Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 2

"Shush, child, I've got you, I've got you," Iruka murmured into golden hair, footsteps thumping as he ran towards the bathroom, the quivering body in his arms sobbing uncontrollably. " You're safe now."

"T-They s-said that I-I h-had it coming," Naruto gasped into his neck, smelling of sweat and fear and semen, "H-H-He said that I d-deserved it."

"Those boys were drunk and despicable, Naruto," Iruka said as he slammed the bathroom door open, "They will never get to you again, the Hokage promises you that, I promise you that."

The Hokage should have known better, Iruka screamed inside his head, should have known Naruto was coming of age, should have known that boys would start to get attracted to him, should have fucking known!

Another anguished sob wracked Naruto's small frame and Iruka tried to keep his own tears at bay, trembling hands patting Naruto's soiled shirt, "It's okay, I've got you child, it's okay, shhh."

"I don't w-wanna b-be a monster n-no more, Iruka sensei."

Iruka closed his eyes, "You were never a monster, Naruto."

He knew better than to remove Naruto's clothes. He turned the shower knob and let freezing water pour down on them in a futile effort to wash the despicable stink and sorrow away. Then, fully clothed, he sat down on the bathroom floor, under the shower with a broken boy in his arms and cried.

The streets of Konoha were empty except for the occasional civilian scurrying back to their house, bag clutched tightly to their bosoms. The clock had struck midnight three hours ago and even the flares of the night lamps had begun to dim. Far off, the off-key singing of drunkards could be heard.

Five such drunkards stumbled out of a door, laughter and light pouring out after them, illuminating the dark, lonely back alley for a few seconds—big dumpsters, dreary, grey walls and a single, black cat. The door swung shut and they were once again left to the silence of the night.

"Naruto, no!" Kiba lunged forward to catch his friend but Naruto managed to give him the slip just in time. He took off and began dancing a strange form of ballet under the yellow light of a street lamp.

"I told you so," Sakura said in exasperation as she stumbled, trying to support a semi-conscious Ino, "I told you not to give him more than one."

"Forgive me for not knowing such ridiculous lightweights still exist in this world," Kiba grumbled before he rubbed a hand over his face, "Fuck, I should have drank more."

"Hear, hear," Sakura said crossly, hauling Ino forward with all her might, "I don't feel drunk at all. So much for getting shitfaced. Fucking Ino."

The rest of their teammates were away on missions and Ino had claimed, quite forcibly, that since it was only the five of them, it was an opportune moment to 'let go' and 'get shitfaced.' She had been unusually aggressive when trying to convince them and no one, not even Naruto, had been able to resist her clawed Grip of Death.

"It's Ino, Sakura," Shikamaru replied tiredly, Ino's support on the other side, barely managing to right them again as they went careening towards the left, "What the fuck did you expect?"

"She's being more extreme than usual, isn't she?"

"It's Choji."

As if the name was a trigger word, Ino's head, previously rolling around like it was possessed, looked up straight at Kiba, spooking him a little. Her makeup was a mess and her eyes looked like they had been doused with water.

"I'm sorry," Ino croaked, tightening her arms around Shikamaru and Sakura, making them wince, "I r-refuse to belive in a univerrrrse where Choji…fucking Choji…manages to get a date before me!"

"Aaaah," Kiba said in great understanding, nodding his head, "So that's what it's about."

"It was today," Sakura added grimly.

"There's more," Shikamaru muttered.

"And…and…and," Ino looked up at the sky, expression sour with disbelief and intoxication, "it was with a carrrrrrier!"

"What?" Kiba choked and whipped around to stare at his friends, "But…but…but," Kiba seemed to be experiencing the same incredulity Ino was going through, "but how? He's…fat."

"I'd like you to say that in front of him. And for God's sake, somebody catch Naruto."

"Aren't you being a little shallow?" Sakura glared.

"You know what I mean!" Kiba burst out, "A date…with a carrier-" his voice was wistful and filled with longing, "is something us mortals can only dream about."

"Choji's living the dream, then."

"How the hell," Kiba asked in amazement, "did Choji, of all people, manage to nab a carrier?"

"I don't know!" Ino shrieked suddenly before her head lolled again.

"Ugghh. Men," Sakura muttered, ignoring the very female Ino, "Isn't it just typical of guys to judge people based solely on their looks? Newsflash Kiba, Choji's one of the sweetest and nicest guys around and his date rightly values that. Unlike you."

