Author's Note – Thank you for the love, things are doing slightly better and I'm really trying to write and smile. Your prayers and well wishings helped out a great deal. Thank you guys!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto… or Sasuke… Or Sakura… BUT DAMMIT IF I DID THERE WOULD BE MORE DRY HUMPING!

Chapter 20
A Bloody Cherry Blossom

"When you break a cherry tree in half
you'll spend a lifetime trying to grow another
that will never be even half as good."

~Lady A.R.R.O.

Sasuke Uchiha Age: 20

~"I've already buried a father, a mother, countless aunts, uncles, and cousins after that horrible night. Clocks continued to tick on, but time refused to pass. The sun rose and the sun set, but shadows remained. Where there once was sound there was now was eternal silence. What once was whole was now in shattered pieces. All because of one pink haired Kunoichi that I'd once never noticed before, and suddenly I can't get her image out of my head… Now I must bury her too. If this is what dying feels like, I don't want it anymore, I want it all to stop…"

~His dark hair fell over her face, shadowing his afflicted expression as the silent tears plummeted upon her perfect, porcelain features, bloodied by the minutes ago attack meant for him. He quietly sobbed, reaching his fingers down to the first spike he felt and wrenched it out, feeling the pulsing breath of those who watched all around him. They watched in somber horror as the dark haired, rogue Shinobi continued to pluck out the green needles, an oozing liquid trickled from the wound and all eyes floated to the shocked Mist Shinobi standing in sickened disgust. It was obvious the man hadn't intended to hurt the young woman, but everyone glared at him with revulsion in their eyes, thinking the worst of his beginning, innocent intentions to protect the Kunoichi.

~"Move!" Someone shouted, struggling to push through the crowd and the bawling Hokage turned to see a flash of blonde come barreling into the open, feeling her heart wrench in its confines when Naruto tripped at the last second. He fell to the ground dumbly staring straight ahead at the pink mass of bloodied flesh, sitting lifeless and dead in the arms of his ex-teammate.

~Sasuke finished at length, running his fingers across the woman's curves tenderly, a loving expression crossing his face as he wrapped his arms around her chest and hugged her close. He was too late. Of all the times for him to be too late to protect her… to save her… and it was the one time it meant more than any other. He couldn't stand it, feeling like this. It was like being in that bloody, dark room all over again, seeing the lifeless corpses of his father and mother staring blankly up at him, his brother glaring with frigid malice as he told the young Sasuke to hate him with his whole being. The youngest Uchiha was helpless again, a useless child hanging on the whims of his mother's apron strings waiting for a good word while his father ignored his very presence.

~"Sakura," the dark haired Shinobi mumbled, crushing his face into her collarbone and glancing up to see her headband sitting beside her still body. The metal face plate was crushed and the Konoha symbol of honor so many nins wore with pride was shattered beyond repair. He reached for it shakily and withdrew it back to himself, hugging both Kunoichi and her headband close as if they would offer some kind of solace to his aching soul.

~"You!" Naruto screamed, pointing an angry finger in Sasuke's direction, "you did this to her! It's your fault!" He darted forward, yanking himself out of Hinata's comforting grip and tearing across the street in a blur, grabbing a handful of the Uchiha's shirt, lifting him up off the ground as the pinkette slipped from the oldest teammate's grip. The body of the medical nin slithered to the ground and softly bumped the asphalt, going unnoticed by the demon containing member of team seven. There was a hushed silence between the growing crowd as the on just arriving ninjas tried to figure out what had transpired.

~Naruto growled, his lip curling into a nasty snarl and his eyes narrowed to feral slits as Kyuubi tossed beneath the surface, threatening to break free at the soonest opportunity. "She loved you more than anyone else! How could you let her die?"

~Sasuke couldn't answer, had no answer for the blond Dobe. He would have pushed Sakura aside had he known what she was up to, the damn woman was just too unpredictable now, her every thought was uncalculated and had no forethought. Just like someone else he knew.

~"Naruto!" Hinata cried, falling to her knees, begging her secret crush to let Sasuke go, but her words went unheeded as the Jinchuriki of the nine tailed fox began to glow red with unrestrained fury.

