Fish Bird (魚鳥）

Chapter Twenty-One: Iris

"When did you know," Sakura asked smiling, "that I'd let you take me out on a date?"

The kitsune grinned at her, swirling his mystery meat stew around and around his bowl, "Oh I just knew," he said enigmatically, and then laughed at her disbelieving expression, "but it was mostly because Ino told me that you wanted me to ask you."

Sakura flushed furiously, "Oh honestly, that girl can never keep her big mouth shut!"

"Well I'm glad she can't," he responded mouth full of hot potato and stewed carrots, "because I would have never worked up the courage otherwise. You were so out of my league…you still are!"

"Naruto," Sakura said gently looking down at her feet, "you're going to be the next Hokage, everyone can feel it, stop saying that I'm out of your league, it's me that was never in your league. Sometimes I remember all the horrible things I said to you when we were small, all those stupid comments, I was afraid to stand out and be different I think, afraid to like you because it was an unpopular decision. My god," she puffed blowing pink strands of hair out of her beautiful green eyes, "what an idiot I was. I always noticed you Naruto, always."

Naruto didn't respond for a while, he seemed entranced with the residue of the stew left in the bowl, swirling the dregs so that the last remaining drops of gravy made crisscrossing patterns against the wooden bowl.

"I'm sorry Sakura," he said finally in a voice that was only a little above a murmur, "I'm sorry for all of this. For everything getting so complicated. For…" He paused uncomfortably and in the dim light she found his hand and finished the sentence for him: "Sasuke."

They didn't need anymore words as they looked at each other, fingers interlaced and feet touching, their bodies perfectly parallel to each other. She felt as if they were one person, their atoms closely bound together as that it was impossible to tell where she ended and he began. If these were her last moments on earth she would be happy, content to die in his arms, to die with him, knowing that he would always protect her, even in death. It seemed strange to remember the days when they had been twelve, with their clumsy feet and awkward growing bodies. She had shunned his smiles, ignored his looks and had thrown the bunches of wild flowers he had picked for her into the bin.

Oh, if only she had a time machine, she could have changed so much and stopped herself from telling him such stupid things.

"I'll get you out of here I promise," he told her quietly, his mouth pressed against her head and hair as she leaned into him. "There is nothing I wouldn't do to protect you Sakura."

She squeezed his hand back, pressing her eyes tightly closed in order to stop the hot tears from swelling up and sliding down her face, she didn't think that there was much hope for them now. The truth was she expected this dark horrible place to be her tomb, a dark crypt infested by demons that would never let her leave. But she didn't tell him this, she just nodded, drawing his hands around her waist and he pulled her close to him, finding that him being so close seemed to drive her anxiety away like a light to a room fill with shadows.

This was how Kiba found them sleeping, some twenty minutes later, wrapped up in each other as if clinging onto to the other person for dear life. It seemed almost a shame to wake them.

Well almost, as with a roguish grin he wet his fingers with saliva and stuffed them into Naruto's ears, rotating them fiercely.

The chaos that ensued was only to be expected. Naruto shrieked throwing Sakura from his sleeping body as fists flew suddenly in all directions, one catching Kiba unsuspectingly on the chin so he went down into the flailing pile of limbs, hands and feet. The ensuing scuffle was marvelous as far as Kiba was concerned; Naruto tried his best to punch him squarely on the nose whilst Kiba had jammed his forearm into the space between Naruto's neck and clavicle before Sakura (emerging from God knows where) pulled the two of them apart by the scruff of their necks.

For a moment they stared at each other, puffing and panting, and then Naruto grinned a huge grin that seemed to encompass the whole of his body, laughing as he threw himself towards Kiba.

"You're alive, you're alive, you're alive!" he chanted like a sacred mantra, hugging Kiba so hard he was in danger of suffocating him.

"I think so," Kiba told him roughly through his grinning teeth, winking at Sakura whom looked like she was trying very hard not to cry, "you didn't think I'd go down and miss out on all the fun do you?"

"You almost died," Sakura choked out, throwing herself at him as Naruto released Kiba from the vice like grip, "is your heart ok? You're not having any difficulty breathing are you?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I promise. Don't fuss!" Kiba assured as he hugged Sakura back.

"But you were conscious and didn't seem to recognize us," she said worriedly, taking a step away from him and wiping her eyes on the back of her hand. "What changed?"

