A/N: And I'm back with another story. This isn't really angsty like Restrained Wants, it's more tragedy than it is angst. I've never really written anything like this for a fanfic, so it'll be a new style for those who have read my other stories. Well I hope you like it!

Sakura's eyes were dead and empty as she held her dear sister's portrait in her arms.

"How tragic. Passing away in an accident. Leaving behind a widower, a daughter, and a little sister."

"The little sister is still in high school. I heard she was her guardian. So who's going to be her guardian now?"

"I have two kids already. I can't take her in."

"We're too old for kids."

"Hiro's job can't support another mouth."

"Poor her. First her parents and now her sister."

"Something must've happened in her previous life."

What did happen in her previous life? Sakura wondered as she mindlessly listened to the distant and close relatives gossiping and pushing the responsibilities off to someone else.

"How old is the daughter? Only nine months?!"

"Where is she now?"

"I heard someone's taking care of her. Someone as young as that shouldn't be at a funeral anyways."

Finally, the mourning period was over and people all dressed in black were leaving the funeral home. They all passed their condolences to the pink-haired girl who had her head bowed the entire time. She didn't want to hear their fake sentiments.

They weren't really sorry for her loss.

She could see it in their eyes.

They didn't want anything to do with her.

It was the same at her parents' funeral. Her parents were looked down upon in both families. They were the black sheep in both. No one wanted anything to with them or their children.

Alone.

That's what Sakura was right now.

She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up into the puffy purple eyes of her brother-in-law. He had cried. Not in front of everyone else. But he had cried.

"Come on Sakura-chan. Let's so get Mari."

"Oh, Houzuki-san, finally. She just wouldn't stop crying no matter what I did."

Sakura took the crying baby out of the babysitter's arms, and immediately started cooing to her.

"Sorry about that Ami-san. She can no longer feel her mother's presence in this world." Suigetsu handed her an envelop. "Here, and thank you for your time."

Ami gingerly took the envelop out of his hands before bowing deeply, "I'm very sorry for your loss, Houzuki-san. I may not have met her but it sounds like your wife was a wonderful woman." Then she took her leave.

Suigetsu looked out the window and couldn't help but agree. "Yes, she was perfect."

Sakura finally got her niece to calm down just a bit as she sang the song her sister always sang to calm the crying baby down. "Hey, baby, it's okay, Auntie is here. Auntie won't leave you. Not ever," she whispered as she bounced Mari up and down in her arms.

Then she looked over at her brother-in-law. "You won't leave either, will you?"

Suigetsu's head snapped so quickly to the side with an expression so furious that Sakura had to take a step back. "Of course not! Why would you even think that?! I would never leave Mari or you. I'm not like any of your rotten relatives. Don't lump me together with such people. Sakura-chan, please don't ever think that ever again."

Sakura's bottom lip trembled as she tried to hold the tears back. She held Mari to her chest tighter and kissed the top of her head. These two were all she had left. She didn't want to be alone again.

She felt strong arms envelop her being as she cried into her brother-in-law's chest, careful not to squish the baby between them.

"I'll take care of you. Just like how it was before. I'm not going anywhere." Sakura felt the tears soaking into her hair and dropping onto her shoulder.

She couldn't speak. She couldn't say 'thank you.' She could only nod into his chest.

He's always been there for her and her sister. So what was she thinking when she thought he was going to leave?

Such foolish thinking.

And there, the three of them remained in the embrace until they were out of tears. For now.

They had to live on. If not for themselves, then for Mari.

A/N: Oh my god. I was tearing up when I wrote this. Did anyone tear up when they read it? Or is it just all in my head that this is terribly sad? Do I just have a big head in think that my writing will affect you guys in the way I want it to? Please tell me in a review =).

Thanks for reading.

Published – 3/14/2013

EDITED – 9/6/2014 (Oops...took me so long to go back over and fix all the grammatical mistakes...my bad...XD)