Forever

WARNINGS!!!!!!!
This fic is very graphic in nature. I'm working on my descriptive quality in the beginning and I feel it needs to be said that the blood and gore is described in detail. There isn't anything beyond the first chapter that is anything like this, I just felt it was necessary to give Naruto's state of mind the depth it deserves.

I have been working on this one for quite a while and I'm not quite sure it's what I want it to be, but I don't have a beta (still looking though) so if anything doesn't make sense or seems a little raw let me know.

This is for the most part AR. There are many original characters, but they are molded after the characters in Naruto that they are kin to. There will also be a lot of characters that are 'out of character'. Some of these cases are because they grew up in a different time than Naruto and some of them are because I just can't see these kids growing up and acting like they did when they were fifteen (I certainly don't). Naruto as a man in my mind isn't a bratty teen, but a well trained shinobi that deserves the respect he gets. He wont be the screaming, foolish boy in my fics, but more of a man with a good sense of humor, dry wit and a little scarcasm. I think Naruto is intelligent as well as powerful, but covers it when he's young in order to make those around him more comfortable, and I attribute a lot of his clumsiness and rash behavior to youth. So, even though it may seem out of character to some, this is exactly how I see him with a few years under his belt.

I have spent a LOT of time on this fic so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It will be very, very long, and I won't be updating as quickly as I usually do, but I can promise that it will be updated regularly (probably weekly).


Forever

Epilogue

Shino was dying. Of that Naruto was sure. It happened to be the only thing he was sure of in the world at that moment, and he dreaded it more than any other tragedy that could befall him. No one had been able to do anything about the shock to his chakra lines and the flow had been irreversibly damaged. He was slowly slipping away as he lay in the Hokage’s bed, and Naruto held his lover close to him as he tried to think of ways to die with him. Shino whispered a great deal of nonsense in his reduced state, but when he told Naruto he loved him Naruto knew it as the truth. To him it was the only truth any more, and with Shino’s last breath Naruto felt his last shred of sanity slip away. He staggered out the door of their bedroom and into the next room. His friends and loved ones were gathered there outside the door, but Naruto had eyes for only one.

“Sasuke!” Naruto screamed in a maniacal voice that held nothing of the man they knew before them.

Sasuke slowly made his way forward from the window on the far side of the room, but Naruto held his hand up before he could get to close.

“Kill me.” It came out in an animalistic tone that sent fear and grief through those in the room. Shino was dead. They’d known it was coming, but the hard reality of the truth was worse than any of them could have imagined. Naruto was mad.

“I can’t Hokage Sama. I won’t.”

A deafening roar filled the room as Naruto fell to his knees. “I am not Hokage anymore.” His fangs had elongated and his speech was slurred by their interference. He crawled across the floor to kneel before Sasuke and as he tore his robes off, the claws that had formed on his hands ripped at the flesh of his own chest and arms. He slashed at his throat and belly. Those who loved him watched in horror as he sliced his own body to ribbons. There was little blood though. The wounds healed themselves nearly as fast as they were made.

The small amount of blood that there was streaked his pale face, and the tears that streamed down his cheeks seemed a strange and disturbing contrast to the blank look in his eyes. They were vacant, and Sasuke could take no more. He turned away, but Naruto wouldn’t be refused. “Find a way Sasuke. Kill me or I will be forced to live alone forever. Do it for me. If you truly love me you will do it.”

“DON’T!” Sasuke screamed his own grief tearing though him at the sight at his knees. “Don’t you dare use that against me. You aren’t being fair. Would you condemn me to this knowing I would suffer as you are now? Do you care for me so little that you would destroy me to end your own suffering?”

Naruto was lost though. For years he’d known it would happen, but to end up alone so soon. He’d never imagined that Hell would begin this day. He crawled on his hands and knees to rest his head against Sasuke’s thigh. “Please, Sasuke… I’ll do anything. You can have the night. I’ll give you what you’ve always wanted… please.”

Sasuke’s eyes went wide, and he tried to step away, but Naruto was holding him close. He could feel every eye in the room boring through him. Most hadn’t known how he felt, and if they had they had assumed he’d gotten over it decades ago. Only Naruto had known that his affection had remained as it always had.

“Out! All of you.” No one argued with him. None of them wanted to witness what Sasuke might do if they stayed. When the room was finally silent there were only three of them left in the room. “Leave Sakura. You don’t want to see this.” Sasuke said in his most authoritative voice. He didn’t want to hurt her any more than he already had by not denying Naruto’s claim.

“Are you still in love with him?” Sakura asked, her voice low and calm. Sometimes she was too reasonable. “Yes.” Sasuke refused to look at her then.

“So… our marriage has been a joke this whole time. Have you been coming here every day to laugh at me, at how stupid I am for being a faithful wife?” Her voice started to crack as she spoke, and Sasuke didn’t have to look at her to know she was crying. He’d lived with her so long; he didn’t have to look at her at all to know everything that she was feeling.

“This isn’t about you Sakura, and I think that for once in your life you should do what Naruto needs instead of interfering. We can discuss your insecurities and petty jealousy as soon as I’ve finished murdering the most important person in my life.” Sasuke spoke in a toneless voice that gave away his state of mind. Sakura saw it and heard it, but right then her life was falling apart, and she just couldn’t walk away.

“But you’re the most important person in my life. If you do this the elders will have you executed. How can you do that to me, to our children?”

