Disclaimer: Standard Disclaimers apply! Naturally any character that is not associated with the show belongs either to someone I have permission to use or to me. Please ask permission to use any character that I own should you desire to do so. Thank you. If there are any similarities between my work and another author's then I apologize. I suppose great minds DO think alike.

Series: Naruto

Title: Sacrificing Spring

Author: Tiasha

AN: This IS a Death Fic! You are forewarned…

This is from Sasuke's point of view; I wanted to try and get in his head a little bit, and hopefully I did him some justice. Ah well, enjoy!

Chapter Three: Nightly Visits and Final Closure – Another Kamikaze

She still comes to visit me. It is at night, when her spirit is able to run free through silver moonbeams underneath clear skies and a blanket of twinkling stars. Her eyes are full of mirth and mischief and her laughter is that of a melody of bells. The fireflies dance at her feet as she runs through the grounds by the memorial stone, and sometimes she'll stop and watch them, hands clasped behind her back. She turns to look at me where I sit watching her, my back against the cool obsidian monument, my eyes never wavering from her delicate, transparent form. And then, she smiles. Oh how she smiles.

These are the visits I enjoy and I truly feel I can live each of my nights like this. As long as she smiles at me the way she does, then I can survive… I can survive the accusing looks of the villagers, and I can survive without fulfilling my quest for vengeance. Her death extinguished my need to kill my brother. Her death made me realize that there was nothing to look forward to afterwards. Her death made me realize that I had no future without her.

So I have resolved to living my days and nights like this, with these stolen moments when her spirit is able to run around the world of the living, and the Sharingan can somehow see her form, transparent as it is. I can live with this.

It's the nights when she visits my dreams, her form more solid and supple and her voice whispering my name softly, lovingly—I can't stand those nights. The nights she visits my dreams are the nights that I actually sleep and slip into nightmares—memories of that time and their death. My parents… My brother standing over them… It's usually after Itachi pins me with his Mangekyou that she comes, her voice calling me and her soft hands guiding my face away from the scene.

Her face is concerned and she worries her bottom lip as her hands trace my face. I stare at her, her green eyes wide and bright despite her being a spirit of the dead, and her body is oh so close to being real. She leans her forehead against mine, that smile of hers on her face as she says those three words I had always scoffed at when she was alive. How ironic that those words were the ones I longed to hear the most now.

"I love you, Sasuke-kun. Don't blame yourself, please."

It's hard to swallow when she makes that request because deep down, I know those are truly her words and this is all not a dream. Guilt will forever gnaw at my soul—it is something I have come to accept as a matter of fact. If I had not been so blinded, she would be alive; how am I not to blame when one looks at it in that manner?

I always give her a genuine smile and tell her I'll try when she urges me to have no regrets. She is the only one I will smile like that for…it is the least I can do for her… But she always seems content with my effort, always smiling, and always leaving me with a ghost of kiss. I know when I will wake, for she always brushes her lips against mine before I crush mine to hers, claiming them as mine in the dream world. It is when she pulls away after a few moments and looks at me in such a loving manner that I jerk awake, eyes wide and breathing harsh.

There is always an ache upon waking from those dreams, a sharp ache and gnawing guilt. And that is why I can't stand those visits from her. But I still wouldn't trade them for anything… I would live like this for the rest of my days than to make my spring's sacrifice for naught.

I can see the look of surprise on my brother's face as the winds whip around us and Naruto's cry of despair reaches our ears. It had taken a great deal of persuading to finally get the Hokage to agree to a Kamikaze—a proper Kamikaze and for me to be the one to execute it and take Itachi with me. She must have sensed that I was ready to leave. And I am. There is nothing left here that I really feel a need to stay for. I had already said my goodbyes to the ones who had mattered, although Kakashi-sensei had not been too pleased with my decision, but he had let it go. I shall be eternally grateful for that. And Naruto… Well, the Dobe hadn't quite gotten the full message until now, but he was strong. He would survive. I know he will.

"If you had wanted to die so badly, you should have just said so little brother," Itachi said to me, his Sharingan eyes swirling as if to draw me into an illusion. I looked away, down at the scroll with the streak of my blood upon the writing to bind the pact with Kami.

"I did; you denied me it."

He was silent but I still didn't bother looking at him. The summoning had begun and everything would be over soon. Naruto's yells still reached me over the howling winds but I could only shake my head at him. Such a dobe. There was a hint of a smile on my face and great fondness as I thought of Naruto. In truth, the blonde hadn't been a dobe for a long while now…

"Aaa," was all my brother finally said. Instead of feeling anger at his callousness, I felt only resignation. No satisfaction at his death. No elation to have finally avenged my clan. Just…resignation. Odd…

"And because of your refusal, I became blind…and let the one woman who mattered most to me slip away."

There was a derisive laugh from my brother and I glared at him, not appreciating him scoffing at Sakura so. No one scoffed at her…not after what she had done for me. It was very tempting to throw a punch at him for having even thought Sakura invaluable. I had made that mistake and it cost her her life. I wouldn't let him mar her name and sacrifice.

"There's always a girl."

My coal black eyes met his Sharingan, and I suddenly felt pity. Pity for my brother who would now die not knowing what it was like to have someone love you as unconditionally as Sakura had for me. "But she is always worth it."

"Is she?"

I met his patronizing gaze and smiled. He seemed surprised by this but by then the winds had reached their peak and the anticipation of Kami's final blow charged the air around us. "Yes. Always and forever."

"Then maybe you'll be with her in eternity."

"Maybe."

And then the explosion came. Blinding light and a massive explosion. There was no pain as the final blow hit us both—just the light and sound. And as the light engulfed me, I saw a hand… And a flash of pink hair, the most beautiful shade of pink I had ever seen in my life…

"Sakura?" I call out, reaching for the proffered hand. Her smile greets me the moment her hand clasps mine.

"You're finally here, Sasuke-kun."

I smile, "Aaa."

"I didn't mind waiting, you know."

Again I smile but I pull her form to me—her solid, warm and very real form. "Yeah, but I got impatient."

"You always were."

"And you loved me anyway."

She smiles brightly, "Of course!"

"Sakura…"

"Hmm?"

"I love you."

"I know, Sasuke-kun."

"Thank you."

"Always."