Chapter 23

Epilogue

Author's note: Viva la vida- coldplay. Listen to it for this chapter my lovelies. I always interpreted the song as acknowledging that in one moment we have everything but in another we can easily have lost it all. The thing about life is that it is not permanent, and that is the beauty of it, isn't it? Nothing lasts forever, just like this story. Every beginning has an end. Enjoy!

PS: Maybe bookmark or subscribe because i decided to do one final chapter. Green eyes and radiance: in which it's a short 'what if' story following what would have happened if Sasuke had never left the village. Consider it my gift to you for suffering through the mountain of sadness it took to get to the end.

It had been an entire 10 years before Sasuke even knew it.

Since they lost Sakura.

10 entire years and the memory of her radiant green eyes hadn't faded at all. Those eyes haunted him, in the best way. Sometimes it even felt like she was watching him somehow. He felt her presence, but he just couldn't see her. Maybe that was a good thing. He hoped to never again become a psych patient. His mental health had been in check for years now, no hallucinations for a long while.

He still didn't know if he believed in heaven. If that was where he was when Sakura held him and kissed him, or if it had simply been a hallucination. Guy seemed convinced in the matter, when they had spoken about Konoha only being able to grow 1 species of cherry blossom tree. 'If anyone was going to be an angel, it would be Sakura.' Guy had said.

Sasuke hadn't seen her in a decade but he'd still know her anywhere. He would know the lyrical sound of her voice, he would know the cotton candy color of her hair, he would know the warmth of her hand in his. Someday, Sasuke knew, when he was old and gray the amount of time he had with Sakura would feel like a blip compared to the rest of his life The time with her had made a lasting impact though. It was hard to forget a girl like Sakura. Even after he married Sasuke loved her still. Sasuke's wife didn't begrudge him for it, and demand he forget her like most wives might. He was fortunate. After all, could anyone ever really forget their first love?

...

Sasuke kept his promise. The one he made on Kushina Uzumaki's ring. He came back to the village. He didn't see Naruto for several months while he and his makeshift team were tracking Deidara down.

Sasuke worried about Naruto while he was gone constantly. One day while he was still on the mission to break the seal on Naruto Rock lee and his team showed up somewhere outside of Suna. Kakashi had sent them. The hokage feared that perhaps Deidara had a secret ace up his sleeve, that might make the mission more dangerous. The puppets Sasori killed Sakura with had yet to be discovered by that point and Sasuke agreed it was a good chance that Deidara might have found them. Pakkun had insisted Sasuke return with Lee's team immediately. Sasuke refused. Sasuke hadn't wanted any help, he hadn't wanted to work with another team. Then he realized that was a notion the 'old Sasuke' believed in, handling things alone. Sasuke liked to think he had changed, he liked to think he had grown alot and so he made a deal with the leaf team. They could stay with him, and together they would complete the mission. The trio had been Sakura's comrades, they seemed more than happy to remain on the mission. Sasuke was later glad for his sudden clarity on teams because when they did finally find Deidara the puppets were with him. Things might not have gone as smoothly if he had refused their help like his first instinct told him to do.

Slowly during their journey together Sasuke had come to trust Lee and his team. At the start Sasuke's old self kept rearing his ugly head. Sasuke found it was hard to relax and sleep around the trio. Sasuke didn't think they would hurt him, but it was hard to silence that voice in his head all the same.

Sasuke was grateful to the trio for everything they had done for Naruto, but Sasuke didn't know them. Not anymore like he had when they were kids.

Lee reminded him of Naruto in the way that he couldn't seem to shut up. It was a constant stream of thoughts pouring out of his head directly into their ears. Just like Naruto though Sasuke eventually got used to it.

Sasuke watched the trio as they interacted. He saw how they took care of each other. How they watched each other's backs. Sasuke tried his best to ignore them, it made his heart hurt because they reminded him of his genin days, and nights under stars.

Neji was most like Sasuke. Quiet. Sasuke liked that.

Tenten was determined to draw Sasuke out of his shell. Though she seemed almost as guarded as Sasuke at first. She would ask him questions. Things about the past, and what he wanted in the future. She wasn't like Lee, she wasn't talking to talk. She was asking to let Sasuke question these things for himself. What did he want out of the future? He would ponder her questions on long nights next to camp fires under the great cosmos.

