Disclaimer: Applicable.

AN: First foray into Naruto fanfiction. Anyway, this will be an angsty Sakura-dark fic. It will be rated R because I like to make my characters use obscene language from time to time and I rarely ever write a G rated fic. Pairings? I'm not going to promise anything other than my house rules being strictly het. ItaSaku? SasuSaku? NaruSaku? I dunno who will be with who in the end. I apolgize now if anyone seems OOC but I truly hope no one is.

Death Of A Soul
by Wicked Child

"Get down!"

Slowly, tired feet shuffled their way across the forest floor not knowing where they were headed, just that they were no longer where they were. The sounds of a fierce battle faded slowly as the feet shuffled on. They could easily walk to the ends of the earth and back again but nothing would change. They could walk toward the ocean and not stop; sinking lower and lower into the murky depths and it still wouldn't matter. Nothing mattered. Or rather, the owner of the tired, shuffling feet didn't matter. That simple fact had been proven time and again, and today was no exception. Except that, today, the realization that it was true finally took hold.

"I said get down! Stay back dammit! Let us handle this!"

Numbness consumed the aching body. Several wounds could easily be attributed to the numbness but even that was a lie. Knowing that one was not worth another's time, not taken seriously, and ultimately seen as useless were more than enough to leaving a body numb.

"I'm a true Leaf shinobi! Let me do my job!"

The feet shuffled toward an unknown destination, the body numb, and a mind not caring. What was left of a heart thumped in slow rhythmic beats, slowing almost imperceptibly. It had shattered when he spoke those words, and meant them. They were not spoken maliciously, just honestly. Yet his honesty shattered the heart and left it bleeding and beating.

"Listen idiot! They aren't even attacking you. Stay out of it."

A trembling hand pressed against a gash in the right arm at a poor attempt to staunch the blood flow. Faintly a scream was heard coming from the direction the feet had recently left. It didn't matter who made the scream, friend, or foe. Teammates mattered though. Except one….

"Sakura! Stay down. This one is over your skill level."

A tear slowly fell down a porcelain face. Even their sensei solidified the facts. Useless. Skill less. Unwanted. Unneeded. Unworthy of an enemy's attention. But it was his final words to her that finally broke her resolve.

"This fight does not concern you. You're just in the way."

"We're a team and I fight to protect the ones I care about!"

"Face it Sakura. We don't need you."

The feet stopped moving, seemingly unable to continue of their own accord. Moments later, the body dropped to its knees as a wrenching sob twisted its way from a soar, tight throat. Tears pricked the sides of emerald eyes clenched shut, but they did not fall. A silent scream resonated through her body and in her head.

"We don't need you."

Those words echoed inside her mind, but instead of fading into nothingness the words grew louder and louder until she could no longer take it and lost consciousness. The only thing she could remember as she slipped from the world was a pair of cold dark eyes turning crimson.

"Naruto. Naruto!" The Jounin shook his student in an effort to wake him, but the blond Genin showed no signs of waking up anytime soon. Perhaps he had wasted too much chakra when fighting their opponents, but Hatake Kakashi highly doubted that as many of the boys wounds were beginning to heal. While that was great for Naruto, it didn't help their situation. Kakashi sighed in frustration. He needed his two students awake and ready to move as his third student was missing. "Naruto! Wake up dammit! We need to find Sakura!"

At the mere mention of her name Naruto's eyes snapped open. "Sakura-chan! I have to protect her!" He jumped up from his lying position ready to attack an invisible enemy. He blinked a few moments before realizing there were several dead bodies around him and only two live ones who looked annoyed. "Huh? Where's Sakura-chan?"

"We don't know Naruto. We need to find her though and quickly," Kakashi calmly explained. "Akatsuki is still on the move."

"What?" The blue-eyed boy didn't think he heard correctly. From what he could piece together, they failed in their attempt to bring the main Akatsuki down and Sakura was missing. Naruto began running around, grabbing whatever kunai and shuriken he could find. He wanted to be prepared if another fight was in store for them, although he had to admit to himself he'd really be on the losing end this time as his chakra had not begun to fully replenish. But that didn't matter because Sakura was out there somewhere and unable to properly protect herself against any member of the Aakatsuki. He would fight until he passed out from exhaustion before he allowed that to happen. What he failed to realize was that had already happened that day.

Uchiha Sasuke looked on at his teammate in sheer annoyance. He knew the other boy would freak out once he learned of Sakura's disappearance. The blond fool had a crush on the girl and took things, at times, personally whenever it came to her or her safety. It was the only reason Naruto had beat Gaara. Sasuke looked down at his leg, broken but set back into place by Kakashi. It would be difficult to search the surrounding forested area with his leg as such but they really did need to find her. If for nothing else than to spare her parents from losing their only daughter.

It was the only reason Naruto beat Gaara? Don't you mean she was the only reason Naruto beat Gaara? Sasuke brushed away that thought as quickly as it had come. What was a stupid pronoun that didn't mean anything in the first place? Nothing, plain and simple.