Kiba pursed his lips and tried to explain, "It was like waking up from a trance, a place where I could see all of you and hear all of you, but I lacked the ability to do anything. It was like I was made of stone…" his voice trailed off and he looked at their anxious faces, "But it's finished now, gone. But I have something important to tell you and everyone else, we have to leave, now."

Sakura bit her lip and frowned, "Why Kiba?"

"Those things that shot me," he told them, "they left an imprint of their consciousness inside me. It drove me mad, caused me to attack Neji, made me want to kill everyone I saw. It was like a voice talking to me in my head, screaming at me, telling me what to do and I couldn't resist it. But later, after I came to it was just a murmuring, muted, it couldn't tell me what to do anymore, it's influence over me was too weak, but I still had to listen to it."

"What did it say?" Naruto asked, his skin was paler than usual and he looked slightly afraid of what Kiba might say next.

"It wasn't speaking to me," Kiba told him softly, "it was speaking to everything else. All the demons here, it's…. I dunno, it's kin or something. Giving them instructions of where to go and what to do. It's massed the army and they are preparing to march," he looked desperately from Sakura's face to Naruto's. "We have to stop them or everything will be destroyed! There will be no Konoha to return to!"

"Yamato," Naruto said breathing rapidly, "Yamato was talking about bringing down the mountain," he turned desperately to Sakura as if she held all the answers. "If we could bring down the mountain, close all the shafts and tunnels we could trap them in here maybe, kill most of them!"

"Yes," she responded slowly licking her lips, "that might work."

Naruto turned round, taking Sakura's hand in his and motioned for Kiba to follow him, "Lets go find Shikamaru, we don't have much time."

Akamaru's breathing was heavy and low as Shikamaru sat pouring over the old maps of the mining tunnels trying to figure out a plan. He didn't want to admit to anyone that he felt that the situation was hopeless, even though it was hopeless. He'd already let Kiba down, damn it if he was going to let anyone else down. Ino kept asking him if he was alright; to which he kept responding: of course, even though he wasn't, he was terrified, but he couldn't let anyone else realize that, even if he suspected that Ino already did. He had to pretend to be fearless for her…and the baby.

He frowned as he heard footsteps approaching, not wanting to be disturbed from his meditations. He opened his mouth the expel the words: I'm busy, when Akamaru rousing suddenly from his deep and rumbling sleep, threw himself to his feet, leapt over Shikamaru and hurled himself pell-mell into someone behind him. Someone that could only be…

"Kiba!"

Shikamaru yelled it rather than saying it, which surprised even himself as he stood up the maps and scrolls rolling hither and thither across the floor, but he didn't care.

Akamaru was growling and whining, rubbing his huge head against his master's body, complaining that he had been left and that he had missed his master and that he had been worried! Whilst Naruto was laughing as usual, and Sakura was grinning watching the scene unfold with shining green eyes. Shikamaru didn't know what to say, or how to say it, or even what he was feeling.

He felt choked up, angry and relieved all at the same time! How dare Kiba make him worry so much, how dare he! It was almost too good to be true, and yet there was his best friend spinning around on the floor with his dog, laughing as if there was no tomorrow. He didn't know if he wanted to punch his skull into his neck or embrace him.

"News of my demise has been greatly exaggerated!" Kiba told him happily from the floor, and then he grinned at Naruto who laughed.

"How long have you been wanting to say that line for?" he joked.

"Forever," Kiba responded leaping to his feet and brushing his knees clear of dirt, he looked round at Shikamaru who's face had gone an ugly purple colour and seemed for once totally speechless.

"Come on Maru," Kiba said regarding him with great disappointment, "Say something, you don't even look remotely pleased to see me!"

"I…" but Shikamaru Nara seemed unable to process words, he blinked at Kiba as if he were something out of a dream, "It was my fault that you…"

"We need to get Yamato and Sai," Sakura announced loudly, grabbing Naruto's wrist and hauling him away from them.

"We do?" Naruto asked puzzled, "But we just sent word round for them to meet us here."

She ignored him, muttered something about idiots under her breath and dragged him off so they could no longer see or hear them.

Kiba waited a moment after they were gone, before speaking gently. "Don't be silly Maru, it wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was. I sent you and Neji out into untold danger, I was being stupid and lazy, I should have checked, I should have realized! I was irresponsible as team leader, I was…" he swallowed, "I was an irresponsible friend. You could have died… I'm so sorry."

