An: Inspired by real life or I suppose what will be my real life shortly, ugh. Old story, best friend in love with best friend in love with someone else. Old story, new twist.
Naruto's breath caught in his throat as she came to him, the poofy white wedding dress with it's many sequins and gems glittering. She floated, gliding in her elegance. She was a princess as she had always wanted to be. It was fair, he supposed. This was her special day and he was trying his best not to ruin it. Her bubblegum pink hair that he was so used to seeing put up was curled, beautiful cherry blossom ringlets hanging down framing her creamy face beneath the shinning tiara. It wasn't like he hadn't seen her at the ceremony, but something about the way she smiled as she looked at him, made him loose his breathe. It was hard to breathe around so lovely a creature as Sakura chan, particularly in her wedding dress.
Naruto coughed to cover his embarrassment and Sakura giggled, covering her laugh with her elegantly gloved hand.
"Shall we?" Naruto asked, trying to sound brave, or at least braver then he felt.
Sakura shined that hundred thousand watt smile at him and he felt another part of his heart melt. He'd thought she'd claimed it entirely, but there were still parts that he was discovering, parts that she shortly conquered after his awareness. She was always expanding on his territory. It was perfect he thought, living in the moment. She was his Sakura Chan and she was smiling at him the way he'd always wanted her to. They'd been through so much together, had fought so hard together.
Sakura took the hand he offered, and he pulled her close as they began to slow dance. It was weird. Her palms, normally calloused as his own, were covered by the fabric of the smooth gloves. He wasn't used to seeing her like this, all done up and beautiful. Her hands were tiny, those hands that had ricocheted him through buildings, that had caused earthquakes. That had saved him and countless others like him. And they were small, and tiny, in his own hands, and covered with silk. He was used to seeing her as ordinarily, but extraordinarily beautiful to him; as she was.
She looked beautiful, but foreign in her wedding dress, all done up for the world to see what he already had. Sakura had been tanning for her wedding and Naruto chuckled at her darker skin color. She looked better pale, with her hair color and eyes. She was so silly at times. Naruto sighed as he took in her manicured nails and toes. People took her for granted all the tim,e and it kind of irritated him. Because everyone had been stunned at her radiance today, everyone but Naruto. To him, she had always shined so bright, but now others could see.
"Lost in the clouds again?" Sakura asked him a quirk to her smile as she stepped forward in her glossy heels.
He seemed so much more mature now. Naruto had grown up and somewhere along the way Sakura had missed it, by being a part of it. He'd done everything he'd told her he was going to do so it shouldn't have been a news flash or anything but it was. It really hit her. He'd become a hero. He'd saved the village countless times. He'd become a great ninja, definitely the most unpredictable ninja ever. It seemed all that was left on his agenda was to become Hokage, but everyone knew he was already close to that achievement and Tsunade was already planning on retiring the title herself soon after he was trained. His father would be so proud, if only he were alive to see this, to see his son. Naruto had grown into a fine man. Sakura couldn't imagine a life without her parents. But Naruto had turned out even better than she had. And Naruto had no one to show him what a family looked like, what it should be. Sakura's eyes dimmed.
"Maybe lost in my dreams." Naruto replied with a goofy lopsided smile.
Ah there was the boy again that peeked it's head out at appropriate and sometimes inappropriate moments. His bright smile, the sunshine in those blue eyes always made hers shine the brightest. He had always been her hope. She'd trusted him to keep her going when she wanted to give in. His light brought her out of the darkest despair she had ever experienced and she owed him everything for that. The boy in him kept her sane, whole and healthy when her maturity killed the little girl in her she needed so desperately. The boy in Naruto peeked out at moments where they were simply themselves and where Naruto didn't have to pretend like he was more important than he really was. Even though he really was, a fact the whisker cheeked blonde would never fully comprehend. It kept him humble. It kept him sweet. Naruto was very important to her, had become so very important to her over the years. He was her best friend, her comrade in arms, her teammate, her precious Nakama.
Sakura's laughter chimed like her own wedding bells. "Why's that?" She asked, green eyes twinkling.
"As if you don't know" Naruto scoffed, eyes dancing as the playful smile he got around her peaked out from around the corners of his mouth.
