I have been writing this for awhile and have just decided to post it. I hope you enjoy it.

The sun was setting over the monument in the Hidden Leaf Village, a cold breeze and the turning of leaves signaling the beginning of autumn. A flock of birds scattered into the wind, having been driven from their perches by piercing cries coming from the area outside of the city gates.

"Murderer!" A woman screeched at the gate as she pulled at the stringy, pale blue hair that fell just below her waist, "You killed them, all of them!"

She continued to scream and pull at her hair; each passing moment more and more rage seeped into her steel gray eyes. Anbu was communicating with the Hokage on how the situation should be handled since it appeared that she had no violent intent toward any of the civilians that were cowering in the bushes, having been caught in the open when she began her verbal onslaught. Her rage seemed to have no real direction, no real purpose.

"Uchiha! I know you're here!" she continued, finally putting a name to her anger, "Show yourself, coward!"

Never in his career with Anbu had Haru ever heard someone dare to call the Captain a coward. He winced at the idea of the consequences that would be leveled against the idiot who ever said that. Haru felt a presence approaching him from behind.

"Are you going to confront her?" Haru asked as he turned to face the masked Uchiha.

"I suppose I have to, don't I?" Sasuke mused with a barely audible sigh.

Haru knew the young Anbu Captain well enough to know he was out of his comfort zone, generally something that took the rest of the squad out of their comfort zone. If the Captain was nervous, everyone else should be terrified.

"How long has she been at this?" Sasuke asked as he ran a hand through his raven hair, trying to stall a little while longer.

Haru shrugged, "Fifteen, maybe twenty minutes."

Sasuke removed his mask and sighed as he wiped some sweat from his brow, "I guess I should go talk her down then."

He stepped off the branch he'd been perched on and dropped to the ground to land in a crouch. He straightened himself up to his full height and then walked slowly toward her, at once relaxed and on guard.

Haru could feel the hidden Anbu holding their collective breaths. The woman had stopped screaming and was now staring directly at their Captain. Her expression was a mixture of fear, determination, rage and madness.

"You're going to pay," she hissed in a deadly quiet voice. "I'm going to show you what you've put me through, who you've taken from me."

"Who?" Sasuke asked warily, this girl was certainly familiar, but he didn't think he'd ever actually seen her before.

"Your family," her voice broke and tears of sadness and rage welled up in her eyes as she began forming hand signs.

He activated his Sharingon and soon recognized the hand signs she was forming; he froze. That isn't possible. The thought had barely registered when she finished her hand signs.

"Fire-style: Fireball Jutsu!" she yelled and a huge flame roared toward him.

He darted to the side quickly, but not quickly enough to avoid receiving several severe burns down his left arm. He schooled his face into a blank mask and took stock of her condition.

She was panting and wobbly; her body wasn't equipped to use that powerful a jutsu. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Shikamaru sitting lazily in the shade of a large tree. The other Anbu Captain nodded almost imperceptibly then looked back at the ground and began to doodle in the dirt with a bored expression on his face.

Sasuke decided that sooner was probably better than later. He had to distract her. He sensed movement and turned back toward the young woman who was repeating her hand signs.

He could feel her chakra gathering, saturated with hate. Now. "They're already dead."

Her hand signs trailed off until her hands fell down to her sides and the chakra she'd been gathering dispelled and drifted away, leaving her drained.

"Wha…" she asked as she took one shaky step forward then a shadow shot out from the tree and seized her, locking her in Shikamaru's control.

"Well Sasuke, what now?" the lazy shinobi asked as he walked out from under the tree and stopped a few feet behind the Uchiha, causing the girl to be facing him, less than two feet away.

She was looking straight into his eyes, but she looked distracted. It felt as if she was staring right through him, but at the same time right at him.

"Now we take her in," Sasuke replied, still caught in the woman's gaze; it was as if he couldn't move. It wasn't his choice. Then she turned her head abruptly as Shikamaru looked over at the approaching Anbu.

Sasuke blinked blearily and then turned to face the Anbu operatives. "We'll need chakra binds," he said, before he turned his back on the woman entirely.

Sasuke watched as they shackled the broken woman, her head bowed and tears staining the dirt in front of her. Broken is being generous, she's shattered, Sasuke thought to himself. He held his breath as Shikamaru released the shadow bind jutsu, afraid the woman may attempt to strike or struggle, but she didn't move except to sink down to her knees. The Anbu guards tried to get her to stand and move forward but she would not budge. One became impatient and tried to haul her to her feet by grabbing her arm, but she just went limp. This startled the man and he released her arm reflexively and she spilled onto the ground, her face pressed into the cold dirt. Her tears flowed more freely now, forming damp pools beside her face. She was muttering to herself, barely audible.

Sasuke shooed the Anbu back a ways then knelt down next to the shattered woman. From his angle he could finally see her face again. Her steel gray eyes were droopy and unfocused, her mouth was moving quickly and it contrasted with the lack of movement in the rest of her body. Despite the fact that she was crying, it hardly looked as if she was breathing, her chest barely moved. Athlete, Sasuke thought, cataloguing one more thing about the woman. Then he focused in on what she was actually saying. It was hard to tell because she was talking so quickly and quietly, but finally he picked it up, only a couple of words at first, but she was repeating herself. "Failed. You've failed. There, you see. You're a failure. You should have died. You should have died with them," she muttered, over and over.

For the first time since he'd knelt down she looked up at him. She did not move her head, her eyes just flicked up to lock with his. "Do it."

"What?" Sasuke asked, leaning closer.

"End it. End it now," she pleaded quietly, beseeching him with her gaze.

"I don't know what you mean," he replied, feigning ignorance as best he could. He could not—would not do what this woman asked of him.

"Kill me," she whispered, the break in her voice unleashing a new onslaught of tears, "Please… Just kill me now!"

She was screaming now, horrible blood curdling screams. Sasuke swiftly stood and backed away, trying with all his might to mask the horror he felt. This woman was stark, raving mad, but he was not disgusted with her. He pitied her. He felt guilt, because he had done this. He forced this state on another human being. I need to know who she is, he thought as he watched Sakura administer a sedative to the woman.

The woman quickly began to subside into full body sobs; they silently wracked her body as the sedative took her under. Her eyes sought him out even as they were closing and with her last breath before her drug-induced slumber, she whispered: "Please."

The sincerity of her plea made his blood run cold. People of the village may still think he has no emotion, but they were wrong. Emotions ran deep in him, he just isn't as free with them as other people. He knew when it was appropriate to feel what. Right now, he just felt cold though. Numb almost.

"Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he pushed his mask up on top of his head. "You okay, Sasuke?" he asked after Sasuke failed to answer him the first time.

Sasuke's only response was to quirk his eyebrow at his blonde friend and snort. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away from the scene in a gesture he knew would reassure his comrades. The truth was that he just didn't want to watch as the young woman was loaded onto a stretcher to be taken to a holding cell where she would be kept until it could be gaged as to how much of a threat she really was.

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