His (9) – Time Skip-

He had chosen wrong, and he felt it, so strongly. Of course, he'd done the right thing. It was what any good man would do. He would stick to his girlfriend, his wife. He would not cheat. He would not leave her for another. He wouldn't break her heart.

A good man, that was all he aspired to be, always. So, he married her, even though he didn't see his true love in the crowd, even though he knew he'd broken her, broken her heart. Even though he knew he hadn't been a good man to her. He'd unwantedly made her get her hopes up, made her think they had a chance again, made her leave her boyfriend, all for nothing. Because he wanted to be a good man. What a joke.

He was miserable, so damn miserable. Because despite of how much he tried pretending, he could tell Hitana noticed. Even though he tried not being cold, he could tell that she felt him so. Even though he tried his hardest to have a normal relationship with her, he knew he kept disappointing her. She never said anything, though, Hinata was too good to him.

The first few months as a married couple must have been awful for her. His heart had felt so painful that he couldn't even find within himself the need or want to touch her. It took a lot for him to finally take that step again. Momentarily, she seemed happy again, but with time, she also noticed that he did it more as a duty than as an act of love or passion, so she stopped wanting it, too.

When they had their first child, Boruto, things seemed to change for the better, albeit very slowly. Them raising a kid together brought them closer than they'd been before, and, as he looked at his wife, he could feel his feelings for her turn into something beautiful. A partnership, a friendship, a love like no other. The mother of his child, his wife, his everything. There was nothing he wouldn't do for her. He loved her very dearly.

He missed her, though.

He saw Sakura a few times, although she never looked at him. It seemed like she was pretending he didn't exist. It was better that way, he knew. She was present for the birth of both of his children, and always made sure that his wife and newborns always had the best care. He'd been to visit her once after she gave birth to Sarada too, only she was asleep at the time. He could never reach her, it seemed.

If was for the better, he thought, as when the years flew by, it seemed his feelings for her also flew away. It wasn't that which he missed form her, but the friendship that had once brought them together. That spark of chemistry that they had as they fought for their lives together, to save Sasuke, to save everyone. He missed her and wished so deeply that things could go back to normal one day, but they never did.

He tried talking to her multiple times. He'd go to her office at the hospital, or walk around the training grounds, he even went to the Uchiha Compound once. Strange coincidences seemed to keep them further apart, as they'd never coincide. Not until one time, 14 years later.

It was an early morning, he had been on his way to his office when he passed by the hospital and took the sudden decision to go visit her, to try again to get some minutes alone with her. Telling Shikamaru to wait a bit for him, he raced into the Hospital, greeting everyone back gleefully as he walked through the place. He saw her from afar, giving instructions to other medic-nin, yelling some, and shutting the door to her office behind her after she was done bossing people around. He smiled to himself and followed.

He knocked at her door, and at first, she didn't respond. But, after some insistence, she opened the door angrily and he could see her entire face change once she saw him. They hadn't been that close for a decade. Her hands shook a little, he could see, and he couldn't deny that he felt the same nerves as her. She timidly walked to her desk, awkwardly welcoming him in. She didn't seem to know what to say, and honestly, neither did he. He hadn't planned anything, as was normal for him. He just wanted to see her, to feel some of that connection they'd once shared. To rekindle their friendship.

He stood by her door for what seemed like hours, but eventually, his feet moved on their own accord, and, making sure to close the door, he walked in to sit in front of her desk.

"Sakura-chan, it's been a while," he smiled with a scratch of his head.

She smiled back. "Will you always call me that, Naruto?"

"Probably."

She nodded with a tiny smile, but remained silent, apparently lost in thought. After a while of uncomfortableness, just when he was thinking of leaving, she asked him a question, looking him straight in the eyes. "Why are you here?"

There were many things he could have said, but he settled on the simplest answer, "it's been too long."

She agreed, "yeah… It has." She fiddled with her fingers, looking down, he knew she was going to ask more. "Why didn't you come before? Why didn't you come sooner?" She asked shyly.

"I did!" He confessed quickly. "I tried to see you, multiple times, and somehow, you seemed to never be here, or at your house, or anywhere."

"I'm always here."

"And when I've been here, for Boruto and Himawari, I tried to approach you. You avoided me the entire time!"

"Naruto, the circumstances of those times should explain to you why," she argued, and he had to admit she had a point.

"I tried, you also never showed when I needed assistance by the hospital staff for missions, or anything. Of course, I wasn't going to directly ask for you and force you to be in my presence, but I expected you to show. I always asked for the best, and you know who the best is."

Flattered, her cheeks pinked. "Okay, I have been avoiding you. So what? It's what's best."

"Then don't ask me why I wasn't here sooner and make me think you actually wanted me here."

She nodded again, "okay, alright. It's just, I guess I did want you to come, but I didn't want to see you… make sense?"

"Not really," he chuckled. "But I get it. I've missed you, and I've wanted to see you, but I've also feared it." He sighed, and asked what he dreaded the most, "should I leave?"

Sakura hesitated, so much he thought she wouldn't reply at all, but then she said, "you probably should."

Dismissed, he got up from his chair and walked to the door, planning to turn around to say goodbye, but she interrupted his thoughts.

"Naruto, we've been through hell and back. Multiple times. We've gone through so many high's and so many low's together. We always get through it. Do you think we'll g get through it this time too? Even after so long?"

He paused by the door, taking in her words, and thinking briefly about his answer. "Of course we will, Sakura-chan. Our bond is stronger than any of this, even after all this time. We'll be okay this time again, you'll see."

Leaving her with a small smile on her lips, he left, suddenly remembering Shikamaru was still waiting for him and probably hating it.