Chapter Thirty

Sakura clinched her head as pain shot through it, shattering her seal into pieces she fell to earth from her dome. Sakura gasped as her skull was being pulled apart from inside her body. Sakura picked herself up from being dropped to the ground, she watched her hand split into multiple colors, she used too much chakra she was tired, and her body couldn't readjust to this dimension.

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment trying to calm herself, the Sand Village was strong, Gaara was a fine shinobi and could hold their own against the Reapers until she got there. Sakura felt buzzing on her leg, her phone was going off, but she had to ignore it. She knew it was most likely Naruto or Kakashi trying to get a hold of her. Sakura pulled herself to her feet as she opened a portal in front of her as it formed and was ready to be stepped through a large explosion erupted behind her. Sakura spun around, seeing the smoke floating into the air polluting the clear sky.

The leaf village was under attack.

Sakura didn't need to decide on which village to rescue today, she bolted her portal spitting as it evaporated. She ran with everything she had in the direction of the leaf village, praying she could stop the reapers before there was too much damage. She jumped over the gates of the leaf village; her feet didn't even hit the pavement as she was already investigating around her surroundings.

Sakura ran through the village; citizens were running for cover. She quickly sliced a masked reaper down before he got too close to her. Sakura rounded a corner but stopped in her tracks. Sakura's heart twisted in pain; her breath clogged her throat as she forgot how to breathe for a moment.

Sakura had seen hundreds of thousands of bodies lying on the ground growing cold. Sakura has seen her friends, her teammates and soldiers she trained all fall onto their knees as she watched their battle end. She held onto countless friends as they took their last breath and their eyes lost their shine. All off that was nothing to how she felt now, she gasped dropping to one knee beside a body.

"Hinata..." Sakura whispered her name. She looked at her friend with a heavy heart, Hinata laid on the sidewalk her eyes open looking at the sky, they were still and lifeless. Her throat had a deep gash running a crossed her flesh, blood covered her chest and stomach as well as the sidewalk. Sakura looked away as she covered her mouth, she saw Hinata's crushed phone a few feet away. Had Hinata been the person calling her? "I'm so sorry." Sakura breathed blinking her eyes as an old feeling stung her eyes. She hadn't cried in years and today couldn't be the day she breaks. Sakura rose to her feet there were still other people inside this village that needed to be saved, Sakura told herself she will come back later and bury Hinata's body properly.

Sakura had a million guesses of where to go first, she looked around trying to find Kakashi's chakra but couldn't. She cursed and decided to run towards the screaming instead. Sakura's eyes shifted into their glowing Christmas wreaths as she felt her body duplicate itself into clones identical to her fill the space around her. She needed more than one pair of eyes, we sent them through the leaf village.

Sakura was didn't have the option of pulling Carver or Raiden back and she couldn't call upon her own soldiers since they were all fighting their own war, she was the only back up the leaf village had.

The clones Sakura had summoned were not the traditional clone that she grew up learning while in the academy or while on team seven. These clones Sakura made by hand; it took her years to master them. They were special and took up a great deal of chakra which the seal gave supplied her, no one that Sakura has come across has been able to copy her clones. It was the one time where Sakura would have to use the full ability of the seal.

The clones are her army, they will run across the village getting a since of what was going on, and when there was something worth seeing Sakura's mind will be ripped away to that clone and she will see what it sees. All the while Sakura can still see and manage what she is doing in her body.

Sakura can manage seeing through around ten clones before shit gets complicated and it gets complicated quick because if a clone gets into a fight it will alert Sakura and she will be ripped away to see what was going on. Most of the time Sakura will leave the clone to fight on its own, they can hold up their own well. One clone found that the reapers had collected all off the villagers and was holding them hostage. Where were the shinobi? The leaf village was quiet and to emptiness put Sakura's nerves on edge. Sakura guessed the reapers were holding the leaf shinobi somewhere. Sakura sent half her clones and herself to aid the villagers first, once she got them in the tunnels below, she could focus on the people she would be murdering today.

The clones attacked slamming down like a hellish storm. They took down the reapers that were guarding the villagers quickly, this pleased Sakura. Sakura tilted her head seeing the villagers were all tied together by a large thick blue rope, it was shiny due to sucking the villager's chakra out of them. She didn't have time to try and figure this out, besides keeping them together may not be the worst idea. If she set them free and they all took off running around like lost chickens it would make them easier targets and make Sakura's job even harder.

