No one could have guessed that a supposedly easy c-rank mission would end so tragically. It was supposed to be simpler than the previous one and go smoothly, but the only thing that went without a hitch was the loss of one team member. Who would have thought that the one girl who usually stood by and tried not to interfere the other members of her team in successfully completing the mission would throw herself at one, pushing him away from the blast field, losing her life in the process.

Sasuke lay motionless on the ground where Sakura had recently stood and stared into nothingness. He didn't allow himself what had just happened, he didn't want to and he wasn't going to. After all, he should have noticed the explosive note on the ground and jumped away, not literally walked into it. Sakura, instead, was supposed to be standing on the other side and guarding the scroll they had recently obtained, and above all, not interfering.

So how come it was under his watch that she died, after all he was supposed to defend her, always. He himself had told Naruto that he didn't want to lose someone precious again and no matter what they were supposed to protect her. So why did someone so innocent and fragile have to die. Why did she, Sakura, of all damn people, have to give her life for someone like him?

For a long time he just lay there waiting for it all to turn out to be just a genjutsu and Sakura would immediately run up to him with tears in her eyes and start asking if he was okay. God she could even hug him and he would let her, just to feel her presence.

But that wouldn't happen now or ever again, because she wasn't here, she wasn't alive. Like his clan, his parents, his grandparents-his once everything.

Sasuke stood up trying to catch his balance for a moment and slowly started walking towards where she had last been. He tried to think soberly but it wasn't working for him at all. He was afraid to see evidence there that would confirm her death.

Stopping for a moment, he glanced back to see in what condition Naruto was.

He was lying unconscious under a tree with visible bruises and a few scars, but nothing more serious. Knowing him he should recover in no time and start to enjoy the fact that this time the mission wasn't boring and something was happening on it. Though in this case Sasuke doubted he would be happy. Hell, no one would be pleased with such a turn of events.

They had both lost someone important at that moment, Sakura, who was their light, the person who could cheer them up or comfort. She was always worried about them, and while it might seem like she didn't always care about them equally, focusing more on Sasuke she actually cared just the same. Naruto was like the brother she never had, he supported her and although he could be annoying with his attempts to get her attention on him, Sasuke knew that Sakura loved him dearly anyway. For that, Sasuke was someone a little more important to her, someone she wouldn't call a brother. But they were both her family, the one they made their own, and she was theirs.

Sasuke reached the center of the explosion and looked down. On the shattered ground lay her hitai-ate and next to it a finger. One, only one little finger from her small, delicate, caring hands. With a shaking hand, Sasuke slowly picked up the two things and stared at them, trying to assimilate the fact that he had found what he was looking for and so badly didn't want.

He heard a rustling behind him and immediately turned around, expecting an enemy. He took out a kunai with his right hand and assumed a defensive pose, but all he saw was Naruto heading towards him.

He looked like he had just gotten up and was trying to assimilate what had happened. He walked a few more steps and faced Sasuke, he lifted his gaze to him and made a surprised face seeing the expression on his friend's face.

"Oi Sasuke, what happened and what are you holding there?" asked Naruto with curiosity in his voice looking around as if trying to spot enemies "Where is Sakura-chan anyway?"

It was known that he would quickly catch the absence of their only female member of the team. Sasuke stood looking at him and wondering what he should say. He usually didn't beat around the bush and said what he needed to say, but he didn't know if saying it just like that would be a good idea. It was a sensitive subject and he didn't want to hear the words himself just yet.

But he had no other choice, he had to tell Naruto this.

"She's dead." he croaked at those words. Seemingly two and yet so painful.

Naruto stared at him for a long moment as if he had not heard. She is dead? How? After all, before he lost consciousness he had seen her standing back while Sasuke fought the enemy. So how could she possibly be dead. It was a given that Sasuke wouldn't let her die, he would sooner give his life for her than have to see her get hurt, so the only solution was that he could lie to laugh at his haughty reaction later.

