Sasuke lay down beside Sakura under a blanket in bed reaching an arm around her waist and pulling her close so that their bodies touched after yet another intimate moment between them. Sakura turned towards him slightly, softly trailing her fingertips down his arm until she found his hand, slipping her fingers between his and locking their fingers. "I love you, Sasuke." Her voice was soft as she leaned back against him, her gaze focused on their hands.
He planted a soft kiss on her shoulder. "I love you too," he replied just as quietly as she had spoken and his thumb idly tracing pattern on her hand.
Sasuke glanced at the her hand that he was holding, with a small smile on his face.
He stifled a yawn. "I have a mission in a week. After I come back we should tell people about us. It's getting harder to hide it."
She had been so focused with watching his thumb move along her hand that she almost missed what he said. She wanted to brush off the idea of him leaving in a week, he had only just gotten back last night. That was a conversation she knew would probably wind up with them arguing a bit and right now she didn't want to fight with him.
She was so comfortable and in a state of serenity with the situation she was in with him right now. She didn't want to dare jeopardize it. That became easier with his second statement. He wanted to tell people.
"What?" She turned on to her back to look up at him, a surprised and excited look on her face. "'You really want to?"
"Hn."
She had wanted to tell for awhile now and she was more than ready to see the look on peoples' faces, like Ino for example. The blond would probably fall of her face out of sheer disbelief. What she was excited most about though was the fact she'd be able to be around him whenever they wanted to now. They could take walks, eat out, he could visit her at the hospital and she could see him off on missions. She knew she couldn't wait for that stuff.
"If it's getting harder to hide it I guess that means you must like me a lot, huh?"
She laughed quietly to herself as she continued to look at him, that same silly grin on her face. She was only messing around with him, but what he had said had been like a sugar rush to her. She was just ready for it.
He scoffed. "You already know that answer to that. You're just trying to get me to tell you how important you are to me again, aren't you?"
"What can I say? I like hearing it."
He smirked. "You are my most important person."
A faint blush dusted her cheeks as she looked up at him, a soft smile on her lips. She couldn't believe he still had such an effect on her. All he had to do was look at her and she felt like she was being pulled into existence. His touch alone would have her mind racing and her heart pounding. She couldn't stand to think of a future without him.
"Damn it, Sasuke. You could probably say you hated me and it'd still make me blush if you gave me that look."
"What look?" he asked confusedly.
"I don't know how to explain it and even if I did I don't think I'd tell you. If we got in a fight you'd just have to give me that look and I'd never win. Ever."
Sasuke raised a curious eyebrow but let it go. She laughed gently at the confused expression on his face. If she could pick any emotion to label as foreign on his face, it would be confusion no doubt. Sasuke liked knowing things, and the workings of her mind and reasons to her reactions were probably no different.
He looked down at her and smirked. "Once people know about us then you should move in here. I want to live with you."
She was about to tease him a bit more when he caught her off-guard though with his... statement. He wanted her to move in with him and was finally admitting it out loud. She'd guessed right about him wanting to ask her and she had known for awhile what her answer would be but he still surprised her. The grin returned to her face tenfold as she let go of his hand and turned towards him completely, leaning forward and kissing him softly.
"I will on one condition."
She pulled back from the kiss and gave him a serious expression for a short moment before she nervously looked down at the sheets as she began to run the fabric through her fingers. "I want you to meet my parents. They'd probably handle it a bit better if they knew you a little bit. Just one dinner is all I'm asking for."
She looked back up at him, a worried expression on her features. She had a small hunch he was going to say 'no' to that idea but she really did want him to get to know them better. Her mother was going to love him, her father on the other hand... Not so much. It would really be the only way to break the news though to them that she was going to be moving in with Sasuke.
His hand came to rest on top of hers she stopped, all to aware of the fact he had grown silent, even too silent for him. She knew he wasn't too keen on the idea of meeting her parents, she couldn't imagine he would be, but it was something that had to be done. They were her family and she wasn't about to lie to them about moving in with Sasuke. She was going to move in with him despite their opinions, but if Sasuke was going to be apart of her world, it had to be apart of her entire world, her parents included.
"Tch, fine," he grumbled.
