Disclaimer: Naruto's not mine.

Warnings: This is a transition chapter. Does that count?

Moving On

Chapter Twelve

By Michiru's Mirror

Sakura rarely had trouble sleeping at night. Long hours at Konoha Hospital, combined with a perennially hyper boyfriend and a best friend who never thought it was too late to go shopping, sapped her energy to the point where she often dropped into bed at night.

When she had been a child, however, she had often suffered from bouts of insomnia. She'd always had something on her mind, which she had chalked up to being a drawback of unusually high intelligence. Often enough she thought about Sasuke, but she also found herself dwelling on her insecurities too often for her liking. Would anyone ever find her attractive? Would she become a competent kunoichi with training? Could she become strong enough that bullies wouldn't rip into her daily and destroy her last remaining shreds of confidence?

Sakura would often cry herself to sleep on those nights, feeling terribly alone and unsure. She never knew where she found the strength to get up again the next day. Looking back on it now, she supposed it was because she had no choice.

She had also revised her old view that intelligence was what kept her up at night. Now, she thought it was because night was just a better time to air your insecurities. She wouldn't be found and laughed at the way she would during the day, or be accused of whining, or be given bad advice about "cheering up". If she could have cheered up that easily, she would have done it without anyone's stupid advice.

Now, at thirty-five, she was considered attractive and confident and bullies approached her at their peril. Maybe that was part of why Sakura found it so much easier to sleep…but there were still some nights where she lay awake, because there were still some insecurities she had yet to banish.

Sakura looked over at Naruto, snoring lightly next to her with a peaceful expression on his face and a line of drool slowly spreading onto the pillow.

She couldn't help but smile. She loved him so much.

Perhaps that was why she was so scared. She hid it from Naruto as best she could, because she knew that there was nothing worse than listening to another's whining. But every new wrinkle that appeared on her face and every stretch mark that insinuated itself onto her body made her more afraid.

It was hardly anything now; just tiny lines that couldn't even been seen unless one was really looking from very close. But Sakura knew they would grow, and often enough when they grew on a woman, the love of her husband shrunk.

Intellectually, she knew Naruto would never leave her. Oh, he'd ogle younger women, look at his porn and make old lady jokes with his friends, because men just didn't realize the bolt of pain that went through a woman's heart when her man did those things. But however saggy or gray or flabby she got, Naruto wouldn't just stop loving her.

Yet in her heart of hearts, she couldn't get rid of the fear. It was a purely emotional, deeply buried beneath the confidence that Sakura had cultivated over decades of hard work improving herself. She often told herself to trust Naruto, because he had earned the right to be trusted, but that fear never left her for a second. It was like an itch she couldn't scratch, constantly nagging at her whether she was working, sleeping, eating…

Sakura gently pushed Naruto's bangs out of his eyes, and smiled when he nuzzled into her hand in his sleep. He was everything to her. Losing him would be the worst thing that could possibly happen, hence this silly, irrational terror.

Yet she couldn't deny how hellish these last months had been for her. Naruto's sudden silence, his declaration that maybe he didn't want to marry, his ruining her carefully planned romantic evening…all of these things spoke right to her anxiety. She had been sure that he was planning to leave her, so sure that when he walked her home from the Hospital with such a serious expression on his face, she braced herself for those awful words: "Sakura-chan, I don't think it's working out…"

Of course he wouldn't say that. He had just lost the most important mentors in life and was off on a diplomatic mission; the state of their relationship was probably the last thing on his mind. Which didn't stop Inner Sakura—who rarely made an appearance these days—from whispering how ugly she was and how she was getting old and how Naruto must have finally been caught by one of those nymphets that hit on him all the damn time…

When he'd told her the real problem, she was so relieved she could have forgiven him anything. And yet, she'd been shocked to hear he had such insecurities. She knew he had personal problems due to his unhappy childhood, but she'd never guessed that he had professional insecurities that ran so deep. Even when the Elders had told Naruto he was to become Hokage and he'd looked so put out, Sakura had assumed it was a stress reaction due to how quickly the title was foisted on him.

Ah, but it was like her and her looks, wasn't it? When she was fifteen and at the height of her perfection, the idea that she would get old one day had never really occurred to her. Age might get other people but it would pass her by, surely. Naruto, it seemed, had been the same way about his future as the Hokage: he never thought that the problems that plagued usual Hokage candidates would apply to him.