Sakura did the next best thing to getting these people below to the tunnels, she sent two of her clones to stand around them. A white dome covered the people as her clones were the pillars. Sakura nodded, seeing the clones were eyes fading to white, if something or someone was to come near them their eyes will turn green due to being activated, this was Sakura's way of preserving her chakra.

Now that these innocent people were safer, Sakura turned on her heel and ran through the leaf village in search for the shinobi. She skidded to a stop seeing a group of reapers turn around spotting her.

"Re-Reaper."

"Miss me?" Sakura smiled as her grip on her blade tightened thinking of Hinata, how her life had been cut short by a blade. Sakura ducked a sword as she brought hers up slamming it into the stomach of a nearby man. She used his body to block in coming shuriken, she needed to express some rage. She sliced the group of seven down with ease but was already feeling winded. She never got to rest from using so much chakra returning from the waterfalls training grounds. She could feel the sweat already coat her body as she moved forward killing anything that ran near her.

There were a lot of bodies on the ground, the leaf village responded very well to the reapers invasion. Sakura once again stopped running as her heart hurt seeing a familiar face laying on the ground in defeat, the kunai that killed him still lingered in his stomach.

"Oh Lee..." Sakura shook her head, she looked over seeing more leaf shinobi, but she honestly didn't care about them. Where was Kakashi? Where was Naruto and Tenten? Sakura believed Karui was still inside this village when the reapers hit, was she even alive still?

One clone arrived at the arena, she ducked from sight but peeked up from the stands trying to see what was going on, her eyes burned the air around them as Sakura gazed through them. Of course, they would all be inside the fucking arena!

Tsunade spat in a man's face, her body was wrapped in that same rope, maybe Sakura should have figured it out. A man Sakura didn't know sneered at Tsunade's slapping her across the face. Sakura was about to try and create more clones to aid the shinobi who were all thrown together getting their chakra sucked out of them. Sakura wanted to make more clones but couldn't, she was nearing her limit. She shook her head annoyed, she needed to get to the arena, but masked reapers kept getting in the way.

Granted Sakura was still a few miles away from the arena, her clones were able to reach there before her. They jumped over the large wall without a care in the world as they rained down onto the area.

"What the hell!?" Reapers called seeing the pink hair, the clones pushed the Reapers away from the leaf shinobi, quickly collecting around them and created a dome like she had done for the leaf shinobi. Inside the crowd Sakura spotted Kakashi's hair, she relaxed knowing he was alive, her clone could hear Naruto spouting off insults.

"What the hell?" The man who had slapped Tsunade took in the five clones that stood around the leaf shinobi.

"It's the Reaper!"

"Sakura!?" Naruto called out to them but frowned, seeing the white eyes.

"How is the Reaper here!?" The unknown man shouted.

"We don't think she is." A side Reaper muttered, "So far all we can tell is those things are just clones."

"We attacked four of her primary villages!" The unknown man yelled, "This village isn't under her protection. This should be the last place she should be sending fucking clones!" He pulled a kunai feeling extremely annoyed, whipping it towards the leaf shinobi's direction. Ino screamed seeing it was heading straight for her, the clone side stepped blocking its path. The kunai lodged deep into the clone's stomach, but something that made the reapers feel unsettled was the fact the clone did not vanish nor did it bleed, it just remained in its place looking at the man with green eyes. Normally Sakura would send the clone to attack the threat but since she couldn't produce anymore, she couldn't run the risk of killing off her clone.

"We cannot touch these things?" The unknown man growled.

"They don't seem to vanish when hit." A reaper sighed, "Now they are surrounding what villagers we could find and we can't get passed them."

"Why not!?"

"A dozen of us already got killed by those things." The secondary reaper informed. Tsunade sighed, hearing her villagers were safe. Kakashi glanced at the clones, he couldn't tell if she was here or just sent these to help the leaf ninja.

"Everything has a weakness-!" The unknown man screamed, "-find it and get rid of these things!"

"If these things have one, I don't know how to find it, and I don't know how much time we have before the Reaper shows up."

"If she isn't here then she isn't coming." The man was so sure of himself. Naruto looked around at all the clones, he noticed one whose eyes were different, it crouched towards the ground facing the Reapers.

"Sakura?" He whispered hope invading his heart, catching Kakashi and Sasuke's attention as they all looked over at the clone, noticing its eyes. The clone looked over and winked at them with a smirk.