"It doesn't have to be anytime soon, ya know. Just before I move in," she reassured him.
Sakura could already picture herself living here. She'd come home from work to find Sasuke reading over some type of scroll that involved details on a mission or technique or him and Naruto would be at the kitchen table cleaning their weapons and arguing over something as silly as who could get finished first. She was excited over things like getting to eat-in with him, coming home to find him there and waking up next to him. She'd move in immediately if she could.
With the hand he wasn't touching she reached over, running her fingers through his hair. "My mom's going to love you, I can tell you that now. She thought you were absolutely adorable when you were a kid. It'll be a good thing, Sasuke. I promise, you just have to trust me."
She leaned forward and kissed him gently before turning onto her back and looking up at the ceiling. A ceiling she could call her own in a few weeks. The only downside to everything was the fact that as much as she loved Naruto, she was also going to have to share in the punishment of living directly above him. At least he wouldn't be allowed to come barging in though.
"I know. I'll do it," he mumbled again. "But your father?"
"Well, I'm not going to lie to you but there's a very good chance he's not going to like you. You'll get on my mom's goods side though and that's all you have to do. If she likes you than she'll make sure my dad is on his best behavior."
She would be naive to think that this dinner would go well. She had spent countless years fawning over Sasuke and not exactly in a discreetly manner, either. When he left it was easy to say she fell into a fit of depression and her parents had seen a good chunk of the damage Sasuke had done to her. Her mother had mentioned she seemed happier lately though, so if she found out Sasuke was that reason than that would be all it took to get her roped in. Her father on the other hand...
Well, she may have told Sasuke that there was a good chance her father wouldn't like him but in all honestly, there was no way in hell her father was going to like him. At least the feelings weren't going to change over the course of one dinner. It would probably take months for her dad to even consider looking at Sasuke as anything else other than an enemy.
"I am important to you. You're actually wondering what my dad will think of you," she added with a smile.
Sasuke wasn't the type of person to put much stock into what others thought about him. In fact, unless someone's judgment of him involved the success of a mission than he really couldn't care a bit. Here he was though, stressing, if Sasuke could stress, over what her father might think of him, the guy dating his daughter.
"Stupid, of course you're important to me." He planted a kiss softly on her lips. "I'm wondering because you're so important."
She just laughed and returned the kiss, obviously amused by the fact he was actually worried about this. Whatever was going to happen would happen and all they could do was cross their fingers and pray that it went for the better rather than worse. She knew that her father would warm up to Sasuke eventually if they both put a little effort into it and Sasuke avoided the sensitive subjects. Like the subject of him 'doing' his daughter. So long as the two could be civil to each other in the same room though, she'd take it as a win.
Sakura smiled. "Just let me know when and I'll set it up. I wouldn't mention anything about it to Naruto, if he knows about us by then, cause I promise you. He'll show up."
"We'll be able to know when after I get back from my mission. I'm not sure how long it will take, but probably not more than a week. And I'm not telling Naruto anything. He'll only cause trouble," he said, rolling his eyes with annoyance at the thought of Naruto.
She frowned. "So can I ask what this mission is? Or at least know how dangerous, who is going... Anything?"
Her smile was completely gone when she finally resigned to talking about him leaving again. It was something she'd never be happy about but she'd have to at least get better at pretending not to care. She wasn't even sure if she wanted to know the details but the only other time he came back from a mission he was completely distraught. If he was going to take an emotional punch to the gut, she wanted to at least know enough about why he was upset to try and comfort him.
Sasuke paused. "It's just me and Naruto going. It has to be limited to just the two of us and we're the only ones who can do it. That's all I can tell you."
"Just promise me you'll be careful." She looked down at the hand he still had resting over hers and she turned her palm up to him, lacing her fingers with his.
"I know you said it last time, but I'm fairly positive you'll have to promise me every time."
He smiled lightly. "I promise," he said, giving her a short kiss. "I'm going to be alright. There is nothing to worry about. This is just another mission where Naruto will do his best to annoy the hell out of me."
"Does he really have to try? I think he annoys you by just breathing," Sakura teased.
