The twins had just turned five and as much as Sasuke enjoyed living with Shanan, Kakashi and the kids, he felt like it was time for him to move back to his old apartment.

His feelings for Shanan had gotten really intense over the last few years. They spent most of their time together, alone, and it was hard for him to not think of them as some kind of couple. Except for the fact that there wasn't any romance between the two of them. But they really did do everything together. And their chakras had seemingly become so codependent that when he'd gone on his first week-long mission in years, both of them became extremely depressed until he returned home. And as soon as he was close enough to the village to feel her chakra, it didn't take but a few minutes before he felt it racing towards him. He'd been tired, exhausted and sad all week. But once he felt her running, he ran too. He could feel the light inside him growing brighter with each step. And then he saw her and stopped. Heart beating out of his chest as she continued to run towards him. He knew what it was, there was no confusion there. Their chakras had always loved one another. It was the fire and water in them. But here she was, running full speed towards him, and he knew that her arms would be tight around his neck within moments. But he wanted more. He always wanted more. Her crashing into him and holding him tight as she cried and laughed at the same time wasn't enough. And though he cried along with her, just as happy to be reunited, his tears weren't the same.

He didn't want to leave her, but he had to and he'd visit as often as he could. He didn't want to end up hurting her by giving in and confessing everything, or kissing her suddenly like he always wanted to, because he could never lose her.

He'd been planning to move for a few weeks and kept trying to work up the courage to tell her. Or, maybe he was just putting it off so that he wouldn't have to actually leave. But he finally made himself bring it up the day before he'd been planning to move.

After dinner, they put the kids to bed and sat on the couch to read, like always. "Before we read, I wanted to talk to you about something," he told her tentatively.

Shanan was immediately worried. People didn't usually feel the need to announce a discussion unless it was going to be painful or awkward. She pulled both of her legs up onto the couch and faced him. "Ok, what's up?" she asked, bracing herself for bad news.

He suddenly didn't want to make eye contact with her, but he made himself do it as he turned to face her. "I'm... gonna move back to my apartment tomorrow," he told her without looking away. "I'm sorry. I've been trying to find the nerve to tell you for weeks."

Shanan stared blankly at him for a few minutes without saying anything. And she couldn't stop her eyes from welling up with tears, even though she really tried to fight it. She knew that he needed to go and live his life, and hopefully find someone and fall in love, and stop wasting his life hanging out with her and keeping her company. She knew that. But the tears were running down her face now. She was still staring, but not at him. At nothing. And she wasn't ready to say anything because then time would move forward. But she also remembered how selfish she'd been with Shikamaru for so long and she didn't want to do that to Sasuke. Even if she felt like his moving would completely upend her life and make her feel incredibly lonely, since Kakashi worked so much being the Hokage. She hated being alone...

Sasuke could see her going back and forth. He could sense exactly how she was feeling. He knew she'd be sad. He didn't expect to break her heart like he was. He could feel it. "Please say something, Shanan," he whispered shakily.

Her face shook uncontrollably. She couldn't say what she was supposed to say. Sasuke was her very best friend, more than that. She didn't really know what to call him. But they were together so much, how were they supposed to stop always being together? She knew she shouldn't make him feel bad, so she opted to bury her face into her hands to try and calm herself down.

Sasuke suddenly hated himself for upsetting her. He hated seeing her cry, he always had. "Shanan..." he whispered again as he moved her hands from her face.

She looked up at him and felt pathetic as she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his waist. "I don't want you to leave," she said sadly. "I'm gonna miss you too much. I'm sorry." She didn't want him to feel bad for leaving. But she knew she couldn't lie to him anyway.

Sasuke gently removed her arms from around him and stood up, helping her up at the same time. He had tears running down his face too and he looked at her so longingly and sympathetically as he cupped his hand on the side of her face. The fact that he wished so much that he could kiss her right now was why he had to move and why he couldn't change his mind this time. Instead, he pulled her into his chest and wrapped his arms around her shoulders completely enveloping her.

"I'll still visit you all the time. I won't abandon you again," he said softly. "I promise."

And as if they'd sensed what was coming, their chakras were going insane, trying to never be torn apart again. Moving through them so rapidly that Shanan thought for sure they must be glowing, but she couldn't open her eyes. She suddenly felt euphoric as she smiled against him. She knew she had just been crying, but she struggled to feel sad again.

Sasuke couldn't open his eyes either. He could feel a peaceful aura around them, but try as he might, he couldn't open his eyes to see if there was one. All he could do was absorb her energy into him as he rested his face on the top of her head. He couldn't stop smiling either and he'd completely forgotten whatever sadness had just been overwhelming him.

After several minutes, their chakras seemed to finally settle down inside of them and they both slowly opened their eyes.

"Sasuke?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for staying here with me for so long. You don't know how much it's meant to just have you around all the time. To have you as a friend and to watch you bond with the kids like you have," she said as she smiled again.

Sasuke nodded gently, still resting against her. "Yes I do," he whispered. He leaned back and looked at her and then pulled her in to kiss her softly on her forehead. He smiled at her sadly before letting her go and stuffing his hands into his pockets. "You wanna ask Naruto and Hinata to watch the twins and help me out tomorrow?"

"Yeah." She smiled softly at him. "I'm not gonna let you move all your stuff by yourself," she said.

She tried not to fall asleep all night. She wanted to enjoy their last night together hanging out on the couch. But he was happy when she finally did fall asleep, so that he could enjoy her sleeping against him one more time. He didn't know what either of them would do at night from now on, but he knew that they were both going to be really lonely. At least for a while.