A/N: Don't worry, this isn't the last chapter. There's still one more to go. But this chapter definitely gave me some trouble writing it, and I'd like to say thanks to my buddy "Nickers" for helping me with the fight scene. Oh, and the site where I normally get sound clips from is temporarily down, so I'll post the link on my profile page as soon as it's back up.

Disclaimer: Don't worry, I don't claim Naruto for my own.

Chapter 15: Acknowledgement

And in the morning when Sasuke awoke, although he could see the images from his nightmares in front of his eyes, he wasn't alone anymore. His gaze fell upon Sakura's face as she slept peacefully in his arms, a small smile touching the corners of her lips. And a tiny sliver of comfort planted itself amongst the grief and sorrow that filled his heart. He was so absorbed into the moment that he didn't hear the front door quietly open and two sets of footsteps entering the apartment.

Naruto looked on the floor in the living room and saw that Sasuke's futon was neatly made. He must already be out training, I guess, Naruto supposed as he excitedly walked back to the bedroom, Kakashi lazily lagging behind him. He walked up to the door and opened it up and started to say, "Hey, Sakura-chan, are you awake…" His voice trailed off as he took in the image of Sakura sleeping in Sasuke's arms, her head resting on his chest. Her back was to him, so she couldn't see the expression on Naruto's face, but Sasuke could see it as he looked back at him with an equally surprised look.

Sasuke hastily slipped out of bed as Sakura turned over to look, but Naruto had already disappeared from the doorway while Kakashi was just walking up to it, curious to see what made Naruto run out the door of the apartment in such a rush. He was surprised to see Sasuke and Sakura in their pajamas in the bedroom together, Sakura still in the bed and Sasuke seemingly just having got out of it. What happened during the 2 days we were gone? he wondered before Sakura brushed past him without a word after having thrown a shirt over her pajamas. He heard the front door open and close behind him, although he had yet to move from his position at the doorway. "So what happened? Are you two…?" Kakashi implied as Sasuke grunted in annoyance and slammed the door on him. He started to get dressed and he was half-way done when he heard Kakashi speak through the door.

"We know where to find Itachi."

Quickly changing his pants, he opened the door back up expectantly as he asked, "When do we leave?"

"In a few hours," Kakashi responded. "Naruto and I should get some rest before heading out since we've been traveling all night." Sasuke nodded absently as his mind filled with a thousand thoughts.

Sakura opened the door to the roof and walked out onto it, not surprised to find Naurto sitting on the ledge; she had noticed during the time they had spent living together he often sat on the roof whenever he had something on his mind.

"Naruto," she spoke gently in his direction. She walked up behind him and asked him, "May I sit down?"

Naruto nodded, but didn't speak. He was uncharacteristically quiet, and Sakura knew that was a bad sign. "Hey, I'm sorry-"

"It's ok, Sakura-chan," he interrupted as he turned to her and smiled, although she could still see the pain behind it, "I already knew you liked Sasuke, it just caught me off guard, that's all."

"No, it's not ok. I hate to see you hurt like this. I wish…I wish there was something I could do. Naruto, I care about you so much. I wouldn't even be who I am today if it weren't for you. Without you, I might never have found the courage to train under Tsunade. My life wouldn't be the same without you in it." Naruto just bowed his head again, so she tried laying her hand on his shoulder to try to further comfort him when she heard someone step onto the roof behind them. She turned around to see that it was Sasuke.

"Kakashi wants to discuss plans with you," Sasuke announced to her. And she was about to protest, but something in his look made her stop herself. She nodded as she swung around and walked back over to the door leading into the apartment building. She turned her head slightly as she passed through it to catch Sasuke taking a seat next to Naruto out of the corner of her eye before closing the door behind her.

After a few minutes of silence, Naruto offered his congratulations.

"Don't congratulate me, Naruto," Sasuke replied. "I don't deserve her. I don't deserve any of this. You're the one she should be with. You never betrayed her, you never abandoned her. You're a much better person than I am."

"But you're the one she chose. You're the one who can make her happy in a way I never could."

