A/N: you know, I am really starting to grow on the whole NaruSaku pairing. I used to see them as just best friends but now... i dont know. I may have to do some planning for another multi-chapter fic with these two? Perhaps? Anyway, this story is dedicated to lilmissshortie1. Thank you for your compliment about my writing and saying i am not like other authors who sometimes tend to get cocky. it meant very much to me and my fics! =D

Pairing: Naruto and Sakura

Song: Famous Last Words- My Chemical Romance

Rating: M

Now I know that I can't make you stay. But where's your heart? Where's your heart? And I know there's nothing I can say to change that part.

Naruto remembered that day like a bad reoccurring nightmare. In fact, it was his reoccurring nightmare. The day she had left. Left Konoha. Left her home.

Left him.

She had given up. She had given up on everything after that war. Her and Naruto were the only ones that had managed to survive, as far as their knowledge, besides Hinata, Shikamaru and Shino. Everyone else was gone. For a while, her loved ones dying had spurred her on to become stronger, to hold her own in a war with the most legendary shinobi of their time. And she had. She was the strongest kunoichi alive besides her mentor, Tsunade.

However, with the death of Sasuke at Naruto's hands, she had started to lose face. She had supposedly given up on the hope of ever bringing Sasuke back. But now with the last Uchiha dead, all hope was really lost for good and it was beyond her control.

The deaths that really took a toll on her though were those of her teammates. Sai was killed by Konan, and Kakashi and Yamato by Kisame only after they had used all their chakra to aid Naruto in killing Madara.

The war ended, and they had won. But the cost of victory had been too much for Sakura, and he saw the pain etched into every feature of her beautiful face. She continued her shifts at the hospital, healing all those that had been victims of war, but she had stopped training. Stopped living. She was the walking dead. The ghost that carried all the pain and heartache and loss that had come from the war. The epitome of how war kills spirit. Hers was gone.

He had tried to bring it back. Give her some of his spirit. He just wanted to see her smile again. To see those jade eyes sparkle once more. He wanted to see Sakura. Not this shell that the war had left behind.

That day, he had caught her when she was on her way out of the village. She was leaving. She had received permission from the newly appointed Hokage- some ANBU survivor- to retire from her shinobi status and leave the village. She needed to escape the memories, and by staying in the village, all she was doing was relieving them.

Still, he had tried to stop her.

To stop her from leaving.

Stop her from leaving him.

"I have to go, Naruto." Her voice was monotone, and empty. Barely an echo of the beautiful voice he had once looked forward to hearing everyday.

"Please Sakura," he begged, hating the way her eyes were not on him, but on the gates of Konoha, her whole body waiting to escape his pleading eyes and just run. "Don't leave. Please Sakura, don't leave me."

Sakura had flinched, as if recalling another painful memory. He did not realize that she was reliving the night Sasuke had left. Except this time, she was in the Uchiha's place, and Naruto was in hers.

"No Naruto. This is something I need."

"Then let me come with you! I can help you, Sakura. I've always been there." Sakura shook her slightly.

"No."

So many bright lights, they cast a shadow. But can I speak? Well is it hard understanding? I'm incomplete. A life that's so demanding, I get so weak. A love that's so demanding, I can't speak.

Naruto hadn't understood. Then again, she hadn't tried to explain to him. But how could she? Naruto had always been the strong one. He had always been ok and always would be ok. She wasn't like him. She couldn't watch the people she loved die and somehow find the strength to wake up in the morning.

She felt like they were following her. The spirits of her friends that had died, and the spirits of the war victims- shinobi and civilian alike- that she had not been able to save. They all wandered the streets of Konoha with her, staring over her shoulder as she tried to go about her daily life.

She needed out, and Naruto would not save her this time. She wouldn't let him.

She had not seen her blonde best friend in over a year, maybe two. Every once in a while she would wonder if she would ever see him again, and ignore the pain in her chest that always seem to occur when she thought him.

I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone.

She wondered from village to village, working as a medic and sleeping at inns. But no matter where she went, there was always evidence of war. Newly built graveyards, burnt remains of houses and craters found in the middle of the town. She couldn't escape it, and with every passing village, more ghosts joined the parade that followed her.

