Chapter 9: Confessions

Konoha's "perfect couple" walked back to their apartment. Naruto saw the vacant look in her eyes and laced his fingers with hers and gave her hand a gentle squeeze (she insisted on walking).

"Hime, are you sure you're ok? You seem... distant today."

Emi quickly snapped back into reality. "Oh! G-Gomen nesai1, Naruto-kun... I'm fine, I promise!" She tried to give a convincing smile.

"You can tell me when you're ready, Hime..."

She seriously doubted she'd be able to re-tell her story of being a slave to the Akatsuki members' every desire, being used to fulfill their every fantasy, no matter how sadistic, willing or not (it was always not).

"Please, Naruto..." she begged him silently not to push the subject, and he didn't. What had changed over the years he was training with Jiraya? Had someone hurt her?

When they entered the apartment, Emi went straight for the bathroom. She turned on the shower to hide her quiet sobs as she grabbed the only two things that could ease the pain: a kunai and a large bottle of sake. Slipping into the shower, she allowed herself to slide down against the back of the tub and take a long, deep swig of the drink. Instantly she felt the mind-numbing buzz of alcohol and dragged the kunai along her wrist, making sure not to hit any vital arteries or veins. The thin slice oozed a dark red. She gasped at the pain, but didn't stop.

"Damn you, Orochimaru..." she cursed the sannin for taking what was most precious to a girl. It was cruel, really. She would have to live the rest of her life knowing she was ruined for any other man... for Naruto. Despite the age difference (he was 21, she 16) and the fact that they'd been together only a few months, she loved him. Emi kept whispering that same phrase to herself as she made the cuts deeper into her delicate skin.

When she didn't come out after 45 minutes, Naruto began to get worried when he heard something crashing. He kept knocking on the door with no response. The sight he saw when he kicked down the door nearly made him faint. She lay there, unconscious, with blood in the water and on the walls around her and a bottle of sake shattered into pieces on the floor.

"E-Emi? Oh, Kami…" What happened next is a blur to him. He wrapped her in a towel and carried her bridal style to the bed. He hated to leave her there, but he had to get help and rushed out of the room, screaming for Sakura or Tsunade.

"Naruto, what's wrong?"

"It's Emi! S-she—I don't know what happened, but come quickly!"

"Take me to her!"

When they entered the room, Emi looked even paler than she had before.

"Oh, Kami... Ok, Naruto, I'm going to need something to tie off around her arm to stop the bleeding. Hurry!"
He quickly grabbed the sleeve off of his training jacket and tore it off.

"Here!" Naruto threw the long sleeve to the pink-haired medic-nin.

Sakura succeeded in stopping the bleeding, but it took a while before Emi came to.

"N-Naruto?" she mumbled softly as her eyes fluttered open.

"Emi! Oh, thank Kami you're ok..." he came and wrapped his arms around her slender frame gently.

"What happened, Emi?" he asked gently.

"Naruto... May I speak to Emi alone?" Sakura asked with a slight sadness in her voice.

Naruto looked to his lover. "Are you sure?"

She nodded 'yes' silently.

"Ok... I'll be out in the living room..." he said worriedly.

"Emi, you promised this would stop after you moved in here!" Sakura said sadly after Naruto shut the door gently.

"What do you know? Do you know what it's like being afraid to go to sleep at night because when you dream, you dream of them? How every time people look at me, they whisper? How if Naruto even touches me, I flinch..." she trailed off quieter at the end.

"You almost killed yourself!" the rosette countered.

"So, who cares?"

"We all do! Me, Ino, Hinata, Kiba, Neji… all of us! Especially Naruto! You're the only thing that makes all of the stress bearable! If you leave him, he'll never make it."

Emi sighed defeated. She knew what Sakura was saying was true, especially with his promotion to Hokage being later that month, and in all honesty, she loved him just as much.

"How am I going to tell him?" she whispered.

"That's up to you, sweetie..." Sakura said softly.

"He's never going to look at me the same..." the blonde whimpered.

"He'll still love you," Sakura said firmly.

Emi sighed softly. "I might as well tell him now... Thanks, Sakura..."

"Anytime."

Emi got up and threw on one of Naruto's shirts and boxers.

Sakura walked out and told Naruto it was ok to go back in. Emi looked nervous, and her eyes were red like she'd been crying.

"N-Naruto, I think it's time you knew what happened to me all those years ago, after you left..."

Naruto came and sat on the bed next to her.

"Take your time, Hime... I promise, whatever it is, I'll still love you just the same as I do now."

"W-well, at the Battle of the Valley of the End... I followed you, b-but I was foolish... I let my guard down..."

"What do you mean?"

"Kabuto, h-he was there... He put something over my nose and mouth, and I passed out... When I woke up, I was in the Akatsuki lair, and he was there, with Orochimaru..."

"A-At first, they just made me... you know, go down on them... I-It was awful, but they left me alone after they got wanted... I hoped that's all they'd want..."

"That wasn't all they wanted... was it...?" He sounded heartbroken.

Her bright green eyes welled up with tears as she shook her head no.

"On my 13th birthday, Orochimaru decided it was time for me to "become a woman" as he put it... I begged him to stop, and tried to get him off of me. I told him that I was a virgin; that I wanted to save myself for the man I married..." she said with shame coming off every word.
"B-but he didn't... after he… took what he wanted, he just let the Akatsuki members have their way with me... I-Itachi was the only one that never touched me, along with Konan, of course..."

Naruto winced, trying not to show how hurt he was to hear this. How could someone just... take a girl's innocence like that? Women, he believed, were meant to be cherished and respected as equals, not used as an object of lust.

"Oh, Emi..." he wanted to hold her and tell her that he didn't care about what had happened, that he still loved her and wanted her.

"If you don't want to be with me anymore, I understand... the woman that the Hokage chooses to bear his heirs should have a good reputation and be able to give him an honorable heir."
"Emi, what they did to you was not your fault, it was rape! A woman's virtue is supposed to be protected, not taken by force... As for being with you, it doesn't matter to me. I want to be with you, if that's what you want... In my eyes, you are still as innocent as you were before that happened... I love you, Emi! I want to marry you one day, and show you..." he trailed off as he started to blush, realizing he said entirely too much.

She wrapped her arms around him and cried softly into his shoulder.

"Oh, Naruto... of course I want to be with you, forever! I want to be yours, soul, mind, and one day..." a light blush appeared across her cheeks, "body. I want to marry you and have a family..."

He held her petite frame close in his strong arms and tilted her chin up to look into his eyes, wiping away the tears. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face and kissed her passionately, gently nibbling on her lip.

It was the most tender, loving kiss she'd ever had in her life. He whispered "I love you" into her ear before pulling the covers over them, seeing she was tired from the day's events. She rested her head on his chest and fell into a mercifully dreamless sleep, and Naruto did too... as soon as he saw she was sleeping peacefully, of course.

1 Japanese for "I'm very sorry."