Sakura walked down the street, hyperventilating. He had- oh god. She didn't even want to think about it. It made her feel sick. How could that arrogant bastard even think she would accept?! It was so unorthodox, so obscene, so horrendous! So she had said no. To Sasuke-kun. No, to Uchiha-san. She would not, ever, show any familiarity with that arrogant, awful, twisted person. He had only been back, after the war and his betrayal, in Konoha for one week. And he asked this of her?! Unbelievable!
At that moment, a large mass of chakra seemed to be barreling towards her, and she perked up considerably. She had an answer to the asshole's condescending 'why not?'. The answer was simple.
Naruto.
"Hey Sa-ku-ra! I'm back! Wanna get something to eat?" He slung his arm around her shoulders, perceiving it to be alright, considering what they were.
Best friends.
Precious to each other.
…
…
"Naruto, do you love me?" A small voice asked him, and he was so taken aback that he took a step away from her, looking at her in shock.
"S-sakura-chan?" He wasn't sure the voice originated from Sakura, it was such a strange thing to ask him...
"Do you love me? I need to know, before I go and make a fool of myself." The small voice said.
"U-uh, yeah! I've always loved you. You're my most precious person! Believe it!" Now that they were talking about what he knew how to answer, he was back on track.
"As a sister, or..."
That threw him for a loop.
"No! Not as a sister! I mean, I love you." He wasn't entirely sure where this was going, but he gathered it was serious.
"Okay," Sakura took in a deep breath and finally looked into his worried sky-blue eyes, "Alright." Another deep breath, "I love you too."
"W-what? Really?! I thought you loved the teme!" His eyes widened.
"I don't! I may have thought I did but after what he did today, what he wanted to do to me, I know I never really felt that way towards him!" Her forceful words made it sink in.
She loved him. Naruto. He moved forward and enveloped her in a hug.
"What did the baka-teme do?" He asked, gentler than what she could have thought possible.
"H-he," She burst into sobs.
"Shh, you don't need to tell me if you don't want to. It's okay."
A pause.
"Ok." and then, "Naruto?"
"Yeah?"
"Can we not date, please. I-I,"
"Yeah, it's okay, we don't need to date, I mean. Whatever baka-teme did must be bad, I want you to recover first, a-and-"
"No, no," Sakura wiped her eyes, and looked up at him, "Can we just skip to being married, please? I don't want to wait. We both love each other, right?"
Naruto's eyes were wide, and he grinned the grin that made everyone fall in love with him, and answered a very simple answer which would change their lives forever.
"Sure."
And then a pause.
"WAIT, does that mean that you proposed to me?! Damn! I wanted to do that!" Sakura chuckled.