Exclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

It had been almost a week since peace spread through the land of the dancing leaves.

Seven days, six hours, thirty-two minutes and six seconds.

Peace; something Naruto and his friends fought endlessly for and finally won. But he couldn't focus on that for too long as his mind constantly detoured to something else.

Sakura Haruno.

Who, since the final battle between Sasuke and him, had done everything in her power to avoid Naruto.

Not Sasuke; no. She did all she could with Kakashi to help assimilate him into the Leaf Village lifestyle once again. And what does the bastard do the second he's back?

Leave.

Naruto understood his desire to explore with revenge finally absent in his heart, so he let Sasuke go with no fear whatsoever. Sasuke had changed. Naruto, his brother, could see it in him.

But Sakura…

Naruto understood she was a medical ninja and of course, Tsunade's successor so they would need her at the hospital, as well as the Hokage's office. But that didn't give her the excuse to avoid him like a plague!

Naruto could count dozens of times they'd cross paths and, the moment she notice him approach her, she'd sprint in the opposite direction, delivering the same line with exact precision every time, "Sorry; Tsunade needs me."

It was obvious that she was deliberately avoiding him, even to Kakashi, who he had confessed his concerns to just an hour ago.

"She has a lot to think about," Kakashi had told him. "There's a lot of injured civilians and, well, with Sasuke finally back…she has a lot to process. Give her space, Naruto, she'll come around."

"Tsk," said Naruto rather angrily. "Space, he says. She should be celebrating our victory with her friends…with me."

The village hushed down as twilight descended, the soft wind providing a low hum that soothed the people. War was a chaotic symphony of grunts, deaths and cries. After all the fighting, the quiet was a welcomed old friend.

Naruto walked leisurely, no destination in mind. He had done his part in the war, and now his duty was to heal.

Tsunade assigned him private doctors appointments everyday to help regenerate his painfully growing arm. It was a miracle, but even the joy of having an arm once again was blocked out by the sadness that overtook him at the thought of Sakura.

Did she hate him?

He couldn't think of a single reason as to why. He couldn't remember doing anything to make her angry.

There was the familiar rush of wind whenever a ninja sped by and then a soft voice, "Naruto."

He quickly turned, his hand gripping for an arm that wasn't there (a newfound nervous habit of his.)

"Sakura…," he mumbled low. "W-What're you doing here?"

She glanced at his hand that hovered over empty air and he had the sudden feeling that she knew of his habit. "Kakashi said you had walked this way," she answered, pausing before continuing. "I need to talk to you."

He gulped, but nodded. "I think we should."

She looked different since a week ago. Hell, she looked different from just before the battle.

Her hair had gotten longer, more flat, but still beautiful. Her eyes had dulled. The once green that sparkled like emeralds now flickered in memory of what they once were. Dark circles coated her face like paint. She almost wasn't the same Sakura.

But her lips.

They were still full and pink and when she smiled it Naruto back to the times of their academy days.

The thought brought a smile to his own face.

She's still the same, he realized. The war had done it's mark on her, but her lips will always smile the same way they did when he first realized he was in love with her.

Her lips began to move, but he didn't catch the words. "Sorry, what was it?"

She sighed. "I said to follow me."

"Where?"

Sakura ignored him, disappearing in a flash.

A blur of pink in his peripheral vision alerted him to her location and he pulled back his stance, leaping up onto the roof beside her. His feet touched solid ground, but he swayed for a moment from the momentum.

Sakura's eyes widened, her arms extending to steady him, but he adjusted himself swiftly.

"Sorry," said Naruto with a cheeky grin. "It's still hard landing without both arms stretched out, you know?"

Surprisingly, she glared. An odd emotion flashed in her eyes, but she turned away before he could decipher it.

"Let's go," she said simply.

Naruto nodded, and leapt from roof to roof, making sure to stay just behind her. He noticed that Sakura was going slower than she'd normally run and wondered if it was because of him. He tried not to let that bother him. They continued on for a few minutes when a pink blur streaked in front of him. He averted his direction and landed on the ground.

Sakura reached out to grip his arm, but he pulled away just a fraction. She retreated her hand with a frown.

"I'm fine," he assured her, feeling a knot tighten in his stomach like it always did whenever she was upset. "Don't worry, I'll be getting a new arm in no time."