"Ugh!" The leader yelling running over to the clone who Sakura was looking through. He run a sword through her stomach. "I will not let this plan fail!"

"Sakura!" Naruto, Kakashi and Sasuke screamed feeling fear froze their hearts. The clone looked over as the leader pulled out his sword from her stomach, but no blood poured from the wound. The leader looked at the clone confused, what exactly were these things? The clone smirked and stood from its crouching position. It walked forward raising its copied blade and attacked the man.

"What the fuck are these things!?" The leader screamed as he dodged it's attempts to kill him.

"They are the ultimate weapon." Everyone looked as bloody Sakura walked towards them, it coated her clothing and the ends of her hair. The clone moved back to her spot against the leaf shinobi.

"Well, Well." The man said with a twisted smile. "The Reaper of Reapers, born in the blood of the damned finally makes an appearance." He sneered in Sakura's direction.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, I was busy killing your army." She smirked, her sword in her hand. Naruto watched as blood slid down the blade. He looked at Sakura, his mouth wide open as he watched a Reaper run up from behind and stab Sakura in the back and his blade went through as it poked out of the front of her shirt.

"NO!" The leaf shinobi screamed, the clone of Sakura turned around, the blade sliding her torso as she did, the clone was now to damage to go on, so it exploded as a result.

"What?!" A few Reapers gasped seeing it was just another clone.

"I must say attacking four villages to split up my team was smart. A fairly good plan-" Another clone spoke up standing from guarding the leaf shinobi, but the man moved forward with purpose in each step. Sakura kept her clone still as she allowed the man to slice off the clones head, exploding as a result. The man grunted out getting annoyed wanting to know if the real reaper was lurking around! "But truth be told-" Another clone from the blockade around the leaf village ninja stood, "-if you had waited just one more second, I would have already been gone responding to another village, and your plan might have worked." The clone smiled.

"Come out and fight!" The leader yelled at the clone.

"Oh, we will get to that." Sakura's clone said. "By the way, who the fuck are you?"

"I am Rubeus!" He yelled proudly, "Third in command of the reapers!"

"Oh yeah, I killed Joe, so I guess Jadeite or Malachite or whoever the hell is in charge now had to fill his place with someone. So, they found you." The clone mocked trying to pull the reapers attention onto her so the other clones could figure out how to break the rope around Kakashi and the others.

Sakura looked around, watching the flow of chakra run into a reaper. She had long blonde hair pulled together in a lose hair tie. She wore the reapers uniform; she was standing in the back behind a few reapers. Were they her guards? Sakura didn't care, she couldn't figure out how to break the ropes, so she was going to plan B, kill the person creating them. Reapers and leaf shinobi all gasped together watching more clones of Sakura dropped from the sky aiming for the blonde girl.

"Beryl!" Rubeus yelled out, "Cover her! Take down the clones-"

"Oh-" Sakura smirked, "-your boss is going to be pissed off when they find out you failed here today."

"Don't get overly cocky on me Reaper."

"Oh, I'm cocky as fuck, I can't help that shit-" A clone said walking in front of the leaf village ninja. Blood coated her clothing, her hair was tossing in the wind, her eyes were bright and glowing. Clones were still trying to take down Beryl, the controller of the chakra ropes. "-but then again there hasn't been anyone to knock me down off my pedestal."

"I'm not interested in talking to a clone!" The leader yelling throwing a kunai at her. The clone grabbed the kunai with ease and tightened her glare on the man.

"I'm no clone." Sakura said, finally getting to the arena. She had to fight her way through the reapers who infested the leaf village, she threw the kunai at him. "The Reaper of Reapers, born in the blood of the damned is standing right here in front of you." She glared, anger flowed through her thinking of Hinata and the others she stumbled upon. Rubeus turned and looked at Sakura.

"Really now? How about we test that-" The third in command of the reapers was cut off by a girl screaming out in pain. Sakura's clones had gotten through the reapers guarding the girl controlling the ropes and had did their job.

"Beryl!?" Rubeus breathed Sakura watched through his eyes as his heart crushed into a hundred little pieces. She shook her head at him.

"I am a little surprised you were picked to be their third." Sakura watched as Rubeus stared at the dead girl laying in the grass and the ropes fell from the leaf shinobi freeing them.

"How dare you." He turned to Sakura.

"How dare I?" Sakura laughed, "How many people have you killed today?"

"Not nearly as many as you!"

