Major writer's block kept this from being uploaded yesterday. I blew through this chapter way faster than I thought I would! This was probably the most fun chapter I've ever written for Eleven Fifty-Four, and I hope you'll have just as much fun reading it. :3 Not a lot here in terms of romance or development, but hopefully, that's alright!
The only thing better than shedding your clothes, cleansing your body, taking a soak, and dripping cool sweat from every pore on your body on a calm, cloudy afternoon was doing so with friends. Sakura's bare footsteps walked calmly out of the showers into the long hallway in the women's section of the bathhouse. With her arms and legs shimmering with moisture and the rest of her body wrapped snugly in a towel, Sakura made her way down the women's hall of the bathhouse, toward the sound of her friends' chattering voices behind the closed door of the sauna room they'd reserved.
Sakura slid the door open slowly and was blasted in the face with stuffy hot air and steam that made her flinch at first. She wrinkled her nose and stepped inside before closing the door behind her again to keep the heat in.
"…know how I got them, really… I've never drank a lot of milk, and no one in my family is really… busty. I bloomed early and just kept blooming, I suppose
Sakura chuckled as she stepped in right at the tail end of a flustered Hinata's answer for what she assumed was a question about her breasts. She pulled her towel away from her body and tossed it over her shoulder, waving away the steam from her face as she looked around. Hinata and Ino were sitting on the same bench, Ino's damp towel wrapped around her head, and Hinata's towel settled across her lap, with one leg crossed over the other, and one arm curtained bashfully over her buxom chest. Some things never changed.
Tenten was sitting on the opposite bench of the sauna, closer to the coals, and it was clear from the look on her tender-looking, reddened face that she was very hot and loving the feeling. Her cool towel was clutched in her hand beside her. Karui was laying facedown across the bench opposite the sauna door, her towel under her chest and her eyes closed.
All of her friends except Ino were wearing their hair down, their nude bodies blushing and glowing with sweat, and Sakura moved to join them, sitting on Hinata's other side.
"Do they still float, Hinata? I remember noticing that one time we were younger in the bathhouse together. That was probably when I realized I was a little envious of you," Sakura remembered.
"I'm not jealous more than I am disappointed that you don't accentuate yourself more, Hinata!" Ino chuckled. "No idea why you're so partial to big, baggy jackets and sweaters and loose blouses. Hiding all that boob isn't fair to the rest of the world!"
Hinata sighed, nestling her arm even snugger against her chest. "The world will be fine without my… boob… hogging all the attention. That's why I wore modest clothing when I was younger, so my chest wouldn't draw attention to me, and that's why I wear modest clothing now, so people focus more on me, and not my breasts. That, and I don't want people being envious of me. Sometimes, I wish I was smaller."
"Pff," Karui huffed, opening one eye. "If you've got it, flaunt it, I say. Being flatchested for twenty years of your life isn't fun. If I had breasts like yours, Hinata, I'd love for people to look at and appreciate them. Stick your chest out, show your body off proudly. And tell anyone who doesn't like it to go fuck themselves. That's what I tell Chocho whenever she talks about losing weight. She's perfect the way she is, and so are you."
Hinata smiled and moved her arm away from her breasts, to rub the back of her head lightly. "T-That's very kind of you to say, Karui. I don't know if I could tell someone to go f- … To… do that, though. I don't swear. You swear around your daughter?"
Karui shrugged. "We swear at each other all the time. 'Dammit' was one of the first words she ever learned to say. She'll be exposed to swearing and 'bad' language eventually. Might as well start her early."
Sakura didn't like to imagine Sarada growing up, learning bad language and the ways of the world, about life and love and sex… She shivered at the mere idea of giving her daughter the Talk.
"Egh, I just think that's teaching her to be impolite," Ino commented, bringing Sakura's thoughts back to the conversation at hand.
Karui rolled her one open eye. "I'm not polite. I'm an outspoken, easygoing person who has a tendency to get emotional when triggered. Chocho is very similar to me and wants to be 'cool' like her mom, so why shouldn't I oblige and raise her using the lessons I've learned? It's not like she won't make friends. She has plenty of friends already, and I have you guys, so being impolite must not be totally repellant."
Ino crossed her arms, silently conceding to Karui's point. "Alright, alright. Tenten, are you still alive? You've been awfully quiet over there."
By then, Tenten's entire body was pink, and she waved a hand with a small sigh. "I'm melting…" she groaned. "And it's wonderful. Just… gimme a minute, I'll jump in somewhere…."
Sakura tilted her head. "Don't overheat yourself, Tenten. You should go on ahead to the cooling pools. We'll be behind you in a minute. Doctor's orders."
