This story is a continuation of my story "Truth or Dare Under the Mistletoe" found here .net/u/1602487/Dragonangelx003 by popular request.
I don't own Naruto and if I did I don't know how I would afford to feed him.
New Year Resolutions
Chapter 1
One week later…
It had snowed a few more inches that morning, giving the streets of Konoha a peaceful, sleepy atmosphere. The road was free of pedestrians aside from the odd shopkeeper sweeping off their stoop. The sky above was pale grey and still. The trees breathed lightly as a pair of crows chased each other overhead.
Naruto for one, thought it too quiet.
He missed the laughter of the academy kids playing in the streets, the chimes of store doors, the chatter of the crowd, or even a snide remark from an old shinobi still wary of the kyuubi container. Now, with everyone huddling indoors with their loved ones by a fire or at the very least a space heater, the only sound was the crunch of the snow beneath his feet and the cackle of the crows above.
It wasn't much better in his apartment. The television gave background noise, but nothing was on to catch his interest. He could go pester Sakura, but she was working with Tsunade until late. Kakashi had vanished a few days ago which probably meant an ANBU mission. Sasuke…was the reason he was trying to escape his own thoughts.
"Hello, Naruto."
Naruto jumped as Sai's voice broke the utter silence. Between his charka suppression and overtly subtle demeanor, Sai could probably even sneak up on Kakashi if he wanted to.
Holding his pounding heart, Naruto turned towards his fellow shinobi. "You scared the hell out of me! What are you doing out here on a day like this?"
"Reading." He said holding up a brown bag.
Naruto rolled his eyes. "More etiquette books?"
"Not this time, I saw some other books that caught my interest." He reached in the paper bag and pulled out two books. One was pale green book with the words 'Party Games' on the cover. "It would be prudent to be better prepared for the next time I play."
Naruto grimaced at the thought of Sai planning ahead of time for any party game. He caught a glimpse of an orange cover on the other book. "Is that what I think it is?" Sai pulled the orange book out of the bag more revealing a crossed circle on the back cover. "What on Earth are you doing with Icha Icha Tactics?"
"They had it on paperback sale, and Kakashi reads it so often I thought it might be a good read?" He said innocently. "Why?"
Naruto considered warning Sai that Ero-Sennin's books were porn in written form, but he thought again and decided that there were some things Sai should learn on his own. "No reason, I just figured you would just borrow Sensei's copy."
"What about you Naruto? What are you doing out today?"
'Trying to get my mind off things.' "Just getting a bite to eat." He partially lied.
"So am I. Would you let me treat you to some ramen? You're going to Ichiraku right?"
Naruto laughed. "Where else would I go?"
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The nurse at the front desk didn't even make Kakashi fill in the paperwork when he staggered through the double doors of the hospital. She just pressed the button to open the ER door and paged a nurse to show him a bed.
He found his usual cot by memory more so than sight. He wasn't in the worst condition he'd ever been in, but he had lost about a pint of blood and he was pretty sure he had a concussion. He felt dizzy as he crawled up the bed and lay down on the pillow face first. Somewhere in the background he heard the overhead speakers say, "Haruno to the ER, code seven. Haruno to the ER, code seven."
Behind his mask he smiled. That was the code to let Sakura know he was here. If she was available he preferred her to treat him. Not because she was the best looking Kunochi in the place, or that she didn't try and look at his face if he was under anesthesia, or because she was the Hokage's protégé, but because she was trustworthy and she had treated him more in the last decade than any other. She knew which scars were old, which were new, where most of them came from.
That and it was nice not to have to recount his medical history every time he got injured. Which was a lot.
He didn't raise his head when he heard the curtains be pulled back. Instead of a greeting he heard a sharp intake of breath. "Kakashi! What happened to your back?!"
That bad eh? He was in pain but if Sakura was surprised then it was probably worse than he thought. Best not to worry her. "Well I met this lovely young lady at the bar and she was a bit more aggressive in bed then I would have liked."
He heard her let out a sigh. "You must have gotten a blow to the head too, thinking attractive women would want to sleep with you." She said in a mocking tone.
