A/N: Hey guys! Yeah I know it's been forever. My apologies. Enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 18: Purge

000

"Search for the answers I knew all along
I lost myself, we all fall down
Never the wiser of what I've become
Alone I stand, a broken man

Say something new
I have nothing left
I can't face the dark without you
There's nothing left to lose
The fight never ends
I can't face the dark without you"

"Without You" – Breaking Benjamin

000

Sakura remembered feeling petrified. Itachi had long ended the phone conversation, and she found herself glaring off into space like an idiot, the phone still pressed against her ear.

It had started to rain outside.

Sakura watched the drops falling down onto the windshield of the car in soft streams. The sound was like a gentle pitter patter against the glass at first, suddenly morphing into a loud, hasty drumming as the rain drops became heavier and more frequent.

Sakura's mind seemed to float above her, and her body was left at a standstill, watching the pouring rain as her brain circled about itself rethinking every moment up until now.

Neji was dead.

Neji Hyuuga just killed himself.

It took Sakura a few moments to break out of her trans and to notice Ino's hands frantically waving in the air. Her voice was slowly coming back into focus.

"-HAPPENED? Sakura? Do you hear me? Tell me what happened!" Ino shrieked, obviously noticing the look of shock and uncertainty splayed across Sakura's expression.

Sakura shook her head. She couldn't tell Ino the news now. "We have to go," she managed meekly. "We have to go now."

Ino swallowed her next words, eyes wide with fear and confusion. If it were any time for her to shut up and understand, it was now, and she knew it. She blinked and met Sakura's terrified eyes with her own, an understanding being made between the two of them. Sakura didn't have to say a word. Ino knew this situation was serious, and they had to take action, no questions asked. "Okay," Ino murmured. "Let's turn this car around."

Sakura brought her phone back into her lap. She wanted to call Sasuke and tell him that everything was going to be okay, that although she might not fully understand his situation, she was on his side.

It was at that moment a horrid thought came into her mind.

Sasuke was with Neji.

Ino was watched as the gears turned in Sakura's head. If she only knew the truth behind it all, she would understand why this situation had just gone from bad to worse.

Did Sasuke already know of the suicide?

And if not, how much longer did they have before he figured it out and went off of the deep end?

Only Sakura knew how close the two of them really were, and that Neji's death could cause Sasuke to do something rash.

"He's going to hurt himself," Sakura whimpered, desperately repeating the directions Itachi gave her to Ino, word by word.

Ino nodded her head to Sakura's instructions and started the car, mumbling hopeful banter. "Listen, Forehead. That's probably not the case. I may not know Sasuke very well but I don't think he would-"

Suddenly, Sakura caught glimpse of another car flying down the road. Ino's voice began to fade into the distance once again and Sakura's breath caught in her throat.

The car was not slowing down.

"INO!"

Ino swerved out of the way, cursing. Sakura gasped and let out a shriek as the car jolted off a small embankment landing roughly into the mud. It wasn't that big of a drop, but it was enough to cause Sakura's stomach to fly up into her chest. If it wasn't for Ino's quick thinking, the other car would have slammed into them as they were doing the U-turn. What's worse is that car was going at least 85 mph down the road and didn't even stop to see if they were okay.

"Crazy Motherfucker!" Ino screamed out her window, the veins above her eyes bulging with ferocity.

Sakura was panting, unable to catch her breath. Who could that have been? She stared at the car from a distance, trying to remember if she had seen faces as it past.

Of course the vehicle was going too fast for her to see much of anything. But there was something about the car that made her memory spark.

She had seen that car before.

The memory hit her like a ton of bricks. That was the same style car that she saw Neji arrive in the day she was leaving Sasuke's mansion for the very first time. It was practically a limo. The car was from the Hyuuga Estate. It had to be.

Then it hit her.

"We need to follow that car," She said sternly. "I could be wrong, but if I'm not then that is a car used by Neji's Clan. "We need to find out if they are going to the same place," She swallowed. "I don't know how glad they'll be to see Sasuke if they are…"

Ino was still catching her breath, her face perplexed.