With a sigh, Tenten pulled herself up and nodding, rewrapping her soaked body in a towel and nodding her head. "Don't make me wait too long!" she called before exiting.
Ino turned her attention back on Hinata with a smirk. "Soooo~ Continue telling us all about those naked pictures of you in Hurricane, Mrs. Modest."
On cue, Hinata looked away and her face lit up once again. "Naruto just asked if I wanted to pose and make a few nice illustrations with Sai… We were all already well on our way through the book itself… I figured, why not? I was… into it, it was fun! And the pictures came out so beautifully and tasteful…"
Sakura chuckled and poked Hinata teasingly. "I devoured almost half the book last afternoon, finally. I'd held myself back from reading it because I still couldn't bring myself to accept that you'd pose for pictures like that and write sm-"
"No! It's not smut," Hinata interrupted firmly, pouting and giving Sakura a surprisingly stern, almost angry look before immediately relaxing. "I'm sorry. I… really don't like that word. It's erotica. Nothing we did for our book was blatantly pornographic. It's… not like I was flaunting as a model, or posing with… m-my legs spread or in overtly sexual positions. Most of the pictures, even though they're almost entirely nude, were quite artistic and concealing."
"I read it, too, and I gotta ask," Karui hummed, lifting her head slightly. "Were the bedroom scenes based on true events, Hinata?"
The blank-eyed woman blinked, not understanding at first. Once it dawned on her though, her entire face answered for her by glowing red-hot with embarrassment, which prompted the rest of the sauna to burst into laughter. Hinata stood and rewrapped her towel as well before making a swift exit of her own.
"They were!" Ino giggled giddily as she stood. "We have to pursue this now. C'mon, you two!"
Completely forgoing a towel around her bare sweaty form, Ino stood and marched right out of the sauna, prompting Karui to sigh as she began to rise from her reclined, relaxed position.
"I admire you for putting up with her for as long as you have." she told Sakura with a smirk as the two of them donned their towels and stood.
"Ino's insufferably fun, isn't she?" Sakura chuckled, stepping out with Karui. "I always want to punch her, hug her, or do both. She's how I entertain myself in the interims between Sasuke's visits, when I'm not busying myself at the hospital or trying to entertain Sarada."
A short walk down the hall lead the two of them into a large room where the air was clear and fresh instead of steamy and humid, and the other three had already dipped themselves into the cold pool to bring themselves down from their long, steamy sweat bath
"Ino, are me and the book all we're going to be making fun of today?" Sakura heard Hinata murmur as she rubbed her cheeks to try to calm her burning blush.
"We're not making fun!" Ino laughed.
"Yeah, we're genuinely curious now!" Sakura concurred, taking in a sharp breath as she slipped her towel away and went in for the cold dip. She sighed shakily before watching Karui climb in calmly without even so much as a shiver. Sakura poked Hinata again, continuing. "What's your sex life like with Naruto?"
Sakura could see the helplessness on Hinata's face. Now that she was the target, it would be hard for her to subtly redirect the subject under their watch.
"I didn't know 'real talk' meant 'sex talk'," Hinata sighed. "And I don't think it's fair that all the attention is suddenly on me! L-Let Tenten have a chance to speak. She's been awfully quiet."
Tenten blinked, and Ino rolled her eyes with a smirk. "Tenten doesn't have a sex life, Hinata. We're talking about you here!"
"First of all, fuck you," Tenten sighed flatly. "Secondly, I might not have a husband or children, but it's not like I'm a shrew or a recluse. I try to keep an active dating life, at least. I've been on a few dates, had a few drinks out. I'm playing the field, trying to figure out what I'm looking for. Maybe I'll expand my horizons a bit and see if I can become a Shinobi Union representative in another village for a while or at the very least, get a little bit of meaningful work. That's how you and Choji really met and grew close, right, Karui? You got teamed up with Choji on some kind of mission? What's he like in bed, since this is apparently the subject going around?"
The tan redhead leaned back and rested her elbows casually against the rim of the pool, nodding her head. "That's about right," she said with a nod. "And Choji and I… what typically ends up happening is me c-"
"Ah, stop! No no no! I don't want to hear about how Choji has sex!" Ino whined out suddenly, covering her ears.
Karui turned her head, annoyed. "Isn't this what you wanted, Ino? Real talk is sex talk, right? And why do you sat that like he's disgusting or something?"
Ino huffed. "It's just- I mean- That's- He's my teammate! As members of the Ino-Shika-Cho Formation, we share a bond that transcends friendship and may even transcend brotherhood. We're a trinity, three parts to one whole!"
"Still adorable to me."
"Shut up, Karui! It's just that hearing about what my teammates do in the bedroom would be too weird for me! It'd skew my perception and screw the deep dynamic relationship I have with them to begin to hear about it or think that way."
