12. To Protect a Dream

"Sasuke, why don't you take Nakao and go play," Itachi turned his eyes on his little brother.

My purple eyes looked to Keitaro, standing beside Itachi. His arms were crossed over his chest, messy brown bangs that had grown too long, falling in his eyes. He gave me a nod.

"Come on, Nakao!" Sasuke grabbed me by the hand, pulling me with him as we ran from the Uchiha compound.

"Where are we going, Sasuke-kun?" I asked.

"It's a secret," he shot me a grin and I found myself grinning back.

We ran with the endless energy that children had. He brought us to some nearby woods. We traveled through the brush and trees, careful of our footing, until we came to a stream. It bubbled gently, cutting a path through the forest floor.

A stone bridge stretch across the river. It was old and obviously neglected, crumbling here and there. Tugging at my hand, Sasuke led me under the bridge. We were still short enough that we could stand beneath the bridge without our heads hitting the stone. Sidling around the edge of the stream, we stopped. It was cool and damp under the bridge, not completely unwelcomed as we sheltered from the warmth of the summer.

"Is this it?" I asked, peering around as my voice echoed off the stone walls.

"Yeah! I found it!" Sasuke said happily, his voice filled with pride.

Letting go of my hand, Sasuke bent down, retrieving a smooth, white stone from the edge of the river. He settled down on the mossy ground, facing the stone wall that arched over our heads. He placed the stone he'd found against the wall, making markings against it.

He drew a stick figure, then added long hair. He smiled up at me. "That's you!"

"That looks nothing like me!" I pouted, sticking my cheeks out.

Sasuke's smile dissolved into a pout as well, sticking his bottom lip out in defiance. I lowered myself to the ground beside him, plucking the stone from his hand. I used it to draw my own stick figure on the wall. As I drew the arms, I connected the lines that represented the hands of the stick figures. I added spiky hair to the back of the new stick figure.

I turned to Sasuke, smiling brightly. "Since this is here, we always have to be friends!"

"What? Why?"

"Because otherwise the picture will be a lie!" I exasperated. Wasn't it obvious?

Sasuke watched me curiously for a minute before a smile broke out on his face. I stuck my thumb and pinkie finger outwards. "This means friends in another culture. My mom told me."

"Really?" Sasuke copied my gesture, glancing at me. "Friends?"

I nodded eagerly before crossing my index and middle finger together. "Always. I promise."

Sasuke crossed his fingers. "I promise."

The vision of Sasuke laying in my lap was blurry as the tears dropped from my eyes. I searched his face, paler than usual. There were two scratches crossed to form an X on one cheek; an injury he'd sustained at some point within our frigid prison. A trail of blood was drying on his chin. I pushed some black bangs out of his face. His skin was so cold.

"You broke your promise, you idiot," I whispered, hugging him against me.

Carefully, as though handling glass, I set Sasuke on the ground. I hated leaving him there, on the cold, icy cement.

Feeling numb, I got to my feet. My mind was tired and foggy with grief. Slowly, I looked to Haku, who was still standing many feet away from me. As my eyes stared at him, anger bubbled in my gut.

This boy. This boy, right here, standing across from me like nothing had changed, had taken Sasuke's life. Had changed my life forever. And for what? For the devilish man who stood somewhere outside this dome. For a man who'd almost taken my teammates from me a week before.

Sasuke hadn't deserved to die. No matter what he'd done to me, to my heart, he hadn't deserved this. He had plans, goals, things he wanted to do. Things he'd never be able to do now. Because this boy had taken away his chance.

My body was trembling again as the fury rushed through my veins. My hands were clenching and unclenching at my sides, itching to be wrapped around that boy's throat. My voice echoed across the dome. "You bastard."

"Do not blame me. We were fighting for our dreams; I did what I had to do for me to keep mine."

"Shut up!" I screamed shrilly. "Don't try and justify what you did!"

"I don't need to justify it. It is the way of the ninja. He knew what he was doing when he jumped in the way. He chose to protect your dream instead of his."

