~ Chapter Three – Encounter ~


It annoyed him. Sure, he had ignored this girl's affections whenever she gave them in the past. He complained over and over about how annoying she was every time she squeaked his name in delight. He had abandoned her when he left the village in search for vengeance. He had tried to kill her, too. But he didn't expect her seemingly undying devotion to die like that. He abandoned Naruto and tried to kill him as well, and he didn't push him aside like she did. It didn't seem like she did it on purpose. She spoke to him normally, for the most part, and she liked spending time with him, he could tell. Not alone, though. In instances when they were left alone, she would act as if she was nervous. He thought she might be afraid of him. Those moments were rare though, Naruto was always there with her. It was almost as if he was his bodyguard, as if for some reason he had to protect her from him. They moved in unison, too. If he moved, she moved. She was always by his side. It annoyed him that thoughts of fear could be what made her so distant from him, he wasn't going to harm her. She said she understood when they spoke before. He felt utterly confused.

"Can we go get some ramen? I'm hungry, and with the diet you've got me on lately, ramen is all I can think about," she suggested cheerfully. She looked beautiful today, he thought, extraordinarily casual in an oversized shirt and shorts. She looked her best this way, to him.

"I'm hungry too," chuckled Naruto. "You two wait here, I'll bring three big bowls! You want some too right, Sasuke?"

"Sure," he shrugged. He looked at his female friend, she looked very uncomfortable as Naruto took his leave. "Sakura, would you tell me why you get so weird when we're alone?" He asked directly, no point in delaying his curiosity further.

"I – I just don't know what to say," she said. The way she played with a little piece of paper she found on the floor showed him she felt very awkward. There was junk everywhere on this apartment, Naruto sure was messy, he observed.

"Are you scared of me?" He noticed she blushed at this question. She took a minute to think, he assumed, before answering.

"No. It's just difficult to interact with you, I guess. Like I don't know you. I get like this around new people, too. It's like you're one of them. It's easy when Naruto's here to do the talking, but otherwise I don't even know where to start." She folded and unfolded the piece of paper over and over in different ways.

"Hn." It was uncomfortable. He recalled their time as Team 7, this girl was always all over him, expressing her love and admiration, sharing any silly and boring thing that came to her mind with him. That same girl who wouldn't shut up with him now didn't know what to say. Normally he liked silence, but silence from her wasn't something he was used to. "Well," he broke the silence, "I don't want to be in this uncomfortable silence for 20 minutes." He figured, because of what she said, that maybe they should start to know each other again. "What's your favorite color?" he sighed.

Sakura stared at him with a bewildered expression. She then burst out laughing, hard, for a long time. She was hugging her stomach and drying tears form the corners of her eyes when she calmed down. "Really?!"

"So annoying."

She laughed more. "Red," she answered finally, still going at it.

"Tsk."


When Naruto returned with the ramen, he was pleasantly surprised to find Sasuke and Sakura talking a little and laughing. That was a first, he thought, maybe now they could really become friends again. He smiled his huge toothy grin, he'd missed this sight. After filling their bellies with delicious food, and chatting way into the hours of the night, Sakura fad fallen asleep and the two boys were discussing a more serious topic.

"I think I'll be back within a month or two. I won't go too far the first time," Sasuke was telling his good friend.

"First time?"

"Yeah, I'll probably be going back and forth my whole life, really. I enjoy seeing the world, and now that I found clarity, I'll probably enjoy it more."

"You better come back, baka, and often," he warned his friend jokingly, "or I'll drag your ass back in here again myself!"

Sasuke smirked at that. "I'll be heading out in a week."

"Oh, that's fast," Naruto said cheerlessly, "Did you tell her? She's going to be upset."

"She knows. You'll be here with her, she won't be," Sasuke pointed out nonchalantly. Naruto didn't get it.

"I'm sleepy. I think it's time I get some sleep. I'll be helping Kakai-sensei tomorrow with Hokage stuff. He's finally official!" He cheered, and then yawned.

"Interesting." Sasuke yawned too, and stoop up to leave. "I guess I'll walk her home," he walked towards the sofa she was sleeping on to wake her.