~Tsunade went to reach for Sakura's body, struggling to pull her faded pupil away from the duo. Her hand grabbed the Kunoichi's right wrist, but Naruto let out a throated warning, forcing the Hokage to withdraw her appendage lest it become severed from her body. She hugged her hands to her chest, looking rather vulnerable, tears still clinging to her cheeks and she stared up at the two once best friends. This wasn't supposed to happen, everything was so wrong, like the god writing their lives had suddenly lifted his pen at a crucial moment and left the scene hanging on a whim.

~"I'm going to kill you!" The Jinchuriki howled and slammed a fist into Sasuke's face, breaking the man's nose and throwing him into a nearby building, caving in the side. At first, it appeared as if the Uchiha was going to fight back, get angry for the Dobe's sucker punch, but when Sasuke gathered up enough strength, he climbed to his feet and just stood there motionless. He was accepting his fate from the blond, knowing he deserved as much and more, letting Uzumaki come at him again and again with everything the younger had, hoping it would snuff out the older's own existence before too long.

~Tsunade pulled Sakura to her, feeling the cold, bare flesh beneath her fingertips, wordlessly praying to whatever god was listening that he take care of her. She was about to pick the girl up when Kakashi poofed beside her and laid his cloak over his once student's nearly unclothed form, hoping to give her some dignity in death and looked back up at his battling pupil's, debating in his mind as to his first move.

~"Let them be," the woman muttered, choking grief almost overtaking her voice, "he won't kill him, but he'll try."

~Kakashi nodded without a sound and knelt down to help Tsunade pick up the Kunoichi, taking the Hokage's upper arm with him and getting her to her unsteady feet. They had to get Sakura's body away from the crowd before too much more happened and more gawkers came to stare. All ready, the ANBU Captain could see Ino Yamanaka and a few choice others that were close to the pinkette standing in horrified shock.

~The sensei went to blur away, but felt the fragile body in his grasp suddenly shudder. His eye darted to Sakura's form, something in his mind telling him it was nothing, though he was sure the pinkette had moved. There was no way she had, his Sharingan eye saw no life within her, not even from the goddess he knew was hiding deep within her, everything about Sakura Haruno was gone, leaving no trace that she'd ever been alive to begin with.

~Tsunade gave an odd look to Kakashi, wondering why he was still here and followed his shocked gaze down to the younger Kunoichi. At first there was nothing, just a lifeless, covered corpse of a girl she loved like a daughter, but then something twitched… not just twitched… pulsed. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, thinking her own mind had gone mad. Sakura's whole body had suddenly throbbed, like a microscopic heartbeat, at first slowly and almost insignificantly, but as the seconds ticked by and Naruto's senseless beating on the limp Uchiha continued, the pinkette showed an impossible sign of life.

~Tearing to Hatake's side, Tsunade touched her student, where once there had been only cold and dead tissue, now sat a warm and silently breathing body. Her chest moved sluggishly, like the beating of butterfly wings and her wounds oozed green liquid, the poison dripping off her body as if being pushed out by some unseen force.

~"What's happening?" Kakashi murmured in awe, kneeling down as Tsunade followed. He removed the head plate from his eye and delved deep into the chakra of the Sharingan to see what was going on, only to find a light, green/gold tinged energy coursing through her veins, swiftly getting stronger by the second.

~The Hokage's fingers danced over a thumping pulse point, her eyes shining with fresh tears as she peered up into Kakashi's eyes, "she's alive." In an instant, motherly instinct and medical know how overtook Tsunade's mind and she ordered Kakashi to spirit the woman to the hospital, pointing at some remaining ANBU to break up the one sided battle others were looking on at with frightened awe. No one seemed to notice the sudden, miraculous change in Sakura's body and the blond woman wanted to keep it that way if she could, giving out false hope was the last thing on her mind.

~When she knew that the two battling Shinobis were taken care of, the only female Hokage to ever grace Konoha with her nearly overwhelming presence suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke and was off teleporting to her hospital, and to her charge.

