The three of them

Manga/Anime: Naruto

Pairing: It's meant to be NaruSasu, but I guess one could overread that... So if you don't like SasuNaru, it isn't. If you like it, it's there, can you see it?! +points into random direction+

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone in this fic, I just stole them. All of them!

Author's Note: I don't really like Shippuuden, so I'm just ignoring it once again with this fic.^^ Usually, I don't like Sakura at all, but somehow, I like to write about her or from her point of view. That's confusing. And annoying. I don't WANT to like writing her........ Nevertheless, have fun!

At the Academy, they'd been in the same class.

Later, they'd been on the same team.

Then, they'd become something like best friends.

From the moment her life as a kunoichi had started to the point where she stood now – all this time it had always been the three of them. Years had passed since the day they'd first met or the day they'd been announced Team 7. Or the day Team 7 had died.

Sakura had loved Sasuke.

He'd been her first crush, her first love, the first person to break her heart, the first person to show her how cruel love could be. Through him, she'd understood that 'love' was not what kept the world turning and that the dreams and hopes she'd had as a child were nothing more than that: dreams and hopes. And although it had hurt to see the truth, she'd learned to be grateful to him.

Sakura had never loved Naruto.

He'd been an idiot who always got in the way, an annoyance, nothing more than a burden. But through him she'd learned that the things that kept the world together were friendship, trust and honesty and that the dreams and hopes she'd had as a child would always guide her and give her strength if she was willing to remember them. And although it had taken her nearly two years to understand it, she knew that she owed him her life.

When Sasuke had betrayed them, leaving behind the shattered reminders of what was supposed to be her life, her childhood had ended.

In the three years that had followed, she'd had a lot of time to think about all the things she hadn't known. She'd had a lot of time to understand that life wasn't always what she wanted it to be and that reality was a bitch that came to kick you in the face the moment you'd expect it the least. Well, she had thought about those things and she had understood.

Maybe that was one of the reasons that made her feel like she'd become an adult the day Naruto had returned with Sasuke – dirty and bloody and exhausted to the point where she'd thought he'd die from fatigue.

In the three weeks that had followed, she'd stayed with him and watched him recover from injuries she knew weren't caused by Sasuke or any enemy at all but by Naruto's own demonic powers. Only when the boy that had become her best friend somewhere along the way had been allowed to leave his bed had she realized that she'd chosen to stay at Naruto's side.

Sakura had loved Sasuke, but with time passing, she'd learned to care for Naruto in a way she had never cared for anyone before. Sakura had grown up with her eyes fixed onto Sasuke - preferably his gorgeous face or his sexy ass - but she'd learned to look at Naruto instead. Sakura had learned. It had taken years of pain and nightmares and tears that she'd never been able to hold back, but in the end, she'd learned.

At the Academy, they'd been in the same class.

Later, they'd been on the same team.

Then, they'd become something like best friends.

From the moment her life as a kunoichi had started to the point where she stood now – all this time it had always been the three of them.

They'd always been more than a team, or different than other teams.

Team 7 had always had it's own, special dynamic. Her crush on Sasuke, her rejection of Naruto, Naruto's crush on her, his obsession with Sasuke and Sasuke's distance to both of them. Some kind of a broken triangle, like Kakashi had called it once.

With time passing, their relation had become something complicated and fragile, yet their bonds were something that couldn't be more simple and unbreakable. She didn't know a name for it and sometimes, she didn't know whether she really wanted to, so she just stayed with 'triangle'.

There had been a time when she would have agreed with Kakashi when he said it was a 'broken' triangle.

Sometimes, she still felt like it was Sasuke and Naruto and she was left behind, like she was on the outside and looking in, wanting in on a relationship she'd never been able to fully grasp, times when she thought that if it really was a triangle, she'd have to be closer, not drifting away.

But deep inside, she always knew that she still was a part of it. If Sasuke was the fire and Naruto was the storm, then she was the earth that kept both of them grounded.

Naruto would always come and talk to her when he felt he needed to and she would always be there to listen. Sasuke would never come, but he'd always show her when he needed her to come and talk him into telling her whatever it was that was on his mind. It was a balance she knew they needed and a life she could live. She was happy.

At the Academy, they'd been in the same class.

Later, they'd been on the same team.

Then, they'd become something like best friends.

And for all that time, Sakura had always noticed the looks they gave each other. She'd noticed the glares and stares and glances, the treats and questions and pleas they stood for and the anger and desperation and uncertainty that were hidden inside them just like the trust and friendship and hope.

She'd noticed how time had changed those looks, how glares of hatred had become mischievous grins and how arrogance had become hidden amusement.

From the birth of Team 7 to it's death, from Sasuke's betrayal to his return, from the distance Tsunade had ordered them to keep to something that was somehow even closer than they'd been in the past, the way they'd looked at each other had always told their story.

Sakura had learned to read that story.

And when she looked at them now, looked at the way they looked each other, she knew that something was about to change yet again. Because now, there was one thing that said even more about their relationship than the looks they gave each other and that were the looks they didn't give each other but tried to keep hidden.

She couldn't help but smile.