Ages:
Itachi = late 20s
Sasuke = early to mid 20s
Sakura = early to mid 20s
Naruto = early teens

AN: This is a story written during a GWNI with uchiha.s, way back in March 2016. I edited it in order to share it here. One thing to note: this is based roughly in "The Crow" (by James O'Barr) setting / universe, but I have merged elements of the "Naruto"-verse into it. For example, Naruto's family aren't Kushina & Minato in this. His family is more in line with Sarah's in "The Crow"'s 'verse. FYI, in case it doesn't come across as clearly as I tried to make it.

Sasuke heard the shots fired a split-second after the window pane shattered, crashing to the ground. Across from him he saw his brother rising to his feet and trying to cover him with his body, but Sasuke could already feel the warm wetness seeping down his back and after a hiccup-cough out of his mouth. Itachi covered him as he fell forward and tumbled to the floor of their apartment, the life in his terrified eyes fading.

"S's'ke," Itachi murmured.

He slumped overtop of Sasuke and knocking what was left of the air from his lungs.

Sasuke pushed at the ground only to feel more wetness spreading around him. His lungs. His lungs were so full.

"'Tachi," he gurgled. He couldn't take a breath.

Around them more glass shattered before their door crashed open with a cracking groan and a bang.

The room filled with the noise of street gangs hooting, hollering and looting, and then a gun was pointed in Sasuke's face, the hammer clicked back—

Then darkness.

"Hey, what's for supper? Is it ramen?" Asked Naruto with bright eyes as he slid into the kitchen in his sock feet.

Her hair limp and loose from its French twist, Sakura's lowered shoulders perked up as she turned to look at Naruto. Her pink brow raised over tired eyes.

"Aren't you supposed to be at your mom's tonight?"

"Nah, she has another 'boyfriend' over," said Naruto, rolling his eyes. "So what're we having?"

With a small sigh, Sakura turned back to her groceries. If she stretched it with extra rice, she could make enough… but he needed vegetables, he was a growing boy...

"Hamburgers with stir-fry and rice," she said, looking over her shoulder at him with a smile.

"Aw! Not ramen?"

"Ramen's for Fridays," said Sakura, patting away his hand when he reached for the cabinet where he knew she kept her stock (for him). "Do you have any homework from school?"

"Nope."

She narrowed her eyes at him and he laughed nervously.

"But let me go check again…"

"Good idea," she growled.

"Could we play video games after supper?" He called from the front hall where he'd dropped his backpack.

"If your homework's done!" Sakura replied, emptying her groceries into the fridge.

"Aw, come on! Even Sasuke let me play for a—"

A dish slipped from Sakura's hand, tumbling with an awkward wobble onto the counter. She pressed her lips together and grabbed at it to prevent it smashing to the floor.

Slinking back into the kitchen doorway, Naruto rubbed at his arm.

"Never mind," he apologized quietly. "I'll go work on my math," he said, and went to kneel on the floor in front of Sakura's coffee table.

Swallowing over the lump in her throat, Sakura looked up at the photograph on the window ledge. In it her hands formed a heart, one that no other member of her former little family would deign to join her in forming. They had laughed about it at the time.

Clearing her throat she turned back to her meal prep, measuring and rinsing the rice on auto-pilot.

They would pay.

The shots rang out through the darkened warehouse and Sasuke ignored them as they pierced through him. The soft leather trench coat, usurped from the last thug who'd tried to shoot him/ flowed around him like ink as he blended into the shadows.

The idiots were shooting each other at this point in their blind terror. His work was being done for him.

When the last man fell, Sasuke reached into the pocket of the one who'd been their leader. He drew out the man's phone, inputting the password he memorized from observing him earlier. In the contacts he found the listing for all the middle-ranked bosses in the city, names, addresses, businesses… and their vigilante teams.

A smirk twisted his dark lips.

As he walked away, he tossed a lit match onto the crow-shaped emblem outlined on the kerosene-soaked floorboards, ignoring the inferno that blazed in his wake.

They would all pay.

Sakura dragged Naruto away from the windows before pulling the curtains shut tight, blocking any light from escaping.

"Get away from there," she said, hauling him to the couch. She refused to look over her shoulder at the horrific level of gunfire pelting one of the nearby warehouses.

"Something big is going down," said Naruto, excited. He grabbed his skateboard and ran for the door.