"Sakura. I think you have a lot of things to explain to me." She said calmly.

Sakura nodded in agreement. "I will tell you everything, as soon as I'm sure that Sasuke will be okay."

Ino took a deep breath, put the car in gear and pressed on the gas.

The engine revved and made a groaning sound as the wheels desperately tried to climb over the small dip and back onto the road. Ino angrily stepped on the accelerator again, this time the front wheels inching forward, but the back wheels stuck in endless rotation, slowly becoming more and more bonded down by the mud.

Sakura swallowed. This was not good.

Ino through her hands up into the air. "Well isn't this fucking FAN-Tastic! What are we going to do now?"

Sakura could feel her heart pounding in her ears to the beat of the thunder outside. The rain was coming down in torrents now, the sky as black as tar.

The world and nature were against her, and yet something still spoke through to her:

Sasuke needs you.

Ino was going on about calling a car service when Sakura opened her door.

"Maybe we could just ah – Sakura! What the hell are you doing?"

Sakura stepped out into the rain. Nothing was going to prevent her from getting to Sasuke. He needed help now more than ever and she might be the only one who could get to him in time.

If he hurts himself, I'll never forgive myself.

Sakura leaned against the doorframe to yell her directions over the storm. "When I start pushing the car, give it as much gas as possible, do you understand?"

"Sakura, are you nuts? Get back in the car and let me call someone to get us!"

Sakura slammed the car door shut and ran around the back of the vehicle. The rain rushed down upon her, soaking through her clothing in seconds with what felt like harsh bullets for drops.

She gave the car a once over, noticing that both of the back wheels were still visible, but still tightly wedged into the growing amount of mud. She had never really understood cars or knew how to fix them, but she did know one thing for certain: The mud had to go.

Sakura dropped to her hands and knees and began scooping the mud away from the tires as quickly as she could. Once she figured she had enough pushed out of the way, she stood and pushed all of her weight into the vehicle.

"NOW Ino!" She called.

Sakura could feel Ino press on the gas slowly at first and then begin to accelerate. The wheels squealed, screamed, spun. Sakura willed them to move forward but her wish was not granted.

"Get back in the car, Sakura!" Ino called from the window.

Sakura growled in frustration and went back to the ground. She grabbed as much of the mud as she could and threw it from her path. She could practically see Sasuke sitting alone, by himself with a dead body and no one to hold him.

She stood again.

This car is going to fucking move.

She leaned into the car.

"Gas!" She screamed.

At first, Sakura heard the familiar spinning of the car wheels and nearly lost her hope. However, after a few seconds the car lurched forward and Sakura landed face first into the mud.

She couldn't have been happier.

Sakura looked up from her position in the mud to see Ino bringing the car up on the paved road again. Leaving the car running, Ino jumped out of the driver's side and ran to Sakura's aide.

"You are fucking nuts, Forehead!" Ino chided as took her arm to help her from the ground.

Sakura shivered.

The rain was unforgiving.

The sky was a picture of death. A vast and blackened canvas, reminding her of Neji's lost soul.

"Let's get back into the car." She whispered.

They made it back safely, both of them drenched and Sakura filthy, but Sakura didn't care. Ino peeled out of the road, looking at Sakura from the corners of her eyes.

Sakura nodded, silently thanking her. She hoped that they weren't too late. All she could do was pray that Sasuke was not in any kind of danger.

I'll be there soon, Sasuke. Just hang on.

Sakura wiped some of the mud from her face, hazily contemplating how she must look after that struggle. Ino drove at a careful pace as Sakura began to give her the directions once again. The other car was long gone and the road was quiet.

A hush came over them for a long time. Both were cold, shaking.

Sakura looked to her best friend and knew she had to tell her the truth about everything. All the way back to that night at the bar where the entire journey began.

"Ino. Let me start from the beginning."

