Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, nor do I get paid for this fic.

I have been reading a lot of fanfictions about this pair, because they're truly my favorite and was thoroughly disappointed at how the ending treated Sakura, especially, with a dysfunctional family. The idea for this fic came in a dream, because apparently I've been reading too much. By the way, if you don't like NaruSaku, this IS a NaruSaku fic. There's no point at all in you reading this only to hate it.

Thank you so much for you time in advance. Without further ado, please enjoy. Reviews are loved round here, whether they're good or bad.

~Chapter One – End of the War~

Sasuke and Naruto lay on the ground, both unmoving and barely breathing. Dusty remains of the Valley of the End swirled around the destroyed space gracefully as the pink haired kunoichi approached them, exhausted, to be their aid. As the girl approached, tears trickled down her face both from the pain in her joints and the happiness of finally witnessing the fulfilment of her greatest wish: Naruto was still alive, she could see him breathing. As she sat between her friends, quickly getting into action with one green-chakra-covered-hand over each of her teammates, her before hasty breathing slowed. She wanted Sasuke to come back to the village with all her heart, and she knew he would, because Naruto had promised her all those years ago. She knew Naruto would fulfil his promise, even if it had no longer existed, and even if he had to give his life for it.

Giving his life for the promise, for his and her friend, was the problem. Sakura had tried to stop Naruto, but he never went back on his word – that was his ninja way. She cried, pleaded, lied, and still, Naruto would not listen. It was then that the biggest desire she had, changed. It was no longer having Sasuke back, it was having Naruto back. Having him around to annoy her, to smile at her with that huge toothy grin, to have him invite her to ramen eating dates she wouldn't go to, to be her friend, her comrade, her teammate. She couldn't see herself without his joyous presence, his constant mention of his goal to be hokage, his hard work, his growth. She needed him to come back to Konoha with her after the war was over, and because she couldn't do anything as usual, she could just hope. Dream, wish, pray that he would come out of this alive, and fortunately, as both her shaky hands now worked on the boy, she felt his heart beating fiercely, and finally felt calm.

He coughed and opened his eyes, and smiled as brightly as the stars when he looked at her. He was in bliss, completely proud and happy about the past events. The war was over, the fight was over, and both he and Sasuke were alive! Or were they? He tilted his head and found his pink haired friend still working on Sasuke. He saw tears in her eyes and instantly panicked; "Sakura-chan…" he said, his voice coarse, "is Sasuke… is he okay?"

"Oh, you're awake!" she replied excitedly, wiping the tears from her face and smiling sincerely, "how are you feeling? Does anything hurt? Tell me everything!" she placed one of her hands back on him.

"I'm okay, Sakura-chan, are you? Why are you crying?" He sat up and took her hand that was on his chest.

"It's nothing, Naruto. I was just worried about you two. Oh, and he's fine, I just helped you first. You guys did a real mess on each other." She gently removed her hand from her blonde friend. After a few more minutes of her trying to repair as much as she could with her remaining chakra, Sasuke awoke, too.

"Sakura… thank you… I'm sorry…" were his first words to her. She waved them way, saying she needed to concentrate. The chakra around her hands suddenly weakened, the green aura became smaller and smaller, until it was gone altogether. Sakura breathed in deeply, feeling sudden dizziness, and then felt and saw nothing.

She was conscious now and then. Sometimes she heard sobs, sometimes she heard screams and arguing, and sometimes all she could hear was silence. After a while, she could feel. When she heard the sobbing, she felt someone holding her hand. When she heard arguing, she felt needles prickling her skin. When she could not hear anything, she could only feel the cold, so cold, it was painful. Eventually she could understand. The sobbing was Naruto. His hand holding onto hers as if holding to dear life. The yelling was Tsunade, giving her medication she concocted herself. The cold was the night, and it was lonely, the sun was gone. Her sun was also gone.

When she woke, it was night. She hadn't noticed how dark and cold the hospital is at these hours. Looking at the clock mounted on the wall opposite hers, she saw it was 4:00 am. She was trembling, her sheets were thin as a tissue, her clothes matching, and she had no protection against the fury of the cold. Her window was also open, bringing in soft winds that to her seemed furious and cruel. She called out for a nurse, or anyone, to bring her more sheets. But the nurse never came. Instead, her friend did, through the window, with the biggest bed cover she'd ever seen in hand. He quickly threw it over her and tucked her in.

"Sakura-chan! You finally woke up!" He yelled, much too loudly for the headache she was rocking, but she didn't mind, she smiled nonetheless. He grabbed her hand as he sat next to her, the same way he did while she was still elsewhere in her mind. He started sobbing, too. "I was so scared, Sakura-chan. I really thought… well it doesn't matter, you woke up!"

"Did you really think I'd be gone that easily?!" Sakura joked, "I didn't think I used up so much chakra, I'm sorry for scaring you, Naruto." She gently squeezed his hand with a smile. "If you don't stop crying, you're going to make me cry," she added, drying his tears with her free hand.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan," he responded, a little surprised at her drying his tears. "It was a long two weeks."

