Prologue

"Shishou!"

"Yes?"

The child smiled, its small, beady eyes almost sparkling. "Do you love Hokage-sama?"

She smiled back, crouching down, eyes directed into the child's, a tranquil expression on her face. "Of course I do. But you do, too, don't you?"

The child nodded vigorously, its small head abruptly bobbing up and down in a mad hurry, the strands of hair slashing about, the smile widening even more as if to mirror its joy. "Yes! I love Hokage-sama!"

She laughed. "Good."

"But you love love him, ne?"

She blinked. "Love love?"

Once more, the child nodded. "Yes, yes!" Then, suddenly coy, it averted its eyes and directed them upon the ground below and in them – contained the whole of its curiosity in one simple glance. "Like… love love. Shishou… You. You love him!" And then it bellowed.

She stared, stared – stared, completely bewildered and somewhat embarrassed. Eyes were on her. She felt her muscles tense, mind panic – it was undesired, she knew, this attention she was given, all because of one child's outburst – but then as she found herself looking into the eyes of her young companion, of the small girl barely aged ten, whose strawberry hair cut to resemble a bowl stuck in all different direction, all tenseness disappeared and she did the only thing she could.

Sakura stroked the girl's chubby face and almost giggled. "Not like that, no. But I do love him. After all, he is my precious person."

The girl blushed, a deep shade of crimson stretched symmetrically across her cheeks, and looked up to meet Sakura's eyes. "Hokage-sama has a precious person too?"

"Of course."

"Who?"

"You."

The blush intensified tenfold, reaching the shell-shaped ears, the exposed neck, the collarbone hidden beneath her clothing. "Me? Does he really?"

Sakura nodded. "Yes. Hokage-sama loves everyone. You and I and your kaa-saa and tou-san. Your otouto and nee-san, all your friends and all of mine. And everyone loves Hokage-sama." Cutely, she cocked her head to the side, one eye squinted in mock disbelief. "You must know that."

"I do," protested the girl meekly, her upturned nose wrinkled, lower lip enthralled by a feathery quiver. "I… I really, really love Hokage-sama. I love him so, so much! He made it that my parents are alive; he made it that we're all alive. He saved us all." She paused, sniffed and puckered her lips. "Does Shishou think so, too?"

Sakura's gaze softened. "Of course, Yumi-chan." She did, she really did… She-

"What prompted this, by the way?" she asked, curious then.

Yumi wiggled away from Sakura's reach, her small feet leading her further away, the grass tickling the bared skin, the sun shining down upon her and Sakura's figure. Around them, more children whooped happily, their parents smiling, serene, from afar, safely hidden under the shadows of all the buildings circling the park.

Then Yumi stopped and looked up at the sky, eyes squinted, lips parted. "Is Hokage-sama ever going to marry?"

Sakura stood to her feet, head inclined to the side, eyes mildly surprised. "Yumi-chan?"

"Ne, ne… Hokage-sama loves us all, right? Right! But if you love someone, you marry them, ne? But if there's too many of us? Surely, Hokage-sama can't marry us all!"

"Well, no," replied Sakura, amusement tinting her words. "I don't think that's possible," she added as an afterthought, although… Maybe since it was him, maybe…? "In a way, Hokage-same already is married, no?"

"Wah?" And Yumi didn't understand that.

Sakura giggled wolfishly, closing the distance between her and her self-proclaimed student. "Well, he loves his job. And he loves this village. And he loves us all. So?"

Yumi pouted. Then she kicked at the ground, obviously frustrated all of the sudden. Sakura didn't like the display of aggression. It was too soon for her.

"Yumi-chan." There. A warning simple enough.

And Yumi stopped. Yumi stopped and met Sakura's eyes only with a certain bitter hesitation. Sakura would have sighed. She didn't, however, knowing that soon enough the girl would spill the beans and finally say what she'd possibly been hoping to say all along. She wondered, though, what had the girl this dismayed.

"Sakura-hime?"

"Hm?"

"Hokage-sama…"

"Yes?"

A pause. A fearful pause. Worry.

"Hokage-sama… Loves us all. I know that. And he is loved by all. And he isn't going to marry. Never ever. But he should. I think he should. Sakura-hime loves him, Hinata-sama loves him, Ino-chan loves him-"-steadily growing, the presence of urgency on her voice-"-and he loves you too, ne? Why don't you marry Hokage-sama?"

"He doesn't… Yumi-chan, Hokage-sama doesn't love me that way… At least." Maybe not any longer, does he?

