A/N: Depiction and details regarding hypnosis in this story is all for fun only and not in any way accurate. Also, this is an AU where lives were not messed up so Sasuke shares the same brain cells as Naruto lol.

"Great work everyone!" Sakura exclaimed and everyone who was with her in the operating room cheered. It had been a tense six hours but thankfully they saved the patient.

After delegating tasks and giving out instructions, Sakura said another thank you to everyone before leaving the operating room and scrubbing out.

She walked the halls of the hospital deep in concentration, busy taking mental notes regarding the operation while simultaneously rotating a sore shoulder so she didn't really anticipate that when she opened the door to her office she'd be hit by a wet rug on her face.

Sakura realized, as she angrily swiped the damp and dirty rug off her face, that giving her teammates a free pass in entering her office wasn't really the smartest decision she has ever made.

"It was Sai." Sasuke, hands up in surrender, said calmly… too calmly in Sakura's opinion.

Sakura tightened her grip on the rug, "What did you do that requires this?"

"Sasuke broke a flower vase and we were cleaning up and I panicked when the door opened." Sai's explanation was quickly followed by Sasuke's, "Hey!"

Sai shrugged his shoulders, "You tattled first."

And just when Sakura thought it couldn't have been worse since Naruto wasn't in the room, Naruto entered the room running, holding a bucket of water to place the flowers in.

Unfortunately, Naruto saw Sakura's back a little too late and was unable to stop himself from running into her and splashing the contents of the bucket onto Sakura.

Sai and Sasuke immediately accepted their fate.

Naruto, it seems, had a death wish, "I'll wipe your whole body, Sakura-chan!"

"Shannaro!" Was heard outside of Sakura's office before the sound of three consecutive smacks.

The three boys - men isn't really something Sakura would voluntarily use for them right now - held their ice waters on their heads while waiting for their food.

"We're really sorry, Sakura-chan." Naruto said with a pout that Sakura would deny she found cute. "We just got a little heated in an argument because Sai said hypnosis is fake."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "I hardly say this but Sai is right."

"What?!" Sasuke and Naruto shouted, ice water in their heads completely forgotten.

"We went to the show last night! You know, that famous hypnotist, he successfully hypnotized some of the villagers!" Sasuke said, then he snapped his fingers, "Hyuga Neji! He was picked from the audience and he was hypnotized!"

Sakura raised a brow, "Neji, really?"

Naruto turned to face Sakura, "Yeah! Neji! The hypnotist said that when Neji hears a whistle, he'll kiss the woman he loves. And then after he snapped his fingers to wake Neji, he blew a whistle and Neji went to Tenten in the audience and kissed her!"

Sakura laughed out loud much to the annoyance of both Naruto and Sasuke.

"You guys..." Sakura said in between laughs, "Neji has feelings for Tenten for so long I bet that was scripted!" She continued laughing.

"Hypnotism only works if the person is willing. So it wouldn't work if you don't want it to work, rendering it null." Sai added with a smirk.

Both Sasuke and Naruto crossed their arms and their brows furrowed.

"It's not really fun having smartasses as friends sometimes." Sasuke stated.

"Hey! Are you calling me the dumb friend?!" Naruto shouted but he was only answered by Sasuke's shrug which made Sakura laugh more.

Naruto was so enthralled by Sakura's laugh that he couldn't help but grin at her.

Sasuke cleared his throat and when Naruto looked at him, he made a subtle pointed look at Sakura.

Naruto's eyes widened, "Oh! Sakura-chan…you're free for the rest of the day right?"

Sakura wiped a single tear that had formed in her eye from laughter, "Yeah, why?"

Naruto cleared his throat, "I have um, extra tickets for the hypnotist's last show tonight… would you like to go watch it with me?"

"You just went-umff" Sai was silenced by Sasuke with a paper towel to his mouth.

Sakura looked at Sai and Sasuke's ruckus and shook her head before she turned to Naruto, "Yeah, sure. Let's go. Let me see if someone else kisses someone tonight." She chuckled.

Shit. Naruto thought.

Their food arrived then, leaving Naruto's mind racing while he tried to eat his food.

When Sakura excused herself to go to the comfort room later, Naruto began to say in a panicked but hushed tone to Sai and Sasuke, "I didn't think this through! What if the hypnotist chooses Sakura for the kiss trick and she ends up kissing somebody that isn't me?!"

Sai rolled his eyes, "It's scripted Naruto."

