Title: take a chance on me
Prompt: Prompt 1 – Matchmaking
Character/Pairing: Sakura, Naruto, mentions of NaruHina, SasuSaku, NaruSaku
A/N: May the brOTP live long and prosper in this beautiful new canon world.
Summary: It'd be nice if they could be something this time.
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"I can't believe he tried to set us up," Sakura shakes her head, amused. She looks at Naruto sitting beside her and rolls her eyes. "And this is the what, ninth time?"
"Sakura, I think it's time," Naruto sighs theatrically, a hand on his chest as he strikes his most dramatic pose. "Leave the bastard and come with me."
"Oh Naruto," Sakura replies, placing the back of her hand on her forehead. "I thought you'd never ask." She swoons, for effect, and Naruto catches her, dipping her low.
"Oh Sakura!"
"Oh Naruto!"
They stare at each other, a long second, and it's too much. Bursting into laughter, they separate, trying to contain it all.
"I'll save you," Naruto manages, squeezing the words between each laugh.
"Took you long enough," Sakura replies breathlessly. They stare at each other again and break into laughter once more. Naruto's rolling on the grassy hill, unable to stay still, and she collapses on her side.
"Honestly, I don't know what gave them the idea," Sakura says when she finally calms down and catches her breath. The warm afternoon sun shines down on them and she bumps shoulders with him. "Well, maybe a few years ago I could understand."
"A few, yeah," Naruto adds, wistfully. "It's not like I hadn't imagined."
Sakura glances at him—he doesn't look sad, not this time, and maybe it isn't too soon to be talking like this. About this. "Me neither," she confesses and resists the urge to cover her face in embarrassment.
"What?" Naruto turns to her in surprise. "Really?"
"Once or twice," she explains. "It's not like it's never crossed my mind."
"Oh." Naruto looks back across the valley in front of them now, in deep thought, and maybe she was wrong. Maybe it is too soon for confession likes this. "Too bad."
They sit there in silence for while, shoulders barely touching. It takes some time before Naruto says something and she doesn't have the courage to add anything else.
"But I met Hinata because of that."
"True," she agrees, smiling broadly. "And how is it going with her? She always turns beat red and tongue-tied whenever I ask her."
"It's going great," Naruto exclaims, excited, and this is the Naruto she knows. This is her best friend. "We're going out on a date next week and her sister—her sister is scary, you know? Her sister is always following us and I swear she's in the bushes preparing to kill me if I do something. I can hear her kunai being sharpened. I can hear them."
"And are you planning to do something?" Sakura asks, teasing him.
"Sakura!" He turns beat red, so much like his girlfriend, and she gives him a moment to recover. "So, about before, are you waiting for Sasuke then?"
"Waiting? Eh, that's not exactly it." Sakura frowns, biting her lip. It's hard to explain this, just what she's thinking and feeling. It's not as cut and dry as she'd like.
But then again, nothing is so simple with Sasuke.
"Then you're not waiting?" Naruto cocks his head, confused. "I thought you're in love with him."
"Again, not exactly." Sakura stares out over the valley, trying to gather her thoughts. "We've spent too much of our lives chasing him, so I think a part of me always will." Chasing when they were 12 and he left the village, chasing when they were 15 and he was both fighting with and against them.
It's too easy to fall back into the pattern, to chase him once more now that they were 19 and he is travelling the world. Trying to ease a guilt that cannot be erased.
It's too easy to think he's never coming back.
Sakura twines her hands together, fiddling with her fingers. "I just don't know if it's love, though. He isn't the same person he was back then—and honestly, I'm not that same person either."
At least, she hopes not.
Naruto doesn't say anything, just bumps shoulders with her comfortably. She leans back against him, resting her head on his shoulder. It's almost second nature to be with him like this, to relax and let the tension flow out. To just tell him everything, good or bad.
"And I can't even tell who he is now! When was the last time we saw him? 8 months ago!" Sakura growls, irritated. "I swear we saw him more when he was a missing-nin."
"The bastard is still pulling his 'I'm a lone wolf, I don't need anyone' bit." Naruto snorts, exasperated. "It's not fooling anyone."
"No, he just likes playing the same cards over and over again." Sakura rolls her eyes. "Always so dramatic."
"He's an idiot."
"And it's something if you can say that." Sakura sighs, closing her eyes and ignoring his indignant protest. "Sometimes it seems like he's never coming back."
"So then what?" Naruto asks. "If you aren't waiting and you don't think he's going to stay, then…" His voice trails off. "Oh, maybe—"
It doesn't take her even a second to realize where that sentence is going, his tone is enough. She can even imagine the eyebrows waggling in accompaniment.
"Hey!" She lifts her head, punching him in the shoulder. "You don't get to do that when you're still being babysat on your dates."
"It's not babysitting, it's stalking with the intent to kill." Naruto mutters, beat red.
"Besides, I really don't think anything can happen till he stays in the village for longer than two months." Sakura shakes her head.
Rubbing his shoulder, Naruto nods. "I guess. "
"But, I guess it would be nice. To see what happened. To see if we can be something." Sakura stretches her arms behind her, staring up at the sky. "And we have time now, lots of time to figure it out."
There's no war, no battle to be fought. Just fractured nations to put back together and that requires diplomacy, not fists. There's peace and she has all the time she needs to see what they can be.
To see if they can be something more than just a desperate plea and an apology. More than a sad memory and an awkward greeting. He's changing, she can see that every time he's coming to the village and maybe it's enough.
Maybe it's enough to start something new, a better something than what they were and what they could have been.
"Hmmm, I guess I am waiting." Sakura rests her head against Naruto's shoulder again. "Though Sasuke only gets one chance this time."
"And then I get to bring out the popcorn?"
"Only if you want to join him."