Sakura lay with her back to Naruto, snuggled against his chest. Both of his arms were wrapped possessively around her holding her firmly against him. His face was buried against her neck and his slow and rhythmic breathing warmed her skin.
She had been drifting in between wakefulness and sleep for some time now. There had been moments during the night when an unprecedented sense of peace had swept over her. But she couldn't hold on to that feeling for too long. Her mind, her thoughts, her fears would swiftly and harshly break the spell,
Sakura sighed and snuggled closer.
"Naruto..."
At the soft sound of her voice Naruto came fully awake. His arms tightened around Sakura pulling her closer.
"Yeah?"
"I want to ask you a question"
"Okay." He waited for the length of a deep breath. Then another. Then another still.
"Sakura?"
"I want to ask you something but I am afraid its going to make me sound insecure."
"I-I don't understand."
"I've been going over it in my head, how to ask you this question I mean, and it just sounds like something a selfish needy insecure person would ask."
"Oh"
Naruto suppressed a smile against her back. "How about this, you can ask the question and then you can feel insecure about it for a moment."
He then kissed her gently on the back of her neck. "Then I'll make you feel better."
Sakura considered this as she felt a familiar heat shoot up her spine and through her body.
"Alright" she sighed. "Just don't do that I won't be able to concentrate if you do that."
Naruto grinned, "Okay. So what's on your mind Sakura-chan?"
She drew in a sharp breath. "What would you do if I walked away?"
"If you walked away right now? I'd probably tell you to put some clothes on because you're naked.."
She elbowed him in the gut. "You know that's not what I meant."
Naruto coughed-laughed into her shoulder.
"I'm being serious If I died, no wait if I left...'
She paused and tried to wrangle together the right words to express herself. But her mind was a jumble of fragmented thoughts.
"Forget about the specifics the essential nature of the question is this Naruto...do you think you can be happy without me in your life?"
Abruptly she imagined a world where Naruto was with someone more deserving of him. He was happier, more fulfilled without her holding him back. The scene that played out in her mind caused her heart to contract.
"I want an honest answer Naruto."
He answered almost immediately. "I probably could be happy."
She stiffened against him. 'That's not how you are supposed to answer that question!"
"You wanted me to lie?"
"No...But I didn't want the truth to be so hurtful."
"I think I should explain."
"Save yourself the trouble Naruto just go grab a kunai and put it through my heart."
"Sakura if you walked away from me for whatever reason you wouldn't be able to take my memories of you with you. No one can take my memories of you away from me. They will always exists. See no matter what happens in the future ninety nine percent of the guys in the world will never be able to say that they were lucky enough to be hold on to Haruno Sakura like I am doing tonight."
He paused and collected his own thoughts. "Don't get me wrong it's amazing that I can just reach out and touch you right now. I really like that I can do that. But if I couldn't reach out and touch you anymore I could still be happy knowing that I got the chance to."
Sakura turned towards him. Thanks to the moon there was just enough light in the room for him to see her misting eyes. But she could hardly care about tears at that point.
"See that's not fair Naruto when you say things like that you are forcing me to love you."
Naruto laughed. "Well you don't have too if you don't want too."
"No, it can't be helped." Her voice cracked a bit. "I guess I'll have to be your future wife and of course the mother of your children and well I'll have to get used to generally being your partner in everything for the rest of our lives."
"If that's what you want" Naruto whispered.
"That's what I want" she whispered back.
For the space of a few heartbeats Naruto found that he couldn't speak. Sakura studied his features.
"Are you okay?"
Eventually Naruto found his voice. "Sometimes I am um, sometimes I surprise myself when i think that you uh..."
"That I what?"
He glanced up at the ceiling. "That you chose me. That you um love me."
"That surprises you?" She chuckled. 'You blockhead you should know for sure by now."
He nodded anxiously. "I do know, I definitely know. Sometimes-Most of the time I know. other times I am surprised a little bit."
Sakura reached out and caressed Naruto's face. "So what do you call a relationship where both sides can't believe the other side is in love with them."
Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, what do you call a relationship where both side can't believe the other side loves them?"
"I don't know that's why I was asking you."
"Oh, I actually thought you setting up a joke."
Sakura shook her head as a grin spread from ear to ear. "Nope, that was a serious question."
"Oh, well I have no idea. It's us I guess. What would you call us?"
"Two silly people in love."
Naruto smiled "That sounds about right."
He leaned over and their mouths connected for a long slow kiss. Locked tight in that familiar embrace two silly people in love drifted off to sleep.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Well there you go. As I said when I've got no other priorities I'll just write something, anything. Sometimes it might be fanfic.
I may have laid the cheese on a little thick with this story. But that was just off the top of my head so maybe my natural state might be dripping with cheese.
Anyway if you've got the time tell me what you think.
Next time I am going to do something different. i think. I'll try to do something very different. If I am inspired I guess.