2012: this takes place about 10 years after the main story, and akatsuki as well as madara are gone. i predict that naruto will have an epic fight with sasuke, defeat him and convert him to good, sakura will step in and be all heroic and the three will help destroy madara and the akatsuki and become heros then naruto will become hokage, etc...or something along those lines lol

2015: I was close in my above prediction of how the series would end!

i have not, and never will, own any legality to the Naruto franchise

Phobia

by Riverhaze

Chapter Nine

Lethal injection.

Sakura carefully placed the syringe inside her travelling case, the jar of poison rest like a lead weight inside her pocket. She wondered who exactly had thought up this archaic punishment. Of course Sakura only found out she was to be the one to oversee the execution as the Head Medic in Konoha a few hours before she was going to go to sleep last night. They acted like whipping up a deadly poison that humanly put a person to sleep and killed them was easy to make.

While the rest of the village was celebrating with a makeshift festival, even Naruto was hosting a dinner party later that night, Sakura was still up in her lab working with death. She had been invited to the festivities, as always, but probably wasn't going to go. Glancing at the clock she shrugged into her jacket while stifling a sleep deprived yawn.

Outside the sun had not yet fully risen from the horizon, leaving an odd navy blue glow all over the place. A kid almost ran into her on the way to the Anbu headquarters, all excited from being able to leave the house for once. Sakura was reminded of the little Naruto on the way, she had kept up her appointments with Hinata who was coming along nice and healthy. Kids, Sakura thought, and curled her nose.

"Ah, Miss Haruno, we couldn't start without you." The mortician smiled at her when the elevator doors slid open to the basement level, he had a stretcher and body bag ready. She stamped and signed the documents readying the procedure, the executioner took the poison with a flick of the needle.

Taro himself was already strapped down to a table that was cranked all the way up until he seemed to be standing up. His hair was cut and he was clean shaven, he looked pretty well fed too.

'Die young, leave a beautiful corpse.' Sakura thought and shivered.

"Ah, Haruno-san, the one who did me in." Taro winced at her.

"Well, Taro, I think you did your self in. Any last words?" She asked, trying not to stare into his beetle black eyes. He seemed to look right past her, as if she wasn't even there. Who was he picturing in his final hour, which ghost was haunting him? Sakura would think on this for many nights to come.

"What do you think the ones I killed would say?" He flashed a grin that made Sakura's stomach clench. This man was disgusting in every sense of the word, for once, Sakura felt better about herself.

"I'm sure they would have allot to say." Sakura replied firmly.

"Do you think they would forgive me?" He asked with such an expression, she felt almost sorry for him. Like a little boy who knew he had done something terrible wrong.

"I-I'm sure they could." Sakura mumbled, looking back over at the executioner with a wide eyed expression. He nodded and stepped forward, Sakura backed up until she practically against the wall. Taro was looking at her, staring at her even. As if he knew. Knew her and her own demons.

The executioner stepped forward, swabbing his arm with amber re disinfectant before stabbing him in the arm with the needle. The poison went to work quickly, Taro's muscles seized then relaxed, his eyes glazed over before his lids fell over them. With one last sigh, Taro's head went limp and his mouth slacked open as life left his body.

Sakura stood there, staring back at the corpse. The mortician closed Taro's eyes as several medics went to work hauling the body into the bag.

"Taro Nishimura, officially dead at 8:06 am." Sakura declared, writing it down in emerald green ink on his death certificate.

So why did she feel like it wasn't over?

Line Break

Outside, festivities were being had, those who would usually stay inside on nights were out basking in the celebration. Even the creeps and weirdos were behaving today. Everyone was probably wondering where Sakura Haruno had holed herself up to, since she was being glorified as a hero for "discovering" the cure.

She was in her room, reading. Exciting.

She had been invited to Naruto's diner party, but decided she would rather enjoy some leftovers from her fridge instead. If she was asked any more questions about the disease and her miracle breakthrough, she would throw herself off the Hokage Mountain. She was also decidedly not looking forward to her little chat with the current Hokage the next day, Sakura was currently devising of ways she could escape.

"Sakuraaaa!" A voice called from outside. She peeked out of the window, and saw none other than Ino standing there. She was with Sai, Tenten, and Neji, they were dressed in their civilian wear for once.

"What?" She asked, barely peeking her head out of her window.

"Come on down and celebrate!" Ino smiled. Sakura assessed the situation. Ino was probably on a date with Sai, hence the closeness, and Tenten and Neji were dating too. Sakura would be the only one alone, and the awkwardness would be thickly plastered in the air.

"Uhm, no, I can't." Sakura tried not to sound to rushed, as if she really thought about it.

"Why not?" Ino frowned, looking like she was about to march up to Sakura's room and drag her out.

"I have to go to Naruto's dinner party." She lied, sighing for an effect.

"Oh! Okay! When you're done with that, come find us!" Ino smiled and waved. Sai looked back at her wearily as they where eaten up by the crowd. He knew what dinner party she had lied about, and would probably ask Naruto about it later. Maybe she should go...a free meal was a free meal after all.

