A/N: This came out a whole lot darker and angstier than I initially envisaged it to be.

Hatsumode

It was still dark when she reached the shrine, although the vermillion torii gates glowed faintly with the waning moon's last rays. She paused, squinting a little into the darkness that lay both beyond and behind but everything was quiet, save for the occasional patter of small feet. Hesitating slightly, the kunoichi carefully ascended the steep, worn steps that presumably led to the shrine area; the hem of her kimono rustling faintly against the remnants of last season's leaves.

As if in answer to her doubts, she spied a small wooden signpost at the summit of the stairs, weathered with age but with the faint kanji strokes etched onto it still visible.

She smiled. So the monks at Fire Temple had not been wrong.

Many had raised their eyebrows when Sakura had first raised the idea of making the pilgrimage to the mythical Golden Shrine of Eternal Happiness which lay deep to the south of the Elemental Nations, hundreds of miles away from Konoha and the nearest inhabited village. Legend had it the Sage of the Six Paths himself had built the shrine where the sun and the sea met every morning, so that visitors of the shrine would always be blessed with their eternal light and glory.

In later years, it became almost a belief that anyone seeking an answer to a problem, some meaning to their life or a sign from the gods could make a stop to the shrine and have their wish fulfilled.

It was even rumoured that the shrine was visited by the various inhabitants of lands that lay beyond the borders of the Elemental Nations; such was the fame of this fabled monument.

Don't go, Naruto had begged her. It's too far away and too dangerous.

We need you to help with the rebuilding, Shizune had tried cajoling her. Konoha needs you.

What if you never come back? Ino had yelled.

…Or at least that's what she was sure they would have said.

As the great gates of Konoha vanished further and further behind, only the moon had been her witness to the start of her journey away from it all.

"Take care of yourself, Ichigo."

The orange-haired young man inclined his head. "I will, Yoruichi-san." Turning to the hatted man standing beside her, he continued, "So I press this when I want to come back and you'll open up a Senkaimon thingy for me?"

Urahara smiled, "Anytime you're ready, Kurosaki-san. After what you've been through, I think the least you deserve is a break."

"Are you sure about this, Ichigo?" Yoruichi broke in, her tone uncharacteristically soft. "After all, it is almost New Year and I'm sure your family would…"

"Warui, Yoruichi-san. But I feel like I need to escape for a while. Yuzu and Karin will be fine, and Dad is here after all. I don't think I'll be gone for long, but just long enough so I can forget…" he stopped short.

Urahara and Yoruichi exchanged a brief look, before the exiled shopkeeper cleared his throat. "All right then, Kurosaki-san. I must warn you though that I have no idea where this portal leads to; how far back or ahead this time is, how north or south you'll end up or even how the world will be like when you walk out of here."

Ichigo merely tightened his grip on his backpack, a hint of his old spirit glinting in his hazel eyes. "All the better then, because right now I'm craving nothing more than a new adventure into the unknown. Ja, Urahara-san, Yoruichi-san."

And with that, he resolutely took a step forward into the gaping entrance of the Senkaimon.

A stray fire jutsu or exploding kunai from some long-forgotten war had damaged the roof of the chozuya, but one of the old monks must still fill the old chozubachi (basins) with clean water. As a little girl, Sakura had been sceptical of the purification prowess of the traditional cleansing ritual. But as the icy water ran down her fingers, she thought she might understand a little bit more about how belief played a part in allowing the water to cleanse the scars and wounds engraved on her body, heart and soul. There would be many more wars to face and fight, but today was a day for new beginnings.

Fresh pink petals and red ginko leaves littered the sando (pathway), crunching under her sandals. Casting her eyes around, she was both surprised and relieved to note that the compound remained devoid of any signs of human habitation. There was a wild, untamed beauty around her that was reminiscent of some of the older Konoha shrines, before they had been burnt down during the War. Spying her target ahead, the kunoichi made her way to the omikuji (fortune paper strips) box as was customary for a Hatsumode visit. Every year, it had become a running competition between Sakura and Ino as to who would have the better year ahead, with Ino joking that Sakura's long-run of drawing a "kyou" (curse) fortune in the love stakes down to her sighting of a black cat during her first date as a child (tragically, it had been a play date her mother forced her into with Chouji who was more interested in the salmon the cat had been eating). "Just you wait Ino-pig," she whispered, dipping her fingers into the drawer and letting her viridian eyes scan the little strip of paper she slowly drew out. She could feel the blades of sorrow piercing her heart again, the pain so acute it made her chest ache but she chose to lose herself in happier memories of the blonde Yamanaka's loud mocking crow as she drew yet another unfavourable fortune. "A kichi (blessing), hah!" She peered carefully. "Sue-kichi (future blessing). The cherry blossom is in bloom, good fortune and love will follow in future happiness. And the moon will suddenly shine bright from behind the clouds. What in Kami's name is that supposed to mean?" She read on, "Hearing a morning call of a cock, you will have to wait for a chance to come. When your time comes, then you will be happier than ship sails before a win… AAAHHHH!"

