At The Hospital The Pink Haired girl, no, now a young woman inwardly sighed as she carried a small tray as she was on her lunch break. She checked to see what was being served and saw Ramen listed amongst it, fittingly enough it seemed. People on break or visiting those who had to stay here were walking about talking and chatting with one another about their daily lives. She did not pay any attention to them as she looked on at what was being served.

Looking at The Ramen and the fishcakes in them Sakura Haruno felt something she had tried to lock away for so long as the image of a youth with blonde hair with warm blue eyes and a confident smile on his face appeared.

A sad smile grew on her face thinking of the past and what could have been had she acted differently instead of how she had ruined things between them. Shaking her head she grabbed an apple and some other fruit and put them on the tray and hurried out of sight.

"Naruto." She softly said to herself thinking of him. The Hero Of The Fourth Shinobi War and The Son of Legends, Naruto Uzumaki, her teammate from her days as a Genin. Naruto had saved them all. He had stopped and won the battle and the war, he was a Hero.

At one time the two were close, best friends and companions having gone through so much trials and hardships with one another. Both knew the pain that they had gone through in their ordeals and efforts to get stronger and found both sorrow and joy and then success when it was finally over with.

She thought of times they laughed, cried, worked, and had grown together.

Motivating the other to continue when the other seemed ready to call it quits. Pulling each other up out of despair and to press on. Having a bond between them that nothing it seemed could ever sever it.

So what had severed it then? They hadn't interacted with or talked to one another in a long time. Sakura knew the answer plain and simple as to why things now were the way they way.

Herself…

It was because of her that things were now the way they was.

Sakura did not know how or when her feelings had changed from Naruto from Teammate, to Acquaintance, to Friend, to Love. Perhaps it was when he had returned from training with Jiraiya, or maybe it was earlier, after the day he left and she woke up and didn't see him running around Konoha as she usually would. Or some other time, that her feelings for him had turned to love.

Naruto was revered as the one who brought peace back to the world and had many awed onlookers and people who supported him. If she was back as being a silly little girl she too would be gushing and whispering excitedly over him the way she saw Academy students at times talking about him. As well as a few Chunin and Jonin females as well talking about him and how great he was and they wished to be with him. Some were confused seeing how she was his teammate that she didn't say much about him.

She had her chance and it was because of her they wouldn't be together. Taking him for granted and using him the way she did.

Her mind thought back to The Valley of The End, both Naruto and Sasuke Uchiha down on the ground, each missing a limb. She saw them and immediately ran towards them determined to save them and keep them from dying.

But it was Sasuke, despite after all he had done to them and the hardships they had gone through that would've made an ordinary person forget about him, he was the one she had went to first and tried to save him. She had moved to rescue his life instead of the one who had been beside her all this time from Day 1 she realized shortly afterwards.

She regretted that instant when she should've went over to Naruto instead. All that proved to Naruto then and there was that she did not think of him as anything more than a friend and they weren't meant to be. She had saw the hurt look in his eyes when she went for him first believing he still mattered more to her and knew then and there they would not be together. If she had gone and saved his life first then perhaps they would've had a chance.

She thought she could feel the void but she found it would not be so easy.

She had tried, Kami knows she did but there was nothing there. Sasuke was cold, blunt, and brutally honest even now towards her. He did nothing to lift her up and make her feel better about herself like the way Naruto did, he never had anything encouraging to say about her. He never touched her or hugged her in a way to comfort her when she was upset. It was after a year that she realized that it would never work between them as she could not be with someone who showed no emotions to anyone. She just couldn't take it and she hadn't seen Sasuke in years either, still serving out his probation as part of his duties.

Naruto had appeared one day afterwards and wanted to talk to her about what had happened but she had waved him away telling it was for the best and she had to restrain herself from telling him that she loved him. After a few minutes he silently walked away exiting her home and she watched him leave wishing she could tell him.

She didn't deserve him. She recalled the times she hit him upside the head. Yes some of those times he deserved it when he was acting like a fool and risked them getting in trouble but most of the time she did it when he didn't deserve it. She had made fun of him as a child not knowing the pain he went through and his loneliness he suffered from never having any friends or family. Never giving him the attention he so desperately craved from others instead focusing all her effort on their teammate. She put him through pain with what she made him do and suffering that he had no right to go through. It was because of that stupid idiotic promise that she wished she could go back in time and stop her younger self from begging him to do it. Then, maybe then, they would've had a chance to be together.

She was a hypocrite and a liar, she had no right to love him or be loved by him. Someone else did and it tore her heart apart.

Hinata, she knew how she had pined for Naruto for years. Knowing of her love for him. When Hinata had sacrificed herself when Pein attacked showing courage despite the overwhelming odds and knowing she was going to die, Sakura realized she would be wrong if she got in between them.

Hinata would be better for him, she told herself time and time again. Hinata was a good girl and suited him far better and would never do the things she had done to him and put him through the pain she had.

