-London Bridge is falling down-

Her whole world is crashing down on her.

(It's not a very large world – it only consists of herself and her boys – but she is happy in it; she is content with only them.)

First Sasuke leaves

(but was he ever there to begin with?)

Uchiha Sasuke, that genius boy with a tragic past. He never needed anyone.

(He could do it by himself.)

And look where that got him, some part of her laughs.

(The rest of her, the (semi) sane part of her is sobbing.)

Why did you leave us why did you leave me why why why…

-Falling down, falling down-

And then Naruto goes as well.

(Jiraiya says that they'll be back, but that's what her parents said when they left on their mission, and now they're deaddeaddeaddead…)

(Nonono come back to me please! I'll do anything for you, just don't leave me!)

But she has to be strong, now

(strong, to make up for the weak girl she was before)

and so she pastes a smiling façade on her face and waves him off cheerfully

(and inside, she's wailing and dying the whole while).

Perhaps she hasn't gotten any stronger; perhaps she's only improved her flaw-filled mask, this happy veneer which encases her and pretends to protect her when in reality all it's doing is hurting her even more.

She steels herself; hardens her heart, and trains.

(Maybe if she grows strong enough, Kaka-sensei will take notice of her as a kunoichi, and not only as the third person on a broken, shattered team.)

-London Bridge is falling down-

But inside, she knows the truth. Kakashi has been gone long before he met them, this Team Seven.

(And she can't blame him; all of his precious people have died and deserted him, haven't they?)

Perhaps someday she will become like him. Deep down in her heart, she knows that he saw Sasuke for what he was and tried to help him; she wonders if he can help her.

Kaka-sensei, you're my last person. See me… Hold me… I need someone…

But he is deaf to the words that she hasn't actually spoken, and he is gone even before he is here.

(What about Sai and Yamato?)

(They are replacements, substitutes – they will never be her boys.)

And she is all alone, now. And she falls to the ground as that knowledge hits her like one of Tsunade's punches.

I'm all alone… There's no one here to help me…

At last, she lets a single tear slide down her cheek. Inside, something unfolds within her heart.

She will be her own rescuer. She will pick up the pieces of the world which her boys shattered, and she will slowly rebuild it.

And when – no, if – they come back, it will be too late, and she will be in her new, secluded world, and they will be locked out.

-My fair lady-

End.

- - -

Aahh… Angst. Nothing is as addicting as writing or reading it. I just love twisting nursery rhymes (though half of them are already twisted and don't need any tweaking at all).