The irony was that they had traded problems. When Naruto was kid, he'd been so sensitive about his height and so nervous about the size of his penis once Sai had come along and started jabbering about it. But his skills as a ninja? He'd never worried for a minute that he wouldn't be able to become strong enough to do whatever he needed.

Meanwhile, though Sakura had been nervous about her forehead as a child, she hadn't given a second thought to her looks once she'd hit puberty and filled out. Even if she wasn't a knockout like Tsunade, she knew she looked good by the time she hit her mid-teens. She'd never had trouble attracting her share of male attention, even if the attention didn't always come from men she was interested in. But she lived every day thinking she wasn't good enough to be a real kunoichi, since her abilities were so limited. It became taboo to talk about her ninja abilities because she would get so upset.

Cut to two decades later and they'd switched. Naruto had become the apple of every girls eye (sometimes while he was out, Sakura saw him strut by the various groups of lusty ladies who would eye him as he passed), while Sakura was respected by everyone for her incredible skill as a medical ninja. Meanwhile behind the scenes it seemed Naruto had lost all confidence in his ability to do his job, while Sakura was rapidly losing confidence in her physical attractiveness. It was pretty funny when she thought about it.

But her fear was too real to her to allow her to laugh much.

Sakura snuggled closer to Naruto's side and wondered if he ever worried about losing her. Did he ever have this fear that she'd leave him? She hoped not.

She knew first hand how awful it was.

Naruto awoke the next morning to the sounds of Sakura banging around in the kitchen as usual. As a man who could sleep all day if given the opportunity, he was horrified to realize he was cohabitating with a morning person when Sakura first moved in.

Sakura denied that she liked mornings. She hated waking up early but there were responsibilities to carry out, things to do, people to meet, jutsu to learn, blah blah blah. Just why she had to do this at the butt-crack of dawn was beyond Naruto's reckoning. And why the hell couldn't she at least shut the bedroom door so he could sleep?

After about a year of slamming the bedroom door to make a point and being totally ignored, Naruto had given up and just learned to live with it. The positive side was that he never had to make breakfast anymore, since she always made enough for him. He supposed that was a decent tradeoff, especially since she had become a good cook.

Groaning, Naruto pulled himself out of bed. He had the Tsuchikage to meet with anyway.

The next hour was spent mostly in comfortable silence. Naruto and Sakura ate breakfast, rinsed the dishes, and walked out the door side by side. They were in no hurry, since Sakura had woken them up so early. Thus they took their time strolling down Konoha's side streets, winding their way towards the center of town.

Naruto took his time looking around the town he loved so much, admiring the simple buildings and smiling people. He felt a powerful wave of affection wash over him; it was moments of quiet enjoyment like this that reminded him of just why he planned to try so hard with the Tsuchikage to make peace. Maybe peace wasn't as exciting as battle, but it sure made for longer lives in human beings.

Twenty minutes after leaving their apartment, Naruto and Sakura paused at a street corner distinguished by a bicycle repair shop. To get to their respective workplaces, they had to part here.

Sakura tilted her head slightly and looked at Naruto from the corner of her eye. "You need anything from me?"

Naruto smiled down at her. Slightly against public standards of decency thought it was, he couldn't help but grab her into a hug and kiss the top of her head (she quickly pulled away, blushing, though she didn't complain).

"Thank you," he said. "But I feel okay. Yesterday was the big day of danger—today is more like hammering details out."

Sakura nodded. "Okay. Take care."

She grabbed and squeezed his hand encouragingly before heading off towards the Hospital. Naruto watched until she was out of sight, feeling calmer and more together than he had in two years. In the back of his mind he was already planning something special, both out of gratitude for her help and out of guilt for ruining her special dinner a little while back. He could make things up, and the two of them would be able to move on together after that.

He just had to take care of business first.

For the second time in two days, Sakura was left speechless at the sight of her office.

"Do you like the color?" Momoko asked, screwing the top onto the paint can.

Sakura did, actually. Momoko had changed the walls from a terrible flower pattern to a dusky rose color that was pleasant to look at. The old wallpaper had been peeling anyway, and Sakura had planned on having the walls repainted, but this safely counted as sudden.

"But…how did you know?" she asked.

"Oh, well, I found the note on your desk that said you wanted to repaint the place, so I thought I'd save you the money and time." Momoko smiled hopefully up at her boss.

"…How did you know the color I wanted?"

"I asked!" said Momoko. "Went around the office to see what everyone had heard so I wouldn't have to bother you. Everyone agreed this was a good choice."

