"Jiraiya was killed in battle."
The Hokage's room held the silence of a dead melody. It was a long pregnant silence that gnawed at the heart of all those present.
"Huh?" Naruto questioned. He heard the small frog just fine. But he didn't want to. How could Jiraiya be dead? It didn't make any sense. It… it just wasn't fair. "Wha-what're you saying?"
Tayuya's eyes focused on the back of Naruto's head. Everything had been going so well. They were just being happy and stupid. Now everything was messed up. She could hear the anger as Naruto spoke, blaming Tsunade for Jiraiya's death.
Naruto's hands balled into tight fists as that old frog and Tsunade attempted to explain themselves. Who the hell cared why? Jiraiya was dead! And it was their fault. Then it stopped. The anger was still there but the rage was gone; replaced with a deep loathing sadness. "Fuck this."
All those present fell into silence as Naruto turned away from the group and walked out the door.
"Naruto." Sakura began to step towards him to stop him from leaving.
Naruto paused as he barely opened the door to leave. "If Pervy Sage had been Fifth Hokage, he wouldn't have let Granny go on such a dangerous mission… Never!"
Once again Tayuya found herself unable to speak as Naruto began to leave the room. She felt like she had to say something. Anything! But words completely failed her. All she could do was softly whisper his name. "Naruto."
It was enough to make him pause and nothing more.
"Naruto!" Sakura shouted once more.
"Sakura, that's enough leave him be," Tsunade's frown was hidden behind her hands. Her voice was firm because it had to be. She didn't cry because she could not cry. For the first time in a long time, she was strong because she had to be. Not because she was. "That goes for you too, Tayuya."
"Fuck that!" Tayuya shouted and walked to the door as well. "How the fuck is being alone going to make him feel any fucking better? Just fuck.. Just fucking hold on, I'll fucking bring him back or shit. Stupid Kermit the frog bullshit!"
Tayuya slammed the door much harder than Naruto did as she made her exit.
Fukasaku gave a deep sigh and looked over at Tsunade; his face the same hard frown he had on since he had arrived. "Who was that girl?"
"A relative of mine, and far more trouble than she's worth it seems." Tsunade glowered. She had never felt so old as she did right now. That empty pit in her heart that Dan had left when he died was back with Jiraiya's death. And the spot that Naruto had filled was waning as well.
"I do hope she is able to get through to that boy, it seems he deeply cares for and admired Jiraiya. It makes me hope more than anything that he is the child of prophecy." Fukasaku hummed in thought for a long moment.
XXXX
It was easy to find Naruto's spiky blond head on the busy main street of Konoha. Even with his head held low and shoulders slumped, he stood out like a sore thumb.
With a grunt, Tayuya entered a brief jog to catch up to Naruto. Her legs screamed at her ever so slightly but she pushed it aside. She looked at him, all of him. Everything showed grief and sadness. From his downcast eyes to the hands in his pockets.
Once again, Tayuya had no idea what to do or to say. Something that frustrated her to no end. She didn't like to see Naruto like this. It was so different from who he was. That almost painfully happy ball of sunshine that had bumbled into her life.
It was like he had grabbed her hand and told her to run with him. That they had gone on an adventure to fall in love. And now he had stopped. Leaving her standing in the middle of a swamp and no way out.
With no thought Tayuya did the only thing she could think to do. She hugged Naruto from behind and pressed her face into his back. She knew it was in public and that people were looking at them. But Naruto was broken. And she didn't know how to fix him. "Naruto."
Naruto stood for a moment hoping that Tayuya's hug would stop him from feeling this. He wanted that knot in his stomach to vanish. He wanted the pounding headache to disappear. He wanted to feel like the whole world wasn't spinning. But all her hug did was remind him of warmth. "I'm sorry, Tayuya."
In an instant, Naruto was out of her arms and jumping across the rooftops.
Tayuya's arms closed in around herself, suddenly finding the air in Konoha to be rather chilly. Her breathing quickened as Naruto's form shrunk in the distance. Her hands her shoulders and she stood there alone in the busy Konoha street feeling Isolated.
At some point, her legs began to shuffle her forward. Her path through Konoha was direct and at some point, she found herself staring at Naruto's door once again.
His key felt heavy in her hand. Sure, she had taken it from him. But he didn't protest it. Hell, he had seemed happy when she had taken it. With a sigh, Tayuya put the key in and entered Naruto's apartment.
