AN: I have finals next week, projects due, and am moving in 2 weeks, and what am I doing? Writing of course! Yeah my fiance is already remidning me of the 30 others things I need to be doing but I was hit with inspirtation and went with it and got ch. 9 done in 2 hours. Woot! Now if only it would stick with me. All that being said it might be another month before an update because of afroe mentioned things going on. Good thing is thought I will be graduating on the 11th! Still have an externship in July but at least no more classes! Anyway on with the fic.

Disclaimer: So I sound like I own Naruto? No

Chapter 10: Branch Out

She felt like she was wrapped in warm fluff, cocooning both her body and mind and she felt disinclined to move. Her other senses slowly came back to her, she heard birds chirping outside her window, felt a cool breeze play with her hair and cause her windchime to jingle as it whisked on by. She didn't remember the last time she felt this comfortable or well rested. She took a deep breath and felt slightly constricted, and as she inhaled deeply there was a slight smell of...'raspberries?' She tried to crack her eyes opened and winced at the invading light, scrunching her face up. Her second try was more successful and she blinked the sleep out of her eyes trying to figure out what was going on. She looked down to the weight she felt on her left side and felt her eyes open wide enough that she almost teared up. Sakura was curled up on her left side, her head resting on her shoulder, her hand laid on the center of her chest her eyes closed and relaxed sleeping peacefully, like this happened every night. It took a full moment before she could drag her eyes away and she felt her face heating up as she tried to recall the last nights events. It took a moment for her memories to force their way through her slightly drugged mind before she remembered the accident, her recovery, and her new live in nurse for a bit. She put a hand on her forehead and took a deep breath trying to slow her heart beat and fight the blush on her face. It took a moment for everything to come back to her and for a second she'd thought...'well why else would you wake up next to someone in bed,' she thought her blush coming back full force. As if she could somehow sense Ino's embarrassment Sakura chose this moment to moan slightly as she stretched and flexed, her face scrunching up before her eyes fluttered open. Ino froze like a deer in the headlights unsure of what the hell to do. 'T-this one isn't my fault! She was sleeping in the living room I didn't do anything,' she thought nervously discreetly checking to make sure none of her appendages had strayed somewhere they shouldn't while the two girls slept.

As Sakura's eyes finally landed on Ino it took a moment for her to asses the situation, much like Ino had, but the moment she realized what she was doing she all but jumped off the bed, situating herself on the edge precariously.

"I-ino, ummm, g-good morning," she said her face a deep crimson.

"M-morning," she said glad Sakura's first reaction wasn't anger, even though it might not have been her fault it wasn't unheard of for Sakura to turn her embarrassment into anger.

"S-sorry I should have asked you but it was like 3 in the morning and I didn't know if you could get back to sleep or not. And you originally suggested sharing a bed so I thought maybe you wouldn't mind." Ino had to sit there a moment and try to process what she had just said because it had been said in one breath and at about 100 miles and hour.

"Ah it's fine, it just gave me a little shock is all. I did try to warn you about the couch," she said fighting the urge to give the flustered girl in front of her a small kiss. It was true Sakura usually turned her embarrassment into anger and turned it on the person involved, so to see her all embarrassed and flustered was a rare site, and she was so damn cute.

"You were right," she sighed in recognition.

"I like the way that sounds."

"Huh? What sounds?"

"When you say I'm right," Ino said with a giggle. She just barely dodged the pillow Sakura tossed at her. "Oh come on I'm just teasing."

"Hmph, and I was going to go out and get breakfast, now you actually have to suffer through my cooking." Ino laughed and grabbed her around the waist rolling over in bed and taking her down with her.

"Ino!"

"Yes Sa-ku-ra?" She knew without looking the other girls face was beat red.

"I can't cook if you don't let me up."

"Hmmm, maybe I'll just eat you instead," she said and actually bit lightly on the top part of her ear. She didn't think she'd ever seen Sakura move that fast before, as the warm body in her hands somehow made it out of her doorway in the second it took her to blink. 'Oops maybe I went a bit far,' she thought. She stretched out on the bed enjoying the warmth and debating if she wanted to get up just yet or not, she felt a twinge in her back and winced in pain. 'Gotta remember why Sakura is staying over here in the first place,' she thought rubbing the back of her hip. She got up and made her way to the bathroom to see the door was already closed and figured Sakura was in there so instead she made her way out to the kitchen. She fished out her coffee grounds from her own special blend and started brewing a pot before turning to pull out her smoothie blend and getting her blender out. Just as she was putting the last of the sugar in Sakura cane out looking slightly annoyed.

"Ino what are you doing? I said I was making breakfast for us!"