Tenten started to teach him simple healing jutsu when they weren't traveling. She was helping him heal in more ways than one he realized. At first Tenten hadn't offered to cook for Sasuke on their journey like she did for Neji and Lee but then after a few weeks her domestic side suddenly extended to Sasuke as well. For reasons he couldn't understand she began to dote on him the same ways she did with Neji and Lee. Mending shirts, sharpening his kunai Sasuke was becoming part of their team without having intended to. He really had grown.

When Deidara was dead and the seal on Naruto properly broken, the 4 of them arrived back in Konoha and Sasuke found he had grown quite attached to Lee's team. Friends. Sasuke realized. He had made friends. He looked forward to working with them again in the future now that he had properly signed on as a leaf toady.

...

The village had changed over the last ten years but pieces of it from the past still echoed inside it. Many buildings had been moved or reconstructed over time, but Ichiraku was still standing tall in the same spot it always was. Sasuke spent more time there than he cared to, but it was still Naruto's favorite place on the world.

Naruto had been hokage for the last 6 months. There were no wars, and only occasional skirmishes with other countries. Times were peaceful. Naruto intended to keep them that way.

It had also been 6 months to the day that Sasuke joined Naruto up on top of the hokage mountain. They watched the sunrise. To celebrate arguably the BIGGEST moment in Naruto's life. If anyone asked him though Naruto would say the biggest moment of his life had been marrying Hinata, not becoming hokage. 'What a loser.' Sasuke would say half heartedly when Naruto said so.

Sasuke got a kick out of watching Hinata and Naruto together in their married life. They were much the same as before, both of them shameless perverts for each other. However there was always a moment, when Naruto and Sasuke got together with their wives that Sasuke looked out for. Something he noticed Hinata would do almost constantly, throughout the years. When things settled down, dinner had been had, and Hinata was doing dishes or idly chatting, that was when it would happen. Hinata would look down at her left hand, smiling fondly, and proudly at Kushina Uzumaki's ring, like she was the luckiest girl alive. That simple moment, that simple gesture was all Sasuke ever needed to know. Naruto would live a long and prosperous life, in great deal because of Hinata. Sasuke owed her so much, for everything she did for Naruto. She loved him, guided him, and kept him out of the darkest parts of himself when they threatened to rise up. Hinata always pulled Naruto through the days that were bad, when it felt like Naruto couldn't let go of the past. Sasuke was so grateful for Hinata Uzumaki. Sasuke wondered if perhaps that was how Naruto felt about Sasuke's wife. Was Naruto grateful to Ino? For all of the ways she encouraged, and healed him? Probably Sasuke decided.

Naruto and Sasuke both still struggled after all these years, on occasion. Some hurts never went away, and PTSD was something you learned to live around. They kept Sakura's memory alive by talking about her. Visiting her parents. Every year they even placed flowers on her grave.

With Naruto as the new hokage Kakashi finally got to retire. He would send messenger hawks to check in every once in awhile. Sometimes the hawks brought shells from far away beaches, or pressed flowers Sasuke had never seen. Last they heard from him he was visiting the land of tea. Kakashi seemed happy. Sasuke was glad, he deserved it after everything he had been through.

Kakashi and Sasuke never talked about it again after it happened, but when he turned 21 he took him out for drinks to celebrate. That was the night Kakashi told him about his first squad. How they all died. How he spent most of his life blaming himself. How he still had nightmares about them, and Sakura sometimes. If anyone deserved retirement, and all the fishing, and beach trips, and lazy days that came with it, it had to be Kakashi.

Naruto and Sasuke had visited the top of Hokage mountain multiple times over the last 10 years. For various things.

Sasuke was glad they ended up celebrating things in this manner. It felt always like Sakura was there celebrating with them.

There were many BIG events for the both of them. There was the time Sasuke asked Ino on their first date. The time Naruto and Hinata got married. Then when the kids started coming it felt like they were making a trip up every couple of months. Naruto and Hinata ended up with 2 children. Sasuke and Ino ended up with 5 of their own. All of them boys, except their youngest. A daughter. They hadn't even needed to discuss what name they would give to her, they just both knew they'd call the smallest Uchiha Sakura. In honor of a woman she would never meet, but a woman who had meant the world to both her parents all the same.

