disclaimer - I do not own these characters or places, this is just a fan fiction.

* This is my first try. I haven't written any fan fiction before... I'm trying to figure out how you do ^^Thanks to Maria-san who's an angel and helps me with alot with the translating... :D!

Sakura had never been by The Valley of End before. It was the place some called The Battlefield of Rivals. Even though she as a child often had heard stories about the fight that was the cause behind the giant statues of Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama, she never could have imagined the place so… alive.

But to her the place wasn't about them.

It was here that Naruto and Sasuke had fough each other four years ago. A struggle that symbolized broken friendship and that had resulted in Sasuke severing Naruto from his life by turning his back to him. The few sentences she had got to hear about how their battle had occurred had made her despise the place. Sakura had associated it with blood and grey stone. Not like this…

The waterfall which gushed down between the two statues was made of turquoise water. It was a colorful fall that descended and eventually became one with the calm of the lake.

The wind was toying with Sakura's short pink hair when she stood and watched the scenery. She stood on the crest of a steep rocky hill and looked down upon the center of the lake. For a moment she fantasized about how the fight between the two former members of team 7 had occured down there.

She sat down on the ledge and let her legs swing freely over the escarpment. A strange feeling she had though she had been able to suppress surfaced and ached in her stomach. She guided her hand towards her heart and shut her eyes.

Take me with you if you can't stay here. Everyday, we'd do something fun. We'd be happy, I swear! Please… Sasuke. I will do anything for you.

Were those the word she had said?

Sakura wiped a tear off her cheek with a fist and steeled herself. Her body was stiff but the tears found their way out regardless. When she realized her face was moist her breath ruptured. With her face in her hands, she cried so much her shoulders shook. A moan of angst escaped her efforts of holding back, but the sounds she made disappeared in the rumbling of the waterfall.

Let it out, said a voice inside of her. Wasn't that why you came here? To be able to cry without letting him see your pain?

Sakura had been sitting there for over an hour when she wiped the last tears away with her damp leather gloves. She rose to leave for home when she spotted two dots moving about down by the lake, a way off from the statues of Madara and Hashirama. She squinted her eyes and leaned forward.

It was such a long time since she had seen any new faces. If she kept herself hidden in the woods no one would notice if she went and took a closer look. There were two people who either looked like they were fighting or training. In the shade of the trees she silently crept down the rocky hill and stopped when she was close enough.

"Just like that, Hinata! The chakra is formed more easy if you can feel it in your body. Try to attack me now, and you will see what a difference it makes!"

Sakura's eyes widened and she pressed herself against the trunk of a tree. Naruto! It couldn't be true. On the opposite side of the lake she saw a blond young man. He was standing with his back against her and was dressed in a long, red coat with black flames. The black ends of his konoha protector fluttered in the wind.

"Li…like this, Naruto-kun?"

Sakura could not move even an inch, but managed to switch her gaze towards the girl accompanying Naruto. Hyuga Hinata, the girl she had spent so much time together with during earlier years stood opposite Naruto with one palm facing him. Her blue hair was now very long. It wasn't the short girl with a fragile body composition anymore. Even at this distance Sakura could see that Hinata was both longer and stronger than she herself was.

Sakura huddled at the sound of Naruto's laughter echoing, before he went to Hinata and pulled her into his arms.

"I'm sorry… Naruto… It must be so annoying when I'm claiming so much of your time… Especially when I'm not progressing…"

"Nonsense! You are strong, Hinata. Never doubt that", said Naruto and laughed. His voice was warmer than Sakura remembered it. More mature, in a way. It hit her that they were all so much older now. She would turn nineteen in a month.

"I'm going to train every day", Hinata said while still leaning into Naruto's chest. "… so I can help you find Sasuke again. And Sakura, if she is with him."

"I know she is with him. Ever since you got that letter I could feel it."

"I… I hope so."

Sakura tore her eyes off the couple. She didn't want to hear anymore. Not a word. An indescribably strong feeling inside her motioned her to run to them. She wanted to hug them, tell them that she was alive, that she missed them and that her thoughts were with them constantly. But… they weren't friends anymore. I didn't matter how much she wanted to step out from her hiding place and show herself; there was nothing to gain by reuniting with Naruto again. Or Hinata. Or anyone in Konoha at all.

That she had known ever since she joined Sasuke and became a part of his life.