"And if it's not…" Sasuke intervened with an annoyed look at Sai, "You just have to make sure you sit in an area that'll be difficult for the hypnotist to notice both of you."

Naruto nodded slowly. That seemed like a good plan.

"What are you talking about?" Sakura asked suspiciously, as she reached their booth and found their heads together.

The three men snapped their backs straight with a chorus of, "Nothing!"

"You're watching that show again?" Kushina asked while she was chopping some vegetables for Minato to use.

"Yeah, but I'm going with Sakura-chan today."

Kushina paused what she was doing to look at Naruto from head-to-toe. "You're going on a date with Sakura-chan in a t-shirt and jeans?"

Naruto blushed, "But it isn't a date, mom. Sasuke's parents just got some extra tickets and it reminded me that Sakura-chan had a rare time off today."

Minato chuckled and he lowered the heat on the pan before looking at Naruto. "Just take my button down shirt, Naruto. Everything could be a date if you want it to be."

Naruto looked at both his parents and realized that maybe it's best to take the advice of a couple who are madly in love with each other.

He changed his shirt and went downstairs again to say goodbye to his parents.

"Say hello to Sakura-chan for me!" Kushina shouted.

"Favoritism." Minato teased while taking the chopped carrots from the table. Kushina just nodded her head in confirmation.

"Never knew you had anything decent in your closet." Sai commented so monotonously that Naruto wanted to hit him.

"It's my dad's." Naruto replied through gritted teeth.

Fortunately, before Sai could say something that might actually get him hit, the ladies arrived.

Naruto blushed as she looked at Sakura who had her hair up in a bun, wearing a turtleneck with sleeves so long it covered half her hands and a pencil skirt that ended on half of her thighs.

"What?" Sakura asked.

Naruto cleared his throat, "Uh, you look... different when you're not in your usual clothes." he chuckled awkwardly. "Let's go inside?"

Sakura nodded her head, disappointment written on her face.

Ino looked at Sai in tired disbelief as Naruto and Sakura walked inside. "Is it so hard for him to just say you look beautiful Sakura?" She said before she wrapped her arm to Sai's.

"I think he's still scared that Sakura's in love with someone else."

Ino groaned. "And Sakura's sure Naruto is not in love with her. They're too stubborn for their own good."

When Naruto pushed the curtains of the tent aside to let Sakura enter first, she couldn't help but grin at how theatrical this hypnosis master was, or someone from his team at least.

The low lights, the heavy violet drapes, tables draped with violet silk that clashed with the white chairs. Even the smell of incense was theatrical for Sakura.

Then as Sakura rolled her eyes, it landed on the person sitting on the table at the center.

"Sasuke-kun?"

She looked at Naruto who looked as surprised as she was and he shrugged his shoulders. "Didn't know he would be watching too."

The couple began walking towards Sasuke, "Sasuke-kun, you didn't tell us you would be watching too…" Sakura began pulling the chair next to him, clearly meaning to join him at the table, but Sasuke placed a foot on the chair and then another on top of it. Then he raised both his hands to rest them at the back of his head.

"No, no, you aren't disturbing my date night." Sasuke said.

"What?!" Both Sakura and Naruto shouted but it was Naruto who asked, "Who are you on a date with?!"

"Myself." Sasuke said so confidently that both Naruto and Sakura just looked at each other and shook their heads.

But Sasuke flicked a glance towards Naruto and his eyes widened in realization. Sasuke sat at the centermost table since it was a concern of his that Sakura might get the attention of the hypnotist.

So Naruto cleared his throat, "Well then, we'll leave you on your narcissistic date then, right Sakura-chan?"

"But-" Sakura was about to protest but Naruto was already herding her away from Sasuke's table and she just let him be with a sigh.

She didn't catch it when Naruto turned to look at Sasuke and mouthed, 'I owe you one'.

When Naruto pulled a chair back for Sakura and their faces almost - almost - touched as she sat down, she forgot about the ridiculousness of this show and Sasuke's weirdness.

Naruto smiled at her as he took his seat, "I'm really glad you could come watch this show with me, Sakura-chan."

"I'm glad you asked me." Sakura looked down which caused her bangs to cover her face.

Naruto's brows furrowed and he reached over to tuck her hair behind her ear, "Why would I want to go out with anyone else other than you?"

Sakura's eyes widened and her cheeks felt like it was on fire. "Right, I'm your only girl friend."