~Sasuke pounded his fists against his cell's walls, rattling the imbued chains and causing an echo down the once silent prison halls. He was testing their strength, knowing full well that even with their chakra draining spell, he was going to break free of them if it killed him to do so. Something was afoot, something the always morbidly wordless ANBU were keeping from him and that angry knowledge increased his tempestuous rage almost tenfold.

~"Master Sasuke," Juugo murmured from the next cell, his voice full of concern for his leader. The beating Uchiha had taken the night before was brutal and there had been nothing himself or Suigetsu had been able to do about it. Blood coated his skin and matted his hair, having been given no opportunity to wash it away, although Juugo was sure Sasuke was in the mood to bathe. His nose was still broken too, though had been reset by a medic earlier in the morning and left to heal on its own, he would live that was for sure, even if the Shinobi didn't want to.

~They had been captured by the ANBUs the minute the Hokage had come barreling in and only the violet eyed Mist nin had managed to get away by deteriorating himself into water and scattering before a jutsu could be used to bind him. It left the inhumanly massive Sound nin and a rogue Leaf nin behind to fend for themselves, but at least Suigetsu was the one with the object of their earlier attentions.

~"Please, don't strain yourself," it was the most the tall Shinobi had spoken in awhile. At least all at one time and Sasuke slumped back against the wall, feeling more overwhelming hopelessness coming to chew away at his thoughts. He'd allowed his woman to die and couldn't even get himself or his men out of harm's way. He was inevitably useless, feeling the raging depression rearing its ugly head and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

~"I'm not a perfect person," he told himself, "I've never once claimed to be and there are so many things I've done in the pursuit of my goal that I wish I hadn't done. I keep getting stronger and gaining the needed power to destroy him, but it's always never enough." His thoughts unavoidably turned towards the pinkette left for dead on that cold Konoha street while Naruto tore into him. She had a beaming smile when it showed through her sad jade green irises and her hair could catch moonlight unlike anything Sasuke had ever seen before.

~Suddenly he saw her face that night in the hot spring, eyes downcast and an expression of gloomy degradation plastered where a shining smile had once sat. He jerked against the chains, rattling them so loud their echo broke free tiny pieces of rock that sprinkled down on his head, "I didn't mean to do those things to you. I… I couldn't help myself, it just happened…" His consciousness argued with his inner self, screaming maddening obscenities and cruel words of biting anger at him. He was a monster and everyone knew it. A cruel bastard of the worst kind, taking everything from people because it suited his needs and wants, heartlessly destroying those who got in his way and in the past years since he'd left the Hidden Leaf Village, he'd given more abuse to the ones he felt closest to, more so than to anyone else.

~He buried his chin into his chest, teeth grit tight and all he could think about was Sakura sitting lifeless, cold, and alone in some burial casket, waiting for her time to be put into the ground. The thought sent a rush of cold spiraling down his spine and into the heart of his gut, sending the wind from his lungs as he struggled to keep from losing his cool demeanor. But he needed her, needed to see her one last time. No matter the cost or who he hurt in the process, he had to get to her and tell her body good bye or he would lose his mind.

~"Juugo," Sasuke whispered, "we need to get out."

~The sound nin leaned closer to the wall to hear better and possibly keep the ANBUs from getting a whiff of their plan, "yes?"

~"You need to lose your sanity."

~They both thought over the consequences of this, the chain of events to follow would be catastrophic if not properly handled, but it appeared to be the only thing either of them could do.

~"Yes, sir…"

Hokage Tsunade Age: 55

~She fingered the green casket, the edge fabric soft against her tips. Inside her she was praying for everything to go all right, for things to be flawless in their planning and execution. There was no room today for someone to slip up, the funeral procession was to be carried out to a tee and then the mission to hunt for the Akatsuki was going to be carried out. Tonight she was going to fall into bed and allow her sheer exhaustion to overtake her, because things were going to be better after today, there was nowhere else to go but up.

