A/N: I had this stuck in my head and needed to get it out. It's probably a little corny and mushy, but I still hope you enjoy.
"Why did you decide on a theme this year?" Ino asked for the tenth time in an hour.
Sakura wanted to punch her best friend. "I asked you here to help me, not to judge me." Sitting cross legged on the floor of the living room, the girls were sitting amongst boxes, yarn, wrapping paper, and ribbons. Sakura cradled the offensive material in her arms. Her hair was a mess, pulled back in a messy bun, with pink strands sliding out, feeling a little strung out.
It was Christmas Eve, and she was running out of time. This year, Sakura and Naruto had decided they would make homemade gifts. At the time, it sounded romantic and fun. Now, it sounded stupid and dumb.
Knit a sweater, they said. It'd be easy, they said.
Ino held her hands up in defense, "I'm just asking." When Sakura didn't say anything, continuing to stare at the lump of yarn in front of her, Ino, shrugged her blond hair over her shoulder and took Sakura's shoulders in her hands. "It's not that bad. I'm sure Naruto will love it no matter what."
"I wanted to knit him a cute sweater and have him be proud of it," Sakura whined. "I'm going to be too embarrassed to give this to him."
"You know he'll wear it regardless, right?" Ino asked, taking the sweater from Sakura and holding it up again.
Sakura had never knit anything before in her life, and this sweater may have been a bit ambitious for a first project. It was red and green and was supposed to have their initials in the center, but she'd gotten fed up after just the N, so it was a little off centered. There were holes in odd places where she didn't knit it together tightly enough. One arm seemed way too big, and the sweater in general seemed a bit small.
It was the ugliest thing Ino had ever seen. "If you enter him into some ugly sweater contests, I'm sure he'd win," she glare from her green eyed friend shut up any further comments in that direction. "Got it, not the crowd."
"I invited you over to help me figure out what to do, not to tease me about how bad it is," Sakura wanted to cry a little. "I made the damn thing. I know it's bad."
"Look, I can't imagine what Naruto made you, it's probably just as bad if not worse, so I think you're stressing out about something you don't need to be," Ino told her practically. When Sakura nodded in agreement, Ino asked, "When are you doing the gift exchange?"
"Tonight!" Sakura exclaimed.
"It's tonight?" Where is the loudmouth?"
"He didn't say, just said he'd be gone for awhile."
"See, he's probably last minute trying to put something together," Ino assured her. "Let's just wrap it up, put a ribbon on it, and it'll be a big laugh tomorrow," Ino told her. "Next year, just buy your presents like normal couples."
"We are never doing this again," Sakura agreed, shaking her head.
A couple hours later, Naruto came home and found Sakura finishing getting ready in their bedroom. She wanted to look nice, so she'd put on a red sweater dress and was just putting on some earrings when Naruto waltzed into the room looking very smug.
Sakura narrowed her eyes. What could he have made her causing him to grin like that?
"You ready, Sakura?" he asked as he came over to give her a quick kiss.
He was already dressed in some slacks and the shirt she had bought him last really did clean up rather nicely.
Butterflies sprang up her stomach. As much as she loved Christmas and Naruto, she wanted to get this over with. She just wanted to give her gift and get the teasing out of the way. "Let's do it."
Making their way to the living room, Sakura reached for the gift she had sitting on the counter. She noticed no gift on the counter from Naruto and didn't see anything in the apartment. Very mysterious.
"Do you want me to go first?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit, the nerves getting to her.
"Sure," he smiled. Sakura handed over the package, the dread sinking in her stomach like a stone.
Naruto tore off the ribbon and paper and opened the the sweater out of the box, he looked it over, a wide grin lit up his face, and Sakura wondered how he could be so happy, and how his happiness could affect her so. God, she loved this man with her whole heart.
Naruto held it up to his chest, showing it off. "Sakura, it's-"
"Hideous, I know," she tried to wave it off, like this was a joke.
"I love it," he told her.
"It was my first attempt, and it didn't go as well as I had hoped. I'll knit you a better one."
"I hope you do, but I love this," he told her, his voice genuine.
"You don't have to pretend Naruto, I know what it looks like." She tried to take the sweater from him. Take it, and throw it in the trash. Or burn it.
He pulled away from her and quickly put it on. "I love it," he insisted. "You made this for me. I'm never getting rid of it." He stood there proudly wearing it. The sweater was tight around his chest, pulling and making the holes more noticeable. One sleeve was a little short, the other too big.
Sakura couldn't help but laugh, "Naruto, it's okay, you don't have to wear it."
"I want to, Sakura, honestly, it's the best gift I've ever been given. Thank you," he leaned over and kissed her sweetly.
Feeling embarrassed, Sakura just smiled. She knew he would do this, not wanting to give it up, and she wished she could have made him something better. He'd probably wear it every Christmas until he hadn't thought this through enough.
"Ready for your present?" he asked when he pulled back, his blue eyes meeting hers.
"Yes," she smiled.
He went into the kitchen, rounding counter and pulled up a picnic basket. "We have to go somewhere first," he told her.
Naruto's gift was already one hundred percent better than hers. He made her a picnic. It was sweet, romantic, and unforgettable. And everything her present wasn't. Although, no one would forget her stupid sweater. How had she not thought to make him a delicious meal?
