One and Only

"Sasuke," Naruto whined, hopelessly flailing his arms about. "You're being unreasonable!"

After moments of long, stubborn silence from the other side of the door, Naruto moped back to the other end of the hallway where the rest of his team resided. Kakashi was nonchalantly leaning against the wall reading the newest instalment in his Make-Out Tactics series, and Sakura was sitting cross-legged beside him, titling her head back and allowing it to graze the dull-colored paint on the wall. Upon hearing Naruto's defeated and sluggish stomps towards them, they looked up in unison.

When Team Seven's mission had commenced that morning, Naruto, who woke up and late, refused to skip breakfast and forcibly brought along a Cup Ramen. Sasuke, who albeit didn't sleep in - he never sleeps in.. in fact, he barely ever sleeps - did in fact skip breakfast and every so often snuck a stand of noodles from Naruto's cup when no one was looking. Halfway through the Team's journey Sasuke had begun to feel inexplicably ill. Apparently, that particular cup of ramen had expired over a year ago and the only reason Naruto wasn't affected by it was because he was so used to the hard, crunchy noodles.

At any rate, Sasuke was now violently sick, which bunked Team Seven at the nearest hotel possible in a run-down village just about three miles outside of the Sand Village radius.

The other members of the team, whom Sasuke would let no where near the hotel room (which explains why they were down the corridor) heard a powerful retch from within, accompanied by the sound of an unfamiliar object being furiously pelted towards another unfamiliar object - the love child of Sasuke's underlying embarrassment of being sick, and the aggravation that was conglomerated with this. Kakashi tried hard not to think of how much damage the melancholy Uchiha could inflict on one innocent room in an eight hour period. It was a lot.

This was bad on two levels: one, no one knew how long Sasuke would be sick for, which holds up their time for their mission. Second, and most importantly, Kakashi had only booked three rooms: one for himself, one for Sakura, and one for Naruto and Sasuke to share. Currently, Sasuke was claiming the room for himself and disallowed anyone else to enter, especially Naruto. But where was Naruto supposed to sleep?

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto whined sleepily. "Are you sure there are no other rooms available?"

"Positive," he replied, casually flipping a page.

Naruto paused to calculate his options. "Can I sleep with you in your-"

"Nope, sorry!" And before Naruto could even finish asking his question, Kakashi had disappeared in the most ninja-like fashion, leaving a cloud behind him where he once stood.

Despairingly, Naruto turned to Sakura. She lazily opened her eyes and stood up, brushing off her red skirt.

"I can't help you Naruto," she spoke matter-of-factly. "Sorry."

"If you're that sorry, you'd help me out," he smiled slightly charmingly. Sakura rolled her eyes and muttered something under her breath before trudging past Naruto, headed for Sasuke's hotel room. Normally, Sakura would have some sort of pity or affection for Sasuke in such a weakened state, but it was currently ten at night and after walking since six am that morning, she was in no mood to give hand-outs.

Sakura pounded on the door in a stern but delicate manner.

"Come on, Sasuke," she began to plead. "Let's try and make this work so we can all get to sleep," she paused for a moment to hear a response. After hearing none, she pled more. "We can figure something out?" she offered helpfully. Still no reply. Sakura rolled her eyes and forcefully pounded on the door once more. "You can't just claim the room all for yourself, Sasuke," the stern tone in her voice was melting and the slight pang of begging mellifluously made headway into her throat. "You're just going to have to-"

Sakura was curtailed by the hotel door opening a crack, just enough to see a single black, malicious eye glaring at her.

"Go away," he ordered monotonously. His eyes narrowed. There was an iota of weakness in his command, but it was chilling nonetheless.

Sakura stood her ground against him, but didn't dare match his angry stare. She pushed her shoulders back and stood tall and firm... until a barrage of small, complimentary shower soaps pelted through the small crack of the door and towards Sakura's forehead. She hastily pulled the door shut again, rolling her eyes in defeat over the triumphant smirk she knew was probably gracing Sasuke's handsome face right about now.

"Where is Naruto going to sleep then?" she asked in frustration.