"Your probably right." Sakura nodded, "So was it your girlfriend or sister I just killed?" Sakura smiled, giving the leaf shinobi time to collect themselves.

"I am going to kill you." Rubeus spat.

"That's what they all say." Sakura grinned as Rubeus ran towards her. "How much do you want to bet I am the one who walks away from this?"

"I will be the one who kills you!" Rubeus drew his sword.

"Do you need an invitation?" Sakura called in the leaf shinobi's direction, Sakura believed she took most of the members of the reapers down, hopefully Carver and Raiden's training with Naruto and the others will have paid off and they can pull their own weight in this fight for the leaf village.

----

The fight felt long but only lasted a handful of grueling hours, Sakura panted looking around the field of dead bodies. Sakura scanned around seeing leaf shinobi doing the same, was it finally over? Could she eat and go to bed? Sakura ran a hand through her hair as she spun around. She could hear Naruto but where had Kakashi gone? He and her stood back to back for most of the fight, at some point she got flipped away from him.

"Be careful." Sakura called, "They could be playing dead or still lurking around, these people are slick fuckers." Tsunade nodded and Sakura vanished, she could feel Kakashi's chakra, it was mixed with someone else's though. Sakura ran through a forest; she came into a clearing. Sakura gasped, having not expected to see this.

Kakashi was in a fight, which explained why his chakra was mixed with someone else's, he stood against the fourth commander of the reapers known as Tellu. Pretty girl, bright green hair and matching eyes. Sakura moved forward, swinging her sword taking her head clean off her shoulders without so much as questioning it.

Sakura turned, catching Kakashi's hand as he fell backwards. Sakura only had that easy and quick clean kill because Kakashi had given her the moment, since Tellu's deer hook sword which she was so fond of was inside Kakashi's torso it gave Sakura the opening she needed to eliminate her.

"Kakashi!" Sakura gasped as she was unable to stop his heavy body was hitting the forest floor. She dropped to her knees beside him, she unzipped his flak jacket and placed her hands over the deep gash in his stomach pouring out his blood.

"Sa-Sakura..." Kakashi breathed, Sakura tried to push her chakra into him but it was no good, he still had the damn poison in his system from when he and team seven was ambushed in the haze village. Kakashi smiled seeing Sakura's face.

((Play me -- Westlife - I'll see you again))

Sakura shook her head refusing to believe what was happening in front of her. After the longest second in her life Sakura noticed that his wounds were not healing. His blood pooled out of his body, blood covered him and Sakura. His blood was soaked her hands and legs. Sakura's voice was caught in her throat as she looked at Kakashi. She wiped her hands off on her pants.

"Kakashi." She stated, "Stay with me-" She said seeing his eye slowly closing. "-you are going to be fine!" Sakura yelled trying to stir him awake as she pointlessly pushed more chakra into his body.

"Sak-Sakura-" Kakashi choked on his blood, it spray from his lips soaking his mask, "Stop-" He breathed knowing she was using up all her chakra, she couldn't last much longer if she kept this up.

"No." She shook her head applying pressure to his stomach causing him pain.

"Sakura." He gasped out from the uncomfortable pressure.

"You are going to be fine Kakashi!" Sakura cut him off,

"Sakura..." Kakashi felt tears prick his eyes, he knew he didn't have long. He placed his gloved hand on her cheek and moved her face to look into his eyes and not the hole on his stomach, he didn't want her to watch him water the grass with his blood. Kakashi pulled something out of his vest pocket. Kakashi's blood soaked the little black box, but he opened it anyway and Sakura gasped tears filled her eyes. "Sakura, will you-you marry me-me?" Kakashi breathed out.

"Yes." Sakura said as tears fell from her glowing eyes. "Yes Kakashi!" Kakashi slid the blood coated ring out of the box and onto her ring finger stained in his blood.

"Sakura, I love you." Kakashi said as Sakura pulled his mask down and kissed him. As she leaned forward her hair fell all around them, creating a curtain of pink silk, as much as she wanted her hair couldn't shield them from the cold world or the slicing reality of what was happening. Kakashi ran this thumb over her eye wiping the tear, he never seen her cry before and instantly hated it. What he hated more is he wouldn't be around to continue to dry her eyes.

Kakashi slid his wet fingers along the strands of her pink hair, he always loved the feeling of her silky hair between his fingers it brought him such peace of mind. Sakura's long hair dipped into his blood that had pooled around him, staining the tips of her hair dark red. Kakashi smiled at Sakura, he caressed her cheek with his hand.