Sasuke and Ino hadn't 'fallen' in love. They had bonded over their loss. A trauma bond was how they started out really. It hadn't been anything romantic at first. They were friends. They exchanged stories or memories of Sakura, and sometimes met for tea or coffee. Affection for each other had been born out of the affection they shared for Sakura. When Sasuke finally began to recognize a deeper sense of caring in himself for Ino Yamanka, he remembered cursing Naruto because wasn't that what Naruto had tried to push him into? Sasuke fought against it at first. He felt like he was betraying Sakura in some way, he felt like he wasn't supposed to love anyone ever again. Not the way he loved Sakura. That was how he realized it. He never would love anyone like he had Sakura. But Ino wasn't Sakura he could love her in an entirely different way. It wasn't a matter of choosing who he loved more, for he loved them both very much, in different ways. Sakura had been an all encompassing love that swept him away from the start, that he subsequently had spent years suppressing and ignoring. Ino had been a love that grew ever so slowly but surely, it took time. This time Sasuke knew better than to ignore it. So he let Ino Yamanaka in. He allowed himself to cherish her properly in all of the ways he denied himself of before.

Ino had seen him at his worst. She knew every one of the darkest demons that made up Sasuke Uchiha. She knew his struggle with his mental health, she knew intimate details of himself he had never shared with anyone, not even Naruto. She knew why the song 'electric avenue' sent him into a panic attack. She knew why small things still triggered him. She still loved him.

Sasuke had just arrived back in the village. He had been away on a mission for a bit, and he headed to give his report to his loser. He didn't mind all of the missions, even though he was away for random periods of time. He enjoyed protecting the village and what it stood for. It made him hope he had instilled his own children with the 'will of fire' and that someday they to would want to protect their home just as fiercely.

Shikamaru ended up stuck in the same position he worked in for Kakashi. If being the Hokage's lackey bothered him he never showed it.

"Oh hey, you just get back?" Shikamaru asked looking up from his desk, where he was sorting and shuffling a pile of papers around.

"Yeah. Just need to give my report. Is Naruto in?"

"Yeah, he's probably just doodling or coloring on something. I swear he's been useless all day."

"Ah." Sasuke put one hand behind his head to support it, Naruto style. "Sorry that must be frustrating."

"Don't be. It's Mari's fault." He replied blowing a sigh of frustration out of his mouth.

"What did Temari do?"

"Promised that dummy," Shikamaru jerked his thumb behind his head at Naruto's door. "We'd go to Ichiraku tonight. Soon as the words left her mouth, all Naruto's been able to do is drool over the menu he has stashed in his desk that he thinks I don't know about."

Sasuke chuckled. "Better you deal with him than, i."

Shikamaru shrugged his shoulders, and pulled a cigarette out of his desk to light it. Shikamaru looked him up and down.

"Remember when i used to confiscate your sword before you saw the Hokage."

"Yeah." Sasuke said awkwardly.

When no one had anything else to say Shikamru turned the conversation a different way.

"How's Ino?"

"Just fine. I expect, and before you ask, no she doesn't want Ichiraku tonight, thanks for the generous offer though."

Shikamaru gave him a shit eating smile. "You always see right through me, huh?"

"After all these years, it's not so hard."

"Yeah well anyway, if you end up free sometime this weekend we could get together and spar, it's been awhile. I can ask some of the other guys to?"

"Sure, sounds great." Sasuke tossed over his shoulder as he twisted the doorknob.

When Sasuke entered 'The great Hokage's' office he wasn't surprised to see the sky high stacks of unfinished paperwork or the pieces of trash tossed around the room. Naruto jerked when the door opened and he pulled his desk drawer open, trying to shove things in it quickly. When he saw it was only Sasuke he relaxed instantly.

"Oh geez, it's only you. I thought you were Shikamaru. Scared me half to death Sas." Then Naruto was trying to straighten out the crumpled papers in his hands while Sasuke rolled his eyes. "Here for report?"

Shikamaru had been right of course. Naruto had the Ichiraku menu on his desk all right. Next to it was a paper full of drawings of bowls of noodles. Naruto. What a loser Sasuke grinned down at him.

"Yeah. Kind of wanted to make it quick."

Naruto smiled like a cat with cream. "Someone's in a rush to get home."

