Okay, well this fic will probably not be cannon by next week when the newest Naruto chapter comes out, but I still want to write it. It's been in my head for a long time, and I loved the idea. Please don't kill me if it's not a pairing you like. I'm not a Karin hater, so I'm not going to bash her. Oh, and sorry if you think someone's OOC, but this is how I view their personalities and how they'd react. Anyway, I believe it's one of my better pieces, so I appreciate those who read and especially those who review!

Enjoy!

Well fuck.

That was unexpected.

Sasuke arched an eyebrow as he cast his gaze over the huge span of ruins and rubble.

"What the fuck happened here?" Suigetsu slouched against a large stone, not really expecting an answer.

Destruction far beyond what the eye could see. Konoha in ruins.

Sasuke's brow knit. That was his job. " . . . The fuck?"

"Hard on hearing? That's what I just said," Suigetsu looked around in disinterest.

"We're going down," Sasuke's robes flapped out behind him as he leapt down from their perch.

"I just sat, damn it!" Suigetsu groaned before following Karin and Juugo down.

"Tough shit, fishboy," Karin cuffed the back of his head violently. "Sasuke's the leader."

"I never agreed to this!"

"Well, actually-"

"Shut up Juugo," Suigetsu growled.

"Shut the fuck up, all of you," Sasuke glared over his shoulder. He chose his steps carefully through the rubble. His gut churned as he felt himself step on something wet and warm. He'd walked through someone's blood.

"What the hell could have happened?" Karin asked, kneeling over something Sasuke couldn't see. "I've never been here, but I'd heard it was full of busy streets and houses and people. I can hardly tell one thing from another, now. There are no more houses, and no more people," her voice cracked. Sasuke could see her shoulders shake underneath her robe.

"What's the problem? It's not like we haven't killed before," Suigetsu crossed his arms.

"Suigetsu, have you ever killed something like this?" Karin stood up slowly and turned around. In her arms lay a four-year-old girl with blonde braids and blue eyes. Her eyes were filled with terror, but also love and concern. Her small fists were balled around a white bundle.

Salty nausea collected underneath Sasuke's tongue as he realized what was inside the bundle. He faintly wondered whether it was a brother or a sister she was protecting.

The little girl had a sword wound run completely through her, soaking her tattered yellow sundress in crimson.

With a haunted, hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach Sasuke glided to Karin. He took the little girl from her and stared. Would he have had the strength to do this? Hadn't he declared he would demolish every last one of Konoha's inhabitants? Even for Itachi, he though, he couldn't have killed this child, or any other. Itachi had wanted to protect him, his youth, and his innocence. It wouldn't have been right for him to destroy what Itachi fought to protect.

He lifted his hand and placed his fingers over the girl's eyelids, slowly dragging them down.

Anger welled inside him. The elders. It was their damn fault that this girl died, they couldn't protect her, or maybe they didn't because they were too preoccupied.

"I'll kill them," he seethed. "I'll kill them for you," his voice dropped to a whisper as he spoke to the girl who looked so peaceful now. "And every other child who suffered this way." With a naïve sense of hope he ran a hand over the bundle, hoping there was a trace of life that he could rescue from this hell. He found none. "Be at peace with your sister," he whispered.

"Sasuke . . . " Karin reached out to him, and he let her take the children. "I'll take care of them then meet up with you later."

"Don't go to far," he warned as she began to walk away. She glanced over her shoulder and with tears in her eyes, nodded.

"Let's keep moving," Sasuke motioned for Suigetsu and Juugo to move out.