1000 Words

A/N: If you guys have not figured it out yet, the chapter names are part of the song 1000 words. If you have never heard it, I would greatly suggest finding it, and listening. It is pretty moving. Jade from Sweetbox is the singer, and no, I do not own anything that has to do with this song.

Anyways, here is the next chapter and I hope that you enjoy. I have a feeling that this fic is going to be pretty emotional, though my muse doesn't work too far ahead, so your guess is as good as mine.

Please read and review.

~!~

Sakura stared up at the moon, her mind racing with memories and dreams. In her youth, she had thought it so cool to have her own apartment, her own little piece of solitude. But, as she got older, she grew weary of the silence, and was grateful for her beloved husband's loud presence.

But, in this tiny apartment, she was caught off-guard when the memories of her life with Naruto hit her, and she could, at times, still hear his voice, as if he were still alive and right beside her.

“Sakura, I love you.”

Closing her eyes, she rested her forehead against the cool window and sighed. His voice, even when they were younger, held such promise and hope. When he died, so did her dreams.

“One day, when I am hokage, I am going to protect this village with everything I have. I will show them that they can rely on me to watch over them, and protect them from all those who threaten them.”

Turning from the window, her eyes scanned the tidy living room, and she smiled. After she and Naruto got together, she never had a tidy anything, anymore. The man simply couldn't keep things neat. It just wasn't in his nature, and she found that it was one of the things that she loved about him.

“I will always be here, Sakura. We are going to be together for the rest of our lives, and even when we are both dead, we will be together in paradise. I will never leave you.”

But, he did leave. He left, and now, she was alone. She was hokage, and he was a memory. Turning back to the window, she could feel the long-repressed tears forming in her eyes, and she stubbornly refused to allow them to fall. She refused to cry.

She stopped crying the day she buried Kakashi-sensei.

“I know that I'm not the smartest, or even the strongest man, but I've got determination, and that is what makes me successful. Sakura, you and I will care for Konoha together, and we will make the past hokages proud.”

Gods, she loved that man. He was never selfish, except when it came to her. She was the one thing that he wanted all to himself, and she reveled in his love.

“Sakura.”

It was clear to her that even the memory of his voice soothed her, especially when she was alone. So, in actuality, he did keep his promise about never leaving her. His memory was a welcome distraction, especially now, while she fought to keep those she cared for from dying.

“Sakura?”

Turning, she found herself face-to-face with her husband's younger version. His bright blue eyes were steady as he stared at her, his face twisted with concern.

“Are you ok?” He asked, looking her over. “You didn't answer me the first time I called your name, so we came in.”

Shaking her head and giving him a smile, she replied, “I'm fine. I've just had a lot on my mind.”

Nodding, Naruto sat down next to Sai, who had taken a seat on her couch. Sasuke was leaning against the door, and had his eyes trained upon her, as well.

The blonde grinned at her and said, “Shikamaru, Lee, and Neji have all returned, and will be at the bar tonight. We're going to buy them drinks for a job well done.”

“That's nice.” She said, absently. It had only been two days since she had prevented them from taking a path through the mountain, and preventing their deaths, and now, she could not help but wonder what kind of changes were already taking place back in her own time.

Sai gave her one of his large, fake grins and said, “We want you to come too, hag. You deserve a drink, as well.”

Lifting her eyebrow, Sakura remembered that this 'pet name' of his was not something she had been too fond of. Of course, when they were a little bit older, he had confessed that he had given names that were opposite of how he thought of people.

Take Ino, for example. He thought that she was not all that attractive, but called her beautiful. It was his way of trying to fit in with others, but had realized, after a sound beating from Sakura, that he had been wrong in his assumption, and stopped with the fake pet names.

So, the next time he had seen Ino, he called her hideous, and earned himself a night's stay in the hospital, much to Sakura's amusement.

“Sai, while I understand why you call me 'hag', let me just say that it is inappropriate and with anyone else, would be considered an offensive name.” She said, giving the dark-haired man a serious look. “I have a name, and I would appreciate it if you did not call me hag.”

Cocking his head, Sai asked, “Why is it offensive?”

Naruto's eyes were wide as, for once, Sakura managed to refrain from yelling at the artist that he was a social retard. Instead, she had decided on a different tactic, and it seemed to be working.

“Some names are considered rude, and hurtful.” Sakura explained. “Hag is used for someone who is considered to be very ugly, and not desirable.”

Sai's face appeared thoughtful, and he then said, “But, we all know that you are not ugly, and we know that Naruto finds you very desirable. If everyone knows that it isn't true, why is it hurtful?”

Naruto nearly beat the shit out of the artist, but froze when Sakura began to giggle. Looking up, he found her smiling at him, and he gave her a shaky grin back. Ok, so maybe he wouldn't kill Sai, but only critically wound him.

