AN: So, it's like Pride Month or something. You have to be good to the gays for like a month ...

NINTH CHAPTER OF TRASH

I concentrated on the man I was healing. It seemed like the tree had actually stabilized some of the wounded shinobi after it had caught them, at least the ones that it didn't drain the chakra out instantly. Without the tree's assistance now, the critical wounded were in danger once again.

I didn't look up from what I was doing as someone approached me. Noting her French pedicure, I should have guessed it was Ino.

"Whoa, this guy's got 28 breaks in his legs alone."

"I know." My voice sounded annoyed, but I was just tired. "I haven't gotten there yet." I was too busy trying to make sure his lungs weren't going to collapse.

Ino knelt down and started healing the broken legs herself. "So, rumor has it that Team Seven somehow managed to escape the Infinite Tsukuyomi."

I swallowed. "Yes. Sasuke-kun protected us with his Sasanoo." Though I knew Sasuke-kun had only been trying to protect Naruto because he needed him for the other half of the seal. Kakashi-sensei and I hadn't been on purpose. I knew deep down that Sasuke-kun and Naruto wouldn't have succeeded without our extra help. It had been a very close battle, but it still put yet another damper on my mood to know that Sasuke-kun protecting me had only been by accident.

Ino let out a dry laugh. "Who would have still thought... Sasuke-kun's not such a bad guy after all."

I shook my head fiercely. "No, he's not." He was just not in love with me. I strained my face, trying to force it to be straight.

"I'm so happy for you, Sakura," Ino murmured. Oh, if she only knew. I briefly thought about blurting out the truth, that Sasuke-kun and Naruto were in love, have me fall into her and accept all of her comfort.

But when I looked at Ino's face I finally saw the dark circles around her eyes and the dried tears that still clung to her long lashes. She was staring at the face of the man we were healing. He was older, blond. I realized he would have been around the same age as Ino's father.

"Hey Sakura, if you want you can move on to the next one. I'll take care of this guy."

Ino's father was dead. He died in the war. Neither of my parents were actively fighting. I hadn't lost anyone. In fact, Sasuke-kun had even returned to us. Why was I in this melancholy when nothing terrible had happened to me? I even had both my arms for crying out loud.

"Excuse me," I whispered hoarsely as I pushed myself up. I quickly left Ino, not knowing how to comfort her because I just simply didn't know what it was like. I never did.

I quickly looked for another person to attach my concentration on. Karma must have caught up with me because the first thing I came across was Hinata struggling with an injured nin going into cardiac arrest.

I rushed over, quickly aiding her with stabilizing the ailing heart. Hinata wasn't trained in medical ninjutsu as well as Ino and I, only knowing the basics. It wasn't surprising that she needed help. A few moments of my hand, the man was fine.

"I-I'm so sorry Sakura-san! I didn't-"

"It's alright," I told her quickly. "He's fine now. You did fine."

I didn't want to look at Hinata's ruddy face, but it felt rude to not make eye contact with her. "I thought he was going to-"

"He didn't," I interrupted.

Hinata nodded her head. I wondered if Hinata knew. If she knew where Naruto was right now, firmly attached to Sasuke-kun. I realized she must have, otherwise she wouldn't have put so much space between herself and him. That was exactly why I was over here as well, to get away from them. I began to wonder if Hinata had always known about it. Hinata didn't allow herself to talk much about Naruto, but she had always been around, watching him several paces behind. For all the time I spent with Naruto, Hinata may have even understood Naruto more than I.

I opened my mouth. For a second, I thought, maybe, I had found someone who I could understand. Hinata was the only person who could know what I was going through, but even if Hinata could sympathize with me, I realized again, I was still out of place. I didn't know what Hinata was feeling because she had also lost a loved one to the war as well. Hinata's cousin, Neji had died. She had held it together when it had happened, but now I could see her shaking somewhat.

"I just... don't want to see anymore death from this war," she said. "I just... want it to be over."

Me wanting to suddenly help her reminded me how I had just left Ino without saying anything remotely comforting. I stood up. "It's alright Hinata. Naruto saved us. It is over."

Hinata nodded her head, wiping a tear from her eye. "I know. I knew he could do it. I never doubted him." I watched Hinata love and accept Naruto and the situation she was in. She had always accepted it.

"I... I have to go find Ino," I said.

"Okay. Thank you Sakura-san." I winced at the thank you and started my jog back where I came from.

I didn't know what I was going to say to my best friend. She had been my friend first. She should have had my attention first. "Ino!" I called once her blonde head was in sight. She turned; tears were plastered on her cheeks. "I'm so sorry!"

"Forehead, what are you talking about?" But I was already embracing her. "Come on now, you're embarrassing me," she laughed.

"I'm so insensitive with everyone around me. I don't know what to say to people. I don't know how to deal with it." Here, I was crying again.

