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You know from the first second you lay eyes on her that she will forge you.
All you know is that her name is Haruno Sakura, and that every time you come within half a mile of her, her cheeks turn pink like the colour of the roses in your garden. But you cannot focus on her cheeks, because all you can think about is that your garden is gone, your family gone with it. Even once Haruno Sakura joins your team and takes your hand in the dead of night when your dreams turn horrid, she is not the one you can afford to focus on. It's like every time you blink, you see the smeared blood of your family, and suddenly Haruno Sakura falls into the hazy background that you pretend you pay no heed to.
You don't know how, but you know she will be part of your journey, so you thank her and stun her and set her down on a bench, and even though you're walking away from Konoha, turning your back on everything you've ever known, that's not the thing that makes your eyes burn.
.
You thought abandoning her and throwing her love away would break her, but it didn't. It couldn't.
She is standing right in front of you, and even though you are taller in height, she is considerably higher than you, somehow. You see the earth crumble bellow your feet at her hand, and you have learnt your lesson, you know that she cannot be broken--not even by you. You were foolish and you were wrong but you'd rather press your own chidori to your stomach than ever speak such a thing, at this point. You see her when you blink now, more often than the blood, at least. You do not see her glaring or spitting at your feet like she should. Instead, you see her smiling with tears in her eyes, and suddenly you can't stand yourself.
Every time you see her after that, you will not look her in the eye, lest you burst into flames.
But the one time you do is when you understand that you are pathetically in love with her.
.
You've given up trying to understand her. She is an incomprehensible thing to you.
You cannot fathom a heart so big and a love so pure. You cannot even imagine a devotion so willful, but you will spend the rest of your days trying to mimic it. Haruno Sakura is the one who gives you a home, a reason to return. She is the one that heals your wounds and then slaps your chest minutes later for carelessness. She is the one who restores you, revives you. You owe Haruno Sakura everything, and the thought itself is so daunting that half the time you can barely even speak to her. But that doesn't stop her from taking your hand and leading you into the sun.
She makes you sit next to her on the hospital bed whilst she feeds your newborn daughter at her breast, and you don't realise you're crying until Uchiha Sakura grips your hand.