Despite this she never stopped moving. She had numbed herself to the fear. Numbed herself to the pain. Maybe she wasn't really living, but she was alive. And if she had to be alive, then she would not allow herself to feel the pain.

She no longer believed she could survive it.

She was alone.

Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven. Nothing you can say can stop me going home.

Naruto blamed himself. How could he not? He had not been able to help her. Had not been able to heal the one person left that still mattered to him.

Every day he would come to this spot. The place where Team 7 used to meet on the bridge. Of course now the bridge was gone. Blown up during the war. So he would sit on the river banks, waiting to see that spot of pink coming home to him.

He buried his face in his hands.

"Come back to me Sakura-chan. Please come back."

Can you see? My eyes are shining bright. 'Cause I'm out here on the other side of a jet black hotel mirror. And I'm so weak. Is it hard understanding? I'm incomplete. A love that's so demanding, I get weak.

Sakura stood in front of the mirror of her hotel room, her hand clenched around a crumpled photograph. She had thought she had left the damned thing back in Konoha a few years back. Apparently not. She had found it, buried all the way in the bottom of her pack with her long forgotten kunai.

She held the picture up to her face, examining it carefully. Her eyes did not stray once to the black haired boy on the right side of her younger self. No, almost immediately her eyes went to the blonde haired boy on her right.

"Naruto." She allowed the name to fall from her lips, no louder than a whisper.

Naruto. He had always been there for her. Always protected her. Always kept her safe. He had provided her a comforting, safe place to run to when she was scared or lonely.

She looked at her twelve year old self in the picture, the way she smiled like not a thing could go wrong. The way her eyes shone bright enough to make anyone's day. Her hair was longer then. She looked happy.

Looking up, Sakura gazed into the reflection of her present self.

Skinny. She hardly ate anymore. Dark circles under her eyes betraying years of sleepless nights. She hadn't done a thing with her hair in who knew how long, and it hung dull and lanky around her shoulders. Her eyes were dead, her face emotionless.

What had she become?

She needed to go back. She needed to go back to Naruto.

A new determination in her, she packed her stuff, and walked out of the hotel room. Leaving the mirror and it's revelations behind.

Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven. Nothing you can say can stop me going home.

His eyes were betraying him. They had to be. It was some horrible trick of the light. There was no way that she was there. No way that she was walking towards him. No way that she stood in front of him. No way that she had just spoken his name in a voice that was more like her old self's.

No. She could not be here.

But she was.

Without waiting to hear her apologies, he grabbed her, pulling her towards him as he sealed his mouth to hers. Never would he let her go. Never again.

These bright lights have always blinded me.

Everything was like a dream. How long had he imagined this? Since he was twelve? The feel of her body under his. Her soft legs wrapped around his waist as he connected their bodies, making her feel exactly what she meant to him. Showing her how much he missed her. How much he needed her.

They spent hours in that bed. Sakura relished in the smell of him. That comforting smell that brought her back to countless nights sleeping in his bed, crying into his chest as she confessed all her fears and insecurities. She cried now. But it was not in sadness. She was overwhelmed by what she was feeling. The ghosts were gone. The sorrow and guilt and loss were nothing but a slight ebbing in the corner of her newly opened heart. She was not just alive, but she was living again. She was in the arms of the man who had loved her all her life. The man who protected her. And as he repeatedly brought her over the edge that night, she realized she never should have left. She belonged right here. With this man. He would heal her.

He would complete her.

These bright lights have always blinded me, I say. I see you lying next to me.

She looked at peace. It was a look he had not seen on her face even in the months leading up to her departure from his life. Now she was back, in his bed, curled against his chest. He knew she belonged there. And he belonged right here, with his arms around her. Holding her to him. Keeping her safe.

With words I thought I'd never speak. Awake and unafraid. Asleep or dead.

She had told him she loved him last night. In the midst of their lovemaking, she had said the words he thought he would never hear. "I love you Naruto."

His heart had beat and his smile had reached his eyes. His cherry blossom was back, and she belonged to him.

No, that was not right. She didn't belong to him. He belonged to her.

I am not afraid to keep on living. I am not afraid to walk this world alone. Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven. Nothing you can say can stop me going home.

A/N: aww, i love a happy ending. Don't you?

-HeartOfEmerald