"New arm yes," she replied matter-of-fact. "But you'll be enduring years of physical theory before it can actually feel like an arm, Naruto."

The sentence should have upset him, but he found himself smiling. "You said my name."

She raised a brow. "Yeah, so? I always say your name."

"Yeah but I just…we haven't spoken in days. I'm not used to not talking to you for that long."

She didn't reply, staring at her feet, the diamond on her forehead bright against her porcelain skin.

Naruto felt his cheeks heat up, realizing just what he said. Before he could apologize, she said, "I had a lot to do these post-war days…and a lot to think about. But now I want to discuss them…with you."

He gulped. "With. Me."

"Take a seat."

He was confused for a second, wondering if she meant the ground, before learning just where she had taken them.

It looked different without the crowd of kids scouring about, but the old Academy was still the same as ever. The building was growing weak, the coloring fading but, just as Sakura's eyes, it still held the history and life beneath all the wear. Orange light baked the playground where they used to practice sparing and Naruto couldn't help but remember all the times Sasuke had taken him down in the very area, young Sakura cheering in the background.

He then spotted the swing set.

The same one he had sat sulking on after school when the parents would pick up their kids. It used to bring painful memories to him, and in a way it still did, but the wounds didn't hurt Naruto as bad as they once did. The swings now simply represented another time in his life. A time of loneliness, but that had passed.

Naruto had friends now.

A home.

He had Iruka, Kakashi and Yamato; his teachers.

He had Sasuke again.

Mostly, he had Sakura.

The one who always stuck by him. Despite the constant beatings, she was always the one that was simply there. That was more than enough for Naruto, it always was.

"Naruto," said Sakura, worry lines etching her eyes.

"Sorry," he quickly spoke, rubbing his neck. "Got lost in memories I guess."

"Good ones or bad?"

He shrugged. "Does it matter? Just memories."

Sakura chose not to reply and walked over to the swing, taking a seat with her hands tightly clenching the ropes.

Naruto leaned against the tree that supported the ropes, noting her nervous anxiety that seemed to secrete like tendrils around her. "Sakura," he began, growing uncomfortable with her lack of explanation, "what's this about?"

"I-" she pauses, glancing at him before turning her eyes back to the ground, "-I need to ask you something."

"Hit me," he replied.

"It's not that simple."

He couldn't help but laugh at that. "We just went through a war, I doubt it's that complicated."

That was the wrong thing to say, Naruto quickly realized.

Sakura narrowed her eyes, biting her lower lip rather hard. "It's not that simple for you, idiot."

"What'd you mean?" Naruto asked, though he was beginning to get just as nervous as she seemed.

"Naruto," Sakura said, serious and face-set. "I need to ask you a question, and I want you to promise me that you'll answer with absolute honesty."

He gulped, unsure of how to respond. His first instinct urged him that it was a trap, but he knew that Sakura must have been gathering up a lot of courage to confront him about whatever it was that was troubling her. The least he could do was offer her his best effort.

"Deal," he promised.

Sakura took a moment before speaking again. She seemed to be giving him a chance to back down, but Naruto remained silent, wanting desperately to know what he did to make her ignore him for days. He almost pleaded to know what she wished to ask, when the question was blurted out like a kunai, streaming past her lips with no chance of bringing them back.

"Do you love me?"

Just as when the war ended, there was a newfound silence that blanketed them. The wind had stilled, awaiting Naruto's respond as much as Sakura was. Darkness snaked itself around them with the sun's retreat, masking Sakura's expression for a moment. But Naruto had seen the determination, the fire bursting in her eyes and her lips in a tight line, as if blocking the words from being taken back.

An eternity seemed to past before Naruto found his voice. He said the first thing that came to his mind, surprising even himself, "Does it matter?"

"Does anything matter?" she retorted. "You seem to be saying that a lot. Well, it does matter, Naruto. I want you to be honest, you promised."

"Sakura-"

"You promised!" Her voice elevated dangerously.

"I didn't know what I was promising to!"

"That doesn't matter!" she repeated his words, as though mocking him. Her grip on the ropes tightened, her knuckles changing white against the night. "No more bullshitting, Naruto! I want you to be honest with your feelings for once!"

"I'm not honest!" Naruto didn't remember standing up, but suddenly he was on his feet, hands clenched just as tight as hers. "It doesn't matter what my feelings are, Sakura because face it! You're still in love with Sasuke!"

