Unlike him, Sakura wasn't free with her smiles. The same went for her laughs.
Maybe that's why he liked trying to make her laugh so much.
And to him, it was a perfect kind of laugh—not to loud or too soft or weird by any means. Just… Her's. Well. And his, in a way.
But in all the years that he had known her, he apparently hadn't heard her really laugh. The kind of laugh that made it hard to breathe until all you could do was sit there and shake and try not to suffocate on your own tongue. So when he accidentally found a trigger to cause that kind, he was kind of… Astounded.
Sitting on her bed like most evenings, he had his chin propped on her shoulder while he watched her browse the internet (aka tumblr), content to just sit there and be close. She was fairly absorbed in what she was doing, but he only saw a few things as she scrolled—a picture of a cat, some kind of fanart, food porn…
The infinite scrolling stopped on a post about a certain episode of some show. She laughed, and he focused on the text.
"I wish there was audio. Now I want to go and find the episode," she told him with a slight smile, and continued on with her browsing.
"What, because he was talking with helium?" he asked. Sitting back, he swallowed and adjusted his throat slightly, pressing the back of his tongue towards the roof of the back of his mouth so hardly any air made it through. From experience, he knew it would alter his voice into a higher, squeakier pitch- very similar to how a helium-breathing person might sound. "I can make a voice like that."
Sakura froze, and turned her head very slowly to look at him. His face fell at the look. She seemed almost… Horrified…
Until she fell back and started laughing louder than he had ever heard her before. The worry that he had felt for that span of seconds dissipated, and a smile broke across his face before he leaned forward and towards her, where she had curled up on her side and hadn't stopped laughing.
"What's so funny, huh?" he asked in the same voice, peeking over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised in a very overdramatic fashion.
"Naruto, stop!" she shrieked at him when she was able to take a breath, holding her sides tightly while she tried to contain herself.
"Stop what? I'm just talking to you." He wrapped his arms around her, and rocked back and forth. "What're you laughing at?"
It was amazing the difference between her normal laugh and this one. Even on a regular basis she seemed more reserved, like even though something was amusing, it wasn't quite up to par. But right now? He could see she wasn't holding back—or at least wasn't able to. It was like he was witnessing something only he was privy to, and that made it more special than anything.
"Naruto!" she barely managed to get out, tears collecting at the corners of her eyes. "I can't breathe oh god."
"Okay okay I'll stop," he soothed softly in his normal voice, a grin still straining his face in ways that made it hurt. But she kept laughing, and he kept watching in amazement, content to just appreciate the fact that this was his and his alone.