HEY GUYS!: This is going to (hopefully) be a long story, the main pairing isn't decided yet, so comment and review for your choice. This story is time travel in the next chapter coming up, so hopefully it'll get interesting! sorry if the first chapter is kinda badly written, don't worry though! it will get better!

Any-who, enjoy!

Saying Goodbye

CHAPTER ONE

I'll miss you forever and ever.

When you think about how you're going to die, you think about all that is left behind after your departure.

When you leave, who will look after your plants? Who will clean the house? Who will pay the bills? Who will look after all the loved ones and the precious people that you can't take with you?

And you think, 'Who will take my place, when I leave?'

But you can never know.

It's the same for everyone. And even as she lay upon soiled dirt, red with her own blood, she found her memories and life, flickering past her clouded eyes. She saw her worries, her personal issues, and even her family and friends whom she adored, the good and the bad.

They who looked after her in the bad times and the ugly, who stood up for her and cherished her. It was their faces who were in the forefront of her mind while her entrails were strewn underneath her. Smiling.

Laughing.

Coughing, she twitched, her back pained as it spasmed on the ground, her chest convulsing and rising irregularly as a steady stream of crimson gurgled from her mouth. She had long ago stopped applying pressure and trying to close the gaping wound in her stomach, which had swollen and spilled out the precious organs inside of the skin. She was not a pretty sight.

Haruno Sakura, aged 21, born to Kizashi and Mebuki Haruno, was dying.

She was dying and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

The Fourth Shinobi War had raged on for 6 years. There was never a time to rest, and for Sakura, the injured only came and came, from a slow trickle in the first year, and steadily growing until it was more of a never ending flash flood, drowning the medics who had managed to survive along with her under the heavy weight of their lives.

The prospect of death loomed over them frequently, because they never were able to save everyone who came to their aid, and every day, just as many died of their wounds as the amount of people who came in. This was mainly because sometimes, or a lot of the time, Chakra just couldn't fix everything even if the normal medical supplies were helpful. It couldn't reconstruct a limb and it couldn't fix a broken spine.

It couldn't fix half of a torso and it couldn't give you back the eyes you'd lost. You'd be left as useless as a fly with no wings.

And so, seppuku became a frequent hazard in the small medic area that the united forces had.

Her small force of trainees had been trying to get to the sector in what was Iwagakure, but was now just a pile of rubble. There was another First-Aid camp there, and only three days prior had a messenger bird flown to their sector, asking for immediate assistance. It was only natural to come with them.

So, for the first two days of their journey, everything was slightly normal. Quiet.

The juubi was last seen in the southern side of fire country, battling it out against Naruto, Sasuke and Kakashi, who were the heads of the first division. From the rumours passed down from Shinobi who had been rescued from the battlefield, the war was coming to its end, Madara had been killed in battle, and Obito had been fatally wounded. The great Beast itself had become as powerful as the ones who had been controlling it, diminishing.

Falling.

They were winning, and everyone was elated. Joyous and in celebration, bottles of reserved sake had been brought out in the infirmary, despite the state of their bodies, and a type of indoor festival had occurred. And it was in these few moments, Sakura had last allowed herself to smile.

It was more of a pained grimace, one of relief and happiness, because it had been a very long time since she had used those particular facial muscles.

Finally, it got to the third day.

They were almost there, only five hours away from the camp, when tragedy struck.

The beast no one expected to encounter, had thrown a last ditch-attempt bijuu bomb in their direction, aiming for their supplies and armies, it had misjudged the trajectory by exactly 2 miles.

2 Miles that could've been anyone else's problem.

2 miles that could've instead hit empty space had it gone the other way.

But it had come for them.

Her entire platoon was swiftly wiped out in the blink of an eye before her, their blood splattering her face and neck as the explosion tore them from the place of the living. There were no screams. There was no sound of crying or the deafening roar of the ethereal use of chakra.

Just an eerie silence as she watched the people whom she had trained with and survived with in sweat and tears and blood became but smears of red in the dirt.

She was blasted away from them, being just out of range of the attacks centre, burned and viciously torn through an earth spike protruding from the ground, most likely from an earlier confrontation. The spike had gone through her back and out through her stomach, but being who she was, she immediately punched her way off the spike, having enough energy and chakra to completely obliterate the intruding object from her body accidentally.

It was a stupid, stupid idea, and she regretted it now more than ever, as chakra exhaustion hit and she couldn't even heal herself or close the wound.

So she lay on her deathbed of dirt.

And sobbed to herself, trying desperately not to close her eyes for fear that she would leave without saying goodbye. Without thanking them.

Without loving them as she wished she did.