"Don't you dare go out that door!"

"Come on, you're curious, too!"

"I swear to God, Naruto, if you go out that door I will be very upset!"

Sakura was shaking and pale as she shouted, voice tight and high.

Naruto's cheery blue eyes faded as he slowed.

"I'll be careful," he insisted, half-heartedly.

"Get your arse over to that table and do your homework!" Sakura snapped.

Naruto was about to retort when he caught sight of a shadow against the curtains. His eyes went wide and Sakura whirled around with a gasp only for the shadow to disappear.

"What was that?" Asked Sakura in a tiny voice.

Naruto swallowed and shook his head.

"A crow, maybe?"

They were quiet as Sakura continued staring at the window. She'd seen that shape. She would never forget that shape.

"Impossible," she murmured, shaking her head.

The next morning, Naruto peered up from the cracked, garbage-strewn sidewalk into the branches of the lonely tree left in his neighbourhood. Most of the branches were missing, and from among them he spied a pair of dark, beady eyes following him.

"Huh?"

He stopped just beneath the branch, nose wrinkled. He adjusted the worn backpack slung over his shoulder before giving a small wave to the bird.

"See you later, Mr Crow. Take care, there are some bad cats in this neighbourhood," he said with half a smile.

As he continued on his way to school, he whistled a little tune.

The crow cocked its head as it listened.

Not too far away, Sasuke stood looking out over the city from the smashed remnants of the opera house's attic storeroom. The song filtered through to him from the crow, and he let a soft smile curl his lips as Naruto whistled the song that Sasuke had written for Sakura for their anniversary.

In the dusty storeroom, Sasuke allowed himself to hum a handful of notes, too.

Hurrying home that night with her groceries—and a few extra items to give to Naruto again, since that useless mother of his never seemed to pay any attention to her neglected son, like decent-fitting sneakers and a proper jacket—Sakura paused as she heard a crow cawing above her.

Naruto's words floated back to her in a moment. Another crow?

She hadn't heard any birds in their neighbourhood in several years. Yet that afternoon Naruto had mentioned one 'watching over him' as he walked to school that very morning.

Chiding herself, she kept walking. It was a strange coincidence, nothing more. The fact Itachi and Sasuke's band had custom-carved crows into their guitars meant nothing.

She shook her head. Don't start thinking nonsense. She swallowed and continued on, head down as she pressed on down the sidewalk. Just one more block and she would be home safe.

She heard the footsteps behind her and cursed in her head. She hated working 'routine' shifts at the hospital exactly because of this. Any kind of 'routine' was immediately sniffed out by the hoodlums and rats that lived in the nearby alleyways and, in some circumstances, piled into apartments. Anyone caught in the double-edged sword of a schedule, especially a young, single woman, became prey.

The noises became ruder, the stalkers bolder.

I will not be prey, she told herself for the millionth time. I will not be prey.

But the snickers and catcalls got louder, closer, and she hurried a bit faster.

When Sasuke had been alive, they had rarely worried about such threats. Sasuke had always been quick to deal with them and Sakura herself could hold her own. Fighting back to back had a number of advantages.

But Sasuke was no longer there to accompany her to and from work.

What made it worse was that Devil's Night was fast approaching, drawing out every piece of scum that dwelled within Konoha's slums, even pulling in some from outside who wanted more than the usual 'mischief'. There were just too many for her to fight off on her own, sometimes. At least with Naruto getting taller, his presence sometimes warded off the pettier criminals.

Naruto wasn't with her tonight.

A scrape of a boot against the filthy pavement signalled the others to advance and close in on Sakura. She gripped her groceries tighter, preparing to sprint.

I will not be prey.

Above her she heard the caw of the crow one last time before it took flight.

I will never wear pumps to work again, Sakura decided as her lungs burned and she raced around a corner, nearing her apartment building.

The thunder of footsteps behind her was closing in, and she knew she had to make a decision very soon about whether to ditch her groceries and make a final sprint for safety—but she and Naruto needed to eat!—or whether to haul up and face her pursuers head on. She chanced a glance over her shoulder and shuddered, pouring on speed and ignoring the blisters on her aching feet. Nope! They're not even trying to pick me up anymore, they've gone straight to pissed off.

She ran beneath a street lamp, its dull, flickering glow sputtering as she flew by, before it went out behind her with a fizzle.

As did the next one.

