A few notes: Firstly, I had a mental block and several failed internet searches to find the right word to describe Naruto's outfit, so just let that go for me when you get there please. Secondly, this is much longer than I usually write per chapter so IF I continue, do not expect this. Also, I am aware that this is OOC to a degree. However, I am operating under the assumption that they will mature a bit by this point in time and that certain events would allow for this behavior. Also, I'm not overly fond of Sakura's character, so in order to write this, I had to let a little bit of her bitchiness go. Consider it a fair warning. There is a brief mention of other couples in here, I did that more as a sign of them growing up, not because I think all of who I chose was a good idea. I'm still personally unsatisfied with most Naruto couple choices. Finally, this may or may not end up as a one shot, that depends on reviews and how easily I find it to continue the story.

Tonight is finally the night of the festival, Naruto thought in excitement.

Naruto and Sakura lay next to each other in the grass staring at the sky. Naruto lay sprawled out, much like if he had been mid jumping jack and then put flat on his back. Sakura lay with her knees slightly bent and her hands by her side. It was here that they had begun talking earnestly. It was the first summer since the conclusion of all the bullshit they had dealt with since Sasuke left. Sasuke had died a year ago to the day after redeeming himself by saving everyone and ending the war in the process. The two friends had come together this day to reminisce and begin a new life of focusing on the positive things in the past, forgiving everyone involved including themselves.

It was a long day, on the hill in the grass, with a lot of heart breaking subjects brought up. They lay Sasuke's memory to rest, overlooking his flaws and settling on his final act as how they would remember him. They apologized to each other, which was really hard for them to do at first. Naruto wondered if this had gotten him any closer to winning Sakura's heart. He knew that she loved him he just didn't know if she knew.

Naruto had really calmed down in the past year. At first everyone thought it was a phase. And to an extent that was true. He was just as capable as always of making a scene, wearing everyone out and irritating the crap out of Sakura. But most of it was mock irritation at this point on her part. Much like a parent trying to be angry with a child for doing something inappropriate, but the parent thinks its funny and so isn't quite sure how to respond. Not that Sakura was mothering Naruto, she had learned to let some things go, although she occasionally slipped up. He was who he was and she had accepted that.

In the past year of rebuilding, repairing relationships with other nations and really working to provide for the orphans, Naruto had been lenient on Sakura when it came to asking for a date. They had people to help and things to do, but he made sure she knew he was there. Sakura had never doubted him. He had noticed her changing his attitude towards him slowly. It started as less shouting and had turned into lots of laughter, and hugs hello. Today was his idea actually. He had approached her one day after working on another housing unit for the orphaned kids and asked her to come to dinner with him so they could talk. She agreed, sensing the mood he was in and realizing this was important. He had asked her to engage in today's talk.

Part of today's talk was to put the past behind them. Get all of their collective shit on the table and sort through it together. They had become so close in the past year. Naruto knew things were going in his favor. They were always together, at work they were on the same project and outside of work, the sparred together and ate together. They had been working so hard lately.

Naruto had been the Jounin in charge of most of the 'prevent another Sasuke' movement AKA the help the orphans mission. He had single handedly built, unless you count shadow clones, most of the buildings for them. Sakura had helped provide routine check ups and Hinata had come up with the idea of mentoring. The rookie 9 with the addition of team Gai, were taking turns checking in on the kids, playing with them, helping provide food and clean clothes but mostly they were providing friendships and unbreakable bonds. There was not a single word of complaint when they agreed to the mission, preventing Sasukes and to an extent, Narutos, was a priority so far as the elders saw it. The group had whole-heartedly agreed and had been thankful for some rest from battle.

Lee in particular had been enthusiastic about ensuring they had enough outlets for all their youthful energy. The kids thought he was funny, for the most part. Neji, who had really warmed up personality wise, was great with the kids. He even once let the girls braid his hair. Much to Hinata's amusement. Kiba and Akamaru were also a big hit, especially after Kiba had brought a litter of puppies for the kids. Tsunade thought that having them learn to take care of something would be a good way to keep them from becoming heartless. She was right. There were 9 puppies in the litter with promises of more in the future. Several children were responsible for 1 puppy, they collaborated on names and shared duties. Kiba was helping them learn respect and how to communicate (sorta).