000

"JESUS god, you almost hit that fucking car Hinata!" Naruto yelled, as the innocent passerby swerved to miss being clipped by their speeding vehicle.

He had never before seen Hinata like this. He had no idea what was told to her, but his heart was racing and he felt sick.

"Naruto, you don't understand. Itachi said it was an emergency. I have to get to my cousin."

Hinata was breaking every road law in the book and nearly pummeled into another car without blinking. At this point, Naruto feared for his life.

"You need to slow down, Hinata." He pleaded.

Hinata responded by pressing her foot down firmly on the accelerator.

Naruto cringed and grasped the side of the chair. "Baby, if you don't slow down we won't make it there in one piece. Calm down."

Hinata's eyes narrowed and the car remained at 95 mph.

Slowly, Naruto reached his arm over to caress his love's shoulder. She tensed beneath him and he could clearly see the fear behind her white eyes.

"It's going to be okay, Hinata. I'm here for you no matter what." He whispered.

Hinata bit her lip, and Naruto could see she was fighting back tears. "But what if it's not okay?" She asked quietly. "What if it's not going to be okay?"

Naruto didn't have an answer to her question.

"We have to have hope, Hinata. That's all we can do."

Hinata nodded her head briskly, and the car began to reach normal speed once again.

And although he said the words, Naruto did not know how much truth were held behind them. All he knew was that the terror in his mind and the heaviness in his heart would not go away.

The closer they got to Hinata's cabin, the worse the pain in his gut seemed to ache him.

The rain streamed down angrily over their car. The clouds in the sky were blacker than night and that blackness reflected the feeling Naruto was having in his gut.

His pain intensified to an overwhelming shriek of terror:

This is not going to end well. Something terrible has happened.

Naruto could feel it in his bones.

And although he told Hinata to have faith, he knew by the dread in her gaze that she could feel the blackness too.

000

Fugaku contemplated leaving.

Who needed this miserable town anyhow?

A crowd of pathetic and worthless people surrounded him, offering apologies and condolences for a wife he didn't love.

He would have rather she perished with the bullet, but alas, his luck always falls through. That idiot brat could never do a single thing right in his life.

Now, he found himself stuck, no, bound to a hospital, doomed to play the role of the doting husband waiting to hear the news of his critical conditioned wife.

He contemplated leaving.

He had nothing here to benefit him. All he had left to his family name and legacy was a half dead wife, a robot of a son and tons and tons of police paper work.

Was he forgetting something? Oh, of course he was.

Sasuke.

How could Sasuke continue to benefit him in the long haul? He snorted. Yeah, as if Sasuke could be worth anything more than a last minute fuck.

However, he did truly enjoy the suffering that his presence brought into those black eyes.

Fugaku took a swig from his canteen he brought in. Well, obviously it wasn't water, was it? No.

Many people were watching him. Waiting for him to cry or something. He tried to look sad but wasn't sure how to accomplish that task. He was sure he looked sad or disappointed when someone had stabbed him. Maybe he should channel that feeling?

Oh, what a jacked up family life he had. How this must look to the public! A Chief of Police, adored and loved by all, who was nearly assassinated and who is waiting to hear if his wife has now lost her own life.

Fugaku then got an interesting thought that probably made him look more amused than sad.

Perhaps, if Sasuke is returned to the family, Fugaku could blame him for shooting his mother and the attempted assassination and punish him to live a life of solitude.

No, too easy.

He contemplated leaving.

But wait, hadn't he already mentioned that before?

Sasuke was no longer affected by trivial punishments such as solitude. Fugaku would have to think of something more sinister to be able to finally get under Sasuke's skin.

He was getting hard just thinking about it.

000

Sasuke wasn't sure how long it was that he lay on the cold tile of the bathroom, surrounded by blood. It was probably only an hour, but the time felt like years.

Since he could not turn back time, he now wished that he could freeze it. He wished the world would just stop, and leave him alone so that he and Neji could stay here and never be parted.