Both their eyes widened and Sakura began flailing her hands, "Not…not girlfriend girlfriend! Girl-space-friend!"

Something like disappointment flashed across Naruto's face but he hid it with a grin, "Well either is fine with me."

Before Sakura could process the look that she saw, music - theatrical music, of course, Sakura thought internally - began playing and spot lights turned towards the stage signalling the start of the show.

Everything about the show was about as theatrical as it gets just like Sakura expected. But she knew that the strobing lights, the music, and even the lone cushioned armchair that was used throughout the whole show were all connected to the mind games the red hair hypnotist was playing.

Despite knowing that though, Sakura couldn't help but be entertained nonetheless. Especially when he made a group of five people dance in sync while they were blindfolded.

And Sakura also couldn't help but smile at how Naruto was enjoying the show too.

Sakura had felt Naruto's energy become a little bit darker when all three of her boys started their anbu missions but she didn't mention anything and waited for him to talk to her about it.

She knew that Naruto would be faced with missions and orders that would test his morals. But Sakura believed it was important for him to face those head on for him to become the best Hokage Konoha has ever seen.

All she could do was to be a safe place for him to land on once he's ready to talk about what's bothering him.

Sakura sighed and she looked down at her hands. All she could really do for Naruto was the smallest of things…

"Hah!" Naruto exclaimed cheerily, which put Sakura out of her thoughts. "Sasuke's been called on as a volunteer."

True enough when Sakura looked back at the stage, Sasuke was indeed walking up to the hypnotist with confident strides.

Sakura's eyes widened and she chuckled, "I wish we could have something to record this with."

Naruto laughed.

"What is your name, young man?" The hypnotist asked once Sasuke was seated on the armchair.

Sasuke rested his left calf on his right knee. "Uchiha Sasuke."

Sakura noticed the slight widening of the hypnotist's eyes in realization of who he was talking to.

"Well Mr. Uchiha Sasuke, have you been enjoying tonight's show?"

"Yes, I have. This is the second time I've watched your show actually but you still amaze me."

The man placed his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and laughed a laugh that was scripted in Sakura's ears, "Oh stop. Thank you so much for loving my show. And as a thank you, I will be doing one of my most famous hypnosis to date… the fear factor."

The hair on Sakura's arms stood up as she felt like there's something going to go wrong with this stunt. She also noticed Naruto's shoulder tense in her periphery.

"The fear factor hypnosis…" the man continued to talk, eyes directly looking at Sasuke who looked back at him with furrowed brows. "...will make you visualize your fears and I will help you overcome them!"

Soft murmurs of amazement and curiosity awashed the audience but Naruto, Sakura, and even Sai who was sitting beside Ino across the other side of the tent was neither amazed nor curious.

This hypnotist thinks that every person's fear is as mundane as rats or ghouls, but they knew Sasuke. Knew his fear of the curse of hatred he learned about their clan. His fear of it consuming him and him killing all of his loved ones.

Before the hypnotist even began his attempt to dive deep into Sasuke's fear, Sakura had the rash decision to laugh ridiculously loud which surprised the hypnotist into letting go of Sasuke's shoulder.

Sasuke was also shaken out of the beginning of the hypnosis and he stared at Sakura who was now slapping her thigh as she continued to laugh out loud.

Every single pair of eyes were looking at her now, even Naruto and Sai but both of them didn't seem surprised, they looked almost relieved.

As Sakura wiped a tear that formed at the side of her eye, she began walking towards the stage as well. "Did you really think that the Uchiha Sasuke has any fear?"

Naruto also stood up and walked towards the stage just as Sakura jumped up. "The man barely fears his father, he doesn't fear anything!" She laughed again as she pulled Sasuke out of the chair and led him to Naruto who was already waiting for him at the base of the stairs.

The hypnotist was dumbfounded.

No one, in all his year as a performer, has anyone had the gall - the audacity - to interrupt his show. He squared his shoulders, "I'm sorry, who are you to interrupt my perfectly…"

Sakura quickly turned to look at him with a smirk but her eyes were staring daggers, "Your fear factor hypnotism isn't really as unique as you say it is. Morino Ibiki of our interrogation squad could do it too."

The audience laughed which made the man blush in anger even though he didn't know of this Morino Ibiki this woman is speaking of.

Unfortunately for Sakura, he was quick-witted as well, "Well then. I have a very unique trick that I would like to share with everyone as my final trick for tonight." he began to walk towards Sakura.