"Outside," Sasuke suggested through the door. "I saw a nice pile of trash behind the bar next door. He can sleep there."

"Sasuke!" Sakura slapped her hand over Naruto's mouth. A yelling match between Naruto and Sasuke was certainly not going to help, merely wake every other hotel inhabitant and possibly get them all kicked out.

"We aren't in Konoha. We don't know if it's safe to do that in this town," Sakura replied.

"It's safe for a shinobi, Sakura," he responded shortly.

He was right of course, as always. Sakura found it slightly humorous how during missions Sasuke was adamant about Naruto not being a ninja, just a nuisance, yet when he needs Naruto to be a shinobi, he says so just as adamantly. At the same time, however, Naruto could not sleep on a pile of trash bags all night, safe or not.

Sakura must have forgotten Naruto was standing behind her because when he let out a roaring yawn she nearly jumped a foot in the air. She quickly whipped around to face the tiredly apathetic teen.

He waved his arm lazily. "You should go get some rest, too, Sakura," he offered nobly. "There's a pool out back so I can just sleep on one of the lawn chairs out there. I've done it before, it's pretty comfortable, actually." Sakura didn't dare question when and why he slept on a lawn chair. Rather than looking like someone who had just been rendered homeless for the night, Naruto looked as if someone had just offered him complimentary ramen noodles. "Sometimes when I'm looking at the stars I fall asleep outside," he explained casually, as if everyone fell asleep on lawn chairs looking at the stars.

Sakura rubbed her temples with disdain. "Naruto," she groaned, as if he forced her to say what she was about to say next. "Why don't you just sleep on the floor in my room," she offered reluctantly.

"Sakura," Naruto blushed floridly at the Haruno's kind offer. As much as he wanted to take it - who would rather sleep outside than inside in a nice, warm room? - he knew the respectable thing was to decline. He shook his head slightly and yawned once more. "No, Sakura. You're a girl you need your space. I don't mind sleeping outside, really," he insisted gently.

Maybe it was because she knew, if anything dangerous did happen, Naruto had dumb luck on his side and would inadvertently manage to get away from it. Maybe it was because they had walked nearly fifteen miles that day and she was dead tired. Whatever the reason was, Sakura complied.

"Okay," she said sleepily, though a part of her still felt like arguing the matter. He beamed with as much energy as his body had left - which was a lot for a normal person, but nearly none for Naruto. He patted her on the shoulder in a somewhat comforting way and squeezed it, making Sakura nearly sigh at the pressure; the sigh was caught in her throat as Naruto withdrew his hand and accidentally brushed his fingers against her jawbone. Thankfully, he seemed entirely ignorant of his actions and began scooping up the contents of his backpack (which Sasuke had thrown from the room earlier). So everything was resolved. Kakashi would somewhat selfishly sleep in the comfort of his very own room, Sasuke would even more selfishly throw up in the discomfort of his own room, and Naruto would sleep outside. He picked up his bag, ready to go. Sakura had another ridiculous charge of anxiety.

"...Naruto," she trailed off. Despite his annoying tendencies and his problem of saying too much and his uncanny knack of ruining moments Sakura wanted to share with solely Sasuke, she still cared for him. How could she explain she wanted him safe? How could she make sure he was safe if he would be far away? "Why don't you sleep on one of the chaises by the pool? It's right below my window," she suggested quickly.

Naruto cocked his head. "So?"

Sakura pursed her lips. Why was she being so over-protective? "Well," her voice got smaller and smaller until it dissipated. "I want you close in case," she trailed off once more. "In case Kakashi wants us to go quickly in th middle of the night!" she gave a short nervous chuckle. "That's all."

"Okay!" And with that, Naruto zoomed off towards the pool area. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief, picked up her bag and headed off to her hotel room. She tossed her backpack onto the bed and opened up the curtains. She opened the sliding doors to the balcony and walked towards the edge. Naruto was already down by the pool. She shook her head in disbelief. He must have ran the whole way down if he really beat her. She had to walk around the corner to her bed, he had to go down nine flights of stairs to get to his. She watched as Naruto rolled his sleeping bag out onto the chaise and looked up at her, smiling and waving cheerily. She gave a weak wave back, admiring the way the warm breeze blew through his short blond hair.

