Death is the only way to freedom

Gomen - still haven´t a beta on this one X3

Chapter 4: Surviving:

“Sasuke!” Sasuke could hear someone scream his name before he fainted.

´Naruto? Something is all wrong… why would he attack me like that… Oh no… The Kyuubi! The demon must have possessed him.´

Was he going to die by the hand of the man who he counted as his best friend! If Naruto would kill him, slice his throat… well as long at it was him… it would be ok, Sasuke didn’t want to go on without the Dobe… they had been playing this game of cat and mouse for most of their lives and Sasuke would rather die than lose this only form of closeness he had with the blonde.

´It is the only way I am capable of being with you Naruto! And if I can’t even have that I would rather die at your claws than end up alone in the darkness of my heart. And after the things that I just heard from Aniki… my life... My revenge is based on a lie… Itachi… why didn’t you tell me! ´

All his thoughts melted away in the darkness… expecting death to be swift and hopefully painless.

~ # ~

The pink-haired girl rushed forward while screaming out his name as the demonic blonde attacked her former teammate. She was closely followed by Kakashi who had already removed the hitai-ate from his hidden eye to reveal Naruto´s inner secrets.

“Ugh!” The silver-haired nin stumbled right into the young medic-nin as she came to a sudden stop right in front of him.

“Sakura… What the hell are you…” He stared in the same direction as the pink-haired girl and his eyes widened in disbelief.

Uchiha Itachi was standing in front of his fainted brother who was lying on the ground. The blonde demon was standing in front of him… his clawed hand was buried deeply in the taller man’s chest.

“Ugh… so this is how It´s going to end between us eh Angel?” Itachi´s mouth was already welling up with his own blood.

“I´m sorry for what I´m going to do… but like you said… It´s the only… way to…free your… beautiful… soul… from that monster…!” Itachi smiled at the snarling demon.

“Ha you will never defeat me… I will tear them all to little pieces and feast on their intestines!” The Kyuubi laughed evilly and dug his claws deeper into the older Uchiha´s chest… searching for his heart.

“You really loved that blonde brat… didn’t you… You Uchiha´s all have a weakness for blonde’s eh?” it grinned and licked up some of Itachi´s blood from his opened chest.

“Yeah guess you could say I loved him… and that’s why I have to do all I can to save him...” He drew in a deep and painful breath and concentrated one last time as he felt the life leave his body.

“Forgive me Naruto!... Amaterasu no jutsu!” He screamed and pushed his hand right trough the blonde’s seal marked stomach to burn out the demon once and for all with his ´shining heaven` attack that would burn with a jet black flame for seven days and nights.

Hopefully destroying the nine tailed fox and Itachi begged for his blonde angel to be strong enough to survive by the help of the young but skilled medic-nin and his former sensei.

The fox’s red eyes widened in pain and surprise… it didn’t expect that the older Uchiha would be willing to sacrifice his lover to get to kill the demon inside of him.

Itachi feel to his knees… the end was near now. He stared at the blonde; his eyes slowly changing from bright red to a deep blue color. Naruto raised his gaze to look into Itachi´s eyes before he wrapped his arms around the taller male’s neck.

“…It worked…. Itachi… it really worked!” He gritted his teeth at the burning flame that threatened to engulf him. The blonde knew that if he allowed himself to doze of now… he would most likely not wake up again.

“Yeah… “ The older man panted, blood streaming from his mouth and chest as the blonde withdrew his hand.

“Oh no…. No Itachi… please don´t die… I´m so sorry… I never meant to..”

“It´s not your fault Angel… you… didn’t do… anything wrong… don´t blame… yourself… It was the Kyuubi… not you!” He was having trouble to speak, the pain was really bad and his body was starting to feel numb… not a good sign! He heard the blonde’s teammates calling out to Naruto as they were running towards them.

“Angel… no Naruto… I want you… to know.. that I was… happy… for the time… we got to spend… together,…. I love you… and I want you… to become… happy with… my little… stupid… brother… he loves you too!”

Itachi looked at the blonde, his clouded blue eyes filled with tears… he was dying… dying just like Itachi was. He felt hands on his body, dragging him away from the blonde, He raised his arm and reached out for the one he loved so dearly. “No… don´t take him away from me!” Naruto cried out with his last strength. “I want to stay with him till the end!”

Both Itachi and Naruto already knew that the raven-haired man’s wounds were to great to heal and besides… there was only one medic-nin and she was certain to heal Naruto before she would even take a look at Itachi.

“Naruto? Why?” Kakashi stared from the blonde to the dying Uchiha in disbelief, but Naruto didn’t even hear his former sensei’s questions, he weakly grabbed hold of Itachi´s hand to be there for him.

“Sorry… for dragging… you… into this.” he whispered heavily as he saw the life slowly leave the older male’s dark eyes.

“Promise me… That… you’ll take… good care… of him… and tell him… that I´m… sorry for… everything… I just… wanted… to keep… Him safe… from…” Naruto felt Itachi´s muscles tighten one last time, his hand clenching Naruto´s… and then it was all over…. Itachi was dead… his soul gone and his dark lifeless eyes stared at the young blonde.