"Hey Loverboy, you here!?" Silence was her answer. The entry room was just as barren as it was before, but Naruto's jacket was thrown haphazardly onto the table.
The door to Naruto's bedroom was closed, and refused to slide open for a brief moment.
Naruto heard Tayuya enter his home, but he didn't bother to respond. When she entered his room, he turned to look her in the eyes before he buried his head back into his pillow once more.
He wished he could have smiled at her right then.
Tayuya stared at the sack of sad on Naruto's bed. She grit her teeth and balled her fists. Her back went straight and she really wanted to punch something right now. And then she let out a deep breath and relaxed. She sat down on the edge of Naruto's bed and placed one hand on his back.
"Alright Loverboy, get up, we still have a date to go on." Tayuya smiled as she said it. She could feel Naruto tense when she spoke. Her mouth felt heavy however and her smile was small and quickly returned to a frown.
Silence floated in the air like a thick mist blotting out the sun.
In a flash of anger, Tayuya spun up from Naruto's bed and pressed both hands into his back. She did it twice more using him as a springboard. "Come on Loverboy, get the fuck up!"
"I'm not hungry," Naruto mumbled into his pillow. That was a lie. He was hungry, but he didn't want to eat anything.
"Fucking bullshit!" Tayuya shouted. She hated seeing Naruto like this. "That Perverted Ogre was important to you, right? Do you think he'd want to see you like this, man the fuck up!"
Naruto sat up and stared at Tayuya with tear stained eyes.
And then they fought. They shouted at each other a thousand words that meant nothing; a thousand words to hurt the other; a thousand times they shot back stronger, more violently more ferocious than before. It grew louder and louder like the roar of a coming storm as verbal blows struck like lightning.
Their faces twisted into masks of anger while their bodies pointed and accused one another. All of Naruto's anger that he couldn't direct at Jiraiya was directed at Tayuya. And Tayuya refused to back down, matching Naruto's with her own.
Their faces grew red and voice hoarse from shouting. And still they fought, crossing the point of no return so many times it would break even brotherly bonds. Until finally ,Naruto ended it with two words that were just barely louder than a whisper.
"Just leave."
Those words hurt Tayuya more than any of the shouts or insults. And all that rage left her body like a popped balloon. The room spun and her legs felt wobbly. She refused to lose, though. "Fine."
With the last of her strength, she stomped out of Naruto's apartment and slammed his door. She made it two more steps before she slumped down against the wall. She wondered how long she had been crying for.
How the fuck did the day turn out like this? It had started out so well, she missed the warmth of Naruto as he held her gently in the shower. She didn't mean half the things she said just now. She just didn't know what to do.
It was all so new to her. Having somebody she cared about. And having that person sad. She wanted to make him unsad but, she didn't know how. It's not like she could kick death in the nuts and bring Jiraiya back to life.
She buried her head into her knees and hugged her legs tightly. She did nothing but breath quite jagged breaths. She couldn't hear Naruto, maybe he left when she wasn't paying attention.
The sun began to set.
Her flute shined brightly in the fading light. Slowly she traced the seals along its length. "If you can heal bodies. Maybe you can do something about this too?"
For Tayuya the effect was instantaneous. The second she put her lips to her flute it was like it was drawing out all of her negativity. Just like it always had.
The melody that came out was a long one; composed of the darkest nights in the coldest winters. The tones held within them the memories of warmth. The warmth from the happier days of spring and summer was just a distant feeling.
It shifted slightly and the song began to rain, it was harsh and near freezing and every single tune caused a flurry of frostbite. There was no escaping the darkness, no escaping the cold. You could only endure.
There was a slow building momentum that swept through the song, like the dull roar of the ocean. In the distance, light began to appear. The clouds began to break and the sun began to rise. Thin golden beams of warm yellow sunshine punctured the cold darkness.
Every small happy tune paused the winter and was a reminder that the sun will rise again and that winter is always followed by spring. Things may seem dark now but it will get better.
For a long time, Naruto laid on his bed, just listening to Tayuya play her flute. A thousand hours of listening to her play and he wouldn't be tired of it. It was the opposite; he wanted her to fill his life with her flute playing.
It spurred him into motion. The music itself didn't add to his sadness, it allowed him to feel more of it that was already there. Memories of Jiraiya that Naruto had forgotten about came to him as he explored the depths of his sadness. Small things, like the jacket Jiraiya had bought him, the time Jiraiya split a popsicle with him, grew to into trees ripe with happiness.
