(A/N: This chapter is gonna be hella long but it'll be worth it I promise. This chapter will not deal with the character design contest. The contest will continue for as long as necessary until the chapter is ready to be written, but please if you haven't entered and you want to, please do so as soon as possible. It's not much of a contest of only two people enter and they aren't even competing against each other.)

It's been a couple months since the group's camping trip and everyone is done with finals and starting Winter Break. In these past couple of months, a lot has happened: Naruto and the rest of the team are State Football Champions for the second year in a row, Naruto and Hinata have gotten even closer than they were before, Kiba has finally started acting like his old self again, Naruto celebrated Thanksgiving with Hinata and the rest of the Hyuga family, and with Hinata's help, Naruto passed all of his finals, only one of which was a C. Now everyone is getting ready to spend Winter Break at the ski "cabin" that belonged to Minato's family.

Hinata's POV:

"Hinata, could you come down here for a moment?" my father yelled from the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes Father, one moment," I yelled back. I've been packing for winter break for the past three days and I want to make sure I don't forget anything important since I won't be back home for another three weeks.

I can't believe I get to spend the next three weeks at a ski lodge with the people I love most... well except for Father, Hanabi, and my friends back home... I miss them.

I shake the negative thoughts out of my head and make my way down stairs.

"Hello Father, what can I do ya for?" I say when I step into the kitchen.

"Excuse me?" he asks with just the tiniest hint of amusement in his voice as he raises his eyebrow at me.

"Sorry, what is it you wanted to talk to me about Father?" I said with a slight blush. I've picked up a few of Naruto's bad habits the last couple of months.

"Better," he said with a nod of approval before standing up from his seat and walking to his study, motioning me to follow him, "Since you won't be here for Christmas or your birthday, I wanted to give you your present now before you go," he said as he walked to his desk and pulled out a small, nicely wrapped box from one of the desk drawers.

"Thank you very much Father," I said trying to conceal my excitement.

I'd like to say I took the wrapping paper off in a slow, mature manner when he handed me the box. But if I said that, I'd be lying. The truth is I tore the paper off in a matter of seconds as if I hadn't eaten in weeks and I knew the box contained a juicy steak. When I tossed the shredded paper aside I examined the box. It was sturdy, black, and about the same size as an iPhone box but not as deep. I opened the box slowly and felt a look of confusion come to my face.

Keys? Keys to what?

"What are these Father?" I asked as I held the keys in my hand.

"Why don't you push that button there and maybe that will help," he said with a smirk.

I did as he said and heard a sound outside. I pushed the button again and sure enough the two were related. I walked to the front door and opened it. When I stepped outside onto the front porch and saw what was in the driveway my jaw dropped.

It's a car... it's MY car!

Sitting in my driveway was a brand new 2015 Jeep Renegade that matched the bright blue color of Naruto's eyes almost perfectly.

(A/N: See chapter picture.)

"It's perfect," my voice came out almost as a whisper because of my shock.

I wanted something outdoorsy, like Naruto's Jeep but I wanted to be able to use it for other things too and Jeeps don't have great gas mileage and aren't always the most comfortable if you have to drive for more than a few hours. So my decision came down to the Renegade, the Range Rover and the Toyota FJ Cruiser. I decided on the Renegade because I thought it was more comfortable and because it had more space.

I ran back inside and gave my father a big hug.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you so much Father," I said with a big smile as I released him from my hug.

"You're welcome Hinata, happy birthday," he said with a small smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

I gave him one more hug before running back upstairs to finish packing. Once I had done that, I grabbed my luggage, which consisted of two duffel bags, each big enough for Hanabi to fit in, and my back pack and took it all down to my car.

"God that's awesome to think about," I mumbled to myself with a smile.

I put my bags in my car and hopped into the front seat. I took a moment to take in how beautiful it felt and looked before starting up the engine. As it roared to life, a toothy smile so big my face hurt, spread across my face. I connected my phone to my car's Bluetooth and started playing my music. I decided to blare Cruise by Florida Georgia Line through my car's speakers as I backed out of the driveway and started driving towards the gas station across from the high school to meet everyone else. I was supposed to get a ride with Neji, but since he wasn't home I guessed he already knew about my early birthday present. As I got closer to the school I felt like making a big entrance so I decided to blare Back in Black by
AC/DC as I pulled into the parking lot.