"How do you know?!"

He froze, taken aback when she stood up as well, her face getting dangerously close to his. Her eyes were scrunched in frustration, but her words were steady and certain.

"How do you know?" she repeated.

Naruto didn't have an answer, but Sakura didn't even let him speak as she continued.

"I love Sasuke!" she cried out angrily. "It's true; he was my first love and one of my closest friends and teammate. But it's a different love, Naruto! After so many years apart my love for him transformed into something else!"

"Sakura-"

"My love for someone else changed too, idiot!" She was suddenly yelling, her eyes brimming brightly, turning them to the stunning emerald he remembered before the war. "For a long time, you were just my teammate, then suddenly you were my best friend…then…then there were so many moments where you would've died and I just couldn't bare it!"

She sniffed, wiping vigorously at the tears that were threatening to fall. "Each time you go into battle I feel like I can't breathe until I see that you're alright! The war was over and you were fine then you and Sasuke go off to battle and I come to find you guys…"

The words choked themselves in her throat and she began to cry, soft sobs shaking her shoulders.

"Your arm's were gone and you both were half-dead! I couldn't-when I woke up from Sasuke's genjutsu I thought you were-that he killed you before we even got a chance…"

"Sakura…I didn't mean to-"

"Oh, please!" she cut him off, anger rising in her tone rather than sadness. "Didn't mean to what exactly? Make me worry? Make me fall for you? Well you did! So how dare you go and get yourself almost killed before I could even confess to you?!"

"I'm sorry."

They both froze.

Sakura blinked rapidly, the tears stopping.

Naruto felt sweat beading down his neck, his cheeks red. He didn't mean to simply say 'sorry'. In fact he had no idea what to say! It just seemed like the right thing to say!

Sakura sighed, wiping the tears completely off, her eyes now puffy and as red as his cheeks. "Sorry, huh?" she mumbled to herself more than him. "Boys are such idiots. They think that it's a magic word that can fix everything."

"Well," Naruto said, "we actually know that it's not a magic word…but we hope if we use it enough it will become one."

She scowled, but the edge of her lip twitched. "Is that supposed to be a joke?"

"Not a very good one," he chuckled nervously, running a hand through his hair. The strands got caught in his fingers as usual and he struggled for a minute to detangle them.

Sakura laughed for the first time that night. "Time for a haircut I think."

"I've been meaning to actually; just hadn't had time."

Silence settled between them again for a while. There was an edge to it, like the ticking of a bomb waiting to detonate.

Sakura rested on the swing, gripping the ropes once again, drawing some kind of comfort from them.

Naruto, on the other hand, was never good with staying in one place for so long and walk over to her side, sitting cross-legged on the floor.

"You still didn't answer my question," Sakura said.

It's not that simple, he almost said, but knew it would further infuriate her. A part of him urged the truth out though.

Naruto had always expressed his affection towards Sakura, but he realized that never once had he actually verbally expressed them. He had never just flat out told her what he felt about her. Another part of him though, always reminded him that Sasuke was the object of her heart and that he shouldn't try. But if what she just told him was true…then did that mean…is she saying that she…that she loved him?

The very idea was almost too much for Naruto to grip on.

It was odd how he had plenty of courage to face an entire army but God forbid you ask Naruto to confess his true feelings for Sakura.

Suddenly, Naruto found himself on his feet, moving over to stand directly behind Sakura. He gripped the ropes on either side of her, his hands hovering just an inch above her own. He gulped, but knew that whatever he was about to say, well, he couldn't stand saying it directly to her face. Somehow, looking at the back of her head was making it easier.

"I…," he began before his brain could stop him, "…I love you, Sakura. Ever since we were kids. Back then, it used to be just a silly crush. I wanted nothing more than than to just win your affection and acknowledgment, but then we were assigned to Team 7 together and everything changed. We were fighting and growing together. Then Sasuke left and somehow, instead of it driving us apart, it brought us even closer. I think our determination to bring him back was what did it. Either way, my silly crush I realized was love."

Naruto stopped with a gasp when her hands moved up until they completely covered his own. He wanted to stop, but somehow her touch kept his mouth moving.

