This is it, the last chapter! If you have any questions after this, I'll happily answer and explain anything :) I know some of you have looked forward to certain events, and for your sake I'll consider writing an epilogue/short sequel, since my brain already conjured the first scene for such a thing anyway. If I do, it will however take time. I spent a year writing this, and I'm currently starting up on my own, original story, which will have to take priority. But if I get the urge to write a little Team 7 again, it will definitely be that epilogue :)

Honestly, sometimes the reviews I receive makes me smile a whole day, and sometimes I just have to show my family how great support I receive. Thank you! Without all that encouragement and acknowledgement, finding the motivation to post a new chapter every week at the same day, and going back to fix old chapters might have been hard to find. This period have been especially crappy for me, but with this fic, I could experience something positive and great once every week, from followers to favorites to reviews. Thank you all for that!

Thanks to Reppad98, who did such a thorough and outstanding betaing! The story became so much smoother and well written thanks to you, for finding all those sentences that could be better, for suggestions and advice and never ending support :)

I hope you'll all enjoy this last chapter :D

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Chapter 12 - Home

Sakura

The incessant beeping grated on her nerves. It would simply not be ignored anymore. Nights and nights of listening to this, and it had grown stronger over time. Now it was worse than ever. She would not do this again, she would rather stay awake. She escaped the dream and forced her eyes open, blinking into the blurry darkness. Finally silence.

Beep.

No...

Beep.

It had followed her.

Beep.

There was no questioning it anymore – her mind had succumbed to madness.

Beep.

Or it very soon would.

Beep.

It might be her hearing; damage resulting in an especially nasty tinnitus.

Beep.

If so she would hear this... forever.

Beep.

It almost sounded like...

Beep.

A heart monitor.

Beep.

The foggy darkness was not very insistent anymore. She could see her arms.

Beep.

There were in fact needles in them.

Beep.

And this was not her room.

Beep.

She felt fine.

Beep.

She could not remember any recent battles, according to her memories everything had been resolved rather peacefully. There was nothing to warrant waking up in the hospital.

Beep.

Her absence of memories would have to wait.

Beep.

Beeping aside, she felt fine. As a medic-

Beep.

She was authorized and completely in her rights, right?

Beep.

Right.

Beep.

Her arms would not cooperate.

Beep.

She let her chakra flow, encouraging the muscles to react and contract.

Beep.

She hoisted herself up in a sitting position.

Beep.

Her fingers closed around the tubes.

Beep.

Just a little tug or two...

Beeee-

And shutting the cursed machine off.

Instead of silence, something stirred.

She didn't even have time to look before a person hovered over her. Then it was simply impossible to look anywhere else. The metal boards of the bed pressed into her back, and she could not get away, and her heart was beating too fast, her throat clenched, suffocating her with the outline of a hand seared into the skin.

Just a memory.

It could very well be her immediate new reality.

His eyes were wild, and he seemed just as frozen in their locked gaze.

That dead weight protruding from her shoulders wouldn't move, like proper arms should.

He would only need the thin thread of a thought, and chirping blue could extend from him to her. Those eyes could easily bleed her into nothing. Slowly he thawed, and sat down on her bed.

His eyes seared into her, cracking layers, barriers, into the very core, exposing her entirety.

Her mind screamed Iknowyouknowyouknowyou, because there were no bloody eyes or madness, no maniac, chilling laugh. There was only Sasuke, too little and at the same time way too much.

She could not read emotions in his face. She so much wanted to pretend. She could look into those eyes and see her teammate, her dear friend. She was forced to recognize his age, and the weariness etched into his face and eyes which she knew was mirrored in her own adult features. Expanding from Sasuke was the world, consisting of a sterile room and the equipment for treating a certain kind of patient, and understanding washed over her. Her shoulders relaxed, her heart settled.

He was not real.

At least, not the same.

Which meant...

Hell no! She would not do this again.

Her fingers met, her voice cracked and rasped around a word: "Kai."

Nothing faded away like it should, for her sake and her sanity. Figures. Didn't work the first time. At least the illusiondreamcopynewversion stood up and left after a slight hesitance.

