Sai

It felt like it had been years since I had stepped foot in Konoha and the familiarity of all the sights and smells was oddly comforting.

The bloody shinobi war was over and we had been successful – mission accomplished. And yet, throughout every battle, despite the fact that she may not even be there, I worried that Kyoko would be hurt or killed in some way or another. Even now I still wasn't sure whether or not she had even once stepped foot on a battlefield. I had kept my word, though. I protected Naruto whenever I had the opportunity, preventing him from doing anything especially stupid. Now, with my promise to Kyoko fulfilled, I searched desperately throughout Konoha for her. Because, just as we had also promised each other before the war, we would try to be together once everything was said and done.

I tried to find her at her apartment, but nobody answered the door. For some reason, the restaurant her mother owned and operated was closed for the day, nobody home there, either. Now I stood, downtrodden in the busy streets of Konoha, debating whether or not to go to a bar and convince the bartender that I was of legal drinking age. Disappointment was still a very unusual and foreign emotion to me, and I struggled to find ways to cope with the feeling. However, before I became too engrossed in wallowing in my own depression, Naruto dragged me to the stupid ramen shop – Ichiraku – and forced me to order something with him as he swallowed bowl after bowl.

My own food was still left untouched, as my body ached and my stomach turned with failure and regret. Every possible scenario played out in my head. Maybe Kyoko had died in the war. Maybe she had fallen in love with someone else, leaving me alone and forgotten. Maybe Kai had convinced Kyoko to date him. Maybe he had gotten Kyoko pregnant, too. (No, I mentally chastised myself. Kyoko isn't that stupid.) Maybe Kyoko really was a lesbian. Maybe Kyoko and Saya were both lesbians – a though which, oddly enough, didn't distress me as much as the others.

While I was morosely staring at my ramen, I heard a distant, and very familiar voice shout "Grumpy-chan, you should buy those potato chips. They totally count as a vegetable."

To this, I heard the distinctive low voice of Kyoko carry though the crowd. "Saya, potato chips do NOT count as vegetables."

"Of course they do because potatoes are vegetables."

"Potatoes are complex carbohydrates."

"Don't be such a stick in the mud, grumpy-chan!"

Their voices faded along with all the other nightmare scenarios that I had played with inside my head. Kyoko was alright. She was alive and alright. A small, calm smile drew across my face.

I left Naruto behind with his ramen; he was so preoccupied with his food he wouldn't even notice that I was gone. The rest of the world seemed to recede around me as I soaked in Kyoko's face. Her skin seemed a little clearer, although I was probably just seeing things because I hadn't seen Kyoko in a long time. She had grown her hair out a little and the split ends, though still there, were not as noticeable as before. She could still stand to lose a little weight, but she had a really nice blue shirt on that hid the less than attractive shade of her hair. She wasn't perfect, but she was Kyoko.

Being especially sneaky, I flitted just behind her and said, "It's been a long time, Groundhog Girl."

Kyoko whirled around to face me and a smile danced across her face. "You're alive!"

"Of course I'm alive. I'm standing here aren't I?" I was suddenly caught off guard by a massive hug that Kyoko administered to me.

It was strange. I wouldn't think that she would feel comfortable hugging me, especially after we hadn't seen each other so long. But, the world is always surprising me, because it didn't feel like I had left at all. "I missed you," I said a little thickly. "Are we still…?"

She nodded.

The world seemed to open up. I didn't care what happened in the next ten or twenty years: if we broke up or stayed together. All I wanted right now was to ask Kyoko one thing. "We're still in love, right?"

"Of course we are. Hopefully, that doesn't change."

At that moment I felt the sudden inexplicable urge to kiss Kyoko. I typically got these types of things wrong, so I double-checked. "Would it be socially acceptable to kiss you right now?" I asked. She gave me a smile and nodded.

The books got kissing all wrong. I had read about the first kiss many times before but none of them had described it like this. Both of our bodies got extremely warm and a surge of heat seemed to been emanating from my torso. It may not have been the 'fireworks' described by the books, but it was a very pleasant sensation.

From somewhere, though I couldn't place it, I heard Saya shout "Finally!"

"You know that you're stuck with me now, right?" I asked Kyoko.

"Stuck with Sai?" she replied. "I think I can live with that."

Author's Note: I'm not so great at epilogues, but I hope that this one was satisfactory. Short and sweet. I want to thank you all for reading my story, as short as it is, and for those of you who have been here since chapter one a special kudos. As always please review, and I hope you enjoyed 'Stuck With Sai'.