"Funny."

"What is?" Naruto asked.

"I always thought that about you." The two boys exchanged a look, an understanding passing between them that no words could adequately convey. "I can't do this," Sasuke confessed. "I thought it was what I wanted, it's still what I want I think, but I just…can't."

"Yes you can," Naruto assured, setting aside his own pain to encourage a friend. He paused before adding, "She really makes it easy, doesn't she?"

"Yeah," Sasuke answered in agreement before he even realized he had said anything aloud. Clearing his throat, he changed the subject. "Kakashi-sensei was saying that he would take on Kisame alone, while we would pair up against…my brother. Is that ok with you?"

He's letting me help him fight Itachi? He doesn't mind sharing that with me? Naruto just stared at his teammate for a full minute in shock before he could make a reply. "Yeah, yeah. I didn't think you'd want me to. Have a part of it, I mean. I want to fight along side you, yes!" Naruto spoke emphatically.

Sasuke, although stoic as ever on the outside, inwardly smiled at the emotional display of his teammate. But in keeping with their usual behavior, he warned, "But you better not get in my way."

"Ha! You're going have to make sure you're not in my way for the final blow," he challenged right back.

"I'd like to see you manage to get even one hit on him," Sasuke smirked at him.

"Yeah, well, you better just stay back all together so you don't get hurt," Naruto suggested with a huge grin on his face.

"Maybe you two should do a little less talk and a little more getting ready," Kakashi interrupted. Both of them turned around, surprised by his presence and having their exchange intruded upon. "Naruto, go get some rest before we head out. Sasuke, go help Sakura get everything ready for the trip," he ordered before turning back around and entering the building, a bewildered smile gracing his masked face as he thought to himself, Those kids…amaze me. Who would have thought Naruto and Sakura could overcome such a hopeless situation with their determination, and that Sasuke would let them.

Naruto and Sasuke both hopped off the ledge and back onto the roof and followed not too far behind Kakashi.

Sasuke surprised Naruto by speaking up before they left the roof, though. "So you're ok with this, right? I mean, with Sakura…and me," he nervously asked as he paused at the doorway. "Because I don't have to be, I mean, if you want to be with her. It should be you."

"Well, I'll accept your comment that I'm the better one between us, and we'll leave it at that," Naruto generously offered. And a rare smile actually worked its way into Sasuke's countenance at the reply.

Without another word, they both entered the building and went back down to the apartment. It was good to have the other back again, each of them thought.

"Hey, so why do you think Sasuke went to Sakura instead of me?" Naruto had asked Kakashi as they traveling, before they had met up together with Sasuke and Sakura.

"I don't know, Naruto. Maybe it was because he feels too guilty to face you after your fight at the Valley of the End," Kakashi ventured a guess. "He hadn't really done anything like that to Sakura before he left, so maybe it was an easier transition."

"Yeah, maybe," Naruto replied.

"You don't sound satisfied with that answer."

"Do you think it's because he thinks I can't help him? I've been training all this time, and I've gotten really strong now." But I'm always afraid that it's not enough, Naruto thought but didn't say aloud.

"I don't think that's it," Kakashi answered him with a little sigh. "You may not have realized this, but part of what drove him away was because you were getting so strong."

"What do you mean?"

"Sasuke has been living toward the goal of defeating his brother since his childhood. And it had pushed him to excel in the academy, and he used the rivalry between you two to also push himself to become strong. But after you started training with Jiraiya, you started catching up a little too quickly, and maybe even surpassed him. But if he were to acknowledge that, it would at the same time be acknowledging his own lack of progress and failure at being able to succeed in his revenge. And that was probably part of what convinced him to find alternative means to becoming strong faster than he was here in Konoha," Kakashi explained.

Naruto let Kakashi's words sink in. Sasuke doubts himself, too? Doubts his own strength? But he was always so strong, I was always trying to catch up with him. Naruto thought back to the night Sasuke left, and how he had assured Sakura that Sasuke wouldn't leave because he was strong and wouldn't listen to Orochimaru's offer. Now he saw where he was mistaken, not in Sasuke's strength, but in the boy's perception of it. And I was a part of that, I helped drive him away, Naruto thought angrily at himself. Why didn't I see that? I could have convinced him to stay, I'm sure of it.

