Sakura sat at her desk, very still and quiet. Iruka looked questioningly at this, the normally cheerful girl wasn't her normal self. The kids in his class were around 10 years old.

"Sakura, you look pale are you alright?" Iruka asked from the front of the class. Sakura looked up her face growing paler, then she realized that she was in the classroom, safe from her father. She breathed in slowly before answering him in a quiet voice.

"I'm fine sensei." She lied.

Sasuke was about to leave when he saw Iruka starring after Sakura.

"Sensei?" He asked.

"Oh, Sasuke can you walk Sakura home. I'm sure you can catch up." He paused for a second. "She's going the wrong way." He paused again and slightly smiled. "Being your popular self, walking home with you might just make a great birthday gift." Iruka told him.

Sasuke looked at him quizzically, then took off after the pink haired girl. She jumped as she noticed him come up beside her.

"Oh, S-Sasuke-kun." Her voice sounded said after the surprise left her voice. Sasuke looked at her worried.

"Where are you going? Isn't your house the other way?" He asked her. She glanced at him but kept walking. He shrugged it off as she didn't want to talk about it. But he would walk her to wherever she was headed. Itachi came around the corner as Sakura was about to say something to Sasuke.

"Oh, little brothers got a girlfriend, eh?" Itachi teased.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Sasuke defended.

"That's right." Sakura said. "I don't deserve something like."

"Huh?" Sasuke and Itachi asked in unison.

"There you are!" A man said as he approached them. It was her father, he held a kunai in his hand that swung wildly at his side. "I've been everywhere for you- you little…" He trailed off noticing the Uchiha brothers.

"Stay away you drunken old man!" Sasuke shouted.

The man looked angrily at the boy in front of him and lashed out the hand that held the kunai. Sasuke backed away and blocked it with his own Kunai.

"Grr." The man's breath smelt of strong sake.

Itachi pulled his little brother away from the drunk. He punched the man in the stomach when he staggered forward, trying to reach his daughter. He slumped to the ground. Itachi picked the man up and carried him to his father's office at the Uchiha police department, with Sasuke and Sakura close behind him. Sasuke was surprised that Sakura hadn't started to cry.

The boys' father looked up at his oldest son as he walked into the room. Then he noticed the man draped over his shoulder and his son and a pink haired girl following him.

"What is this?" Their father asked.

"Well the pink one's dad seems to have gotten drunk and tried to kill her." Itachi told his father. The father's quizzical look change to a serious one.

"Set him down. This must be Mr. Haruno." he said.

Sakura nodded although she wasn't asked anything. Sasuke looked at her with a worried expression.

"Go call your mom kid." Itachi told Sakura, but she didn't budge.

"Sakura." Sasuke pried, but she still refused to budge. Just then as she tried to register what they were saying, tears streamed down her face and she fell to her knees. "Sakura-chan?" Sasuke asked concerned.

Sakura hands formed into fists as the tears fell down her cheeks. She battled with her conscience as she tried to get a grip on reality. She was also struggling to try and keep the tears at bay. After arguing with her conscience whether or not to tell them she punch the ground with the side of her fist and sat up wiping her tears.

She took a deep breath before telling them. "My mother is dead." She paused, still denying that her father would do something so horrid. "She was killed…by my father."

Mr. Uchiha looked stunned for a moment before looking at the Haruno man. His brown hair wet and disheveled.

"You'll have to stay with a friend tonight."

"C-Could I use the phone?" Sakura asked. He nodded.

Sakura walked slowly over to the phone and picked it up. She dialed the only number of a relative she could remember, but knew that they would not answer.

"Hello." Someone answered on the other end, but the voice was low and harsh.

"T-This is Sakura." The voice on the other end perked up at her name.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Ah, could I… stay at your place.."

"Of course!" The voice answered. "Where are you?"

"A-At the police station."

"What!?" The female's voice almost sounded angry.

"My parents…" She didn't know how to explain the situation.

"I'll be there soon." The woman said frantically.

10 minutes later a woman with red hair and a pale face entered into the police station. She staggered over to the little pink haired girl and bent down to meet her height. When seeing the girl's quizzical face she spoke.

"My name is Mana, but you can call me Aunty." She looked over at the brown haired man that her sister had married. "She's dead isn't she?" Her voice sounded gloomy and she looked as if she was on the verge of tears.

"Why is it always the little ones."

"It's my fault." Sakura told her. Mana looked confused. "Mom tried to protect me and--"

"That doesn't make it your fault." She looked at the pale girl's face and wiped a stray tear. "All mothers are like that. Sacrificing themselves for their children."

"But why?! I was the one he was after! I was the one who got him angry!!" Sakura shouted.

"And how did you do that?" She asked. Sakura found that she couldn't answer, that she didn't have an answer.

"See, it's not your fault." She told her. "Don't blame yourself."

Sakura looked away momentarily then looked up at the young woman and started to cry as the woman held her close.

"Aunty.. Why? Momma why?!!" She screamed finally letting out the pain.

"There, let it all out." Mana told her. And Sakura did, she couldn't stop the tears or the screams.

"Now then." "This is what your mom did for me." Mana said and lifted her hand in the air. "It might hurt a bit, but it'll help." And her hand stopped right at Sakura's face.

"But that was when I didn't snap out of blaming myself." She told her.

Sakura almost broke out laughing at the sight of her mom slapping such a pretty and smart woman. Then her mind flashed to the night before, her mother's body lifeless on the floor of her room, surrounded by her own pool of blood. Sakura shrieked and put her head in her hands. Mana wrapped her arms around the small girl and rocked her back and forth.

"I think I forgot we're in the police station." Mana giggled softly, trying to lighten the mood.

"Thank you, Sasuke." Sakura told him , causing him to blush slightly.

I actually finished! ya I finished a story. -dances around in circles- Ah, now that's better.

Review please!