Hello! I'm back! And I know, I'm doing way to many stories at once, but I can't help it. The plot bunnies WILL NOT leave me alone! So enjoy my new story, where Sasuke and Sakura battle for Naruto's affections!
Summary- Everyone knows of the Konoha Love Triangle. Naruto likes Sakura, Sakura likes Sasuke, Sasuke likes Naruto, but what if one day, Sakura broke this triangle? In an attempt to make Sasuke jealous, Sakura dates Naruto, but what happens when her plans backfire and she falls in love with Naruto? What will she do when she realizes Sasuke loves Naruto too? Prepare yourselves for an epic battle over the affections of an unsuspecting blond-haired ninja. All's fair in love and war. NaruSaku, SasuNaru.
-Edit-
Hello Readers. I'm editing this chapter because I was writing chapter two when I suddenly had a revelation of sorts. I'm completely changing the course of the story, so I had to change a lot of things in the first chapter. This story will start off simple and fun, but it will get more serious as we reach the actual plot. While originally, I was just gonna wing it, now that I have altered the storyline, I have everything planned out and I really like the new plot. I hope you do too as you continue to read "All's Fair".
Disclaimer: I will say this one time and one time only. All rights go to Kishimoto Masashi. Also, the image used for my story cover DOES NOT belong to me. All credits go to Mishune.
Setting: This takes place after the Invasion of Konoha Arc, before Sasuke leaves the village. In this fic, Sasuke never receives the curse mark.
Sakura lay on her side in her comfortable bed, contemplating the events that had taken place earlier that day. She had an ear to ear grin on her face as she remembered her most recent foolproof plan to win Sasuke's heart.
"Naruto!" she yelled enthusiastically, waving to the blond as she arrived at their regular meeting place. She wasn't surprised to see that Kakashi had yet to come. She saw that she had interrupted a conversation between the blue-eyed knucklehead and the onyx-eyed Uchiha.
"Hi Sakura-chan." he said blushing, confused at her excitement to see him. She giggled before plopping herself right in between the two male genin.
"Naruto-kun, I have something important to tell you." she said as she batted her eyes at the whiskered boy. She could feel the Uchiha beside her glaring at her back. It easily could've been because she rudely just interrupted their conversation, but blinded by her crush, she assumed he was jealous of her flirting with Naruto instead of him, causing her to inwardly squeal.
"Yes! He's already getting jealous! By next week, Sasuke-kun will be mine!" cried Inner-Sakura in victory.
Naruto's eyes went wide with shock.
"N-Naruto...kun?" he asked with a blush, regarding the suffix she added to his name. She nodded her head quickly before continuing.
"I've decided to accept your offers to take me out. I mean, I've realized you're the one who's always been there for me. Unlike some people." she said, sending a fake glare, Sasuke's way.
"R-really Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked happily. Sakura again nodded and his smile brightened immediately.
"Yeah!" he said jumping out of his seat. "I've got a date with Sakura-chan! I've got a date with Sakura-chan!" he looked back over his shoulder at her and she knew he was asking 'when'.
"Tonight at five is good." she replied to his questioning glance.
"Ok! I've gotta go prepare!" he said running away happily, and she couldn't help but genuinely smile at his retreating form. It was nice to know she had that kind of effect on someone, just by saying she'd go on a date with them.
She ripped her gaze away from Naruto and gave a side glance at her true-love Sasuke. He sat with his arms crossed and an adorable pout on his face. It took everything in her not to lean over and hug him and say 'it's ok Sasuke-kun! Don't pout! I still love you!'. Luckily, it was at this moment that Kakashi decided to arrive in a cloud of smoke.
"You're late!" Sakura yelled at him, pointing an accusing finger. It wasn't the same when Naruto wasn't there doing it with her.
"Sorry." he said, smiling under his mask. "I saw a group of orphans sitting on the side of the street, so I decided to stop and teach them how to sing."
"Liar!" she shouted traditionally. But Kakashi opened his unmasked eye at only hearing one voice accusing him. "Where's Naruto?"