She kept telling herself that, to convince the part of her heart that refused to listen and still longed for Naruto and to be with him. It was for the best of all, she told herself time and time again for it to be like this.

She had talked to Hinata telling her about Naruto, letting her know that he'd be the perfect one for her and that was what she had always wanted. Silently giving her blessing towards them.

Yet she could not bear the image of the two walking side by side together their hands in one another's and so avoided them whenever she thought she saw them. She had isolated herself from her team and coworkers at the hospital, only wordlessly doing her duties and tasks to check up on patients and work on antidotes and medicine. Engorging herself in her work as her social life had evaporated that she didn't even see Ino anymore unless she stopped by. When someone asked her she feigned happiness thanks to her training and pretended that everything was alright.

She couldn't do it, she couldn't bear the sight of his face and remembering the pain she had put him in because of her. Part of her wishing that she was in Hinata's place right now and going on dates with him and watching the stars at night. The image of him leaning in kiss about to kiss her appeared in her mind and she imagined herself being kissed by him instead as their lips on each other's. Yet that was soon replaced with the image of Naruto kissing Hinata and knew her dreams were folly.

As she continued carrying her tray went she overheard a rumor about how Naruto was seen at a jewelry store looking at a ring.

CRASH!

So distraught she dropped the tray she was holding letting it fall to the floor with a crash many of the hospital patrons turned to look at her as the noise echoed across the room. She hastily apologized and picked things up and dashed out of the room not giving a person a chance to say anything or to see their glances.

Her shift soon ended and she left and headed home not saying anything to anyone passing by them and reaching home changed and went straight to bed and fell asleep in a dreamless sleep like all the others had been.

She got a message the next day when she woke up, an old man who lived on the Outskirts of The Land of Fire had fallen sick and his family did not think they could take him to the hospital with the condition he was in as he would not make it there. She was told by Tsunade to go there and tend to the man and help him with his illness and to take as much time as she needed in order to do so. In a way she was glad that this had come up, she did not feel like she needed to be here right now. Who knows, maybe after this she'll go to somewhere like Wave for a while. She wouldn't be needed anyway.

Gathering her things she left Konoha and went to go. As she exited The Village she looked up at the sun beaming down on her but despite its warmth she still felt cold.

It took her half a day to reach the place but she didn't mind as the day turned into late afternoon and she soon came upon her destination. It was a simple cabin, small in structure but sturdy able to last and endure the weather.

She knocked on the door but didn't hear any response. She knocked again a bit louder this time and grasping the handle of it opened the door and stepped inside and her eyes took in her surroundings.

She did not see a sick elderly man in need of her aid, instead of that, she saw a young blonde seated on a couch leaning his head on his arm positioned on the armrest. As always there was a smile on his face as he looked up at her.

"Took you long enough." Naruto said to her with a teasing smile. "I wondered if you lost your way getting here."

"W-What are you doing here?" She said to him as he sat there comfortably as though he had been there for a while.

"Waiting for you." Naruto said to her. "C'mere." He said and patted the couch motioning for her to join him. Sakura panicked and turning around went to yank the door open and ran away. But she wasn't quick enough as he got up and pressed his hand on the door stopping her from leaving. "No more running from me." He said to her and she shivered upon hearing his voice in her ear.

"Was this all a setup?" Sakura asked him not turning around to face him. "Was this some kind of joke you decided to play to waste my time?"

"This isn't a joke Sakura-chan." He said to her and she had almost forgotten what her name sounded like coming off of his tongue. "Why? Why have you been avoiding me this whole time?" He asked her and gripping her shoulders turned her around so that she would have to face him. No more running, No more hiding out of sight from him.

"Naruto please, let me leave." She said to him.

"No, not until I figure out why you have chosen to act this way." Naruto said and she dared to look into his eyes and she saw concern in them but she turned her head away. "I've been wanting to talk to you for so long but I've never been able to find you or get the chance, I've been so worried about if something terrible had happened to you. I and others have noticed how you acted this past year. Sakura please, if its something I did that made you upset let me know so I can fix it." He pleaded to her. "I can't bear to see you like the way you've been. This right now, this isn't the girl I grew up with."

She sniffled a bit not looking at him as he softly held her in place. "You didn't do anything Naruto, I'm the reason things are the way they are now between us."

Naruto stared at her with an incredulously look in his eyes. "Sakura-chan you've done nothing whatsoever."

"I did terrible things to you Naruto! I don't deserve you!" She said to him. "Not after what I've done with being so selfish!"

"And just what exactly are those terrible things you did to me Sakura-chan?" He asked her smiling at her. "I can't recall one single thing that you did to me that was terrible other than when you dragged me away from Ichiraku's when we had to be somewhere else. You've done nothing to me to hurt me or make me feel bad." He told her.

"I made you promise remember! I made you take that stupid promise that put you through so much pain!" She said and stared at his stomach remembering the scar he had gotten from The Chidori long ago. "It's because of me you put yourself through hell all those years when you shouldn't have to. I was suppose to save you first instead of Sasuke!"