Maybe more... drastic methods would do. She formed a chakra scalpel, and performed a nice and clean cut into her arm. Nothing happened. Well, except for a lot of mess and of course, a stabbing pain. Her chakra morphed into a soothing green, and the wound closed.

The person was back, looking a little wild again. His knuckles were white gripping around a glass of water. Small droplets of condense trailed along the outer surface, cold, wet... Her mouth was parched. She stretched for it with her leaden arm and screaming muscles. He shoved the glass into her open hand, and seized the other arm. The water felt like a flood after severe drought. Her arm was forced this way and that, and pulled towards him with every move. Every droplet found a path inside her mouth cavity and home down her throat. He traced his fingers along her arm, searching for the wound. Of course there was no need to, because despite the blood, her skin underneath was fine again.

He met her gaze. He didn't seem particularly happy. "There was no need for that. I'm not an illusion, Sakura." Last time she heard that deep voice, he proclaimed he would become the new Hokage, in the middle of a battlefield. And before that... his hand against her throat for her foolish act. But the crazed expression was not the same. This could not be the same.

"Obviously." Her rasping was less severe, she noted. "This is another dream. In a dream. Or perhaps another new world."

"What?" It was baffling. She could actually see the confusion written on his face.

"Do you think I'll go back if I go to sleep? Maybe I can leave this place." Maybe she could go back. She could move on, accept and perhaps finally belong. Perhaps she could start something with genin Sasuke, with time, when the age difference wouldn't be such a gap between them anymore. Because, really, who was ever attracted to twelve-year-olds at the age of seventeen? But those five years would just be whisked away with time.

"Sakura, this is definitely real."

"That's not a very original reaction, you know." Her team had been the same for weeks, especially Sasuke. Her thirteen years old teammates were on the other side of this mess, she just needed to wake up. She shut out the world behind her lids. Naruto might accept her, and stop looking for another Sakura, and she would stop thinking about that life she stole.

"Even if you close your eyes, I'm still here." Damn. She cracked an eye open, and immediately found his gaze. The slightest upturn of his lip gave away his smug arrogance, maybe even actual mirth. Right. This is how Sasuke should have been. She had met such a Sasuke before, come to think of it. A normal, smug and social adult Sasuke, that time Madara sent her and Naruto to that parallel, opposite world. His brows furrowed slightly, and the smirk just slipped right off him. "I need to fetch Tsunade."

"There is no need." She had created something good in her new world. Maybe they could solve every remaining problem without any war, and have peace. If she could just go back.

"Hn."

There was something really absurd with this picture. In which world did Uchiha Sasuke sit at her hospital bed, vigilantly watching a comatose girl? Maybe, actually... "How's Menma?"

"Excuse me? Who?"

"Menma. As in, teammate." His confusion quickly morphed into alarm. "No? Wrong world? Um... Naruto?"

"Sakura, I'll get help. I'll get Naruto for you, just... Stay. And don't... hurt yourself."

Well, if anything could prove her right, that just did it. She had no energy to quarrel with him, though. She actually felt exhausted. New Sasuke disappeared from view as her head fell on the pillow. All she needed was to slip into sleep, and she would be home when she came to again. That place was better after all; with genin days and a world turned right. Konoha before Pein, before the great war where her own life had a chance to be rewritten. To erase her sorrow, ignoring how Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Sai were not her own.

A world in which Sasuke was safe, where he never left.

Surely she could make a place for herself in that world, if she only got a little more time.

She didn't belong anywhere anymore, but maybe she could redeem that, if she got another chance. She shut her eyes tightly, determined to ignore adult-parallel-world-Sasuke as he came back.

Sakura could feel his power, just a thought away, like his immediate presence, demanding attention just by being there. It was unsettling, again stirring something deep and dark within her. Like nothing she had felt since the days of the war, and which could not be dispelled by trying to see her own, thirteen years old Sasuke in his place.

Fear. Well that was just great.

