Disclaimer: I don't own, nor will I ever own, Naruto. I can only wait for it to come out in English so my poor non-Japanese reading eyes can see. Damn translators take to long, but their still Gods in my book.

Pairings: SasuNaru… I don't know what else

Warnings: shonen ai, . Haku OOC, Sasuke OOC (a lil at the end… mou), Sakura-bashing! Fun shit like that… ahh, yes, there will be cursing so if you don't like cursing (or shonen ai or yaoi) click the back button now. This is your final warning… if you're not, enjoy!

Summary: When Sasuke and Naruto are trapped inside the mirrors, Haku tries to kill Sasuke, but what if a certain blonde jumped in the way and intercepted the attack?

Title: Ragtag Heroes Are Never Fallen

Chapter 01: Going Under

Sasuke looked at the scene in front of him. It couldn't be real. This had to be some kind of joke. It had to be some kind of fucking joke!

Standing in front of him was a familiar orange suit. The blonde's back was to the dark-haired boy. Sasuke didn't need to be told what happened as his eyes widened. The boy tottered eerily on his feet.

Around them were the ice mirrors, where Haku, a hunter-nin impersonator, was. The two had been fighting with all they got, only to be sliced slowly, layer by layer of skin shot off by the small wooden needles that Haku used as weaponry. The boy's mask was still in place, but he hesitated, as though he were unsure.

Sasuke didn't care about Haku right now. The blonde turned his head to Sasuke, looking over his shoulder with eerie red eyes, flecked with blue spots.

"Guess I repaid my debt," the blonde murmured before hacking some blood out of his mouth.

The faint sound of the drops of blood wrenched the reality of the situation back to Sasuke's vision.

Slowly Naruto began to fall backwards. Without even thinking, Sasuke immediately held out his bloodied arms, catching his teammate's body.

Naruto smiled, a real smile – not a fox grin as his eyes, which had turned crimson during battle, melted back into a cerulean blue.

Sasuke didn't know what overcame him… his mind kept flashing back to that time. When Itachi, his older brother, had slaughtered his entire clan. But that made no sense to the boy. After all… Sasuke didn't care about Uzumaki Naruto, did he?

No.

But then why did he feel like he wanted to cry.

Why did he feel like he wanted to break down?

He hated Naruto. Naruto was his rival. He should be glad the dobe was dying. But… he didn't.

Naruto's smile became a little brighter as his eyelids drooped.

"No!" Sasuke found himself muttering. "Don't close your eyes, dobe… come on, Naruto! Open up your eyes! Open your fucking eyes!"

With the last amount of effort that he could pull, Naruto looked up at Sasuke with a soft smile, one covered in blood, but held no bitterness. Instead, Sasuke felt… warm when he saw that smile. It was then that he realized what the blonde normally was.

Alone.

"Thank you," Naruto whispered, the smile never leaving his face as his eyelids slid shut on their own accord.

Sasuke shook Naruto. The boy didn't stir. He began murmuring to the blonde, but Naruto wasn't responding to anything. Sasuke, finally managing to get some amount of self-control over himself, checked the boy for any signs of life.

His pulse was gone.

His heartbeat was missing.

His breath had stopped.

Uzumaki Naruto had died.

Haku took a step closer, his foot echoing through Sasuke's head. The boy felt rage boil within him, but he had to remain calm – he was known as the Prince of Ice, and now was one of the times when he had to show the world this. Slowly, he came to a stop, a good distance away from the two younger boys.

"'I'm going to become Hokage and make everyone in my village acknowledge me'," Haku said quietly, still keeping a distance between himself and Sasuke.

Sasuke's dark bangs covered his eyes. Why was this asshole quoting Naruto's most favorite line? Why did… this happen?

The question bounced around in his brain, but Sasuke couldn't find an answer to it.

"That boy… he has suffered much in his lifetime," Haku kept speaking. Sasuke's hand clenched into a fist. Haku didn't respond to that action. Instead, he kept talking. "He harbored a great evil… and yet he still smiles. Happiness is based on sacrifice. There is no such thing as true happiness, only an illusion placed before your eyes."

"Shut up," Sasuke growled low in his throat. He could feel himself shaking as he still held on to Naruto's cold body protectively.

"What?" Haku asked slowly. "Didn't you know about your friend here? Didn't you know that he's been orphaned since birth – neglected by the very village he tries so diligently to protect, and the very people he calls his friends?"

"SHUT UP!" Sasuke shouted. His bloodline limit, Sharingan, flared to life. "Don't talk about Naruto, you son of a bitch!"

"Why not, Sasuke?" Haku sneered. "He's dead… it is only out of respect for him that I'm revealing to you what his life was like. I seriously doubt you know anything about him. And he's your teammate. Yet I only met him once… and here I stand, knowing more from that one meeting that you have since you've been together."

Sasuke felt his fingers clench and unclench as he tried to reign in his anger.

Haku saw this, eyes glinting through the mask he wore. Even though, without his mask, he was as docile and as level-headed as anyone, within the mask, he was a ruthless killer. This mask held some sort of spell over him, making him into a demon like Zabuza.

It was a pity, in a way, to see that the blonde had died. But he died for another, and that in itself was something to honor.

"The least you could do, Uchiha," Haku whispered. "Is honor his sacrifice. He died for you, to protect someone he held close, he sacrificed his life."

