Title: The Fire of Goodbyes
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama
Rating: M for violence and MAIN CHARACTER DEATH - so surprise there. BEWARE.
Warning: Spoilers through chapter 308, page 10. This is what I think should have happened!
Summary: Sakura sees the man she used to love trapped in the body of a monster that is hell bent on revenge. But she refuses to be useless anymore because she is strong and she knows she is the only one who can save him from himself. (Sakura & Sasuke... kind of)
Authors Notes: OMFG! Sakura & Sasuke - have you gone completely insane? Quick, someone report this fraud because this simply CAN NOT be Ash, she would never... not in a million years write something for this pairing!

AHHHHH - just give me a chance okay! So, yes... this is, technically Sakura & Sasuke. But this also completely copasetic with my feelings for both Sasuke and this ship. You will see what I mean, so please read on... and enjoy - because I know you will. Just look at the category if you think I'm lying.

The coldest heart can be brought to life when it's thrown into The Fire of Goodbyes.

The Classic Crime - The Coldest Heart

Naruto's motionless body lay in a heap in the midst of the rubble left behind in the wake of Sasuke's full-body chidori. Only a few feet away, lay Sai. Sakura could tell he was worse off than Naruto. After all, Naruto had the strength of the Kyuubi inside him. Sai didn't. And only a few yards away, Yamato was still pinned to a rock through the shoulder with Sasuke's blade.

Now all that was left was the pink haired kunoichi and the shadow of a man she didn't even recognize anymore. But his cold, crimson eyes bore into her as she held her kunai tightly in her gloved hands. His hand hovered over the hilt of his blade. This was supposed to be her chance for redemption. It should have been her against that boulder, blood spilling.

But he took that from her, again. All the training and skills she learned melted away into the blinding rage of a scornful heart. He'd always looked down on her, pitied her. But he didn't even care enough to hate her. She was nothing to him, not even worth killing. And that made it easier to hate him.

Because this monster took away the man she loved. This was no longer her Sasuke-kun – this was the man who killed him. He was dead, and her love for him was shriveling in the massive column of hate that bubbled in her then. She was sure she could kill him. She would avenge the man she loved and destroy the thing that took her from him.

She adjusted the blade in her hand, and relished in the feel of raw power and cold metal just beyond the gloves. She would take his life, and be redeemed. Because she was the one who failed, all those years ago. She couldn't convince him to stay, and that was on her. Neji still bore the scars, as did Shikamaru, Kiba and Akamaru, Chouji, and Naruto.

But Naruto's were the worst, because no matter how many years of training she did as a medic-nin, she would never be able to heal those wounds. And it was this man in front of her now who gave him those wounds.

He would kill them all, if he had the chance. Now it was her turn to protect them. She would not let this monster kill the closest thing Sasuke ever had to a best friend. So she readied in her stance and hardened her heart. Her eyes slimmed into dangerous slits that honed in on his form. This would be the day that she truly made them watch her back.

"Shannaro!" and in that instant, there was no different between Inner!Sakura and the girl who charged at the body of her former love. His eyes went wide, just for a fraction of a second, and she knew – there was a chance. And she took it.

She concentrated half of her chakra in the balls of her feet and pushed forward faster than she'd ever moved before. And with the rest of her chakra, she pooled it into the tip of her blade. So that when it punctured his chest, crushing bone and ripping sinew, she was pleased. But it was more than just a knife in this heart – her chakra spilled into the open wound and with her expert medical skills, she dismantled his internal structure.

"Nani?" his sweet, melodic voice slipped from his parted lips in aching disbelief. But still she stood, holding the kunai that was now embedded deep into his chest cavity. She couldn't bring herself to let go. Even as his hand lightly touched the gaping wound and her hands nearly inside him, she couldn't separate herself from him.

"Watashi…" She could feel the blood soak her gloves and run rivers down her arms. But she couldn't see it. All that she could see was the blurring face of a man she loved twist into a heartbreaking smile. His face was centimeters from hers, and as he gasped for air she was sure she was broken. She could feel her heart chip away and fall into the expanding black that ate away inside her.

"Omae…" She watched in utter desolation as the hate drained from his body like the blood that pooled to the earth. His eyes dulled and slipped back into the familiar black orbs she recalled so fondly from her youth, and she knew then – she'd killed the monster, but at what price?

"Gomen, Sasuke-kun." She wished she could feel the blade in her heart, with his hand on the hilt of his sleek new sword. That's what she'd wished for. She wished for death with him. But in that moment of hesitation that struck him sedentary, she'd charged ahead. And now he would die, and she would not.

So they fell, knees to the hard earth in a pile of blood and legs that didn't make sense anymore. And her hands moved, of their own volition to hold his heaving chest to her. His warm blood soaked through her shirt and stained her heart. But still he smiled.

He looked up from his place in her arms and tilted his face. She cried then, loud and wailing. Because she knew she would never be able to heal the tear that ripped through her heart. He lifted a hand, guard still in place, and covered in blood to her face. And she wept helplessly as his slick fingers traced the line of her jaw.

"I guess… we are more alike… than I thought." His shuttering breathes and sputtering blood that dripped from the corners of his lips was devastatingly final. But he just looked up at her with those soft black eyes and touched her hair.

"Hai." Vaguely she was aware that he was rubbing his blood into her pink tresses, but she just couldn't make herself care. She'd done it, she saved him. And as he lay, dying in her arms she was positive that this was her Sasuke-kun. She'd killed the monster that ate away her love and used his body as a vessel for revenge.

But the price at which she'd released his heart was too high. So she cried and let her tears wash away the blood on his face. She could feel his pulse weakening in her arms and she knew that she could save him. But she knew she wouldn't. Not only did she pierce his heart – she would now let him die.

If she did save him, he would become a monster again. And she couldn't let that happen – not after she'd finally made him recognize her power. So she just held him and sobbed let her never-ending rivers of pain and regret drench him. She was covered in his blood, crying like it could change it. But she was smart enough to know it wouldn't.

"Doeshde?" and then, he was suddenly very small. He was no longer the towering figure of repression and ideology that she'd long turned him into. Now he was just a boy, lost and confused, because he didn't understand how he could be defeated by a girl: his girl. He'd probably always assumed that she was his – even in his absence and betrayal.

"Because… I love you." Her words were hollow and empty because they weren't enough to bring him back or change what happened. She'd done what needed to be done, but that didn't stop the ache from pulling apart her heart. He watched her cry, and hand still twisting in her hair and took a long, ragged breath.

"Arigatou, Sakura." he said her name, and she was striped bare. There were no more defenses to rely on. She had no more Inner!Sakura to hide behind. Instead, all that was left was him and her. The rest of the world faded away, and all that was left was a monster and the man who looked so much like her love. But she was the monster now, because she watched him die.

Then his eyes slipped shut for the last time on this sunny, unlike day for a death. And she wept, far into the night – surrounded by the bodies of her companions who desperately needed her attention. So her legs cramped and her tears dried in the breeze. Orochimaru never came; she suspected he had no interest in a dead vessel. But she still couldn't bring herself to let go of the kunai.

A part of her knew that when she did, that would be the end of it. She would never again have a connection to the body in her arms. And she would have to look Naruto in the eyes and tell him that she'd kill the only brother he ever had. She wasn't sure if she was strong enough for that. She wasn't sure of anything anymore.

The angst... is... suffocating...

And I love it!

Muhahahaha

-Ash