Once again, I do not own Naruto.

There's an old saying that says a mother should never have to bury her children, but when you think of it logically, what child wants to have to bury there parent in return. A teenager sits beneath an old elm tree pondering this saying and can't help but frown at the thought. She'd had to bury not only her mother, but her father as well. And at the same time no less, the gods really did have a way of testing you, in some of the most painful and bullshit ways. She'd never asked for any of this, what had she done to deserve such a fate? Luckily enough for Sakura, she was old enough where she wouldn't have to be put in to the foster care system, but that didn't make this any easier. Not by a long shot. Before she knew it, a week had passed since she moved from her home town and tomorrow she would really be starting over. School began tomorrow for her. A new school at the end of her high school career, not the most appealing but she would do as the ninjas in the tales of old did, she would endure.

Sakura hadn't realized how much time had passed since she'd found herself a few blocks from her new apartment building and at this park but she had found some semblance of peace here. She could hear the joyous giggling of children going down the slides, children asking their parents for another push on the swings. There was that word again, parents, she knew she shouldn't feel bad for being jealous that they still had theirs but what could she do? She couldn't blame a small child for having what she had lost, it would only make things hurt worse.

After another twenty minutes of deep thought and after giving herself a good pep talk, she decided it was time to go home and prepare herself for her new school tomorrow. She was grateful that this school didn't require their students to wear a uniform, somehow even the most modest uniforms could become a thing of sex appeal for a closet pervert or the preppier girls at school that felt it was important to hike their skirt up as high as possible without showing off the curve of their ass to the world. Just the mental picture made Sakura cringe, why would you want such negative attention?

Catching herself once again before her thoughts got away from her again, she stood from her seat at the underside of the tree and started to make her way back home. It was only a fifteen minute walk at her slowest, and while she had plenty to do, she didn't feel like rushing back to her empty apartment. Maybe she should get a cat, at least she'd have someone to snuggle with at night since her boys weren't here to sneak into her home. Speaking of the boys, they still hadn't called her, not so much of a text. And it had been over a week since she'd left. Shaking her head, pink bangs falling into her eyes, Sakura willed the thoughts of not only losing her family but her self appointed brothers on top of it to leave. That was one thing she just couldn't deal with right now.

Once again lost in her thoughts, Sakura lost track of where she was going and couldn't help but realize this until she felt her body connect with something hard. And warm? And kind of human feeling?

"Hey...you alright?"

Sakura winced and looked up to find that she had indeed ran into someone, a guy about three inches taller than herself with a shock of red hair framing his face. His hair was unruly but not unpleasently so. He was actually kind of good looking. Deep brown eyes bored into her and he took in the small girl who had run straight into him. He raised a delicate red eyebrow at her, willing her to answer his question.

"Oh! I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was going...", Sakura mumbled quietly, not quite meeting his gaze.

"It's fine, but you didn't answer my question. Are you alright, Pinky?", the red haired smirked.

"Oh, uhm, I'm alright. I'm Sakura...", she replied.

"Sasori. Have a good night, Sakura, and watch where you're walking alright? Be more careful.", the red head, Sasori smirked before stepping away from the timid pink haired teen and continuing onward down the pavement.

"You too, and thank you.", Sakura whispered before she continued towards her apartment.

Opening the door to her apartment building, Sakura was more than determined to get her ass into the shower and into some more comfortable clothing before hitting the sheets. She'd definitely need a good nights sleep if she was going to face a new school tomorrow. At least her apartment was finally cleaned and free of dust. Breaking out of her musings with a small smile, Sakura made her way up the stairs to her apartment. As she walked up to her door, she fished her keys out of the pockets of her jeans but stopped short when she heard a crash from the apartment a couple doors down from her own. With a raised eyebrow she waited to see if she could hear anything else. When another crash was heard, Sakura steeled her nerves and made her way towards her neighbors door.

She raised her hand to knock on the door but was cut short when the door was trust open and she was greeted with yet another body but this time it was falling on her. With a squeal that she wasn't all too proud of she crashed to the ground and wheezed as all the breath was forced out of her lungs as the other body landed fullforce onto her much smaller frame. Sweet relief was almost immediate as she felt the extra weight being lifted off of her.

"Uh, ma'am? You alright? Deidara didn't kill you with his fat ass did he?", a black haired man asked, at least she was assuming he was a dude. It was kind of hard to tell with her head spinning, the voice was masculine but you never knew with some people these days.

"Hey! I am not fat, yeah! And Sakura, what the hell are you doing out here, un?", Deidara retorted as her offered said girl a hand to help her up.

