Author's Note:

After an eternity, I've finally finished this chapter and hence, this story. Well, I hope you'd enjoy this. I don't really know if I did a really good job on writing this final chapter… So as a favor, I'd like to ask some comments and suggestions from the people who've read the story. Thanks!!

ENJOY!

CHAPTER THREE

The rain was still pouring hard. But most of the shinobis and villagers of Konoha were still running around, fixing whatever needs fixing. A few were still around the huge crater where a certain pink-haired kunoichi was still mourning for her blond teammate.

Sakura's head was still beside Naruto's. She had stopped crying just moments ago, but still the pain was there.

It has been almost an hour now since Naruto… died. Sakura was now hopeless. She slowly lifted her head from its place, planting soft kisses on the blond's cheek. "I love you, Naruto."Tears were threatening to come out again. "It's just sad that you…" She took several deep breaths to steady herself. "…couldn't hear me say it."

The kunoichi stood up and started turning away… But something stopped her: A hand on her wrist. "Who said I couldn't hear you say that, Sakura-chan?" A hoarse voice said rather cheerfully.

Sakura whipped her head towards the voice. Her emerald eyes were met by a color she thought she'd never see again. "Naruto…?"

The blond grinned at her. "Hi, Sakura-chan! Miss me?"

In an instant, Sakura was on top of Naruto once more, crushing him in a hug. "It's really you!" She swallowed a sob. "I thought I lost you."

Chuckling lightly, Naruto cautiously circled his once limp arms around the woman he loves most. "I guess this means you really did miss me." He felt her nod her head in agreement.

"Thank you." Sakura said softly against Naruto's neck.

"What for?"

She pulled away from their hug to look at the man below her. Sakura giggled at the curious look on Naruto's face. "For coming back."

He cleared his throat and averted his gaze, as if embarrassed. "Well…" Naruto then blushed slightly. "I wouldn't if it weren't for you."

It was the pink-haired girl's turn to look curious and confused at the same time. "What do you mean?"

"You came to pick me up in heaven." Naruto said quite seriously as his cerulean eyes glued themselves on her once again. He saw Sakura furrow her brows. "I know it's strange but it all felt real." He continued.

Sakura smiled while she sat up completely. "Tell me about it."

Naruto returned the smile. "I was in heaven with Ero-sennin. I was experiencing weird stuff…" The blond shinobi had a faraway look on his face.

Sakura was about to question him again but Naruto continued with his story. "Then you came." He chuckled. "You told me that you're going to get me back here in Konoha."

Naruto cleared his throat again. "I asked why…" He looked hesitant. "You want to know what you told me?"

The pink-haired girl nodded her head once.

Sakura almost gasped aloud at his expression. He looked at her with eyes so unguarded that she literally saw his very soul. "Because I was a teammate... A friend." Naruto said softly.

Sakura opened her mouth but he began talking again, cutting whatever she needed to say. "But then you told me that you love me." The blond has the widest smile on his face. "Once I…" He struggled for what to say next. "…woke up, I thought I was only dreaming all of that." He began laughing lightly. "I then heard you actually say that you truly do love me."

The kunoichi, who was listening intently to Naruto's story, now had a bright blush adorning her features. "W-What else happened in heaven?" She stuttered a bit, trying to steer away from the subject of her confessing to him.

"You then pummeled me to the ground again for not reacting properly." The cerulean-eyed blond said, suppressing a fit of laughter. This earned him a playful smack from the girl sitting beside his lying form.

"And then we…" Naruto paused, a tinge of red on his mud-and-blood covered cheeks. "… kissed." It was almost a whisper but Sakura definitely heard it.

The girl's blush from earlier doubled, making her face the same color as a ripe tomato.

"B-But it was all in my imagination, Sakura-chan." The shinobi said immediately, alarmed by her reaction. "No need to worry."

Naruto was about to say something more… But a pair of familiar soft lips crushed his own.

His blue orbs flew wide open, shocked at the sudden contact.

But once the thought sunk in, he wrapped his strong arms securely around the petite body of Sakura, finally responding to the kiss.

After what seemed like eternity, the need for air got the better of them. They broke apart, taking deep breaths. "Did that feel like our kiss in heaven?" The kunoichi asked teasingly.

