Naruto tries to work out his feelings for Sakura and gets help from an unlikely place. Probably should be considered AU and post series. Miri and the bad guys are mine; most of the others belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Rated T for violence, language, and some sexual situations, but there's nothing explicit. Anyways, on to orange, knuckle headed action!
Return to the Land of Snow
One
Their boat was late; it was dusk by the time they sailed into the harbour. Naruto stood beside Sakura on the deck, silently cursing himself. The trip was almost over and he had done nothing. He had been looking forward to it so much; going on a mission with Sakura alone, but he had not been able to bring himself to say anything and now their alone time was over.
He rubbed the back of his neck, trying to think of something to say.
"It's cold."
"Well, yeah. It's the Land of Snow, Naruto."
You're an idiot, Naruto thought, if you cannot say something intelligent then don't say anything.
"Yeah, but I thought Koyuki-chan had that machine…"
"They can only use it for a few months at a time and it's not working properly anymore." Sakura pulled her jacket collar closer around her neck. "So now it's cold."
She tilted her head back and took a deep breath. Naruto watched her profile and his heart gave a funny little hitch. She looked lovely like that, the cold put colour in her cheeks that went with her hair. He sidled closer, thinking that he might put his arm around her.
"Who do you think the Sand will send?" she asked.
"I don't know, Baki maybe. It would be cool if it was Gaara, but he's not supposed to leave the village." Naruto forgot about what he was doing. "When I become Hokage, I'm going to travel all over the place!"
"Don't be silly Naruto. If that ever happens you'll have to stay put, just like Tsunade-sama does." Sakura snickered. "Maybe you should concentrate on becoming a jounin first."
"Hey! I keep telling you, it's not my fault. Besides I'm not the only one…there's Lee, Tenten, Hinata, and Kiba. They're still chunin too."
"And so is Konohamaru."
"Sakura!" Naruto knew he was being teased, but he could not help himself. "I'm more than strong enough! I just don't have enough missions yet. You guys all did missions while I was away with Ero-sennin and I couldn't do missions while we were fighting the Akatsuki."
"No you couldn't," Sakura agreed, her face getting serious.
Naruto gave himself a mental slap to the head, he did not want to remind her of those months leading up to the final battle with the Akatsuki and Sasuke. They had been hard on her and everyone else who had been involved. They had lost old friends and some new ones too. He rubbed the back of his head some more, racking his brain for a way to change the subject. He wanted to just blurt it out, but he did not want to sound like his normal, idiot self. And what if Sakura did not feel the same way?
"Uh, Sakura…" he started.
At that very moment one of the boats moored two docks over exploded, sending flaming pieces of wood and metal flying everywhere.
