Un Bel Dei

-(Act Three, Part Two: Finale)-

Con onor muore
chi non può serbar vita con onore.

-

To die with honour

when one can no longer live with honour.

-

The child had woken and come, sleepy eyed with tired weight, to rest in Naruto's lap.

He smiled down at the boy and petted his dark hair, ruffling it like he did every other day. The gesture comforted the child, who had sensed something was wrong and come running as soon as he had gotten up.

Naruto looked at his lap, at his son who gazed up at him with adoring, dark eyes. He pointed a finger to the boy's nose. "What's your name?"

The boy giggled, "Sorrow!"

Naruto shook his head, smiling back and tickling the youth. "Not anymore…!"

Joy giggled some more, before holding his arms up, asking for hugs. "Why, Papa?"

The blonde man tilted his head to the side. "Remember what daddy told you?"

"Other Papa is here?"

Naruto nodded, the graceful smile never once leaving his lips. The dark haired child's face exploded into a grin.

"We're gonna be a family?" he said, voice high, "We're gonna be happy, just like you said in the stories, Papa!"

The smile faded ever so slightly. "Yes, you're going to have a family…"

He placed the boy next to him, who then proceeded to roll over in a child-like fashion. A quick stretch of legs and Naruto was standing, walking over to a curtain-covered wall.

The only possession Naruto had kept of his own, installed in this house Sasuke had left him.

Naruto ripped down a section of the curtain, the flimsy cloth limp in his hands. It revealed what was beneath, something very precious to Naruto, and he had only realized its true significance minutes ago.

The little boy had only seen it once before, at which point Naruto scolded him for prying, but told him a few details about it none-the-less.

"Do you remember what this is?" he asked the child, turning around and motioning lightly to the object.

"Grand Papa?" the boy said, quizzically turning his head from side to side, not particularly remembering the story.

Naruto leant down and kissed the boy on the forehead, embraced him.

The child looked up and when he felt wetness fall to his cheek.

"Papa… why are you crying?"

"We're going to play a game…" Naruto said, not ignoring the comment, just sheltering his son.

The boy clapped his hands playfully and giggled again, which Naruto smiled at.

"You have to stay perfectly still, alright?" he whispered, bringing up the torn cloth from the curtain and wrapping it around the child's eyes, tying it firmly at the back of his head. It would do.

"Papa?"

"Yes?"

"I love you, Papa," he said, grasping the air trying to hug him again. Naruto ruffled his hair, embraced him once more and then kissed him tenderly, for the very last time.

-

"Enough talk!" Sasuke said, disgruntled.

But it was true. They had been talking about it, arguing and exchanging opinions, but not getting anywhere. Ino was incredibly stubborn and her changing attitudes had little effect on Sasuke.

Now, with all that behind him he had to find Naruto.

Something needed to be said, and although he wasn't sure how it would turn out, he knew it had to be done. Arguing with this feeble-minded blonde woman wasn't going to aid or deter him from the mission he set out to do.

"Where is he?"

Ino stood up. "Our conversation is obviously over."

"I just made that clear…"

Tak-Tak-

The door flung open after a few knocks. Whoever it was, they were very impatient.

Kakashi fell through the door stumbling. Sakura, who looked upset and almost guilty, stood quietly behind him.

"Sir," came the hasty statement, "he knows."

Ino gasped and tried to run out the door. She was stopped by Kakashi, who held her steadfast. Sasuke groaned and pressed his fingers to his head in a thinking gesture.

"How did he take it?"

"… from anybody else's point of view… quite well…"

Sasuke didn't need any further prompts. He knew that anybody else wasn't Kakashi, and that meant it was bad.

"… And?"

"What do you mean… and?" Ino spat at him, still in Kakashi's grip, her words sharp.

Kakashi sighed painfully. "He requests you meet him to collect the child."

Sasuke's eyes widened momentarily. "He agreed to that?"

This reunion had started to stir odd sensations of déjà vu through his veins.

He couldn't deny, he missed the boy a lot. For the first few weeks, his feelings refused to fade and he thought about him every day.

But sure enough, time eventually took its toll, and he had been forcibly moved-on by society and his peers. Sakura had marched into his life proclaiming undying love, without Sasuke ever knowing of her existence before then. Although the feelings for her were practically moot, Sasuke had married the pink-haired, bright-eyed woman on a whim, as so others didn't begin to question his bachelorhood. Little did she know what his love-life entailed before her. He honestly thought she wouldn't have particularly cared for anyone who got in the way of her undying love.

