Capstone

"I'm sorry."

Sakura shrugged and began moving over to Naruto's good side, her feet raising small clouds of recently pulverized rock as they came down.

"Don't worry about it." she said, tossing the words over her shoulder casually. Sasuke was honestly a little miffed by the lack of a reaction. After all, apologies from him were rare and therefore precious to receive. He was really swallowing his pride here. Something a little less…offhand would be appreciated.

Of course, he would never say as much, so he just nodded to her somewhat briskly.

Naruto looked at her incredulously as she worked on his stump. He tried to sit up, but Sakura pushed him down gently yet firmly.

"What was up with that?" he demanded. "When was the last time you ever heard Sasuke apologize? That must've taken a lot for him to say as much as he did!"

Sakura glared at him and huffed.

"And it took a lot for me to even say what I said, so tough. I just got out of a pretty nasty genjutsu that he put me in, so I'd think it's be understandable if he isn't my favorite person right now."

She cut off her healing chakra, her work done. With that same firm—almost maternal—touch, she brought Naruto to his feet and dusted off his back.

Naruto struggled to keep the grin off of his face. Their conversation was serious, but he was still so elated from finally managing to fulfill his promise to Sakura that the fight was becoming difficult.

"And to think that he was the guy to tell me my forehead was cute. I swear, I will never understand that man…"

Sasuke's head snapped around, and Naruto's body stiffened under her hands.

"Wait, what did I say?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura whirled to face him, both hands on her hips and her stance aggressive.

"You said "Sakura, you have such a large and charming forehead. It makes me want to kiss it." I remember because it was the sweetest thing a boy had ever told me, and don't you dare deny it or you'll lose your other arm!"

Sasuke stared at her silently for a few seconds. Finally, he spoke.

"I never said that."

Sakura cracked her knuckles and prepared to dole out a beating.

Naruto tensed further. Back when the team had just been formed, he remembered being terrified that Sakura would find out about his deceit. As the months passed, that fear lessened. He had expected to be caught out eventually, but he didn't expect it to happen now. He had just gotten out of a war—he wasn't eager to enter another so soon.

Still, his good nature wouldn't let him sacrifice Sasuke for his own well-being. It was time to fess up.

Naruto raised his remaining hand to stifle an awkward—and painfully fake—cough. Sakura stopped her advance and turned to him. He was now being skewered by the stares of her, Sasuke, and Kakashi. A few seconds of silence passed. Between them, the wind explored this new space in the landscape, kicking up dust as it went.

"He…uh…really didn't say that, Sakura…" said Naruto. Sakura sighed.

"Naruto, stop being all dramatic about it and just tell me."

Naruto looked affronted.

"I'm not being dramatic, I'm just trying to think of what to say!"

She crossed her arms and looked at him sternly.

"The truth," she said, "You don't have to worry about phrasing with me, Naruto. I've been with you since we were twelve. Just say it."

Naruto shut his eyes briefly. He knew he could trust her, but he'd also seen her punch the shit out of a goddess. That kind of thing was mighty intimidating.

"No." he thought, "She's right. I can trust her."

In fact, that whole ordeal with the goddess just highlighted one of the reasons why he felt he could. She was obscenely strong, but she never used that kind of strength on him. Sucking in air, Naruto leapt into the breach.

"Sasuke didn't say that. I did. I was using a henge to look like him."

Her jaw dropped. Taking advantage of every second he got, Naruto tried to explain quickly. His words spilled out all in one breath, joining the wind and tumbling through the valley.

"I didn't think you'd let me talk to you otherwise. I wanted to know what you thought of me. I'm sorry—"

Sakura shook her head. Then, she quickly stepped over and punched his good shoulder, cutting him off mid apology.

"Ow!"

She glared at him and moved in close—almost toe-to-toe with him.

"You dumbass! That was you the whole time? I probably would've given up on him like the rest of his fanclub if you hadn't done that!"

Naruto stumbled back a step, shocked.

"Wait, what?"

Sakura followed him, pressing her finger into his chest.

"After you ran off, Sasuke showed up! I asked him what he thought of me, and he said I was annoying! That would've killed it for me, but you…"

Naruto gulped and tried to take another step away, but Sakura quickly grabbed his shirt and pulled him back.