A premature, young Sasuke was easy to cope with, but faced with him... He was like a mosaic of every Sasuke she had ever met, and yet, one part stood out more than any of them: The adult Sasuke, showing up as an 'ally' after attempting to kill them all. Unpredictable, unreliable. Deadly cunning, and yet acting on nothing but impulse and stray thoughts.

When he returned to her room, several people followed. Tsunade, looking like she had skipped sleep for ages. Naruto, with a goofy grin but a solemn dignity right behind the surface. Sai and Kakashi, both looking tired but happy and relieved. It had been a while since she saw a completely earnest expression on Sai's face, as her young charge had not yet relearned to come in contact with his true feelings.

Tsunade wasted no time pushing the others out of the way to check on her. How did she feel, checking her vitals, could she move her arm this way and that, how was her ability to do finer movements, and did she notice anything unusual herself.

Hours later she felt exhausted. After the physical examination there was no end to the interrogation. Prodding, questions, a lot of tears from seemingly dear persons, more prying, and one of them especially hovering over her with a growing frown for every word she had to spill.

With that look, he seemed less different from the young version. But she had seen madness in him.

Her body was so heavy. It felt like she had grit in her eyes, and even though the room probably was quite hot, she shivered with cold. Her fingers curled around the bed sheets in an attempt to stop the room from rotating and revolving around her axis.

"I'm not your world's Sakura." Her slightly sore, hoarse voice rang into a room that suddenly was silent.

She was so damn tired.

"We'll continue tomorrow." At last Tsunade decided to finish the session, and let her rest.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea. Could someone bring me a futon?" Naruto's baby blues were full of quenched worry and forced mirth.

"For me too, can't let these stay alone with Ugly, they might eat her..." Trademark false smile, somehow she had missed an adult Sai looking just like that.

"Shut it, you're by far more improper than any of us." Adult new Sasuke.

Pooling in her hands was that coarse, white cloth. Her fingers felt stiff around it. Their light bantering and familiarity with each other only proved again that this was the wrong world. It would be so easy to be lulled by the similarity of mostly everything, until small details like this obscured the nice picture.

"Get out, all of you. I don't belong here-" impossible to start all over again "-I'm not your Sakura. To me, you could as easily be strangers."

"It hurts when you say stuff like that, Sakura-chan." She wished Naruto wouldn't look at her like that. Sad shimmering blues, and a low voice. "I hope you don't know how much it hurts."

"I'll leave you to it. Don't be too harsh on us, Sakura." Kakashi ruffled through her hair, delivering his trademark one-eye crinkled smile. Maybe every smile she'd ever seen was false. Her sensei from this world left them to an uncomfortable silence. How typical. How wrong of her to think like that, as if she knew them.

"Still, you know us."

"Yeah, Sakura-chan, even though you've been out for like, weeks, we're still the same. Mostly." A sideways, loaded glance at Sasuke, which meaning she didn't get.

"Dobe. Don't look at me like that."

"Sure you don't want Sasuke-san to take Hinata's place, Dickless?" One had to admire Sai's bravery - or stupidity?

"I'll kill you." Sasuke's chakra turned murderous, promising good on his word.

"SA- SAI! I... You... You are so dead!" Just as memory predicted, Naruto turned beet red, raging and stuttering.

Her instincts kicked in. "All of you - shut it! We're in the hospital. If you don't keep it quiet I'll give you a real reason to be here!"

They all fell into a perplexed silence for a split second before reaction took over. In that moment everything seemed right. Naruto looked like a sun, glomping her. Sai produced a sincere smile, and even Sasuke looked... relieved perhaps or maybe... happy? Seeing them like this… she wished this was her own reality.

It was the same. Their bickering, their expressions, they looked just like her teammates should. Tension left just enough for her fingers to partly let go of the bed sheets.

The sun that shone in Naruto's smile morphed into a mischievous grin. "Actually, Sakura-chan, Sasuke-teme became quite popular while you... slept. Every girl and even the old grannies go on and on about how romantic-" he made the word sound disgusting, somehow "-it is for the last Uchiha to never leave his comatose girlfriend."

For every word, Sasuke's glare turned more murderous, until Sakura caught the corner of his eye. In a split second his features were back in neutral, impenetrable folds.