One after another, until the lights ahead of Sakura fizzled out, too, leaving her and the street in total darkness.

In the distance she heard sirens, but they brought no comfort. Sirens were constant during the lead-up to Devils' Night.

Choking on the humid, industrially polluted air, Sakura slowed and began looking for a hiding spot. Behind her the thugs slowed, too, taunting her. The storm clouds that had been building all day, that the city had prayed would help stave off the worse of the arson from Devils' Night, rumbled around her.

"Here, pinky pinky pinky," called one thug. The others laughed.

Gritting her teeth, Sakura ran down an alley. There had to be somewhere to hide, or perhaps she could get the jump on them and take several of them out of commission by surprising them. Or she could lose them! That was it, she could lose them by doubling back…

Hope turned to a vague sort of betrayal as Sakura realized the chain link fence at the end of the alley had just cut her off from any form of imagined safety. Still, she ran towards it and kicked off her shoes, tossing her bag over the fence and grabbing hold of the rusty wire mesh.

I will not be prey! She thought furiously, heaving herself up. I will not be prey!

She was nearly to the top when she felt the oily hand grab her thigh and yank her down from the fence.

—he obviously hadn't been expecting Sakura to come down at him swinging and screaming bloody murder.

To Sakura's initial relief, she managed to take out at least four of the trouble makers who'd been stalking her; however there was little she could do when seven more poured around the corner to take over from their 'friends'.

She grabbed for her purse to try and get the mace Sasuke had given her ages ago—she had no idea if it still worked, but she was desperate—but it was yanked out of her hands and spun across the broken asphalt of the alleyway. A pair of hands grabbed her arms while another seized her throat and cut off her airway; adding insult to injury, two more grabbed her legs and dragged her down to the ground even as she struggled and bit at them.

She felt the punch across her cheek and mouth before she saw the meaty fist coming, and stars erupted in her vision. Dizzy and disoriented, she fought to regain control of her limbs, but everything spun.

She heard another, heavy, set of footfalls land nearby, and for the first time felt wetness at the corner of her eyes.

"Help. Me," she gasped in a last-ditch effort.

Huffing, grunting, slobbering sounds rose together in concert above her. Panic and shame distracted her and she struggled to calm her breathing and focus.

Not like this, not like this, not like this, she mentally begged.

Then she felt the grip around her throat slacken and a body drop on top of her, then was still. Sakura's head banged and rebounded against the pavement from the weight of the man across her, and her head swam. Around her she recognized the sounds of more fighting.

One after another, the thugs' hold on her was torn away.

When it was down to only two pairs of hands, she had collected herself enough to rip her arm free and elbow one of them in the nose, breaking it and sending him flying backwards. The last man, the one with the oily grip still on her thigh, she kneed where it would hurt most.

Panting, she pushed herself onto her side. Her knees shook as she wobbled to her feet. Gripping hold of the chain link fence, she looked around.

The thugs were laid out on the ground, unconscious or dead all around her.

And the man with the heavy boots she'd heard before was a darker shadow against the night, blocking her escape route back to the main road.

She swallowed and watched him.

There was something familiar about his presence, though. About his stance, his body language. Something in her cried out in recognition, and she felt hot tears prick and sting her eyes, not in fear, but in longing. Her heart squeezed in her chest. It couldn't be.

Meanwhile, her dark avenger hadn't said a word.

"Are you here with them?" She asked, taking a ready stance.

He shook his dark head. Her breath caught in her throat. She'd seen him make that move a hundred, a thousand times before. Her gasp became a sob.

Above them the rumbling clouds began sprinkling. The rain created a strange tinkling music on the rusted drainpipes and empty tins and broken bottles in the alleyway.

"Who are you?"

He did not reply.

Keeping her eyes on his general direction, Sakura reached for her scattered belongings, filling her purse and doing her best to make use of the torn grocery and shopping bags she'd been carrying.

The rainfall soon came down harder, and Sakura turned away from him to focus on her things. She moved quickly between each of the unmoving bodies around her and looked up to thank her saviour when she realized he had disappeared.

At the front of the alleyway leading back to the street, a crow cawed at her once and flew off.

In his frustrated desperation that night, Sasuke scavenged in the orchestra pits before retreating back to his perch in the attic with his precious find.