~"Thinking about her?" Kakashi's voice sliced into the silence like a hot knife to butter and it took all of the Hokage's strength not to flinch. She spun on heel to face the Jounin, seeing his Konoha leaf plate pushed to his forehead where it belonged for once, his Sharingan eye was steadily taking in the bare room. The vertical slashed scar across the left side of his face looked mean and angry in appearance, adding to his mysteriously powerful visage and Tsunade, for a brief second, wished she was years younger, but shook away the thought chalking it up fatigue that she was thinking like some mindless academy girl.

~"A little. I'm worried that someone will try to disrupt the procession and the plan will be found out," she laid her hands on the closed coffin, sensing the dead weight inside it.

~"Don't be, we have round the clock guards on Sasuke and his man, they're out looking for the missing water nin and we have Yagura and Naruto under lock and key in case someone thinks to come after them during the funeral."

~"How is Naruto taking the news?" She was slightly enraged by the blond's behavior since the ANBU Black Ops finally subdued him. He was constantly asking to see the pink headed Kunoichi, tearfully begging to be by her side while they prepared her corpse for the final ritual rites and when he'd been denied he fell into a despondent mood, mourning not only the loss of his lover, but the imprisonment of his once best friend. The Kyuubi had tried, on several occasions through the night, to take over, recklessly throwing the blond's unmanned, limp body around like a ragdoll in an effort to break free of it mental and physical cage.

~"He's promised to control the nine tail if he is allowed to watch the memorial service. I have given no promises and leave the decision to you, Lady Tsunade."

~She sighed heavily, if it wasn't one thing it was another and her hand came to her temple to rub the aching nerves behind it, "only a few more hours until this is all over." Dropping her creamy colored appendage back to her side, she wordlessly nodded to Kakashi, "allow him to come, it'll give him closure and possibly something to fight harder for… Have they found the scroll?" Without looking over her shoulder, she knew the silver haired Shinobi had shaken his head and decided that having all one's eggs in a basket was impossible for these times, growling angrily.

~A few black robed people came in then, startled by the Hokage's and the ANBU Captain's presence, but said nothing as they went to the coffin's side and lifted it up by its golden handled edges, taking it from the room without a sound.

~"Let's get this over with…"

~It was like the third Hokage's procession, everyone dressed in black. This practice of eternal respect wasn't used for every ninja that passed on, mainly only figure heads, but Tsunade had ordered it so. She felt if her surrogate daughter was going to up and die on her, the least she could do for the head doctor in Konoha's Hospital was to pay the proper homage to a young woman of her status.

~The stone paved street leading to the silent graveyard was lined with friends, fellow ninja, medics, townspeople, nearly everyone who had been in contact with the always helpful Kunoichi was here, paying their respects to a fallen comrade taken before her time, and in the act of protecting a loved one of their village. No matter his status as a shinobi, it was honorable to die protecting another.

~No one moved, not a sound was uttered, all action ceased as the black and dark green satined coffin came into view from the bottom of the stone slab steps, carried by four fellow ninjas Sakura had known well in life. On her right side stood Kiba Inuzuka and Rock Lee, on her left was Neji Hyuuga and Shikamaru Nara, all at one time close friends and allies with her, but none of that seemed to matter now. As they passed by the masses slowly, the sound of someone playing a shamisen* behind echoed through the souls of everyone who listened.

~Ino Yamanaka collapsed against Choji, bawling into his black outfit as he lightly touched her head and tried to offer some form of comfort, but could find no words other than a few hushes and gentle hugs. He too struggled against his own inner feelings of woe as the casket came passed his gaze.

~Tsunade stood at the end of the processional, briefly glancing up at the cloudy sky that was letting loose small droplets of rain water and feeling a cold zephyr chill come screaming through her body, freezing her to her core. Beside her she had Kakashi and Naruto, both silent as sentinels as the tomb came ever unwaveringly closer, but sensed Naruto's coming tears as he clutched tighter to a small branch of cherry blossoms he felt she needed to have in the afterlife.

~The two Shinobi in front on either side of Sakura nodded solemnly to their Hokage, waiting for her to give the orders.

~"I see you honorable Shinobi, who here have you brought to be entombed?" Tsunade asked, performing the usual burial rites of a true ninja. Her eyes were set and staring hard without any emotion at all.

