'Til Death Do Us Part

A/N: this is just something i whipped out in like, two hours as an 'I'm sorry' for it taking so long to update my other fics. and cause i felt like it, and cause i'm in a mood. i was thinking of having an alternate ending written for those that don't like death or avoid the fic because of death, but i don't think i could work it.

anyway, please enjoy!

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'Til Death Do Us Part
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Sasuke watched Naruto from behind in amusement, stifling laughter at the way the blonde head bobbed back and forth to the music coming from the computer in front of him. When the song began to wind down and fade away, Sasuke cleared his throat from the dorm doorway, startling the other boy out of his chair.

“Dammit, Sasuke! Don’t scare me like that!”

Sasuke smirked. “You might have heard me had your music not been so loud, dobe.”

“Tch, yeah, whatever. What do you want?” Naruto grinned at him, and Sasuke’s heart began to beat a bit faster, nervous over what he was about to do.

“My boss gave me some free movie tickets for this weekend, and I thought you might like to join me.” Sasuke’s delivery of the offer was a lot cooler and smoother than he thought possible, with his mind trying to run through all the possible answers and coming up with a corresponding facial expression that would hide how scared this actually made him.

“Really? What movie?” Naruto was smiling and moving closer to Sasuke, who took this as a good sign that it was all moving in a favorable direction, so he decided to play with Naruto a bit, since they were both used to that teasing relationship anyway.

“Oh, I can’t remember,” he said in faked confusion, when in fact they were tickets to a movie that had yet to come out and that Naruto was dying to see, or so he yelled in frustration every day the premier got closer.

“Come on, teme, don’t play games with me!” Naruto tossed a nearby pillow at Sasuke’s head that he easily ducked, a smirk gracing his lips yet again.

“Hn. They’re tickets to-”

He was cut off by a loud yell down the hallway, and Sasuke leaned back from Naruto’s door to see what was going on, Naruto’s head following him into the hallway. Kiba was running frantically towards them, a manic grin stretching across his face.

“Naruto!” Kiba nearly slammed into Sasuke before he realized just who was in his way, and he skidded to a stop, his flip-flops slipping slightly on the hardwood floor. “Naruto,” he said excitedly, “I just won tickets to the hottest movie premier of the year on the radio!”

Sasuke hurriedly bit back a whimper as he looked at Naruto to see the shared excitement in ocean blue eyes. Naruto shoved past him and clutched Kiba’s shoulders, his steps bouncy in his eagerness to confirm Kiba’s claim.

“Are you shittin’ me!? Kiba, my god, my love, my everything,” Naruto started, and each word, though not serious, still stabbed Sasuke’s heart with their over-emphasis in the blonde’s loud voice.

They began making plans for the weekend, when the movie would premier, but Naruto suddenly stopped and turned to the raven-haired boy.

“Oh, yeah, Sasuke. What about the movie you got tickets-”

Sasuke cut him off with a forced smiled and a soft shake of his head. “You go with Kiba. They’re just to some foreign film that you’d probably just fall asleep during.”

Naruto laughed brightly. “That’s true. I wish there was another ticket so you could go, Sasuke,” he added, more solemnly.

Before Sasuke could reply, a group of people crowded the end of the hallway, screaming congratulations at Kiba, apparently having been listening to the station that he’d won from. Naruto and Kiba both walked away to join the group, and Sasuke was left alone.

“That’s okay, Naruto,” he murmured softly. “I’m sure I can find something else to do.” He turned to trek to the stairs that would lead him to his floor, crumpling the movie tickets in his pockets as he went.

~*~

Sasuke hadn’t known it, but that had been the beginning of the end of his life. He could honestly pinpoint that as the moment when his world had begun to slow down, turning ever slower until it idled near the brink of oblivion.

He loved Naruto, more than life itself, had since they were young children playing together in the parks near their homes. They’d been together ever since that day Naruto had dropped a bucket of sand on his head, and though they’d often gotten into fights, those had been mere tuffs and signs of affection than anything.

And up until their third year in high school, they’d been nigh inseparable. And even though that year of awkward outings and strained silences had marked a growing distance between them, it had been the event in their second year of college, dubbed ‘The Moment’ by Sasuke, that had fractured his fragile heart.