The bass in this thing is incredible!!!

I pulled into a parking spot next to Naruto's Jeep and hopped out of my car. I saw everyone looking at me with wide eyes and open jaws.

"I know!" I said in my best Monica impression.

"Hina, is this yours?" Naruto asked and I nodded with a huge smile barely able to contain my excitement. "When did you get it?" he asked as he inspected it up close.

"Father gave it t-to me this morning as an early birthday present. I p-picked it out about a month ago," I told him.

"It's awesome Hina, honestly I'm a little jealous," he said was he looked under the hood.

"D-don't be Naruto-kun, your Jeep is what inspired m-me to get this," I told him.

"How so?" he asked.

"I'll explain l-later, we should get going so w-we can beat the traffic," I told him and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.

"Ok, so does this mean you're not riding with me?" he said pouting.

"I'm afraid so Naruto-kun, I'm sorry. It's just... it's so p-pretty and awesome I have to drive it," I told him. I was a little bummed myself that I wasn't going to be driving with him but I just got this and I'd be damned if I was going to let it sit in the garage for another three weeks before I got to drive it.

"I understand Hina, when I first got the Jeep I practically lived in it. Anyways we can still talk during the drive because I have a surprise for everyone!" he announced loud enough to get everyone's attention.

"What kind of surprise Naruto?" Sakura asked a little skeptically.

"Don't worry Sakura, it's not like the last time when we all went to the beach and I rented that piece of junk RV," he said before climbing into the Jeep and digging around in the glove box. He pulled out a grocery bag full of small black boxes. "Here, everybody gets one," he says as he pulls out a box for himself before handing each one of us a box of our own.

"Naruto-kun what are these?" I asked.

"Open them," he tells us and we do.

"Walkie-Talkies?" Ino said when she looked at it.

"Yeah, this way we can all talk to each other while we drive! Isn't it great!" he says excitedly.

"Yeah but... why?" Sakura asks.

"Well you guys don't all know the way to the cabin and since we're all in different cars and it isn't safe to use phones while we drive, if anyone needs to stop to go to the bathroom or to eat we can use these so we all can communicate more easily," he explained.

"Wow... that actually makes sense," Sakura said a little surprised.

"You don't have to seem so shocked, I actually have a lot of good ideas," he told her a matter-of-factly. "Oh and the group frequency will be 1, if you want to have private talks then just figure that out on your own," he said before climbing into the Jeep.

"Alright, let's go!" Ino said excitedly before she and Sai got into her car.

Naruto was going to lead in his Jeep (he and Kiba left Kurama and Akamaru with Kiba's sister), followed by Shikamaru and Temari who were driving in Shikamaru's Lexus, then Choji and Karui in his 4-Runner, Gaara and Lee in Gaara's Charger, Ino and Sai in her Bug, me in my brand new Renegade, Sakura in her Bug, Neji and Tenten in his Lancer, Kiba and Shino in Kiba's truck, and finally Sasuke in his Mustang. With all of us in our cars, we drove out of the school's parking lot and started on our way.

After about fifteen on the road I looked at the walkie-talkie that Naruto gave me and saw that he had written "Channel 4 XOXO" on the back of it. I smiled and turned it on and pressed the button.

"Naruto-kun?" I said into the mic.

"You have to say 'over' when you finish saying something on a walkie-talkie, over," his voice came out of the mic and I laughed.

"You're such a baka, over," I said with a smile.

"See now you're getting it! So tell me about the car, over," he said.

"W-well I wanted something outdoorsy, like your Jeep, but I also wanted to go on a long drive like this and still be comfortable and not have to stop at a gas station every twenty minutes," I told him. "Over," I added after a few moments of silence.

"Thank you. And by the way, twenty minutes is a bit of an exaggeration, over," he said. "Why the color blue? I thought when you got a car, you'd get it in purple or something since that's your favorite color? Over," he asked.