"You gave me encouragement! I thought I was special to him, so I kept trying! And I've been so conflicted all this time, trying to reconcile the boy who complimented my forehead with the one who put that hole through your chest and hurt us both so much! I still carried a torch for him! I felt guilty about my emotions, because even though my feelings for him had changed—and because my feelings for you were changing—I didn't want to betray him!"

She gripped his shirt with both hands and tugged him down to eye level. They were face to face when she ground out this next part.

"All because you had to be so goddamned charming while wearing his face, you stupid bastard!"

"Sakura, I—"

"Shut up," she growled, before pulling him forward that last inch and silencing him with a kiss.

It was fierce and rough. Their lips were chapped and tasted of blood and dust. Naruto stood still, stunned into unresponsiveness as his brain tried to shift from absolute terror to absolute bliss, and got stuck somewhere in hopeful confusion. Before he could respond to the kiss, Sakura let go of his shirt and pushed him back. Her eyes were dark with emotion—intense, undefined, and threatening to boil over. Her face was flushed, and tear tracks cut through the grit and grime on her cheeks.

"If you ever do anything so stupid, I swear I will…"

Naruto sorted himself out as she struggled to find the words to complete her threat. Resolute, he stepped towards her. She glared at him, but he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close. He could feel the dust and tears smudging his chest through his mesh shirt. One of her hands came up and smacked his side half-heartedly, and he pulled her closer.

"I'm sorry," he said, and kissed her forehead. She squeezed him tightly. Though his whole body felt bruised and broken, he said nothing; he simply squeezed her back.

"What's with everyone apologizing to me today?" she mumbled into him, sniffing a little.

Naruto chuckled and awkwardly patted her back with his only arm, unintentionally breaking the hug when he did so. Sakura wiped her eyes on his chest and stepped back, smiling wide despite all she'd been through.

"We need to get you a replacement arm. You can't give proper hugs like this."

Naruto laughed and tried to scratch the back of his head with his missing arm. He winced at the phantom pain that shot through the lost nerves. Sakura reached over and rubbed his arm sympathetically.

"Yeah, that'll keep happening until we get you the replacement. Usually, phantom pain continues on even after that, but since your replacement arm is actually organic with nerves of its own, you shouldn't be having that problem."

Naruto chuckled and pointedly kept his stump down by his side.

"Thanks, Sakura."

She smiled. The words were simple, but heartfelt. Behind her, she heard a cough. Sakura whirled around.

Sasuke and Kakashi were still there. She'd like to say she couldn't believe she forgot about them, but with how hot her emotions had been running, she honestly wasn't surprised. It was still embarrassing though. Sasuke was looking away and Kakashi was pretending to read, but she knew they had seen everything.

"Well?" she demanded, while Naruto shuffled his feet behind her (she could practically hear him blush!), "What do you want?"

Kakashi waved her off nonchalantly.

"Oh, nothing really. We should probably hurry up and release the infinite Tsukuyomi though."

Here he paused to scratch his cheek through the mask, adding: "I'd sure hate to come back to another army of white Zetsu…"

Finally done fighting, Naruto and Sasuke weren't particularly eager to launch back into another battle. The boys quickly joined their seals together, holding for a few seconds extra just to be sure.

"I think that's good," said Sasuke. Naruto laughed and let go.

"Sorry," he said, "It's just nice having you back."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and wiped his hand on his tattered pants. He frowned when he realized he just covered his sweaty palm with all the grime his black pants had hidden.

"Why is there so much damn dust?" he grumbled.

"You guys blew up a valley. All that rock had to go somewhere."

Kakashi didn't even bother looking up from his book as he said this. Sasuke answered with a grunt, regressing to old habits out of embarrassment from asking such an obvious question.

Naruto just chuckled and tried to rub the back of his head again, wincing as his brain's signal tried to reach neurons that weren't there. Sakura rolled her eyes and patted his back.

"We should hurry and wrap things up here. I doubt he'll stop doing that anytime soon."

Blushing, Naruto flinched as he did it again.

"Yeah, exactly. Let's go." she said, reaching to take his hand and whiffing as she grabbed the missing one.

