Disclaimer:
No legal claim to Naruto, not making profit through this.
Basics:
PG/K plus, General, Canon, 2/100
Warnings: Mild profanity
Word
count: 216
Theme: fortitude (285)
Author's note: 1000!theme challenge from Mint Pizza Queen. Organized into 10 fics, 100 ch each. They're loosely related, held together by an umbrella theme of love and life.
x. fortitude
Naruto sincerely believed that Sasuke had the fortitude. Naruto believed that Sasuke was not beyond hope. Naruto had the steadfast belief that his best friend- and that's what they really were, the two of them, even if they've used ridiculous amounts of energy in trying to blow the other up- would come home eventually. Naruto would drag the bastard home, and the bastard was going to survive it.
Sakura tried to have the same belief. She really did. And she maintained the optimism, the poor girl, she really did. Naruto could see that.
Even if at eighteen, Sakura wasn't really a 'girl' anymore, in the way Naruto was thinking of it. Yes, Sakura was a 'young woman.' And Naruto guessed he was 'young man.' Naruto had a hard time keeping that stuff straight. But then, he was reminded of her strength and her courage- her fortitude, if you will- and then it was easier to remember they weren't kids anymore.
Sakura was beginning to wonder if Sasuke had the fortitude, after five years. But she believed that the boy- 'young man,' she reminded herself- would come home. Because even if Sakura was beginning to have doubts about Sasuke's fortitude, she was absolutely certain about Naruto's.
Naruto would have enough fortitude for all of them.