Sasuke POV

7:14 am

I couldn't breathe, but my mouth gaped like a fish, which is dumb because a fish wouldn't be gasping for air, but I guess I look like a fish gasping for…water? My mind was muddled, as you maybe can see, and I can't really tell you why everything was either black or stark white.

All I know is that at first, everything was so bright and warm and then I blacked out…white-d out. Anyways, it was lonely, and I started remembering what had happened over the past few weeks in context.

First, I thought about going intoTokyoand the foreboding, gut-wrenching feeling I'd had, but couldn't pin down, meeting Juura, andTokyotower. Oh god. Now it was all coming back to me like a really bad dream.

The snake bites, and Naruto falling to the ground, twitching. Passing out and waking up struggling in a rope and alone in a room, fire shooting like a bulging needle through my skin. The crack of light shining in and Itachi walking over to smile at me.

Ice racing like daggers down my spine, and almost fainting because I was hyperventilating. Not being able to think past, "NARUTO! WHERE IS NARUTO? WHERE IS MY DOBE?"

Itachi laughing at me because apparently I screamed this and I was crying. He put something in my arm and suddenly my world dimmed, but the pain faded in a few seconds.

Him kicking me repeatedly and the pain roaring in my head as the poison disintegrated. Blood thumping into my ears and tasting metal on my tongue as more blood dripped in from my cracked nose and scratched face.

My second black out.

Then it was a solid blur, and only snippets of Itachi's cold, creepy and happy voice stabbing at me.

"Can't you hear him screaming for help, little brother? He's always crying for you to help him. Can't you hear him?"

"I think he's almost broken in, Sasuke. He almost never cries for you anymore. Now he just whimpers and I haven't seen him eat recently. I think he misses you. Should I let you see him? Maybe not yet."

"Naruto's been rather unresponsive lately, Sasuke. I think he's ready now. Soon you'll get to see him again. But right now he's a little skinny. I don't think he's eating at all now. He never even cries anymore. I haven't heard him speak in days."

I pull into myself for so long as I remember.

The sun came down from the sky and tried to be a part of the moon, and got extinguished because the light can't penetrate the darkness. He should've never left the sky. He should've stayed safe, unreachable and bright and shining for everyone to see.

But I can't quite bring myself to wish that completely. I think about that day with him at my house when all we did was sit in the living room and talk about music while watching old romances and realized that society was totally sexist. Then we made a pan pizza which I managed to burn and Naruto snorted his coke out his nose while laughing at me.

I can't un-wish that day. I don't even wish I could. I'm glad I got to smirk at his burning nose hairs and that face he makes when he's caught me smiling at his cuteness and I hope I don't need to feel like a horrible person because I don't wish I'd never met him. I mean, if I'd never met him, so many things wouldn't have happened to him.

He probably never would've gotten raped, and he wouldn't have had to have me as an insensitive ass of a boyfriend. He wouldn't have to put up with me not being good enough for him and his absolute magnificent way of making any shit situation seem not-quite-so-shitty.

I wish I could actually wish I'd never stopped in that alleyway, but his eyes keep me from sealing the deal.

Those eyes that sparked with defiance of anyone running his life or making his decisions.

Those eyes that cried when you told him to quit bugging you. That went blank when you tried to explain physics and the space-time theory. That softened when you admitted you were having a crappy day. That filled with concern when you looked away and tried to hold it together.

Those eyes that I knew loved me so much.

I rubbed my face, marveling at the tears that I hadn't thought I'd let slip out.

No, I can't wish I'd never loved the sun.

But the only thing I can remember about dying is that even at the very end, those eyes had given me strength. They looked down at me, overflowing with love and the simple acceptance that I'd tried to avoid wanting all my life.

They'd said, "I'm so glad I met you, teme."

And I was crying, curled up against warmth and heaviness. An imaginary hand pulled me closer and I could feel the heat spread to my whole body, pooling in my gut and relaxing me.

Suddenly, a voice echoed into my mind, "Sasuke. Please don't leave me alone!"

I'm sorry, but I already died, Naruto. I can't be with you anymore.

"Please don't die! I don't want to be alone! I don't want you to die!"