"Two weeks?! That felt like an eternity for me!" She let go of his hand now, and sat up as he chuckled. She lay back down, feeling an all too similar dizziness cloud her head. She wanted to ask about Sasuke, but she knew the answers already. He was fine, not in the hospital anymore, and he didn't visit her. She didn't expect him to, but it was still painful to know that after all that has happened, he still didn't care. No matter how much love and devotion she showed towards him, how much of his awful behavior she was willing to look over, he didn't care.

"You know, Sasuke said he's planning to leave for a while soon, to see the world or something." Naruto said sadly, as if reading her mind. Sakura just nodded in response. "Do you want me to go get him, so you two can finally talk?" He asked in a cheery tone, but Sakura could feel the sadness behind it.

She shook her head. "I'm perfectly happy with you here, Naruto." She smiled, "hey, I'm really not feeling too good. I think I'll try to get some sleep."

"Okay, I'll be here watching over you the whole time, Sakura-chan." He announced proudly, giving her his usual toothy grin.

"Thank you Naruto, thank you so much."

When she woke up, late in the afternoon, Naruto was still there next to her. He was fast asleep, his head resting next to her hip on her bed. His mouth was open, and his soft snores filled the room with noise. He was holding onto her hand still, with both of his, so tenderly it made Sakura smile and blush. It made her wonder when it was she began to think of anything Naruto did to her as tender. She had no answer. After shaking him awake, sort of roughly because he wouldn't listen, Sakura called out to Tsunade. After a lot of arguing, the fifth hokage agreed to let her go home, under the promise that Naruto would help her. It seemed Naruto wasn't done making promises quite yet. It took her a ridiculously long time to change into some of her clothes, which her parents had left when it was believed she'd wake up, on her own. Her body was awfully weak, standing up alone was a difficult task, it felt as if her legs could give out at any moment. Using up 99% of your chakra truly isn't wise, she kept thinking. Naruto had to almost carry her to her apartment, which he didn't complain for, but she noticed he was being oddly quiet.

"Have you ever been to my apartment before, Naruto?" she asked, trying to start a conversation. They were at her door, Sakura opening the door with shaky, weak hands.

"Not that I can remember – probably not." He replied, nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Is that why you're so quiet?" she asked as she finally managed to get the door open. She smiled as the familiar scent of her apartment hit her. Home, finally, she thought.

Distracted by the enjoyment of finally being home, Sakura didn't notice Naruto look down to the floor, with a frown. He hadn't told her yet about his argument with Sasuke. About a week ago, Naruto got upset at how little Sasuke cared about Sakura's wellbeing. It ended in a bit of a heated argument, but Naruto learned that he truly didn't want anything to do with Sakura. Not the way he knew she wanted, anyway. He didn't know if it was wise to let her know, so he just kept quiet for now. He didn't respond.

"Come on in, by the way," she invited, he had stayed standing by the door, with an expression between anger and sadness. She knew there was something he didn't want to say. "Naruto, please tell me what's wrong." He looked at her then, in the eyes, and she understood. They have been through so much together, a look in the eyes was enough for them to see the pain in each other's thoughts. "It's about him, isn't it?"

Naruto nodded at that, and put his hands in his pockets, still by the door. "It's just – I thought…" He took in a deep breath, "I brought him back, mostly because I wanted you two to be together, so you could be happy. But none of it is happening, is it? You're not happy, and I – I don't think –"

"Hey, no, don't," Sakura stopped him, mid-sentence. She knew where he was going, because she'd already figured it out herself. She took him by the arm, and with the weak bit of strength she had in her, she pulled him onside and closed the door behind him. She then stood right in front of him, and spoke her mind. "I know it took me ages to figure this out, but Naruto, he didn't love me back then, and just because you brought him back doesn't mean he'll magically start loving me out of nowhere. I know, and I'm fine. It makes me sad, but I'm fine."

"But, Sakura – "

"But nothing! Besides, you're the one making me unhappy right now!" Tears had begun slowly trailing down her face. "See!?"

"But what did I do?!" He was also crying.

"You just won't stop crying! Stop! You're making me cry! It's painful to see you so sad…" She closed the distance between them by wrapping her arms around his torso, tightly. "I've been hearing you cry for the past two weeks! Stop crying, or I'm seriously going to pummel you to death once I have enough strength!"

Naruto hesitated to hug her back, too shocked to move a muscle. "Why does that make you sad?"

"I – I don't know. Baka." She let go of him and looked away from him, embarrassment showing clearly on her face. Out of nowhere, he took her hand and pulled her close to him again, returning the hug. She looked up at him and met his gaze; all the anger and sadness in his eyes was not gone. She found what she was looking for in him before, what she needed to see. Happiness was reflected n his beautiful blue eyes, a huge smile to match. She couldn't stop herself from smiling back, and wrapping her arms around him once more.

To be continued….