Yet she had begun sobbing again. Sasuke scowled at her filthily, before turning back to Kakashi.

"So, where is he?"

-

After cooing the boy into submission, he had stood motionlessly in front of the wall, the pointed object glaring sunlight into split beams of light.

A beautiful sword, golden embossed foxes and dragons decorated the hilt, which was worn but still exquisite.

His fingers ran along the back of the sword before coming to rest evenly either side of it. Not a sound came when he lifted it delicately from its mount.

It came to lay in his lap, where he ran his fingers delicately along the ancient inscription on the blade. In perfectly crafted Japanese calligraphy, it read 'To die with honour, when one can no longer live with honour.'

He closed his eyes, breathing steady. Prepared.

"So this is what its like, father…" Naruto spoke softly, light fingers searching the sword's intricacies.

He looked once more out at the view, the sleepy little city of Nagasaki. A lone tear fell down his cheek as he picked up the heavy blade.

"It sure is a beautiful day today…"

With serene finality, a smile, innocent and pure, burdened his lips.

-

Sasuke's heart was pounding in his chest.

Something in the atmosphere had just changed. He felt it, and he saw that the others did too. The urgency had risen, but it was Sasuke who had gotten up and started running, the remaining three in tow, but distanced.

He had reached the heavy door which marked Naruto's bedroom, and began hammering on it, jiggling the handle violently and yelling out his name, begging for him to open it.

When nobody answered, he had opted to forcing all his weight upon the door, hard. One, two, three attempts saw splinters fly and the lock give way. A child's scream was heard and Sasuke fell to his knees at what he saw.

A young boy, with dark hair and whiskered cheeks, was blindfolded and cowering in the corner. This distraction was a fraction of momentary.

A bundle of blood-covered cloth was mangled on the floor. Amongst it, deathly pale…

Naruto…

The trees outside began pouring pink petals through the window. He could hear agonized sobbing coming from somewhere.

Everything had started moving slowly, he knew someone was crying but his mind began to block the noises out.

All he heard was the breeze. And the ocean. His own heart beat in his ears.

His eyes wide and mouth stammering pointless words, he crawled forward to the blonde angel that lay still in front of him.

A song he hadn't heard in years began to play in his head. Except this time, it was sad. It was mourning.

"… Naruto…" he whispered softly, so quiet that he barely heard it himself.

His shaky pale fingers moved to hold up his head, getting a better view of the face he had desired and loved so long ago.

… and still did.

"… Sasuke…"

His lips hardly moved, the eyes barely open. But the smile…

Tears began to pour from his eyes, down his cheeks, coming to rest on Naruto's already soaked clothing.

He bent down, finally understanding what he had done, what they were all warning him about.

His lips brushed the cherished ones of his counterpart, nothing more than a feather touch. It was too late to ask for anything else.

Holding Naruto with him like that, he felt the weak smile grow just a little more, before the body became limp in his arms.

Sasuke's entire body shook with something primitive and suppressed. Eyes widening further than before, the sobbing began. Loud, heart-wrenching. He began screaming, though he didn't hear a word of what he was saying. He wanted to shake Naruto awake, tell him he was here now.

He felt arms grasp him, pulling him up and pushing him out the door. He fought back furiously, but there were too many. He couldn't be torn away now. He might not ever see that bright smile ever again. They couldn't take him away! Not now!

The screaming didn't stop.

A thousand questions were running through his mind, all of them beginning with Why?

The voice in his head told him the same answer over and over.

You.

-

The silence was deafening.

He had never heard it before. There was always the music of the lapping shores, or the humming cicadas, or the warm breeze swaying through trees and grass.

Now there was nothing. Not a sound, as if the world was holding its breath.

He saw the blood, the pain wasn't there, but he saw the blood. It wasn't upsetting as he thought it might be. Instead, it was relieving, gentle.

He hoped that somebody would come find Joy before he took off his mask.

Sasuke had come in, his eyes, his mouth moving. It was an odd kind of happiness. A concluding happiness, decisive.

He was uttering words Naruto couldn't interpret, but still it made him glow from the inside.

When he heard someone calling out the window, and the petals began falling, he was starting to understand.

When Sasuke pressed his lips to his, he knew that it was over.

This was not the silencing death he had hoped for.

But it was better.

As his vision hazed and began to darken, he savoured the lips which were pressed so endearingly against his.

For the second, and last, time in his life, everything had been wonderful.

…No… it had been better than wonderful.

It was perfect.

-

-Author's Note-

Thank you for reading Un Bel Dei. I hope it moved you like the original storyline moved me.

-beanielova