Sakura looked at the ground, its uneven, grained texture a welcomed change to the memory fuzzy and blurred conjured up by her unfaithful mind.

"Yumi-chan, listen." Carefully, she took the girl's shoulders in her hands and knelt down in front of the girl – whose face now resembled a tomato with many stains running down the cheeks, marring it. "Some things are too complicated. It's not that easy. See, I know we all love him, but marrying… It's not just that. You need to find your most precious person. Someone who's always there. Always on your mind, always in your heart and always by your side. A feeling like that isn't a notion you can go by with ease, Yumi-chan. A feeling like that is too complicated to describe." At last, she sighed. Somehow, this conversation was tiring her out. She wished to know what had possessed the little girl to start asking such questions, but dared not further pressure her so; already, just from the looks of it, Yumi's mind was undergoing changes it wasn't prepared for just yet and her expression had contorted into one of absolute confusion which seemed to grip her firmly – and despite her best efforts to understand, eventually, all the small girl could do, was nod.

Sakura heaved out a sigh of relief and exhaustion, standing up to her full height, so tired already, even if the noon had yet to arrive. But she was babysitting the child, because it wasn't school day today and all the children had thus so much free time on their hands – and so little desire to train. Perhaps the idea of lasting peace was too much of a burden to be born with.

Lost in thought, she looked over the shoulder at the Monument, where the latest Hokage's face had been carved into stone shortly after his coming to power.

It really suits you there.

"Sakura-hime."

The child's soft voice called out to her thoughts. Sakura's eyes remained glued on his face.

"Sakura-hime… But there is someone like that. There is someone like that in Hokage-sama's life. I've seen him."

The smile on Sakura's face – magically conjured up without her knowledge moments prior to the child's innocuous statement – wavered.

"He is always there, always. I saw him just yesterday; he was walking by Hokage-sama's side and he looked so much like a statue, too. And he and Hokage-sama. They… They looked so close…"

The smile on Sakura's face froze completely. She knew, without a moment of doubt, that she didn't want to hear the girl's words.

"Wherever Hokage-sama goes, so does he."

No, she didn't want to. And she didn't need to.

"Is he Hokage-sama's must precious person?"

Because she already knew.

Sakura closed her eyes.

Naruto…

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Wind carried the whispered name. Again in her life, Sakura wished it had never been spoken.

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The ANBU stepped aside and nodded. Or so Sakura thought, but it was hard to tell when the man's mask covered efficiently his entire face and when the odd clothing he was wearing ensured only his hands were visible. Honestly… She grimaced.

"Hokage-sama is expecting you."

Sakura nodded back at the man and, expression grim, heartbeat rapid and breathing shallow – she entered the office.

Naruto was expecting her, eh? Somehow, that thought seemed so hard to believe; he lay upon the table, head surrounded by documents he was probably supposed to look at and sign, eyes tiredly closed to rest for a while, a hand stretched out in front of him – the brightness of the dying sun streaming through the open window illuminating his still figure.

He looked so eternally peaceful, so alike to the eternal peace he'd given them all.

And still the girl's daunting words haunted her.

"Naruto, you're supposed to be working," she said softly, feet leading her further into the room, away from the darkness seeping inside from the hallway, into the light of the sunshine.

He stirred, eyes opened just barely, recognition already bubbling somewhere behind the baby-blues. He'd grown so much, hadn't he? Changed so much. Sakura smiled to herself and while his mind took its precious time to awaken from the sleep-induced stupor, she took hers to study him.

Ah, so tall already, even if the seated position didn't show. Broad-shouldered, even if the clothes did a splendorous job of covering that. His face looked just as young, but the eyes were older, barren at times, should one look long enough – but still so vivacious and so, so very blue.

Bluer than any before.

Sakura thought he looked handsome. And he could have been even more had she not known him as a child.

Never mind.

A bit more resolved than before, Sakura coughed, placing a clipboard she'd been holding in her hands the entire time on the table.

"Na-ru-to. Wake up."

At last his eyes opened.

"Sa-… Sakura-chan?" Cute. Almost like a child. Almost.

And definitely too much for a twenty-something man that was the leader of one nation.

"…Sakura-chan!" And with that one happy yell, he was up on his feet, face grinning, eyes smiling, the whisker marks on his cheeks wrinkled. Sakura believed the exuberance was contagious.

"Oh, jeez, you fell asleep in your office again."

"Aw, but Sakura-chan," he whined, lips puckered, pouting.

Sakura frowned, demonstrating her displeasure with him – and he reciprocated by resembling even more a kicked puppy.

