Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

A/N: Mentions of NaruSakuSasu in this chapter. Very emotionally heavy, but essential! Thanks sooo much for all of your reviews! I hope you enjoy this speedy update! See ending notes for some of my thoughts!

Song Inspo: Have You Ever Seen The Rain by Creedence Clearwater Revival

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SIX


"Someone told me long ago

There's a calm before the storm, I know

It's been coming for some time.

When it's over, so they say

It'll rain a sunny day, I know

Shining down like water."


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Frozen in horror, Naruto and the others—who he was sure had seen what he had—could only watch as Sakura, heedless of the way blood poured sluggishly from a wound that should have killed her instantly, quickly reached up to grab the other man's head with both hands and squeezed.

They were ninja, but even they flinched when his head exploded in a mess of blood and gore. It spattered her face, her hands, the walls behind her.

Someone shifted their stance, and when that thing who was Sakura spun on them to glare at them with unnaturally bloodshot eyes, Naruto couldn't help but step back in a moment of unrestrained fear.

Killing intent leaked from her very being so heavily it raised every fine hair on their bodies in an instinctual reaction to a predator, and he shifted to cover Hinata with his body when he heard her whimper.

It wasn't Sakura who stood in front of them, but a monster of Orochimaru's creation.

Once brilliant green eyes were sunken into skin bruised so deeply it looked black in their sockets, and the sclera of them was as red as blood. Her chest heaved with each rapid breath, dark veins contrasting and rising from her skin like horrific scars.

It was only then that he noticed the hilt of a kunai embedded deeply into her chest where her heart should be and Naruto knew as well as he knew the taste of his own fear that she should be dead.

She took a step towards them with a low growl and they all tensed in preparation for an attack.

"Sa-Sakura?"

Ino's voice must have cut through whatever haze Sakura seemed to be in because, before their very eyes, she blinked and color seemed to surge back into where it had left her.

She stumbled, gasping as if coming from underwater, as her hair bled into pink—albeit much paler than before—her skin becoming alabaster and flawless once more, and the film lifting from her eyes.

Eyes that zeroed in on Ino quickly, making Sai hiss and tense from his defensive crouch next to Naruto. Ino leaned against the counter heavily, blood trickling from her head wound freely as she stared at the other woman. She was shaking.

"Ino!" She gasped, taking a step forward and almost tripping over the headless corpse of whoever that man had been. "Are you ok?! I—"

It was then that she noticed them, and she turned towards them slowly, and whatever color that had been in her face quickly drained.

Naruto didn't dare take his eyes off her as the tension in the air became stifling.

"W-what are you?" Ino asked shakily, voice thick with fear and uncertainty, in an ironic echo of what she had once said to the other girl nearly 10 years before.

"I'm—"

"You're barely bleeding and you have a kunai through your chest," Ino's lips trembled as she spoke, "How are you not dead?"

Sakura glanced down at her chest in surprise, as if previously unaware of the hilt of the kunai buried in her heart. She grasped at the hilt and yanked, startling at Sasuke's cry of 'Don't!'

Dropping the kunai to the floor, the clunk it made unbearably loud in the heavy silence of the room, she made to walk towards them and they dropped lower in their stances in reaction—the men raising their blades higher and Hinata dropping into the Gentle Fist.

Sakura paused, looking stricken, and while Naruto was very much confused and slightly afraid, it hurt to see that expression on her face. Viridian eyes met his own and whatever she saw there made her face crumble.

He was wary and distrustful of her, if only for his family's sake. It hurt.

"Guys," she said in a small voice, though dense with conviction, "I'm not going to hurt you—I would never hurt any of you."

Then she turned her eyes to him, begging him without words to believe her when she said: "I love Konoha. I would never do anything to hurt this village."

Up until that moment, they had been suspended in fear and shock, and it was by Sasuke's cold manner of brushing off his own discomfort that they were able to collect their professionalism and steel as shinobi to face the unknown.

"Explain." The Uchiha's voice was sharp enough to make Sakura flinch, and Naruto bit back a reprimand. Now wasn't the time to revert back to Sakura's Number One Fan. He was the Hokage.

Naruto stepped forward, all eyes turning to him as he drew himself up to his full height. Calling for a few Kage Bunshin, he ordered them to slap silencing seals all around the apartment and it was the work of a few seconds to get them up.

