So sorry it has taken me so long to upload, but I'm in school and will be a little slower, though I will try to get a chapter up more than just once every 6 months. Again so sorry about the long wait! Hope this is good! Read and Review please, I would like to know what everyone still thinks of this!

Chapter 7 Legacies

Naruto stared out the window of his room. He held his chin in the palm of his good hand as he leaned against the window sill as he sat on his bed. He watched the lightning flash and thunder boom. It was pouring, and Naruto watched as the raindrops pelted his window. The Gods seemed to be crying, and was it merely a coincidence that it was Sakura's funeral today? Naruto watched as all his friends quickly raced by on their way to the funeral.

A knock pierced through the quiet of the room. "Naruto, we need to get going," came Kakashi-sensei's voice as he opened the door and peeked inside. When Kakashi saw that Naruto wasn't even dressed yet, Kakashi grabbed the suit that was in a pile on the edge of Naruto's bed and threw it at him. "Get dressed. We are going to be late, and how would that look? You were Sakura's best friend."

"Some friend I was," Naruto shrugged indifferently as he stared out the window.

"Naruto, Sakura is dead, and there is nothing you can do to change that. You have to just except that she is gone and move on with life. It would be what she wanted you to do," Kakashi told him as he stepped beside Naruto and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"I can't go," Naruto shook his head, his voice cracking. "I can't."

Kakashi just watched as Naruto tried to gather his thoughts and get whatever was weighing so heavy on him out.

"I know in my mind that she's gone, but my heart refuses to except that. I feel that if I put on that suit and go to the funeral, it really will be real. I don't want to look at her in the coffin at that hole in her chest that I caused. I don't want to see how everyone looks at me. That may be so selfish of me, but I can't help it. Sakura was one of my closest friends, and look what happened to her."

Kakashi leaned up against the window sill in front of Naruto. "Look, I know what you must be going through, but self pity isn't going to make her death any less real. If you don't go to that funeral, people are really going to start talking about you." With that, Kakashi stood and walked out of the room to wait in the hall for Naruto to change.

"And so, we are to move on, just as Sakura would have wanted us to," the Hokage finished the sermon. Every ninja in the village had turned out for Sakura's funeral. Not because they knew her and were sad, but because Orochimaru was everyone's enemy. What he did to Sakura was the vilest of the mean, and everyone turned up to see the damage done. Only Sakura's closer friends shed any tears. But, the rain made it hard to determine what was tears and what was raindrops. Naruto tried not to cry, but one lone tear fell, mixed in with the rain.

One by one, the Shinobi placed a single rose on Sakura's closed casket. Everyone moved robotically, as if they were just going through the motions. Naruto was glad the casket was closed; he didn't think he would be able to look her in the face again. Not when there was so many things he wished he could have done differently.

Naruto was the last to place the rose, though his was a pink rose because he knew it was her favorite color. Everyone was trickling away. Naruto fell to his knees in the mud and let go. "Sakura, I am so sorry. So sorry." He just kept repeating those words as if it was going to make everything better again.

"You're suck a loser," came Sasuke's voice behind him. The rain had plastered his raven black bangs to his forehead.

Naruto's hands turned into fists. "What would you know about it?"

"This is a funeral, not some pity party," Sasuke sneered down on Naruto.

The anger was rising, "You don't know what you are saying. How would you feel if you killed your best friend?"

"Probably not too good, but it's done and over with. Will sulking bring her back? She wanted to die, Naruto. Face it. You just helped her along."

"Shut up! You have no idea what you are saying! She did not want to die! What would you know about it?" Naruto was on his feet, facing Sasuke. Naruto's face was contorted in a furious rage.

"If you were kept captive by Orochimaru and tortured and god knows what else he did to her, would you want to live? Would you want to go out and find the perfect place just to see your enemy come back and almost rip it out from under you? Well, that's what she went through. She wanted to trade her life for ours to keep us alive, that is why she made that deal with Orochimaru. She knew she was going to die when she took his hand. Face it Naruto, she's dead." With that, Sasuke turned and walked away, disappearing into the misty afternoon.

