A/N: Sooo… this is what's going to happen. I'm going to re-write my story. The early chapters are shit. Just to clarify, I am aware that a lot of stuff has changed in the Naruto-verse since this was published; this story simply ignores the events in the manga/anime. It's its own thing. Also, most chapters will probably be shorter from now on; it's just my style. Enjoy, please review ;)

The young man clutched at the body of the old man and wept. He had seen death before, but this time was different. This time, Jiraya was dead. Naruto hugged the body to his chest, smelled his hair, smelled his blood and compartmentalized the sensation into his head, lest he forget it.

Around him, the Rookie Nine stood or lay slumped. They each handled death in their own way. Shikamaru was on his back staring at the sky. Sakura was crying. But no one was without pain.

Pain. Pein.

The little shit.

Akatsuki was gone; the price paid in Jiraya's blood. The rain that poured over the shinobis' heads was incessant, but it did little to wash away the stains of crimson on everyone's clothes. They stood in a hellish scrap yard, where towers of jagged copper and iron loomed over them.

Here and there were corpses.

Most of them were Jiraya's work of course, but Naruto had been the one to impale the Pein on the broken railing; Lee the one who had cracked the Pein by the furnace's head open.

Jiraya was invincible in Naruto's eyes. His fighting had been the fiercest. He had taken out three Pein's by himself, including the original one before finally being slain himself. Naruto was proud of him. Akatsuki was no more.

The mission was done now. It was time to go home. Naruto heaved the great Toad Sage's body onto his eighteen-year-old frame and took the first trembling step back to Konohagakure; home.

The Rookie Nine fell in step behind him.

Lee offered to help carry Jiraya part of the way, but Naruto slapped his hands away. This was his burden to carry. The Nine marched back to Konoha in silence. The villagers of the Rain didn't bother them. Most of them were enemy ninjas and therefore, dead.

By the fifth night they could finally see the lights of Konoha on the skyline. The small band had been forced to travel at half-speed, mainly out of respect for the old man's body. A small part of their minds didn't want to return home though. Not without Jiraya.

Naruto was the first to reach the gate when they finally arrived at the village. He stepped past the enormous Doors, set Jiraya onto the ground, and then silently sat on the floor. Someone summoned Tsunade, and before long he found himself wrapped in his adoptive mother's arms, struggling to stop from weeping again.

"What happened?" she managed to say

"Tsunade-sama… I- I'm sorry. I couldn't save him."

To Tsunade, it was the –sama suffix that hurt the most. She said nothing. There was nothing that she could say. Instead, she pulled the boy in her arms tightly to her chest until the sobbing stopped and he was ready to enter the village.

Except he only managed about three steps into the village proper. He was down on the floor by the fourth.

Where the fuck? I'm not in my apartment. I've never laid eyes on this place before. My hand darts for a kunai. There's none there though.

And my eyes are focusing now. Hospital. I'm in a hospital.

Dashes of pink, the smell of strawberries, and now I'm nearly being crushed back into unconsciousness by Sakura.

"Can'tbreathe!"

She releases me instantly.

"I'm so sorry!" she gasps. "You've been out for almost two days. I was worried."

I sit up in bed and make sense of what happened. Bad idea. I remember about Jiraya.

Sakura must have noticed, because she's quiet and this new hug is gentler.

"I'm sorry," is all she says, but it's enough.

"What was wrong with me?" I ask, after a while. If only to break the silence.

"Exhaustion. Physical and mental. I tried to keep you fed with chakra on the way home but it was enough," she answers.

We're interrupted by a knock on the door followed by Tsunade entering the room.

"Hey. Good to see you're up," she says. "I was afraid you'd be out until at least Friday, but it looks like the Kyuubi restored most of your Chakra."

"I was in the negative?"

"In the red."

Shit. Good old foxy. If not for him I'd probably be in a coma.

Tsunade signs some papers to release me from the hospital. I say goodbye to her without talking about Jiraya. I know I'll be debriefed later. I take Sakura's hand and we leave the building. I'm glad to be out in the fresh air without the smell of disinfectant everywhere.

Well. Not quite glad. But I'm not about to cry again.

We start to walk home, but I decide I want to see the Nine, so we stop by Fukku's. Everyone's mostly drunk, but not rowdy. We leave after about an hour. My friends aren't really in the mood to see me.

At home we quietly strip down and lay naked together in bed. The blinds in the room are shut, and a little light manages to peep through and color the dark room gray. After a while the quiet lulls me to sleep.

Tomorrow is going to be one fucked up day.

A/N: Right, the POV switch will probably stick from now on as well. I like writing in FP for Naruto. Hope you enjoyed that. I'll continue re-writing the chapters before actually continuing with the story. Hope you enjoyed it; please review ;)