Prompt: create a story using the words photo album, fourteen, dust, and mantle
Pairing: NarutoXSakura
Sakura flipped through the pages of one of the many photo albums spread out on the living room floor. Each album contained pictures from a certain time in her life; her childhood, her birthdays, her chunnin years, her jounnin years, pictures of the gennin team she had taught, the festivals over the years, her wedding, friend's weddings, her children's lives, and their children's lives, and pictures of her and her husband. These albums showed her entire life, everything she had fought for and defended.
She looked up to the picture displayed on the mantle, of her and Naruto on their wedding day. She smiled, they had been married fifty five years before he had died. He had become Hokage, a father to four boys, and a grandfather to eight grandchildren and counting and he had loved every minute of it. He had died peacefully in his sleep, leaving the village in Konohamaru's capable hands. Here she was ten years later an old woman of eighty-seven years, the last living member of the rookie nine and Konoha eleven. She was considered a village elder, though she had long removed herself from the village workings. She was just an old woman now, living in her oldest son's home.
Cracking her back as she stood Sakura picked up the albums one by one and returned them to their respective shelf in the living room, knocking down the one album she always made sure to keep in the back.
It flopped open on the floor to page fourteen, and for a moment Sakura's heart stopped. There were two pictures on that page; the top picture was of the Konoha twelve right after the chunnin exams at age thirteen, and the bottom was the photograph of her gennin team. There was Kakashi, Naruto and . . . Sasuke staring up at her. Removing both pictures from their protective holds she held them to her heart and laid down on the couch, her kimono rising slightly as she closed her eyes.
She fell asleep to a young Naruto yelling dattebyo, a young Sasuke muttering annoying under his breath and Kakashi making excuses about a black cat. When she opened her eyes again she was no longer in her son's living room, she was on the bridge where her team had always met and they were there waiting for her. Naruto, looking as he had when they were young, rushed forward and scooped her up and she wrapped her arms tightly around him in return. Over his shoulder she saw the rest of her friends, Ino was young and beautiful again not the old woman she had died as. Kakashi was there right next to Kurenai, Asuma and Gai. Choji and Shikamaru stood together, just like Shino, Kiba and Hinata. Lee was doing pushups in-between Neji and Tenten. Sai had come up right behind Naruto and Sasuke was right next to him.
Naruto slowly set her down and pulled her close and whispered "Welcome home." And she was home. A home where she was with those she loved and was no longer alone.