"This'll take some getting used to." she grumbled before grabbing Naruto's good hand and dragging him off to check on the others.

xxxxx

They held hands at the funeral, dry-eyed. Sakura figured she hadn't fully grasped how many people had been lost yet; how much would change. Naruto's face was dry for another reason though. It was just like Kakashi had said on their first mission: He'd run out of tears. She expected he would grieve in his own way.

Sasuke stood on her other side. She couldn't see his face though—he was looking away. He never was one to wear his heart on his sleeve.

She felt Naruto squeeze her hand and looked back to him. He was still facing dead ahead, but his message was clear.

"You're going to have to forgive him sometime." she thought. "Naruto talked a lot about the cycle of hatred, and holding this in my heart will only make things worse—especially now that Sasuke's actively looking for retribution."

She looked back at her first crush.

"You're going to have to forgive him sometime." she thought, and took Sasuke's hand.

He turned his head and stared at her, black to green. She could see the shimmer of a tear on his cheek, clear and pure. He looked away again, and she squeezed his hand. after a few seconds, he squeezed back.

She cried then.

She cried for the people they had lost. She cried for what her team had lost too.

She cried for what they had become.

On either side, her hands were squeezed. She squeezed back, and pulled her boys in.

Team seven stood in front of the graves, surrounded by their mourning friends and comrades: veterans all. They stood together—holding and supporting—reunited at the end of one era and the start of the next.

xxxxx

Hinata watched Naruto walk closer. As he approached, she took a moment to center herself. He had asked to meet her at one of the more secluded park benches (there aren't any truly secluded ones in a Ninja village, but it was the thought that counted). She had a feeling about what he wanted to say, and it wouldn't do to faint or stutter too much during the conversation.

She was no fool. Hinata may not have scored as highly as Sakura in the academy, but she was an intelligent girl nonetheless. She had seen Sakura's attitude towards Naruto changing over the years, and she had seen how both of them had started acting differently since the war ended.

Naruto stopped in front of her and shifted awkwardly. He opened his mouth, closed it, and flinched as he tried to scratch the back of his head with the wrong arm. He was obviously nervous.

"And I know exactly why." she thought. "He should be used to letting girls down gently by now though. I lost track of how many girls hit on him over the years, and I know there were even more that I wasn't there for."

"I really need to break that habit."

He said this with his fake smile spread wide, and Hinata knew he was just stalling.

"I suppose it is heartening, knowing that he's so scared of hurting me."

Naruto chuckled weakly, and the corners of her mouth twitched momentarily.

"At the same time, this isn't something I'd expect from the man I admired. I guess he learned to watch what he said."

"Is that what y-you came to tell me?" she said, crossing her arms under her chest (there was no other place to put them!) in what she hoped was a suitably confident manner, all the while ignoring the way her heart dropped. She wished—selfishly, she admitted—that this wouldn't happen, so that she could always have hopes, but she knew this had to be done so they both could get on with their lives. Either way, she wanted it over as soon as possible.

Naruto was a little caught off guard by Hinata's sassiness—stutter notwithstanding. He found himself stumbling over his words and backtracking like he'd just pissed off Sakura.

"Uh, n-no! I, uh…*ahem* I wanted to talk to you about, uh…um…"

He trailed off pitifully and scuffed the dirt.

"…you know…"

She did know. She knew he was talking about her confession to him, but after waiting as long as she had, she wanted him to say it out loud.

"No, I d-don't."

She felt like she was being pushy, but she wanted to get this over with, damn it. It was time for her to grow up and move on, and she couldn't do that without being more assertive.

Naruto was surprised. He hadn't had much interaction with Hinata, so his image of her was rather simplistic. This wasn't something he expected, and he chided himself for it. She was more than just the shy girl in the back of the class, and he should have recognized that. He'd made her wait a long time for this, so the least he could do was suck up and say what he needed to say without dancing around it.

"I wanted to talk to you about your confession."

Hinata turned redder, but also felt immensely satisfied. It was wonderful to finally hear him acknowledge what had happened and what she said. She nodded, not trusting her voice.

