![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
(teamwork) chapter 6, scene five, complete
I edited the previous scene a bit. Not a lot. Just made Tsunade tell Naruto to come back tomorrow to clean up her office. I'm too lazy to edit the previous post, though, and besides it's all one scene so i'm reposting it here. So there.
Warning: this scene may kill you with syrupy, sugary, fluffy cute. u_u;
(also, I have a hard time with their interaction, sometimes they feel ooc to me but i can't really TELL if they really are or if I'm paranoid; I'm flying blind here. T_T My Sakura is too different from canon.)
Once he was done with the library, Naruto strolled into the Hokage's tower, casually waving hello to the guards at the bottom of the stairs. They didn't stop him. They never did unless Tsunade had specifically requested not to be disturbed; and even then she had to add "on pain of death" to make them try with any real conviction. He guessed that being known as Tsunade's Official Likeable Annoyance had its perks.
He passed a few people in the corridors, but at this hour, everyone was working. The door to Tsunade's office was closed; he could hear voices in the other room that she used to stock medical stuff and books and scrolls.
Well, damn; that was where he needed to be. He still remembered where she had made him and Sasuke put away stuff during one of their D-rank mission, and the scroll in question was memorable; he'd used its illustrations to gross out Sasuke. Once he was in the file room, he could find the scroll quickly, provided the old hag hadn't arranged everything all over again. But if she was in the file room -- damn it. And he couldn't really come back in the middle of the night when she was gone.
He was still hesitating over the road to take when Sakura's voice rang out. "Yes? You can come in, you know."
With a guilty start, Naruto reached for the half-open door, and grinned at her as he popped his head in. "Hi, Sakura-chan!"
"Oh --"
"Sakura? Who's here?" Tsunade asked, her voice muffled by the closed door to her private file room.
"It's Naruto, Hokage-sama," Sakura called back before turning to smile back at him. She still looked kind of puzzled, though. "What are you doing here?"
... Okay, keep as close to the truth as possible... "Bah, Sasuke sent me to get him stuff because he's too lazy to move his ass, and I decided that he could wait a bit while I said hello."
Sakura wasn't really telling them much about her special training, so he gave a curious look at her workspace. She was standing in front of a low table, with squiggly markings painted on it; there was a dead, tail-less lizard belly-up right in the middle. There were other critters in jars and aquariums lined up along one of the ends of the table; Naruto stepped closer to peer at them.
"Eww, gross," he commented cheerfully. "Sakura-chan the mad scientist. So what are you doing, sticking fish fins on its tail stump?"
She rolled her eyes at him, though her attention was back on the lizard, and her hands had started glowing green again. "Shh. If you can't stay quiet--"
"--I'll boot you out," finished Tsunade as she emerged from the file room, startling him into nervous laughter. "I might even boot you out right now if you don't stop distracting her. Sakura?"
Sakura was biting her lip, frowning in concentration. "Still holding it, Hokage-sama."
"Good. Second stage now," Tsunade ordered as she dumped a pile of scrolls on her desk and turned briefly to go close the door of the file room.
Naruto was too busy staring at the scroll he wanted -- right under the new pile of scrolls! Damn it! -- to pay much attention to Sakura's second stage.
Which was why he missed the start of Sakura's sudden lunge, and why the feel of a cool, squirming body zipping up his neck and into his hair made him scream like a little girl.
Then, of course, he lost his balance because he'd been in the middle of an about-face to look at Sakura, and her desperate grab for the suddenly very alive lizard only managed to put him even more off-balance.
"... Ow."
"You're picking that up, Naruto," Tsunade informed him wearily, as he sat up against the foot of the desk and rubbed at his bruised hip. Naruto groaned, glaring at all the stuff he had managed to knock off the desk on his way down -- oh. Oh. Oh yeah.
"Wait -- are you hurt? Let me see," Sakura asked, pushing away from the table on which she had sprawled and circling it.
Hee, she was so sweet, it was just a bruise, but getting her healing hands on his body -- wait ack no! She would see what he was doing!
"Nah, nah, it's alright, Sakura-chan, I'm already all better. Really."
He grinned -- a bit nervously -- at her over the edge of the desk, and turned away to pick up the scrolls, heart speeding up. Tsunade was still watching from the other side with her hands on her hips, disgruntled; but with a little luck -- now where had the green scroll gone?
"Hurry up, you lazy brat."
"I'd be faster if your office wasn't full of other stuff! How am I supposed to know what was already on the floor or not?" he grouched back, crawling around to hunt down the scrolls.
"Well then, if the state of my office offends you so much, I'm sure you won't mind coming back tomorrow to clean it," Tsunade retorted, eyeballing him rather evilly.
Naruto wilted. "That's not fair!"
"Sure it is," Tsunade replied with a smug smile. "You mentioned it first. Now hurry up a bit."
Grumbling under his breath, he started looking around again, stuffing more scrolls in his arm as he went.
There, green scroll! He crawled closer -- guhh, please make them not notice --
"The lizard!" Sakura dove under her table to catch the -- tail-sporting, now -- reptile. Naruto thanked the deities watching over him and picked up the scroll, moving to slip it in his jacket.
There was another green scroll hiding behind a pile of paperwork. Same white and gold edges; the rope holding it closed was pale brown instead of white and he couldn't remember which was the right one. Ohfuckdamnit.
"Put them down, you're going to drop them, trying to hold so many at once," Tsunade commented as she swooped down and negligently picked up the second green scroll.
"... Aha, Uzumaki Naruto would never be so --" ... so... ick. Why did his usual automatic boasting have to fail him now, whyy?
"Clumsy?" Tsunade replied, smirking just a little bit.
Pouting, Naruto got up and went to dump his armful on the Hokage's desk. He could feel the first scroll slip down his vest and settle against his belly. Did it look weird? He couldn't glance down to check -- maybe he could touch? Be discreet -- but he'd been turned away too long. Pasting another grin on his face, he turned to face them, and prayed for it not to show.
"So, when will you be done with Sakura-chan?"
Sakura was busy stuffing the lizard in a glass jar with a grim smile on her lips; she didn't pay him much attention, apart from a quick smile at her name.
"Let me see the lizard first," Tsunade asked, reaching out to take the jar from the girl.
Naruto leaned closer, poking at the glass curiously. "Did you bring it back to life or what? I thought it was dead... Oh hey, it was missing its tail, wasn't it?"
Sakura huffed in a 'You're stupid' way, but she was also grinning, so he just grinned back.
"I was trying to combine holding a forced hibernation with regenerating a missing bit. Of course, with such a small animal, it's easier, and lizard tails naturally regenerate, so it was more of a matter of giving his body a nudge, but I think I've found the trick now. Hokage-sama?"
Tsunade peered at the lizard for a few seconds longer, then nodded. "Indeed. It's almost time for my next appointment, so I'll let you go now." She rolled her eyes. "No doubt that Naruto will make himself a nuisance and you won't accomplish anything anyway."
"Hey, I wouldn't!" Naruto protested.
Tsunade wasn't listening to him; she was still talking with Sakura. "Don't forget to practice that trick during your meditation -- three hours tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."
