Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I only play with the characters sometimes.
There are one or two very minor spoilers for the valley of the end arc, but that's it.
She's Not Breathing
She wasn't able to stop him. Somehow, somewhere in the far recesses of her mind she had already known she wouldn't be able to. Her voice was not the one that drove him.
She wasn't the one who could bring him home. And that knowledge hurt, like a fist clenching her heart. There was only one person who could, but as she told him to bring Sasuke home she imagined the words as fish-hooks tearing at her mouth.
It hurt, more than anything it hurt to admit that she had already failed, that she would continue to fail, that she would always fail. Even as she clutched it to herself like a lifeline, Naruto's promise to her tasted like bitter ashes.
Naruto would do what she could not. He would bring Sasuke home. And then the three of them could start their dance again, and she could pretend again, and things would still be the same as they had been before.
Except that Naruto came back without him.
Naruto, looking unexpectedly small and young in that great white hospital room, apologising to her. To her, for not being able to bring Sasuke back. Naruto, who had nearly died trying to keep his promise. She didn't cry. Not then. Not later. She felt as if she ought to, but had forgotten how.
Naruto left without saying goodbye. She forgave him that. Naruto was easy to forgive.
For several months, she spent all of her free time at the main gates, pretending she knew which of her teammates she was watching for.
Then she spent more months there, pretending she wasn't waiting for anyone at all.
Slowly, gradually, she visited less. Every other day. Once a week. Every now and then.
A year later, she realized she hadn't been to the gates in months. She still watched the road, somewhat, through her window in between scrolls, but somewhere in the midst of training, she had forgotten to go.
She would be strong, when he came back. She was the one who had been left behind, and she would use that to make herself even stronger. She would be strong, and she would try to forget the taste of the bitter promise next to her heart.
He would not come home for her. Neither of them would.