"Ouch…My pride."
She opened the drawer near the bed and pulled out a pair of blunt tip scissors. "We can fix your pride later. Right now let's have a look at you. Can you sit up?"
Kakashi rolled on his side and propped himself up on an elbow before managing to upright himself.
"Can you lift your arms a little bit?" She instructed as she managed to unbuckle his chest plate and shoulder pads to his ANBU uniform before discarding them to the side. "Don't move, this shirt is done for anyway." Said Sakura as she cut the shirt at the seams and peeled it away from Kakashi's back. "Really, Sensei. What happened?"
"I had to take care of a rogue Kunochi from the land of waves who had a similar Jutsu to Kiba, only instead of dogs, hers were tigers. Somehow she managed to sneak up on me and…well you see what happened."
Sakura wet a rag and tried to wipe away some of the dried blood. "You took care of her I assume. Oop, hold still."
"OW!"
Sakura reached over Kakashi's shoulder and held out a sharp, thumb sized claw in front of his face. "She seems to have left you a parting gift." She said putting the rag away and positioning herself in front of Kakashi again, removing his hitai-ate and putting it on the end table. "Follow my finger… what day is it?"
"Thursday."
"What's your favorite food?"
"Not tempura."
"Who's going to be the next Hokage?"
"Me."
Sakura rolled her eyes while she pulled out a penlight and shined it in his eyes. "Don't let Naruto hear you say that."
He chuckled. "If he was two years older, my answer would be different. You know that."
Sakura nodded. If anything happened to Tsunade after Naruto turned 21, then he would be a strong candidate. However, Sakura wondered if Kakashi really knew that Tsunade had considered the Copy-nin a replacement should anything happen to her, but she wasn't allowed to disclose that unless needed.
"Do you remember Christmas Eve?"
The expression in his mismatched eyes changed immediately. Although unfocused they turned and locked with hers. She instantly regretted the question. While she was mostly referring to the humorous moment between Sasuke and Naruto under the mistletoe she knew he was thinking of their steamy few moments in the closet. As the memories flooded back to her she hoped he was too bleary eyed to notice her blush.
"I remember a few things."
She changed the subject. "Well I don't think you have a concussion, but your back needs some serious healing. Lie on your stomach again."
He held her gaze for another second before turning and lying back down. Was he just flirting with Sakura? When they were in the closet together they were inebriated and just following the dare…weren't they? He admitted she was an accomplished Kunochi, a beautiful woman, intelligent, strong, and-oh that feels nice.
Sakura's charka charged touch was mending the angry gashes that ran up and down his back. The sensation was mildly itchy where the skin stitched back together, but it was quickly replaced with a cool tingle. She started at the base of his back and worked her way up to his shoulders, taking time on each injury to make sure that it wouldn't scar.
"While you're at it," He asked groggily. "How 'bout a back massage?"
He didn't hear Sakura say anything. He imagined that she was rolling her eyes, chalking up his talk as a typical pervert. Kakashi was genuinely surprised when the charka tingle turned warm and she began to work the muscles in his neck. Untangling deep, year old knots.
When he let out a soft moan, Sakura held her breath. She was relatively sure that he was kidding when he asked for the back rub, but she figured 'why not', she couldn't remember Kakashi Sensei ever mentioning getting pampered like this. She had treated him before, sometimes in his apartment when he was too stubborn to come into the hospital, but this time was different.
Instead of healing his wounds like it was her job, she enjoyed the touch of his skin as she worked the toned muscle, the way he looked at her with his mismatched eyes while she checked for a concussion, or the way he moaned under her administrations.
When she reached the small of his back she stopped her charka flow and traced her fingers up his spine and leaned up to whisper in his ear. "Kakashi."
No response. "Kakashi?" She pushed his silver bangs away from his eyes to find him completely unconscious.
She sighed. Maybe she was a little too good at what she did.
Pushing the curtain aside she waved a nurse over. "Make sure he gets 500cc of O negative, 500mg of Amoxicillin, and 10mg of oxycodone. Keep him until tomorrow morning for observation and check with me in four hours."