Sakura's ear-to-ear grin turned into a frown as she remembered the blissfulness of Naruto's face when she had agreed to go out with him. Her gut churned with guilt, as she remembered that in comparison to how he felt, the date really meant nothing to her. Her guilt almost made her stomach hurt, but she reminded herself that it was for the sake of love.
'Oh Great, I just realized this is going to be my first date.' She groaned as she realized that her first date, a milestone in her life, was going to be at Ichiraku with the baka blond, instead of somewhere romantic with the good-looking, charming, dark-haired, Uchiha. But she remembered that this was probably Naruto's first date too. She decided agreeing to go on the date just to make someone else jealous was selfish enough as it is. For his sake, the least she could do is go with a good attitude. For all she knows, she might even enjoy herself.
She looked at her clock and realized it was time to meet Naruto at Ichiraku. She sighed as she turned off the lights to her room. She ran out the house, not bothering to leave a note for her parents since they were both on some special Anbu mission.
As she walked down the streets of Konoha, the closer her steps took her to Ichiraku, the more the nerves in her stomach grew.
'Why am I so nervous? It's only Naruto.' she thought. It may have just been Naruto, but it was also her first date, and she couldn't help but be a bit anxious to see the blond.
She slowed down as she saw the small shop that she knew held the ramen-loving boy and his favorite food and she took a deep breath before she pushed her nerves aside and entered the shop.
"Naruto?" she said, forgetting the 'kun' as she saw him already on his fourth bowl of ramen.
"Oh hey Sakura-chan!" he said, mouth full, before swallowing the remaining ramen in his mouth. Sakura glared at him before punching him in the head.
"Baka! Don't talk with your mouth full! It's rude and you're on a date! Have a little more class, Naruto!"
"Sorry Sakura-chan." he apologized before seemingly immediately brightening up. "So what kind of ramen do you like, Sakura-chan?" she shrugged.
"I guess I'll have a vegetable ramen." she answered remembering she had to keep a trim figure so she wouldn't get as fat as Ino pig. Her mind darkened at the thought of Ino. Yes, they were technically frenemies, but most of the time the good outweighed the bad with Ino. And deep down Sakura knew Ino wasn't fat, she just needed a retaliation against the constant "billboard brow."
"Old Man! A vegetable ramen for Sakura-chan and another miso ramen for me!" Naruto yelled happily to the Ichiraku owner. Sakura was about to punch him again for being so loud, but at the last second, decided against it.
"Sure thing." the "Old Man" replied as he winked at Naruto, and in return, Naruto winked back. Sakura raised a pink eyebrow at the blonde's strange behavior, but said nothing about it.
"So Sakura?" Naruto turned to her with a genuine look of confusion on his face. "Why are you always on a diet? You're not even a little bit fat." Sakura shrugged at his question.
"Us girls have to keep our figure. You boys are lucky enough to be able to eat like your stomachs are bottomless pits and still come out with perfectly fine figures." she explained, gesturing to his fourth bowl of ramen. And that was a third of what he usually ate.
"But Sakura-chan, you're already so skinny! And you're always exercising because of ninja training and missions! Not to mention you're gonna need a little meat on your bones if you're gonna be able to fight to the best of your ability."
"Are you saying I'm slowing down the team because I'm too skinny?" She accused.
"No, no! I was just saying that you're fine just the way you are and that getting any skinnier might be unhealthy!" he smiled. "I'm only looking out for you Sakura-chan!"
Sakura blushed. Due to being bullied as a child, Sakura had always been more than a little self-conscious about the way others saw her. Constantly being rejected by Sasuke on a daily basis didn't do much for her self-esteem either. But hearing Naruto say that helped her feel a little better about the way she looked.
"Thanks, Naruto." but he didn't even seem to hear her as he was smiling widely when he saw the ramen-shop owner coming back with a plate in his hands, and Sakura knew why.
"No way." she said incredelously as she sniffed the air for the wonderful smelling delicacy. Instead of vegetable ramen, the man laid in front of her a plate full of Syrup-coated Anko Dumplings.