And then he turned to Sakura, who still stared at Ino—who Sai had quickly rushed to—uncertainly.

"Explain."

Taking a deep breath as if drawing from a well of strength deep within her, Sakura opened her mouth and began to speak as if it physically pained her to do so.

"It all started 9 months ago." Sakura started in a small voice. "When I was captured by Kabuto. He turned me into this—this thing and…please, believe me when I say that I'm still me but—"

She looked up at them with such heart wrenching fear and sorrow, tears brimming her eyes, before she squared her shoulders and blurted out the words that would tilt Naruto's—and everyone else's—world on its axis.

"I'm dead."

Hinata gasped from beside him and Ino whimpered from the protection of Sai's arms, but he was deaf to it all as his vision tunneled. All he could hear was the rush of his own blood as the pieces fell together to complete the mystery of what had plagued Sakura for the last 9 months.

It all made sense—the pale and cold skin, the lack of blood from her wounds, the way her body seemed to wither away before their very eyes—but how, how was she standing before them if she was—if she was dead?

He must have spoken aloud because she continued on, words tumbling from her lips desperately.

"He injected me with a virus that killed me and then brought me back." Sakura said, making herself as non-threatening as possible by keeping her bloody palms open and facing towards them.

"And its side effects are—," she swallowed and her lips trembled, "Its side effects are what you just saw and—and the—"

Sakura's eyes rolled heavenward as her voice broke before she met Naruto's own blue eyes.

"I'm the one who's been taking human organs from the morgue," She said and Naruto barely registered the shaking of his own head as his eyes widened in shock and horror because he knew, he knew what she was going to say next but still he was not prepared when she did:

"Because that is what I need to eat to stay me."

His wife and Ino gagged while both Sasuke and Sai turned away in disgust. But Naruto, and only Naruto, had not taken his eyes off of Sakura—Sakura whose expression looked agonized as tears rolled down her cheeks.

She curled in on herself, looking not like the strong legend he knew she had become but more like the little girl she used to be. She clutched her hands to her chest, twisting the torn fabric that laid over her heart.

"And I've tried to end it," She sobbed, head shaking slowly. "I've tried to do the honorable thing and finish what Orochimaru and Kabuto started, but I can'tI can't die."

"I've tried everything," she gasped, voice thick with tears, "But how can you kill something that's already dead?

"Orochimaru was trying to find the secret to immortality, but this—having to eat people to keep from turning into a monster—isn't worth it!" She cried, pulling at her hair.

Naruto felt sick. So very sick and horrified as everything he knew about the world came tumbling down.

Sakura was a zombie.

Sakura was a zombie.

Sakura was a zombie!

Everything made fucking sense and it killed him.

Sakura gestured towards the corpse on the ground. "And now, now I know that there's more of them out there, and he—I-I turned him. I infected him. He was like me."

Everyone took a step back in alarm, Hinata curling her arms around her belly protectively and Sasuke stepping in front of her.

"You're infectious?!" Sai asked, pushing Ino behind him.

"No!" Sakura cried, shaking her head. "I'm not! I'm careful!"

Simultaneously, everyone's eyes cut pointedly to the dead man on the floor and Sakura winced even as she said, "He did that to himself!"

Naruto didn't feel comforted by that statement, and he could tell that the others hadn't been either. He tried very hard not to judge her, for he had been feared and loathed at one point, too. But this, this was different. This was grotesque and terrible and the stuff of nightmares.

He didn't know what to do.

On the one hand, they were shinobi and they had seen horrible things before. They had heard of Zetsu and Hidan and were familiar with carnage. But this was too close to home and yet completely unfamiliar.

Edo Tensei mobilized the dead, but Naruto thought he would remember if Old Man Hokage and his father had a sudden desire to feast on human flesh.

He raked an agitated hand through his messy blonde hair. He needed to make a decision as the Hokage and not let his feelings for Sakura get in the way because, the fact of the matter was, Sakura was dangerous.

And not in the way shinobi and kunoichi endeavored to be. Sakura was dangerous in the way that demanded she be put down. Like a rabid dog.

And Naruto had no doubt in his mind that if the elders found out about this, they would try to do just that. She'd have every Hunter squad in the entirety of Fire Country trying to kill her.

