3. Breath

Burning leafs started falling from the smoldering tree the instant Sasuke stopped his motions. His legs were shaking and his head was aching. His lungs had begun to hurt half an hour ago already, making his every breath feel like being stabbed.

Now, he was out of chakra.

"Sasuke!"

The dark haired man slowly turned his head, the muscles in his neck screaming. The Pain turned into anger so fast, it surprised himself.

"What?", Sasuke hollered and sent an approaching Karin a dark glare.

"Your chakra level is too low. You have to stop", she answered with all the authority she could muster. "You'll die if you don't."

I'm well aware.

He turned around without a word, pulled his sword out of the now naked tree and walked past Karin, very careful to not give away how hard it was to sheath Kusanagi, to simply walk. Every step hurt like hell.

But I've made it.

It was the first time since he had started training this new jutsu that he had pulled it off perfectly. The amount of chakra he had to control was so difficult to keep at bay, it had cost a ridiculous amount of time to make it happen.

I wonder how Naru...

Again. There it was again. There he was again. Since that day in town... No, even before then... Sasuke ground his teeth in anger.

"You look pale. You want me to make you feel better?", Karin said in a voice Sasuke would categorize as trying-to-be-seductive, directing his now cold fury towards her. He hadn't even noticed she had fallen into step beside him.

"Fuck off, Karin."

"You should get some rest. I could stay with you", she said anyway. She dealt well with his moody personality. It irritated Sasuke to no end.

"I'm not listening to your bullshit now", he said darkly.

"I just... You should be a little more careful, that's all. And I would do anything for you, you know that, right?"

"Karin." His voice had dropped dangerously low. "Shut up or I'll make you."

*****

Sasuke came out of the bathroom, his hair still wet and every muscle even more strained than before. Against his hopes, the hot water hadn't done anything to ease the ache he felt from head to toe. He sagged against the door frame, the way to his bed appearing too far to walk.

Suddenly, someone knocked and opened the door to his private bedroom.

Sasuke straightened, careful to keep his stance as natural as it was possible. He stubbornly ignored the scorching fire that spread through his nervous system. He could barely see, pain obstructing his view, but as the blurry figure's chakra touched his skin, Sasuke's alarmed mind calmed.

It was Jugo.

"You need something?", the man asked quietly.

"I'm fine", Sasuke lied.

"Your chakra is very low", Jugo observed.

"I know." Sasuke ordered himself to keep standing. He knew his mind couldn't keep him upright for very long, but he hoped he could last until Jugo left the room. He could feel every nerve flicker, every muscle spasm. "Tell Karin and Suigetsu to leave me alone for a while. I need to recover", he said, suddenly thinking about the fight ahead.

"I will. What about Konoha?"

Sometimes Sasuke thought Jugo could read his mind.

"We are heading out as soon as my chakra level is back up, so prepare for battle."

"Understood."

Jugo didn't leave. He watched him with a passive air of expectancy.

"How's Karin?", Sasuke sighed after some time, aggravated.

"Sulking. That's why she sent me."

"Tell her to cut the crap. I don't have time for this."

Jugo smiled. "Understood."

Without another word he turned and left Sasuke to himself. As soon as the door closed, Sasuke's knees began to shake violently. He wobbled towards his bed and slumped onto the linnen, falling asleep the instant his head touched the small pillow.

*****

Sasuke awoke to loud arguing outside his door, the words invading his sleep. It took a few moments until his fuzzy mind filtered meaning out of the senseless noise.

"I want to see him! He might not be alive anymore."

"You know he's alive, you fanatic! Leave him alone."

"Suigetsu is right, Karin. He'll be angry if you disturb him."

Sasuke couldn't suppress the groan that fell from his lips. Was it so difficult to just leave him alone? The noise suddenly died down and he heard the shuffling of feet.

At least Jugo is keeping them out.

It was then, his mind registered the throbbing ache that thumped through his body. Even after sleeping, he could barely move. He groaned again, this time from the dulling pain that wouldn't end. How was he supposed to walk away from any battlefield, if the aftermath of his jutsu felt like this?

The answer was straightforward.

I won't.

The simplicity of that truth made Sasuke smile.

