The NaruSaku Collection

Story Eleven: Carefree

Summary: Written for the Heaven & Earth 10th Anniversary Contest. The relationship between Sakura and Naruto could not be more carefree... until Sakura gets home one evening to find Naruto is acting nervously. What's he managed to do in the short time she was at work?


Despite the grind, a workday at Konoha's hospital would always be rewarding. Even after the toughest of days, coming home alleviated all of her worries because at some point Naruto would greet her with his smiling face. It didn't matter what had happened in the time since they had seen each other because his smile was infectious. She would like to think hers was too, as even the smallest hint of a curve on her lips made him grin.

It had reached the point where she had given up on trying not to the smile back. He would smile at her. Her lip would quiver. He would grin. She would bite her cheek. His grin would widen to ridiculous proportions. She could cover her mouth, or avoid eye contact, or suddenly take interest in something in the opposite direction from him, but it would be futile. He knew she was smiling and she was glad he knew.

If Naruto wasn't waiting for her outside the hospital, he usually popped up and surprised her on her way home. Rarely, he'd greet her when she got home. It didn't matter what he had been doing before then, he always made the time to come and find her. She had told him he didn't have to. He told her that he wanted to. She told him he was a hopeless romantic idiot. He held her gaze until she lost her breath. When he agreed, she kissed him on the cheek. He told her she was going soft. She punched him. He laughed. She failed at not smiling. He held her hand and she let him. Secretly, she'd been waiting for him to do just that.

It was a terrible thing but she was going soft. If Naruto decided to show up and surprise her at work then she was hopeless. Since her mentor retired from most of her duties, including the hospital care, so much responsibility had been past down and now Sakura was the lead medic. When that happened, she decided to be a bit tougher in her position, attempting to be like the still-great Tsunade.

That was a useless plan when it came to old people and young children but she had tried her utmost to enforce what was really best for everyone's health. Then Naruto showed up and attempted to be affectionate and everybody smiled at her and she couldn't be so lovingly-cruel anymore. He brightened up her days and he brightened up the patients' also. Despite her efforts, she would never be as traditional or detached as those she respected.

Naruto told her he loved her for that. She hit him. Okay, okay... she kissed him. Not at work. She was still semi-professional when he was around (sometimes). She told him he shouldn't distract her so often, but the smile on her face always told a different story and Naruto never listened to anything negative about them, her or their relationship anyway.

So she started looking out for him on her short trips home. She started leaving early to surprise him instead. She would apologise when this caused him to lose focus in a spar and then lose altogether, but the words I'm sorry were never needed anymore. She would only apologise lightheartedly when she distracted him and he made a fool out of himself, or rarely when he mock-sulked at her fake anger.

He still apologised occasionally – but the moments were never that serious. He'd mess his words up and she would scowl. Then he would desperately retreat from her now less often rage. Even if she tried, she could never truly get mad at him, not for long. When he would never do anything intentionally to hurt her, how could she? She would never intentionally hurt him either - you can't count the odd punch or kick because she almost swore he liked it, and he definitely encouraged it on the odd occasion.

It didn't matter what emotion he was bringing from her - and her from him - they always looked forward to their eye-lock, their hug or kiss, their smiling hello. Their adventures were endless, but neither of them had really changed. They still spent a large amount of time with their team and friends. They had grown up, and despite being serious about each other, there was always a childish, giddy excitement when they spent time together.

That's why when she arrived home and hadn't seen Naruto, and when he didn't pop up and pull her into a bear hug the moment she entered the door, she was confused.

"Naruto?" she called out.

There was a scuffling noise in the bedroom and then a slam.

"Sakura-chan!"

She turned around to see Naruto smiling awkwardly at her, slightly out of breath. He leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before squeezing past her and striding towards their sofa. He sat down and fidgeted for a moment in obvious discomfort. Then he calmed himself and sat still, looking at the wall ahead of him.

For whatever reason, she was fairly sure he had just jumped out of their bedroom window, closed it and then run around from their back garden to meet her.

Deciding to ignore his undeniable strange behaviour, knowing that inevitably she would find out its cause, she entered their house and closed the door behind her. She wondered if he was going to try and surprise her in some way – whenever he did, the nervous and excited energy that vibrated from him was palpable, especially if he had a big announcement.

He seemed more nervous today though. In an attempt to relax him, she detached her medical pouch, slipped off her shoes and calmly walked towards the sofa. She sat down next to him and moved in close. He wrapped his arm around her and she leant her head on his shoulder. Naruto released a long breath and visibly relaxed.

"What've you done today?" she asked casually.

"...Trained," Naruto replied.

His answer was slow and strange. She ignored his off-behaviour again.

"Kakashi can't wait to get out the Hokage chair and train with us more often. You still have to see us just as much when you take over though."

"It's getting close now, isn't it?" Naruto asked quietly.