He could not allow that to happen. Despite everything, she was still Sakura—she was still one of his precious people. And though they had lost touch, she was still one of his best friends.

She could not stay in Konoha, though he could not bear to see her go.

Team 7 had already been through so much; it really wasn't fair.

Turning to Ino and Sai, Naruto ordered them to go to the hospital to get her head wound looked at.

"I trust you know that what was said is not to leave this room." He said, blue eyes grave.

The couple nodded solemnly and Naruto trusted them. He knew they loved Sakura in their own way, he knew they were just as shaken as he. But they needed time. Sai looked at Sakura, at the way she trembled and silently cried, and averted his gaze in discomfort.

Ino casted one last mournful look over her shoulder at Sakura as Sai led her away, and Naruto noted the slight tremors in her hands. He would not be surprised if she had nightmares for the next few nights to come.

The door shut behind them solidly, leaving behind an echoing silence that crawled up his throat and made him light headed.

His eyes cut to Hinata with the intention of telling her to go home, but the steely resolve in the depths of her lavender gaze stayed his tongue. She thought Sakura was a threat to his safety, and that, that really stung.

She must know that Sakura would never willingly hurt him, and he thought that Hinata and Sakura had been good friends. After all, Sakura was the one who had pushed him towards her.

He supposed that when one became a mother, their instincts in the face of danger was to protect their family. He could not begrudge her that.

To Sakura, who still stood before them in such blatant misery it tugged at him, he said, "Go clean yourself up, I'll seal up the corpse, and when you get back we'll discuss the next course of action."

Sakura nodded mutely, lips pulled tight into a thin line as she turned to make her way to her bathroom. Sasuke followed behind her silently, a looming presence that somehow made her seem frail and insignificant.

As soon as she was out of his sight, Naruto dropped into a crouch to cradle his head in the palms in his hands and let out a low, drawn out curse. Dragging a palm down his face and swiping his bandaged thumb over his lip in a rare anxious tell, he considered the corpse a few paces away.

He didn't want to touch it, but he didn't want to call the Biological HAZMAT unit either.

A warm palm landed on his shoulder and he started, having forgotten that Hinata was there.

"Naruto-kun," She said simply, "You must get rid of it."

He nodded. "I know. But I can't burn it, she might need it for research."

Hinata's fingers curled minutely into the fabric of his cloak before relaxing and she asked, "You believe she is conducting research?"

Naruto blinked up at her in surprise. "Of course. I know Sakura-chan. If it's a virus, I know she'd be searching for a cure."

His wife hummed, lashes lowering and lips puckering into a familiar expression that always lead to a statement she knew he'd disagree with. But she held her tongue and Naruto took the opportunity to stand and call upon two clones to seal up the body.

As they worked, hands covered in gloves they'd found in the kitchen, Naruto turned to Hinata.

"What were you going to say?"

Her lips thinned and she averted her gaze as she removed her hand from his person. "You know she can't stay in the village."

She said it so simply, so matter of fact as if it were already set in stone, that it took him completely aback. Hinata must have seen something in his face because she turned fully to him, something like pity in her eyes.

"You can't really be thinking of letting her stay," she said, as if talking to a child who brought home a stray puppy. "Sakura-san is my friend, but she's a danger to us all."

And he knows that, but he doesn't want to believe it because deep down he wasn't going to make her leave, he really wasn't.

He didn't even have to search deep within himself to know what he was going to do next: he was going to hide her away and devote all his time and resources into helping her. He was going to drop everything for her.

Because while he'd do anything for his precious people, he'd move mountains for Sakura.

That was just what Naruto did.

And it was like something clicked; like it must have clicked for Sasuke when he followed Sakura to the bathroom, like it must have for Sai when he couldn't bear to see her cry.

Sakura had always had the men of Team 7 wrapped around her fingers—and she must have known it all along.

It felt like gears were grinding perfectly into place in his head as everything began to make sense, and for one inexplicable moment, Naruto wanted to cry.

Because Sakura always brought out the little boy in him who would lay down his life for her if only she'd ask. She'd always known what to say to get her way and a part of him resented her for it but could never hate her, because that was just how she tried to protect her loved ones.

And he understood.

He was no stranger to love, especially not in the last decade, but this—this was different. This wasn't hunger or a craving for ramen, this wasn't some juvenile excuse to stop pursuing someone, this was self-sacrifice and manipulation and something embedded so deeply into his marrow he couldn't possibly ever be rid of it.

