Hi. Can you believe it's been over a year since I've posted anything on here? On that note, we are going to skip how awful of an update-er I am and ignore the new-story smell radiating off this. Awesome.

So, I've had this bit of writing laying around for quite some time. I think Itachi was still alive when I started this. Yeah, that long. Tonight, I finished it. Don't hold your breath, but there may be a sequel too. No promises.

Disclaimer: I do not own 'Naruto'. I have not, nor will I ever make any financial profit from this Fan Fiction.

Stretching her arms above them, Sakura attempted to twist and curve her slender fingers to match the gnarled branches.

Late autumn and due to the cold snap most of the leaves had already faded from their array of yellows, oranges, reds and browns. A few stronger trees held fast to their assortment of leaves however, creating bright, beautiful bunches to highlight the scenery. It was pretty, peaceful and a complete escape from reality. Sakura loved this little glade, loved the grassy earth beneath her back, the crisp, refreshing scent of fall. She even loved how the cold air made faint clouds of breath when she laughed or breathed too deeply.

Bending a knuckle in her index finger she was able to perfectly imitate the tree, with the exception of a single branch, but she only had so many fingers.

From her left, another hand reached out to hide behind hers, the skin a few shades darker than her fairer complexion. The palm roughened, almost like sandpaper to a softer touch. The thumb layered with miniature bite scars.

His pinky stretched out from her wrist and together, they completed their impromptu art.

Looking over at her friend, she caught his cerulean gaze, seeing her own emerald iris' in them. Sparks of light reflected back at her and she smiled wider, her mind at ease, comfortable in his company.

Only Naruto could make her feel like this now.

With a flip of her wrist, she gripped his hand and slowly, reverently, caressed her own cheek with his knuckles, saying, without words, how much she appreciated him. Just as she hoped, his grin morphed into a genuine smile that reached his eyes, brightening them.

She liked this side of him. He didn't have to be brash or loud for his opinion to be heard. He didn't have anything to prove here. He only had to be. Period.

That's all she asked of him anymore.

She hated how she had pled for him to bring back Sasuke. It was such a selfish thing to do. It has been childish. Mind you, she had been young and 'so in love'. Blah. Sasuke was still out there somewhere, cold, full of hate and pride. The thought of being close to him, to have to stand near enough to even touch his shadow made her sick to her stomach.

She'd do it if she had to, she'd do many things if her village asked her to. It was her job, her duty. Her life.

The same could be said for the blond laying by her side; watching the play of emotions swirling through her eyes, waiting for her to snap out of her thoughts, to come back to the present and simply enjoy the moments together before another mission separated them again... her nose scrunched. "I did it again, didn't I?"

Naruto gave a soft laugh, squeezing Sakura's fingers he held protectively in his hand. "Yeah, but it's okay, it didn't take you as long this time to come back"

The gentle sweep of Sakura's brows deepened when she scowled, dis-heartened with her inability to leave reality behind when they came here.

"Sakuraaaa! Don't look at me like that! It's scary" The brat used his squeaky, goofy voice. She couldn't help it, her grin escaped and he grinned back, his eyes squinting.

Breaking her hand away from his hold, she playfully punched his side. Naruto's breath wooshed, brushing over her face and she could smell traces of mint from his toothpaste. And salty broth.

His body curled up along hers in his feigned pain; his knees pressed to her hip and his head held against her shoulder, before he laughed outright and rolled away from her again.

She rolled with him and laid her head on his chest, her arm resting casually over his stomach, her other hand still entwined with his, as it had been from the moment they had laid down beside each other.

Naruto shifted, shoving an arm under his head so he could look at her without the crick in his neck. She was so beautiful to him. Hell, anyone who looked at her could see it, the mesmerizing light green eyes fanned with long lashes that skimmed her cheekbones, the unique pink of her hair that shone until it nearly glittered in the sunlight.

Her fair, unblemished skin tone. Her mouth, he could almost imagine the softness of her lips, tinged a deeper pink than her hair. Her smile... but she was more than esthetics to him though.

It was so easy to forget her strength, not just her insane ability to tear up the landscape with a punch, but her ability to think clearly while surrounded by carnage and seemingly blood-thirsty shinobi.

The strength of will to fight loosing odds.

The strength to smile afterwards, to accept that the lives she had taken were for a reason.

The strength to live the life of a Kunoichi.

She was not one to be pushed back and protected anymore. She would sooner push through and stand beside Naruto. Glare at him for even trying to stop her and together, they've kicked a lot of asses. Not that he'd given up trying to protect her. He was just a bit more subtle.

"Hey, Naruto?"

He blinked. "Hmm?"

"You don't suppose he does this, do you? I mean, just laying back, forgetting for a time about all the world to just focus on what he has that's still good?"

