The Perfect Picture

"Will you ever give up on Sasuke? He doesn't love you!"

The words vibrated through her mind like a taboo. They echoed around her day after day. Sakura knew that bouting insults and voracious things helped Naruto fight better and train harder, but she never expected him to say anything like that during one of their sessions. He swore he didn't mean it afterwards, but she knew better. Sasuke and that loud mouthed blonde were best friends before he left and Naruto could never keep a secret well - even if Sasuke was never trying to keep it a secret anyway. Hell, he had called her annoying plenty of times, didn't she get the hint?

Maybe I should just give up...

Sasuke will never love me.

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"Sakura, what's the matter?"

Sakura looked up from the ground she had just been pummeled into. She didn't want to move, really; her mind was to preoccupied with other things. Naruto stared down at her with concerned wrinkles all over his face, and offered to help her up, but to no avail.

"You're not even blocking any of my attacks. Hell, you're not even trying to hit me. I thought I was more annoying than that!"

He flashed her a brilliant smile and hoisted the pink haired ninja up anyway without her consent. Sakura just looked at him with blank, expressionless eyes, letting the wind caress their hair while he held her up by her waist. Naruto stared at her for a long while before he sighed and finally said what his mind had been thinking.

"This doesn't have anything to do with what I said the last time we sparred, does it?"

A gasped escaped her lips and she pushed him away, expecting him to know why she was upset. After all, he was the one who said it, right? Shouldn't he have known it would hurt her feelings? A low growl escaped his lips, more frustrated at himself than anything else.

"Listen Sakura-chan... I care about you a ton..."

I don't care.

"...and I'm only trying to protect you..."

Whatever.

"...from running towards something that will never be within reach."

I already know that.

Wait, what?

I do already know that. If I've known all this time that Sasuke would never respond to me, so why the hell does this make me upset now? Is it because nobody has ever had the balls to ever say it to my face? But God, all those advances that were turned down should have hammered it into my head by now. So what if he's hot, sexy, mysterious, and would probably be really good in bed. The only thing that prick would ever love is killing people, and besides, he has the personality of a rock. Fuck, I've never even seen him smile, let alone happy.

It's an infatuation.

It's not love.

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We all seemed to content together. It felt like a dream come true to have Sasuke in Team 7 with me. But now that I think about it... it never did really matter, did it? Sasuke left and never came back, so why would I even think he would love me back?

Sakura looked at the picture in her in her hands with emerald eyes that screamed for her so she didn't have to. A delicate thumb ran across the glass where Kakashi was affectionately rustling Sasuke's hair. A glisten on the glass made her eyes catch the smile she saw that morning from the fox boy she had known for all her life. There was Naruto, giving a thumbs up and a killer grin to the camera. She compared the two in the picture, one crossing his arms and cursing the hand messing up his hair - and the other carefree and happy. What would make me fall for someone like that?

...I don't know.

"Hey, Sakura-chan."

"ACK!"

Naruto flew against the wall when Sakura gave him a powerful punch to the jaw, that was well deserved for scaring the daylights out of her. The blonde slid to the ground and rubbed the wound on his face. The pink haired ninja smirked awkwardly and wondered why that idiot would come into her house unannounced. What if she was naked or getting dressed? Then again, Naruto probably wouldn't have minded. Although he would most likely cover her floor with blood after getting a nosebleed and/or being kicked in the ass by said naked ninja.

"Naruto... what are you doing here?

He coughed and sat up straight. "Those are the first words I've heard you say in a few days. I just came to see how you were feeling."

A sigh was released from both of them, and for an instant they laid eyes on the same picture that had fell to the floor a few seconds ago. Sakura was about to reach for it, but Naruto beat her to it when he wiped away the broken glass and picked up the photo out of the frame. Sakura's knuckes went white. Thoughts went through her mind again about how she thought things would be with a certain Uchiha. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a strange sound come from the boy in front of her.

He was laughing. And laughing hard.

"HA! Look at this prick, Sakura! Standing there looking like he's too good for all of us! God, he was never any fun... at all..."

The laughter died down.

"...was he..?"

He dropped the picture and looked at Sakura with eyes that seemed to scream apologies at her. He missed Sasuke and they both knew it. And he thought he knew that Sakura missed him too.

"I know you miss him, Sakura-chan."

Silence.

"I miss him too."

Her eyes were glued to the ground. He sighed.

"I'm sure he'll co-"

"No."

Two blonde eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. He handed the picture over to Sakura, who looked like she was sweating, and very deep in thought. Green eyes burned into the picture long and hard before explaining herself.

"I don't think I miss him."

What did she say?

"You're right about what you said, Naruto. Sasuke doesn't love me."

More silence, and a gulp from the boy against the wall.

"And I don't think I love him either."

Naruto froze and repeated himself mentally. What the hell did she just say?

The fox boy watched as his friend seemed to grow angrier and rip Sasuke out of the picture. She tore it into tiny pieces and threw them at Naruto, then looked contentedly at the remaining three ninja in the picture. A weak smile crossed her lips and she shoved the decimated picture back into the blonde's hands.

"That should have been Team 7."

He was confused. He looked as Kakashi, Sakura, and himself smiled at the camera. Part of Sasuke's elbow was all that was left. When he looked up, a pillow had consumed most of Sakura's head and he heard soft sobbing sounds coming from within it. When mumbling was also heard from the confines of the fluffy cushion, Naruto hesitantly got up and sat himself next to his distraught companion on the bed. Comforting her was one of the things he was always around for.