"I never-" He breathed, "-want you to stop smiling." He smiled at her.

"Kakashi." Sakura shook her head as her fought back the tears but failed as they dripped into the world. Sakura could hear footsteps; she shook her head as she moved his mask up his face knowing he couldn't.

"Kakashi! Sakura!" Naruto called finally finding them. Naruto smiled walking into the clearing, but his smile quickly evaporated as he took in what was unfolding in front of him. Tears were falling from her eyes as she looked up at Naruto, her wide orbs were begging the blond shinobi to do something, to do anything, to pull a miracle from the freaking sky! "Kakashi?" Naruto breathed reaching Kakashi, he kneeled across from Sakura. Kakashi turned his head looking at his famed student,

"Protect her." Kakashi smiled through his wet mask, then turned to look at back at Sakura. Her beautiful eyes were the last thing he wanted to see before he was pulled from this life. He loved this woman, he wanted to marry her. He went to four stores looking for the perfect ring for her. He wanted to build a life with her, settle down make a home and a family and he knew he wasn't going to be able to give that to her now...but looking at those large tear-filled emerald eyes, Kakashi was so thankful he had the chance to love this woman and to have her love him back. He breathed out as a cold grasp wrapped around him. Sakura shook her head no as she placed her hand over his. Kakashi was so thankful he was able to love her until his last breath, a tear fell from his eye seeing the pain in her face and after a still moment his hand fell from Sakura's face. Sakura shook her head catching his hand with both of hers.

"Kakashi?" Naruto asked reaching out and touching his shoulder. Sakura's chest quickly inhaled and exhaled as tears seemed to pour from her eyes. She shook her head again, it felt like she was involuntary going to cry out, but her voice got caught in her throat. She bit her jaw and squeezed her eyes shut feeling a crushing pain exploded inside her chest washing over her like an ice bath.

Kakashi Hatake was dead.

She felt the ring on her hand as she gasped for air but couldn't breathe. She stared at Kakashi's masked face, she felt panic enter her body as she looked into his eyes and saw death glazing them. The logical part of her brain knew Kakashi had died but nothing about this was logical to her. Why would something like her be allowed to live in this world and a man like Kakashi die?

She could feel the cold touch of death reaching into her soul and shattering everything around her.

"No-" Naruto cried shaking his head. "No, sensei no!" He cried harder, Tsunade walked beside Guy searching for Naruto who wandered off in this direction. Tsunade smiled for a moment, seeing she had finally found Sakura and Naruto who was in trouble, trying to skip out on cleaning up all this mess! Tsunade gasped and Guy stopped walking.

"Kakashi?" Guy called, he waited for Kakashi to move his head and explain he just overused his sharingan. Guy ran forward seeing Kakashi was unmoving, Tsunade covered her mouth seeing Kakashi Hatake had fallen. The blonde turned to Sakura who was painted in his blood, she no doubt did everything she could do to save his life but failed. Guy kneeled down beside her. "Can I please take him?" Guy asked but Sakura remained still tears filling her eyes and then falling when they became too big for them to hold.

"Go ahead Guy." Tsunade answered, touching Sakura's shoulder trying to pull her from her shocked state. "Naruto." Tsunade called out his name, he took in a deep breath and nodded moving so Guy could take his place and lift Kakashi.

"Protect her." Kakashi's words floated through Naruto's head, he looked over as Sakura's face held for once everything she was feeling, he tilted his head she looked like she was breathing! Naruto quickly rushed to her wrapping an arm around her and as he did, she gasped out pulling air into her lungs. Naruto wasn't used to Sakura needing the shoulder to cry on, he really wished Carver or Raiden were here...they might know what to do in this situation.

"Come on Naruto, let's get her to the hospital." Tsunade's voice was soft as Guy was waiting with Kakashi for Sakura to follow. "She is in shock, just make sure she keeps breathing ok?"

"O-Ok." Naruto said pulling Sakura to stand with him. Naruto wanted to be strong, be the person Sakura needed him to be but the other part of him wanted to burst into tears, he wasn't ready to lose his sensei. There was still so much Naruto still needed to learn from him and next to Iruka, Kakashi was the closest thing to a father Naruto had.

Sakura was oblivious to everything around her; she didn't even notice when her legs gave out. Her body no longer able to continue from the severe lack of chakra inside it. Naruto picked her up, lifting her off her feet as he cradled his best friend to his chest as her eyes slammed shut on their own account.

