A/N: Okay. I'm a teenage girl and I get these random, unexplainable, emotion waves. This story was written during a depression wave. Just the hormones, guys. Glad I could put my hormal depression to good use though and write a good story and practice my conflict and angst shtuff.

Disclaimer:


Sakura felt absolutely lifeless. She just wished the ceremony would be over because it was dragging too long for her liking. She just wanted to go home and curl up in bed as she had been for the past week since she heard the news.

She hated crying. Ever since she started training with Tsunade, she hated crying. She refused to give into weakness. But Sakura's eyes had betrayed her that first week and the fountain she called her eyes burst to life.

Even Ino -who came by every day to make sure Sakura ate and showered- couldn't comfort her. The loss was too tragic. Ino -who wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed- wasn't stupid enough to say that everything was going to be okay. Because, to be honest, it wasn't. It was the plain, hard truth.

The two most important people in her life had perished. One of them being someone not only she would miss, but the whole of Konoha. And Suna. And pretty much every hidden village for he had friends in each of them. Konoha's Number One Knuckle-Head just couldn't help but be loved by everyone. He had been Sakura's best friend. Practically her brother.

Though his death had effected everyone in the Hidden Leaf Village, she was probably impacted the most. Even more than Hinata, if that was even possible since the woman was hardly any better than Sakura was.

The second person was none other than her lover. Having returned to Konoha over a decade and a half ago, he was thrown into prison for five years (the shortest amount of time Tsunade and Naruto managed to give him). He was released and kept under strict watch for another year before the village finally accepted his return and began to trust him again.

In the meantime, the knuckle-head got married to Hinata and was named the Sixth Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village. Within the next ten years, they had twins (that were just reaching the age of nine) and the third was expected any day now.

Sakura wanted to cry now. Their names had been announced and she oh so desperately wanted to weep. But all the crying she had done over the last week had left no excess water in her body. Her eyes were already puffy and red and they felt raw and sore.

They were supposed to be married within the next month, Sakura thought. But alas, she couldn't blame either of them.

She fingered the ring that resided on her left hand. Her hand instinctively rose to wipe away non-existent tears.

"Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke were the best friends a person like me could ask for." She said later as she took her place in front of the people of Konoha. Everyone had pushed her up there to speak for her friends despite her constant begging no. "Naruto...he was the stupidest person I knew. The first Chuunin exams we took together as Genin...he didn't write down a single answer. He didn't understand the point of the first half of the exam. He was just a dull knife stuffed in the corner of a shed, waiting to be brought out and polished up.

"He was also very ambitious. I lost count of how many times I've thumped him on the head for not thinking things through before her lurched on into battle and nearly get himself killed. He never spent a second to re-think (or think, for that matter) about what his strategy was. Probably why Tsunade-shishou was going to force Shikamaru to be Naruto's assistant when he became Hokage.

"And then he came back from training with Jiraiya-sama...wait. Who am I kidding. He was still an idiot. And even more perverted than before. My point is, he came back from three years of training and he was changed...mostly. And then from that point on, I watched him grow up from an idiot to one of the wisest people I knew. He got married, became Hokage, had children (who I am the proud godmother of). Not only was Uzumaki Naruto my best friend, he was like my brother. And Kakashi was the screwed up father...

"The other life that was taken was that of my lover's. We were going to be married in a couple of weeks. Now I know it will never happen, only in my head. Me and Naruto searched for that teme for years. And we never thought he would return on his own accord. The stupid idiot. He was the biggest ass hole I knew. But he was my ass hole and I loved him with all of my heart.

"Life will never be the same without Naruto and Sasuke. I'd kill myself to see them again. But I'm pretty sure they want me to stay alive, give birth to twins and help Hinata raise the kids. And Hinata-chan, Naruto loved you more than ramen. And we both know how much he loved ramen.

"Anyways, I'm gonna have to work part time at the hospital now because Shikamaru is going to want help assisting Konohamaru as Hokage, God help us all. Thank you."

Sakura's speech left everyone half laughing and half crying.

The ceremony ended soon after that. And the sky filled with heavy rainclouds and it started to pour. It was then that Sakura's tears started to come back. And Sakura figured, what the hell. It was raining and she was so sad she might as well have died right then and there. So she let herself cry. She started shuddering with sobs as she dropped to the pavement and wept with a sorrow too strong to stop fueling her. She could just barely hear Ino as she slumped to the ground beside her best friend.

FIN