He placed both his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face the audience. "And this lovely lady has kindly volunteered herself in place of Mr. Uchiha."

The audience cheered as Sakura and Naruto's wide eyes made contact.

Sasuke's eyes widened too but he really didn't want to draw anymore attention to himself that may get him reported to his father so he just looked at Naruto apologetically.

"She's going to be fine." Naruto said but not fully believing it himself. He wanted to get up that stage and take Sakura away from the man but two disruptions in one night could get them into trouble.

So he watched as Sakura was guided by the hypnotist towards the chair and he asked her to sit down, which she begrudgingly did.

Sakura made a mental note to not look at this hypnotist's eyes.

"Oh my, I'm sorry to be so rude." He reached a hand out to Sakura. "May I know your name?"

Sakura didn't look at him but she shook his hand. "Haruno Sakura."

She didn't expect him to place his other hand over hers but still… she didn't look up. "That's a beautiful name!" the man said without making any moves to let go of her hand.

"Tell me, Haruno Sakura, have you ever been in love?"

"Fuck." Naruto and Sasuke said at the same time.

Sakura was surprised by the question but she still didn't look up. "Yes."

"Are you in love at this very moment?"

"I… yes."

"Is it with Mr. Uchiha Sasuke?"

Then Sakura made the worst mistake of the night. She looked up, brows furrowed, straight into the man's eyes and said, "Fuck, no!"

Sakura's eyes immediately widened as the man smiled a bland smile at her.

"That was harsh." Sasuke stated as Naruto's eyes widened, now invested at what could happen.

Focus, Sakura. You can't let this man inside your head. Sakura thought to herself.

The man chuckled. "Alright… is the man - or woman - you're in love with within reach right now?"

"I guess." That's right, don't give him any more direct answers! Sakura forced it into her brain.

Then the man, satisfied that her answer could do the trick, instructed Sakura to close her eyes and to breathe in and out slowly seven times.

"Okay… I want you to picture this person that you love." The man said gently.

Sakura tried her best to think of the blood, sweat and struggle she faces on a daily basis as a medic-nin.

"I want you to picture the color of their hair."

Sakura forced the image of Pakkun into her mind. Is Pakkun's fur blond?

"I want you to remember the way they smell."

Images of her room flashed uninvited. Of the jacket that sat neatly on her desk. Stop! Think of… think…

"I want you to remember the way they smile. The way they call your name."

Images of a bright smile and the sound of someone calling out to her washed over Sakura's mind. And then she heard a tinkling sound.

"When you open your eyes and you hear this bell, all you can think about is kissing your true love and putting them under your spell."

Sakura's eyes opened wide and she let out a soft gasp. Everyone in the audience was silent, anticipation palpable in the air.

Then the hypnotist rang a bell that Sakura didn't know where he got from, and she held her breath as she waited for something to happen to her body.

Sakura didn't know what it was she was waiting for but whatever it was, didn't happen. She remained sitting on the chair, looking at the audience.

When her eyes landed on Naruto and nothing was still happening, she looked down at her hands. She opened and closed it to test that she did indeed have full control over her body still.

Then another tinkling sound came from the hypnotists and Sakura looked up at him with a practiced bored look on her face.

"What in the…" the man cleared his throat and he looked towards the audience. "It seems tonight we have discovered a woman with an extraordinary mind!" He brandished a hand to present Sakura to the audience. "Ms. Haruno has successfully repelled my powers!"

The audience surprisingly gasped in awe and began clapping even though they went to this show to see someone be hypnotized.

The man looked at Sakura and said in a voice only him and Sakura could hear, "Well played Ms. Haruno. Maybe next time I'll be able to enter your mind."

Hearing finality in his words Sakura stood up, bowed respectfully to the man - which he returned - and she began her walk back to their table.

Before she could even reach them Naruto had already fetched a chair from somewhere for her to sit on.

Once seated, she held Sasuke's forearm, "Are you okay?"

"Yes… thank you." Sasuke said, voice not as confident as usual.

"Sakura-chan how'd you repel his hypnotism?!" Naruto asked in a hushed tone since the hypnotist was still giving out his parting speech to the audience.

Sakura smiled at Naruto then for a second her eyes darted to his lips.

Sakura blinked again and looked at Naruto's eyes, "I told you, it doesn't work."

"Sasuke-kun!" Ino ran towards the trio as they went out of the tent, Sai closely behind her. "Are you okay?"