Naruto and Sakura had talked at length about the changes they had seen in those kids. From scared, terrified and angry, to happy and loving again. The girls in the group were particularly touched by how much the guys were enjoying taking care of the kids. Collective thoughts of dating and the future were stirred up because of this mission. This was spurred by Hinata's being named heiress again and in Hyuuga tradition being betrothed to another Hyuuga, but outside of that tradition, she abolished the branch house but requested a previously labeled branch member as her future husband. Neji hadn't expected to be picked but they were so close by this point, that he had been pleased. There was no romance yet, but there was a spark. The wedding wasn't for a while anyway, there was time for them to catch fire.

Naruto and Sakura had talked about how they felt about an arranged marriage for those two. Both had agreed that while the concept of arranged marriage was mildly repulsive to them, that in this case, it was a good match. Especially since neither Neji or Hinata had once complained about it. Sakura was amazed at the depth of their conversation and that he had not once made an advance towards her during this type of talk. Naruto was too busy scheming to start that nonsense now.

So far as other couples were concerned, Gaara had officially requested Shikamaru marry Temari as "an act of diplomacy" but they all knew that was bullshit. They were perfect for each other but they were too damn stubborn to see it. Gaara fixed that when the Nara had agreed- on the condition that Temari would come willingly without coercion, there was no coercion: truthfully it had been her idea. TenTen had been hanging out with Lee a lot, he made her laugh and people were speculating. Ino had finally given in to Choji's advances and Kiba, well Kiba had fallen for Hinata's little sister. No one minded in the Hyuuga household either. That left a few loose ends including the two in the grass.

Sakura was starting to resist the idea of Naruto as a love interest less and less. She was dazing off as Naruto was talking, just taking in the sound of his voice, thinking about how he looked under the waterfall…

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto said for the fifth time in an attempt to get her back from dreamland. He wondered where she had been and what she saw to make her grin like that.

"What?" Sakura said shaking her head. "Sorry Naruto"

"What were you grinning at?" He asked, the devilish grin of his not well hidden, but she still wasn't paying full attention.

"You?" She said with just enough emphasis on it being a question that he thought she was being a wise ass and not telling the actual truth.

"Not what I meant!" He said as he sat up to look at her, all haze blinked out of her eyes.

"What was the question?" she asked, faking forgetfulness and hoping he would buy it. He did.

"Bah! Never mind." He said smiling as he looked away from her.

"You know Sakura, I'm glad we could talk like this today" he said in a serious tone, which is why he was looking away.

"Yeah me too. I was surprised when you suggested we do this, but I think it really helped" she said as she sat up, pulling both her knees to one side and keeping a lot of weight on one arm.

"We ought to head back soon so we can get ready" she suggested reluctantly. As much as she was looking forward to the festivities, she was enjoying the peace on the hillside next to Naruto. A cool breeze blew and tossed his hair gently as it passed by, it was a lifesaver in this heat. He inhaled and caught a hint of Sakura's smell on the wind. He didn't think it was perfume, more the smell of whatever she washed her hair with. He stood up slowly as he had become a little stiff sitting on the ground for a while. I'm to young to start grunting when I get up he thought to himself as he reached absentmindedly for Sakura's hand to help her up. She took it, much to his surprise. She had taken his hand because she was also stiff from sitting funny. As she stood she realized, to her dismay, that her right foot and hand were asleep.

"Shit" she said as she started to tilt back towards the grass, A more dainty woman would say "oh" she thought as she cussed her foul mouth, something that had never bothered her before. But she had started to wonder if her language ever bothered Naruto and his image of her. She kind of doubted it at this point.

Naruto looked confused for a split second and then gracefully caught her as she fell towards him. Had a passerby seen them they would have thought they had caught a romantic moment. When Sakura felt herself safe in his arms she blushed. Naruto grinned like a madman at her reaction, it wasn't violence, this is good!, he thought to himself. He had been planning tonight for a long time and today had been an excellent start.