"This is my favorite!" she exclaimed as she stared in awe at the plate. "How did you know?" she asked, looking at the hyper blonde.
"I remember you told me that when we first met." Naruto explained, his cheeks turning pink. Sakura frowned. She remembered that day.
They were five at the time and they had met in the park. No one wanted to play with Sakura because she was the big forehead girl, and no one wanted to play with Naruto because their parents told them not to. So they played with eachother. They talked and played all day. Swung on the swings, slid down the slide.
Her mother had let her play with him, but when her father found out, he forbade her from seeing him again. Sakura frowned at the memory.
"Wow Naruto, you remember from that far back?" she asked nervously. And she could barely even remember his birthday.
"Well Sakura-chan, you were one of my first friends!" he smiled. "You were special to me, and I remember things that are special." he said with a shrug.
The words sank in as she began eating her dumplings and Naruto continued to talk. While Naruto continued to ramble on about something that happened during a sparring session with him and Lee, the 'Old Man; as Naruto called him, leaned over to whisper something.
"This is a ramen shop." he pointed at the dumplings. "I made him pay extra to get me to make you those dumplings." he smiled at her warmly. "He really likes you, he talks about you and that Uchiha boy almost every day he comes here. Don't you be a fool and let him get away." His words earned him a curious look from the pink-haired kunoichi.
'I used to think Naruto only flirted with me so he could sabotage me and Sasuke's relationship, but recently I've realized he really cares about me.' she thought as she watched the whisker-faced ninja ramble on. 'Maybe I should give him a chance?'
'No! Remember Sasuke-kun! Remember what we're here for!' Inner-Sakura warned. Sakura nodded.
'Right! I gotta remember Sasuke-kun!'
"Old Man! What are you telling Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked when he realized Sakura's attention had shifted.
"I was just telling her if she eats that slow, her dumplings will get cold!"
"You shouldn't bother Sakura-chan, Old Man." Naruto scolded.
"Alright, I see I'm not wanted here." he said with a smile before going back to cooking. Naruto looked back over at Sakura while she finished up. He seemed like he was about to explode with joy.
"You ok there Naruto?" she asked as she saw him start to bounce in his seat.
"Yeah, I just have something really cool to show you after you're done!"
'There's more?' she wondered in surprise. To be honest, she hadn't expected Naruto to plan the date so extensively. She had just thought it would be a night alone with Naruto at Ichiraku for maybe an hour or so, before they would finish eating, end their awkward attempts at conversation, and go home. But Naruto was surprisingly very good at keeping up a good conversation and keeping Sakura entertained. Plus, he had surprised her with a plate full of her favorite food that she rarely got to eat. She couldn't help but be more than a little curious about what Naruto had planned next. Plus, it was both of their first date's and she wanted the night to be memorable for them both, she had no problem giving all his ideas a try considering the circumstances of their date even coming to be in the first place. So with those thoughts in mind, she scarfed down the rest of her dumplings and jumped up.
"Ok, I'm done."
"Yeah! Let's go!" he said. He threw the money on the table, yelled goodbye, and dragged her out the store faster than her eyes could follow. She gave a confused glance at his fifth empty bowl of ramen, wondering when he could've finished it when she thought he had been talking the whole time.
Before she knew it, she was running through the streets of Konoha heading straight for the entrance. She looked down and saw that he had grabbed her by the wrist instead of her hand.
'That's strange.' she thought. 'I'd expect him to use any excuse he could to hold my hand without me punching him.
As they reached the Konoha entrance, Naruto released her wrist and gave the guards some kind of hand signal that she assumed told them where they were going. She figured they had given him some sort of thumbs up because Naruto immediately turned to the right and jumped into the trees.
As her and Naruto soared through the trees, she noticed that all the leaves were changing color. Green, orange, yellow, red. She knew they would be beautiful when she actually got the chance to stop and look at them. But now she was going at a very fast pace and only saw a blur of colors. Sakura followed close behind him, but could feel her energy draining as she struggled to keep up with the blond that had a seemingly endless supply of energy.
"Narutooo!" she whined. "Do you think we could slow down a bit?"