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "I've been gone for a while, you realize."

"Mmmhmmm." Naruto agreed. "Something you were looking forward to when you got home?"

"A shower." Sasuke rolled his eyes again.

"A shower, you say?" Naruto looked deviously around like Sasuke had said something scandalous. "Anything else?"

"There's also this thing." Sasuke threaded his voice with sarcasm. "Called a family. You might've heard of it?"

"Sure. Sure." Naruto just waved his hand around as if he could dispel it. "Just admit it, Sasuke." Naruto clasped his hands together regally over his desk.

"Admit what?" Sasuke snorted. Ridiculous line of questioning. What a waste of time. He could be home already. "Let me just do the report and you can bore me with whatever weird thing it is that's in your head later." He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I've been waiting 10 years."

"For what exactly?"

"For you to admit you're no better than me. You're a pervert Sasuke Uchiha."

"Are you even serious right now?"

"I am seriously, serious!" Naruto demanded. "Admit that you jerk off in the shower like the rest of us. Admit that you're in a rush to get home so you can bang your wife. Admit that you're a perv. I'm tired of you acting all high and mighty like you're above it, like Hinata and i are gross for expressing ourselves." Naruto paused and thought for a moment. "Admit that all, and i swear i'll never bring it up again. I won't even make jokes anymore."

The promise was tempting. The last decade Sasuke had endured more than his fair share of what Naruto claimed were jokes. Anytime after they trained together. "I need a shower, how about you Sasuke?" His smile always devilish. Anytime Ino was around them both Naruto always made it a point to tell them he was leaving to give them 'alone time' because Sasuke probably had itches that needed to be scratched.

Sasuke sighed. "Fine. I admit it." His tongue tasted bitter. "I'm a perve. Just like you. Lord hokage."

Naruto stood up, his face pure joy. He went to stand in front of the window, that overlooked the hokage, his face now among them.

"That wasn't so hard, now was it?" He admonished.

"Sometimes i wonder if the 5th was insane for bringing you back." There was no malice in his voice, and it was obvious that he was joking. Sasuke joined him at the window.

Naruto shoved their shoulders together playfully.

"I think granny Tsunade knew it was her time, or maybe she just couldn't stand to deal with another person she cared about dying." Naruto was toying with the necklace the 5th had given him, his fingers looping around the string and smoothing the crystal. "Whatever her reason, she entrusted me with all of this." Naruto motioned out to the village. "At the end of my life I hope i make her proud."

Sasuke understood him with that sentiment.

"You already have." Sasuke said.

Naruto grinned, and at the same time they both threw an arm behind their head.

There was a time when regret hung over Sasuke like a storm cloud. It didn't allow him to recall his life happily, but now after an extremely large amount of work he had put into himself, the storm cloud had been banished. He reveled in the events of his life joyously now, because even if they hadn't ended up how he wanted they had happened.

He had lost his family. But he had been given another.

He had lost Sakura, but he had been given the gift of ever meeting her in the first place.

For each awful thing he had been through he was able to see the silver lining, the good that had come from them. He didn't hallucinate anymore, most nights he slept quite well. All of the hell he had lived through ended up with him here. Waking up with tiny toes on his chest, and in a place full of people he called home.

Sasuke Uchiha didn't regret a thing. He never would again.

(A brief final blurb) from Sakura's pov

Sakura Haruno waits for them in paradise. Her beloved teammates have many years left before team 7 can finally reunite. She watches over them from a plane of existence they can't see just yet. It's not all clouds and honey like she would have thought while she was alive, but it is peaceful.

She cheers them on from the great beyond. She's glad to see them move on. That they find happiness after her.

Sakura feels like she might burst from all of the swelling pride in her chest when Naruto is made hokage. His dream finally realized, she's never been more proud of him.

When Sasuke becomes a father, Sakura doesn't bear any form of jealousy in the matter instead his children become more precious people for her to watch over.

Sakura fondly reminisces on her life. Though it ended abruptly and sooner than she would have cared for, there was a magic- a beauty to it. There's not a single regret in her green eyes in paradise.

She loved.

She endured.

She lived.

The end

Author's note: Thank you for coming along on this journey with me. I cried. You probably cried. Live your life without regret.

Xoxo Catstclaire