"And there may be one more reason why he doesn't want your help," Kakashi interrupted his thoughts. "He took Sakura with him, but she wouldn't be able to join in the fight, so he wouldn't have to worry about her getting hurt or possibly killed by Itachi. He had already taken away everyone precious to him once before." But then the older man suddenly brightened to his usual demeanor, "But then again, I may have no idea what I'm talking about."

I still wish he'd at least let me help, though, Naruto thought.

While Naruto and Kakashi napped in the living room, Sakura gathered everything they'd need in bedroom as she fastened her own medical pack to her back. She had already told the restaurant owner that there was a family emergency and that they had to leave right away and wouldn't return; the same with the landlord. "You aren't going," she heard from behind her.

"Yes I am," she replied defiantly as she turned around and stared fiercely at Sasuke.

"I don't want you anywhere near there," he stated.

"Too bad," she answered with a smirk as she walked past him to do a last minute check that she had everything ready to go. He followed right behind her. "Don't worry, I'm not going to fight in my condition, but I can still be of use if one of you gets injured. Don't you want to be able to get healed up and re-enter the battle? It'll increase your chances for success," she pointed out. And increase all of your chances for making it out alive. That's one of the reasons I trained to be a medic nin, so I could help as much as I could. She pushed the thought of possibly losing one of them out of her mind, the last thing they needed was for her to worry about them; she needed to focus on doing everything she could for them.

When she was satisfied that she had indeed had everything prepared for them, she stopped and turned to face him squarely. "Ok, now I can't travel for as long periods as you three, so I'm heading out now and hopefully I won't arrive too much after you 3 with this head start," she explained, but quietly so as not to disturb the two sleeping team members.

"You know where he will be?" Sasuke questioned her.

"Yeah."

"And where is it? Or aren't you going to tell me because you think I'll go ahead on my own," he accused.

"Basically," she replied as she reached up to give him a kiss on the cheek. But as casual as she was trying to be, all she could think about was how hard this was going to be for him to do, and she didn't have the battle in mind. She was about to turn and walk to the door, but Sasuke took a firm grip on her arm to prevent her from doing so.

"I don't like you traveling alone."

"I know," she replied gently, "but there's nothing you can say that will convince me not to," she ended, determination written on her face.

Sasuke let go of his grip, and simply said, "Take care of yourself."

Sakura gave him a small smile. "I will." And with that, she turned and left.

After traveling for the remainder of that day, all through the night, and part of the next day, Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke finally caught up with Itachi and Kisame.

Naruto glanced over at Sasuke. Although there was nothing in his expression to show what he was feeling, Naruto could somehow still sense his anxiety mixed in with anticipation. He recalled what Sakura had told him before they had left the apartment building that morning they had run errands together.

"I'm not sure if he'll really be able to go through with killing his brother. While he does have a lot of anger, I think it's more complicated than that. If you see him hesitate, do whatever you can to hold Itachi down. Can you do that for me?" Sakura had asked of him.

"But what are you-"

"Trust me on this, just do it for me. Please," she had begged him.

"Yeah, ok, Sakura-chan." She looked very relieved at his agreement, and then they had immediately started toward the first store, making light conversation after that.

"Remember, Naruto," Sasuke interrupted Naruto's recollection, "whatever you do, don't look in his eyes. I can help you break out of genjutsu, but damage from Tsukuyomu is instantaneous. I can withstand his technique now, so I'll take the front and you attack from behind as much as possible."

Naruto was going to reply back in their usual rivalry talk, but noticing the serious concern in his voice, he answered, "You don't have to worry about me, just take care of yourself." Sasuke nodded to him

A minute later, Kakashi gave the signal and the 3 of them initiated the attack just as they had planned it along the way.

After cursing herself for the thousandth time for having to stop and for a break so often, Sakura finally caught up to them and made a quick summary of the scene that lay before her.

