You have no idea how long I've wanted to write this flashback. :)

Also, if you're a fan of my Love of Ancient Kings series, I have posted a new part. :D Part four is Shocking Realities. I would really love it if you all went and checked it out. :D

But I think this is probably one of my favorite flashbacks. Enjoy!

Promises Not Made are Promises Never Kept

Flashback Seven - Flame

Red spots dotted the ground, sinking into the freshly fallen snow and melting it on impact before the temperatures froze the red itself, the falling snow then covering the red spots, leaving no trace.

The body the red fell from was getting colder. It terrified him, and he hoped that there would be a divine moment soon where warmth of a living, breathing body enveloped him, forcing the will to live back into his form.

He had failed. There was nothing left for him now.

Except to fight on.

"I have the boy!"

Fuck.

The tracker ninja held Sasuke close, like a lifeline, holding the kunai to his throat as Sasuke could only stand there and watch the events unfold.

In the attempt to save him, Zabuza had been captured, and he had been stripped of his warm cloak and forced onto his knees, bloody and shivering in the cold. Haku was free, but he could do nothing except wait for the opportune moment to strike.

But until either Zabuza or Sasuke freed themselves, that moment would not arise very soon.

"NO!" Sasuke screamed, fighting against his captor. The man held him back gruffly, having stripped the training ninja of all weaponry. All Sasuke had left was his Jutsu, and the instant either remaining assailant sensed his Chakra they would kill both him and Zabuza.

But God, they were dead anyway.

"ZABUZA!"

"Zabuza Momochi!" The assailant who had Zabuza to his knees call above the shrieking wind. He held a sharp blade in his hands, one designed for execution. "You are charged with crimes of treachery, pillaging, crimes against humanity, manslaughter, and first degree murder. Therefore, by order of the Mizukage, the leader of the Village Hidden in the Mist, I hereby sentence you, with the Gods as my witnesses-"

Sasuke couldn't believe it.

"NO!"

"To death by execution."

Sasuke could feel the tears pouring down his face, stinging his eyes as they fell and searing his cheeks as they froze mid-fall, the wind so chilled it burned.

"NO!" He screamed, viciously fighting and clawing at his captor. The kunai cut his throat, he could feel the sting, but he didn't care. His entire body ached and moaned, but he didn't fucking care. "I'll save you Zabuza! I'll save you!"

Zabuza laughed grimly.

"You stupid brat," he muttered, one eye swollen shut, left arm broken, right arm stabbed multiple times, ankle broken, and two very, very deep slash marks across his back. Some of his intestines hung out through a gash in his belly, and he couldn't even move his arms to hold them in. "You can't do anything. You're the reason for this, and you can't save me."

He turned his head slightly to look at Sasuke through his one good eye as the assailant pushed the bandages out of the way to gain access to Zabuza's neck.

"After all, you can't even save yourself."

The next words broke Sasuke's soul as Zabuza's head was pushed down, his nose facing the icy earth.

"I hope you die out here."

The tears hurt so much a part of Sasuke wondered if he was crying blood.

"NO!"

He saw his family again. Their heads, at his feet. Their blood on his hands, again. Always, again. He saw Haku's head, and then Zabuza's. It was happening. It was happening all over again. And again, he was helpless to stop it. He couldn't save them, he couldn't even save his own fucking tortured, bloody soul-

Why did he even become a ninja? To fail at saving people again when this time he knew how? He would always be helpless, no matter how perfect he strove to be, no matter how hard he trained-

"NO!" Sasuked closed his eyes in rage at himself as the tracker ninja lifted up the blade, weeping in shame. You're right, Zabuza. You're right. You've always been right.

I don't deserve to live.

His eyes snapped open.

But you do.

"I WON'T LET YOU DIE!"

Then everything happened all at once.

Fire so hot encompassed the ninja with the sword in a flaming bloom, turning the sword red hot even as it fell to the snow and melting the ice down to scorched earth. The ninja caught in it screamed at he was burned alive, skin erupting in blisters and boils that popped and regrew upon themselves, being scorched so quickly he didn't even have time to defend himself.

The sword fell to sink into the earth behind Zabuza, and the heat behind him was so intense he could feel the cuts on his back stop bleeding as the bloodways were seared closed, his skin of his back and arms erupting in burns. The sword fell, sinking into the earth behind him, still red. The body of the ninja fell soon after, a saddening lump of scorched flesh and charred bone.

Seconds later, another body - the body of the third and final assailant - fell as well, holes in his eyes where the needles had vanished. They were stuck in his brain, and he fell, lifeless, to the snow.

Eyes wide, Zabuza turned and looked around back at Sasuke, back to where the amazing burst of Chakra had been felt less than a moment before the stream of explosive flame. The wind blew away the smell of burnt hair and seared flesh.

Sasuke stood, hand outstretched in front of his mouth from where he had willed the flame to life, still staring at the spot the other ninja (when he was alive) once stood. His mouth, then open as if he were blowing a kiss, was now closed, and the entire mask of his robes was gone, burned away by the flaming power of his Chakra.

But that wasn't what Zabuza was looking at. He was looking at the boy's eyes.

They were red like blood. And they were alive.

"My God..."

End Flashback Seven - Flame

See? SEE?

I love it. :D

But again, if you desire to check out the above story mentioned, feel free too! :3

I hope you all liked this flashback! And pardon if there are any mistakes. I just wrote it and was a little too eager to share it with you.

So much love,

DDB