Two days had passed. After that sparring session, Sakura had been sent back to Naruto's to sleep off the painful loss. Naruto's ability to form clones meant that they were still able to buzz through about three different D-ranks. The village needed all the help it could get.

The next day was filled with back to back D-rank missions. Each of the children have an antsy sense of urgency to them, like if any one of them slowed down enough to think about what has just occured it would seem Too Real.

Sakura was relatively mute the whole day, though Naruto did his best to get a laugh out of her. Eventually he realized that wasn't going to happen and settled for shooting worried looks her way every half hour or so. In a way, it was nice to know he was there. It was also horribly alienating to know that no one knew what had happened and she had no idea how to talk about it. Every time she thought about telling him or Sasuke, it seemed like she fell down into a hole inside of herself and couldn't climb back out to make contact with the subject again.

Today was the funeral ceremony for all that had been lost in the invasion. Sakura snuck off alone to go retrieve some clothing from her home. She needed her funeral blacks. The last time she'd worn this, she was two inches shorter and much smaller. Some not-so-small part of her was relieved that she was too small to wear her mother's.

She couldn't bring herself to go through her childhood home so she entered through the window and exited the same way. The house still smelled the same. If she didn't think about it she could almost pretend her parents were puttering around in the kitchen downstairs.

Before she could have too many thoughts or feelings about it, she found herself back in Naruto's apartment, changing furiously in the bathroom. It was the moment she'd been avoiding.

Naruto must have already headed that way.

The rain started as a trickle but by the time she arrived at the memorial stone it was coming down in droves.

Kakashi's lanky frame loomed over many of the others present and she made her way to him and he nodded slightly to her but otherwise didn't say anything. A man she'd never seen before stood next to the memorial stone, prepared to read the names of the deceased aloud. Family members and loved ones would come forward and light incense before moving on. They announced the Hokage's death first, as it was the most important and would most likely have the most active participants in the grieving process.

Sakura walked through the line, numb and anxious. She could spot Naruto nervously fidgeting somewhere ahead of her in the line. The villagers gave him a wide breadth, leery of him for some reason.

She tried not to think about it. Instead, she wondered where Sasuke was, though even that didn't appeal to her like it used to.

After a while of looking — it really was such a long line — she found him sulking at the back of the crowd that had already gone through the line. He immediately noticed her and glared at her with such disdain that she immediately looked away, finding her feet suddenly fascinating. Her blue ninja sandals looked awful with the black of her funeral robes.

Sakura was reminded again just how much these funeral blacks didn't fit and how cold she was standing in the rain. She wanted desperately to leave but knew that it would be dishonouring to leave without performing last rights for her mother and father.

Kakashi stood to her right, gazing respectfully upon the stone as the Hokage's line of mourners dwindled to nothing. An hour must have gone by.

Then the man began calling names again. For an active ninja, he was a little fat. Sakura wondered if he was an Akamichi.

Her chest twisted as she realized they were going through alphabetical order. She studied the ground again, inspecting puddles. Naruto found his way over to them and slipped his hand into hers. She didn't know what to say so she just squeezed his hand.

Eventually they called her parents names. Naruto flinched and let go of her hand. Sakura was one of the very few people who had been the last remaining family of someone who'd passed in the invasion and she felt the eyes turn to her as she made her way up front.

The rain roared loudly out in her ears as she stepped up to the altar and lit incense. Her hand shook but she did her best to steady it. Then she bowed in prayer and walked back to where Naruto was standing. Sasuke was standing next to Kakashi but she didn't want to look at him.

She wanted to run away and never come back. But she had nowhere to go.

So instead, Sakura stood next to her team and squared her shoulders. Kakash put his hand on her shoulder and for some reason that made her want to cry more than anything.

She stood with them until the ceremony was over. It took several hours and by the end she was soaked to the bone and quite cold.

Afterwards, they all parted ways. Sasuke didn't say a thing as he left, a strange expression on his face. Kakashi had bowed, murmuring awkwardly about losing his own parents.

Naruto led her to his apartment, also not saying much. When they finally returned to the apartment, he rounded up some of his clothes. He smelled all of them, picking out the least smelly ones.

As he looked, Sakura glanced around his little bedroom, surprised to find that he had straightened up a bit at some point in the last few days.

He pushed her into the bathroom with the clothing. "Sorry they're not clean Sakura-chan, I really need to do laundry."

"Thank you, Naruto." Sakura looked at the floor and realized her clothing was still in a heap there from earlier. She caught her reflection in the mirror and immediately looked away.

"The water takes a second to get hot, sorry," he said, slipping out and shutting the door behind him.

All she could think about as she showered was how nice the hot water felt on her cold skin. By the time she emerged, her skin was as pink as her hair.

Naruto was in the kitchen, painstakingly cooking some ramen. "Miso or pork? I only have instant. Sorry…"

Sakura's lips quirked up into a tiny smile. "Miso." He was trying so hard.

"Ooh! I forgot. Here's some tea." He set it down in front of her. He was trying to be gentle, but some tea still sloshed out the side of the cup. "It's oolong, I think. I can't remember what the pack said."

"Thank you, Naruto."

It felt good that he finally knew what had happened, but it didn't mean she wanted to talk about it. He at least seemed to understand that and didn't bring anything up. They ate in companionable silence and then he asked if she wanted to be alone.

She didn't. She just didn't want to talk. So she said that and he nodded before picking up a watering can from the floor, by the sink. He began to water plants she hadn't known he owned.

"I didn't know you had plants, Naruto."

He nodded happily. "I love to take care of things! I say all kinds of nice stuff to 'em, 'tteybayo. I don't have nobody, well 'cept you, sensei, and Sasuke-teme."

He laughed that raucous jokester laugh she was used to, scratching at the back of his head. Then he paused, stiffly. "You'll always have us, Sakura-chan. I'm not going anywhere."

She punched him, playfully for once. He seemed relieved.

"Well, Kakashi-sensei… What's the big news?"

Naruto was practically vibrating after asking his question, his hands folded under his knees. Sasuke looked less than thrilled.

Kakashi's eye-crinkled as he smiled. "I'm too busy to watch after you right now. I'm in high-demand for riskier missions. Jiraiya has quite graciously accepted my request to oversee you for the next few weeks."

Sakura's heart sank and she looked heavenward as she deliberated. She knew she couldn't change the situation, so she nodded. Naruto harrumphed and folded his arms across his chest.

"That old pervert?! Gross, what's he gonna have us do? Infiltrate a bathhouse?"

"Now, now, Naruto. That's no way to speak about one of the Sannin," quipped Kakashi, suddenly appearing behind Naruto. "We all have our quirks, now don't we?"

Naruto cringed in trepidation, tucking his head under his hands as he avoided the threat of physical punishment. "Sorry, sensei!"

Kakashi patted him on the head, stepping past him and back in front of his students. "As I was saying… Tomorrow at noon you'll meet in the missions office. Be packed and ready for indefinite leave."

"…We're leaving the village?" Sasuke asked incredulously. "How will I train if we leave?!"

"You bastard, don't you remember the mission to Wave? We trained so much there!" Naruto scowled, looking at the boy with narrowed eyes and a stupid expression.

Sasuke pouted and looked away. "Hn."

Sakura hadn't met Jiraiya before. She wondered if all men were perverts or if she'd just been arbitrarily "blessed" to have such strange teachers.

A/N: Sorry for the time lapse, America is B U S Y. I think this is an interesting direction, though. Let's see how it plays out.