Sakura found herself drifting off again at the feel of his warm side against hers and his strong arm supporting her. Naruto saw that goofy ass smile on her face again and had a moment of concern, what if she's snapped? They had certainly been through enough for that to be a legitimate possibility. He gently patted her face and said

"Hey, Sakura? Come in Sakura?" His touch on her cheek pulled her back to reality. She quickly stammered,

"Mmmmy foot fell assssleep, I'm sorry."

"Thank you would be a better reply than I'm sorry Sakura-chan" Naruto said, wondering again where her mind was lately.

"Thanks." She said as he reluctantly pushed her away from him and held the sides of her arms tentatively, worried she might not balance yet. To his surprise there was no violence again, she tested the waters and nodded so he would let her go, which he did.

"I'll come pick you up at your place for the festival later Sakura?" he said with a final hint of doubt that she had agreed to any of this. True that most of her anger had dissipated with Sasuke's departure from this world. But most wasn't all, and even some was dangerous with her brutal punches.

"Yeah" she said with the shyest smile he had ever seen on her since they were kids and Sasuke had kinda, sorta complemented her.

Naruto shook his head gently to try to make sense of this as they shot off in opposite directions. She headed home to get ready, traditional Yukata and required more work than her normal pull and go clothing. She also wanted a barely warm bath to wash away the sweat from the day and plenty of time to do something different with her now shoulder length hair. Ino had agreed to help, but sometimes the girl was rough enough to make Sakura shudder at the thought. As strong a ninja as she was, having her scalp clawed and her hair ripped out by Ino wasn't her idea comfortable.

Naruto had gone to make sure the final preparations were in place and to demand Kakashi show him how to wear his damn outfit. There were no zippers on this dark blue monstrosity and he would shred it if he got stuck in it again. He swore he would shred it. Kakashi wasn't his first choice but when he thought of the different options he figured Neji was the only other sensible choice, but he dreaded seeing him and Hinata do their little nearly in love flirty shit. He was happy for them, but the aura around them was mildly sickening. Shikamaru, another engaged man, had wholeheartedly agreed.

Bah, engaged he thought to himself, drawing that last word out in his mind, whatever happened to picking on each other and playing in the sand… I guess it's been a while hasn't it. There was a long internal pause. This will work. This really has to work. The last thought was without desperation or fear of failure, even though he knew the latter was a possibility.

Eyes that had stumbled upon them in the grass and had watched for some time in secret, squinted in a smile as the young adults left. Tsunade had played a major part in making sure Naruto's request was accepted and taken care of for tonight. She had known, for longer than her apprentice had, what Sakura's true feelings were. Naruto's had never been a secret, and for a while there, neither were Sakura's. Hers were just aimed in the wrong direction. What a good thing it was that Sasuke had never returned her feelings Tsunade thought, as she sat down not far from where the kids had just been. We could have lost her too. The thought was unbearable.

The sun was getting heavy in the sky as Uzumaki climbed the final step to Sakura's door. She had had her own apartment since the war had ended. She said it was to help boost the economy, but he thought it was just because her parents were a little too much to handle in the aftermath. He had always had all the time in the world to himself without having others fawn over his every thought. Her parents were really great parents, he supposed without having any real substance to compare them to, but she was an adult now and needed to think things through. Not talk about every single detail.

Hers was a small but elegant apartment. It had a nice view, not that any view in Konoha was really not nice. It was two bedrooms with a spacious living room area, a small but useable kitchen and a small space for dining. He wondered why she had taken a two bedroom apartment when it was only her, but if it made her happy, he didn't really question it. He liked his tiny little place, sort of. It reminded him of where he had come from. He had been offered larger places because he had obtained a hero like status after the war. And he was thinking of taking one, but it had never felt right to him. After all he had been through, he had learned to listen when something didn't feel right. In the past this thought would have been followed by I should have just beat the shit out of Sasuke before he left and none of this would have happened with an internal argument following that thought about how much would have actually happened had Sasuke not left. But after today he didn't feel the need. In fact, the Uchiha could rest in peace and Naruto need not think of him much more after today. Tonight feels right he noted as he neared the final step.