Naruto waved and started toward the door as Sakura bowed to Tsunade. The second he was out of sight, he had a hand up his jacket, and the green scroll safely tucked away in one of his inner pockets with the other scrolls he'd borrowed from the library. When Sakura joined him in the corridor, he was able to smile much more naturally.
"What's that trick about?"
"Oh -- you have to split your chakra and maintain perfect control over two unstable jutsus at the same time, it's complicated."
"You can't put someone to sleep and then do your second jutsu?"
"No, they're not long action -- I mean," she added as she caught his puzzled blink, "if you stop paying attention and maintaining your hold, the jutsu stops. And it's easy to make a reptile hibernate; they just wake up so easily. But it's going to be much harder to do that with mammals; they're not supposed to have their temperature change so much... I'll have to monitor that too, once I have the basic trick ingrained..."
He listened to her as she delved into the mysteries of healing techniques he had never heard of. He didn't understand the first thing about any of it, but she sounded so animated, so passionate.
"That sounds great!" he enthused. "Bet not everyone can do it."
Sakura's cheeks pinked a bit, and Naruto snickered when she couldn't hold in a proud, superior grin. He liked seeing her so confident. "Oh, probably not. The control demanded is too precise for lots of medic-nins, not to mention the general population."
"Does it need lots and lots of chakra?"
Sakura's smile dimmed. "Not a lot, no. Maybe about three to four kawarimi for now."
"Oh. But with mammals it will be harder, right?" he asked again; he wasn't sure what he'd done wrong, but he wanted to see her superior grin again.
"Well... Yes, a bit. It also depends on the size of the animal... But my chakra control is getting a lot more precise, so I'll manage."
She didn't look as happy this time, and Naruto didn't understand why it hadn't worked right away. Then it dawned, bit by bit. "I thought you were only training for quantity...?"
Sakura's shoulders slumped, and she gave him an unconvincing smile. "We train a lot for that too, but no one can train on one thing only for weeks and weeks -- well, maybe you can, Mister Simple-minded, but I need a change of pace sometimes."
Naruto squeaked in indignation. "Sakura-chan! How could you call me that?"
She blinked at him, a picture of innocence itself. "What, single-minded? You are! It's a good thing, too, being able of so much concentration and determination..."
"Simple! You said simple!" Naruto protested loudly, pointing at her. He grabbed at his heart when she chuckled, stepping away from her. "Cruel!"
"Aw, it's a good thing not to be complicated. At least you never worry yourself sick over things, it must be nice..."
Naruto stepped closer again, peering at her in concern. "Yeah, and then when I get in trouble I don't have a clue how it happened." Not that it bugged him because he always found a way to get past it. Or get over it. But it wasn't a way of thinking that would fit her anyway; after all, she had so much to lose and, most of the time, he had nowhere to go but up. "Sakura-chan..."
"Ah, don't worry, I just like to fret. I'm sure everything will turn out all right."
He reached out to touch her arm, and when she tried to smile again, he took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Hey, that's my line."
Sakura sighed, shoulders slumping a little, and squeezed his hand back. "You're nice..."
Naruto shook his head, moving in front of her, and stared at her. "No, really, everything will turn out all right. We're going to fix it."
Sakura paused, staring at him. Naruto didn't smile back, or not a lot; he didn't want her to think he was joking to make her feel better. No, he was serious, he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Well, technically, he wasn't going to let Sasuke let anything happen to her, but that was the same thing.
"How... How can you be so sure? There's no magic shortcut to make it all better, no amazing jutsu you can master in three days to defeat the problem--"
"Hah!" he exclaimed, cutting her. Sure there was -- oops.
She stared at him, green eyes a little wide and a lot incredulous.
"... Naruto?"
"Err, yes, Sakura-chan?" he replied, grinning nervously, and winced as her eyes narrowed and she peered at him like she hadn't seen him in years.
"Is that... Naruto?" He saw her swallow, rub her hands over her thighs nervously. "Is that what Sasuke-kun is doing?"
Naruto winced. Damn it! He wasn't supposed to tell her anything about it before they were reasonably sure that it was possible! Sasuke would be so pissed if Naruto told her now -- but she needed to know, she was so worried and it was her health after all, Sasuke would understand --
She waved it off when he was still in the process of opening his mouth. "Ah -- no, never mind, pretend I didn't say anything."
"But, Sakura-chan--"
She bit her lip, whispered, "Sasuke-kun asked me to trust him. And it wouldn't be fair to you to make you talk... Just -- promise me you'll tell me as soon as you can. Alright? Promise me."
Naruto nodded, unable to look up at her. "I promise."
They stood face to face in silence, until a housewife bustled by, tsk-ing at them. Naruto jumped aside to let her past, blushing a little. "Um. So. Let's go -- is Ino waiting for you again?"
She relaxed a little as they started walking again, enough to smile more naturally. "Ah, I'm not going to Ino's today. Well, not right away... I'm going to have dinner with my parents first, and then I'll go back."
"Oh, alright... Hey, Sakura?" He ruffled his hair nervously, and looked up at the graying sky. "Why don't you move back in with your parents? I thought you were getting tired of bugging Ino's family..."
"Heh. No, it's alright; I'd like to live with you two better, is all."
"But you're not angry at your parents anymore, right? So..."
"Well, no, but if I came back, they'd want it to be for good, and then it would be a miniature drama all over again when I move out. At least like this I can wean us all slowly, do you see?"
Naruto scratched his head quizzically. "Not really, no. If you liked living with them, and they're not forbidding you to ever come back..."
"Oh, Naruto..."
Okay, what had he done to prompt that sympathetic look and sudden handholding? He was a bit confused. He squeezed back, anyway, interlacing their fingers, laughing a little at his own clumsiness.
"It's just that... I left. I'm an adult now. I'm not their little girl anymore. I'm still their daughter, and I know I'll always be welcome, but... I just don't want to come back with my tail between my legs."
Naruto grinned, swinging their joined hands. "And then you say that Sasuke's got more pride than common sense."
"I've never said that!" she replied, offended. Naruto just stared at her, trying very hard not to snigger. "Okay... I might have thought it. A few times."
"Uh huh. 'Course, Sakura-chan. Sasuke is soo perfect."
She sniffed disdainfully, chin up. "Well, he is."
He hadn't been laughing more than three seconds when she joined him. He gave her hand a squeeze, deliriously happy; she still wasn't pulling away, and here they were, laughing together as they strolled down the street.
"This feels kind of like a date, doesn't it?"
She blushed. "That -- Naruto, we're just walking, my parents are waiting..."
"So? It's a walk date. A tiny one." He looked at her, hopeful; she seemed so unsure, he was afraid she'd say no. Maybe it was too soon for her to want to be romantic one-on-one with him...
When she finally nodded, with a put-upon sigh and laughing green eyes, he did a little dance of joy in the middle of the street.
"You're so silly," she giggled, and then he was kissing her and he wasn't sure how it had happened. She didn't shove him off; he lingered. Her lips were soft, and she smelled of flowers and pears. ...And ozone and chloroform. After an afternoon manipulating raw chakra and doing weird stuff to helpless animals, it shouldn't have been a surprise.
