No Place I Would Rather Be

Disclaimer: I don’t own Naruto.

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Sakura was lying against a tree between Sasori and Deidara, watching the stars while the two of them argued about art. She had spoken up once, saying that she liked Sai’s art, but they had only paused for a moment before talking about the flaws of Sai’s work. At that point, she had tuned them out and focused on the sky.

Minato, Naruto and Itachi were sitting around a fire a few feet away, talking about jutsu no doubt. She smiled at them, causing Naruto to wave. In the short time they had been traveling together, Arashi had come to be a type of father-figure for all of them, taking care of them if they ever needed it. She could only hope that he accepted Sasuke just as easily if they ever went back to Konoha.

Kyuubi was coming out less, but whenever he did, he would always come close to Sakura, either to sit beside her or lay his head on her lap. Oftentimes, when that happened, Itachi would come over too and sit on the other side of her.

The sleeping arrangement for the three of them was close as well. Itachi would be sitting against a tree with Sakura either lying beside him or with her head in his lap while Naruto or Kyuubi would have his head on hers with an arm around her waist. The others would sleep at other corners of the camp while one would keep watch.

Now, as she yawned, Itachi stood and walked over. Sasori and Dei took that as their cue to go talk to Minato about whose art was better and she almost smiled at him in sympathy - those two were very passionate about that. Sakura smiled at the Uchiha as he sat beside her. She leaned her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes, feeling Naruto coming up on her other side.

She fell asleep shortly after, leaving the two boys to watch her fondly. Naruto yawned and flinched slightly, causing Itachi to watch him with silent anticipation until he opened his now red eyes. Kyuubi nodded to him and looked down at Sakura. “Hmm… You have gained my trust, so Gaki and I are willing to share her with you, but what about Sasuke?”

“What about me?” The group looked up to see a smirking Sasuke on a tree branch, causing them to be a put a little on edge while secretly rejoicing at the unmarred Leaf symbol on his forehead protector.

He jumped into the clearing and pulled four more forehead protectors and began talking in a serious voice. “Since the burning of Oto, there have been fears of survivors of the fire. Yondaime-sama is to be leader of a patrol team to insure that there are no such a survivors. Orders of Godaime-sama.”

A smirk crossed his face once more as his eyes landed on the slumbering Sakura. “But I think we can wait until Sakura wakes up.” A few chuckles were heard as the youngest Uchiha threw the forehead protectors to the former missing-nin. When he came up to Itachi, a small smile came to his lips as he gazed at the brother he just realized he had always looked up to, even when he hated him. Itachi gave him a smile in return.

“Sasuke.” He looked to Naruto, whose eyes were bright blue again. The blonde seemed to be searching his ebony eyes until he found what he was looking for and smiled. “Welcome back.”

Sasuke smiled back and settled down in front of them. Minato soon came over and placed a hand on the youngest Uchiha’s head, causing him to blink and look up at the Yondaime only to see the cheeky that Naruto was famous for. “Welcome to the family.” The Yondaime sat beside him and Sasori and Deidara followed him soon after.

All of their talking woke up the single kunoichi in the group. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was the smirking face of her childhood crush, causing her to jerk upright. “Sasuke-kun!”

Everyone jumped slightly at her voice but Sasuke’s smirk faded into a gentle smile as he turned to her. The kunoichi studied him for a moment before launching herself into his arms, knocking them both to the ground by the fire.

They laughed as they fell. Sakura had tears of happiness running down her face, which Sakura gently wiped away with the pad of his thumb, still smiling.

Kyuubi took control once again, watching as she hugged her crush. “So… are we all going to share her, or… what?”

The Mangekyou-user glanced at the kitsune before continuing to smile at the kunoichi and his brother. “We’ll let her decide, and I suggest that we all honor whatever decision she makes.”

“Hmph.” The nine-tails allowed his face to soften and he sighed. “Yeah, whatever. We can at least enjoy the attention she bestows upon us now.” Itachi nodded and they fell into a comfortable silence, commenting on the conversation going on among the others.

That night, Sakura fell asleep with an Uchiha on both sides of her and the kitsune and his jinchuuriki on her lap. As she drifted away, she smiled as she tried to think of any other place she would rather be.

She couldn’t.

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AN: And that's the end. Thank you all for reading, and for those of you who stuck with me after I put in Minato as the Akatsuki Leader, (I explained the reason for that in the last chapter - I have had this written up for a long time, and when I was writing it, there were a few rumors going around that the Yondaime was the Leader, so I used that,) to you guys... T.T I love you two. I was only given two reviews for the last chapter, which depressed me, but I'm posting this anyway.

Thank you all for reading, and please tell me your thoughts!