Title: like broken glass
Summary: UA where the final battle between Sasuke and Naruto ends with the latter dead, Sasuke wrestling with the knowledge of his victory, and Sakura's hope finally crumbling at last.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Rating: M (for semi-graphic violence)
A/N: I had the idea, but I wasn't sure I wanted to write it because it's so intensely, intensely angsty. And tragic. And it's just not the type of thing that I typically have any desire to write anymore. Anyway, this was intended for ssmonth but I never did get the motivation or desire to really write it out until now. Enjoy?

She felt like she couldn't breathe when she finally reached the Valley of the End's shattered grounds. They'd made such a mess of things, having long destroyed the two statues of their ancestors and the great rock walls—but it was the sheer quietness of the scene that unsettled her the most.

There had been hope in her heart when the sounds had subsided on her way to find them, faith that Naruto had finally won Sasuke over to the light again. But when she stood there at the edge of their battle site, feeling cold dread twisting in her stomach, Sakura couldn't help herself from shaking.

Something was wrong.

Her wide, green eyes scanned the ruined field, searching for any sign of life. Uneasiness settled in more firmly when she found nothing. Hands clenching, she willed herself to keep calm as she resorted to sensing chakra instead.

A faint pulse ahead had her heart skipping a beat. Sakura didn't waste a moment before sprinting off, the heavy weight of anxiety lifting from her shoulders as she leapt from piece to piece of statue wreckage. It wasn't until Sasuke appeared in her line of vision that her stomach dropped once more, suddenly realizing that she couldn't feel the source of another chakra.

She couldn't feel Naruto.

So she ran. And she ran, and she ran, and she ran—before she finally saw him: bloodied, beaten, but most noticeably, unmoving.

Sakura's knees buckled; all but stumbling to the ground, her trembling hands barely took the brunt of her fall. Ahead of her, a pair of all-too-familiar tanned feet lay splayed out, and the sight alone ripped a half-choked sound from her lips.

No. No. No, no, no, no, no—

"Naruto," she gasped out, slapping a hand over to her mouth to stifle a broken sob. Tears blurred her vision instantly.

Oh gods, please no.

Forcefully dragging herself to the rest of his body, Sakura cradled his head between her shaking fingers, hardly able to stop herself from sobbing. This couldn't be happening. This was all just a very bad dream, wasn't it? It had to be.

"Naruto," she whimpered, her salty tears mixing with the blood and dirt smeared over his too-still face. "Naruto, please wake up."

But the blond didn't stir.

Please. Oh gods, please. Don't let this be.

Muffling another cry of anguish, Sakura let her eyes fall shut and shook her head fiercely, feeling her body bow out onto her dead teammate's. Sobs fell freely from her lips, heart aching in ways it never had before, overtaken with the grief of a loss she never thought she would ever have to bear.

Naruto wasn't supposed to die; he was supposed to live, to revolutionize the shinobi world, to finally achieve his lifelong dream and—

The sound of feet scratching against rock drew her attention, and reality came crashing down, snapping her to full alertness. Devastated green, green eyes met the gaze of the one and only man she had ever loved.

(meeting the gaze of the man who had just murdered his own best friend.)

Her heart sank hopelessly.

"Sasuke-kun," she whispered, her voice so small, so tight, but thick with the weight of her insurmountable sorrow. Unconsciously trying to find an anchor, she fisted a hand in Naruto's torn shirt, and held on tightly, heart twisting unbearably again. "Sasuke-kun, what did you do?"

But Sasuke responded nothing, only staring at her instead with his wearied, virtually blanked out mismatched eyes.

This brought fire to her blood. "Sasuke-kun," she began again, her voice so much stronger, so much harsher, holding fierceness in its anguish, "what did you do?"

He couldn't hold his silence this time. "He never stayed out of my way, Sakura," he ground out, tone rough and hoarse, but heavy with something that made her ache.

Her eyes burned up with tears once more, and she looked away, a desperate sound pressing to her throat.

(it made her so furious, so sad. why did things have to turn out like this? why did sasuke have to end up murdering one of his dearest people? why did he have to lose himself to darkness, when they'd been so close to getting him back?

it wasn't fair.)

And then Sasuke went on, hands clenched tightly at his sides and jaw terribly taut, "I told you all to stay out of my way but you never listen."

(he regretted it already—so, so much. she could hear it in his voice, see it on his features, and—gods, this was it, wasn't it? she didn't think she could forgive him, this time.)

Somehow, that made her so, so damn angry. Clinging to Naruto's body harder, Sakura snapped up to look at him again before spitting out, "Naruto loved you like his own brother! He believed in you!"

"Itachi was my brother!" Sasuke snarled back, eyes sharpening into something quite deadly, something unrecognizable.

(something that felt truly terrifying, too dark and broken beyond repair.)

"He was my only brother, and Konoha killed every part of him! They made him slaughter his own family, let his name be tainted with nothing butlies—they wanted him to kill me! His own little brother—the one person that he loved more than anyone else in this world! You really think I'm going to let them get away with that?!"

"And you really think I'm going to let you kill all these innocent people?!" Sakura screeched, her heart shattering in decrepit little pieces in her chest. How much lower was he going to fall? How many more times would he break her heart? "They never had anything to do with that, Sasuke-kun!"

