Year ?: Failure leads to Success in the End

Sakura was dead, and Sasuke signed the papers. Sarada Uchiha was in good hands, and had accepted the fact that her mother lived a long life and fulfilled her wishes.

Sasuke felt a wave of nostalgia overcome him, swallowing his previously stoic mood. He recalled her fangirling when they were young. He recalled how she cried and pleaded for him not to leave Konoha. Most of all, he recalled when she smiled when he finally proclaimed his love for her.

Picking up his pen once more, his eyes darted on yet another set of documents. Her birth certificate.

It was forged. Forged well, but not well enough to escape the trained Sharingan.

His curiosity was piqued. What would Sakura have done to have to forge her own certificate? If anyone had been in the same room, they would have observed his eyebrow raise at his own thoughts. He silently got up from his seat and glided over to her old things. Rifling through them, his Sharingan caught sight of a document. It was the Birth Certificate of a pink haired, green eyed girl and her name was, Sakura Mitarashi. He meticulously checked the date, and the information clicked.

Should he report this, or should he let her secret die with her in the grave? Choosing to respect her dying secret, he went with the latter. After all, she loved him for many years as his wife, friend and teammate. It was only right that he upheld her reputation. No one shall ever know how she was the daughter of a deranged madwoman and unnamed prostitute. Sakura had a messed up family, and chose to make her own future.

Sasuke had to respect that, he was the same after all.

Funeral: Feeling Protected

Shikamaru was attending her funeral. He loved Sakura as a friend, and the intellectual challenge she provided. He smiled at her funeral picture which depicted her half laughing face and felt her familiar gaze.

It was as if she never left. He was not surprised, Sakura Haruno was one hell of a woman. Her legacy would not be affected by death.

From Afar: Forever

Even in death, Sakura would protect him. She gazed from the heavens, watching him enjoy his old favourite past time, cloud watching. Her role could still be completed, her eternal personal mission.

She continued to protect him, from a distance.