Beauty behind the Madness

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. If I did, how could I be behind on the Manga?

I don't own Coming Clean-Hilary Duff, either.

"Haruno Sakura, is dead."

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Sasuke only nodded his head as he digested the information.

"How?"

The single worded question hung in the air. Sasuke hissed.

"Tell me. Now."

"No one knows. She died in her sleep. Few suspect it was murder. Or possible suicide. "

Sasuke smirked. This was interesting.

~X~

"What do you mean, she's dead?!"

"Died in her sleep, they said… Tragic thing…"

"Sakura…, how?"

When the death of Haruno Sakura spread around the village, it left many people shocked. She was much loved by the people of Konoha, ninja and civilian.

When Sasuke Uchiha arrived, the day after her death, the village was even more shocked. The missing-nin, did not give a shit on what the others thought.

He swept through the crowd, sharringan activated, eyes scanning the people around him. Fear, astonishment, anger- he could see it all, evident in their faces.

Sasuke ignored it all, and headed for the loud blonde in the front of the crowd. His orange clad attire made him even more noticeable. Approaching him, the blonde turned, his face surprised, but tears streaming down his cheeks.

Uzumaki Naruto stood at the front of the crowd kneeling before his teammate. His face in surprise, but his eyes did not light up. He spoke, his throat dry, with sadness.

"S-Sasuke. Sakura she-"

Sasuke silenced him with a glare. "I know, dobe, but just do me a favour-and shut up."

Naruto's eyes filled with anger, but he did not speak.

Red eyes scanned Sakura's lifeless body, as he identified faded chakra patterns, as he noted the low amount of dying chakra there was in her body.

This was unusual, but Sasuke did not make anything of it, just muttering "low chakra reserves." He continued the scan, finding no possible suicidal, or murder wounds.

Sasuke hissed in anger, there had to be something. Sakura would not just die. There was something- something he didn't know.

But as he noticed an irregular tenketsu. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in curiosity, but then, a sharp jab of pain occurred in his right eye.

He was out before he hit the floor.

Sasuke's head spun as he was trapped in a genjutsu. The world swirled into the all too familiar colours of red and black. He turned around as footsteps approached.

Tak.

Tak.

Tak.

Sasuke's sharringan eyes narrowed as he tried to identify the all-familiar chakra. The figure raised it's head, revealing another familiar face.

Sakura.

Sasuke's eyes widely looked at the figure in front of him. It was his only female teammate, but was it her genjutsu, or just someone else?

"Sasuke. You came after all."

Said person raised his head to meet emerald green eyes. "Who are you? Answer me."

"You don't remember your own teammate? My, my, Sasuke, I'm disappointed."

Sasuke's eyes remained wary, but he relaxed a notch. "Prove it."

Sakura sighed. "Fine,then. What do you want for a question?"

"What happened when we first met our sensei?"

Sakura laughed dryly. "Easy. He fell for that stupid trap Naruto created."

Sasuke sighed, his tense stance relaxing visably. "So, you're dead. Why leave a genjutsu?"

"That is where you are wrong."

Sasuke's eyes widened, What did she mean? He didn't have time to open his mouth to question the statement, as Sakura beat him to it. "Go to the stone monument. My name will be added there soon, I am sure of it. Once it is added , go there, after the ceremony. Go alone." Sakura's voice pleaded.

"Naruto-"

"Naruto would not understand. By setting this genjutsu to activate on your sharringan, I was taking a huge risk. There was a chance you wouldn't come. No one would discover the truth." She smiled sadly, eyes staring at the ground.

"The truth-"

Sakura shook her head, her bangs falling into her face. "Now is not the time. Find me, and I will tell you everything."

"Sakura-" Sasuke began, but was once again cut off.

"Goodbye, Sasuke, at least for now."

Sasuke shook his head. He didin't understand. Sakura was being way too vague for his liking. "Don't go. I don't understand everything." His tone was flat, but inside he was pleading.

Sakura smiled. "Just remember, I was always the genjutsu type."

Sasuke just watched, as Sakura's body became faded, gradually fading into the darkness, until he was left alone with the red and black again.

He barely thought, as the darkness swallowed him again.

Sasuke woke in woke in Konoha hospital, his head aching as he attempted to sit up. The machine recording his heartbeat, beeped annoyingly, as he massaged his aching temples. The clean white room was spotless, as the pure white walls staring down on him seemed to make his head ache even more.

Groaning, Sasuke sat against the pillows in thought, as he tried to recall his memories. It all came rushing back, as his temples throbbed, yet again.

