Shiranui Genma and his men waited for the approaching convoy of cars to reach the palace gates. He played with the senbon in his mouth, the metal piece making a clinking noise every time it hit his canines. He did this every time he was impatient or just plain bored. This time, it was both cases.

The queen of the Land of Whirlpools, Senju Tsunade was about to arrive after almost two hours of waiting.

As the head of the royal guard, it was his duty to ensure that everything went smoothly. With the monarch arriving, security had to be tightened tenfold, not to mention that they had to synchronize their operations with the soldiers from Whirlpool.

Such a pain in the ass. It was times like these that he cursed Kakashi for promoting him. At first, the title of captain of the royal guard had a really nice ring to it. It was considered to be a really prestigious position, each captain being respected around the country. And women always liked men with decoration covered uniforms. So he accepted the title almost immediately after it being offered. And now…well now he regrets it. What's the importance of having such a nice uniform, when he didn't have the time or energy to meet pretty girls?

The convoy passed through the gates, stopping in front of the stairs that led to the palace entrance. One of the servants opened the car's door, Senju Tsunade emerging. She had a pretty nasty frown on her face, scaring the poor boy who opened the door.

"Your Majesty." Genma bowed.

"Yeah, yeah." Tsunade waved her hand, walking towards the entrance.

"Please excuse her behavior. We had a…rather uncomfortable travel." The brunette, who got out of the car after the queen bowed.

Genma looked over her, scanning her each and every feature. The woman had shoulder length black hair, black eyes and an average looking face and stature. She was pretty, but not the kind of beautiful that would make him want to woo her. With her black pencil skirt and white blouse she looked like your typical secretary, the only feature that was absent was a notepad. And here he was hoping that at least he'll have some eye candy.

"I'm Kato Shizune, secretary of the queen." She bowed once more.

"Shiranui Genma, captain of the royal guard." He shook hands with her.

"Then you are the person I've been hoping to meet." She smiled.

"Oh…I didn't know I was so famous." Genma smirked.

Black eyes rolled with slight annoyance at his words. "Tsunade-sama does not want guards following her, only her own ones."

"What?" He wrinkled his eyebrows.

"She cherishes privacy, and hates being followed by strangers."

Genma looked over her shoulders, searching for the queens personal guards, since no one followed her after leaving the car. There were only three guards from Whirlpool. Their sheer number made him almost laugh out loud. The queen of the Land of Whirlpools was visiting another country and they only sent three guards with her. Three. Were they so undermanned? He knew that the war pushed the small country into a financial crisis, but this was plain ridiculous.

"Um…I do not want to offend you or anything, but…don't you think that you didn't prepare quite well?" He motioned towards the trio.

"Don't worry Shiranui-san. The queen and I know what we are doing. You may not know, but Tsunade-sama is highly capable of defending herself. And so do I. No need to worry." The woman smiled once again, her eyes filled with amusement.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot let this happen. It is my responsibility to ensure her safety, and if anything goes amyss, my ass will get kicked. Quite painfully."

"It's a good thing then that you do not have any other choice than to accept it. Tsunade-sama will be guarded by her own men. This wasn't a proposal, but a statement." The friendly air around Shizune changed, making him feel quite uncomfortable.

But his surge of anger dimmed any sort of other emotion he had. He felt insulted to say the least. He was the boss when it came to security stuff and he'll be damned if he let some random woman who barely came up to his chest order him around.

"You-" He was preparing to land a pretty nasty speech about authority to her, when she cut him off swiftly.

"I'm sorry Shiranui-san, but I'm in a hurry. Can't let Tsunade-sama wander around the palace without guards." She smiled, leaving him and his men behind.

Damn.

...

The pink haired woman was sitting on her bed, reading the book Kakashi gave her. He was right; the book was really interesting, much more enjoyable than those dry chronicles. Her room's door opened abruptly, Naruto entering immediately. Sakura was about to reprimand him for his rudeness, when she saw his expression.

He knew.

Well, here goes her plan on him not finding out the truth. She braced herself for the impending chaos that would erupt in a matter of seconds. Sakura could only hope that he won't cause much trouble, like killing Kakashi or something. Oh, God! What if Naruto would attack him or something? This was so bad.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He looked betrayed, but calm. That was surprising.

"Because it wouldn't change a thing." Sakura responded after a long pause.

"How could Tsunade-baachan let something like this happen?"

"She didn't have any other choice." The pink haired woman looked at her folded hands that rested on her lap.

"Then how could you? You-"

This made her head snap up with such force that her neck started to hurt, though she was far too furious to notice.

"Do you honestly think that I'm the kind of person who would voluntarily accept such kind of fate?"

Naruto looked to the side. "No." He muttered.

"I hope so. There was no other way, I tried to do everything, but there's no other solution." Sakura sighed.

"Then come with me. We'll leave this place and no one could find us!" He said excited, almost like a child.