"I…well, I'm sorry. I…uh…"

Dammit, he was losing his nerve again. He closed his eyes and searched for the words. He knew what he had to say, but he didn't know how to say it. He was ashamed to admit it, but despite being comrades for so many years, he didn't know enough about Hinata to feel comfortable with this conversation. He knew her character was good and strong, but he didn't know how to talk to her.

He felt a light touch on his hand, and opened his eyes again. Hinata was bright red. He thought she was about to faint, and was therefore surprised when she spoke to him.

"J-just say it. Don't worry about being k-kind."

Her other hand clenched into a fist and she stared at the grass by the path. She knew what he would say, and she knew it would hurt to hear him say it.

But she wanted it over.

She wanted him to finally close this chapter, to let her find someone else without being stuck on him. She wanted him to be happy so that she could feel released of her responsibilities to him. She wanted it so badly that she welcomed the pain.

He breathed deeply with his diaphragm, forcing calm. He had already put this off too long. He had wronged her, and this was what he owed.

"I'm sorry, but I love Sakura. I'm in a relationship with her now."

Hinata nodded, surprised with how she felt. She didn't feel slighted or dismissed. She felt…better. More real. She had finally gotten an answer, and while it wasn't the one she had originally wanted, she found she didn't care as much as she once did. There was one last thing she wanted to do though.

"Can we at least be friends?"

She didn't want this to end with that dead tired "We can still be friends though" line. She would say it herself to keep him from having to do so.

The boy himself looked shocked.

"I thought we already were," he said.

She smiled.

"Acquaintanc-ces."

Naruto looked about to cut in with a powerful speech about how he knew her soul and it shined brightly or something, but she placed a finger on his lips. She wasn't getting interrupted. Not now.

"I admit my interest in y-y-you was based on what you represented to m-me. I was never very confident, so y-you were someone I l-looked up t-to. I admired the strength of your beliefs."

Naruto was blushing too. This wasn't something he was totally used to.

"But I n-never knew much else that wasn't obvious. You don't either."

She looked up at him; her face was fiery, but she staunchly refused to faint. She needed to say this.

"I w-want to ch-change that. I want us to be better f-friends."

Naruto smiled widely, and this time it was real.

"I'd like that too."

She smiled back, and felt at peace with herself. She had just held a conversation with Naruto—something she had never been able to do before, and something she knew she would be able to do again.

"G-glad you agree." She turned to walk away when a thought occurred to her, and she turned back around.

"By the w-way, if a girl acts around you like I did, it means she l-likes you."

Hinata giggled at his dumbstruck expression. She had a feeling that she'd just made his world make a lot more sense.

"Bye, Naruto."

She left then, not bothering to listen or wait for his reply. She finally had her closure.

Besides, he would probably be stuck like that for a while.

xxxxx

Sakura looked up from her book when she heard Naruto's apartment door open. Seeing him, she dog-eared the page and set it down next to her on the couch.

"So?" she asked. Hinata may have been a sort-of-but-not-really rival, but the girl was sweeter than anyone had any right to be, and Sakura was concerned about her feelings. Not enough to give up Naruto, of course, but still…yeah.

Naruto met her eyes, and she noticed he looked both shocked and deep in thought.

"Hey, Sakura…did you know that when a girl acts like Hinata, she likes you?"

They stared at each other for a few seconds, then she rolled her eyes.

"Yes, Naruto. We all did. We were waiting on you to figure it out."

"What? Since when?"

"Since we first saw the two of you in the same room."

"I thought she was just sick or something!"

Sakura grinned.

"Oh, she had a fever all right."

"She did?"

Sakura waited a few seconds. Naruto could be a bit slow on the uptake when it came to references.

"OH. I get it."

"Yup."

Naruto came over and plopped down next to her on the couch, bouncing her book off and onto the floor.

"This changes everything."

"Sure does."

"So that time that—"

"Yep."

"And then—"

"You bet."

"And that one girl from—"

"Definitely."

"And Shion…"

"Wanted to have your baby."

"Wow."

Naruto slumped back into the cushions. His head lolled back to face the ceiling. Sakura picked her book up off the ground and shifted around to lie on her back with her head on his lap. She cracked open the book and continued reading.

"But you never acted like that."

Sakura dog-eared and shut the book again.

"Some girls are more straightforward than others. Shion was one of them. I am too."