The Peavey guitar was out of tune and retained none of its proclaimed lyricism. Yet when he played the tune he'd heard Naruto whistling he felt connected again. He had no idea how he had come back; or who may have charmed the gods to make it possible.

But he knew why.

Tomorrow he would face down the rest of the toxic vermin underworld that rotted out Konoha's underbelly, including that long-haired freak, Orochimaru.

No one messes with what is mine, thought Sasuke.

Naruto was waiting for Sakura when she arrived home battered and with her jacket dirty and torn, legs and face bruised. His bright blue eyes shot wide as he leapt over the couch to help her in, grabbing the groceries from her and wrapping a lean, young arm around her. Sakura winced as he squeezed too tight, and he immediately loosened his grip.

"Do you need to go to the hospital?" He asked, frantic.

"No," sighed Sakura. "But I could use a cup of tea."

"You need to see a doctor. I think your face is… broken," he said apologetically.

He reached out to touch it and Sakura caught his hand and arched a brow. Then winced again.

Naruto half-supported her to the couch and went to the kitchen to replenish the kettle before setting it on the stove.

"What happened?" He asked, peeking around the corner.

"Help me put the groceries away?" Sakura sighed, pointing to the bags with a limp hand.

Quick as a wink and far more carefully than she would have given him credit for, Naruto had put everything away and had a steaming cup of tea in front of her.

"What are these?" He asked, lifting up the last items.

Sakura's face fell. The new coat she'd gotten him had a huge tear in it and the sneakers were scuffed and muddy.

"Nothing," she muttered. "Just…put them by the garbage."

His blue eyes lowered with understanding. The corners of his mouth turning down, Naruto got up carefully so as not to jostle Sakura and dumped the clothes by the garbage can.

"So, how many were there?" He asked, voice serious for once.

"Not enough," said Sakura with a forced smile.

Naruto gave her an odd look.

"I'm okay," she assured him. "Did you do your homework?"

"Uh…" He looked around and nudged the game controller back under the coffee table. "Mostly. I need some help with chemistry."

Sakura nodded, exhausted but determined.

"Bring it out, let's take a look."

They spent the next hour looking over Naruto's notes and assignments, then Sakura reviewed his other homework and helped him correct it before they stuffed everything back into his bag. She noticed another weak seam in the cheap bag and bit the inside of her cheek. It was a childish bag he'd outgrown years ago; but it was the only one he owned.

"Naruto," she said softly as he struggled not to split the loose seam.

"Yeah?" he grunted, pulling his books out and trying to rearrange them again.

"Tomorrow, when you come by… bring your things," said Sakura.

"What do you mean, my things?" his brow crumpled as he heard a tell-tale tearing sound.

"I mean all your things. The spare room's… I'll clear out the spare room," said Sakura. "We'll move the extra futon in there for you."

Naruto's head shot up, eyes wide.

"But that's… all Sasuke's guitars, the ones that survived the fire…"

She shook her head.

"I was thinking of hanging them on the wall. Or… I know he was teaching you… if you wanted one of your own…" She let the offer hang.

Naruto swallowed, his eyes welling up.

"Stay here tonight, anyway," said Sakura, nodding at the weather outside. "It's terrible out there. There's no sense getting soaked and having to turn back if your mom forgot to unlock the door." Again.

"Sakura—," he said, voice thick.

She straightened—painfully—and reached out to ruffle his hair.

"Your home is here." She gave him a smile. "Now, if you wouldn't mind helping me close those drapes, I'm going to nip to the bathroom for a shower."

His grin beaming at her, Naruto jumped up and pumped his fist.

"Consider it done!" With his usual effervescent energy returning, he bounded over the couch and shot her a cheesy grin. "Can't rain all the time!"

At Naruto's words there was a sudden flapping noise from outside that startled them both.

Naruto spoke first.

"Whoa, that crow was huge! Just like the one I saw this morning!"

Sakura's heart gave a deep thump in her chest. It took more effort than it should have to force herself to let go of the couch cushion she had dug her nails into.

"Crows are everywhere, Naruto," she said, climbing to her feet with aching bones.

"Yeah, but I still think that one's special," he said.

The next day, Sakura put on her favourite dress, a white one Sasuke had adored on her, and with her arm linked through Naruto's, they left in Sakura's car—working for once—to collect the rest of his things from his mother's apartment. Sakura called Naruto's school to let them know he was taking a day off and that she would be in to see them about re-assigning his guardianship shortly.

