Perfect
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto because if I did Naruto would've be together with Sakura and Sasuke would've return to Konoha by now.
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Light from the nearby streetlights reflected dimly off the new fallen snow drifter around us. Naruto and I had been at a hill fondly named "Suicide Hill" on his sturdy, wooden sled for over 2 hours and were now going back to his house. The chill of the fresh, brisk night air bit at my exposed face but it was refreshing and sliding down the hill at breakneck speeds was invigorating. Though it was a steep hill and proved to be to dangerous for our two friends who had recently gone to Suicide Hill, Naruto had protected me from everything - from rogue ninjas during missions to the shadows in the dark after watching a scary movie - so a little hill was hardly daunting to me.
As we pulled the sled back to where Naruto had parked, he took my hand and squeezed it tightly.
"Jeeze Sakura, you're freezing." Shaking his head, his eyebrows turned down in a worried annoyance, he removed his black, cotton scarf and wrapped it gently around my chilled neck.
"Sorry," I answered remorsefully, before kissing him on his cheek in thanks.
Luckily his car started without qualms and before long we were on the road leading to his house.
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Twenty minutes later we both sat warm and dry in two armchairs facing each other with a large, red, pin-striped love seat between them, before a roaring fire. Taking a sip of the hot chocolate we both were drinking, I silently thanked myself for having the fore sight to leave a couple changes of clothes and pajamas in his house. Outside a severe winter storm was raging, giant gusts of wind and snow blasting continually against the windows (A/N: for Naruto's living room, I was thinking it would be like Kyoya Ohtori's bedroom ^-^;; with insanely long windows framing the entire room; very urban and futuristic yet the furniture and decor are still very warm; think "When a Stranger Calls" type living room. :3) Ice had formed over night around the sides of the windows and frost filled the middles like an intricate painting by Jack Frost himself.
Inside, meanwhile, was the very epitome of warmth and comfort. A fire roared voraciously in the fire place before us, the crackle and snaps of wood being devoured was comforting while steam rose from our hot chocolate topped lovingly with whipped cream.
Yet I was still cold.
Shaking my head at how pitiful I was, I started in a quiet voice.
"Naruto... I feel really stupid saying this... but could you sit with me? I'm still somehow cold." I smiled sheepishly at him.
"Of course Sakura-chan! Just grab a seat on the love seat (A/N: Very tactfully named if I do say so myself.) While I grab a blanket." He answered, compassion and love colouring his voice.
"Hey Naruto." I started with a laugh in my voice just as he reached the doorway, "I love you."
Momentarily caught off guard by my statement, it took him only a second to return the statement back to me, with a real tenderness in his voice.
He was then beside me again in the blink of an eye, at which point he kissed me, a joyful smile on his lips.
"Sakura, I love you." He murmured again into my ear before taking a blanket from a cupboard in the hallway, sitting to the right of me and placing the thick, textile blanket over the two of us.
-
At that very moment in time, everything seemed to be okay; nearly, perfect even. It was cozy and peaceful and I was with Naruto, the person I loved most in the entire world. Yet there was one thing missing: Sasuke.
Lately he had been spending more and more time with a kunoichi who had moved to Konoha recently - I if had to guess I would blame his recently acquired emotions on his recent absence from our lives. Recently it seemed as though our lived were reverting back 6 years ago, to our 12-year-old lives when it had been only Naruto and I. As much as I loved Naruto - and am in love with him - Sasuke was a changed man when he returned to Konoha and it wasn't long - less than an hour, really - before all was forgiven, we were caught up and were the best of friends - team 7 - all over again. Sasuke was now our best friend once again; a friend who would never abandon us again and would protect us with everything he had, even at the cost of his own life, this having been proven to us during countless times during missions. So now being in such a moment with only one of my two best friends seemed weird -wrong almost.
Naruto, noticing my expression, turned, and being his usual insightful self - or was I just incredibly readable? - asked,
"Sasuke right?"
Merely nodding, he turned back to the fire and pulled me closer to him and laid his head atop mine.
