6.

("Sakura, you have to promise me you won't give up." Naruto smiled painfully, his cheeks straining from the effort to hold the expression as Sakura tried her best to heal her stupid teammate while Sasuke and Kakashi covered their backs. The screams behind her were deafening and Sakura couldn't stop herself from involuntary flinching when Naruto pushed her hand away.

"Don't do this, Naruto," Sakura warned, hating how her voice trembled. "I'm still trying to heal you."

Her teammate sighed. "Sakura-chan. Please." Naruto closed his eyes and it was all Sakura could do to breathe as she felt his pulse slow. "I'm not-" He coughed. "I won't survive this one and you need to conserve your chakra so you could last." He grinned. "Do it for them, at least. If you can't do it for me."

Sakura clenched her fist tightly. "I-"

"Promise me-" He gasped out. "You won't stop fighting, okay? Save them in my place.")

...

..

.

Sakura stopped running.

She didn't really know where she was but, at the moment, she couldn't bring herself to care.

It hurt to remember.

To see him-

Sakura wondered if Naruto thought he wasn't important to her.

She hadn't really stopped to think about what happened since it was a whirlwind of surviving Kaguya's rage after that. Everything just...blurred and with everything going on, she couldn't really spare the time to wonder about Naruto's last words.

And, to be honest, Sakura didn't even want to ruminate on it because she's sure she wouldn't like the connotations of his plea in the first place.

Sakura-

Sakura admitted to some extent that she resented him a bit. There's a part of her heart that never really stopped disliking Naruto even if she did eventually learn to love him for who he was.

It was confusing - disgusting, she hated herself for feeling that way, but the aching sense of debt she couldn't quite let go off was a burden.

A chip in her shoulder, she couldn't quite shake off.

Sakura's not blind enough not to know that she owed almost everything that she was as a kunoichi to Naruto. Tsunade was brought back in the first place, because of him. Sakura was picked as Tsunade's apprentice in the first place, because of him. Kakashi only started paying attention to her, because when he left and went on that journey with Jiraiya, she was the only student that the teacher could focus his attention too.

Naruto was her rock, her foothold, her yard-stick, and her teammate.

Naruto was the one constant thing in her life that never changed and continued to adore her no matter how shitty she was and-

(Sakura loved Naruto, not in a way he wished it to be, but enough that she could honestly say that she valued his life over hers.)

This world wasn't the same as the one she lived in. With her gender change, everyone she once knew started changing into people she scarcely recognized.

Hell, Shikamaru's starting to get motivated for reasons unknown to her at the moment, and if that's not diffferent, Sakura didn't know what was.

She's afraid that once she'll get closer to Naruto, she'll change him too.

The possibility that the once bright boy she knew would be tainted by her - and shaped into someone other irrationally terrified her.

"Why are you in our property?" A young voice asked curiously as the person neared her spot. "Are you a boy or a girl?"

Sakura flinched and looked at a familiar dark-haired boy with huge onyx eyes.

("Sakura," Sasuke muttered coldly as his eyes flashed red. "Go back. Get Naruto and Kakashi out of the way."

Sakura clenched her fists. "But, Sas-"

Sasuke gritted his teeth as one of Kaguya's abominable creations managed to slip past his defense. "Don't be stupid." He looked at her coldly as his arm bent in an unnatural manner. "Move!")

"You-" Sasuke's ears slowly reddened as the silenced from her side stretched on. "You don't have to be afraid." He huffed before turning away. "I'm not angry. I was just wondering why you're here."

"I-" Her voice trembled as she paled and tears fell down one by one. "I-"

(Sakura never did see any of his remains, once Kakashi and her went back after recuperating and burying Naruto's body.)

The dark-haired boy looked at her anxiously. "Is there something wrong? I'm not going to hurt you." He approached her warily as if Sakura was a small animal that needed to be coaxed. Puffing his cheeks up, he continued. "I'm Sasuke." He smiled awkwardly. "Uchiha Sasuke. You are?"

When Sakura just shook her head, Sasuke looked panicked and stopped in his tracks. "You don't have to say anything," He urged earnestly. "Really. I'm not gonna hurt you. Promise. I'm not going to report you to Shisui-nii or anything. If you just want to sit there, that's okay too."

Sasuke sat down in front of her - furrowing his brows tightly. After a few minutes of Sakura's stifled gasps, Sasuke brightened. "Do you want my tomatoes, then? Tomatoes always made me feel better." He puffed up proudly. "I'll give you my stash, so you won't cry anymore, okay?"

Sakura clenched her eyes shut as she finally succeeded in getting herself in order, before standing up and bowing her head stiffly. "I'm-" She cleared her throat. "I'm sorry for bothering you. "I'll be going now."

"Wait," He stared at her worriedly. "Just stay there if you want. I'm not kicking you out."

Sakura paused. "No. It's okay Uchiha-san. I think my mother's getting worried and I think I just got lost, so it's-" She sighed at Sasuke's insecure expression. "It's not your fault."

"Really?" Sasuke said doubtfully, unconvinced.

Sakura nodded before smiling slightly at the once familiar boy. "Yeah." She nodded her head to the side - hearing the faint sound of a voice calling out. "I think someone's calling for you, though."

"All right," Sasuke coughed before smiling at her hesitantly. "It's- it's nice to meet you."

Sakura looked at him dubiously.

"It's true!" Sasuke protested. "Even if you cried, I think- I think you could be my friend." He avoided her eyes. "Nii-san told me I should make friends with others too, but it's difficult so far, so so-" He blushed before scowling away in frustration. "Can you please be my friend? Don't leave."

Sakura stared at him complicatedly.

"I offered you my tomatoes too," Sasuke reminded desperately. "So you should just say yes so we could be even."

"Alright," She nodded helplessly - offering her hands in greeting. "I'm Sa-" She stopped before correcting herself. "Yuuto. Haruno Yuuto."

"Sayuto?" Sasuke muttered to himself - his eyes shining in delight as he tried to maturely grip her arm in a handshake.

She smiled sadly. "Yuuto, Sasuke-san. You can call me Yuuto."

(As expected, Sakura-

Sakura could never really deny Sasuke of anything.)

"Un," Sasuke beamed at her eagerly. "Yuuto-kun."