Third Person POV

The days were bleak. After the success over the battle with the shadows, the Konoha ninjas trekked back home, having said their last farewells to the people of Kumogakure and Sunagakure. The Sand Siblings had led their group back home, their hearts heavy and laden with grief. They all were, actually. They had won the fight, but at the cost of one of their own.

Sakura wouldn't stop crying. Even as they all walked home, tears were running down her face and she was trying -although not successfully- to stifle her sobs. They came out like wretched sounds instead.

"Sakura..." Naruto came up beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. She didn't push him away. Instead, she leaned slightly into him, allowing him to comfort her even as his own tears soaked her hair.

"I - I can't believe she's gone," she sobbed.

"Neither can I," Naruto said lowly. For the past few days he had been mad. Boiling mad. But now the anger had drained away, leaving grief.

"Sh-she was so strong, so spunky and-" Sakura broke off, not able to speak anymore.

Silence descended on the group again. At the front was Horo. His eyes were bleak and tortured and red from crying. He had refrained from doing so in front of the kids but when he was alone, he shed a tear or two for the loss of his pupil. Right now however, he had to remain clear headed, and not blinded by sadness.

Kiba and Akamaru trudged along like zombies. Once in a while, Akamaru would collapse, whimpering as if in pain and Kiba would have to pick him up and carry him along. His heart was heavy with both anger and sadness. "How could she leave us like that?!" he muttered angrily, tears running down his face. "If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't have beaten that giant shadow! She should be here celebrating with us!"

He kicked the ground angrily.

"K-Kiba-kun," Hinata whimpered, running up to him. "Calm down."

"Don't tell me to calm down, Hinata!" he barked at her.

"Don't shout at her!" Naruto shouted at the mutt boy.

"Both of you need to stop the shouting," Neji interjected. "Stop all this stupid fighting and crying. We need to get back to Konoha and you're all hindering us."

Both Kiba and Naruto's head turned to face Neji, in slow motion. They stared at him, as if they couldn't believe what he was saying.

"What did you just say?" Kiba asked him.

"You heard me."

"Stop this stupid crying?" Naruto asked, getting louder and louder by the syllable. His face was contorted with rage and he released Sakura to confront Neji. "Stupid crying?! You think this is stupid?!"

"Wake up, Neji!!!" Kiba bellowed. "Lea is dead!! She's dead!! We shouldn't be heading back to Konoha as if nothing had happened!! We should ... we should ..."

"We should what?" Neji asked him, keeping his head trained forward. "Stop, sit and cry? For how long? A week would suffice? She needs a proper burial."

"You-!"

"He's right, Kiba," Shikamaru said, cutting Kiba's words off. His eyes were also slightly red. "We can't linger here with her body any longer. We should head back to Konoha and bury her, so we can have a good and proper cry."

Kiba looked as if he wanted to say something else, but, knowing they were right, he gritted his teeth and looked away. Akamaru snuggled closer to him in a failed attempt to comfort him. Nothing can comfort him.

Tenten quickly wiped the tears off her cheek and ran up to walk beside Neji. He didn't turn at her approach. Instead, he kept his head trained forward as if there was no one there.

"Neji ... are you okay?" she asked him, looking at him worriedly. She had known his feelings for Lea, had even tried to help him with it. He could not be taking this well.

Neji barely moved. He didn't answer.

"Neji?"

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. It's Lea. She's ..."

"I know what she is, Tenten. I know. I was there too."

"Then you can't possibly be taking this lightly. I know how you felt about her, Neji."

"So what?"

"So..." she touched him lightly on the shoulder, "I'm saying it's okay to cry. No one will blame or judge you for it. We all cried."

Neji didn't move or answer for a minute. Then, he turned and looked at Tenten and the pain she saw in his eyes right then and there almost had her heart breaking again. Tears quickly filled his clear eyes and spilled over.

Tenten took his hand, tears running over her cheeks too. "It's okay," she murmured. "Let it all out. Just let it out."

Neji faced forward again, as the tears ran like a fountain. Tenten continued to hold his hand.

"Poor Lea," Ino said sadly, looking at her body wrapped in a large white cloth, only her head showing being carried by Shino's bugs. She wiped at tear away and sighed. "I didn't like her, but I didn't not like her either. She shouldn't have died."

"Maybe it was just her time to go," Choji said, looking at the body too. He carried two bags, one with his essentials and one with his snacks. He had no drive to reach for a snack. He was too sad, the air was too somber.

"It couldn't have been," Shikamaru said. "She was way too young. She had too much potential for it to just go to waste like that."

"It was her fate to die," Choji said. "Who knows when we're next?"

"Choji!" Ino slapped Choji on the arm. "Stop saying things like that out loud! You're making everyone feel worse."

Which he was. When they all heard what Choji had said, their eyes fell to the ground and a new wave of sorrow fell over them. Just linking the words 'Lea', 'death' and 'fate' together made them feel even sadder. The air grew much heavier.

Sasuke walked at the back. His eyes were trained on Lea's dead body, wrapped in white cloth. Her face looked so peaceful, it was as if she was just sleeping.

It still didn't hit him. Even as he trudged along looking like a zombie, it still didn't hit him that she was dead. Every time his brain tried to process the thought, he arrived at a mental block with the signs flashing "Danger! Do not enter!"

That was why he didn't, or rather couldn't cry. To this very moment, from the time Lea had taken her last breath, his eyes remained dry and haunted. Not hearing her voice, not seeing her white hair shining in the light, not listening to her hiss and curse, was making him feel like a hollow shell. Pain sprang up around him then disappeared and he touched his neck. The cursed mark was coming in and out, retreating after making a small appearance.