"Well l-like I said, I wanted something outdoorsy. Purple is not an outdoorsy color, over," I explained.

"Well that makes sense, over," he answered and I could picture is odd frown of understanding and shoulder shrug. "So why blue then, over?" he asked.

"W-well the blue reminds me of the color of your eyes, over," I said with a slight blush and a small smile. There was a long pause of silence. "Naruto-kun? Are you there, over?" I asked a little worried.

"Dammit Hina, why are you so cute and sweet!? Over," he said in a whiny voice and I assumed he was blushing.

"Sorry Naruto-kun, I'm going to go so you don't g-get distracted, over," I told him with a smile.

"Ok Hina, I'll talk to you later. Love you Hime, over," he said.

"Love you too Naruto-kun, over," I said back and set the walkie-talkie down.

-Time skip-

Five hours, three bathroom breaks, and one lunch break later we finally pulled up to Naruto's family "cabin".

"Cabin" my ass! This place is HUGE!!!

It looked even bigger inside than it did outside. To the left was a very decent sized kitchen that was separated from the rest of the main floor by a large counter top with stools to sit at, stairs that lead upstairs on the far end of the room, and a short hallway with two doors at the end of it on our close end. To the right of the door was the main living area. The ceiling was at least twelve feet up, in the far corner was an open, vented fireplace with a huge flat screen TV above it, the wall to the right of the TV was all glass with a sliding door that opened out onto a huge deck that appeared to wrap around the entire "cabin" and over looked the valley at the base of the mountain. The living room was filled with several comfy looking couches and recliners that all faced the coffee table in the middle of the room.

"Shit," Kiba said, summing up what most everyone was thinking.

"Language!" Naruto said with a smile as he walked further into the "cabin".

"Oh for – who let him watch Age of Ultron again?" Sakura asked, knowing full well that Naruto would never object to someone cussing unless he had watched that movie recently.

"No one has to let me watch anything. I can watch whatever I want... but it was teme if you really want to know. Now *clap* time for the tour. Teme you and Sakura already know where everything is, you can go take your bags to your rooms or whatever. For the rest of you; the door on the right down this hallway is the bathroom for down here, the other door is the storage room with all the skis and boards and other stuff like that. The only rule for the main floor is that if the TV is on, then the fireplace can't be. The heat messes with it or something, don't really know why. There aren't enough rooms upstairs for everyone to have their own room so sadly couples will have to share a room. I know you're all devastated. You can pick whatever room you like except for the ones teme and Sakura have already picked and the one at the very end since that is the master bedroom and that one belongs to Hina and I. That's about it, go nuts," he says dismissing us from our welcome meeting. "Oh one more thing. The walls between rooms are pretty thin so if any of you plan on doing anything.... intimate, please try to keep the volume down or at least drown it out with music. That is all," he finished and everyone dispersed.

I was straining to control my blush as I took my stuff upstairs. Naruto and I had shared a bed numerous times before, but for some reason this time felt different. For one thing, it would be for an extended period of time with no threat of getting caught by anyone since everyone here already knew about it. For another thing, this "cabin" had a very romantic air to it. And lastly, my hormones have been going crazy, basically ever since that camping trip we all took a couple months ago.

"So what do you want to do now that we're here Hina?" a voice asked from behind me after walking upstairs and setting my bags on the bed.

I turned around to see Naruto leaning against the doorframe with a tired look in his eyes. He went really hardcore with studying for finals so he hadn't gotten much sleep lately. And with the five hour drive up here on top of that, I knew he was exhausted despite his attempt to seem energetic in front of everyone else.

"I'm going to take a nap. Although I'm debating w-whether to take a warm shower before or after," I told him as I emptied the contents of my bags into the dresser drawers and closet.

"A nap sounds fantastic! I was worried you were going to want to go do something as soon as we got here," he said with a sigh of relief and a slight chuckle.

"I didn't say you c-could join me you know," I decided to tease him as I put the last of my things into the closet.

"Too bad," he said and before I knew it, I felt his strong arms wrap around my waist from behind and carry me to the bed.

