Naruto and Sasuke found her like that- sobbing in bed, elbows on folded knees, hands clenched white in long pink hair. As the door opened, Naruto immediately rushed to put his arms around her shaking shoulders. Sasuke walked into the room slower, hands in pockets and eyebrows pulled together.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto pleaded.

She said nothing. But the sobs came faster.

"Sakura-chan, please..." He lifted an arm and tried to pull her hands away from her hair. She wouldn't let go. She pulled harder at her hair, pulled her knees closer to her chest and tucked her elbows between her legs and chest, tried to get smaller, tried to be small enough to not be there. But she was there. And Kakashi had died so she could be there.

"Please Sakura-chan, look at me. Just look at me. Please." Naruto placed his hands on either side of her head and nudged her head up so she would face him. She let her head rise, but her eyes were still clenched shut, tears leaking out.

"Sakura-chan, please open your eyes and look at me."

She was exhausted. She wanted to be alone. The pain was so much worse when they were there. But she couldn't fight him, couldn't deny him or Sasuke anything. They'd both been alone, though in her self-absorption, she had only recently realized that. And because of her, they had lost Kakashi as well. The clenching in her chest became worse.

She opened her eyes to look at him.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's all my fault. If I had not been so useless... I'm sorry. It's unforgivable. Please forgive me. I don't know how to make it better though. It's all my fault. Please..." she choked out. She didn't think it was possible but the tears came faster than before.

Naruto put him arms around her again, tighter than before, her forehead against his shoulder, his chin on hers.

"Shh.. We were all there. It's not just you who's responsible." His voice was thicker and she felt a tear drop onto her the thin shirt covering her shoulder.

Sasuke placed a hand on each of their shoulders and forced them apart. His face was twisted and his voice was harsh.

"Are we doing this again? What's the use of crying now?"

Naruto removed an arm from around Sakura and clutched Sasuke's upper arm. "Don't be like that."

He pulled at the arm he had clutched and Sasuke was jerked onto the bed. Then Naruto wrapped the same arm around Sasuke and pulled him closer. Sasuke glared at him. Naruto glared back and before Sasuke could pull back, Naruto gestured with his eyes towards Sakura. Sasuke continued to glare for a moment but then he said.

"If you want forgiveness, you have to earn it. You can't get it if you just stay in bed and sleep all day."

Naruto pushed him away. "Why are you so harsh all the time?"

Sasuke, who hadn't been expecting to be pushed off, landed off the bed on his butt, Sharingan ablaze.

"How much longer is she going to be like this? They're threatening to break our team because she is too cowardly to get out of bed!"

Sakura froze. She hadn't thought things could get worse. Her body, mind and confidence was in shambles. She'd lost Kakashi already. Now she could lose Naruto and Sasuke as well. Her heart clenched tighter than she'd thought was possible. Her hands balled into fists.

But maybe it was better this way. They would be free of her. If she didn't go out there, she couldn't make any more mistakes. No one else would sacrifice their life for her.

Later that morning, she jumped when Sasuke appeared behind her, just as she started walking down the street to the Hokage's tower.

"It's the first time you've deigned to get out of bed in a month. What are you doing?"

She didn't look at him after a quick glance to see who was behind her.

"I'm going to resign."

"You really are a worse coward that I thought you were." He took soft steps and stood in front of her. His face was soft. He grabbed her upper arm in a bruising grip. Her body shuddered and then they were in an isolated training ground. She looked up at him.

"Absolutely spineless." he told her. A breeze brushed past them. Long stalks of grass, weighted by flowers at their ends, swayed in gentle motions.

"Normally, I wouldn't care. I'd be happy to get rid of your fawning and sniveling." His eyes turned slowly red, Sharingan spinning, soft as his voice and face.

"Unfortunately, in this case, I need to intervene. Dobe is attached to you. We can't get a different team mate. I need to make Chunin. So you're not resigning."

He still hadn't let go of her arm. She had a protest building up within her. He saw it before she could open her lips and continued before she could start.

"To help your airhead understand how serious I am about this, I am going to teach you a lesson."

He pulled her into a genjutsu. It was soft as the rest of him and she wondered at these features, soft gestures and cutting words, that he had never demonstrated before.

Then she was lost in nightmarish visions of Kakashi and blood. And the screaming began. It continued for a long time.

When she was conscious of the soft breeze and flowers again, the sky was tinted with the deep blue of dusk and she was alone in the deserted training ground. She dragged herself home, arms around her middle, sobbing uncontrollably, face lowered.