"Yes, Miss Haruno."
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"So in the game of Kings the last person to get the King card drinks the cup with three beers in it?" Sai nodded. "Which card was it that you get to make up a rule with?"
"Jack."
"I like it. We'll have to play it next time." Naruto said before resuming his inhalation of ramen.
"So you get to kiss Sasuke again?" Sai asked indifferently.
To say that Naruto choked on his ramen would be an extreme understatement. "Wha…*cough cough cough….gasp cough* …what!?"
Sai sipped his tea. "When we first set you up to kiss Sasuke, Sakura wanted to make the both of you think it was her which explains why you leaned in so eagerly. You were both heavily inebriated so I'm relatively sure you didn't notice who you were kissing at first. By the time the kiss ended, however, it would be unlikely that you hadn't realized it by then. When you took off the blindfolds the look in your eyes was more of a confirmation of suspicion than a surprise. In addition to that, for the rest of the night you had as little eye contact as possible and maintained your distance. Would it be presumptuous to say that you haven't seen Sasuke since?"
Naruto nodded slowly.
"You seem like the sort of person to laugh it off if you felt nothing or cringe and rinse your mouth out immediately if you hated it. The fact that you are avoiding contact with him projects embarrassment and shame. Shame you wouldn't feel if the emotions you felt for that kiss were more socially acceptable."
Naruto could feel his ears get hot with embarrassment. He was now thankful that there were no other patrons at Ichiraku to overhear this conversation, because thanks to those goddamned books and Sai's logic, he was completely right.
Taking a very deep breath he asked, "Can you keep a secret Sai?"
"ROOT would have killed me by now if I couldn't." He said with a weak smile.
"I'm not gay, at least not with the whole male species, no offense."
"None taken."
"Sasuke is different. Ever since academy we were rivals and even enemies. When we were assigned in the same team the rivalry made the two of us stronger by competing with each other. In missions we defended one another and on one mission we encountered a shinobi named Haku and I thought he had died. It was then I realized that he and the rest of the team were the first family I've ever known. The first people I've felt so strongly for. If you would defend someone with your life that's love, right?"
"According to the books, yes."
"But then when he left Konoha for Snake-Face, it infuriated me but most of all I felt such intense loss. Like he had died." He ran a frustrated hand through his spiky hair. "But I had the power to bring him back from death and I promised Sakura I would do so.
"When he came back on his own it felt like a void in me was filled. The original team was complete again. Again no offense…And…to me that all sounds a lot like love."
"That sounds accurate to me." Said Sai, unwavered by Naruto pouring his heart out.
"What happened on Christmas Eve, at the party added physical attraction on top of the emotional and I…I'm not quite sure how to approach the situation." He paused for a long moment. "Or Sasuke."
"It sounds to me like you are unsure how to start the conversation and are fearful of his reaction. You think you might loose him all over again, if not physically, but emotionally as well."
"Dude, which book did you get all this insight from and can I borrow it?"
Sai smiled "Its volume 8 and yes you can borrow it. Come by my place tomorrow and I'll give it to you. As far as your current situation I think you should talk to him. If you don't it will only make things worse and perhaps even ruin the cooperative integrity of the team."
Leave it to Sai to put it in work terms. Naruto took another deep breath happy to get all this off his chest to SOMEONE. "Thank you Sai, I think I'll find him tomorrow and have a talk."
"You are welcome Naruto. Anyway, it is getting late and I've got some reading to do." He said putting some cash down on the ramen bar. "Good luck with your discussion."
"Take it easy Sai, and thanks again."
"Anytime." He said before pushing the curtain back and departing.
Naruto returned to his cooling bowl of ramen before he heard the crunch of snow behind him again. "Did you forget something Sa-"
He froze when he realized that none other than Sasuke Uchiha was standing behind him.
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More to come! Tell me what you think and what you want to happen and I'll see where my muse takes me. It was because of your reviews that I decided to continue "Truth or Dare Under the Mistletoe" in the first place, so REVIEW PEOPLE!
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