I said I'm sorry. Please don't cry anymore. I don't want you to be sad. That's much more important than me. Don't cry, whatever you do. Besides, I can't come back from the dead, dobe. Duh.

"Don't die, you bastard! Don't you dare leave me alone! Don't you fucking d-dare!"

I asked you to NOT CRY, idiot.

So don't make me say it again.

The noise paused but then there was a blurred yell and a weight knocked the breath from me. I felt my lungs expand against their will and I almost coughed but couldn't breathe, as I might've mentioned before.

There was no air. It was like I'd been pulled into space and no oxygen was being pumped into my throat and heart and I was gasping for air like a fish for water.

And another pump. More air. More air. It was stale and tasted like metal and wetness, and I could barely feel the heat of tears sliding down my chilled face. But still everything was dark and I could feel more tears plop down onto my face.

Another pump and my body arched with the force. It felt like the hands would break me, and I groaned, trying to breath so they'd leave me alone and let me die in peace.

Again, I realized that my eyes were heavy like lead and still shut. They felt like they were super-glued together and I couldn't lift them. I tried so hard, but I could only see black-white emptiness. More air and tears.

Another exploding pump, and I heaved, breath finally rushing in like a cool blade sliding into my body, and blood dislodged from my throat where my tissues had ripped from being kicked with steel-toed boots.

More pain burned at my throat but it didn't bleed again. Water was dripping into my mouth and my tongue shifted, sore but movable. I swished the water around, feeling no loose teeth but bruised and cut up cheeks.

My throat was on fire and the water eventually somehow made it past as I repeatedly swallowed, trying to drink some. Tears kept hitting me and I felt my brows twinge together.

I said…

"No more crying, dobe," I tried to growl, but no sound came out.

I felt my lips moving slowly with the letters, but I couldn't get the actual words to sound. Wetness dribbled from my mouth and I tasted more metallic blood.

I still couldn't open my eyes either, but I could feel it shining above me.

The sun was kneeling over me and his hot tears were burning trails down my freezing skin, heating it up and willing me somehow back to life.

I was so tired though, and felt myself slipping. His hands grabbed mine as I tried to reach up and stop him from crying. He squeezed even though it hurt and I groaned again, trying to emphasize said pain. He just held them and rocked back and forth.

But now a shadow came and gently took him away. My eyes flipped open, panic zipping me up like a coffin. But I soon let my breath go. I'm looking into light lavender, and Neji mutters something, turning his head to ask. Some sort of reply must've come, but it was far too much for me to hear, and he nodded, moving over.

Sakura stares at me, her face level and unerring. But her right eye is puffy and purple; a bandage wrapping her left her.

Her lips move slowly, "Sa..suke. Can you…hear…me?" I try to speak, but she sighs and shakes her head, already knowing I can't. My heart would beat faster if it could handle it. Am I deaf? Oh god…she takes out a bag and withdraws a bottle of something, pouring a few drops into my left ear.

"-ke…" she murmurs, and as my shock shows, I see her go weak in relief.

"Sasuke. Can you hear me?"

I tried to say, "Yeah, now I can," but it came out as a moan, and she sighed, shuffling around in the depths of the bag, shaking her head at Neji and said something else. Now it wasn't so much that I wasn't listening, but I was fading, my eyes getting so heavy I knew I couldn't keep them open.

The miracle was that I'd opened them at all.

Now the room was darker and I couldn't think of anything, drifting. It was like someone else was holding my lids open, but I stayed conscious long enough to see Naruto collapse.

My throat was still wet and hot-cold but I felt a yell erupt and I blacked-out from the shock of agony ripping across my lungs and vocal cords.

Juura POV

6:54 am

DAMN IT! FUCK THIS SHIT!

I swerved around and fired off a couple rounds of bullets into the silver's chest, and growled as he kept coming. This wasn't natural! He let loose a maniac laugh and charged again.

I signaled for our own rush, but as Kam shot forward, another wire held his wrist and sliced into it, yanking him back and tossing him into Kao. Hinata fired into the guy's head and yelped at the gun's back-sweep, jolting into her shoulder painfully. She slid back to my side, shaking.

"What d-do we do, Juura-san? It practically doesn't have a head, and yet it won't quit attacking."

