"Sasuke Uchiha has died"
It felt like the world stopped. Were people still moving around somewhere? Still breathing? Had she been holding something, doing something important before the strange ninja had run into the tent and shouted the news so recklessly? As if it were some sort of cause for celebration or gossip?
…Yes, there was noise. Excited chattering, though she didn't care to make out the words. (The word 'traitor' drifted to her ear anyway, but she couldn't motivate herself to react.)
Sasuke Uchiha has died
They didn't give an explanation, no elaboration, no follow-up. Just those four words and then they ran off again, presumably to spread the word further.
She didn't experience the sensation of falling.
One moment she stood in a world without gravity and time, and the next she was collapsed on her knees, hands hanging uselessly at her sides, gaze blankly staring at ground she didn't really see.
Sasuke Uchiha has died
Just…like that. No warning, no second chances, all the dreams they'd had…all the plans and all of her hope…he'd simply—what…what was she…what was she supposed to do? All of her plans for the future, all of the dreams and the goals she had, they all involved a complete Team 7. No matter how far he'd fallen, no matter how hopeless she'd felt when she saw him last, a part of her still believed…there was always hope that somehow they could—
Sasuke…
Sasuke was…
Where were her tears? She always cried, so now…why wasn't she crying now? Didn't he deserve someone to weep for his passing, for the end of the Uchiha? Why couldn't she do it? She was just so…she felt so cold and empty and…there wasn't even a point to try to cry.
Sasuke Uchiha was gone. He was—
Sasuke Uchiha would never come home again.
Nothing else really seemed to matter.