Tsunade stood lost in thought at the window of her office. In her hand she was holding a notice that none of the ANBU units she had sent to find out about the Akatsukis a week ago had survived. The list of dead also included two names with the surname "Haruno". She had only been told this morning that the ANBU unit had been found. And also that everyone was dead. The Hokage had absolutely no idea how to get this sad news across to her student. And the worst was: it was all her fault !!! She had given the assignment to watch the Akatsukis. She could have thought to herself that she would notice it immediately and that a fight would break out!

While she was staring out the window, she saw Sakura, who was on the way to her. Oh yes, she had already had the girl called over to her. But to her surprise, Sasuke ran next to her.Only after some thought did the Hokage remember that she had also had the Uchiha fetched to inform him that he would have a mission together with Neji and Shikamaru in 2 days. Naruto was on another mission right now, so Neji had to fill in for him as it was going to be a pretty dangerous mission. All four had already been promoted to ANBUs. But now she had other problems for now. Tsunade sighed and turned from the window.

Sakura was on the way to the Hokage. She had already called for her once again, probably to give her another stupid task, such as sorting files or moving manuscripts from A to B. She let out a low sigh. Didn't Tsunade have another idiot for these jobs? The pink-haired girl on her left, where Sasuke was walking, peered cautiously. Well, maybe it wasn't so bad after all that the Hokage had called her. On the way to the tower (that thing where the office of the tsunade is in) she met Sasuke, who was also on the way there.She was happy that she finally saw Sasuke again, because since she was Medic-Nin and he was an ANBU, they hardly saw each other anymore, but nevertheless she accelerated her steps. She just felt uncomfortable in his presence. And he didn't even say anything to her. But that was probably exactly the point. He paid no attention to her. He just pretended she wasn't there. Whether he did it on purpose or not, it just bothered her.

That's why she was visibly relieved when they finally reached the tower. They were welcomed immediately by the Hokage, which actually bordered on a small miracle, because actually you always had to wake her up from her deep sleep or she was not present at all. But this time Tsunade had a serious expression. Both Sakura and Sasuke noticed that immediately. Sasuke therefore only looked at them suspiciously when they were asked into the office (Sasuke just comes in there ^^).

"Sit down," said the Hokage in a voice that did not bode well."No thanks, I prefer to stand," Sasuke mumbled and stood in a corner of the room. "Me too," said Sakura and also stopped. Tsunade just nodded and then turned to Sakura. "So, I don't know how to tell you, but you know your parents had a mission to shadow the Akatsukis?" Sakura nodded slightly. She didn't know why, but her knees suddenly started shaking. At these words Sasuke also pricked up his ears. Akatsuki? The Hokage knew where they were? "Well," Tsunade continued, "the mission was a failure. Your parents' group was discovered and attacked." Sakura had to swallow. What did the Hokage want to tell her? Now the young Uchiha also interfered in the conversation: "Who were you attacked by?" Tsunade looked at him sadly and said only one word:

"Itachi." Sasuke stood there petrified. Somehow he had suspected it. And he knew what that meant for Sakura's parents.Itachi wasn't a person who killed others to survive, no, he did it for sheer fun and he never let anyone live when he decided to take them off.
Then Tsunade looked back at Sakura, who just stared at her in horror. "Sakura, I'm so sorry," she said softly, so that one could barely understand her, "but none of the unit that did this job survived." Then she looked away in despair. She just couldn't see anyone in a situation like that. It was precisely at such moments that she regretted accepting the job as a Hokage.

Sakura just stood there motionless.nobody survived ... nobody ... survived. "No, that can't be! That was just a joke, wasn't it, Hokage-sama?" She whispered softly after she understood WHAT the Hokage had just said. "Say it was just a joke!" She pleaded with Tsunade as tears welled up in her eyes. But she knew she had told her the truth when she saw the expression on the Hokage's face.Sasuke, too, had released himself from his rigidity and was now slowly walking towards Sakura from behind. "Sakura," he whispered in embarrassment and carefully placed a hand on her shoulder. At first the addressed winced at the touch, but then she simply turned around and fell around the Uchiha’s neck. She buried her face in his t-shirt and whimpered "No, please, don't ... that's not true!" As tears ran down her cheeks.

Sasuke didn't know what to do. Sakura seemed pretty close to a nervous breakdown. He also knew exactly how she felt. He had been through exactly the same thing then as she is now. And it was the same person who was to blame: Itachi. His hand clenched in anger when he thought of his brother. But now was not the right time to come up with new plans for revenge. He gently put an arm around Sakura, who was still howling against his shirt. Sasuke was so lost in his own thoughts that he almost didn't notice that Tsunade had spoken to him."I beg your pardon?" He asked the Hokage, confused, since he had actually not noticed what she had said. "I asked you if you could maybe ... take care of her a little?" Sasuke nodded. "Of course," he replied, "but why did you call me?" "Just ask Neji, he should tell you" , she said with a nod to Sakura, who didn't seem to notice anything from her surroundings. It would have been just inhuman to her to just carry on now as if nothing had happened.

After a while, when Sakura had calmed down a bit, the two of them left the tower again. Sasuke insisted on accompanying Sakura home because he was afraid that she might just fall over on the way home or do other stupid things. Sakura agreed without much protest, she didn't care about anything at the moment anyway. While the two were walking through the streets of Konoha, the Uchiha glanced sideways at Sakura.She looked really terrible. Her hair was sticking out in all directions and she was staggering rather than walking.

When they got to their house, it was already getting dark and the first lights in Konoha came on. Sakura staggered tiredly up the steps to the front door. She opened the door, but it was dead quiet inside. That brought tears to her eyes again. What was she supposed to do all alone in this big house? She didn't even notice that Sasuke was still standing outside. But just as she was about to close the door behind her, Sasuke grabbed her wrist and turned her around again. She just looked at him, startled. "Sakura?" He started. "Huh?" Said Sakura. "Listen to me. You must not forget that life goes on! Please do not make the same mistake as I did back then. You must not withdraw completely and shield yourself completely from the outside world. I will kill Itachi, I promise you, but please stay the way you are"With that he let go of her hand." Will you promise me that? ", Sasuke asked her. Somehow he didn't know what he had just said." Yes, I promise, "Sakura answered his question. With these words he closed the door and Sasuke even thought he saw a slight smile flicker over her face .
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So that was the first Kappi from "Lost in myself".
Actually, I wanted to make two chapters out of it, but then I decided to do it into one because otherwise they would have been so short.