"Can the entire population of the Land of Whirlpools come as well?" She raised a pink brow. His only response was deep silence. "This is not as easy as you think it is. If I suddenly disappear, my people would suffer the consequences…I can't let that happen. You can't always avoid responsibility by running away."

"What do you mean by that? Do you think that the reason why I left was because of that?" Naruto snapped.

"I don't think, I know." Her voice was uncharacteristically calm, to which she complimented herself internally.

"Know? You know nothing." He gritted, fisting his hands at his sides.

"Nothing?" Sakura cocked her head to the side, narrowing her eyes. "Stop acting like you are the only one who had to suffer. Like it wasn't hard for me as well! I lost my parents too, you know…" She whispered the last sentence. "I might have smiled and encouraged you when you told me that you are leaving, but I was devastated deep inside. The only person who could actually understand what I felt left me behind. He didn't even ask me if I wanted to come…" Her eyes stung.

"But you…you had a future. You were a princess, and a medic to be. I didn't want you to give up something like that for me." Naruto took a hesitant step closer.

"I was ready though. You only had to ask." The first tear slid down on her cheek, it soon got followed by another one. Naruto rushed over to her, kneeling down in front of her.

"I'm so sorry." He whispered, raising a shaking hand in order to caress her cheek. "I shouldn't have left."

"No." Jade looked into cobalt, both feeling like an unknown force was pulling them towards each other.

"I really missed you Sakura-chan." Naruto whispered, his thumb caressing her soft cheek. "When I heard about your engagement…I was so angry, that I destroyed almost everything inside the room."

"Is this the reason why you injured your hand?" Sakura grabbed his bandaged right hand.

"Yes. Ero-sennin had to knock me out to make me stop. You know, I was planning on returning this year. I finally found peace and my memories weren't such a burden as back then. I was looking forward to seeing you, to finally embracing you. And to…finally fulfilling my promise."

The sun was about to set, signaling the end of another day. There were only few people on the beach, and even those were preparing to leave. Two children though were still running around, their laughter being even louder than the sound of the waves.

"Naruto! I found another one!" Sakura screamed in delight, raising a shell up in her small hand.

"That's so beautiful, Sakura-chan!"

"Do you think that mom would like it?" She looked at the shell in her hand skeptically.

"I'm sure." He grinned. "Look what I found." Naruto opened his palm, revealing a twinkling green stone.

"Wow! What is it? It soooo pretty!" The little girl exclaimed.

"It's called sea glass. Here." He grabbed Sakura's hand and put the glass in her palm, her green eyes widening because of his actions. "One day, when I'll be big enough, I'll give you a ring with a precious stone in it, just like how dad did to mom." The blonde smiled softly. "Will you accept it? Would you be my bride?" Both children had faint lines of blush on their cheeks.

"Hm." Sakura nodded.

"It's too late now, huh?" The pink haired woman smiled bitterly after remembering that day. They were so young, barely six years old at that time. It was a time she remembered with great fondness. Back then, both of their parents were alive, and they were far too young to grasp the difficulty of life.

"If I…if I had stayed, this wouldn't be happening right now…I messed up."

"If you…" Sakura trailed off when she saw his lips beginning to come closer. Her index finger came up, stopping his lips before they could even brush hers. "This, this isn't right." Her voice was hoarse and filled with pain. She saw the broken look on Naruto's face, and it took all of her might to stop herself from giving in. "I might not want this marriage, but it does not give me the right to be unfaithful." She slipped her finger from his soft lips.

"If you had stayed back then, I wouldn't be the person I'm today. You… when you left, the only thing that made me want to get out of bed every morning were my studies. I buried myself in them entirely. I learned a lot during those times, not just about medicine, but about coping as well. If you had stayed, it would've taken both of us a lot more time to recover." She stared at her hands that were on her lap, too afraid to meet his gaze.

"If you think that this is the best for you, then I can't change that. But if you change your mind, I'll be here for you. I'll always be." Naruto stood up, and then kissed her forehead gently. He left her room soon after this, without saying anything else.

His words and that simple kiss on her forehead that sealed everything was the final blow for her. Her cheeks became soaked with the tears that seemed like they would never end. She flopped back on her bed, curling up into a ball.

Although seven years have passed since their last encounter, since the day he left the capital's gates, her feelings towards him still lingered. She thought that that certain chapter of her life was already closed. These feelings and memories got slowly buried with each day of his leaving passing. Naruto's visit opened up wounds that she thought were completely healed. It was a mistake that she invited him. Such an enormous mistake.

Hello there :) Thanks for reading.

I would also like to thank those who reviewed, followed or put my story to their favorites.

Whew. This was quite an emotional chapter...I got a little carried away :3 The next chapter will feature the wedding and a whole lot of other drama~

I still don't know when will I have the time to update again, since I'm working at an excavation for a month or so. The only reason why I could update right now was because I finished this chapter long before leaving :)

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Chapter title kindly borrowed from BIGBANG, who have a song that has the same title :D