Sakura's first response was to scold the girl, to tell her that working this hard was not conducive to starting her life over. She had to start finding friends and family outside of work before she buried herself in labor and never learned how to be social.

But looking at Momoko's painfully longing expression, Sakura couldn't bring herself to say anything of the sort.

Love me, please, praise me, tell me I'm worth something…

"This is incredible, Momoko!" said Sakura, turning away and pretending to admire the walls, so the girl wouldn't see how disturbed she looked. "Why, it must have taken you hours!"

Sakura didn't need to see Momoko's face to hear the elation in her voice. "I'm so glad you like it!"

A smile pasted on her face, Sakura turned and said, "It's lovely." She was relieved to see that Momoko was fooled by the happy façade.

Beaming, Momoko began to clear the office of paint cans, spread newspapers and scattered brushes. "It's almost dry, so just keep the window and door open for now, please," she said as she left.

The smile slid off of Sakura's face after she departed. This was just disturbing; that her assistant was so eager to please could get her into serious trouble if unscrupulous bully types got hold of her.

It made Sakura wonder again about the rumor that Momoko had been kicked from the Hyuuga household. The more she thought about it, the more the idea troubled her; they couldn't blame Momoko for Sasuke's abuse, could they? They couldn't be that cruel to a girl who had been so badly treated and neglected, especially when she was one of their own…

Of course Sakura knew from experience exactly how nasty the Hyuuga elders could be; it was more that she couldn't believe Hinata would be that cruel. Wasn't it her job to see that all of her people were taken care of? Why couldn't she look after a child of her clan who was in so much pain and so confused? What right did she have to turn her back on someone who depended on her?

She couldn't understand it, and didn't really want to; in fact, what she really wanted was to give the Hyuuga leader a good punch in the nose.

Sakura made a mental note to avoid Hinata for awhile. She didn't trust herself to keep her temper.

Hinata's view of the situation was, of course, entirely different from Sakura's. While Sakura concerned herself with individual people, Hinata always thought of the welfare of her clan as a whole.

Momoko had shamed the Hyuuga. She had taken on a duty to help rebuild the Uchiha clan and tie it to her own. Not only had she failed, she'd outright given up after just a couple of years. And why—because Sasuke hadn't paid enough attention to her? Hinata could think of Momoko as nothing but shallow and selfish. She had undergone a small amount of suffering and chosen her own welfare over the welfare of her people. If she was going to destroy relations between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, then she could do it on her own. She would get no support or aid from those she had thrown away.

It was the view of a woman who had undergone such hardship that she had grown old before her time, and lost sympathy for those who had not suffered as she had. If Hinata could bear up under the horrors that she had seen, then so could everyone else, and no excuses.

Yet, there was someone who Hinata had to admit she had a weakness for: he was lying on the small twin bed in one of the Hyuuga compounds many guest rooms, sleeping off the hangover he'd acquired the night before with Uchiha Sasuke.

It was one of the guest bedrooms reserved for people who weren't particularly important. Everything in it was small, from the beds to the windows to the overall area, and the walls were a plain white, totally void of decoration. It was acceptable for Hinata to put Kiba in a room like this, because all Hyuuga knew that the Inuzuka were an inferior group of people. Emotional, low in power and totally lacking in dignity and manners, Kiba's clan was an embarrassment to Konoha.

But because Kiba had been Hinata's teammate, she had a duty to care for him. It was all right for her to let Kiba into the Hyuuga residence—occasionally—as long as he was reminded of his place in the order of things. No special treatment or frills.

That was her clan's official position, and Hinata followed it with her every outward action. But she knew that her feelings for him went far beyond what a good Hyuuga should feel for a lowly Inuzuka and she wasn't happy about it.

Looking at Kiba now, Hinata couldn't help but be angry at him for what he did to her; it was not her duty but weakness that made her continue to take care of him after years of binges and embarrassing behavior.

But she couldn't help it. Kiba was the last relationship she had that connected her to her childhood, to that time when she was Hinata instead of Hyuuga-sama. Hinata had loved Naruto and lost him to Sakura, loved Neji and lost him to his own rage, loved her father and lost him to his duty, loved Shino and lost him to death. Even Kurenai had dropped out of her life after the birth of her child.

Hinata had tried and tried to cut Kiba off, to bring herself to tell him never to darken her doorstep again...and yet whenever he came stumbling to her door falling down drunk she simply couldn't turn him away.

