Disclaimer: I don't own nor have I contributed to Naruto in any way! Nope! None!
Sky-eyed Kitsune: The last chapter before the sequel…
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I'd like to let you all know now, I have stopped replying to reviewers because I've got so many that it tends to take an hour to do so! X0 But please know that I treasure each review I get, and read them all. In fact when I read them they made me smile in the way that a writer does when they've realized that they have a reason to write! So sincerely, thank you all who take the time and read and review! I will though be answering questions if someone doesn't understand one part of the story or something along those lines. ^^
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Chapter Twelve: Happy
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Itachi had assembled the group as quickly as he could and called the police, giving them the location where Sasuke had told him that Naruto was contained. He didn't know how long it would take him and the group to get there, or if they would even be in time to make a difference, but they were going.
For Naruto.
Sasuke hadn't even been given the time to blink before the shot from Orochimaru's gun rang out, its dark barrel burrowing a hole through his stunted eyes.
The snow was cold, almost bitter against his skin. The blood it was stained a sunset red with didn't sweeten it any, but maybe that was just because it needed a little more.
Sasuke's last thought after that shot was simply:
"Naruto."
Sasuke knew how much he loved Naruto now, how incredibly far he would go to prove it to him. If that bullet were to pierce his heart in that instance, he would feel no regret as long as Naruto lived. Whatever it took to give that sun-kissed, blood splattered skin life.
The pain, as Sasuke imagined, would be too fast to even register. He would go out quickly, quietly; maybe even before he knew the bullet was in him. He wouldn't close his eyes and wait for the sensation of death to cling to him- he would face it head on, eyes wide and defiant. It wasn't a sacrifice anymore; it was a privilege to die for Naruto, and he would face his end proudly.
Every thought and feeling that washed its way through Sasuke's veins seemed to be racing by in a matter of milliseconds, and his consciousness only returned when a grunt of pain was released.
But it wasn't his own.
Sasuke's eyes were on the ground below him. He saw ripped and bloody black jeans crouched down and half buried in the untainted white snow. He didn't move, didn't breathe, until a drop of crimson fell and gave the snow an ominous new pigment.
Sasuke whipped his head up and almost choked on the frigid air when sapphire eyes greeted him.
Naruto was crouched in front of Sasuke, his arms wrapped around the Uchiha in a tight and shaky embrace. Sasuke didn't even feel Naruto's grip on him until he saw it for himself. His face was directly in front of Sasuke's, scratched and bloody.
He was smiling.
"Na…" Sasuke breathed, horrified.
"I see now," Naruto said, his voice quivering. He swallowed thickly, the frigid air seeming as thin as paper to him. "'Live my life for me', he said…Haku. He wanted me to live--to live the sort of life that he should have had. One without blood and guns…without the fear of being killed everyday…"
Tears were spilling down Sasuke's face, his lips parted slightly as he buried his gaze within Naruto's eyes.
"…but I didn't. I replayed his life again…like a broken record. But there is one thing about our lives that are not exactly mirrored." Naruto grinned, his lips trembling and eyes now relinquishing their tears.
"I found you, Sasuke."
Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto brushed his blood stained lips against his own, dappling his own lips red, before the blond collapsed on the snow.
"How charming," Orochimaru said, rolling his eyes. "Too bad it won't mean anything to someone who hates you!" Orochimaru dropped his gun and kicked it over to Naruto, face up in the bloody snow.
"Here's you chance boy! Go on, avenge your daddy!"
Naruto was unmoving.
"What, dead already? What a fighter you turned out to be!" Orochimaru laughed bitterly, and then suddenly choked on his laughter.
He placed a hand over his chest, and looked up at Naruto quickly. The blond still lay on the snow, but held Orochimaru's gun in his hand, its barrel still aimed upside down at the man.
"Dad…" Naruto whispered as he let the gun fall from his limp hand to the snow, and Orochimaru tumbled over.
Sasuke crawled over to Naruto, hunching over him. He placed his palms on the blond's scarred cheeks.
"Don't leave…" he breathed, his warm breath billowing over the blond's much paler skin.
Naruto looked at Sasuke through half-lidded ocean eyes, still smiling gently at him. Through all of the blood, the tears, the dead words buried beneath them.
"I'm…happy," Naruto said, placing his wine red hand over one of Sasuke's that rested on his cheek.
"Naruto please, please you…you can't-- you'll be alright, I promise!" Sasuke said desperately to the blond, his voice steadily increasing in intensity as his tears flowed more than ever in rivulets down his cheeks.
"You're lying," Naruto thought as he blinked slowly, snow falling against his leashes and melting away the blood on his face. He looked up at Sasuke, and through the thin sheet of snow he saw Haku staring down at him, smiling, before he faded away back to Sasuke's turmoil filled face.
Sasuke felt the weight of Naruto's clothing becoming heavier as it absorbed all of the blond's blood.