She shuddered, and I had to remind myself that these kids were just that. Alright, so they were almost full adults, but they weren't used to guns and fighting for their lives. The pale Hyuuga handled the gun well for someone who'd only been taught the very limited basics by her father and uncle.

She had shyly explained why she didn't need to hang back and hold reserve bullets. She'd smiled, showing me her aim and telling me in her hesitant way to just relax so she could concentrate. Neji freaking out because he hadn't been told his oh-so-important cousin would be battling tooth and nail on the front lines. Or…what we liked to call the front lines.

See…we've been up since about twenty seconds after Kage left. We laid down a trap, I admit it, and we already had a plan for if he decided to actually leave.

Meanwhile, Neji and Sakura were chasing one of the other men around, punching and jumping to kick, a blur of hair and madness and fury as they dodged his huge, spiked sword. They swung and lashed out, barely missing each other as they fought in some insane movements, right along side each other, perfectly syncing.

Gaara hung back and cut in at intervals to let them rest, trying to sweep in from behind and catch the blue-skinned man off-balance. But each time he just chuckles and leaps aside, throwing up a shower of sparks as the blades meet. Gaara looks pissed.

Three of Sakura's grenades have hit nothing but road, blowing huge chunks of steel and concrete into the air before they slammed back down. I think they must have shut the bridge down, and the thought that kept hitting me was, 'We're DESTROYING an American national wonder. We are so banned from San Francisco. Damn it.'

I'm not too sure where the adults went, but I can only assume they're fighting somewhere too. We've got our hands full here, even with all of us holding them off.

Suddenly, a redhead appeared from seemingly nowhere, and was just standing there. Suddenly, I realized he was the one with all the wires. His hands jerked and trembled as we went down, trying to hit the silver.

Looking closer, I saw something we never should've missed. This guy wasn't a guy at all.

He wasn't alive.

A corpse, and a very good puppeteer. That's who had brought down Kiba when he shot repeatedly at it, and one of the arms went slack. We'd assumed that he'd hit a vital spot, but he'd only snapped a cord, I saw now.

Now that I knew that, I had to somehow get to that redhead. But now there were two more fighters around him. A couple of men with brown and silvery-green hair were coming straight for us, but no rage showed in their eyes.

Puppets.

From nowhere, Shikamaru ran past me, shooting aside them and just missing the redhead. My eyes bulged. The man was the same I'd seen outside the Tokyo Tower when the gang had come to Naruto's text. He'd been watching us from across the street, his face just as blank and dead as it was now.

From under us, a rumble shook the section of bridge we were on and I hesitated, wishing we'd somehow thought this through better.

Flashback to before Naruto/Kage left:

3:14 am

Shutting the bedroom door, we left Shizune to watch over Kage, who slept on the sofa. Stone slumped against the balcony rail and refused to participate, but we knew he was listening, so we didn't push. Noir was in a similar funk, sitting on a chair in the far corner, watching the bed intently.

"So," Sakura muttered, starting us off, "We all agree?"

Almost twenty heads nodded and Shikamaru spoke, laying out the 'master plan' of the night. Even though it was dangerous on a deadly scale, we'd all just affirmed that it was the best way to hand finding Sasuke safely. We could work together once we located the general area he was in.

"I'm guessing that Naruto will be waking up soon, from whatever coma he's currently in," his monotone was on edge, and he went on, "but I'm also sure that only Sasuke can jolt him out of this."

He let that sink in before he kept talking.

"Now, we all know he's most likely going to leave us behind after tonight, right?" we nodded, and he sighed, "Now, while I kind of wish he put more trust in us, I also realize that this isn't actually Naruto we're dealing with here. It's just a copy, and a rough one at that. At the very least, he seems to be like Naruto in one way. He does care for us, but he doesn't realize that we're here for him."

Again, a few sad nods, and Hinata murmured, "I wish N-N-Naruto could put m-more faith i-in us."

Shika just sighed and looked at all of us. Neji seemed to understand and squirmed, answering the unspoken question.

"I think he wants to believe he doesn't need help to save Sasuke. He needs to do it on his own, but at the same time, we can't just let him fight all by himself."

Gaara nodded firmly, and said slowly, deep monotone soft in the quiet room, horns blaring outside, "Maybe we could let him think he's doing it alone."