Naruto just stared at the lifeless body beside him; tears running down his whiskered cheeks.

´ How can I go on living… when I´m the one responsible for his death… he gave his life to protect… Sasuke… and to save me from myself. Will I ever be able to forgive myself? ´

He felt the warm sensation as Sakura desperately tried to repair his badly damaged body. Kakashi was about to create a seal around the fatal wound, to stop the cursed black flames that still burned his skin from spreading.

“Naruto…. Stay with us!” The pink haired medic cried as she could feel that he was starting to drift into the darkness… he was dying.

“NO!” She screamed and enhanced the mass of green chakra so she would be able to heal him faster even though it tore painfully at her body.

“I´m not going to lose you… I’ll kill you if you die!” She screamed, tears streaming down her pink cheeks as the blonde slowly drifted of into unconsciousness.

~ # ~

Two days later in the hospital in Konoha-Gakure:

“Any progress on either of them, Hokage-sama?” Kakashi asked the big breasted woman in front of him while he was trying to comfort the trembling teacher in his arms.

“No… The flames are still burning in Naruto´s skin… and if Jiraiya is right, this will continue for another four days… but his condition is stable and the wound is slowly closing. He’ll have to get used to be more careful in the future as it seams that the Kyuubi is gone for good… I still have to do a few check-ups when he’s fully recovered… “ She gave Iruka a reassuring smile and gave his shoulder a light squeeze.

“Naruto…. Will be fine then?” Iruka stared at the smiling blonde woman.

“What about Sasuke? Why isn’t he awake yet?” Kakashi was hugging Iruka closer to make him feel better.

“He’s in a kind of coma that his mind has created to protect him from something… what did Itachi tell him?” She went through the raven-haired teen’s record for the tenth time now.

“Sorry… can’t say… we were to far away… !”

“Then after Itachi´s talk with his brother, Naruto attacked Sasuke and Itachi stepped between and saved Sasuke? Giving his life to protect him?” The blonde Hokage scratched the back of her head… feeling confused.

“Yes… and after Naruto regained control over himself he screamed at us to let him stay with Itachi as he died… almost as if they were close or something like that!” Kakashi nuzzled into the teachers brown pony-tail… The dolphin smelled so good, the copy-nin smirked beneath his mask.

The three grownups looked through the glass window to the room were Naruto and Sasuke was being treated. Sakura who had finally fallen asleep after almost two days of watching over the two males, her head rested on Naruto´s hand.

Kakashi stared in wonder at the scenery… she had grown so attached to the blonde teen in Sasuke´s absence… could it be that she had replaced the love she had for Sasuke with love for Naruto instead?

“Shouldn’t we wake her up, so that she could go home and get some rest? Iruka leaned against the glass, touching it with his hands.

“No, she would just refuse… let her sleep… She told me that she had to be here when Naruto wakes up!”… Besides she did a great job out there… if it weren’t for her and you Kakashi we would have lost him forever.” Sakura had told Tsunade that she had actually lost the blonde… he had stopped breathing…. His heart stopped beating … but luckily Sakura and Kakashi had managed to bring the blonde back to life after about two minutes…. The longest two minutes in her young life.

“Iruka… come… let’s go home and get some rest. I trust that you’ll send for us if there’s any change at all Hokage-sama!” The silver-haired jounin asked with a firm tone that made the blonde woman raise her brows and the teacher to give him ´the look´.

~ # ~

On the seventh day everyone was waiting anxious to hear about the blonde’s condition. The black flames should be gone any minute now and all Naruto´s friends had gathered in the hospital hall to get the latest news.

Kiba was hanging around his lover Shino, Hinata and her boyfriend Neji as usual. Ino was leaning her back against Choji who was talking to Shikimaru and his girl Temari and her brother Kankurou. Gaara was staring through the glass to observe his best friend in silence. Kakashi and Iruka were talking to Jiraiya and the other team leaders. Even the old Ichiraku and his daughter had closed the ramen shop to go visit their favorite blonde.

Naruto had changed their lives, made it more colored and cheerful, they all worried about his well being and wanted to see him smile and grin to them again soon.

He was important to all of them… he was their friend.

~ # ~

Sasuke was still lying unconscious in the bed next to the blonde’s. He wasn’t moving… and showed not even the slightest sign of change.

Sakura sadly wondered if neither of her former teammates would ever wake up again.

Tsunade, Sakura and a few other medics were examining the blonde’s almost fully healed stomach wound. It was healing without complication due to the containment seal that Kakashi had placed on the blonde’s body to prevent the unholy fire to spread.

“It´s almost as if Itachi had modified the attack so it would affect only the Kyuubi inside of Naruto!” The Hokage wondered what motives the late Uchiha could have had to do something like that instead of killing the brat….
It was almost as if Itachi had wanted to keep the blonde as safe and unharmed as possible.

Kakashi had told her that the blonde seamed eager to stay with the dying man, holding his hand… crying for him as he passed… Since when did Naruto start to like the older Itachi… She could only speculate.

“The wound is almost healed and the cursed black fire has depleted… now its up to him to wake up and reenter the world!”