Naruto looked puzzled, he knew she was referring to Sasuke, but he wasn't sure if there was a safe answer to her question. Looking through his lashes at her, seeing her study their hands like foreign objects while waiting on his answer, he gave her one off the redundant shelf. One he knew she'd want to hear; part truth, part sugared.

"Nah... well, sure, I can see him off by himself, brooding. Probably glaring at everything around him while thinking about revenge and all that bullshit. That's just Sasuke. He can't see anything else, believe me, I've tried to beat it into him that we're all the people he needs. He won't have it, but don't worry, that doesn't mean I've given up or anything"

Sakura was quiet. He didn't let what she'd said get to him. Often times she'd try to place Sasuke in a content setting to imagine how he'd react. If she could mold him in her head as a better person. Naruto understood that it was her way of coping.

The last time they'd been here, she'd confessed to Naruto that she worried for Sasuke, she hated who he'd become and that she was actually furious with the 'Avenger' for hurting Naruto like he had, as many times as he had.

She'd told Naruto that he, the blond goof-ball, had become her most precious person.

Then she'd kissed his cheek and had laughed to kill herself when he'd jumped back, blushing and watching warily for her to attack him.

Naruto laughed out loud now at the perfect memory.

For an instant Sakura had been perfectly content, and then her head had bounced against Naruto's chest like a ping pong ball. She raised herself up on her hands to watch him, her eyes wide in confusion.

"What's so damned funny? Naruto?"

He sucked in a breath and pointed at her. She scowled, insulted and annoyed at his continued chortling - over nothing as far as she cared to know-, huffed and then shoved him with chakra laden arms.

His face froze in shock as his body tumbled across the ground, barely missing the trees. Grinning, he twisted his legs around and dug his fingers into the ground stop his tumbling. Dirt and miniscule bits of the forest floor dug under his nails, it hurt like a bitch, but he didn't care.

By the look on Sakura's face; the playful smirk and raised brow, she was waiting for him to retaliate.

He smirked too before he launched himself to the trees, using minimal amounts of chakra to push his way through the forest, leaping from one tree trunk to another. Using zigzag patterns to shake her eyes from him.

Finally, his opening came up when her eyes strayed just a tiny bit behind him. Using the minimal blind-spot, Naruto flew at Sakura, trapping her arms at her sides as he wrapped himself around her, rolling to his back to take the hit as they smashed into the ground... and into the boulder that just had to inconveniently and strategically be in just the right -wrong- place .

Gritting his teeth against the sharp yank and subsequent ache of a popped shoulder joint. Oops.

Sakura gave a strangled gasp of surprise that morphed into a growl, the medic in her knowing that he'd injured himself with the impact.

That stunt had been ridiculous, as fun as it had been. She hadn't worried, knowing that he'd never intentionally hurt her. Even when she'd felt his arms wrap around her and her feet leave the ground, she had been secretly thrilled. Enjoying the warmth and security he freely bestowed upon her.

They laid still for a few seconds, Sakura curled over top Naruto, his arms locked around her with his face hidden in her hair. She could feel his even breathing, his heart thumping, but she knew his shoulder needed attention before his body's natural healing messed with it.

"Hey, let go, you need to let me look at your shoulder"

He chuckled and loosened his grip, letting her slide off him. "Wow, that's pretty good, Sakura. How could you tell?"

She answered automatically, her mind already settling into damage assessment and diagnosis. She didn't even notice his blush when she removed his coat.

"You were holding me close enough that I felt your shoulder give" Her fingertips glowed a faint emerald as they grazed the lowered ball of his shoulder joint, knowing that it was simply out of place, but checking for any extra injuries. Finding none, she shifted her feet beneath her and placing her hands on his stomach and back, she helped him stand, ignoring his grumble about being able to on his own.

"I need to pop your shoulder back into place. Try not to grit your teeth, you might break one" Sakura's stomach flopped to see Naruto grimace when she grabbed his arm as gently as she could. She hated the thought of having to cause him any pain but she sucked it up. This guy could handle a lot more pain than this would cause him – did so on a daily basis, in fact, so she secured her footing and pulled. Hard.

Naruto's shoulder popped back into the socket. A harsh grunt wheezed through his teeth and Sakura's hands rushed to numb the pain.

She could see his lips lift into a small smile of reassurance. Asking him to rotate his arm, she assessed each little movement, shooting chakra here and there to fix any remaining stiffness. Happy with the results and seeing Naruto relaxed once more, she stepped back and indicated his coat on the ground.

Naruto felt pretty stupid at the moment. Leave it to him to ruin a perfectly good atmosphere. Sakura was acting all cuddly and cute and playful and he just had to hurt himself. Talk about a mood breaker.

Damnit.

Shrugging on his coat, he fiddled with the zipper, pretending to get it stuck. He could, maybe, ask her if she wanted to go get food, or something. He could tell that their time in the glade was over for today, but he didn't have to be anywhere until tomorrow morning and he was pretty sure she said something about not having anything to do today, either.