There were so, so many regrets in her life. From letting Sasuke leave the village, never being strong enough, always being the weak link in their team, to not being there for Naruto when she should've, when he always cared, to never telling Kakashi…

To never telling him...That she loved him.

Never getting to hold him, never having enough courage to get up off her ass and doing something about the feelings she harboured for more than seven years. Seven years she had loved the man who she knew couldn't love her back, for she was only a student to him, and he was her sensei. Seven whole years , her love for him was unrequited and one-sided, always from afar she had to admire him and care for him, watching as he risked himself daily, while her heart ripped itself anew again and again.

She didn't know what she'd have done if she realised it was going to end like this.

If she knew that she wasn't….going to see him ever again.

It hurt. It burned. It flushed through her veins like a slow, viscous lava, pouring and melting every inch of her broken self and soul until she had no chance against it.

Frustration. Anger.

Why?

Why her? Why only her little force of medics? Why couldn't it have been anyone else?

Why, when they were so close to seeing the end of the war? Why when she was so close to finally getting her dream of a family, of Naruto's dream of becoming Hokage? Why couldn't she just live for a few more days, a few more months.

A few more years.

Just to finally see the end.

Blinking away the river of tears dripping uselessly from her green eyes, she ground her teeth, staring up at the sky as the pain began to give way to numbness, black spots gathering in the corners of her vision.

White noise and ringing was all she could hear, but the small prick of voices could be heard getting closer and closer. It didn't matter.

Her skills told her she definitely wasn't going to survive this. She wasn't entirely sure of how long she had been out here, bleeding, but with a huge hole through one's stomach, it honestly shouldn't have taken more than five minutes for her to fall victim to the injury.

She was only still here out of stubbornness.

She gave a humorless, rattling chuckle, only spitting out more red.

Fierce to the end, and fighting until she died trying.

What a good way to go.

Time was something none of them had, and it was normal for Shinobi and Kunoichi to die at a young age, and in war, it wasn't uncommon for kids to die at the young age of ten, even. When you got into a profession such as this one, death should be at the forefront of your mind every mission. Sakura knew this as a loyal Kunoichi of Konoha. Of the united shinobi forces.

But it doesn't mean she had to like it.

Turning her head to the side, a broken sob escaped her as the three blurred figures of her boys ran to her, an odd buzzing reaching her muddled mind as Naruto was the first to fall at her side. Sasuke and Kakashi followed close behind, one with almost surprised denial on his features, and the other with unhidden tears and a clear frantic concern fluttering around him.

A spark of happiness sharpened her senses, and a soft prodding of hope, that was squashed under an iron boot at the thought of living, because she knew that even Tsunade wouldn't be able to save her.

But at least, she had this.

Suddenly, she could hear and see, the looks of horror on each of their faces as they gazed upon her form, Naruto, bringing her head up to rest on his lap after collapsing at her side. He frantically tried to hold his hands over the massive wound, screaming at her, telling her to just not die, his big blue eyes overflowing. The war was finally over. She could come home with them, that she could come back and sit underneath the big oak tree in their training ground and read her medical books like she used to.

Sasuke only grit his teeth and got a wad of bandages out of his kunai pouch, hands shaking as, even though he knew it was useless, he wrapped them around every other wound, a lone tear dripping out from his left eye that was purple with the rinnegan. She grinned, shoving his bandages back at him.

He needed them more than she did.

The last of their small group, had fallen to his knees beside where her head rested on Naruto's lap, grey hair clumpy with blood, dirt and flesh, clothing torn, mask on the verge of falling off, both eyes showing, but Sakura still thought he looked beautiful in the ever burning sun he blocked.

And she had a thought.

As his tears made a clear trail down her dirty cheek, the cold look of detachment and despair in his eyes, in Sasuke's eyes, in Naruto's, she decided, if she was going to die here, might as well make the most of it while she faded away.

"N-Naruto, Sasuke, ...K-Kakashi…" She murmured, reaching out to wipe away the wetness on Kakashi's face. Immediately, they were silent, watching her solemnly. Suddenly, a wide smile spread on her cracked lips, the blood was pouring out of her like a faucet, and she knew her time was limited, but the joy in seeing them, in knowing that they had come back for her made it worthwhile.

Naruto, his hands now soaked in her blood, his voice husky from screaming out her name before, looked down at her with a painfully scared and desperate expression on his face.

"Sakura-chan, don't worry! We'll get you back to camp, and-and patch you up, and you'll be o-okay, ne? Right? W-we can get Tsunade-baachan t...to fix you and-"

"Naru-"

"And, y-you'll get through it, and we can all-all go out to i-ichiraku ramen-"

"Naruto st-"

"And a-after that, every d-day, we'll all t-train in f-field seven like always-"

"Naruto stop!" She growled, coughing at the extra effort.