"I swear I've been doing my work," he muttered childishly, flopping himself back onto his seat and resting his head onto the table. "You don't know how boring all this work is. Sign this, sign that. Bah! I can't stand it." A low guttural sound escaped him, which Sakura identified as a throaty groan and easily dismissed.

"Now, now, you are the Hokage now, Naruto, your responsibilities lay not only in fighting, but also in decision-making and representing our country."

She frowned. Mostly in decision-making, but-

"Argh. So not fair."

She sighed. "Naruto…" she said, a clear sign of warning in her voice.

"What."

And that was a remarkably terrible look of innocence.

"Ah~, you're impossible," she groaned, one hand massaging her temple, fighting the already blossoming headache.

Naruto pouted some more and peered up at her through half-lidded eyes. Ah, he was making it so impossible for her to be mad at him… She sighed and just gave up.

"Oh, alright, whatever."

He grinned and cheered. "Woot!" Then, however, he did this thing – this thing called staring; intent and searching, most beseeching as his eyes pierced hers and she found herself under his scrutinizing stare.

"Ne, Sakura-chan, you look worried. Is everything alright?"

His genuine concern was sweet – but her mind failed to appreciate it appropriately. Instead, it indulged her with joy in her worries.

And once more the conversation from earlier that day was rewound before her very eyes, starting at the precise moment when the innocuous matter had been brought up – to the moment when the cursed man had intervened.

But… She couldn't… Not possibly… Tell him that. She-

"I'm fine." He didn't look away. She did. "I'm really fine, Naruto. Just worried about my duties, I guess."

"Hmmm."

Oh, why did he have to act so smart now, why…?

"Oh, look, I'm really fine-"

"I believe you."

"Wha-?" Startled, she blinked.

Naruto was grinning at her, his smile extremely broad and infectious. "If Sakura-chan says she's alright, then Sakura-chan is alright."

And that was it. Conversation – over. And the ease with which he dismissed some things even now was so truly foolish, yet so enviable. Sakura looked at him, at his smiling, happy face, at the brightness of his golden hair, at the brilliance of his persona as clear as envisioned by people years ago when the war had ended at last.

She felt her brows furrow, knit together, the lips draw back, the eyes fill up and the cheeks redden.

Just then she noticed it; the lack of that ominous presence, the one not to be named.

"Naruto? Where is-he?"

Naruto's eyes widened just a friction, a subsequent nonchalant shrug following. "Sasuke? Beats me. Probably watching me."

"Eh? He watches you?"

"Yeah, usually."

"Usually…" she found herself repeating, voice deadpan and dull as she mulled the words over in her mind. Sasuke… watched Naruto… Okay, mildly creepy.

"What do you mean he watches you?"

Naruto looked up at the ceiling at a random point somewhere in there. "He's around. He's always around."

Somehow, she was reminded of the words. "Whenever you go, he goes too." A mantra that had come true even without chanting, even without her utmost consent, without her knowledge.

Naruto smiled a smile of merciless honesty. "Yeah, pretty much. Now that you mention him, I'm sure he'll be showing up soon. He never leaves me alone for too long."

Just hearing that brought on an impossible urge to be violent. "Naruto, that's not alright."

He looked not one bit perturbed. "What do you mean?"

"That's-okay, don't you think that's just a bit… wrong? He follows you around and…"

He looked too contended. "Sakura-chan, it's alright."

She didn't. "No, it's not!"

Naruto stared, taken back and Sakura was surprised by her anger. She didn't necessarily hate Sasuke, no - in fact, to this day she didn't know what she felt about him… And what he did and afterwards and-but didn't Naruto see how wrong it was?

It was-she swallowed, nervous. Nervous? She found herself taking steps back, putting more distance between her and him, as though – it felt as though she didn't deserve to be there, in the presence of someone still unstained… Someone so… "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm… I'm worried about you, Naruto."

"Sakura-chan…"

She couldn't look up. Not now. Not now… Not after this; years she'd been holding back, keeping it under the perfect façade of faked joy, lodged up some place safe where no prying eyes could see and almost, just almost she'd forgotten it – and hadn't it been for the small girl and her curious eyes looking up at her with anticipation, she would have, possibly, deluded herself entirely about its rightfulness.

About the grief she felt whenever she thought of what Sasuke had caused Naruto. And how Naruto simply… Simply… "I-how… I don't understand how you can stand it. This is so wrong, Naruto, so wrong. He just watches you, day and night, doesn't leave your side at all. It's like he's become your shadow."

A pause.

Her eyes darkened, sown with worry. "He is your shadow."