But Sasuke knew Naruto would make it, he would, he was positive- he had never been so sure of anything in his range of thoughts.
Naruto's head dipped slightly to the side as the blond closed his eyes, and his hand went limp in Sasuke's.
"Naruto…" Sasuke whispered, his voice unstable. "No, you're just…resting, you…" Sasuke embraced Naruto through the red snow, and the most painful, passionate sob ever mustered burst from within him.
"NARUTO!!!" he screamed into the blond's chest, somehow hoping, praying it would reach his ears and give his heart what it needed to keeping pumping again.
Sasuke almost thought he had been hurt when he heard noise in the distance, but those thoughts faded when he heard sirens hurtling towards him, and hurried voices invaded the airspace around him.
He felt strong hands heave him up by his arms, and he struggled with everything he had left in him, his eyes never leaving Naruto, never abandoning him.
Never again.
The sky was pure white from the clouds giving way snow when Sasuke opened his eyes. It burned his eyes, and he turned his head away from it, only to see Neji sitting in a chair by him.
"Sasuke," he said worriedly, and Sasuke looked back up, the stark white ceiling now coming into full focus.
Sasuke moved his eyes around him, and saw Gaara, Tenten, Lee, Shikamaru, Kankuro, and the rest of Kurochi around him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Gaara beat him to the question.
"The hospital," he said. Sasuke processed his words slowly but carefully, and he gasped shakily.
"Naruto!" he breathed. He sat up quickly, but winced and laid back down. He tried again, this time much more slowly, and succeeded. "Where…where is he? Where is Naruto?"
No one responded, and Sasuke looked to each of their faces. Tenten's tear streaks were evident upon her cheeks as Kiba held her close. Kankuro's face didn't hold its usual mirth, and even Gaara's emotionless eyes were a mirror that conveyed his agony.
"Where is he…?" Sasuke repeated, his heart demanding answers.
"He's in room 208, but-" Shikamaru didn't have time to finish as Sasuke leapt from his bed, ripping out the IV attached to his arm.
He crashed through the door, slamming it open as he ran down the hallways, his bear feet slapping heavily against the tiles.
His eyes scanned the room numbers, but his brain didn't decipher anything as his heart raced. His body turned him right to slam a door open, and his pulse struck his ear drums loudly as he saw a doctor placing a blue sheet over Naruto, his eyes closed and body unmoving as Temari cried beside him with Itachi. They turned around at the slam of the door.
"Sasuke!" Temari cried
Sasuke flew past her, embracing Naruto tightly.
"Naruto, Naruto, Naruto," he repeated like a mantra.
"Son," a doctor said, trying to pull him away.
"Get of me!!!" Sasuke shouted, thrashing out his arms.
"Sasuke stop!" Itachi shoutyelled, grabbing onto his shoulders. "Naruto is gone!"
"He's not! I know it!!!" Sasuke shouted back, still clinging to the lifeless blond before several nurses rushed in and pulled him away despite his struggling.
"Naruto! Naruto! NARUTO!!!" Sausuke screamed, flailing with everything he had. Itachi gripped his face in his hands.
"He's gone, Sasuke," he said, his voice low and serious as he met Sasuke's stare with his own unwavering one. "It's over." Sasuke went limp at Itachi's words, and the nurses released him as he collapsed against his brother's chest, eyes a hollowed shell of black.
Temari bit her lip as she leaned down and placed a sunflower over a patch of freshly matted down dirt, grazing her fingers over the engravings on the stone planted in the ground just above it.
She stepped back into the ring with Kurochi, Lee, Neji, and Shikamaru, the next one walking up to the grave with their flower.
Itachi turned his head to graze his eyes over the snow covered field, his eyes catching and holding Sasuke's backside as he stood under a tree in a black suit.
"Is Sasuke coming?" Temari asked him, and Itachi shook his head.
"Let him do what he needs to," he said. The group prayed once more before leaving the lone grave and returning to their cars.
Sasuke didn't move even when the cars had disappeared into the far off distance. He leaned against the old willow tree, his body absorbing the cold as if it were his own blood.
He finally turned around to look at the grave, and walked towards it, counting each crunching step he took. He stopped in front of Naruto's grave, facing the tombstone. His eyes roamed down its etchings that shined with lackluster, and he reached out a hand, placing it on the head of the tombstone.
His thoughts were his own, frozen with the blanket of ice that winter had draped over him. He was unfeeling and numbed to the letters that engraved a name in the snow.
Sasuke blinked and lifted his head to the sky as he felt something wet hit his cheek, and a parade of white flakes rained down on him tenderly.
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Owari.
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Do not kill me. Because if you kill me there will be no sequel that I promised.
Thank you all for sticking out this angsty roller coaster of a story with me. All reviews are love. The first chapter of the sequel will be released on August 5th 2009. No sooner, and definitely no later.
It's been a pleasure to write for you,
Kaito Hideki
(No my real name is not Sky-eyed Kitsune smarty pants ;p)