Title: Sakura's Home
Author: Winter Ashby (rosweldrmr)
Disclaimer: Naruto © Masashi Kishimoto-sama. I don't own anything about Naruto, this is just for fun and if I did own Naruto I wouldn't have to right this, because I would have a team of very talented people turning this into a saga right now...
Rating: K+ Warning: this not only has spoilers until Manga 270ish, but it's kind of required for you to know what's going on. I use a lot of the Gaara mission, just made it AUish.
Summary: Sakura was kicked out of Konoha five years ago but now has been asked to return… She will meet old friends and be faced with the consequences of her actions. Future AU Sakura centric. No pairings, and you need to be up to date in the manga and series.
Authors Notes: This is coming along slowly... so be patient with me. I know it's short but I think that as I go the chapters are starting to get a little longer! I'm working on this little by little, I hope you are all satisfied with the progression thus far.

Chapter 7 – Finality

She didn't say anything; she couldn't even bring herself to blink. It was the first time the entire day she'd allowed her thoughts to linger on him. As soon as Shino's words reached her ears, she'd blocked them out. Instinctively focusing on Kakashi's condition – but now that his deceased name clouded her senses and made her remember this boyish face, it felt as if the world would come crashing down around her. So she stood, and waited. She wasn't sure what she was waiting for. But she didn't care. She breathed, and she lived in that moment for waiting.

Waiting for Naruto to speak again, waiting for some kind of indication that this was real, waiting for comfort, waiting for pain and anger, waiting for rain that should have been falling, waiting for the roaring rush of unused blood flowing in her mind to quiet, waiting for the end of the world, waiting for Sasuke. Because that's what she'd always been doing anyway. She was always waiting for him, and she had the distinct impression that she would still be waiting.

In that moment she had an overwhelming urge to see his body. She wished she could see him one last time, touch his cold face just to reassure herself that he was real at one point. She wanted to make sure that she hadn't invented him in her mind all those years she was alone. So she stood and watched that same familiar face that now seemed so strange and alien look back at her with a kind of sickening sadness.

Finally he spoke. She supposed that perhaps she wasn't the only one who was waiting and that idea was comforting to her. "Sasuke came after Itachi." He answered quietly, with so much pain that she nearly fell to her knees. It made so much sense, too much. She should have known the minute she realized it was Akatsuki that Sasuke was involved. She silently cursed herself for not understanding sooner.

"What, what happened?" she found that her mouth was dry and she desperately tried to form words. She wasn't sure if she wanted to hear the story, in some kind of sick way, not knowing actually made it easier to trick herself into believing that it was all just a big misunderstanding.

"Well, I heard everything later, from Gaara." Because you was dead, Sakura let her feeble mind fill in the spaces between his words. "He said that they both used the Mangekyou sharingan. But Sasuke was the only one who woke up." His voice was slow and tired, and full of the most unbelievable pain she'd ever heard. "Gaara said he was barely alive, and with his last amount of chakra, he and Chiyo-sama gave their lives to bring me back."

Then the small circular droplets that feel to the rooftop she knew his pain. "Sasuke gave his life to save you?" helplessly she bit her lip to keep it from trembling. Even though he'd abandoned them all and gone to Orochimaru, in the end he was still the boy she'd fallen so helplessly in love with. Knowing that in his last action, he'd redeemed all the heartless things he'd done in the past, she felt almost vindicated.

He didn't answer her question, it didn't really warrant an answer. Sasuke had fulfilled his promise for revenge, and saved Naruto. "Sakura-chan…" he spoke again, still looking down, unwilling to show his weakness. "Sasuke's last words…" he began, but promptly stopped again. But the phrase hung in the air around her, weighing her down, making her brain process that he was gone. He was dead, no more breathing, or talking, or scowling, or fighting. There would be no more revenge, no more sad eyes and misplaced goals. He would never tell her she was annoying again. She waited for him to speak again as the world of painful grief washed over her again and again. "It was a message for you."

That was the moment that the rest of the world faded away, it she was left with just her pain and regret. She felt a million years old just then, thinking about all the possible ways he could finish that sentence. Sasuke knew she was kicked out of Konoha, and deep in her heart, she always wished that he would come for her one day. Her entire body felt like it was trembling so hard she might fall at any minute.