He flopped down onto the bed, bringing me with him. We got under the covers and I moved so that my head was laying on his chest.

"Goodnight Hime," he said and kissed the top of my head.

"Goodnight Naruto-kun," I said back and gave him a kiss under his chin.

I fell asleep to the sound of his heart beat and the rhythm of his breathing.

Naruto's POV:

I woke up to the sound of a fist banging against a door. I slowly opened my eyes and smiled as I looked at the raven-haired beauty sleeping in my arms. I heard the banging again apparently so did Hinata since her eyes opened too.

"Who the hell is banging on our door?" she said in an irritated voice.

"Pancakes in bed tomorrow morning says it's Sakura with at least one other person with her," I said as we both sat up and rubbed our eyes.

"I'll take that bet," she responds before we get out of bed and walk over to the door. She opens the door with me standing behind her and we are greeted by blue-eyed blonde.

"Shit!" I said when I saw Ino standing in the doorway with Sakura nowhere in sight.

"Language," Hinata fake scolded, turning my own joke against me, before acknowledging Ino. "Why are you b-banging on our door Ino-chan? We were taking a nap," she asks in a tired voice that can only be described as sexy.

Keep it in your pants perv.

"Yeah you've been napping for like three hours. Anyways it's time to eat dinner. Sasuke made chili," she said and I started booking it downstairs.

Teme makes the absolute best chili!

Everyone had already gotten their bowl when I got downstairs so I filled up my own to the brim before sitting down next to the chef himself, leaving a seat beside me for Hinata. I took my first bite and immediately felt warmth spread throughout my body.

"Mmmm teme your chili is still the best," I said with a smile and patted his shoulder.

"Just shut up and eat, dobe," he said but I could see a slight twinkle of pride in his eyes.

Hinata came down the stairs and filled up her own bowl before sitting down next to me and jabbing me in the side.

"Ow! What was that for Hina!?" I asked rubbing my side.

"You practically ran me over and you didn't even w-wait for me before you started eating," she said with furrowed eyebrows.

"Oh... right... hehe, sorry Hina, it's just that teme makes the best chili," I explained and then gave her a slightly lingering peck on the lips. "Forgive me?" I asked, giving her my puppy dog eyes.

"Fine," she said trying to hide her smile before turning to her bowl of chili and eating it, with me doing the same.

Once everyone had eaten, we all found seats in the living room and started watching TV.

"So I got this new karaoke app where you put in everyone's names in and it will randomly select someone's name and a song from my music and whoever's name comes up has to sing a song. And if two names come up, those two have to do a duet. Who wants to play?" Ino asks excitedly and everyone agrees since there's literally nothing good on TV.

"Ok great cause I already put everyone's names in and I brought my karaoke stuff with me," she said and ran upstairs and came back and set everything up. "First up is.... Forehead singing Our Song by T Swift!" Ino announced happily before handing Sakura the mic.

Sakura sang her song really well and when she finished, we all applauded her.

"Ok next is... Hinata singing Shoop by Salt-N-Pepa," Ino announced before dying of laughter.

Oh my god this is going to be the greatest thing ever!!!

Hinata stood up with a smug smirk as Ino handed her the mic. The music started playing and the cute, adorable Hinata we all knew vanished and was replaced by a sexy, rapping Hinata who managed to somehow be goofy and sexy at the same time as she sang the entire song word for word. When she finished we were all stunned beyond reasoning and we all silently decided not to say anything about it.

"Umm...... Moving on. Next is... a duet with our two fearless captains, singing Florida Georgia Line's new song Holy! Omg I love this song this is going to be awesome!" Ino squealed and handed me and Sasuke our mics.

Luckily we both knew the song pretty well since we both like the same music for the most part. The music started and we started to sing.

Hinata's POV:

I hadn't heard this song before, but judging from Ino's excitement it must be pretty good. The music started playing and the boys started to sing.

(A/N: Play song: Naruto will be italicized, Sasuke will be bold, and the chorus will be bolded and italicized.)

