All characters in this fan fic are represented by "Naruto" created by Masashi Kishimoto.

This is my first fanfiction. The setting is Konoha. Team 7 would be around the age 23. This is the first chapter of the series. Enjoy!

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Rain pounded against the cement stone, slowing rolling over in cracked edges. She stood wearily next to it, head down as the chilling air rose around her. 'Its colder today' she thought to herself. She studied the black and gray stone, feeling its sharp edges. She ran her fingers across in rough, sandpapery lettering, engraved deep into the stone. The flowers she had laid before were now dead. The once crisp white edges, now a wilting brown. She covered her face tightly with her hands, shielding her from the rain, yet, her tears began to flood her face.

"Sasuke..I miss you.." she whispered. She wiped her face and knelt down in the soggy wet grass, placing a new flower on the stone.

"I'm sorry i haven't been here in a while," she started. "It seems like everyday gets harder without you.." She paused. 'Life wasn't always this bad, was it?' She closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears flooding her face. "I wish.. I wish i could have done something more.. I wasn't ready for you to go yet.." She choked. She planted her face in her knees, not wanting to raise up. 'if i could just lay here with you, to be close..'

"He wouldn't want to see you like this.. Sakura." A voice from overhead filled the chilled air. Sakura stayed kneeling, not wanting to look into the face behind her.

"Its been two years," he continued. "You have to move on. Visiting like this.. he wouldn't want it." A hand moved quickly to Sakura's shoulder. She could her the squishing sound of the ground beneath her as the stranger knelt down.

"We all miss him dearly, Sakura. Why do you insist on following this alone?"

Sakura raised her head to look up at her stranger. "Because," she began, "I could have done something.. I could have showed him there was more to life.. Naruto. I wasn't strong enough for him."

Naruto smiled. It was weird how he smiled at this moment.. It wasn't a happy nor a sad smile.. It was if he was contemplating his own guilty emotions.

"Sakura, none of us were strong enough for him. When he came home, we all had high hopes.." he trailed for a moment. His eyes drifted over the wet grave stone, covered in a green silky moss. "But the person who came home was not Sasuke. Sasuke died long before he ever came back to Konoha." He looked down at Sakura, who had now moved into his arms. "We must remember our Sasuke, the way we knew him best. As our friend, and brother."

Sakura looked up at Naruto as he said brother. His eyes, crystal blue, filled with so much pain and loneliness. She knew that he felt haunted by Sasuke; his only brother, his first real bond.

"Niichan.." Naruto began to say. It startled Saukra out of her deep thoughts, enough to notice Naruto looking at her. "I made a promise to bring our brother back, but i failed you and the village.."

"You didn't fail us," Sakura interrupted. "You brought Sasuke back, safe, alive and unharmed. He just..." She sighed, remembering Sasuke, sitting in the hospital chair when he was returned to Konoha. "He just couldn't live with the loneliness he had created around him. His death was the only thing that could end his misery. Nothing you or i could have done would have changed that."

"But you still search for it, don't you Sakura? In your memories, you look to see if there was a chance you could have had to stop it. Is that why you come every week? Hoping to receive redemption?" Sakura turned away from Naruto and face Sasuke's headstone.

"Well," she cried. "Your the hokage, so i guess you know all the answers." Sakura reached into her satchel, pulling out a picture of Team 7. She sat it on the headstone next to the freshly laid flower. "It feels so long ago.." she whispered lightly. The days of childhood were so far away- just a dim memory fading each moment.

"You know," Naruto began. "For everything he put us through, the missions, the close call deaths, the torment of thinking we were going to never see him again..and all i can do is love him more." He looked back at Sakura, with a small smile. "He left a hole in both of us, Niichan.."

Sakura rose up next to Naruto, rubbing her hand across his hair. "I know niichan.. I know..".

Naruto stood up next to sakura, towering over her. She looked up into his face, so young, yet so saddened by grief. She knew she wasn't alone, and it was unfair of her to pretend Naruto didn't feel the same way as she.

"Im sorry naruto-kun. Coming here to find me brings back feelings you try so hard to forget. I hate bringing bad things up." The rain began to deminish, leaving drizzled haze in the air. She wiped the rain off Naruto's face and smiled. "Nii-chan, please dont worry about me. I'll be fine.. i just need time."

"Hmph, Well, I'm Hokage. Its my job to worry about you." Naruto gave Saukra is sincere Naruto smile. It was refreshing in a way, she knew that he was happy one again. Naruto looked back at Sauke's grave as he placed his arm around his sister. "Saukra?" He looked up at the sky. "Do you think Sasuke is proud of us?"