"Bull. Looks matter, even if you don't want to admit it. Carriers are beautiful. They can have anybody they want. Are you honestly telling me that you don't think twice before accepting a date from a faa…I mean an un-appealing person?" Kiba rebuked.

Sakura shrugged, "If he's nice, sure why not? He'd definitely be a better date than you."

Kiba reddened and opened his mouth to retort back when Shikamaru interrupted, voice wry, "Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Sakura and Kiba turned to him with puzzled expressions, "Huh?"

Shikamaru sighed before he lifted his free hand and pointed, "That guy over there is also a carrier, you know."

All three heads (including Ino) turned on queue to look in the aforementioned direction. They found Naruto, cheeks flushed with intoxication, hugging a pole, talking to it as if it was a distressed lover- 'You have nothing to worry about! Dango can never compete with my love for you, Ramen-chan. We will be together forever and always." Here, he put his lips on the pole and gave it a loud, wet smooch.

Ino made a sound which would have been a snort if it didn't sound more like a cat gurgling and sagged against Sakura and Shikamaru, lifeless once again.

"What, Naruto?" Kiba said dismissively, not even sparing his friend another glance, "C'mon, people, Naruto's one of the guys. Nobody looks at him that way."

"You would be surprised," Sakura said quietly.

Kiba gaped at Sakura for a few seconds, "Seriously?" He wrinkled his nose, "Naruto? Who the hell?"

"It's none of your business," Sakura mimed zipping her mouth and throwing away the key, even though her eyes sparkled with mischief and excitement.

"That's bullshit. Anything happening in Konoha is everybody's business."

"I ain' telling."

"C'mon!"

"Nope."

"You're such a hypocrite, Sakura!"

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"What do you think?"

"Kiba-"

"You're so nosy you give Ino and Shikamaru's mom competition-"

Shikamaru snorted.

"-and what was that bullshit about personality over looks? Excuse you. If I remember correctly, wasn't it you and Ino who used to sneak into the training grounds to watch Neji train so you could, and I quote, 'admire his delicious biceps'? Don't act like you're so much better than me because you are not," Kiba finished, chest heaving.

In the uncomfortable silence that followed, Kiba fidgeted uneasily while Shikamaru looked up at sky, Ino snuffling at his shoulder. Sakura's cheeks had turned red with embarrassment and rage.

"This is why," Sakura began icily, glaring daggers at Kiba, "you can't get a date Inuzuka, let alone a date with a carrier."

"Hey-" Whatever Kiba was about to say was drowned out by a sudden scream, making them all jump.

They turned around to see Naruto on the ground on all his fours, staring at them beseechingly, "I paid them extra money to get it for me but just before I could enter the Land of Noodles, it disappeared! Guys, help, this is an emergency!"

Overhead, one of the windows opened and a gruff, angry voice called out, "Will you shut it! People are trying to sleep here!"

"Sorry, sorry," Kiba called out hurriedly, "Please don't call the police, my mom will kill me, Naruto, c'mon-'

"Oh no," Sakura broke in, voice sickly sweet, "Naruto is such a handful when he's drunk, we don't want to inconvenience you, now do we Shikamaru?" Before Shikamaru could reply, Sakura had already hauled Ino away and thrown her at a horrified Kiba with all her superior strength, "Please take her home. Oh, also, don't forget to explain to her really overprotective father why she's so drunk, okay? Be careful about what you say, he gets dangerous when he's mad!"

"Toodles!" Waving at a still stricken Kiba who had his hands full of zombie Ino draped over him like a carpet, Sakura walked forward, lifted a squealing Naruto into her arms and began striding in the opposite direction, "Shikamaru, you're coming to help me, aren't you?"

Flashing an apologetic glance at Kiba, Shikamaru turned and began following his mistress, "Aye, aye, captain."

Ino giggled as she drooled over Kiba's shoulder, poking him in the cheek, "Looks like it's just you and me, eh?"

Kiba closed his eyes, trying very hard not to cry.

"That will teach him."

Shikamaru nodded his head thoughtfully, "Indeed."

"Hold him, would you?" Sakura said, hoisting a sleeping Naruto onto Shikamaru, "He's surprisingly light."

Shikamaru received the burden with an 'oof' before correcting his grip and lifting Naruto onto his back, "You were doing just fine before."

"I'm not a man," Sakura sniffed, "It's unladylike."