Kiba looked down at his chest and flexed his pectoral muscles, he could feel the sharp sting of his ribcage complaining and a dull ache from the healed over wound just below his heart.

"When I became a ninja Shikamaru, I knew that there was a high risk of mortality. There's no amount of planning, or careful diagrams or schematics that will prevent a person from coming to harm a hundred percent of the time. It's just not possible. Sometimes things happen and it's no ones fault, it wasn't your fault that they got me. I was stupid, I panicked and I wasn't fast enough."

He raised his gaze and looked Shikamaru full in the face, "If it hadn't been for all of you, I would have died or worse, become one of them. So thank you for not giving up on me."

He held out his hand for Shikamaru to shake. Shikamaru stared at it for a moment as if it were something completely alien, then he shook his head briefly, murmured something inaudible and pushed Kiba's hand away, so he could hug him. The grin on Kiba's face was monstrous as he squeezed Shikamaru's shoulders, determined to never let him live this moment down. His first Shikamaru initiated hug!

There were he thought, as Shikamaru pulled back somewhat embarrassed and overcome with emotions, something's that were worth almost dying for.

"You need to take the remaining survivors outside," Yamato was telling Sakura, "In order to stop yourself from becoming a weak target you'll need a heavy guard, I'll assign a large number of nin to you team, including Choji and Lee, I think that will be more than enough firepower to get you clear of these mountains. Meanwhile, someone is going to have to plant the bomb in a place where it will bring down the mountain and then get the hell out of there."

He steepled his fingers in front of his face, closing his eyes, "I'll be honest, it's probably going to be a suicide mission, so I'll volunteer."

"Don't be ridiculous!" Naruto and Shikamaru said together.

"Their right," Sai interjected, "we need you outside where your powers will be more useful. Protecting everyone else."

"I'll go!" Shikamaru announced, standing up, "I've spent hours looking at the maps of the old tunnels, I should be the one to go."

"You can't go alone!" Naruto almost shouted, tripping over his feet in an effort it seemed to get up at the speed of light, "It'll take at least 3 of us to get down there deep enough with a chance of fighting our way back."

"Then you'll need a decoy!" said Kiba puffing out his chest proudly, "I'm the best decoy in the fire nation. I volunteer too."

"If you have Sasuke's eyes," Sakura said quietly, "you may be able to get through them."

"Sasuke won't be joining you." Someone said from behind. They all spun round eyes wide to see Neji, standing some distance away from them, just visible in the flickering firelight.

He was bruised, bumped and scraped with a bloody cut above his left eye. Hinata next to Kiba made a noise of alarm and concern and rushed to his side, he put his hands firmly over her as if he were embarrassed for her to touch him in public and they both coloured. Kiba's eyes narrowed slightly and Naruto and Shikamaru could both see a tinge of crimson rise in his cheeks.

"What happened?" Yamato asked sharply as a murmur of horror swept through them.

"Sasuke attacked me," Neji said simply, "he waited until my back was turned and then he struck. Stupid of me to let him get inside my blind spot."

"He has betrayed us then." Yamato said sadly, his eyes turning (as everyone's had done) to Naruto who looked chalky white from shock.

"I don't understand," the Kitsune said slowly, his heart squirming about in his ribcage and his stomach turning somersaults, "why now? Why wait till now to betray us? Why not kill Neji rather then letting him return back to us? It doesn't make sense."

"Whatever the reason," and Yamato's voice was firm, but not without pity, "It gives us even less time to mobilize. If we assume Sasuke has walked into the enemy's ranks willing or no, he may have given them valuable information on our numbers and location. We have to move, now!"

"I don't believe he's betrayed us!" Naruto snarled, he and Shikamaru standing head to head with each other, each one as furious as the other.

"And what's that based on?" Shikamaru snarled right back at him, "Logic?"

"The longer we stand here arguing about it," Kiba pointed out, looking warily from one friend to another, "the worse the situation becomes. Neji has agreed to be our eyes in Sasuke's place, we need to go."

Neither Naruto nor Shikamaru spoke for a long moment; they glared heatedly at each other before breaking away, Shikamaru with a disgusted grunt whilst Naruto 'maturely' stuck out his tongue.

"If you and Shikamaru go to meet Neji, Kiba I'll meet you there in a minute."

