1 - Thank you, Sakura-chan

Naruto didn't know a lot of things, but he knew love when he saw it.

And when he turned his head to see Sakura, across the field of rubble, staring down into Sasuke's face, cupping it gently and marveling at the change there, he knew her heart had never truly left her childhood crush.

Sasuke's eyes shined with tears. He breathed a tremulous apology. "I'm sorry, Sakura. So, so sorry. For everything I've put you through. Both of you—" And Sakura dissolved into tears too, dropping her head to his shoulder. After a moment she looked up, laughing and crying, and smiled across his chest over at Naruto.

Her smile, just then, was brilliant. Beautiful. Like the sun rising. He smiled tenderly back. He wouldn't have missed that for the world….

But her true feelings, the part she couldn't find words to speak, were written on her face. Her childhood love for Sasuke had never diminished. No matter how much time had passed, no matter how much had come between them all.

Things really were going to return to the way they were. Naruto had his friend back. Sakura had her love back.

He'd done it.

He slid his gaze upwards and let the blue sky fill up his view while he listened to Sakura coo soft words of forgiveness to Sasuke and begin to heal his wounds.

Tears slid out of each corner of his eyes. Yes, he had done it. He'd sacrificed his arm to Sasuke, but he'd done exactly what he'd promised her he would do all those long years ago.

He'd never really given up on that promise anyway. It had just come to represent something more. A vow to himself to protect his friends, a mission to pull Sasuke from the darkness that only he knew the depths of…. And as for Sakura? It became the thing that bound them together. Their love for their long-lost teammate.

But as the certainty of his loosing his bond with her settled into his chest, tightening just behind his ribcage until it was single thrumming ache, he realized may have sacrificed something else as well. His heart.

He closed his eyes on the blue sky, pushing out more tears. They ran in bloody trails into his hair. He was happy and hurting, in equal measure. And when Sakura came to him, brushed his hair off his forehead and whispered his name, he almost didn't open them. He knew her grateful expression be another wound he'd have to endure.

But he had never been able to deny her anything.

He looked up and blue was replaced with green. She was beaten and bloodied and more exhausted than he'd ever seen her. But her eyes were perfect and radiant. She hovered above him, smiling, like an angel, and suddenly his injuries seemed less painful.

A green glow encompassed them. The searing ache on his arm where his hand was obliterated by the force of his impact with Sasuke was dulling slowly. How she had more chakra to give was beyond him. But what she had she gave freely. To both of them.

"Just rest, okay?" she whispered. "We can fix your arm. I'll take care of it all, okay? I promise…."

Her hand traced the side of his face and his mind played tricks on him, whispering to believe her. To lean into her touch and nuzzle her hand. To fall asleep inside of that green embrace and never wake up. That he had done it. And she loved him for it—

"You never gave up on me, Naruto." Sasuke's voice was finally free of the darkness that had plagued him for so long. "Not once."

Pulled back to the present, Naruto gulped, throat suddenly dry. "S'my ninja way…."

Sakura smiled down at him through the haze of chakra, and Naruto relaxed even more under her healing touch. But the green light reflected in the edges of her face began to fade. Her chakra was failing. She glanced over to check on their teammate.

Naruto watched her watching Sasuke. The ache in his chest remained, untouched by her healing hands, beyond the detection of even her deepest reaching medical chakra, completely hidden from the entire world.

He ignored it. Because it didn't matter. Not the pain of his injuries, nor the long years of searching for Sasuke, nor the inevitable loss of his one connection to Sakura, leaving him with what only felt like a hole in heart. Looking up at her, he knew he would do it all again. Tomorrow, if she asked him to—

"So what happens now?" There was an unfamiliar note of doubt in Sasuke's voice. "Do you think they'll take me back?"

But Sakura found the words before Naruto could. "Of course they will. We'll make them. We'll face it together! We're your teammates — no matter what."

Naruto nodded in time with her words, his own energy draining out.

Then Sakura's voice was focused on him again. "Naruto, please rest," she said gently. "You've done it. You've saved everyone. You've brought Sasuke home. Now let us take care of you for a while. You deserve it." She brushed down his torn shirt, flicking off the shattered stone and dust. When she spoke again, her voice was thick with emotion. "You're always doing this, taking on so many burdens…."

Fighting the drowsiness that was pulling at him, he caught up her hand against his chest, squeezing her fingers together.

There may not be another chance…. He had to tell her…that doing all this…for her…. It was never a burden.

It was a privilege.

He remembered his mother's face, his father's words. And now he understood how they felt….

With all the energy he had left, he summoned a single breath and pulled her toward him.

"Thank you…Sakura-chan…."

Sakura's face broke into a tender confusion.

"Naruto…. You— I— We should all be thanking you—"

But it was too late. Her words floated unheard in the air.

His eyelids had slid closed. His mouth was parted slightly, the last syllable of his pet-name for her still on his lips, and his breathing had fallen into a ragged modulation. He had passed out.

Author's Note: NS multi-chapter story, set at the end of the battle. I'll try to resolve some of the plot points and give the Naruto and Sakura the ending they should have had in the manga. Please read and review!