"Um."
They blinked together, nose to nose.
"Er. Hi?"
"... Dork."
Naruto pouted, with some difficulty. He wanted to smile more. "You're so cruel to me."
"Yes, I am an evil, cruel witch," Sakura replied lightly, tugging on his hand as she started walking again, slowly.
Naruto hummed a little song until the next crossroad. Yep, this was a date all right. A short one, but whatever. He just needed to find something to make it a bit more official. Food was probably out...
"Oh hey, look!" he exclaimed, pointing at a shop window. "That would look pretty good, don't you think so?"
Sakura gave him a weird look as he pulled her toward the shop. "You want to wear a dress?"
"Haha! No, on you, I meant."
Sakura blushed. "Don't be silly! It's cut way too low in front."
Naruto leered. "How is that a problem again?"
"Pervert." Sakura swatted at him; he rubbed his shoulder with a grin and pressed close to the glass again, looking for the price tag.
"How is it perverted to want my girlfriend to wear pretty stuff? It's not even sleazy, just a little more cleavage than you usually show." ... Bit expensive, though, especially with the state of his finances at the moment. Damn.
And Sakura hadn't hit him yet for that comment. He blinked at her, wondering if he had said something wrong. She was red and wide-eyed again, fidgeting with the hem of her tunic.
"You -- hah, it figures that you know exactly how much cleavage I usually show."
Naruto gave her the wobbliest puppy eyes he could. "Yeah, and that's 'not at all', unless it's warm enough for you to pull down your zipper a bit."
"That's -- I -- Naruto, you're a lecher."
... She was still not hitting him. And the accusation had lacked conviction. How strange. "Sakura-chan...?"
"Besides I don't have anything special to show, anyway!" she blurted out, and then looked away in embarrassment.
Naruto stepped away from the window, confused. "Uh. Sakura?"
"Come on, let's go, it's starting to rain."
"What?" he replied dumbly. Sure, the air was getting a bit cool, but it was still comfortable; the matter was that she wasn't looking at him.
"If I tell you that I like your boobs just fine, will you hit me?"
She glared at him -- or pouted maybe. "You like them just because you've got a shot at getting your hands on them. I wonder why you like me, I mean, I'm not your usual type."
Naruto stumbled after her as she dragged him down the street, bewildered. "I dunno, because I love you? And they're Sakura breasts, so they're immediately superior. I mean, Sasuke breasts would rank pretty high too, but mostly because they'd crack me up so hard."
Sakura stopped so sharply that he bumped into her. She looked like she didn't know if she should laugh or be disturbed. "What's with you and putting breasts on Sasuke? The other day already..."
"Come on, isn't that the most hilarious idea ever?"
Sakura snickered. "Oh, yes, it's up there with you as a giggling bimbo."
"Hey, that's mean! My jutsu is a ruse, that's all! Unless one of you was interested, but I think Sasuke's scared I'll smother him, so my girl shape is pretty much all yours." He waggled his eyebrows, and dodged a slap to the head with a laugh.
"You really are a total pervert."
"Yep -- ack!" Naruto brushed cold water off his ear, startled. "Hey, it's raining."
"I told you that it was five minutes ago, weren't you listening?"
"It wasn't raining then!" Naruto protested as they started to walk a little faster.
"It just wasn't raining on you!"
In the time it took them to reach the next crossroad, the rain went from a few drops here and there to a regular shower. Sakura was all but running, shoulders hunched, and Naruto couldn't help but be disgruntled. At this rate, they were going to arrive at her parents' way too soon. And on top of that, the stupid rain was ruining the mood. Too bad he didn't own an umbrella -- but there was still other stuff he could do.
"Wait, wait, Sakura-chan!" he called as he unzipped his jacket. One of the scrolls almost fell off as she watched, and he swore. He'd forgotten.
"So that's what you were carrying. They're going to fall, Naruto," she grumbled, a hand over her forehead to keep the rain from getting in her eyes. Her hair was stuck in damp tendrils to her neck, and her shirt was sleeveless. He wasn't really worried she'd catch a cold, but still, it was probably uncomfortable.
"No, no, they won't!" He stuck the scrolls deeper into the inner pockets, and then pulled his jacket over his head, stretching out his arm to give her some shelter.
She didn't move, staring at him.
"... What, do I have something on my face? Come on, you're getting all wet." He stepped toward her, moving to encompass her, and then realized fully that to be close enough to shield her from the rain, he had to be close enough that he could feel her body heat against his whole chest.
He was so busy patting himself on the back for that smooth move that it took him a few minutes to notice how badly she was blushing and avoiding looking his way. And then a few seconds longer to get why.
Note to self, buy more mesh shirts.
"So, um. Are those scrolls what you were getting for Sasuke?"
"Hm? Ah -- yeah." he grinned, and hoped that she wouldn't recognize the green one. "I hope I got everything on his list, but his writing looks like chicken tracks, and they've all got fancy kanji."
She hummed thoughtfully, still not looking his way. "He must be very busy..."
"I thought you weren't going to ask anymore?" Naruto groused, secretly amused.
"Okay, okay, sorry."
Naruto gave her an awkward hug, and then had to steer her away from a little dog on a leash when she got blinded by the folds of his jacket. "Oops!"
In the end, he decided, the rain didn't make this much less of a date, because she was laughing as she leaned against his side, tucking herself under his arm, and his jacket and the rain blocked the world around them until it was just the two of them.
"I don't really need to ask," Sakura whispered a minute later. Naruto had to rack his brain to remember what she was talking about.
"Oh, neat. Wait, you don't?"
She looked up at him, and her face was so close he was tempted to kiss her again, and to hell with their conversation. But he wanted to make sure that she knew they were doing everything in their power to help her, so he waited.
"I'm not stupid. You two don't want to tell me because you don't want to give me any false hopes, and Sasuke because I'd probably shoot it down."
Naruto was aware that his guilty silence said more than words would have, but he couldn't find a good enough lie. "Um, but if it works, why would you shoot it down?"
Sakura gave him a sidelong glance. "Well, duh! If you two found a way to do it that Tsunade-sama didn't even consider, it must be because it's utterly crazy."
Naruto winced.
"Or forbidden."
Naruto coughed and made sure to look where he was stepping with all due attention. Oh hey, they were turning into the Harunos' street now.
"...Or both."
"Oh god, Sasuke is going to kill me," Naruto whimpered.
Sakura grinned at him suddenly, startling him. "Why would he? It's his fault I guessed. He was the one asking me to trust him and wait. Why would he do that for anything else? There's nothing else he would need to hide from me but not from you, is there? Well, nothing so serious."
"You know, you're really too smart sometimes. But seriously, it's Sasuke's fault? Hah!" Naruto did a little dance, which ended up forcing Sakura to stumble after him, seeing as her head was caught in his jacket.
"Naruto!" she protested, glaring daggers at him. "I lied, it's all your fault."
"Hey, not fair!"
"Yes fair, you're so transparent."
"And you're so mean, I wonder why -- eek!"