Naruto didn't reply. He'd gone uncharacteristically quiet, and a certain void now filled the space between them.

"Sakura-chan-"

"I am worried."

He was looking at her.

"I am worried what he can do to you, what he could do to you… Again and again and again, all these things… He-what he did, what he's doing, it's wrong. Naruto, it's wrong-"

A sharp intake of breath – her own, yes – and the presence so looming and foreboding-

"Hello, Sakura."

"Sasuke."

Naruto had spoken. For all her previous intentions and purposes, for all her vigor and fire, for all that and much more, she couldn't have had one part of her capable of speaking at that moment. Frozen, she stood in the spot.

And he stepped into the office, pale face and dark hair gradually revealed as he entered the sun-bathed room, as he slowly passed by her, a figure of immense, stark but despicable beauty and strength.

Sasuke strode over to the table, stopping only a few inches away, blocking Sakura's view, still, silent – then he looked over his shoulder, the eyes smoldering and yet Sakura knew it was not her the gaze was directed at.

Her heart skipped a beat.

Naruto was on his feet, walking around the table, meeting Sasuke at the front.

And he was walking towards Sakura, towards the door, passing her by – completely ignoring her, with Sasuke following a step behind, no more, no less than that.

Sakura's heart, at that precise moment, froze a million times over.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan." From the doorstep his voice carried over to hers, distant and solemn.

Silence wasn't golden. She hated it, she did and-wait. What had happened? Talking one moment, then he appeared and it was all over? … No!

With brute force it was that she snapped herself out of the reverie, with determination it was that she rushed out, chasing after Naruto, eager for more than one mere explanation could offer. She stepped out, brows knitted together in a frown soon to become perpetual, lips smiling the opposite way, the many words on the tip of her tongue. Eventually, she settled for one.

"Wait!"

And there they were; from where she stood, it appeared as if they walked side by side, equality unprecedented, unobtainable by simple means. Naruto's cloak billowed, the hat, for a change, on top of his head. Slowly, they both walked, their backs disappearing into the distance – and she saw Sasuke turn to Naruto; turn and look at him, and even from afar the thing in his eyes couldn't have been mistaken for anything else.

That was how she saw them; Naruto, moving on, determined, Sasuke following silently behind him, never quite by his side, yet not exactly behind him, a look of unquestionable trust, agonizing admiration and painstaking regret in his eyes.

Naruto looked over his shoulder and smiled at Sakura.

"Sorry."

Mouthed.

Then they disappeared behind a corner.

Sakura leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down, eventually hitting the floor. She didn't even realize when her eyes had dried up, didn't even realize when her heart had been torn into shreds.

Didn't realize how she'd not seen it before; that Naruto and Sasuke were each other's most precious person.

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Disclaimed: I don't own Naruto, but the story idea is mine alone.

Rating: PG-13 for themes, blood, swearwords (most of which have yet to make an appearance).

Summary: At twenty two, Naruto has achieved all; a Hokage at last, a man respected and loved, he rules his nation with compassion and understanding, bringing together lost families and friends, and disposing of those that dare oppose his peace. And Sasuke ever-so-faithfully stands by his side, an unchanging status for almost six years, and after these six years, people, villagers, their teachers and friends finally start to ask: "What is happening between Naruto and Sasuke?"

Setting: Six years after the Fourth Ninja War, so all ages have been changed accordingly. Naruto is the Hokage, but how exactly he achieved the status will be revealed step-by-step, along with many other details related to the "rookie nine" and all other characters.

Warning: There will be no OCs, only, perhaps, some OOCness which I'm partial to as anyone else, so that's excusable. Don't go around calling this yaoi, as Sole isn't yaoi… In fact, it's something akin to shounen-ai but not exactly… Okay, in all honesty, I myself don't know yet. The purpose of this story is not to indulge anyone's perverse fantasies involving Sasuke and Naruto, but to elaborate further, perhaps, on the complex relationship-friendship they share as demonstrated in both manga and anime. With that said, I love the pairing, but I'm not promising anything.

Story will contain basic Japanese honorifics, but I'm hoping to avoid any Engrish or anything remotely deformed. So there will be no exclamations of "kawai" or "kakkoi", not even "hai". Should such a thing happen, however, I'll have a translation note added in the A/N.

Vocabulary:

Shishou – master, teacher

- hime – princess

- chan; - san; - sama – you should understand these by now : ) They are all honorifics and I won't be explaining them at all, so I don't even know how… Hey, at least I understand them, no?

Like, dislike? Remember to R&R! Thank you for reading~