A huge pair of shōji suddenly materialised in front of the startled kunoichi, sliding open and filling the clearing with a vast, almost malevolent crimson light. And from within those gates, something or rather someone hurled out from within the darkness within, landing in a crumpled heap next to her.

Almost as soon as it had appeared, the shōji soon vanished into thin air leaving Sakura to gasp in shock at the suddenness of the entire incident and the person that the shōji had "spit out".

"Kuso, Urahara you teme, where the hell have you sent me?!"

Sprawled before her was a young man around her age dressed like a warrior from the ancient Edo era: His long, black kimono reached down to his ankles and had flowing sleeves that flared open at the end. A white sash was tied around his middle and he wore matching white socks and slippers. But most unnerving were the twin blades strapped across his back: one little, one large– the size of the larger's blade rivalling even that of Kisame's Samehada.

The person scrambled to his feet, cursing loudly at the now non-existent shoji and wringing his hands in frustration. He turned around and noticed the dumbfounded kunoichi.

"Who are you, and where am I?" he demanded.

She glared at him. Stranger or not, he had no right to be so rude! "Haruno Sakura, a ninja of Konohagakure, the Village Hidden in the Leaves," she responded curtly, trying not to baulk at the repulsively bright orange his hair colour was. "You're currently in Fire Country territory. In fact," the kunochi glowered at him. "I should be asking who are YOU and what are you doing in my homeland?!"

Still eyeing her rather suspiciously, the young man replied, "Kurosaki Ichigo, Shinigami Daikou. And it's not like I want to be here, I was SENT here. In fact, I don't even know what "here" is! Say, have you heard of a place called Karakura Town hereabouts?"

Sakura laughed. "You don't look anything like a Shinigami, so don't try and BS me. The only way I could have summoned you is using a Shiki Fūjin and I don't currently have a death wish!" She seemingly chuckled at her own joke, before switching back to an angry tone. "Are you one of the Seven Swordsmen of the Mist?"

"The Seven what?" Ichigo scowled, the frown lines on his face becoming more pronounced as he scrunched up his face in distaste. "You're crazy. How can you not know what a Shinigami is! Argh, I don't even know why I'm wasting time arguing with some girl I don't even know," he trailed off, muttering darkly to himself. "I should never have told Hat and Clogs I wanted a holiday – now he's sent me to some crackpot dimension where nobody's heard of Shinigami and everyone has a few screws loose in their head!"

CRASH!

The Shinigami jumped violently in the air as he felt a massive tremor surge through the ground he was standing on, causing a vast crack in the middle of the clearing. Whipping around, he openly gawked at the angry pinkette standing before him, her fist glowing bright green as she panted heavily.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" he barked at her. "What was that for? In fact," he eyed her still-glowing fist warily. "What are you?!"

"You're the one calling everyone here crazy. And I told you already, I'm a ninja," Sakura snapped. "A medic-ninja, but a ninja all the same. Now look what you've done, making me rip my expensive new kimono," she raged. "It'll cost me one whole B-rank mission to fix the tear on this one!" Fussing over the tear in her silken sleeve, she almost didn't hear his next question. "So you're a doctor?"

She frowned at him.

"Someone who heals people?" he prompted.

Still peeved about the expensive tear and half embarrassed that she had been so easily provoked in front of the stranger, she shrugged moodily. "Someone has to patch everyone up after they're all done fighting. It's what I'm good at anyway."

"You don't like fighting?"

Sakura looked up at him. Why was he suddenly asking so many questions? "It's a way of life here," she replied shortly. "All ninjas know how to fight – we are trained to protect the weak. But too many people here fight for power." Her keen eyes suddenly fixed on his left ankle. "You're bleeding."

