[WARNINGS:] Implied shounen ai. {SasuNaruish.} Weird. Blatant misuse of commas and semicolons. Weird. Alternating perspectives. First Naruto fanfiction. Flames and criticism welcomed. Weird. Stupid. Waste of space. Major OOC-nesses.

Takes place during the Zabuza/Haku arc, in the ever-popular "Sasuke saves Naruto" scene.

Enjoy.

[-]

rules of dying

by rain-streaked

[crimson amnesia]

[+]

Pale lips trace the familiar line slowly, rising into his small, smug smirk. It settles on his face gently.

Even with the crimson splattered on his face his expression is smooth and soft and beautiful, his lips aligned perfectly.

He draws in a raggedy breath, disturbing his serene face. Eyebrows narrowing the slightest in pain, he struggles to form words.

"Naruto..."

The clearest of blue eyes locks onto a hazy black, and Naruto notices, briefly, that Sasuke's eyes weren't all black; rather, it was a soft diffusion of black and a dark copper.

"Sa-Sasuke?"

Naruto's mind echoes with Sasuke's name and Sasuke's voice and Sasuke's blood. He's dying, he wants to screech out. He's dying!

Naruto's mouth widens to say something and words fail to tumble out; instead, they stay in and confuse him.

SasukeSasuke I'msorrydon'tdienotyet don'tleave stay stay STAY

[-]

i need to inform you about the rules of dying, sasuke-bastard.

because you are obviously quite stupid when it comes to matters like this.

first of all, you don't smirk.

you aren't supposed to look so fragile and sad and delicately beautiful.

you are dying.

i see nothing to smirk about.

[+]

Sasuke almost had to chuckle at Naruto's gaping eyes and disbelieving mouth.

The laugh died in his heart and hurt him, even more than the acknowledgement of death did.

"So annoying," he thinks out loud.

It wasn't Naruto that was annoying but rather the nagging need to close his eyes and sleep. Still, Naruto understands in the wrong way and his eyes flinch with a kind of pain.

Sasuke absently wonders why he cares.

Naruto unconsciously settles Sasuke's head partly on his lap, cradling it with no notice.

"Sasuke... what was that for?" he asks. Naruto desperately wants to be angry but struggles to be so, finding it hard to glare.

"Why did you save me?"

Sasuke thinks about this, but his head hurts and he doesn't think he would know the answer to that question ever.

"I don't know... my body just moved on its own... you idiot..." he replies clumsily.

An inaudible sigh is heard.

[-]

don't you know anything, sasuke-bastard?

of course you don't.

so much for calling me an idiot, huh?

let me indulge to you the second rule of dying:

don't make excuses.

...and don't insult me, either.

i don't know what to do with you, sasuke. you asshole.

although it is sorely tempting to somehow hurt you for even considering death. but that might hurt you even closer to death, so i squash this think to a thought quickly.

aargh! my head is killing me.

oops. saying that wouldn't be very appropriate at the moment, would it?

i wonder if i should tell you a joke, just to make you laugh and just to call me an idiot again. [if you are to call me an idiot under any other circumstances than this, i shall personally send you a private hell. you are warned.]

yeah, i can just picture it now.

you, with your head on my lap [now when did that happen?], coughing up blood and dying and whatnot, while i am rambling on about the joke i overheard the two fat hags giggling about, the one with a papaya [what the hell is a papaya?!] and a condom.

...which, i suppose, would make it a good thing i can't understand the joke.

yargh!

rule number three: if you so insist on dying, then die quickly; i don't want to kill myself trying to find something to say. good jokes don't exist anymore, despite common belief. all of 'em are either corny, stupid, or both.

wait.

that came out wrong. i didn't mean it in the bad way.

it was a joke.

not a very good joke, granted, but at least i'm trying, unlike some bastards who think it is funny to die.

damn it, sasuke! when i go to heaven you better be waiting up there with an unlimited supply of ramen. i hate thinking so hard.

it hurts.

[+]

Sasuke drowns in the endless blue and faintly begins to ponder how long they've been like this; each staring into the other's eyes, searching for something to say.