Meanwhile, Sakura stifled a snicker as she caught a glimpse of Hinata's relieved face. She actually managed to redirect the subject again. She was getting a tad restless, however. The water was cool, but after getting all hot and sweaty and tender in the sauna, it might as well have been frigid. Sakura could already see goosebumps rising and her nipples hardening. She needed something to distract herself while she adjusted.
"Hey, how about we play a little game?" Sakura asked, drawing all eyes toward her. "You all know how to play 'Never Have I Ever', right? We put up five fingers, then go around in a circle, stating things we've never done in that form. 'Never have I ever blah blah blah.' Whoever has done it has to put a finger down, and the last person with fingers still up wins. We can make it fit with the theme going around, too."
Ino and Karui both shrugged and raised their hands to show their fingers.
"Sure, sounds like a good time," Ino answered.
Tenten crossed her arms. "If it's gonna be about sex, I think I'll just pass for now and listen."
Hinata was hesitant, and the last person to actually raise her hand, but she silently agreed to play as well, and Sakura grinned.
"Ooh, this will be fun. I'll go first." Sakura raised her hand and thought for a moment. "Mm… Never have I ever… had sex drunk. First thing that came to mind."
Everyone else dropped a finger, and Ino squinted. "You hardly drink, Sakura! Barely fair!" she argued.
Sakura chuckled and shrugged. "Your turn, Hinata."
"Um…"
The modest Hyuga stared at the water for a long few moments before she lifted her head. "Uh, never have I ever yelled at my husband?"
There was an immediate outcry of protest and disbelief from everyone in the pool, and Hinata sank lower into the water, embarrassed.
"That can't be true, Hinata! You've never yelled at Naruto?" Sakura interrogated as she lowered a finger, bringing her to four and Ino and Karui to three.
"I-I've gotten angry with him… We've argued… When I was pregnant with Himawari, I once got so upset about something silly that I smacked him. But… we've never raised our voices at each other," Hinata explained.
"Not even during sex?" Karui asked skeptically.
Hinata looked away and let her blush brighten before she answered. "Yelling into the pillows is very different from yelling at your husband…"
There was a long moment of silence before Ino shrugged with a cheeky smirk. "I'll accept that." Sakura and Karui nodded their agreement before Ino took her turn.
"Nnnnnever have I ever gotten naughty in a public place."
Karui shook her head, and Sakura blushed, fondly remembering the time she squirmed against Sasuke's touch some months ago in a busy little restaurant as she lowered a finger, but after a long moment and an even brighter blush, Hinata lowered another finger as well.
Ino gasped dramatically. "Mrs. Modest! Sakura already explained her little happening to me a couple months ago, but what have you been up to in public?!"
Hinata mumbled quietly before raising her voice to speaking level. "It… coincides with the one time we did it drunk," she murmured. "It was late at night in the park next to the marketplace, a couple of months before I was pregnant with Boruto. I-I… honestly don't remember much about that night, but I do remember just lying in the grass under the stars, and... Your turn, Karui," Hinata said quickly.
The redhead chuckled and tapped her chin. "Hm. Never have I ever thought about cheating on my husband."
No-brainers for Sakura and Hinata, but both of them were shocked to see Ino down to two fingers.
"Ino!" Sakura gasped.
"What?! I've thought about what it might be like to sleep with another man before. Sleeping with another man is cheating, therefore, I've thought about cheating. That doesn't mean I have a desire to! Jeez." Ino crossed her arms, blushing. "I'm just being honest. I love Sai to death and I'd never stoop so low as to commit adultery. That doesn't stop me from having fantasies, though. Just stupid little fantasies, nothing more."
Sakura's critical look softened a tad. "Guess that makes sense, on some level. Okay, um… Never have I ever done anal."
Sakura's jaw dropped as Hinata dropped another finger, and she didn't even notice Karui lower a finger as well. "I didn't expect that from you, Hinata! I figured you to be strictly traditional!"
Hinata shook her head. "Well… Naruto's very adventurous. He always wants to keep things fresh, and before we had Boruto, it really seemed like every time we'd make love, there was something different he wanted to try, and I was nervous, but I went along with it because I wanted to make him happy, and I was curious about things as well. That was one of the first new things we tried."
Sakura nodded. "Guess this was a good way to really pry a bit into your sex life~" she snickered, and Hinata pouted.
"Never have I ever had pink hair."
Sakura's teasing mirth withered instantly, and everyone else in the pool burst into laughter at the blatant dirty move, from Hinata of all people. Sakura slowly lowered one of her three raised fingers as she glared at Hinata's amused and apologetic face.
Ino rubbed her hands together. "Whew! Looks like we're all at two. Alright, never have I ever made love fully clothed."