"Come on Sakura! We're almost there!" he called behind him. It was weird for Sakura to hear her name come out of Naruto's mouth without the 'chan'. He was probably so excited he forgot to add it.
'This place better be worth all the hype.' She concluded grumpily. Just as she thought this, she heard the sound of rushing water and saw Naruto jump from a tree branch onto the ground.
"We're here!"
"It's about time! I was about to pass out!" she whined as she jumped down from the tree. "I swear, I asked for a date, not a work out sessio-" she stopped her rant, mid word, when she took in the breathtaking sight in front of her. They had stopped by a river with water clearer and bluer than she had ever seen. The cool blue contrasted greatly with the warm colors of red, orange, and yellow in theleaves of the trees. The leaves were lightly falling making the scenery all the more graceful and the sound of rushing water added to the serenity of it all. Strange, cheesy, and absolutely cliche as it was, the scene reminded her of Naruto. The way his blue eyes contrasted with his yellow hair and orange jumpsuit.
'And that's about where the similarities end. The calmness of the scene reminds me nothing of Naruto's loud and outgoing personality.' she thought, realizing the flaw in her comparison.
She heard a dragging sound and she looked at Naruto and saw him dragging a small wooden boat into the water. Her eyes widened, but her surprise was quickly replaced with excitement.
It was nighttime now, and the stars twinkled, brightly high above the trees. She walked over to Naruto and helped him pull the boat over the grass, jumping in when it got in the water. They sat in the boat as it calmly followed the river current. They talked for a long time and it made Sakura realize just what a funny person Naruto really was.
"Naruto, you baka! Sit down!' she yelled as she pulled him down and punched him in the head after he had randomly stood in the boat trying to look farther ahead at some unknown destination.
'I guess this place is more like Naruto when he's asleep. That's about the only time he calms down and shuts up.'
"Ow. Sakura-chan. You call me a baka, then you punch me in the head? Do you think that helps my brain cells?" Naruto asked.
"Are you being smart with me?" Sakura yelled angrily before looking down sadly at her red dress.
"Great, now I'm wet. I was hoping that wouldn't happen!"
"Oh. You didn't want to get wet?" Naruto rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Woops."
"What do you mean, 'woops'?" she glared at him.
The calm waters started to fade into ferocious waves. Naruto sat next to Sakura and put a hand on the bottom of the boat. Sakura looked over the side and saw that though the boat still shook violently, it merely rode on the waves, it never jumped or completely stopped touching the water.
"This is like our water walking jutsu." Sakura noticed. "You're pouring chakra into the boat so it will constantly be touching the water no matter what... but why?"
"Heh heh. Hold on tight Sakura-chan." Sakura looked up ahead and saw that there was no more river. It ended, just a few feet away, meaning...
"Narutooo!" She screamed as the boat suddenly tipped downward.
'And this is more like Naruto when he's wide awake.'
She instinctively grabbed onto Naruto, her screams and his laughter drowned out by the ferocious rushing water, and the wind flying past their ears and hitting them in the face as well as several drops of water. There was no slope, the waterfall went straight down, and they fell straight down with it, only stuck to the waterfall because of Naruto's chakra. It was a long drop, and Sakura's stomach felt light and empty, even ticklish from the feeling of freefalling. Dying was definitely not in the plan when she had agreed to date Naruto.
'I love you mommy. I love you daddy. I love you granny and grandaddy. It wasn't my fault, Naruto killed me.'
They hit the bottom with a loud splash that completely drenched the couple from head to toe.
As the boat began to steady and Sakura deemed it safe to open her eyes, she saw that she was tightly hugging Naruto's left arm for dear life, and could feel his body shaking with laughter. Her cheeks were flushed with fear. Her wet hair and clothes stuck to her skin. She shivered from the cool breeze, or maybe it was actually from absolute mortification the moment had caused. That moment that she was just falling straight down into the unforgiving waters below, the fear, the desperation... the rush.
"What'd you think Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, bright yellow hair dripping with water, drooping in front of his face, happy and smiling as if they hadn't been plummeting to their deaths a few seconds ago. Sakura glared.