Kakashi was engaged in battle with Kisame. Although neither seemed to have sustained any serious injuries, Kakashi appeared to be running low on chakra, especially relative to his opponent who still seemed fairly fresh. Her eyes quickly swept over to the other group fighting. Sasuke was facing Itachi, while Naruto remained off to the side. Naruto's self-healing from the kyuubi seemed to holding up well, but Sasuke was favoring his left arm along with a few minor injuries; Itachi seemed to not have a scratch. She let out a sigh of relief that, at least so far, all 3 of them were pretty much all right.

She observed Naruto and one of his clones come in from behind with a rasengan, only to be disappointed as Itachi effortlessly flung him to the side. She watched as Naruto and his clone slid in between Kakashi and Kisame, but Kakashi was able to quickly catch Naruto and push him back toward Itachi, while the clone disappeared.

"All right, I'm going to end this now," she heard Kakashi boldly claim as he began to mold a lot of chakra. Kisame only smiled as he removed Samehada from his back and quickly swung around to attack him. Kakashi easily dodged the physical attack with his speed, but the sword absorbed all the chakra he had been molding. Kisame replaced the sword on his back and performed a series of seals. Having been drained of too much chakra, Kakashi was unable to avoid being caught in a water prison. Sakura was about to call out to have Naruto or Sasuke temporarily abandon their battle to help him when her eyes widened as the real Kakashi silently appeared from underground behind Kisame, who was suddenly taken by surprise as the Kakashi he had captured turned to water. He turned around just in time to meet a chidori through the chest. Sakura gasped as she watched not only Kisame's body slump to the ground, but also Kakashi's; she guessed and hoped from chakra depletion.

She quickly looked over to Naruto, who had noticed her presence, and he gave a quick nod of assurance that Kakashi was all right and for her to remain concealed. But as he was doing so, she let out a gasp as Itachi seemed to catch him in a genjutsu. Luckily, Sasuke wasn't far behind and helped him break free of it. Angry at himself for leaving such an opening, Naruto's temper began to rise. Fueling himself with some of the kyuubi chakra, he rushed in with amazing speed, but Itachi was able to evade every one of his attacks.

Sasuke observed the pattern of movement of the two with his sharingan, and slammed both hands into the ground as earth shot up and hardened into the shape of a spike where Itachi was about to step, but he was able to avoid both the earth spike and Naruto's taijutsu. However, it had slowed him down just enough for Sasuke to then catch and bind him with a snake jutsu that shot from his right hand. In a split second, his injured left arm, flared up with his own chidori as he pulled his brother toward him. But Itachi showed no fear on his face. Sakura thought she could see his lips moving, but was much too far away to hear what he had said. But the hand she had been holding over her mouth since she began observing the battle fell limply to her side as Sasuke's head dropped as the chidori flickered out and Itachi escaped with only a punch to the chest. Was it the injury, or did Itachi say something that made him lose his resolve? Sakura wondered with concern. She didn't have long to deliberate on it, though, as her heart then started pounding as she watched Naruto rush in from behind with a kunai, but Itachi, though still bound by the snakes, was somehow able to avoid a critical hit as the weapon plunged into his side.

Itachi quickly turned around to face Naruto who quickly shut his eyes to avoid being caught in Tsukuyomi. The reflex ended up being unnecessary as Sasuke snapped back into action and slid in between them with a speed Sakura couldn't follow, blocking Naruto's vision had his eyes been open. And like her, Itachi didn't notice a mud bunshin Sasuke flying in from the side to knock him to the ground. The clone held him down while Sasuke jumped on top and pressed a kunai to his neck.

