Note: Well this is for sure the last chapter! I'm glad that everyone likes this story so much and thank you for all of the reviews. If you like this story then you should read Moonlight Tears because the style is the same, well sort of, but it's from Naruto's point of view. My main goal of this story was to see if I could actually make someone cry through my writings. The greatest writers evoke emotion from their readers and that's what I'm trying to do.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the Naruto storyline.

Chapter Twenty-Nine:

And When The Door Closes

I remember arriving at the village three days after Naruto and Gaara had died.

Their bodies had been brought back with us on black stretchers and covered, out of respect, with heavy black wool blankets. The funeral was two days after we came home. Kakashi and Kurenai were the ones who told Hinata about the death of her fiancé with Kiba and Neji in the room for moral support. We took Sasuke's body home as well so that he could be buried next to his father and mother, but we never did find the remains of Itachi.

On the way home, we stopped in Suna to see if they wanted Gaara's body, but they wouldn't even allow us to pass the gate. It was decided that he would be buried next to Naruto as a village hero.

The funeral day came quicker than I had ever imagined it would. The entire village, much like when the Third Hokage had passed on, dressed from the soles of their feet to the tips of their heads in black. Two large painted portraits hung above the cots that their bodies had been laid on, and the finest silk lace laid gently on their bodies.

The entire event almost seemed like a horrible nightmare that I would wake up from just as soon as I opened my eyes, and they would be there, alive and well. It felt like a pratical joke that Naruto somehow got the entire village and Gaara to play along with.

But it wasn't a dream.

I stood between Lady Tsunade and Kakashi while Hinata was safely nestle between her father and Kiba with Neji at her back for comfort. She held a bundle of eleven ruby red roses with a ebony one at the center. I could see from the tears forming in her eyes she wanted to cry but was unable to do so.

My parents, like a few of the other adults from the time of the Fourth Hokage, had refused to come to the funeral that honored a pair of murderous demons.

When the time came for us to place the flowers on top of their bodies, it began to drizzle. Hinata and I were the first to place the roses on them, and I had allowed her through on final string of hope that they would sit up, to place the very first flowers on them. She placed the red roses on Naruto, and the single black one on Gaara with shaky hands.

I couldn't blame her.

I shook too.

Then it was my turn.

The rain began to pound on top of us as I shakily made my way to where they were, so perfectly still, so perfectly silent. I could feel the uncontrollable tears swell up and then fall down my cheeks mixing with the tears of rain the heavens had released that day.

I placed a crimson rose on top of Gaara and an amber one on top of Naruto, roses that seemed to me to symbolize each of them as best as any flower could.

When I turned around I could see all of them, their eyes on me as if watching and examining my very soul, and then I looked to the skies at Gaara's falcon. My vision grew hazy as I turned back to the two people who meant more to me than life itself.

I dreamed then.

I dreamed a vision that I'll never let go.

I dreamed I was walking through the forest of Konoha and the sun's light was bouncing off of the grass and leaves that laid shattered on the ground. My bare feet felt good as I passed through the soft grass and the satin ivory dress I wore seemed to flow in a wind I couldn't feel.

Up a head stood Sasuke leaning against a tree in a crisp white shirt and pants, his feet bare like mine, as I walked up to him he could easily read the confused expression on my face.

He smiled at me, a smile I had not expected to see, and said, "I'm sorry Sakura."

I cocked my head in even more confusion, but before I could respond he said to me, "I'll be seeing you."

He hugged me and then vanished in the air.

Again I walked on until I saw Naruto in front of a tree, his head bent forward as if he was sleeping. I placed my hand on his shoulder, and he instantly woke up. A large smile appeared on his lips as he said, "Well I guess this is it! The final goodbye we'll ever have."

"The final?" I could hear my voice crack as I asked, more tears swelling into my eyes.

"Don't cry," he jumped to his feet, embracing me in a hug and then whispered into my ear, "We'll see each other again, and then we wont have to say goodbye!"

"You mean when I die of old age and I'm all wrinkled and ugly!" I wailed on.

He laughed, "That's not possible," and then pulling away from me, he added, "He's waiting further ahead."

I nodded, not expecting him to lean down and gently graze his lips against my own before he himself vanished just as Sasuke had.

I walked on again until I saw him sitting in a tree, like the other two he was dressed in all white, and when he saw me he smiled and jumped down, landing nimbly on his feet.

"I didn't think-" I fumbled with my words.

He smiled wider and leaned down, kissing me fully on my lips. The warmth of his body, of his breath, on mine was so welcoming and relieving that I can't explain it.

That's the thing about simple pleasures; they're so complex that in words the simple adjective doesn't seem to begin to cover it.

When our kiss parted he said, tucking my loose hairs behind my ears, "I do love you."

"I love you too."

"Don't cry," his tone was soft as he rubbed my tears off my cheeks, "I'll always be with you, I promise."

"I know," I mumbled in his chest.

"I wont leave you're side," he placed his hand on top pf my heart and added, "I live in here."

Then he and the forest faded and I found myself in a hospital bed two days after the funeral.