They had been maybe three houses away from her parents'. Now they were in the narrow passage between two buildings, stumbling over each other. It was dark and damp and the bricks were rough under his palms, and one of his sleeves was covering his eye and Sakura's arms were around his waist.
Oh.
"... Hi there."
She smiled at him in the dark, and pushed the dangling sleeve away from his face gently. "Dork."
And then there was kissing, with lips brushing and breaths mingling, and her body against his, all warm and soft and welcoming, and her hands rubbing up and down his back, and yes, yes, definitely buy more mesh shirts. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, protecting her head from the wall; his other hand caressed her arm up and down as they kept giving each other soft, teasing kisses.
"You're gonna be late," he whispered as she nibbled his lower lip.
"Hokage-sama let me out early -- then we ran..." He nibbled back; she gasped and giggled softly. "I think we've got some time."
"Oh, good," he groaned before leaning against her and tightening his hold. He hadn't gotten to make out with her in -- had he ever gotten to make out with her? They'd kissed, and cuddled, and there had been some fleeting caresses...
Every time her hand ran back up his spine, he wanted to arch, and purr. He groaned instead, low, deep in his throat; she sighed, shivering as she arched into him. Her waist was so slim, one arm was enough to catch her. He curled around her, enfolding her in his arms as he nuzzled her cheek, mouthed her neck.
He caressed her hips when she started caressing the small of his back, and when she jumped at the first touch against his butt, his hands retreated quickly. He was going to die if she decided to end things there. It was only when she pressed their hips together, fingers playing with the hem of his back pocket, that he dared to touch her again. Hips, outsides of her thighs... back of her thighs... still no protest? He cupped her butt with both hands, groaning when he felt her fingers slipping under his waistband and teasing his skin, and couldn't help but grin into the kiss as he remembered how different Sasuke's ass felt.
He would certainly never grope Sakura's butt hard enough to bruise, but petting and stroking it gently were more than rewarding enough, especially when she moaned quietly against his neck and arched into him like that -- ohh, hips-to-hips friction...
And then she was giggling against his shoulder, and he couldn't help but laugh with her even if he didn't know why.
"Sakura-chan?"
"Is that --" a snicker, "Is that a scroll in your pocket..."
"Oh, that's so lame even I wouldn't say it!" Naruto retorted, chortling along with her. "Dork yourself."
"No, you're the dork."
"No, you -- mmh."
She wasn't going to distract him with tongue. He was -- what was he saying again? Oh yeah. He was a dork. Mm, French kissing. Mm, her belly against his groin... MmACK! One of the stupid scrolls had just fallen in a puddle. Swearing, he twisted to pick it up before it was drenched, and then gave Sakura an apologetic look. She was flushed, her eyes dark and her lips red, so instead of apologizing out loud, he just kissed her again.
They ended up cuddling against the wall, with him still curled around Sakura, and the rain still dripping over Naruto's jacket. He still had a hard-on, but it only made the moment better. Of course, later on, when he would leave unsatisfied, he wouldn't think the same; oh well.
"Why did we never do this before?" he mused, eyes closed in pleasure as he played with her damp hair.
There was a moment where the only noises were the rain and their breaths, and then Sakura whispered, "I didn't want things to change."
"... Eh?"
"It wasn't really voluntary..."
"Well, I hope not," he replied confused.
She sighed, burrowing in his arms. He rubbed her back, waiting for the rest of the explanation.
"I wouldn't have really tried to get out of a situation like this... But it wasn't looking for them either. It's a nice change, but in my head it probably was just one too many. So... I'm sorry, Naruto."
"... Ah. I see." Well, he hadn't really pushed things along all that much either, but then they'd been busy, and then things had fallen into a semi-comfortable routine. He would have been happy with more sex, but he hadn't died from a lack of it. Though... On second thought, it might have made Sasuke mellow enough to be tolerable. Well, damn. "So you feel really guilty and you'll make out with me lots to compensate, right?"
She glowered at him, pouting, and then she nipped his chin and snickered. "You're incorrigible."
"But you like me anyway, right?"
He was expecting a laugh, some teasing maybe; instead, she nodded and tucked her head under his chin.
They cuddled a little while longer, holding on a little tighter every time one of them shivered from a gust of damp air, or a drop of water down their shirts; but when the rain stopped, there was really no choice but to disengage.
"I'm going to be late now," Sakura whispered as she stood back, holding his hands between their bodies.
"You won't get in trouble?"
"No, Hokage-sama keeps me later sometimes. But..."
"... Yeah. So, um, you're going now?"
"No. Now, you're walking me home. Some date you are," she added, teasing. She was blushing too, so he didn't mind. Smiling -- he didn't think the smile was going to come off anytime soon -- he put his jacket back on and followed her back out of the narrow passage, and held her hand for the whole three houses' length there was left to her door.
He had a feeling her father knew what they'd just been up to, and was really glad that he had the excuse of having to come back to Sasuke's; the invitation to dinner was really nice, but it was hard to be comfortable with a man when you had just made out with his daughter all but under his window.
Warning: this scene may kill you with syrupy, sugary, fluffy cute. u_u;
(also, I have a hard time with their interaction, sometimes they feel ooc to me but i can't really TELL if they really are or if I'm paranoid; I'm flying blind here. T_T My Sakura is too different from canon.)
Once he was done with the library, Naruto strolled into the Hokage's tower, casually waving hello to the guards at the bottom of the stairs. They didn't stop him. They never did unless Tsunade had specifically requested not to be disturbed; and even then she had to add "on pain of death" to make them try with any real conviction. He guessed that being known as Tsunade's Official Likeable Annoyance had its perks.
He passed a few people in the corridors, but at this hour, everyone was working. The door to Tsunade's office was closed; he could hear voices in the other room that she used to stock medical stuff and books and scrolls.
Well, damn; that was where he needed to be. He still remembered where she had made him and Sasuke put away stuff during one of their D-rank mission, and the scroll in question was memorable; he'd used its illustrations to gross out Sasuke. Once he was in the file room, he could find the scroll quickly, provided the old hag hadn't arranged everything all over again. But if she was in the file room -- damn it. And he couldn't really come back in the middle of the night when she was gone.
He was still hesitating over the road to take when Sakura's voice rang out. "Yes? You can come in, you know."
With a guilty start, Naruto reached for the half-open door, and grinned at her as he popped his head in. "Hi, Sakura-chan!"
"Oh --"
"Sakura? Who's here?" Tsunade asked, her voice muffled by the closed door to her private file room.
"It's Naruto, Hokage-sama," Sakura called back before turning to smile back at him. She still looked kind of puzzled, though. "What are you doing here?"
... Okay, keep as close to the truth as possible... "Bah, Sasuke sent me to get him stuff because he's too lazy to move his ass, and I decided that he could wait a bit while I said hello."
Sakura wasn't really telling them much about her special training, so he gave a curious look at her workspace. She was standing in front of a low table, with squiggly markings painted on it; there was a dead, tail-less lizard belly-up right in the middle. There were other critters in jars and aquariums lined up along one of the ends of the table; Naruto stepped closer to peer at them.