I should have died together with Itachi anyway.

Konoha was his last battle.

Finally.

He closed his eyes and sighed, satisfied and as close to happy as he could get. Suddenly, his mind showed him that blond girl from town again. His eyelids sprang open, his heart thumping.

What the...? Why?

Deep inside, he had a very good idea why his thoughts constantly came back to her. He couldn't forget the bolt of lightning that had hit his gut. The jolt of surprise that had shot through him and the disbelief. Feeling like this, so alive, at the brink of death - he hated that he had liked it.

Maybe I should have gone to see her.

Stunned at his own thoughts, Sasuke suddenly felt angry again.

"I don't get this", he mumbled to himself, covering his eyes with his forearm. For his whole life, he hadn't wasted more than a minute altogether on the thought of girls, and now? What was this new fixation?

It's him, his mind supplied.

No. It had to be about the girl. It had to.

An image of Naruto flared up before his hurting eyes - a memory of the day Naruto had looked up at Sasuke from the crater of Orochimaru's old compound.

It was in that moment Sasuke knew without a doubt that, no, it wasn't about the girl.

Naruto.

It was the first time in a week, since that day in town, that he allowed himself to think the idiots name without restraint. Images flooded his mind and Sasuke let them come, let the remembrance of his one true friend choke him.

The violent longing that suddenly surged through his body, the vicious need to go see the blond man disturbed Sasuke deeply.

It felt like a knife, slicing through his gut, splitting him open and laying bare a heart that hadn't felt life in so long, it nearly had forgotten how to beat.

That sensation hurt more than sore muscles and exhaustion ever could. Sasuke felt like dying, like ripping his heart from his chest, so the burning would stop. He couldn't breathe.

Naruto.

It was like failing to grip the edge of a cliff while falling.

In his mind, a hand grabbed his. He looked towards the face he once had known so well. The light radiating of the idiot - blue and yellow mixed to a glowing orange - shone so brightly, it blinded him.

I had to leave.

The thought was clear and cutting, slashing through the vision without mercy and Sasuke fell back into darkness.

Before I could see only you.

He had severed their bond, had chosen a different way, the right way. Now, there was nothing left. Nothing. No light. No hand. Just an empty space.

I'm an avenger.

Sasuke bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted iron.

He hadn't anticipated the sheer force of a suppressed memory, taken aback by its intensity. He had been caught unaware; unaware that he was still capable of feeling like this. He was just like every other lost soul he had encountered - drawn to the only light nearby, they gathered around Naruto.

But Sasuke had another purpose, another road to walk.

"Focus", he said loudly into the silence of his room. "Focus on what is important."

*****

Three days later, when the pain in his body had receded to a point he could deal with, Sasuke announced that Team Taka was leaving for Konoha.

"Finally!", Suigetsu shouted and punched the air. "I'm so ready to kick ass!"

Sasuke had to suppress a smile, because yes, he felt the same. After days and days alone with the darkness and his thoughts, he needed distraction. He needed the knowledge that he fulfilled his purpose.

"Let's head out", he said calmly and jumped into the trees.

*****

They were in a cave near the fire country's borders. It had been raining the whole night and small clouds of mist collected in the fields now the sun was rising and warming the land.

"As if you could beat me in a battle, you witch", Suigetsu's laughing voice boomed into the cave, echoing from the walls and tearing Sasuke from his sleep yet again.

I swear, one of these days...

"Sasuke-kun", he heard Karin chirp. "The sun is rising."

He unwrapped himself from the thin blanket and from his dreamless sleep. The cool morning air was fresh on his skin. It was a day like many others had been and yet, it was the day his revenge would come to an ultimate end. They would cross borders during late morning hours and reach Konoha in the early afternoon if they rushed. His time drew near.

At the entrance of the cave, Sasuke stilled and looked down at his team. A grinning Suigetsu, a blushing Karin and a composed Jugo returned his stare. Suddenly a thought crossed Sasuke's mind.

Maybe he had chosen them for their resemblance.

No.

Sasuke looked at Suigetsu for a moment.

No. I'm not that weak.

"Let's go", he prompted, feeling enraged, and jumped off the rock.