"You are very troublesome."

"Got a problem?"

"No, ma'am."

Naruto's place, to put it bluntly, was a complete pigsty. The apartment seemed to have been struck by a hurricane—clothes, scrolls and weapons scattered everywhere, furniture, whatever little there was, was covered with a thin layer of dust. Spiders were nesting happily in their cobwebs in practically every corner and the strong smell of salt and noodle broth in the air made Sakura wrinkle her nose.

"Does he practice the Rasengan here or something?" Sakura said grumpily as she hopped over a pile of empty ramen bowls, "I have half a mind to smack him awake and make him clean this shit up."

Shikamaru glanced around lazily, observing the sorry state of affairs, "He doesn't spend a lot of time here, does he?"

"Naruto is Naruto," Sakura answered in way of explanation, grunting as she wrestled her way through the cloth piles lying everywhere, "He doesn't like to be alone."

She began picking up the shuriken and kunai lying all across the floor, a disgruntled expression on her face, "Geez, he could hurt himself with these! This baka needs a full time nanny to look after him, I swear to God."

"Right you are, mom," Shikamaru said under his breath, turning to walk towards the bed. It was an awkward thing, Naruto's small bed, covered as it was with a blindingly orange bed sheet. Its hygiene was questionable and though it left a lot to be desired, the sheets appeared to be clean. Shikamaru decided that it would do as he pulled Naruto off his back and gently deposited him on the bed.

Naruto stirred, sensing familiar grounds, and rolled over to the side, spreading out like a starfish, "My…face…" His eyes opened slightly, expression that of a drugged cat, hands coming up to pat his cheeks and forehead. When he had confirmed that yes, he did have a face, his eyes closed, hands curling around his neck, brain switching off once again.

Shikamaru snorted and rolled his eyes. Only Naruto.

"I'm off, then," He told Sakura, walking towards the window, "See you on Friday. Report to the gates on time, we have a lot of distance to cover."

He had one foot dangling in the air when Sakura called out to him, voice hesitant, "Shikamaru?"

Shikamaru turned to her, "Yeah?"

Sakura was staring at him, eyes curious, "Can I…Can I ask you a question?"

Shikamaru sighed internally. He knew what was coming. One of those blasted heart to heart talks. He'd had countless experience with Ino and Temari, mostly Ino, both consensual and non-consensual. His instincts were telling him that Sakura would not appreciate it if he told her that all he wanted right now was his bed and to hold her fucking question for another day. So he merely nodded, jumped up to sit on the window sill and said,

"Shoot."

Sakura was fiddling with the edge of her tunic, a strange gesture from a woman so stunningly confident all the time and Shikamaru accurately guessed that this was a sensitive topic, meaning extra time. Mentally kissing sleep good bye, Shikamaru sighed and rubbed his eyebrows, "You'll have to ask the question for me to answer it, Sakura. I can't read minds."

"It's just…it's just," Sakura bit her lip, "Don't…don't take this the wrong way but…but you're attracted to Naruto, aren't you?"

Shikamaru started, eyes widening slightly. Okay, he hadn't expected that, "What makes you say that?"

Sakura flushed and scratched her cheek in embarrassment, sharp, green eyes trained on him all the while, "Call it women's intuition or whatever but…I can tell when a man's looking at somebody in interest or appreciation. I'm not a genius like you or Neji but I'm also not as dense as Ino or Kiba. I'm pretty smart. Sometimes, I notice things others don't."

Shikamaru gazed back at her in surprise. He had underestimated Sakura. Making a mental note to never make such a mistake again, Shikamaru sighed and leaned back, smiling slightly, "You're right."

"I am?" Sakura didn't know what do with the information, now that she had it.

Shikamaru shrugged carelessly, "It's nature's imperative, Sakura. You do know how hard it is for men to resist carriers right? I'm not a god."

"Yeah, but…" Sakura trailed off, eyes on Naruto, expression skeptical, "Naruto…?"

Manipulative bitch, Shikamaru thought before he said, "Don't try to test me, Sakura. You know perfectly well how attractive men find Naruto. He just hides it very, very well."

Sakura turned to him and now she was smiling, "Which is it? Power of observation or looking underneath the underneath?"

"A bit of both," Shikamaru shrugged again, "Naruto's nearly perfected his 'masculine' cover but if you're looking, you can't miss it."

