The present that Sasuke had left for Shanan was a locket with his picture on one side and a picture of the three of them together on the other side.

And the note in the flowers read,

"Dearest Shanan,

By the time you read this, I'll be gone. I hope you can forgive me. This was the hardest decision I've ever made in my life, but I'm doing it for you. I've already failed to protect you too many times and I would never forgive myself if you ever died because I was too weak to save you. Please don't change your mind about everything we've talked about. I promise that I'll never stop loving you.

Forever yours,

Sasuke"

She couldn't stop reading the note. Even when she went home, she kept it under her pillow. "Forever yours," she kept reminding herself. She wanted to be angry at him, but she never was very good at that. It was actually rare for her to be mad at anyone.

Going home was strange. The last time she had been there was the day after Sasuke asked her out. They got to spend a relaxing day together before it had been ruined. If only she could go back and tell Sasuke that they didn't need to go to Kakashi's.

Home just felt really lonely right now.

Naruto was still in the hospital with serious injuries from his fight with Sasuke and he hadn't woken up yet either. So Shanan spent most of her time there. They wouldn't let her sleep there, though.

She usually left for the hospital first thing in the morning, but she had slept in a little late after a night of crying and so was running late to the hospital.

Whenever she walked into Naruto's room Kakashi and Jiraiya were there too and it seemed as though they'd stopped talking as soon as they saw her.

"Oh, don't stop on my account," Shanan said indifferently as she stopped next to Kakashi.

Kakashi still looked really guilty everytime Shanan saw him and she felt bad that he felt bad, but she couldn't turn her sadness off yet.

"We can finish our discussion later, Jiraiya," he said a bit nervously.

"I really didn't mean to interrupt." Shanan assured them.

"It's alright, he arrived just a few seconds before you so we hadn't really had the chance to speak."

Shanan suddenly looked at both of them suspiciously. Kakashi only ever had one eye exposed and his mask was currently up, but it was all she needed to see that he wasn't being honest with her.

She looked back at him incredulously. "You're lying, Kakashi," she said, she was truly hurt. "What are you guys talking about in Naruto's room? It's obviously about him. Please don't lie to me, I'll know." She wasn't sure how, but she was one hundred percent positive that she would.

She didn't think it was possible for Kakashi to look even more guilty, but he did.

Jiraiya was the first to speak up. "Look, Naruto needs serious training. From someone that can dedicate their full time to him. And someone as young as Kakashi has a lot on his plate. Besides, if Naruto stays here, he's a sitting duck for the Akatsuki."

Kakashi audibly sighed, but didn't seem to know what to say.

Shanan blinked a few times as she tried to understand. "So, you wanna take Naruto away from me too?" For the first time in a long time it felt like her body was filling up with water and that she might burst. Sasuke had just left and now Naruto was going to leave? Missing Sasuke would be much easier if she had Naruto there to miss him with.

"Sorry, kid." He felt bad, but Naruto did need to be trained and they had to do it away from Konoha. "It won't be right away. I have some secret business to attend to first and that could take weeks, if not months."

She had never been alone before and the thought was really overwhelming her.

Kakashi suddenly recognized what was about to happen, even after all these years, and grabbed her shoulders and leaned forward inches from her face. "Shanan, listen to my voice," he said in a calming tone. "You need to take some deep breaths. Remember how we used to calm ourselves down? In through your nose... out through your mouth."

Shanan closed her eyes and listened to his instructions as he walked her through, until she no longer felt like she was suffocating.

She took a few more deep breaths, but when she opened her eyes, she still glared at the both of them. She didn't feel like saying anything else to either one of them, though, so she shoved past Kakashi and laid next to Naruto in his bed, facing him.

They both stood quietly for a few minutes, unsure of how to remedy the situation.

"Go away," Shanan managed to say. It was quiet, but they both heard her easily.

Jiraiya gave Kakashi a nod and left out of the window he'd come in through.

Kakashi stood for a moment longer and Shanan knew that he truly felt awful. But she would talk to him later and apologize. Right now she wanted to hold onto Naruto before he was taken away from her too, so she snuggled up to him and cried as Kakashi left the room.