Author's note: so this chapter is longish and probably a drawn out… so fair warning… errm… I was having a rather difficult time bringing myself to the end moment, but I finally got there…. Hopefully I have caught the momentum of the story. [Did a little editing 3-3-2018 so I am hoping this is a little more fluent]
Chapter two:
Too Many Thoughts
Sarada's mind seemed to drown in the idea of Naruto Uzumaki even taking a moment out of his day to speak with her. Sarada spent weeks and weeks thinking of a reason to go to him for advice, guidance, or any reason outside needing a mission. She paced in her room. She could not help but think of the way he relaxed in front her. She sighed and sat on her bed. As she closed her eyes and bit her lip- the sight of the Hokage stretched out next to her filled her mind. Her senses tingled with his presence. She could remember the smell of his cloak, and the warmth of his body.
She groaned impatiently at herself. What on earth was she going to do about these feelings. No one in the village would understand. She could never go to her mom with advice… She tapped her fingers impatiently on her lap and let out another sigh and stood up. She found herself acting so silly over something that she felt was not worth the fuss. Everything seems normal enough… Girls get infatuation with teachers, and their sensei's all the time… How could this be any different. Sarada stood up and adjusted her glasses. Everything was normal as could be. It had been a solid two months since she had been alone with Naruto, and everything was fine.
Sarada left her home and went to meet Konahomaru down at their usual meeting place. As she stepped lightly on her feet she looked towards the living quarters that many Shinobi's and students used when they had no homes to live in. She wondered if Naruto was there now, and if he was… might he be alone… or was he having a moment out of the office with Shikamaru. Sarada turned her eyes to the road before her, and she tried not to think about the way Naruto licked his lip when attempting to get his wife to kiss him goodbye.
Another week went by and Sarada still found herself longing to be in the presence of the Hokage, and to smell his cloak once again. She stood outside the Hokage's building and looked in thought. She was thinking how silly she was acting. Her mom had sent her to deliver a scroll for the medical corp. Sarada wanted to deliver it, but now she felt doubt that she could do it without making a fool of herself. Sarada finally pecked up the nerve and entered the building. For late afternoon it seemed kind of quiet inside. She always expected everyone to be rushing around trying to get last minute things done before they left for the day. She knew the Seventh was always busy and often resorted to sending shadow clones home in his absence. That she knew because Boruto complained all too often that his old man was a bad father. Sarada could understand maybe the frustration, but at least Boruto had a Father in the village. Who knows where her father is and if he is okay.
Stopping at the famous office door of the Hokage's, Sarada told herself to keep it together. No blushing… By now people had to have noticed… especially Hokage himself. Sarada lifted her hand to knock, but right as she did the door opened and she almost knocked on Shikamaru's face.
"So Sorry…" She quickly lowered her hand and smiled nervously at the Shadow ninja.
"Oh. We were not expecting to see you." Shikamaru glanced over at Naruto, who was standing with his forehead pressed against the window and eyes staring widely at the view of the leaf village.
"It is a scroll from my mom. It should only take a moment of the Hokage's time." Sarada didn't look to long at Naruto, but rather focused on Shikamaru.
"Mom's can be troublesome and wait till the last minute to do things." Shikamaru nodded and jabbed his thumb in the air toward Naruto. "He's just about done for the day. Don't keep him too long. I have promised to meet Ino and Choji for our weekly barbeque."
"Yeah… Okay…" Sarada nodded and let Shikamaru pass by. Sarada walked in the office and heard the click of the door closing and assumed that was Shikamaru closing the door.
"Sir." She politely stood at the desk trying not to overthink what he could possibly be doing with his head against the window pane. "My mom wanted me to leave you this scroll. She said it's not urgent, but she didn't want to put it off and forget all about it…. Uhm… yeah." She felt uneasy.
"Sarada" Naruto removed his forehead from the window pane and turned his back from her. "yes. Okay."
"Uhm…" she found herself without words.
"Is that all?" he turned to her with a crooked smile.
"I… well…" Sarada was fighting for words. She didn't want to leave, but she couldn't think of any reason to say… well any appropriate reason to stay.
Naruto bowed his head.
"I understand." He walked to his chair and sat down. "It seems I misjudged you."
"What?" Sarada looked lost.
"Well you see… I thought for sure by now you might have needed the guidance of a male adult in your life. I thought you would really take me up on the offer of confiding in me about internal struggles you might be having involving Sasuke... your dad." Naruto gave her a serious look. Sarada did not know what to say, because once again she found herself lost in his bright blue eyes, and she could feel her cheeks get warm.
"It isn't that at all…" Sarada began but lost her words. How could she have lost her words. She has always seemed to know what to say, and when to say it.
"Strong like Sakura." Naruto smiled at her and leaned in his chair a little.
"I do wish to be alone with you… I mean… well… that is… I want to talk to you about stuff… It's just I don't know how, or when, or what to do." She hoped Naruto wouldn't have heard the first part of that.
"Sarada," Naruto stood up. "Whenever you need me, all you have to do is let me know."
need me… did he really just say.. need me….
"Uhm.."
"tell you what. I will keep your missions clear for this week. Tomorrow meet me where I showed you at this time. I do have to be getting home though so I hope you don't mind. Lady Hinata promised pork ramen if I made it home on time. " Naruto grinned.