Hinata supposed she could tell Kiba the way that his self-abuse was destroying her. She could say that he was the last link she had to love and friendship, rather than duty and hardship. Watching him kill himself with grief and alcohol was almost unendurably excruciating; it meant that he was drifting farther and farther away from her, and when he was gone she would be nothing but Hyuuga-sama.

But she would never speak. She had learned too well to keep her silence in the face of hardship, to keep her feelings to herself lest they be scorned or used against her. She would die before telling Kiba that he meant anything to her, let alone everything.

And so, when Kiba woke up in a few hours time, she would say nothing at all. She would give him only a look of profound disappointment and time to take a shower before showing him the door.

Kiba thought that she hated him, and Hinata knew it. He was sure that she was only taking care of him out of a sense of duty, because he had once been her teammate and saved her life innumerable times. She wondered sometimes what Kiba would do if he knew that he was loved. Would it motivate him to clean himself up? Would it give him the strength to stand on his own two feet again?

Tell him, whispered a part of Hinata's brain as she watched Kiba shift in his sleep. Tell him you need him...

But Hinata knew, with soul-deep despair, that she had lost the ability to say words like that before she'd even hit puberty. Watching over Kiba and cleaning him up as much as she could was all she was able to do.

...But now, there was someone else.

Now it seemed Kiba had acquired a drinking buddy, someone to share his depression, for Uchiha Sasuke lay in the twin bed next to Kiba's. Hinata had been astonished when Chouji had carried not one but two unconscious bodies to her door a couple of hours before dawn. Then, when the surprise had worn off, she'd felt hope for the first time in years.

Maybe, just maybe, if Kiba made a friend he could talk to...if he had found someone who understood him...

"Please, Sasuke," Hinata whispered to herself, so low that even Kiba's enhanced hearing wouldn't have been able to pick the words up. "Please save him."

"Please, please, please..."

Hinata repeated the word under her breath until Sasuke woke up to stumble into the bathroom hours later, and began to repeat it again when she was alone. It was a prayer to the universe, to God, and to an Uchiha nobleman who had no idea of just how important he had become.

At about the same time that Sakura was worrying for the sanity of her assistant and Hinata for the fate of her friend, Naruto was arriving at one of Fire Country's finest inns: The Bluebird. A large, modern structure with a beautiful garden in front, The Bluebird was famous for its spectacular view, its gourmet restaurants, and its tight security. Ganseki Tsuyoshi was not the first foreign visitor to Hi no Kuni who needed a lot of protection.

Naruto was bowed through glass doors by a besuited man and entered a waiting room composed mainly of marble and wood. Sakura would love this place—she always enjoyed elegance. He'd have to take her here for a getaway sometime. Though the hotel was close to Konoha, it felt almost like it was part of a whole different universe.

The Tsuchikage's suite was no less impressive. Wide and spacious with huge windows (that Naruto was sure were proofed against just about any weapon known to ninja-kind), the largest bed Naruto had ever seen and a separate "living room" area, the space looked like an expensive condominium.

The Tsuchikage himself was sitting at a mahogany table in the middle of the plush, carpeted living room, sipping a cup of tea. His retainer was sitting respectfully in the corner of the room. To Naruto's surprise, Shikamaru was sitting across the table from Ganseki while Temari was lounging next to him. Both wore the same clothing they had the day before and had their own mugs of tea.

"I take it there was no sleep last night," said Naruto dryly.

Ganseki Tsuyoshi stood, smiling. As before, his retainer translated his words. "Welcome, Hokage-sama. Your diplomat found me a lovely room, but then we began talking and I'm afraid we lost all track of time."

Naruto took the seat between Temari and Ganseki Tsuyoshi and accepted the tea that the retainer brought him with a "thanks".

"I assume you're talking about what our next step has to be?"

Shikamaru nodded, and Naruto noted with an internal smile that hid friend wasn't at all tired. It had taken years for the teachers and squad commanders of Konoha to realize that Shikamaru's lazy nature sprung from boredom. His amazing brain power allowed him to understand so much so quickly that very little was challenging to him. Everything was painfully simple, and thus it was uninteresting.

It was Asuma that first saw Shikamaru's eyes light up when the two of them first played shogi. Here was something that exercised his mental faculties enough that it was exciting enough to put some effort into.