“Some names are hurtful, and if someone says something that they know isn't true, then it tends to discredit them in the eyes of other people.” Sakura said, her tone steady. “But, if someone, like Ino, finds out that you find them ugly, and call them beautiful as a way of being sarcastic, then that isn't right, either. You need to let go of the pet names and just stick with a person's given name, or at least figure out a nickname that is not hurtful or offensive. Understand?”

The artist slowly nodded in understanding. Finally, someone explained to him why some people would get angry with him when he would call out to them. Ok, he could do that, but he just couldn't see himself calling Sakura by her name. It was just unnatural to him.

As he watched her talk to Naruto, he smiled as he ran through several possible names for her. Finally, he came to decide on one, and knew that it was a good choice. Besides, who could ever be offended at being called a butterfly?

And, how was it that she knew how he felt about Ino? He didn't remember telling her how he felt, or anyone else. It certainly was strange.

~!~

Sakura cringed as she was led into the loud bar. Naruto led the way, and she soon found herself between Naruto and Sasuke as they toasted the three young men for their victory.

Lee was telling the entire table about what had happened, and that Neji had convinced the thunder ninja's leader to tell him who had sent them. When the information had been given, Neji quickly silenced the leader by slitting his throat, while Shikamaru found out about the acid that had been waiting on them.

It still rattled the three men that they could have been killed, or disfigured, but they were home safe, and for that, they were thankful.

Shikamaru stood up and held up his hand for silence. Their group had been joined by the older group of ninjas, including Kakashi and Asuma. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and said, “I know that this mission was a drag, but we gained a lot of important information. The hokage is aware of who sent them, and she has decided to call upon Suna for aid while this situation is being handled.”

The large crowd cheered, and Sakura smiled indulgently. However, her smile faded when Shikamaru's eyes turned to her.

“I guess I owe you one, Sakura.” He said, his tone bored. “If you had not butted in, we could have been hurt, so I guess you weren't being troublesome. This time.”

Lifting her eyebrow, Sakura gave him a tight-lipped smile and said, “Well, that was the most unusual compliment I have ever received, save from Sai, but thank you, I think.”

The lazy genius gave her a nod, and sat down, his arms crossing over his chest. Tenten grinned at her and released her grip from Neji's and Lee's arms, and leaned forward.

“How did you know about that path, Sakura” She asked. It was strange that Sakura would know about it, seeing as how it was well known that Sakura hardly left the village, unless it was on a mission.

Sakura knew she had to be careful when she answered. Things like this innocent question could raise suspicions, especially from people like Kakashi-sensei and Neji.

“A while back, I decided to go hiking, just to get away from everything.” Sakura said. 'It was easy to do, seeing as how I was trying to escape the pain of my friends and loved ones dying.' She thought.

Tenten gave her a sympathetic smile. “I hear you.” She said, and then sighed. “I'm just glad that you knew about it and stopped them. I would have hated to lose both of my boys.”

When Neji and Lee protested about being called boys, Sakura smiled and shook her head. Every single kunochi could understand where Tenten was coming from. Hell, even to this day, she still considered Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai to be her boys. Had he not hurt her the way he had, Sasuke would have been in that category, too.

“How is the hokage doing?” Choji asked, his eyes never leaving the plate in front of him.

Everyone turned to look at Sakura, and she sighed. Well, this was what she got for being the student of Tsunade.

“She is understandably upset.” Sakura said, shrugging. “When you lead people, and you give orders that might cost someone their life, it is a heavy burden to carry. Thankfully, she doesn't have to worry about burying anyone, and I think that instead of dwelling on this, we need to move forward, and not concern ourselves with the 'could have beens'.

Odd. Even though they were her advisers, and she could either take or ignore their advice, what she had just told her friends was the exact same thing that they have said to her, over and over again. Geez, she'd never hear the end of it if she were to tell them that they had been right.

Kakashi nodded and patted Sakura on the head, messing up her hair. “I think that you are right, Sakura.” He said, giving her an eye crinkle as he ignored her attempts to smack his hand away from her hair. “Right now, we've got to concentrate on making sure Konoha is properly defended.”

Giving Sakura's hair one more ruffle, he sat back down, and watched as her hands worked frantically to straighten the mess he had made.

Sakura sighed and decided that her hair was a lost cause. But, just as her hands came down to rest in her lap, Naruto's large hand reached up and tucked some of her hair behind her ear, while shooting her a boyish grin.

“You look beautiful, tonight.” He whispered. “Don't worry, Kakashi-sensei didn't do too much damage, and your hair still looks good.”

She gave him a smile and felt his hand reach underneath the table to grasp hers. He gave her smaller hand a light squeeze, and then pulled away, his eyes darting to the table as a blush spread across his cheeks.

“Sakura, I love you.”