Naruto stared at her seeing her in the state she was in. The state she was in right now he couldn't stand to see her like this. "That promise I was going to make anyway Sakura, you know I would have made it even if you hadn't asked me. And everything I went through I did for you. And I'd gladly go through hell again and again. And frankly it didn't matter to me you saved him first whatsoever as I knew I was going to live anyway." He told her and Sakura looked on at him her body tense.

"I don't deserve you Naruto, not after I've been so selfish." She said recalling incidents that had happened between them.

"Your not selfish no matter what you think," He told her with a frown "If you was, you wouldn't have trained under Tsunade herself if you was. Neither would you have learned how to save lives and extract poison from people and discover cures. Would a selfish person do that? And what in the world makes you think you are undeserving of me, If you aren't deserving of me then who is?" He asked

"You should be with Hinata, she's kind, she's pretty, she never loses her temper, she always has a kind word for you. O-Or Temari or TenTen since they are the most skilled Kunoichi. Even Ino would be . There are so many out there who'd be so good for you and treat you and give you the love you deserve and not use you." She told him

"I don't want to." He told her casually and she looked at him confused.

"I could be with Hinata and marry into her Clan, no doubt many would expect that to happen since I'm the last of The Uzumakis and it'd be a perfect match in their eyes for us to be together as I see their reasons and some tried to push me to do it, but I don't want to. Nor do I want to be with Temari or TenTen despite their skills and prowess as Kunoichi, and I don't feel like being Ino's pack mule whenever she wants to go shopping and carry everything she buys." He told her and Sakura looked on at him. "Do you know the person who I want to be with Sakura-chan?" He asked rhetorically to her.

"She has pink hair, two beautiful green eyes that shine like stars. She's been by my side through thick and thin, from my lowest point and to my highest peak no matter what. She can be scary when mad, but that's part of her charm that attracts me to her. She has put the wellbeing of others before her own. Her smile warms me up whenever I see it and," He said and smirked. "She has such a large charming forehead, that I would give anything to kiss."

Feelings erupted inside of The girls' body at his words as the truth came to her at long last. Her body shook and trembled as his words pierced her heart stronger than any Jutsu or Arrow could.

"Why!" She shouted at him angrily and confused at the smiling man before her. "Why do you want to be with me? There's people out there who'd be a better fit for you than I could ever be and make you happy! So why are you here! You deserve better than me." She said the last part in a hurt tone and closed her eyes so he didn't see the teardrops start to fall. "I'm a terrible person."

A hand, a warm loving hand touched her chin and she felt her head be lifted up and she saw him standing before her.

"Their not you. Because you're the one who I decided long ago I wanted to spend my life with." He answered softly and Sakura gasped. "Sure, Maybe there are girls out there who are prettier, patient, stronger, intelligent, and kinder than you are and maybe I could get with them but you know why I'm not getting with any of them even I've been offered to even from other countries and continents?" He asked her and slowly she shook her head. "Because they're not you and I wouldn't be fully happy with them if I was with them then I would be if I was with you." He whispered softly and kissed her on the cheek kissing away a tear that was there. Sakura gasped at the feeling of his lips on her own flesh that which she never thought she'd experience.

"Yeah you've whacked me some times, but I probably would've done the some thing to myself looking back with how I acted, plus it kept me in line as well." He told her with a warm smile. "You've got a fiery personality, you won't back down from anyone and you say what's on your mind regardless of what others think. Anyone who thinks you are a terrible person is either a fool or a lunatic. You're intelligent and have learned under the best. You're more beautiful than the moon and the sun, you saved peoples lives countless times, including my own and have held my heart, literally, in your hand." He said and placed her hand on his chest and she could feel his heartbeat against her hand.

"Naruto," She said softly and he wiped away another tear.

"Shhh, please, no more tears Sakura-chan." He told her smiling at her. "You crying and being unhappy is the worst thing I want to see." He said and kissed her on the forehead. "I'd give up my dream of being Hokage if it meant that you were always happy." He told her

Sakura sniffed again as he held her and she wrapped her arms around him tightly hugging him never wanting to be separated from him as she buried her head in his shoulder. He returned the hug softly comforting and rubbing her back with his hand.

"I love you." Sakura softly whispered to him. Admitting to him and to herself finally what she had been denying for so long. "I've been in love with your for so long." She said as she felt her heart beat full of life and love again, after being dormant for so long it was finally back

"I love you too, for now and beyond forever." Naruto said to her and kissed her forehead. Sakura looked at him and for the first time in over a year a real smile found its way onto her face. A true warm smile on her face as she felt different than the way she had been for so long. As if a missing piece was finally put in.

"Naruto I-"

"No more words Sakura-chan," He hushed her. "There's nothing left that needs to be said between us." He said to her as he moved towards her lips.

Zero words were exchanged between them from that point on as they found themselves lost in each other as they were together at last.

A/N: That's it for this story review please.