Disclaimer: Naruto doesn't belong to me. All I have to my name is the ideas behind this story.

Over the years, Sakura has learned to analyse situations with the cold efficiency of a medic-nin. Most of the time, she is able to keep control of every little detail and predict the outcomes of her decisions based on the information gathered.

Sasuke is leaving. For who knows how long, too. That is bad.

Sadly, there are a few things and people who can throw off her calm attitude and bring out emotions that can be unleashed with the rage of a fierce storm. Sasuke Uchiha happens to be one of those. Even if she tried, it would be very difficult to keep reign of her reactions, and this moment isn't any different.

Is it me or is Naruto looking at me funny? Why is he smirking like that?

Sakura is trying very hard to find a suitable course of action, planning and plotting all the way to the place of the meeting. This is, indeed, a spiky situation. It happens as she decides emotions are tricky things to deal with, but it has to be done anyway. She has to be strong.

"I know what you're thinking." Naruto raises his eyebrows, acting like he's aware of a lot more than he lets on.

Any other time and Sakura might have felt offended at being called out on showing her emotions, but this time her shoulders fall a bit. There is tiredness etched in her face, product of a night devoid of rest. Her mood isn't much better, and she figures it's as noticeable as a beacon in the middle of the night. "Is it that obvious?" she sighs, dejectedly.

"Yup. But…" Naruto waits for the dramatic antics to take effect, getting only a resigned, sideways glance from his friend. "I know how to help."

Sakura snorts. Dense, horribly dense Naruto, apparently knows something about matchmaking. Unless he is talking about something else entirely, which is also a possibility. One never knows what goes on in the blond's mind. If she doesn't know how to deal with her uncontrollable emotions and the situation regarding Sasuke, what could Naruto possibly do?

"Sasuke is my friend too," he defends himself, not taking the slightest bit of offense. From the corner of her eye, Sakura sees him smile, his gaze looking at somewhere in the distance. "Even if he is the biggest idiot I've ever met," he adds, thoughtfully. "You know, hard to get things through him, hot headed…" Naruto looks back at her as if he was expecting an important response out of his words.

"And completely out of my league," Sakura sighs, remembering all of her failed attempts at getting him to notice her. "I've failed every single time I tried to get to him."

An apology is all she got for her troubles of caring for him, hoping he would get back and ultimately nearly getting killed by him a few times. Granted, she did try to give up and kill him, but she couldn't bring herself to do it in the end… that has to be something, right? It's a miracle they haven't killed each other yet. To be honest, in her opinion, this is the opposite of progress. Sasuke has been too busy trying to not end up thrown into prison since he got back, to try to approach him properly.

Naruto clicks his tongue, an impatient look in his eyes, as if this was something they are spending too much time with. Something easy. Freaking Naruto and his simple views on life. If he had been the one trying to do something like this, he would know better. "You should give yourself more credit, Sakura. You're not as bad as you think you are," he offers, encouragingly.

"Right, I'm doing an excellent job," she retorts, sarcasm dripping from her words. The stress of the last days has been getting to her, and she knows it. Also, this is a delicate topic and Naruto isn't the best at being sensitive, which isn't helping.

She can almost hear the smack of his hand against his face, a frustrated expression etched in his features. "That's not my point! The opposite, actually! You're doing everything wrong!" he tries to explain, waving his hands in front of him frantically. Even if he did save the world, a few people are looking at him funny. He seems agitated now, but he doesn't stop to let Sakura reply.

The boy turns around and grabs her shoulders, shaking her lightly. His face is inches away from Sakura's, his blue eyes wide open as he frantically tries to get her to realise his plan. "Dammit, Sakura, you should know what I mean."

Sakura narrows her eyes thoughtfully, her brain working at top speed. Naruto is usually very direct with telling people things, so why is he talking in riddles now? Clearly, he has a plan… but he wants her to realise what he wants her to do. Why, it's beyond her, but if he is so adamant, it must be something important. He told her she is doing things wrong.

Think, Sakura.