Taking a breath, he raised his chin to find her smiling prettily at him. Her cheeks flushed from the cold, her hands gripping the edges of her cloak.

He choked.

He was stalling for time and it made Sakura giddy to realize that Naruto didn't want the day to end either. His eyes shifted, his fists tightening and releasing at his sides until he sighed heavily.

"Hey, Sakura... I was thinking, do you, well, I don't have to go with Shika' and the others until the morning, would you... I, maybe.."

She smiled, knowing what he was trying to ask. Brushing the leaves off her deep red skirt, she looked to his own serious, sapphire stare. "You know, I'm kind of hungry. What do you say to grabbing some take-out and watching a movie over to your place, Naruto?"

He stared at her, his eyes huge, when that bright, heart-warming smile beamed at her and he scratched the back of his head. "Sure, Sakura, whatever you want"

Movie credits slowly scrolled over the screen and random stills of the movie lit up the dark room with a soft glow. Empty, and rather pungent, takeout containers littered the coffee table.

Sakura stirred, her tiny hands gripping a little tighter on Naruto's shirt. He paused his stretch, and then finally made that last inch to reach the remote to shut off the TV.

The movie hadn't been as great as they had both thought it would be. The acting had been poor, the special effects bland.

Really, when you spend your life as a Shinobi, you know for a fact that when you're stuck in the stomach with a sword, the blood doesn't spray twenty feet and certainly not hard enough to knock someone over.

Oh, well. It had been enough for them to laugh stupidly and then they'd made a game out of it, pointing out all the errors.

Eventually Sakura had shimmied over, laid her head on his lap and had been asleep in minutes. A while later, she had turned in her sleep until her face was pressed to his stomach, one knee curled, the other leg outstretched. Then her hands had tangled in his shirt and the oh-so-comfortable-looking Kunoichi had begun to snore ever so softly.

He would take that knowledge to the grave.

Maybe.

It wasn't like he had wanted to go anywhere, anyway, but he'd looked over to the clock to see it was later than he'd thought. If he was lucky, he'd get four hours of sleep before his alarm went off. Crap.

He decided that instead of waking her, he'd put Sakura in his bed and sleep on the couch. It was going to be more like a nap anyway. Thinking ahead, he brought his hands together and whispered. With a soft poof another version of him appeared, already knowing what was being asked, the clone disappeared into the other room to ready the bed.

Maneuvering carefully, not wanting to touch her in places that would give him a black eye - even in sleep Naruto knew she'd punch him, mistake or not -, he curved his arm beneath her knees and back, rising, he carried her to his room.

The clone saluted him and dispelled, leaving behind a made bed with the blankets pulled down.

Laying Sakura down, he gently opened her fist to release his shirt and covered her, watching in awe as she settled into his pillow and blankets. Gazing for only a moment at the surreal picture of Sakura sleeping in his bed, he turned to go when her hazy voice called out to him."-uto, you can sleep here"

He bit the inside of his cheek, feeling his heart pound. The thought of sharing his bed with Sakura, no matter how innocently, was tempting. "Sakura, it's late, I don't mind. Go back to sleep. I'll be on the couch if you need anything"

He made one more step toward the doorway.

"Naruto, please?"

He blinked and turned as he heard the muffled shuffling. She was lying on her side, looking so sleepy with eyes half closed, the blanket held up for him.

Sighing, not knowing if it was from losing the battle or from happiness, he closed the distance, carefully crawled into the bed and stretched out on his side like normal.

Sakura waited until he was comfortable, turned her back to him and shimmied until she was pressed against him, fitting perfectly within his muscled contours. Taking his arm, she wrapped it around her waist and interlocked their fingers.

Naruto went still, she couldn't even feel him breathe, but after a few moments he relaxed again and gently squeezed her hand with his.

It wasn't long before his breathing deepened, his heart slowed and she knew he was asleep.

Moving with extreme slowness, trying so hard not to wake the sleeping ninja, she carefully twisted her head to look over her shoulder at him and was met with his glittering, deep blue iris' staring back at her.

A soft gasp whooshed through her parted lips, her heart slammed against her ribs.

He'd startled her, but there was more to the feelings washing through her, more to the tightness in her chest.

Waiting and watching each other, Naruto attempted a blink and promptly fell back asleep.

Sakura smiled, that had been...cute.

Turning her head back around, once more feeling Naruto wake with the extremely subtle movement, she closed her eyes. Her last thought being hope that Naruto slept well, 'cause she was so damned comfortable she doubted she'd want to sleep alone in her own bed any more.

Shikamaru squinted into the sunlight, correctly judging it to be almost an hour later than the appointed meeting time. He sighed, annoyed beyond belief. If Naruto ever made it on time for a mission debriefing, Shikamaru would eat Choji's last BBQ chip.

Edit: I think I fixed it all the squished up lines. Should have been much easier to read. Meh... Thank for reading!