"Yeah," Sakura said suddenly, and we all turned to look at her. She looked like she'd been thinking about the same thing. "I'm guessing that Itachi won't be alone, wherever he ends up being. Once we find him, the real Naruto is going to find a way to give us the slip. We already know that much. So..."

"Why don't we just let him?" Kakashi muttered from the doorway, a thoughtful look in his visible eyes. He'd taken off his mask half-way and we could see the scar tissue around his red-grey eye that he'd kept covered up. He said he could still use it, but it drew attention.

"I was thinking something like that," Jiraiya nodded, "We could keep back whatever unpleasant company long enough for Na-Kage to find Itachi, and jump in to help him at the last second."

None of us talked for a second, but now that we had an outline, we could work on it a little later, finalizing the other things. Suddenly, Shizune yelped, and I shot out of my seat on the bed, flinging the door open as Kakashi moved and running in to find her staring at Kage.

His hair was bright red, shimmering as orange and his old yellow-gold burned into it, shifting every few milliseconds. His nails sunk into the couch and he cringed into himself, a frown of concentration on his face.

"What happened?" Tsunade demanded. The brunette just turned shocked eyes on us and shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know. He just started mumbling and then this happened. I though he was just dreaming until his hair went all…weird," she muttered, and we all just stared at him. Soon, though, it looked like he was about to wake up.

"Hurry," Gaara yanked us back from the couch and hauled Shika and Neji to the balcony by the living room, leaving the door open. Then he pulled the rest of us into the kitchen, where we could peek over the counter to see. He ducked down in the hallway, eyes blending into the dark like he was a cut-out shadow and was back in the right place.

You couldn't even see an outline.

On the loveseat, Shizune wrapped her blanket up tight and tossed her pillow under her, squeezing her eyes shut and trying to regulate her breathing. Suddenly Kage's hair settled back and a few moments later he was upright, feet silent as he looked around.

Padding quietly past the counter around the couch and pausing at the open door, the breeze blowing his now almost maroon-gold hair wildly around his head. I slowly stood up and made sure not to make a noise, going around the counter to stand behind him.

Sakura followed me, and Gaara and Shika came next, leaving all the adults behind even though everyone but Shizune was standing now, crowded into the kitchen.

She walked quicker, almost like she was going to reach out and grab him to hold him back. But before I could do anything, she stiffened and stopped a few feet from him.

He went out onto the balcony, looking over the roof of the neighboring apartment building and into the bay area, the moon blotted out in all but the water, rippling and swaying with the city lights. Gripping the railing, he was about to jump up when I saw his shoulders hunch and he turned to look beside him.

Then, eyes flat, he turned and saw Sakura, then me. Not saying anything, he reached on the roof shingles and hauled himself over the edge of the railing, onto the top and was gone.

We all stood for a moment and gaped at the spot where he'd been standing, waiting for him to fall. But instead, we saw a shadow and seconds later he was running on all fours across the next roof over, headed for the tree he'd climbed earlier and vanishing for a moment.

Then his tracker took hold and a recorder in my duffel probably flashed a bright orange light, signifying that it had started following the blonde now that he was over forty meters away. Sighing, the boys came in from the outside, Shika going over and rifling through the bags until he pulled his own silver screen out, the orange light blinking, a small blue dot moving around like in a video game.

"He's really moving," the brunette murmured, as the rest of us shifted to get our own tracker monitors. Flipping his shut, he put it in his pocket and pulled his phone out instead, pressing a speed dial and waiting, head held at a lazy angle, hands in pockets.

But a moment later, the hands were out and searching for a pen and paper. Kiba supplied, and Shika started scribbling down directions to somewhere. To the Golden Bridge, rather, I saw as I looked interestedly over his shoulder and frowned.

"Yeah," he muttered, "This is Shikamaru. Yeah, long time no see, man. I was just wondering it you wanted to come help us out with something. I got it from your brother. Yeah. Sure, sure. We can wait till morning. I just heard you were in the city and thought I'd call you up. Tch, bothersome. Okay, fine. Meet you there. Yeah, the bridge. K, bye."