Sasuke was shaking in anger. He slowly, gracefully, set Naruto's body on the ground. The orange-clad boy looked wrong, laying there like that.

It should be me, Sasuke thought. If you hadn't jumped in front… then… I wouldn't have to question this act… I wouldn't have to ask 'why'. I'd be in the blissful recluse of death – something you are in now, dobe. That's why you shouldn't have jumped. I can't care for you or your sacrifice. I have to kill Itachi. I have to avenge my clan. Caring makes you weak. Caring makes you dead.

He turned to Haku, calm once more as he repeated his mantra in his head. The Uchiha had always had good control over his feelings. This moment shouldn't be any different, he thought. A smirk graced his features as he stared as the somewhat older boy.

"Are you going to stand there and talk, or are you going to fight," he challenged.

Haku grinned sadistically beneath his mask. This would be fun.

The two raced at each other, the mirrors forgotten in their conflict. Kunai clashed with acupuncture needle, as the two whirled, twisted, attacked, blocked and dodged in a graceful dance of death.

It was a wonder that they hadn't hit the body of the Kitsune boy.

Still they flew around in a magnificent wonder, as though they were alighted from the ground, taking on the speed and flight of hawks. Sasuke stared at Haku, his Sharingan burning brightly.

All he could do was drunkenly think about what a challenge this would be. Haku slammed in for another attack. Blocking the needle with a blade, Sauske pulled back and ducked under Haku's guard, punching the boy's stomach. Haku flew back and Sasuke rushed towards him.

Now that they were slightly tired, the dance had become more weary, blood showed on both figures and it was obvious that whoever survived would have a long time healing after this was over. Suddenly, Sasuke kicked at Haku's face, breaking the pale mask.

Haku stopped.

Sasuke's kunai didn't.

It plunged into Haku's chest, blood erupting from the wound. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw what happened.

Haku was smiling – the same smile that Naruto had smiled before dying. And then he was gone. Dropping his hand from the hilt of the kunai, the Uchiha watched as his opponent slumped over.

Then he proceeded to vomit over his first kill off the side of the bridge.

The fight between Zabuza and Kakashi was long since over and the mist had pretty much evaporated. A pink-haired kunoichi grabbed Tazuna's hand as she dragged over to where the ice mirrors once were.

"Sasuke-kun!" she called.

Sakura searched for the Uchiha, only to find him doubled over the side of the bridge. Looking a few feet behind him, was the body of the boy with the mask. A few feet away from that was the still form of Naruto.

Sakura let go of Tazuna's hand as she walked quietly over to Sasuke. She could hear the wretching sounds the boy was making as he puked.

"Sasuke!" she said, glad that he was okay. Now that she could see him, she promptly forgot all about the forms of Haku and Naruto.

Sasuke looked at her blankly. For a second… he had thought that it was someone else's voice… but that was only wishful thinking on his part.

Kakashi walked over, his one visible eye grave as he surveyed the scene: Haku with a kunai in his chest and Naruto with senboku buried in his body.

"Sasuke," he spoke, his voice serious, unlike its normal joking manner. "What happened here?"

As he was talking to Sasuke, Kakashi went over to Naruto, checking on the boy's health. Or lack thereof. He had to make sure that it wasn't just a state of death while the boy was unconscious. He had seen those before, and it wasn't exactly healthy, as it drained the body of a lot of energy and chakra and kept the person on bedrest for a week, at the very least.

Slowly, as Kakashi looked over the limp form in front of him, he noticed something.

The seal for the Kyuubi no Kitsune was glowing. Suddenly, the boy's body jolted, as though it had been hit by a thousand lightning bolts. It was still again. Another jolt moved the body once more. This repeated two more times before a soft groan emitted from the boy.

Kakashi's eye clouded over with wonder. Did he just see what he thought he saw? Noticing that Naruto could fall under Death's wings once more at any moment, Kakashi called Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna over to him.

"Help me with these needles, we need to extract them if there's any chance on Naruto surviving," Kakashi barked.

The three nodded and then the group went to work, removing what felt like a thousand needles from the boy's corpse. As soon as they were done, Kakashi scooped Naruto up in his arms, told them he was going back to Tazuna's, and poofed out.

Sasuke, Sakura and Tazuna stared at the spot he had previously occupied for a moment before Sakura turned to Sasuke.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun, what happened?"

"He died," the Uchiha replied shortly.

"Oh, I don't care about him," Sakura gushed. "I was wondering about you. What did you do?"

Sasuke glared at her. Haku's words were still floating in his mind. Didn't you know that he's been orphaned since birth – neglected by the very village he tries so diligently to protect, and the very people he calls his friends?

He growled softly to himself before shaking Sakura off his arm.

"Naruto almost died protecting me, so don't talk about him like that, you fucking bitch!" Sasuke blurted out before he could stop himself. He shook his head and made his way quickly towards Tazuna's house.

He really needed to clear his head, he was being too emotional.

Kyuubi-kun's Korner!

I know, I know, Haku's out of character… and Sasuke's a little screwed up in the head. But aside from that… and the fact that this is just weird, what do you think of it? Also, I had read and seen Naruto and I know that Haku never actually killed Sasuke. But this is artistic license that I'm taking here.

ARIGATOU-GOZIMASU OOKIMA-SAN! She helped me decide whether I should write this or not.