key:

"talking"

thinking

"flash back"

kyuubi

The Funeral and the Truth

By the time they reached Konoha Village it was mid-afternoon and Sakura's funeral was already in session. The two knew better then to enter a ninja village so they settled for climbing one of larger trees around the village wall so they could get a better view of the ongoing funeral without being spotted and apprehended. After all they were now enemies of the leaf village, considering one of them had actually ended the life of the shinobi being celebrated and the other had been the main cause of the girl's death, even if they shared a soul and were once essentially the same being. The day had been so nice and sunny until a few hours ago when dark clouds filled the sky and small rain drops had proceeded to fall from the heavens. It felt surreal to participate in her own funeral, even if she wasn't actually physically participating, she was still there, not dead, but not technically alive ether. Why does it always rain at funerals, she couldn't help but share the same thoughts as many others witnessing the funeral, including one melancholy Naruto Uzimaki. Zen sat in front of her protectively pushing her back to conceal her in the leaves of the tree, knowing all to well that her white kimono could be easily be noticed in plain sight. Even with his back to her, Usagi knew he wore a worried expression, he was worried that she would be in emotional turmoil due the funeral, her funeral, that proceeded below. Strangely, Usagi wasn't feeling very emotional, actually she felt quite numb to it all. She watched as her friends payed their respects, and listened as her sensei, the Hokage gave a glorious speech about Sakura's legacy with a face full of tears. It was at the brink of night that the funeral had finally come to an end. Sakura Haruno is dead, with that thought she knew she had to let go of her old life, she looked up to sky, the moon was not yet visible but she could feel it there supporting and strengthening her.

When night finally fell over the village, the two shared a glance at the slimmer crescent moon that was now set in the sky. The moon was waning, meaning Usagi's abilities wouldn't even be close to her full potential and to be honest her appearance wasn't exactly suited for stealth missions. Zen decided that it would be safest for her to remain outside the city, undetected, he would go fetch his black katana alone. Usagi wasn't worried about Zen, after all it was night time, he was practically god when he was in his element, and even without it he was still a guardian spirit, the embodiment of the night sky, immortal. But she was also practically immortal, probably more immortal then Hidan of the Akatsuki, and she was never one to sit still. As soon as she could no longer sense Zen she herself entered the village unnoticed, if she concentrated she could make herself invisible to the naked eye. Not just anyone would be able to notice her presence, only those with advanced sight such as a kekkei genkai, or heighten senses could pull off such a feat.

Usagi didn't bother to assist her companion in any way with his mission, she knew better than anyone that he was fine on his own. Instead, she decided to pay a visit to Konohagakure's very own memorial stone. For some odd reason, standing in front of the stone she felt at peace. She glanced over the fallen shinobi's names, she knew Sakura Haruno would be the next name engraved on the rock. The thought of it made her want to cry, but she wasn't quite sure why. She straightened up quickly, No! You have to put the past behind you! But she had to admit it was hard to let go of it all. She never had this much trouble with her past human lives, why was this one any different? She snapped out of her deep thoughts the minute she sensed them. It was to late to run, the two men were already just a few meters behind her. "Why'd you stop Kakashi sensei?" Naruto questioned in a slightly confused voice, but the older man just ignored the boy. "Who are you?" She knew he was talking to her, he could she her with his sharingon, not to mention smell her with his dog-like senses. Naruto quickly caught on and when he focused he could sense her as well, not that it really mattered because she quickly dropped the illusion and allowed herself to become visible to the two men. They were surprised by her ghostly appearance, though she never turned to face them. "Who are you?" Kakashi repeated the question even though he knew she had heard him the first time. "I'm a ghost", she lied, her throat felt tight with sadness. "Ghost don't have chakra", he replied calmly. "How would you know?" she questioned him. She was right, he didn't really know for sure, he had never meet a ghost, but his gut told him that this woman before him was no ghost.

"I will keep asking until you answer", he warned sternly. She didn't say anything, he sighed and was about to repeat the question once more, but stopped immediately when the figure turned to face them. She faced them even though she knew that the sight of them would only make leaving them behind forever that much harder, she just couldn't stop herself. The men's eyes widened at the sight of her unearthly beauty, her glowing silver hair floated around her unnaturally and her light blue eyes seemed to pierce their very souls. She couldn't possibly be human. Then it hit him, pakku's words, "The owner of this scent is not human". Could this pale apparition be the one who took their Sakura away from them forever. His eyes narrowed at the thought. Even if she's not the culprit, she may know the identity of true criminal. Kakashi readied himself to apprehend the suspect, but what faced him caused him to stop dead in his tracks. She couldn't hold it in anymore, it was as if the sight of two of the most important men in her life brought it out of her forcefully, she couldn't hold back the emotions, she couldn't hold back Sakura Haruno. The tears streamed endlessly from her eyes, before she knew it she was sobbing like a new born baby, and not very gracefully I might add. She had put her hands up to cover her hideous crying face, and her embarrassment at the situation. Kakashi and Naruto didn't know what to do about the woman that had been reduced to a crying child.

