You're Mine
Full Summary: After the battle with Pain, Sakura welcomed Naruto back to the village with a hug. Naruto was shocked by what she did, but nonetheless elated by her gesture, as it stirred an old memory that lay dormant within him for a long time. Just what did Sakura mean when she hugged him back then?
Main Pairings: Naruto and Sakura, as always.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters.
The Hug
As Naruto was placed down by Kakashi in the wake of all the villagers rejoicing his return, he could hear their jubilant shouting and celebrating as they welcomed him back into the village. He was surprised, as he had not expected to return to such a massive homecoming ceremony. It was way different from what had happened when he had come to the village three years after he had left it with Jiraiya to embark on a training trip with his goal to retrieve his best friend, Uchiha Sasuke,, from the grip of Orochimaru and bring him back to Konoha. Back then, only a handful of shinobi, among them his peers and also the Fifth Hokage and his master, Hatake Kakashi, who had welcomed him to the village he had grown up in all his life.
It was also different from all the times that he had returned from the village after all the missions he had been assigned to as part of Team 7, as most times he came back he was in injuries and had to be tended to immediately in the Konoha Hospital, by none other than his beautiful, pink-haired teammate, Sakura Haruno.
Nothing in the past had compared to what he was witnessing now, and Naruto reminisced to a time when he was a kid, the first time he was assigned into Team 7 with Sakura and Sasuke, and Kakashi had assembled them on the roof of the Academy, with the purpose of hearing about their goals now that they had become genin and had been recognized as official shinobi by the citizens and standards of Konoha.
"My goal is to become Hokage. And I'll make all the villagers acknowledge my existence!" He proudly shouted to be heard by his sensei and his two teammates.
The words reverberated within Naruto's mind, and he realized that he was now living his dream. All the villagers were smiling broadly as they raised their hands and clapped to his return, and just there, and then, there was no sign of malice or discomfort on their expressions. Naruto had grown up being the apple of discord in his own home village, for reasons he soon came to learn about later, but those reasons further strengthened his goal and dream as a shinobi. The villagers had come to accept and acknowledge him fully, and then, just then, Naruto felt his face break into a small smile.
However, his moment of bliss was not coming to an end anytime soon, as he would shortly come to discover.
Naruto heard a set of footsteps slowly and steadily approaching him, and he directed his gaze to the source of the sound. He was mildly surprised when his eyes landed on his female teammate, Haruno Sakura. Her hair was covering her eyes, so Naruto could not see her emerald eyes, the same set of eyes he had grown accustomed to during most of his life as a shinobi. He had not told her before, but deep down inside him, he realized that they were the most beautiful pair of eyes he had ever come across his entire life. He smiled inwardly as he thought of this fact, but then he realized that the footsteps had come to a halt and there was no sound coming from the girl now standing before him.
Her lips were pressed together in an expression that indicated something which Naruto could not tell. Her fingers were clenched together, and Naruto realized that she was pissed off. The reason? He had seen that same exact expression on her so many times before every time he goofed off or acted idiotic in front of her, and ended up on the wrong side of her fist each time that happened. Once he had asked his late master, Jiraiya, why she only punched him and not other boys in the village, and the Legendary Sannin gave him only one answer.
"That's how she shows she cares, kiddo. Girls like Sakura aren't exactly the cutesy type, so most times they will show their love and affection for you by resorting to really, strange methods."
Naruto stared at him dumb founded. He knew the white haired man was not exactly the luckiest guy around when it came to girls, but well, he knew a hell lot about them owing to the content he wrote in his perverted book, Icha Icha.
"Uh-huh, and you know this how?"
Jiraiya grinned at him, and raised his hand to point at himself, before saying,
"Tsunade does it to me all the time!"
Naruto's eyes widened in surprise, and he chuckled a little, before thinking to himself, "Figures", but then outwardly he only said one thing to his master,
"That's not exactly something to be proud of, Ero-sennin."
When the girl raised her fist to meet Naruto's head, he found himself not fidgeting as he did in fear of her blows, but well, he let the impact land on the topside of his head. It stung, a little, and the blonde man realized it hurt less than all the other blows he had received from her in the past. Ah, well, Sakura-chan will heal me afterwards, so it's worth it, the village hero thought to himself as he felt his body descending to the ground. The thought that he could spend some more time with his beloved once all this had passed made a slight grin appear on his face, and so he awaited the all-familiar contact with the ground.
It never came.
Instead, Naruto's eyes widened as he felt himself falling into a soft, warm set of arms. His eyes widened as he became familiar with the sight of Sakura's fair arms. Her arms looked so fair, so beautiful, and for a moment he found it hard to believe those were the same set of arms that she used to defeat the S-class shinobi of the Akatsuki, Sasori of the Red Sands. Thinking about it closely, he realized that he had never actually gotten such a clear view of her hands this way. It was a marvelous sight.
He could not have expected what she came to do next, in a million years.
Slowly, but steadily, she rose him from the position he was in, and wrapped her arms around his head and torso. Naruto's eyes widened further, and then the whole realization if the matter hit his body like a shockwave. Almost like the Shinra Tensei he had withstood from the man he had just emerged from a battle with, Pain.
Sakura Haruno was hugging Uzumaki Naruto.
It was like something out of his wildest dreams, and honestly Naruto could feel his heartbeat quicken as he felt the warmth of his teammate next to his. He had been close to Sakura before, of course, with the whole mission to retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru's hideout, when she cradled him in her arms after he had collapsed from his onslaught of the snake shinobi using the Kyuubi's power. Back then, he had been focused with the mission that he did not pay heed to what had happened between them in that crater, but this time, it was different.
Everything was different. There was nothing between them, no obstacles to get in their way, nothing to convince him that none of this that was happening was not real. No, it was all real. He could feel her arms around him, and a faint blush broke on Naruto's cheeks. He then remembered something that Jiraiya had told him, a request he had made of him before he dived further into mastering the Summoning Technique.
"Naruto, do you have a girl you like?"
Naruto was taken aback by the white-haired man's question, as no one had before asked him so openly who he had feelings for like that. Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head, then muttered softly," He-he, there might be someone. Maybe Sakura-chan…."
"Hmm?" The white-haired man gave him a closer look to hear what he was saying better.
Naruto then blurted out immediately, "It's Sakura-chan!"
"Good, then go give the woman of your dreams a big hug right now!"
Naruto was bewildered by such a request, and wondered what in Kami's name was the white-haired man thinking by telling him that.
But now, he realized as the girl wrapped her warm arms around him, that the old man may have had a point after all back then.
"Heh, I guess you were right about the girl affection thingie, Ero-sennin," the blonde man thought, as he enjoyed the warmth emanating from his teammates body.
A/N: I'm not exactly sure whether this should be a one-shot or not, but I have a nagging feeling in me that I haven't seen the last of this story yet. Again, here is another NS story for all your deary eyes, and I hope you will enjoy it tremendously. Don't worry, I haven't dropped the other four stories yet, I'm still going to update them, I'm not giving up on them till I see them through to the end. In commemoration for the wonderful NaruSaku in the latest episode, enjoy!