(Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews! If you're reading, please remember to review! Warnings and disclaimers apply to all chapters. If anybody remembers the chapter title for chapter 33, 34 or 37, could you please let me know? )

And the Beat Goes on
Chapter 27: Catch My Fall

"Naruto, I. . ."

Sasuke could barely force the words out of his throat, which was raw from the damn coughing that had accompanied his cold. Speaking made him feel as if there was a bunch of thorns lodged in his vocal chords.

He drew a shaky breath, trying to force away the tears gathering in his eyes. The water was cool to his flushed cheeks, which were burning up with fever, but he didn't need to look so goddamn weak right then.

Naruto wasn't looking at him. The blond had closed his eyes, obviously scared of what he had to say. That was fine with him. He was scared of what he had to say too. He didn't know why it hurt so much, but it felt like there was something pricking at his heart. Maybe it was the fact he couldn't breathe properly, hadn't been able to breathe properly since he'd run through the icy cold to school. Now, it seemed, that the air was far too heavy, too thick to breath and his head spun with lack of oxygen.

He felt dizzy. He could hear people moving around in the background, saying stuff, but he couldn't make sense of it. His brother was probably pretty pissed off at him right now, but he didn't care. He simply had to say this. It had been on the tip of his tongue since Naruto had made his bold statement to him on Friday night.

Everything was blurry, even Naruto, who was right in front of him. Stupid tears, stupid cold, stupid fever!

There was no turning back now. He simply had to say it, and then, whatever followed would come crashing down on his head. Maybe he'd be lucky and pass out and miss the initial maelstrom of confusion and chaos.

That chaos and confusion was already brewing behind him, ready to break at any second, should he give the signal. Naruto had looked up at him now, confused as to why he was taking so damn long to say anything.

He drew a shaky breath and tried again. "Naruto, I. . ."
He trailed off again. Goddamn his coward's nerve. Every time he got to those two words, he hit a blockade and couldn't say anything more. He was stumbling, tripping all over himself in order to get this out in the open.

Naruto's face screamed, "Just say it already!"

He closed his eyes and bit his lip, trying hard to pull up the courage residing deep inside of himself that he needed to say this, to do this.

He tried so hard to draw up the courage that he needed to break Naruto's heart with.

"Naruto, I don't want to see you again."

The storm broke then, the room suddenly becoming clamoured, and frantically loud. But beyond that, there was Naruto, the hurt look in his eyes, the shattering that he knew would happen. He was sorry in that instant for doing it, but he knew, had known from the start that this was how it was going to end.

So, if this was how it was supposed to end, why was it hurting him so goddamn much? He was the one who wanted to end it, right?

He stood there, wheezing for a moment or two, because he still couldn't breathe properly. There were hands on his shoulders, trying to stay him, because, he didn't realize it, but he was swaying back and forth, like a leaf in the breeze, clinging to the branch of consciousness.

When he did tumble forward into the darkness of oblivion, the one who caught him, was Naruto.

Irony is a wicked thing.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Sakura left band practice, shaken, and startled. She hadn't even said goodbye to Ino, that's how shook up she was. She'd come to a startling realization, when Sasuke had given his dramatic performance in front of them.

Love didn't last forever. "Happily ever after" didn't happen anywhere, except for in her storybooks. She had always cherished that ending when she was a little girl, and had still even now that she was older, because she wanted to live like that - happily. Real life, however, wouldn't allow her that luxury.

Would the same come to pass between herself and Ino? Did people fall out of love, just as they fell in love?

She didn't know, and it scared her, because she didn't want to go back from where she'd come. She had been alone, in a dark place, and she never wanted to go back. She was in the light now, with Ino, with someone at her side, to catch her when she stumbled, and she wanted to stay there, in the sunlight forever.

Presently, she came to musing about what had happened between Naruto and Sasuke to make Sasuke come to such a conclusion. He was usually so calm and level-headed that she couldn't see him doing something like that without some great deal of need, or thought. But, the fact remained, he had done it. He had broken up with Naruto.

She'd thought they'd been perfect for each other, though she hadn't immediately seen it. She'd been selfish then, thinking herself to be the only match for her Sasuke-kun, but in time, now that she had someone and didn't have to be jealous, she'd come to see that she was not cast in that mould.