We waited while he dialed again, and got louder and tried to be active, "Yeah, hey. I was- ouch. That was my ear, dude," he jerked away from his cell, and scowled, "I told you before, I NEVER STOLE YOUR HAIR GEL. That was all a big misunderstanding. No, I-Okay, look. I called to ask for your help, but if you're too busy…"

He paused and wrote something else down, cocking his head to hear the other person talking.

"Okay, fine. I'm sorry that your sister yelled at you, but I only called to see if you were free for this job I have. Yeah. Sure there's violence involved." He snorted at something and chuckled, "The best kind."

"Uh…who are you-" he held up a finger to Tsunade, and nodded a few times, "Mhm. Yup. Probably, if it ends up being a big deal. Probably. You can if you want. Okay. At the Bridge. Wherever you see smoke, idiot. Okay. Bye."

He hung up and went to sit on the couch Kage had just vacated, lounging and tipping his head back like his phone calls had completely exhausted him. Probably.

Checking my tracker again, I saw that the little Kage-Dot had squirmed over to the bridge road and was currently be-bopping down to the entrance. I couldn't see how Naruto did it, but somehow it swerved around the gates and up into the line that read, "Golden Gate Bridge".

"Shouldn't we h-hurry?" Hinata stuttered from the kitchen, and Gaara nodded, grabbing a golf case from the duffel pile and pulling out his knife belt, that we'd stashed with all the other blades and zipped up in the Velcro-padded case. He withdrew one and looked over at the table, glancing to Noir, and putting it back up.

Neji muttered something to him, and he shrugged, wrapping the belt around his waist.

It had all different sizes and shapes of switchblades, hunting knives, and short swords. It had black daggers that had vicious hooks at the tip to rip flesh, and cruel kunai that were almost needle-thin and just as sharp, hanging in a cluster to one side.

Across his back, he put the three foot long sword he'd snatched from a display case on a train of antiques. He hadn't had the chance to practice, but judging from the look in his eyes, he was begging to fight.

Neji, on the other hand, had no visible weapons, except for the barbs in his long mane of chocolate brown hair. It fountain-ed over his shoulders and down his back, swishing with a soft rustle as he moved around the room.

Black electric tape was wound around his knuckles on both hands and I could see sharp points, realizing that he'd strapped some sort of spike column to his hand for extra pain when they hit.

Kiba had guns, and so did Shika, his pistols and sniper-rifle leaning on the wall where the others had stacked them as they got their own gear quickly ready.

He moved and rolled over onto his stomach.

"I'm guessing that troublesome lot will take their time and arrive around three o'clock. We could actually get some sleep, if you want," he offered hopefully, but Jiriaya and Kakashi were already shaking their heads, muttering, "Lazy-ass."

Sakura just rolled her eyes, bolting on her pink, fingerless spiked boxing gloves she never went anywhere without.

They'd had some work done before she set out though, and thick padding had been installed around the wrists. The other material was all leather, with the part on the backs of her hands sliced off.

A belt of her special-mix grenades hung tightly around her hips, steel-toed combat boots tugging against the black cargos she had on already. She clipped her tracker on and put her shades on her bubblegum-pink spikes, otherwise weaponless just like Neji. However, her dark bag was heavy with her medical supplies, and leaning on the wall, the top straining.

Tsunade and Jiraiya both had a sword and a silenced elephant rifle hanging from their back, knives sheathed at their sides. Shizune had now sat up and was sorting through her small backpack, taking out small blades and bullet packs.

In the back, I could hear my own boys sorting through their duffels and re-dressing in their old uniforms of black pants and wife-beaters, combat boots wrapped tightly in electrical tape. Stone had already gone out to our car, and was supposedly getting some air. But I could see him sitting behind that huge tree, smoking. I frowned and went to the window, watching for a second. He was fingering his tags and puffing out another cloud.

Stone had given up smoking a year ago…now I really felt like shit. All the stress of seeing her again must've-

"Hey, Juura?" speak of the devil.

Noir had her head cocked at me and was sorting through a few tools, stocking them in her tool-belt and tying a bandana across her dark mocha brow. I raised my eyebrows, and frowned deeper, my hand twitching.

"Going somewhere?" I asked politely, and she scowled, her delicate features transforming.

"I'm going with you," she growled. I didn't doubt that she believed this, but-

"I still love him," she whispered, and her eyes were so sad that I wanted to just hug her.

