When I awoke the rain was pouring outside my window. I knew immediately that I was in the hospital. And I knew exactly why I was there.

My encounter with Shukaku flashed through my mind. We had spoken but I knew, it wasn't me. It was the Ten Tails. So, it was technically me but I wasn't in control. We had spoken like old acquaintances. This had happened only once before and it was when he had pushed me to my very limit and the other side of me had taken over. Now it was happening again.

It took me a moment before I realized persons were in the room. I turned my head to the right to see my teammates and sensei. Sasuke and Kakashi. The last persons I wanted to see.

They were talking softly and when I moved, Sakura rushed to my side. "She's awake," she said, sitting beside me.

I sat up as everyone turned to me.

"It's about time," Kakashi said. "You've been out for two days. We were about to leave."

"Leave?" I asked. "Where to?"

This time Naruto spoke. His eyes were cast downwards and his face was sad. "The Third Hokage's funeral," he answered.

My eyes widened. That's right, I thought. Orochimaru had attacked the Third Hokage. I stared at Naruto and noticed that they were all dressed in his black. The Third Hokage's funeral...

I fell back against my pillows. "No way ..." I muttered. No way had that snake beaten the Third Hokage. That man looked as if no one could touch him; he looked as if he knew all the secrets of the world. How could he allow that snake to beat him?

"Orochimaru killed him," Sakura said, tears running down her cheek. "While we were fighting Gaara, he killed him." She broke at the end of her sentence and covered her mouth to hold back her sob. Naruto wrapped a comforting arm around her shoulders and for once, she didn't push him away.

I stared at her. Just stared.

"It's almost started." Kakashi came closer. "Can you move?"

I lifted my arm and found that my bones didn't feel like lead. "Yes," I answered.

"Sakura, make sure she gets ready. We'll be waiting outside." He, Sasuke and Naruto went to the door. Sasuke left last, giving me a look. I knew that look. Can see it anywhere. He wanted answers.

Sakura lifted a hanger from God knows where and held it out to me. "Here," she said. "I picked this out for you. You have to get ready quickly or we're going to be late."

I got out of the bed. "I just can't believe it. How can the Third Hokage be dead?" I began stripping.

"I can't either, but he is. Orochimaru is extremely strong. Remember when you fought him?"

I remembered it like it was yesterday. I nodded. "He's one strong bastard. But the Third Hokage?"

"The Third Hokage was the one who taught Orochimaru so it isn't very surprising."

I paused in the process of pulling the dress up. I gave her a shocked look. "Wha?"

She gave me a look. "You didn't know? The Third Hokage was the one who taught Orochimaru, and the other two of the Three Sages."

My expression changed from shock to confusion. I pulled the dress up and turned for her to zip it up. "The Three Sages?"

Sakura made an annoyed sound. "You don't listen at all, do you? How can you not know the Three Sages? Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya."

"Doesn't ring a bell." I pulled my hair around my face. "Then that Orochimaru dude is the big deal then. The student surpassed the teacher kind of thing."

"Yeah, I guess you could say that." She looked me up and down. "What I would give to have your figure." She touched my hair and I resisted the urge to knock her through the wall. "Your hair is so long and pretty. Makes me wish I didn't cut mine sometimes."

I walked away from her, towards the mirror. My face desperately needed to be washed. "Whatever."

"I can see what the big deal is," she said.

I looked at her. "What does that mean?"

"After the fight with Gaara, Sasuke was going crazy. He had you in his arms and he was panicking and screaming at anyone who came close to you. He was the one who got you here. And he stayed here until Kakashi forced him to go home. Him and Naruto but Sasuke was besides himself." When I looked at her with confusion, she smiled at me. "You ready? Let's go."

I let her lead me out of the room, still extremely confused.

//

We stood at the front of all the villagers of the village. I stood between Naruto and that guy with the bugs. Everyone looked either heartbroken or was blatantly crying their eyes out. I couldn't bring myself to be any. All I felt was a dull ache. If the Third Hokage could be so easily dispensable then what does that say about me?

The rain was pouring and my hair clung to my face and body. I stared at the Third Hokage's grave. It was ladened with gifts and flowers. His smiling face from his picture stared at me. The dull ache grew just a little more.

I looked down at my wrists. The mysterious tattoo pulsed at me. The fiery circle looked brighter, the drop in the centre more obvious. Again I asked myself, where the hell did it come from?