Grievous sobs hiccuped from his throat as his attempts went to waste.

Grunting she rose one hand up and grabbed one of his hands that was still crushed against her stomach, or what was left of it.

Looking at him steadily from where she was, she gulped, because trying to talk through a glob of blood was harder than it looked.

"N-Naruto, I wish I..c-couldv'e seen you, wearing th-..the Hokage robes… B-but, i'm s-so...so p-proud of you..I'm so glad I m-met you Naru...I-I lo..I love you, b-but we both know I w...I wont s-survive…" Coughing and hacking, her chest and lungs sounded like she was drowning in them, but she pressed on, knowing that she wouldn't have another chance. Gipping harder, she continued, looking into the sad cerulean hues that had given her strength.

"I-I want...to t-thank you Naruto, F-for...everything you've given m-me… Hinata-chan w-will make a..g-good wife…" She said, a bloody laugh shaking her shoulders as she looked over to Sasuke, the many things she forgot to say to him pulsing through her head the more she stared. All the regrets from earlier coming back as she watched him trembling in front of her, his hands in fists clutching at the taters and bandages he tried to wrap her in. He wouldn't look at her.

"S-Sasuke...I forgive y-you, yknow?" At this, his head snapped up, an angry and sad look on his face as he opened his mouth to say something, before he closed it. Realising that she was probably only going to live a few moments longer.

Giving him a melancholy smile, she carried on. "I f-forgive you...for a-all the things yo-you've done…. B-ut, p-promise me...yo-u'll c-come back to K-Konoha?" Blinking away the pink strands of hair as he bowed his head, she slowly took her time in looking back up to the man she had loved one-sidedly for almost half of her life.

She took him in for all that he was, admired him for his unwavering strength and reliability, even if his timing was anything but. She had loved him for all that he was, porn to gravity-defying hair, to his grief by the rock of memories, to his fee-ditching self. She had loved him, for who she knew him to be and for who he never showed. She had loved him knowing that he would never love her back.

But it was okay.

Because he was here.

"Kakashi...I n-never had a c-chance… If it we-were any other way, I-...I w-wish I could've told y-you, but I ne-...never had the c-courage. I...I love you. I-t's…. Its b-been seven y-years...but I wish I c-could have….I wish I ha-had more time …. I l-love you s-so much it w-was painful to..to wa-tch you lea-ve and f-fight..not knowing..not knowing i-if you'd come b-back…." Looking up at him, his tears were almost more overflowing than Naruto's, as she saw them widen and his jaw lock. Reaching up her other hand, crying along with him, she shakily stroked the tears away off his cheek, a softer smile for him spreading as pure joy at finally telling him shot through her heart.

"I-I don't kn...know If you f-feel the s-same..the s-same way… But I just want you to-to ...to k-know t-that, I'll love you… I did… I loved y-you for then...for now… unt-until.. The day I die.. I'll l-love you, forever and always..Hatake Kakashi...Even if you d-don't feel the same…" Her tears dripped freely unto the dirt, as her shoulders shook and the black spots took over her vision. She could now die without regrets… Because it was finally out…

Memories of his happy face, or Naruto and Sasuke, memories of their team photo flashed through her mind as she gazed on their grieving forms knelt beside her. She could feel her heart begin to slow. She had to admit, it had been a good run while it lasted. Even if she didn't achieve her own dream, she was glad. She was so overfilled with pride and melancholy at that moment, it didn't even matter that she had no time left.

Her life was good.

But now, it was time to go.

She watched through blurred vision as Kakashi's eyes squeezed shut, a cracked, choked laugh dragging out from clenched teeth and a frowning mouth. She didn't like it one bit.

"Don't frown.." She whispered, "Smile for me, because I'll miss you. Forever and ever, to eternity and beyond…" And so he did.

He gave her the most blinding smile he could after tugging the remnants of his mask off his face. And he was absolutely perfect. She felt her heart swell with love once more.

Slowly, her eyes drifted shut, her smile still on her pale skin, hearing Naruto's voice call out to her, and feeling Kakashi softly bring his head to drop down onto her own, his hands on her cheek while Sasuke's quiet crying reached her ears.

One last time, the person she had loved for the longest time in her life, murmured to her sweetly, his smile still etched in her mind's eye.

At his words, her hand slipped from his face, flaring the very last bit of chakra she had left as a last act, curling it around his form.

Death was good to her.

And it was then, in the end of the Fourth Shinobi World War, Haruno Sakura,

Died.

"Why didn't you say anything? I love you too.."