And it all dawned on him; it dawned on him that Sakura had subtly manipulated him into Hinata's arms to protect him from the pain of when she inevitably chose Sasuke. She pushed him towards someone who loved him unconditionally, who had and would always love him, and he was grateful.

Because he loved Hinata, he did. He truly loved her.

Hinata was his moon, she was his comfort and solace. She was his wife and the mother of his unborn child. She was lazy Sunday mornings under white sheets and perfectly made ramen without asking. Hinata made him feel capable, comfortable in his own skin and happy. She supported him, nurtured him, always believed in him even when he didn't deserve it. She held him as he cried and was patient with his quirks. He loved her; she was a part of him.

But Sakura—Sakura was different. She was his sun. She was the stars and earth beneath his feet—had always been the thing that grounded him. She was tightly held hands in the bunkers at the front lines of the war, lips whispering reassurances against his hair as she healed Kurama's burns, tears dripping from her eyes onto his face to mingle with his own. Sakura was shared pain and longing and hardship. She made him feel strong when expectations became too heavy, made him want to be better. He'd made promises to her that he knew he couldn't keep; had risked his life just to make her happy. All for her.

Sakura had been the one to teach him that love is selfish when being selfless, had been the one to hold his heart in her hand to keep him alive for 5 minutes and 43 seconds. For 5 minutes and 43 seconds, she had been his blood and the air he breathed—and the Earth could tilt and flatten and that would never change. He loved her; she was everything.

He was going to let her stay.

And it's so simple for him to look at Hinata and say, "But it's Sakura-chan," innocently. As if with just the inflection of her name he hadn't just told his wife he still loved another woman. As if the words that hung unspoken between them weren't strung together in poetry for someone who wasn't her.

Naruto watched the way his wife's eyes shuttered as she reared back from him, trembling hands curling into fists at her sides, and felt like the biggest scum of the earth. Deep down he knew that she always felt like she could not compete with his love for his teammates (and he wasn't sure anyone could compete with the way he and Sasuke loved Sakura, and each other) and this was not helping quell that festering insecurity.

Because he loved his wife, he loved his son, and he loved his village—but he was selfish. And sometimes love was selfish.

He reached out to her and she recoiled from his touch, eyes flinty and hard as she tossed her beautiful hair over her shoulder to look every bit the heiress of a proud and ancient clan Naruto knew she was.

"You are not a boy, anymore," she said, scathingly and unfamiliar to him in a way that made his eyes widen. "You are the Hokage and you are going to be a father. You cannot keep placing your feelings for your teammates over the safety of the village and your family."

Naruto stared at her, lips parted a little and stricken.

"But she's my—"

"I am your wife!"

She didn't shout it, but the quiet fury in her voice had the same effect. Hinata's eyes narrowed at him, hands he knew as well as his own curled tightly at her sides, and her voice was colder than he'd ever known it could be when she whispered,

"Choose."

And then she turned away from him, spine pulled taut with dignity even as her pregnant belly prevented her from walking as smoothly as she probably would have liked. Naruto could only watch passively as the moon of his life slammed the door in his face, and a single tear slid down his cheek.

He had already made his choice, and she knew.


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Sakura rushed towards the bathroom sink, all too aware of Sasuke following closely at her heels. Her skin itched with the desire to run away, like it was too small for her body, like she didn't fit.

She wanted this to be a horrible nightmare. She wanted to disappear. She wanted the ground to swallow her whole. She didn't want to be here. She wanted to die.

Wrenching open the cabinets under the sink, she groped around blindly for a washcloth. She found one, it was used to oil her weapons. She didn't care. Sakura held it under running water for a few seconds and then began to wipe furiously at the blood crusted along her face, neck, and shoulder with shaking hands.

She chanced a glance in the mirror and saw Sasuke standing in the doorway, looking for all the world like he belonged there, in her tiny white bathroom, and yet uncertain of where he belonged in her life.

Lowering the bloody rag, she braced herself on the edges of her sink heavily, head bowing and hair hanging limply to shield her face from his view.

"Please don't." She begged, lips trembling and knuckles blanching as she grounded herself with the feel of cold porcelain.

"Sakura—"

"I said please," her voice broke and she turned away from him, pressing the back of her hand to her quivering mouth.