He wasn't prepared to see the red face and glossed over eyes that rolled over and met his.

"I mean, what good was it anyway! He wasn't the one that was there when I needed him! He wasn't the one that told me he'd protect me! Sasuke wasn't the one that actually told me-"

Her eyes went wide. She sank back into the pillow.

-he cared about me."

"Listen Sakura-chan... I care about you a ton..."

A gentle hand was placed on the konouchi's trembling shoulder. He smiled, not at her misfortune, but for the fact that Sakura actually realized that he cared about her.

"Hey, you know… I'll always be here if you need anything. Just name it, and I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy."

She looked up at him once more. He laughed and playfully shoved her onto her back.

"Besides, who's gonna pay for my ramen next time we go out to eat?"

He winked at her. She smiled, with a punch to his big head following.

"Naruto, you're an idiot."

Now that's the Sakura I know.

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For the next couple of days, Naruto kept an eye on his pink haired friend, because if she ever needed his help, he wanted to make sure he was there. It was also because Jiraiya had taught him to be an excellent stalker. But he was happy that on a beautiful spring afternoon, Sakura had chosen to stand watch at a beautiful waterfall. Sakura, on the other hand, didn't look as happy as he was. She put a hand to her chest.

If I try to hold on to Sasuke, it's only going to make me more miserable than I already was. I can't love somebody who doesn't even know I exist.

She took out the crumpled photo from her pocket.

There he is… smiling again… does he ever stop? He always gives me this strange feeling whenever I look at him.

"Sakura-chan, are you looking at that picture again?"

Who cares about following her without her noticing; she looked upset. And when she turned around to look at him, he felt much better that he was there to protect her.

He flashed her his gigantic smile. "What's so interesting about it?"

She looked down for a few seconds and wondered what really had her glued to this picture. It wasn't Sasuke, she had torn him out. So why did she keep looking at it? What's so interesting…

"You, I guess."

Naruto blinked twice and stared for a few seconds. When that didn't get him any more information, he shook himself out of his stupor and put his arms behind his head.

"Me, huh? I always knew I was interesting!"

She giggled. She giggled for the first time in a long time.

"It's nice to hear you laugh, Sakura-chan." He took a step forward. "But seriously, what's so interesting about me?"

Sakura looked at him with narrowed eyes as if she was trying to figure that question out herself. She looked back and forth to the Naruto in the picture and the real Naruto a few times before she gave that dumbfounded face her answer.

"It's interesting… that you make me so much happier than Sasuke."

What?

"Sa-Sakura..chan…"

She continued without tearing her eyes away from the portrait of Team 7 in front of her.

"Sasuke… if he really cared about me, or any of us… don't you think he would have shown more emotion about leaving?"

"Well-"

"He wanted revenge on his brother. But he just left one night, without even saying good bye."

Thank you.

"If you had to leave… you'd take me with you, wouldn't you?"

The reply was instant, because he knew it was the truth.

"Yeah… yeah I would."

Sakura was about to reply when Naruto added other things that she didn't expect to his sentence.

"I don't think... I'd have the heart to leave you behind. I mean… I'd… miss you too much." He looked down at his shoes. Should I have said that?

Sakura stared at him. She stared at him long and hard. No wonder she had so many second thoughts about Sasuke, he would never say anything like that to her. He would just say she'd get in the way and leave her there to rot. Naruto cared about other people besides himself, and Sasuke never did that. All he ever thought was that other people would get in his way.

"That's why you're interesting, Naruto."

Blue eyes met hers. They seemed to convey to him all of her feelings.

"You're the only one that would… say that to me."

A long minute passed that seemed like a lifetime with no words exchanged between them. Naruto didn't really know what to say. He knew there were so many things that were going through both of their minds right now, that it would be impossible to have a constructed conversation. But he got frustrated; he hated seeing her like this. A leaf crinkled as he took a step forward and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Sakura-chan, I-"

"I think I love you."

The blonde's knees almost buckled. He needed to clean out his ears, definitely.

"Wh-what did you say?"

She spun around to meet his gaze. She gave a weak smile when she saw the look on his face was one of confusion. He never thought those word would ever come out of her mouth.

"You're different, Naruto. Behind all the smiling and energy and ramen… you're just.. different. I mean, if you weren't here right now, do you think Sasuke would be?"

He gave his honest answer, his eyes shifting away. "…No."

Blue eyes looked back to hers when she wasn't saying anything else.

"Well, you know, uh, Sakura-chan… I… -well, that is, you know…"

"I know."

Sakura couldn't help but smile when she saw him turn a terrible shade of red.

"Y-You do!"

She nodded, and looked down at the picture one more time before looking into the eyes of the only person who could love her as much as he did. When she noticed that Naruto was slowly inching towards her face with his own, she couldn't help but feel a sudden warmness in her chest that felt like she was about to burst at the seams. Sakura just looked up at the person she had overlooked so many times, and wondered why the hell she couldn't see this before. Why she couldn't see that the person beside her all these years was the person she could count on forever.

As Naruto's lips closed around hers, Sakura took his trembling hand in her own. She let the fingers of the other hand play in his hair, and she smiled around his mouth when he pulled her closer to his own body. Sakura imagined that Sasuke would never have been able to give her a kiss as soulful and loving as this one, and as she pulled Naruto's head closer and pressed her lips harder against his, she could swear that she felt Naruto's heart beating in perfect time with her own.

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Owari