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It started off with the simple plan of camping. The group of six were all packed into a bright red minivan heading towards the lush, green mountains. Sakura was driving, throwing the middle finger to swerving drivers and occasionally muttering "fucking damn dumbass drivers, cheap" with one fist tightly gripping the steering wheel. Shoulder length pink hair stuck out at various angles from her low ponytail that swished with each movement. Shikamaru was dosing off in the passenger seat, long given up the idea of being the 'map guy', preferring some sleep instead. His arms stretched up and behind his head, placed directly underneath his spiky ponytail. Kiba and Hinata were in separate seats in the first row but still sharing a computer, watching some Netflix. They both leaned in towards each other in seemingly uncomfortable angles, but only twitched slightly when the laptop was adjusted. In the last row, along with some extra luggage in the last seat, sat Naruto and Sasuke pressed against each other, Naruto being clingy and tired. Sasuke stared out the small, tinted window of the van as he had been doing for the last few hours, with Naruto attached to his left side, playing games on his phone.
“Hey, Sasuke, where the hell is Cincinnati again? I think my grandma lives there.” Naruto sleepily muttered into his boyfriend’s shoulder. He reluctantly put away his phone since the battery was reaching below ten percent. Chuckling, Sasuke replied, “Again, hmph, it’s in Ohio, idiot”. The final lines of an Avengers movie played through the old blue laptop’s dingy speakers, signaling the cue of Kiba’s single, slow tear and Hinata’s giggles at his constant antics.
“On that note, Naruto being an idiot that is, I have a story...” Kiba started with a smirk, “So this was in like eighth grade, and oh, by the way, it’s common knowledge of where Paris is, yes?” A hum from Sasuke and a chuckle from Sakura followed. “Anyways, so Naruto here was doing a geography test and this man wrote that Paris was found” Kiba broke into a loud laugh, “in South America. Like he was so confident on that one specific answer.”
A throng of laughter from the teenagers rung throughout the crowded van, all at Naruto’s expense. The man of the minute yelled “Oh, come on! What the hell did I do to you for that, ya damn dog fucker!”
“I don’t know why you’re making fun of him, Kiba. Like you’re one to make fun of someone. Remember your so eloquent Spanish, huh?” Sakura’s statement was accompanied by a hard swerve away from a RAM truck and a quick turn up the green, lively mountain. The trees reached high heights, almost touching the sun. Along with dirt roads that were so narrow, barely one car could drive up the path. With the windows cracked, birds and wind could be heard from the scenery as the noises filtered through the tall pines.
Shikamaru drowsily drawled “Seriously, Kiba and Naruto, keep it down. I’m trying to sleep, but yes. Kiba wrote that his favorite dessert was spoons so…” Kiba took on a pouty face as the laughter was brought against him now. Each face was lit up with mirth, all lips twisted into some form of amusement.
Sasuke then replied “Oh, poor baby Kiba. Do you want your doggy? Don’t dish out what you can’t handle.” Naruto swiftly hit his right shoulder for dissing his best friend, but lightly because he kind of deserved it after calling him out. Sakura announced that they would be coming up on the flat area they were camping at in a few minutes.
The van went quiet after that; Shikamaru napping again, Hinata watching Kiba being obscene and Naruto bothering the spacing-out Sasuke. “What the hell are you thinking about, hm bastard?” Despite the harsh words, which now were mostly words of endearment, Naruto continued being attached to Sasuke’s left side. Though now, he was poking the pale cheekbone of the quiet male.
“Nothing much, something you should relate to.”
“Not true, you’re lucky I love you, or else I’d kick your butt for that.” That deigned the response of a ‘hn’ and a kiss to the temple on the blonde. Naruto flushed slightly and turned his attention towards Kiba attempting some viral dance.