They both hesitated, looking at him warily as if they both expected him to do something stupid.

"I want talk to Sakura."

This wasn't strictly the truth, but it wasn't exactly a lie either. He did need to talk to Sakura, but he wanted to do something else first before it was too late.

He tore off in the direction of the sleeping quarters, edging his way past refugees being stewarded by the Nins into various groups so that all the survivors would hit the surface at the same time without leaving any stragglers to be picked upon.

He could feel the panic building up in his chest as bodies thundered past, the whole crowd picking up momentum as they gathered to leave. He wanted to leave too, to sprint to the outside world and keep on going and never look back. He licked his lips, closed his eyes and willed his heart to slow down; he needed all his wits about him now, not a blind panic. There was far too much at stake to let his feelings get the better of him.

After a few minutes of pushing his way through the masses of he finally saw what it was he had been searching for, the rucksack that Shikamaru had given to him before he and Sasuke had departed from Konoha. Surely if Sasuke were going to leave Naruto a message he would have left it in there!

With mounting excitement he pulled open the top to find… to find his socks piled untidily on top of a lot of dirty clothes. He wrinkled his nose with disgust and turned the bag upside down, tipping the contents onto the hard stone floor.

There was no note, no cryptic message, and no secret scroll of parchment. Nothing. Nadda. Zip.

Naruto blinked in disbelief; if Sasuke were going to leave… then surely he would have left him some sort of message, some trace of hope, some clue to where and why he was going. He wasn't just going to take off like that…again?

'And why shouldn't he?' the nasty little voice in his head asked him, 'What were you expecting, a sonnet? Face the facts, he's run off like he did last time. Like he always does and always will do. When will you learn? Shikamaru is right; he's playing you like a fool. Why do you keep falling for it?'

"I can't believe he'd do this to me, again." He muttered, feeling his stomach sink beyond hopelessness, he felt physically ill.

"After everything…" he leant forwards on his knees, his palms massaging his forehead as he tried to block everything that was Sasuke from his mind. His mouth, his kisses, his skin, his eyes, his touch, his voice….

"You're such an idiot!" he hissed, drawing his fists into curled up balls so his nails bit down savagely into his skin.

He'd never learn when it came to Sasuke, never. Even now he was half possessed by the burning mad desire to tear off after him, to hunt him down, to bring him back, to make him see sense.

"You can drag an Uchiha to water Naruto," he muttered angrily to himself.

It was then he saw it, glittering dimly in the flickering torchlight. The smooth curve of a solid gold band, with a blood red gem situated elegantly in the middle. The ring he'd given to Sasuke. The ring that Sasuke had taken smilingly and told him that he'd always come back. No, he hadn't told him… he'd promised. Blindly he reached out towards it, fumbling in his haste, it seemed to slip between his fingers as if it were part of a dream, an untouchable reality.

If Sasuke had given this back to him then it meant that he could no longer return, or that he would no longer return. Slowly, gingerly Naruto raised it to eyelevel, the gem gleamed bloody in the dim light like a bleeding wound and he was filled with the sudden and almost overwhelming desire to throw it as hard as he could down the nearest chasm.

Bloody-snake-bollock-camel-foot-humping-coward!

That's how he left? That's what he did? He gave him back the ring? He didn't even tell him why? Let him help?

"Fuck you Sasuke Uchiha," he growled, "I am not chasing after you again through the dark. I am done with this, I have had enough!"

He turned, as if to hurl the thing as far away from him as possible, but in mid motion his hand stopped. His body shuddered as his fingers clasped down tightly on the small jewel and he suppressed the urge to sob. He felt desperate, clinging onto the last fragments of a dying hope that was fluttering about desperately between his outstretched hands.

'They stood there for a moment, eyes closed breathing in, and out, like there was nothing more important in the world for them to do at that point. When Sasuke pulled away Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled something out looping it around a string before throwing it at Sasuke who caught it deftly, looking puzzled.

"It's a promise," Naruto said stubbornly, hands in pockets, his mouth upturned, mulish and apprehensive at the same.

"It's a promise, that after all of this is said and done, we're going to be alive at the end of this."'

"I'm not going to let her die," he snarled between gritted teeth, "she's not going to die for my stupid mistakes."