"He tries to copy Kiba," Sakura laughed, eyes twinkling, "Have you noticed? Half of it is his own innate obnoxiousness and the other half, he imitates. Kiba and Jraiya mostly."

'Blondes," Shikamaru said quietly but this time, Sakura caught it.

"Don't let Temari hear you say that," Sakura smirked.

No matter how cool or unaffected Shikamaru Nara behaved, it was an indisputable fact, enjoyed by his friends with exaggerated glee, that whenever Shikamaru was threatened with the name of his girlfriend, he turned a little pale, "Please don't tell her."

"I won't," Sakura was still smiling, eyes looking at the sleeping form of Naruto, "Just out of curiosity…"

"What now?" Shikamaru grumbled, thinking longingly of his bed.

"Is the Kazekage a good man?"

Shikamaru looked at Sakura, "You're being strange today." And unpredictable. Troublesome.

"I have a lot of things on my mind."

Shikamaru sighed for probably the zillionth time that day, "I don't know what you're up to and I don't want to. Just remember to keep me out of it."

"Don't be such a bore, Shika."

"Gaara is more than a good man," Shikamaru said quietly, climbing out of the window, "Gaara is a great man, probably the noblest guy I know. Kind of like Naruto without all the…"Shikamaru's eye twitched, "…orange."

"That's good to hear," Sakura's eyes shimmered with some strange emotion and Shikamaru's narrowed in speculation.

"Speaking of noble, you've done this talk with all the others too, then?"

"What others?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Oh," Shikamaru said, "You don't know."

"What others, Nara?" Sakura nearly snarled, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"You and I are not the only ones who notice things, Sakura," Shikamaru smirked as he dropped out of sight, "Ja ne."

The sun hit him squarely in the face and Naruto scrunched his eyes, blinking rapidly as he opened them slowly. The wind whistled through his hair, caressing his face; the distant, faraway sound of wind chimes still ringing in his head.

What was I dreaming about?

He stared up at the dust motes floating around the ceiling, dazed. His gaudy, dark brown curtains rustled as the wind picked up outside. Somebody had left the window open and he could hear the noises from the market, not too far away from his apartment building, buzzing with activity.

It felt...so different.

Slowly, mind still hazy with sleep, he put his arms in the air, letting the sun rays peaking through the curtains light up his hands. He turned them around lazily, observing, eyes narrowed in concentration. They were small hands, slender and long-fingered, completely at odds with his big, blunt personality. He had never liked them, never liked the way they felt, soft and blemish free, refusing to let the evidence of his hard work, the sweat of his labor show up on his body, the calluses and scars he yearned for, the sign of a true ninja, still absent as ever. He felt frustrated and angry, embarrassed even, by their weak appearance, hands that belonged to a perfumer rather than a ninja...

But...but...

In his dream, somebody had been holding them. Not the way Sakura-chan held them, firm and reassuring, delivering a squeeze of comfort whenever needed or the way Kiba did, crushing and challenging, provoking him to another battle. It didn't match Iruka-sensei's warm, paternal hold either, nor did it match the grip of an enemy, cruel and painful, invoking fear and adrenaline. It had felt so...gentle and...intimate...

Naruto frowned and began trying to arrange his hands in the way he remembered from the echo of his dream. After a minute of frustrated confusion, the fingers of his left hand fell into the gaps of his right by accident, interlinking seamlessly and Naruto was suddenly assaulted by a rush of memories—

—the window is banging against the wall, loud and jarring and he shouts in frustration, "will somebody get that damned thing already!" Two guards rush forward and snap it close but you aren't paying attention because you are too busy wrestling the clothes away from the wire. The wind is howling fiercely but you can't stop laughing, the wind making your hair fly everywhere, slapping you in the face.

"Come inside before it hits!" He yells from the porch.

"Coming!" You yell. The clouds thunders once, twice before the skies open and soon your laughter turns into a shriek as you are drenched to your skin. You hurriedly throw whatever clothes you can salvage into the basket and make a run for shelter.

You can't help it. You began to laugh again as shivers rack up your spine and your clothes drip water all over the wooden floor. Pushing a hand through your hair, now matted to your head in clumps, you chuckle, "The Gods don't like me, do they?"

He throws a cloth at your head, "I can't blame them," He begins to rub your hair, expression severe, but hands extremely gentle, "You are as foolish as they come."

You frown at him, "And what does that make you?"

He smiles a slow, sheepish smile, "Even stupider." He admits finally.