Her husband's words echoed in her head as she looked at his younger version, and she felt the horrible pang in her heart. He had always been so gentle with her, even when she used her fists to make him do what she wanted him to do.

Reaching over, she grasped his hand and when his shocked eyes met hers, she smiled brightly, and gave his hand a squeeze, silently telling him that she cared.

He would never guess just how much she really did care.

Kakashi watch his two former students, and frowned. Never before had Sakura allowed Naruto to touch her, unless she had to, and now, here she was, holding his hand and smiling at him. If he didn't know better, he'd say that he was watching a woman showering the man she loved with affection.

Shaking his head, he snorted at the thought. Sakura being in love with Naruto? It was crazy, and totally out of her character. But, he was still at a loss as to why she was being so tender with the loud-mouth.

~!~

Sakura awoke and felt her head ringing. That would be the last time she 'let go' and had that many drinks.

She slowly got out of her bed, and walked into her bathroom. After a hot shower, and using her chakra to ease the pain of the hangover, she quickly got dressed and ate some breakfast before heading out for her team's training session.

She was the first to arrive, and decided to stretch while she waited. After several minutes, she froze and narrowed her eyes. She knew that someone was watching her, and quickly, she scanned the area as she reached into her weapon's pouch and pulled out a kunai.

“I know that you're here, so save yourself some time and just come on out.” She snapped, her tone demanding.

Her eyes widened as some bushes began to rustle, and out stepped a young girl. Her eyes narrowing, Sakura gritted out, “Hanabi, what are you doing here?”

Hanabi silently regarded Sakura for several minutes, but then shrugged. “I was looking for my sister.” She explained, her voice just as soft as Hinata's. “You have not seen her, have you?”

“No, I have not.” Sakura replied, her posture relaxing a bit. The younger Hyuuga gave her a small smile and moved to walk past her, but froze when Sakura asked, “Why were you hiding in the bushes, Hanabi?”

Turning, Hanabi's white eyes stared at Sakura and her smile dropped. “I told you. I was looking for my sister.” She said.

Before she could reply, she heard Naruto's voice, calling her, and she sighed. Placing the kunai back into its pouch, she looked over at Hanabi and calmly said, “Hinata isn't here. Perhaps you can find her with Kiba.”

The little girl's nose wrinkled, but she nodded. Moving past Sakura, she stopped when Naruto, Sai, and Sasuke walked past her, and allowed her eyes to narrow on all three men. She didn't say a word, but once she was done with her inspection of them, she turned and silently walked away.

“That girl,” Naruto grumbled, “Gives me the creeps.”

Sasuke snorted and shook his head. “Even though she isn't the clan heiress, her father holds her to a pretty high standard, and because of it, she has developed his attitude.” He said, his own eyes trained on the retreating form of the youngest Hyuuga.

Sakura didn't say a word. Instead, she turned and shrugged. Though her story didn't fool her, she was pretty sure that the girl was up to no good. After all, why hide in bushes, if she were looking for her sister. It wasn't as if Hinata was hiding underneath a rock.

Naruto moved over to Sakura's side and softly asked, “How's your head?”

“I had a hangover, but quickly got rid of it.” She replied, and then gave him a critical glance. “How about you?”

Naruto's face broke out into a large smile and he said, “Nope, I didn't have a hangover, but I do regret going to bed so late. But, you have to admit, last night was a lot of fun.”

Grinning, she nodded and watched as he moved away to where Sasuke was standing. Soon, both young men were locking in a heated verbal battle and she was left, standing with Sai.

The young artist turned his dark eyes to her, and for a moment, he didn't speak, but when he did, he quietly asked, “How did you know about how I felt about Ino? I've never told you, and you've never asked, so how did you know?”

Sakura turned shocked eyes upwards and frantically thought for several moments, but was finally able to say, “It's clear by the way you act around her.”

“Something is going on with you, butterfly.” Sai murmured, earning himself a shocked stare from Sakura. “I can't explain it, but you are not the same as you were before we went on that mission where you passed out.”

He moved past her, while her mind whirled with his words. 'Butterfly,' She thought. 'When in hell did he come up with that?'

But, however curious she was about his new name for her, she was worried about his statement that she wasn't the same as before their previous mission. Damn it, if she kept making little slips like that, she'd either be exposed, or deemed some kind of nut job.

Before she could move towards the boys, Kakashi finally decided to grace them with his presence and gave a nervous chuckle as he scratched the back of his head when he saw the glares that were being directed his way.

The only one who wasn't glaring, was Sakura. Normally, she'd be leading the pack.

“Ok, out with it.” Naruto demanded, his eyes narrowing. The copy ninja gave a sigh and then said, “Well, it's like this. I was on my way here this morning, and all of a sudden, I was frozen. It was as if one of the Naras had caught me in their shadow manipulation jutsus.”