Society would have never accepted their relationship anyhow.

Sasuke clenched his teeth. How dare Neji's family desert him.

Sasuke began to think that if perhaps some of the people in his family had supported his decision to be gay, it might have helped Neji to know that he had some home to go back to, some place that would have welcomed him even if he and Sasuke couldn't continue on.

But Neji had no one but me.

And now he's gone.

Sasuke studied what little parts of Neji's face remained intact. Through all of the gore and terror, the Hyuuga seemed to look at peace.

Sasuke hated him for it.

"How could you just…leave me here? Knowing what this would do to me…" He imagined that if Neji could still speak, he would have scowled and reminded Sasuke that a pretty, folded white note was left for him in the other room. One that told him to stay put and would have kept him from witnessing the ghastly scene. Neji's condescending tone could still be heard from the afterlife. "You should have listened to me," he would be saying.

"I would have still come after you, either way." Sasuke whispered, vaguely aware that he was exchanging conversation with himself.

Another slam echoed around the cabin and Sasuke jolted, for a moment wondering if it was another gun shot. His hands clutched onto the fabric of Neji's shirt and he waited, silence of the empty house suddenly turning into the barrage of incoming footsteps.

Sasuke didn't know who was coming around the corner. But he knew that this terrible act was about to hit full scale reality, and he wasn't sure if he was ready for that.

"S-stay away…" His voice trembled and the tears returned. He clenched his hands into Neji's bloody shirt.

"Sasuke?" A voice called out, footsteps closer.

He wasn't ready to face it yet.

"No!" Sasuke yelled, pressing himself firmly down on the cold body. "No – stay away from us!"

The reverberations of footsteps came to an abrupt stop, the sound of wet shoes squeaking to a halt against the wooden floor. The silence returned.

Sasuke slowly looked up to the doorframe and met eyes with his blond best friend.

Naruto stood stock frozen, mouth agape, wordless. He was in mid run, both arms stretched out and braced against the doorframe of the bathroom. He was clearly drenched, his shirt clinging to his skin, his hair dripping water down his reddened face. His chest rose and fell, the only noise was his heavy breath and the pounding of his heart.

Sasuke didn't have to say anything, his eyes told the story of his heart, and his pain. He sobbed and shook. Naruto didn't budge, his eyes continually skimmed over the bloody room, and then down to his own feet that were touching blood that had spread from the body. His eyes locked onto the gun then returned to look back at Sasuke, then back to the deformed corpse. Naruto looked like he was about to puke. Sasuke said nothing. Naruto's eyes welled up with tears. The blond could not stop looking at the exposed wound where the Hyuuga's head once was. He was in shock.

Sasuke just let the waves of sadness wash over him. It was real now. He wasn't sure if he could handle it. He was ready to give into the madness and disgust that was his life. He had never felt like more of a failure, he had never felt more like trash in his entire life.

He was alone.

Sasuke, however, realized very suddenly that he was not going too able to wallow in his sadness anymore as he was snapped into a new level of horror by the sound of a feminine shrill.

"Naruto-kun, what is it?! Where is my cousin?"

The horror in Sasuke's eyes bled straight through to Naruto, and although the pain and trauma was still so very real, Sasuke knew they could not let Hinata be a part of it.

Sasuke threw his arm up, pointing to the sound of her voice. She was rounding the corner at top speed.

"Don't you fucking let her see," Sasuke choked, looking for something, a towel, anything just to cover the wreckage of blood and misery. "Naruto. Don't let her come in here."

Tears streamed down Naruto's cheeks but resignation hit him, and Sasuke could tell that he understood.

It would ruin Hinata to see Neji in this condition.

Naruto turned around and Sasuke could hear the collision of the two bodies in the hallway.

It was a revolting secret that could not be shared. Sasuke's legs trembled as he rose to his feet, stepping over chunks of flesh to grab a towel from the bath side counter.

No one else will see you this way.

"Get back, Hinata." Naruto said calmly.