You hold in your own smile and turn around haughtily, "Well, then-"

He catches you by the wrist and drags you back to him. You pretend to struggle, screeching in outrage and laughter. You throw out a hand to push back against his chest but he catches it, interlinking it with his own and bringing it to his lips, planting a rough kiss on your knuckles, "Stupidly in love with you."

Your heart stops beating and you stare at him, speechless. He stares back.

The wind howls louder, rattling the doors, water hitting the roof like a celebration. Somewhere in the maid's cottage, a baby is crying.

You can hear the wind chimes pealing.

Naruto jerked upright, eyes wide, face as red as a tomato.

"Oh god," He muttered into his hand, "Oh my god."

He'd been dreaming about him. Gaara.

Unable to deal with this, face still burning, Naruto splayed out his hands and gathered all the sheets around himself. Huddling deeper into his cocoon, he stared at the wall in mortification.

"Are you a pervert?" He mumbled to himself, "Are you so desperate that you're dreaming about a man you've never properly met? Never again, I swear. I'll never go drinking again. Never again..."

He trailed of, eyes focusing on his hands, trying to remember the feel of a hand interlinked with his. A big hand, a workman's hand, calluses catching against his own soft skin, entwined with his so intimately, a hold reserved for lovers—

"Stop it!" Naruto shook his head violently, gripping it in embarrassment, "Stop it, stupid brain. Ughhh!"

Muttering to himself, Naruto stumbled off the bed, the sheets dragging behind him and staggered to the bathroom. He pushed the door open with a bang, making the mirror hanging on the wall shake precariously, avoiding looking at his reflection. He didn't need a mirror to confront himself. He knew how he looked.

Stripping off his clothes, letting them pool around his feet along with the sheets, Naruto pushed through the shower curtain and turned the knob. Freezing cold water poured out of the shower head, hitting his heated skin like poison darts but Naruto didn't make a sound, hands wrapped around himself, eyes closed.

He didn't need Sakura or Tsunade to tell him what was happening to him. He was developing feelings for a man that was a stranger to him. A man he hardly remembered and had never spoken to. He was fantasizing about him in broad daylight and dreaming about what it would be like to be with him, to be together with him, romantically.

Naruto was no stranger to these emotions.

Naruto, hopelessly twelve, would see a couple on the streets, eyes on nobody but each other and stick his tongue out in disgust. Naruto, hopelessly sixteen, would see a couple giggling together and feel his chest aching with some strange emotion, an emotion that felt so similar to hurting. It came unexpectedly, at the most insignificant of times—when he saw Temari feeding Shikamaru with a spoon, when Sakura dated the civilian who gave her a flower every single morning and when Kiba would finger Hinata's hair in his hands thinking nobody was looking.

He understood loneliness, an empty, bottomless feeling that had accompanied him for most of his life. He also knew frustration and jealousy, feelings that were pretty common when you hung out with prodigies like Neji and Kakashi-sensei. However, he didn't understand this new want, this yearning, something more than the desire for a friend and less than a parent. It felt weird and strange, taking over his body, making him crave for physical touch, for companionship like nothing he'd fulfill with his friends.

Naruto scrunched his eyes tighter, trying to ignore the way his skin was heating up again. Just thinking of the...the Kaze...the Kazekage made his body fill up with an awareness that was so new and so different. He'd been hit on plenty before but it had never...never affected him like this. His breath hitched, his heart beat quickened and his fingertips tingled in a way that made him want to clench something.

He was falling for a man who only viewed him as a political bargain.

Something was definitely wrong with him. He didn't know this guy! What the hell was he doing? All he remembered of the Ga..Gaara guy from the Chunin exams was that he was an annoyingly tall fifteen year old with a head full of red hair. He'd lost his head during the final round and let the One-Tail out, allowing the bastard Kabuto to invade Konoha and kill the Third. The guy who hadn't talked to anybody except his siblings was now apparently The Kage of a whole village and had decided that Naruto, a guy who couldn't keep his mouth shut even if he wanted to, was an ideal choice for a spouse.

Something is wrong with his head too! Naruto raged as he stormed out of the shower in embarrassment, bypassing his clothes altogether for only the sheets. He wrapped them around himself from head to toe, momentarily stopping his trembling.