'Why was it always her?' he asked himself. Why is it always her getting hurt, kidnapped, attacked, and poisoned? Why couldn't it have been me for once?

Was she really dead? Was that it? Was she really going to enter his life, turn everything upside down then leave after saying good night? She had always been a rude person but this was taking it a step too far. Once again, Sasuke wished she was here so that he could curse her out.

But then again, if she was here there would be no need to curse her out. Instead of standing beside him, rolling her eyes, crossing her arms and complaining about how tired she was, she was in front of him, hovering over the ground with her eyes closed and her face at peace. At least she would finally get some rest now.

No! Sasuke slammed his hand into his head, banishing the thought! No, he can't think like that. He won't allow himself to come to terms with it. Lea needed to be here, not there, even if she will never have a lick of sleep ever again.

It took him half the trip of zoning in and out, barely eating or sleeping for it to finally hit him. It was when they neared the Konoha gates that he realized. Lea. She would have been running straight for that gate right now, a grin splitting her face in two. Just the fact that she wasn't as well as the unbearable silence he was finally starting to notice, was proof enough.

She was dead. And she was not coming back.

//

Footsteps thundered down the hall, accompanied with the harsh breathing of Saiko as she headed for her master's 'office'. Nononononononononononononooooo. This couldn't be happening. Master will be furious. His precious! Gone!

Saiko turned the corner and collided straight into Sato. His body remained rooted to the spot but, due to her speed and unbalance, she fell on her butt. She looked up into his bright blue eyes. He was looking down at her and frowning.

"Why are you rushing like that?" he asked, helping her up. Before she could answer, he pulled her upwards and planted a kiss on her lips. Saiko felt the familiar pull of heat in her stomach before she righted herself. And remembered why she had been rushing.

"The bitch! She went and killed herself! Oh my gosh, master is going to freak!"

"Woah, whoa. Calm down." Sato placed both hands on her shoulders to calm her down. His blue hair fell into his eyes and he blew them away. "Explain yourself."

"Reina! She went and got herself killed!"

Saiko's words descended on Sato. His blue eyes grew wide and he released her shoulders. "You must be kidding me," he whispered.

"I'm not!" Saiko ran her hands into her hair. "This is bad. This is bad, bad, bad."

"What are you going to do?"

"Me? What can I do? It wasn't my fault."

"He sent you to watch her, didn't he?"

"Yeah, but..."

"Saiko, you need to have a plan. You can't go in there and just say "She died." He'll have your head before you even finish that sentence." He held her again. "You have to have a plan."

Saiko rested her head on his chest. "I don't know what to do."

"Wait." He pulled away from her, an idea lighting in his eyes. "His lab. The one dedicated to Reina. There must be something in there that will alert him to her death."

"You're right!" She grabbed his hands, not allowing him to smile at his good idea. "Let's go."

They ran down the long, dark halls until the located the massive, extensively furnished room.

"You look over there," Saiko ordered. "I'll look over here."

They broke apart. The millions of switches and unrecognizable levers and buttons she saw had her seeing stars and soon enough, she was close to giving up.

"Saiko! Over here!"

Saiko made it over to Sato in under three seconds. "What is it? Did you find something?"

"Look at this." He pointed on a small screen that marked 'Vital Signs'. On the screen, was a line and the button under the screen was off. She remembered seeing it before, but last time she saw it, it was beeping and the light had been on. "It says 'Vital Signs'. Isn't this linked to the chip in her head?"

"So?"

"So... if it is, and she's dead then that means the chip has been deactivated. And the only way it can be deactivated is in death."

"You're right, you're right! So how do we set off the alarm?" After a few minutes of searching, Saiko pulled a switch and a blaring siren sounded.

"We have to get out of here!" Sato and Saiko exited the room as fast as they could. They ran down the hall and hid inside a room. Soon enough, they heard footsteps and their master dashed by, following by the dumb mountain that followed him constantly.

They counted to ten before exiting the room and running back to the lab, feigning surprise and confusion.

"What's going on?" Saiko asked, rushing into the room.

"NOOO! No!" Her master was pulling on levers and flipping switches. She had no idea what he was doing and so, stood to the side, an expression of worry on her face.

"She can't die! No, not now! I almost had her back! She was almost under my control! Saiko!" Saiko flinched at the call of her name.

"Y-yes, sir?"

"Go to that big lever on the opposite wall. Pull when I saw the word." She headed over to the lever immediately.

"What are you going to do?" Sato asked. To both their surprise, he answered.

"The chip hasn't completely died yet. I still have a chance."

"Still have a chance to do what?" Saiko asked.

"To bring her back to life." Saiko's eyes widened and sought Sato, who looked just as shocked. Bring her back to life?

Her master ran over to the middle of the room, pushed down a button then went back to the other side of the room. "Now!"

Saiko pulled on the large lever with all her strength. When it went down, the lights flickered, there was a loud, high sound then everything went still.

Saiko looked over at her master. He was hunched over the myriad of buttons, shoulders heaving. He didn't look around.

"Master..."

The sound of beeping interrupted her words. Eyes wide, Saiko and Sato rushed over to where the small screen had been.

The light was on.

Hope you guys like this chapter! I had a little time on my hands, thank God.

Tell me what you think of Lea's death, Saiko and Sato, the lever pulling, everything. I'd love some feedback.