Sasuke nodded, "But I think I'll go home now. I won't be joining you for dinner."

Naruto looked worriedly at Sasuke, "Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

Sasuke gave him a smile and nodded his head. "Just need to sleep after that hassle. But you go on and enjoy your night."

Assured, they let Sasuke go and the couples decided to go to Ino's favorite restaurant of the moment.

Sai and Ino walked ahead of Naruto and Sakura.

And as the silence between them stretched - which was unusual since they often talk each other's ears off - Naruto quickly searched his brain for something to talk to Sakura about.

Finally he said, "How was your operation this morning?"

Sakura looked back at him, relieved. She was also thinking of something to talk about. Why is it that when you consciously want to talk to someone, suddenly your tongue is gone?

"It was intense. The poison in the patient's body was unknown, so it became tricky to track it and remove it. You also have to monitor closely what the effects would be if there are any. But thankfully your dad approved of the machine I requested last time, remember that? So I was able to quickly discover the antidote and..." Sakura looked at Naruto who wasn't responding but was just looking at her while smiling.

"...I was able to administer the antidote in time." she could feel her cheeks burning.

"I love hearing you talk about your work. It's amazing. You're amazing." Naruto grinned.

Sakura's cheeks flushed more. "Well, medical ninjutsu is amazing… How…" she cleared her throat, "How about your anbu missions?"

Naruto stretched out his arms and rested his palms behind his head. "The fighting and the recon is amazing. It's much more than what we used to do when we were jonins. Although… what's hardest I guess are the orders that don't really match my beliefs, y'know?"

Sakura looked straight ahead, she could see the restaurant now. She lowered her voice, "Anything specific you can tell me?"

Naruto inched closer to Sakura, their arms brushing against each other. He responded in an equally hushed voice, "Illegal hiring of some… people. And some spying that's probably against some treaty. Just… you know how stupid I am with my morals sometimes."

Sakura whipped her head to look at Naruto with brows furrowed., "Don't say that! Your morals are not stupid, it's what makes you a good person and a great ninja. And that will eventually make you a great hokage!" Sakura said it with so much conviction, Naruto blinked his eyes at her surprise.

But the surprise was gone quickly. Why was he even surprised? This passionate Sakura was the Sakura he fell in love with.

"Hey slow pokes! Hurry up!" Ino broke their conversation. She and Sai were already at the door of the restaurant.

Both Naruto and Sakura jogged a bit to catch up to them.

And when Ino decided they were already close enough, she opened the restaurant's door and once the door hit the door bell above, it chimed.

Sakura froze and her eyes widened. She felt heat rise at the nape of her neck and her eyes quickly searched for Naruto. Once she saw him looking worriedly at her she stared at him, stared at his lips.

Sakura couldn't take her eyes off Naruto's lips.

She took one step forward before Ino snapped her fingers in front of her and Sakura was jolted back to reality. "Earth to Sakura? I'm hungry! Get inside already!"

Sakura nodded her head mutely and she followed them to a table. She stared blankly at the menu while her mind went into overdrive.

"Did the fucking mind trick work?! No… it can't be. I didn't…" And then Sakura recalled the words the hypnotist said, "When you open your eyes and you hear this bell, all you can think about is kissing your true love and putting them under your spell."

"Sakura-chan? Are you okay?" Naruto reached out to hold her hand and Sakura stared at the hand and at Naruto.

"True… love."

"Yeah. I guess I'm just tired." Sakura said, still staring at Naruto.

"Let's eat then so I can take you home and you can rest. What do you like?" Naruto asked, unaware of Sakura's stare.

"I'll just have whatever you have." Sakura looked ahead but her thoughts were somewhere else.

"But of course… I've liked Naruto for so long I just didn't think… true love… it makes sense…"

The waiter came by and the placing of order thankfully distracted Sakura. And as the four of them began chatting while waiting for their food, Sakura decided then and there that she would not let a hypnotist control her body.

She's the best chakra controller in all of Konoha, dammit. And her control of her chakra was as good as her control of her mind.

Thankfully tonight was a slow night for the restaurant and the doorbell chimed only twice while they were eating and chatting.

Both times, Sakura closed her eyes, took a deep breath and she let images of Naruto's smiling face flash behind her eyes. She clenched her fists to help her body stay put as she let the feelings pass, and she slowly exhaled once she decided she had full control of her body again.

After they have eaten all their food and paid, the couples bid their goodbyes.