She had been so careful to keep everything hidden, so meticulous with the way she conducted herself, and it had all come crashing down. She had been careless, had forgotten to tie up loose ends and look where it had gotten her.

Ino could barely stand to look at her without fear, Sai could barely stand to look at her at all, Hinata seemed repulsed, and even Sasuke looked as taken aback as he ever could.

But it was Naruto who had shaken her, who had made this real.

He had looked at her like she was a monster.

And that hurt most of all.

Her fate was in his hands now; she tried not to feel too bleak, but the anxiety that churned at her gut made her nauseous.

"Sakura," Sasuke tried again, stepping into her small bathroom and making it feel even smaller.

She ignored him. She knew him well enough to know that the nuances in his voice meant he was looking for answers she wasn't ready to give. She'd never be ready.

How could she? How could she explain to the man she'd loved for over a decade why she'd suddenly stopped? Could she lie?

She couldn't.

Because the truth was that she had never stopped loving him. She loved him then, and she loved him now. She loved him as he hovered over her uncertainly, as he took up the space that was hers and made it his.

But he was not hers. And he would never be hers because he was Karin's.

She wanted to laugh. If he caught wind of her thoughts, she'd sure he'd be upset—Sasuke didn't take well to being owned by anyone. But that was the truth of it; Sasuke was not hers and yet she was his.

Gods, she hated this. This sucked.

This tentative way in which they stood in each other's space, unwilling to yield or bend to the years of longing and pain and love and tenderness that made them Sasuke and Sakura.

All that history, and yet here they stood with nothing in the present.

She heard the front door slam shut and she wondered what Naruto had done to upset Hinata. Tensions were high enough to make her ribs feel too small for her lungs and suddenly, she needed to do something—anything.

Sakura picked up the rag from where she had thrown it in the sink and held it under running water once more.

She ignored Sasuke's presence at her back as she focused on breathing and wiping. Breathe and wipe. In and out, rinse and repeat.

It wasn't until Sasuke laid a tentative hand on her own that she snapped out of the trance she had unknowingly placed herself in. Her eyes darted to the mirror—her skin was clean. Sasuke was beside her.

"Sakura," he said again, but this time she was silent. "Is that why…"

She turned her head to him in a moment of pique, angry that there was a trace of pity in his voice; but when her eyes landed on his face, her vitriolic feelings dissolved into that of quiet melancholy. Sasuke's face was the most open she had ever seen it.

He looked confused and somewhat hurt, fine lips slightly parted, dark eyes searching for answers in the contours of her face, silently imploring her to answer that one simple question that must have plagued him for months.

Sakura understood then. She understood why he needed Karin, why he couldn't wait for her. Because she would always understand him, even when he didn't say anything. He didn't need to—because she was Sakura and he was Sasuke, and that was that.

She licked her lips and said, so quietly he had to strain to hear her, "Yes, that is why."

And because he was Sasuke and she was Sakura, he understood her—and that was that.


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While she didn't feel any better, it felt like the air between her and Sasuke had cleared up a little. Even if she still felt like she had been emotionally hung and quartered, it felt different—it felt like closure.

He followed her to the living room and Sakura noted the conspicuous absence of a zombie corpse. Naruto stood in the center of her destroyed living room, looking imposing in his Fire Shadow cloak even as he rubbed at his neck in what she knew to be distress.

She was suddenly so very nervous.

Wringing her hands in front of her, Sakura called his name, "Naruto?"

He turned towards her, and the look in his eye was so sad it made something thick settle painfully at the base of her throat. He placed a scroll on her coffee table who somehow survived the earlier fight, and took a step towards them.

"Sakura-chan," he said softly, voice lilting in that way it did when he was so very disappointed, "Why didn't you tell me?"

And just like that, it was like a dam exploded and all of the stormy emotions she had held tight within her for the last 9 months hit her with such force her legs could barely hold her weight.

Naruto started in alarm as she crumpled to her knees, hands lifting to her face in panic to stop the uncontrollable sobs that kept spilling from her lips. Abstractedly, she knew she was having a panic attack and a mental break down all in one. But, if she were being honest, it had been long overdue.

She tried to tell them, she did, but every time she opened her mouth, her tongue felt thick with tears and sobs and all she could do was weep. Distantly, she felt someone's hand rub soothing circles along her back; and the thought that they would still willingly touch her despite knowing what she was made her cry harder.