Sakura snorted. "I don't" She said nose turned up, but she couldn't hide the smile tugging at her lips.
"I've dreamed about this" Naruto replied, never hesitating to tell her how he felt, even when it was difficult.
His eyes were a deep ocean blue with a light blue star in the middle as he looked at her. "Dancing with you like this. Holding you like this" Naruto murmured, leaning closer to her ear as they danced in circles. They were always dancing in circles around each other, so it seemed appropriate that now things had come to a head.
"Naruto..." Sakura told him eyes welling with tears. She had done so well to hold them in through out the entire ceremony, but here and now, with him...She swallowed them, fighting to keep her self under control.
"Don't. Don't cry. I wasn't trying to upset you. You look beautiful... and Ino will hurt me if I make you smear your makeup." Naruto told her, with a grin.
Sakura felt the laughter bubble up and she flowed with it as he spinned her and pulled her close, grinning himself at his skill. She swallowed the tears with a choked laugh. She'd forced him to take dance lessons a few months before the wedding. It was amazing that a man who could master the rasengan in a week couldn't, for the life of him, dance. But Naruto was doing fabulously now, obviously the lessons had paid off. Sakura grinned.
Victory for me. Inner Sakura cackled wickedly.
"Naruto, you always know how to make me smile." Sakura told him as he pulled her close again. It felt good to be near him. He smelled the way he always did, like outdoors and ramen and hard work.
"Then it's a good thing I'm sticking around huh?" Naruto told her with a grin. "You're acting like this is goodbye" Naruto told her softly, sadly even.
The song was almost done. Naruto picked up their pace, after all he was the man and it was his job to lead according to that horrible horrible lady at the dance place. She had given him good advice though, in spite of the hell it had taken to get him to this point. He had to capture this moment, savor and remember it. Time was always slipping out of his hands. It was only yesterday that they were kids, placed on Team seven together. And now Sakura was dancing, in her wedding gown, with him. Where did time go? How did I miss it? He wondered. Sakura Chan was a beautiful woman now, accomplished kunoichi and medic and his best friend.
"Aah. It is goodbye. In a way. Good bye to the way things were. Everything changes. Everything has to" She replied, resting her head against his cheek and closing her eyes. She took a deep breathe finding rest and peace in the man she had always found rest and peace in. Naruto was her anchor, keeping her grounded in a world of chaos and confusion. He was so consistent and reliable. She trusted him with her life, and it was the same for him. They were so close.
"This is so new" She confessed, green eyes dimming again.
"And older then time, or so they say." Naruto replied.
"So they say" She retorted with a eye roll though the smile never left those coral pink lips.
She had asked for him to go shopping with her to pick out that particular shade of lipstick? Lipgloss? Naruto wasn't sure what it was. Lip stuff for girls, he settled in his mind. Naruto hadn't seen what was the big deal. She looked fine without the makeup. Sakura had insisted that her lips needed to be kissable. Naruto hadn't understood how glittery orange pink stuff made her lips more kissable and Sakura had rolled her eyes at him as she was doing now.
Naruto sighed and twirled her one final time as the song called for.
"Happily ever after, Sakura chan, starts now." Naruto told her, his smile so bright. All of his best wishes, his hopes, his dreams, for her happiness.
"Aah, Naruto. I- Naruto- Thank you..." Sakura replied, hugging him tight as the tears came to her eyes.
They stayed like that for a moment longer, Sakura hugging him like she never wanted to let go and then Naruto coughed. Sakura got the picture. With a resigned sigh, she released him and he offered his arm. She took it with a small ruefully sad smile and he led her away from the procession of people who parted for the tall lanky blonde.
Naruto reached the man he wanted to see, the dark hair and dark eyes piercing as they looked at him.
"Sasuke" Naruto greeted, fighting to stay positive.
"Thanks" He murmured to his best friend, his rival as he took Sakura's hand in his. Sakura chan wore her wedding ring on the outside of her glove and hers shimmered with his as they intertwined their hands.
Mr and Mrs. Sasuke Uchiha walked to the dance floor, leaving Naruto to watch forlornly on his best friends most happy day.