Disclaimer: Kishimoto-sama owns Naruto, sadly. I'm just a broke High School girl wishing I could. See the difference?

Chapter 1: The funeral

The day was cloudy and windy, and it looked like it was going to rain. Normally, Uchiha Sasuke would be glad for this kind of weather. He had always had felt that he trained better in the pouring rain. However, today wasn't a normal day. Today, someone important to him was about to be buried. Team 7 was 22 and although it had been a long time since someone close to him died, the painfully familiar emotion came back to him, roaring with avengence. Sasuke had killed Itachi when he had been 18, and felt no regrets.

Naruto had become Hokage, Sakura had become a medic-nin, and Sasuke had killed Itachi when he had been 18, and felt no regrets. He had avenged his family and killed his psycho of a brother, completing his goal. However, he had another goal. The resurrection of his clan. 'Another broken promise.' He thought angrily, throwing a pebble into the calm waters of the lake. His plan had been to marry Sakura and have children with her; it was pointless now, she was dead. It frustrated the male how he was always too late to save someone he loved.

"Sasuke-teme?" He didn't turn at the nickname, knowing immediately who it was. Only one person called him by such a vulgar nickname. Sasuke had been horrified to have found himself growing used to it over the years. That had been when they were younger, and everything had seemed so much simpler back then. Well, it hadn't been simpler, per say, but comparing it to how everything was now, it had seemed like paradise. Hell, it HAD been paradise. What had Sasuke been thinking, leaving behind the people who had loved him unconditionally?

"What, dobe?" His voice was raspy, Naruto noted. He must have been screaming earlier. Not that he blamed him. The azure boy himself had broken down and cried when he learned of his female best friend's death. She had meant a lot to them all, but out of everyone, her and Naruto had been the closest. However, it took a lot to break the normally stoic Uchiha.

"The funeral's about to start." He whispered, as if saying those words softly would somehow ease the pain, the hurtful truth about the woman they had both loved, each in a different way. Sasuke paused, and his shoulder's tensed up, before he stood. He brushed past Naruto without a word, but the blond grabbed his arm. "I'm sorry, Sasuke. I really, really am." Obsidian eyes clashed with cerulean, and Naruto caught a glimpse of the internal struggle that they were all facing because of the death of Konoha's beloved cherry blossom.

"It doesn't matter now, dobe." Sasuke sighed, and continued to walk. Naruto stared after his best friend before running to catch up with him. The two walked in a silence to the funeral. Once they finally made it there, Kakashi was waiting for them.

"Ready?" He inquired, which was an ironic question. Sure, they were physically ready, but were they emotionally and mentally ready? Were they really okay with seeing their teammate bathed in a casket of white silk? The answer was glaringly obvious, and yet, Naruto and Sasuke nodded their heads, and they sat next to Kakashi.

"Naruto-kun?" The three males turned to face the voice. Hinata stood there. She and Naruto had been dating for a while, so the blond had her sit next to him. She obliged, and placed a pale hand on his knee. No other words were exchanged between the two, and Sasuke stubbornly kept his head straight, studiously ignoring the two people in love. The only woman he had ever cared for in the way Naruto did for Hinata was about to be buried in the soft, damp ground. Not for the first time, the Uchiha survivor found himself feeling jealous of Naruto.

Just then, a hush came over the people, and Tsunade stood at a podium. Sasuke vaguely remembered that everyone very close to Sakura was asked to make a speech, and a tiny voice in his head reminded him that he had reluctantly agreed to that. He found himself going over the day Sakura had died, and all days before that. There was a terrible ache in the left part of his chest. People started to clap, and the raven-haired man realized that the Hokage was done with her speech. Naruto stood, and he seemed determined to get this done with. He stood at the place Tsunade had previously stood, and let out a sharp breath.

