Waking Up - NaruSaku

Note: This is an excerpt from a multi-chapter that I may complete (it depends on whether the readers enjoy it or not). This part is just, I think, a cute part and a fine preview so… here it is! So far, I have loved writing it, and I may finish it regardless but… reviews are always helpful! If you have some suggestions for improvements, don't mind posting them, either. Anything is greatly appreciated! Thank you~


Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto~

Naruto's eyes opened. Staring at the ceiling, he blinked a few times and gave a yawn. He sighed and closed his eyes again, trying to gather what time it was and just where he was. He thought for a second, then realized. 'Oh yeah – the main house. I met Sakura-chan here for dinner and then-' He gasped. 'Sakura-chan!'

Naruto gave a jolt, eyes wide and lungs heaving, so he sat up on his elbows just slightly. He gulped when he felt something warm shift to his left and wrap itself around his abdomen. Eyes still shot, he gripped the sheet under his sweaty palms and rolled his gaze up and over to his left. There, to his utmost perturbation and greatest exuberance, was Sakura. Her hair unwound itself all about her shoulders, cascading into the sea of sheets, flowing and then gently curling at the ends, forming little crescents of pink. 'My Sakura…" thought Naruto as he gave the woman a heartfelt look with a small smile on his slightly parted lips. Then, in sudden realization, he gave several riotous shakes of his head. 'No, no, no!' He growled in disgrace. 'I can't think like that! She isn't mine…' He bit his bottom lip and squinted down towards his bare chest. 'Wait a minute…' he mused. 'Bare chest?'

He shifted himself a bit from side to side and his entire face flushed a deep crimson. He abruptly shot himself up to a full sitting position, terror apparent in his features. 'I'm only in my boxers? Gah! I'm practically naked! She's going to kill me if she sees me like this! Panic!' His mind screamed as he prepared to launch from the bed and make a run for it before she kicked him where it hurt most. But before he could make his escape, there was a movement to his right and the moan of someone just waking after a long sleep. He jerked his head over to see Sakura just beginning to push herself up from him. Tingles shot their way from his toes to the roots of his hair, making him shiver. It didn't help him now that he found her painstakingly irresistible and just so cute… 'Dang!' He hissed as he brought a palm hard and fast to his forehead. 'I have to stop doing that!'

"…Naruto?" He froze with a blank expression like wood upon his face. 'Run, you idiot! Run like the wind!' His conscience bellowed. But he could not. His brain no longer seemed to be able to make contact with his muscles, nor could he register his racing thoughts. So he just sat there, face forward, hand still at his head, looking like a complete buffoon. "Naruto?" Sakura's concerned voice reached his ears. Naruto could barely will his stiff stare to meet her eyes, wide and shining with concern. Clad in only a white t-shirt, Sakura had now tipped her head up to look at him so that when she sat on her knees, her legs spread out, making them visible at her sides. Of course, this demure, innocent posture did not go unnoticed by Naruto – acknowledging it only made his anxiety increase substantially. He had to say something, or things would… get out of hand. He swallowed loudly. "Sakura-chan," Naruto managed to croak.

They stared at each other as the clock ceaselessly ticked on, hardly keeping pace with Naruto's fervently beating heart. Then, without warning, Sakura took her hand and set it tenderly on his cheek. He nearly choked on air when he suddenly sucked in a forceful breath; his want for oxygen left him gulping for it in desperate pants. Sakura did not seem to notice, or chose not to, and turned Naruto's head so their eyes met. She reached up with her other hand to the one still planted on his forehead and softly removed it. "Naruto… are you all right?"

Naruto's head was spinning. He didn't have time to comprehend what was happening to his self before it started. All he could feel was her small, cool hand caressing his cheek. All he could see was her, looking at him with the most wonderful of worried expressions adorning her delicate face. All that he could smell was her – such an exquisite aroma that tickled his nose! He caught the faintest hints of flowers and pomegranates and perspiration; he inhaled deeply, heavily to make it last, to let her arousing perfume take its effects. Then, in a clouded fog that suppressed all sensible reason, he eyed her lips and slid his thick tongue along his own… if he could just taste… And, normally, Naruto would have never gone to the next measure, as he usually did have the gumption to avoid having the living daylights knocked right out of him – but, his mind was in such a glorious haze of her and pomegranates and sexiness that he gradually let his eyes travel down his best friend's body. 'Oh my…' he thought as he nearly lost what was left of his self-control. 'Oh-hohoo, wow…'

"Naruto Uzumaki!" Sakura's now shrill voice pierced his fantasy with an unbound ferocity. Naruto snapped his head up from where he obviously shouldn't have been looking, and then saw the look on Sakura's face – the look that he knew, for many men, was the last they'd ever see.

"Were you doing what I think you were just now?" His mouth opened and closed, yet he remained speechless. "You disgusting pervert! I'll teach you for gawking at my breasts like that!"

Naruto lay on the floor, unconscious and twitching with bruises covering his body as well as a few broken bones. Sakura brushed her hands together in a satisfied manner before making her way out of the bedroom and to the kitchen. But as soon as she left the room, she stopped and thought about last night. Her prideful smirk relaxed into a slight, knowing smile, and for the quickest moment she went back to the bedroom doorway. She was entertained by the sight of Naruto, already healing, sprawled out asleep on the carpet. She could barely contain a giggle as he let out a rumbling snort and turned over to curl up on his side, a puddle of drool trailing from the corner of his wide open mouth onto the floor. "Thank you… Naruto…" she whispered to herself. Then, with one last look, she turned around on her heel and strolled towards the kitchen to make some breakfast for herself and for her Naruto.

Note: Thank you for reading, and please R & R! I will be very grateful! And, in case you were wondering why Sakura is thanking Naruto of all things, that is because the night before he helped her out by being… Naruto XD I just don't know how yet