The smallest of smiles appeared on Naruto's face as he began to prepare two cups of ramen. His smile grew more as Tayuya's tune began to shift to the first crescendo of spring. With spring showers raining down with each note, new life began to bloom. A new chance to be happy.
Tayuya jumped when Naruto opened his door abruptly. When he offered her a cup of noodles she took it quickly. It felt warm in her cold fingers and the sun had just a few minutes left before it vanished for the night. "Thank you."
"It's hot," Naruto shut his door and slid down to sit next to Tayuya. Their arms were touching. "Just like you."
Tayuya snorted and rested her head on Naruto's shoulder. She blew gingerly on her first bite of instant ramen and sighed in content. This was nice. "This so doesn't count as a date."
It was Naruto's turn to laugh and he moved ever so slightly to kiss Tayuya on the head. He got her just on the top of her brow. "Even I'm not dumb enough to think that instant ramen is a good date."
"Oh, so you are learning," Tayuya finally took her first bite of instant ramen and began to greedily slurp it up. It felt so good to have something in her stomach again. The only thing she had eaten today was Naruto's dick milk, and that was not exactly sustenance.
After the ramen was finished, the two just sat there watching the final bit of day fade away.
"For the record, I'm sorry." Naruto hugged Tayuya's shoulder tighter. His free hand found hers, they were soft and smooth but rather cold compared to his own. "About what I said earlier."
"Oh, so we're not pretending that didn't happen." Tayuya half yawned and snuggled closer into Naruto's chest. "But yeah, I'm sorry too, I'm good at pissing people off, not so good at other things."
Naruto chuckled and stood them both up. "Yeah well, your flute makes up for it."
"Oh so maybe I should just do nothing but play my flute then." They slowly made their way to Naruto's bed neither willing to separate.
Naruto pulled Tayuya down onto his bed so that she was on top of him. "That might be for the best actually."
"But if all I did was play my flute I wouldn't be able to do this." She leaned in and gave Naruto a long lasting kiss. She melted into it allowing herself to be reduced to mush. She kicked off her sandals and pulled herself up on top of Naruto.
They separated with a light smack, a smile, and a few giggles. "Okay, I suppose you can't play your flute all the time. After all, there's a kissing tax for this bed."
Tayuya gave a small laugh at that and sat up on Naruto's stomach staring down at him with a possessive look in her eye. "Oh, and how many more kisses until I'm all paid up?"
"Oh a few more like that one will do," Naruto replied as he ran his hands up and down Tayuya's sides. Tayuya's hair acted as a curtain cutting them off from the outside world.
One.
Two.
Three.
"There you feel better now?" Tayuya asked wiping a bit of spit off of her mouth. She rolled off of Naruto and laid down beside him.
"A bit yeah," His chest still hurt from time to time but he felt like himself again. With a bit of twisting, he brought his blankets on top him and Tayuya. "I just wanted him to watch me become Hokage, ya know?"
Tayuya snaked her arms around Naruto and pressed her face into Naruto's warm broad back. "He told me to take care of you, so I'll keep an eye on you and watch you become Hokage for him okay?"
"Thank you, Tayuya."
"Goodnight Loverboy"
XXXX
"Man, why am I the one to do this?" Shikamaru walked up to Naruto's door before he gave a long sigh. Why was he the one to try and get Naruto to be undepressed? He had just barely gotten over Asuma's death but that wasn't going to help a guy like Naruto. "It's so troublesome."
A lazy half knock on Naruto's door and there was immediate shuffling from inside. And then there was silence.
Shikamaru shifted on his feet in annoyance and knocked again louder this time. This time there was a grunt and a few whispers that were lost in the walls. "Oi oi, Naruto open up I know you're in there!"
More silence followed by... a moan?
"Hey, Naruto open up!" Shikamaru banged on the door loudly. "Don't make me come in there!"
"Would you shut the fuck up!" A voice that was not Naruto by any means echoed pierced through the wall. There was stomping and banging that slowly made it's way to the door. The locked turned and the door was thrown open. Tayuya stood there completely topless looking rather pissed. "The fuck do you want?"
Shikamaru's eyes immediately inspected Tayuya's breasts before snapping up to register the pissed off redhead that stood before him. "What are you doing in Naruto's home?"
