Author's Note: Here is the third installment for the Naruto Couple Event on Tumblr. I hope you all enjoy!
title: orange daises
event: naruto couples event 2018
prompt: first pairing you ever shipped / first date
pairing: naruto x sakura
genre: romance / humor
summary: "Naruto…," she began, cautiously. "What are you wearing?"
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto.
Let me know what you think by reviewing! Favorite and follow, also!"Would you sit still?" Ino chided, yanking on a strand of pink hair in reprimand.
"Ow! Lay off Pig!" Sakura hissed, jerking forward in an attempt to break free from the hand tangled in the hair at the nape of her neck.
When her actions earned her another sharp tug, Sakura gritted her teeth but stilled her struggles. Ino, satisfied now that her subject was no longer looking to escape, eased her hold.
"Remind me again why I asked you to help me with this?" Sakura grumbled, grimacing as she felt a bobby pin scrape against her scalp.
The blonde was too invested in her task to answer right away, and the rosette's whine fell on deaf ears.
Sakura settled a glare at her reflection in the mirror, fixing sharp emerald eyes on the head of golden hair that poked out from behind her.
There was a sudden movement in her peripheral vision and Sakura watched in the reflective surface as Ino's hand reached over her shoulder, blindly grasping for the pile of hair clips that resided on the vanity top.
Sakura fought down the sudden, childish urge to turn her head and snap her teeth at the offending appendage. Though it would serve Ino right for manhandling her in such a way, it really wasn't worth hearing the Yamanaka heiress wail after the potential mauling.
The blond clicked her tongue, seeming to struggle with getting the last pin into place. There were a few more tugs, then a violent, tight twist of coral tresses before Ino stepped back, a broad grin plastered on her face.
Cerulean hues studied the back of Sakura's head appreciatively and the pinkette could swear that she could feel the smug satisfaction rolling off of Ino.
"You're all finished Forehead. Go on. Admire my handiwork," The fair-haired woman commanded. "And to answer your earlier question, you asked for my help because I'm the only one capable of taming this unruly mop of yours."
Begrudgingly, Sakura had to agree.
Turning her head from side to side, Sakura took in all the details that Ino had put into her hairdo. Her best friend managed to sweep her pink locks into an intricate french twist, braiding some of the longer strands around the crown of her head and pulling them back into the knot of hair at the base of her skull. Her bangs fell loose and free, parted so that they framed both sides of her face.
"Not bad, Ino-pig," Sakura complimented softly. "Not bad at all."
"I know," Ino replied cheekily. "Now hurry up and go get dressed."
Grabbing ahold of Sakura's arm, the blonde dragged her towards the closet, ushering her inside.
"And don't you mess up all my hard work in the process!" She added as an afterthought.
-o-
Sakura couldn't place the exact moment when their relationship changed.
It was well known throughout Konoha that Team Seven was more a family than anything else.
The bonds they formed were deeply rooted, uniquely their own. Solidified by trials filled with betrayal, blood, and tears.
They were a genin team of misfits; an avenger, an orphan, and a girl with a broad forehead and no kekkei genkai.
Team Seven was destined to fail; they had far too many obstacles to overcome.
But despite what others had to say, nothing ever stopped them.
Through prolonged absences, countless battles, a war, and a teammate's defection and eventual return, Team Seven strove forward together, defying all the odds that were stacked against them.
And through all this, through the ups and downs and all those crucial moments in their lives, Sakura had only one person who she could say she could undoubtedly rely on.
Naruto.
When he first left the village, she didn't have time to focus on the void – the ache – that came as a result of his absence. She needed to get stronger for him and the others.
So, she trained, and broke, and bled, and cried, but she looked at all those obstacles and promptly told them to 'fuck off', starting herself down a path that helped her grow up.
Despite all the progress she made individually, however, the day Naruto returned to Konoha, Sakura realized just how much she missed him. A weight she hadn't known she was carrying was lifted from her shoulders and with it gone she could finally – finally – breathe again.
All of those years Naruto spent childishly comparing himself to Sasuke and all the times she felt insignificant in comparison to her teammates didn't seem to matter anymore.
They changed, they had grown, and now they were finally together again.
Nothing was going to change that.
She became his rock and he became hers.
-o-
A while later, Sakura stood in front of the full-length mirror which resided on the back of her bedroom door.
Pivoting on the balls of her feet, the pinkette spun back and forth, trying to gauge her outfit from different angles. Unable to distinguish how she felt about it, Sakura turned towards Ino, holding up her arms gracelessly at her side.
"Well? What do you think?"
Ino, who was lying on her stomach perched on Sakura's bed, idly flipping through a magazine, didn't even spare Sakura a glance before she drawled her response, "It looks fine."
"How would you know?" The med-nin huffed, arms crossing over her chest. "You didn't even look!"
She received an unladylike snort in response while Ino turned another page, eyes beginning to skim another article.
"The last three outfits looked fine Sakura. Just pick one already," Ino muttered.
Her best friend's dismissal caused Sakura to puff out her cheeks in a pout.
Sighing, Sakura turned back to her reflection, cocking her head to the side as she took in the picture she presented.
Her final outfit choice had been a dark, lavender skater-style dress that flared around her hips and ended slightly past her knees. She paired the gown with a small, white cardigan. The color of the dress made the seal on her forehead stand out, popping with vivid color.
Overall, Sakura felt well put together. The hairstyle and the dress were not too fancy, but she was dolled up enough to make a good first impression over dinner.