Kakashi knelt next to his student. "I don't want to leave you here but I don't think we can use you at the same time with your leg the way it is."

"I'm fine." And to prove his point Sasuke stood, albeit slowly and with a grimace adorning his face.

Kakashi watched him, noting the lack of concern on his face for his fellow teammate. But he also knew that Sasuke wasn't the type to allow his emotions to register on his face lest it be that of anger or hate. If Sasuke was worried (and Kakashi was more than certain he was otherwise the boy was further into his private hell than previously thought) he refused to let it show.

"See sensei? I'm fine. I'll just take the actual road while you and Naruto search the surrounding area." And I'll be the first to find her and scold her for her stupidity in leaving when she knows it's dangerous.

The older man looked at the younger. He really didn't feel that Sasuke should walk on a broken leg but he also didn't want him sitting in a grove of dead bodies by himself. In his mind's eye it was a lose-lose situation. Leave him there and risk something happening to him and they all lose. Allow him to search and worsen the break in his leg he loses. Either way losing him in the search for Sakura meant that not only did they lose but also Sakura herself lost.

Finally Kakashi agreed, mainly to get Naruto to stop harassing him to start the search. He didn't need the kid to tell him how important it was to begin the search. "Fine Sasuke. Stay on the main road and use a tree branch to help you along if need be. In all honesty I'm not that worried that we won't find her. She was hurt during the fight and couldn't have gotten far and considering not much time has passed since the end of the fight and now, we should be in good shape." He looked at his two subordinates. "Naruto you take that side of the forest. Head in a northern direction. I'm taking this side and will also head in a northernly direction. Sasuke stay on the main road, again going north. If anyone finds her you know what to do. Go!"

Both Kakashi and Naruto jumped to the trees and began heading north hoping to find her easily enough. Sasuke looked around and found a suitable branch not far from his current position and, using what little chakra he had left, snapped the branch from it's parent to use as a cane.

"Sakura, you better be on this road. If not, I'm going to kill you when we find you."

What seemed like hours but were merely minutes, forty-five to be exact, when Kakashi and Naruto heard an anguished cry coming from the direction of the main road. Abandoning their current positions, both sped to the person making that cry.

Kakashi arrived first to find Sasuke on his hands and knees staring at the road. He body shaking uncontrollably. His eyes wide in disbelief, fear. Kakashi's own heart began to race faster as he approached the boy. His visible eye widened as he slumped to his knees.

This is not happening. This is not happening. This is not happening. It can't be happening dammit!

"Hey! Who screamed? Kakashi-sensei? Sasuke?" Naruto asked breathlessly as he walked out of the woods toward them. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw what they were staring at. "This is a joke right? Hahaha! Where's Sakura-chan?" He didn't want to look where they were looking so he looked around trying to find the pink-haired girl. "Sakura-chan! You almost had me going there! You can come out now! Hahaha!"

Kakashi looked up at the blond boy, the boy who only knew loneliness but never suffered loss. He watched as Naruto jumped from tree to tree trying to find their female teammate.

"Sakura-chan! Come on now, this isn't so funny any more!"

Sasuke's eyes never left the road, his body refusing to calm down and stop shaking. He didn't even register Naruto's calling out for Sakura. He only saw a pair of hurt emerald green eyes in his mind.

"Naruto," Kakashi said softly. "Naruto, she isn't hiding from you."

"Huh?" Naruto spun around to face his sensei, eyes avoiding that spot on the ground. "Of course she is sensei! Haha! Sakura-chan just wants to scare us because we didn't let her fight today."

Kakashi watched sadly as the boy realized what really was going on. Or rather he watched as Naruto finally began to accept what they were seeing.

"No Naruto. She isn't playing a prank. You know she's not like that."

"NO! I don't believe you! I don't believe this bullshit! She's out there and I'm going to find her!" Naruto turned and fled back into the forest before Kakashi could stop him. His rage was getting the better of him. There was no way in hell he was going to believe what they were alluding to back there on that road. He refused to believe it. There was no way that whatever evidence was left was proof of anything. All of it was bullshit. Uzumaki Naruto ran blindly until his body finally gave out on him. He fell to the ground exhausted and could no longer fight the tears that had been threatening since coming upon the scene of Sasuke and Kakashi staring at the road in horror. There wasn't even a body. A primal howl escaped his lips as his body was wracked with sobs.

Sasuke never once noticed Naruto's presence or absence. His eyes remained fixed on the sight before him. Blood. A lot of blood, too much blood for a human to survive. A red dress shredded and torn with bits and pieces of pink hair strewn across the road mixed in with the blood. He didn't even notice his lips moving or his voice speaking. He only saw blood, a shredded dress, and in his mind hurt emerald green eyes turning to those of accusation.

Kakashi watched as Sasuke lost his grip on reality. He worried for Naruto but was more worried about the Uchiha boy. He watched as the rookie genius became trapped in a new nightmare. One word continued to come from his mouth, all else in the world forgotten.

"Ss..ss…akura. Sakura. Sakura…."