[Naruto] Yours and Mine, chapter 5
Title: Yours and Mine
Fandom: Naruto
Genre: General/Romance
Rating: T
Characters/Pairings: Naruto & Sakura; hints of one-sided Sasuke/Sakura and eventual Naruto/Sakura.
Warnings/Spoilers: Pre-time skip. Some shameless fluff.
Status: In-Progress.
Summary: A collection of short stories that span Naruto and Sakura's lives together.
Notes: For an LJ meme, but I polished it and re-posted. Enjoy.
Previous chapters: 01 | 02 | 03 | 04
5 - Catch Me When I Fall
He didn't need to see bubblegum hair or search for deep emerald eyes to recognize it was her. It was automatic from the way his heart picked up speed every time he was within reach of her-he could just feel it.
“Sakuraaaa-chaaan!” he said, calling out to her.
She looked up, momentarily startled by the volume of his voice before looking mildly irritated when she saw that it was him. “Baka, you need to have a better way of getting my attention,” she said, once he approached her, however, she didn't look too angry.
He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Heh... sorry about that, Sakura-chan,” he said. “So what brings you here?” He frowned a little. “Why are you all by yourself?”
Right when he said this, it was like a switch had gone off. And he just knew from the way her lashes cast downward and pink lips became nothing more than a thin line across her face that she was upset about something. Or about someone. Naruto didn't need to be a genius to know who that was.
And like always, the thought of her hurting and sad made something inside Naruto hurt too. It also made him angry. Normally, he would have found the bastard and made him pay, but instead he found himself reaching out and grabbing Sakura by the hand.
“Naruto-“ she said, eyes going wide. “What are you-“
“C'mon, Sakura-chan, let's go somewhere!” he said, tugging her along.
“Go where exactly?” she said, sounding suspicious.
“You'll see,” he said, grinning. “It's a surprise!”
“You better not be taking me to Ichiraku's, Naruto,” she warned. “That wouldn’t be very surprising.”
Naruto chuckled. “No, this place is even better,” he said, causing her brows to shoot up her hairline. “I promise… you’ll love it.”
Something better than Ichiraku? She thought. Now this she had to see.
He had made her close her eyes though, reminding her that it was meant to be a surprise.
“What if I bump into something?” she said, feeling somewhat inadequate and nervous without the confidence of her own vision to lead her safely.
However, she heard Naruto laugh softly. “I’d never let that happen,” he said with absolute certainty. “I’ll protect you.”
She couldn’t say anything after that. And while she complained some more about it and threatened to beat him up if he winded up making her walk into something, she trusted him completely. Just him and the feel of his hand over hers-it was comforting. She had never felt anything so warm and so reassuring as being led blindly by the hand by Naruto. She surprised herself upon the realization that being with Naruto had always made her feel safe. It was always like that with him. She could let herself fall ten feet off the Earth and be positive he'd be there at the bottom to catch her.
It made her wonder why Sasuke never exuded such warmth and assurance like Naruto did. It was a little strange and disappointing… how everything she wanted from Sasuke she always received from Naruto.
But just thinking about Sasuke and his coldness towards her this afternoon suddenly made the unpleasant feeling she felt in her heart earlier spread, but was only stopped when Naruto's hand gave her fingers a quick but gentle squeeze-as though he could read her mind and understood her thoughts, all without saying anything. That was another thing about Naruto that surprised her; it was how well he knew her. Just how did he know her so well? She couldn’t fathom it, but whenever she needed someone… he was there, like he somehow knew she needed him.
“Okay, we're here,” said Naruto's voice by her ear, causing her to jump. “You can open your eyes now.”
As she did, she nearly gasped. They were on top of the Hokage monument and from here they could see the whole village. And in the distance, the sun was setting and its beauty took Sakura's breath away.
“What do you think?” he asked, watching her expression like a kid waiting for Christmas hour to strike.
And for a moment, Sakura forgot her own sadness. “It’s… beautiful,” she said, breathless.
Naruto grinned. “Knew you’d love it,” he said, looking immensely proud of himself. “This place is great. I used to always come here,” he said, sobering suddenly as he took a seat.
Sakura took a seat beside him carefully. “You did?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yeah… whenever I got lonely,” he said with a solemn smile to himself. “It always made me feel better. I’d stand up here and just tell myself, ‘Someday everyone's going to look up to me and acknowledge me’ and that always made me feel better somehow. It would get me through another day.”
Sakura looked at her hands. She never knew… had never thought… She was always so concerned about how she looked and what the best way to get Sasuke to notice her... it never occurred to her that maybe Naruto had faced even harder problems than she had while growing up. She’d taken a lot of things for granted, she realized.
“Why did you take me up here anyway?” she asked finally.
“’Cause I wanted to see you smile,” he said, looking at her shyly. “This place always managed to cheer me up whenever I was down. So I thought it might do the same for you. The Sakura-chan I know best is the one who’s always smiling.”
Sakura felt her cheeks flush and the warmth in her chest spread like wildfire. She didn't understand how such a simple and honest statement could make her feel so cherished. So important. So loved. No one had ever gone out of their way to make her feel better, let alone to make her smile. That was another strange and yet completely unique and wonderful thing about Naruto: his uncanny ability to make a rainy day… into a sunny one.
Then, remembering her embarrassment, she looked away.
“Baka... saying stuff like that with a straight face.” But her lips had curled into a smile. He was just so good at making her laugh and smile again. It just came naturally when she was around him.
Absentmindedly, she reached over again and took his hand in hers. Like she’d expected it would be, it was so very, very warm. “Thank you.”
The squeeze of her fingers was the only answer she needed.