But Sasuke's look was savage; unforgiving. "They deserve to die," he stated in return, cold as she'd ever heard him in her life.

He would never change his mind, she realized, the whole of her finally conceding to defeat at last. Features losing all traces of fury, of spirit, Sakura looked down to Naruto once more and reached to gently brush her fingers through his mud and blood spattered blond hair, wishing he was here instead of her. Maybe if Naruto was still alive, maybe if she were the one who died instead… Sasuke would still have a chance to be saved.

But Naruto was dead.

"There really is no hope for you, is there, Sasuke-kun?" she whispered, one hand running down to cup Naruto's cheek. The tears slipped down again. "You're… You're really gone."

"Now you understand," she heard Sasuke say. Yet something about his voice made him seem so wearied, so equally defeated.

Gathering the strength to look at him, Sakura murmured, "I can't tell you how much that breaks my heart Sasuke-kun…"

Something flickered in his gaze at that, like a flash of guilt, or an inkling of compassion borne from a bond that was long ago supposed to have been severed. It killed her to know that despite being truly lost to darkness, there were still parts of the real Sasuke left in him, fighting the mess he had become.

(but it was too little, too late. his vengeance had won.)

Looking away from her, Sasuke clenched his jaw. "...Leave," he said, lowly. "I'll spare you a kindness this time."

A bitter smile crept to her lips. What more could the world throw at her? "What's the point?" she asked, refraining the urge to give a humorless laugh. Wiping the tear tracks from her cheeks, she gave Sasuke a tired look. "You'll just end up killing me soon anyway, right, Sasuke-kun?"

In response, Sasuke merely threw her a glare. "The point is you don't have to die now."

Her eyes drew themselves down to Naruto's body again, hands balling into tight fists. Why spare her, when he couldn't spare Naruto? She didn't want this chance—he was the one who should have had it. He was always the one who could hold up to Sasuke's level, who could beat him down, and now—

Breath snagging in her throat, Sakura looked over Sasuke's way again, suddenly taken with a realization; Naruto had beaten him down—he'd left Sasuke in bad shape. Littered in bruises, overtired, and low on chakra—she could take him like this, she knew, heart pounding and lurching all the more.

She could kill him, and put an end to all this.

Hands beginning to shake, Sakura let her eyes fall shut tightly, swallowing the tight lump in her throat. "You know the craziest thing," she began to tell him, refraining the urge to laugh again, "is that I still love you. I'm still so in love with you." Her lips twisted in the saddest smile. She put a hand to her chest. "I can feel it… so painfully in my heart." Tiredly, she titled her head up and let herself look at him again. "And I don't—I don't want to feel this way anymore, Sasuke-kun…"

It wasn't hard to catch the traces of wariness that slowly washed over him, at that. Evidently unsure of where this was going, she could see Sasuke growing understandably more suspicious by the second, uneasiness settling deep into his mind. This wasn't a time to deliver confessions.

(but she needed to tell him—at least one last time. she needed him to know that despite everything he'd done, despite killing naruto—she still loved him.

even if she had to kill him.)

Taking a deep, trembling breath, Sakura's gaze hardened. Her hands fisted again. There was no going back after this.

"I'm not going to let you destroy Konoha, Sasuke-kun."

In the next moment, everything happened so fast: she rushed forward as swiftly as she could, fists braced with lethal intent and eyes as sharp as ever; there was a flash of realization in his mismatched gaze, a split flicker of genuine terror—and then his arms jerked up out of pure, practiced reflex, and a chidori charged hand struck through her flesh, tearing through her heart.

Involuntarily, her hands relented in their fight and reached out to grasp at his shoulders instead, catching her body against his. Mouth spurting with blood, Sakura snapped her wide-eyed gaze to his and stared at the love of her life's horror-struck features, feeling herself crumbling wholly at his rattled state. He hadn't meant to do this, she realized. He hadn't meant to let his instincts take control and force him to literally shred her heart.

"Why?" she heard him ask, his voice so furious, so vicious. So openly desperate.

(she'd never seen him look so destroyed, like he'd truly lost everything he'd ever had a reason to live for.)

Her trembling, red stained lips twisted upwards, forming the prettiest smile she could muster in her condition. "B-Because you've truly lost yourself… a-and I can't bear to watch you f-fall anymore…" she stuttered out, struggling to keep her eyes open. Shakily moving to touch his cheek, she felt blood bubbling at her mouth once more. "I c-can't watch you l-like this anymore, S-Sasuke-kun… it hurts s-so m-much…"

"Foolish girl," he whispered to her, head bowing with pure, unmistakable remorse, hiding his face from her. "You stupid, foolish girl."

She truly was the last person he'd ever wanted to hurt, she understood then. Smiling wistfully, Sakura reached out to wrap her desperately shaking arms around his form, holding him close.

(she hoped he couldn't sense the chakra scalpel she was slowly forming.)

Sighing softly, she nuzzled his neck and whispered to him, "F-For you, Sasuke-kun. Only for you."

With the last of her strength, Sakura shoved her chakra scalpel into his skull, and felt her star crossed love sag instantly against her, plummeting them both to the ground. Numbness taking over at last, she finally allowed her eyes to slip shut, one last thought crossing her mind.

I'm sorry, Kakashi.

...

*gently pushes tissues your way*

DeepPoeticGirl