After one week at the Hokage's mansion – even though she had barely seen more than Kakashi's bedroom – her own one-room-flat seemed much smaller to Sakura than she had remembered it.
"I'm sorry", she nervously tugged at her hair, felt a faint blush spreading on her cheeks.
"It's alright", Rin shrugged. She was already sitting on the sofa, testing her make-shift sleeping place. "And thanks for letting me stay here."
"Sure", Sakura looked at Rin, her hair cut boyishly short, the mask – that obscured the distinguishable marks in her face – pushed down the second they had entered the apartment.
She had her legs and arms sprawled, while her eyes scanned the room. Suddenly she jumped up.
She picked up the photograph standing next to Sakura's bed.
"I'm sorry. I can put it away, if you -"
"No. No, it's fine", Rin smiled at Sakura, her eyes glittering with tears.
"It's fine", she repeated and returned to her seat on the sofa, the photograph still in her hands.
Sakura hesitated before she sat down next to Rin. She was a little surprised when it wasn't Kakashi's face that Rin traced with her finger.
"He really looks like his father", she laughed – though it might as well have been a sob, Sakura wasn't entirely sure.
"I had kind of hoped, it'd be a girl. Just so Minato-sensei wouldn't give him that stupid name."
Sakura didn't know what to say to this. It was only after years of knowing him that she had learned about Naruto's heritage, and it was kind of weird – having Rin talk about it so naturally.
"Was he a good teacher?"
"Huh?"
"Kakashi – was he a good teacher?"
"I don't know", Sakura shrugged. She had never given it much thought, yet the question made her feel a little uncomfortable.
"I guess he was", she said after a moment of hesitation "At least for Naruto... probably Sasuke too, if he hadn't..."
As casually as she could she took the picture from Rin's hand and placed it back on her nightstand. She went to the kitchen to make some tea. Rin didn't know anything, she thought. She had learned that the Yondaime had died, that there had been another war and that Kakashi now was Hokage. But anything that had happened in between, she hadn't been told yet.
"Will you introduce us?", Rin asked from the living-room. Sakura swallowed. She placed teapot and two cups on a tray and returned.
"He's...", she couldn't bring herself to say it. Because there was still hope that it wasn't true. That Naruto was not dead.
"It's a long story..."
"If you don't want to tell me, that's okay", Rin said, though her voice betrayed her curiosity.
Sakura thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. "No. I I think I want to tell you."

It was dark when Sakura had recounted everything they, that is Team Seven, had been through, when she had told Rin about the Akatsuki and Madara, about the war and how it had ended. And even though it was hard at times to find the right words, or to forbid her tears to drown them out, it felt good to talk about it, to talk about it with Rin, who listened patient- and quietly, asked questions only when it was absolutely necessary. Who held Sakura's hand through out most of the story and occasionally would share her tears.
After Sakura had finished the two girls sat in silence for a long time. Eventually Sakura got up to announce that she'd go to bed now, the hint of a smile on her lips. Funny, she thought, for such a long time she had believed telling anyone would only make it all harder to bear...

When Sakura returned from the bathroom she found Rin standing by her desk, browsing through a file.
"Chakra-assimilation?", she asked when she sensed Sakura near her.
"I thought that's impossible."
"Well, I have reason to believe that it's not", Sakura replied.
Rin raised her eyebrows in curiosity, then quite suddenly her face fell, she shut the file and quickly placed it back on the desk.
"This is classified, right?", she bit her lip.
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have – it's just, it lay there open, and I -"
"Everything's fine!", Sakura held up her hands in a calming gesture.
"You're right, this is sort of classified. But", she paused for the effect "you're part of this classified business anyway."
Sakura had not yet finished talking when Rin had already picked up the file again and sat down on the floor with it, spreading printed papers as well as Sakura's own handwritten notes in front of her.
Soon any thought of sleep was forgotten. Sakura made them some fresh tea, and they spent the rest of the night discussing the contents of the archive's documents as well as Sakura's so far formed theories. For the second time Sakura felt grateful that she had let Kakashi convince her to have Rin stay at her place, if only for a few days; It was now, talking medic on a level she hadn't for a very long time, trying to figure out how to prove that the impossible wasn't quite as impossible as generally believed, that Sakura realised how much she had missed Tsunade-sama, how much she had missed Shizune. Not for guidance or sisterly advice. But because ever since those two had died she had not talked to anyone who was on the same level as she was.
Not skill-wise, obviously. Sakura was well aware that skill-wise she was only just above average. But she also knew, though she tended to forget this, that her natural understanding of medical jutsu was quite extraordinary. It wasn't until she met someone equally talented again, that she remembered.