The Flower and Her Sun (Naruto x Sakura)

~Chapter One - End of the War~

Sasuke and Naruto lay on the ground, both unmoving and barely breathing. Dusty remains of the Valley of the End swirled around the destroyed space gracefully as the pink haired kunoichi approached them, exhausted, to be their aid. As the girl approached, tears trickled down her face both from the pain in her joints and the happiness of finally witnessing the fulfilment of her greatest wish: Naruto was still alive, she could see him breathing. As she sat between her friends, quickly getting into action with one green-chakra-covered-hand over each of her teammates, her before hasty breathing slowed. She wanted Sasuke to come back to the village with all her heart, and she knew he would, because Naruto had promised her all those years ago. She knew Naruto would fulfil his promise, even if it had no longer existed, and even if he had to give his life for it.

Giving his life for the promise, for his and her friend, was the problem. Sakura had tried to stop Naruto, but he never went back on his word – that was his ninja way. She cried, pleaded, lied, and still, Naruto would not listen. It was then that the biggest desire she had, changed. It was no longer having Sasuke back, it was having Naruto back. Having him around to annoy her, to smile at her with that huge toothy grin, to have him invite her to ramen eating dates she wouldn't go to, to be her friend, her comrade, her teammate. She couldn't see herself without his joyous presence, his constant mention of his goal to be hokage, his hard work, his growth. She needed him to come back to Konoha with her after the war was over, and because she couldn't do anything as usual, she could just hope. Dream, wish, pray that he would come out of this alive, and fortunately, as both her shaky hands now worked on the boy, she felt his heart beating fiercely, and finally felt calm.

He coughed and opened his eyes, and smiled as brightly as the stars when he looked at her. He was in bliss, completely proud and happy about the past events. The war was over, the fight was over, and both he and Sasuke were alive! Or were they? He tilted his head and found his pink haired friend still working on Sasuke. He saw tears in her eyes and instantly panicked; "Sakura-chan..." he said, his voice coarse, "is Sasuke... is he okay?"

"Oh, you're awake!" she replied excitedly, wiping the tears from her face and smiling sincerely, "how are you feeling? Does anything hurt? Tell me everything!" she placed one of her hands back on him.

"I'm okay, Sakura-chan, are you? Why are you crying?" He sat up and took her hand that was on his chest.

"It's nothing, Naruto. I was just worried about you two. Oh, and he's fine, I just helped you first. You guys did a real mess on each other." She gently removed her hand from her blonde friend. After a few more minutes of her trying to repair as much as she could with her remaining chakra, Sasuke awoke, too.

"Sakura... thank you... I'm sorry..." were his first words to her. She waved them away with a smile, saying she needed to concentrate. The chakra around her hands suddenly weakened, the green aura became smaller and smaller, until it was gone altogether. Sakura breathed in deeply, feeling sudden dizziness, and then felt and saw nothing.

********

She was conscious now and then. Sometimes she heard sobs, sometimes she heard screams and arguing, and sometimes all she could hear was silence. After a while, she could feel. When she heard the sobbing, she felt someone holding her hand. When she heard arguing, she felt needles prickling her skin. When she could not hear anything, she could only feel the cold, so cold, it was painful. Eventually she could understand. The sobbing was Naruto. His hand holding onto hers as if holding to dear life. The yelling was Tsunade, giving her medication she concocted herself. The cold was the night, and it was lonely, the sun was gone. Her sun was also gone.

When she woke, it was night. She hadn't noticed how dark and cold the hospital was at these hours. Looking at the clock mounted on the wall opposite hers, she saw it was 4:00 am. She was trembling, her sheets were thin as a tissue, her clothes matching, and she had no protection against the fury of the cold. Her window was also open, bringing in soft winds that to her seemed furious and cruel. She called out for a nurse, or anyone, to bring her more sheets. But the nurse never came. Instead, her friend did, through the window, with the biggest bed cover she'd ever seen in hand. He quickly threw it over her and tucked her in. She couldn't help but smile gratefully at him as he expressed his happiness at her open eyes.