He’d been told once, when he was a child, by someone that was only a shadow in his memories that his heart was like glass, fragile and closely guarded, and the reason Sasuke didn’t offer it freely to anyone was because the fear of it breaking.

He’d often thought that assessment wrong over the years, finding it nothing but pretty words when he was old enough to understand and accept them, but when he’d tried to give his heart to his lively blonde, Naruto had unknowingly cracked it, making Sasuke realize that maybe the shadow person had been right.

But he’d had hope that his glass heart was the thick kind of glass that, even when cracked and fractured, was still whole and beautiful. So even when ‘The Moment’ had done his heart damage, when ‘It’ had begun his slow descent into oblivion, he’d tried again and again to win Naruto’s heart, only to be sidetracked, thwarted, interrupted, and scared off, each failure etching a new fissure in his heart. All the while, those cracks growing of their own accord the further he and Naruto drifted apart.

Until some years later, when Naruto finally shattered his heart into millions of irreparable and irreplaceable pieces.

“Sasuke,” he heard the cheery voice in his mind, “I’m getting married!”

Tinkle, tinkle – the sound of the pieces dropping into the dark abyss of his soul, slowly falling from the whole as the cracks finally breeched the inner wall of glass.

“I want you to be my best man!”

Crash – the sound of his whole heart shattering at the bottom of the abyss, never to return from limbo.

~*~

Sasuke straightened his tie, eyeing his tuxedo in the mirror, trying to spot anything out of place. It was almost Victorian in style, Sasuke thought, with the slate jacket and navy blue lapel, slate and blue striped vest underneath, and the black shirt underneath that. The pants matched the jacket in slate, and Sasuke smoothed his hands down his front to push out any stray wrinkles.

The door leading to the adjoining room opened, and Sasuke looked past his shoulder in the mirror to see Naruto enter, looking more elegant than the raven had ever seen in his white tuxedo. Trust Naruto to stand out at his own wedding, but at least it wasn’t orange, which had only been prevented under the watchful eye of both him and Neji, since he was the best man and Neji was the over-protective cousin of the bride.

“It’s time, everyone!” Naruto called excitedly. Sasuke let out a weary sigh, a sad smile on his face. Naruto was the only one he knew that wouldn’t be so much as nervous on his own wedding day. He was so eager, so ready to marry, and as much as it made Sasuke happy, to see his friend so much in love and so happy, it saddened him even more. Because that happiness, that love wasn’t caused by him.

“Uchiha, do you have the ring?” Neji asked him, intent on making this day perfect for his favorite cousin.

Sasuke patted his right breast pocket, feeling the small bulge of the ring and nodded. Neji nodded in return and turned to exit the dressing room. When he was alone, Sasuke quickly touch the pocket again, feeling the ring and the other object beside it. He frowned to himself, and then proceeded to the chapel.

He began his walk down the aisle to join the other groomsmen. Naruto spotted him and playfully nagged him for being so slow, and Sasuke played along, slowing his pace even more and smirking in the blonde’s direction. They all laughed, and Sasuke quickened his pace to Naruto’s side.

The guests were starting to pile in, and as they did, Sasuke pulled Naruto into a tight hug.

“Today’s the day, Naruto. Your freedom is officially gone.”

He felt Naruto chuckle before the blonde squeezed him. “I’ll be sure to return the taunt when it’s your turn up here.”

Sasuke’s retort lodged in his throat. Instead, he squeezed Naruto tightly and patted his back a couple times before pulling away. They got in their positions, and Naruto turned to talk to the priest. Sasuke looked around the chapel to avoid staring at the back of Naruto’s head.

It was candlelit, the flames fluttering in the breeze of passersby. The stained glass was too dark to allow the rays of the sun to pass through, and it all came together for a very intimate feeling, something that Sasuke was feeling more and more detached from as each minute passed.

Each time his gaze passed over the smiling and cheerful form of Naruto, his mind provided him with images of the syringe he had next to the ring in his breast pocket. He had this all planned out, and he hoped the timing was right.

When the priest asked for the rings, Sasuke would reach his left hand in his pocket and pull out both ring and syringe, carefully transferring the needle to his right hand, secretly, and then hand the ring to Naruto. Near the end of the ceremony, Sasuke would inject the poison into his bloodstream, and some ten or fifteen minutes later, he would be at peace. Forever.