Sakura would never really get Sasuke and Naruto's friendship. They claimed to be each others best friend, and they honestly were, but she had a feeling they were each others worst enemy all the same. They had a strong rivalry and made everything into a competition, which made her understand at least why Sasuke tolerated the blond. They acted like brothers, very, very violent and aggressive brothers.
She did her best to try and smile at him but her thoughts were already taking a sour turn.
"I think the worst part is that I might have a mission coming up. I'll probably leave a day or two after you get back."
Sasuke frowned, but nodded after a moment.
"Then we'll probably have to wait until you get back from your mission to get you moved in here. And then my bed will be our bed. We should do something special to celebrate," he said with a smirk.
Sakura was pulled out of her thoughts. She could feel something knot in her stomach, not out of worry, but absolute excitement. The idea of him going on a mission was still fresh on her mind and she knew she wouldn't be able to move in with him until after, but every time she thought about the mission she thought about what would come when he got back and she couldn't help but smile.
Sakura couldn't help it when she started laughing. She had never thought the day would come when Sasuke would hint at things like that. For as long as she had known him she had never once caught him staring at girls, flirting with them and the idea of him kissing someone had been downright outrageous... At least up until a few months ago. Now he was a teenage guy bitten by the hormone bug.
"You do realize that when you leave for your mission that it will probably be a good two weeks, maybe even three before we get to 'celebrate.'" Sakura could only raise an eyebrow at him before she started grinning. "You're gonna miss me really badly."
He crossed his arms. "Hn. I might miss you. But only a little bit. Maybe we should do some preemptive celebrating to make sure I don't forget what it's like while we're apart," he teased.
"Only a little bit?" Sakura asked.
She knew he was kidding, his tone said that well enough for him, but Sasuke would never admit to it. That was what made teasing him all the better. She had a feeling that he knew that she was aware of all of this, too.
"I bet the first time you see me after my mission you'll start running towards me." She laughed again only because she knew she'd lose that one. She couldn't picture one situation where Sasuke would flat out sprint towards her.
Sakura knew how much she'd miss him though. It had nearly driven her insane last time he went on a mission because everyday when someone would walk up to her she'd be absolutely terrified that she was being summoned to the hokage tower to be told something happened. Seeing as how Sasuke didn't have a next of kin, she, Naruto and Kakashi were the main people to tell if something happened to him. They were his dysfunctional family.
"You are going to lose that bet. I don't run towards anyone."
"We'll see," she teased back
Tsunade was one of her mentors, yes, but Sakura hadn't picked up her bad gambling skills. Still, she knew she'd lose. She probably wouldn't see Sasuke until a few good hours after she got back to the village. They could figure out how they'd tell people about them and then they could start just living life together without the worries of what other people thought.
Then Sasuke leaned down an kissed her neck, starting from her collarbone and working all the way back up to her lips. He kissed her, this time for much longer than the previous short little kisses.
"Sasuke, we just.."
She had been completely prepared to protest against that idea, but the second he started kissing her all rational thoughts flew out the window. She didn't hesitate to kiss him back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
Her pathetic attempts at protesting made him smirk a little. He pulled away from the kiss just long enough to taunt her. "What? Don't tell me you don't have enough stamina."
But he didn't even give her the chance to reply and Sasuke kissed her again.
They were both so into it that their ninja senses weren't exactly at their highest, causing them to miss the sound of his front door opening. Sasuke really should have locked that. But what kind of idiot breaks into a ninja's apartment? And they didn't hear the footsteps coming to his bedroom door either. No, not at all.
And then it was too late. The door was slammed open by a certain over hyper blond shouting at the top of his lungs.
"Oi bastard! I-"
Naruto stopped mid-sentence, staring at the sight he had just walked in on. His jaw dropped nearly to the floor, and despite his loud nature, was finally stricken speechless.
That was until he saw a ultra super I'm going to kill you right now death glare from Sasuke along with the loud "Get the hell out!" which the surprised Naruto to attempt to cover his eyes and shut the door at the same time, too shocked to really react to what he just saw.
She put one hand on Sasuke's shoulder to push him back as she sat up instinctively. Sakura felt a blush attack her cheeks and she was suddenly very aware of the fact that she wasn't wearing anything and the sheets she had been covered with were dangerously low and threatening to slide right off her. She was quick to grab the edge of it and get herself more modestly covered, giving an alarmed look to Sasuke, who looked pissed beyond reason.