"Sakura," Ino pushed me away to arm's length. "You're acting weird, and you don't look good at all." I felt a warmth seep through her fingers where she held me. She was checking my chakra system. She gave a gasp. "Sakura, you have no chakra left!" I had been running on critical since yesterday, but I had taken the seconds in between breaths to try to store more. I kept telling myself that this would be my last patient and then I would rest. But I couldn't seem to stop finding patients.

I had been ignoring the failings of my body to try to hide it, but once Ino pointed it out, I guess my body figured there was no point in hiding it anymore, and I felt everything begin to shut down.

I woke up in a medical tent. I sat up and Ino noticed me, going around some other patients. She was glowering at me. "What the hell is wrong with you?! You go on and on about how Naruto pushes himself too hard, and then there you are, doing the same exact thing? You realized you almost died, right?"

"I'm okay. I just lost track of how much chakra I had been using."

Ino narrowed her pale eyes at me. "You never lose track of your chakra. Is something else going on with you?"

"What?" I was supposed to be there for Ino. We weren't supposed to be talking about my problems. I was trying not to be selfish for once.

"Sakura, are you in here?" called a familiar voice. "Oh good, I knew you'd be in one of the medical tents."

"Captain Yamato," I addressed. It had been a while since I had seen him. I honestly wasn't sure if he even made it to the battle as last I heard of him, he had taken Naruto far away from the war.

"You're on a medical bed though, are you okay?"

"Oh yes!" I quickly shot up to my feet, ignoring the glare Ino was giving me. "I was just taking a break. What is it?"

"Well, you see... there's a situation with... with them, and I'm finding restraining Naruto's Nine-Tails impossible when he already has control of it-" My eyes widened, and I immediately left the tent.

"Sakura!" I heard Ino call after me, and she was on my heels, not ready to be left behind and ignored again.

Several medical tents had been set up since the release of the Infinite Tsukuyomi. Naruto and Sasuke-kun had been staying in a rather particular one headed by Tsunade-sama. It mostly held a lot of Tsunade-sama's scrolls and was reserved for the more serious patients. The boys had been sent there to keep Sasuke-kun out of sight as much as possible. Unfortunately, Naruto refused to leave his side, and if people weren't looking for Sasuke-kun, they were looking for Naruto. Naruto was everyone's hero now. He had loads of admirers trying to catch a glimpse of him. It was another exciting tidbit of drama to learn that the terrible lone Uchiha was recovering right beside him, and it was only a matter of time before anyone found them.

Even before I arrived I could feel a fiery tension in the air, and soon after I heard the loud angry voice of Naruto.

I bullied my way into the tent because there were a bunch of people standing around in the entrance. I didn't recognize them so they must have been from a different village. Everyone still wore the symbol of the Allied Shinobi Forces. I found it somewhat annoying sometimes, but I knew it was for the better. When someone was offensive, it was a good thing not knowing where they were from.

Naruto was sitting on one of the cots, arm still protectively around Sasuke-kun, his pupils thin slits and a chakra that resembled fire flailing and dancing around his skin. Sasuke-kun's face was turned away, concealed with his hair, knees pulled to his chest. He made no move as Naruto continued to swear and yell out.

"What's going on here?" I demanded. My voice carried loudly, over whatever nonsense Naruto was shouting. It made everyone turn and direct their attention to me.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed angrily. "They want to cuff Sasuke and take him away! He's only got one arm! How the hell are they even gonna cuff him?! What the fuck do they think he's gonna do with only one damn arm! It's just to humiliate him for no goddamn reason!"

"Uchiha Sasuke is an international criminal. How are we supposed to stand for him to be free and allowed to do what he pleases? He doesn't need both his hands to be considered dangerous."

"He's not gonna do anything! He saved all of your asses for crying out loud, or did you want to still be dreaming?! Did we wake you up from your nice nap!? I'll gladly put you back in there if you want, have your bodies waste away into humanoid wood clones!"

"So the Uchiha does have the power to re-summon the Infinite Tsukuyomi! More reason to have-"

"I said I would put you back in, dammit!"

The group ignored Naruto. "Nonetheless, the Rinnegan is too dangerous to be left with the likes of him. We're not leaving until we know the threat has been resolved." I saw Sasuke-kun's head twitch at that sentence.

"Whadda ya talking about!? You can't just take it!"

"We have a letter giving us permission to eliminate Uchiha Sasuke, signed by your Hokage." These must be Hidden Cloud Nin. "We're willing to compromise here. He doesn't have to die. But if he's a danger-

"TOUCH HIM AND YOU'LL BE IN DANGER!" Naruto's voice roared, mixing with the sound of Kurama's, a fiery claw forming from his flaming chakra to replace his missing arm. His actual arm was still clamped around Sasuke-kun. A shock of power shook the ground and tent we were in with just a flex of that chakra. "You wanna really try me, buddy?!"

"Naruto!" His red glare flashed at me, but that was the only attention he was willing to spare at the moment.

"I don't care what some fancy paper says. Danzo was never my Hokage!"

