Of Everything Before

A/N: This makes absolutely no sense. It struck me as I was chatting in IRC…(odd, ne?) and I just had to get it out.

Sorry.

DISCLAIMER: Naruto belongs to Kishimoto-sensei and I, obviously, have no claim on him or any of the characters.

Of Everything Before

It was a desperate darkness, with the rain pounding down like needles. Sasuke moved quickly, pushing himself to his limit. The horizon was alight with smoke and red. The forest was screaming.

It’s my fault. The thought had crossed his mind several times. I should have known. I should have seen. But he hadn’t. And now he had to suffer the consequences. He thought he heard a scream. Feral and wild. Pained and angered. Because the world was closing in. He felt the end of everything trailing after himself.

Konoha burned. And the rain came down in thick sheets, laying over him like a wool blanket that he could not remove. He shivered, casting a glance at his teammate for their mission, Neji, then focused ahead of them again.

Konoha was burning.

The beacon against the night, screaming for salvation.

!!!!!!!

Here rushed the sound of water. Naruto heard it, but could not find it as he stumbled through the darkness. He burned, his veins burned. His head throbbed. Kyuubi screamed at him again.

Shadows caved in around him, pinning him to nothingness.

Let me go. LET ME GO!

But there was no voice. There was no sound. Only his last sane memories. He clung to images of black eyes, black hair, pale skin. His one memory.

And even that was darkness.

!!!!!!!

There was panic. Survivors rushing into the pained forest. Green dying into red and then into the broken walls of Konoha, Sasuke fled the opposite way of the survivors. Into the one place he could account for all of his moments. Each breath that had held any meaning.

Coming to a stop in the market place was eerie. There was no one there, anymore. Fires raged against the buildings, rampaging through the darkness. He stayed there, frozen, as Neji moved on.

He heard the feral scream again.

And then the shadows moved hard once more, and pushed the flames higher.

!!!!!!!

He was clawing. He was screaming. He was dying. And it was all dead around him. He managed his eyes open, or, at least he presumed he did. He wished he hadn’t. The darkness was a deep color, something his brain struggled for.

Red.

It was warm against his hands and body. Warm, pulsing, getting hotter. Rising. He was burning.

The blood of innocence swirled, rose and consumed him.

Kyuubi snarled, and purred.

!!!!!!!

There was a figure. Breathing heavily, hunched over, at the gates to the Uchiha territory. For a moment, he thought it was Neji. Then he thought…perhaps it was Naruto. But the figure shook, rose, and screamed again.

The beast. The monster. The ghost of everything before.

The figure turned.

Sasuke felt he was looking at the past that never happened.

The figure smiled.

Wild, unbridled, and unseeing. Brilliant eyes. Calculating smile.

And then a sharp breath.

And that was all it took.

And then the rain broke him. And then the rain washed it all away.

!!!!!!!
Thunder snapped loudly through the small bedroom, and a figure shook awake in the small bed. Blue eyes threw themselves open, and a well-built figure sat up suddenly, blonde hair bright against the dark night.

His breath fell heavy, as he shifted, reaching out for the empty space where Sasuke should have been.

Cool air and cold bedsheets.

It’d been weeks. He should have known to stop searching.

Kyuubi shifted, uncomfortable. Something else in him stabbed painfully at his chest.

Loneliness.

He’ll be home soon.

And then, cursing, he threw himself back onto his pillow, tugging his blankets up over his head, and squeezed his eyes closed.

!!!!!!!

Uchiha manor burned.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Told you it made no sense. (Especially now that I go back and read it...made more sense in my head) Sorry. :\

YCNGHA ch. 6 is about half done, for anyone who cares. Hopefully won’t be too much longer. (Yay)