Motionless. No words. Sasuke could feel the tension grow.

"What's going on?!"

A struggle.

"What are you keeping from me?!" Hinata screamed, fighting against Naruto.

Voices were getting farther away. Sasuke could only imagine Naruto carting Hinata up and out of the cabin. "I said, get back god dammit!"

Sasuke had never heard his best friend speak in such a way. Especially not to Hinata.

He could still hear her screaming and crying as Naruto forced her back outside.

"I hate you! I hate you!"

Sasuke took one last look at the body.

The front door slammed. Naruto had pushed her out the house.

Thank you, Uchiha. Sasuke could practically here Neji's gratitude from the spirit realm. He would have never wanted his cousin to see his body this way.

Sasuke covered Neji's upper half with the towel.

"You're welcome…" Sasuke murmured.

Sasuke left the bathroom.

He walked down the hall, blood trailing from his shoes across the floor.

He opened the front door.

Shut it.

Sasuke looked straight up. It was raining outside.

The water besieged him like a thousand micro bullets. He could feel the heavy coats of blood being cleansed from his filthy skin. He blinked. The water rinsed out red around his feet.

He realized that Hinata was in front of him, yanking on his arms, her white eyes dilated with anger, fear, horror.

Deep down inside, Sasuke knew that she already knew.

Her eyes looked him up and down. She could see that he was covered in blood. She screamed at him to tell her something, tell her something…

Her mouth was moving but it wasn't making any words or sense to him.

Naruto was hunched over, retching.

Sasuke just wanted to be left alone.

Hinata grabbed his face between her small hands and clenched him in a tight grip. His eyes met hers. Finally, he could hear her voice.

"Sasuke?! Is-" She was hyper ventilating.

"Is he dead?"

Her mouth quivered and she looked like she was about to collapse. Naruto rose and clenched his arms around her waist tightly. She didn't fight his embrace.

"I'm sorry," Sasuke managed to mumble. "I wish I could've prevented it."

That's all it took for the truth to sink in.

Hinata's gaze shifted from Sasuke's eyes to the distance, he couldn't really tell what she was looking at of if she was even looking at anything. Her mouth hung open and her hands retracted from Sasuke's face so quickly, an onlooker might suppose she was electrocuted at the touch of him.

Sasuke almost had the urge to reach for her, collect her into his arms and share their pain with an embrace.

But it was then that her eyes found his once again.

A fierce sting came to his face with such swiftness, he didn't even see her hand.

Her eyes burned and she looked to him with such hate, as though he were the very plague, the very bullet that entered her cousins head and cut off the lights.

"I trusted him to you." She hissed.

Naruto held her hands firmly, shouting something to Sasuke.

Sasuke's eye twitched and clenched up where she hit him. The pain brought him back to Earth for a few moments, long enough for him to mutter, "I'm sorry Hinata."

Hinata's anger melted away and her legs buckled. Naruto went to the ground with her.

Sasuke walked off of the porch and into the rain.

He could hear her wailing following him along the blowing wind. An eternal sound.

Naruto was calling for him but he did not turn back.

He walked further into the storm, willing the darkness to envelop him forever, to transport him away from this god forsaken place.

The rain felt good on his skin. After a while, he couldn't tell which were his tears and what was the rain. He was overtaken by his heartache and he knew deep down that it was all his fault.

He was worthless.

He wanted to disappear into the storm.

He didn't know how long he had walked.

He heard tires screeching.

000

"Stop the car." Sakura said solemnly.

She spotted him through the darkness. A dead man walking. Soaked in rain. Stained with blood.

If she didn't reach out to him now, he would be lost forever.

000

He didn't stop to look.

He didn't care.

He wanted to be free from this world, he had no binding any longer.

Nothing could change his mind.

"SASUKE!"

The voice filled his ears and his heart nearly gave into the pain.

Those memories.

That face. That laugh.

It isn't real.

She wouldn't be here. She never wanted to see you again.

"Sasuke, over here!"