The ground turned rocky, shaking the old van until it creaked weirdly and jostling the backpacks until they threatened to tip over. The incline of the road increased until it flattened out. With the van arriving at a small and empty camping ground, a certain air of excitement from some of the passengers filled the stuffy air. There was a wooden brown picnic table under a worn blue and white umbrella. The van pulled up next to the table, leaving about five feet in between. On the left side of the car, there was enough room for two regular sized tents and a campfire, with the ground ending suddenly into a drop a little past the thin tree line.
Everyone began getting out of the warm van, except Naruto and Sasuke. Sasuke jiggled his left arm and asked, “Are you going to let go of me anytime soon or what?”
Naruto followed by hugging his left side tighter and looking up, smiling brightly at him. With such immediate brightness coming from the blonde, it seemed as if he radiated sunlight himself. Yet, what followed wasn't as cheerful. “What are we going to do after high school? We’re going to different colleges, that are like twenty miles away, ya know.” The smile dimmed as did the expressive blue eyes at the fact of their future.
Trying to swallow a lump down his suddenly dry throat, Sasuke turned his head and stared hard at the passenger seat headrest in front of him. ‘This shouldn’t be so hard to say, I know what he will say, right?’ His inner thoughts ran rampant for a few minutes, trying to decide what he should say or how to say it. Until his brilliant mind came to the conclusion of ‘Screw it’.
“I already have some apartments lined up for where I should live, but there is this one that is roughly in between our schools. It has a nice interior and it’s a bit off from the city’s center, so it's not surrounded.”
After a few seconds of hard thinking and rapid blushing from Naruto, “Are you asking me what I think you’re thinking asking me?” Not even a few seconds pass when he says loudly, “cuz’ then yes! I’ll put up with your weird habits and all that, ya know! Ah man, I hope it's pet-friendly too!”
As Sasuke tried to respond, he was interrupted by a dejected Naruto, “but then if that’s not it, I’m sorry.” Sasuke placed his cold hand over the rapidly moving mouth of the blonde, finally replying “Yes, you idiot. I was asking that and what weird habits? Nothing I do is remotely weird, hn. What I do is perfectly normal, but I cannot say the same for you with your mannerisms.”
Both of the boys' faces were flushed with rosy colors, “We can keep on pretending that you don’t have strange habits if you want, but I can’t wait to annoy you at any time now!” Naruto began almost vibrating with energy and happiness at the news, turning to Sasuke fully and leaning in close. His lips gently hit Sasuke’s, closing around his bottom lip. A small smile appeared on the raven-haired boy as he kissed back, the previous worries floating away under his sunshine lover. The kiss remained soft, getting a bit quicker as they tilted their heads, plenty of practice making this easy. Naruto reached his arms around Sasuke’s shoulders, playing with the baby hairs near the base of his neck and Sasuke in turn, grabbing the blonde’s waist tightly.
The bubble of happiness broke when a loud knock hit against the tinted window near Sasuke, Kiba making kissy faces at them as he poked the glass. Naruto waited to break away, instead choosing to give his close friend the middle finger as his arm laid on his boyfriend’s shoulder. He gave one more peck to Sasuke before breaking apart and followed it with a smooch on the cheek, smiling wide the whole time. The more reserved Sasuke gave his rare full smile for only him to see.
“I think it’s time to set up camp, hmm?” Sasuke smirked as he grabbed his backpack up from his feet, tugging Naruto along by the pocket of his bright orange hoodie. With one more look at the piece of clothing, Sasuke drawled out “That thing is still an atrocity, it’s coming nowhere near our apartment.” Naruto smiled impossibly wider at the statement, even as his favorite hoodie was jabbed at.
Grabbing his similarly colored frog printed duffle bag, Naruto followed suit and got up from the worn seats. As they opened the door, Sakura called out, “Be careful guys, the grass is still wet from that storm a few days ago. Love the way the wet trees look though...” as she walked over to the tree line surrounding the camp. Shikamaru then proceeded to slip on the said wet grass as he made his way down a slight decline, landing straight on his bum. Snorts came from them all, all enjoying a rare moment of Shikamaru doing something dumb. He slowly got up, rubbing the grass off his jeans, and walked to where he would set up his tent, ignoring them all.