The door shut firmly behind the blond and she let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding before she pushed herself up and went to Sasuke's closet, quickly dressing herself in the first shirt and bottoms she could find which happened to be the shirt he had given to her and a pair of sleeping pants.
"Get dressed, if we don't stop him you realize he's telling everyone, right?" she urged.
She looked and saw that Sasuke was already headed to the closet to get some clothes. He pulled out some random training clothes and put them on as fast as he could.
"I'll talk to him," Sasuke said, heading out the door, now fully dressed.
Naruto was already out of the apartment, heading who knows where, and Sasuke sprinted after him.
"Bastard!" Sakura heard Naruto's voice from behind the door.
Sakura hurried into the living room. She could feel a surge of panic brewing inside her and she had a horrible feeling that the news they were together would be all over the village by the end of the day. She wanted people to know about them, but she wanted to tell people herself. She didn't even want to think how angry Ino would be if she found out that she and Sasuke were together and she found out about it from Naruto. She'd get the cold shoulder for weeks on end.
She heard some scuffling, a loud thump and "You moron, I love her," Sasuke yelled.
She hurried to pick up the clothes around the couch. The last thing she wanted was for Naruto to see her underwear if he were to come back in here and then freak out all over again. She was quick simply toss the clothes on the bed before going back through the living room to the front door. Sakura only stuck her head out in the hallway, taking note of the fact she was still wearing a shirt with Sasuke's clan symbol on it.
"Both of you get in here now," she hissed.
The hallway was definitely not the place to discuss it. Sakura couldn't help but give them both a curious look. There had been a silence between them, and Naruto was giving Sasuke another look of disbelief as if his best friend had grown four other heads and why was Sasuke rubbing his cheek...
Sasuke grabbed Naruto by the wrist and forcibly pulled him back into the apartment, shutting the door and locking it behind them so that Naruto wouldn't be able to escape before they could explain.
"You talk to him," Sasuke growled out to Sakura.
Her gaze immediately landed on Sasuke's face. "Oh my God."
Sakura quickly closed the distance between them as she gently tilted his face for her to look at the already forming bruise. She could only shake her head as she led Sasuke into the kitchen and sat him down before getting ice and wrapping it in a towel.
"Put this on it until I come back. It'll get the swelling to stay down and then I'll take care of it," she urged quietly.
A sigh escaped her as she placed her hand on Sasuke's shoulder and let out a sigh as she looked back over to Naruto. He had a foreign expression on his face, as if he had eaten something he wasn't quite sure if he liked or not.
"C'mon, Naruto." She smiled at the blond before motioning for him to follow her as she went into the living room and sat down on the couch with him.
She must have sat there for at least ten minutes explaining to him what exactly was going on between herself and Sasuke. She told him everything from when they first got together to what they felt about each other. She mentioned how happy Sasuke made her and that they were even moving in with one another. Naruto seemed to really accept it at that point and even though he admitted to the fact that it was weird, it seemed to finally be clicking in his mind.
"Trust me, Naruto. This is a good thing," she told the blond with a soft smile as he seemed to be thinking it over.
Sakura patted his knee before she stood up and went back into the kitchen to where Sasuke was. "Let me see." She placed her hand over his, taking the ice from his hand and setting it on the table.
"He really got you good," she mumbled.
Sasuke scowled. It's not that bad."
"Naruto busted a couple of his knuckles on your cheek. I'm sure it doesn't hurt that bad."
She rolled her eyes at him as she brushed his hair out of her way before she did a very quick and routine healing job. Naruto had told her why he hit Sasuke. He'd completely misunderstood what was going on. Sasuke and Sakura had been acting completely normal, but having sex. The blond boy had jumped to the conclusion that Sasuke was using Sakura's love for him to use her for sex, taking advantage of her.
Naruto was one of her closest friends and he was trying to look out for her. He didn't seem crushed by the fact she was with Sasuke, which gave her the relief that he wasn't still in love with her, but it was like he didn't believe it, either. She could only hope that after Naruto did accept it, he'd at least be happy for them.