She failed at bringing Sasuke back (or advancing in any way regarding him). Naruto didn't. It took him a lot of time, pain, suffering and an arm - but he got him back. He was the one who did things right. Former dead-last, hyperactive, glutton Naruto, who seems to achieve things by sheer willpower.

Just how does he do it?

There are two things that come to her mind. Just as they do, a big, devilish grin appears on Naruto's face. He's been watching her pondering intently, still from so close she can smell the ramen he had for breakfast. In any other situation, she would probably have thought of this as uncomfortably romantic, but the realisation dawning on her is too much to care.

"You can't be serious," she mutters, dumbfounded at the typically crazy, but brilliant idea he just gave her.

"I am, believe it."

In all fairness, Sasuke was a bit concerned about what would happen when he got back to Konoha. He did cause a lot of problems to an impressive amount of people. True, he did help to save the world, but he kind of messed that up right after starting to redeem himself.

Luckily for him, Naruto's determination and a bit of help from the new Hokage helped out with him not ending in prison for the rest of his life. However, he is not stupid. There are still a lot of things and angered people to worry about.

For the first time in forever, it feels like a positive realisation has popped up in his mind, shedding light on the dark places that used to be his soul. It feels strange, but also... right. Naruto gave him something to hold onto when he felt so lost. No matter how hard Sasuke tried to push his former teammate away, the fox boy never gave up on him. And now that peace is settling over the world, it seems to be rubbing off on him. It feels nice.

However, the mess in his head is still quite… disorganised. When he proposed the idea of taking a break and travelling the world, just to let everything sink in, he wasn't sure they would let him go. Naruto made it quite clear that if he tried to sneak out on his own, he would bring him back again. And he has learned to not underestimate his friend's ability to fulfill that sort of promise.

Kakashi still hasn't arrived. And although she didn't say anything about coming to bid him farewell, Sakura is definitely going to be here soon, too. The way her face contorted into an anguished expression when he announced his intentions… she might have as well cried out loud about how much she doesn't want him to go.

Sakura is one of the instigators of some of the troublesome thoughts and feelings that have been bothering him in the last days. She is part of the small family that is Team Seven, and as such, she was one of the people he tried to push away hardest.

And it took him until now to realise that he did that because she matters. He doesn't really know what kind of feeling is that, or what it means. So he did all he could think about, and apologised. Because understanding that he doesn't want to hurt people he cares about, yet having done the opposite during the last years, feels bad, no matter how annoying they might have been.

Sasuke is pretty sure she will be here to spill out her emotions. Even after all this time, some things remain the same. Because of that, he isn't surprised when he sees her walking towards him alongside Kakashi. She seems to be nervous, probably plotting something regarding him. It's almost hilarious to watch how she loses her composure in his presence.

His sensei wishes him luck and gives him the warning of not messing more stuff up, because bailing him out has already been difficult enough. Sakura steps forward when he is about to go.

"...You're really gonna leave?" she asks, her face sad but determined.

He tries to tell her that he needs it. Sakura's expression becomes more and more nervous, like she is readying herself to do something very difficult.

"Well... what if…" she starts blurting out, blushing and looking away. Typical Sakura. "I asked you… to take me with you?" She finds enough courage to look at him, her expression candid and hopeful.

So Sasuke tries his best to tell her not to worry. There's nothing she can do. Poor Sakura, always worrying about people, always trying to help them out even if they can handle themselves. This is something he has to do, alone.

"Right…" Sakura sighs, as if she had already expected this answer. The situation reminds him of the last time he left Konoha. She gulps and looks away again. "Can I ask one more thing, then?" she looks up, her fidgety demeanor becoming more pronounced. Sasuke nods, intrigued.

Even though it catches him off-guard, he sees it coming, but Sakura is faster than he gave her credit for. There is surprise nearly oozing from his face like a tangible thing, as he stares at her, astonished. His hand rises to stroke the piece of his skin that feels as hot as fire right now.

"Why do you have to be such a stuck-up jerk?" she asks, looking at her offending hand in amazement, probably still not believing that she just did this. The punch has knocked him back a few meters, but it hasn't broken anything.