After a few moments, she had gathered herself well enough to start speaking and she told them everything.

"How could I tell you?" She cried. "I'm a monster. You don't know what I have to do to stay me!"

And yet, she told them anyway. Because hearing about it was nothing compared to living it. By the end of it, Naruto looked slightly green along the edges but so damn pitying it made her cry again. She didn't want to be angry anymore—she was so tired.

It took her a moment to realize that it was Sasuke who was still rubbing circles along her back and she leaned into the small comfort. She told them how Kabuto had many other experiments, how she had spent the last few months searching for a cure, how she had finally made a breakthrough and found something of substance. She told them how, on her next mission, she was heading to find another Sound base to look for more data and then gathering materials to come back and conduct experiments.

But then Naruto's face twisted into a grimace and dread settled like a lead weight in her belly. Tension coiled along her shoulders as he stood from where he had knelt beside her during her fit, watching as he raked his hands through his hair and then rubbed at his throat.

"Sakura," he said, and he wasn't speaking to her as her best friend but as the Hokage and even though she knew it was coming, it still came as a shock when he said, "Sakura, I'm sorry, but you can't stay in the village."

She knew it was coming and she still got angry, still felt hurt and betrayed even though, logically, she'd have done the same thing.

Her lips curled into a sneer as she stood slowly. "So, you're exiling me?"

"No!" Naruto cried, shaking his head, eyes wide, "I'm just sending you on a long-term mission to find the cure, that's all!"

He crossed the distance between them in two large strides, his hands hovering over her shoulders hesitantly before coming down on them gently. His hands were warm against her cold, cold skin and she felt him shudder but keep them there.

Naruto stooped to look her in the eyes; the striking intensity in the depths of his gaze rooting her to the spot. She knew that look: it was the one that made her believe he could do anything—that she could do anything. There was something else in the ocean of his eyes, too—something raw and pure and warm—that she only ever saw directed at her and it left her speechless.

"You're going to come back with the cure," he said, full of conviction, "And when you do, we'll be right where you left us."

He pulled back with a grin, all sunshine and open skies. "And then you can pick up from where you left off!"

Sakura's eyes unintentionally slid over to look at Sasuke and Naruto hurried to correct himself, "Or you can start somewhere new! New beginnings!"

And all of a sudden, the part of her that was every bit irrationally petulant reared its ugly head like a spoiled child.

"But why?!" Sakura cried, brow furrowing in anger, "Why can't I do that here?! I have a life here! Why would you make me leave? Why—"

"Dammit, Sakura!" Naruto swore, his voice breaking in distress. "I am trying to protect you!"

He pushed away from her, leaving her silent, as he paced furiously around the room, kicking things over, cursing violently, and she startled when he suddenly turned back to her.

"Do you know," he started feverishly, crossing the distance between them, "Do you know what the villagers and the elders would do if they found out about this? Do you know what they'd do to you?"

He laughed humorlessly and it was such an ugly sound that Sakura physically recoiled from it.

"They'd have me imprison you or execute you. Or they'd demand I use you as a weapon, keep you chained up like an animal to study and let loose whenever they needed someone dead. To them, you'd stop being a person."

Sasuke was as silent as ever from beside her, but she could feel his chakra reacting violently to Naruto's words. Even she was discomfited.

Because he was right—they would try to kill her or make her wish they did.

Naruto breathed deeply, closing his eyes as if searching for inner peace, and when he opened them again they were as calm as still waters.

"Officially, I am going to send you on an indefinite long-term mission of a medical nature," he said evenly. "I'm going to ask Suna to grant you asylum because Gaara owes me a favor and I know he likes you."

"And Sakura," He nudged her chin so that she'd look him in the eyes, "I'm doing this to keep you as safe as I can."

He swept his arm behind him, to her shuttered balcony that overlooked the village. "People fear what they don't understand and I'm going to try my damned hardest to make sure they don't see you as anything but Haruno Sakura: the best medic in the world and the most powerful kunoichi of this generation. I swear it."

He grinned at her, one of those big sunshine Naruto grins that made her feel like everything was going to be alright even if it wasn't, and pulled her and Sasuke into a hug.

"It's a promise of a lifetime."