Sakura raised her head and pulled away from him so she could meet his gaze. His eyes followed hers.

"I believe in you."

He smiled, transfixed. "When you believe in me, I can do anything."

"Good, because I'm going to be bringing in piles of paperwork for you to do," she teased.

He was going to hate that part of the job.

A sudden look of panic crossed his face. He slapped his hands to his cheeks in mock shock. "Sakura-chan! You can't bring me paperwork. If you do, I might start enjoying it and I'll never be the same!"

That was more like the Naruto she knew and loved. She grinned up at him.

"It will definitely test your love for me."

"Nothing could ever test that."

She mentally agreed. It didn't matter what she did, Naruto was always there for her and always had been. She felt the same away. She was about to kiss him when she spotted something on one of the chairs under the kitchen table. The tablecloth was pulled down to the side lower than usual, nearly hiding the sitting object. Only because she was sat lower down did she see it. She stood up and began to walk towards it, picking up on Naruto tensing as she did so.

As she got closer, she realised it was their washing basket. She pulled out the chair to look at the basket's contents. It wasn't often Naruto did the laundry. They split out house jobs, yet with some, like the cooking, Naruto tended to think that meant go out to eat ramen together. They probably ate out too much, and at their friends too much, but she didn't enjoy cooking that much either – she wasn't the best at it. When they did it together, it was fun, but that still didn't guarantee an edible meal.

It was sweet of Naruto to give the washing a go... She bent down and picked up a once-white T-shirt, noticing others in the same state as the sorry piece of material in her hands. It was his white top that he had obviously washed with some of her red clothes. Looking at it, she walked back towards Naruto who was now hovering hesitantly a few meters away. She held up the pink item and looked at him.

He was expecting her to be mad. He was ready to flinch. This had been what had worried him and caused him to act out of character.

She burst out laughing.

"You're not mad?" Naruto asked, relieved.

As she held up the material, she imagined him wearing it and giggled further. It was almost as bad as the time she had shrunk his clothes and he wore them anyway - they were way too tight. She didn't mind it, but she did worry some of his body's circulation would be cut off. He told her they fit better than they used to. It was a cute lie and she made it up to him later.

"Naruto, these are your T-shirts. You're going to have to wear them still."

Naruto grinned. "That's OK, pink's my favourite colour."

"Why's that?" she asked innocently, lowering the T-shirt to her side.

"There's this new ramen topping and it has this pink little swirl-"

If looks could kill.

Naruto laughed and rubbed the back of his head in a sheepish manner. He was getting cheeky with her recently, but he amused himself so she let it slide this time.

"You know why, Sakura-chan. It reminds me of the girl I love."

Besides, his loving comments never ceased. There was the slightest hint of a blush on her cheeks when she looked at the floor and smiled.

He walked towards her and tilted her chin up with his finger. He moved in to press his lips to hers before resting his forehead against her own. She closed her eyes briefly and relaxed into the moment. Then she opened her eyes again and gave him one more peck on the lips. Gently holding onto his wrist, she headed towards the bedroom.

The panic picked up in Naruto again, she sensed it from his slight hesitation to follow her.

"Eh, uh, Sakura-chan, where are you going?"

She looked back at him. "The bedroom, why, what are you thinking?"

Naruto drifted off for a moment and she raised an eyebrow before he shook his head and forced himself back to reality.

Thinking about it, there wasn't much washing in that basket. There were certainly no coloured clothes (naturally coloured anyway).

"Why don't you sit on the sofa, Sakura-chan, I'll make you dinner..."

Sakura reached for the bedroom door handle and twisted it open.

The bed sheets were missing.

That's when she remembered they were bright white.

"Naruto?"

Naruto audibly swallowed. "Yes, Sakura-chan?"

"Our bed sheets are pink too?"

Sakura swivelled efficiently on her heels to look him square in the face. While she kept her emotions guarded, Naruto was a picture of guilt.

"I thought I'd be helpful and wash everything," he admitted. "I used to just wash everything together when I lived alone. I never had any problems."

She tried not to imagine the state of his old home. Remembering the discovery of bug families in unclean corners of the apartment made her shiver. She was happy to say he wasn't that bad these days. He had good intentions today. It really did look like he tried to wash everything he could in the time he had.

He headed to the window and she followed him. She looked across their garden to see an array of clothes, bed sheets and other garments (some the right colour, some not) splayed across their lawn.

His odd behaviour became fully clear. He had been trying to hide the evidence. He'd taken it out the window with him and panicked. Even if he did put it in a pile, the wind had blown it all over the place.

She could picture him earlier on in the day, proud of himself for his efforts. She could clearly see his confusion as the clothes came out the wrong colours and his panic and mad rushing around trying to fix it. Knowing him, he would have tried to replace everything and then later he'd be making it up to her in another sweet gesture that she didn't need or expect.