This planning session was the adult version of that childhood interest. Two countries were on the verge of either war or friendship, and the result hinged on what happened here in this room. It was enough to make most diplomats run away screaming; for Shikamaru, it was the strategic exercise of a lifetime.

"We've ruled out taking on the rebels in armed combat. There's too many of them. Even if Suna and Konoha team up with Ganseki-sama to fight, we'll suffer staggering losses. Plus, with every one of them we kill, we'll be convincing people on the fence that the Tsuchikage really is a mad young dictator with no respect for the traditions of his people…"

"Which will incite more of them to join the various rebel groups," Temari finished. "But it's not like we can just go in there all peaceful either—even with the most powerful rebel group wiped out by Tsunade-sama, there's still plenty of older curmudgeons and mid-level ninja who could overwhelm with sheer numbers."

"But whatever we do," said Shikamaru loudly, obviously irritated that his wife had cut him off, "This is the time to get it done. The rebels are seriously set back by the loss of their most powerful jounin group, and they can't blame Tsuchikage-sama for those deaths because it wasn't anything he ordered or was responsible for…"

Ganseki Tsuyoshi grimaced slightly. Obviously, he still considered himself responsible.

"…So now is the ideal time to step in and get things done."

And if Konoha and Suna were involved in helping the Tsuchikage implement his reforms, that would mean a major new ally, and greater safety for all three villages involved, Naruto thought to himself. But that part was so obvious that no one present bothered to say it.

"Maybe moving defensively would be best in this case," said Naruto. "Start putting your reforms into place, and just keep everything well guarded—with heightened security from Konoha and Suna the rebels could be kept out."

"Particularly since they're busy fighting each other," said Ganseki Tsuyoshi. "There's so many different groups of them and they all disagree on the most important thing they need to fight, and how to deal with me, and whether or not they're even on the same side."

"Not too surprising. Idealistic types won't give an inch on any issue presented to them, not even to their own," Temari sneered.

Ganseki Tsuyoshi nodded. "Right. Quite frankly, I'm alive now because the rebel groups haven't been coherent enough to figure out how to assassinate me properly. If they banded together, they'd have Iwagakure under their control within weeks."

"Then defense sounds like a good strategy," said Shikamaru. "Each of these rebel groups will attack different reforms you try to implement depending on which of them is offended by which reform plan, and we'll be able to catch them one by one."

"…Which leads to the question of how we deal with them," said Naruto.

"Cut off the head and the body dies," said Temari. "Gaara—I mean, the Kazekage-sama—has had a lot of success killing leaders. If a group of rebels shows up, it's usually a few bullies at the top brainwashing the weak minded. Killing the leader means the followers are without direction, and it also makes Gaara look merciful because he spared as many lives as he could while still protecting public safety."

Naruto was amazed to see how much his friends had grown. The way that Shikamaru had learned to combine his job with his interests was impressive, an example Naruto hoped to follow. And Temari was showing remarkable restraint in her temper; she had become a great diplomat, forthright without her childhood aggression or rudeness.

He wondered how they saw him now. Was he the Hokage in their eyes?

Even though he wasn't planning on keeping the job, while he had it, he'd better act like it.

"Then it's time to start laying out plans," said Naruto, sitting up straighter. "Temari, you should probably head back to Suna right away to get this news to Gaara—you can send a messenger bird ahead of you so he can start preparing. It's up to him to decide how much of Suna's resources he wants to spend on this—"

If any at all.

"—So we need his approval before we can really plan out security arrangements."

Temari nodded. "I'll leave right after settling a few details." Her gaze drifted to Shikamaru, which made Naruto suspect that a lot of yelling over who got the kids was going to commence after the meeting. He was unspeakably grateful that Temari had become mature enough to wait until she and her husband were alone.

"Shikamaru, that's going to leave you in charge of figuring out security. You're going to be working with Ganseki-sama on a timetable and the resultant number of ninja that're going to be needed. If that's all right with you, Tsuchikage-same?"

"Fine," said Ganseki Tsuyoshi warmly. "Nara-san seems to have a most impressive grasp of strategy."

Naruto grinned. Buddy, you have no idea.

At 8 pm Sakura managed to get off of work, after a particularly grueling surgery involving a chuunin with shrapnel buried in his left leg. But her day wasn't over yet.

It had been no problem convincing Momoko to stay a little late at the office; the poor girl was so eager to please that she almost burst with happiness at the implication that her boss needed her.