My bottom lip quivered as the guilt slammed into me, not for the first time. I'd attempted to sacrifice my life because I hadn't the energy or the power to defend Naruto in any other way. But Sasuke did. And he threw it away to protect us, to protect me. To save me from dying when it was Sasuke who was Naruto's best chance of survival. For both of their survival. Fresh tears welled in my eyes and I blinked them away rapidly.

"Was he your important person?" Haku asked of me.

I remained silent and still as my mind worked furiously, sifting through memory after memory.

"Friends. Always. I promise."

I wanted to rip my heart from my chest. To throw it on that icy ground. Anything. Anything to take away the raw grief flowing through me.

I tried to push it away. To focus on something else; anything else. I watched Haku's mask and gladly accepted the hate that caused my fists to shake at my side. I let the hatred and rage pump the grief from my body. I let it consume me; fuel me. "Enough talking. I'm going to kill you."

"You cannot beat me."

"Shut. Up!" I screamed.

Without another thought, my nimble fingers ran through handsigns. Haku moved to step back into a mirror, but I was faster somehow. Wind rushed from my body and swept around the dome, creating a barrier between Haku and any mirror.

"You're going to die here," I told him with no emotion. His death didn't fill me with happiness, or relief. It wouldn't bring Sasuke back. It wouldn't bring me back. But I was going to do it anyway. I was going to rip his throat out and show it him. Then I would rip out Zabuza's. Because it was the only thing that pacified my wildly racing mind.

"You cannot trap me forever. Eventually, you will run out of chakra."

"You'll be dead before that happens."

Through with conversing with the boy I hated with every fiber of my being, I conjured more handsigns. I took in a deep gulp of air before blowing it out. A spark of flame caught onto my wind and flared to life. Heat washed over us, but I couldn't feel it; not really. The fire's glow reflected eerily in the mirrors' surfaces. Haku took a chance and forced his way through the swirling fire and into a mirror.

"Coward!" I yelled, my eyes already scanning the mirrors in attempt to locate him.

Haku said nothing, appearing in the mirror in front of me. He raised his hand, needles between each of his fingers. Haku shot out of the mirror. I couldn't see him actually traveling, but I exerted a large amount of chakra and the fire surged, flaring anew until the tips of the flames danced across the mirror capping the dome.

Seemingly out of nowhere, Haku dropped to the ground. His clothing was burning and Haku quickly patted it out with his hand. I took the opportunity to close my wind around him, forming a swirling vortex of wind and flame around his body. I brought the fire in close so that it nearly licked his flesh. I was about to squeeze all the breath from his body when he began to spin rapidly into a human twister, as he'd done with Sasuke earlier.

A lumped lodged in my throat at the very thought of Sasuke's name. Haku stopped spinning and the velocity had been enough to extinguish the fire. Now my wind was the only thing swirling around him. It was at full force and my body felt a sudden strain.

Anger flared anew, but at myself. My own body was beginning to fail me, protesting at the amount of chakra I was using. I couldn't allow that to happen. I couldn't allow Haku to live. Not after what he'd done. And not with Naruto still unconscious behind me.

I'd failed Sasuke. My own ability to defend myself and Naruto had led to his sacrifice. But I wasn't going to fail Naruto. I was going to get him out of here. He was going to live. Because he had to. Because I wasn't going to watch his body burn atop a funeral pyre.

The image of Sasuke's body burning caused a wave of nausea to wash through me. I couldn't do it. I couldn't do it again. Go to another funeral. Look at a picture of him with a pile of flowers beside it.

Maybe I wouldn't have to. Maybe my attempt to take Haku's life would take my own as well. I felt strangely calm about this. It was almost a relief to my aching heart.

Holding onto the ache and rage, sorrow, guilt and self-hatred, I closed my eyes and pulled forward my chakra. My eyes snapped open and more wind billowed out around me, rushing to the top of the dome with a deafening roar. Concentrating so hard sweat formed at my brown, I spun the wind around and around until a large twister funnel formed above us. I dropped it around myself and Haku, encasing us in the swirling chaos.

"What are you doing?" Haku asked, far to calmly, as he glanced around himself at his new rapidly swirling walls. A prison of my own making.

