I know that this is long overdue, but here it is. The final chapter. I hope you all enjoy.
Two weeks had passed since the defeat of Fuzen and so many things had occurred within those passing days.
On the day when the battle had ended, Sakura had left the rejoicing troops on the shore and rushed into the forest looking for Yoko, the injured Tadahiro, and the rest of the medical team.
When she had finally managed to stumble upon them, Yoko was close to having a breakdown. She was fighting back tears as she tried to do all she could think of to save her husband, who was covered from head to toe in leeches.
Emerald eyes had watched in sadness as Hinata hurried over to inform her of the situation. "There's so much poison in his system," she had told her. The pale eyed girl had luckily managed to stop the flow of it to all major arteries, containing it to, for the most part, one section of the body where it stayed, culminating. The leeches had been placed all over the male in an attempt to extract whatever poison they could, but Sakura had known that it wouldn't have been enough to even make a difference. They needed to move Tadahiro to Yoko's lab where he could get the proper treatment. Fortunately, it was at that moment that Sasuke and Naruto had appeared.
The pinkette had gently coaxed the fumbling Yoko away from her husband and had instructed the Uchiha and blonde to carefully transport Tadahiro back to the greenhouse.
Once there, Sakura had proceeded to take over, prepping Tadahiro for the same extraction process Sasuke had previously went through. She had already sent Yoko home with one of the sprites while Takiko stayed behind to assist her.
The medicinal fluid she had sent through the male's body had managed to extract a great amount of poison, but when she had checked for anymore disturbances within his system she had frowned deeply. There was still a large amount leftover. The extraction couldn't get rid of it all. She needed to create an antidote. So she had left Hinata and Takiko to monitor Tadahiro while she got to work. It had taken her about three days to finally come up with the cure and she wasted no time in administering it once she had created enough. It had taken about half a day to completely get rid of the poison and once it did, she had moved him from his location on a table in the lab to a small bed.
When Yoko had barged into the room after receiving the good news, she had tackled the pinkette in a hug so big and tight. But the happiness on Sakura's face hadn't quite matched Yoko's. She had pulled back from the woman, hands placed gently on her shoulders. Sakura remembered how Yoko's happiness quickly disappeared when she had given her the news after doing a final check on Tadahiro. "There was a lot of poison in his system," she recalled herself telling the girl. "While it didn't reach any of his organs or cause too much damage, there is one side effect that he will have to manage with for now; temporary paralysis. It has affected the right side of his body." Emerald orbs had watched as Yoko's whole demeanor changed. "Don't worry too much about it. From what I can see, it'll last anywhere from three to ten days." The pinkette had offered a small smile to Yoko then. "The worst is over with, and the paralysis will come and go. He'll just really need you during this time." Sakura had given the girl's shoulder a squeeze then. "He'll wake up sometime soon." The pinkette had then left the couple to themselves and went on to search for the Uchiha.
She had to give him the antidote as well. And while she was sure she had gotten the poison out of his system, she wasn't taking any chances with having any possible leftover toxins running through his body.
She had found him near their sleeping quarters and immediately walked up to him, syringe already out. Before he could question her, she had already mumbled out that it was the antidote for the poison and that she was just giving it to him to make sure everything would be fine.
But administering the antidote to Sasuke was the last thing Sakura had remembered before she had passed out from exhaustion. She hadn't really gotten any proper rest since the battle, just maybe an hour here or there while she was working on saving Tadahiro. And when she had finally come to, three days had passed.
During her period of recuperation, everyone had managed to gather up the bodies of their fellow soldiers.
The remaining villagers that had hidden themselves away in the shelter had all made their way down to where the bodies were to identify them, but some couldn't even confirm who was laying in front of them. Some were injured beyond recognition and others were just piles of limbs. And when it came time for the funeral, it was just a sad and messy day. Even the days that followed were quite bleak.
But now as the pinkette sat in Sasuke's room, checking the healing progress of his injuries, the sun started peeking through the gray clouds overhead and Sakura smiled a bit at that. "Ok Sasuke-kun," she said, giving his shoulder a pat, "you're wound has healed up nicely."
As he nodded in response, she caught a slight twinkle in his eye and before she could wonder what he was up to, she found herself on her back with the Uchiha slouching over her. Fingers raced up and down her sides, tickling her into a laughing fit. A small smile made its way onto his face as he stared down at her wiggling form trying to escape his fingers.
Sakura's laughing died down as he stopped assaulting her sides and she looked up at him happily. "I love you," he suddenly blurted out in a low voice. His mismatched eyes watched her as his words sank in. She went from being stunned to having a big smile on her face.
"I love you too," she shyly said, her eyes looking away from his towering form. When she finally looked back at him, he was leaning down towards her, lips ready to capture her own. As they kissed, the two became a tangled mess of limbs on the futon.
However, an awkward noise coming from the doorway caused them to pull away from one another to see their knuckleheaded teammate standing there sheepishly. "While I think that this is good and all and that I shouldn't be interrupting, we still have a couple more things to check on before we leave in the next few days." Sadly, he was right.
The two untangled themselves from each other, fixed themselves to look as presentable as they could, and followed the blonde to the goddess' office.
Hinata was waiting for the three outside the large doors leading to the room. After a brief greeting, they all entered the office, where the goddess sat at her desk waiting for them.
"Ah, perfect timing," she said as she got up from her seat. "Follow me."
The four shared a couple of glances but followed the deity out of the room. They remained quiet as she led them down a path to one of the gardens. The further along they walked, the more Naruto's face changed in curiosity, wondering what was going on.
