Konoha - Day 4, approx 3 hours after the village was swept over by Naruto's chakra.
Sai: "...and that's why you don't see me all over the girls. To put it like Deidara, 'art is a bang'."
Sasuke: "Oh, I get it. Wow, you're not gay."
Sai: "Actually, if you'd like, I could..."
Sasuke: "No thanks. I need to start pumping out the kids. By the way, maybe you can help with something out after all."
Sai: "... I don't own a video camera, if that's what you're alluding to."
Sasuke: "No. I... just no. Actually it's about Sakura."
Sai: "Okay, shoot."
Sasuke: "Well she's been distant, and here's what I said to her."
3 minutes of explanation later.
Sai: "Here's you problem. You said '...while you're still in the prime of your childbearing years.' What you should have said was that she has beautiful and perfect childbearing hips. Then you ask her to have your child while giving her a flower."
Sasuke: "Huh? Well it's worth a shot. So... did you hear about that business with Ino?"
Sai: "Hmm, no what happened?"
Sasuke: "Well, it goes like this: Ino apparently made some secret deal with Naruto to have a date with one of his Kage Buushin. So they went out, but in order to avoid any confusion, she made herself look like Sakura while they were out on the date."
Sai: "What's the point of that? If she's trying to prove she's better than Sakura, why imitate her?"
Sasuke: "So she doesn't get busted by Sakura. Anyway they run into Lee, and when he sees them on a date, he challenges Naruto to a fight over Sakura, which the idiot accepts. So, to keep the buushin from disappearing, Ino mind controls the bowl cut, and makes him orgasm like three consecutive times in a minute."
Sai: "Only three? She must've been holding back."
Sasuke: "What?"
Sai: "Nothing, please continue."
Sasuke: "Well, they end up going to Ichiraku because she's really trying to butter him up. Things are going well, and they start walking back to his place, but she pulls him into an alley and starts making out with him and sticking her hand into his pants."
Sai: "I don't mean to interrupt, but where'd you get this information?"
Sasuke: "No comment. Continuing with my story, she was about to get to the good part when Ten-Ten and Sakura happen to walk by and notice what's going on. She gets the wrong idea, and figures Ino was the one who set her up at the restaurant, so she goes berserk."
Sai: "Oh, that part I heard about, they're going to be repairing that area for another month."
Sasuke: "Oh, you know about that? Then I'll skip ahead. Seems before she loses, she takes control of Sakura's body, and destroys the buushin. Then she gets rid of Ten-Ten and heads over to Naruto's place for a threesome he promised her."
Sai: "I'm surprised he knows what a threesome is."
Sasuke: "You and me both. Anyway, Ino went back and had her threesome, but not the way it was originally supposed to be, and Sakura ended up finding out what it was like as well. But before Ino/Sakura could finish off, the buushin poofed because Naruto went too far or canceled the jutsu for some reason.
Sai: "Oh, that's because he slipped out of the village with Hinata."
Sasuke: "You're kidding?"
Sai: "I may be hanging around with you guys, but I'm still ANBU."
Sasuke: "Damn it! If he chooses Hinata, I'm not going to get my fight with him."
Sai: "You challenged him to a fight over Sakura?"
Sasuke: "Well, that was just an excuse. I wanted to see how he measured up over the last time. It was a very close match, and well I haven't decided the winner from the last outcome."
Sai: "What about Sakura?"
Sasuke: "Whether or not she chooses Naruto is unrelated to me. My feelings for her remain, and should she choose the path that leads to me, or be unable to walk the other one, I will be waiting for her."
Sai: "You're strange."
Sasuke: "You're one to talk. You think Sakura will track those two down?"
Sai: "I'm as certain of it as the tracking tag she had me attach to Hinata before they left the village."
Sasuke: "Interesting. But now, I must ask you for one thing."
Sai: "As long as it's not a penis."
Sasuke: "One of those special drawings of Temari."
Sai: "Sure thing. You're not such a bad guy after all."
Sasuke: "You too. Just one thing. One more penis gag out of you and I'll use Mangekyo Sharigan."
Sai: snorting, chuckling "You said 'Penis gag'!"