"But really, Sakura-chan, you should have seen him when we found you and we thought... it was not a pretty sight. Not pretty at all. Maybe it's better you didn't see him."

"Naruto!" Sasuke's sharp voice cut in, grit out through his teeth. "Shut. Up." Naruto did as was told, but not before mouthing 'not pretty', clearly visible for everyone.

Sasuke, Naruto and even Sai settled extremely easily into her hospital room. They all seemed very comfortable with the arrangements. Her wishes or needs were not consulted, and her weak protests went ignored. She didn't have strength left to put up a fight over this.

Sasuke settled beside her, after all, and he displayed that same face as her genin teammate did on occasion. When it was just the two of them, and peaceful.

Her body relaxed into the fabric around her.

Out of all of them, Naruto was the most excited. "It'll be a sleep over, like if we were camping." He rolled out his futon, in the process invading Sasuke's bed sheets.

"Are you sure you should even be here? She needs rest, and I doubt your snoring will help in that department." Sasuke eyed Naruto critically. Sai nodded his consent.

"It's true. Naruto has terrible sleeping habits, in every world." Sakura giggled lightly, surprisingly at ease. It felt too natural to just slide right into this setting, and find a place for herself. They made it so easy. Again she had the opportunity to steal the life of another Sakura, if she stayed.

"But Sakuraaa-chaaan, I want to stay." Like a little child, he pouted and widened his eyes, begging her. "I'm not going."

"It's fine. I'm used to it anyway. I'll be able to block you out."

"See, Teme? She'll be fine. Sakura-chan wants me here."

Sasuke grumbled something inaudible, and Sai sighed in defeat. Apparently not everyone had achieved that useful trait of blocking out sawmills in their sleep. Sakura tried to focus on the people around her, but it became increasingly difficult. Her eyelids were heavy.

"She mentioned a Menma before." Sasuke's deep voice reached her from behind a veil, muffled and weak.

Naruto answered in an even more distorted and distant voice. "Huh, that's the 'me' from that parallel world Obito sent us to. I guess she experienced something similar." She would like to say something, grasp the words and hold tight because they were significant. Somehow. Naruto shared her... memories. Darkness replaced the room. That event. She lost the battle to her sleep craving body.

Through half drawn, white curtains the golden sun danced through the window and woke her up. With the fluffy pillow under her and soft bed sheets spilling around her, Sakura was tempted to stay in that exact position forever. For over a year, she'd never once felt so thoroughly rested as now. Ever since it all started, but finally, there was no strange sounds in her dreams.

Around her was reality. Memories from yesterday solidified a warm glow inside her.

Opening her eyes, she took in her surroundings, her boys. Naruto left a trail of drool behind on the pillow he clutched so securely, once even mumbling "Hina" and tightening his grip. He looked more peaceful in his sleep than she'd ever seen him. Sai looked dead to the world, with shallow, barely audible breaths and his face a perfect, clean slate. As for the last occupant, he slept calmly with slightly tousled hair, a serene aura surrounding him. Seeing him like this, Sasuke had never appeared more beautiful. An enticing warmth spread like fire from her chest throughout her body.

"Done staring yet?" A small smirk played across his lips, revealing that Sasuke was in fact awake.

"Yes, thank you. I'll let Sai have his privacy now."

"Hn." Translation… Perhaps something along the lines of 'nice try'? His smirk was unfaltering, after all. Sasuke sat up, and bored into her with his dark eyes. It could have been his attempt at looking in on her soul, but then again, and more plausible, his eyes were just intense like that. She met him with calm and collected composure. Her fingers did absolutely not fidget back into the sheets.

"Tadaima," he spoke in a low, soft voice.

"Okaeri... Sasuke-kun." All her little knots, worn over time but tied so tightly together and forming a heavy weight - anger pain resent fear loss - came apart and dissipated. Sakura felt feather light, content and happy.

Home.

Bubbling up, taking form and released, a warm feeling came from her core. "Tadaima!"

Her teammates startled awake at her exclamation, and she beamed at them.