"Naruto… Kakashi sensei… I missed you guys", she sobbed innocently, oblivious as to what she was saying. It can't be! She can't be… Kakashi's thoughts were finished by Naruto's words, "Sa-Sakura?" He questioned hopefully. The girl didn't answer, her massive sobs reduced to light tears, yet she kept her faced buried into the palms of her hands. "Sak-", but before the boy could pursue any further a sharp wind collided with them from behind threatening to knock them off balanced. They steadied themselves quickly and looked up to see that wind had swirled around pale beauty and had transformed into a tall figure whose arms warped around the girl possessively. Usagi tear stricken face looked up at the man who had pulled her into a protective embrace, and she whimpered "Zen", before she fell into a heavy sleep due to exhaustion from the emotional outburst. Zen picked up the fragile girl so that she laid comfortable in his strong arms and then he fixed his cold golden eyes on the men before him. Kakashi quickly took in the man's appearance, but stopped when his gaze fixed upon a certain item featured on the man's attire. "That sword!" Kakashi recognized it immediately. Zen looked down at his weapon then into the man's unmasked eye and spoke angrily. "Yes, I'm the one who stuck a sword into the pretty pink haired kunoichi's heart!" He spoke as if reading Kakshi's mind, and hoped to get a rise out of the shinobi. Surprisingly the explosion of anger bursted from the younger blonde ninja next to him.

"You Bastard!" Naruto practically screamed at the man, letting angry red chakra over take the calm blue chakra that normally flowed through him. The red chakra seemed to spew out of the boy as he let his anger and the demon take over his body. His whisker marks darken, his teeth sharpened into fangs, and red flared from his eyes as his chakra seemed to manifest around him in the form of a fox. Kakashi was immediately distracted from his intense hatred for the man by Naruto's sudden transformation. "Naruto! You have to calm your self!" Kakshi shouted, but his words didn't reach the boy, now filled with pure animosity. Zen recognized the chakra immediately, it belonged to the kyuubi, a demon hell bent on destruction. Zen automatically pulled out his katana ready to shift into his true form and strike down the monster as he let a low hiss escape his lips. However he hesitated in his transformation when heard a soft grunt come from small unconscious girl gripped tightly to his body. He looked to his other hand that held out his unsheathed katana ready to attack and was instantly disgusted with himself and his unsightly desire for battle. He had almost put Usagi in unnecessary danger, Usagi, his eternal companion, his precious moon, the very reason for his existence. He promptly sheathed his weapon, and Naruto took the opportunity to strike with intent to kill. Zen however was too fast and wise to ever be caught off guard so easily and his right hand swiftly seized the demon boy by the throat before he could even land a blow. Naruto fought hard to break from the tall stranger's grip, but he was too strong. The kyuubi's chakra burned his palm, but Zen ignored the pain. He held the boy so that his face was merely inches away from his own. Zen's gold eyes locked on Naruto's own demonic red eyes and suddenly all of the kyuubi's chakra and hate were shoved back deep inside the boy. The forced recession of the kyuubi's chakra was extremely painful and caused the blonde the scream out in agony. Fortunately, the pain had gone as quickly as it came, but the shock still left Naruto unconscious and he hung there silently held up Zen's hand still gripping the boys throat. He should kill the boy, it would be best for everyone, but Zen couldn't do it he knew that Usagi still had strong feelings for the kid and this village and Zen knew for certain that he never wanted to see her cry, like she had moments before, ever again. The sight of it had made him feel like his heart had been ripped to pieces.

He dropped the boy unceremoniously on the ground and exchanged a stare with a frozen wide-eyed copy ninja. Then he realized that he had used the night's air to lock the man in place when he had felt the kyuubi's chakra resonate out of the boy so that he wouldn't interfere with their battle. "I'm sure that you may have already guessed at truth about the connection between your pink haired friend and the woman in my arms. And you are correct in your assumption, they are the same person." Kakashi said nothing, he didn't know how to possible react now that he knew the truth. "But you should know that the pink haired girl is dead, and Usagi is my companion", he stared deeply into Kakashi's soul so that the man would not soon forget his next words, "You will never see her again." He turned away from the silvered haired shinobi, ready to disappear in to the night forever. Kakashi wanted nothing more than to be able to move, to some how stop the man, and fight to break this painful destiny that faced him, but there was nothing he could do. Zen gave him a final glance, "When we're gone you will be able to move, and I suggest you also move on with your life." Kakashi could only glare at the man, "Never." The word surprised Zen, but he simply smiled to himself, he understood how the ninja felt as he looked down at the world in his arms. Then without a word he bounded into the night sky, leaving the men with nothing but a world without Sakura Haruno.