~Kiba tried to start, but his voice cracked, feeling not only his own pain but that of Akamaru's as well and Neji intervened, knowing the wake had to continue without pause, "we bring you a fallen ninja, Hokage. A true and virtuous Kunoichi. She has served without question and brought this village protection and safety. We ask to bury her alongside her fellow fallen and beg her name to be written upon the great memorial stone."

~There was a pause as Tsunade looked to the ground and breathed in deep, exhaling softly before she looked back up into the male Hyuuga's eyes, nodding her permission. They carefully moved the sarcophagus into the proper position on the stand, lining up when their deed had been done and bowed respectfully to their Hokage before they took to their positions alongside their mourning friends.

~"We lay to rest a good medical Kunoichi and great ninja," The Hokage turned to the covered woman and laid her hand on the coffin, "may her memory always warm our souls and her spirit seek refuge in the loving arms of Kami." She set her cherry blossom branch on the lid and stepped back to allow others to pay their final respects.

~Naruto would have gone next, but he held back, watching the line of others go through as they set their presents atop the young woman's casket and he felt more burning tears go streaking down his face. The pain was so immense he thought he was dying, his heart aching from its torn shreds still bleeding in the wake of Sakura Haruno's death. Behind him a tearful Hinata tried to reach out and touch his shoulders, but she couldn't. She too felt pain for the death of close friend and ally, her soul awash in sorrow not only for the pinkette, but for her blond crush as well and she drew her hand back to her chest, praying one day he would see she was there for him.

~When the line ended and the only one still clutching to the final remembrances of things gone past was a blond haired Dobe, mournfully sobbing in silence, he drew forward and lifted two photographs to the pile of Sakura blossoms; her family photo taken years ago, slightly burned by the fire and her academy picture with Kakashi and her closest friends.

~He shook as he laid them down, biting his lower lip so hard he drew blood and kissed his one last gift to her goodbye, giving it to the Kunoichi's covered coffin and stepping back. Sakura had to now be buried, her headstone gleaming in the day light like a hurtful reminder of what Naruto would never touch again.

~Four cloaked ANBU ninjas lifted the satin box from her and delivered it towards the abysmal hole whose blackness seemed to dredge on forever amidst the gloomy minds of those who watched. They were about to lower the woman into her final resting place when an onslaught of sharp shurikens came out of nowhere and forced the ANBUs to drop their load. The coffin bounced slightly, Sakura's pile of flowery gifts slipped off her lid and fell to the ground.

~In an instant, everyone was on their guard, eyes darting everywhere in an attempt to see who had effectively ruined the final moments of Sakura Haruno's funeral and all eyes rested on the shadowed figure that leaped from the forest's edge, coming swiftly into view.

~Naruto growled angrily, the rising fury battered into him with a merciless blitz of agony and he came forward ready to annihilate the man who dared try to disrupt these horrendously painful moments for him.

~"SASUKE!" Uzumaki bellowed and blurred forward, only to be stopped by the insanely out of control Juugo, his body covered in the poison blackness that engulfed the sanity in his mind.

~"Who do I kill next?" The orange haired man asked with a large, monstrous smile playing on the corners of his lips and he flew at Naruto, ready to fight.

~People who had no fighting skills ran in terror and those who did, including Kakashi and the ANBUs ran to help in the battle, a few hanging back to protect the Hokage who stood in perilous rage at the scene happening before her. She snarled as all her quick thought out planning went up in a huge plume of smoke and left behind shambles.

~Sasuke turned to the dropped coffin and laid a cautious hand on the lid, knowing that Juugo would keep the ninjas busy for the few moments it took for him to say goodbye.

~"Sakura," he murmured, almost as if her body would hear him. "I never meant to hurt anyone, especially you. Over the years I forgot what it meant to rely on someone, to care for another person. I've only felt anger and hatred for so long it's tainted me to the core." His knees buckled and he fell beside the covered, wooden box, both hands on the lid for support against everything inside him fighting to come to the surface and bitter, stinging tears clung to the back of his eyes.