"Heard a crash, got worried, wanted to know what was wrong", Sakura groaned as she accepted the blonds hand and hoisted herself off the floor. She shook her head and blinked a few times while she tried to get her head to stop spinning.

"Wait, Sakura? As in Sakura Haruno? I thought that hair color was familiar.", the black haired man questioned as he looked down at Sakura as if he was trying to stare into her very soul.

"Uh yeah, who are you exactly?", she asked, trying to resist the urge to hide behind her blond neighbor. He seemed to understand that she was uncomfortable so Deidara placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"I thought you would have recognized me, seeing as you're one of my foolish little brothers friends. I'm Itachi Uchiha...", Itachi replied.

The minute the name registered into her mind, all shyness forgotten, Sakura rushed at Itachi and delivered the hardest punch she'd ever had to conjure. She couldn't help but feel a sick satisfaction when she felt her fist connect with his throat. Itachi fell to his knees grasping his throat and wheezing for breath. Deidara just stood there in the place Sakura had once stood, his jaw on the floor. Not only had she shown more emotion than he thought the girl was capable of, but she'd managed to catch Itachi off guard and actually land a hit. His eyes darted back and forth between the two, completely at a loss as to what he was supposed to do.

"You little brother sends his regards, asshole.", Sakura sneered, this was the big brother that had hurt Sasuke. And since he wasn't here to hit Itachi himself, she would just have to do it for him, right? Right. She didn't even know why she was supposed to hit him but Sasuke always told herself and Naruto that if they ever ran into his brother and he wasn't around, to give him a good punch for him. He'd never had much to say about his brother, and when he did, it wasn't anything good to say. Whatever the elder Uchiha had done, it couldn't have been good.

"Why'd you hit Itachi, yeah? How do you even know him?", Deidara asked, finally finding his voice.

"I'm friends with his brother Sasuke, he always said if I ever ran into his brother to give him a good punch in the throat. Never told me why though.", she replied sheepishly, now that she thought about it, hitting someone when you didn't know why was kind of a stupid thing to do. Oh well, can't do a whole lot about it now.

"You don't even know why you were supposed to hit him, yeah?!", the blond exclaimed. At his pink haired neighbors nod, he couldn't help but sweat drop.

"He hold a grudge against me from when we were younger, no harm done Sakura, I can't blame you for being a loyal friend to my brother.", Itachi wheezed.

Sakura couldn't believe her ears, not only wasn't this man angry with her for hitting him, he was happy that she did. Sakura's sleepy brain really couldn't deal with this right now. She needed a shower, and her bed, like yesterday. She decided that rather than answering him, she'd just nod dumbly. She didn't know how she was supposed to respond to that anyways.

"Well, uhm, if everything is fine now I'm going to go home and go to bed now...I have school tomorrow and I don't want to over sleep..", she said quietly. When both men nodded, Sakura quickly turned around and rushed back towards her apartment. After unlocking her door quickly, she stepped inside and proceeded to get ready for the next day.

After a quick shower and a change of cloths, Sakura made her way towards her bed a peeled back her covers. She quickly checked her phone, no new messages, no nothing from her friends. With a sigh, she set her alarm for the morning and plugged her cell in and set it on her nightstand. She couldn't help but feel just a little bit lonely. Yes, she knew her friends had school and they were busy but how long did it take to shoot her a quick text?

Deciding she'd try to call one of them tomorrow after she got home from school, Sakura sunk herself into the confines of her bed and drifted off to sleep before her head hit the pillow.

Both men watched as the pink haired neighbor walked back towards her apartment, they waited until the door was shut firmly before either one of them spoke. Once they heard the click of her door closing and the tell-tale sign that her door was once again locked, Deidara turned to Itachi.

"So, she's friends with the brat, yeah?", the blond asked his dark haired friend.

"Yes, they've been friends since they were young. I'm not sure why she'd here exactly, or why she moved away from them.", Itachi replied, his brow creased as he thought about the situation they had found themselves in.

"I don't know, yeah. But she looks pretty lonely, I've only met her once before and she was pretty damn timid. When she realized who you were and launched herself at you that was the most emotion she'd shown since she's been here.", Deidara sighed.

"Well, I suppose we'll just have to keep an eye on her. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to call my foolish little brother and find out exactly why she is no longer in Konoha and here in Iwa.", Itachi sighed as he made his way back into his friends apartment.

Nodding his head in agreement, Deidara made his way back into his apartment and closed the door with a soft click and redid the lock.

Just who is this girl...and why do I feel like I need to take her loneliness away..?