Naruto gave one final uncomfortable tug at his clothing and knocked on her door. From inside he heard rustling, soft cuss words, a firm "No!" in Sakura's voice and then Ino's voice calling out in a sing song voice "She'll be right there".

Ino's here? He thought before he remembered that girls clothing was more complicated and she would probably need help. Shit, he had needed help and he only had the one layer. I wonder if she threatened to shred her clothing too he thought absent-mindedly as he waited. Without much time passing the door opened slowly and Sakura was all but thrown out the door by a hand that looked very Ino like. He didn't have much against Ino but he didn't like seeing Sakura pushed around.

It was then that he looked at Sakura and he had a moment of panic. She was stunning. Like, really stunning. Nothing he had thought he knew about her beauty had been true before, he thought he felt a nosebleed coming so he gave a little sniff as he raised his eyes to meet hers. She was wearing a light blue Yukata with a purple floral design. An obi made of a much deeper pink than her hair adorned her waist. Her hair had been painstakingly done with decorative chopsticks and, what Naruto assumed was a lot of time and restarting. Sakura was feeling unusually like a woman first and a ninja second in this outfit and had her eyes cast toward the ground. She was also embarrassed by Ino's insistence on the very slight makeup. It was really out of character for Sakura to be wearing the troublesome stuff and a small shouting match preceded the application of it. She wasn't sure the makeup even had any color to it, just a slight shimmer. Naruto didn't see the makeup, he just saw her eyes meet his and that her eyes seemed to be glittering like the stars that had better come out tonight.

As Sakura lifted her eyes to meet his, her breath caught. He was wearing loose black pants that fit at the waist, they were formal and yet, the same style was often used in poorer fabric quality to train in, by normal ninja anyway. His shirt was a subtly shimmering, dark blue wrap style with very open flowing sleeves. It was decorated in silver thread creating a pattern that Sakura couldn't quite make out from where she was standing.

"They are sakura blossoms Sakura" he said smiling at her as she looked back up into his eyes.

"You look amazing Sakura-chan." He said smiling a manlier- less 'I'm getting ramen' smile than he normally gave. Sakura had never seen that particular smile before.

"Let's go, we'll be late." Naruto said, to an all too quiet Sakura. He wasn't used to being the only one of them to talk.

They walked together at a leisurely pace towards the center of town. They met their friends for dinner on a wooden bench under a starry sky lit with little white lights hung from strings that were strung all over town. Everyone had a great time eating and talking together. But as the meals began to finish, couples started wandering off to different parts of the festival. Soon it was Naruto and Sakura's turn to vanish into the crowd, leaving TenTen and Lee at the table discussing a plan of attack for the festival games. She had caught Lee's energy and enthusiasm lately. Much to Neji's dismay.

Naruto and Sakura didn't play too many games. They just wandered the streets, watching smiles and reveling in the laughter they heard. Tonight was so much different than a year ago. Their world was finally at peace.

As the night began growing darker Naruto grabbed Sakura's hand and started leading her away from the noisiest part of town. Sakura had a mild reaction to her hand being held, but again no violence.

"What…? Naruto? Let go!" She protested without menace or really caring if he did let go, it was just her normal reaction.

"Nope!" He said, she could hear his smile in that word.

"Naruto…" she said in a more traditional Sakura way. It held a distinct warning and promise of pain if he was not careful.

"I have something to show you" he said quickly. Hoping her curiosity would nip the punch in the bud.

"Oh". She said sounding surprised.

Really? Naruto thought, surprise is the reaction I'm getting at this point in the evening.

He continued to walk at a brisk pace; keeping her off balance enough in her unusual footwear to make sure her concentration was on that and not his hand or where they were headed. He had learned caution with her, not that he always utilized it, but tonight was too important.