I squirmed my way in between Naruto and the Hidden Cloud Shinobi. "If all you need is proof that Sasuke isn't dangerous at the moment, I can give it to you," I tried to ignore how hot the fire light Naruto was producing was.

"Who are you?" asked one of the men.

"I'm a medical ninja," I quickly said. "I've been put in charge of healing these two, and what Naruto says is true. At the moment, Uchiha Sasuke is not dangerous. His chakra levels are currently so low that it would be quite impossible for him to hurt anyone. His internal organs would give out before completing even the simplest jutsu."

The men leered at me. I didn't change my frown. "Even if that's so, a criminal shouldn't have the same rights as the rest of us. He should be in a separate place in confinement until his sentence is decided."

"Why are all these people in my tent?!" a booming voice rang. Thank god. Tsunade-sama was standing at the entrance, feet spaced apart and arms crossed under her breasts, the look in her eyes making children everywhere cry and men piss their pants.

"W-w-we had concerns with the confinement with Uchiha Sasuke..."

"He's confined well," she stated. "What stronger bonds are there than the Nine -Tails Jinchūriki himself? You think you're gonna find me something stronger to help keep the Uchiha in check? Please tell me if you have any ideas."

"You better believe it, Grandma Tsunade!" Naruto agreed.

"Naruto, that's enough out of you. I can hear your grating voice across the camp. Shut up." Tsunade-sama turned to the men. "And all of you, stop harassing my patients!" They all left in a hurry. She narrowed her eyes at the rest of us and sighed. "Team Seven, always has been the biggest pain in my ass throughout my entire career. Kakashi!"

I hadn't realized that the lump in the corner had been my sensei until Tsunade-sama directed her attention to him. She walked over to him and kicked his cot.

"Wh-what?! I was sleeping!"

"The hell you were. As soon as we get back to Konoha, I'm retiring. Then you'll be Hokage."

"Already? Doesn't there need to be a bunch of counseling and paperwork-"

"That was already done once. It doesn't need to be done again." She turned away from Kakashi-sensei, carelessly waving her hand to the rest of us. "You three, don't be fucking stupid for a few more days now, kay? Then you'll be Kakashi's problem."

"They've always been my problem," Kakashi-sensei mumbled to himself. I wasn't sure if he had meant to say that aloud.

If Tsunade-sama heard him, she ignored it. "Ino," she greeted as she passed her. She gave me a double take. "Sakura, get some rest." And then she was gone, clipped as ever.

After she left, I whipped around to face the rest of my team. Kakashi-sensei appeared to pass out in a matter of seconds again. I wondered if we should be more worried about his condition. Deciding to worry about it later I glared at Naruto.

"What were you going to accomplish if Tsunade-sama didn't come in time? You think fighting with the Hidden Cloud Ninja is not going to put us all back where we started!?"

"I wasn't going to let them take Sasuke's eyes! And I've been dealing with crap like that all day! People keep fucking coming in here! I'm sorry if I'm starting to lose my patients but for crying out loud, it would be nice to take a piss without someone trying to get in mine or Sasuke's business."

My eyes landed on Sasuke-kun, his lifeless body slumped, head down, hair covering his face. "What's wrong with him?" I asked.

"What do you mean what's wrong with him? He's been like this the whole fucking time! Where the hell have you been? Maybe we could have needed you." Naruto didn't usually snap at me, and I gave him a sour look, not too happy with this attitude of his.

"I've been treating the injured! I've been doing my job! Don't you have healing capabilities now? You should be fine without me. In fact, instead of hiding in this medical tent nursing your sore ego, maybe you should be helping. If there's anything wrong with Sasuke-kun, why don't you just take care of it!?"

I checked Sasuke-kun's body with my chakra anyway. All vitals were stable. In fact, his chakra levels were up considerably more than they were yesterday. Seeing how weak he was, I didn't expect such a fast recovery. "He seems to be okay."

"Because I have been helping him. Sasuke can absorb chakra through touch. Why do you think I've had my damn arm around him this whole time?! Because we're dating or something?!"

Well, yes, I had thought that.

After erasing my shocked expression at the comment, I continued focusing on Sasuke-kun. "He seems fine to me then." I lifted his head so I could assess his eyes. "I don't think you even have permanent eye damage," I said to Sasuke-kun. "You should be grateful for that, you know?" Sasuke-kun's eyes narrowed just ever so slightly at me. "The only thing wrong with him is his foul mood." I slapped him lightly on the cheek. "Pep up!"

Now, I would have normally, never swatted at Sasuke-kun, no matter how light and playful the gesture was. I must have really been tired.

Sasuke-kun's brain seemed to shut down, just as much shocked that I had hit him as I.

Naruto snickered. "Your face. Sakura smacked you like a mom-" And then Sasuke-kun did punch Naruto. His fist made contact with Naruto's head so hard that the boy went flying off the cot and across the ground. Ino gave a short scream, not as used to their normal behavior as I was. "Fuck! You know, you're making it hard for me to convince people that you're harmless, bastard!" Naruto touched his head. "Look at this Sakura-chan! I'm bleeding! That's from his fist, not me hitting the ground or the cot or something."