Ichigo glanced down, slightly surprised to see the red stains on his left sock. "Must have scraped a loose stone from the earthquake…"

Before he could go further, Sakura had already bathed his ankle in green chakra, expertly knitting the grazed flesh together. Ichigo looked surprised. "That's your healing technique?"

"The basics of it, yes," she replied noncommittally.

"My dad's a healer – a doctor, they call him where I'm from. Although I'm surprised the old geezer never drove his patients nuts with the way he acts…"

Sakura ignored him, continuing to pour green chakra into the wound.

"That was a massive earthquake you made," Ichigo ventured, absent-mindedly plucking at his right sleeve. He noticed the slight surprise on her face, before mentally slapping himself. Why couldn't he shut up? They had both tried to kill each other moments ago, and after seeing the depth of the crater she had just caused, he wasn't looking for any excuse to pick a fight with her.

She tried to hide the slight smile that had crept up her lips. "And you're following in his footsteps?"

He rubbed the back of his head a little sheepishly. "I think I'm better at causing people injuries than helping them patch them up."

She straightened, the green glow around her hands slowly fading away. "I'm sorry I lost my temper at you like that. I guess it wasn't a very good start to the new year," she mumbled, as the crumpled omikuji she had been clenching in her left fist fluttered to the ground.

Stooping to the ground, he picked it up and gave it back to Sakura, their fingers lightly brushing as he did so. "It's also New Year here?" the Shinigami asked.

For some reason, she felt a faint blush make her way up her cheeks. "I was in the middle of Hatsumode when you suddenly appeared. It's the first time we've been able to celebrate New Year since the War."

"The War?" he frowned as he wiggled his left ankle. "Hmm. Feels as good as new."

"It's a long story", she murmured.

"They always are," the Shinigami harrumphed, raising an eyebrow as he looked at her intently. She felt the familiar heat rush to her cheeks, but resolutely ignored it. "Anyway, shouldn't you be going back to wherever you came from? Since you clearly have no business at the Golden Shrine of Eternal Happiness," she retorted.

Ichigo let out a disbelieving bark of laughter. "Eternal Happiness? Now I know you're definitely loony."

Anger flared up inside her, replacing any of the little fondness she was starting to develop for the Shinigami. "You don't understand anything, so don't judge people before you even know what this whole thing is about." Whirling around before he had a chance to reply, she stalked off.

The haiden (hall of worship) was predictably ancient, but there was still a certain air of stately elegance about the carved kitsune (foxes) that stood proud along the staircase leading to the main shrine area. In the centre, a pair of golden bells hung far above her head that were like everything in the shrine, tarnished with age.

Tossing a handful of ryo into the giant earthen pots that presumably served as the offering boxes, she clasped the ancient rope with both hands and rang the bell.

Once. For Neji.

Twice. For Tsunade-sama.

Thrice. For Shizune-san.

Four. For Kakashi-sensei.

Five. For Ino.

Six. For Sasuke.

And seven…

"We did it… Sakura-chan. We…did it. We… beat Kagu…ya…right…teme…?" Another violent coughing fit wracked the blonde shinobi, as blood bubbled at the side of his mouth and oozed red tracks across his slashed throat.

"Ba…baka," she whispered, tears streaming down her face as her chakra-laden hands tried to frantically tried to stem the tide of red flowing from his side, the dark pool underneath them both silently growing with every passing second. "Stop talking. Save your strength, both of you…"

"You should be the one saving strength. It's no use, Sakura."

The kunoichi gasped, rounding on the raven-haired shinobi lying sprawled next to the barely conscious Naruto. "Don't say that, Sasuke-kun! I will save both of you," Sakura whispered, even as a chilling fear was paralysing her insides. "I promise I will save both of you, even if I die trying!"

Just as the both of you saved me, saved Konoha, and saved all of us.

Sasuke closed his eyes, feeling the blood continuing to seep out of his weeping sockets where his Rinnegan had been as the desperate throbbing of his heart grew weaker and weaker. Strangely enough, he felt no fear; only a serene calmness that he was finally going to be reunited with his otousan, okaasan and…Itachi onii-san…

"Sakura…we were already saved once…by the Sage of the Six Paths. We already cheated death once…to finish off what had to be finished…and now that our part…is come and gone…it's time…for us to go…"

"NO!" she roared, desperately pumping more chakra to her fingertips as the free-flow of her tears was almost blinding her. "I won't let you die!"