Sasuke glanced in the direction of the living room, making sure that Naruto wasn't following Sakura into the kitchen. "He's incapable of keeping a secret. You should probably tell your parents and whoever else about us tonight before they hear from his big mouth."
Tonight would be the night and Sakura could only let out an exhausted sigh before she slid into the chair next to Sasuke. There were a lot of people she'd like to tell face-to-face, people that deserved to know something big was happening in her life. There was her parents, Ino, Tsunade, Kakashi, it wouldn't hurt to let Rock Lee know from her. If she wanted to smooth things over with Ronan, which Tsunade was sure to make her, than she'd have to tell him. It was already late and the majority of those people were already in bed more than likely.
Sakura sighed. "It's too late at night to go knocking on people's doors to tell them. People are just going to get mad, I guess."
Sasuke felt his cheek. "They won't be mad for long," he added.
She hated that they were going to find out by rumor, but she'd be able to find a way to make it up to all of them. So long as her parents met Sasuke soon, they'd be fine, Kakashi would just want free medical care for awhile, she could kill two birds with one stone with Tsunade. Not only would she be forgiven but if she gave Tsunade alcohol then she could get rid of Ronan. Rock Lee would just have to fend for himself and she'd check on him later and well, Ino... Ino was her friend, sure she'd be pissed at first, but she'd eventually forgive her. At least, that was what Sakura was going to tell herself.
She looked down. "Sorry this all happened like this."
He looked over at Sakura. "This isn't your fault," he said, glancing back toward the living room.
She knew it wasn't her fault but she still felt the need to apologize. She had been apart of the situation as much as Sasuke and Naruto had and maybe if she had chased after Naruto instead of Sasuke then she could of brought him back to the apartment without a scene. The whole punch could have been avoided completely.
But then again, Naruto was upset and he was the type of person who needed to take things like that out physically, much like Sasuke was.
"I still have training to do," Sasuke said with a frown.
"All I have to do is change and then I can go with you if you want. There's no way I'll be able to tell people tonight, but if I get up a little early I can at least get to my parents and maybe Ino before the rumors are all over the place."
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair before she leaned back in the chair, crossing her arms. "I guess we don't have to really sneak around anymore. It'll all be out in the open tomorrow anyways."
A gentle smile formed on her lips at that thought. At least Naruto walking in did have one very thin silver lining. Sure it wasn't exactly to their timing or probably their first choice to breaking the news, but at least word would get out without much effort on hers or Sasuke's part. Even if they told Naruto to keep it all to himself, no matter how hard he would try he'd crack eventually and probably wind up blabbering to Kakashi about it and then maybe Tsunade and it'd spread like a wild fire.
Sasuke paused and then shook his head. "I'm going to take Naruto with me. It's better if you don't go."
It was a possibility they were going to be fighting a little more rougher than usual tonight and she didn't really care to see them beat the living hell out of each other. She could understand where Sasuke was coming from with bringing the blond along and working off some steam. It was how they sorted out their differences much like she and Ino had insult contests on the occasion.
Still, it was a break in her usual nightly activities and she wasn't quite sure what to do with herself rather than go home or to the hospital. Home would be the best option.
Sasuke sighed. "I'll make it up to you."
"I'm sure I'll look forward to that," she said with a small smile.
She was still slightly worried about how Ino of all people would take her and Sasuke dating. She knew that the girl didn't have any feelings for Sasuke anymore, maybe an attraction but nothing concrete, but the last thing she wanted was for Ino to think that she didn't trust her. It was safe to say she was her best friend and she hated jeopardizing that.
"I'm going to go home then, I work a pretty long shift tomorrow so I won't see you during the day. I'm sure we'll run into each other though."
He nodded. "Alright. I'll see you tomorrow."
She glanced over her shoulder to see Naruto was still in the living room before she stood up and leaned down to kiss him. "I love you."
He returned her kiss. "I love you too."
She smiled at him then as she sat up straight and ran a hand through his hair. "Don't kill each other but just remember. Naruto's the reason you aren't getting to preemptively celebrate."
Turning on her heel she left the kitchen and went to his room to change.