*****

The trees sped past them, time was flying.

After a few more miles Sasuke suddenly tensed. He nearly missed the branch he had focused on, but his chakra held him in place when he landed just a bit too late. He could feel the earth rumble.

What was going on?

"What is this?", Suigetsu shouted behind him trying to keep his balance. Suddenly, hundreds of birds flew over their heads, screeching in panic.

Sasuke tried to mask his surprise as his skin began to prickle just before the remnants of a powerful jutsu brushed past them in a cloud of dust. It was apparent where it came from.

What the hell is happening in Konoha?

The earth stopped shaking and he trained his eyes on the horizon. Unexpectedly, he felt a presence right before them. It was hard to determine who it was.

Sasuke send out his Chakra and still couldn't make out a form or measure any potential. He knew only one person who was this good at concealing his being.

He rushed forward.

"What do you want?", Sasuke shot at the orange mask of the man waiting on an extra thick tree branch in direct view when he landed beside him.

Suigetsu, Karin and Jugo waited in safe distance. He could feel them.

"You were supposed to keep out of this. I thought I made myself clear when we discussed my plan." Sasuke was angry.

"Konoha has been destroyed", Madara said, his voice dark.

It cost Sasuke every bit of self-control he had to not just gawp.

"Pain has destroyed the village", explained Zetsu while he was still materializing out of the tree the old Uchiha stood on. "There's barely anything left."

"Perfect", Madara said.

"The village is destroyed?", Sasuke asked, just to be sure he had heard right.

"Yes", Zetsu answered.

Sasuke was sure he didn't feel anything in particular at the news, but something was off. Why couldn't he breathe properly?

Naruto.

"My revenge", he mumbled automatically, meaning something else entirely.

"Don't worry, Sasuke. The ones responsible will have fled before Pain could act. By the way, is he already on the way to the meeting point?", Madara asked Zetsu.

"No, Naruto just started fighting him when I left."

Sasuke's head shot up.

He's alive.

"Well, well. The boy might be useful, indeed", Madara drawled. "I would hate to dispose of Pain myself now that he's useless."

All of a sudden the earth shook so violently, Sasuke could hear Karin shriek in fear behind him. A Chakra so dark and sinister filled the entire forest that the air around them was flickering with heat.

The Kyubi.

"This is taking an ugly turn", Madara commented the gradually darkening red hue of the sky. "It's the boy."

Sasuke charged forward without thinking. He raced from tree to tree, knowing that his team was far behind him. He was not sure know about Madara and Zetsu, though. But it didn't matter.

What did, though, he wasn't so sure either. He just knew that needed to hurry.

He was out of breath, when he stopped at a battlefield unlike any he had ever seen. There was Pain, forced up high into the air by Naruto's hand and the blond was covered in what seemed to be the demons cloak, but much more developed.

And the tails were forming at an alarming speed.

Seven.

At Naruto's feet lay a battered Hinata.

A roar sounded through the vast crater of what had been Sasuke's home once.

Time was running out.

Eight.

Sasuke barely registered that he was forming seals. He was doing it unconsciously, his body acting on its own. His vision sharpened with what had to be his activated Sharingan and without really knowing what he had done, he found himself surrounded by vaguely familiar walls, his feet covered by murky water.

"Open the door and I will give you what you seek", echoed a threatening voice through his head, bouncing of the walls of this unreal place.

In front of him, Sasuke could see Naruto.

Something tore at is insides and he wanted to speak.

Naruto, surrounded by simmering red Chakra, lifted his hand towards the seal on the giant cage Sasuke hadn't noticed before and his attention was diverted.

Suddenly, everything was obvious. This was Naruto's mind. And the idiot was about to lose control for good, was about to give in to the beast.

Sasuke didn't know how he had done the seals so fast or why he had felt a need to come here at all, but he did know one thing for sure: He could not let Naruto die in the Kyubi's surge for freedom.

He smiled, suddenly at ease and walked towards the one person, who had done so much for him. Standing right behind Naruto, Sasuke could smell the light he had dreamed of. It was weird. Being near the idiot made his breath come so easy.

He covered Naruto's hand with his own.

"Don't do this", he said.