"Iruka-sensei?" Naruto called. "What are humans? Is life that simple?"

Yes, I thought. If someone wanted you dead, then you're dead.

"When a person dies," Iruka said, "It doesn't matter if it's past, present, or future, you will lose everything. But everyone knows that if you die for a cause it's the best kind of death. Because we were born to die so we love, to make that death less of an inevitability and more of something that we need to do, to protect the persons we love. And we wearing headbands knows that the most."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, I guessed that too. But death is still painful ..."

I gave Naruto a weird look. Who knew he could be so deep?

"The Hokage wouldn't think it was painful," Kakashi spoke up. "He believed that people should not hurt for not reason."

"But they do get hurt," I said, not realizing I had spoken aloud. "No matter what we do or say, we will get hurt and we will die. It happens. No one can stop it."

"You sound like you've went through a lot of death," Iruka commented. I gave him a scathing look.

The memory of seeing my dead parents ran through my head. "You don't know me," I said, with cool rage.

I walked away, stomped away actually. I didn't get very far before Sasuke grabbed my hand.

He frowned at me. "Where are you going?"

I snatched back my hand. "Leave me alone, butt head."

I raced away, tears running down my face. I discarded my heels half way to the training ground, since it was slowing me down. The tears just wouldn't stop. And seeing my mother fall, dead, to the ground and my father's blood coming towards me, taunting, made me run harder.

I stopped, suddenly, resting my elbow against the wooden post Naruto had been tied to not so long ago. My chest was heaving and the tears just wouldn't stop. I hadn't cried like this for years.

"Lea."

I didn't turn. I knew he had been following me but still I didn't turn.

"Leave me alone," I said.

I heard him coming closer. I wanted to walk away. I didn't want him touching me but I couldn't move.

"Lea," he said again.

"I said leave me alone!" I shouted at him, whirling to face him. "Just go! Why are you even here!?"

"You're crying."

I threw my hands up in the air, anger running through my very veins. "As if you haven't seen me cry before," I muttered, trying to hold it in.

He made one more step. "Not like this."

"Well, sorry to break it to you Sasuke but I'm human too."

"I've never seen you cry like this before." His voice sounded weird. It was a mixture of confusion and pain. I looked at him.

"I've never seen you cry," I said, the anger draining out of me.

"Is it because of the Third Hokage?"

"Yes," I lied.

"No, it isn't." He made another step and came right up before me. I didn't have any space to move. I looked up at him. "You're crying because of something else. What is it?"

"Why would I tell you that?" I looked away. "What do you care?"

There was a moment of silence before Sasuke coughed and stepped away. "I don't know," he said, his voice filled with confusion.

"I don't," he said more forcefully. As soon as I stepped away, I wiped the tears from my face. It made no difference however, since the rain came down to replace it.

"I'm going back," I told him. I passed but he grabbed my hand. I sighed. "What?"

"You know what." I turned to face him. His face was no longer soft, but cold and distant.

I crossed my arms. "What do you want me to say? You want me to spill my every secret to you?"

"You can at least tell me how the hell you knew that demon. And how he knew you. You owe me that."

"I don't owe you squat," I spat at him. "You want me to tell you the truth? He's an old family friend. Uncle Kaku, I call him. But he fell out of the family after he started dealing drugs and used us as a base for his business. The police caught him and we never saw him since."

"Don't joke with me. I am not the person."

"Don't try that tough guy thing with me Sasuke. I'm not scared of you."

There was silence after that. We stared at each other for a long time, neither of us looking away. Sasuke glared into my eyes, and then slowly, I saw his eyes go to my lips. Suddenly self-conscious, I licked them without realizing it. He swallowed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked me, his eyes still on my lips.

I nodded, my throat closed up. "Y-yeah."

Sasuke suddenly looked torn. His eyes shifted away from my mouth then back. His uncertainty made me frown with confusion. "What's wrong?" I asked.

He stepped away, his cheeks flushed. "I think we should get back to the funeral before they get worried."

I nodded in agreement. "You're right. Sakura'll probably rip my hair out if I'm away any longer with you."

Sasuke threw his head back and laughed.

Hi guys. The dress that Lea wore to the funeral is to the side (or above if, using mobile). Thanks for reading :)