Naruto looks back and thinks how this all started.
Maybe life is one big cliché and someone was right when they said that opposites attract. Isn't that the reasoning behind magnets and atomic charges and people too?
But the way they carried on before threw him for a loop because they acted like they hated each other. Or was it really just that- they were acting. They were like cat and dog. They couldn't stand being in each other's presence and only tolerated each other because of him.
His bestfriend would complain about how annoying his girlfriend was, with her pink hair and green eyes and know-it-all attitude and why was she so god damn cheerful all the time? How she was lucky Naruto was too much of a dobe to fall for her. How someone like her was annoying, he'll never know. The only time she was bitchy was in front of his bestfriend. His girlfriend would complain that his bestfriend was the biggest brooding, stone-cold jerk she ever met and was no better than a statue or block of ice. Shame his mother was too nice. How his pretty hair and dark eyes won't ever get him a girlfriend once they found out how rude he is. And how both of them swore they hated each other.
Maybe he should have been alert then; maybe he should have anticipated what would eventually happen. Didn't they say there's a fine line between love and hate? But he was naive and maybe he really was a dobe for trusting the two of them.
He had to leave for a year for an exchange program during their senior year. It was a great opportunity for him. He was only worried what would happen when he leaves the two people he cared most about together. There was bound to be world war when that happens. So he asked his bestfriend to treat his girl the way he would. He protested at first but he blackmailed him into it. He told him he'd spread the news that he was the one who arranged her meeting with her idol Dr. Senju, who was a friend of his family. He relented, not wanting anyone to know he had a heart after all. So yeah, maybe it was his fault but the teme didn't have to take him that seriously. He did just that and more.
In the beginning he'd receive e-mails and calls about their petty squabbles then they seemed to have gotten better with the complaints getting less and less. Soon they were skyping with him together, telling him stories of where they went and what they did. He felt glad that they were actually getting along. His girlfriend needed someone to take care of her while his bestfriend needed someone to make his life a little brighter. He just didn't know how much.
Maybe he should have foreseen this. After all, wasn't his friendship with the teme also based on them being opposites? Like sun and moon, day and night? He was the light to his darkness. It's why they've lasted being friends despite how much they frustrate each other because they balance each other out. And didn't teme say his girlfriend was too much like him?
His girlfriend had always been kind-hearted, volunteering at hospitals and animal shelters. She has a weakness for the needy and wounded. And wouldn't he consider teme an emotional cripple and sick at the heart? Well, fuck.
He remembers how he first met her near the end of junior year in college. He and his bestfriend were playing soccer when the teme got distracted and accidentally kicked the ball to his face. She was coincidentally walking from the library across the field. She saw them and being a premed student, she decided to help seeing as he was out cold. She helped them to the infirmary. When he came to, he was floored by the vision of her standing over him and the teme hovering next to her, talking. He decided she was his angel and asked her out on a date. She seemed shy at first but relented when he wouldn't take no for an answer. The teme looked constipated as usual. It took a couple more months before she agreed to be his girlfriend. The teme didn't speak to him for a week when he found out.
Reflecting upon it, maybe he interfered with what was supposed to happen. Maybe he wasn't meant for her and the teme was. Because they were each other's opposite from the start. If anyone could pierce through the bastard's pretentious walls, it would be her and if anyone could complement her brightness, it would be him. And everything that happened was just a part of some fucked up mating ritual, all that fighting and shit oozing with sexual tension.
It doesn't matter now, anyway. That was four years ago.
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.
.
He looks to his right where Sasuke-teme stood, looking dapper in his black tuxedo with a twinkle in his eyes and the biggest smile he has ever seen on him, big enough for him anyway. He follows his gaze and sees her, Sakura, beautifully walking down the aisle in white, all radiant with her smile. They only had eyes for each other.
He watches as Sasuke takes her hand in his as she reaches him. How he gently entwines their hands and how his eyes hold tenderness for her. He sees how Sakura squeezes his hand and smiles sweetly at him. He watches them say their vows and I do's and exchange rings. He watches them kiss and hears the priest announce their married name for the first time: Mr. and Mrs. Uchiha.
He never could stay mad at them for long when he found out and no matter what they did he couldn't find it in himself to shun them. They were two of his most precious people and he loved them enough to see them happy together. He thinks that this right here is what was always meant to happen.
He looks on at his 2 bestfriends as they walk down the aisle together before they came back and Sakura engulfed him in a hug.
"Naruto, thank you."
"Dobe..."
"Teme...promise me you'll take care of her."
"Aa."
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.
.
He looks amongst the guests to search for her and sees her approaching him.
"Ready to dance the night away?" He asks playfully.
"Naruto-kun, you know I don't dance very well." She answers shyly.
"Yeah, but you know the cliché: Practice makes perfect." He answers back.
He engulfs her hand in his and noted how they fit perfectly. He stares at her, with her dark hair and pearly eyes and thanks the universe for Hinata, who made him understand the cliché of opposites.
.
.
.
It took years and years of waiting but Kishimoto finally got it right. Sakura and Hinata deserve their happy ever after.