"Eww, gross," he commented cheerfully. "Sakura-chan the mad scientist. So what are you doing, sticking fish fins on its tail stump?"
She rolled her eyes at him, though her attention was back on the lizard, and her hands had started glowing green again. "Shh. If you can't stay quiet--"
"--I'll boot you out," finished Tsunade as she emerged from the file room, startling him into nervous laughter. "I might even boot you out right now if you don't stop distracting her. Sakura?"
Sakura was biting her lip, frowning in concentration. "Still holding it, Hokage-sama."
"Good. Second stage now," Tsunade ordered as she dumped a pile of scrolls on her desk and turned briefly to go close the door of the file room.
Naruto was too busy staring at the scroll he wanted -- right under the new pile of scrolls! Damn it! -- to pay much attention to Sakura's second stage.
Which was why he missed the start of Sakura's sudden lunge, and why the feel of a cool, squirming body zipping up his neck and into his hair made him scream like a little girl.
Then, of course, he lost his balance because he'd been in the middle of an about-face to look at Sakura, and her desperate grab for the suddenly very alive lizard only managed to put him even more off-balance.
"... Ow."
"You're picking that up, Naruto," Tsunade informed him wearily, as he sat up against the foot of the desk and rubbed at his bruised hip. Naruto groaned, glaring at all the stuff he had managed to knock off the desk on his way down -- oh. Oh. Oh yeah.
"Wait -- are you hurt? Let me see," Sakura asked, pushing away from the table on which she had sprawled and circling it.
Hee, she was so sweet, it was just a bruise, but getting her healing hands on his body -- wait ack no! She would see what he was doing!
"Nah, nah, it's alright, Sakura-chan, I'm already all better. Really."
He grinned -- a bit nervously -- at her over the edge of the desk, and turned away to pick up the scrolls, heart speeding up. Tsunade was still watching from the other side with her hands on her hips, disgruntled; but with a little luck -- now where had the green scroll gone?
"Hurry up, you lazy brat."
"I'd be faster if your office wasn't full of other stuff! How am I supposed to know what was already on the floor or not?" he grouched back, crawling around to hunt down the scrolls.
"Well then, if the state of my office offends you so much, I'm sure you won't mind coming back tomorrow to clean it," Tsunade retorted, eyeballing him rather evilly.
Naruto wilted. "That's not fair!"
"Sure it is," Tsunade replied with a smug smile. "You mentioned it first. Now hurry up a bit."
Grumbling under his breath, he started looking around again, stuffing more scrolls in his arm as he went.
There, green scroll! He crawled closer -- guhh, please make them not notice --
"The lizard!" Sakura dove under her table to catch the -- tail-sporting, now -- reptile. Naruto thanked the deities watching over him and picked up the scroll, moving to slip it in his jacket.
There was another green scroll hiding behind a pile of paperwork. Same white and gold edges; the rope holding it closed was pale brown instead of white and he couldn't remember which was the right one. Ohfuckdamnit.
"Put them down, you're going to drop them, trying to hold so many at once," Tsunade commented as she swooped down and negligently picked up the second green scroll.
"... Aha, Uzumaki Naruto would never be so --" ... so... ick. Why did his usual automatic boasting have to fail him now, whyy?
"Clumsy?" Tsunade replied, smirking just a little bit.
Pouting, Naruto got up and went to dump his armful on the Hokage's desk. He could feel the first scroll slip down his vest and settle against his belly. Did it look weird? He couldn't glance down to check -- maybe he could touch? Be discreet -- but he'd been turned away too long. Pasting another grin on his face, he turned to face them, and prayed for it not to show.
"So, when will you be done with Sakura-chan?"
Sakura was busy stuffing the lizard in a glass jar with a grim smile on her lips; she didn't pay him much attention, apart from a quick smile at her name.
"Let me see the lizard first," Tsunade asked, reaching out to take the jar from the girl.
Naruto leaned closer, poking at the glass curiously. "Did you bring it back to life or what? I thought it was dead... Oh hey, it was missing its tail, wasn't it?"
Sakura huffed in a 'You're stupid' way, but she was also grinning, so he just grinned back.
"I was trying to combine holding a forced hibernation with regenerating a missing bit. Of course, with such a small animal, it's easier, and lizard tails naturally regenerate, so it was more of a matter of giving his body a nudge, but I think I've found the trick now. Hokage-sama?"
Tsunade peered at the lizard for a few seconds longer, then nodded. "Indeed. It's almost time for my next appointment, so I'll let you go now." She rolled her eyes. "No doubt that Naruto will make himself a nuisance and you won't accomplish anything anyway."
"Hey, I wouldn't!" Naruto protested.
Tsunade wasn't listening to him; she was still talking with Sakura. "Don't forget to practice that trick during your meditation -- three hours tonight. I'll see you tomorrow."
Naruto waved and started toward the door as Sakura bowed to Tsunade. The second he was out of sight, he had a hand up his jacket, and the green scroll safely tucked away in one of his inner pockets with the other scrolls he'd borrowed from the library. When Sakura joined him in the corridor, he was able to smile much more naturally.
"What's that trick about?"
"Oh -- you have to split your chakra and maintain perfect control over two unstable jutsus at the same time, it's complicated."
"You can't put someone to sleep and then do your second jutsu?"
"No, they're not long action -- I mean," she added as she caught his puzzled blink, "if you stop paying attention and maintaining your hold, the jutsu stops. And it's easy to make a reptile hibernate; they just wake up so easily. But it's going to be much harder to do that with mammals; they're not supposed to have their temperature change so much... I'll have to monitor that too, once I have the basic trick ingrained..."
He listened to her as she delved into the mysteries of healing techniques he had never heard of. He didn't understand the first thing about any of it, but she sounded so animated, so passionate.
"That sounds great!" he enthused. "Bet not everyone can do it."
Sakura's cheeks pinked a bit, and Naruto snickered when she couldn't hold in a proud, superior grin. He liked seeing her so confident. "Oh, probably not. The control demanded is too precise for lots of medic-nins, not to mention the general population."
"Does it need lots and lots of chakra?"
Sakura's smile dimmed. "Not a lot, no. Maybe about three to four kawarimi for now."
"Oh. But with mammals it will be harder, right?" he asked again; he wasn't sure what he'd done wrong, but he wanted to see her superior grin again.
"Well... Yes, a bit. It also depends on the size of the animal... But my chakra control is getting a lot more precise, so I'll manage."
She didn't look as happy this time, and Naruto didn't understand why it hadn't worked right away. Then it dawned, bit by bit. "I thought you were only training for quantity...?"
Sakura's shoulders slumped, and she gave him an unconvincing smile. "We train a lot for that too, but no one can train on one thing only for weeks and weeks -- well, maybe you can, Mister Simple-minded, but I need a change of pace sometimes."
Naruto squeaked in indignation. "Sakura-chan! How could you call me that?"
She blinked at him, a picture of innocence itself. "What, single-minded? You are! It's a good thing, too, being able of so much concentration and determination..."
"Simple! You said simple!" Naruto protested loudly, pointing at her. He grabbed at his heart when she chuckled, stepping away from her. "Cruel!"