"This is an arranged marriage, Naruto," Naruto told himself firmly as he hobbled out of the bathroom, "A contract. That's all there is to it. It may even fall through midway. Don't get carried away. Don't dream up stupid things. Don't be an idiot—"

His reflection shivered back at him, vulnerable and terrified and so brutally honest that Naruto couldn't help but stare.

Apprehensively, he drew closer. The mirror was attached to the inside of his wardrobe door, hanging open lazily, and it showed him to himself in all his pathetic glory—small for his age, frail shoulders looking even more delicate wrapped inside a damp, white sheet and tanned skin pasty white with fear and uncertainty.

Naruto usually never allowed himself to look like this, had his mistakes and fears bundled tightly inside his heavily padded jackets and loud, boorish laughter. Right now though, he couldn't see himself for anything but what he truly was and a strange whisper snaked through his mind and into his ears.

What does the Kazekage prefer in a lover?

Dazed, large, blue eyes met their pair in the mirror and Naruto let the sheets drop away from his body.

He twisted until his back was facing the mirror, observing, frowning. Did the Kazekage prefer freckles? His body was full of those god-awful things, on his nose, down his neck, around his shoulders and even splattered on his knuckles and chest. His tanned skin helped hide them but they were undeniable once close. Did the Kazekage like perfectly smooth skin? Most people did...

What about the body? Naruto's body was composed of a mixture of awkward angles and curves. His hips were weird and flared out suddenly from his waist. His knees were annoyingly knobby. His arms and legs were lean and toned but they, like the rest of his body, were as hairless as a newborn's butt and Iruka-sensei often said he was too skinny. Was he?

Did the Kazekage think small people were cute? Or did he, like the rest of the world, prefer tall, willowy beauties that Naruto could never be, no matter how much milk he drank or hung from a branch—

What about blonde hair? Was his blonde hair, a little on the brighter side, too in-your-face? Were his eyes too big? Ino always said his eyebrows were shaped funny...

Would he look good next to the Kazekage? He hadn't seen any of his recent pictures but he knew that his red hair was legendary—though he could have sworn...that the man in his dream had dark hair—and if they mixed it with his blonde, their children might end up with orange-fucking-hair—

Naruto caught himself striking a weird pose, observing his naked back, lips puckered in a strange pout and stiffened in shock.

A snicker trailed through his mind, tinged with animalistic edge, a whisper of somebody's got it bad.

Mortified, face flaming, Naruto slammed the wardrobe door shut with a bang.

It was useless. Completely useless. No matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he denied it, his body and mind were openly betraying him, thinking of nothing but one single man continuously since the past three days and he was sick of it.

He banged his head, a little too hard, against the cool, wooden surface of the wardrobe a couple of times before all of the fight drained out of him and he sagged against it, defeated and resigned.

"What's wrong with you, stupid?" Naruto mumbled quietly, cheeks bright with the evidence of his guilt.

This crush...this stupid, stupid crush...

"The Kazekage has been hated by his village for most of his life, did you know? First for being a jinchuruki, then for being a weapon and then for being a failure. He has never known a shred of the kanji inscribed on his forehead yet he's one of the best fucking men on the planet today. He fought against the whole world and won. You'll be hard pressed to find that kind of strength nowadays," Jiraiya's voice trailed through his head, dripping with admiration and Naruto's eyes dimmed.

I understand, Naruto thought softly, I understand what's it like to be hated, Kazekage. We're so similar, you and I and I want to—

His hands curled into fists, tension running up his arm and across his shoulders before they relaxed, giving one last shudder.

—know you, understand you, be friends with you, help you. Even if this whole deal is a contract. People make arranged marriages work, don't they? Look at Shino's parents. It'd be nice, won't it? Somebody to love and hold hands with.

Naruto startled as an unexpected sob broke out of his throat, making him blink his eyes in surprise.

I want to...I want to love you.

Sakura yawned, not bothering to cover her mouth. It was too damn early in the morning for etiquette. The wife of the rich merchant they were escorting to Suna seemed to disagree and was sniffing disdainfully in her direction.

"Where is your shinobi, Nara kun?" The merchant in question asked, irritation straining at his mouth, "We should have set out fifteen minutes ago."

"He'll be here any minute," Shikamura replied, eyes still closed as he leaned against the wall.

The merchant's mouth tightened further and he turned back to his wife, whispering. Not that Sakura gave a fuck though. The whole family was dressed in celebratory garb—their bright, beautiful clothes completely in contrast to the dull green flak jackets and dusty pants the ninja were wearing. Sakura wanted to see how long it would take them to realise that their pretty clothes would be completely ruined by the sadistic sand of the Land of The Wind before they even entered Suna.