Naruto put on his fox-like grin. "No." That got Sakura frowning. "This is better." He tightened his hold on the girl in his arms. "Much better."

"Idiot." Sakura giggled lightly. "But, unfortunately…" She was shaking her head. "You're my idiot."

"I know." He chuckled.

After a few moments, Naruto started letting out grunts and yelps as he tried sitting up.

"Naruto… Just lay down." She started getting up. "I'll go get help."

She was stopped by his hand around her waist. "Just stay here." Naruto suddenly pulled her to him, making her sit down on his lap. "Someone will come soon."

"N-Naruto." She stuttered, finding their current position a bit awkward. "You're still hurt."

The blond's chin rested lovingly on her shoulder. "I'm fine, Sakura-chan." His breath was tickling the kunoichi's neck. "As long as you're here, I'm fine."

Sakura's tensed body relaxed as soon as she got used to their position. Her eyes closed, letting her mind shut down for a bit and just savor the moment with Naruto. All that mattered to her right now is the rise and fall of his chest on her back and the heat that she could feel radiating from his body.

She was almost at the door of sleep when she heard the blond's voice again, jolting the pink-haired girl. "You know, Sakura-chan…?"

The girl turned her head slightly towards the cerulean-eyed boy, getting a glimpse of his face. "Hmn?"

"I thought about giving up a lot of times on a lot of things." He sighed. "But my love for you is the thing that I desperately want to give up the most." Naruto smiled bitterly. "In the end, I couldn't bring myself to do it."

"Naruto…"

"As long as I see you happy, I'm happy." Naruto paused for several seconds. "That's why bringing back Sasuke had become a must for me. I trained to get stronger in order for me to be capable of dragging his ass back here."

"I honestly also did it for myself." The blond unconsciously drew small circles on Sakura's arm. "But the major reason I was doing it is because I wanted to see you smile brightly all the time. And I have long acknowledged that Sasuke's the only one who could do that."

The kunoichi shook her head slowly. "Naruto, I... I'm really sorry." She was fighting back tears. "I was just too stupid back then. I wasn't smart enough to even see you right there in front of me."

"You were not stupid, Sakura." Naruto said reassuringly. "In fact, you're one of the smartest people I know."

He released a tired sigh. "I'm the stupid one." He laughed, but it failed to hide the misery he suffered all that time. "Right before I completely lost consciousness, it's you and Sasuke together that was on my mind." Sakura could feel him clenching his jaw. "You were looking at him with the happiest expression you've ever put on, Sakura-chan." His voice got shaky then. "I thought I'd be happy, too, but I wasn't."

While the blond was talking, Sakura had lost all control and just let the tears fall down freely. She couldn't mutter anything.

Then she felt something wet hit her shoulder a few times. She was sure it wasn't the rain because it was warm.

Tears.

"Naruto… Don't cry." She said as she tried to face him but the strong shinobi tightened his grip on her waist.

"At that moment…" Naruto cleared his throat. "I-I realized that I didn't want him to be the one making you happy." His hold on Sakura loosened, offering the pink-haired girl the chance to face him. "Deep down, I wanted to be the one standing beside you. I wanted to be the one t-to hold your hand and never let go. I wanted to be the one whispering sweet nothings to you. I wanted to be the reason you were smiling like that." He sobbed. He felt Sakura's fingers brush away his tears. "I wanted to be the man you love most."

The girl swept away Naruto's blond locks. "Stop crying, baka." Sakura smiled through her tears. "You are all of that."

Naruto took the kunoichi's hands in his own bigger ones. "I'm sorry for crying, Sakura-chan."

"It's fine, Naruto." She giggled. "It won't lessen your being a man."

The blond grinned as he pulled the pink-haired kunoichi for another hug. "Let me warn you, Sakura-chan… Now that you're in my arms, you won't escape that easy."

Sakura smiled. "I don't plan to."

"Good."

"Naruto?!" Three very shocked male voices said just a few meters away from them.

Naruto and Sakura broke away from their hug. They saw Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai with eyes wide.

The blond grinned. "Hi, guys!"

"How did this happen?!" Yamato was the first to speak.

"It's a long story." Naruto scratched the back of his head while still grinning.

