Brother Complex

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but Sakura does. ;D

Sakura's week had been hell so far. Due to her Shishou's mandate for all active shinobi to receive physicals by the end of the work week, there had been an influx of trouble making testosterone. Suffice to say, she had experienced enough male nudity and stupidity to last a life time. To make matters worse, she didn't even get a break when attending to members of her own gender as proven by Anko's friendly harassment.

All things considered, she was rightfully miffed to be assigned yet another patient just as her shift ended. But as she glanced through the patient's file to discover a familiar name, her scowl lightened into a fond smile. She'd never admit it, but it was always nice to see Naruto.

Sakura had known Naruto ever since they were both snot-nosed brats in the academy together. She had known the eccentric male for a hell of a long time, the pink haired medic concluded. And in that hellishly long time, she had learned many things about the blonde haired bundle of energy. She, along with practically everyone with functioning eyes, knew that the knuckle head had a limitless love for ramen, a fetish for the color orange and a knack for committing acts of stupidity. And almost everyone, herself included, knew of his ambition to be the next Hokage.

But as stated before, Sakura has known the village idiot for a freakishly long time. That being said, she was acquainted with him on a much more intimate level.

Despite his two year absence, she still knew practically everything about him. From trivial things like his shoe size and preference for wearing boxers (both of which he had told her in a lame attempt to flirt) to serious things concerning his personal demons and the sadness behind the goofy veneer, she knew Naruto through and through. This is probably why she had realized that he would undoubtedly make one hell of a hokage one day.

Closeness aside, she had always viewed Naruto in a strictly platonic way though he persisted to crush on her. She'd admit that she cared for him much more than just a teammate, but she had no intention of ever returning his exuberant affections. Honestly, Naruto was like a brother to her.

Which leads us to her current predicament.

After lots of small talk and teasing, she had ordered him to strip down to his froggie boxers as per usual for a shinobi physical. So after some suggestive comments, Naruto obliged and whipped off his shirt and pants with more flare and flexing than was necessary. And of course, the chatterbox couldn't resist taunting his female teammate yet again.

"So Sakura-chan," he paused to leer a bit with his best grin in place, "Like what you see?"

As she took the time to observe his tanned and toned physique, Sakura found herself distracted by his dancing pecks and rippling muscles. As the apprentice of the Hokage, the pinkette was nothing but professional even in the face of sexiness. And sure; she had seen Naruto shirtless many times before, but that had been before he got a deeper voice and abs. Much to her complete and utter shock, Sakura found herself mentally admitting that she did indeed like what she saw. And that was a problem.

So the cherry blossom of the Leaf village pulled her best poker face and rushed through the rest of the exam. Muttering a half-hearted excuse, she dashed out of the hospital leaving a slightly confused Naruto. When she was finally in the safe confines of her home, she finally allowed herself to freak out.

Because there was no way in hell she had just shamelessly ogled the dude she considered as a brother.

A couple of sleepless nights later finally forced our troubled protagonist to succumb to slumber. Chasing away disturbing thoughts that she considered incestuous, the petal pink haired kunoichi drifted off as she determinedly counted sheep. Unfortunately for her, the counting sheep were soon chased off as a certain shinobi ninja-ed his way into her dreams.

Just like during his exam, the mischievous male's blue eyes gleamed at her as he smirked. Also similar to his little stunt at the hospital, he shed his orange outfit slowly while flaunting his body. As if that wasn't enough to scar her for life, the pole dancing that followed surely was.

Shortly after witnessing Naruto's strip tease, she classified the dream as a nightmare. It would seem that though she could evade him in real life, she couldn't avoid him from invading her unconscious mind. Lacking the will to wake, Sakura was forced to endure hours as his unwilling audience. On a positive note, her dreamed up version of Naruto really knew how to put on a show; and work a pole for that matter.

Nearly a week of dodging the object of her hormone-induced affections, Naruto managed to track her down at the Yamanaka flower shop. The supposedly big-fore headed girl had just been confessing her recent problems to the girl she deemed a pig when the current subject of conversation stumbled in. Ino, ever the scheming frienemy, had promptly sold out Sakura upon Naruto asking if she was busy. As she was dragged off to train, the rosette cursed both blondes to hell (a.k.a. Sound) and back.

After an intense and grueling spar between the two, the master of mischief had successfully managed to knock her off her feet and onto her ass. Unexpectedly, he had also managed to pin her down much to her embarrassment. She would flat out deny that her loss had anything to do with his shirtless state.

Looming above her with the sun giving him a halo, Sakura's thoughts were once again muddled. Her viridian eyes were irresistibly drawn to his electric blue hues as they twinkled in victory. "I won Sakura-chan," he gloated good-naturedly with a Cheshire grin from ear to ear.

Shaking herself from her daze, Sakura tried to retain some normalcy. "You won baka," she sighed in defeat, "Now get your lazy ass off me."

Like the gentleman she had molded him into, he helped her up. And just like the pervert Jiraiya had trained him to be, he then attempted to 'dust' her off. Consequently, she beat his ass to Suna and back which led to her subsequent healing of his thoroughly mutilated form. After declaring her the new winner of their sparring match, Naruto requested a celebratory trip to Ichiraku's. All of which was considered routine for Naruto and Sakura.

Breaking routine however, the cherry blossom decided to accept the offer.

"So Sakura-chan," Naruto sidled up to her, "Does this count as a date?"

"Sure," she countered spunkily, "if you're paying."

Barely containing himself, her 'date' reassured her that Gama-chan was one very full froggie wallet. "So…" he trailed off with a nervous excitement, "it's a date then."

"It's a date," Sakura rolled her eyes half-heartedly and laced her arm through his offered one.

And so they went off on their first date, still absolutely filthy from fighting and adorned in their shinobi gear. Teuchi had jokingly threatened to kick Naruto out for not having a shirt on while Ayame openly cooed at them. In between massive consumption of ramen (for which Sakura scolded him) the hyperactive motor mouth entertained her with his long, nonsensical tangents.

After years of knowing him, Sakura found herself re-evaluating Naruto. With his vibrant coloring and fit form, she categorized him as exceedingly handsome. But it was more than that, she found herself thinking, he was lively and knew how to laugh. Furthermore, he knew how to make her laugh.

And so she decided that Naruto was more than just her teammate. And maybe more than just a friend. One thing was for certain, he sure as hell wasn't anything like a brother anymore.

/Fin/

Author's Note: I wrote this as a kind of a 'thank you' fic to all those who showed love for my other NaruSaku fic 'Cradle Robber'. Plus the plot bunnies compelled me to write more NaruSaku. ;D So how'd you like it? Please don't be afraid to tell me as feedback is thoroughly appreciated and loved. You don't need an account and it can be as simple as a ';)' to make my day. So please review!

I want to thank you lovely readers for taking the time to read this. Quite frankly, I'm honored. I wish you a fun filled day with lots of great fics. And to my fellow writers, I wish you a productive day with loads of plot bunnies. ;D

~Sincerely Dotti3