“Okay, so we can either fit into this one large tent for all of us or fit like three smaller ones on the grassy area?” Sakura was the designated planner of the trip, seeing as no one else could or would remember all the details and put in the effort. “Scratch that, we only have two tents. A special someone forgot the only thing they were supposed to bring… Yes, I’m looking at you, Shika.” Shikamaru, in turn, scratched at his ass on the still damp pants while looking up at the treetops.
Sasuke quickly announced, “As much as I’d love to share a tent with all of you beautiful and hygienic people, I’m taking one of the small ones.” The sarcasm dripped off his words.
“He’s only saying that so he can have Naruto to himself and do the nasty together.”
“What are you, twelve, Kiba? ‘Doing the nasty’, please. That might happen as well, so it’s your choice really guys. Do you really want to take the chance and hear that or give me the tent.” Sasuke’s signature smug look came out, knowing he already won the nonexistent fight over the 6’ by 6’ tent. It’s really more of a tiny plastic hut, if anything, barely handling two people. Still, Sasuke would rather share a tiny tent with Naruto than risk the larger one.
Sasuke grabbed the smaller blue tent and began setting it up with Naruto, along the right side of the larger tent. Replying to his earlier statement, Naruto said “What the hell, bastard. I wasn’t going to fuck or anything near them. That’s like, way nasty.”
Sasuke snickered, “I feel the same way, doing anything like that with four other sweaty people within five feet sounds like a bad sex joke. I just didn’t want to deal with everyone so close.” Understanding Sasuke’s reluctance of residing in such a tight space with others, Naruto dropped the conversation, opting for a calm silence.
Breathing in the cool, fresh air, Naruto felt almost at home. He loved storms and the aftereffects of them; the smells, the way the trees look greener, and even the mud. It made nature more lively and fresh in his eyes. He just loved nature period, preferring it to city life. If he could, he’d move away after college and enjoy that life, but that’d be a conversation for a different day with Sasuke. After all, they had years together to look forward to and plan.
Nailing the tent to the ground was easier due to the wet earth, but that also allowed slipping to occur more often. As he quickly made his way to the damp rock firepit, Naruto copied Shikamaru’s earlier action and fell right on his ass. Sakura lightly snarked out “Nice going, Naruto. Thank you for listening to my warning earlier.” The blonde just got up with the help of Sasuke and began to set up the pit, hoping the rocks weren’t too wet for a fire.
A tranquil silence enveloped the small campground, all six teenagers setting up for their weekend with the tents and random supplies. That was until Kiba yelled out, “Hey! I found my football back here!” as he was going through the trunk of the van. “We should play a quick game of toss before it gets dark! Let out some energy after that long car trip.”
The first one to agree was Naruto as he was still energized and then reluctantly Sakura. The other four followed afterward after Naruto persuaded Shikamaru.
Kiba quickly ran from the back of the van to across the newly made firepit and reached the small plot of green grass.
"Seems like someone is missing their only friend, huh dog breath?" Sasuke casually pitched in, using his mocking tone.
"Bruh, leave me alone. That was one time it smelled like that, one time." Giggles and chuckles rang through the woods at poor Kiba's expense yet again, even Hinata pitching in.
"Oh, come on! You're supposed to be on my side!" More laughter followed, Hinata saying a small sorry but not looking like she meant it.
Kiba got out his ratty leather skin football and spiked it at the oblivious Shikamaru. It hit him in the shoulder, striking him off the wooden seat he was resting on to the concrete below. Shikamaru picked it back up and did the same to Kiba with less apparent energy but one hell of a stink eye.