"I'm trying to suck his dick!" Tayuya shouted loudly and folded her arms in annoyance. "And unless you want to come watch so you can take notes with your pencil dick I suggest you come back in like an hour."
A blush formed on Shikamaru's face as he attempted to process the information. Once he did, however, he quickly decided that Naruto was a troublesome idiot. It only seemed natural that Naruto would end up with somebody louder than he was. "Look... just have Naruto go to the deciphering team to help figure out Jiraiya's message after you uhh…"
"Got it bye!" Tayuya shouted loudly and slammed the door in Shikamaru's face. With a sway in her hips, she walked back to see Naruto stuffing his now softened member into his underwear. "Woah now Loverboy, we're not finished yet."
Naruto frowned and stopped what he was doing. He honestly didn't want to get out of bed this morning. If he could, he would have spent the whole day in bed with her. Sadly, it was her own encouragement that was spurring him into action. "You heard Shikamaru, they need me to try and figure out Pervy-sage's message."
Tayuya frowned and flopped down onto Naruto's slightly lumpy mattress. It wasn't as comfy as the hospital ones, maybe they should steal one of those. Pinkie wouldn't mind if she spun it that she was helping prevent Naruto's future back problems or something. "How hard can it be to figure out something that the Old Pervert wrote? It probably has something to do with his books or something."
"You haven't read his books have you?"
"They didn't exactly allow literature in prison," It might not have sucked as bad if they did. A good book every so often would have made her day. Hell, a porny romance novel would have done absolute wonders.
With exactly one sock on Naruto walked through his messy room and went to the T.V. stand. After a moment of rummaging through the small drawer, he brought out a sealed set of three books. He walked over to his bed and placed the stack on Tayuya's bare stomach, mostly to watch her squirm at the cold plastic. "Well, I have the complete set if you're interested."
Tayuya looked at the set for a moment before she gave Naruto a large smug smile that said she was full of shit. It dared Naruto to challenge her. "Trying to turn me into a pervert? I'll have you know, I'm a proper lady"
Naruto didn't believe that for a second. He stared at Tayuya's smile with a neutral unimpressed look. "I woke up to your ass in my face this morning while you were sucking on my dick."
"True, you need to learn to give oral." Tayuya picked up the books and began to unseal the books. Time to see what's so great about these things. Hell, even Kabuto had a copy of the orange book and he reproduced with a test tube.
"Oral?"
Tayuya's smile vanished and she looked at Naruto like he had grown a second head. "How the fuck do you have two perverts and not know what oral is?"
Naruto crossed his arms and huffed. It wasn't his fault his sensei were both perverts, and it wasn't like those books were anything special — he thought they were boring as hell. Still, it somehow made him happy that Tayuya wanted to read them. "It'd be easier to learn it if you told me what it was."
"Licking my pussy."
Naruto blinked in confusion. "And that.. would feel good?"
"It probably feels about as it does when I give you blowjob." Tayuya shrugged and stared up at Naruto's ceiling. There was some mold or something in one of the corners, probably nothing too bad.
"Oh."
Tayuya laid on Naruto's bed and began to read the first Icha Icha book while he got dressed. The start of it was interesting enough, a woman grieving over her now dead fiance. Eventually, the words just blurred away and a thought occurred to her. "Hey, can I live here?"
Naruto put on his jacket is and shrugged. "Well you're not allowed to leave Konoha anyways, I'm sure granny could find a place for you."
"You idiot," Tayuya growled and sat up closing the book with a snap. His density was actually quite surprising and she wasn't quite sure if he was just teasing her. She felt her face heat up for the first time and suddenly felt incredibly shy. She wasn't asking much. Just that she see him nearly every day. "I meant to live here with you. As in me and you sleeping in this bed every night and all the other stuff."
Naruto's eyes went wide and he stared off into the distance unable to quite focus on anything. Tayuya had just asked if she could live with him. His mouth failed him as he wanted to shout yes a thousand times yes. His head failed him as he wanted to nod it furiously.
Instead, he fell towards her pushing her back down onto his, onto their bed and began to kiss her gently. He watched as her eyes closed slowly and her arms wrapped around his neck. Her legs wrapped around his waist and pulled him closer to her.
"Should I take that as a yes?" Tayuya smiled at Naruto when they separated for a moment. She grabbed Naruto by his ears and rubbed his cheek lightly with her thumbs. It was so odd, the feeling that she actually wanted to be here. This was her choice.
