"I LOVE YOU, SAKURA-CHAN! AND I LOVE YOU, SASUKE-TEME! EVEN IF YOU'RE A JERK! I DO! I REAAALLY DO!"

It was on that note that Konoha 11's New Year's Eve party ended, as its very life and soul, the loud and bright Uzumaki Naruto, was dragged out the door by his much more subdued girlfriend, not putting up as much physical resistance as he did verbal, possibly unable to due to the large amount of alcohol in his system.

Finally managing to close the door behind him, his female teammate sagged against it, heaving a sigh of half relief, half exasperation.

It had been a common, active effort between her and Hinata, getting him out of the room, and it had lasted for at least half an hour.

Turning around, still leaning most of her weight against the wooden door, she met Ino's amused eyes from where the blonde was still sat, quite comfortably, at the bar, and she couldn't resist letting out a tired giggle.

It had been a wild night, without a doubt. Having learned from its mistakes, Konoha 11 had, this year, rented out a place to host their last party of the year, but Sakura truly didn't want to consider all the broken glasses and chairs they would have to own up to and pay for come tomorrow morning—or, should she say, later on today?

A small groan from the other side of the room interrupted the two women's exchange, causing them to immediately turn their heads to the side, surprised.

A second passed, before both burst into laughter.

"I guess it's your turn, Forehead," Ino commented, perhaps a bit more amused that she would have normally been.

Sakura let out another giggle in response. "Oh, goodie!" she added dryly, before finally pushing off the door and starting to cross the empty dance-floor, heading towards the very place where the tired groan had sounded from.

There, slumped awkwardly over a table, looking all sorts of rumpled and adorable—though, above all else, drunk—was no one other than Uzumaki Naruto's best friend, old teammate, and recent drinking partner, the infamous, ex rogue-nin, last of his clan, Uchiha Sasuke.

Sakura had no idea why she'd ever thought it would be a good idea to put Sasuke and Naruto and entirely too many bottles of alcohol in the same room. It was only logical that they would, without doubt or much delay, strike up some sort of competition involving what they had most accessibly on hand.

The only explanation she could find that was even remotely in her favor, considering she'd known them for so long, was that she hadn't really thought at all.

Well, at least she could comfort herself, as usual, with the idea that she was the only medic on the team, and that, if her two favorite idiots were ever in discomfort—and they would be, oh, how they would be after this night—there was no other place for them to go but to her. And it was entirely in her power to deny treatment. For one, she was out of reach for Naruto, and for two, well… she could very well pretend to be asleep while his equally stupid brother from another mother started to whine that his head hurt and his stomach couldn't hold anything down.

Yes, she thought. That would only be fair. After all, he did cause her quite a bit of annoyance tonight.

Wanting it to be a special New Year's Eve, considering it was their first one together, she'd gone and put a nice number on for him, a sparkly blue dress and peep-toe shoes that caused her toes to freeze but that went perfectly with the outfit, and what had he done? He'd gone and gotten drunk. With Naruto.

With a small shake of her head, the pink-haired medic grabbed the empty bottle of sake still in his grasp and forcefully pried it out, setting it loudly on the table, beside him. Then, bending down, she slipped one arm around his waist and brought one of his own over her shoulders, and, with a pinch of chakra applied in just the right place in just the right manner, hauled him up to his feet.

Sasuke grumbled something unintelligible under his breath in response, his head lolling sideways onto her shoulder. It was only a matter of seconds before his entire body weight was sagging against her, and Sakura grunted with the effort it took to keep him upright, chakra-infused strength or not. After all, even with her high-heels on, Sasuke was still a full head taller than her, and every inch of him was a mass of hard muscle.

From across the room, she heard her best friend giggle drunkenly, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Nice man you've got yourself over there, Forehead," the blonde cackled. "Just the right size for you to carry around!"

"Shut up," came Sakura's answer.

But it soon became clear that she wouldn't be able to carry him home—not with how much alcohol she, herself, had ingested over the course of the night. She was tipsy, and tired, and, given the fact that it was almost five in the morning, a little sleep-deprived, as well.

What a great way to start the year, she thought sarcastically to herself.