The ball was passed from person to person, the first to drop it being out. Naruto and Kiba were running around frantically to catch the ball from other people, sneaking past bodies and jumping around. That quickly backfired when they ran into each other face first, landing them a headbutt and a quick fall to their collective backs.
"Idiot" and "Bastard" were exchanged quickly through Naruto and Sasuke when they began competing as well, nothing out of the ordinary. Becoming sweaty, NAruto took off the bright orange hoodie, opting to leave it on the picnic table instead. Shikamaru stood up in front of the picnic table, paying attention to avoid a ball to the face. Hinata and Sakura stood near each other, but Sakura was more into the game. Her face had that scary look of concentration on it as she watched the football. Kiba was still being rambunctious, not being easily subdued.
Sakura yelled out, "To keep from concussions occurring, stay put you damn lunatics. Naruto, you stay where you are near that mossy rock thing. Kiba, away from the firepit and more towards Shika. Thank you!"
Kiba passed the ball towards Sakura and she threw it back with even more force, bruising the hell out of Kiba's poor chest. The football then went to Sasuke and then to Hinata who fumbled but kept it in her hands. The fallen face of Naruto became laughing material as they all avoided him for a few minutes.
"God damnit! I wanna play too, ya know! It's not like I'm gonna fall and hit my head again!" Feeling somewhat merciful, Kiba threw the ball, but it went above Naruto's head and reach. The blonde couldn't jump for the ball, it being too far out of his reach so he opted for back up quickly to catch it, not wanting to lose.
With a quick hoorah that he caught it, it was followed by a quick "Ah, fuck!". Naruto along with the ball slipped over the mossy edge of the forest's ground and tumbled down the cliff-like landmark. The sound of his body hitting the floor only made a low thud, like he did not fully fall onto the forest's ground.
When they waited for the joyous laughter that normally pierced through the air after being clumsy, it never came. Another silence overtook the camp again, but this time it was riddled with anxiety and tension. A low gurgling sound instead replaced the still air. With a few steps, Kiba shifted over to the edge of the cliff to find something rather wrong. He screamed, backing away slightly, only to trip on the mossy ground. He quickly got up after a few seconds and slid down the edge to where Naruto is.
Soon, the rest followed his rushed steps to the edge with some hesitance. Was it another joke or had something happened? Sasuke was the first to the edge, confusion quickly following. What was he seeing down there? That had to be a trick. All that went through his mind was 'No, no, that isn't right. That's not possible'.
The rest ran over, a few screeched and Hinata doubled over and threw up. The remaining four rushed down the slope as best as they could after the initial shock wore off to find a bright life dimming.
The forest was beautiful, with its fresh moss-covered ground and tall pine trees covering the sky. Birds sang melodies above the young adults as squirrels ran along branches, scurrying about their days. The new addition along the forest floor doesn't belong with that picture. The light wind pushed fragrances of fresh pine and rain, but now something metallic struck the air and assaulted their noses.
On the ground laid Naruto in an uncomfortable position. His legs were spread out slightly from his body, facing downwards. His left arm twitched to grab at the dirt and the right grasped at his abdomen. His face was paling by the second but his eyes were still bright at the moment. Next to him lays a charred piece of wood, the tree struck by lightning no doubt from the other day's storm. Erupting from the blonde’s midsection was what remained of a few inches of the stump. His body was slightly elevated by the tree stump, his chest and lower half slightly dangling from the force of gravity. On the top of the stump were mashed fleshy tubes of red and pink, with bright red liquid cascading downwards. The stump was only a few inches from the small hillside, an accident just waiting to happen.
Sasuke reached Naruto's left side, as Kiba was on his right. "Hmph, I think you were right, Sasu. I really should watch my step more huh. I kinda hit my head too, sorry Sakura." The boisterous voice was more a gravelly whisper now, eyes switching from person to person.
Sasuke didn't know what to say, for what could he? 'I told you so' didn't fit this scenario, he didn't just scrape his knee or hit his head. Sasuke's vision became cloudy and obscure as he watched Naruto's face. Naruto was smiling at him now, smiling with his best effort at least. It came off as more of a grimace.