Naruto had been. Naruto and Sasuke were almost complete opposite, even in appearance. Naruto was blond, with tan skin, and bright blue eyes, while Sasuke was dark featured, with pale skin. They were like day and night, like the moon and the sun, but that was only scratching the surface. When you got down to who they were, they had a lot of similarities, and enough in common that they could understand each other, without saying anything that might hurt themselves.

Had Sasuke done it in self-defence? He had lost his parents already, he had lost his family and maybe he was scared that he was going to lose Naruto, so he let him go first, so that he didn't get stuck with that blow of losing someone else.

It made sense, in a strange, sick way. She didn't know what had transpired, and she shouldn't wonder like this, because it only made her worry.

She glanced to her left suddenly, noticing that Shikamaru was walking with her. That was odd. His first class was all the way on the other side of the school. Shikamaru, by nature, was lazy, so why would he go so out of his way to walk with her, of all people? As far as she knew, he didn't like her all that much, and merely tolerated her because she was Ino's friend. Sometimes, she wondered why he tolerated Ino as a 'friend', because the blonde treated him like crap. She decided that it was because he was too lazy to make new friends.

But back to the current problem. Why the hell was he here, so far out of his way? It confused her, and made her uneasy. She felt like he was a bad omen, or a messenger of bad news. She was about to ask him something, when he said, barely raising his voice, even above the clamour of the halls, "Ino wants to know why you told."

She stopped, confused, and he stopped too, turning to face her, arms behind his head. She stared at him, confusion scrawled all across her face. "Told what? What are you talking about?"

Shikamaru sighed. This was far too troublesome. He didn't even know why he bothered running favours for Ino, because he never got anything back out of them. In fact, when he looked at it, the whole friendship seemed entirely one-sided. But he was too lazy to care.
"Who did you tell?" he asked, deciding that he'd better not report back to Ino empty-handed. Then there'd be blood.

Sakura shook her head and gestured wildly. "I don't know what you're talking about, pineapple-head," she growled, clearly frustrated with his questions.

What the hell was he talking about now? What did she tell? Who did she tell? Had she said something she shouldn't have? Good grief, what had she supposedly said!

Shikamaru shrugged nonchalantly. "Ino didn't tell anyone. That means it was you who told."

"Told what!" she cried, growing annoyed now. If he would tell her what she had supposedly said, then maybe she could answer his questions!

"About you and her," he said finally, after a moment of deliberation.

Sakura's face was confused, and then angry. "I never told anybody about that!" she cried, indignantly. "Don't you accuse me of things I haven't done, Shikamaru! Why, I bet it was Ino and she wants to blame it on me, so that if anybody asks her, she can say I was making things up and -"

Oh, goodness, she was off on a rant now, and he still had to get back to the other side of the school before the bell rang. His thoughts were scrapped when the bell overhead shrilled above them, shattering their hearing for a moment, and stopping Sakura's ranting.

Shikamaru sighed. He knew he'd been incredibly stupid in accepting Ino's errand for him, because now, he was caught in the middle of the two girls, who were, undoubtedly, about to start an all out war. Sakura was glaring at him darkly, as if he was the culprit here, when he clearly wasn't. He was too lazy to spread rumours. Rumours were troublesome.

This was troublesome.

They stood there in silence, for a long time, or what seemed like it, standing in silence for the national anthem, and then, for the daily announcements. Somebody was ranting about pizza sales in the cafeteria for that day when Sakura hissed, "Tell Ino that she won't get away with this."

And even though they were supposed to stand where they were until the announcements were over, which they clearly were not, she walked away, tossing her hair over her shoulder, growling angrily to herself.

Shikamaru stared after her, then sighed. Girls. How he hated them. They were so troublesome.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
Hinata saw Kiba, standing in the hall up ahead. She went crimson when she saw that he'd been waiting for her. His eyes were fixed on her, as she walked down the hall. She didn't want to talk to him now, not ever.

She'd been successfully avoiding him for a week now, ever since their last incident, which resulted in awkwardness and confusion. But there he was, wanting to talk to her, obviously, as he stepped out into the crowd, walking beside her.