Ramen… yes… For ramen he would do anything…. The word itself made him smile. Sarada nodded waved bye to him.
"Ramen…" she said leaving the office.
.:Next Day:.
The next day seemed to drag on and on. Sarada found anxiousness again edging up from her stomach. She felt like she really could be sick. 2pm came along, and once again she found herself arguing with Boruto. She really wondered if her mom was right in saying Boruto is just like his dad. I mean really… how true can that be, especially when Boruto likes hamburgers and cannot stand Ramen. Sarada raised her fist to Boruto's head and brought it down with so much force that Boruto fell to the ground groaning.
"You really don't learn a thing, do you?" She ran off and found herself standing by the Yamanaka Flower shop. She peered in and saw Ino and Sai. Sai was poking a big brightly colored flower and had a look of thought on his face. She stared to see what was going on.
"This should do." Sai smiled respectfully at Ino and bowed his head.
"Oh Sai. Another painting challenge for Inojin?" she lifted his chin with her hand and smiled. "Hasn't Inojin proven worth to you thus far?"
"Ino you misunderstand. This is not what it seems. This will determine who cleans up tonight, and you, my sweet flower, shall be the judge!" Sai made a smile and closed his eyes delighted in the thought of Inojin and himself not fighting about talents anymore.
"You really would do that." She planted a kiss on his forehead.
Sarada glanced away at some of the flowers on a shelf nearby. She felt a little twinge of pain in her heart. She thought about what kinds of things her and her dad could have done together around the house. Would she be more willing to help her mom if her dad was around to make it fun? Would both her and her dad ignore her mom's pleas to clean the dishes… or shake out the rugs. Oh, how she hated shaking out rugs. Sarada picked up a little flower pot that had a small orange flower barely starting to bloom. She smiled. Something about that flower seemed to stand out in her mind.
"Oh Sarada!" Ino smiled and waved.
"Hm... " Sarada looked away from the flower to look at Ino.
"Looking for something in particular?" Ino spoked to Sarada as she turned to the flowers she had just brought into the shop. They needed a little grooming to prepare them to be placed in vases.
"Well, no. I was just looking. I actually have to go." Sarada waved to Ino, and Ino waved back with a cheerful "Goodbye and come back anytime."
Sarada walked passed a market shop on her way to her rendezvous. She had thought about her dad some more. She wondered if he was the kind of dad that would be a workaholic, or the kind of dad that would put value in the time he spends with his family. She had the idea that her dad was to himself, not because anyone mistreated him or anything… but because it was his personal choice. He had a lot of things in his life he was determined to achieve, and he wasn't going to let anything distract him from his goal.
"Sarada!" a pleasant, and welcoming voice snuck up behind her. She was walking up the steps to the meeting place, and Naruto had been at her foot. "Perfect timing, yes?"
"Perfect, of course," Sarada smiled. She reached the door at turned to look at Naruto.
"I would say from the look on your face… you've been thinking about something." Naruto opened the door and let Sarada enter first. He quickly shut the door and tapped the door hastily to lock it.
"I actually was..." Sarada noted the door was locked now. She wasn't sure why it needed to be locked if no one else knew about it except Shikamaru… and if all they were doing was talking… Sarada awkwardly stood waiting for Naruto to tell her it was okay to sit down. Rather than telling her to sit down, he instead swooped into the small kitchen area and started looking for something to snack on. Sarada looked around with discomfort in her stomach.
"So…" Naruto spoke to her. "What is on your mind Sarada?"
Sarada did not say anything, but instead walked to the kitchen area and watched Naruto poke his head in the cabinets above the counter. She could hear his hands pushing things around looking for something. She wondered how she would begin to explain herself to him. It wasn't that she was a shy or nervous person, but the man in the room just feet away from her was the leader of the Hidden Leaf village. He is a man that's many years older than herself; this paired with the fact he is married and has a family. She groaned in her mind and made a face of discomfort. She was at the point now that she couldn't even bare to be around him without her mind going insane with desire, and lustful thoughts.
"Oh", Naruto groaned in disappointment. He shut the cabinet door. He had intended on making some instant noodles, but there were none left. He started to walk to the living area but as he stepped to the walk way he stopped suddenly. He saw Sarada's face and smiled.
"It's okay." He placed a hand on her shoulder. "If you are not ready."
Sarada's mind snapped back into focus and realized his hand was on her shoulder, and his bright eyes were looking into hers. She reached her hand up across her chest and placed it on Naruto's hand. She smiled at him. Naruto's smile turned into a foxy smirk.
"I get it. It's not easy to express." Naruto of course was speaking of her daddy issues, and yet Sarada was far from thinking of that problem. Her fingers wrapped around Naruto's fingers and she stepped closer to him. Naruto's smirk stayed, but he could feel something different in the moment. He could feel nervousness edging in, and a little bit of curiosity.
"Sarada?" Naruto whispered. Sarada's eye's stayed fixed on his, and she made the final step to bring the both of them close enough that she could almost feel his body against her. She had no idea what he was going to do, but she had to do something. She took his hand from her shoulder and brought his fingers to her lips and lightly kissed his knuckles. Her eyes lowered to look at his skin. She was panicking on the inside. This moment could end horrifically.