She was his last thought, his last words for her. If there had ever been a question in her mind whether loving him had been the wrong decision, it was now gone – lost to all the other thoughts that filled her crowed mind. But she still wasn't sure that she could form words, and even though the silence that surrounded her now was unbearable, she knew that it was better to give Naruto as much time as he needed to answer. No doubt that horrible ripping noise that filled her ears was that of two hearts breaking. Naruto had loved him too, she knew that. But it never seemed more real than now.

"Sasuke said to tell you …" he was now visibly crying, and that scared her more than the prospect of what Sasuke had to say to her from beyond the grave. "…thank you." The defeat that smothered his words shook her to the core. She wanted to ask him why, or how, something, anything. She wanted to scream or kick Sasuke. She wanted to cry and just disappear all at the same time. She wanted to do anything than just stand there, watching Naruto crying, and regretting her whole life. It was such a Sasuke thing to do, and she hated and loved him for it.

"Naruto…" was the only word she could form, at it was only a shaky, mumbled form of what it should have sounded like. She stumbled forward; needed to touch him, to make sure he was really standing there. She felt like so much of this day was just some kind of horrible nightmare. She wanted a tangible truth that she could hold on to. He was the only person in the world that could understand the pain she felt. It was all too much, even for an emotionless ninja. Being home, but realizing that everything that made it home was now gone ate away at her heart.

Even the man in front of her now was a stranger. She didn't recognize his chakra, or the man he'd become in the time she was gone. Sasuke was gone forever, and she standing at the edge of losing Kakashi too. Even more than that, seeing the faces of all those people she'd hurt years ago was weighing on her. But she could feel all that slipping away as her feet carried her to him.

His arms opened to embrace her. And she gladly buried her face deep into the bright orange jacket and cried for all the things that she couldn't changed. The world washed away, and for the first time in five years, she felt safe. She never expected to miss him as much as she did, but now that he was all she had left she realized how much she needed him. She wasn't sure how long they stood there like that, crying and clinging to each other for everything they'd lost, but she knew it was a while. When his arms finally lessened his grip, she leaned back slightly. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know what, or how to comfort him. He loved Sasuke too, she knew. Naruto looked at Sasuke and saw a teammate, a rival, a friend, but even more than that. He saw the brother he never had, the family he always wanted.

She knew that having to just sit and watch Kakashi die must be torture. So instead of saying anything she just leaned in again and rested her cheek on his chest, enjoying the beating of his heart. Even if she'd lost Sasuke, she wasn't alone. So she clings to him, hoping in vein that somehow he could make everything better, but knowing with absolute finality that he can't. His hands timidly rested on her hair and she let him.

She could feel his intake of breath and waited for him to speak. "I don't care what happened in the past, or how long you've been gone. You can't let Kakashi-sensei die, no matter how you do it; you are the only one who can save him, Sakura-chan. I couldn't just let him die. Even if we have to take him away from here, I will not let anyone else die because of me." His words were strong and confidant. Apparently he'd thought about this decision a lot, and he was sure. But one thing didn't make sense.

"Because of you?" she asked him, unsure what that meant.

Foot Note:

I wanted to say something about the Naruto & Sakura relationship in this. There will never be anything there besides friendship in this fic. I know at this point, I seem to be bringing them together - but for anyone who has lost someone they love, there is only one way to dull that pain. And that is to drown in the embrace of someone else who is in just as much pain you are.

I know this lesson all too well, and I will honestly tell you that even a stranger who weeps at a wake can become your only lifeline. And especially for girls, you need a man - you need strong arms and the security that only a man can give. And Naruto is there, he is in pain, and the only one who is capable, who loves her enough to hold her and let her cry.

They are friends, and I would argue, best friends. That is why there is a connection - that's all. Sorry for all the Naru/Saku shipper who may be reading this, but I needed this fic to be ship-less. I felt that it was important to tell Sakura's story - not the story of who she's going to shack up with. Thanks for reading... and I'm going to get back to writing because I really do love this fic and I've been neglecting it lately.

This is dedicated in the loving memory of H.W. You were an angel in life and I know that you are looking over me now. It has been six years since I lost you, and I still visit your tree. This chapter was written with you in mind, and I know that you are in a better place now. You were loved, and you are missed.