Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I whore the characters for free.
Note: Once again thanks to my awesome beta, CardcaptorEternity, who took the time to beta even though she's starting college and is consequently very busy! You rocks, Eternity-chou!
Warnings: CROSSDRESSING. There, in bolds. So if you don't turn back now and flame me later for that, I'll just laugh at you.
(Wo)man of my life !
"Give me that glass dobe, I don't want you drunk and embarrassing the hell out of me in front of my colleagues!"
Naruto let his best friend pry the drink away from his greedy fingers, but he glared all the same.
"Teme…" He growled "I need to be drunk to bear with all those stuck up asses." He let his gaze sweep contemptuously over the assembly of pompous gits he was locked with. Sabaku Corps, the company for which Sasuke worked or rather, slaved over, was holding a charity party. That meant that for one evening, the overly ambitious were locked with the overly wealthy… and the results were not pretty.
"I can't understand how you manage to do this on a regular basis." He added, referring to his best friend's social life. Despite his brooding, 'lone soldier' aura, Sasuke was one hell of a party animal.
"It doesn't matter." The Uchiha heir linked his arm with Naruto's and gave a fake smile and a nod to a passing couple. "You agreed to this, there's no weaseling out of it now. You say you never go back on your word, eh?"
"I agreed only because you told me there would be hot chicks!" He whispered back angrily.
The reception they were attending was the kind to which you HAVE to bring someone, preferably of a higher or similar social status. However, since Sasuke's current fuck buddy was an unknown artist with even worse manners than Naruto, the Uchiha heir had to resort to his best friend, who had the advantage of good looks, wealth and old name.
Naruto privately agreed that it was a wise move; Sai had very good looks too, but they were disturbingly similar to Sasuke's. The blond thought that said a lot about his best friend's narcissist tendencies.
The dark haired man gave an elegant shrug. "What are you complaining about? This place is loaded with beautiful women."
Naruto snorted, showing his meagre interest for the females present. True, they were all pretty, in that blond, fake and glittery way. But they were also Heir Hunters, using their cleavage as a weapon to ensnare any husband-to-be, and having been raised with some, he had seen enough of them in a lifetime.
Then there were also the stern business women, who did not care so much for a husband because they were married to their job anyway. But the only thing remotely glittery about them was the gleam of their very long and sharp teeth or the sparkle of ambition in their eyes. Naruto found them a bit frightening.
It didn't mean that Naruto disliked ambition within a woman. It was quite the contrary actually, but he valued it more when born from passion for the job and not the power it could bring, and when it left place for a certain independence of mind, like for Sakura-chan…
Oh, how it hurt to think of Sakura-chan…
He shook himself out of his thoughts just in time to realize that Sasuke had successfully steered him toward a bunch of flabby faced three-piece suits.
He had the time to swear colorfully to himself before entering the Lands of Boredom.
OOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOO
Nearly two hours after that, Naruto had managed to escape Sasuke's clutches and was gleefully well on his way to get thoroughly shit faced.
He watched with disinterest and through a thickening alcohol-induced fog as the clumps of penguins and leeches performed their social dances. He snorted at the image. Penguins and leeches, heh. Might be worth disrupting Sasuke of his intense ass-kissing session to share the joke.
But while mindlessly searching for the place where duck-butt was stuck, his eyes were stopped by a patch of white.
There, amidst the crowd, was a woman.
THE woman.
The white that had caught his gaze came from the smooth, pale skin of her back that her lacy black dress left exposed. Naruto felt his mouth go dry while he tried to follow the graceful line of her spine up to her long neck. She had short and messy hair of the most brilliant shade of red, and with all those business men in dark suits around her she looked like a rose lost in the middle of a black tulips field.
He eyed her hungrily, trying to take in all the elements of her appearance: her elegant silhouette, the one of an athletic woman but with angles tempered down by a short black dress with a red sash that accentuated her slim waist; her long, pale legs, striking with the discreet muscles they held. He studied her stature while she talked animatedly to the men around her: straight yet supple, reserved yet confident, vivacious yet defensive. He could not see her face, just the soft curve of her jaw, but he was sure it held as many wonders as her perfect body.
The Heavens seemed to be listening to his drunken prayers, because the woman (probably peeved by the unblinking stare drilling a hole through her back) finally turned around and looked at him.
She was beautiful. His mind had the time to visualize the short, straight nose and small mouth before it was drowned into mesmerizing ice blue eyes. They were enchanting, not by their color (blue like the purest winter sky) or their brilliance (like diamonds of light deposited by the sun on the sea) or their shape (almond like…crap, he was running out of metaphors).
She was looking at him. Not merely glancing his way or worse, giving him the once over, but looking, really looking in his eyes. And there was something within her eyes, some expression that was calling him. It was the eyes of someone who had seen the worst life had to offer, and yet lived to tell the tale. The eyes of someone who was so used to fighting, it was ingrained in her. The eyes of someone who, despite being the center of a crowd focused on her, was alone.
Just like he was.
For a moment, he did not move or breathe, genuinely shocked to the core by her. But then, she finally turned her gaze away, and walked toward the buffet.
Still mesmerized, he floated toward her (or rather, drunkenly waddled in her direction), until he was at arms' length of his angel.
He needed to talk to her, to make her understand that he was the one for her, and she was the one for him.
"Maerry me!" he blurted.
The angel watched him from above the rim of her glass of Moët & Chandon. "Pardon?" she asked.
Naruto frowned. Damn, he needed to be more persuasive. He had to put the emphasis on how she had conquered her heart by a mere look, and how he'd cherish her forever if only she would allow him to love her.
"I luuuv you…maerry meee!" he drunkenly slurred.
The red head angel's eyes widened slightly before narrowing dangerously.
"You're completely wasted, stupid." She growled. She put her glass back on the table and turned as if to go away.
"No!" Naruto gasped. He couldn't let the woman of his life disappear just like that! He put his hand on her shoulder, ready to plead his case once more. He felt her back tense, and suddenly…
… he was flying?
The crash, when he landed on the buffet table that immediately collapsed under the assault, reverberated loudly in the reception hall and painfully through Naruto's back. Dazzled and soaked with champagne he looked up just in time to see a red Giambattista Valli stiletto heel descend on him.
The heel pressed on his throat, hard enough to prevent air to pass but not as to crush away any chance of breathing normally again.
His eyes followed the graceful ankle up to the hint of a milky thigh, and when the black dress covered the rest of those sinful legs, he attached his stare up to his angel's sneering face.
"Try to manhandle me one more time, punk, and I'll crush you!"
Naruto felt two happy tears slide out of his eyes. She was perfect.
She huffed, and abruptly turned away. In the movement, her black skirt rose and from his position, the blonde had the time to clearly see the whole of her legs –and garters that lead to two pale orbs, barely covered with intricate black lace.
One thought had the time to pass through his alcohol –and now, lust- fogged brain, before an ice sculpture decided it was not balanced enough and fell, knocking him out in the process.
She was no angel.
She was a Goddess.
TBC
Well, I know that I said that I won't be updated anything apart from 'Inner Obstacle' and there it is... what can I way? I'm a big fat liar. Oh and this is a rather short story: 3-4 chapters long, not more.
Next update… soon!