~"When I first met you in the rain that night, I didn't know how to cope with someone trying to help me and I ran from it. When we were placed on the same team and you made it clear your feelings for me, I spurned them because I was too busy feeling hate for someone else to let anyone in." A hot tear raced down his cheek and dribbled off the end of his chin, "I need you to know something, Sakura…" He chewed on his lip, balling his hands into fists, "I found a reason for me to change the person I used to be."

~Juugo was struggling behind the Taka Leader, throwing the mass attacking nins back, bellowing out a hoarse battle cry and jumping back into the fold of ninjas struggling to get to his friend and master, but he wasn't about to allow that no matter what. If it meant his own death, Juugo was going to protect Sasuke from these Leaf nin no matter what the cost.

~"When you saved me from the rain, from the river, from enemies… from myself… I realized something I never thought was possible. That I could feel something besides hate. You're the reason I feel like this, why I feel my hatred slowly slipping from my fingers." He pounded his fists on the coffin, screaming at himself for not being able to tell her sooner and letting everything he wanted more than anything else slip through his fingers.

~"I'm selfish!" He screamed and suddenly a hand touched his shoulder and he turned to look up at Kakashi standing over his solemnly. Juugo had been subdued at last and Naruto was kneeling on the ground sporting a fat lip, glaring at the Uchiha like he was some kind of disgusting bug that needed to be killed.

~"Please," Sasuke whispered, "let me say goodbye."

~Kakashi peered over at Tsunade who nodded and motioned for Naruto to be let go, the blond unsteadily got to his feet and drudged to his ex-teammate's side, falling in line beside the slightly older man.

~"You're a piece of shit," Naruto muttered, his anger ebbing away when he saw Sasuke clutching to his own photo of Team Seven, slightly wrinkled and torn from being crammed away into too many pockets.

~Sasuke said nothing and leaned his head forward on the casket, "I wish I could take away all the pain I put everyone through, I want to take it all away." He cursed at himself for shedding more tears, unable to call them back after they spilled over the edge of his lower lids.

~Naruto glared at the slumped posture of his best friend and hesitantly clapped him on the back comfortingly, they were both hurting and being angry didn't seem to get either of them anything but more pain, mentally and physically.

~"Dammit!" Sasuke screamed, "I need her to hear what I have to say!"

~The blond nodded his head knowingly, "she's the reason we're not raving, mindless lunatics. She changed us for the better."

~Glancing at Naruto, the black haired Shinobi suddenly remembered why he had been friends with the stupid Dobe in the first place, he'd always been in the habit of saying the right thing at the right time and now wasn't any different. Sure Naruto was an idiot, sure he was stubborn, thick-headed, headstrong, and didn't think before he acted, but he was still the best friend anyone could ask for.

~Sasuke leaned in close and kissed the lid, moving to one end of the tomb and Naruto moving to the other as they stared at each other with knowing expressions. They hefted the heavy sarcophagus up and towards her headstone, both lovingly dropping in her body without another word. As they covered the grave with earth, everyone all around them just seemed to melt away and the only people left behind were two close friends and once teammates, burying their loved one.

~Tsunade watched in sighing relief as the two Shinobi sluggishly drudged their way back and two ANBU moved forward to restrain the Uchiha, but the Hokage waved them away, "I'll take control of Uchiha and Uzumaki-"

~One masked man moved to say something and Tsunade easily waved him off, "if either one of them tries to hurt me, I'll disembowel them," she threatened and turned to them, "come with me boys."

~Her office was still as tacky as ever and her door was still lying off its hinges as the two Shinobi entered the office, the silence almost deafening in the building from the lack of people working. Many were either hiding from the attack on the memorial service or other places, Tsunade was sure no one would come here as a full day of mourning had been given for the beloved Kunoichi.

~"Sit," the woman ordered harshly and the two young men sat. They stared ahead uncomfortably as Tsunade eyed them for a few long moments, hanging her chin over her interlaced fingers. "I suppose this is where I get down to the nitty gritty. I hadn't expected things to turn out so…" She gave Sasuke a hardened glare, "badly."

~A shadow darted in from the window and Kakashi's form took shape on the sill, "Lady Tsunade, it seems our," he paused as if to find the right words, "… our little bird has flown the coop."