Naruto of course walked Sakura to her apartment. She was on high alert for any bells that they might encounter but was still able to keep up with conversations with Naruto.

She didn't notice Naruto's confused look at her vigilance though.

When they finally reached the door to her apartment, Sakura sighed in relief and she looked at Naruto.

There were no bells ringing but her eyes still flicked towards Naruto's lips but she quickly looked up at his eyes again. "Thank you again for inviting me to watch the show, Naruto."

Naruto smiled at Sakura, "Of course. Go and rest now."

Sakura nodded and she unlocked her door and went inside. But before she closed her door she looked back at Naruto and said, "Naruto… I know I don't say it out loud too much but don't hesitate to come to me if you're feeling burdened about anything or if you just want to talk. Don't keep it to yourself."

Naruto was surprised for a moment but he nodded his head with a smile. "You too Sakura-chan, you know where I live."

Sakura smiled and nodded before she said another goodbye and she finally closed the door.

Sakura had a peaceful night after Naruto dropped her off her apartment. She slept like a baby after she mulled over the events that had happened. How wrong she was about the hypnotist and how in denial she was about her love for Naruto when all along it was clear that she was in love with him.

But Sakura would never want to kiss Naruto just because of a hypnotism stunt. What if he didn't return her feelings? Sakura will not only ruin her image but their friendship too.

And Sakura was sure that the spell would wear off the next day.

Unfortunately Sakura was wrong yet again.

Sakura quickly realized how many bells she encountered on a daily basis that morning on her way to the hospital. The baker across her apartment called out to customers with a bell. The shops on the way all had the same bell as the restaurant last night which customers suddenly opened and closed as she was passing by.

Even the dogs and the cats she encountered suddenly had collars with bells all of the sudden.

And each time the tinkling of the bells reached Sakura's ears, images of Naruto's smiling face would flash in her mind, his endearing "Sakura-chan!" would ring in her ears and the urge to smother his face with a kiss got stronger and stronger with each bell she heard.

Sakura finally decided to run.

Sakura ran as fast as her legs could take her to the hospital because surely there weren't any bells in the hospital right?

For the most part there weren't any. Sakura was able to do her rounds, a surgery and her lesson plans with only minor thoughts of Naruto on her mind. But the urge to kiss Naruto still remained in the back of her brain.

But Sakura was strong willed, she will not let this break her. "I will not let anything…"

Sakura's internal monologue was broken by a child running across the hospital halls when Sakura was about to go back home.

The girl was wearing a ribbon that had small bells which Sakura didn't hear coming, but when she ran past Sakura, and the tinkling sound reached her ears, Sakura's whole body shivered and a dams' worth of urge to kiss Naruto came crashing down on her.

So Sakura began running again. She didn't know where she was going but she had to run. She had to outrun this urge she was feeling. Outrun the want to feel Naruto's lips on hers.

"Ugh! Stop thinking about him, you idiot!" Sakura screamed at herself as she jumped roof to roof.

When she stopped running finally, she crouched, palms on her thighs panting, tired from all the running.

One last deep breath and Sakura looked around to check where she ended up. She ended up in front of the Yamanaka flower shop.

Ended up running to Ino's arms almost looking unhinged as she frantically told Ino what had happened to her.

"Just bash my head in, Ino. I can't take it anymore!" Sakura wailed. "It's like… it's an itch inside my head I can't scratch!"

Ino was thankful it was closing time and no one else was coming in anymore.

"First of all, drink this." Ino gave Sakura a glass of water which she gratefully took and drank.

"And secondly, the only way a long distance mind control technique of our family would go away is if the person does what we order them to. I'm guessing this is the same with this hypnotist. Just do it, then?"

Sakura's mouth dropped open, "I will not kiss Naruto!"

Ino raised a brow, "Oh, so Naruto's your true love?"

Sakura's eyes widened in realization that she didn't tell who it was her mind was wanting her to kiss.

Ino placed both her hands on Sakura's shoulder, "Sakura! Relax! I know about what you feel for Naruto! I have eyes, you know."

"You… know? I didn't even know I loved him."

Ino scoffed and she herded Sakura to a chair. "You do know. Oh the way you look at him. You just… force it down because Naruto wouldn't tell you straight up that he loves you too."

Sakura looked up at Ino, "What if he doesn't? I was so mean to him when we were kids I thought…"

"That Naruto would not realize you were a kid and you grew mature eventually and even began taking care of him ever since?"