After crossing over a large pond by means of a bridge, the goddess finally spoke. "This," she said gesturing to several stone statues about six feet tall, "was made after the first war as a reminder of the people who helped us, of the people we are eternally grateful for."
Sakura moved forward as she studied one particular stone figure. One of her hands reached out to trace the stone details of her grandfather's face.
"And," the goddess continued on, walking beyond the statue to another clearing, "this is in honor of all of you." There in front of them was a huge, square slab of rock, measuring 10 feet high, 6 feet wide, and 1 foot thick and on it was a large carving of the four shinobi. "You four will forever be remembered for all that you have done for us." She turned to look at the young men and women with her. No amount of thanks could express the gratitude she felt for them.
XxXxXxXxXxX
The next few days had passed by in a whirl and during them, a few new developments had taken place. The shelter that was now free of people would be maintained by Kira. The young man had decided to stay in this realm and try to right his wrongdoings. He had also decided to follow in the steps of Yuusuke. This meant that from time to time he would have to travel between the realms for training. And during his time of absence, Kasumi, who revealed she had planned to move to the shelter grounds to help with maintenance, would take over the main duties of up keeping the shelter. This bit of news had caused Sakura and Hinata to look at each other knowingly before they began whispering, placing bets on how long it would take the two to get together.
As for Nari, the demon daughter of Arius, she would remain alive. She had suffered through days of interrogations, torture, and isolation which eventually revealed that despite her horrible actions, she truly wanted a place to belong to. Her demon instincts and her father as well as family loyalty had influenced her for her whole life. Despite her wantings, which she made known from time to time, she was brought up in an environment where her actions seemed right and anything less than that made her either feel guilty or like a disappointment. When it came down to making the final decision, the goddess had decided to give her another chance and placed her under the watch of Ren.
"He'll abuse his power," Tadahiro had said, still thinking about the final decision that was made the day before.
"I beg to differ," Yoko countered as they walked through one of the gardens to get to the shrine. "I say he'll fall for her."
"You're crazy," her husband claimed.
"Wanna bet?"
Tadahiro stared down his wife. "It's on," he confirmed.
"When I win, he'll be treating you guys to whatever you want the next time you visit," Yoko announced, looking at the four shinobi as they stopped right at the small shrine. The girls giggled in response as Naruto cheered while Tadahiro shook his head at them, opening a portal for the shinobis.
"I can't believe it's time for you to go," Yoko said sadly to Sakura. The pinkette's feelings mirrored Yoko's as she gave the girl a big hug. "Don't be strangers now," Yoko said as she hugged Hinata as well.
"I'll be back soon," Sakura reassured as the boys gave their farewells to one another. And her words were true. Somewhere during the time she had stayed, the pinkette had decided that she wanted to return and set up a proper health care facility for them. And she would also like to assist with the training of the entire medical team. And Yoko, who was inspired by Sakura's plan, decided that she too would travel between the worlds to teach Sakura and the other medic nins more about the methods she and her sprites use to heal people.
"I can't wait," Yoko stated happily.
With one last farewell, the four shinobi stepped through the portal. The air was crisp and familiar all around them as their feet touched down on the ground. They each took in a deep breath, relishing in the familiarity of their homeland before they turned back to wave goodbye to their two friends. "See you soon!" Yoko exclaimed.
"Of course," Sakura managed to say right before the portal closed shut.
The four was left standing there, staring at the now empty spot.
"Ne," Naruto began, bringing them out of the moment. "Where do you guys suppose we are?" he asked as he looked around them. They were currently standing in a forest.
"Isn't this the outskirts of Konoha?" Sakura questioned as she looked around as well. They seemed to be in really familiar territory.
"You're right!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Dobe," Sasuke muttered.
"Have we been gone that long that you forgot what our own home territory looks like?" Sakura questioned as Hinata giggled in amusement.
"Hehe," the blonde knucklehead laughed out. "Ne, how long do you think it'll take us to walk back?"
"Maybe an hour," Hinata answered. "At most two."
"Hmmm," the blonde thought, a hand suddenly on his chin. "What'ddya say we put off returning home till tomorrow? Take the rest of the day to relax before having to go back and do paperwork about our mission."
Sakura glanced at the three as she thought it over. "Honestly, I like the sound of that." An extra day to relax? No briefings about how the mission went or paperwork to complete? Why should they pass up the opportunity? 'Especially when what's waiting for me is a home that hasn't been cleaned of dust in a couple months and patients lined up at the hospital.'
Hinata eventually agreed to the blonde's idea and Sasuke gave a grunt.
"Ok, that settles it then!" Naruto happily said, already throwing his gear on the ground. As the boys set up their tents for the night, the girls walked off to go collect some firewood.
"Ne," Naruto began as he pounded a stake into the ground. "I think the girls should share a tent," he said, looking at Sasuke. In return, the Uchiha stared at him. "I don't think I wanna hear my bestfriends going at it."
"We're not animals Dobe."
"So you're saying that you have complete patience and self-control till we get back home? Because I mean I have that image of you two tangled up together in that room back at the mansion burned into my brain."
The blonde didn't see the fist heading his way. "Ow! Oi, Teme!"
"We are not having this conversation."
I want to thank each and every one of you for reading from beginning to end. Once again, I hope you all enjoyed the story. I also hope that this story isn't the only journey you all will take with me. Please be on the lookout for more possible works from me. As of right now, there is a new fic in the process, a collection of sorts. The first chapter has been posted, so head on over if you're interested.