The Flower and Her Sun (Naruto x Sakura)

~ Epilogue: Memories ~

It was a beautiful spring day; the wind whistled softly as leaves fluttered through it, birds chirped and twittered playfully as they collected little branches for their nests, and the water from the nearby river whooshed as the sun reflected on it, sending little crystals of light throughout the forest. The small dumpling shop so fortuitously located at such an enchanting location, was unusually full with clients today, the unexpected visit causing quite a commotion among the villagers from the tree villages the shop was between. It seemed everyone came to see them, and thankfully for the shop owner, they all ordered dumplings just to sit near them. They didn't bother them though, they just observed and speculated among themselves. The couple didn't seem no notice however, they were in deep conversation. They had barely touched their dumplings even, clearly more interested in what each other had to say.

"Oh, I totally remember now!" The woman giggled happily as her boyfriend teased her. "We were so weird, we weren't even dating for a minute and we were already on second base!"

"Hey, it was you, I remember like it was yesterday! You pulled down my pants and went down there on your own!" The man chuckled, enjoying how his girlfriend blushed at this memory.

"Naruto, I'm pretty sure that's not how it went, you did that to me, and that provoked me, you're the pervert!" Sakura teased, resting her elbows in the small round table so as to get closer to her boyfriend, looking at him through her lashes mischievously.

"You are definitely the perv here! Remember the shower?" He teased more and grinned as he noticed her blush deepen. "That was all you, my dearest!"

"Well, that's not fair! You said you loved me, it was so cute. I just wanted to touch you," she admitted, a little embarrassed.

"I can't believe it's been two years and you still blush so much about this!" he laughed, throwing a dumpling in the air and catching it with his mouth. "This is delicious, Sakura-chan, you should eat!"

Picking up one of the dumplings from the massive mountain of them her boyfriend had ordered, she remembered a moment she had forgotten. The delicious taste of the pork dumpling reminded her of the time she had said 'I love you' to Naruto for the first time.

"Hey, do you remember when I said my first 'I love you' to you?" she asked him curiously as she ate some more.

"Like it was just a minute ago, love." Naruto smiled his big smile as he spoke, "we were eating dumplings! At the village, not here, and I was holding your hands and telling you I loved you, and then you said it, and you blushed, and it was adorable!"

Sakura giggled at her boyfriend's enthusiasm, "silly, I love you."

"I'll never get tired of hearing that." He blushed cutely. "I told you I loved you for the first time way before that, didn't I?"

"Yeah, in the shower, the same day we became a couple," she reminded him with a smile and a blush.

"Oh yeah, the shower..." Naruto closed his eyes in deep thought. Sakura knew that expression so very well, it meant he didn't remember.

"Naruto, you spoke about it just a couple minutes ago..."

"Yeah I remember that, what I'm trying to remember is how exactly, um, you know, our first time went."

Sakura giggled, she remembered well, "A disaster! Well, kind of..."

~Flashback~

It had been a long day and night at the hospital. Sakura had been bombarded with surgery after surgery since the morning, and after a 16-hour long shift, she was ready to hit the pillows and wake up next week. However, when she got home, or to her boyfriend's apartment where she had been staying for a while, she had found him with the energy of a toddler. Immediately, he received her with a hug and story after story of the stuff that was going on at the hokage mansion, she tried her best to follow, but her sleepiness didn't allow her to. She walked straight to the bedroom as he spoke, and fell face first into the mattress.