She should have done it ages ago.

But…

As she drove down the street, she caught sight of a very familiar looking crow.

Sometimes we need to be reminded of what's important, she decided.

The crow bobbed on the sidewalk and took flight. Sakura didn't notice that it followed them all the way to Naruto's and back again.

"You get yourself set up in here," said Sakura, pushing the last box of guitar amplifier cords and pedals into the main TV room.

The white dress had a few marks on it now, but it had held up well. And... she'd felt closer to Sasuke, wearing it again. He would have complained about Naruto joining them to live, but would have made things work. Naruto had been like another brother to him.

"I've made up the futon for you. We'll get you a proper mattress soon, I promise."

Frozen in the bedroom doorway, Naruto nodded mutely, clutching his 'new' guitar to his chest like a newborn baby. It had been Sasuke's first guitar; the one he'd himself learned on, carving a crow into the neck. It was the one Itachi had learned on and passed down to Sasuke, and that Sasuke had played during their first album. It was featured prominently in the CD album art. Naruto had treasured the copy Sasuke had given him for his birthday, hiding it from his mother so she couldn't sell it for drug money.

"Hey," she said, catching his attention. She smiled. "You need to chip in and help make suppers, going forward."

His eyes lit up. "I can make ra—"

"With vegetables. Fresh vegetables," she said, voice hard.

He pouted.

As Sakura left the room, she turned her head away from Naruto so he wouldn't see her grin.

Devil's Night

Shots rang out.

Sasuke ignored them, as usual… until he felt the wetness seeping from his side. He reached a black-wrapped hand down and pulled it away; warm and sticky.

He was bleeding?

He'd been impervious to gunshots since his resurrection. What was this?

"Ah, it seems we've found our little birdie," mused Orochimaru aloud as he turned a spotlight on Sasuke, crouched in the rafters of his abandoned cathedral headquarters.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed.

"You look familiar," said Kabuto from Orochimaru's side. His eyes widened behind his spectacles. "You!"

"Hn," smirked Sasuke, ignoring his wound. The blood spilled from him, dripping down his side and pooling on the wooden rafter he perched upon.

"How did you survive!" Demanded Kabuto.

"It's not the how," said Sasuke, his smirk darkening. "It's why." From behind him he lifted a small handful of triggers.

"Ah-ah-ahhh, Sasuke," said Orochimaru.

Kabuto and Sasuke turned to look at Orochimaru in disbelief.

Orochimaru smiled grotesquely. "Did you think we haven't been watching your every move? Or, should I say… her every move?"

Sasuke's insides clenched.

"Did you think last night was random, Sasuke?" Taunted Orochimaru. "Or, did you think it was a test run?"

His blood ran cold at the gang leader's implications.

"So, to be clear about this since I hate loose ends," drawled Orochimaru. "You get to make a choice. You can try to take us out now… or you can try to save her."

"You're bluffing," said Sasuke. But the bad feeling inside him worsened; as did his wound. What was wrong? Why wasn't he healing up like he usually did?

"Oh, but we aren't. After all, Sasuke, it can't rain all the time… can it?"

Orochimaru's men took aim at Sasuke, even as Sasuke called to his crow summon to beg use of his eyes. The crow hopped to the top of a bell tower that overlooked the block where Sakura lived, and he saw the dark shapes creeping closer, closing in on her apartment from every direction. He closed off the connection with a curse.

"Fire," said Orochimaru.

Sasuke squeezed his triggers and let the explosion blow him out through the large stained glass window and onto the concrete sidewalk, three storeys below.

"Sak'ra," he mumbled, head ringing as he stumbled to his knees. "Sakura, I'm coming."

Behind him the church erupted in a hellish inferno.

"Put on some music," Naruto laughed as he and Sakura prepared supper in their kitchen.

"Oy, how are you making demands?" teased Sakura.

"I'm not making demands, I'm making a suggestion—"

—the windows blew up in a tornado of glass, the door crashed down.

Sakura leapt in front of Naruto, pulling him close and shielding him with her body.

"Run," she gasped as the apartment filled with smoke. "Run, Naruto!"

"Where?"

Sakura's ears heard the clicking of gun hammers and shoved Naruto down to his knees.

"Fire escape," she coughed as plaster dust crumbled and rained down around them. A piece of the cabinetry by her head splintered off and she stared at the smoking hole a moment. "Hurry," she said, nudging him along.