.Genjutsu.

Sasuke roared, as he yanked the IV tube out of his arm, as the alarm went off. He had seconds to think, before the medics came rushing in his room. They held him down, as Tsunade made her way in the room, Naruto and Shizune at her heels.

Naruto ran to Sasuke's side, before quickly lauching into talk. "Sasuke! Man, you were like there, ya know, sharringan and all….*huff*…and you looked at Sakura-chan….and you fainted! Yeah,just like that! God knows-"

Kakashi entered the room, stopping Naruto's talking marathon. His one eye scanned the room, finally landing on Sasuke. "What happened, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sneered. "Welcoming as ever, Kakashi."

Naruto cut in with the same question as Kakashi. "Yeah, Sasuke, what happened?"

Naruto would not understand.

Sakura's word flowing back to him, Sasuke allowed himself a pause before replying. "…I don't know, dobe. Don't ask again."

Naruto frowned, but did not comment.

"What happened when I was out?"

This time, it was Kakashi who answered. " You've been out for 4 days. It's around 1000, and a lot has happened… Sakura's…" He did not answer, head bowed, as the medics left the room.

Naruto lost it. He started crying, as he said through his sobs, "Sakura…her name….w-was a-added to the fucking memorial stone!"

"Naruto-" This time it was Kakashi.

"AND HER NAME'S THERE, BECAUSE SHE'S DEAD. DEAD, SENSEI. AND I CAN'T BRING HER BACK." Naruto gasped for air, swallowing his rage.

Kakashi looked angry, but said nothing.

Sasuke took this as a chance to speak. "Where was Sakura before… uh, the incident." Naruto growled at the word 'incident'.

"She was on a mission. A-rank." Kakashi answered. "She had almost had no chakra, but she was fine."

Naruto looked up at his sensei. "But, Kaka-Sensei, you didn't tell me it was A-rank!? But you said her chakra network was fine, so she couldn't of died in her sleep. Then…"

Sasuke set of a different topic. "When am I to be released from the hospital? "

Naruto grinned. "Glad you asked, bastard! You're released this afternoon. Shizune-san said you had a slight concussion. Should heal though!"

"Great. The last thing I want is you chasing your idiotic head after me, as I win the fight."

"BASTARD!"

Kakashi watched the interaction between his two students fondly.

It had been ages since Team 7 had last had a talk ( without killing each other ). The whole atmosphere in the room were just like they were genin.

Sakura. She would come and beat the two up, Naruto in particular. Kakashi had no idea if she still loved Sasuke, but if she did, she had hidden it well.

Hidden it until the day she died.

Kakashi sighed, his eyes tearing up slightly, as he gazed at Naruto and Sasuke. The longer he looked at them, he could just see Sakura laughing with them, screaming and punching.

He sighed. Why did it end up like this?

As reality sunk in, he could see the Sakura fading, until Naruto and Sasuke were alone once more.

Just like his old team. He could see him as Sasuke, Obito as Naruto, and Rin… Sakura. They were so alike he once almost called Sakura 'Rin'.

Why? She didn't deserve this.

Sakura was far too, perfect, in one's sense. Kakashi didn't understand.

This was to confusing.

Let the rain fall down, and wake my dreams,

Let it wash away, my sanity,

Cause' I wanna' hear the thunder, I want to scream,

Let the rain fall down, I'm coming clean.

Sasuke stood in front of the memorial stone, remembering Sakura's words. He traced the letters 'HARUNO SAKURA' , as he waited for the signal.

As he traced the name again, he looked at the stone. It rippled, and then it clicked.

Of Course.

"Remember, I was always the Genjutsu type."

Clues. Why did she lay clues, when she could just tell him.

Shifting his attention to the slab of rock, he formed the handseal, and muttered "Genjutsu:Kai!"

The rippling stopped, as the stone remained that way. But something was different.

He traced the name 'HARUNO SAKURA' again, and the slash on it.

HARUNO SAKURA

Who? Why?

Sakura, his conscience told him. And he believed.

Emerald orbs watched Uchiha Sasuke, as he kneeled at the memorial stone. He stood, and turned to walk away, but then, expert hands threw a kunai.

The kunai had a note attached to the handle.

The figure smirked, brushed away a lock of pale pink hair, and away she went

Sasuke picked up the kunai, he read the note. He smirked subconsciously, and studied the kunai.

In particular the pink hair attached to it, and the initials.

Haruno. Sakura.

TBC

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