Though, that might have been redundant at this point, seeing as who her date was.
"This will do," Sakura confirmed with a bob of her head.
Meandering over to her closet, the petite woman began a search for suitable footwear.
"Where is Naruto taking you anyway?" Ino asked, her tone curious.
"I'm not really sure," Sakura responded, walking back out into the main part of her bedroom. "He told me he wanted to surprise me. He's been hush-hush about the whole thing."
Ino glanced up from her light reading at the sound of her approach. Pale blue eyes regarded the smaller woman as Sakura held up two different pairs of shoes in silent question; a pair of sandals in one hand and a pair of flats in the other.
"The flats," The blonde answered before looking back down at the magazine.
The room descended into silence then and Sakura began to fret over some last-minute touch-ups to her make-up while Ino continued to read.
After a minute or two, Sakura heard her best friend gasp and paused in applying in her mascara, turning towards her bed with a raised brow.
"What's wrong?"
Ino was now kneeling on the mattress, looking at Sakura with her face contorted in pure horror.
"You don't think…" The words seemed to die on Ino's tongue as she hesitated.
Swallowing thickly before she continued, Ino asked in a deadly serious tone, "You don't think he's going to wear something orange, do you?"
-o-
It dawned on her one day; slamming into her with its suddenness and spontaneity.
It – everything – just instantly made so much sense and the clarity of it left her breathless.
There she stood, frozen in the middle of the doorway to his hospital room, looking at him like it was the first time she had ever laid eyes on him.
Naruto, unaware of her sudden internal epiphany, greeted her with his usual cheery demeanor before rattling off his reason for being in the hospital.
But Sakura just stared, then blinked, and stared some more.
Something shifted within her and the question was already out of her mouth before her brain could even formulate what she was asking.
"After all these years, why haven't you asked me out on a date?"
Naruto's initial response was the unhinging of his jaw, an embarrassed flush crawling its way up from his neck and dusting across his sun-kissed cheeks.
Cerulean eyes were wide as he regarded her, and for a bated breath, they both froze. Then, he suddenly began stumbling over his words, trying to come up with a viable excuse as to why, in fact, had not asked her out; as if it was actually his fault they had never been on a date before.
Mind suddenly reeling as she finally pieced together what she had blurted out, Sakura turned three different shades of red before fleeing from the room on limbs that felt like jelly.
She didn't make it very far before he caught up with her.
The hand on her forearm was clammy, but the fingers against her skin were firm as he halted her movements.
His scent enveloped her; the smell of sandalwood and spice and ramen and it was so distinctly Naruto that it caused butterflies to erupt in her stomach.
What he said next, caused those butterflies to increase tenfold.
"We could…we could change that if you like."
-o-
After Ino said her goodbyes, Sakura decided to wait out the remaining time in her living room, perusing through some medical scrolls to keep herself occupied.
More often than not, green eyes would stray from the words on the page to look at the clock mounted on the wall across from her position on the couch.
The closer the hands drew towards their appointed meeting time, the more uncomfortable Sakura seemed to become.
Five minutes before her date was supposed to arrive, Sakura was as stiff as a board, shoulders hunched towards her ears and fingers awkwardly fiddling with the edge of the paper she was holding.
What the hell was she nervous about?
It was just Naruto.
Her awkward, loud, obnoxiously cheerful teammate who had somehow wormed his way into her heart even though he still ran throughout the village pulling childish pranks at the age of nineteen.
They had known each other for years; there was nothing she should be worrying about.
Though her mind rationalized that everything was going to be okay, that she had been on plenty of dates before and this was nothing new, Sakura's stomach still bottomed out when she heard the small, tentative knock on her front door.
Immediately, she tensed and only after a second knock echoed throughout her apartment did she finally manage to stand, scrambling towards the entryway.
Upon pulling it open, Sakura was greeted with a massive bouquet of daisies being thrust into her hands.
"Oh!" She gasped, awkwardly trying to situate the flowers in her grip so that she didn't crush any of the buds.
Once she had a firm grasp on the stems, Sakura directed her gaze beyond the white blossoms and instantly froze.
Naruto looked sheepish; right arm crossed over his chest, slowly rubbing his left bicep.
"I hope you like them," The words were out of his mouth so quickly, they were practically jumbled. "Ino said they were your favorite and she gave me discount…granted she did say that the discount was only in place as long as I didn't mess this up. Otherwise, she was going to wring my neck with her bare hands and then charge me full price for the bouquet and wow…I'm rambling, aren't I?"
He nervously chuckled at the end of his rant, blue eyes focusing on her face.
He took a slow, deep breath and said, "You look beautiful, Sakura-chan."
Though his compliment was heartfelt, it didn't immediately register with Sakura.
Veridian hues swam with confusion, and a small frown began to form between her eyebrows.
"Naruto…," She began, cautiously. "What are you wearing?"
Her question must have caught him off guard because his spine seemed to straighten and the muscle in his jaw jumped.
Unsure how to proceed, Naruto looked down at himself, paused for a few brief moments, before he looked back towards Sakura with a small grimace.
"…Too much?"
By Sakura's standards, yes, the three-piece suit – complete with a bright orange bowtie and matching lapel – was indeed, too much.
She immediately sent him home to change.
-o-
Though his fashion choices might have been questionable, Sakura wasn't deterred from giving Naruto a kiss at the end of the night.
Thank you all for reading!
word count: 2,141
last edited on:05/17/18
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