There is Naruto. And there is Sakura.
For Sakura has never come before Naruto.
But first there was Sasuke.
Sasuke had always been popular; the perfect boyfriend, whom had all the qualities girls her age deemed necessary for their prince. He was perfect in all endeavors, had brooding good looks along with the maturity that seemed to lack in all the other (less deserving, the girls had thought) boys. He was the last remaining Uchiha, one of the most prominent clan in Konoha; though Sakura did not realize why back then. The village elders loved him because he was a genius, the best of the genii; and ultimately because he was an Uchiha they could mold and weld for themselves.
And then he was gone. A traitor, different from all her childish expectations, dreams, (fantasies, really) he left her for his revenge.
Her disappointment, she understands; is no one's fault but her own. He was put up in too high a pedestal, so high the fall was inevitable, predictable. But she had been desperate to cling to the idea someone perfect she thought perfect, so different from herself. His perfection would shadow her flaws, she had thought. By his side, no one would look upon her condescendingly again.
She had been wrong.
Then there was Naruto who was important to everyone else in a very different way. He was dead last, a loser; the kid who couldn't pass with a simple Shadow Clone. He was noisy, an attention seeker, boisterous, a complete disaster. And when he walked by, (everyday, just to say hi to his beloved Sakura-chan) Sakura saw pure unadulterated fear in her parents eyes.
When Sasuke leaves, Naruto takes his place in the villagers' eyes. He is their weapon, their key to defeating whatever enemies that came their way. He is their hero.
And there is Sakura.
Haruno Sakura who came from no clan, she had always been alienated. Her paternal grandmother might have been a ninja, but it didn't make much of a difference to the children of Konoha who were taught the importance of clans and connections as they fed from their mother's breast.
She remembers trying hard to make friends in school, only to be teased for the size of her forehead. She recollects the time she discovered that her application to join the Ninja Academy was accepted, only to be mercilessly taken apart by others for her lack of affinity towards any prestigious family groups; whenever Ino (her savior - the person more of a prince charming than the boy she had always dreamt of) wasn't around.
And no matter how much Sakura trains, how much she forces herself through the same heavy drills from dawn till night; she would never be as good (and she wants that so much it hurts) as Naruto or Sasuke. And when her arm hurts from overuse, or her legs feel like lead; Sakura reminds herself that it is nothing compared to a hole through her chest or holding a demon back.
She loves him (it's true). Not because he was convenient, not because he was there; but simply because of who he was. Never giving up, selflessly putting himself before others, always a crutch for her, even when he wasn't physically there. Sakura remembers ramen stained letters from afar, always censored out by Jiraiya, with anecdotes of his travels and without fail, the usual promises that he will get Sasuke back no matter what. (because he promised)
Sometimes she just wants to die, because no matter what, he (they?) seems so far away.
Because what Sakura wants is not for herself to be made as an addendum. For an addendum is a postscript, a tailpiece; something added as an afterthought. Neither does she; however, want to be put first. She just wants to be next to him, always by his side.
She yearns for a future where
there is Naruto and Sakura.
***
There is Naruto. And there is Sakura.
Naruto finds the statement completely perfect. For the fewer the number people looked at Sakura, the less of a target she would be. And being unnoticed would the mean her being safe. And her being safe would mean Naruto could keep his sanity because hecan'tbearloosinganotherpreciousperson and because hejustcan'tlivewithouther.
Naruto thinks everything is actually pretty much straightforward, simple. He thinks that Sakura thinks too much about it, or anything for that matter. He wishes she would just relax, and let him take care of her.
Because for Naruto, there is Sakura. And there is no one else.
And Naruto wouldn't have it any other way.