He was safe, comfortable, and within sight - so Sakura was happy. Closing the door but leaving the curtains open, she fell onto her bed and went to sleep.

Sakura was lost in a wonderful dream. She was lying on something soft and fluffy, which appeared to be a cloud. Sure enough, when she leaned over the edge, she saw all of Konoha below her.

Suddenly, a whirl of motion caught her eyes. A blur of yellow, orange, and blue shot up from the cloud next to her, stopping in mid-twirl and hovering in the air. The beams of sunlight, strong and pure blocked her from seeing his face. Bits of cloud were tangling with his mangy yellow hair, which every so often shone like strands of satin. He floated towards her and suddenly pushed her down and leaned over her. She could see his face faintly now. He shook his hair back and forth, getting the pieces of cloud out and chuckling as he did, his cyan eyes sparkling mischievously.

"Sakura-chan," he whispered, leaning down further. He brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Naruto, she sighed, closing her eyes as he stroked her cheek. She wanted this moment to last for the rest of her life, while trying to ignore the annoying tapping sound she heard from a distance.

"Sakura-chan," he sang softly, his lips inches from hers. "Sakura-chan..."

"SAKURA-CHAN!"

Sakura leaped frightfully from her bed and instinctively grabbed the kunai she kept on her bedside table in case of an emergency. She looked around dazed, and turned around facing the glass door leading out to the balcony, where Naruto stood pitifully, his backpack over his head to shield him from the rain drops falling from the sky. The backpack was doing little and he was becoming increasingly soaked by the torrential rain that was beginning to fall faster and harder.

"There's that tapping sound," she muttered, watching sleepily as plump raindrops ricocheted off the glass. She shook her head to clear the delirious fog the dream had created, and blushed fiercely upon making eye contact with the Uzumaki boy, realizing she had had a rather romantic dream of him.

Sakura unlocked the door and slid it open just enough to get Naruto in, and keep the raindrops out. She felt sorry for Naruto, who was near soaked to the skin and beginning to shiver. He hugged his backpack innocently as his teeth chattered away. Sakura traced her eyes to his face and met with a pair of wide blue eyes, half-hidden by the long blond bangs dripping over his face. She had an instinctive urge to brush the bangs out of his face, and found herself reaching out before she realized what she was doing. She froze in an instant and played it off, brushing her own dishevelled hair out of her face. She quickly snapped her arm back to her side after that.

"You alright?" she asked, eyeing him up and down, mostly trying to distract him from her strange behavior. He nodded, his expression still a bit bemused.

"That was a lot of rain," he said breathlessly. He was pale with cold, but he looked more frightened than freezing. "I tried going to Sasuke's window first," he said. (That explains the frightened expression.) He shook his head gravely. "He told me to go to Kakashi but I don't know where his room is so I had to come here," he said, nearly apologetic.

Sakura hurried towards the bathroom and flicked the bathroom light on. It shone in on the rest of the night-fallen room. "You should change," she pointed out, trying not to blush as she said it. "Or you'll get a cold. Do you have any other clothes?"

"I have some other pants, but this is my only jacket," he plucked the soaked orange jacket off his skin. Sakura looked over at her backpack; her oversized Haruno sweatshirt her mom had made for her was sticking out. She snatched it quickly and gave it to the wet boy. "We'll figure out some sleeping arrangement when you're drier."

"Here, you can wear this," she offered. He took it happily and trotted towards the bathroom.

"Sakura," he said, his head poking out from the bathroom door, a big, goofy, yet endearing smile on his face. "You're a good friend."

"Okay, your turn!" Sakura announced, leaning back on the pillows she had propped against the headboard of the bed. She took a sip from the water bottle she had found in the refreshment bar of the hotel room.