Sasuke heard the sound of the organ and the people standing, snapping him out of his thoughts. The bridesmaids started down the aisle, and Sasuke’s pulse started racing. Behind them, he could see Hinata in her white dress, blushing madly and staring shyly at the ground. Her father was smiling, patting her hand and whispering something in her ear.

Sasuke watched in something akin to dread as she made her way down the aisle, the women in the pews already dabbing at their eyes. When they reached the altar, Hinata finally looked Naruto in the eyes, her smile the brightest and happiest Sasuke’d ever seen it. Her father said something to Naruto before handing his daughter over and sitting down next to his wife. Sasuke’s chest constricted painfully.

He listened to the service with half an ear, just waiting for his cue. Naruto and Hinata had forgone their own vows, because Naruto was hopeless when it came to things like that, even more so than Sasuke, because while Sasuke couldn’t do it from sheer loathing of expressing his feelings in front of others, Naruto couldn’t do it because he was a dobe.

Sasuke smirked softly at the thought.

“The rings, please.”

Sasuke’s hand shot quickly but calmly to his jacket pocket, reaching inside to get the items while Naruto was still in the process of turning around. He secured them and brought his hand out, quickly grabbing the syringe with his right hand and moving the ring towards Naruto.

The blonde’s hands were shaking slightly as he opened his palm, and Sasuke smiled softly to him, leaning in to whisper in his ear, “You can do it, dobe.”

Something flashed in bright blue eyes, and Naruto returned his soft smile before turning back to his bride. He took her hand as the priest began speaking.

“Naruto, do you take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

“I do.” The scattered pieces of Sasuke’s heart at the bottom of his soul shifted painfully, still able to feel emotions and words like physical blows even when they should forever remain lifeless.

He slipped the ring on her finger. Sasuke rubbed the syringe in his hand, using his thumb and index to pop the cap off the needle, heedless of where it fell.

“Hinata, do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, as long as you both shall live?”

With Hinata, Sasuke mouthed, “I do.” She slipped the ring on his finger, and Sasuke jammed the needle into his leg, the only sign of his discomfort the thinning of his lips into a grim line, for just a second.

Sasuke didn’t hear the priest finish, didn’t feel himself move to take Sakura’s arm as they followed the couple down the aisle, didn’t register the flurry of activity as people left the church to see the couple to the limo waiting to take them to the reception hall.

He hadn’t kept track of how long ago he’d administered the poison, but he was still standing, so he figured he had a few minutes to find a quiet place to die. He looked around him, seeing people still milling about, yet to head to the hall.

No one was paying attention to him, so he wandered back up the steps of the church, back into the candlelit chapel, and he sat down in an abandoned pew about midway down the aisle.

His eyes looked about disinterestedly, glancing over the flower arrangements, the stained glass, the altar, taking it all in but not really seeing it.

Sasuke’s hand wandered to his pocket where his note was. He began to debate the wisdom of leaving it, and he leaned his head back and thought about what it said, the words rolling through his mind like thunder.

‘Naruto, I have loved you far longer than you will ever know. Each time I tried to tell you, each time I tried to get closer, only ended with an ache more hurtful than any physical pain. But you are my everything, Naruto, even as you slipped further from my grasp. And now that you belong to someone else, I feel it’s time to end my suffering. But know that I wish you all the happiness an unrequited love will allow.

‘I will always love you, Naruto, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and health, ‘til death do us part. And ever after.

‘All my love, Sasuke.’

His hand brought the note from his pocket, and Sasuke brought it to his reclined head and placed a kiss upon the folded paper. As he lowered it, a tear slipped from one of his closed eyes, and then Sasuke ceased to hurt.

~*~

Sakura cursed as she entered the chapel, wondering why her mother was so scatterbrained as to leave her purse behind. But she’d seen Sasuke’s car in the parking lot and thought she could get a ride from him, so she’d sent her parents on their way.

They’d sat near the back on the bride’s side, so she checked the last few pews to the left and located the purse, which had fallen to the floor and pushed beneath the bench. As she straightened and turned, her eyes caught sight of someone sitting in a pew further up, and she was surprised to find that it was Sasuke.