"I'm going to suffocate you," I told him, my voice void of emotion.

I was going to pull the air straight from Haku's lungs. I would pull and pull until his lungs crumpled up like a plastic bag. I would spin my wind so rapidly, with so much force, that it would prevent any fresh air from breaking through. My chakra would seep in first, forcing the wind out of his lungs.

Did it matter that I would not be unaffected in this environment? No. It didn't matter at all. While the prospect of dying gasping for air didn't seem appealing; I couldn't let him live. And I would sacrifice my life for Naruto's after all.

I pushed chakra from reservoirs I didn't know existed. Sweat rolled down my face as I maintained the extraction of chakra. From in front of me, I could hear Haku coughing and beginning to gasp. I realized I too, was beginning to feel short of breath.

Faster and faster my twister spun, the winds howling madly. I watched Haku struggle. I thought he was beginning to falter, that he was about to fall, but I realized with narrow eyes that he was trying to fight against the force. He was trying to spin again, to make his velocity equal that of my powers.

I couldn't access any more chakra, I realized. If I tried, I'd be dead before Haku. I tried to move my twister inward, making it narrower, but this had the opposite effect from what I wanted. The wind pushed Haku forward and I found him colliding with my body.

The howling wind ceased abruptly as I found myself sprawling to the cement. Haku bounced away from me. I instinctively gasped for breath, my shoulders heaving. A shadow cast over my body and I glanced up to find Haku moving towards me.

"H-How…how did you beat…"

"You almost killed me," Haku said matter-of-factly. "And I drained a lot of my chakra to increase my speed enough to escape. But as I said: you cannot beat me."

Haku raised a fist full of needles and flicked his wrist. I rolled away and the needles landed in a neat row where I'd been kneeling. I tried to scrambled to my feet but Haku was already hovering above me. Just as I got to my knees, Haku attempted to stab me in the neck. I ducked and managed to swing my body, swiping a leg underneath Haku's feet.

He jumped gracefully out of reach, giving me time to stumble to my feet. My muscles groaned. I ignored them.

I took out my daggers, holding them in front of me. I rushed Haku as he landed, swiping at him. He held his needles in front of him, blocking my attack and we struggled against one another, our weapons clashed together.

"You fight valiantly," Haku said. The bastard didn't even sound tired.

I didn't bother answering, but shoved him backwards.

"I can take you to him," Haku said, catching his footing and tossing needles my way.

I stumbled to the side, dodging. My mind was screaming at him to shut up, but I couldn't be sure if I actually said it. I dashed at him, slashing at his neck. He moved backwards continually, just managing to dodge every swing of my blades. I closed in again, but hadn't realized that Haku had moved. He raised a foot and connected it with my chest.

I stumbled back, losing my breath. Before I could regain my balance, Haku was on me. He was so close that my nose was almost brushing against his mask. Everything seemed to slow around me and the world became silent.

Something ripped into my gut. My hearing jarred back into existence and the first thing I heard was my own scream. Haku's mask filled my vision as my eyes shook. My brain was desperately trying to catch up.

I suddenly coughed and pain racked my body. Blood splattered from my mouth and onto Haku's white mask. Haku withdrew his hand, pulling the needles from my body. I heard myself crying as the pain was explosive.

As soon as Haku pulled away, I fell to my knees. My hands immediately grasped for my abdomen and warm blood spilled over them, seeping between my fingers. Blood. So much blood. My blood.

I glanced down. My shaky hands were completely coated in crimson blood. It spilled down my wrists and dropped to the ground, slowly forming a puddle of blood around my knees.

"Nakao!"

Naruto's frightened, desperate yell brought me back into reality. Fear clutched my heart. Haku was still very much alive, and I was losing blood too quickly for my brain to fully comprehend the situation. I'd failed again to protect Naruto.

I heard the sound of footsteps pounding against the cement. I kept my eyes on my gushing wound. The pain was even more intense now. It was agonizing; a hot, white pain that was shooting all across my body. Is this what Sasuke had felt before he died?