"Hinata," he said at last, and he looked down at her, just as she looked up at him.

She blushed and looked away quickly, embarrassed. She could remember. . .

She didn't want to remember that night, that feral gaze on her, and her alone, just like it was now.

"Y-yes, Kiba?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper, nearly lost in the crowd.

She stopped and jumped when a hand was clasped on her shoulders, and then, and arm wound itself around her shoulders. "K-kiba. . .what are you doing?" she stuttered, surprised and incredibly embarrassed.

She didn't want him to touch her.

But he was touching her, and felt she really didn't have much of a say in what he did and didn't do, even when it involved her. Some other girls might have thrown the unwanted touch away, but she just couldn't do that.

Did she feel sorry for him?

She didn't know and she wasn't sure that she wanted to.

They kept walking, and Hinata wasn't sure why Kiba was doing this. Was he trying to prove something? Yes, she supposed he was. He was being territorial. He was claiming her as his own, and anybody who did anything to her would have to answer to him. She blushed and pushed her index fingers against each other, looking down.

Hadn't he already claimed her?

Maybe in one way, he had, and now, he was doing it in another. This was more possessive, more animal like, and she was embarrassed by it and thrilled by it at the same time. But why did Kiba feel he had to do this?

It wasn't like anybody else would want her anyways.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ino was sitting in the library doing research for one of her projects during an independent study period her teacher had so generously given the class. Generously was not the word for it, really, because said teacher had also given them a huge project due in just one week.

She sighed and twiddled her pen between her fingers, watching it idly. She'd rather be doing other things than sitting her in the dusty library, reading some book that was as out-of-date as the rest of this school.

She barely heard the chair beside her being pulled out, until she happened to glance sideways. A blonde girl was sitting beside her, putting down the book she'd selected off the shelf. The girl looked older than herself, by at least a year, maybe two, but she had never been good at judging ages, so she stayed quiet.

"Are you Yamanaka Ino?" the new girl inquired, without looking up from her book.

"Yes," Ino replied, rather reluctantly. Everybody knew who she was, nobody ever had to ask.

Come to think of it, she'd never seen this girl around before. She smiled slightly, still not looking at Ino. "I heard you're dating Haruno Sakura," she said, her eyes still focussed on the page in the book before her.

Ino stared, then huffed indignantly. "What on earth are you talking about? Who are you anyway?"

The girl frowned slightly, still not looking at her, then turned a page in the book. "You shouldn't deny the truth, Ino. You'll end up hurting someone, likely yourself."

Ino was in no frame of mind to pay attention to strangers, especially not after what she'd heard circulating the halls that morning. She didn't want to hear those rumours repeated from someone she didn't even know!

"Shut up," she growled. "I don't want to talk to you."

"All right," the other girl said, closing her book silently. "I'll leave you then."

She stood up, and made as if to go, but then, on second thought, paused and looked back at Ino, saying, rather gravely, "Don't let go of what you have."

Ino stared after her, watching her disappear into the rows of books. She blinked once or twice, confused as to what had just happened.

Hidden behind shelves upon shelves of books, Temari smirked.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
"I just don't understand," Iruka lamented, looking down into his coffee, heaving a sigh.

Across the table from him, Kakashi was playing with a ball of paper. He was tossing it into the air and batting it across the room. Then, he'd have to make another one and then, he repeated the process, simply because he was too lazy to go and get the other one. The floor was slowly becoming lost beneath a snowfall of paper balls.

"Don't worry about it," he said, replying to Iruka. "It's not your business."

Iruka chewed on his lip and marked a big red F on the paper he'd been grading, then stuck it at the bottom of the pile. "I know," he returned, reading the next sheet, and starting to mark down 'x'es and checks. "But I can't help but wonder why. . ."

"I think everybody's wondering why, right now, Iruka. I mean, it doesn't make too much sense, really."

Iruka threw down his pen in frustration. He couldn't think right now, not with all the confusion flipping around in his head and causing pandemonium. He'd just marked something right when he knew it was wrong.

"I just don't get it."

"Nobody saw it coming," Kakashi commented drily. "I don't even think Naruto knew what was coming."

