I’ve read this story and the previous ones over and over again throughout the years. I forgot to bookmark it and everytime I still found them. The first time I read all the parts, I cried. I’ve read it multiple times in the past few years and I still cry. There’s just something so... heartbreaking and beautiful about it. I feel the pain so hard. I, like Naruto, feel jealous that he found someone. How can he love both? But the way you describe it, it makes sense. It’s deeper than that. And with Alice in the picture too. It’s a different kind of love. I can’t bring myself to re read the previous parts right now, today I only read this part. But just know that your writing and this particular story... man it hurts deep. It’s haunting, painful and beautiful all together. It took them so long... ugh I can’t I’m about to start crying again lol. Thank you for this, I will always remember this story. It’s so close to my heart. And it gives me comfort that others feel the same pain too.

Hey,
Oh my god thank you. I cried a lot.
This is absolutly beautiful, for me it goes beyond the fan fiction. It was a universal story of what love and relation ship could be. Thanks for the maturity of your writing and for the intimacy you allow us to share with your heroes. It was truly beautiful.
I don't have more words. Frac i ll say it in french
Je suis envahie d'un sentiment de paix un peu etrange, à la fois joyeux et melancolique. Ton histoire resonne profondement en moi. Merci beaucoup.
Sun

ok so i checked to see if there was a sequel and actually, there was !
And now that I read the entire story, I have so much to say but at the same time nothing to say at all.
It pains me, pains me so much. I am crying. This is way more emotional that the 2 sequels. I just... This story is overwhelming. I will never have the strength to read it a second time, because it's just too much. Everything is too much. As much as I would prefer if they actually did manage to get back together when they were 28, because that's just how I prefer plots, and i see their relationship as something they can't avoid, and as something they can make work out, this is amazing.
Ok, I am really hurting because of this story so i will stop right now and go read fluff because even for me who adore angst, this was way too angsty for me...

I am not usually a big Sakura story reader, but with your style and the way the characters developed I would be lying if I didn'the say this makes me curious to see a similar three part installment of Sakura and Itachi, to learn the story and whether truly enough she was ever to move on from Sasuke and miss Itachi, even if they do not get their happy ending. Though considering Itachi was still single at this point maybe...

it took me 17 hours to boost up the courage to read this.. im tht time i read 3 different book because i was still sad over the first two books in this series.. i cried.. i cried and called my friends.. then i sat, thought and them whimpered like i dont know what.. but i know i thought about my my future and decisions that will b made. then i thought and then i thought...and now im just wishing that i never go through anything like what they went through..
great story..but it hurts.

I don't know why I didn't cry as much in the first two stories as I did in this one. I wasn't fine with them leaving from each others lives in the first two but something about how they got together got to me more than when they left. To me it was so naruto's fault and I hated that he took so long to come to terms with his feelings for sasuke. I feel like neji was such a good addition but also it still pains me that sasuke found someone else... Your writing is so great though honestly can I just point out how much you can make me feel in one sentence. Honestly I love the way you write. Like mostly everyone has said before this was bittersweet but beautiful thank you for writing.

So beautiful!

I'm really glad they had a happy ending, even though it feels kinda bittersweet, but that is what it makes it special. You had me crying by the end!

Woah, I am truly without words. I'm sure you've heard this a lot (as you should) but your writing is amazing. In just those few moments I spent reading what you have put into words, I have come to understand your characters on a level so deep, it's almost personal. It truly takes talent and a certain rare gift to produce what you have. I have been writing and reading for years and I have never written or read any piece of writing which is so emotionally defined. It's not the same as the raw and wild emotional pieces I've read. Your portrayal of emotion is so refined and intelligible, well thought and chronologically executed. It really gives emotions intelligence and not just flashes of impulsive feelings.
:) I am truly blown away

You like to make people cry don't you? This story is so sad but also beautiful. Who would have thought that a story about 2 men in their fourties will be so interesting. I'm glad that you didn't stop at "Love Illusion" cos I feel miserable every time i read a sad ending. What i can say with my limited English is that i think you're mature and quite experienced in life to be able to write such complicated relationship and multidimensional characters. I just love it. Thank you!
Btw, ill you write the Nejisasu in a separate story or any Nejisasu?

Epitome of perfection, all three installments of this story. I just love your way of expression. You are amazing beyond words.

Sigh. Although this ending was a little bitter for me, I think it was an amazing story, characters and development. Congratulations (:
Glad they ended happy!

Thank you for finishing this. The previous installments were so bitter that I appreciate the uplifting feeling in this one. I like how much they both have changed over the course of this story. They were both wound up so tight in the previous installments, they really felt like they had mellowed with age and gained some wisdom in this one. I appreciated how both of them, especially Naruto, were willing to own up to their faults. In the end, even if Naruto was right that their previous relationship had been unhealthy, I thought he'd left more damage in his wake on Sasuke than Sasuke had left on him. Sleeping with Sasuke because he knew he'd be easy and then running away from him afterward was truly cruel.

I also agree with you that sex would have been misplaced in this story. They just reconnected, so them having sex would have been rushing things and not learning from their past mistakes. In addition, Sasuke is still a grieving widower, so even if he says he wouldn't have minded doing more than make out, I think it's better to be cautious and take things slow. What he thinks he's ready for and what he actually is ready for aren't the same things.

I was also glad that Sasuke found true love with Neji. I think he needed to experience that, otherwise he and Naruto never would have worked out this time around. It was also a good lesson to Naruto. Last time, he found Sasuke exactly as he'd left him, this time things had changed for him. Just as they changed for Naruto after he became a father. None of us can stay the same forever.

If I had one complaint, it was the bit about Sakura. It just felt unnecessary. The first chapter hinted she was Toshi's mother, but there was no other mention, that I can recall, of her or Itachi's marriage to her. (Was she even brought up in any of the previous fics?) This fic was so intensely focused on the reunion between Naruto and Sasuke that Itachi's backstory had stopped mattering by the end. It didn't even occur to me to wonder why she wasn't at the party, and I honestly wouldn't have noticed (or cared) if you'd never explained. That was why adding that part, and characterizing Sakura in such an unforgivably negative light on top of it, felt like character bashing. It was unneeded and rather mean.

I've read some of your other fics so I know you don't typically character bash, but wow. Sakura used Itachi as a Sasuke-substitute, dumped Itachi in the end, dumped Naruto as a friend, AND was an apathetic mother who cared more about work than her own child. There is absolutely nothing sympathetic in any of that. I suppose the failed ItaSaku was supposed to be showing how a lot of things got out of hand in the past because of Naruto and Sasuke's destructive relationship? (Honestly seems like a weak example to me. Sasuke is gay, so whether or not he and Naruto had a healthy relationship, things would have turned out the same with SasuSaku.) But regardless, you didn't have to make her a bad mother in addition to everything else. That was where it crossed the line into bashing for me. It was the one un-classy moment in an otherwise very classy fic.

But I am nit-picking over a very small portion of a terribly lovely and emotional story. The take away should be that I loved 99% of this fic, and I thank you for finishing it, and for sharing it with us.

Oh my GOD. It was so perfect! I love it! I'm so happy that you finally finished it!

Fucking beautiful piece crafted with such elegance and mastery one can see the passion, wisdom, and insight the author behind it had. Your writing is always beautiful, always inspiring. Please never give up on yourself or lose your drive . The talent and ability you have is so great it's blinding and brings joy, knowledge, and perspective to all lucky enough to witness it. Thank you for another wonderful piece : )