My mind turned to him. He'd told me not to die. But I was beginning to feel sleepy, and dizzy. I squeezed my eyes shut.

I'm so sorry, Sasuke. I'm so so sorry. I tried. I really did.

I was falling forward before I even realized it. But I was halted by something grabbing my shoulders. I was tugged backwards until I was on my back, peering at the top of the dome. A face infiltrated my vision.

"Naru-" I tried to say his name but coughed instead. Blood spurted from my mouth before dribbling down the sides of my mouth and onto my face.

"Nakao."

The sound of his voice allowed me to focus on his face. His sky blue eyes were racked with pain and it would have killed me, if I wasn't already dying. I thought of the grief of losing Sasuke and wondered if Naruto would feel of fraction of it. I prayed that he wouldn't.

"Naruto…" a tear formed in the corner of one eye. "Sasuke…He…he saved us."

I had to cough out the sentence. Naruto hung his head and his voice was quiet. "Nakao…why…?"

"I couldn't…I couldn't let him get away with it. Sasuke…" I whispered. I felt too tired to talk.

I noted that Naruto was looking at me again, but my vision was blurry. I found my eyelids beginning to droop. I was so tired.

Somehow the reality of my situation swam to the forefront of my mind. When I closed my eyes, I'd never open them again. But as my own morality stared me in the face, it didn't seem all that important to me. Kiba's and Keitaro's faces flashed through my mind and I felt vaguely guilty of the pain they'd go through when it was reported that I'd died.

But they would be okay. They would prevail. Keitaro would take it particularly hard, having already lost our parents. But maybe he'd be glad to hear that I died to bring down an enemy ninja. He might even be proud that I lost my life in an attempt to save my teammate. Honor was so important to him, after all.

A flicker of consciousness hit me. I managed to peer up at Naruto through my eyelashes. He was still staring at me, morose. His eyes were watery.

"Naruto…"I whispered. "Can you put me by Sasuke…"

"What?" Naruto looked visually surprised. His voice was shaky.

"Please…"

Talking took a lot of effort now. I closed my eyes again as the constant tiredness pulled at me. My body was growing numb, which was a relief as the searing pain in my abdomen faded.

I peeled my eyes open to find that I was moving. I couldn't feel it. I watched the the top of the dome move position as Naruto moved me. Finally, I was gently placed upon the ground.

I rolled my head to the side, cheek against the ground. Sasuke lay beside me. His body was so…still. His eyes were closed, bangs strewn across his face. Tears filled my eyes and ran down my cheeks.

Sasuke.

It felt difficult to breathe. I could hear a gurgling noise come from my trachea as I struggled.

I-I can't breathe.

My brain wanted to panic, but I was too tired. I tried to reach my hand out to Sasuke's face, but couldn't quite make it. I gave up and closed my eyes.

Just let go, Nakao. Let go.

Was Naruto still near by? I couldn't tell. Was he okay? Would he survive? I couldn't open my eyes.

"I should probably go now; Keitaro-oniisan will worry," I finally said, getting to my feet with a glance at our stick figures upon the wall.

Sasuke got to his feet too. "You should come back tomorrow. Itachi-oniisan promised he'd show me how to do that shuriken technique!"

I grinned in excitement. "I can't wait!"

I flung my arms around my friend, hugging him tightly. Sasuke squirmed awkwardly, but when I pulled away, he was smiling. His cheeks were tinted pink. I held out my hand and stuck out my thumb and pinkie. "Friends…"

Sasuke smiled, crossing his fingers. "I promise."

Author's Note: I would like to thank all of you who have read, favorited and followed. Thank you so much for your support. I do have a favor to ask of my readers. I wrote Sasuke fics in the heyday, when it was newly released. I just aged myself there. Back then, it was common place to write fics that involved placing an OC within the team, and it was often written in second person. I have not truly read a Sasuke fic in probably near a decade. I don't know what modern fics look like and if this type of fic is still commonly written. That being said, I would love your thoughts on this fic, just to know if its something that's enjoyed or if there is something I should do differently. I want to leave my readers with the best experience and would love to know your opinions. Thank you in advance and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.