NARUSAKU ;; confession
per the request of tumblr user theorenjihokage
It was a well known fact that Naruto never ran out of words, but no one had ever accused him of using them well. Articulation was hard, especially when your heart was up your throat and pumping at such a speed that an aneurysm seemed not only likely but unavoidable in the next ten seconds. Talking during a battle was one thing; those things just came to him like divine inspiration from the heavens, glorious and perfect and practically foolproof.
Love confessions?
Much more difficult.
And Sakura was looking at him mighty expectantly...
"Well?" she prompted, checking her watch. "I can't wait all day, Naruto, I've got places to be... you've got places to be."
Yes, yes. He probably did have somewhere to be. Tsunade was pretty ruthless with the institution of what she called 'Hokage Bootcamp' after the Fourth Secret War ended, but not nearly as ruthless as Sakura was. Apparently, Sakura was a Certified Expert on how to run a village and while Naruto appreciated her... help... he was a little tired of her consistently pointing things out to him whenever he shadowed Tsunade. He was also tired of hovering somewhere between the platonic and the romantic, of standing on the brink of a relationship and while neither of them found the will to take the plunge. Sakura clearly wasn't going to do it; the last time she had confessed to him, he shot her down. Called her a liar.
This time, it would have to be him.
But what could he really say? How could he possibly be any clearer?
"Naruto?"
She was prompting him again and in the absence of words, he acted. It made sense in a way; there wasn't really anything he could say to Sakura. Nothing that mattered, anyway. So instead he reached forward, pulling her towards him and into a clumsy kiss that she greedily reciprocated. His uncertainty washed away as she wrapped her arms around him, fingers dancing at the nape of his neck as his own hands found homes on her hips. She was getting sticky lip gloss all over him, not that he you know, cared. Sakura broke away from him first and his eyes slowly slid open. He didn't remember when they had even closed.
"Places to be," she whispered.
"Yeah," he agreed in a deepened timbre.
Sakura smiled then kissed him once more, short and chaste. "Meet me at Ichiraku's for lunch," she insisted. "It's a date?"
"A date," Naruto repeated, letting go as she pulled back.
He watched her walk away and remained rooted to the ground, more lost for words than ever. All things considered, everything had gone better than expected. They finally jumped from the cliff and instead of crashing down to earth as feared, they flew... or maybe that was just his head spinning. Details. Naruto licked his lips and found that they tasted sweet, and he wiped his mouth on his sleeve only to be dismayed that whatever lip product Sakura wore seemed to be primarily made out of glitter. Whatever, he thought. Worth it.