Intrigued, Sakura followed Naruto, putting on her snow boots and cloak. He grabbed a couple blankets from the closet before leaving. They held hands as they walked, Naruto practically strutting down the path, and Sakura wondered what he had planned. The night air was brisk, but not unbearable. As they neared the park, Sakura could see that it was all lit up in Christmas lights. It was beautiful.
"Did you do this?" she asked incredulously.
He nodded his head proudly. No wonder he had been gone for most of the afternoon.
As Naruto led her into the park, down the winding paths, Sakura marveled at how beautiful the display was. "This is beautiful, Naruto."
Halting, Naruto grabbed the blankets and made up a spot in the middle of the park over the snow. Helping Sakura sit on the blanket, he put the last blanket in her lap before plopping down next to her. Reaching into the basket, he pulled out a bottle of wine and two glasses.
Laughing, Sakura held the glasses while he uncorked the bottle and poured. Then he was digging back into the basket and pulled out two bento boxes filled with them on the blanket in front of them, he finally pulled out a thermos. "Homemade ramen. Teuchi helped me make it."
"Naruto, this is amazing. I can't believe you did all of this," Sakura smiled. "Your gift is ten times better than mine."
"Sakura, you put a lot of time and work into my sweater. It's a good gift, even if it didn't turn out exactly how you had envisioned it," Naruto insisted. "But I will be wearing it to every Christmas party and showing it off." Sakura groaned. "In fact, I think wearing this sweater will be a new Christmas tradition."
"Only you could pull that off," Sakura teased.
"Now let's dig in! I'm starving!" Naruto handed her the bento box, and they ate as they watched the lights.
It truly was impressive what Naruto had done. The food was delicious, and Sakura thought of how far he'd come from their first date of him burning the food he had attempted to make her. After that, the two of them had endeavored to get better, and while Sakura thought her cooking skills were passable at best, Naruto had really leaned into it, getting better and better.
When they cleaned up the food, Naruto put everything back into the basket, and Sakura was loath to get was such a perfect night, and she didn't want it to end.
Leaning back onto the blanket, Sakura laid down, and glanced up at the sky, barely able to see any of the stars past the lights around them. Naruto was frantically looking through the basket for several moments before he led out a very audible sigh of relief.
"Everything okay?" Sakura asked frowning, half sitting up, leaning back on her elbows.
Naruto turned towards her, "Everything's better than okay."
"Alright," Sakura said, side eyeing him.
He turned so he was half leaning over her, like he was going to kiss her, push her back onto the blanket and start making out with her. Which Sakura would have let him.
Instead he hovered over her, staring into her eyes, and this moment felt strangely intimate in a way Sakura hadn't been expecting.
"Sakura," Naruto breathed, his voice barely above a whisper. "From before I can remember, I've always loved you. Call it fate that put us on a team together, that gave us the opportunity to get to know each other, to go from classmates to friends to more. I would have been content for the rest of my life to call you my friend; I just wanted you in my life, and I would have taken whatever you gave me. All I wanted was for you to be happy and knowing you chose me, that I can make you happy, that I could make you smile and laugh felt like a dream come true."
Sakura couldn't breath, her breath caught in her throat, her heart threatening to burst from her chest. Naurto was being uncharacteristically serious, his eyes imploring hers, searching hers, making her unable to look away.
"Thank you, Sakura, for choosing me, for giving me a chance and making me feel loved, accepted, and wanted. A home to me has never been a building, it's always been people. For a long time, it's been you. You're my home; you're my… everything. I love this life we are building together, that we are making together."
Unable to stop it, unshed tears sprang to Sakura's eyes. She smiled up at her, her green eyes glistening as she tried to convey how much she loved him back to him.
"You've been my classmate, my teammate, my best friend, my girlfriend. Would you be my wife?" he asked as he brought his other hand up, holding a box out to her, the lid already open, and a ring sat snugly inside.
"Yes!" Sakura yanked Naruto down by the collar of the sweater, kissing him as passionately as she could, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into her. Naruto fit against her perfectly, and Sakura wondered how it had taken them this long to get to this point.
If anyone had asked her twelve year old self, she never in a million years would have foreseen this future, but this was a million times better than anything she could have fantasized about. Naruto was her person, her anchor, her wouldn't want to go through this life or the next without him.
Naruto pulled away, sitting up and pulling her up with him. Reaching for the ring, Sakura held out her ring finger, allowing him to slip it on. It was a little big, but it could be resized later. Unable to stop looking at it, Sakura couldn't stop smiling, the grin permanently etched onto her face now.
As they were making their way back to their apartment, picnic basket and blankets in hand, Sakura realized the gift wasn't homemade. She smacked Naruto playfully on the shoulder and told him as such.
"I made you my fiance, doesn't that count for something?" Naruto asked, rubbing his arm. "We didn't stipulate what we had to make or how. I made you my fiance. It counts."
Sakura shook her head but couldn't argue with his logic.
"You're lucky you made that beautiful picnic and I love you so much," she smiled, pulling his lips back to hers in the middle of the path, uncaring how many people saw.
"That I am," Naruto grinned back.