Feeling the last of his life force trickling away, the Uchiha gave her a last, sad half-smile. "Sakura…thank you…" he murmured, before gently exhaling as he passed on to the next life.

"No," the kunoichi whimpered in anguish, frantically grabbing his hand. "Sasuke!"

"Sa..ku…ra…chan?"

"Naruto, don't leave me too," she whispered. The wound was finally closing but deep inside, she already knew it was too late. He was already too far gone. She gently pressed his hand to her chest.

"Guess…I'm finally…a hero…huh…Sakura…chan," Naruto smiled, his breath coming in large gasps now. "Don't cry…Sakura…chan…I need…to follow…teme…see what that…bastard…is up…to…so make sure…you lead….a good life here….before you…see us again…."

"Naruto?" She shook him again. "NARUTO!"

"Stop, please make it stop," she pleaded as pain assaulted her senses, clamping iron fingers around her chest and choking her. Visions of blood, foxy grins and swirling eyes danced garishly in her mind, as she watched Kaguya's chakra blades stab them both again, and again and… "MAKE IT STOP!"

As she collapsed to the ground, her last fleeting thought was that even the pain of hitting the floor would be better than the pain in her head.

But it never came.

Ichigo had never been an overly religious person, even back when he was a kid. He would dutifully follow his mum to the shrine every New Year and setsubun (spring festival), but that was it. After she died, he stopped going completely. The only time he would pray was during the anniversary of her death, when the Kurosaki family visited her grave.

"Kuso, where has that stupid girl gone?" he grumbled, picking his way through the overgrown rose bushes as he wandered along the winding path that led to the main shrine. Maybe he should just ignore her and try to find out where in Kami Urahara had sent him (or even which time period it was, although judging from that girl with the prehistoric manners he had just met, he wouldn't be surprised if it was still the Stone Age) but he continued exploring the compound anyhow.

That's when he heard the moans.

Nobody had said anything about the shrine being haunted…could there possibly be ghosts hanging around the place? Ichigo stood stock-still, fear paralysing him momentarily until he mentally slapped himself. He was a Shinigami who had been seeing ghosts and spirits his whole life. Was there a stray Plus trapped somewhere in the main shrine?

Following the sounds of the moans, he found himself in the hall of worship. The ancient hall appeared to be devoid of life, until he noticed the splash of pink and red hovering near the altar and bells. The moaning sounds were definitely coming from there.

Suddenly, the figure crumpled to the ground. His Shinigami instincts kicking in, Ichigo quickly shunpo-ed towards the front of the hall, catching hold of Sakura before she hit the floor.

"Sakura. Sakura!" He shook her desperately, willing her to open her eyes but she remained still and silent. Amid his slight panic, a wry feeling of nostalgia tugged at him as he noted her somewhat shocking shade of pink hair, and he was fondly reminded of a pesky fuku-taichou in Soul Society whose hair was almost the same colour…ah but he wasn't supposed to think about Soul Society, right now there were too many painful memories coursing through his mind and he tried to block them out by focussing on the girl currently in his arms.

Slowly, her eyelids inched open and she murmured, "So the test exists?"

"What test?" Ichigo looked confused.

Sakura sat up, taking deep breaths as she slowly took in her surroundings. Her pink bangs were sticking to her forehead with sweat, but the Shinigami noted with relief that her pale cheeks were beginning to regain some of their colour. "The legend says before you find eternal happiness, you have to experience true sorrow – it's part of the test that the gods sent to all travellers to this shrine." She curled her fingers. "I suppose that experience just now was it."

"How can you put so much stock in that mumbo-jumbo?!" He retorted, resisting the urge to shake the kunoichi's shoulders. For someone clearly so intelligent, it was ludicrous as to why Sakura was so hung up about this shrine and its flaky promises he was sure didn't even exist outside of old wives' tales. "Wake up, this shrine is nothing more than than some crumbling pieces of stone and happiness is not something that's going to come to you wandering around this health hazard! For Kami's sake, I'm sure your family and friends are worried sick about you..."

The iron grip around his wrist cut short the torrent of frustration he was about to launch into.

"Drop it."

"Fine." He held up his hands, suddenly disconcerted by the look reflected in her viridian gaze as she looked stonily up at him. Eyes such a vivid shade of green yet so empty, lifeless…

It was an expression he knew all too well.

"You can let me go now you know?"