"Same here." He replied earnestly back.
In unison we both sighed.
"We are both completely and utterly useless aren't we?"
Shaking his head he closed his eyes and seconds later I followed suit. There was no use wishing for something that couldn't - wouldn't - happen, so I attempted to clear my thoughts of him. It seemed that we had been drifting, slowly but surely, apart. It was depressing.
-
We two sat there like that for little over 30 minutes before a single chime was heard from the doorbell.
Jumping at the sudden sound, aside from the crackling of the fire, I started to move to answer it - though the sudden cold bit at my now exposed feet - but Naruto gently pushed me back on the couch and walked towards the door.
Moments later he returned with none other than Uchiha Sasuke. Speak of the devil.
(A/N: Le gasp! Though this OT3 will have to grow on me as Sasuke isn't exactly in my good graces right now... though I will - somewhere in my heart - love him.)
A look of shock must've been plastered on my face as he suddenly looked sincerely remorseful.
"Uh... I'm sorry?" He -basically- asked. " Though it's not much of an excuse I'll admit, I was having some... girl trouble."
At that sentence, Naruto burst out laughing. (A/N: because Sasuke is such an incredibly stoic bastard, Naruto couldn't see him even talking to girls. It is pretty funny if you think about it. X3)
Between the giggles he managed to blurt out, "Last sentence ahahaha! I ever thought hahaha! I'd hear you say!" (A/N: Ok, when I think of Naruto laughing, it reminds me of episode 2 (I think...) of Ouran where Haruhi is supposed to have a checkup by the school doctor and Tamaki tries to pass off as her and EPICally fails and the twins laugh at how hysterical it looks and how stupid Tamaki is. Speaking of Ouran, I got Part 1!!11 Wooot!), after which more laughter followed by Sasuke and I.
After we finally calmed down -so about 20 minutes later- (A/N: srsly. It reminds me of my friends and I when we laugh for so long at the stupidest of things. XD), Naruto poured him a hot chocolate as well as we sat side by side on the love seat covered by the blanket; Naruto and Sasuke on either side of me.
Before long it was 1:05 in the morning and we were still chatting aimlessly about whatever popped into our minds from our last date to the whole 'girl trouble' situation with Sasuke.
Looking at the clock, I turned to both and kissed them; Sasuke on the cheek and Naruto on the lips chastely.
"Merry Christmas Sasuke... Naruto."
Both looked taken aback but recovered and answered back lovingly, "Merry Christmas Sakura."
Now Christmas was perfect.
~OWARI~
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YOSH! What'd you think? Comments would be great!
But before I go, I'll answer some questions you're probably asking yourself.
– The whole honorific thing: the way I understand it is that adding -chan or -kun means that you're just friends and that not adding a suffix at all means that you're really, really close friends; like this *crosses fingers*. So the way I wrote it is that all three of them are insanely close friends. Correct me if I'm wrong though.. Then I'll feel like an idiot but oh well.
– Naruto + Sakura = Dating?: Yesh, in this fanfic, they've probably been dating for... say, a couple months.
– Suicide Hill couple? (Mentioned only briefly but...): It was Shika and Ino (OTP) who went there. Both ended up worse for wear; both left a couple bruises but it only served to bring them closer. Kinda like the last GG episode; Bart's death made Chuck slightly emo thus Blair got closer to him because she wanted to take care of him which is exactly what happened with Shikamaru and Ino. They grew closer after that.
– Naruto's House (WTF?): Yeah, ok I'll admit that this is pretty AU so I now declare it just that. Slightly AU-ish. There are cars and he lives in a huge mansion... but whatever.
– OOC Naruto: If you didn't notice he talked a lot less than he probably would so sorry. But I just wanted him to be a little bit more mellow and peaceful than the usual loudmouth.
Anywho, thank you so much for reading! And I'm sorry for all the stupid author notes.
Merry Christmas! Hope you got everything you wanted (and perhaps, needed?) And spent a lot of time with friends and family.