"Why didn't you-" she has a bad habit of interrupting, I've noticed.

"Because I didn't have any money back then," she muttered, and continued before I could say anything, "I know he would've taken me in and supported me and been the best boyfriend ever. Treated it like it was no big deal, because that's just how lucky I would've been to be with him. I know he would've loved me so well and I could've been so happy with him…but I didn't…I didn't want to be that kind of person. I wanted to be his equal. I…was afraid of not being good enough."

She said all this in only a few seconds, like it was poison she was trying to get rid of. A live bomb.

Neither of us said anything, but I looked down silently at the tree. Stone was gone, and there was a white cigarette butt on the dark red mulch around the trunk.

Finally, she just sighed and said firmly, apparently recovered, "I'm coming-" she stopped me from objecting, "Not because I want to fight, but because I don't want him to get hurt. I haven't been able to be there all this time, so let me do this."

"Fine," I sighed after a minute, searching her dark violet eyes for any weakness or hesitation, and finding none. She smiled and nodded, going over to Hinata to ask something.

Now that everyone was ready, I marched back into the bedroom and asked Kam, "Where are they?"

He pointed to his backpack and I dug through it, pulling out the dog chain necklaces, the tags rusty and darkened. They clinked sadly and I looked at the Twins and opened my mouth to ask. They pulled aside their scarves and showed their own tags, just as old but better kept and not as rusty. They gleamed at the centers, the old engravings still legible.

"Kurai Kamurou—OP Team A—TL: Captain 'Runt' Juura"

"Karu Kao—OPS Team A—TL: Captain 'Runt' Juura" on the other side, "Rookie"

Smiling grimly,

they let the thick red material slide back over, concealing a lifetime of memories.

"Ready, ma'am," Kam said softly, nodding at me. Kao said nothing, his fists clenched around the soft fabric of the black shirt he wore, matching Kam and me. His brother just sighed in resignation knowing we couldn't do anything to help him.

Back when we'd been Team A &B, he'd been going out with Nana, Nani's 'evil' sister, who wore nothing but tank-tops boxer shorts, unless she had clean sweats.

She had dark, molten grey eyes and high check bones that told you she wasn't Japanese. Her voice was high and lilting and every time I got told, "Told ya so," I imagined her, leaning on her bunk-bed and smirking at me, her regular bottle of water dripping condensation. From day one, he was 'rookie', or 'newbie', according to Nana.

Kao, on the other hand, was our tech nerd when we were all together at the base and had only recently switched to tech-fire and moved in at the next station camp closest to us, only a mile away. They'd fallen for each other almost the moment they met, but we'd never had a peaceful moment, as they bickered nonstop.

Ever since we'd vanished from the fight, we've been tagged as M.I.A. or missing in action. Nobody even knows we're alive; and if I get my way, nobody ever will.

We've all had enough of fighting enemies that aren't ours.

The extent of our war time these past six years in the ongoing battle I have with the old man who lives next door and always smells like feet when he comes to tell me to turn down my television. I think he must be pretty deaf though, since he's never once answered the door for me.

Maybe not.

But I'm getting sidetracked. The Twins were looking at me and had steel in their eyes. They were our quick response unit, 'back in the day', and had been the ones to find me half-dead and buried under a pile of ceiling stone, my huge, fluffy dog curled beside me.

They'd dug me and Aru out and taken us to the central tent, only to find it obliterated.

For two days, I had no memories, and then, as the helicopter took off, Stone shouting where he was taking us, it all slammed into me, knocking my breath out and taking me into depression and shock. The Twins had found no other survivors...

But I had the mind enough to point him to Tokyo instead. We'd bickered for almost twenty minutes before I pulled rank and ordered him to take me to my dad's old place above a bakery in downtown. He'd landed on a business building, showing his tags and ID as the office lady objected. Then, getting in the taxi, I'd let the waves of pain sweep me into my chest and hover on the verge of death.

My ribs were cracked, wrists hanging limply, unfeeling, and my thigh was cramped into a tight knot of muscle, metal splinters piercing the side. Throughout all of this, I kept thinking, 'I thought I told him to be safe.'