~Tsunade let out an aggravated growl, rubbing her sinuses, running her fingers through her hair. She was over worked, over stressed, and about ready to remove someone's fingernails with a bamboo shoot, but as stressed and tired as she was, this new problem arising an entire series of issues would ensue.

~"Where had she gone?"

~Kakashi lifted a hand to his ear and tapped on his telecom and waited as if for some divine intervention, although everyone knew he was waiting for information from his team. A low crackle came through and the ANBU Captain nodded to himself as he learned of their target's whereabouts.

~"She seems to be hiding in the forest rather well, they know her rough vicinity."

~The Hokage felt her rage rising and slammed a fist on the table, "she's in no condition to be traipsing around outside! She needs to be in her hospital room resting, she's lucky the babies are still alive."

~Sasuke and Naruto threw each other confused glances and returned their attention to their village elder and leader, waiting for her to let them in on the proverbial secret.

~"I suppose you two will need to be briefed on the situation, though Naruto knows more about it then you do, Sasuke._ And don't think you're off the hook for going rogue, I will deal with your punishment later, but for now I'm assigning you two to go into Konoha Forest and bring back a Kunoichi." Both young men perked up instantly, tuning in their ears in an attempt to sort out the jumbled mess of their thoughts. Something crawled around in their insides, a lurking curiosity shrouded by cautious doubt, neither really wanting to know exactly what was going on, but knowing they needed to for their own sanity's sake.

~"The whole funeral, it was a fake. I thought it up last night while we were stitching up Sakura's hamburgered body. We needed a scapegoat, something to make people think she was gone and though the fight between Sasuke and Mizukage Yagura was unexpected, it offered me the way to make our little medical nin disappear without a trace and with no repercussions." She reached down into a drawer to her right and scrounged around inside for a moment before finding the object of her attention, a rolled up messenger scroll they all had seen a million times before, except its seal was made with an old formed jutsu that had lingering chakra even after Tsunade had opened it.

~"This is word from our scouts that an Akatsuki member is hovering around the edges of our village and has been for at least a week, I've kept this from the wrong parties because it seems every time someone finds out our business-" she slammed the scroll down and nearly startled Naruto out of his seat, "I get idiots on my doorstep causing havoc." Her eyes narrowed visciously on Sasuke and she sighed heavily, too tired to do much of anything but yell and scream.

~"What does this mean?" Naruto asked, but the gears in Sasuke's head were all ready turning. He darted to his feet, going for the door without a word, though the old hag got to him first.

~"You are still a part of this village whether you care to admit it or not, Uchiha, and you have punishments that need to be doled out to you," she watched Naruto climb cautiously to his feet as if to follow, although to what he was unsure about.

~Sasuke said nothing and left, feeling the burning need to get to the forest and find this Kunoichi before their enemy did. Waves of strange emotions were coursing through him at a rate he didn't think possible and he wasn't quite sure how to feel about any of them, one minute he was glad, another relieved, but there was a bit of anger fettering around the edges like a tiny bit of infection to a wound, threatening to spread further in, yet hunkering down without hope of leaving any time soon.

~The Dobe followed mindlessly, asking questions to a silent Uchiha that continued to go unheard and unanswered. Naruto wanted to know who they were chasing after, why Tsunade had been so cryptive, and why the damn Dabattayo wasn't answering him.

~Konoha was still outside, the somber hangings of grief still remained on the air, bringing the depressing note of the city down to abysmal levels. The stores were closed, signs off, and people mourning in their grief, everything was dreary and slow, too much like a ghost town and Sasuke didn't like it.

~"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled, forcing the older man to pause and turn to his mission mate. The sound echoed loudly off the walls of buildings and frightened off a stray cat from a nearby windowsill, forcing it to take cover in a less crowded street. "What's going on?" He asked.

~"We're getting Sakura…"

Author's Note – I'm working on another chapter tonight, but don't expect it until tomorrow night maybe Saturday night. Please be nice on this chapter I'm outta whack tonight…

P.S. I was listening to Hoobastank's The Reason and I was watching We Are Marshall….. lol sorry!