Sakura put on a smile all the time.

Because smiles are supposed to be the absolute defense against darkness.

It is so idiot and wrong that she can laugh, except she doesn't, because she doesn't even remember how to laugh anymore.

They are losing a war, she smiles.

Her home is destroyed right before her eyes, she smiles.

Yet another comrade has fallen in battle, she smiles.

The world can be burning to ashes in front of her, and still her smile will not waver.

It's not her fault she's like this. Really, it's not.

She tries so hard, and now she thinks about it, maybe too hard.

Is it really a fault to care for her friends? Her teammates? Her boys?

Maybe. She doesn't know anymore.

She should've just let them all fall. It didn't make a difference ultimately anyways. She is such a fool.

They never even spared a minute for her. People who abandon their comrades are scums. So what does that make her boys?

If she had just let go, just left and cut her losses, she could've saved herself.

In the end, nothing she did mattered. They still fell apart, and she's only dug her own grave.

Sasuke's defeated face, Naruto despairing look, Kakashi sensei's blank eyes.

And then there's always that inescapable truth.

In the end, she's just as broken and lost as the rest of them.

She purses her lips. Outside, the fools, the Allied Shinobi Force, are still going over strategies, as if they still have a chance at victory.

No matter what they do now, the outcome has already been decided. They are to lose, no matter what.

All hopes died along with her boys.

It's pathetic. They're desperate. She can see that.

It's over for them.

Yet they still laugh and joke. Pushing the darkness away with more light. Silently hoping –praying– for a miracle.

Continuing Naruto's spirits.

A fool's rationale.

But she is in no position to judge them, she supposes.

Fools or not, at least they're still standing. All strength have long since left her.

She's so damn tired.

She's lost her sanity long ago, and sometimes, to her, so have the fools outside.

But even despite everything, she can't desert them.

She's tried, but her guess is that though she denies it, some part of her is still capable of caring.

They are all she has left of Naruto, Sasuke, Sai, Kakashi-sensei, Ino, Shikamura, Kiba, and the rest of Konoha 11.

They are that's left to remind her of home, of Konoha.

So, with no choice, she puts on a smile and joins the madness outside.

What else can she do?

It doesn't matter either way.

After all, we're all mad here, aren't we?

Her smile hides her own darkness.


Author's note: This can stand as a one shot or it can serve as a prologue. Leave a short review on what you would like. This will be greatly appreciated.