The first time he hears her voice, he is late to his first day at the Ninja Academy, and the only available seat is next to her. He sits there and watches her, eyes big and filled with adoration.
When she notices, she thumps him over the head and tells him, "Stop staring, you moron, and pay attention!"
Naruto is six years old, and he knows how not to cry. His lips curve up, hiding the fact that his lower lip is trembling and threatening to jut out, and says, "Okay, Sakura-chan!" even though he feels like his world is crumbling around him.
- - -
The last time he hears her voice, she is lying on her back in a pool of her own blood, pinned to the ground by Sasuke's kusangi. Naruto is leaning over her, desperately trying to do half-remembered and half-learned medical jutsu, anything so that he can save her. With blind eyes, she reaches out and grabs one of his hands, pulling it close.
"I'm sorry," she whispers, "that I couldn't be what you wanted. Tell them goodbye for me...?"
Naruto is sixteen years old, and he knows how not to cry. With his lower lip trembling, he closes his eyes and smiles, saying, "Yes, Sakura-chan," even though he knows his world is crashing down around him.
- - -
Somewhere between then and now, Naruto decides, he grew up, she grew in, and they both forgot what they were fighting for, choosing instead to chase a dream that could never come true.