Note: So this is Chapter Twenty-Seven! I'm so excited and sad at the same time. I kind of want this story to go on and on, but it can't. Oh well! Three more chapters and then its complete!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the Naruto storyline

Chapter Twenty-Six:

Wanting To Place That Blame

The thing about regrets is that no matter how hard you try; you can never get rid of them. They are etched onto your soul, carved on your face, painted in your dreams, and reflected in your eyes.

You can never forget.

You can never let go.

You just lay there, in the darkness because that's where you are, and you can't even cry.

No.

Tears are not permitted to fall.

Why should you allow yourself the relief of crying when you're the one to blame?

Why should you get the satisfaction of releasing all of you pain at once when you haven't even earned it?

Why should you be able to move on with your life when your own actions caused another, someone you love or someone who loved you, to not move on with theirs?

Yes.

I'm sure of it.

I don't deserve satisfaction.

I don't deserve anything.

But…

Death.

I remember healing the wounds that had been inflicted on my body by Sasuke, and I remember listening to the shattering of bark as someone hit a tree. To the noise of battle between two who had been best friends, who had been brothers. I remember the smell of the forest, of the trees and of the wind. I remember the clouds peaking down at me as if to question why I was there.

Most of all I remember to urge to find Gaara, and to get him to help Naruto defeat Sasuke once and for all.

That was my plan.

I knew that if I could do that then we could go home and it would be the end of everything. We could live peacefully together in the village and do things together that didn't involve a cave or death for that matter.

I wanted so much.

So very much.

I wander if it was wrong of me to want such things?

Was I selfish in my request for a happy home?

Should I have been ashamed of all the things my heart desired us to do?

Perhaps, but none of that matters now.

What difference does it make?

They're not coming back…

I remember stumbling through the trees in my attempt to find him. I was weak and exhausted but I knew that if I could find him then everything would be okay again. I was heading for the spot that he had ordered me to leave because of the appearance of Itachi and whoever was his companion.

When I reached the cave the trees were scarred with burns and slashes of either metal or sand turned into a deadly weapon. I moved through the fall tree branches in search of him, but I couldn't find him anywhere.

I called out his name and he made no reply.

I called it out again and I heard a groan from under one of the many tree branches next to me.

I moved the fallen tree limbs as fast as I could move, fearing that it might be Gaara and that he was injured. By the time I had moved the final fallen branch, I found the opposite of my hopes.

It was Itachi's partner.

Kisame looked up at me, his eyes nearly rolled in the back of his head from pain, and blood smear over his body. He didn't even seem to notice me for a minute so I spoke first, hoping I could get information out of him, "Where's Gaara?"

He coughed up some more blood before saying to me in a strain voice, "You mean Ichibi no Shukaku host?"

"Don't call him that!" I cried, "Where is he?"

He grinned at me, "Itachi killed him."

"You're a liar!" I screamed at him.

From beside the cave I heard someone call out my name, turning around and leaving the horrible beast to die, I went to who was calling me. I knew then that it was him, but the tone in his voice that he had used worried me.

It was weak and in pain.

I saw him leaning against the cave, his head back, and blood soaking his clothes and the grass around him. I ran over, and I knew when I saw his wounds that the chances of his survival were small, but they were there.

And that was hope enough.

"What happened?" I exclaimed as I place my hand gently where is wound was.

He placed his own hand on mine before saying between each breath he took, "I killed Itachi, but not before he injured me."

"Where is his body?" I mumbled trying to focus my charka to heal his wounds.

God!

If only I hadn't used it to injure Sasuke, maybe then I could have helped him more, or maybe if I hadn't healed my own body for my own desire to get rid of the pain caused by the battle.

He could see that I was exhausting myself, and his body began to shiver as his internal organs started to shut down.

"I can stop the blood flow," I informed him, "But I can't close the wound and you'll be stuck here until I can get help or rest some."

He nodded his head in understanding, time and luck had to be on our side for him to live.

"Then rest," he closed his eyes, his hand still holding tightly to my own.

I placed my head on his shoulder, the exhaustion weighing in on me like a ton of bricks weighing in on a paper house. I could feel the darkness of sleep gripping my body as his shallow breaths moved through his chest. The wind blew across the forest floor, and the last thing I remember hearing was him saying, "I love you."