Sakura quickly ran out from behind the rock she had been hiding behind and took off in a dead sprint. Sasuke had hesitated in the finishing blow and had been effortlessly flung away and struck a boulder in his trajectory before landing with a thud on the ground. Naruto immediately created several clones and jumped onto Itachi almost the same instant Sakura reached him. Sasuke watched, frozen in place, as Sakura performed the same seals he had seen her do when she tried to stop Naruto during their fight. No, there were more this time. Before Itachi could destroy all the clones, Sakura dashed in straight for him, only to at the last second manipulate her chakra and launch herself over his had. Landing behind him, she stretched out as far as she could and was barely able to place her palm at the base of his back as he was already maneuvering away from her. Having at least completed that task, she quickly pushed herself backward and rolled into a slide and stopped her motion with both feet and one hand a few meters away. She had just started to stand back up as she found herself staring straight into a pair of sharingan eyes.

But Itachi grabbed Sasuke by his injured arm and painfully threw him to the side and she found herself now looking straight into a pair of mangekyou sharingan eyes. He's so fast! she thought as she shut her eyes as quickly as she could, but when she opened them just a slit, she found herself in a strange world and her body was strapped onto a cross.

Naruto had already been rushing over in her direction, but seeing that it was too late to save her from the technique, he slightly altered his momentum and slammed hard into Itachi, hoping he could disrupt Tsukuyomi with physical force; one chakra tail already sprouting. Sasuke, who had also started running back in their direction, saw that Naruto had attacked Itachi, but Sakura was already falling, having succumbed to the technique. Using a chakra boost, he dove toward her and was able to catch her before she hit the ground, wincing slightly from the weight on his injured arm. He set her down gently and caressed her face for just a moment before standing up and clenching his fists. This is my fault, he cursed himself, I hesitated and didn't kill him when I had the chance. That won't happen again, he swore.

Sasuke, having resolved to re-join the fight, was surprised to see that Itachi's chakra had been reduced to a dangerously low level, and his older brother was unable to free himself from the numerous Naruto clones who held him in place. Meanwhile Naruto, now with 2 tails showing, quickly charged up an oodama rasengan. But before he had a chance to strike, Naruto stopped short from seeing visible blue chakra emanating from a large whole in Itachi's chest as a shocked expression surfaced on Itachi's face. "Little brother," fell softly from his lips as he collapsed to the ground.

As the glow in his hand died down, Sasuke held his arm in pain, but turned to slowly walk back to Sakura's unconscious body where he had laid her on the ground. Naruto quickly regained his composure as one tail disappeared, and then the other, and soon joined Sasuke in kneeling next to Sakura.

Both of them looked down at her in sorrow for her suffering and in shamed that they couldn't prevent it. But Naruto was taken aback when Sasuke cried out in frustration as he bent over her body and held it close to him, tears of guilt running down his cheeks. Naruto silently placed a hand on Sasuke's shoulder, and held Sakura's hand with his other.

"What happened?" they heard Kakashi ask from behind them a few minutes later. He had finally woken up from unconsciousness and currently stood not too far from them, looking down on them wearily.

Without looking up, Naruto answered seriously, "She got caught in Tsukuyomi. We need to get her help right away."

Kakashi just shook his head. "She's fine," he answered.

"What do you mean, I saw it, he used the mangekyou sharingan on her," Sasuke spoke up, although his voice was strained.

"Well then I don't understand it either, but she's perfectly fine. She just seems to be asleep." Sasuke sat up turned his head to look up at him and discovered he was looking at her with his sharingan. Turning his own back on, Sasuke also observed that indeed her chakra was perfectly normal; he had been too upset before to notice.

"But…how?" Naruto asked.

But Sakura was the first person to respond. "Do any of you need healing?" Sakura questioned weakly without opening her eyes.

Everyone was shocked and relieved into a silence. "Well?" Sakura asked again when she wasn't receiving any answer.

"I'm..I'm fine, Sakura-chan. We're all fine," Naruto replied, tears welling up in his eyes. Sasuke just stared down at her, not even noticing the pain in his arm. Sakura just nodded in acknowledgment as she fell back asleep.

In the Tsukuyomi dimension, Sakura saw through her still mostly closed eyes that several figures of Itachi approached her, each one carrying a katana. "I don't know what you were trying to do back there, but you are now in a world where I control time and space. And for 72 hours, I'm going to stab you with this katana."