"What'd I think? Naruto you baka!" she said as she delivered a blow to his head. "Naruto! You could've killed us both!" This statement immediately flipped his previous grin.
"It was stupid and dangerous!" she screamed at her teammate. It suddenly sunk into her head exactly just how completely reckless and life-threatening riding down a waterfall in a small wooden boat with no protection was. But her heart was racing, her adrenaline pumping, and butterflies violently attacked her stomach. After she shook off the initial shock, wiggled her fingers and toes, and saw that she had come out of the situation completely unharmed, she realized that she had genuinely had a lot of fun. Ever since she saw Naruto stab his hand with a kunai that day that they were guarding the bridge maker, she had always thought of him as a bit of a masochist, and she could never see how someone could get joy out of putting themselves in danger. But this, the rush she had just felt when her life flashed before her eyes... that was unforgettable, and now that the shock was over and no harm was done, she realized she would relive that moment a thousand times.
"And- and it was exhilarating and exciting and like nothing I've ever experienced before!" she added, her tone brightening with her most recent revelation. "Naruto, that was probably one of the best moments of my life!" she shook her head. "This is nothing like I imagined my first date to be, but you were able to change it and make it better than I-" she suddenly stopped and Naruto's elated expression changed into a look of concern.
"Sakura-chan?"
"I-I'm gonna be-" her words were interrupted as bile and her partially digested previous meal rose to her throat and exited from her mouth, onto the grass, and Naruto's shoe.
"Sakura-chan! Are you-" he was interrupted as deformed Syrup-coated Anko Dumplings landed at his feet for the second time.
"Naruto..." she moaned as she gripped her stomach.
'He ate five bowls of ramen! Why isn't he getting sick?' cried Inner Sakura in outrage.
"Sakura-chan! I'm so sorry! This is all my fault! We shouldn't have eaten first!"
'Cha! You're telling me?'
"It's ok, I'll be fine." was Sakura's actual reply.
"Wash your face by the river, the water is fresh." he explained. She walked over to the river and gargled her mouth with water. She was splashing water on her face when she felt a weight drop on her back and saw Naruto dip his dirty shoes in the river in her peripheral vision. What Naruto had given her was a white towel, with a few dirt spots on it. She decided against using the towel to dry her face and instead just dabbed it on her clothes and wrapped it over her shoulders.
She made her way back over to Naruto. Who was moving a rock back into place.
"Naruto, did you hide this towel under a rock or something?"
"Sakura-chan! You're ready! Let's go!" he again grabbed her by the wrists and dragged her along, not answering her question.
'Considering we're in the middle of a forest, he definitely did.' she realized. 'He really thought all this through, even having a towel prepared for me.' she looked over at him sympathetically. 'He didn't think much of himself though.' she thought as she looked at her friend and saw that he was dripping wet, but lacking a towel of his own.
Naruto led her deep into the forest (rejecting the towel everytime it was offered until Sakura forced him to stop and dry himself off) until the trees started changing. Sakura felt like she was in a dream. The large tall trees with thick trunks began to shrink into smaller skinnier trees. The leaves on the branches changed from reds, and yellows, and oranges to-
'Pink... Sakura blossom trees.' she thought in awe as she looked around at the beautiful scenery.
The Sakura petals were falling, swirling all around them as the wind blew. Naruto came to a bare spot in the trees where you could clearly see the night sky that brightly hung above the branches. He released her wrist and plopped down on the ground. Laying on his back, staring up at the sky.
"Naruto." she said as she plopped down lying beside him. "Why do you always grab my wrist instead of my hand when you try to drag me somewhere?" she asked curiously. Naruto stayed silent for a moment, mulling her question over as he absentmindedly started pulling up strands of grass from their roots.
"I guess I feel like every relationship should have milestones." he finally spoke. "You start somewhere until each person starts feeling more and more comfortable with each other, slowly broadening your boundaries." He smiled as he thought of Jiriya. "Once, Pervy Sage was trying to teach me how to summon a toad. So he let me do a bunch of things I should do before I died and then pushed me off a cliff to provoke me to use the Nine Tails chakra." he snickered at the memory. "One of the things he told me to do was hug the person I liked. Well I tried, and you ended up slipping. You were falling, and you almost landed right in my arms. But you wised up at the last second and punched me instead."