That is not typical Sakura, who just punched him in the face and is calling him out on things. "You don't have to do everything alone!" she shouts, frustration worming its way into her tone.

Kakashi seems to be smirking under his mask, his gaze jumping back and forth between them with interest. Curling her fists into balls, Sakura seems to be deciding if she wants to scream at him more. Her eyes are becoming more and more wet with each blink, though, and she seems to notice. The girl is quite angry now, and she turns away to leave.

There are no words. Sasuke stares at her back as she walks away, until he realises that she isn't going to have a change of heart and turn around. "Sakura," his voice is impassive. Now that the shock of being punched by her out of all people is gone, he goes back to his usual stoic façade. She stops, but refuses to acknowledge him.

"You're right," he concedes, nothing in his voice giving away the confused chains of thoughts going on inside his head. "Maybe I wouldn't mind some company along the way," the words are almost painful, a nagging voice in his head screaming that this is definitely a sign of weakness.

She turns around, her eyes still slightly watery. Sakura seems slightly surprised, but manages to raise an eyebrow evaluatively. For once in his life, Sasuke feels nervous. This is so out of character that he doesn't really know how to act, but he has to recognise she has a point. And then she gives him a big, bright smile that signifies her return to typical Sakura, like she just didn't punch him and scream at him in less than ten seconds.

Maybe some things have changed, after all.

Naruto feels pretty satisfied. He remembers his promise to be a ninja… in his own way. Most people probably saw him as a delusional fool. Well, he proved them wrong, didn't he? To him, his major accomplishment to this day is to have gotten into Sasuke's head that he isn't one to give up. Not even when his friend has tried his hardest to make him throw the towel.

He lost an arm to manage that, but for all he cares it could've been his life. Anything, in exchange for the person Sasuke has started to become. Similar to his old self, but wiser, hardened by many losses and wounds. The prideful Uchiha who is now walking away from the village.

When Naruto sees him, he figures there is another achievement to add to the list.

If something gets in your way, you just punch it very hard, until you get what you want.

Naruto remembers those words, although he can't remember who said them right now. He keeps a serious face, but inside there is a big victory dance going on. He essentially told Sakura that Sasuke is too obtuse to realise that friendship isn't a weakness, but a strength. Even after he himself beat his friend into the ground to prove that point, he was aware that Sasuke had spent too much time trying to get stronger, to start appreciating people like that so soon.

So when he sees Sakura walking side by side with his friend (practically a brother), it's almost impossible to hide the wish to start cheering loudly. Instead, he gives himself a mental pat in the back. He hadn't expected so much success when he hinted at her that Sasuke needs more than just words to understand what people tell him.

"Hey, Sakura," he adds, as the pair starts to walk away. She turns her head, having been silent during the exchange between him and Sasuke. "Good job," he gives her a knowing half smile, and by the glance the other male gives both of them, he's figured out the reason for her unusually brash (at least towards him) reaction.

Sakura smiles widely, and is in front of him with admirable speed. Naruto is sure she nearly breaks his neck with that hug. "Thanks," she whispers, waving and turning away once more.

Naruto finally cracks and smiles openly. "That's what friends do, believe it."

Author's note: I wrote this thinking about the bonds between friends (though, this fanfiction reeks of Sasuke-Sakura romance, which I'm not going to deny in the slightest, but romance alone isn't the point of this story), and thus the category for it. It's all about caring about those you love... and also the changes Team Seven went through, but how they still stand together as a family. And also because, dammit, Naruto is really good at literally beating sense into people and I felt like Sakura could apply this to Sasuke sometime.

So... this is my first Naruto story. Instead of asking you to watch for your tongue because I'm a newbie, I'll request as much sincerity as you can if you are going to leave a review. I've never done this before, and I would like to know what I've done right and wrong, so I can improve. You have my most honest "thank you" if you bother with telling me.

All in all, I just hope you enjoyed the read (if you did that, I'm already a happy person)!