into the wreckage to comfort her friend. When she finally reached the side of the other kunoichi, she found her crouched down low, hugging her knees. She stooped low as well and did the only thing she could, envelop her friend in a tight hug. "It'll be okay, Sakura-chan." She whispered, letting the girl cry on her shoulder. As far as she had heard, they were the only relatives in Konoha that Sakura had, the closest being a third cousin in Amegakure.

"Our job was to protect these people." Sakura hiccupped when her tears had stopped. "We failed the one duty we had."

"I know." She whispered, petting the pink hair of her best friend and sighed, knowing this was only the start of the horrors they were going to find.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

When Shikamaru had finally found his father, he was speechless to find the man weeping on Inoshi's shoulder. Both men were sitting on the bench near the gates, which had been sealed shut with ten Anbu guards patrolling until they could be absolutely sure the enemy was gone. He stayed back for a second, wondering if it really was his father that was with his team mate's father, but there were very few people who were as built up as Shikato and had that hairstyle. Inoshi looked up, tears prickling the corners of his eyes, and spotted his friend's son.

"Shikamaru." He exclaimed, patting Shikato on the shoulder to alert the man of his son's presence.

"Otousan?" Shikamaru asked, tentatively, unsure of the cause behind such a worrisome breakdown. The man stiffened at the voice, but refused to turn around. It took a glare from Inoshi to finally get him to respond to his son.

"Shikamaru, I…" But he didn't know what to say. The chuunin walked up to the two men, hesitant about what he knew he was about to hear. Inoshi cleared his throat and stood up, despite his friend's moan of protest.

"You two need to talk, Shikamaru-kun. It's about your mother." Shikamaru froze and lowered his gaze to the ground, frowning deeply.

"She died in the battle, didn't she?" Inoshi watched as Shikamaru's hands closed into fists, but otherwise he remained his aloof self, something his father had managed to break free of at the news about his wife. At first he had been surprised at his friend's break down, but he understood more than anyone. No matter how many times he had complained to the Yamanaka man, Shikato loved his wife dearly.

"I'm sorry." Inoshi whispered, and walked away, leaving father and son to each other.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

Neji didn't know what he expected to find when he reached the main clan house, later on in the afternoon. The battle had been over for at least six hours, and still bodies were being recovered all across the village. He knew that Hinata had chosen to stay behind and help out Tsunade and Sakura in the hospitals, using her hands to heal rather than hurt. He knew she didn't particularly like healing with her chakra, but she told her cousin she wanted to be there in case Naruto showed up injured.

He had suffered three broken ribs, but he knew that he was one of the lucky ones and didn't complain when he visited Tsunade in the hospital, though he knew she had noticed his wounds. She just told him that she had given Hinata the rest of the night off as the rest of the patients were either healed as much as they could get until the morning, or they were the ones coming in, which were much more serious cases, and infrequent enough for Tsunade to handle each one personally.

Contrary to many other buildings in the village, all of the houses in the Hyuuga main house were completely fine, not a one had seen a hint of a battle aside from the training that the Hyuuga family did inside the family grounds. He looked around for a moment, wondering where his younger cousin would be, when he spotted her sitting on the front steps to the main mansion. He walked up to her calmly, giving her a small smile in greeting when she lifted her head.

"Neji-sama." She exclaimed softly.

"Tsunade-hime told me you had been given the rest of the evening off." She nodded, looking back to her hands, which were resting on top of her knees. Neji took the silent invitation and sat down beside her. "She also told me to tell you that Sasuke is doing fine, and should wake up shortly. She also said that the doctors were very happy to find a patient who would definitely survive the night." Hinata looked to him and nodded.

"Hanabi was admitted to the hospital too." She told her cousin. He turned to her sharply.

"What happened?" He asked, taking in how strangely calm she was. She had lost a lot of her shy nervousness over the last few months since her break-up with Naruto.

"Her and her team mates got caught in a fight between some of the upper class shinobi." Hinata exclaimed. "Tsunade-hime has high hopes that she'll be okay, but she lost the vision in her right eye… and part of it in her left eye from a poison attack. Otousan is staying with her tonight." Neji nodded.

"I wish her good health." He murmured. "But where is everyone else? These houses make this seem like a ghost town." He looked down one of the streets, only just noticing how empty the place really looked; as though they were the only two left in the entire village.

"There is no one else, Neji-sama." Hinata replied, kicking the dirt with one of her sandals.

"What do you mean?" Neji stood up and took a good look around. The streets were silent. He looked down to see Hinata staring at him with her soft white eyes.

"There's a couple of the children who are missing, but everyone else died in the battle. I came home and the gate had been left open. The houses were ransacked and everyone I found had their eyes either burned out or removed." Neji stood still for a moment, taking in the new meaning behind the silent streets. It horrified him that his innocent cousin had seen such a horrible thing, but she was too old to be considered innocent anymore.

"Everyone?" He replied, still unsure. She nodded solemnly, turning her attention back to her fingers. I matched everyone I found to the registry in the main house. A few ninja I know to have died on the battlefield or in the hospital, and the rest remained here. I think a couple of the children from the branch house went into hiding, but I can't be sure as each house had their own unique hiding spot. Everyone else, except you, was accounted for. Whoever came in here now has the secrets of the Byakugan, Neji-sama." He winced, sitting back down and giving her an awkward hug.