"No, let her sleep. She hates being woken up. She almost knocked me out once," he warned his friend. "She's slept in that couch quite a bit already anyway, she falls asleep often after work." Truly, he just knew that Sakura wouldn't want to go home either way, she always slept wherever he was.

Sasuke looked at him weirdly, but didn't say anything.

"Okay then. See you later, Dobe," he yawned again, exiting the apartment.

"Thanks for being here today!" Naruto smiled as he closed the door behind the boy. He was so happy to have spent that time with his two best friends, and to see them finally look like friends again.

He looked at Sakura on the sofa. He considered moving her to the bed, but his previous experience with that told him not to. Instead, he covered her with her favorite blanket, and went to bed.


The heat woke her up. Why on earth was it so hot?! She opened her eyes as she threw the blanket off of herself. Looking around the room, she saw the culprit to the heat. Naruto had forgotten to open the windows, the idiot. She hastily got up and made her way to the windows next to Naruto's bed to open them. While she did so, she noticed Naruto moving a lot, and he was murmuring something over and over. She leaned in closer to listen, but she couldn't understand. He was having a nightmare, she thought. He helped her this whole time with her nightmares, she hadn't once thought he might be having some too. She shook him awake, suddenly desperate to help him escape the possible torture. He woke with a start.

"Sakura…"

"Hey, it's okay, I'm here," she soothed him while caressing his face, "I'm here for you."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him in a hug, making her fall on his body, and held her tight. She didn't know what the nightmare was about, but she didn't care, she just wanted to help him forget. She hugged him back tightly, resting her head on his chest, listening to his heart, beating hard, gradually slow down. His hold on her softened a little, and she knew he felt better.

"You okay?" she asked, raising her head up to look at his face. She felt blood rush to her face as she realized how close to his face hers was.

He nodded, "yeah…"

She was going to ask, but she could tell he wouldn't want to talk about it. She noticed their positioning, and shifted to the side, feeling a little embarrassed laying between his legs.

"Sakura-chan?" he called, looking down at her. He had been unconsciously brushing his hand through her hair. He stopped that.

"Yeah?" She lifted her head from his chest again, their faces now somehow closer. She didn't look away this time, she was enthralled in the way his eyes looked at her in that moment.

"Thank you," he smiled sweetly. Half of her was still laying on his body, her heart was racing almost as fast as Naruto's was after the nightmare. She felt nervous too, but she found her body wanting something she never thought she would. He placed a hand tenderly on her face. She couldn't take it anymore. His stare, his smell, their position, the tone of his voice…

"Kiss me," she pleaded unexpectedly.

Naruto was just as shocked as she herself was. But she wanted it, so badly right now.

"What?"

"Fuck. Just kiss me."

Their lips met, soft and sweetly at first. Once, twice. They parted and looked at each other once more. They could both tell they wanted more. They kissed again, this time with need, with hunger. Naruto's tongue tasted her bottom lip and she followed his lead, parting her lips to allow him access into her mouth. Their tongues danced together, clumsily, messy, making Sakura feel shivers that ran all the way down her spine, causing her to moan softly. The sound came unexpectedly to Naruto, it was so nice, he wanted to hear it more. He stopped kissing her for just a moment to adjust their positioning, he made her go back where she lay at first, between his legs. It was more comfortable for both. Sakura was enveloped in his warmth, his taste, his scent. She loved the feeling of his arms holding her tightly more now than ever before. His hands tugging at her hair gently gave her unimaginable shivers and tingles, she was completely lost in him. She held onto the hair on the nape of his neck as the shivers made her moan a second time. She was everywhere in his mind, he couldn't believe this was real. He had found himself in a dream, the best dream he'd ever had. It felt so real. Her lips felt so good against his, her tongue tasted so sweet. Her slight curves felt so familiar yet so new, he tried to take in as much of this dream he was in as he could, memorizing her contours, on her face, her sides, her back, her hair. Everything he could touch without disrespecting. He wanted all of her. He never wanted to wake up. Fortunately for him, there was nothing to wake up to, this was very much real.

When they finally paused, they smiled at each other. Neither of them knew what had come over them, or if this would be something that would lead them in a new path, but they didn't care. They savored the moment they had while they could, before any negative thoughts could distract their minds from each other. After a while of this, having noting to say, they drifted to sleep in each other's arms.


Thank you for reading! Next update coming up very soon...