"Sakura!" Naruto and Tsunade became alarmed,

"We need to-" Tsunade stopped watching people turn their attention to them, the shocked faces that Kakashi Hatake, the best of his generation had been struck down, it was always believed through the village that he would be the next hokage, Kakashi's death was going to rattle the foundation of the leaf village.

"Hinata?" Naruto whispered, seeing her be lifted onto a stretcher. Sasuke turned hearing Naruto's voice.

"Sakura?" The raven-haired man asked, "What happened?" Sasuke looked past Sakura and saw Kakashi being held by Guy. "What happened!?" He repeated at Naruto.

"Hinata?" Naruto breathed as he felt a cold sweat grip his body ignoring Sasuke.

"Naruto." He said as he tried to block the sight of Hinata's body, but Naruto stepped around him. He saw Hinata's dead eyes, he saw her throat which was slashed out and her blood painted the front of her shirt.

"HINATA!" Naruto yelled but Sasuke held him back. "HINATA! NO!" Naruto felt what Sakura did, he fell to his knees. Sasuke caught Sakura from hitting the pavement.

"Shikamaru!" Tsunade called, "Get Naruto to the hospital!"

"Yes ma'am." Shikamaru said as he and Kiba went to picking up Naruto who fought to get to Hinata's side. Sasuke lifted Sakura,

"Come on." Tsunade said to Sasuke who nodded, following the hokage without question. Guy followed as well, looking down at Kakashi's masked face as he fought back his tears.

----

Tsunade sat beside Sakura's side as she laid in the hospital bed, it had been a full day since the attack of the leaf and three other villages. Carver and Raiden were blowing up people's phone, trying to figure out why no one could reach Sakura and why she never showed up at the sand village.

Tsunade had to tell them what had happened, she had to explain to them that Kakashi had been killed and Sakura used to much chakra she was passed out. They were on their own until Sakura was able to transport them here which could be a couple days. Tsuande kept looking at the ring on Sakura's left hand, she prayed she didn't think what she thought it meant.

As Tsunade looked at her phone Sakura opened her eyes. For a peaceful moment, she simply stared at the ceiling as everything remained still. That is until her brain shoved reality into her face, it reminded her she no longer lived in a world where Kakashi was alive, that would only be inside her mind which was in shambles.

"Sakura?" Tsuande stood, "How-How are you feeling?"

"How long was I out?" She breathed as her eyes felt puffy and sore.

"About a day." Tsunade answered, Sakura nodded at the response.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like my fiancé was murdered." Sakura sat up, Tsunade gasped.

"He-"

"He proposed." Sakura breathed looking at the ring,

"I..." Tsunade didn't know how to react. Inside Sakura's brain there were different fighting matches. One piece wanted to be numb, the other wanted to shatter, another piece wanted to die. Sakura had been ready for years to die but this was had just shoved her off the cliff giving her permission to be reckless and stupid. "I didn't know you two were..."

"He proposed to me, and then he died." Sakura said turning to look at Tsuande as she did so Sakura fought back the new unwilling flood of tears. Tsuande was stunned seeing a tear fall down her cheek. Sakura had always been so strong and such a force but right now she looked...human.

"I'm so sorry!" Tsunade breathed, standing up quickly engulfing Sakura in a tight hug. Pieces of Sakura were still in shock, it coated her nerves. "But I have to ask you-" Tsunade pulled away, "-I can do it of course, but do you want to plan his funeral?"

"His..."

"He has no other family; I know you two were...I can do it-"

"No." Sakura said his face was burnt into her frontal lobe. "I will do it." Sakura looked back at the ring Kakashi proposed to her with, she finally noticed it along with her had been cleaned. Her last kiss with him was full of iron and saturated with the taste of his blood. Sakura turned to look out the window, being coated in it was the last time she would ever feel warmth from him again. These thoughts racking around inside her head stabbed her heart.

"Are you sure?"

"No."

"I can help you." Tsunade offered, "If you want..."

"Thank you, Tsunade." Sakura breathed.

Four days had passed, and many funerals were held during this short time. Sakura stood in front of Kakashi's lifeless body feeling blank, feeling numb as his casket was lowered six feet away from her. Sakura hasn't eaten or slept since Kakashi died, she didn't want to the desire was gone, all her drive vanished once Kakashi's heart took its last beat. All she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and pray that this was all a dream, but it wasn't and she was knew painfully aware of that when she went to his place and tried to sleep in his cold bed all alone.