"I don't care about that." He whispered, kissing the top of his cousin's head. "I thank the fates you're still here."

(Star)(Star)(Star)

Kiba considered himself one of the lucky ones. Him and Akamaru had managed to avoid the areas where the battles were so concentrated it was hard to tell enemy from ally, and he knew the stench of blood would throw his and his friend's noses out of whack, not to mention make him want to hurl. He could handle blood, he did it everyday, but the massacre he had avoided would have crossed his limits.

He'd found a spot a little bit closer to the hospital, and lay in wait for any of the ones who found themselves as lucky as Kiba, getting through the myriad of shinobi from Anbu right down to genin. He had considered himself the last defence between the Sand ninjas and the building where Tsunade was busily trying to do her best saving lives.

He was proud of his and Akamaru's work at achieving their goal. If they made it past Kiba, they didn't make it past his loyal dog. But when the battles had ceased, and he had finally realized he could go home and rest, he was lost. He didn't know if he should go home and sleep or check up on the rest of his friends. A little bit of whining from Akamaru made the decision for him and he headed out to find his friends to see how they were holding up.

He found Shino in another part of the forest, where the trees were spread out and light filtered in softly through the green leaves. The boy was directing two men and a young girl to collect something for him, when Kiba entered the semi-clearing. Shino took no notice of him for a few minutes, keeping his attention on his bugs, but Kiba didn't have to wait long to know what was going on. Body after body began to pile up so fast, Kiba thought he was going to be sick just looking at it, forget his nose. Akamaru whimpered at the sight and buried his head between his paws.

"Shino-kun…" He started, getting the man's attention.

"Kiba-kun, I cannot play games with you today." Kiba frowned for a moment, but the comment slid by fast.

"Is that…?" Shino looked back to the bodies and nodded slowly.

"My whole clan. The bugs are returning them to me." He exclaimed. Kiba choked for a moment before he finally had had enough and fled back into the village, his dog following just on his heels.

(Star)(Star)(Star)

When Lee had heard it, he didn't believe it. When he saw it, he couldn't believe it. But when Tsunade finally told him they needed to move the body to another room in order to make room for more patients, he found that he had no choice but to believe it.

"But… how could this happen?" He whispered more to himself than the healer at his side. Tsunade looked to him before closing her eyes at the confusion he expressed. It was always hard to say good-bye to a comrade or a soldier, but too many familiar faces had passed through her rooms, never to return to the land of the living.

"I can tell you the cause of death, if it will help you to know his final moments." She offered. He sighed, coughing to cover a sob, but nodded. He wanted to know everything. "He was stopped by this." She pointed to the leg that had been shattered. It now lay disfigured and discoloured, looking very little like the strong leg it once had been. "It looks like it was a sharp object that made him falter, but then it was hit repeatedly with something large and heavy. With his speed of no use to him, he was forced to rely on genjutsu, but it looks like he was tapped of his chakra before he could get to it, stopping his from using that technique of his you learned. After that he was hit here," she pointed to his chest where a large kunai once was lodged. "And that's when his heart stopped beating. Oxygen stopped making it to his brain and he died." She looked up to Lee, saddened by his tears, but surprised that he was smiling.

"They say he took out all three of the shinobi who had attacked him, even as he was dying." He exclaimed softly. "He really was in the spring of his youth." Tsunade smiled at the man's student and the pride that shone through despite the tragic pain of grief that she could feel coming off of him in waves. "That's how Gai-sensei would have wanted to be remembered." He added, turning from the room.

"Lee-san." Tsunade called before he left. He stopped in the doorway and looked back. "One of the shinobi who saw him just before he died told me something that Gai had asked to be passed on." Lee nodded, waiting to hear it. She smiled to herself before passing on the news. "He said, he was happy to die knowing he had defeated Kakashi in 451 battles, beating the number of times Kakashi beat him… by one." Rock Lee laughed at that, and wiped the tears from his eyes, even though he knew the tears would continue to fall.

(End of Chapter)

Well… how's that for four hours straight from start to finish? I was probably just in the perfect mood to write this… bored. The title of this chapter didn't strike me until the very end… when I realized that everyone in the end had a completely different way of dealing with their grief. In a way, I'm proud of the way Rock Lee came out. None of these reactions were written out before I typed them here. Everything is just… off-the-top-of-my-head. I hope I did these guys justice.

On a side note: I managed to create something of a calendar of events. I can accurately say that this chapter takes place on August 18th.

Yay for the eight people who remembered who I was!!

To Ulitheal: I hope this explained it a little better, and not forced you to go see the end of chapter 6 and the beginning of chapter 7.

To Ruby Love: How do I feel? To me it's a lot like writing down the events in a movie. I see the whole thing play out in my head, so if it's good, I cry at the parts your supposed to cry at and laugh when I'm supposed to. I actually almost cried when Lee was talking to Tsunade at the end here.

To Miekje: I'm glad that more people are starting to see this story reflect real life, and yet stay as true as possible to Kishimoto-sempai's characters. I don't know from experience what losing someone close to you feels like, but I imagine that it's different for everyone. Some people accept it and move on quickly, while others mourn for years. I imagine I would be one who moves on fast, but to each his own. I hope I conveyed that message clearly in the end of this chapter.