"Hahaha funny, I won't be tricked into it. Now teme tell me where Sakura-chan is." Sasuke looked at him as if he had overheard. Why would he lie about such a topic? Does Naruto even think? He may not have been the smartest person Sasuke knew, but still, how could he not notice his facial expression and hear the tone of voice in which he spoke the earlier words.

"Are you insane? How could I lie about such a subject." he said with clear anger in his voice.

Naruto tried to process for a moment what he was hearing. So Sasuke wasn't lying? After all, it didn't make sense. Sakura couldn't be dead, what would supposedly have to happen for that to happen. And even more so, shouldn't Sasuke go into his killing state like he did back then during the chunin exams in the forest of death?

Naruto had never seen Sasuke in that state because he was unconscious at the time then but he overheard it from Ino when she was talking to Shikamaru. But looking at it another way Sasuke seemed to be exhausted and deprived of most of his chakra and Sakura was nowhere near him and in his friend's hands was her hitai-ate and something that resembled a finger.

Naruto also didn't think that Sasuke could go on with this lie, so all that was left was to believe it, which was further absurd in his eyes, but there was no other explanation for his teammate's condition. Anger and bitterness began to boil inside him, and he immediately exploded.

"After all...s-she... how Sasuke! How could you let that happen! After all, you said yourself that you didn't want to lose anyone important again, so why the hell is Sakura dead!" fury could be heard in Naruto's voice.

Without thinking much he rushed towards Sasuke with his fists and punched him in the left cheek. He then kicked him in the stomach and when he fell down, he sat on him and started pounding his fists. Sasuke seemingly tried to defend himself, but from the other side it look like he was letting him do it. Maybe he thought he was due. After all, it was his fault. Wasn't it?

As he was about to get slapped again suddenly Naruto was forcibly lifted off of him and thrown gently backwards. Sasuke rose and propped himself up on his elbows. Because of the injuries, which were not visible but still quite heavily inflicted, his vision was blurring and his head was humming. He had to blink a little to start seeing properly.

"I thought you guys would be at least a little bit more mature in a situation like this." Kakashi's voice came to their ears, it reeked of anger and disappointment "What happened today is a tragedy and it will affect each of you differently, but pull yourselves together now and stop jumping down each other's throats."

"Kakashi-sensei, what are we going to do now!?" Naruto, who was now lying somewhere on the ground near Sasuke, spoke through his tears trying to steady his breathing. Sasuke himself thought he was on the verge of crying, but his pride was too much and he knew he couldn't do it. Because after all, at least one of them should remain calm in this situation, and who else but the Uchiha.

"First we have to go back to the village and report back, then we'll worry about the rest." Kakashi said slowly with bitterness in his voice.

In the background Sasuke could hear Naruto trying to discuss something with Kakashi, and you could sense anger in his tone, Sasuke himself felt anger at the words their sensei used. He sounded like he didn't care very much that Sakura had just died - the girl Sasuke thought Kakashi recognized as his daughter and was trying to protect her from the evils of this cruel world - and was more concerned with telling the hokage everything, though he couldn't miss his tone of voice.

Out of the corner of his eye, he just noticed that Naruto and his sensei started walking.

He heard footsteps and his team calling out to him, but he didn't rush to join them. He stared into the empty space and tried to remember Sakura's voice saying that everything would be alright and he didn't have to worry about anything because she was here beside him. But it was pointless because why give yourself hope when you know she's gone and never will be because she's gone along with her pink hair and annoying, disinterested and caring attitude.

The journey back to the village itself was terribly slow and dragged on forever.

All the while, Sasuke held the previously found items belonging to Sakura in his left hand. He knew he had to bring them to the hokage as proof. He wrapped finger in her headband so he wouldn't have to hold it in his bare hand. The thought of holding it normally disgusted him too much.