Iruka put his head in his hands, sighing and growling in one breath. Gods, he was frustrated. He was probably more strung out over this than Naruto was. But maybe that was because he hadn't seen any signs. Maybe it was because he hadn't detected anything wrong and he hadn't been able to help Naruto steer clear of the hurt that had been impending.

He wondered how Naruto was holding up now. He knew he'd been pretty shaken up during the practice, only because he'd kept hitting wrong notes. He'd seemed so distracted. His face, however, hadn't shown anything - no remorse, no guilt, no sadness. Nothing. It was about as blank as Sasuke could be sometimes, impossible to read or decipher.

Naruto would probably surprise them all and bounce back to his former self - bouncy, loud and obnoxious to the point of sickening. Iruka chuckled humourlessly at that thought. Naruto could be drastic at times, and this was one of those times he expected him to be. He'd probably try to slit his wrists in the bathtub and go out on a dramatic note, or something equally as stupid. The brunet teacher shifted uneasily in his chair. All his reasoning had done nothing but make him more uncomfortable.

He sighed again and watched as, amazingly, Kakashi actually threw one of his damn paper balls into the waste basket.
- - - - - - - - - - -

Itachi wandered distractedly into the house, a long time after school had been out. He'd been over at Orochimaru's, trying to sort out his head before he went home, because right now, he was scared.

He didn't want to admit that he was scared, but he was. And it wasn't about himself, or anything like that. He was scared for Sasuke, scared of what he might do. He'd taken the boy home after he'd woken up, which had been a considerable time after he'd fainted, and as they'd walked home, Sasuke had been a dejected, frail thing, who was terribly silent.

The younger Uchiha's grip had been vice-like on the elder's hand, and his fingers were like ice.

The second they were home and the door shut behind them, Sasuke had dissolved into tears. He'd been hysterical, unable to form any coherent words, let alone form a sentence, and Itachi had been scared of him, because he'd just sat on the floor, in the puddle of melting snow, crying, for all he was worth.

Sasuke had never, ever cried like that, not even when their parents had died. Sasuke had never cried like that in front of him.

The younger boy had wanted acceptance from his elder brother, and he'd quickly found that, unlike their parents, Itachi did not give out acceptance for high test scores, or when Sasuke cleaned his room, or made his bed.

No, Itachi's acceptance came from his deep admiration of strength. If Sasuke wanted to be accepted by Itachi, he had to be strong. So, he'd never cried, never broken down in front of his brother, and he'd done his best not to whine, or complain, or even to wince when something hurt. All of those things indicated weakness.

In fact, Sasuke had managed to build up this facade of strength so well, that he wore it even when he wasn't in the presence of his brother. He wore it for everyone else, to let everyone else know he was strong. The only place Sasuke had ever been himself was in his room.

Itachi remembered that after their parents had died, Sasuke never went to bed sick, even when he was coughing and sneezing and looked like crap, and probably felt it too, nor had he played with his toys, or anything like that. It was slightly disturbing.

And then, to see Sasuke break down like that. . .

It scared Itachi. It scared him witless because he didn't know what to do with Sasuke now, because he had never had to deal with that, and he shouldn't have had to either, because Sasuke should have been past that stage.
But there he was, crying in the middle of floor over some stupid boy, and he was the one who had broke it off, anyway! If it was hurting him that much, why the hell didn't he go apologize and make up? It was much better than this!

But no, he was forgetting. Sasuke had too much pride to do that, just as he himself would have. Sasuke couldn't do that, because that would mean swallowing his pride; getting down on his knees and begging, and he - they, just couldn't have that.

He'd made the mistake of going back to school after he'd finally managed to lug Sasuke to bed, left a note for his aunt and great-grandmother on the kitchen table regarding his baby brother, and walked out of the house.

He'd been distracted all day long, and he'd not done an ounce of work, and as a result, he had a lot of homework. He could finish it, no problem, if he'd been in the mood. But he wasn't. So, he'd followed Orochimaru home, like a lost puppy, still distracted, and longing not to go home, because he was scared of what he might find there.

Orochimaru had gotten mad at him, because he wasn't doing much to make it a distracting activity, which was what he needed - a diversion from his thoughts, but making out wasn't really helping when he couldn't focus on that and solely that, and his thoughts kept wandering back home, leaving him blank and out of it for moments on end.