Everyone remained limp and quiet for a couple of seconds. Realizing no one was doing anything, Sasuke took off his jacket, got up on his knees, and tried to press the cloth down around his injuries. Kiba followed and did the same, but with both his shirt and jacket. They both struggled to keep the blood from seeping out of the gruesome wound but to no avail. They simply could not stop what had begun. The clothing soaked up the flowing blood from the sides, but nothing could be done for the torn intestines that were no longer in his body. Tears flowed freely out of even the more emotionally stubborn men as they watched and struggled.
Shikamaru first stood quietly and soon kneeled next to Naruto's head, thinking of what to do, or how to help. His mind was covered with a hazy shroud, preventing any thoughts.
Sakura stood still at the scene before her, she hadn't even started college yet. How was she to help her longtime friend as he bled out in front of her? She too attempted to place pressure on Naruto's lower gut, or what remained of it. The ever-flowing river of liquid seeped into her hoodie as she pressed it down heavily. Deep down, she knew it was hopeless and it was only minutes before the inevitable occurred.
Hinata stumbled to the ground in sorrow, crying harshly and screaming loudly for once at the pain she felt. How could this happen to someone so bright and with a full life ahead of them, she muttered out whilst choking on tears. Sasuke and Kiba struggled for about a minute more until Shikamaru told them it was useless through a dazed expression and mutter. They weren't doing any good with their attempts. He had to tell them, "Guys, stop doing that. It won't stop anything..."
"What the fuck do you expect me to do, huh! Am I just supposed to accept his fucking death? He can't die and we won't let him, we just need to help." Kiba kept his hands steady on Naruto helplessly, hoping that the inevitable wouldn’t occur. Hot tears streaked down his tan cheeks, running over his tattoos, and pooled at his collarbones.
Then Naruto spoke out, "The sun's so pretty, ya know. It's so bright and warm. Welcoming..." His blue eyes were trained on the sun filtered through the leaves above. The hand that gripped the dirt reached out feebly towards the sunlight that filtered through the treetops.
Sasuke had to force out his words if he were to speak, "That's because you're staring directly at it, idiot”, his throat feeling as though it had rocks stuck in it. Rocks that slowly piled up in his throat until they tumbled down into his lungs. A heavy, dragging feeling consumed his chest.
"Hmph, so?" Rebuttal of the year, everyone. The blonde didn’t speak much more after that. If it was because he had nothing to say or just couldn't, they didn't know.
Fear seized Sasuke, overpowering the immense sadness for just a minute, "Hey, Naruto! Stay awake, keep your eyes open, okay. Focus on something. Anything!" Sasuke begged, "Try singing that song from when we were young. You know, that one about the beasts and ninja who worked together?" Sasuke demanded, grasping at anything to get to him stay conscious and appear alive. Naruto's hand that grabbed at the sun fell to the ground with a dim thud. Sakura backed again with a start, staring at the maroon liquid that caked her hands in fear, kneeling next to Hinata's slouched body.
It took a while for a slurred response to sound out, "Hm? Which one, I can't remember... Oh, wait!" A small gurgled laugh came from Naruto, as he realized what song it was. Soon came a hummed version of his made-up ninja song from when he was twelve, "One, with terrible bags under his eyes, Gaara..." It faded every few seconds but came back weaker. The beaming blue eyes lost their light as each verse passed, his mouth slurring the words. Everyone shared a collective thought in the following moments, that it was nearing way too soon.
For once, Sasuke stated his feelings without having to be prompted by others. He proudly professed his feelings for all to hear to the blonde. His lover who was falling through his grasp like sand through open fingers. “Hey, idiot. You know that I love you, yeah? We still have a lot to do together, so you can't leave me just yet... We have a whole plan together, I'll even let you keep that hoodie you love so much!" Sasuke choked back a sob, trying to keep the last of his composure in front of Naruto. His chest felt like it was slowly cracking from the inside out, pressure building up as he held back his sorrow and impending wails. Sasuke grabbed at Naruto's left hand frantically, sliding their hands together until they were intertwined. The grasp was weak.