"I just…" Sakura looked down, "I don't want to force him into anything just because this stupid hypnotist put me into this stupid trick."

Ino placed a finger on Sakura's chin and tilted her head up. "Maybe it's the universe helping both of you stubborn people to get together already. We aren't getting any younger, you know." She grinned at Sakura.

Then unexpectedly, Inoichi entered the shop with a teddy bear in his hand. A teddy bear with - you guessed it - a bell necklace. "I won this at a claw machine and I wanted to give it to you." Inoichi smiled at Ino before he shook the bear and it let out a tinkling sound.

Sakura gasped, she felt the beginning of a shiver on the base of her spine. And then Ino grabbed her hand and she shook it, "Don't fight it, Sakura! Just go to Naruto and do it!"

That did it for Sakura. She ran out of the shop - after greeting Inoichi quickly - and she jumped into the darkening night towards the Uzumaki compound.

As she jumped from roof to roof, Sakura let the urge to kiss her true wash over her body and with it came a sense of contentment. It was like finally being able to have the means to scratch an itch that has been bothering you for the longest time.

On her last jump, Sakura saw Naruto in their backyard and she squatted lower, released more chakra to her heels and she propelled herself high into the sky.

Naruto felt Sakura immediately and he looked up.

Naruto's eyes followed Sakura as she gracefully landed on his backyard, and as she stood up, squared her shoulders and confidently strided towards him.

Naruto couldn't move from where he was and years later he was still happy that he didn't.

Once Sakura was at arms length from Naruto, she reached out both her hands and placed them on Naruto's whiskered cheeks and she raised herself on her toes and she placed her lips on his.

Naruto's eyes widened but then, slowly, he closed them as he opened his lips to return Sakura's kiss. Naruto raised both his hands and he cupped Sakura's cheeks as well. Naruto lowered his head to deepen the kiss and also gain some sense of dominance which earned him a satisfied moan from Sakura.

This was both Naruto and Sakura's first kiss so they didn't really know if it was supposed to last this long, but it did.

Reluctantly, as they both felt the lack of oxygen, they slowly stopped their kiss but neither of them let go of each other's faces. They just rested their foreheads against one another as they breathed.

Slowly they both opened their eyes and they smiled at each other. There weren't any words needed because both Naruto and Sakura felt the same. They both felt like the final pieces of their lives' puzzle was put into place once they kissed.

Naruto moved his thumbs across Sakura's very red cheeks and he said, "What was that?"

"That was me putting a spell on my true love." Sakura looked confident at first but a slight worry crept into her face. "I've always loved you, Naruto. When we became teammates I grew to know you and admire you. You became my constant motivation to be a better person and ninja. And then eventually… I grew to love you… but… I will not hold this over your head if you don't feel the same way I–ump…"

Naruto pressed his lips on Sakura's once again. When he let go he said, "I've loved you since we were twelve."

"It's true, he has never shut up about it since we were twelve."

Sakura turned towards Sasuke's voice and her eyes widened in horror as she saw all their male friends, Minato and a teary eyed Kushina, watching them from their patio. Some mouths were open in shock and some - Naruto's parents - were smiling at them.

"Game night." Sakura whispered in horror.

Kushina squealed in delight and she ran towards Sakura and she hugged her, "You can call me mom now, Sakura-chan!"

"Honey, c'mon…" Minato followed, clearly seeing how frozen in shock Sakura was. "...let them have their moment." He smiled at Sakura and he winked before he took Kushina's hand and led her back to the patio where he then instructed the boys to go inside the house with the pretense of the night being chilly.

Once everyone was inside, Naruto took Sakura's hand and he twined them together.

Sakura looked at their hands, shock finally wearing off and she smiled up at Naruto.

"Is this real? Are you really mine now, Sakura-chan?" Naruto blushed.

Sakura tugged their hands towards her to plant a quick kiss on Naruto's lips. "I am. And you're mine."

"Forever?" Naruto blushed harder, cheesy as it sounded he wanted to hear it from her.

"Forever and always." Sakura said and they went inside the house fully prepared to be bullied by everyone for eating each other's face off in front of them.

A/N: This story was requested by user KoalaTakingNotes here in ffnet, and the plot was their brilliant idea.:-) KoalaTakingNotes: I hope you liked it!

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all of you! Hope you all had a fun one! See you soon for my next story and as always, reviews are greatly appreciated. :-)