(A/N) The epilogue! *wipes away a tear* Geez, I never thought the day would come! I feel like Biscuit at the end of Greed Island! The older I get, the more sentimental I get! *blows nose loudly*

… Oops, wrong anime. That's from Hunter x Hunter. If you haven't… you should check it out. :D

In any case… this took a while. Sorry. I always seem to run into issues in the last chapters/epilogues of my fics… :/ Hope I did a good job!

A thousand thanks to my wonderful reviewers and all my readers! It was YOU who brought this story up to 939 hits (we'll hit 1,000, I'm certain)! And gifted me with a total of 26 reviews! I feel blessed. *happy tears*

Special shout out to those who reviewed the last chapter, arabmorgan, "fairytopia," "Phenitial," and MidniteCurse4Eternity!

Nope. During this story's run, I did not acquire ownership of Naruto.

Healing was as slow a process as anything else; we had squeaked by, on a prayer and luck, so neither of us was exactly in top condition. The doctors said that we would both make a full recovery, but for people as impatient as Gaara and I, 'eventually' wasn't good enough, and bed rest was out of the question. So we were up and about, he running the village and I training.

The day came, though, when we went to visit Chiyo's grave; we made a point of it each month. And so, for the benefit of the doctors who would undoubtedly be there, I grabbed the crutches that usually lay unused at our front door.

"Here," I said with a smile, offering a similar pair to my brother. He only turned away.

"I won't."

"It's just to make the doctors happy," I appealed, but in the end had to set the crutches down. "Fine, fine… I'll play the invalid."

Then we were out the door, Temari in the lead and I at the rear. Ebizo-ojiisan joined us, and then we headed straight for the graveyard. Gaara stumbled occasionally, but pointing that out or trying to assist would just create an argument; the crutches actually made it harder for me to walk, and I lagged a bit. So it was, on our way through the burial ground, that I tripped.

And fell flat on my face.

Gaara turned with some sympathy, and Temari laughed. "Come on," my sister called, "or we'll leave you behind!"

"Shut up!" I snapped angrily, pushing myself upright. "You… just…!" But she had already turned, pulling Gaara with her. I sat up, pride stinging as I rolled my shoulders, and I looked crossly in the direction of whatever had tripped me. What I saw brought me up short.

Poking through the sandy earth was the corner of my toolbox.

My toolbox had gone missing a few weeks back, around the time of Shukaku's curse. And when I observed where this object had come to rest, my heart seemed to still.

The headstone marked for Gaara looked down over it.

Mine was just to the left; Temari's was to the right. The realization slowly dawned on me, then: Gaara had buried something here that he wanted us to find, once he was dead. Scrabbling forward, forgetting about the crutches, I brushed the dirt away, pulling the small box free. I glanced up to see that Gaara and the others were a sufficient way off, and then took a deep breath. Whipping the latch off with my thumb, I popped it open, peering inside.

What Gaara had hidden was a set of seven scrolls, each labeled in steady printing: "To the People," "Kazekage's Wishes," "For our ally Konoha," "To Lee," "To Naruto," "Dearest Temari…"

And "Beloved Kankuro."

I stared down at the last, resting lightly in my hands and yet seeming to weigh heavy with the words it must contain. Glancing up at the receding figures of my family, I tucked it into the waist of my pants, hurriedly reburying the rest and vowing to retrieve my toolbox at some later date. And then I was catching up, not quite able to respond to Temari's teasing words.

… … …

"Gaara?"

My brother looked up from his cluttered desk, one hand on his temple as though easing a headache. For a moment I reconsidered bothering him; he was, after all, busy preparing for the Gokage summit, as well as trying to recover. But I pressed on, deciding that both the words in the scroll and those I had to say were more important than anything. So, after a pause, I cleared my throat.

"Well… when we were at the graveyard today…" I pulled out the scroll, and took in his expression of shock and embarrassment. I nearly started laughing as color crept across his cheeks, and slowly my brother turned beat red. Grinning sheepishly, I tossed it onto his desk. "I read it; I never was good at resisting temptation, and it was addressed to me."

"…" For a moment, Gaara didn't reply, and I swallowed nervously. It was addressed to me… he can't get mad at me, can he? Then he stood, a bit stiffly, and picked up the scroll.

"… I can't be angry," he said quietly, answering my unspoken question, "but I can't say I'm overly pleased."

I took an involuntary step backwards, gulping. "… I… just wanted to say that I feel the same way!" The words tumbled out, not quite as I had planned them. "That's why I did what I did!"

Gaara fell silent for another set of heartbeats, but I resisted the urge to prattle on to relieve the tension; it would only make things more awkward. When he responded, the words were soft.

"As did I, brother."

And then he smiled, ever so slightly, and I felt myself relax. Coming forward, I sat at the edge of his desk. "Can I still have your room?"

That got a chuckle out of him. "It's currently in use, sorry."

I suddenly voiced the serious thought, rather sooner than I had meant to. "You really think I would be capable of taking over for you?"

Gaara shrugged. "That's what I wrote, wasn't it?" Then he shook his head slightly. "But I can only recommend you; if you screw up, it's on your head."

I laughed, then, something like relieved happiness crashing through me. I saw the same unnamable emotion reflected in my brother's glowing blue eyes, and he wordlessly rounded the desk to stand at my side. After a brief hesitation, he embraced me, and I returned the motion without a second thought.

"I'm glad I won't be Kazekage any time soon," I whispered, pressing my face into his sand-laden hair.

And his reply was, "You can still have some of the paperwork, if you want."

THE END

(A/N) Hope you enjoyed "The Simplicities of Goodbyes." ;) I'd really love to hear what you thought, what with it being the final chapter and all. So… review?

If you did like this, keep an eye out for my NEXT NARUTO FANFIC, an as-of-yet untitled, slight AU fic featuring everyone's favorite Suna nins and… Lee. :D It takes place in a futuristic world… no, not with androids and space travel, but a time when Suna and Konoha have become one, ruled jointly by the Kazekage and the Hokage… who happens to be Orochimaru? Gaara fights an internal battle on the outskirts of civilization, Lee strives to become a splendid ninja, and Kankuro's got a forbidden dream of learning ninjitsu. My my, wherever could this go? ;) It'll be an epic-sized fic of at least… 30 chapters…? Four parts, total. LOOK FORWARD TO IT! *waves wildly* See you then!