Her pointed question brought him back to Earth.

"Hey hey try and show some gratitude to the guy that just saved your ass…" he grumbled, raising an eyebrow at the pinkette. "Look, I'm sorry if I…"

She didn't answer, her back pointedly facing him as she made her way out of the haiden.

Irritation coursed through the irritable Shinigami at his companion's reticence. "Fine then! Not even a word of thanks geez," he huffed, almost colliding with the ancient wooden pillars flanking the pair of stately golden bells overhead.

There was something so magnificent, yet melancholy about them that he stepped forward to gently touch the strings, before giving them a gentle tug. Being far away from home in the middle of a strange place and time, the familiarity of the ritual felt strangely comforting.

Seven tugs, as he did on Hatsumode every year.

Once. I'm sorry.

Twice. I'm sorry I couldn't save you.

Thrice. Dad is as weird as ever.

Four. Yuzu's cooking improved this year.

Five. I think Karin has a boyfriend – some annoying little guy who also happens to be a Shinigami Captain.

Six. I promise to kick his ass on your behalf.

He took a step back and bowed.

Seven. I love you.

As the echo of the last chime faded away, an overwhelming tightness began to clench his heart.

This was not the end yet. No this year…this year, he had to do another one.

"Rukia!"

"Ichigo!"

Stumbling blindly through the smoke, he frantically groped his way towards the sound of her voice.

"Ichigo!"

As the smoke settled over the outline of her tiny figure, he scrambled forward. "Rukia! Are you…?"

She grabbed his shoulder. "Listen, you need to get to the Soul King before Juha Bach invades the Royal Chamber, Urahara says the Zero Division has already fallen so it will only be a matter of minutes!"

He glanced at the stirring Bazz-B worriedly. "I can't just leave you to face him, he's too…"

SLAP!

The force of her small hand on his cheek jolted him.

Stunned, he reached out a hand weakly. "Rukia…"

"You fool." The female Shinigami was breathing heavily, but it wasn't from the numerous cuts and bruises they had already sustained. "Don't you dare tell me who I can or cannot face, Kurosaki Ichigo! As a member of the Gotei 13, it is my duty to protect Soul Society and I would gladly die if it means that I can have a hand in putting an end to the murderers who have invaded our home." Her violet eyes hardened. "That is my duty. Do you know what is yours?"

He opened his mouth again, but he stopped at the expression on her face. "Ah," he nodded. "Hold the fort over here, Rukia. I'm going after Juha Bach."

A ghost of a smile crossed her lips. "I'll create a diversion so that you can slip into the chambers. Better get going now, you really wouldn't want to stick around for this."

As he raced towards the darkness, he heard her utter the two syllables he least expected to hear.

"Ban-kai".

It was the last two he would ever hear her speak.

"You rang the bells."

"I don't want to talk about it."

Having her own words thrown back at her so callously stung. A trickle of guilt nudged her conscience as she took in the tightness of the young man's jaw, the tension set in his broad shoulders as he flung yet another pebble onto the water's surface, watching it skip jauntily in little splashes before disappearing beneath its surface. A dragonfly rose in indignation at having the calm surface of its home disturbed, the turqouise hue of its body gleaming brightly in the sunshine before whizzing away.

"You must have been on your way here as well. Nobody wanders to the Golden Shrine of Eternal Happiness by accident," she tried.

"I'm not looking for eternal happiness or any of that bullsh*t if that's what you're suggesting," he replied tersely, not bothering to turn around as he grabbed another handful of white pebbles. "It was just pure chance I ended up here. Or maybe Urahara planned it, that sneaky bastard."

She stared at his back for a long moment, briefly wondering who this "Urahara" person was before deciding to sit down by the pond's shore as well, albeit keeping a respectable distance from her 'saviour'. He ignored her, continuing to rock-skim although she could feel waves of agitation rolling off him that hadn't been there in their previous encounter.

