Endings and Beginnings
Suddenly an anguished scream echoed through the deserted compound. Stunned by the amount of raw emotion expressed, Kakashi froze for a moment, then dashed towards the source as quickly as his legs would carry him.
Reaching the room from which the sound had originated, he wavered and nearly fell to his knees, even as hardened as he was. Sakura lay crumpled to the floor, sobbing great, wracking sobs that convulsed her whole body. And next to her… Naruto's bloody, lifeless body.
Moving forward jerkily, as if he didn't quite have control of his body, Kakashi knelt down beside Sakura and gently laid his hand on one of he heaving shoulders. She looked up at him, her eyes glazed and shiny with the tears running down her face. "He's too… too far gone, I can't do anything! Why can't I do anything?! What's the use of being a medic if I can't even help the people most important to me?!"
"Shh, Sakura, shh," he murmured, his voice cracking. Handling her as if she might break, he maneuvered her so she was curled up in his lap, her head cradled against his chest by one gloved hand.
"Why?" she sobbed, fisting her hands in his vest and burying her face against it.
"I don't know," he said brokenly. "I just don't know anymore." He pressed his own face into he cherry blossom locks and let his own bitter tears come. Another one he couldn't protect, another one he had let die. But… his arms tightened around the fragile woman in his embrace. He still had her, for what it was worth, she was still there.
He knew he shouldn't feel this way, all the people he cared about seemed to end up dead, but he just couldn't help himself. He also knew that no one would eve condone his feelings, branding them "wrong" or "taboo." But she wasn't a child anymore, and he was no longer her teacher. They had been equals, partners, for three years now, ever since she had turned eighteen. And… though he really shouldn't hope, she had seemed to be developing feelings for him as well. But these were thoughts for another time.
Raising his head, he looked down at the kunoichi now quiet in his arms. "Sakura… we've got to bring him back to Konoha. We've done what we were sent to do, find him, and now," his voice cracked again. "Now we've got to bring him home."
"You're right," she said, her voice hoarse. "Let's bring him home. And Kakashi…" she said, voice tailing off. "Thanks." She looked up at him, eyes glimmering like wet emeralds, and managed the smallest of smiles.
Reluctantly releasing her, he moved to kneel by Naruto. Reaching out, he gently closed the once bright blue eyes, now dull and lifeless. "Goodbye…" he whispered sadly. Sakura moved to kneel on the other side, touching her fingertips to one pale, whiskered cheek. Tears still running slowly down her face, she performed a jutsu that would allow the body to be transported back in a scroll. Tenderly, she picked up the scroll lying where he had been and tucked into her pouch.
They stood up together, hands automatically reaching out for the comfort the other's offered. "Let's go," she whispered. Hand in hand, they walked out. Before leaving, they turned and looked at the place they knew they would remember forever.
They exchanged a glance. Without letting go of each other, they used their free hands to perform the Grand Fireball jutsu, another memento of a lost teammate, pooling their chakra and doubling the power as they worked together. When the fire died down, all that was left was a charred clearing that nature would reclaim eventually, obliterating any signs that it had ever been there.