"Because, I love you"
Naruto was in his room thinking of that one line, over and over again. In the back of his mind he always remembered those words. This was the first time he was able to think about them freely. The third great ninja war had just ended. The masked man, Toby, is deceased and Sasuke is locked up in jail. He just couldn't believe it. Naruto had risen above all his challenges. Only one obstacle was in his way; Love. The more he thought about it the more he squirmed. All of Hinata's mannerisms, how she acted towards him, everything, just started to make sense. Of course after he thought about how obvious the girl was with her feelings he started to also realize how much of an idiot he was. He starts to roll over in embarrassment and thinks
'Wow I'm so stupid.'
In all honesty though, could you blame the orange clad doofus for not noticing the obvious signs of affection from one specific moon eyed woman? Not when his own feelings were for one particular pink haired kunoichi.
'I'm in love with Sakura'
Of course, it probably wouldn't be very hard to move on. Considering the fact that the girl in question couldn't care less for him. She would even say fake feelings of love just to calm him before a huge blow. Such as, "I love you… Oh and by the way we need to kill Sasuke" Although that did anger Naruto to no end, he couldn't bring himself to hate Sakura. In fact his feelings for Sakura were still well intact. He really had no plans to extract those feelings. Until Hinata…
Naruto, not knowing how to assess the situation, jumps up from his bed and concludes for the moment, "I'll figure it out. Until then, I need some ramen. I'm starving!" He was troubled but maybe a bowl of his favorite food could help him figure things out. With new enthusiasm he quickly forgets his problems with the resolution of 'I'll fix it later' and races to his favorite place in the whole wide world. Ichiraku Ramen.
. . .
Sakura just came back from a mission in Suna. She needed to deliver some reports to the Kazekage, Gaara. Nothing big, but well timed. Sakura was assigned the mission a few days after everything went back to normal. She wanted to keep busy to ignore the fact that the village needed to be rebuilt, again. Also the fact that her 'frenemy' was within village walls made her fidgety. Now that everything was over she had to revisit old memories. Naruto was her best friend. She couldn't avoid him forever. Now that nothing was keeping them busy she couldn't help but to notice they haven't had a real conversation since her confession. A confession that made her flinch in embarrassment for she got the cold sting of rejection. It's true that she did say she loved Naruto, when she was supposed to deliver the news of killing Sasuke. God save her for she has the worst timing but nothing was false! She had truly grown a love for Naruto over the years. Genuine love. Not just with looks but with everything. His smile, his eternal optimism, his laugh, how he cares for everything and everyone. To Sakura, and to everyone else in the village who witnessed Naruto's actions, he seemed an indestructible force. No matter how difficult the situation, he would always overcome any obstacle headed his way. Naruto was a symbol of hope and Sakura loved everything he stood for. How ironic this love was! Naruto was nothing like Sasuke, yet he captured her heart just the same. Only it was too late. She knew he could never hate her, that isn't in his character. Naruto just will never accept her love, even backed up with good-timing. For he will always think she still loves Sasuke.
'This is what I get for being such a bitch to him all those years.' Sakura thought grimly, 'I don't deserve him.'
She almost cried right then out of self pity but pulled it together when she saw the gates of Konoha. She greeted the guardsmen with her usual cheeriness, masking any other emotion flawlessly. Sakura wanted to deliver her report to Tsunade, stating her success of the mission. On the way she sees Ichiraku's. It was strange, she just couldn't help but to stop by. It was as if she needed to , surprised at Sakura's rare appearance, greets her warmly. She orders chicken ramen, Submerged with thoughts of Naruto and how she was going to face him again.
"Sakura?" Naruto's confused voice sends feeling of panic. She really did have the worst timing.
A/n: After looking at this story again I thought I should make some changes. I think its better this way(hope ya'll think so too)