But now, as we loaded up for another 'mission', I could help feeling like the walls were pressing in around me. Maybe I would fail them, like I'd failed my own squad. I'd let them die, even when I was right there, supposed to be able to see enemies, warn them, and get them out. I'd let everyone die because I wasn't up to the responsibility.

Suddenly, Stone is beside me and he said gently, "I'm ready, ma'am. Orders?" I turned, staring it the hat where his eyes would be. He'd taken to wearing it when we got settled in since we'd all had a bit of a falling out in faith. Weed had been his friend and nullification. Alcohol was mine. But he had it pulled up today, and his bright green eyes, almost pale as a new leaf, nearly transparent, were soft and determined.

They had every faith in me.

Pulling myself away from my own thoughts, I realized that the others were standing around, a little lost. Sure, they would fight, but they didn't know the first thing about formations and techniques. Well, I had the feeling Jiraiya, Tsunade, Neji, Gaara, and Shikamaru might, but they were all content to let me lead. Someone's been snooping on Noir's laptop...apparently finding information about the sad tragedy of the four M.I.A.s from a number of years ago.

Oh well. (A/N: hope you like how I'm creating you, Juura!)

Better get going.

Our trackers were stopped on the Golden Gate Bridge and wavering in the same spot. Looking at the clock, I saw the digits shift to 4:23 A.M. and I sighed, tucking the tags around my neck, clinking with my own that I never took off for anything. The others were watching me, and Shika had stood, shouldering his stuff, looking as 'ready as he'll ever be'.

Together, we formed a hashed-up strategy, even though Shika and I were the final voices. The adults were glancing at each other, trying to formulate some side plan, I could tell, as if we would inevitably fail in ours. Puh-leeze.

As we roared out of the parking lot, we headed straight for the bridge, trying to prepare ourselves and calm our stomachs.

Nothing could've prepared us.

Juura POV (present - 7:45 am)

I'm running with Stone down the pavement and leaping into the hole Shikamaru told us about, cleared out by the others who found it. Squeezing through, I land awkwardly and shift so I can stand better, moving for Stone to come down.

Above, the gunshots still ring out and mangled english is being shouted as Temari and Kankuro, the backup Shikamaru called in, guard our backs.

The blonde woman-who explained that she's Gaara's older sister-had come up from the hole and shouted at us to get down there. Now we run down the hall and see where light spills from a blasted away door.

We can see the hinged where they've been misfired on, and hanging loosely creak a bit as we skid to a stop.

Neji's leaning over a body on the floor and Naruto is crying to one side, Tsunade and Iruka holding him, keeping him away from Sasuke so he won't move him.

Jiraiya isn't around, and neither is Konohamaru. He'd met up with us half-way, riding with the (I think she might be a tad insane) Anko. They'd come up beside us as we entered the bridge gates, following us to the place where Shika told me the signal was.

Nobody was there. Then everything started.

And now Iruka's cradling Naruto in his arms, trying to wipe crimson off his mouth and fingertips. Sakura's eye where the blue man finally scored a slash is bandaged and she's digging through her bag for something when Neji calls out, his voice breaking, "Sakura get over here! Now!"

"I'm trying! Just give me a goddamn freaking minute!" her side is heavily wrapped in gauze and she grits her teeth, getting up and shuffling quickly over there, making small noises of pain. Looking around for a moment, I see a dead body of someone by the door, but I don't know him. (A/N: the timid voice from before. forgot to say. The bullet Naruto dodged at the beginning hit him in the forehead.)

Shikamaru is lying, pale and slow-breathing, on Kiba's lap, the brunette watching him with wide, scared eyes, and every time the Nara breathed too slow, he'd bite his lip, grip tightening on the hand he held. He'd break it if he wasn't careful. I go over to Gaara, who is sitting almost in the middle of all this, legs brought in a protective barrier, head and arms duck between them as he stares at the floor. His belt sit, depleted, beside him and his sword is slung across his back.

Now I can see a dark shape behind the commotion by Sasuke. There's a guy bleeding all over the floor, dark hair messed and greasy, his ponytail piled under him. This must be Itachi,

I think as I get closer, seeing his neck bent almost straight up, head cracked backwards and the bone there gleaming dully. His face is twisted in fear and rage, and his shoulder's look pulled by the missing chunk of flesh from the throat, claw marks torn through his arms.