Sakura giggled. "I remember that."
"I feel like, I didn't get to hug you that day because we hadn't reached that stage in our relationship yet. And I decided no matter how much I loved you and wanted to be with you, that I would have to wait for you to control the boundaries."
They both turned their heads and looked at each other.
"Sakura-chan, I won't hold hands with you until you want me to."
"Naruto..." she sighed as she stared into his deep blue eyes, so much like the rushing waters of the river. She slid her arm out, over the grass, feeling the stars watch her as she lowered one of her boundaries.
"There." she declared smiling at the energetic ninja. "Now you're free to hold my hand whenever you please." she smiled softly at him, a light blush on her pale cheeks.
She settled in the grass with her knucklehead team mate and reveled in how content she was with how their date had turned out. This had been one of the best nights of her life, and it was thanks to Naruto. She wondered how different her night would've if it had been Sasuke with her instead of him.
'For one thing, half the things that happened wouldn't have.' she thought of Naruto getting Ichiraku to make her favorite food, the beyond epic waterfall ride, leading her to a field of Sakura blossom trees.
'Not to mention throwing up on him.' she blushed at the thought. She could only imagine what the Uchiha would've done if she had thrown up on his shoes.
"You're so disgusting Sakura." she imagined him saying. "I knew I never should've gone on a date with someone as annoying as you."
The thought of his reaction was humiliating, and she was certainly glad she hadn't shared that experience with him.
"Now it's my turn to ask a question." She heard Naruto's voice say, breaking her from her thoughts. Sakura nodded.
"Shoot." she replied.
"Why do you love Sasuke so much?" he asked.
On the other hand, Naruto had just shrugged it off and cleaned his feet in the river, and with the way he was just lying beside her, gazing at the stars as if he was perfectly content just being in her presence, he definitely didn't hold it against her. Throughout the time they had been team mates, she had become more and more aware of just how much he cared for her. Many times, especially during his fight with Gaara, Naruto had put his life on the line, completely throwing away his dream of becoming Hokage that was so special to him, just to save her and make sure she was safe. Naruto would go into a mission preaching about how one day he would become Hokage one second, and the next second he would be throwing himself in front of a poisoned kunai to save someone he cared about. It had helped Sakura realize that though his dreams and aspirations were important to him, his main priority was saving his friends and making sure the people he cared about were happy and safe. That was admirable, and this day had helped Sakura realize that maybe Naruto's feelings weren't so one-sided.
"You know what," she started as she turned her attention back to the night sky, the night's events replaying in her head as her fingers unconsciously curled a little tighter around Naruto's hand. "I'm not so sure anymore."
Phew! It's done! That was fun to write! I hope I got their character's okay.
That part in the beginning where Naruto mentions how he and Sakura met and Sakura briefly described it was actually much longer. It was becoming long enough to become a fic of its own, so I copy and pasted what I wrote into its own document, and I'm probably going to turn it into a one-shot, so keep an eye out for that.
By the way, for the NaruSasu/SasuNaru fans that clicked on this story, sorry for there being very little to none in this chapter. This was introducing Sakura's feelings, because I hate when people start stories with no background. There will be just as much SasuNaru as NaruSaku in this story. I promise.
Not sure who or where Sakura's parents are, so I made them both Anbu ninjas to explain why they're never there.
Lastly, I have a few things to say about NaruHina. Not to offend any fan of that ship that clicked on this story, but I hate that ship. Nonetheless, it's not right to pretend Hinata's crush doesn't exist, so I will give this ship some kind of closure at some point because ignoring it is bad and biased writing. I still have to think of how I'm going to give it realistic closure though.
Please review because that's the only way I can improve my writing! Both compliments, suggestions, and constructive criticism are both highly appreciated. Hope you enjoyed!
Keep on Reading!