--Somewhere in the woods of the Fire Country--
Sakura was frantically homing in on her target. She knew Hinata had been with Naruto this whole time. Somehow after that incident, she had found Naruto, had consoled him enough to come along with him when he left. She had been able to do something Sakura couldn't even do for Sasuke. Chances seemed to keep slipping through her fingers one after another. This time would be different though. She wouldn't let the unseen forces that had led her into this circumstance force her to fold her hand.
--Before she left the village--
Sakura: "I felt it, Naruto. That chakra was yours. Such a sad feeling in that chakra. Wait for me."
Just then a crumpled up note hit her in the head.
Sakura: "Ouch, who the hell?"
Note: Outside forces are behind your outburst during the date you had with Naruto. Subsequently, Naruto never experienced the particular harsh words you spoke. However, he did read this
Note:
To Naruto - Sorry, I didn't mean to toy with your feelings, but this was to be the last time you and I would meet like this. I couldn't go through with it... knowing you had been tainted by another woman. I've been pretending to like you ever since we became a team, just to get closer to Sasuke-kun. Since it finally became this serious, I couldn't live a lie anymore. I'm sorry. I hope you can be happy with someone else, well at least Ino will have you if no one else will. -Sakura
I've already made certain that there will be no external opposition to your search for Naruto, however I can not say the same for his companion, Hinata, who will most likely do everything in her power to obstruct you from reaching him. -A friend
Sakura: "Who the hell writes like this?
(Hidden on a rooftop)
Shikamaru: "Good Job, this will atone for our mistakes."
Shino: "I'm merely doing what I'm being paid to do."
Shikamaru:
"Here's your advanced payment. The rare coffee cake from
Yukihara pastries baked only once per month. Don't take on any more
jobs against those three for 2 weeks."
-- --
(Back in the
forrest)
Sakura: "Naruto... kun" his grinning image appeared ahead of her. "I'm coming."
Image of Naruto: "Move out of the way, we're going to collide!"
Sakura: "Huh?"
By the time she realized the image she saw was actually Yamato, it was too late. Well, too late for him. Nothing was going to stop her from talking to Naruto.
Sakura: "Out of my way!"
With that battle cry, she bicycle-kicked her former commander so high into the air; he became a twinkling star in the sky.
-- --
(In the small cabin)
Hinata finally finished all the chores that needed to be done. She gathered plenty of firewood and lit a fire in the fireplace to warm the cabin up while Naruto rested. He would've needed bandages, save for the fact that her medicinal cream always seemed to close his wounds instantly.
She prepared a meal, fresh trout from the stream that she caught earlier and grilled, fried rice with plenty of vegetables and woodland spices, and some miso soup. She left the dinner to warm in the oven under a slow burning fire.
Hinata: "Naruto..." she let the name drift on her lips. "... my darling, my love. I won't allow such things to trouble you again."
She placed two fingers against his lips. He snored loudly in response, his arms stretching, and one finding its way to her thigh, since she was sitting Japanese style. She blushed, at this, but rather than pass out next to him, which she felt wouldn't be so bad, she lifted his palm to her cheek and nuzzled it.
Hinata: "The last few weeks feel like a dream to me, Naruto-kun. I just wish... you would tell me that you love me too."
A devious idea popped into her head. On the other hand, it is Hinata we're talking about, although it was devious for her, it wasn't so much for anyone else.
Back into the bath they went. They hadn't bathed together since the last time he collapsed. She went to work on Naruto, scrubbing his head, removing all the dirt from his battered body, washing his back...
Washing his back... a phrase whispered on the wind and glided through her mind. "Someday, you'll make a good wife, Hinata."
She regarded his still sleeping form. His lips... they're so soft and inviting. Of all the things she had experienced with him, nothing made her feel so close to him as his kiss did. She bent over to steal the kiss she longed for from this gentle slumbering soul, but paused. She would wait until he could freely give it to her, planting a light one on his forehead.
Then, she felt it before she heard it. Anger began to well up inside her. She stood sternly out of the water.
It was soft, but it echoed through the forest. "NA - RU - TO?!"
Hinata: "Sakura... Don't worry Naruto-kun. I'll protect... your heart."