Hinata's funeral was hours ago, it was discovered that TenTen was also killed in the battle. TenTen's funeral was yesterday and so was Lee's. Sakura looked up at the cloudy sky, this village brought her to life, it sparked so much desire and color; Kakashi brought so much color and joy to her life, but now she couldn't stand being inside these walls.

She wanted to go back to seeing in black and white, when she kept everyone at arm's length the loss of a comrade didn't hurt this badly. Sakura remembered now why she kept her distance. She desperately wanted to feel nothing, she wanted...needed to be numb again. After Kakashi was buried Sakura remained in her chair watching the pile of dirt. Half of her still praying that Kakashi was going to crawl out and smile at her. She looked down at the beautiful ring on her hand. She loved it so much, but she was never going to get the chance to tell Kakashi just how much she loved it. She was never going to get to tell Hinata or show TenTen. A tear slid down her cheek as the pain crushed down on her. Naruto stood beside her, he looked at it.

"It is beautiful." Naruto said. Sakura nodded, finding no words as her throat swelled shut. Sakura pulled out a dark yellow folder, she handed it to Naruto who looked at her confused for a moment.

"It's for Carver and Raiden, they are on their way here. I don't have the chakra to bring them back through my seal." Sakura said looking down at her ring again. "It just says that Raiden and Carver are assigned here permanently." She said looking at Naruto. "Whether or not they chose to wear the leaf's headband is up to them."

"What about you?" Naruto asked.

"I am leaving in the morning." Sakura said, "Tsunade approved Raiden and Carver to be a part of the village. Your team is short two men now, I am hoping that you will take them in." Sakura said as she struggled to hide the pain in her eyes. "Team seven is where those two belong, its where they need to be...it is where I need them to be..."

"Yeah." Naruto said with a nod. "Don't worry, I got them."

"Thank you."

"I wish you would stay..." Naruto whispered.

"I can't." Sakura shook her head, turning to look at Naruto.

"Where are you going to go?" Naruto asked.

"I am going back to hunting down the Reapers." She said, "I am going to tear them apart and kill every single one of them." Sakura vowed to herself, she looked at her ring and after a moment she spoke up again "Maybe if I hadn't stopped looking for them, if I didn't stay here for so long maybe I would have already taken them down and Kakashi would still be-" Sakura cut herself off, choking on invisible tears and her voice.

"No." Naruto said, placing his hand on Sakura's. "This is not your fault Sakura. We are so happy that you came here. You gave us your strength; you are the only reason that we survived this attack. Don't ever think that it was a mistake to come here, because it is not." Naruto said. "Kakashi, Hinata, TenTen, Lee and everyone else would say it was not a mistake. They loved you, I love you, Tsunade and the rest of this village loves you."

"I know." Sakura said looking at Kakashi's name on the stone.

"I know you are not going to let me come with you. I only ask that you be safe, for me...I cannot handle another person dying right now."

"I know." Sakura said with a nod, "You do the same because I cannot handle you dying either." Sakura gave Naruto a weak smile and stood, they hugged for a long time that day, they both were mourning fallen lovers and friends. Their worlds where shaken, everything the two of them built their life's on had all shattered in front of them and neither of them knew how or where to start rebuilding their life's. Sakura wasn't sure if she wanted to move on or rebuild...she knew she missed Kakashi and wanted to be with him again.

As Sakura pulled away, and claimed she wanted to be alone, Naruto didn't know that was the last time he would see Sakura for a couple months. Sakura went to Kakashi's apartment, she walked around remembering all the times she shared with him between those walls. She had seven years shoved in between those memories and now, Kakashi's unmasked face was faded and hard for her to find. She felt empty and scared as she looked around his bedroom. She felt cold and she felt like someone had ripped a piece of her away.

Sakura laid in his bed, but it felt like a stranger's, not the one she made love in with Kakashi. She got up and moved to the couch but the warmth and safety she felt in this place died when Kakashi did. Sakura packed her things and left that night.

She couldn't be in that apartment anymore; she couldn't move around in this village without seeing the ghosts of the people who just fell around every corner. Their memories were stained within the walls of the leaf village and nothing was going to tear the nails out that held Sakura to this place. She knew that, but why would she stay here feeling haunted by his memory when she could return to her village, she would still feel the coldness of the world but at least the waterfall village doesn't have Kakashi painted around every corner.