"Aw, it's a good thing not to be complicated. At least you never worry yourself sick over things, it must be nice..."
Naruto stepped closer again, peering at her in concern. "Yeah, and then when I get in trouble I don't have a clue how it happened." Not that it bugged him because he always found a way to get past it. Or get over it. But it wasn't a way of thinking that would fit her anyway; after all, she had so much to lose and, most of the time, he had nowhere to go but up. "Sakura-chan..."
"Ah, don't worry, I just like to fret. I'm sure everything will turn out all right."
He reached out to touch her arm, and when she tried to smile again, he took her hand and squeezed it gently. "Hey, that's my line."
Sakura sighed, shoulders slumping a little, and squeezed his hand back. "You're nice..."
Naruto shook his head, moving in front of her, and stared at her. "No, really, everything will turn out all right. We're going to fix it."
Sakura paused, staring at him. Naruto didn't smile back, or not a lot; he didn't want her to think he was joking to make her feel better. No, he was serious, he wasn't going to let anything happen to her. Well, technically, he wasn't going to let Sasuke let anything happen to her, but that was the same thing.
"How... How can you be so sure? There's no magic shortcut to make it all better, no amazing jutsu you can master in three days to defeat the problem--"
"Hah!" he exclaimed, cutting her. Sure there was -- oops.
She stared at him, green eyes a little wide and a lot incredulous.
"... Naruto?"
"Err, yes, Sakura-chan?" he replied, grinning nervously, and winced as her eyes narrowed and she peered at him like she hadn't seen him in years.
"Is that... Naruto?" He saw her swallow, rub her hands over her thighs nervously. "Is that what Sasuke-kun is doing?"
Naruto winced. Damn it! He wasn't supposed to tell her anything about it before they were reasonably sure that it was possible! Sasuke would be so pissed if Naruto told her now -- but she needed to know, she was so worried and it was her health after all, Sasuke would understand --
She waved it off when he was still in the process of opening his mouth. "Ah -- no, never mind, pretend I didn't say anything."
"But, Sakura-chan--"
She bit her lip, whispered, "Sasuke-kun asked me to trust him. And it wouldn't be fair to you to make you talk... Just -- promise me you'll tell me as soon as you can. Alright? Promise me."
Naruto nodded, unable to look up at her. "I promise."
They stood face to face in silence, until a housewife bustled by, tsk-ing at them. Naruto jumped aside to let her past, blushing a little. "Um. So. Let's go -- is Ino waiting for you again?"
She relaxed a little as they started walking again, enough to smile more naturally. "Ah, I'm not going to Ino's today. Well, not right away... I'm going to have dinner with my parents first, and then I'll go back."
"Oh, alright... Hey, Sakura?" He ruffled his hair nervously, and looked up at the graying sky. "Why don't you move back in with your parents? I thought you were getting tired of bugging Ino's family..."
"Heh. No, it's alright; I'd like to live with you two better, is all."
"But you're not angry at your parents anymore, right? So..."
"Well, no, but if I came back, they'd want it to be for good, and then it would be a miniature drama all over again when I move out. At least like this I can wean us all slowly, do you see?"
Naruto scratched his head quizzically. "Not really, no. If you liked living with them, and they're not forbidding you to ever come back..."
"Oh, Naruto..."
Okay, what had he done to prompt that sympathetic look and sudden handholding? He was a bit confused. He squeezed back, anyway, interlacing their fingers, laughing a little at his own clumsiness.
"It's just that... I left. I'm an adult now. I'm not their little girl anymore. I'm still their daughter, and I know I'll always be welcome, but... I just don't want to come back with my tail between my legs."
Naruto grinned, swinging their joined hands. "And then you say that Sasuke's got more pride than common sense."
"I've never said that!" she replied, offended. Naruto just stared at her, trying very hard not to snigger. "Okay... I might have thought it. A few times."
"Uh huh. 'Course, Sakura-chan. Sasuke is soo perfect."
She sniffed disdainfully, chin up. "Well, he is."
He hadn't been laughing more than three seconds when she joined him. He gave her hand a squeeze, deliriously happy; she still wasn't pulling away, and here they were, laughing together as they strolled down the street.
"This feels kind of like a date, doesn't it?"
She blushed. "That -- Naruto, we're just walking, my parents are waiting..."
"So? It's a walk date. A tiny one." He looked at her, hopeful; she seemed so unsure, he was afraid she'd say no. Maybe it was too soon for her to want to be romantic one-on-one with him...
When she finally nodded, with a put-upon sigh and laughing green eyes, he did a little dance of joy in the middle of the street.
"You're so silly," she giggled, and then he was kissing her and he wasn't sure how it had happened. She didn't shove him off; he lingered. Her lips were soft, and she smelled of flowers and pears. ...And ozone and chloroform. After an afternoon manipulating raw chakra and doing weird stuff to helpless animals, it shouldn't have been a surprise.
"Um."
They blinked together, nose to nose.
"Er. Hi?"
"... Dork."
Naruto pouted, with some difficulty. He wanted to smile more. "You're so cruel to me."
"Yes, I am an evil, cruel witch," Sakura replied lightly, tugging on his hand as she started walking again, slowly.
Naruto hummed a little song until the next crossroad. Yep, this was a date all right. A short one, but whatever. He just needed to find something to make it a bit more official. Food was probably out...
"Oh hey, look!" he exclaimed, pointing at a shop window. "That would look pretty good, don't you think so?"
Sakura gave him a weird look as he pulled her toward the shop. "You want to wear a dress?"
"Haha! No, on you, I meant."
Sakura blushed. "Don't be silly! It's cut way too low in front."
Naruto leered. "How is that a problem again?"
"Pervert." Sakura swatted at him; he rubbed his shoulder with a grin and pressed close to the glass again, looking for the price tag.
"How is it perverted to want my girlfriend to wear pretty stuff? It's not even sleazy, just a little more cleavage than you usually show." ... Bit expensive, though, especially with the state of his finances at the moment. Damn.
And Sakura hadn't hit him yet for that comment. He blinked at her, wondering if he had said something wrong. She was red and wide-eyed again, fidgeting with the hem of her tunic.
"You -- hah, it figures that you know exactly how much cleavage I usually show."
Naruto gave her the wobbliest puppy eyes he could. "Yeah, and that's 'not at all', unless it's warm enough for you to pull down your zipper a bit."
"That's -- I -- Naruto, you're a lecher."
... She was still not hitting him. And the accusation had lacked conviction. How strange. "Sakura-chan...?"
"Besides I don't have anything special to show, anyway!" she blurted out, and then looked away in embarrassment.
Naruto stepped away from the window, confused. "Uh. Sakura?"
"Come on, let's go, it's starting to rain."
"What?" he replied dumbly. Sure, the air was getting a bit cool, but it was still comfortable; the matter was that she wasn't looking at him.
"If I tell you that I like your boobs just fine, will you hit me?"
She glared at him -- or pouted maybe. "You like them just because you've got a shot at getting your hands on them. I wonder why you like me, I mean, I'm not your usual type."