"You're both fine," I declared. I could have healed Naruto's head, but I was too annoyed with the both of them. I jumped when I felt a warm hand on my waist. "Naruto, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" I screeched when I realized it was his.

Naruto looked up at me, hand still on its spot and said seriously, "You're really low on chakra, Sakura-chan..." I hadn't realized at all that he was sharing some of his with me. How could I be that out of it? "Man, that whole giant chasm is empty. Why haven't you told anyone?" The heat of Naruto's hand started to spread across my hip, and I took a step back-

-into Ino who had her hands hovering over me with her green light. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing!" She diminished her glow and lowered her hand.

"How long have you been doing that?"

Naruto laughed as he pushed himself up. "Sakura-chan, you might be more stubborn than any of us."

"As if!" I realized that Sasuke-kun was looking at me, but he quickly averted his gaze when my eyes landed on him.

Naruto climbed back onto the cot. I watched as Sasuke-kun shifted so that Naruto could snugly return to his previous position, arm around Sasuke-kun's neck. Sasuke-kun turned ever so slightly so that he could face away from us, leaned into Naruto and sighed, like that meant Ino and I were dismissed from them.

"Why don't you lay down Sakura-chan? I'm sure Grandma Tsunade has got all that medical stuff taken care of." Naruto nudged his chin onto Sasuke-kun's shoulder, reminding me of a pet that lays on his owner's lap when his owner is sad, like the mere body warmth could heal a broken heart. Naruto could certainly do just that.

I suddenly didn't want to be here.

"I will," I said. "But I..." I stumbled over an excuse to leave. "I left something... somewhere..." I hurriedly left the tent.

Ino followed after me. "Sakura, I swear I'm going to hit you over the head if you don't stop right now!"

"I'm going to lay down!" I said exasperated. "Just not in there! I want some privacy from all that male testosterone!"

"Oh, alright." Ino lengthened her stride to keep up with me. "I could use a little rest as well. After watching that drama, who wouldn't? I don't care what they say, those whiny ass boys sure seem hella gay for each other."

I stopped abruptly. "So, you... noticed it too?"

"Noticed what? I mean, I'm mostly joking Sakura. I know Naruto still likes you, likes you. He almost had his hand on your ass."

I shook my head. "No... I saw the two of them together..."

Ino bent her head to peer at me, but I wasn't looking her in the face. "What do you mean?"

"I saw... Naruto kiss Sasuke-kun. I mean, it wasn't on the lips or anything. It was right here," I placed my fingers to the spot on my own head. "Between the eyes. Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but- I don't know. Or maybe it's just Naruto, but Sasuke-kun would never let anyone else just kiss him like that."

"Sakura, not gonna lie, but that's kinda weird."

"Isn't it?" I turned to Ino.

"That's even an awkward place to kiss someone. Now the whole thing looks awkward. And like, why where they sharing the same cot? At first I thought it was to save space for other patients but there was only Kakashi-sensei in there." The both of us stared at the other, letting the facts sink in. "Oh my god..." Ino murmured.

I forced my dry mouth to swallow and turned away, continuing my walking. "It is what it is."

"But I thought for sure Naruto was your secret boyfriend or something!"

"Naruto was never my secret boyfriend, Ino! We had sex twice. It wasn't a big deal."

"WHAT!?" I had completely forgotten that I never told Ino this. I was so caught up with the new 'Naruto and Sasuke-kun love each other' secret that I forgot about the first one. "When!?"

"It... It was a long time ago."

"And you never told me?!"

"I'm sorry."

"No, Sakura." Ino grabbed my shoulder and force me to turn to her. "I'm beyond upset right now. You're not a virgin and I still am?! And you didn't even tell me! How could you? Oh my god," she repeated, letting go of me and twirling in pure angst. "This is not okay!" And then she let out a shrill frustrated shriek.

"Ino, I didn't know you'd be so upset-"

"I can't let you keep getting ahead of me, Forehead whore!" Now I thought that was slightly uncalled for. "I'm never gonna lose my virginity! Why don't men want to fuck me!?" Ino's shouting was alerting more than just a handful of other shinobi, and all of them happened to be male. I pushed her away in between a couple of tents for privacy.

"Ino, there's no need to rush. I regret my first time, and the second time. Mostly..."

Ino's eyes seethed as she suddenly declared, "I get Sasuke-kun."

"What!?"

"You had Naruto. Twice I must add! It's only fair that I get to have Sasuke-kun."

I glared back at Ino. "Well good luck with that, Ino Pig because Sasuke-kun is gay!"

"So is apparently Naruto, but you still got to shag 'im! There's still a chance! Maybe the both of them could be bi!"

"I'm finding that highly doubtful since Sasuke-kun hasn't shown an interest in any of us or female ever!"