Sasuke turned and his heart fluttered with sorrow.

It was her.

"Sakura," He croaked.

There she stood.

Mere steps away.

Deluged in the rainwater, covered to her waist in mud, there she stood, Sakura Haruno, calling his name.

An image of light and beauty masked by darkness.

She looked as though she had been through hell in back, her soaking clothing nearly falling off of her, her body shaking, her eyes wide with fear.

She took a few steps towards him, her face contorted, her arms outstretching as if she wanted to hold him.

"No," He roared, stepping backwards away from her.

Her arms fell.

"Please," He put his hands out in front of him to keep distance. "Leave me alone."

He didn't want to taint her anymore.

"I'm ruined."

He didn't want to drag her through his fucked up life anymore.

"Just go away, don't come near me."

He couldn't do it. Not to her. Not anymore.

She was the one good thing that had ever touched his life and he destroyed it like stepping on a beautiful flower, he broke her heart.

He couldn't even fathom why she had come.

How did she know he was here?

What kind of twisted game was this?

"Sasuke, listen to me," She called. "I know about everything."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I know about Neji."

He shook his head.

"I know about your mother,"

He froze.

Their eyes locked.

Look at her. Her sympathy. Her heart reaching for his.

He could practically see her pitying him and his unfortunate situation.

"You know nothing," He growled. "I am a murderer. I killed my own mother."

Sakura smiled.

"She isn't dead Sasuke."

Lightning struck above them and the thunder crashed over them. Neither of them moved. Her words poured over Sasuke like the rain and somewhere, deep inside of him, a large weight was lifted from his soul.

"She's alive?" Sasuke breathed.

Sakura smiled even brighter. Through all of the storm, the dirt, the rain, the disgust and the death her smile never faltered. She nodded, "She's at the hospital, but she's alive."

And Sasuke saw some sort of hope, for the first time in his life.

Hope in the form of a mud covered, soaking wet girl with pink hair.

And she was coming towards him. Like an angel on Earth she glided through the rain, unafraid. Unwavering.

Hope.

"Sakura, please." He couldn't stop himself from crying anymore.

He didn't deserve it.

"I don't deserve you." His lips trembled.

And Sakura just stared into his eyes. Her green orbs dancing with a flame he had never seen before.

She was right in front of him.

There was no turning back he knew, once she touched him.

He felt her warm body enclosed around him, her arms wrapping their way around his waist, pulling him closer.

"I'm here now Sasuke," She murmured. "I'm here, and I'm never letting you go."

000

She could only stare into his eyes.

She didn't have to speak a word to know that in this moment, this was where she was meant to be.

This was her place, right here, right now, with Sasuke.

Even as the rain poured down upon them, she didn't care. Sakura knew this frightened, broken, lonely man was hers and hers alone. She couldn't put back all of the pieces he had lost, surely, she knew this.

But she could hold together every last bit that he had left.

And that's exactly what she did.

She pulled Sasuke close into her arms.

She had never held someone so tight before.

She didn't care how long she had to hold him. She would stand in the rain for hours if she had too.

"I'm here now Sasuke," She whispered softly into his ear. "I'm here, and I'm never letting you go."

000

She grabbed him.

She grasped him so tightly.

Sasuke collapsed into her, and clutched her like she was his last breath.

He had never been given this before.

This compassion.

This love.

He knew now in that moment why he could never say it back to Neji.

This feeling now…

Reunited. Loss. The pain of being left behind and the guilt of hurting her. The happiness, the relief that flooded into him now that he finally could have her back into his arms. Touching her. Hurting her. Hating himself. The regret. The longing. The hope.

…this was love.

His heart shattered into a million pieces.

000

A/N: Wow, long time in the making. Sorry for the horrendous wait. 1-2 More chapters to go before the ending. 3 Love all of my wonderful fans for waiting and being patient. These last couple years have been rough for me – I have dealt with my own loss and death of a family member and am still recovering. Please know I have not forgotten you or the story. Thank you.