Naruto stumbled after her as she dragged him down the street, bewildered. "I dunno, because I love you? And they're Sakura breasts, so they're immediately superior. I mean, Sasuke breasts would rank pretty high too, but mostly because they'd crack me up so hard."
Sakura stopped so sharply that he bumped into her. She looked like she didn't know if she should laugh or be disturbed. "What's with you and putting breasts on Sasuke? The other day already..."
"Come on, isn't that the most hilarious idea ever?"
Sakura snickered. "Oh, yes, it's up there with you as a giggling bimbo."
"Hey, that's mean! My jutsu is a ruse, that's all! Unless one of you was interested, but I think Sasuke's scared I'll smother him, so my girl shape is pretty much all yours." He waggled his eyebrows, and dodged a slap to the head with a laugh.
"You really are a total pervert."
"Yep -- ack!" Naruto brushed cold water off his ear, startled. "Hey, it's raining."
"I told you that it was five minutes ago, weren't you listening?"
"It wasn't raining then!" Naruto protested as they started to walk a little faster.
"It just wasn't raining on you!"
In the time it took them to reach the next crossroad, the rain went from a few drops here and there to a regular shower. Sakura was all but running, shoulders hunched, and Naruto couldn't help but be disgruntled. At this rate, they were going to arrive at her parents' way too soon. And on top of that, the stupid rain was ruining the mood. Too bad he didn't own an umbrella -- but there was still other stuff he could do.
"Wait, wait, Sakura-chan!" he called as he unzipped his jacket. One of the scrolls almost fell off as she watched, and he swore. He'd forgotten.
"So that's what you were carrying. They're going to fall, Naruto," she grumbled, a hand over her forehead to keep the rain from getting in her eyes. Her hair was stuck in damp tendrils to her neck, and her shirt was sleeveless. He wasn't really worried she'd catch a cold, but still, it was probably uncomfortable.
"No, no, they won't!" He stuck the scrolls deeper into the inner pockets, and then pulled his jacket over his head, stretching out his arm to give her some shelter.
She didn't move, staring at him.
"... What, do I have something on my face? Come on, you're getting all wet." He stepped toward her, moving to encompass her, and then realized fully that to be close enough to shield her from the rain, he had to be close enough that he could feel her body heat against his whole chest.
He was so busy patting himself on the back for that smooth move that it took him a few minutes to notice how badly she was blushing and avoiding looking his way. And then a few seconds longer to get why.
Note to self, buy more mesh shirts.
"So, um. Are those scrolls what you were getting for Sasuke?"
"Hm? Ah -- yeah." he grinned, and hoped that she wouldn't recognize the green one. "I hope I got everything on his list, but his writing looks like chicken tracks, and they've all got fancy kanji."
She hummed thoughtfully, still not looking his way. "He must be very busy..."
"I thought you weren't going to ask anymore?" Naruto groused, secretly amused.
"Okay, okay, sorry."
Naruto gave her an awkward hug, and then had to steer her away from a little dog on a leash when she got blinded by the folds of his jacket. "Oops!"
In the end, he decided, the rain didn't make this much less of a date, because she was laughing as she leaned against his side, tucking herself under his arm, and his jacket and the rain blocked the world around them until it was just the two of them.
"I don't really need to ask," Sakura whispered a minute later. Naruto had to rack his brain to remember what she was talking about.
"Oh, neat. Wait, you don't?"
She looked up at him, and her face was so close he was tempted to kiss her again, and to hell with their conversation. But he wanted to make sure that she knew they were doing everything in their power to help her, so he waited.
"I'm not stupid. You two don't want to tell me because you don't want to give me any false hopes, and Sasuke because I'd probably shoot it down."
Naruto was aware that his guilty silence said more than words would have, but he couldn't find a good enough lie. "Um, but if it works, why would you shoot it down?"
Sakura gave him a sidelong glance. "Well, duh! If you two found a way to do it that Tsunade-sama didn't even consider, it must be because it's utterly crazy."
Naruto winced.
"Or forbidden."
Naruto coughed and made sure to look where he was stepping with all due attention. Oh hey, they were turning into the Harunos' street now.
"...Or both."
"Oh god, Sasuke is going to kill me," Naruto whimpered.
Sakura grinned at him suddenly, startling him. "Why would he? It's his fault I guessed. He was the one asking me to trust him and wait. Why would he do that for anything else? There's nothing else he would need to hide from me but not from you, is there? Well, nothing so serious."
"You know, you're really too smart sometimes. But seriously, it's Sasuke's fault? Hah!" Naruto did a little dance, which ended up forcing Sakura to stumble after him, seeing as her head was caught in his jacket.
"Naruto!" she protested, glaring daggers at him. "I lied, it's all your fault."
"Hey, not fair!"
"Yes fair, you're so transparent."
"And you're so mean, I wonder why -- eek!"
They had been maybe three houses away from her parents'. Now they were in the narrow passage between two buildings, stumbling over each other. It was dark and damp and the bricks were rough under his palms, and one of his sleeves was covering his eye and Sakura's arms were around his waist.
Oh.
"... Hi there."
She smiled at him in the dark, and pushed the dangling sleeve away from his face gently. "Dork."
And then there was kissing, with lips brushing and breaths mingling, and her body against his, all warm and soft and welcoming, and her hands rubbing up and down his back, and yes, yes, definitely buy more mesh shirts. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, protecting her head from the wall; his other hand caressed her arm up and down as they kept giving each other soft, teasing kisses.
"You're gonna be late," he whispered as she nibbled his lower lip.
"Hokage-sama let me out early -- then we ran..." He nibbled back; she gasped and giggled softly. "I think we've got some time."
"Oh, good," he groaned before leaning against her and tightening his hold. He hadn't gotten to make out with her in -- had he ever gotten to make out with her? They'd kissed, and cuddled, and there had been some fleeting caresses...
Every time her hand ran back up his spine, he wanted to arch, and purr. He groaned instead, low, deep in his throat; she sighed, shivering as she arched into him. Her waist was so slim, one arm was enough to catch her. He curled around her, enfolding her in his arms as he nuzzled her cheek, mouthed her neck.
He caressed her hips when she started caressing the small of his back, and when she jumped at the first touch against his butt, his hands retreated quickly. He was going to die if she decided to end things there. It was only when she pressed their hips together, fingers playing with the hem of his back pocket, that he dared to touch her again. Hips, outsides of her thighs... back of her thighs... still no protest? He cupped her butt with both hands, groaning when he felt her fingers slipping under his waistband and teasing his skin, and couldn't help but grin into the kiss as he remembered how different Sasuke's ass felt.
He would certainly never grope Sakura's butt hard enough to bruise, but petting and stroking it gently were more than rewarding enough, especially when she moaned quietly against his neck and arched into him like that -- ohh, hips-to-hips friction...
And then she was giggling against his shoulder, and he couldn't help but laugh with her even if he didn't know why.
"Sakura-chan?"
"Is that --" a snicker, "Is that a scroll in your pocket..."
"Oh, that's so lame even I wouldn't say it!" Naruto retorted, chortling along with her. "Dork yourself."