"I first met Sakura-chan in the Academy, and I won't lie, I was smitten with her to the point it became an obsessive love," a couple of chuckles from the crowd, and he smiled, "and I became even more enthused when we became a team. Over time, we became close. Over time, she became my best friend." Naruto inhaled deeply, obviously struggling to contain his feelings. "When Sasuke returned, Sakura-chan was really, really happy. Admittedly, kinda pissed, but that was expected." Here, he paused for a moment, then continued. "Every time I picture Sakura-chan, I imagine her as her sixteen year old self, because that was when she had finally accomplished what she craved, to become a medic-nin." He turned his head upwards, to the dark sky, as if it could somehow ease the feeling inside of him, take away the heaviness, the burden, of his words. "Goodbye, Sakura-chan. We'll miss you."

He stepped away from the podium, and took his seat beside Hinata. She slid her hand into his larger, more tan one, and he squeezed it. Kakashi stood, and told of his adventures with Sakura, both as her sensei and her friend. Suddenly, it was Sasuke's turn. He stood at the podium, and stared out at the sea of people. He felt distinctly uncomfortable. Why the hell had he agreed to this? He very well couldn't blurt out his feelings for the pink-haired female. However, he couldn't stand here and look stupid, either.

"In the beginning, Sakura was my biggest fan girl," he began, "and it just escalated when her, Naruto, and I became a team. In the beginning, Naruto was obnoxious, Sakura was annoying, and Kakashi was late," Sasuke smirked, "and the latter hasn't changed." People laughed quietly, and Kakashi grinned sheepishly beneath his mask. "I believed I was better than everyone, but over time, they became, well, my friends. When I came back from Sound, Sakura took care of me, and we all became closer." He closed his eyes before opening them again. "She had gone from being this small little girl who couldn't protect herself to being this woman who I barely knew, all strength and brains and it was suddenly her who was saving me, in more than one way." He stepped away from the large piece of wood, and didn't sit down. He continued to walk, heading back to the Uchiha compound. His mind was re-living the memories once more, and Sasuke allowed it.

It seemed so strange. Like, a part of him was missing. He frowned, and sat on his bed, contemplating. A part of him was missing? Pathetic. How had she managed to mean so much to him? He would probably never know. After all, Sakura was dead, and there was nothing to change that fact. In the end, she couldn't use her medical jutsu's. Sasuke laid back and stared at his ceiling through the hazy darkness that night brings, and thought about her. How hard was it going to be, moving on? He, of course, had plenty experience in this chapter of life, but it was different now. Sasuke was older, wiser, and he had loved her a different way than loving his family.

Suddenly, the silence was oppressive, and he got up, his feet taking him somewhere before his brain could even register what was going on. He rummaged beneath his television, and upon close inspection, grabbed a video and popped it into the VCR before pressing play. It was totally black for a second before green eyes appeared, and apparently satisfied, Sasuke laid back down on his bed. On the TV., Sakura giggled, questioning herself on how to work the video recorder. He smiled gently, and fell asleep to the sound of a voice he knew so well, but would never be able to hear again.

The birds chirping awoke him the next morning, and he laid for a moment, as sunlight began to spill into the room. The television had automatically shut itself off, as did the VCR. Glancing quickly at the clock, he discovered it was nearing 6:30, which meant it was time to get up. He did so, stretching, and headed to the shower. After a quick wash, he stepped out, clad in a dark blue towel, and chose his clothes for the day. Once that task was over, he grabbed a tomato before heading out the door and to a bridge that he knew so well. Sasuke leaned against the railing and began to eat the tomato.

"Morning teme." Said a quiet voice, and the Uchiha turned to gaze at Naruto, giving him a nod before continuing with his breakfast. And thus, they waited. And waited. The sun was high in the sky before Kakashi finally arrived with his trademark poof. "YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto yelled, then stopped, and Sasuke knew why. "Liar." whispered the blond, but this time, there was no female echoing this statement.

A/N- I know, kinda morbid, but go along with me, okay? As of right now, I have no plan as of to how many chapters there are going to be, but there will probably be a lot; you'll find out later in the story why. Anyway, review please!