*Desclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story.

Warning: language, gore, yaoi, fluff*

"Sasori?" Pein asked, still frozen in his spot as he stared at the redhead, who was steadily making his way over towards his friends. Oblivious to the other zombies around them, the two stood frozen, not noticing how the others were killing the zombies off, trying to protect them.

"What are you doing? Pein get-" Zetsu was cut off as the redhead got closer, now in everyone's line of sight.

"S-Sasori?" Konan stuttered, watching him stumble about, nearly falling flat on his face.

"That's not Sasori!" Kakuzu yelled, alarming the others who had already gotten rid of all the other zombies. It was just Sasori left.

Deidara felt pain in his chest, knowing that his danna was no more. He had died a painful death, his skin being ripped off, eaten off. Deidara wondered, did his danna scream as he was being eaten? Or was he silent, trying to keep his pride even in his last moments. Did Sasori think of him? What were his last thoughts?

A sob wracked his body as Sasori was mere feet away from them, it being shown clearly that he was no longer the redhead they all knew. His skin on his face was still intact, but those mesmerising chocolate eyes of his were now a dull yellow, he was limping, a chunk of his leg missing as well as in his arm. He constantly snapped his teeth in their direction, wanting to bite into one of his former friends and devour them until he lost interest. Everyone was silent as Pein stepped forward, a cold look on his face. He waited until Sasori was upon him, grabbing him and trying to tare into his flesh. He whispered quietly to his friend;

"I'm sorry this happened to you, my friend, but I promise, I will make it better,"

Pein lifted his arm, briefly closed his eyes before opening them again. He stared into those once beautiful eyes and stabbed his friend through the temple, not wanting to do to much damage.

Sasori's body slumped into Pein's arms, his head lolling to the side and resting against Pein's chest. Pein hugged the boy closer, using one of his arms to hug the body to his and using his free hand to brush the red hair out of the pale face. He closed Sasori's eyelids, not wanting to see those eyes that weren't the same as before. Those eyes were so enchanting, holding an innocence that almost didn't fit the redhead. Those eyes always showed what Sasori was feeling no matter how cold he tried to be. Pein slowly sank to his knees, holding Sasori's body even closer. The others were still silent, wanting to grief the loss of yet another friend, but wanted to see how their leader reacted. It was no secret that Pein was hiding his pain, for the sake of not alarming the others. Pein hugged his friend, feeling tears well up in his eyes, the pain in his chest growing larger and larger until he could no longer hold it in. A pained and broken scream broke the silence, bringing tears to a lot of onlookers' faces. Pein started to sob loudly, occasionally crying out in pain. He pressed his face into Sasori's unmoving chest. Pein felt no rise and fall of the redheads chest to show he was breathing, no heartbeat to show he was living. He was silent and cold, unmoving.

Tears fell down Konan's cheeks as she watched her man cry his heart out, despair and heartache clearly heard in his cries. Deidara was hugged closely by Itachi. He sobbed into his friend's chest, wetting the black shirt that rested over his skin. Itachi watched his leader while running his fingers through the soft blond hair, feeling saddened by the death of the redhead. He was quite fond of Sasori, he got along well with the redhead they thought similarly and were often found sitting outside, quietly reading a book side by side. Tears were running down Kisame's cheeks as his shoulders shook with silent sobs and pained cries of his own. Kakuzu placed a hand on the tall male's shoulder, silently comforting his friend. He could feel his throat burn as he too wanted to cry for the loss of his close friend, this reminding him a lot of Hidan's death.

"I guess he wasn't stuck in some tree like a bitch," Zetsu said quietly to himself not wanting to think that he just lost a close friend. His other side was quiet, silently mourning. At least he didn't need to worry about his other friends not mourning the redheads death. He did, however, worry about Pein. The ginger was the one who had killed Sasori and he was bound to start blaming himself again.

He silently walked over towards the crying man and place a hand on his shoulder. He felt every shudder, every cry and every sob that wracked the man's body. Be felt his heart clench at the sight. Pein was holding Sasori's body similarly to how he had held Hidan. The difference being that he wasn't sobbing over his best friends corpse back then. Pein was normally a strong man, his downfall being the start of the apocalypse. It started with Gai, he blamed himself for not being a good leader and being the cause of the man's death. Then Hidan, he had reacted badly towards the news of Hidan's death, he had hyperventilated and passed out, blaming himself yet again. Zetsu hated to think what this death was going to do to his friend.

"Pein," he said softly, trying to grab the other's attention.

Pein shook his head vigorously, not wanting to let go. He clutched the body closer to him, covering himself in the redhead's blood.

"Let go, Pein," Zetsu said, his voice soft.

"No! No I will never let you go!" Pein shouted, more to the body in his arms than to Zetsu.

"Okay, okay. Why don't you go get cleaned up, you're filthy, you know how much Sasori dislikes something that's dirty," Zetsu said reassuringly, wanting to get his friend away from the corpse.

"B-but he's dirty, too," Pein said, whispering as he looked over Sasori's body.