"You're right, you know. It was silly of me to think that I would find some happiness here, or even any answers," the kunoichi smiled wistfully, gazing thoughtfully across the water to the mountainous silhouettes that made up the Kobe Range of Mountains surrounding the Shrine. "There's nothing here but koi and grasshoppers. Guess I've been alone for too long after the War that I've even started believing those old legends," she laughed, picking up one of the green insects before setting it back down on the leafy ground and watching it scuttle away. It was peaceful, a serenity as far removed from the clashing of steel that continued to dominate her dreams but her spirit remained as restless as before her journey here. "Still, no regrets. This place makes a change from all the fighting going on around me." She fell back into silence, letting the crispness of the morning air cut against her cheek in mild streaks and swirl strands of her bubble-gum hair into unruly clouds. Kakashi-sensei would have liked it here – there was a shady tree where he could read Icha-Icha and pretend to be asleep as his young charges ran around and made a mess of things at the top of their voices. Sakura could already see her younger self cheering on Sasuke and shouting a sarcastic put-down at her ramen-loving teammate while the boys had one of their their never-ending upside-town tree walking contests.

"The inner workings of the mind is a dangerous place to be." Ichigo stretched his long limbs, chucking another stone into the heart of the lake. "The demons that lurk there force you to say and do things you'd never even imagine; confront realities you never even knew existed." He paused for a while before clenching his fist in the grass. "I'm not surprised it would drive you insane after a while, or anybody for that matter."

The sudden hollowness in his voice startled her and for the first time that morning since their encounter, she found herself really wondering just exactly who or what was he. He was no shinobi that was for sure, but it was not so much the garb or weapons he carried that gave away the kindred feeling she sensed as she reflected over his words.

This was someone, like her, that knew the pain of loss.

"I told her to go while I held off the others."

She whipped her head to the side, but his gaze remained resolutely trained to the centre of the pond. "She was my sister, my teammate, my mentor, my…"

"Lover?"

He gave her a long, hard look before exhaling. "Closer than a comrade but less than a lover."

"I lost friends, family and lovers during the War." Sakura took a deep breath. "Before I collapsed just now, I was reliving my worst memories of losing them. Watching them die before me…" Her throat was choking up again.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be." She gave him a sad smile, as she had done so many times in the darkness of the days following the carnage. As she buried the dead, comforted the living and pretended she was okay to the few of her friends that were still living. "Sacrifices need to be made for peace. They died in the highest honour, defending our village and our will – the will of fire." The pride that swelled in her voice as she recited the phrase so familiar to every shinobi of Konohagakure, the familiar determination that coursed through her veins as she pictured her best friend's beaming face; it was as if a small salve had been placed over the gaping hole in her chest.

She felt the intensity of his gaze upon her again forcibly looked away, ignoring the red blush she was sure was stealing up her neck.

"I judged you without knowing the full story. But you still haven't answered my question about why you're here." The orange-haired Shinigami sighed, rubbing the back of his fiery thatch awkwardly as he stole another glance at the melancholic kunoichi.

She fell silent for a while as cold despondency crashed down on her again, dousing the embers of hope that had bloomed in her heart moments earlier. "Because I knew the test would be the only way I could force myself to come to terms with those memories," she whispered. "That I would finally accept that they were…dead."

A lump was forming in Ichigo's throat. Was that why Urahara had sent him here? To accept that Rukia was…

"So where do you go from here?" he distracted himself instead.

Another long silence stole across her as the kunoichi pondered his question. Konoha, while battered and bruised was now mainly rebuilt and slowly but surely, life was beginning to regain some semblance of normality. Even the hospital, which Sakura had laboured so hard to rebuild was up and running again. The Five Great Villages had signed a Peace Treaty as a symbol of their continuing solidarity and friendship in overcoming the greatest foes the world had ever thrown at them, and while the road ahead was sure to be bumpy, early signs that even the notoriously irate A and Onoki were beginning to come around were promising. Her parents, traumatised by the destruction and havoc that the Great War had wreaked on Konoha had decided to relocate to a remote part of the Elemental Nations, realising their dream of rural living a few decades earlier than planned but leaving much happier, contented and finally at peace.

So where did that leave her?

Gradually, a small smile bloomed on her face. "Onwards. Wherever that may be. There's nothing holding me back anymore, so I'm ready to go wherever life decides to take me to. A new path, a new adventure."

Haruno Sakura, shinobi of Konohagakure and member of Team Seven. For years, she had spent her entire life devoting herself to her ninja studies, haunted by the regret that she could never save the boy she loved from being swallowed by darkness and the overwhelming fear that she would never be able to walk side by side the two men in her life that she admired the most. Her life's dream to fight as an equal with them had been realised with that last, fatal attack on Kaguya; Team Seven's final mission that had ended in the loss of the two men that had been her guiding light and motivation ever since she had been a child. With the deaths of Tsunade and Shizune, that also left Sakura as the best medic in Konoha, and arguably the Five Hidden Villages. What other ambition, or purpose did she have left in this world?