"He hasn't shown much interest in the male population either, so that doesn't prove shit! He let Naruto give him an awkward face kiss, so what!? He also punched Naruto across the ground!"

"But then you saw how quickly he forgave him after that! He went right back to snuggling up to him like they only had a short lover's spat!"

Ino paused for a second. "Sasuke-kun didn't leave the village because he had a lover's spat with Naruto, did he?"

"No! but-I don't think that was the reason, or it wasn't the main reason if it was-"

"This is so unfair!" Ino wailed.

"Maybe it is fair," I said in a lower voice. "This way neither of us get to have Sasuke-kun."

Ino's eyes hardened. "But I liked Sasuke-kun first!"

I rolled my eyes. "I thought you were over him anyway."

"A girl never gets over her first love." Truth. "I'm so mad! I'm gonna beat Naruto black and blue! This is all his fault!"

I looked sullenly onto the ground. Beating Naruto black and blue wasn't going to solve the problem. It never solved mine.

"We'll just have to take our revenge," Ino suddenly stated.

I looked up confused. "How?"

We were shortly marching back to Tsunade-sama's tent. "I mean, I knew you had no chance with Sasuke-kun from the start, but Forehead, I can't believe Naruto chose that asshole over you!"

Ino was practically dragging me along, her grip tight on my hand.

"You even let him have his way with you twice, and then he leaves you for some traitorous rude ass motherfucker..." I wasn't really sure which part Ino was upset with more, or if she was just mad at the entire situation. "Yo, idiots!" she shouted when the tent came into view.

"Wait Ino, Kakashi-sensei's probably still in there and-"

"Eh, he's most likely asleep. Who cares?"

I cared. It was quite known that Kakashi-sensei was somewhat of a perv when it came to certain reading material. I fortunately never felt uncomfortable around him as he had always seen me as more of a child than a young woman, and I didn't want his image of that to change.

Ino flung open the tent flaps. If Naruto or Sasuke-kun had been asleep they were awake now. "I need to inform the two of you blockheads on some important information." She shoved me closer, as if presenting a new slave. "If either of you had ever had the hots for Sakura, it's too late now. She's my girlfriend."

Naruto scrunched up his face, confused. Sasuke-kun only raised an eyebrow. "Whadda ya talking about?" Naruto voiced.

"What am I talking about?!" Ino exclaimed dramatically. "I'm talking about how Sakura and I are now romantically involved!" I could feel my cheeks burning up with embarrassment. This was somehow different than all the other times Ino and I pretended to be a couple. I think it was because this time Sasuke-kun was here. "We're lesbians, and we have hot, sweaty lesbian sex with each other!"

"No way!" Naruto cried out, sounding very much like he wanted to believe her.

"Yes way!"

"Prove it then!" Naruto grinned, thinking he had us in our plot. Ino wasn't going to let him win though.

She grabbed my head and planted a very wet kiss on my mouth. I was a little shell shocked because this hadn't been part of the plan. We were simply going to act like we were together, much like Naruto and Sasuke-kun had been acting. Naruto and Sasuke-kun had never kissed each other on the mouth in front of anyone. At least not on purpose. Ino pinched me, pulling back to give me a short glare.

"Don't leave me hanging, love," she muttered.

Right. I dug my fingers into her long hair and gave her a sloppy kiss back, the kind that Naruto would have just melted for. I saw Ino's eyes go sideways to try to catch a reaction from the boys and I went for a sneak peek too.

Sasuke-kun showed nothing on his face. But he also didn't seem to appear to be able to tear his gaze away.

Naruto actually whimpered. He even let go of Sasuke-kun to use his hand to cover his mouth and nose, blue eyes wide in astonishment as he drank the sight of us in.

I gave Ino's breasts an experimental squeeze. I felt Ino's eyebrows draw together as she took that as a challenge. She grabbed my rear, bringing our hips together to grind against. I gave a surprised cry, trying not to fall over.

Who did fall was Naruto, off the cot and onto his knees, hand still firmly clamped over his nose. With a moan he bent over, face pressed into the ground.

The reaction got Sasuke-kun to unglue his eyes from us and give Naruto a swift kick.

Ino pulled back, the both of us gasping. "Now, now, Sakura love," she said breathlessly, "we can't do that here. There are perverts watching."

At the mentioning of 'perverts watching' my gaze wandered over to the corner where Kakashi-sensei was supposedly sleeping. To my horror, both his eyes were wide open and gaping at the two of us.

"Kakashi-sensei, I feel like I should apologize." I found him up and walking after a few hours. Ino and I had taken a nap, far away from the men of my team.

"For what?" he asked.

"For... nothing?" I said suddenly unsure. Surely Kakashi-sensei couldn't have forgotten that he had seen Ino and I making out in front of Sasuke-kun and Naruto.

"That's right. For nothing," Kakashi-sensei said rather quickly. "And if for any reason, you feel you need to talk about... about things like, nothing, you best do it with someone like Tsunade-sama, or your mother, or a friend, but never, ever me. Understood?"