Shudders run through me and I pull away, sitting beside Gaara because there's nothing I can do to help.

Above us, I can hear the others finally winning the fight, and I'm itching to join them, but Temari was clear in the fact that I was to stay down here.

Shikamaru is stirring, and Naruto's gotten worse.

Next to us, Neji is staring at nothing, one hand on Sasuke's leg, and suddenly he looks at Gaara, who's staring at him. He nods, and the redhead's whole body goes limp with relief. What did the nod mean?

He nods at me too, but I'm too far away to understand. My eyes are now fixed on Sasuke, who's pale and bloody, looking up at Sakura as she puts something in his ears.

"Sasuke? Sasuke. Can you hear me?" He nods as lightly as possible, and opens his mouth to speak and a strangled grunt comes out, blood dripping from his lips like a foul tide. He stops and looks up at Sakura with fear in his eyes, mouth shut tightly.

She's raffling through her bag and bites her lips, shaking her head but saying to Neji, "We have to get him out of here and into the E.R. He won't last long unless we do. He's dying."

"NO! HE CAN'T BE DYING! HE CAN'T LEAVE ME ALONE! HE PROMISED! HE PROMISED HE WOULDN'T EVER LEAVE ME ALONE! HE PROMISED!" Naruto's screaming now, tears running down both cheeks and dropping to the floor like rain.

He's struggling against Iruka and trying to get back to Sasuke. But suddenly he drops like a bag of stones to the ground and stops talking, fainted away. The insane anger and fury that had fueled him was leaving, I realize, and he's wearing out.

Overhead, the gunshots have finally stopped, and suddenly I hear footsteps, Temari walking in quickly and pointing to Shika, Naruto and Sasuke.

"Them, and hurry up, idiots!" Kankuro and Konohamaru rush in, each taking one. Anko comes in and hefts Naruto over her shoulder, grunting with his weight, before Gaara or Neji can make a move to help.

I stand again and call for Kam and Kao to her her. Noir came in with them and is going over to Stone. He doesn't say anything while she talks, and I decide to leave them alone, dropping out of the now bustling room and going back up onto the bridge.

The place is in ruins, and I start to relax, my mind drifting as I sit against the railing, letting the wind play in my hair. It's almost 8 am by now and I groan, reaching into my bag for a bottle and unscrewing the top, letting the coll but warm alcohol pour into my throat and let me go from the last grips of tension.

Fuzziness invades my skull and dims the sun that's rapidly rising over the bay water. Sighing, I let it go and look up, wondering if the cops will show up soon. It feels like we need to hurry and go but the hospital will ask questions, like why we destroyed the city's monument.

Now that I think about it, it's a little funny. We completely pulverized this bridge. Gawd, whut were we thinkin? How could we just destroy half a bridge? I'm laughing now, and curled on my side. Now Stone stands over me, a wry smile on his face.

"So I talked to Noir." it was a question, but well hidden.

"Did she say anything?" I snorted and sat so I could see him.

"No, but I think she wants to come back with me...' he trailed off, looking at the bottle in my hand and frowning.

"I guess we all have our recovery needs," he murmured, and didn't object as I defiantly took a long, deep swallow, letting more blur into my mind.

And explosion rattled me and more stone blew past us. Suddenly everyone was pouring out of the now huge gap in the gravel and asphalt, hurrying the injured three to the car Anko had rode in on. They sped away, and Kiba resolutely went with them, arguing for his spot and eventually hopping on anyways.

Jiraiya came up next, with a bag of stuff I hadn't noticed before. Yanking out a beeper, he dialed someone and said, 'Ready. Come on down."

A helicopter swept into our midst from nowhere and we piled in, my fist tight around the bottleneck. Kakashi shouted over the blades' noise, "Hospital, right?" Someone shouted yes and we were off, headed to a hospital that would ask too many questions, for a boy I barely knew and a lover who might die without him.

Groaning, I conclude that my life is once again 'complicated'.

Hope you guys like it! I spent a great deal of the past week and a half writing it down at different places and compiling it. The climax is still rolling along and hasn't declined yet, so I hope you stay tuned in and REVIEW! BECAUSE IF YOU DON'T I'LL DROP THE CLIMAX SO FAST YOUR HEADS WILL SPIN.