"Come with me."

Pure disbelief flooded her system as she dumbly turned to Ichigo. Had he just...?

The Shinigami cleared his throat in embarrassment, but his hazel eyes never left hers. And Sakura found herself strangely drawn to the uncharacteristic gentleness of his gaze that was so at odds with the seemingly gruff, rude and aggravating persona she had initially pegged him to be. Warmth began to spread in her belly; a foreign sensation but far from unpleasant. "If it's a journey you're looking for, I'm on one myself as well. We can both look for whatever it is we're looking for together."

"In your world?" Somehow, her mouth was moving of its own accord.

He waved his hand. "Yours, mine I don't really care. As long as it means moving away from the past."

Still numb with shock, the kunoichi blurted out, "I need time to say goodbye."

"Then I'll come back," he shrugged. "No big deal."

Impulsively, she stood up. "Come." Sakura silently took his hand and led him down another pathway, this time lined with komainu (lion dogs). A small sign pointing them to the right stated that they were heading back to the haiden. The figures surrounding them were relics from another age, and even the kunoichi felt a shiver involuntarily pass through her as they tiptoed across the courtyard under the gaze of their silent, empty eye sockets. But Ichigo's hand was warm to the touch, and somehow the main shrine didn't seem as forbidding or imposing as it had before.

Tossing a handful of ryo into the giant earthen pots, the kunoichi clasped the ancient rope with both hands and rang the bells for the second time that morning.

Once.

Twice.

Thrice.

"Seven times," she said softly, finally stepping back before making another short bow. "For my two mentors, my team sensei, my childhood friend and my two best friends." Sakura fell silent, before finally looking at him.

"And once for you."

He looked shocked. "Why?"

A small smile turned the corner of her lips upwards. "So that you'll come back. So that I still have one wish that can come true." She felt a silly smile stretch her grin wider as she fingered the crumpled strip of paper in her kimono pocket. "A future blessing."

Startled, she watched as the orange-haired Shinigami deftly drew out two of the white stones he still had in his pocket from the lake. Using Zangetsu, he expertly scratched out the kanji of their surnames before handing it to the startled kunoichi, his touch sending slight shivers down her spine where their fingers had briefly met.

"Ichigo?"

A determined smile lit up his features, conveying the depths of his newly forged pledge to her so much more than any words could ever say. "Consider it a promise, not a wish."

It was almost dawn. The indigo skies were already fading into scarlet and pink, bathing the world in the honeyed light of an early morning sunrise.

Just as he had promised all those moons ago, the Shinigami appeared silently before her, his dark robes billowing slightly in the wind as he stepped out of the newly materialised shoji.

"Are you ready?" The timbre of his voice seemed deeper than she remembered, but maybe it had just been too many moons since their last meeting. He had grown taller too and his sideburns were longer, but there would be many more chances to learn about him in their new life.

Impulsively, she flung the two white stones he had given her that fateful day into the pond behind, watching a huge ripple form in the centre before calmness of the surface was soon restored. Just like how the tempestuousness of her previous life had settled down into a calmer acceptance and newfound maturity.

"Yuzu and Karin can't wait to meet you. Oh and the old geezer too. Just try not to get too shocked."

"It's alright - if he's anything like you, I guess I'll just have to work on whipping him into shape," Sakura snorted as Ichigo gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulders.

Taking his hand, she vanished into the gates and into the light.

A/N: Four years. That's how long this story has been sitting in my hard-drive, along with many other unfinished Sakura/Ichigo stories...My first version initially got wiped out after I didn't save it and I thought it would never see the light of day again but somehow, inspiration struck again and miraculously I managed to finish it up. I found this so difficult to write because I was never happy with the content and the tone of the story. Plus obviously because this story has been so long in the making, things in the Naruto and Bleach manga have progressed very differently to how I thought they would end but then again, I never thought that Kishimoto would actually have the guts to kill off Naruto and/or Sasuke and ditto Kubo for Rukia.

I've always loved these two together as a crack shipping, and I think Sakura deserved so much better than Sasuke at the end of the Fourth Great Ninja War. So maybe, just maybe if she ever decided to take off with someone else...as always, please leave a comment if you enjoyed reading, it would mean the world to me. Concrit is also most welcome. Until next time x