"Understood, Sensei."

"It's fine being a young woman with needs, or whatever, but it must be completely separate from me."

"Got it."

"Okay. Well good. Uh, bye." He quickly left to get away from me.

"Shit," I cursed under my breath. I spun around to the sound of Naruto laughing at me.

"Gee, Sakura-chan, I've never seen Kakashi-sensei like that! You must have given him some boner!"

My face turned red. "This is terrible!"

Naruto sighed. "Ah, it's not that bad."

"I'm supposed to be the easy student! He has enough going on dealing with the two of you!"

Naruto "pft" at 'easy student'. "I'd say. Well now Kakashi-sensei can relieve some of the stress he gets from Sasuke's bullshit with some new material. 'Make Out Lesbian Paradise'!"

"Please... never speak again," I said in between clenched teeth.

"Hey," Naruto continued anyway. "I'm all for your choices and support your new relationship. In fact, I hope it lasts for a long time, especially in places where I can see it play out. And if you're ever looking to spice things up with maybe a guy..."

I gave Naruto a flat glare. "Where's Sasuke-kun?" I asked, noticing he wasn't attached to Naruto and happy to find a way to change the subject.

"He went to take a dump and didn't want me to watch." Naruto shrugged.

"I'm glad you guys are setting some boundaries," I said sarcastically.

"Yeah, I'm trying to get him to get over that." My eyebrow twitched, wondering if Naruto was being serious. "So why have you been avoiding us?" Naruto suddenly asked and I was taken by surprise.

"I'm not."

"Was kissing Ino supposed to get Sasuke jealous or something?" I knew it was obvious. I just always hoped Naruto would be dumber than he was.

"What does it matter? It didn't work."

"I wouldn't say that. It worked on me," he said somewhat suggestively.

"Obviously." I didn't want it to work on Naruto. I wanted it to work on Sasuke-kun.

"And who knows what's going on in that bastard's head. He's never shown a reaction to any sort of arousal."

"Well, I wouldn't want to take him away from you anyway," I replied snappily, and left, leaving Naruto stunned where he stood.

Ino seemed to find the make out session a success. If it proved anything, it proved that Naruto was basically crying with need, and therefore was of course still attracted to women and me. And if Naruto was attracted to me, Ino figured she could somehow get the two of us together and have Sasuke-kun all to herself.

I thought maybe the stress of the war, and the death of her father had made Ino turn suddenly insane.

Sasuke-kun appeared to be completely unaffected. He showed no embarrassment when I came to give his regular check ups, though he was still in that depressive slump he had been since I found the two by the ruined waterfall. He hardly spoke, and when he did it was to snap at either Naruto or me. Mostly at Naruto. He had only spoken to me twice now. Once to tell me he wasn't hungry when I tried to feed him, and another to tell me quite plainly that he did not need help washing himself when I brought him a rag and some warm water.

Naruto watched all of our reactions with wide eyes.

On the last night before we were to arrive at Konoha, I was woken to a strangled scream. I untangled myself from my blankets, kunai already in my hand, ready for a fight. I hadn't realized the sound had come from Sasuke-kun. I wasn't accustomed to hearing him make noise at all.

He was hunched over, each breath a tiny cry, sweat bleeding through his shirt. "Sasuke-kun!" I called out in a hasty whisper. I had woken up first, but Naruto was of course closer and was able to reach Sasuke-kun's side quicker.

He put his arm on Sasuke-kun's back who immediately shoved it off. "Get away from me," he moaned.

"The hell, bastard!" Naruto growled, flinging himself right back on top of him. I had the thought that maybe if I had been more assertive than Naruto, Sasuke-kun would be mine rather than his.

Sasuke-kun began to breathe so fast he started coughing. I hesitantly laid a hand on his tense shoulder, but his coughing only seemed to get worse. After several moments of him hacking, I was afraid he would either choke himself, or tear his lungs. Using my chakra, I located what was lodged and gave a swift and precise pound on his back. He coughed it up.

But then he vomited.

"Oh, man, Sasuke," Naruto murmured, gathering up his hair with his one hand and holding it out of the way as Sasuke-kun vomited again. I was afraid that I had caused him to throw up from my punch, but I knew that wasn't the reason as I inspected his body more. He was having a panic attack, the brain activity in chaos. I didn't know much about PTSD or any other brain condition. I could feel it, the brain waves moving under my chakra induced hand, but could do nothing to help. Instead I took to rubbing his back with my other hand.

Sasuke-kun finished vomiting, his face still pointed downward as he gasped in shallow breaths. Naruto wiped his face with the blanket. "Some nightmare..."

"It's fine."

"Sasuke-kun," I said. That-"

"It's fine," he interrupted me. "They happen all the time. It's not a big deal."

"All the time? I've never heard you... scream like that..."

Sasuke-kun turned his head slowly to me, his black and purple eyes glinting animalistic. "That's the first time I've fallen asleep around you."

