WARNING(S): Mentions of the war and death, mild/undescribed injury, painfully mutual pining between oblivious idiots (implied on Sasuke's end)

"All you have to do is escort him to the capital," Kakashi had said to the both of them, visible eye creasing in an invisible smile. "Even though it's B-rank, I don't think you'll have to worry."

Well, a job was a job.

Sakura gripped the medical wrap between her teeth as she carefully wound it around her arm, pressing the gauze tightly against her wound. Sasuke was no doubt keeping watch amid the branches above while their client slumbered in a tent several feet away.

Being ambushed was never something she enjoyed, but she couldn't deny the rush of battle and the thrill in her blood as she fought to protect. The client was, apparently, the boyfriend of an important councilwoman who wanted to come home after a vacation in Konoha. Unfortunately, that meant he was a prime target for political dissidents who wanted to get one up on her. And that meant…

"Ow, shit," Sakura hissed as she scooted along the ground. A rock dug its sharp edges into her thigh, making her move off of it and shift again. Glancing back at the tent, she heard no shuffling within, only light snores.

She sighed, making her way towards the trees. It was nearly time for her shift, so it seemed, The worst thing about missions were the night - the darkness didn't help her paranoia, and it seemed to span on forever. The sun's rays over the mountains couldn't come fast enough.

Leaning against a tree, she closed her eyes. It would've been nice for Naruto, or Kakashi, hell, even Sai to come along too. But this mission called for two, and out of all of them Kakashi had recommended her and Sasuke heartily. But why, she still didn't know. She knew they worked well together, but surely Naruto and Sasuke or even Kakashi and herself would've been a better team.

"He probably didn't want to deal with the trip, that lazy old pervert," she huffed to herself as she envisioned the man giggling at that damn hentai. "It's not like the ladies at the capital care when it comes to handsome men."

Naruto certainly wouldn't have minded, though she supposed he would have some reservations about the affections of girls now that he and Hinata were an item. If there was anything about him, it was that he was loyal to a fault. He'd once hugged Sakura and freaked out thinking he'd accidentally cheated. Hinata's gentle laughter in response echoed in her mind, and a smile unconsciously spread across her face.

It was nice to spend time in the village, but sometimes she needed an excuse to take a trip. Peacetime was largely boring, routines built and dredged firmly in the foundations of their little village - she felt bad for being momentarily grateful she wasn't on-call for the hospital anymore. Her patients needed her more than an escort did.

Before she knew it, there was a sound of feet touching down on the forest floor. Opening her eyes, she noticed Sasuke nod to her. His hair was growing out now, reaching past his shoulders and covering his Rinnegan in a manner painfully like the ancestor they'd fought together not that long ago.

"Thanks," she murmured, getting up and brushing little bits of twig and dirt from her back. His gaze was sharp and intuitive as ever - and sometimes she felt it was a little unfair that he'd remained so much the same over the years. He could probably read her like a book, yet she was now struggling to make it one page into his mind.

He said nothing as she leapt into the treeline, but she could feel his eyes on her back. The Haruno family symbol was still proudly emblazoned into her clothing, yet every time she stood with her back to him his eyes always seemed drawn to the white circle. Perhaps it reminded him of when they were young?

Her cheeks flushed, coincidentally as a breeze whispered against her face and ran its chilly limbs through her hair. It was arrogant to think like that. They'd grown up and matured, and she was not in love with him anymore. She wasn't. It was foolish to hope.

Sakura took a seat on a rather thick limb, resting her back against the trunk. It was lucky that she'd brought a cloak this time, she thought, pulling out and unrolling a tight cylindrical bundle of fabric from her pouch. The dark material was a good cover for the night, as well as a toasty blanket around her shoulders.

The moon was high in the sky at this point, stars twinkling in a quiet radiance through the vast darkness. It was peaceful, yet painfully familiar.

Ah, yes, this was a night much like that one, wasn't it…? She frowned at the memory of her past self, begging through tears for him to please stay, that she loved him with every fiber of her being, that if he just listened, they could be a happy family together, that Team Seven could be the connection he desperately sought after after a lifetime of pain.

Not one of her finer moments, she mused. That night still caused a bitter pang of regret to pierce her chest - and still, after all these years, it served to remind her that it was hopeless to think she had Naruto's uncanny ability to reach others. If she couldn't even convince Sasuke to stay, what did she have to hope she could convince him to come back in the end? Hell, it had taken beating the hell out of him for him to come home, and it wasn't even by her efforts.

A breath escaped her nose, a heavy weight on her shoulders as she closed her eyes to focus. It didn't do her any good to ruminate on what could have been. Sasuke was home now - on probation, but here - and Naruto was happier than he'd ever been, and Kakashi was more open now and true, people were dead and a cloud of guilt seemed to hang over their friends because of the war, but everything was better. He was home and everything was better, and she wasn't in love.

The moon seemed to gaze down at her knowingly from its perch in the sky, and as she stared right back at the celestial body hanging silently above she wondered to herself. Had he ever looked up at the same moon and thought about them? Had he thought about Naruto, about her, about their village in the years he was away? How had he whittled the time away through sickness, through grief, through restlessness? Had he thought, even once, about coming back to them?

The world they knew now was vastly different than the one she knew in her youth, and she had to be grateful for that. But everything felt like it was moving too fast to comprehend - new technological advances, new techniques by precocious youth that just a decade ago hadn't even existed, new connections between old places, new treaties between enemies and friends alike, new laws dedicated to protecting and guiding graduating shinobi instead of tossing them headfirst into turbulent waters - it was dizzying at times, and even getting a moment to herself didn't help with the fast-paced advances a newfound - if not very shaky - peace had inspired.

Yet her team remained the same - Naruto was his old goofy self, Kakashi was still reserved (and a little perverted), Sai had that same smile painted on his face, and Sasuke… Sasuke was the same as he ever was, aloof and quiet and somehow so vastly different. The transplanted eye and missing limb didn't change his demeanor, but there was something mature, something wise beyond his years about him now, and every time she locked eyes with him she felt as if she were peering into something incomprehensible.

Maybe being given half a god's chakra had awakened something else in him. But what, she still didn't know. And it frustrated her to no end. She was the same as she always was, always one step behind, always lagging from the rest - and even now she felt as if he were heads above her, looking down just as she'd always feared in their childhood days.

Shaking her head, she stared at the sky, taking in its ancient beauty, and tried to erase the bitter pangs of regret that chased her thoughts, and the longing that stubbornly held fast to her heart. Everything was better now. She was better now. She had to keep facing forward, not dragged backwards by the grief that stained their youth black.

"Look at me now," she'd proclaimed to her boys once, high with the thrill of blood and dirt smudging her face, with blazing bright blue chakra shielding her fist, with eyes wide and euphoric with adrenaline. "I won't drag you down anymore. I'm done watching your backs - now watch mine!"

She closed her eyes, with Naruto's stunned expression and a hint of a smile on Sasuke's lips painted into the backs of her lids, and focused her thoughts.