They came to a stop in complete darkness facing away from town.

"We won't be able to see the fireworks from here" Sakura almost whined.

"Just trust me a sec, ok?" He said as he pulled her closer to him.

"Naruto what the hell are you doing?" She raised an eyebrow though he couldn't see it.

"Look here damn it, I have a surprise, and I need you to not trip for a second. So come here!" his tone wasn't disrespectful, not really. But it had an edge of irritation, like perhaps she had been pushing him a little far if he had something to give her. I really ought to be nice, she thought. Naruto felt her come closer and he daintily picked her up and set her on something wooden, a few inches off the ground. She was about to say something when he joined her and maneuvered her a little away from what she thought was the edge. Good, I don't want to fall again she thought, though she wasn't entirely against the idea if he was there to catch her.

A few moments passed by in silence and when Sakura couldn't stand it anymore she began to speak up.

"Naruto, what the…" Sakura's words caught in her throat as the first of the fireworks lit up the night sky behind them. What she saw in front of her was the most beautiful and enchanting sight she had ever seen. They were standing in a wooden gazebo in the middle of what looked like a crystal forest that had lit up in a thousand colors when the fireworks shot off.

"Woa" she said, barely above a whisper.

"Do you like it?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear from her reaction.

"How? Why?" she asked quickly as she turned around to capture every moment of the reflecting fireworks. This is magic she thought.

"How? Yamato took care of the gazebo and the trees. I got a little creative with an old friend and we developed this ice to cover the trees. Isn't it pretty?"

"It's…amazing Naruto." She said still trying to see in every direction at once.

It went dark for a few minutes as the fire techs prepared for another round.

"You didn't answer the why part" Sakura said, guessing at the reason and feeling her heart race in response.

"Because, Sakura…" this is it he thought taking a deep breath.

"Because I love you. Always have. Always will." There was a brief pause as a single shot went up into the air, a tester to make sure everything was good to go.

"Sakura will you…" He was doubly interrupted as a burst of fireworks shot into the air with new colors and shapes, but that was lost on him. Because his sentence was cut off by Sakura's lips crushing his. There was a moment of surprise before he reacted and wrapped his arms around her small waist, pulling her closer. The kiss was like the fireworks reflecting off their ice crystal forest. It was passionate and beautiful. It was all of the love they had had for each other bursting out at once. Naruto felt her pull slightly away, and look up into dancing dark blue eyes when she said,

"Yes."

He chuckled.

"But I haven't asked anything yet" He said still grinning.

"Does it matter?" She said as she twisted in his arms to watch the spectacular sight in front of her.

"What if I had a ring?" he asked with his cheek resting on her hair, chopsticks be damned.

There was a pause as they watched the ice sparkle, like a thousand diamonds shimmering.

"What if?" she replied so quietly she didn't think he had heard her.

"Seriously?" he asked, pulling her closer to him and turning her around to face him.

"Seriously." She said with a slight question in her voice as if he might actually have been thinking of proposing marriage instead of dating. Which wasn't completely out of the range of possibilities for him.

Naruto grinned, his best 12 year old self grin. He picked her up and twirled her around, like he had always wanted to try without the risk of internal bleeding. As he set her down and the finale of the evenings fireworks began, he rummaged in his pocket for an item he hadn't thought he could use and produced something small and shiny and said,

"Seriously"

And without hesitation, Sakura exhaled a "yes" right before the kissing started again.

Author's time to talk about the story: This story was actually conceived and written in one day. When I woke up this morning, at the crack of dawn (against my will) and went outside I saw something very much like a crystal forest. We had an ice storm and every tree branch was encased in ice. Despite my mild agitation at being up so early I was really captivated by the view and spent the entire hour drive happily enjoying the scenery as I started getting this idea. It's different than I had intended it to be because I just really didn't want to deal with negative emotions… the near complete lack of drama stems from reading a fanfic last night that was so overloaded with it that it actually kind of upset me. So here is something, nice and simple. I don't DO drama in my stories cause I don't like tension. No other reason. I hope you enjoyed this.