He had to find Sakura before it was too late; he got up, the ring still clutched in his sticky hands as he ran back to the gathering crowd. He had just made it in time he could see, the lead nin standing at the front of the crowd, lean, swift figures looking about them swathed in dark cloth, ready to make the first advances. At the back stood bulkier Nin, Choji among them, ready to defend the flanks from anything that rushed them at the back. Naruto gave Choji a nod as their eyes met, 'Don't die,' he mouthed as he moved urgently past, 'Or else!'

A little further on, moving more refugees out of the way with his shoulders he saw Lee and not knowing what else to do ran towards him, almost bouncing on his feet with impatience.

"Lee, have you seen Sakura?"

His friend smiled and then nodded, "She just went down there," he said pointing, then he stuck out his hand for Naruto to shake.

For a second, the blond paused. He felt guilty, as if the entire situation was his fault, this of course was not true, if anything the blame lay more with Sasuke then with anyone of them, but he felt as if he had willingly bought a traitor into their midst, and if anyone died it would be his fault.

"I…" he began but Lee cut him off.

"You didn't know," he was told firmly, "you trusted him. You thought you were doing the right thing."

Naruto's gaze met Lee's and found that his dark eyes held no trace of resentment or anger on them.

"Sometimes things happen, they snowball out of control and no-one can do anything but watch. You'll see my friend, no one could have done anything more, we will just have to wait out the storm together."

Naruto had a fleeting vision of Lee at the Chuunin exams fighting Gaara once again, the time Gai had intervened to save his life. He remember Kakashi-sensei calling Gai an idiot for willingly putting Lee in danger by teaching him all those techniques. To a certain extend it had been Gai's fault, but Naruto and Kakashi had known secretly, deep down that Gai had really had no other choice. To not teach Lee those moves would have, in itself, been an act of betrayal. Sometimes Naruto thought that actions were mixed up in fate, some things, no matter what were meant to happen, and always would do.

He and Sasuke were like this. Two fixed points in an ever-fluctuating universe, whatever happened they would always be drawn to each other. It was in their nature, perhaps their fate. Their destiny was as wrapped up in each other DNA, winding round and round into eternity.

It didn't make him feel better but it did to a certain extent make him feel less helpless.

"Thanks Lee," he murmured taking his hand, they smashed heads together in the invigorating fashion that Gai-sensei had shown them both, despite the fact that they both saw stars.

"Let the spirit of youth flow through us all!"

"Indeed!" Lee shouted at his retreating back.

He saw Shikamaru standing with Ino, his back towards the entrance of the tunnels that he, Kiba and Naruto would be disappearing into very shortly. Naruto had no idea what those two were saying to each other; even his sensitive hearing couldn't pick out the syllables, perhaps Shikamaru had done that on purpose because he caught Naruto's eye as he ran past them, with a distinct 'mind-your-own-damn-business' expression on his face.

He shouldered his way past Yamato, gave Sai a playful smack on the bum as he moved by and finally after what felt like hours found Sakura.

She was kneeling over a small sac, last minute preparations, provisions and weapon checks it always pays to be thorough. That was so very like Sakura Naruto thought. Always a hundred percent on exams, never missed a class, always early for school, that bright pink hair and those dazzling green eyes. He felt overwhelmed for a moment thinking of their past, and how they might not have a future now. He stood as if rooted to the spot, unsure of what he'd come to say, unsure of what he'd come to do.

She seemed to sense him staring at her because she turned round quickly and he could see the evidence from the way her eyes were slightly puffy and red that she had been crying. She looked surprised to see him, then relieved, then tremendously happy, and as if she was unaware she was moving, she threw herself fluidly into his arms.

"Please come back safe." she muttered into his collarbone, "Please come back. Please don't leave me Naruto. Please don't do anything stupid. Please, please don't go after him again. He's going to get you killed!"

He held her tightly; his fingers raking painfully into her back because he thought his heart might explode from emotion and he was shaking as he drew her face to his and kissed her.

"You have to promise me you'll live," it was hard not to become hysterical at this point, he felt as if he had lived this entire life just to reach this singular moment. "You have to promise me that if you can get out you will." He saw her begin to shake her head, her determination to save him from Sasuke, that terror in her eyes that he would be as foolhardy as he was when he was twelve and try to save him again.