"We'll clean him up, too," Zetsu reassured. Fearing that the man had finally broke, lost his mind with the grief.

Pein nodded and slowly sat Sasori on the ground, staring at his face before he slowly stood up on shaky legs. Zestu helped his friend to his feet, steadying him before he helped the man walk to the front door. The others made way for the two, looking at their leader in concern, worrying about his wellbeing and mental health.

Zetsu helped the man up the stairs and into the room he shared with Konan. They had been given the master bedroom, because Pein was their leader and everyone thought it best that he was a little bit more comfortable so that he could make the necessary decisions, the right decisions. Zetsu helped the man into the bathroom and was about to help him undress when Konan entered.

"You don't have to do that, Zetsu. I'll do it," she said as she stepped forward and started to run water into the bathtub. Zetsu nodded and turned to leave.

"Thank you, Zetsu. You might want to go to Tobi, he's a little upset," she said as she felt the water.

"Alright, good luck, make sure he's alright?" Zestu asked.

"I will, I'm sorry for your loss, Zetsu, I'm sure it must be hard," Konan said, her face saddening.

"Yes, but it's not just me who lost him, Konan. You lost him, too. And Hidan? We all lost them with Gai. I wonder, is the sky going to weep along with us? We lost two people in two days," Zetsu said as he looked at the ceiling, a look of pained wonder on his face. Pein listened quietly to his friends talk, guilt overwhelming him.

"Perhaps, but we need to move on, right? Can we move on after already losing three people? How many are we going to lose in the future? This apocalypse barely started and we are already falling apart," Konan said as she stopped the water flow into the tub.

"What's worse is, we don't even know if there's a future anymore, what's going to happen a year from now? Is there a cure for this? Or are we all just going to die and rot away?" Zetsu asked as he turned and looked at Konan, staring into her eyes, almost searching for an answer to all of his questions. Konan smiled a sad smile, shaking her head, not knowing what the future holds.

"I don't know, I guess we'll have to wait and see," she said.

Zetsu nodded before he glanced at Pein who had moved and sat on the toilet seat during their conversation. He had been staring at the floor, listening intently to them talk. Zetsu looked back at Konan, giving her a sad, brief smile before he left. He walked quietly down the hall, but stopped when he heard a soft sound coming from Kakuzu's room. Curious, he walked towards the closed door and leaned on it, quietly listening if there was any other sounds. It was silent. Shaking his head, he walked away thinking that he was being delusional. When he came outside, he sighed softly as Sasori's body was now being held by Deidara. Though Deidara wasn't nearly as distraught as Pein. This was merely a last goodbye. He went and stood by his friends as everyone had crowded around the body to say goodbye. Kisame had stopped crying, though he did hiccup every once in a while. Itachi was holding onto Kisame's waist from the side, wanting to comfort the man as much as he could. Tobi had somehow latched himself onto Kakuzu's arm, though there wasn't much resistance from the taller man. He did need some comfort, too. He was still hurting from Hidan dying and now that pain was doubled by his friend's death. He didn't even want to go into his previously shared room. He couldn't bare the thought of seeing the silver haired beauty lying there, lifeless. Much like how Deidara was staring at his own lifeless love. Kakuzu's heart clenched, knowing what the blond is going through. It was hard to watch the person you love die and then hold their cold, motionless body in your arms as you helplessly stare and pray, hoping that this was just some sick and twisted dream, that when you open your eyes, they'll be there right beside you, sleeping peacefully. Kakuzu knows that no amount of praying or hoping would bring them back. At least, not the way they used to be.

"Come on, Pein, let's get you undressed," Konan said quietly as she helped the man out of his bloodied clothes. Slowly, Pein sank into the warm water and stared at nothing in particular. Konan sighed, worried that Pein might not bounce back from this. She slowly started to wash the man, starting at his back and moving to his chest and arms. She knows that the guilt he was feeling was causing him to go in a shocked state, making him unable to register normally and do things like wash himself. She just hoped that he got out of it soon. Once she was done washing him, she sat on her legs, watching the man she loved staring off into space, not making a move to get out of the tub.

"Pein?" She asked softly, grabbing his attention.

"Mm?" He grunted.

"It's not your fault," she said. Pein turned his head and stared at her, a cold look on his face, though he wasn't able to hide the emotions in his eyes. He was hurting, longing for his friend to come back, for everything to go back to normal.

"It's not your fault," she repeated, breaking his cold demeanour as a pained look rested on his face. The tears started to well up again and falling down his red cheeks, his red eyes burning in irritation from the salty liquid. Konan looked on sadly as Pein wrapped his arms around himself and started to cry again, trying to comfort himself and shove away the pain that wouldn't leave him. The tears stopped soon after, his body exhausted. Slowly, he rose from the tub and dried off, dressing himself in the clean clothes Zetsu had brought when they first came in. Konan lead him to the bed and tugged him in once he had collapsed on the bed. She started running her fingers through his wet hair as she sat next to him. She smiled reassuringly at him until he closed his eyes and drifted into a dreamless sleep.