When the sun had left and the winter came
And the sky fall could only bring the rain
I sat in darkness, all broken hearted

I couldn't find a day I didn't feel alone
I never meant to cry, started losing hope
But somehow baby, you broke through and saved me

You're an angel, tell me you're never leaving
Cause you're the first thing I know I can believe in

You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you

You made the brightest days from the darkest nights
You're the river bank where I was baptized
Cleanse all the demons
That were killing my freedom

Let me lay you down, give me to ya
Get you singing babe, hallelujah
We'll be touching, we'll be touching heaven

You're an angel, tell me you're never leaving
Cause you're the first thing I know I can believe in

You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you

I don't need the stars cause you shine for me

Like fire in my veins, you're my ecstasy, you're my ecstasy

You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you
You're holy, holy, holy, holy
I'm high on loving you, high on loving you

You're the healing hands where it used to hurt
You're my saving grace, you're my kind of church
You're holy.

Naruto and I stared at each other the entire time he sang, and by the time the song was done tears were falling down my face. I jumped up from my seat on the couch and into his arms.

"I love you so much Naruto-kun," I mumbled into his chest.

"I love you more Hime," he said and I looked up at his smiling face and sparkling eyes.

"Not possible," I told him before pulling him down and locking my lips with his. We pulled apart and a few people started clapping and teasing us, but I couldn't focus on that because two of the people in our group were staring at each other the same way Naruto and I had been.

"Guys... there's something you should know."

Sasuke's POV:

"Guy's... there's something you should know," I said without even meaning to.

"Yeah Sasuke, what is it?" Ino asked.

I started stammering which is not something I do. Luckily a certain someone had me covered. She stood up from her seat and walked over to me, our eyes never leaving the others. When she got to me, she got on her tiptoes and I leaned down until our lips touched.

"Sakura and I are dating," I said when I separated from the beautiful pinkette.

And just like that, everyone exploded into questions, squeals, spit drinks, and open jaws. All except for Naruto, who had a small grin on his face.

"Everyone SHUT UP!!!!!" Ino yelled, silencing everyone, and then turning to me and Sakura, who I was still lightly holding in my arms. "YOU! Keep talking," she demanded while pointing a menacing finger at us, although I wasn't even phased after secretly dating Sakura for the past four months or so.

"Well it all started when dobe got in his car accident –"

"THAT LONG!?"

"Do you want us to explain or not?" Sakura said angrily at Kiba who had interrupted me. He shut right up and gestured for me to continue.

"Thanks babe," I whispered so only she could hear me, "so it started when dobe was in the hospital..."

-Flashback-

I was sitting in a chair with my elbows resting on my knees and I bounced my right leg rapidly and glared at the floor.

He's not going to die, he's not going to die, he's NOT going to die!

"Hinata!" I looked up and saw Hinata at the front desk. At the sound of her voice she turned and then started running towards us. She tripped on her way to us, but Temari caught her. I looked back down at the floor. I couldn't bear to see how scared she was and trust myself to keep it together.

"How is he?" I heard her ask.

HE'S DYING! THAT'S HOW HE'S DOING!

"We don't know... he's in surgery right now and from what we've been told they're not sure if he's going to be alright or not," I heard Shikamaru answer. He was doing a pretty good job of holding it together himself but I heard the catch in his voice and I couldn't take it.

Dammit!

I got up from my seat and quickly stomped down the hall away from everyone else.

"Sasuke-kun! Don't worry I'll get him," I heard Sakura say to the others as I turned the corner and kept walking.

I heard footsteps coming towards me.

"Sasuke-kun! Sasuke-kun wait!" she yelled but I kept walking until I felt her grip my wrist. "Sasuke-kun stop," she told me in a firm voice.

I turned around with a look on my face I knew to be scary enough to make full grown adults nervous, but when I saw the look on her face I felt my façade waver a bit. My glare was good, but hers... hers could cut through steel. I held her gaze for a few moments until I couldn't take it. I felt my bottom lip and my legs start to shake from trying to hold everything together. I pulled her into a bone-crushing hug. I cried into her shoulder while she cried into my chest.

