Not a Fairy Tale

Disclaimer: I own nothing

When he closes his eyes, he can still see the blur of colors as enemy nin swoop in on their mission to find Sakura.

He still hears the sickening crunch of Neji being run through as a double bladed sword that's almost twice his size pierces through him. He can hear Hinata scream as she suffers the same fate as her cousin. Sees Naruto drop by her body, trying to get her to wake up while knowing that she never will. He sees Kiba die at the hands of Kabuto and the knowledge that he's weak burns through his veins.

He can't save his friends.

He watches Sakura explode. Sees Kabuto's body burn, feels the heat rush over him again. He's ashamed to say, in her final moments, when she was shining with fury and fire, he averted his eyes. He remembers when he looked back, the white-haired man's body was still there but Sakura's was gone and he can still feel that rising bubble of hope that rushed through him when he saw she wasn't there. When called out her name, believing he'd be able to see her there, still alive. He remembers naively for her until Naruto gives him a black eye and tells him, sobbing, that she's gone.

Gone forever.

When he opens his eyes, he's assaulted by the colors of a world without her. The day of her funeral is bright and sunny and he thinks it's ironic that a bright day like today is for the funeral of a girl that he loves, of two of his best friends that he has known forever and the boy who swore that to protect the girl he loves when he couldn't be there to do it himself.

On one side Naruto is sobbing, unashamedly, his tears huge drops that fall at his feet, dampening the ground below him. But on his other side, there's Tenten who takes things silently, watching with stony eyes as her boyfriend is buried.

Inside of himself, he can feel a storm churning. He wants to cry, unleash everything inside of him like Naruto is doing but there's something holding him back and he watches with cold eyes, detached from the world; just like Tenten.

He wonders why he gets the honor of living when so many others, others with more to live for than he, died.

It isn't fair.

Life isn't fair.

He can feel a rebellious little teardrop make a path down his face as he says his last goodbyes to his friends.

As he walks away, he still can't believe that this is real. This is reality.

His friends are really dead.

The enemy is gone.

He's alive.

There will be other missions, he knows, there will be more deaths, he knows.

He will die, he knows.

But that pain will only be physical.

Inside, right now, other than grief, he feels...

Nothing.

He is empty, hollow on the inside.

Like someone has carved him out from the inside.

Like someone tore his heart out and it's like the ache he felt when he had to leave Sakura years ago, when she couldn't say his name without crying out in pain, only way worse.

He wonders if all of those things people say are true, that she's watching him from above, that she'll always be with him.

He doesn't believe it, he doesn't believe any of it.

Sure, her memories are with him but he doesn't feel her presence.

He turns to Tenten and she's looking at him with an understanding that Naruto lacks, because unlike them he buys into it, believes that Hinata is watching over him in some high-above plane.

Tenten's eyes reflect the storm that is raging within him and she knows, she knows better than anyone there what he's feeling.

The nod to acknowledge one another, but do nothing more than that.

Today is a day for grieving.

Tomorrow will be too.

So will the next day.

Maybe it will get better, maybe it won't.

But he knows one thing, he can lean on her and she can lean on him, and they won't be totally alone.

He won't be totally alone.

Alright guys, here's the epilogue. Just remember, you wanted one.

YOU WANTED ALL THIS SADNESS AND TORTURE.

Special thanks to everyone who read/reviewed/followed/favorited this story.

If you want to give me a prompt and/or a pairing, I will love you and write it eventually.