"I'm leaving, Pig," she announced, gripping her boyfriend's waist tighter. His head moved even further in the crook of her neck with the movement, lips brushing sleepily over her skin. "Is Sai picking you up?"

"Yeah, yeah, he'll be here any minute," she answered, moving her hands in a shooing motion. "Go. Take your man home."

Shifting him again, struggling to join her hands together behind his back, she quickly formed the necessary seals for a transportation jutsu, holding tightly onto him as they traveled, in only a second, the couple of blocks to her apartment.

Their apartment, she quickly corrected herself as she opened her eyes to find herself in the living room.

It had been hers, originally, from before the war. She supposed one could easily see that in the way it had been decorated—in the light walls and the matching furniture and the colorful throw pillows.

But, from the moment the war ended, it had, slowly but surely, also started to become Sasuke's. Through the time he'd spent there before he left again. The times when he visited, in between his travels, staying too little for Kakashi to warrant finding him a place for himself, but too much for him to stand crashing on Naruto's smelly couch. The clothes he started to leave behind, here and there, in the laundry room or draped across a random chair, until Sakura gave in and offered him a drawer. The shoes abandoned neatly beside the front door. The tomatoes in the fridge. The type of tea only he drank in the pantry. His shampoo and body wash in the shower. The smell of him deeply ingrained in the pillows.

Sooner than she could have imagined, her apartment was no longer only her home. It was theirs. A place where he could return and they could be together. A place where they could cook and argue and cuddle and hang their clothes beside one another.

It was all Sakura had ever wanted, and, with the start of a new year, all she could do was hope and try her very best to keep things, for once, just the way they were.

"Come on, Sasuke-kun," she groaned, readjusting her grip on his body before starting to drag him down the hallway and into their bedroom. "Let's get you in bed."

"Mmm, Sak-ra," he muttered sleepily into her shoulder, nuzzling his face into the crook of her neck.

"Yes," she replied, repressing a laugh. "Sakura."

She'd thought it would be easy to remain mad at him, considering the idiotic, reckless way in which he'd acted, but it had only been about five minutes since she told that to herself, and her resolve was already fading.

Because how could she? How, when his head was buried so closely, so defenselessly, in her neck? How, when he was mumbling all sorts of unintelligible, sweet things that he certainly wouldn't normally say? How, when his hand had curled around her shoulder so tightly? How, when his lips brushed, unconsciously, over her skin, and he kept taking deep whiffs of her perfume and sighing contently in that adorable manner he always did and thought she didn't notice?

Reaching the bedroom, she tried to get him to lie down on the bed as gently as possible, but failed when he slipped out of her grasp and tumbled suddenly onto the mattress. She grimaced, but, thankfully, he didn't seem to mind or notice.

How, when his cheeks were flushed red and his hair tousled and his eyes half open and unfocused? How, when his only reaction was to turn on his stomach and let out a heavy sigh, one hand curling in a pillow and dragging it sloppily under his head.

With a grin so large it almost hurt her cheeks, Sakura bent down and easily slid his shoes off, setting them neatly to the side, before standing and preparing to strip him down to his boxers.

By now, she was already resigned to the idea that she wasn't mad at him, not even a little bit, and couldn't quite stand the thought of him feeling even worse because he was too hot during the night.

She was just pulling his shirt out of his pants when she heard him murmur her name again.

"S-kra…"

"Hmm? What is it, Sasuke-kun?" she asked, leaning over his body to hear him better.

"Mm," was his answer, and for a brief moment, she thought that was the end of it, causing a giggle to burst past her lips and nearly overshadow his next words. "…'R we home?"

For one precious second, she froze. Then, another wide smile split open her lips, and she pressed a kiss to his temple, nuzzling her cheek against his and nestling her chin in the nook of his shoulder.

"We're home," she murmured gently in return, brushing her lips against his clothed shoulder blade—catching, from the corner of her eye, his resulting drunken smile. "…You're home."

Date: 31/12/2o14

A/N: This is officially the end of my self-imposed prompt marathon! I'm very, very happy that I managed to see it through to its end and very proud of pretty much everything I've managed to write this month! Hopefully, you've enjoyed it at least half as much as I have!

Thank you for reading and for reviewing, for your prompts and for your encouragement!

Happy New Year, everybody! :) xx