Sakura had less than several seconds to think it over until there was a knock at her door. It better not be some drunk carnival goer, asking to use her bathroom or something. Sakura grumbled her way over to her front door, throwing it open to see an equally irritated Uchiha.

"Why aren't you dressed yet?" He snapped, crossing his arms. Sakura's jaw almost fell to the floor, here was Sasuke Uchiha, all dressed up in a suite that fit him in a way that made her mouth water.

"Wait, what?" She asked in a daze, trying to shake such dangerous thoughts from her head. Sasuke barged right into her living room, ordering her back to her room to change into 'something nice for once'. She looked at her current outfit in the mirror, beat up capri pants with a faded yellow shirt she had been wearing for several days.

She had to dig into her closet before she found something suitable. A red silk cocktail dress that swirled around her knees when she walked. Throwing it on quickly, she tied her hair back into a simple elegant bun but left her bangs down to frame her face. Sakura pinched her cheeks and ran what little lip gloss she had left over her mouth, so she at least looked somewhat put together.

"Before you march me off to the stupid diner party, can we at least check out some of the booths? I think one is selling fireworks cause some kid was shooting off a roman candle at my window earlier." Sakura's voice echoed down her hallway with her chunky high heels as she walked back to the living room. Sasuke had made himself comfortable, throwing his feet up and everything. He blinked at her for a few seconds, as if he was going to say something.

"Hn." His famous grunt.

Outside the night was illuminated by the white glow from street lamps. Lanterns in the shape of dragons hung across telephone wires, everywhere she looked there were smiling and happy faces. People walked by with turkey legs the size of a small arm, or wearing goofy paper hats for the sake of wearing a goofy paper hat. It was like Konoha had not had much to celebrate in a long, long time.

A bunch of kids ran by, shouting and laughing, as they toted massive sparklers over their heads. They would have barrelled right into them too, if Sasuke hadn't been so quick to grab Sakura by her elbow. Even when they were long gone, he kept his own arm wound around hers, muttering something about discipline. Sakura had to look away when she felt her cheeks redden, and pretend to stare at some of the street performers.

Why was Sasuke doing this? Who had put him to it? Naruto, she concluded with an irritated growl.

Speaking of Naruto, there they were, right in front of his house. You could hear voices bubbling up from the dining room and spilling outside. A long beam of yellow light fell across his lawn from the wide open windows, even at night his house was still the epitome of a postcard.

"You know, I'm not really up to dining and politics just yet. Wanna go check out that fire whiskey booth? I bet I can take more shots than you." Sakura poked Sasuke in the chest. The corners of his mouth twitched, if there was something an Uchiha liked, it was a challenge of wits and drinking.

"You're on. Let's go." The two dashed off into the night, Sakura giggling under her breath like a child. The barkeep even gave them a discount, 'for being such a lovely couple'. Looking back, she couldn't remember who won. She lost track after the tenth shot.

Back inside that happy little house, Naruto sat at the head of the dinner table, all done up in his Hokage robes. The other Kage's sat in their respective seats with body guards hovering close by. Everyone else chatted happily, Kakashi was in a lengthy discussion about Icha Icha with Kankuro, even Gaara seemed to be paying attention by the way he turned his head.

Best of all, Tsunade was there with Shizune, the former sitting next to Naruto.

"It seems like everyone is here, except Sakura-chan and Sasuke." The Hokage scanned the room with a frown. Unseen to him, Hinata exchanged a knowing look with Kakashi. Tsunade resisted the urge to roll her eyes out of their sockets. Still brats, after all these years.

"Well, if I know my apprentice then she is more than likely soaking up some of the more mature revelries this festival has to offer." Tsunade said dryly as she took a long sip from her tall glass of wine. Naruto turned an odd shade of pink and sucked in his mouth like he just popped a lemon in it. Next to him, his wife watched him closely as he sputtered out his disapproval.

"How long until you are due, Mrs. Uzumaki?" Shizune asked nicely.

"Four more months." Hinata responded, her skin glowing like a lantern at night.

"Ah, you're almost there. Drink up honey, it'll be over soon." Tsunade poured a deep glass of wine and shoved it toward the sputtering purple haired woman.

The party settled into their meal, changing courses several times and emptying their plates. It was a good sign when his guests kept asking for seconds or thirds, the wine kept pouring and stories retold. The entire time, Naruto still felt a nagging sense of unease. He wished that Sakura was there, sitting in here seat and not off somewhere with that jerk Uchiha. It just didn't sit right with him.

Line Break

Sakura did not do hangovers. That being said, she was currently hung over and not enjoying it.

She had been woken up by a beam of sunlight shining directly in her face, wrapped up like a burrito in several layers of blankets on her couch. Sasuke was passed out on her loveseat, his feet hanging off the edge and wearing a beat up paper hat.

Oh-kay, she had waken up to stranger things before.