She yawned again, ignoring the wife and the lascivious glances of her eldest son. She couldn't wait to get rid of them.

"Sorry I'm late!"

Think of the devil, Sakura's mouth twitched up in a fond smile and she, along with the rest of troupe, turned to watch Naruto run up to them just as first light breached the early morning sky above them.

Her mouth dropped open in shock.

Gone were Naruto's big boy clothes. Gone were his tasteless orange tracksuits and his baggy pants and his padded jackets. Their place had been taken by a form fitting orange shirt and mesh khaki pants, silhouetting Naruto's slender frame to perfection. His travelling cloak and backpack were slung over one shoulder and he'd even gotten rid of the stupid way he wore his head band which forced his hair into messy spikes. He had strapped it to his arm instead and now his damp blond hair fell in waves into his eyes and the collar of his shirt, catching the first, gentle rays of the sun like silky threads.

Naruto had done practically nothing to change his appearance yet it immediately brought out his looks, unhindered by false deceptions of 'largeness' and muscle. Naruto wasn't pretending anymore, letting his true form out to bask in the sun and sing along with the breeze and Sakura found herself catching her breath, noting how stunning he was, even by carrier standards, now that the stupid 'manly' facade had been done away with. She kind of understood why men always talked about carriers with such a wistful tone to their voices.

What the shit, Sakura wondered, completely stumped, What's up with this moron?

"Sorry, sorry," Naruto huffed as he reached them. He looked at the merchant and his family and bowed low, apologizing profusely, "I apologize for the inconvenience I've caused you, sir."

"Well, that's quite-" The flustered merchant cleared his throat, averting his eyes quickly from Naruto's visible collarbone, "-alright. N-Nara kun, shall we head out?"

The merchant's son was staring at Naruto now, cheeks pink and mouth open slightly. The wife was glaring at Naruto like she wanted him to drop dead. Sakura would have been jealous if the realization for Naruto's sudden expertise in style hadn't struck her.

Oh Naruto.

"Nara kun?"

Everybody turned to look at Shikamaru who managed to tear his eyes away from Naruto just in time, "Right. Right. Let's go." Without looking back, he started walking towards the gate, neck a little stiff.

Naruto threw her a bewildered glance, eyeing the strange ways of the merchant and his family, sidling next to her, "Is everybody really that mad at me?"

Sakura wanted to laugh. She ruffled his hair in greeting, "No, bonehead."

Naruto heaved out a sigh of relief, "Thank fuck, I couldn't think of any excuses."

Sakura glanced at him and smirked, "Except for the truth, of course."

"Whaddya mean?"

Sakura leaned forward and whispered, "That you were dressing to impress. For a special somebody."

Naruto looked away, not meeting her eyes, "What? Pfft. That's not the truth."

"Naruto."

Naruto's shoulders sagged, cheeks reddening in guilt, "Alright, okay, fine. I might...hypothetically, figuratively, maybe have a teeny little itsy bitsy c-crush on the Kazekage."

"Look at you using big words," Sakura teased.

"Sakura chan!"

"How does it feel, Naruto?" Sakura asked softly, pulling at his hair in affection, "Not being burdened by so much weight of that ugly, gaudy orange jacket you wear?"

How does it feel to be free from all that pretense?

"It wasn't an ugly, gaudy orange jacket," Naruto looked at her in the eyes, cheeks burning but a small smile playing at his lips, "Light."

The chains of Konohagakure's entrance gates screeched in exhaustion as they worked, gears whirling as the gate lifted upwards. The land beyond the village walls opened to reveal a few civilian traders, sitting on their carts and smoking pipes, waiting for the gates to open.

"Gates are open!" A Chunin guard called out from the outpost above. Shikamaru, recognizing him, waved and the guard waved back, "Heading to Suna for the festival? Lucky bastards. It's happening after eight years, you know?," He smiled wistfully, "I would've give anything to go. Unlike some lazy assholes, we have work to do."

Disregarding the outraged gasp of the civilian woman behind him, Shikamaru flipped the guard and he laughed, signaling them on.

As they passed the looming shadows of the walls, Sakura found herself praying.

Please God. Please let the Kazekage fall in love with Naruto. He can't take much more of anything else.

Beta-ed by Michiyuki-sama.