Whatever her saviour had done the night before, he obviously hadn't passed along to the rest of the gang that she was a born fighter.

With a surprise chair-to-the-face, she knocked two thugs off her balcony and kicked loose the fire escape release, sending it shooting down.

"Climb down, I'm following right behind you," ordered Sakura, hustling Naruto out onto the balcony.

"But—"

"NOW!"

Naruto scrambled down the fire escape.

Thank heavens he's so nimble, Sakura thought to herself as she saw him touch down.

She was right behind him until she felt the drip-drop from above, and dared to look up.

An ugly thug was holding a lit Molotov cocktail above her, smiling at her.

It was not a nice smile.

"Nothing personal," he said, taking aim.

Sakura's eyes widened and she panicked when his focus shifted from her to Naruto.

She leapt off the fire escape with two storeys to go, and yanked on Naruto to get him moving just as the bomb crashed at their feet.

"Keep running!" She said, ignoring the fire licking at her slippered feet.

"Your feet are on fire!"

She kicked off the slippers.

"Faster," she urged.

The apartment was ablaze and unrecognizable when Sasuke arrived, pressing his hand to his bleeding side and his ears ringing. He couldn't hear out of his left ear, and his left eye was swollen shut.

The resurrection magic was fading.

But he had to save Sakura and Naruto.

"Which way did they go?" He heard someone call. Looking over the edge of the roof, he spotted a group of thugs down below.

"Check that way, Suigetsu," said the defacto leader, a woman with long, crimson hair. "And has anyone reached Orochimaru or Kabuto?"

"No, they aren't picking up, Karin," said another.

"Of course they aren't, Juugo, they're probably out hitting up City Hall and the Hokage Tower for Devil's Night," said Karin.

"No!" called another, rushing over. "The radio just reported that they went up in flames."

His sight blurring, Sasuke squeezed his eyes tighter and forced back the stars, listening as best he could over the roar of flames and distant sirens. Taking his knee he lifted his guns, one in each hand, and lined up his sights.

"That's impossible," said Karin.

The man shook his head. "It's all over the news."

Karin stared at him before her lips peeled back in a tooth-baring snarl.

"Get the woman and the kid! This is all their fault!"

No, it's mine, thought Sasuke.

And he opened fire.

Panting and clutching their chests, Sakura and Naruto hunkered down in the graveyard.

"Do you hear them anymore?" asked Naruto, eyes wide in his too-pale face.

Sakura shook her head.

"No. We'll wait it out here, though," she said, leaning back against the headstone. She let her head fall forward over her knees and began calming her breathing.

"Why do you think they came after us?"

Guilt flooded Sakura.

"Maybe they followed me home after yesterday," she said, and pressed her lips together. She was a doctor, not a god. She had tried to protect Naruto by inviting her to live with her, and tonight he'd nearly died because of her. It was her fault they were in this mess.

"Caw!"

Naruto and Sakura looked up at the tree that sheltered them from view. In the branches sat a lone crow, patiently watching them.

"Hey buddy," said Naruto, his shoulders relaxing. "What are you doing here?"

Sakura turned to stare at Naruto.

"You talk to birds now?"

"Just this one, he's special. He watches over me," said Naruto, smiling at her. "Right buddy?"

"Caw!"

"I like to think he's Sasuke watching out for us. Because his feathers are so dark, like Sasuke's hair and…" His smile faded as he watched Sakura's eyes fill. "What? What did I do?"

Shaking her head, Sakura pressed her lips together.

"Just a lot going on," she said, voice thick.

Because it clicked in her head now.

Her saviour.

He had reminded her so much of Sasuke, yet she'd never been able to get a proper look at him after the lights were shot out.

And now Naruto thought the crow was Sasuke, too.

"I think we need a vacation," she said after she'd swallowed over the lump in her throat. "After things settle down, how about we go away for a bit?"

"And leave Konoha?" asked Naruto, eyes wide.

Sakura shrugged one shoulder. She half-twisted and traced with her fingertip the name of the headstone she rested against.

Uchiha Sasuke, beloved husband

Naruto's headstone read similarly.

Uchiha Itachi, beloved brother

"You would leave them?" he whispered.

Her green eyes shone with wetness.

Naruto's shoulders slumped as he followed Sakura's trailing fingers.