"You haven't been sleeping? Like at all?"

Sasuke-kun laid back down, turning away from me to Naruto instead, set on ignoring me.

I turned my gaze to Naruto in question.

Naruto only shrugged. "I didn't know. It would explain why I'm not getting him better as fast as I normally could."

"There's always so many people around," Sasuke-kun muttered.

"We'll be back in Konoha tomorrow," I said hopefully.

"I can't wait," he said sarcastically. I hadn't really been thinking about what would happened once Sasuke-kun returned to the village. I saw Naruto's arm move protectively over Sasuke-kun, his face stern as he had the thought too. A small breath left my lungs. Technically, Sasuke-kun was supposed to be put to death. My heart started to beat so rapidly that I feared that I was going to faint. I took a longer, deeper gulp of air.

Executing Sasuke-kun didn't seem to be Tsunade-sama's intention. If it was, she would have told me quite plainly what was to happen and not just avoid the subject. And arriving back she was resigning. Kakashi-sensei would take over. He would think of something. Kakashie-sensei had been ready to eliminate Sasuke-kun before, but he had seen firsthand what Sasuke-kun had done for us in the war.

Yet he also knew what Sasuke-kun had tried to do after the war. The battle him and Naruto had was being kept secret from everyone else. Kakashi-sensei hadn't seen it. All we had was Naruto's side of the story, but it still made me nervous.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto murmured, breaking me out of my internal panic. I looked up at him and he gave me a warm reassuring smile. Naruto would fix it. He always did.

I bit my lip and gave a quick, frustrated glance at Sasuke-kun. "I have sleeping pills. You won't dream with them." Sasuke-kun didn't answer. I crawled over to my stuff to get them anyway, grabbing my canister of water. "You're gonna have to sit up to take them." When Sasuke-kun didn't get up, Naruto dragged him upright instead. After somewhat forcefully making Sasuke-kun take the pills, he ripped away from me violently, laying on his stomach and pressing his face to his sleeping mat so he wouldn't have to see either of us. There wasn't much room, but I laid down with him and Naruto on the tiny bed. If Sasuke-kun was annoyed, he didn't say or do anything about it, but that may have only been because he was finally asleep.

Sasuke-kun was sent to prison. I worried that he wasn't being taken care of well. He was still healing from losing his arm, and I knew that the prison guards weren't trained in any sort of medical skill. I worried that he wouldn't get enough food, because he was restrained in a way that he couldn't feed himself, and he would never let anyone feed him. I worried mostly because Naruto was no longer with him, and he was alone with his own dark thoughts.

Naruto and I visited him daily, but not for very long as the guards wouldn't have us there longer than ten minutes at a time. It pissed off Naruto to no end, but it was better than not seeing him at all which was what was stated on our first attempt. Naruto went straight to Kakashi-sensei after that, and we were never denied entry again, but Naruto still took to glaring at the guards every time we went.

Naruto never went to see Sasuke-kun without me. I never went without Naruto. It was like some sort of unspoken agreement. I knew anyway, seeing Sasuke-kun bound, wrapped in a strait jacket and a seal over his eyes, I couldn't stomach it without Naruto. Naruto pressed my face hard into his chest or shoulder to help muffle the sobs every time I saw Sasuke-kun, so Sasuke-kun couldn't hear it. I knew he most likely heard it anyway.

"Hey bastard, why'd you got to be so far away?" Naruto asked in a hoarse whisper. Sasuke-kun sat on a bench in his cell, four to five feet away from the bars. I could tell Naruto wanted to reach out to him, but Sasuke-kun wouldn't move closer. He would have had to crawl to do so, and Sasuke-kun would never crawl. So, Naruto's arm stay clamped around me instead.

Naruto told him about what he was up to. He had been busy trying to study for the Chūnin exams, because embarrassingly he was still a genin. Sasuke-kun never spoke at all anymore, but his head twitched at certain things Naruto said. I began to read his body language the way Naruto could. He was pleased that Naruto was still a genin, because technically, so was Sasuke-kun.

I of course couldn't say anything to him. I didn't know what I could. But I knew he knew I was there. Even if Naruto hadn't announced that the both of us had come to see him, it was impossible for Sasuke-kun to not have noticed my sniffling.

Naruto and I didn't hang out much anymore. We only saw each other when we had our daily visits with Sasuke-kun. Naruto had become very busy. When he wasn't studying (which took him twice as long than anyone else in the world) he was with Kakashi-sensei, working on Sasuke-kun's case.

I also noticed Naruto spending a lot of time with Hinata. It started at the funeral. Naruto stood next to Hinata the whole time, in front of Neji's headstone. Naruto stared at the stone in misery for a great while, but halfway through the service I noticed his gloomy face turn to Hinata's silent crying head. He hesitantly raised his hand and placed it on her shoulder.

I saw Hinata pressed her lips together before leaning into the great warmth I knew Naruto's body always offered. I watched as she suddenly turned into his chest, letting out a sob and Naruto clutched her tightly.

