little confessions between two friends(naruto x sakura)

your true love

A 22 year old Sakura Haruno was walking through Konoha during one of her far too rare days off. Sakura would never complain though, she loved her life. She spent most of her time working in the hospital, occasionally doing a mission with the reunited Team 7.

Sasuke had been back for 5 years now. Naruto managed to convince Sasuke to drop his path of vengeance before setting off to fight Madara by himself. When Naruto called upon the Kyubi's power against Madara, the ancient Uchiha began to control Naruto just as he had the Kyubi all those years ago.

Before Madara could turn Naruto against the allied forces, Sasuke entered the battle and freed Naruto from Madara's control. The two teamed up to kill the greatest threat the entire world ever knew in the modern age.

After Madara was killed, Kabuto was quickly defeated as well, and the entire world entered an age of peace. Sasuke returned to the village, and after a year of probation, he was reinstated as a Konoha shinobi and quickly achieved jonin rank.

Many people in the village, including Sasuke himself, were surprised when Sakura didn't immediately rush to Sasuke's arms. She snorted as she remembered the look of shock on Sasuke's face when she rejected him after he asked her out on a date.

Many terrible things occurred during the time just before and during the fourth great shinobi war, but one good thing that happened was that Sakura finally realized her feelings for other teammate. Sakura realized that she truly was in love with Naruto Uzumaki, the great hero of the war. Naruto was always by her side. Naruto dedicated himself to making her happy, and the mere thought of the blonde man was enough to send a feeling of warmth throughout her body.

There was absolutely no doubt in Sakura's mind that Naruto was going to be the man she spends the rest of her life with. Naruto was definitely going to be the one she settled down with. Of course, she couldn't let him know that. Not yet anyway.

At 22, Sakura was not ready to settle down. She loved her career. She loved the satisfying feeling of exhaustion that followed a long day of work at the hospital. The occasional mission was just enough to get her out of the hospital and let her travel.

She knew that Naruto wasn't someone who she could just casually date while she had her fun in her career. Sakura knew that as soon as she started dating Naruto, she wouldn't be able to resist settling down with him and starting a family. Honestly, Sakura was truly looking forward to settling down with her favorite blonde.

Still, she wasn't ready to settle down yet. She knew that once she began dating Naruto her career would end, and she would become just like Kuranai-sensei. She could try telling Naruto this, but the knucklehead probably wouldn't understand. He had many strengths but patience had never been one of them. And Sakura knew that she would not be able to resist him if he seriously tried to get her heart. He had it already after all…

So Sakura had spent the past 5 years strengthening her friendship with the blonde hero. The two were inseparable. She had even managed to start sleeping with Naruto under the guise of "just friends." It wasn't something they did regularly, but after an overly stressful day at the hospital, it wasn't entirely uncommon for Sakura to go to Naruto's and fall asleep side by side with the knucklehead.

She smiled as she passed by a shop with Valentine's Day gifts out; Valentine's Day was in a couple of days. Naruto always bought her a box of chocolates, flowers, and a card which he hastily scribbled "Happy Valentine's Day Sakura-chan." Every year his face was nervous, and every year he tried to come up with some awkward excuse as to why he had bought her gifts for Valentine's Day even though they weren't a couple.

Sakura would always smile warmly at him, thank him for the gifts and give him a tight hug. He never asked anything else of her, and the two would go their separate ways for the day. Narutolikely off to train somewhere, and Sakura to her home to smile and enjoy the gifts her favorite blonde gave her. She loved Valentine's Day, he was always so cute.