Sakura made a mental note to be careful of what she said to Momoko in the future. Someday she might casually mention that she wanted to go to a concert and go into work the next day to find tickets sitting on her desk.

When Sakura walked in to her office sweaty and covered with blood, Momoko was ready with warm, soapy water and a washcloth. Sakura was grateful; she didn't want to go where she was going looking like crap.

The two women set out into the dark night, enjoying the cool breeze that ruffled through their hair and blew their cares away. Moments like this were precious in the hectic—and often short—life of a ninja.

Still, as they walked further, Momoko began to get a little nervous.

"Haruno-sensei, where are we going? Is that the Akimichi compound over there?"

"Yup," said Sakura cheerfully. "Have you ever been?"

"Um, a couple of times." Momoko smiled in a fond sort of way. "My three-man-cell had Akimichi Shota-kun in it."

"Really? You know, he's up for the jounin test this year. He's become a hell of a taijutsu expert." They reached the front gate of the compound, a huge black iron gate with bars bent into majestic animal shapes. Sakura rung the front bell to the right.

"Is he? Maybe I can congratulate him toni—"

A figure came bounding towards the gate with great speed, and before Momoko could finish her sentence, Akimichi Ino had thrown the gates open and squealed, "FOREHEAD!"

"PIG!" Sakura and Ino embraced for the first time in about four months, with a shocked looking Momoko gaping at them from the side. Except for the meeting to plan Naruto's confrontation with the Tsuchikage, during which they'd barely had time to say hello, Sakura had been too busy for them to talk.

"Oh my God, you look fabulous!"

"Not as good as you, did you lose weight?"

"You're such a liar, I look like bloody Buddha. Did you do your hair, it's gorgeous!"

"Ah, you noticed! I swear, I've gone through so many hairdressers in the last three months…"

"I know, they're just impossible, total talentless loons!"

"Talentless? Is that a real word? Excuse me, are you really a medical expert?"

"Pardon me, piglet, I didn't realize the average housewife whose expertise lay in 'floor mopping' and 'bedtime story reading' got to talk to me about my intelligence."

"Well now you know better. And you have no idea how hard it is to get three kids to sit down long enough to read a story to them. You're getting too old to have your own, you know, I think I see a gray hair…"

"What? You do not, you fibber, and at least I don't weigh—"

A frightened squeak broke the two women out of their usual banter. Momoko was gaping at them both with wide eyes and holding her hands in front of herself as if for protection.

Oops, thought Sakura.

"Oh Sakura, is this her? She's adorable!" Ino beamed at Momoko and stepped closer to the girl to inspect her better. "It's lovely to meet you, Momoko-chan!"

"Y-y-you too…uh, Akimichi-san…"

"Don't be ridiculous, Ino is fine. Now come on, I've got all sorts of stuff planned for the evening!"

"What?" Momoko turned her terrified gaze onto Sakura, suddenly realizing she was being dragged into a social situation instead of a work errand. "Stuff? Evening? Plans?"

"Yup," said Sakura cheerfully. It wasn't nice to laugh at the other girl's discomfort, so she held it in. "I unfortunately have no social life anymore thanks to my job, so I asked Ino here to help you around Konoha, since you've spent so much time at home the past two years that you're a little out of date."

"What…but…wait…"

"Come on, Momoko-chan!" squealed Ino, grabbing Momoko by the hand. "Let's get you some new clothes!"

And with one last squeak of fear, Momoko was pulled bodily into the Akimichi compound and disappeared into the darkness.

"Later, Forehead!" Ino yelled behind her as she shut the gate and went bounding towards her and Chouji's home.

Making sure to hold back her giggles until Momoko was inside, Sakura set off towards her apartment.

Ah well. In a few years Momoko will laugh about this, too…

A/N

Sorry for the wait, these chapters are getting harder to write. I know where I'm going, but getting the scenes to mesh together and fixing the time frame right to get Moving On to its ending is challenging me a bit. Don't worry, I'm not giving up on it or anything…I just plan to make sure the ending comes out right.

"The Bluebird" is a tribute to one of my favorite Takarazuka plays.

As pretty much everyone guessed, "Kaze to Tomo ni Sarinu" is the Japanese version of "Gone With the Wind". It seems pretty well known over there—it was a plot point for a recent TV show (Byakuyako), influenced a major anime character in the popular 90's shoujo anime Wedding Peach, and was turned into one of the most popular Takarazuka musicals ever (and that's just the stuff I can think of off the top of my head).