Strange things come from the forest and its dark spaces, tight with life. This is a slow-burn romance story that I think technically falls into the hurt/comfort genre, but in the strictest sense in that it's about two people who've dealt with unbelievable hardship. The story is after the 4th Shinobi War, and Gaara is around the age of 26. Thanks to my beta Chloe!

Sasuke and Sakura's relationship with each arc after the war. I aim to keep this as canon as it could possibly be. Starting from post-war, and will reach all the way to Boruto. SasuSaku.

How they spent the night after war at the hospital, only they will know. A night filled with pain, regrets and heartbreak but most of all love. May be his life isn't as unworthy as he thinks it is. / Post-war, pre-the last sasusaku fan fiction.

"This was usually the part of the day where he would sit alone, staring at the ceiling and trying not to think about how miserable he felt." / SasuSaku / Post-War /

The ten years and ten separate times that Uchiha Sasuke catches himself staring at Haruno Sakura's back chronicled his descent into a maddening, consuming and achingly prosaic lunacy he fearfully acknowledges as love. [SasuSaku. Canon-verse and Postcanon-verse.]

Sasuke realizes he's twisted, wanting something he can't have. Maybe this is all part of his punishment. He never felt this way until he was forced to take care of her. SasuSaku

Gaara is not a monster. He is determined to show he isn't. However, there has always been someone who never thought he was in the first place. Gaara x Matsuri

A retired avenger and tired medic find their way back to each other again. "He thanks Sakura because that is what Uchiha Sasuke does to Haruno Sakura, time and time again, arigato after arigato. Because she has always been there, chasing the cobwebs off his past, killing his ghosts in that annoyingly Sakura fashion." [SasuSaku. Oneshot. Post-war.]

"It isn't as if she's helping him stay conscious. The pain was what had kept him alert." / SasuSaku / Post-War /

After hearing an alluring piece of Folklore, Sakura becomes devoted to proving herself equal to the man she desires most. Sasu/Saku

-Gaara x Matsuri- He had green eyes, the color of sea foam, or maybe pale jade. That was what she first noticed. They were nice eyes, Matsuri decided. Kind, for all their reticence.

In the confrontation between Team 7 and Hebi, Sakura's determination to retrieve Sasuke leads to the two being trapped in a cave, both nearly out of chakra, with nothing to pass the time until their rescue/suffocation but conversation. Eventual SasuSaku.