That was ultimately what drove him to go home, because, though he didn't want to see Sasuke, his mind kept providing him with all the far-fetched ideas of what Sasuke could do while he wasn't there. He was torn between staying away from Sasuke and making sure that he was okay and putting his own conscious to rest.

He crept in the door, to find Kurenai and Grandmother sitting at the kitchen table, playing a game of cards. They were being awfully quiet about it, and so, he was quiet too, barely making a sound as he took off his shoes and his coat.

He didn't bother alerting them to his presence, but instead, went right upstairs, to set his mind at ease.

He was about to throw the door open and walk in, when he paused, hearing voices. Sasuke was talking, right then, and he wondered who on earth Sasuke was talking to, and he hoped it wasn't as he suspected and that Sasuke was talking to himself, because, as everyone knows, that was the first sign of insanity. He really did not want to deal with Sasuke being off his rocker. It probably wouldn't be a pretty sight. His brother could be pretty scary, even when he was sane.

There was a second voice, thank goodness. He was incredibly happy that Sasuke wasn't talking to himself, although he'd never admit something like that.

He paused to listen.
"I thought I told you I didn't want to see you again."

"I don't listen well, you know that."

"Hmph. Whatever. I was serious."

"I know you were. Just hear me out."

There was a moment of silence, before that second voice continued. "I'm leaving Konoha."

"What!" Sasuke cried. "Why?"

"I. . .just feel like I don't belong here anymore."

There was a long silence, and Itachi drew back from the door, having heard all he needed to hear. So, Naruto was planning on leaving Konoha?

Well, he wished the brat good luck, because he didn't think he'd get that cleared with Iruka.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Gaara kicked absently at a box on the floor. The apartment was still a mess, and they'd been here how long? Three days now?

He sighed in defeat. Temari and Kankuro were both lazy asses, and never put anything away, unless he bullied them into doing it. Surprisingly, bullying them into doing stuff wasn't that hard to do, even though he was younger, and smaller than them both.

He picked up another box and started throwing some of the stuff they'd wanted to throw out into it.

They'd moved out of their mother's house as soon as they could. It was hell to stay in that house, and Gaara had felt, hell to stay with his siblings, but they'd followed him, regardless of his feelings toward them.

So, there they were, cramped and crammed into a tiny apartment in downtown Konoha, with Temari working as a waitress half-way across town and Kankuro working as part of the local troupe of actors for the local theatre. Gaara himself was trying to get back into the habit of going back to school, but he wasn't sure if he could face Naruto just then.

Maybe in a week or two, after everything had settled down a bit more.

He glanced out the window. The days were starting to become longer, he noticed absently. The sky was just now turning it's final aquamarine colour before it went navy in the night. He set the box down in a corner, where it was out of the way.
He wandered into his bedroom, and lay down on his bed, thinking.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

TenTen padded softly from the bathroom, to the bedroom, being cautious so as not to jar the baby. She was growing increasingly fond of the idea of being a mother, with only minor lapses into her former frame of mind.

She felt that some of that had to do with her new surroundings. Neji had taken her in, not that her parents had disowned her, or anything of the sort, but Neji lived in better conditions than they did and they felt that she should be close to the father of her child. So, she had gone to live with Neji, and surprisingly, his family had been incredibly accepting.

She had suspected that they would openly reject her, or something like that, because she came from a lower class family, or because she was having a baby out of wedlock. But they hadn't. They had welcomed her into their house with open arms, and half of her wondered if it wasn't something to do with her current predicament.

She hoped it wasn't, because she didn't want to be kicked out, or treated badly, as soon as the baby was born. She hoped Neji wouldn't let them do that, but he didn't really seem to have much say in anything, even though he was technically head of the household because his father was dead.

TenTen had quickly learned her place. She didn't question things like that, even to Neji when they were alone in the bedroom. It wasn't her place to ask questions. It was her place to stand beside Neji, and be quiet, and speak when she had something to say, and generally, observe what went on.

Still, she decided that this environment was more positive for her than her own home was, because her parents had worked so hard to see her go to college and get a good paying job and generally, live a higher life than they themselves did. Now that she was pregnant, they had seen all their hopes and dreams for her disintegrate and crumble, fall to pieces right before their eyes.