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The next morning, after her teammates helped her seal everything she'd need into a few scrolls, she felt as ready to leave as she ever could. Which was not at all, if she were being honest.

She hadn't seen Ino after the incident. She stopped by last night to say goodbye, but Sai had said that the blonde hadn't wanted to see her. It hurt something fierce. Her only comfort was that Sai didn't seem to be as repulsed by her as he was the night before—he must have compartmentalized it with other things that were hard to understand and just accepted it for what it was. He gave her a hug and wished her well on her mission.

So, Sakura made her rounds and said goodbye to all of those who were important to her, promising that she'd write to those who really wanted her to, and she tried not to feel sad and apprehensive as she stood at the gates of what had once been her home—what was still home. She didn't know when she'd see it again, or if at all.

Sasuke stood at her side, he'd be traveling with her until they reached the border of Fire Country where he'd break off to go to Earth and she to Wind. After that, she'd be on her own.

While she wanted to be optimistic and believe that this mission would take a few months, she knew that this was a journey of years. She could be back in as little as two, or as long as ten years—she didn't have a definite answer.

Her first step was to go to Suna. Naruto revealed to her last night that Suna had found another one of Sound's bases and Gaara had been helpful as of late, so she was to go there first.

A few friends had gathered to see them off and Sakura noted sadly that Ino wasn't among them. She just wished she could have said something before she left—explained herself, given her the notes she'd taken, begged for her forgiveness, anything.

But life wasn't fair and despite lingering for a half hour after their set departure time in hopes that her blonde best friend would appear, she did not show.

Sakura left with a heavy heart - Konoha and Naruto at her back - and travelled with Sasuke in silence until they reached where the decided to part ways. She smiled at him gently, at ease with the knowledge that he was travelling back to be with his family, and turned to go on her way when he suddenly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to him.

His one arm wrapped around her tightly and she wrapped her own arms around him in return, taking in the feel of him. She memorized the feel of hard muscle and the scent of wood and ozone, relishing in what she knew would be her last chance to ever be this close to him again.

"Be safe," he rumbled into her hair. "Fix this annoying mess."

Sakura laughed as he released her and felt nostalgic when he turned and walked away from her. Why is it that Sasuke always seemed to be walking away from her? Just like all the others, it's the last memory she'll have of him for a while.

A few moments later, she was completely alone beneath the heavy canopy of Fire Country trees. Birdsong filled the air even as it felt heavy with the promise of rain, small forest critters running along the expansive branches. The warm, summer breeze caressed her cheeks as she turned in the direction of Suna. Looking out in the distance, seeing nothing but trees for miles, she almost felt a little overwhelmed. But this was her life now and if she wanted to return to her old one, she needed to venture into the unknown to get it back. All her time, all her resources and effort would be spent on finding and developing a cure.

Who was it that said: "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step?"

Inhaling deeply and with a breath, Sakura took the first step of many.

.

.

tbc


Ending A/N: Alright, friends! I wrote over 11k words last night between last chapter and this one, so it'll be a while before I update again, unfortunately.

My favorite part of this chapter is Naruto unwittingly revealing to Hinata his still present feelings for Sakura. I just really liked the way that came together, haha. I know it may seem cruel, but I deeply believe that the love he had for Sakura was too deep to just let go. Even if he had moved on. And everyone knows how centered Naruto is around his team. And yet, in this chapter, he chose Hinata. I think that shows a level of maturity.

In my mind, "Have You Ever See The Rain" starts playing as Sakura's watching Sasuke walk away from her and then as she contemplates the trees in the distance. It's fitting because there's a storm brewing overhead, but she's optimistic that there are sunny days ahead.

I noted that a few of you were concerned with romance in this story. Don't worry, just like every other novel, there'll be a semblance of it, but it won't be the main focus. This fic is mainly about character development and adventure. I also haven't decided on who Sakura would be romancing, yet.

I want to keep this fic flowing in the same tone as The Last of Us. I really want to emulate that sort of development.

What do you guys think of the pace? Any suggestions? I love interacting with you all!

I'm also trying very, very hard to keep Sakura in character and not a Mary-Sue. Yes, she thinks she can't die; but that's because she hasn't tried blowing up her own head. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss and totally dramatic.

What's your favorite part of this chapter? What moments made you feel something?

Till next time, and as always, thanks for reading!