Sakura rolled her eyes and interrupted him. “Let me guess, you saw an advertisement for the newest edition of Icha Icha Paradise, and ended up drooling all over the window as you gawked at the cover. Then, you just had to wait for the store to open and just had to buy it so that you would have something to read while we do the grunt work.” She said, her hands now on her hips.

“How did you guess?” Kakashi asked, his eyes wide. When Sakura pointed to his back pocket, where the new book was peeking out, he had enough grace to at least blush at being caught in such an obvious and pathetic excuse.

Naruto, Sai, and Sasuke groaned, and glared over at the man, but Sakura could not help the smile that crossed her lips. Even on his last day alive, he had made it to the meeting late, just because of those stupid books.

It just goes to show that the ability to be perverted never dies. Even after Jiraiya passed on, his books kept coming. It seemed that the man had written several novels, that had not been published, and when he died, the publisher decided to go ahead and publish them, thus preserving Jiraiya's memory, and keeping Kakashi in reading material.

No one knew that in her personal chambers, she had every single book that Kakashi owned. She just couldn't get rid of them, mainly because they were a part of what Kakashi was. There were times when she would walk into her secret hiding place, and pull out a book whose pages were dog-eared, and she could tell which ones were his favorites, just by how worn a book's binding looked.

“Ok, so let's get started.” Kakashi said, his eyes running over the younger ninjas. He noticed that Sakura's eyes were locked onto something behind him, and he sighed. “Sakura, are you all right?”

Sakura quickly snapped her eyes over to where the taller man stood and she nodded and gave him a bright smile. When she received an eye crinkle, she stood up straighter, and awaited the instructions that she knew would keep them busy for quite a while.

~!~

Oh, gods. She didn't know that it was possible to hurt this badly. It was clear to her that she was missing some of her memories, because she could not recall a training this brutal. Apparently, Kakashi had been very excited to read that damn book, because after several grueling exercises, and then having to spar each other, they were too tired to complain about him reading.

She slumped to the ground and fought the urge to cry. She hurt in places that she didn't even know could hurt. Hell, even her teeth hurt, and she hadn't even been hit in the mouth. It was probably from her clenching her teeth as she tried to keep up with the boys.

Even with all of her experience, they had her beat in stamina. She had long ago let the need to compete and prove herself to them, go, but it still grated her nerves that they could so easily surpass her, but she comforted herself with the knowledge that should she let loose, she could probably beat them to bloody pulps.

Naruto walked over and crashed down beside her. He winced and reached up to rub his shoulder, which was bare due to the fact he had long ago taken off his shirt. “Man, what in the hell did we do to deserve this.” He whined, his face taking on that pinched look that he wore when he was thinking.

As sore as she was, she maneuvered herself so that she were behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. Naruto tensed and looked over his shoulder, but relaxed when she gave him a small smile.

His eyes closed as she massaged away his aches and pains, and soon, he felt so relaxed that he didn't hesitate when she pulled him down so that his head rested in her lap.

Bright, blue eyes looked lazily into hers, and he gave her a soft smile. “What have I done to deserve this kind of treatment, hmmm?” He asked.

She returned his smile and shrugged. “You can return the favor, later.” She murmured, her eyes tracing over his features, and burning them into her memory. If she were lucky, when she went home to her own time, she could make new memories.

She knew that she had already changed the course of Konoha's history, just by saving Shikamaru, Lee, and Neji. While Neji did not perish, when he was disfigured and put out of commission, Konoha took a very serious blow, even more so than when Orochimaru and his ninjas attacked.

“Believe it.” He muttered, his eyes slowly closing. As he drifted off to sleep, he failed to see just how intently Sakura was watching him. Her fingers ran through his blonde hair, and she savored the silky texture of the strands.

To her, he was perfect in every way, and he was here with her, now.

Sai, Sasuke, and Kakashi watched the exchange between the pair. If there had been any doubts, they were gone, now. It was obvious that their female teammate returned the loud-mouthed blonde's feelings, and they could not understand when her feelings changed.

Sasuke scowled and turned away. He couldn't believe that Sakura could stoop so low as to go after 'dead-last', but then again, he supposed that when he rejected her, she had hit rock bottom. He was, after all, considered to be the most desired man in the village, and it was possible that Sakura had taken his rejection pretty hard. So hard that she felt that Naruto was the best she could do.

Sai watched with narrowed eyes as the young woman leaned back and closed her own eyes. He wondered how it would feel to be in Naruto's place, being cared for the way his teammate was. Was this what other people called love? Was the butterfly in love with the dickless wonder?

Kakashi turned his eyes back to the page he was reading, but frowned. He and Sakura needed to have a talk. She was not acting like herself and he wanted to know why. What made her turn from Sasuke, to Naruto, and why was she not exploding at her teammates like she normally does.

The old Sakura was predictable. This Sakura was full of surprises, and he hated to be surprised.