Naruto just nodded happily and nuzzled into Tayuya's hands. He wasn't alone. Somebody was choosing to live with him, rescue him. It also helped that it was the most amazing woman he'd ever met. "Yeah, we can talk about your rent later."
Tayuya rolled her eyes with a snort. "Whatever you say Loverboy, now go point out something obvious so that the egg heads can figure out the code."
"When I get back we can go on that date!"
XXXX
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
There was only one real plus to making Tayuya mad, that she was kind of cute in a scary please-don't-hurt-me kind of way. It wasn't intentional on Naruto's part, but he did feel rather guilty about it.
Naruto chuckled softly as they walked towards the gate of Konoha. Tayuya had on another one of his old shirts and a pair of shorts she got from somewhere. He had to admire her thriftiness. Naruto had on his standard attire in addition to a mission pack. Which is why Tayuya was mad at him. "Look, I promise as soon as I get back, I'll give you the best date ever! But this is important training from the toad sage!"
Tayuya growled at Naruto and continued to glare a hole into his skull. Seriously what was with literally everything trying to prevent them from dating? It wasn't even that big of a deal, she was mostly upset that the day she moves in he decides to haul ass and go on a fucking training trip. "I'm not going to hold my breath, every time we plan to go out on a date, something shows up and ruins it. Just you watch, you're going to come back and Konoha's going to be under attack or some shit."
"Hey, don't jinx it!" Naruto laughed lightly as he noticed Sakura and Tsunade waiting at the gate with Fukasaku.
Tayuya sighed allowing herself to relax, her anger vanishing. Naruto was going to be gone again soon. At least she had someplace to stay other than that hospital room. She examined Naruto's hand; the way it just flopped lazily at his side made her angry. With a quick step towards him, Tayuya took Naruto's hand in hers. "You're just lucky I'm desperate."
"I thought it was because I'm cute." Naruto smiled down at his short redhead. After a quick shuffle, he entwined their fingers, it was something he wanted to do since he saw couples do it when he was little.
"Please, I'd put a bag on your head if I could."
"I'll do it if you put duct tape on your mouth."
"Oooh Kinky, maybe I should tie you to the bed and drip hot wax on your chest as I ride you."
Naruto opened his mouth to say something. But he didn't have anything that he could say to that. After a moment, he sighed. "You win."
Tayuya smiled proudly. "Damn straight I do, don't you forget it."
Sakura stared at the two slack-jawed as they approached. She had accepted that Tayuya and Naruto were going to become a couple. It seemed so inevitable. But that did not mean she didn't have the right to be disgusted at the way those two flirted. "You two make me want to barf."
Tsunade rolled her eyes while patting Sakura on the back. "You sure you're not just jealous you don't have somebody like that?"
"Master!" Sakura's shoulders slumped at the painful truth. It wasn't that she wanted any old guy to flirt with her like that either.
"Don't worry Sakura I'll get super strong with this training and then bring Sasuke back no problem!" Naruto beat his chest once with a wide smile on his face.
Fukasaku croaked loudly to get their attention. "Alright Naruto-boy, say your goodbyes. We're wasting valuable time here."
"Alright Loverboy, go do this stupid training thing, by the time you get back my legs will be fully healed!" Tayuya let Naruto's fingers slip through hers as they separated. She couldn't help but smile as Naruto began to blush. He knew full well what Tayuya wanted to do as soon as her legs were fully healed.
"You got it, Princess!" Naruto shouted proudly. He gave Tsunade and Sakura a small wave and a bow. "Granny, Sakura, I'll see you two later, and in now time I'll be taking that hat from you!"
A moment later Naruto and the frog elder vanished in a poof of smoke.
Tayuya frowned for a moment. She was alone again. She was alone in a large city filled with people. But for once, she was actually looking forward to having somebody come back to her. And she had something to achieve. "Alright, Pinkie, Jugkage, I want to be Shinobi ready by the time Naruto gets back!"
AN: Beta'd by the lovely LayarSir He's awesome!
This chapter actually had like three different drafts at one point and there's a bunch of deleted scenes that didn't quite make the cut. Such as Sakura introducing Tayuya to Choji as part of her physical therapy. It went as well as you would expect. But ultimately it got cut due to just feeling awkward while writing.
Next update is for... Either this again or Fem Sai fic... maybe... Idk.