"Calm down, you can still make breakfast I was just making the coffee and a smoothie. I figured you didn't know which powder was which so I made them up. I promise you can still make breakfast."

"Yeah well you're also supposed to be taking it easy."

"Sakura," she said smiling, it was almost cute how she was trying to take care of her. "I swear making coffee and smoothies isn't straining."

"Fine, but after that go get in the shower, and I'll put my cooking skills to good use!" Ino couldn't help but giggle.

"Sure, sure," she said and turned the blender on finishing the smoothies. She poured them both into two cups and took a long drink of her own cup. She felt eyes on her and quickly looked over at Sakura and caught her eyes. Sakura quickly looked away looking back in the fridge for food. 'Was Sakura just checking me out?,' she thought smiling to herself. 'Nah couldn't be.' She quickly finished off her smoothie already feeling more refreshed and went to the bathroom like Sakura said to shower. She quickly disposed of her cloths and stretched again catching her reflection in the mirror. She stopped when she noticed something. A strip of pale skin, slightly raised was at her hip, she slowly turned her body in the mirror and watched the pale line make its way from her hip all the way up to her opposite shoulder. Sakura was a miracle worker and kept it small and barely there, but it did in fact leave a scar. It was mesmerizing in a twisted way, she knew she had been hurt, but she barely remembered a lot of the fight and then nothing about after she had arrived back in Konoha. 'I could have died,' she thought her heart clenching. She knew she was a kunoichi, a warrior who if asked would lay down her life for her village. But that didn't mean she wanted to die, not yet, especially not now, her mind wandering to the woman in the other room.

She took a deep breath trying to calm herself. She hadn't taken a moment to let it sink in and even though it was disturbing on some level she tried to shake it off. In the war there had been quite a few moments where she wasn't sure she was going to make it, and at the peak of it she actually started having panic attacks worrying about that moment. The moment when she would be laying on the ground, finished, waiting for her life to slowly drain out of her, waiting for death to embrace her...and then? She had always wanted to believe there was an afterlife, reincarnation, something. But at these times when she wondered when she was going to die, because god knew if she was getting out of this war alive, if there was anything after for her. She shook her head banishing those thoughts. She was not going to spazz out and have a panic attack, not now, not with her girlfriend in the other room making breakfast for her. The same woman who saved her from death at that. She was alive, and god willing she would stay so for a while and she was going to enjoy her day and not think about what might have happened!

For some reason that really seemed to pump her up. Thinking about bad things only brought you down. So with her mood more elevated wondering just what she was going to do today since she had technically kidnapped Sakura for a few days and had her all to herself. She took a rather quick shower, sneaking back to her bedroom in a towel to throw on some casual clothes for the day before making her way out to the kitchen. She walked up behind Sakura who was putting plates on the table and wrapped her arms around her, Sakura stiffened for a second before relaxing.

"So what's for break...fast?" She wasn't sure what to make of the food on the table. She remembered Sakura making dinner for her all those weeks ago when they first started talking again and thought she had gotten better at cooking, now she wasn't sure. There was toast and butter, then bacon which looked fine. But her french toast looked...liquidy? Was that even a word?

"S-sorry, I think I added too much milk to the french toast, and then I tried adding more egg, and then they egg was cooking but not soaking into the toast-" The poor girl was rambling and her face was beat red, and oh so cute, so she did the only thing she could. She turned her head with her hand and let her lips descend on Sakura's still moving pair. It took Sakura a moment to realize what was happening. It wasn't overly lusty or sexual, just soft lips on lips moving against each other. Ino could taste her smoothie on Sakura's lips and it made her smile.

"It's fine, look the bacon and toast are fine, I think I might have the other stuff to make some BLTs in the fridge if you want."

"I'm sorry, I really did try, breakfast foods are just kind of hard for me."

"It's the thought that counts so thank you." Sakura sat down looking kind of defeated but it didn't seem to dampen her mood overall. So as Sakura sat at the table Ino went and fished out a tomato and a head of lettuce. It didn't take her long to make up the sandwhiches (with Sakura's help of course) and Sakura insisted on doing the dishes while Ino took her medicine. She wasn't sure about what to expect. They had given her 3 pills: one was a pain killer (it was the one that supposedly made her loopy), one was a blood thinner (she had to take that one for a week), and one to help speed up her recovery. She took them with her coffee noticing Sakura had already finished hers, maybe even before they ate. Sakura walked over to the couch Ino was on and plopped down, both staring at a blank TV screen.

"Can't find the remote," Sakura asked.

"Nah, just didn't wanna watch TV."

"Well what do you want to do?"