Naruto was sitting cross-legged across from her on the edge of the bed, clad in dry orange pants and Sakura's oversized, red Haruno clan sweatshirt, which created an awfully clashing ensemble. He rested his hands on his ankles and tilted his head, deep in thought.

"Oh, I got one!" he exclaimed, bouncing up and down a few times in excitement. "I am the only one I know who can eat more than eight bowls of ramen in one sitting!"

Sakura smirked happily. "Yeah, you're the only one I've met who can do that, too." She paused in thought for a moment. "Let's see," she thought some more. "I'm the only one I know with pink hair."

Naruto stopped bouncing and stared in confusion. "Wait, no one in your family has pink hair?"

Sakura shrugged and twirled some strands around her fingers. "My father has brown hair and my mother has more red colored hair," she explained. "I mean, they tell me my grandmother had pink hair, but I've never met her before. She died a while ago."

Naruto gazed at her in wonder, soaking up each word she said with an arched eyebrow. Finally, after understanding all that she said, Naruto let out a laugh and Sakura smiled contentedly at the mellifluous sound of his voice. This was the first time they had spent somuch time with just the two of them. Sakura revelled in the odd anniversary, unsure as to why she was even thinking like that. After a few moments, she asked, "Alright, what else you got?"

"Well...," he bit his lip in thought. "I'm the only one I know who...who can't stand killing bugs."

Sakura laughed, recalling all the times she had overlooked as Naruto squealed at the sight of a bug being murdered.

"Naruto I'm telling you, that gigantic wolf spider Sasuke found in his sleeping bag that one time didn't feel a thing when he stomped on it," she explained through her laughter. "He's in a better place now." Naruto frowned at the flashback, but quickly gave up on being affronted and joined in on laughing. It didn't matter to Naruto what they were laughing at, just that he was able to entertain Sakura and enjoy each other's company.

"Now you," he said between chuckles. He flipped to his stomach and cupped his chin in his hand.

Sakura thought for a moment. "I'm the only one I know who...who worries about you."

Naruto sat up, trying to contain his wild blush while also displaying his quizzical thought process. "About me?" he chuckled nervously. "Why should you worry about me? I'm alright," he rambled sheepishly.

Sakura flushed, looking down at her nicely manicured hands that were twiddling with fear of saying too much at once. "I know I shouldn't... you can take care of yourself."

Naruto gave her a near-indignant look. "So you don't think I'm a good part of the team either," he stated as more of a confirmation than a question, as if he's heard that before.

Sakura let out a huff, realizing this wasn't going well and beating herself up about saying anything about the matter. "No, Naruto, that isn't what I meant. You are an important part of this team. Sometimes I just worry about you that's all...I worry about all of you," she amended hurriedly. "I know I'm the least powerful one on the team and that I can't do as much as you and Sasuke-kun can, but I forget how powerful you are sometimes and...I mean, it's not that I don't respect you-"

She was silenced suddenly by a hand lain over his own. She hadn't even noticed Naruto had moved and was now sitting beside her, leaning against the headboard of the bed.

"Don't worry about it Sakura," he said with a soft smile. "When people care about one another that's what they do. They worry about one another," his face flushed a light carnation as he talked more and more. Sakura hadn't seemed to notice. She looked down from his face to his hand, and back up again. She nodded and let out a quiet agreement and smiled back at him.

"You're right," she said. Naruto was oblivious to the fact she was so close to a confession in her agreement; Sakura rarely admitted anything remotely connected to her feelings about him, if about anything.

Still watching his face, Naruto grinned charmingly as he closed his eyes tightly and yawned cutely. Sakura chuckled. "Tired?" Naruto nodded sleepily, sliding off the other side of the bed and pulling a pillow down to the floor with him. Sakura looked out the glass sliding door. The rainfall had died down immensely, but it was still drizzling out and Naruto's chaise would be too wet to sleep on comfortably. She looked over the edge of the bed and watched as Naruto was nearly unconscious, scrunched up with his pillow. His golden, dishevelled strands fell softly onto the pillow. Sakura smiled and took the top blanket off the bed and gently draped it over him. His eyes opened slightly and he peered lazily over at her.