Naruto looked over to the love of his life and gave his best reassuring smile, puckering his chapped lips once more. Without wasting time, the raven-haired man placed his lips directly over the blondes, giving him a soft kiss, ignoring the smeared line of blood coming from the blonde’s mouth. The taste of salt and iron ran across both lips, but it was ignored. "I don't have any plans of leaving you until I beat your ass for that joke earlier, bastard!" The exclamation was much more silent than before.
Kiba put his head on Naruto's shoulder, opting to hide his face away from others. Rather than saying his feelings, Kiba chose to tell a story. "You know that one time your floor was stained yellow and your mom blamed you for spilling Mountain Dew?" With a quiet chuckle from Kiba came, "Akamaru actually pissed on your floor when I brought him over, I just didn’t want to suffer the wrath of Kushina, man."
"Ha! I knew it was you, ya damn mutt lover...” Naruto started to gasp and choke as the words fell out, “I had to scrub that carpet clean for a week and it still smells bad..." The statement came with a close-lipped smile from Naruto. His song continued and turned into a humming noise. The forest was still peaceful other than the occasional scurry of animals and the sound of sobs and wet coughs. What seemed like hours to the teenagers was only a few minutes.
Blue eyes flicked back and forth from the sun to onyx eyes, with a caress of a smile in place. Then the humming stopped but the trickles of blood did not. The sunlight that had always shined within the blue eyes died out, his grip loose but still warm. With eyes still open to the blue sky and a slight closed smile, sun shining over the blonde on the moss patch, he never muttered a word again and never took another breath. With sudden realization, the emotional dam completely broke. Wails of sorrow erupted from deep in Sasuke’s throat, feeling as if his core was breaking into pieces even further. The tears flowed so fast and his breaths came even faster. He scrambled for Naruto's face and grabbed at his cheeks, turning his head towards him in hopes of seeing light.
What he got was lifeless, glassy eyes staring aimlessly at him. What he got was a cooling body that no longer retained the flush of life. He rubbed at his scarred cheeks, called out for him, screamed his name, for him to return and not leave Sasuke alone. What he got was no response and a bloody corpse replacing his sunshine lover. Placing his head in his hands, Sasuke curled up on his knees and screamed. He cried with a new renewal, choking on his own tears as he fought to get rid of the images in his head. Replacing the happy memories of the years they grew up together and loved each other, were the new flashes of the bloody and lifeless corpse. His mangled body and dimmed essence remained heavy in his mind, crushing the memories of earlier under its force.
Shikamaru held it all in as best as he could, trying and failing to prevent his tears from leaking. Kiba clung to Naruto's shoulders, hugging him tight as he sobbed into the crook of the blonde’s neck. He was muttering rushed apologies into the cooling crook, blaming himself. Heavy tears and breaths wracked the bodies of Sakura and Hinata as they kneeled a few feet away from Naruto, too afraid to accept it all. That if they stepped near him again, he'd be truly gone. Sakura tried to wipe away her tears, but only succeeding in spreading red across her own flushed cheeks. Hinata's pale eyes beginning to turn into a red tint, face drawn up into a tight look of pain. She huddled into herself even further until her face was squeezed tightly between her knees.
"This was just supposed to be a fucking camping trip before we all leave! Why... I should've never asked to play ball, I... I can't..." Kiba gripped his friend even tighter, on the verge of hyperventilating.
Sasuke all of the sudden became quiet and his body stopped moving altogether. With his body giving, he collapsed to his right and hit the lush, green forest floor.