It must have been heartbreaking for them, she realized. They had always told her how far she could go in life, how great she could be, and now, to them, it must have seemed like she had thrown that away.

Well, she hadn't. She could still marry Neji, she could still be a great mother, and she could still go to school, if Neji would let her borrow some money and use it to better her education. Having a baby had not ruined her life, or so she was thinking right then.

She quickly disposed of her thoughts as she entered the bedroom. She crawled into bed, her body instinctively finding Neji's and cuddled up against him. She closed her eyes, happy to let herself rest now.
"TenTen?"

She looked up at him, startled by how white his eyes were in the moonlight. Absently, she wondered if the baby's eyes would be that white.

"Yes?" she said finally.

Neji was silent for a moment or two, before he finally said, "The Hyuuga family always has a New Year's party, and all branches of the family get together."

He paused, and she waited for him to continue. He looked right at her and said, "I want you to go with me."

She nodded. He didn't really need to ask her that, but she thought it was courteous that he did, that he at least thought to get her opinion, instead of just dragging her along like he could have. She had some say in what happened. She wasn't just going to be strung along, there for the ride no matter what happened.

She slept easily that night, feeling secured in her position.

- - - - - - - - - -

"So, you're leaving Konoha," Sasuke said at last, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to come as he said that.

It was painful to see Naruto there, after what he'd said to him. It broke him that, even after he'd broke him like that, Naruto still had the heart, the affection to come and tell him that he was going to go away.

It was as if Naruto wanted him to stop him, and that broke him, because he couldn't stop him from leaving, not after what he'd said to him, but he didn't want to let him go, not like that, not forever, in spite of what he'd said.

"Where will you go?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged, and Sasuke was suddenly reminded of those stupid films where the man left the woman, and had no idea where he was going to go. He simply knew that he couldn't stay, and if this had been one of those films, he would have been a woman and Naruto would have had a cigarette in his hand.

Somehow, his sheets had never seemed colder than right then.

He felt like Naruto was saying to him, "Convince me to stay," and he was trapped between the two separate paths his words and actions, and his heart and emotions pulled him in. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry. But he could do neither, so he did the only sensible thing he could do.

He invited Naruto into his bed.

The blond had looked at him stupidly, unsure of him. What did he mean by this? Dumping him, saying he never wanted to see him again, then turning about and saying, 'Come sleep with me.' Naruto frowned, and Sasuke knew that he felt he was toying with him, but he was being so earnest it hurt him, and pain twinged in every fibre of his being.

At last, Naruto did come to bed with him, proclaiming to the darkness that he didn't care if he caught Sasuke's cold, and saying how it was just for the sake of old times. But Sasuke wasn't sure, and he knew Naruto wasn't either.

They fumbled, when before, they'd been graceful, and now, they were awkward, because of the words that had been spoken between them. It was strange, and it hurt, even in the middle of their passion, because he suddenly remembered, with guilt, what he'd said, or that this was their last time, because Naruto was leaving, going away, this time for good.

And then, it became more heated, less awkward, because this was the last time, and dammit, they'd had better make it something memorable, hadn't they? Who cared what had been said, who cared what had been done? It was all over with this one act, and then, they could put everything behind them, and be done with it.

They'd had better make this damn good, because what was the point of doing it one last time, if it was only going to be bitter, or even bittersweet? No, they would have it sweet, so sweet it'd make them retch and rot out their teeth, and then, they'd know that the best thing they could do was leave each other and end it, before it got out of hand.

But as they tumbled on the floor, mad in their wild romp, they wondered if it had ever been in hand. Perhaps it had, and perhaps it had not been. Maybe they'd thought they were in control, and they never had been. Maybe they'd always been in control, and they'd just never realized it, just felt like they were spiralling away.

Sasuke found that right then, he didn't care who was home, he didn't care who heard them. He didn't care how much the bed springs squeaked, and he didn't care how much the floorboards groaned when they'd fallen off the bed. He wanted everybody to know what he was doing.

He wanted everybody to know he l-

He stopped himself short of saying the 'l' word, because, even as they cuddled post-coital, he wasn't sure whether he loved Naruto or not.

- - - - - - - - - - - -