Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or "Concrete Angel" by Martina McBride

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Chapter Fourty Eight:

Sasuke gazed around at the over done display. The large banner across the large doorways, the unnecessary use of what appeared to be twenty bottles of glitter, streamers of every color hanging from the ceiling, and balloons floating everywhere. They really went all out in that cheesy kind of way.

Although everyone's outfits were a brilliant contrast to the decorations. Lovely gowns, nice suits, beautiful jewelry, and the hair styles were perfect. Everyone seemed so different now.

"Can you believe it's been twelve years since you've been here?"

Sasuke turned to see his best friend by his side. Kiba was kind enough to give him the invite to the ten year reunion of their old school. Sasuke hadn't graduated from the school but he did spend his first year there. It wasn't a completed year but a year nonetheless.

"It has been a while." Sasuke murmured. Truth be told he hadn't even entered this town in twelve years. Nothing could bring him back to this horrid town. Kiba had asked him to come back to Konoha for the ten year reunion of the class of 2008. Kiba had even driven the entire way out to the Land of Waves to pick him up and bring him back here. Traveling had been so much easier after they finished the construction of the bridge Tazuna was in charge of.

"It's about time you got caught up on what's going on in your hometown since you won't allow me to talk about it. You need to come back, please."

Kiba had done more convincing, which involved crocodile tears and bribing, and Sasuke finally ended up here and wearing a nice black suit with his older brother's navy blue tie.

Sasuke didn't think much as they moved through the crowds. Kiba reacquainted him with several people they knew back in grade ten. Tenten was doing well with a business of her own, she was always rather independent. Sakura apparently lowered her standards and married Rock Lee. She was now a doctor and he was a gym teacher. Ino owned her own flower shop, Chouji ran a restaurant, and Shino was a forensic scientist.

The biggest news he heard was taht Shikamaru married Temari. Gaara Sabaku's older sister. He could never forgive them for how they used his beloved Naruto, but apparently they were changed people. Gaara was the mayor of his old town and his siblings were doing well for themselves.

It was good to see everyone's friendly faces again. Even though he didn't graduate with them and only spent one year with them, they still remembered who he was and were genuinely excited to see him.

Finally, he and Kiba sat down in a quiet area with something to drink, Kiba also had some snacks on a paper plate.

"So how are ya doing?" Kiba asked, genuinely concerned. It had been twelve years, this must have been a lot to take in.

"Not bad... It's good to be back. There's a lot of memories here."

"I wish Naruto could be here." Kiba sighed.

"He wouldn't have wanted to come. It's not really his school."

"I suppose."

"Going to the ten year reunion of your school, then?"

"They don't have one of those in the Land of Waves. There were never that many people in our school, it's smaller than here. So even if people move away we keep in contact with them easily through their families. It's very intimate."

"Yeah, I've gotten that from my visits. It was much better after they finished the Naruto Bridge though." Kiba sighed, "It was great of Tazuna to name the bridge after him."

Sasuke nodded.

"So have you talked to Tsunade lately?"

"She checks up at least once a month. You know how she is."

"Over protective."

They both nodded in unison.

"Hey Kiba! Come her for a second! I want to show you something!"

Both of the boys looked over to see Hinata calling the Inuzuka over to her energetically. She was far less shy than he used to be. It was great to see her smile so widely.

"I'll be back in a minute."

"Take your time, I think I'm going to have a look around."

"All right." Kiba headed over to join his best girl friend leaving Sasuke alone on the bench.

Sasuke drank the rest of his punch and sighed before venturing out of the lobby of the school. Instead of talking a walk through the school to see what they've done to the place in the last twelve years he opted for talking a stroll outside of the school. The air was cool by now. It was much later in the evening from when they first arrived at six o'clock. It felt nice to be outside instead of in that stuffy gymnasium filled to the brim with his friend's classmates.

Sasuke knew exactly where his legs automatically led him and soon he was faced with a familiar sight from the earlier days of his grade ten life.