“Sasuke,” she called as she walked up the aisle. “Why are you still here? The reception is starting. Come on.” As she got closer, she thought his head was at quite an uncomfortable angle, and she reached out to touch his shoulder, wondering if he had fallen asleep.

When she shook him, his body lurched to the side and fell across the pew, twisted at an odd angle. A cold fear came over Sakura’s body as she stood there, looking at Sasuke’s unmoving body and, upon closer inspection, slightly too pale face.

“Sasuke,” she hesitantly called again. “Sasuke,” again, the sound catching in her throat. She reached her hand out shakily to place her fingers at his throat, searching for a pulse, already knowing it wasn’t there.

Her hand fell away, a sob escaping past her throat, but she didn’t move, didn’t do anything for a moment. Then she softly called for the father. Again, a little louder. A few more times until she was screaming incoherently. Someone was running towards her, felt them behind her, heard them gasp when they saw what she was screaming about, and then strong arms wrapped around her, turning her from Sasuke’s body, holding her tight.

She felt something hard biting into her cheek, and she realized it was a cross, and she clung to the father, crying her eyes out, her body shaking uncontrollably. She felt him move, an arm moving from her back, and he paused, and then, after a few moments, it came back to her, holding her even more tightly.

Sakura didn’t know how long she stood there crying, but her tears finally stopped, herself too exhausted to continue them. The father pushed her back gently, and kissed her brow.

“I am so very sorry, my child. I will call the police and deal with them. Please get yourself home and rest.”

Sakura couldn’t do anything but nod. She was numb. As she turned to leave, the father stopped her with a soft word.

“Take this. I do not think the police will need it, yet.” He handed her a slip of paper, folded in half, and she continued out of the church into the suddenly too bright sun.

She couldn’t go home, she thought sadly. She had to show up at the reception as Hinata’s Maid of Honor. She knew she could do it; she was strong. And she didn’t want to ruin Hinata and Naruto’s day, so she wouldn’t tell them yet. Let them enjoy their honeymoon.

Sakura opened her mother’s purse to fetch her compact mirror to see what damage she’d done crying. Nothing that couldn’t be fixed during the cab ride to the hall. Then she remembered the piece of paper in her hand and looked at it questioningly. The father had said the police wouldn’t need it yet. Sakura’s eyes widened. Was this Sasuke’s suicide note?

Her hands shook as she opened it, and she cried out in pain at what it said. God, why did it have to turn out like this? She couldn’t tell Naruto that Sasuke had killed himself, couldn’t show him this note.

No, she’d wait until they were on the plane to tell everyone else, and then they could help her come up with a lie to tell Naruto. They’d say he was in a car accident or something. They’d bury him before Naruto returned. She knew it was a cruel thing to do, but less cruel than telling Naruto the truth.

She hailed a cab, and began to fix her makeup. As she walked up the steps of the hall, she could hear laughter and soft music coming from the grand ballroom, and her steps faltered a moment before she stood in the doorway.

She took in the smiling faces of her friends and family, the palpable happiness of the newlyweds, and she knew she couldn’t do this. She couldn’t get through this without going crazy.

Sakura made to turn around and leave, but Naruto had apparently seen her.

“Sakura!” Naruto called over the din. She looked over, and he was waving madly at her, and most of the eyes in the room were trained on her. “Where’s Sasuke?” Naruto asked cheerily.

Sakura broke. She began to cry, bringing her arms up to hug her body, trying not to fall apart with the violent shaking her sobs caused. She heard chairs scraping as they backed away from tables and feet rushing over to her. A hand landed on her back, and she cried harder, knowing it was Naruto’s.

“Sakura, what’s wrong?” Naruto’s voice was full of concern, and a trace of fear. “What’s that in your hand?”

Sakura was too distraught to keep him from taking the note, but she knew the second he comprehended what had happened, because she could hear the shattering of his heart.


~owari~


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first off, big thank you and hug to hanyou_elf, who read over this and made sure it was okay to post. love ya, babe.

i apologize to any that have shed tears, but i admit, that's exactly what i was going for. i cried a bit too, thinking about how i wanted this to play out. i understand.

for those that didn't cry... wasn't it pretty how much he hurt? *is in a dark and scary mood*

thank you for reading! feel free to review ^.~