____
When Sasuke awoke, he thought it was all some gruesome nightmare and expected to be sleeping next to Naruto in their tent, seeing that orange hoodie wrapped around his figure. What he got was the beeping of a monitor and a cold, grim feeling overtaking his mind and soul. Antiseptics filled the frigid air as he rose up and tried to breathe in.
He sat there for a few minutes just breathing, waiting for something to change or give. This truly couldn’t be his reality now. Someone had to be playing a trick on his mind but his predicament was set in stone as someone entered the chilly room. A middle aged woman who had blonde hair that went past her shoulders introduced herself as Doctor Tsunade. It was a similar color but lighter and less vibrant than the one he was accustomed to.
As she went over how he arrived at the hospital and other various details about the accident, one thing drove Sasuke out of his daze. The woman had handed him a familiar phone with a dirty orange case after she made her way to his bed.
She took a breath before starting, “The rest of the individuals involved in the trip felt you should receive Naruto Uzumaki’s phone seeing as you two were... closer than the others. The rest of his belongings will be released shortly as well, those that were on him during the time of the accident.” The doctor quickly made her exit after that, leaving Sasuke alone with his thoughts and a worn down phone.
His hands fidgeted with phone for a minute. Pale fingers rubbed at the phone case and tapped at the screen. The phone turned on and Sasuke was greeted with a blurry selfie of him and Naruto. It happened when they were hanging out at a park and Naruto managed to get it while Sasuke was occupied. Breathing in deeply, he forced himself away from the smiling faces and onto the keyboard.
Knowing the password easily since Naruto had used the same password since they were children, he unlocked the phone. The background image was a picture of their group from just before their trip. Everyone had large smiles on their faces as they awaited their journey which would kickstart the next chapter of their lives. Obviously, fate hadn’t been too kind to that.
Sliding up, Sasuke saw the most recently opened apps and clicked on the web search engine. His sight became blurry once more as he looked over the recent tabs and searches in the history. They all pertained to colleges, apartments, and various sites in between.
Droplets fell onto the phone and were quickly swept away as Sasuke slid away from the app and went to the Gallery. He decided it wouldn’t matter much anyways. Clicking on the most recent image hit him with a pounding ache and he fell to rest onto his left side. He was facing away from the light of the windows and further into the frigid, grey room of the hospital.
Swiping left on the screen and away on his cheeks were imbedded in Sasuke’s routine for the next few hours.
It was torture; looking back at old memories and how they gave off false promises of what could and should have been. For such a bright light to be snuffed out so soon, one can only guess what others had in store as life went on for them. Or not.
Following the next few months, the group of friends split up and each went their own ways; the glue that held them together was gone. It had dried up and peeled away. Shikamaru went on to college but slept most of his life away with the idea that doing so, it would keep him from remembering. That only worked out for so long, until he was forced to forgo sleep after nightmares had consumed that as well. Sakura quit her dream of working in the medical field and becoming a doctor, feeling so useless at that moment where her friend was dying. She lived her life in dead-end, mediocre jobs. Much like her previous idol, Tsunade, she grew to fear blood. Hinata remained almost the same, she kept going on her with life in hopes of maintaining normalcy. She had an empty look in her eyes and was only seen with her cousin Neji Hyuuga. Kiba grew silent, like Hinata, only hanging out with his dog and spaced himself away from everyone else. After Akamaru died, he lost himself and took the easier way out. Sasuke distanced himself from everyone, moving across the world to separate himself from any memories. The only color that remained in his grey life was the worn down bright orange hoodie he carried with him. He overworked himself and avoided life until he went too far. At the age of forty-six, he was found dead of cardiac arrest in his home office by his assistant.
He was brought back home to be buried next to his only love in life. The two shared a headstone underneath the sunlight that filtered through an oak tree above their final resting place. Fresh flowers remained on their grave for years to come, until all had either left or died.
Perhaps in another life, they shall know a peaceful life, where the only angst they will come by will be about exams, taxes, and growing old.