Stay with them, thought Sasuke to his crow as he stumbled through the streets. He ignored how disconnected it was that he was racing to his grave in more ways than one.

He fell against the cemetery's gates before finding a hole in the fence big enough to shove through, then fell to the ground with a grunt. His clothes were dirty, burnt and torn, but he didn't notice.

Get up, he ordered his legs, pressing himself up with his blistered hands. The fire at the church had burned him more severely than he'd initially realized.

But his eyesight was blurring worse and he stumbled over an upturned headstone. Sasuke caught himself as he tumbled forward, the air was knocked out of him as he fell against another chipped monument.

"Sasuke," said a soft, familiar voice.

Looking up, Sasuke saw a bright glow approach him and his wheezing breath caught. When it was near enough, it knelt at his side and poked him in the forehead.

Sasuke stared at his brother's ghostly form, confused.

"'Tachi," he gasped, his chest pulling tight. He grimaced as he tried, and failed, to draw breath.

"Easy, little brother," said Itachi, placing a hand on Sasuke's bloody, torn chest. Immediately Sasuke's panting eased and he looked at his brother in wonder.

Itachi held out his hand and helped Sasuke to his feet.

"Come," said Itachi, leading them on. He put an arm around Sasuke's middle, which didn't feel nearly as destroyed as it had only moments ago, and together they walked between the headstones. Or floated. Sasuke wasn't sure which. He couldn't feel his feet anymore.

It seemed only seconds later that Sasuke and Itachi came upon the sight of Sakura and Naruto, huddled together on their graves. The sod was still somewhat fresh.

"They're safe now," said Itachi. He turned to his brother. "You protected them. They will be safe for the rest of their lives."

The cawing crow—drawing us to it, Sasuke realized, his hearing fading out—flew from the tree above Sakura and Naruto and landed upon Itachi's shoulder. Sakura startled, but Naruto soothed her.

"He probably has to go meet his family," he heard the blond say to Sakura, giving her a hug.

"You leant me your strength. The crow. It was you," realized Sasuke. Even with his sight failing, he couldn't look away from Sakura.

As such, he missed when Itachi's features softened.

"Ah. There could be only one of us to complete this mission," he said. His smile was gentle. "And the best person was you, little brother."

Sasuke looked behind them, in the direction they'd come from.

"I'm not going to be able to come back again, am I?"

Itachi shook his head.

"Can they see me, or did I leave my body back there?" asked Sasuke, still looking behind them.

"You no longer have a body, but… you may have a moment. Use it wisely," said Itachi.

Sasuke nodded.

"Will you still be here… there… when I'm done?" asked Sasuke, anxiety creeping up his spine. Or where he felt his spine should be, but he could feel very little anymore. Was he breathing air? Had he taken a breath in the last ten minutes?

"I will always be here for you," said Itachi facing his brother. He nodded at Sakura and Naruto. "A moment," he repeated.

Sasuke steeled himself and approached them.

"Sakura," he said. "Naruto."

Startled, they whirled around, their arms still around each other for support. Their eyes flew open in fear and disbelief.

"Sasuke?" murmured Sakura, lips trembling. Her fingers dug into Naruto's arms.

Standing there fresh in his familiar snug black t-shirt and jeans, his hair loose and tumbling over his ears as he'd always liked to wear it, Sasuke smirked.

"Holy shit," whispered Naruto.

He promptly passed out; only Sakura's death grip on his arms kept him from bashing his head on Itachi's grave marker. She set him down gently before getting to her feet and rushing to Sasuke.

"You're… you're—" She reached for him, and wrapped her arms around him. Emotion overwhelmed her as she tightened her hold. "It was you," she whispered against his throat, breathing him in.

"Sakura, I need you to know something," said Sasuke.

"Stay," she said. "That's all you need to do, is stay."

His arms reached up and pulled her close.

"Everything is going to be okay," he whispered in her ear.

And then he couldn't feel her in his arms and he drew back. He couldn't feel her warmth. He couldn't feel her tears as she tried to grab for him and pull him back again, the wetness falling straight through him.

He forced himself to give her a genuine smile as he brought his hands up in front of him and formed a heart.

"Everything is going to be okay," he repeated, though he no longer had a voice.

But that was fine.

Because now she could move on, as she and Naruto had to.

And he could move on, too.

THE END.