It is probably actually less than a minute, he thinks, but it feels like half an eternity.

He wants to explain something. Something deep, something only Naruto would know after he dies.

Before, it never occurred to him, this explaining of his motives. But now, strangely, he feels like he has to, as if he would never rest fully without telling Naruto the truth.

"Th-that man... my brother," he ventures, with half his mind screaming at him to stop and half his heart prodding him to continue.

My head hurts, he thinks neutrally before going on.

"I... promised myself that... I wouldn't die... before... I killed him..."

Sasuke blinks pointedly, dazed.

"Don't die also..." he adds, suddenly gripped by a deep fear.

Fear that Naruto would die before achieving his dream.

Naruto's mouth opens and closes uselessly.

Sasuke's mind chuckles warmly, and even through the pounding of his head he can hear himself think: Naruto, you dummy.

Belatedly, he realizes that the tone he used was rather soft.

[-]

okay. now i know for sure that you are death-uninformed, you poor soul.

because you never, ever, ever say weirdly cryptic things to someone when you are dying. you just do not do things like that, because you're going to die before you can properly explain it and you're basically going to condemn me to a life where i can do nothing but try to decipher your freakish ways.

and, damn you, you so purposely did that, didn't you?! you knew i would never forget it yet never understand it.

...sasuke, you bastard!

when i get to heaven, not only are you going to supply me with unlimited ramen, you are also going to be my slave.

for life.

or afterlife.

whatever.

curse you for dying at such an untimely time!

[+]

Seconds tick by seconds tick by seconds, and after what seems to Sasuke as too many heartbeats, Naruto finally conjures up something to say.

"Sasuke, you asshole," he whispers breathlessly, a quiet roar.

Sasuke's eyes widen a fraction but he knows what Naruto means, so his eyes smile vaguely.

Naruto leans close to hear Sasuke's raggedy breath, and in a moment of quiet understanding, places his hand gently on Sasuke's slowly rising chest.

He feels the heartbeats, even though faint; he memorizes them and carves it into his mind and heart and soul. Swearing never to forget, he sighs softly.

All of a sudden he wants to cry; his eyes burn and darken as he shuts them tightly for a few seconds.

Sasuke smirks. He doesn't know why, but he is used to it, so he dismisses it as a reflex.

Don't cry, Naruto tells himself.

Don't cry don't cry don't cry please don't cry don't cry don't die...

[-]

haven't you heard of common courtesy, sasuke-bastard?

when you are dying and when you are aware of it, you don't ask me to live.

because living without you might hurt a lot, even more than dying would.

should i tell you this?

so you can laugh before you die.

oh, and don't worry.

i won't die.

but i won't live.

[+]

"I hated you."

The words surprise both Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke is still smirking. He's too tired, though, to say why he's smirking at a time like this. It comes naturally to him whenever he sees Naruto.

He wants to think more, especially about Naruto, but his body won't allow it. It tells him to rest and he feels his eyes obeying.

"Don't die."

Half-lidded eyes peer up curiously and gaze at Naruto's face and Naruto's eyes and Naruto's color; Sasuke wonders why Naruto is so warm -

"Don't die."

And as Naruto watches, Sasuke's smirk twitches, and for the faintest glimmer, relaxes into a smile.

Sasuke desperately wants the pale, heartbroken look to disappear from Naruto's face; he tries furiously to open his mouth and say something. He fails and he is frustrated at himself and his lack of strength. For the tiniest of seconds, he wants to scream and cry and press himself into the warmth that is Naruto.

The warmth that he wants and needs and envies.

He tries again and this time his breath escapes with an affectionate tone.

"...dobe..."

Naruto blinks, for all of a sudden he is ripped from Sasuke's gaze and he can no longer see the soft smile.

[-]

and now i will tell you the last and most important rule of dying, sasuke.

don't die protecting me.

just don't.

and don't die in my arms, either.

promise me you won't break this rule.

promise me, sasuke.

[+]

"Don't die, Sasuke!" Naruto screams, clutching Sasuke's cold, unresponsive body closer.

Silence.

"Don't die..."

[owari]