"No, you promise me Sakura that you'll get out, even if it means leaving me behind - leaving everyone behind. You have to warn Konoha! They have to know! This… this 'army', it will decimate everything. They are completely unprepared! Everything you've seen, all the stories you've heard, all the horrors you've dreamed, times it by a thousand and that's what this war will be."

She was crying now, tears streaming down her face as she kissed him, "I know," she said and her voice was thick and heavy, "Naruto, I can't stand the thought of losing you. We've been through too much to lose everything now. I wish… I wish…" she blinked, her eyes a verdant intoxicating green, "we could run away together. Leave all of this… mess behind us, just you and me, we'll start over."

Naruto grinned as he felt her warm tears run down his face, she hiccupped and he held her close to him.

"Just you and me and our fisherman's cottage on the beach?" he murmured into her ear, "We'll go somewhere exotic."

"Just sea, sand and the palm trees," she said thickly, looking up at him with wet clumpy lashes, her nose red, "we'll get two dogs."

"One named Hello, the other Goodbye."

"It'll drive Shikamaru mad."

"We'll have a spare room for when Kiba comes to stay."

She grinned weakly, "So not just the two of us then, hmm?"

Naruto felt like he was burning up from the inside as he put both of his hands either side of her face and looked at her, there were so many thoughts, so many emotions he couldn't express. Sakura was his childhood and his future, the one he was sure his parents would have wanted him to have, the future where he was Hokage and loved and accepted by all those around him that he admired and trusted.

"There'd be enough room for you, me, all our friends and," he paused and he knew she knew what he was going to say before he said it, "Our children."

He didn't trust himself to speak anymore lest he break down completely, so he gave her the ring.

She took it without question; it was still attached to the thin loop of string that Sasuke had pulled through it that time he had told Naruto…

"You'll come back," she said almost aggressively hanging it around her neck, "I don't care if you have to breakout of the underworld Naruto, you come back to me, do you hear?"

"Don't die then." He instructed.

From behind them they could hear the call to begin moving out, his heart jumped into his mouth and he held her hand knuckle-white, terrified of losing her, terrified of never seeing her again.

She ran her hand through his blond hair, "I have to go."

"I love you."

"I know. I love you."

"I know."

Sakura turned, leaving with the rest of the hoard to breach the surface, she gave Naruto a last, longing look, and then merged into the mass of people and the clustering darkness.

Naruto felt his hope; his resilience and some of his spirit go with her. He'd trade his soul to keep her safe, but the best thing he could do now would be to go with his friends into the deep tunnels beneath them and try to bring down the mountain from within.

He too turned and with a sudden jolt of surprise saw Kiba standing directly behind him, a wolfish smile on his handsome face.

"I…I didn't hear you there."

"You never do," Kiba told him haughtily, "you were too busy making eyes at your missus."

"Are you ready?"

Kiba paused, his auburn hair, roguish mouth and reddish brown eyes seemed to standout in the dark, as if he possessed some unnatural glow about his person. It must be nerves, Naruto thought to himself.

"I guess," he friend said after an age, "lets go find Shikamaru and that bastard Neji."

If Naruto had pressed a little further down the passage, to the right and through a narrow entrance between two rocks he would have found the body of a large dog crammed into the corner in a hope that no one would see it, its throat brutally slashed and red blood sliding oozily across the dark rock. There was still a surprised, almost disbelieving expression in its kind dark eyes as if it could not understand what had happened.

As they were all leaving in the opposite direction, no one checked and so no one saw and in their haste to leave, the coldness Naruto perceived in Kiba's eyes he attributed to the fact that he must have just said goodbye to Hinata. He didn't twig that the ferocious beast of a dog trotting calmly behind them was in fact no dog at all.

Yamato had been right to a certain extent, they had indeed been betrayed, but it had not been by Sasuke.

"Naruto," he didn't question why he'd given it to him, or what he was supposed to do with it apart from wearing it around his neck, but it seemed important to say it.

"Naruto, at the end of this, I promise I'll come back to you."

A/N: I know that this story has not been updated in yonks, but there was not a single day when I didn't think about it. I want this story's ending to be perfect and a lot of things that were nagging me about the ending became clear as I wrote this. A lot has happened since I started this, (I think I grew up, sob) but I have read everyone of your reviews and I want to say thank you, I hope this story has bought as much joy and sadness to you as it has to me.

Dear reader, I wrote this for you.

xxx

P.S although I doubt anyone will read this!