As he lifted his head he noticed the Konoha gate in front of him. He kept a little further back than the rest of his team, so in front of his eyes he also saw Naruto rushing fast and Kakashi trying to slow him down a little.

They jumped from branch to branch for another two minutes when they finally jumped down to run through the gate. One of the guards stood up to greet them, but disregarding him they turned immediately toward the hokage's tower.

They figured they weren't going to jump on the roof, so they had to slow down a bit to avoid accidentally bumping into anyone and causing trouble.

They found themselves in front of the entrance rather quickly and Naruto pushed the door open to enter through it without waiting for the rest. Kakashi grabbed the handle before the door closed once again and opened it wide for Sasuke. Without waiting any longer he quickly stepped through them and ran at a jog to the stairs leading upstairs. He could no longer see Naruto in front of him, so he assumed he had already gotten where he was supposed to. He could only hear Kakashi's footsteps behind him.

As he ran up the stairs he almost fell over a few times due to his inattention.

He reached the top a little out of breath, but with no time to catch his breath he headed towards the hokage's office.

As it turned out Naruto was already there and gesturing something nervously. The Tsunade's face was twisted into a grimace, because as Sasuke assumed, she had no idea what he was talking about.

Walking in slowly he stood next to Naruto and a moment later he sensed Kakashi behind him.

"Naruto slowly, I don't understand anything you're saying to me." said Tsunade.

"Sakura - no- need-" continued Naruto unintelligibly.

"Hush Naruto." interjected Kakashi into the conversation "Let's start from the beginning." he stopped listening after these words. There was no need for him to dwell again on the events that had happened not so long ago. They were too painful.

Sasuke walked up to the wall, leaning sideways. He looked out the window, watching the people. Everyone was so carefree. They were walking ahead, talking, laughing, enjoying the nice day. No one knew what had happened, what Sasuke was going through right now, or Naruto. To others, it was just an ordinary day.

And Sasuke wished he was in their shoes.

He'd already lost too much in his life, and he wasn't prepared for the next blow that would make him fall apart, quickly or slowly. Even if he tried to shut out all these emotions, further Sasuke would suffer in his own way.

The whole time he didn't listen to Kakashi, but when silence fell, he returned to his spot. Tsunade had already heard the whole story, so it was necessary to wait until someone finally spoke up. However, no one wanted to take the floor.

Sasuke looked around the room to assess the condition of the others.

Tears were dripping from Naruto's eyes and Kakashi had a worried look on his face. Shizune's eyes were bugged out and something moist could be seen in the corners.

Sasuke stood there simply and tried to keep as blank an expression on his face as possible.

It was hard to make out anything on Tsunade's face. Until she finally spoke.

"What do you mean she's dead?" her voice was calm until she started shouting "What does this even mean Kakashi! I send you on an easy mission and you come without one team member! How do you know she's definitely dead, do you have evidence?" she asked with a hint of hope in her voice.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi, who nodded to him. He squeezed his hand more and took a few steps forward to stand in front of the desk.

He looked Tsunade in the eye and placed the two items on the counter. Tsunade took the hitai-ate close to herself and unwound it to see what was wrapped inside.

She turned pale and covered her mouth with her hand, and tears gathered in her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away.

"Get out." she tried to sound emotionless.

"Tsunade le-" Kakashi tried to say something, but the hokage interrupted him before he could finish.

"I said, get out! Now!" she was shouting now.

"We should talk-" he tried to continue.

"Get out!" that were her final words.

Without trying to anger the hokage more, who took what had just been said to her less than well anyway, the three of them headed for the exit.

Sasuke was the last to leave, so he closed the door quietly behind him and headed for the exit.

One question was on his mind - what next? Unfortunately, no one knew.

Hi, this is my first story and english is not my first language! I hope you will like it.

I don't really remember how it went in the original story, so at the bottom I'll write more or less in what time it happens (I guess you can call this story au)

- after chunnin exam, tsunade is already hokage, sasuke didn't meet itachi –