Kakashi stared at his other students, studying them carefully. A smile was then evident on his mask. "Welcome back, Naruto!" He averted his gaze to his only female student. "Well done, Sakura!"

"What does the hag have to do with dickless coming back to life?" Sai exclaimed nonchalantly.

It took all of Naruto's remaining strength to restrain the kunoichi from strangling their friend. "Calm down, Sakura-chan."

Sakura did but a glare was still directed towards Sai. "You'd better be thankful that Naruto's here."

"I am." Sai let one of his rare genuine smiles adorn his pale face.

"Yamato, you'd better get the Hokage." The one-eyed jounin said to his colleague.

"Yes." It was the only word heard from Yamato before he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

Kakashi strutted towards Naruto. "C'mon, Sai. Let's get Naruto on the stretcher."

It took them a while to get the blond comfortably on the stretcher. When Kakashi and Sai were about to lift up Naruto, a puff of smoke again appeared. A busty woman with pigtails approached them in a hurry. "Naruto!" She bellowed angrily.

"Good luck." Their pale skinned friend whispered before he and Kakashi backed off from the Hokage's wrath.

Tsunade went straight to Naruto, grabbing him by the collar once she got close enough.

Sakura grasp her master's wrist, trying to calm her down a bit. "H-He's still injured, Tsunade-shishou. You can beat him into a pulp once he fully recovers." She gulped when the current Hokage shifted her glare towards her. "Or you can do that now." The pink-haired kunoichi removed her hand.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto whined while his love just looked at him apologetically.

The busty woman slightly lifted the blond up by the collar. "Do you know what you did, brat?!" Her eyebrow twitched.

"N-No." The shinobi in her grasp managed to squeak out.

Before he could say something else, Naruto found himself crushed again in a hug. "You got everyone worried, brat!" Tsunade's honey-colored eyes watered. "Don't ever do that again."

Naruto was still too stunned to return the hug. "Sorry, Baa-chan." He laughed. "I should've been more careful, huh?"

Tsunade released him. "Don't joke around with me, brat. You're still not off the hook." She grinned when she saw the panic in his eyes. "But for now… Sleep." She kissed him on the forehead.

"Thank you, Baa-chan." Naruto said closing his eyes. Once he did, he saw the face of his grinning old teacher. "Baa-chan…" He grabbed her hand. "Ero-sennin said 'hi'."

Tsunade's eyes widened. "You saw him?"

The blond nodded once.

The Hokage just smiled. "That's good." She turned towards the one-eyed jounin, who was reading the latest edition of the Icha Icha Paradise. "Kakashi! Stop reading those perverted books written by that perverted man. Carry, Naruto towards the hospital." She turned towards Sai who was smiling idiotically again. "Help him."

Sakura released the breath she was holding. "I thought she was going to kill you."

Naruto chuckled nervously. "I thought so, too."

"Sakura!" Tsunade, who was walking a few meters away from them, said aloud. "Don't ever let that idiot go."

The pink-haired girl blushed. "Y-Yes, Shishou."

Naruto took hold of her hand. "You heard, Baa-chan." He smiled widely. "Don't ever let me go."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Didn't you hear what I said?" She gripped the blond's hand. "I won't." She put emphasis on those two words.

The cerulean-eyed shinobi grinned before yawning. Sakura took notice. "You should sleep, Naruto." She brushed his blond strands that were getting to his eyes with her free hand. "You need it."

"I will once you promise me something."

Sakura raised one of her pink eyebrows. "What is it?"

Naruto looked at her with exhausted yet determined eyes. "Go out with me once I wake up?"

The kunoichi giggled. "Well, I did promise."

"Huh?" The blond said, confused.

"Nothing." She planted a soft kiss on his lips. "I will, okay? Now… sleep."

Despite the mystery of the woman he loves most, he smiled.

Naruto' gaze fell in front of him. The very last sight registered into his mind was Tsunade stopping hordes of people from approaching him with just an enraged shout.

The last voices he heard were that of Kakashi. "This is going to be a very long trip to the hospital."

And Sai. "I agree."

But the very last thing he felt was that of Sakura putting a bit more pressure to her hold on his hand.

"Sakura…" He muttered. "I love you." They were the last words he let out of his lips before he then fell into the deep abyss of sleep, offering him the first nightmare-free escape in so many years.

-END-