Inspired by a short NaruSaku story.
Admiration.
The air was still. Training had ended hours ago, but she lay on the grass, looking up at the stars. In return, they beamed down at her. She could almost see a wide smile to match Lee's. They were happily shining down on the earth, spreading their cheerfulness throughout the night sky.
She pictured smiles on her friends. Ino's large smile, Kiba's arrogant smirks, the lazy smile Shikamaru gave after a victory, and Naruto's smile.
Out of all those smiles, his had stood out the most.
What surprised her was that she hadn't marveled at Sasuke's extremely rare smiles.
Instead, she had chosen to wonder about her teammates smile.
It was nearly like the shiny stars, but it was darker in a way. It didn't tell of a life of meaningful laughs, friends to fool around with, and certainly it didn't tell of acceptance. She made a funny sound from the back of her throat. Acceptance? That was unheard of at his childhood. She had learned from her teachers that Naruto had been unfairly treated, and tortured with the fact that he had a kyuubi sealed into him. Trying to live with a creature that reminded people of only chaos and blood wouldn't really be a good thing. No matter how nice the people of the village seemed to be, there just wasn't enough of that kindness for them to overlook Naruto's hidden monster.
And he had cried. He cried so much, because of the sadness and loneliness. And then Sakura's face broke into a sad smile. Naruto had been lucky. A lot luckier than Gaara of the Sand. He had found Iruka, who cared and looked out for him. Although he busted his money on ramen every week for Naruto, he couldn't find it in his heart to give Naruto a vicious attitude. Iruka , besides the former Hokage, was probably the only one that had believed in Naruto.
After those two, others started too. Kakashi was first. He watched over their team, carefully trying to figure them all out. Of course, Naruto had given a big speech about his one and only dream for the future. Not many people really thought he would actually mean it so much. Then with those training weeks, and the nerve-wrecking situation with Haku and Zabuza, he slowly gained the admiration of his team. The fox demon in him hadn't mattered.
Naruto was just Naruto to them.
When Naruto kicked Kiba's ass in the semi-tournament, he had proven to Kiba that his dream would always be his dream. Insults and harsh words wouldn't bring him down. Kiba understood. They fought a lot after that, but it wasn't to be mean. Maybe a special connection had formed. Naruto shone his smile.
Naruto was eager when he found out he was going to fight in a battle with Neji. It wasn't easy to win against a genius of a famous and powerful clan, but he did. He won with powerful words that shook the intelligent boy. Then he gave another speech about becoming the Hokage. Neji thought Naruto was feeding him bullshit.
And the he shocked them all.
With a little help of what he despised the most, he drew out the chakra needed for him to win. The Hokage was impressed, but shocked. Actually, Neji was the most shocked. Where did he get that red and orange chakra? It had made him confused. But Neji refused to let a loser get in his way. But the long haired genius made a poor analysis of Naruto's personality. Naruto wasn't a loser. Sure, he sucked at academics and logic, but he wasn't a loser. Neji was the loser in that situation.
But Neji refused to even think about it. After all, Naruto was bullshitting him. With a couple of shadow clones and quick thinking, the 'loser' had won.
While winning, he had also taught Neji something that he would never forget. After Neji lost, the also threw away his caged bird theories. He had one ambition, and that was to become stronger. Naruto grinned and blew kisses.
Then there was Gaara. He looked weird, with dark circles around his eyes. He revealed the monster in him. Naruto followed in the suit. They clashed. It was bloody, as she was told. But Naruto wouldn't give up. He showed off his new techniques, and had made Sasuke stare in shock. Oh, that was one of his habits. Shocking people till they couldn't make a single sound. Sakura smiled again.
Almost like Neji, Gaara left the fighting area with a change of heart and a new wisdom he had been given. Naruto was also given something. He was given a smile on his face.
Naruto meant it with all his heart. Everything he had said to people.
The most annoying person had also given Naruto his faith. Jiraiya. The old pervert just thought of him as a failure, something most people thought. Naruto progressed under Jiraiya's watch. Naruto became greater than he was before. His confrontation with Tsunande and Orochimaru didn't pull him down either.
It seemed like the only thing Naruto could do was improve.
And the most special thing of all.
His smile.
He smiled, no matter what. People left him, they scorned him, they hated him, and they treated him like crap.
And yet he smiled. Either his eyes shut and teeth sparkling, or with deep blue eyes and a catlike grin.
It really wasn't anything she had ever seen before.
It was a smile that held everything. It worked magic. It was magic. Sometimes his shiny teeth would remind her of Gai's overdramatic smiles. But Naruto's smile wasn't overdramatic like the green clad teacher. The smile wasn't arrogant and cocky either. Unlike Kakashi's, it wasn't playful and perverted.
The smile was Naruto.
If you looked at his smile, you would see the real him.
Sakura blinked. See the real him? Did she really think that?
It was true though, she admitted.
And that feeling that exploded in her chest was nothing like before. Sakura admired the blond haired, blue eyed Naruto. Everyone did.
There would never be anyone who couldn't think highly of such a person.
Bright, white stars lit up the late evening sky. She spotted constellations.
And she suddenly liked the thought of one of them being Naruto's smile.
Didn't take me that long to write this. I don't think there's too much to it, so its easy to understand.
Did I make any mistakes?