"I can't lose him Sakura! I can't do it! He's the only family I have left besides Itachi! He's my best friend... I can't –" I didn't get any further before my voice broke.

"I know, trust me I know. He's my family too. He's like the annoying little brother I never had... you're wrong though," she said through her tears.

"About what?" I asked.

"He's not your only family," she said with a sniff and then stopped shaking.

"Oh yeah? Who else do I have besides him and Itachi?" I asked with a scoff.

She moved her head off my chest and looked up at me. Her jade green eyes locking with my onyx colored ones. Her eyes were red and puffy, she had tear stains running down her cheeks, her mascara was smeared from crying and gave her raccoon eyes, and her hair was a mess, but for some reason I couldn't remember a time she had ever looked more beautiful than she did right now.

"You have me... you always have and always will," she answered.

Her words shocked me. I always knew she had feelings for me, I wasn't Naruto after all, but she had never been so bold about it. Something about her words and the way she said them made me believe them. Without even knowing what I was doing, I leaned down and slightly tilted my head to the right and our lips met. Our lips started moving with each other's in perfect harmony like it was something we'd done a hundred times. Our foreheads rested against each other's when we pulled away for air.

"We... we should get back to the others," she said once we caught our breath.

"Hn," I responded with a smirk and she rolled her eyes before we stepped away from each other and walked back to find everyone else was gone.

We walked to the front desk and found where his room was and joined everyone else. I drove home later that night and went to bed, happy to know that my best friend wasn't dead.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of someone banging on my front door. I got up and opened the door to see Sakura. She was wearing a big sweatshirt, sweatpants that were on backwards so that "juicy" was written across her front, Ugg boots that didn't match, and she had crazy bed head but she had a huge smile on her face and a bright twinkle in her eye.

"Sakura? What the hell did my door ever do to you?" I asked as I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes.

"Hinata called... Naruto's awake," she said and I stopped moving.

He's awake... how?

"He's... he's awake?" I asked to make sure I heard her right.

"Yeah, come on he asked to see us, let's go!" she said excitedly.

"Ok, ok just let me put some clothes on... oh and Sakura?" I said with a smirk.

"Yeah?"

"Your pants are on backwards," I stayed just long enough to see her eyes widen and face heat up before I closed the door and went to my room to change.

After I got dressed and Sakura fixed her pants, we drove to the hospital. We knocked on the door to Naruto's room and walked in. When I saw how close he was to Hinata I smiled internally.

Maybe he's finally starting to get it.

Then my eyes moved to the bandages and bruises covering his body.

"Hey guys, why the long faces?" Naruto asked as he gave a weak smile.

Well sadly his crappy sense of humor remained intact.

Sakura ran over and gave him a big hug as she cried into his shoulder. She let go of him and walked back to stand beside me.

"You stupid baka, you scared us to death," she yelled angrily and punched me in the head.

What the hell!?

I glared and raised my eyebrow at her as I rubbed the already growing bump on my head.

"Well I can't hit him, he's already half dead," she said matter-of-factly.

So sure, by all means, try to put me in a bed right next to him!

"Hn," I responded and I looked back at Naruto.

Hinata must have sensed the tension between the two of us.

"Sakura-chan I n-need to g-get something to eat, w-will you come with m-me? I'd h-hate to get lost b-by myself," she said, making an excuse to leave me and Naruto alone.

"Yeah sure, Sasuke-kun do you want me to bring some coffee or something for you?" Sakura asked me.

"Sure, coffee's good," I answered, not looking at her.

"Ok we'll be back in a little while," she said as they walked out the door.

"You look terrible dobe," I said when they left the room. I was trying my hardest to hold it together.

"Shut up and bring it in ya big softy," he said and I rolled my eyes and walked over and gave him a hug.

"So you and Hinata huh?" I asked when stepped back and sat in the chair next to his bed, I made sure to move the chair a few feet back.

"So you and Sakura huh?" he shot back and my eyes went wide.

"H-how did you know?" I asked in a low voice.

"I didn't. I was totally screwing with you but it looks like you didn't know that," he said and started laughing so hard he was cringing in pain.

