A/N: Hooray for the last chapter! Although, based on the content, I suppose that's not really a reason to cheer... Anyway, hopefully this is a little more lighthearted than the rest of the story has been. Enjoy!

Baby, why'd you leave me, why'd you have to go?

I was countin' on forever, now I'll never know.

Chapter 3: The Will to Go On

Why did the food in her cupboards insist on mocking her? Both the bottle of wine and the box of cookies were beckoning to her, offering her comfort in the form of deliciousness. Deciding she'd rather be fat than hung-over, Sakura plucked the box of cookies off the shelf and carried it to her bedroom.

Although she was exhausted, she wasn't sleepy, so she took her treat to the window and slid up the pane. Swinging her legs over the sill, she sat on the edge and popped a cookie in her mouth, crunching it between her teeth.

Tonight, Konoha was breathtaking. All over the village lights twinkled and flickered, laughter carried over the rooftops, and the Hokage monument was so brilliantly illuminated it obscured her view of the stars. Nevertheless, it was strange to think that the world hadn't stopped revolving because her teacher died—her world seemed to.

"Comfort food?" a voice asked.

Tilting her head, she smiled at the man seated beside her, his face hidden behind a turquoise book cover, before stuffing another cookie into her mouth. "I've had a rough day," she replied, crumbs spilling on her lap. "I think I deserve it."

The man sighed and turned a page in his book. "I suppose you do."

They were silent a moment as she studied the cookie box and he studied the characters lining the paper. "How did you do it?" she asked suddenly as a tear splashed onto the cardboard.

"Do what?"

"Get out of bed every morning." She sighed and looked at the sky, searching for a constellation she recognized. "Go on living. I read your file, you know."

"Find anything interesting?"

"You were an orphan," she whispered, "and your last teammate died when you were my age. But you were never sad around us."

He closed the book and gazed at the stars with her. "That's because I always found someone new," he said slowly. "Granted, they could never replace the ones I lost, but I made new friends. Found new teammates." And he looked at her and smiled. "Like you, Sakura-chan."

She'd believed—mistakenly, apparently—that all of her sorrow had been spent, that every last drop of water she could afford to waste crying was gone. But then she started to weep again.

"Why do I always seem to make you cry?" he murmured. She saw him place a hand on her shoulder, but she couldn't feel it. Knowing he wouldn't be able to return an embrace, she hugged the cookie box instead.

"I miss you, sensei," she sobbed. "Why'd you have to go?"

"It was my time, I guess. I've done everything I was meant to do."

"But I need you," she whispered.

He shook his head. "You never needed me. My presence was merely a formality. I know for a fact that I am the only jounin instructor whose students abandoned him to train with the Legendary Sannin."

"But you made us shinobi to begin with."

He shrugged. "I suppose you did need me, just for a minute."

Wiping her eyes, she lifted her head to gaze at the man she had known since she was twelve years old. In those seven years, Kakashi hadn't aged and she'd grown accustomed to his presence like you would to a light fixture or the refrigerator—he was always there when she needed him and sometimes when she didn't. But like those seemingly meaningless objects, she didn't realize how important he was to her ability to function until he was gone.

"I know it's hard, Sakura-chan," he said finally, resting his chin in his hands as he stared at her profile. "But you're a big girl, and you're so much stronger than you think."

She smiled sadly. "Thanks," she said and ate another cookie.

He chuckled. "Think you can sleep now?"

"I think so."

Raising his hand, he placed it gently atop her tousled bubblegum hair. Ruffling the tangled locks with his insubstantial fingers, he grinned and pressed a kiss to her temple. "Goodnight then, Sakura-chan."

She watched as he dissolved into nothingness before touching a finger to her temple, where the skin still tingled. "Goodnight, Kakashi-sensei," she murmured, looking up the stars as they glimmered in the night sky. With the feeling of his kiss and the faint sensation of his fingers in her hair, Sakura knew that she would be able to cope.

A/N: The end! So, what'd you think? I hope you liked it enough to leave me a review... *hint hint, wink wink*

On a sidenote, read my next story please! It's called Limbo and deals with Sakura's experience in the afterlife. Anyway, thanks for stopping by!