Karui and Hinata both lowered another finger, bringing the two of them down to one left. Ino squinted at Sakura.
"If you're thinking about that time I told you about in the restaurant, Ino, that was just fingering. No actual penetration," she said with a smirk. Ino rolled her eyes.
Karui took a moment to think. "…Never have I ever talked openly with my friends about my sex life before now."
The tan woman smirked at Ino, then at Sakura, and the two of them groaned and brought their fingers down to one as well.
"Ooh, Sakura could win it here," Tenten commented from the sidelines.
It took a long moment for Sakura to think, and she bit her lip and took a deep breath before speaking. "Never have I ever… had a child of mine walk in on me during sex."
All three of the other players groaned in defeat, and Sakura lifted her hands with a victorious cheer, thankful that she'd been so careful all these years and hadn't had that may opportunities to actually slip up in that regard.
Hinata glanced up out the nearby window, seeing that the afternoon was starting to fade into evening. "That was fun. Embarrassing… but fun. It's getting a little late. Should we start to head out? I'm all cooled down and refreshed, and I had a really nice day with you all."
"Oh, we're not done yet~" Ino snickered as she rose from the pool. "We're just getting started! This girls' day out can't end unless we've had a few drinks in us! Everybody up!"
Sakura sighed. "I hope you're not expecting me to actually get drunk, Ino," she said as she stood up with the rest of her friends to let the cool water roll off their glistening forms.
Ino winked as they donned their towels again. "I'm expecting you to have fun, Billboard Brow. And I know just the way to make that happen."
Ino said no more, and strutted proudly out of the room to turn toward the lockers. The four women left by the cooling pools all gave each other somewhat concerned looks before they followed after her.
…
…
"Did you really blow up the moon and put it back together, Daddy? The moon looks fine to me! Broken things don't look right after you fix them, and I should know. Remember that time Boruto accidentally broke a vase and we tried to put it back together? It still looked really weird, and Mommy could still tell it was broken. Mommy has really good eyes. Why don't my eyes look like Mommy's eyes? Me and Boruto's eyes look like yours, just with a little bit of Mommy's color! We even have your whisker-marks, so we really look like you! Where'd you get whisker-marks, anyway? Is it because of Ku-Ku? If you lost Ku-Ku from inside you, would you lose your whisker-marks? Does the fact that me and Boruto have whisker-marks mean that a part of Ku-Ku is inside us, too? Can Ku-Ku have children? I mean, he's not really a fox. And he's huge! And inside you. How would that even work? Daddy, where do babies come from?"
By the time Naruto, Sasuke, and their daughters made it back into the Village, the night had taken over the sky, and the streets were lit by the lamps above and the glowing lights of buildings all around them. It didn't take long at all for Sarada to fall asleep peacefully on her father's back, her glasses tucked into the neck of Sasuke's shirt.
Himawari, on the other hand, appeared wide-awake on her own father's back, relentlessly chattering away in her father's ear, as she had been the entire trip back. Naruto looked understandably worn.
"Is she always like this?" Sasuke asked with a chuckle.
"No, Hima's just very tired. She likes to talk when she's sleepy. It helps keep her awake. The moment I put her in bed and leave the room, she'll be out cold," Naruto said.
"Daddyyyyy~ Can you answer my questions before I go to sleep?"
"I'll try when we get home… That last one may need to wait until you get your headband."
Naruto looked up as Sasuke stopped in front of the path that led to his and Sakura's home.
"Thanks again for doing this, Naruto. I owe you," he called.
"Don't worry about it!" Naruto answered back, giving Sasuke a thumbs-up. "What are friends for?"
"Bye, Mr. Uchiha! Bye Sarada!" Himawari called out as well, and Sasuke smirked and watched them turn the corner before letting out an exhausted sigh and starting down the short path into the house.
The emptiness struck Sasuke immediately. He could tell his wife wasn't home, and raised a curious brow as he wondered what she would be doing out so late. First things were first, however. As quietly as he could, he brought Sarada upstairs to her room, laid her in her bed, tucked her in tight, and lightly tapped his fingers against her forehead before he returned to the living room to sit and wait.
Sasuke occasionally glanced up at the clock, counting off the minutes. When 11:30 rolled around with still no sign of Sakura, Sasuke sighed and stood, returning upstairs once again to check on Sarada again before leaving the house and trying to figure out where he should look first.
I'm glad I decided to incorporate some other characters. I felt like it took a bit away from Sakura and her thoughts, but hopefully, you all like the chapter! The girls' antics will continue next chapter. They had an innocent morning, and a saucier afternoon. How bad do you think it's gonna get at night? :3
~M.H.C~
May all your
Hearts beat with
Calamity!
Till next time! :D