Why did she always have to be so self centered. Sasuke turned sharingan eyes on her, and held her trapped in his gaze. “If you don’t leave I’ll make you watch. If that’s what you want then by all means stay, but if I sense that you are enjoying this at all then I will cut your heart out.”

The words penetrated Naruto’s haze, and he reached up to his bare chest, sunk his razor sharp claws in, and tore it open slowly. His ribs cracked apart making a sick sucking sound as they came away from his chest, and then his heart was exposed. Sakura screamed, but no one came back in. Naruto grabbed his own heart and yanked it from his chest. It still beat strong within his hand and blood poured over his hand and down his arm to pool on the floor at his knees. Then green nature energy started to pull it back into place and knit up the wound. Naruto started to sob.

Sasuke was staring down at Naruto in horror and found that his control was slipping. He gagged and had to look away to keep from vomiting. He was finally able to focus on the gruesome scene before him and he could feel his heart rate rise. Naruto truly wanted to die, and he couldn’t. They’d known for some time that he wasn’t aging. That his mastery of nature energy had made him invincible, but Sasuke had never truly believed until this moment that Naruto couldn’t die. He still looked the same as he had when Sasuke had first come back. That had been over twenty years ago. It had taken years for any of them to realize that Naruto wasn’t aging and many more years to find out why. Sasuke had seen it as a gift that the man he loved, but could never have would always stay the same, but he could see now that it truly was a curse.

Naruto had a life of emptiness before him. Sasuke imagined for a moment what eternity would feel like without Naruto, and he could only imagine his own madness. Sasuke would do anything he could to help Naruto. It would be his way of showing how much he loved him, and hopefully, if he was able to kill him, he would be executed shortly after.

He knelt down in front of Naruto. “I’ll do anything you want me to do. Just tell me what you need.”

Naruto seemed a bit more lucid now, and there was the clarity in his eyes that Sasuke had always loved. Naruto’s hand reached up and brushed tears off his face that he’d not known were falling. His voice was broken, but it was still the voice of an angel to Sasuke. “I always loved you Sasuke. Always.” He leaned forward and brushed his lips over Sasuke’s. Sasuke’s eyes fell shut and for a small moment he could imagine that this was his life. A life filled with gentle kisses from his chosen lover. He pulled away then when it got to be too much. His eyes were open again and Naruto was still brushing calloused fingers across his face, but it felt different now. He’d never have what he wanted and he realized that he didn’t need it. Loving Naruto was enough.

“You might have loved me, but you always loved him more.”

Naruto’s face fell then. He didn’t want to think about Shino just then.

“He’s not here now. It’s just you now. I’m yours.”

Sasuke pulled Naruto’s hands from his face and stood up in front of him. Sakura was still in the room, but she stayed quiet accept for the occasional hitching of her breath. Sasuke paid her no mind as he pulled Kusanagi from its sheath and stepped back far enough to swing hard. “I’ve loved you my whole life. I would do anything for you. If dying is your wish I will do my best to grant it.”

Naruto’s eyes slid closed, and a small smile lifted one corner of his mouth, otherwise his face was serene. A single hot tear slide from his eye, down his stained cheek as Sasuke swung Kusanagi hard. Naruto’s head left his body, spraying blood all over Sasuke, but before it could even hit the floor the green chakra pulled it back and it was secured where it belonged once again. Sasuke screamed out his horror, but he continued to swing. Over and over pieces of Naruto fell only to find their way back again. It wasn’t working. Sasuke was loosing what was left of his own sanity with each slice. Naruto shouldn’t even have any blood left as he looked around the room. Sakura’s eyes were wide and her face was stone. She was covered head to toe with Naruto’s blood just like everything else in the room but still he knelt on the floor. His eyes were closed but the hint of a smile was gone.

Sasuke’s voice was nearly gone from screaming. He’d done all that he could think of, he’d even used the mangekyo sharingan to try and destroy Naruto from the inside but it hadn’t worked. “I’m so sorry.” Sasuke said with what little was left of his voice. “I can’t do it any more. You won’t die and I just can’t…”

Naruto nodded and stood up. What was left of his cloths slid like bloody ribbons to the floor. Sasuke staggered to the door. He sheathed his katana blood and all, and nearly ripped the door off its hinges before running as fast as he could from the room. Sakura just watched Naruto as he inspected the gore with a passive calm that was disturbing. She stayed just long enough to watch him disappear back into the bedroom that held the body of his dead lover before following her husband. She knew Sasuke well, and understood that if she didn’t find him soon, he’d not survive the night.

Quiet seemed to creep out of the shadows to overtake Konoha. Not even the insects and amphibians made any sound that night. It was as if they all knew that nothing would ever be the same again.

And the world grieved.

ooOOoo

It rained the day of the funeral. Nearly the entire village turned out, all in black. Naruto wore Shino’s shades and spoke to no one. He stood at the front as many friends and family spoke of their love for a man taken too young. As the light began to dim and the rain clouds passed Naruto and Sasuke were the only ones left standing where Shino’s body was buried. They spoke quietly, and anyone that might have taken the time to watch would have seen Naruto pass several scrolls with his instructions for the village on them.

That was the last time anyone saw Naruto again.

ooOOoo

TBC

If you enjoyed this please review. I really do love knowing that someone is enjoying my writing. Thanks for reading:)