"What are you doing?" he mumbled tiredly.

"You can't sleep without a blanket," she reported matter-of-factly. "Whenever I would fall asleep out on my balcony at home or on my couch, my mom would come put a blanket over me," she explained.

Naruto settled back down on his pillow and didn't question any further. Sakura stopped fixing the blanket, remembering that she had the luxury of parents that her team mates did not. With a sting of remorse for bringing up her mother, she went on. "She would always tuck me in, too," Sakura hopped onto the bed and leaned over the edge so she could still see Naruto. "And then she would sort of stroke my hair, like this," she explained with blushed cheeks, demonstrating. She ran her fingers lightly over the top of his head with a soft reckless abandon.

"Anything else?" Naruto said quietly. His eyes were blinking slowly to try and keep awake. So badly did he want to fall asleep so he could be refreshed for his mission tomorrow, but how often does Sakura spent her time on him?

"Yeah," Sakura said, unconsciously aware of what she was saying anymore. "She would kiss me on the forehead."

Naruto perked up to meet Sakura's face, inches from her nose. "Okay!" Sakura slid backwards, making sure her fist met the top of his head as she did. Naruto fell backwards onto his pillow again and made sure not to complain, or even open his mouth again. For a split second he had forgotten that Sakura was Sakura, and demanded a level of respect.

Sakura sniffed and pushed her hair back. Normally she would feel some sort of regret for hitting him when he's being so ignorantly dumb, but this time she felt justified. She decided to continue on with her story. She settled back down to the edge of the bed and hugged her pillow tightly, watching as Naruto flipped over slowly and buried his head in his pillow.

"And then she would say 'Goodnight'," Sakura said, feeling her cheeks ignite once more. "And uh, 'I love you'."

"I love you, too," Naruto mumbled sleepily, both their eyes were nearly shut for the night.

It was several seconds before either realized what he had just admitted to. His eyes snapped open and he sat up, backing away as far as he could from the side of the bed, fearful of another blow to his head. "I was... sleep talking? Sleep talking! I was sleep talking!" his exclaims turned into pleas quickly, although he was unable to match her eyes.

Had he dared make eye contact with him, he would have seen Sakura appear shocked, confused, bewildered, and then finally happy - a kind of happy she hadn't ever felt before. He would have watched her rise from her bed and slink onto the floor. He would have seen her lips curve into a small smile just before they pressed against his.

Naruto wasn't generally a quick learner. But he knew within a few seconds to overcome his shock and kiss back or his chance would be gone. Sakura would normally have been taken aback at the near-ferocity at which Naruto responded to her, had she not been distracted by every nerve ending in her body seeming to catch fire at the touch of their lips combining. She felt his warm hands run up her arms and she folded hers around his neck, and then through his hair, where she tightened them reflexively as the kiss deepened. Naruto held her to him gently, wrapping his arm around her waist and the other to the back of her neck. He felt full and complete, brimming with pure sensation and contentment.

With some level of difficulty, Naruto pulled away for air, resting his forehead against hers. He laughed lightly, unsure as to why, and so did she, although she looked rather disorientated.

"Time for bed," he suggested reluctantly, laughing some more when her face twisted into slight disappointment and protest. "We can always continue this talk tomorrow, you know," he promised, stilling chuckling a bit. There was a fire in her eyes that showed she wanted to do less talking and more kissing. The thought of that sent happy shivers down his spine as she stood up and settled back into her bed. Naruto crawled back towards his small pillow and thin blanket and climbed under the covers.

Sakura let out a happy sigh, which turned to laughter. "Sleep talking?" she prodded with a tiny amount of mockery.

He shrugged, although she didn't see it. "I might have meant it." He grinned into his pillow as Sakura arched her eyebrow.

She could hardly articulate what exactly she was feeling at that moment. When the day commenced she was still trying to pair her name with Sasuke's surname; but now things were different. She was different. So she turned over to face Naruto, whose eyes were closed gingerly. "Well then," she whispered. "Me too."

And, judging from Naruto's smile, it was more than enough for him.