The old tree that Naruto used to sit on every day at lunch was still standing. It was missing the branch that acted as Naruto's seat but it was still there. That one tree brought an overwhelming amount of memories back to his mind and he collapsed next to it, tears streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry Naruto! I'm so sorry!" He cried aloud, pressing his head back against the trunk of the tree.

It had been twelve years and Sasuke still hadn't gotten over that day. The day when he went to retrieve his beloved's picture from the basement of his aunt's home. On that day, Emi had snuck into the hospital to attack Naruto. Tsunade had told him everything that she knew. She had gone up to the room because Naruto had used his call button, which was very unusual for him to do. When she got there, Emi was relentlessly beating him with a metal stool. Tsunade immediately rushed to Naruto's aid and threw the woman off of her nephew.

Apparently Tsunade had beaten Emi pretty badly afterwards, so much that is was amazing she hadn't been charged. On that day, Emi had finally gotten what she deserved. Every part of her body that Tsunade could reach was either bruised or broken and then she was thrown in jail for life. Never again would they need to deal with her.

However, the punishment came too late. Sasuke cursed himself every day for not being there to protect his lover but that wouldn't change anything.

Naruto was dead. Emi had killed him that day and he would never return to his side.

Everything was a blur after he'd returned to the hospital. He'd collapsed. He didn't remember much except of what Tsunade told him later. His world ended on that day. He couldn't believe it had happened the day before they planned to run away. They were so close to being free forever.

Sasuke couldn't bare it. Once he was past the denial faze, he consulted in Tsunade who continued in the plans of sending him to the Land of the Waves. The only people he stayed in contact with were Tsunade and Kiba, but only because they forced their way into his dark, bleak excuse for a life.

After months of depression, a few failed suicide attempts, and more tears than any man should cry, Sasuke finally accepted things and went back to school. Although he accepted it, he refused to face things. It had taken him three years after he moved to the island town to finish school. He put everything he had into his school work to distract himself from his pain and he graduated top of his class. He refused the invitation to be the valedictorian but everyone knew him as a genius anyway. Strangely enough, after the first year he opened up more and made friends on his own, without the help of his meddling best friend who lived days away.

It was hard to live after what happened, but he managed somehow. Being here now, however, forced him to face everything he'd been pushing aside for over a decade.

Sasuke gasped as he attempted to control his tears. He didn't really care that he was crying aloud at the moment. No one that he could see was out at the far back of the school. He was all alone right now, just like he'd been for twelve years.

"Fuck I miss you, Naruto..." Sasuke cried, "I wish you were still here..." He rocked his head back against the trunk of the tree.

"I thought you'd be out here."

Sasuke glanced over through his tears to see his best friend approaching him. Sasuke sighed and began wiping the moisture from his eyes.

"I miss him, too." Kiba mumbled, taking a seat next to his friend. "Everything happened so fast you know... it was hard to register anything."

Sasuke nodded, he didn't need to be told that, he knew well enough by now. Although he wasn't actually going to tell Kiba that. He knew that they both understood things perfectly.

"You left without notice."

"I couldn't deal with it..." Sasuke muttered sadly.

"I know... I don't blame you. I would have gone too." Kiba sighed and leaned back against the tree as he stared up at the darkened sky. "You know, the funeral wasn't that bad."

Sasuke had left so soon that he didn't attend the funeral for his loved one. He didn't think he would have been able to bare it even if he had been in town for it.

"Tsunade talked about him and his father. About their relationship."

"Tsunade told me about that over the phone... she told me everything. Everything about why she was so concerned for Naruto."

"Yeah, it all makes sense." Kiba agreed. "Some nurses showed up, seems like they had taken a liking to having him in the hospital."

"Or Tsunade threatened them."

Kiba smirked and gave a short laugh, "Isn't the humor my thing?"

"Usually." Sasuke grinned back.

A brief silence stretched out between them before Sasuke spoke. "Was your family mad?"

"That I went to Naruto Uzumaki's funeral? For a while yes. But I told them what his friendship meant to me. I was disowned for a while but they eventually took me back after Emi's trial. Most of the village questioned their views on Naruto after that. A lot of people changed their mind, viewed him as a victim instead."