"No, you're the dork."
"No, you -- mmh."
She wasn't going to distract him with tongue. He was -- what was he saying again? Oh yeah. He was a dork. Mm, French kissing. Mm, her belly against his groin... MmACK! One of the stupid scrolls had just fallen in a puddle. Swearing, he twisted to pick it up before it was drenched, and then gave Sakura an apologetic look. She was flushed, her eyes dark and her lips red, so instead of apologizing out loud, he just kissed her again.
They ended up cuddling against the wall, with him still curled around Sakura, and the rain still dripping over Naruto's jacket. He still had a hard-on, but it only made the moment better. Of course, later on, when he would leave unsatisfied, he wouldn't think the same; oh well.
"Why did we never do this before?" he mused, eyes closed in pleasure as he played with her damp hair.
There was a moment where the only noises were the rain and their breaths, and then Sakura whispered, "I didn't want things to change."
"... Eh?"
"It wasn't really voluntary..."
"Well, I hope not," he replied confused.
She sighed, burrowing in his arms. He rubbed her back, waiting for the rest of the explanation.
"I wouldn't have really tried to get out of a situation like this... But it wasn't looking for them either. It's a nice change, but in my head it probably was just one too many. So... I'm sorry, Naruto."
"... Ah. I see." Well, he hadn't really pushed things along all that much either, but then they'd been busy, and then things had fallen into a semi-comfortable routine. He would have been happy with more sex, but he hadn't died from a lack of it. Though... On second thought, it might have made Sasuke mellow enough to be tolerable. Well, damn. "So you feel really guilty and you'll make out with me lots to compensate, right?"
She glowered at him, pouting, and then she nipped his chin and snickered. "You're incorrigible."
"But you like me anyway, right?"
He was expecting a laugh, some teasing maybe; instead, she nodded and tucked her head under his chin.
They cuddled a little while longer, holding on a little tighter every time one of them shivered from a gust of damp air, or a drop of water down their shirts; but when the rain stopped, there was really no choice but to disengage.
"I'm going to be late now," Sakura whispered as she stood back, holding his hands between their bodies.
"You won't get in trouble?"
"No, Hokage-sama keeps me later sometimes. But..."
"... Yeah. So, um, you're going now?"
"No. Now, you're walking me home. Some date you are," she added, teasing. She was blushing too, so he didn't mind. Smiling -- he didn't think the smile was going to come off anytime soon -- he put his jacket back on and followed her back out of the narrow passage, and held her hand for the whole three houses' length there was left to her door.
He had a feeling her father knew what they'd just been up to, and was really glad that he had the excuse of having to come back to Sasuke's; the invitation to dinner was really nice, but it was hard to be comfortable with a man when you had just made out with his daughter all but under his window.
no subject
no subject
Aw, Sakura was just overwhelmed. Poor girl. XD
mm, mesh-wearing naruto.Mesh
no subject
no subject
no subject
...so awesome.
no subject
♥
no subject
I love Chocolate Chip... but man...
You really need to try Iced Oatmeal Cookies...
ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY'RE STALE!! Nummy Nummy Nummy!
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
♥♥♥
no subject
I love your dialogue. It's just so easy and flowing and I could totally imagine them saying it in my head.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
^____^ thanks! glad you liked it. it wasn't easy to write so fluffy XD
no subject
no subject
no subject
...Ahem. Minus that insanity, beautifully woven together, and so very interesting. =D I love that you don't belittle Sakura's intelligence, as many attempt to do... Or forget she has.
no subject
Thank you very much. *^___^*
no subject
And having Sakura figure Naruto out was great - although I'd have thought she'd be more worried about them trying "something crazy or forbidden or both." Then again, maybe she's gotten used to Naruto's miracles-on-demand...
no subject
I figure she doesn't really want to think about it because they might be just deluding themselves and she doesn't want to start hoping that they'll save her if in the end it doesn't work. They're not med-nins, after all. She's mostly humoring Naruto, though she'll worry about it later too.
... or something. Sakura's voice wasn't very strong in my head when i was writing. u__u;;;
no subject
mmm, Naruto in mesh... rrrDid snag a possible typo:
He caressed her hips when she started caressing the small of his back, and when she jumped at the first touch against his butt, his hands retreated quickly.
Should that be her butt?
no subject
♥ I'm glad you like it. ^^
mesh is hawt, yes.no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Also. This new jutsu they're working on is maing me nervous. XD I hope they know what they're doing!
And I don't think any of this was very OOC in my definition of them. It seemed to flow very well.
no subject
... I... hope they know, too. ._.;;;;;
♥ ♥ ♥
no subject
I feel sorry for poor Sasuke now he didn't get such cozy romantic rain cuddling ^__^
Maybe Sakura's dad had seen them coming and then they disappeared. Or maybe he has that dad-radar activated at all times. XD
no subject
Sakura's dad is magic. u.u
no subject
I physically/mentally can't read AND enjoy NaruSaku anything. It is impossible for me. It just doesn't get a response from my brain- YET! You make it work so wonderfully that I find myself "sqee-ing" as I read it, and thinking; even if the pairing ever became canon it would not be as great.
*Is jealous XD*
no subject
I don't like narusaku usually either, so i'm definitely glad it works here. thank you! ^____^;
no subject
wonder if sasuke would be a little jealous or not! (and if he "knows" that something happened between his two lovers when naruto come back home to deliver the scrols...)
really sweet written!!!
no subject
He might get a little grumpy over it, but he also knows that they need more signs of affection than he does, so he'd pretend he doesn't care.
Thank you ^__^
Great work.
I love it, it's one of the best stories I have read.
Re: Great work.
Glad you like it ^__^
no subject
mmmmmmmmm behold the power of Mesh.
Naruto wanting to buy Sakura a dress, and then being... a little worried by the lack of hitting when he makes boob comments is just adorable. They're so cute!
They should try force-cuddling with Sasuke. Each grab and arm and leg, press close, and every time he squirms to get away, they tighten the hold and maybe bite the nearest shoulder until he stops.
Then Naruto and Sakura can get their snuggling quota filled with Sasuke getting his almost 'bullied-into-it' quota. ^^;
or something.
Haruno-papa is the best! He KNOWS. All fathers KNOW. ^_^
no subject
ahaha! bullied-into-it quota! That's so Sasuke. I think I should find a way to sneak this comment in, if you don't mind. XD
Haruno-papa is MAGIC. Also remembers being seventeen, oh yes. XD
no subject
AH, I love the Harunos. Will you be having more with them again, do you think? You've made them such wonderful characters!
no subject
Hm, they'll pop up in the background, but outside of Sakura chapters I'm not sure they'll have actual scenes. I really don't know how that will go yet. ^^;
no subject
no subject
I don't generally read yaoi, but for the last 14 hours, I've completely glued my face to the laptop screen to read every single bit of the Teamwork chronicles you've wrote. And squee everytime I see NaruSaku. x3
I'm surprised that you're French~ I'm envious, really, because I use to learn French and now I've completely forgotten my two-years work of bookwork. Je ne parle Francais? xD;
Sorry, I'm rambling. ^^;