Wow...this should be considered a fast update for me... heh...

Merry Christmas! I meant to update this on Christmas Eve, but my mom wouldn't let me get on the computer. Not even when I said I was 'sending someone a Christmas Present'...Ah the joy of mothers...they can see right through you and dear god is it annoying.

Ah well...on the bright side, Naruto and Sasuke make an appearance! Heh, alright on with the tory, and I'll shut up.

Oh, but I do realize that Sasuke is OOC in this chapter. Well, everyone is OOC in this chapter, but with the rest of the story, I'll try to make them more in character.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I never have owned Naruto, nor will I ever own Naruto...

The Lost War

Chapter II

Sakura sighed, kicking open the door, stripping out of worn shoes on her way into the bedroom of her three-room apartment, which she was lucky to have ever gotten.

"Sakura-chan?" A weak, trembling voice called from the second room. Sakura was up in instant, to her mother's bedside.

"I'm here mom." She whispered, resting a hand on the older woman's arm reassuringly. Her mother smiled, her blind eyes staring into the nothingness. Perhaps being blind was a blessing, instead of a curse for her mother- she didn't have to witness the atrocities of the world today. She could continue to live in yesterday's world, a better time, where Konoha was like heaven.

"You're home early honey." He mother noted, and Sakura was once again amazed by her sense of time.

"Yeah," She said, her mind racing for an excuse. "I-I, we um…we closed early today." She lied, and her mother nodded. She started to say something, but was interrupted by a fit of coughing, that threw her entire feeble body into spasms. Sakura immediately grabbed the bottle of medicine that was always kept at her mother's bedside, and pried open the mouth, shoving the spoon down her mother's throat, with a lot of difficulty. When the coughing finally subsided, her mother rested against her chair, her breathing shallow.

"Mom," Sakura started, "You didn't take the medicine, did you?" she asked, and her mother shook her head, and then quickly changed the subject, as Sakura glanced around the bare apartment.

"Where is Naruto-kun?" She asked, and Sakura snorted.

"You expect me to know? I honestly prefer not to, with the kinda jobs he gets." She responded, turning away, and closed her eyes. Speak of devil though, at that moment, the blonde burst through the door.

"Hello Ayaka-chan!" He shouted, before turning to his friend. "Sakura! Why are you home?" He asked.

Sakura gave him a sad smile. "They closed early." She explained, but silently mouthed 'I got fired'. He grimaced slightly, before mouthing back. I'll see what I can do to find another one for you. She grinned. Good luck with that.

"Cool. Well, you get to meet my um…coworker then!" he said, typically in his happy mood. Sakura's eyes were drawn to the door as a tall figure stepped in, and she immediately blushed. The phrase 'Tall, Dark, and handsome' had never been so true. He was, like she said, tall, and a happy medium between lanky and buff. His skin was ivory, and his eyes a brilliantly contrasting onyx. His hair- which would have looked ridiculous on anyone else, but worked for him- was spiked in the back, with bangs that framed a perfectly chiseled face. Her hands already itched to paint him- she had been preparing to either go to art school or medical school before the war.

"I-I…uh…hi." She said lamely, kicking herself for sounding so stupid. He smirked at her, and was about to respond, when Naruto- surprise, surprise- opened his mouth.

"Sakura-chan, this is Sasuke-teme- Sorry Ayaka-chan, but once you get to know him, he is a teme. Sasuke-teme, this is Sakura-chan."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Hey."

She felt so small and insignificant right then, getting lost in his dark eyes, feeling like she was in a trance. She actually must have been, because the next thing she knew, Naruto was waving a hand in front of her face, shouting; "Sakura? Sakura-chan! What's wrong with you?"

Sakura shook her head slightly, to clear it. "What? Oh, sorry. What did you say?" Naruto eyed her suspiciously, but then shrugged.

"I said that teme is gonna stay over tonight, cause, well….cause. It's classified." Sakura raised an eyebrow, and then shook her head again. Right, classified. If it has anything to do with their jobs, I really don't want to know. Then another thought occurred to her.

"Naruto, I' sorry, but I don't think he can stay," She muttered regretfully, hating herself for turning away the hottest thing to walk through that door since….well…the landlord, yesterday. And to be honest, the landlord more resembled an ass's ass than a human being.

He cocked his head quizzically at her, bright blue eyes confused. "Why not Sakura-chan?" He asked, and wordlessly, she opened up their worn cupboard. It was almost empty, aside from a lone can of beans, and two packets of rice. Naruto grinned though, and from behind his back- why hadn't she noticed he was hiding something before? - produced what seemed like a ton of Instant Ramen, (Naruto's Favorite) among over packages of preserved food. Sakura grinned, and threw her arms around Naruto's neck.

"Naruto, you baka! Why didn't you tell me this before?" Meanwhile, Naruto was slowly turning blue.

"Sakura…Sakura! I. can't. Breath." He managed to gasp, and Sakura let go of him, looking sheepish.

"Sorry." She murmured, and he looked at her reproachfully, trying to rub circulation back into his neck.

-----

Sakura rolled over on her lumpy mattress, staring at the dull, grey ceiling. This Sasuke character…he was interesting. Well, interesting other than the fact than he was the shining example of hotness.

She discovered that he was partnered with Naruto, for their jobs-obviously, he was the brains and brawn, while Naruto was pretty much the brute force. Of course, that would also tip her off that they did some job that involved sneaking, killing, and god knows what else.

He was an Uchiha. An Uchiha. Once of the richest families in Konoha, the ones who had almost entirely been murdered by the Sound Leader because of their continued rebellion after the end of the war.