"But you never told me—"

"I don't want them yet."

"Yet?"

She shrugged.

"I have a feeling it'll happen eventually."

"Them?"

"You only want one?"

He shook his head frantically.

"Didn't think so."

All was silent in the apartment. Then:

"What do you want?"

Sakura grinned.

"I've already got it."

"…your book?"

She glared at him lightly for spoiling the moment.

"Dumb bastard," she growled, then grabbed him by the back of his head and pulled him down into a kiss.

xxxxx

Sasuke stood by the entrance to the village, gazing down the outbound road. He'd said he wanted to see how the world had been affected, and that was partly true. Only partly though. He was also looking for reconciliation. Though he'd been helpful in their final battle, Sasuke highly doubted that Orochimaru would just be "good" now. More cautious, yes, but his mock-death had done nothing to improve his moral compass. Sasuke was responsible for his return to wakefulness, and there would be repercussions. He couldn't stay in the village, knowing the locations of several of Orochimaru's bases and what he did in them. It would eat away at his soul, to have this knowledge and do nothing with it. Sasuke felt obligated to find and kill his mentor.

That wasn't the only thing that tugged on his conscience though.

He needed to find out what had happened to Team Hawk. He hadn't seen them after the defeat of the Ootsutsuki, and he felt closure was needed. Either to make up to Karin how he'd treated her, or to ensure that Juugo found a place to stay. If Hidden Mist hadn't already reclaimed the seven swords, he could possibly help Suigetsu out too.

"You weren't just gonna leave without saying goodbye again, were you?"

Sasuke turned slowly. He knew who had spoken, but decided to forgo his habitual coolness for respectful courtesy. He was mildly shocked to see Sakura there too, considering how this encounter had gone for her last time. Kakashi stood behind his teammates, his book conspicuously absent.

Sasuke grinned.

"I'll admit, I considered it briefly. Then I realized you'd just drag me back if I did."

Naruto grinned back.

"Damn right," he said.

Sakura brushed back a few stray hairs.

"Sure we can't convince you to stay?" she asked. She didn't sound hopeful, but she wasn't hostile either. Sasuke's smile widened; it felt good to mend broken bridges.

"Sorry. Just saying I've changed isn't enough. I need to go fix what I did."

Kakashi stepped forward.

"It looks like you've grown into a good man. I wish I could've played a bigger part in that, but I'm glad you've turned out alright nonetheless."

He reached into his hip pouch and pulled out a wrapped parcel, which he pressed into Sasuke's hands.

"Here," he said, "this is yours now. It's the least I could do."

He stepped back as Sasuke searched for a place to stow the small book-like package in his already full pack. Sakura stepped forward and stood expectantly as he located a space.

"Try not to die. We only just got you back, and as nice as beating up death would look on our record, that's a situation I'd rather avoid."

Sasuke then found himself pulled into a tight hug.

"Visit us whenever you're in the area."

"I will."

That said, Sakura stepped back and was replaced by Naruto.

The two boys stood silently for a spell, then Naruto took Sasuke's human hand in his, and pressed what felt like cool scratched metal into it. He kept their hands clasped.

"You know I probably won't be able to fit that anywhere."

Naruto smiled softly—something that looked out of place on his face, accustomed as it was to expressing in extremes.

"I'm sure you'll find a place for this."

He let go then, and Sasuke looked down to find his old forehead protector looking back at him, the leaf insignia scratched through. He choked up a little and looked up to meet Naruto's damp eyes.

The two boys struggled to find words that were sufficient, but all that they came up with failed to match the depth needed, and sunk. Forgoing words, the two men hugged.

Goodbyes finished, Sasuke set off down the trail. Behind him, he heard Kakashi say: "Did you have to give him that? You totally overshadowed my gift."

AN: There's probably going to be more of this coming along. I have some ideas for how each character's story should end, but some are more fleshed out than others (I know what I'm doing with Chouji, Ino, TenTen, Lee, Hinata, and Kiba, but don't ask me about Shino or Sai). I'm a perfectionist, so don't expect quick updates. I'm also working on another story. It's a Naruto and Megaman Zero crossover that started as a fun little writing exercise, and is currently over 28,000 words long. Anyway, let me know what you think.

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