There was a tired groan somewhere near the corner, Sakura peeked over the edge of her couch to see Genma curled up under a pile of take out boxes and a half empty bottle of sake. She cocked an eyebrow up to her hairline, trying to remember when Genma came into the picture. When she thought about the night before the pounding in her head only intensified.

Fighting her way out of her blanket cocoon, Sakura slow motion shuffled her way to the bathroom for a glass of water and to brush her teeth. She needed a plate of greasy food stat, she was a doctor, she could write up a while prescription and get all the free food she wanted. Wait, did it even work that way? If so, she should let Choji in on the action.

Was breakfast still being served? She went to go check the time and almost dropped her cup. It was almost one in the afternoon, if she didn't hurry soon, Naruto would send some hard core devoted Anbu to drag her up to his office.

"I'm headed off to a meeting with Naruto, you don't have to clean up but that'd be awesome!" Sakura threw on her jacket as she rushed to the door, tossing an extra set of keys on the coffee table so they could lock up. Sasuke raised his head and gave her a bleary eyed look, like he was still drunk. By the way the world spun, Sakura did not doubt it.

She made it across town in five minutes. A new record, she thought as she wheezed her way to the elevator.

"Oh! There you are Sakura-chan. Geese, you look like shit. Did you just wake up?" Naruto looked up at her from his paperwork when she walked into the office.

"Sort of. Now, what did you want?" She asked, a little offended that he would just point out her appearance like that. He wasn't looking so great today either, who wears orange with green?

"I wanted to thank you for your testimony at the trial. You really helped bring Taro to justice, and I can't believe you mastered a whole new level of jutsu. The other Kage were very impressed." He said, leaning back in his chair and playing with her pen. Sakura was about to sucker punch Naruto if that's what he called her there for.

"Is that what you wanted?" She said slowly and dangerously. He could have just written a letter for Kami's sake.

"Oh, no," he said, finally deciding to address the gigantic elephant in the room. He then took a deep breath, never had he ever felt as nervous as he did then. "Sakura-chan, I'm sorry." He said and looked at her, his face a dead calm. Sakura blinked stupidly at him a few times, her heart crashing in her chest. What did he mean by that?

"For...what?" She asled slowly. She had to keep a lock on her emotions, stop her hands from shaking. Years of silence were about to be ruined in under five minutes. Naruto stood up and walked around his desk. Sakura was rooted to her spot, she followed his every motions with wide eyes.

"For what I did five years ago. I acted on an impulse with out thinking and seeing the logic right in front of me." He whispered, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a necklace. Sakura let out a small gasp, it was the necklace he had given her long ago. "I'm sorry, I truly am." He said as if he was talking to a lover. He pressed the necklace in her hands. She stared at it, and she wanted to fling the thing back at him.

"We were dumb kids back then, and it was a weird time since the War had just ended. Now you're back and Konoha can be whole again." He smiled hopefully. Sakura knew what he was expecting. He wanted her to admit her feelings, her motives for turning tail and running all those years ago. Then he would expect and apology too, a big warm hug and a brush under the rug.

"I also can't thank you enough for finding the time to look after Hinata all these months, she has grown to really like you, too." He added, trying to get her to talk. She inhaled deeply and looked up at him.

"That's good. I like Hinata too, she will make a great mother. However, I don't think you quite understand. For five years I was alone, because I chose to be. For five years I fell asleep at night alone. I lived by my self and sought not human companionship. I left my home, I left my friends. I used to dream of the day you would come find me, but eventually that dream turned into a nightmare. I love you Naruto, I do. But at the same time, I can't understand why I do. You basically spit in my face and abandoned me." She said, enunciating each word through the grit in her teeth. She took another deep breath and shook her head. "However, I have forgiven you along time ago. I apologize for ever hurting you in my own selfishness, even though it's not my fault."

A tremendous burden felt as if it was lifted from her shoulder's, years of guilt washed out of Sakura, the words she never spoken finally muttered into reality. She knew then she'd be okay, her concious was clean and forgiveness given to those who had wronged her. Found a cure for her own phobia.

"Sakura-chan, thank you!" He bellowed then sprang forward. Acting yet again on another impulse, grabbing her by her waist and lifting her up in the air in the worlds tightest hug. She felt the air leaving her lungs and her skin burn from being this close to him.

"Okay Naruto, put me down now!" She hissed, smacking him lightly with her hands. He quickly released her and took five gigantic steps backward, fear for her innate super strength in his eyes. There was a knock at the door then, and Naruto's secretary leaned in.

"Oh! There you are Haruno-san. This will make things easy, there is a visitor here to see you from Lightning Country." She explained. Sakura scrunched her nose up, she didn't know anyone from the Lightning Country. Wait, it couldn't be.

"I'm not here!" Sakura squealed and made a dash for the window as a confused Naruto tried to reason with her. Sakura's leg was slung over the window pane when the door was thrown wide open and in came strutting a blue haired kunoichi like she owned the place. The stranger put her hands on her hips, squared her hips, and gave a toothy grin.

"Long time no see! Wow, Haruno, you look like shit. Did you just wake up?"

edited 7/27/2015