Sakura braced herself as two katana traveled quickly toward her. At the last second, she pulled hard and broke free from the bindings that held her to the cross and dropped down to a crouched position on the ground as the swords punctured the spot she had just occupied.

Itachi looked down at her. "That's interesting," he commented neutrally, although he couldn't hold back his surprise when she stood up and stared back at him with his own eyes.

A katana materialized at her side, and she quickly drew it in defense. "You may control this world, but you're not in control of me."

"What did you do? What was that technique?" he asked, once again composed.

"Why don't you defeat me and then I'll tell you," she challenged.

Although they fought in that world for a good few hours, barely an instant had transpired in reality. Never able to gain an advantage over her, and not wanting to waste anymore chakra, Itachi dropped the jutsu, only to be on the receiving end of an unexpected impact as confusion at being so weakened coming out of his technique left him vulnerable.

A few hours later, when Sakura was awake and somewhat refreshed, they finally were able to learn what had happened.

"So what happened?" Kakashi inquired gently as she sat up.

After describing what the fight she had with Itachi in the Tsukuyomi world, Sakura explained, "Well, when I went to seal Itachi's chakra, using the same technique I tried and failed with Naruto before, I used a modification of that technique that I thought might make it more successful. I developed my own jutsu of intermixing a person's chakra with my own to be used at the same time as attempting the seal so I could more easily shut down the person's chakra with it. I came up with the idea from a comment that Tsunade made to me about being sensitive to other people's chakra from when I helped revive Jiraiya, and I was able to develop it from learning the more advanced chakra manipulation from Sasuke-kun as he was teaching me genjutsu. Anyway, since I had gotten in that first hit, the Tsukuyomi couldn't work on me since I could draw on his chakra while I was either in contact with him or trapped in that technique of his. So as we were fighting in the Tsukuyomi world, he didn't realize I was slowly draining his chakra the entire time. He couldn't have had much left when he eventually released it," she surmised.

"No, he was very easy to fight after that," Naruto confirmed.

"So you're all right then?" Sasuke asked, not bothering to hide the concern in his voice.

She smiled up at him warmly, "Yes, I'm fine. I didn't mean to worry anyone. Right now, I'm just exhausted. I'd really be drained, though, if I hadn't been using his chakra in addition to mine." She paused for a moment before asking her own question, "So what happened? Is he dead?"

"Yes, I…I killed him," Sasuke answered, but quickly added, "But Naruto had him pinned for me. He was able to call on the kyuubi chakra without losing control."

He knows about that? Naruto pondered as he blushed a little as Sakura looked over and smiled at him this time.

"Really? Did you figure out a way to control it?" she asked curiously.

"I'm not really sure, but I was able to focus on only drawing what I needed," Naruto attempted for an explanation. "Maybe it was because I knew I had people counting on me that I had to protect." He didn't want to admit the real reason being that from Kakashi's words and Sasuke asking for his help, he finally acknowledged his own strength for himself, and that admission lent him great willpower over the runaway effects of using the kyuubi chakra.

"And how are you doing, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked him.

"Oh, I'm fine. Just exhausted like you. Sasuke can probably use some medical attention whenever you feel up to it, though," he suggested lightly.

"Oh," she cried out. "Your arm, right? Let me take care of it right away."

"It's ok, it's not that bad," he spoke up quickly, holding it back from her.

"Sasuke-kun, I'm fine. Let me look at it," she insisted stubbornly as she got up and moved closer to him. When he still refused her, she gave him a look that made him comply as he reluctantly held out his arm to her. Naruto just snickered at how he wasn't the only one Sakura could bully now, but soon quieted down with a menacing glance from Sasuke. Kakashi just sighed at the 3 of them as he pulled out his book.

They made the rest of the trip back with little conversation, especially from Sasuke. And about 5 days later, they had reached the familiar walls surrounding Konoha. Naruto quickly rushed in, anxious to be back and eat a meal at his favorite ramen place. Kakashi followed behind it, but at a much more leisurely pace, still reading his novel. Sakura was also excited to be back, but her smile quickly faded when she turned to look back at Sasuke.