Naruto made his way back towards the village down the gravel path. Looking back over his shoulder at the KIA stone, where Sakura's name could now be found, he saw someone with pink hair staring at it. Could it be Sakura? Was she really alive? She wasn't really dead! Turning around, Naruto raced back up the stone. But, once he got there, there was no one there. No sign of anyone. Whoever it was just vanished.

No one was ever really there, Naruto knew. He was just seeing things now.

Naruto sat in the ramen shop forlornly. He was just moving the noodles in his bowl around, not really eating. "Hey, Naruto," Ino came and sat next to him. Shikamaru and Choji behind her. She knew Naruto was having the worst time out of everyone that she was really dead. After all, he had known her the best.

Naruto mumbled incoherently as he shoved the ramen bowl away, got up, and disappeared down the street. Ino looked down. "Poor guy. He didn't even eat his ramen," Ino pointed out.

"Hand it over," Choji reached for it. Nothing could fill the bottomless pit that was his stomach. Ino slid it across the counter.

"I wish there was something we could do. He's taking this really hard. Sasuke says more than he does," Ino sighed resting her chin in the palm of her hand.

"Sasuke and Kakashi are taking it pretty hard, too; they just handle it differently. Kakashi is more distant than ever; he won't even indulge Gai in his games. Sasuke is just venting his frustration into training, which is what Naruto should do," Shikamaru explained.

"Ya, well, Naruto needs someone to talk to. Go, Shikamaru," Ino pushed him off his seat and out the shop.

"Jeez, troublesome woman," he mumbled under his breath. But, Shikamaru continued down the street in search of Naruto. Maybe the training grounds. He was right on the mark.

Naruto was working on the Rasengan against a few trees. He wasn't training, he was venting his anger. Shikamaru sighed. He wasn't good at talking to people like this, about this type of thing. What was he supposed to say? That it was going to be ok? No, because he couldn't guarantee that.

Taking a deep breath, Shikamaru walked up behind Naruto and cleared his throat to get his attention. "Look, Naruto," he rubbed the back of his head out of nervous habit.

"Don't," Naruto shook his head. His hands in fists at his side. "There is nothing you can say that will make any of this any less real. Nothing you can say will make the pain go away."

"I know that," Shikamaru answered. "But think about it, Sakura wouldn't want you acting like this. She wouldn't want you to be like this. She would have wanted you to keep fighting."

"How can you say that?" Naruto whipped around and faced Shikamaru, his jaw set in a thin line. "You didn't know her like I did."

Shikamaru sighed. "You're right. And if you were as close to her as you claim, you know what the right thing to do is."

Naruto looked at the ground, refusing to look Shikamaru in the eyes.

"Death leaves a heartache no one can heal, love leaves a memory no one can steal," Shikamaru broke Naruto's train of thought. "She's not really gone, you know. To live in hearts she leave behind, is not to die."

Naruto stared after Shikamaru as he walked away. Naruto wasn't sure what to think or say. To hear those words really comforted him, but the fact that Shikamaru said them creeped him out a little bit.

Sinking into the sand, Naruto let the tears roll. He would have to let her go in order to move on, he knew. He couldn't keep living like this. It wasn't healthy for anyone, and Shikamaru was right, she wouldn't have wanted him to live his life like this.

Getting up, Naruto headed home. Passing the ramen shop, he glanced over to see if the others were there. Instead, he saw Sakura sitting there, eating the ramen as if she had never died. Naruto blinked and raced to the ramen shop. But, when he got there, she was gone.

Naruto grabbed a worker, "Who was the woman sitting there? Did you see her? She had pink hair!"

The worker shook his head, "Gomen, no one was sitting there."

Naruto released him and staggered out of the little shop. Wondering why he kept seeing her ghost. Why couldn't she just quit haunting him? Was that his lot in life? He killed the person closest to him, and now he was going to suffer even more than he already was? If there was a God, why would he put him through this? What was the point?

Please review! What do you all still think of this story?