"Everyday, no matter what I was going through, everything would be better the second I saw you. I woke up every morning with a smile because I knew we were going to train together or go on missions or even just grab some ramen. And this might sound weird, but I always loved how you never gave up on Sasuke. You love so much. Once someone touches your heart, you just never forget them; like me. I just…I always wondered if I had touched your heart like the way Sasuke did."

He paused for a moment, and she let him and he was grateful for it. "I think my favorite thing was seeing you smile. I swear, everyday we saw each other, I knew if I could make you smile at least once, then my day was a great one. I found myself thinking of jokes to tell you or things to do while going to bed. Stupid, right?" He laughed without humor. "But now I see that all I cause you is worry. All I want to make you do is smile, but I'm no better than Sasuke; always making you cry."

Naruto stopped and there was a heaviness in the still air. He didn't remove his hands, feeling her skin beneath his, happy that she wasn't pulling away.

"So you love me?" Sakura finally said, oddly casual. "Is that what you're saying?"

He couldn't help laughing. "Yeah, I love you. Happy?"

"Not until you show me."

She moved so suddenly that it Naruto a moment to register what had happened.

Sakura removed her hands and stood up from the swing. She twisted around, resting one knee on the seat while placing her hands so that they'd be on top of his this time.

Naruto's entire world was suddenly in her eyes, everything green. He felt her breath just above his mouth. If he leaned forward…

"Prove it," Sakura whispered. "If you really love me, enough with the small dates. Show me."

He quickly obliged, crashing his mouth onto hers. The kiss was slow and soft, their hands clenching each other. It wasn't steamy or as passionate as the kisses he'd seen in movies, but it was better. His heart was in sync with hers and he felt each beat as if they were the same person.

Sakura had always been a sanctuary for him. Someone he'd go to when down because the mere sight of her was enough to brighten the darkness that haunted him. But being this close to her was a completely other level. As though there wasn't ever any darkness. There was only light with her.

She was the first to pull back, leaning her forehead into his with cheeks stained red.

"I love you," he repeated, the words now so natural to speak.

She smiled, the same smile since their academy days, the one that would never change, the one that made her who she was. "I love you too."

I don't even know how to express my disappointment in what Kishimoto did to Sakura's character at the end of the manga. Just, no.

Here's a simple run-down of my thoughts:

1.) I like SasuSaku; I do. It's an interesting ship; but I never wanted Sakura to pick Sasuke. I'm sorry, but what message does her taking him back so easily at the end send to girls? Hey, if a guy treats you like complete shit it's okay as long as he says sorry? What the hell? I would've been fine with Sasuke and Sakura ending up together IF she had made him jump-hoops for her. That's honestly what I was hoping for. I wanted Sakura to make Sasuke beg for her forgiveness and ignore him for a while until he realizes how much he should've appreciated in her. I didn't want her to act as though he didn't, oh I don't know, physically and emotionally damage her! I see the love Sakura and Sasuke truly share for each other; I do and it's why I like them. But it's an unhealthy pairing and I wish Kishimoto respected Sakura as a character more; not just a simple love interest.

2.) Hinata is a fine character; she is. But I can't see her and Naruto together; I just can't. I feel like they have no chemistry. I would've been more fine with them ending up together if they had more development (not just a sicken movie coming out apparently).

3.) What the hell was with all the 'Sakura has feelings for Naruto' hints and Kushina/Sakura parallels?! If they were never endgame why would you do that? To make people anticipate them to end up together then just go, "GOTCHA!" No, I don't like that. If Naruto and Hinata were always going to end up together, give THEM more development romantically; not platonically and give Naruto and Sakura more development platonically rather than romantically. Don't leave the readers hanging with hints just to make them keep reading; it's bad story-telling if the fans stay JUST to find out who ends up together.

4.) I absolutely hate that Hinata and Sakura were treated as nothing more than love interest for Sasuke and Naruto. It's completely sexist and disrespects their character; they're both strong and amazing; not just the wives and child-bareres for the two boys of the manga.

All it all, it was an unsatisfactory and disappointing ending to a series I've been following for so many years. The characters should've had a lot more respect than that.

I would've been happier if chapter 700 didn't exist. If they were gonna make an epilogue, just do it to maybe the day Naruto finally officially became Hokage and end it with Team 7. They began the story, they moved it along and they should finish it. Open endings are suffering, but I think they work better for such a large franchise.