"You're not coming in, are you?" she asked him although she already knew the answer.

He shook his head. "I'm not-"

"Ready?" she finished for him. He had been so quiet the whole trip, probably still trying deal with everything emotionally. His blank expression as Naruto had talked about how happy he was that the team was finally reunited again during their trip back played through her mind. She had expected this, she knew it was going to end this way, but it still was more painful than she ever expected it to be. Sakura bit her lip as she looked into his eyes. Before she would have a chance to regret it, she quickly ordered, "Go."

"I'm sorry," he apologized. "It's not that I don't want-"

"You don't have to say anything. Just go," she told him quickly.

He reached out and placed a hand on her cheek before wrapping his arms around her in a hug. But a few minutes later, he let go and stepped back. Gazing at her one last time, he turned around and took off.

Sakura quickly rubbed her eyes and did her best to put on a cheerful face as she walked through the gates of Konoha, by herself.

Tsunade was not happy to say the least when Sakura informed her of Sasuke not returning to Konoha. But it wasn't so bad. 6 months of menial labor around the village was very generous of her considering all the stunts she had pulled over the past year. It had been a lot more difficult for Sakura to break the news to Naruto that Sasuke wasn't ready to return, but she assured him that he would come back eventually; he just needed time to sort some things out on his own.

She was able to pick up the daily routine of Konoha again quickly as if she had hardly been gone. She and Ino hung out a lot more, of course only after being severely berated for not telling her the truth, but nothing a lot of gifts and freshly baked desserts couldn't resolve. And Sakura still couldn't figure out for the life of her how Naruto still didn't know that Hinata liked him. It brought a smile to her face whenever she saw them eating together occasionally at the ramen shop, but she couldn't help also feeling a little pang of loneliness at the same time.

A few weeks and 20 excruciating hours of labor later, Sakura knew it'd be a long time before she would feel lonely again, though, as she held her pink-haired daughter in her arms at the hospital. Naruto had offered to act as her father since there had still been no sign of Sasuke, but Sakura gently declined, insisting that the two of them would be fine, although frequent visits from a very good friend were more than welcomed.

(Track 15)
But right now, it was past visiting hours and Sakura lay on her side on the bed, her little girl lying beside her.

"You're not mad at me for letting your father go, are you? I know you would have liked to have him around, but we'll survive just us two girls, right?" She smiled at the infant as she promised, "I'll do my best to raise you as a strong person. You know, it was your father who helped me realize the strength I always had, and because you're my daughter, that same strength is already in you. And I'll try to teach you to recognize it as well as he taught me, although maybe with a few more words and a little less injury," she joked as she lovingly rubbed the baby's tiny arms and legs. "Your father loves you, I'll make sure you know that." Sakura then spoke as if the baby had responded, "Yes, I know, he loves me, too. We just have to be patient and believe in him, and even if he never comes back, we won't let each other forget that. Ok?" Sakura's voice faltered a bit and she sniffled slightly, but she managed to hold back the tears. "That's right, we'll get through this. We'll find a way, because we know how to be strong," she whispered. "But one thing you won't have to worry about, you may only have one parent right now, but you've got a whole village for a family."

Tsunade had to wipe away the tears gently rolling down her face as she stood listening from out in the hallway before she could enter the room. "It's time for her to go to bed," Tsunade informed Sakura as she walked in and gently lifted the infant in her arms. "You'll see her again in the morning." She tried to smile at the young woman, but it only made it harder to hold back a fresh set of tears so she quickly turned to leave the room.

"Tsunade-sama," Sakura spoke up.

"Yes?" she replied as she took a deep breath and turned back around.

"I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry for all the lies, and for leaving without permission. Do you…do you consider me a disappointment?" she asked.

"No," Tsunade replied, no longer able to prevent the tears from streaming down her cheeks. "No, right now, I'm very proud of you."

At the emotional response, Sakura also could no longer hold back from crying. Tsunade walked back over and sat down on the bed next to her. And without either one saying another word, they simply took comfort in each other's tears.