I can't believe I fell for that!

"So what happened?" he asked.

"We... we kinda made out last night," I said with a small smirk.

"So while I was fighting for my life, you were sucking face with my former crush?" he asked in a serious voice.

He started laughing again when I started stammering.

What is the deal with me right now!? I should NOT be falling for this crap!

"So what does this mean? Are you guys like..." he didn't finish.

"Hell if I know," I said as I shrugged my shoulders and ran my hand through my hair.

"Well we all know how she feels about you, so I guess the question is how do you feel about her?" he asked in a very un-Naruto way.

I was quiet for a few moments before I answered, "I'm crazy about her... I mean she literally drives me bat-shit crazy and there are times where I wish she would just. Shut. Up... but the more I think about it, I'm always happier whenever she's around," I told him and a smiled grew on my face.

"It's like when the Grinch's heart grew three sizes," he said and pretended to wipe a tear from his eye.

"Shut up," I said with a chuckle and lightly shoved him. "So what about you and Hinata?" I asked him. Like me he shrugged his shoulders and ruffled his hair.

"It's complicated... she's –" before he said anymore, the door opened and the girls walked back in.

We all spent the rest of the day together and then all the others came to visit too. Sakura and I left with everyone else and even though it was her car, I refused to ride in the passenger seat. We drove in an awkward silence and when we got to my apartment, we both got out of the car. She was about to climb into the driver's seat, but I grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"You know, it's not really that late... do you want to come inside for a little bit?" I asked.

"Yeah, I guess I could hang out for a while before I go home," she said and turned the car off. We walked into my apartment and I hung her sweatshirt on the back of a chair.

"So... Naruto's all good," I said, not knowing what else to say.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" she yelled at me. "We've known each other since we were like five and for most of that time you've basically completely ignored me for the most part. And I admit that that was mostly my fault because of how over the top I was, but then last year we finally start getting closer, but you still mostly ignored me. Then completely out of the fucking blue, you ask me to homecoming and we have the most amazing time! We danced and talked all night... I even got you to laugh a few times. Then we go back to school the next week and you act like nothing ever happened. I admit that hurt a little, but I got over it, it's not like we kissed after all or anything. Oh wait, that's right. We did! We kissed last night and it was the most amazing kiss ever and what do you do? You spend all day standing right next to me but still acting like nothing happened! And now you invite me into your apartment and the first thing you want to talk about is Naruto!? I mean what the fuck Sasuke! Do you like me? Do you not like me? What? 'Cause I'm done trying to figure it out," by the time she finished, she had tears streaming down her face.

I walked up to her and carefully used my thumb to brush the tears away from her face. I stand there, only inches in front of her staring into her eyes with my hand caressing the side of her face.

"You talk too much," I said and then I kissed her and she kissed me back.

-Flashback End-

"And we've been secretly dating ever since," I finished. I was now sitting in my original spot on one of the couches with Sakura's hand intertwined with mine as she sat beside me.

Everyone was really quiet for a few moments until something occurred to Hinata.

"You knew about this the whole time and you didn't tell me!?" she yelled at Naruto and slapped his shoulders a few times.

"Well I didn't know they were actually dating, although I had a pretty good idea of it, the only thing I knew for sure was that he liked her, and that they would tell us if anything was going on whenever they were ready," Naruto told her in a very mature and un-Naruto fashion.

Apparently she didn't like how much his answer made sense because she just crossed her arms over her chest and pouted.

"Well this was really fun but it's like 2 in the morning so I think it's time everyone at least gets in bed," Naruto said before tossing Hinata over his shoulder and carrying her upstairs to their bedroom. "Good night!" He yelled before closing the door.

We all decided he was right and went to bed. Sakura and I walked into my room but before I could climb into bed she grabbed my wrist to stop me. I turned to look at her and saw she was smiling.

"Thank you Sasuke-kun," she said in a low voice before giving me a light kiss. "I love you Sasuke-kun," she said when she pulled away.

I gave her a small smile before lightly poking her forehead with my index and middle fingers and answering with, "I know."

-Chapter End-