I took to staying away from them, feeling they needed their space. I didn't know what Naruto felt for Hinata, but it was clear that he wasn't going to abandoned anyone that needed anything. I stuck close to Ino. I realized that it didn't matter if I had nothing to say to her about her father. I didn't have to say anything, and if I did, it would only make Ino cry harder. She decided to use me as a tissue and that was enough from me.

I was starting to miss Naruto's presence a great deal. Alone, I'd over think things and remember short flashes of the war. I could still feel what Naruto's heart felt like in my hand when the Nine-Tails had been ripped out of him. I could still feel the way his chapped lips of his dead mouth felt on mine when I gave him CPR. Sometimes I would find myself wanting to go over to him, place a hand on his crazy bright blond hair just to insure myself that he was alive and the same as he had always been, but I didn't want to interrupt the important things he was constantly doing now.

The winter made emotional wounds seem to heal so much slower. I continued learning under Tsunade-sama, who had much more time now that she had retired from Hokage. I even got to learn about cell cloning and helped some in creating a new arm for Naruto. I soaked up all the information. I knew Sasuke-kun wouldn't be allowed to have such a procedure, but if somehow, Naruto was able to get him out of execution and maybe even out of prison, I could make him one.

It was a silly hopeful dream but studying about it took my mind off of things. I was in the midst of reading a scroll at the kitchen table when I noticed snow flurries outside the window. I took time to watch them, thinking about Sasuke-kun. Even if I somehow was able to create an arm all by myself, I wasn't sure if Sasuke-kun would accept such a gift from the likes of me. Maybe if I got Naruto to offer, he'd accept it. Such ideas no longer upset me. In fact, I was thinking myself rather clever outsmarting the Uchiha by using Naruto.

"Sakura, dear." My father sat beside me at the table with a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Dad," I said back, bracing myself for one of his terrible jokes.

"How are you?" he asked instead.

Taken aback, I replied, "Fine," awkwardly.

He patted my back. "I know your mother and I don't say it often, but we're very proud of you. I want to make sure you know that. What you did... during the war... That was some... truly amazing stuff. You know that, right?"

"Dad," I bit my lip turning to him, a sudden gratefulness that both my parents were safe in sound. "I love you," I said, wrapping my arms around him. "I'm sorry I don't say that to you and mom as often as I should."

"Sakura," he squeezed my shoulder and raised his mug. "Words cannot espresso how much you mean to us."

"Oh dad, shut up."

"So, I got something to tell you," Naruto grinned a thousand suns in my direction as he met me at my parents' house to walk to our daily Sasuke-kun visit.

"If this is about Kakashi-sensei's porn stash in the Hokage's office again-"

"No, it's not, but yeah, that's still in fucking plain view, right next to all the diplomatic scrolls and no one is saying anything about it," Naruto huffed, raising his arm. "What I was gonna say though, is that Sasuke's getting out of prison next month."

I dropped the boot that I had been busy putting on. "What?"

"Yep!" Naruto beamed. "Kakashi-sensei sure has a way with words. I thought the fucking emissary was gonna drop to his knees and suck his dick right then and there."

"He's not... going to be executed?"

"Psh, what? What gave you that idea, Sakura-chan?! Kakashi-sensei is sure as hell not gonna let his comrades get executed! What kind of person do you think he is? Sasuke was never gonna get executed. Getting him out of prison though, whoo, was that a hard one!"

I stood up quickly, not sure what to do with myself or this alarming amount of emotion. In the back of my mind, I didn't really think I ever believed that everything would turn out alright. Not really.

"Politics are so stupid. And Kakashi-sensei is all like 'You're going to have to learn all this if you want to be Hokage someday' bullshit. When I'm Hokage, meetings are gonna be way shorter, because that's just torture. Break it up, you know? Or at least involve snacks. I don't care how annoying chewing is."

"Naruto... I... thank you." He stopped his rant to look at me, noticing I was on the verge of tears. "You got him... You got him back. Just like you said you would."

"Of course I did. I never go back on my wo-" I flung my arms around him. Naruto gripped me tightly back with his one arm. I was still getting use to Naruto's one armed hugs. They didn't feel as complete, but Naruto still squeezed me with all that he was worth. He swayed us a bit, his head nuzzling against mine.

I took a step back after a moment. Naruto's face was still leaned toward mine, and I realized that he was hoping for a kiss. I turned my face away, intent on ignoring it. I almost felt bad, as it reminded me that all these years, Naruto had been chasing after Sasuke-kun because I asked him to. Was he really still hoping that would win me over?

But I remembered Naruto kissing Sasuke-kun and the many times he told me he was gonna go meet Hinata for some dumb reason or other. He seemed to still seek attention from other people rather than just me, so I felt better. I didn't know what was going through Naruto's head most of the time. Perhaps he was just as oblivious of his own actions.

"Let's go tell Sasuke-kun the good news."