''I can't believe it. I can't be dead. I CAN'T be.
Why did you let me die?
Why didn't you do something?
I hate you.

I hate you...''

Naruto slowly opened his eyes. There was a strange sensation on his cheeks...
Wetness.
He had been crying in his sleep.

He sat up on his bed, wiping his tears away. It was so dark, there was no reason to have his eyes open.
He closed them.

He saw it.
Sakura, lying there, in a pool of her own blood. Mangled and beaten.
He had been too late.

She was already dead.

Naruto shuddered and opened his eyes. Everytime he closed them, he saw her face, and every time he slept, he heard her voice...
Her accusing voice...

It was driving him insane.

Ever since that mission, Naruto had not left his home. Not once. It had been a month, and ever since he left the hospital to say his sorrowful good bye, he had not spoken. He went straight back home.

People would come to see him, tell him to come out already. They had left things at his door. Bowls of ramen, from Teuchi, wordlessly saying ''come back to us,'' flowers from Ino, which were ''Achillea, flowers that represented healing and comfort,'' as the note that was attached read.
Kiba had even tried to bring Naruto a puppy personally, saying, ''don't be such a loner...''
But Naruto would open the door for no one.
He never slept, and ate only everytime he felt like he was going to die.

He hadn't even visited her grave.
Her name had been engraved on the stone for shinobi who were K.I.A., and Naruto had a feeling Kakashi didn't just visit for his mysterious friends anymore.

Naruto opened the curtains and gazed out the window.
He was surprised to see that the sky was now a light blue color, with orange and yellow peeking over the horizon.

'Morning,' he thought.
He soon realized that morning was the time she was announced officially dead.
Tears fell again, and Naruto buried his face in his hands.
He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard the echoing sounds of sobbing.
Like someone else was crying with him.

He cried himself to sleep.

''It hurts, Naruto. I don't want to be dead.
I know it's not your fault. I'm just so...
lonely...

Naruto...''

He was jolted awake. He thought someone was in his room, calling his name.
Nothing but silence.

Naruto sat up once again, seeing that it was now early morning.
Gazing out at the vast, blue vista, he finally spoke.

''I'm lonely too...''
His throat was raw from immense lack of speaking, but it felt good.

''I wish... someone would talk back.''

'That's how I feel,' said a voice in the back of his mind.
He froze.

Was it just his imagination or... did someone really talk back?

''Sakura-chan?''

Silence.

He sat there for hours, just thinking. He hadn't spoken again yet.
The sky was now darkening, with an orange tinge lining the treetops far away.
Sunset.
Sakura liked sunsets.

Against his own volition, Naruto's legs moved, and made him leave his house.

The field was quiet.
But what coulf he expect? It was a cemetery.
Naruto walked past the small tombstones, moving right along to the ''Heroes of Konoha'' section.
No doubt Tsunade would not let her apprentace have anything less.

Sure enoughg, there it was, under one of the blooming cherry trees.
A marble slab.
He read the epitaph.

''Here lies Haruno Sakura...''
He cringed.
There was the proof, the validation right before his eyes... a part of his mind wanted it to be unreal.

''...beloved friend, skilled kunoichi, a joy to the village. Apprentice to the Godaime Hokage.
We love you now and always''

A tear fell to the grass. Naruto's legs trembled, and he could no longer stand.
He sat before the tombstone.

''Sakura-chan.''

The words slipped off his tongue. He was surprised, but continued.

''I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This shouldn't have happened. It's all my fault... oh... ohhh....'' tears began to fall once more.
''S...Sakura-chan... I should've visited ear... earlier, but I... couldn't bear to come here.. I didn't want to believe it was true... I'm sorry...''

He paused to catch his breath.

''You probably already knew, but... It still needs to be said... I love you... I really do... and I'll never stop...
Sakura-chan... Heh... when I become Hokage, I'll have a statue made for you, so e-even when I go senile, I'll remember your beautiful face...''

Naruto sighed.
He bent over the three foot stone, and placed a kiss on it.

It was a simple kiss... just a small peck... but in that kiss was the rawest emotions. His passion, love, gentleness, his sorrow and agony... his hope for everything.

With one last look at the sky, orange streaked with pink clouds and a fading red sun, he silently vowed to visit everyday.

That night he slept peacefully, and dreamed of her smiling face.

''Thank you, Naruto. And I love you, too.''

Author's Notes:

Oh, Jebus! That's, like, really sad... Well, hope you liked it... or at least cried... or something... T_T

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