"He had to die for them to see him as a human being... fucking ignorant people." Sasuke muttered angrily.

"Yeah, I know." Kiba scratched the back of his head. "So are you... well are you-"

Sasuke chuckled lightly, "Yeah I'm doing as well as I can be. I'll meet you inside in a bit."

"Okay," Kiba stood up but before he left he turned back to look down at his best friend. "You know, I've missed you too, Sasuke."

Sasuke lifted his eyes to meet Kiba's. It had been so long since they actually spent real time together. Sure they had hung out together plenty of times when Kiba came to the Land of Waves but half of their time together was fake and spent avoiding a truth that haunted both of them.

"Yeah, me too."

Once again Sasuke was left alone to sit and contemplate things on his own.

"I guess I finally have to accept this, right Naruto?" He sighed, burying his eyes in his hand before he reached into his pocket and retrieve two folded pieces of paper. He unfolded the first one to stare down at the old picture he had gone looking for the day that Naruto died. He was such an adorable baby with two beautiful parents. If only things had stayed that way. Although Sasuke knew he needed to give up wishful thinking about things that couldn't be changed.

After much consideration, he unfolded the other paper that happened to be Itachi's letter. To this day it had remained unopened. He couldn't bring himself to open it and read something that might ruin his life even more than it was.

His fingers moved to tear the edge of the envelope, but hesitated just as he had in the past. Sasuke ran his fingertips over the lettering on the back of the envelope. He couldn't bring himself to open the letter even now.

He sighed loudly, he guessed something were meant to remain a secret, for now at least. Right now he would push his family troubles aside again and instead focus on moving on from the death of his lover. A death that had shadowed his life for just over a decade.

Sasuke stood up, brushed off his pants and turned to place his hand on the soft bark.

"Goodbye, Naruto." He whispered as his eyes fell shut. "I love you."

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And The End!

WOW!!! It's FINALLY over!!! I can't believe after 2 years and 5 months this story is finally finished... I didn't think it could ever happen.... what the hell am I going to do with my life now? Haha I'll be lost for a little while I bet.

Now... please do not be mad at me and hate me. Naruto had to die. Truly he did... This fanfiction is inspired by the song Concrete Angel by Martina McBride and well the girl in the song dies at the end and Naruto couldn't be a concrete angel if he lived happily. Could he..? Either way, I wanted to stay true to the idea of the song so it was necessary for me to kill him off in the end. But hey, at least I didn't end the story with the last chapter not knowing what happened to Naruto after Tsunade walked in on Emi beating him to a pulp. Seriously, no real ending, no way of knowing what happened, no confirmed conclusion what-so-ever. So please be satisfied with my cruel yet not-as-cruel-as-it-could-have-been ending ^.^

Now that she's over, I have a few things to say to those who care.... First off, thank you to everyone who has been reading and reviewing my fanfiction. I appreciate every single one of you!

A great thank to EllaCrain and dramagirl725 who supported me the most in the beginning of this project. If it weren't for you two, this fic might have never gotten this far. A most special thank you to Kisa167, you truly are my number one fan. Lots of love! And thank you Nick Spartan015 for reading and reviewing even though you don't like yaoi, you really are one of my greatest friend (in the real world of course ;P) love ya lots.

Also a thanks goes out to DarkestFlameUchiha, Psycho Dreamer, AVAuchiha, Darksouled Saiyanphoenix, DarkRavie, SakuraKissy, narsas, eeaagoh, NaTsUkO-ChAn, Gaara'sPimp, Thuggy Ninjette, Tinker16, DeviouseDevil, The Only Love For Soujiro Seta, milkchocolatehot64, Nicole Arden, Youseff and, -siarafaerie-101-miss for all of your countless reviews throughout the length of the story. Every single review inspired me and helped me update much sooner than I would have without a little confidence boost.

This has been a wonderful journey! This story has really meant a lot to me! Thank you all so much! I would truly appreciate if you all told me what you thought of this story now that it is complete. Thanks again! 3