She looked away from the garden scene and met his gaze. He looked puppy-dog guilty and all she cared about was putting a smile back on his face. The entire journey home, she was thinking about how happy he made her. They both had their flaws, his happened to be funny more often than not and Naruto liked her flaws for some mad reason.

They were imperfectly perfect for each other. Even if they couldn't manage the basics of domestication, they laughed at their mistakes and loved each other despite mix-ups. Today, her happy mood just couldn't be broken. Naruto would have to do a lot worse than this. His pouting expression was helping him too.

She shrugged.

"Oh well."

Naruto's eyes widened.

"We need a new bed anyway."

"We do?"

"And a bigger house," she hinted with a cheeky smile.

...because it was time they shared this happy madness with someone else.

Realisation lit up Naruto's face before he grinned at her. He moved to kiss her, only to be distracted by a loud bark. They collectively turned their heads to see their next door neighbour's dog in their garden. They watched as the excitable creature, which must have rolled in mud somewhere, had a ball of a time running over their clean washing, biting and dragging some of the garments around for good measure.

"I'll get it all back, Sakura-chan!" Naruto promised as he rushed to open the window and jump down into their garden. He chased after the, now even more excited, dog. "I'll wash it all again!"

She giggled at him as he attempted to save all of their washing from the playful animal. They ran circles around each other, one of them obviously enjoying the game, the other not so much. Naruto used his clones for backup, but the dog could not be deterred.

At least their lives would never be dull.

She looked down at her left hand and smiled. She stroked the jewellery on her ring finger that reminded her of the most meaningful promise they made to each other - they would uphold it forever and always.

During good times, their days together were carefree. Time passed so quickly, yet they enjoyed every second. Holes in their past were filled. Friends reunited. Family gained. Love found and cherished. They knew they would be happy with each other for the rest of their lives.

Then there were the days when Naruto did the laundry...

Sakura wouldn't admit it to her husband, but she'd be disappointed if he got it right.


Author notes:

Like many Naruto fans, my creativity for the Naruto universe has been sucked dry since the end of the manga. As a NaruSaku fan, and a Sakura fan, I was incredibly disappointed. Favourite pairing and character aside, I still was. The way the manga ended, with so much regression and all sorts of plot and character development thrown out the window, I knew writing this fanfiction again would be hard.

Saying that, I saw a still humorous, creative and loyal community over on the Heaven and Earth forums and then I saw the fanfiction competition. I thought I could manage one more fresh idea in dedication to the NaruSaku fans. This was it. It was a struggle at the start and it took a few hours, I hadn't even written anything for over a month, but I got into it. I saw the laundry picture prompt and the first thing I imagined was Naruto mixing colours and whites and completely messing it up.

I've never entered a fanfic competition before – it was strange to build the story around a mandatory prompt. The start of the story wrote itself. The next scene didn't flow as much as I'd hoped. I wish I had written something better, but it might be a while before I can write NaruSaku without the bittersweet sinking feeling of disappointment that the characters I have always written end up so oppositely in the final manga chapters.

Of course, I still had to write Sakura as I have always seen her; no housewife, but a hardworking medic and headstrong kunoichi. And Naruto, still never giving up on his love for Sakura, someone interested in his family and friends above everything else. Finally, NaruSaku as the happy ending, a perfectly imperfect couple that developed so much and that will always have the potential to bring out every emotion and scenario because they really do bring out the best in each other. I'm still always going to be a NaruSaku shipper.

For anyone who follows my writing and this collection, I don't know if I can bring myself to write new ideas, but I will likely, at some point, finish and post some of my started fanfics. When I come to posting the last one-shot, I will let you know. This also applies to anybody who reads Amnesia. It might take me a little while to get the next chapter out – sorry.

To any NaruSaku writers/artists, you should totally enter the Heaven and Earth NaruSaku fanfiction or fan art competition! Head on over to the forums to see the rules. There are prizes too. Even if you haven't written before, you can give it a go – you might find out you really enjoy writing, like I did. It'd be great to see more NaruSaku fans pushing past the understandable depression and giving one last effort to post your creation for the community. The deadline was 30 November, but it's now likely to be extended. And if you're reading this and the date has passed, it doesn't mean you can't give it a go for fun. There's definitely not enough NaruSaku being posted on this website currently!

Later edit: The contest has been extended (to the end of January) and re-branded. The new theme is to write NaruSaku an ending they deserve!

Happy 10th anniversary, Heaven and Earth!

Thanks for all the support and thank you for reading. Chin up, NaruSaku fans!


More from the NaruSaku Collection:

Chapter 12: Cake

Summary: Sakura gets it in her head that she's going to make Naruto a birthday cake. She would admit that the idea was a momentary lapse of judgement. She can't bake, but that's not going to stop her trying... again and again and again. Naruto's worth it. What is her boyfriend going to think of the result?