He had apparently been friends with Naruto as a child, one of the few people along with Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Neji who would talk to the poor orphan.

He wa-

Sakura's thoughts were suddenly interrupted by shouting and screaming outside of her flat. She was up in an instant, pulling on her pants, and her boots. Her hand reached the door, and the moment she opened it, she was met with a wall of heat. Horrified, she stared at the flames that were eating her kitchen, and then looked to Naruto, who was attempting to save as much clothing from the flames as possible, along with Sasuke. She began to run over to help them, when a fit of coughing alerted her from the over room. Terrified, Sakura dashed into her mother's room, to see her mother enveloped in smoke, unable to move from her bed.

"Mom!" She screamed, dashing over to the frail woman. She wasn't able to stop coughing. "Mom, c'mon mom, you have to get up. Mom? Mom!" She cried, starting to cough herself, the smoke burning her throat. Her mother weakly shook her head no, before collapsing against the pillow again.

"Mom, you can't quit now! Mom! Get up! We have to get out of here!" Ayaka Haruno smiled at her daughter for one last brief time, before closing her blind, emerald eyes. "Mom?"

"She's dead Sakura." A dark voice behind her said, and she spun around to see Sasuke, standing at the doorway, the flames at his back making him look like some hell-sent creature. Tears began to stream down her face, and she furiously shook her head no.

"She is not!" She screamed, and he grabbed her elbow, forcing her to stand.

"Yes, Haruno, she is. Now, would you like to share the same fate, or would you like to live? I would suggest following me, if you do wish to live." Still staring numbly at her mother- now her mother's corpse, Sakura allowed him to jerk her to her feet, and drag her out the door, feeling like she was watching this entire tragedy unfold from somewhere else. It felt so…unreal. Her mother couldn't be dead? Right? And her apartment really wasn't on fire, right? No, it wasn't happening. It was all a dream. Yeah, it was all just a dream.

Slightly dazed, she followed him to the doorway, but then she stopped. She turned around, staring in horror, as the room she had just left began to alight with flames. A wooden beam fell down from the ceiling, flames coming off of it. Sakura never knew what possessed her to do it, but ignoring Sasuke's shout of her name, she ran back into the room….

Right through a curtain of flame.

Ignoring the pain, she desperately pounded on her skirt, which had lit on fire, trying to smother the flames. Her hands screamed in pain, but finally, the fire was out. Somehow, her shirt had escaped being burned, by some miracle. The only thing still burning was her hair.

Sakura stared in horror as her long pink locks lit up in flames, half of them already burned. Some small, logical part of her brain though, told her to stop standing there like an idiot, and do something. She stared around frantically, looking for something, whether it be water, a towel, a knife, or what, but there was nothing. That is until a hand grabbed her hair right above where the fire was. Sasuke scowled as he sliced off the girl's hair right below the neck. , he then spun her around and glared at her.

"What the hell were you thinking Haruno?" He spat, looking pissed. Sakura shook her head, staring at the ground, tears leaking from her eyes. "That was the most idiotic thing I have ever seen someone do!" She tried to open her mouth.

"My mothe-"

"Your mother is dead Haruno!" He shouted, and she sank to her knees, now crying in earnest.

"N-no! She's not! She can't be!" She cried, and he sighed.

"Sakura, she is. Now come on." He muttered. Sakura refused, staying where she was.

"No! If she died here, then I'm going with her!" She whispered, and he glared. Stupid idiot.

Sakura stared up at him as he held her head for a moment.

Then everything was black.

-----

Naruto stared anxiously up at the burning building; Where are they! Teme said he'd get Sakura!

He had managed to wake up most of the inhabitants, and usher them out of the building, before the fire had spread, but Sakura, Sasuke, and Ayaka were still in there, and it didn't look like they'd be able to get out, with the front door now on fire. He mentally sighed. Sasuke, a top agent, wasn't able to get out of a fire? It didn't make sense, unless Sakura wouldn't let him leave.

At that exact moment, when Naruto started to give up and turn away from the building, someone kicked out the half-rotted planks covering the first-story window, and out climbed Sasuke, blackened with soot, and carrying an unconscious Sakura bridal-style in his arms. He strode past the gaping blonde as if nothing had happened, but motioned for Naruto to follow.

"Dobe," He hissed quietly. "I thought you said there was no one tailing us?"

"Well, I didn't think there was, teme!" He muttered, running to catch up with Sasuke's long strides. Naruto, observing their odd group, throwing the pathetically small pack of things saved from the fire over his shoulder. He noted that there was one person missing.

"Sasuke…where's Ayaka?" He asked quietly. Sasuke turned to him, and for a brief moment, his eyes softened, knowing that the woman had almost been a mother to the kid.

"I'm sorry, Naruto. She's dead." Naruto stood, frozen in place.

"No…" He whispered. Sasuke simply stopped, and closed his eyes. For a moment, time froze like that, the only thing moving being a breath of cold wind.

"C'mon Dobe. Let's get back to Headquarters."

Alright, I admit, that fire scene was REALLY rushed- but that's me...I kinda suck with stuff like that XD

out of curiousity, has anyone heard of this site called Pandora? It's really cool, where you can pretty much make your own online radio station for yourself, with songs/styles that you like. I think I'm in love with it, heh.

Alright I'll stop talking- except to say, that Shika, Ino, Neji, Tenten, Hinata, Shino, Kiba, and ...everyone else, show up next chapter, and I really want to write it XD

So, Happy New Year guys, if I don't update by then!

-Feareth