"I don't know, we could go swimming-"

"No, you're supposed to take it easy, so before you even bring it up if it involves leaving the apartment we're not doing it." Ino pouted, what the hell was she supposed to do all day inside. Well actually a few things came to mind but she didn't think Sakura would be up for that. She tried giving her the puppy dog look but Sakura only glared.

"No, what would you do if you passed out in the water and drowned?"

"Well you'd be there and give me CPR."

"Ino I'm being serious!" Ino wanted to say she was also being serious, considering Sakura was a medic nin but she didn't think the other girl would be too happy with that.

"Well fine then what do you think we should do," Ino said since Sakura's proclamation had killed damn near everything she could think of.

"Ummm, we could..." Sakura didn't look like she was having a whole lot of luck thinking on the fly. "We could play a board game." The look Ino was giving her said she'd rather clean her apartment. "Or watch some TV, you never did look to see what was on." Still the same look. "Look I know there's a lot of stuff you want to do, but it has to wait another day or two. Listen even after I leave you have another 5 or 6 days of recovery. If you want I can ask for a couple of days off and we can do something, how about that?" Ino finally seemed to perk up, and then she jumped up off the couch and disappeared into the other room to come back with a paper and pen.

"What is that for," asked Sakura.

"Well with missions and work we usually only get to see each other once a week and do something, so if I get a couple of days with you then I'm making a list of things I want to do and choosing only the very best," she said her eyes glowing with excitement, Sakura was almost afraid of what she'd done, but the look on Ino's face made it worth it.

"Fine, fine, so what are some of the things you want to do."

"Well we could go bowling, or out to eat," she said jotting the ideas down as she went. "Or go to a traditional tea house, or a festival."

"Ino the next festival is Oban and that's like a month away."

"I didn't say we could do all of these, I'm just writing down any idea that comes to mind."

"Well fine if we're just jotting down ideas then write down the Fire Gardens."

"The Fire Gardens?" The Fire Gardens were known all over Fire Country and beyond. It was centered in a perfect area of fire country and even more so, the world, to where they got both extreme heat and cold making it a prime spot for growing all kinds of flowers and plants from all over the world. They were even said to have a handful of a few nearly extinct plants. Along with the plants were exotic wildlife and insects, including a butterfly house where you walked in and butterflies literally covered the room and had no problem landing on you.

"Yeah have you ever been there?"

"No, I was going to once after a mission, we weren't needed back right away and we were going to stop at the capital on the way but we get intercepted by some Iwa nin near the border, this was before the war, and instead we had to head home to get patched up."

"Well then it'll both our first times, I really want to see the butterfly house and the reptile house, there are some unique frogs and lizards in there that are both beautiful and deadly." Ino had to laugh at that and Sakura looked annoyed.

"What's so funny."

"I can't help it, you were always such a book worm, liking to learn about all kinds of things you'd never heard or seen before. Even on a date you want to go and learn." Sakura blushed and looked away.

"I can't help it, it's interesting to me."

"It's fine, I think it sounds like a lot of fun. Anywhere else you can think of?" The little list of dates they wanted to go on ended up being a whole page and a half and then from there it turned into something different. Instead of dates it was things they wanted to do in life, almost like a bucket list. Places they wanted to go, things they wanted to see, things they wanted to do. They wiled away the afternoon like that until they had about five pages worth of things scrawled all over the notebook. Ino was sprawled across the couch with her head in Sakura's lap as the other girl played with her hair.

"Sakura?"

"Hmmm?"

"I wanted to ask something, and I know you get annoyed when other people ask you so if you don't wanna answer then you don't have to."

"It's fine, go ahead."

"Are you planning on moving to whirlpool?" Sakura didn't exactly stiffen but the relaxed pose she had been in while playing with Ino's hair changed and she seemed a bit on edge.

"Like I said if you don't want to answer-" But Sakura cut her off.

"No it's fine," she said with a sigh. "It's just, I don't know." She laid her head back against the back of the couch. "I want to move there and help Naruto and Hinata and all of them. I mean rebuilding a nation would be amazing, especially with how much it would mean to Naruto." She paused and Ino wasn't sure if she was going to continue but she did. "But then you know how complicated it is to become a member of another country. What happened if for some reason down the line I wanted to come home, there'd be so much paperwork and it's not like I could just pack up and go, it would take months for the paperwork to go through. That and in all seriousness at the end of a mission, even if I'd been living somewhere else for weeks or even months, I knew I was going home. I've moved out of my parents house but I've always lived in Konoha, and after the war and everything that's happened, even as stupid as it sounds, I'm afraid of being homesick and if I move out there and figure out I made the wrong decision I'll seem like a flake."

"You've really thought about this a lot," Ino said looking in the direction of Sakura's face from her place in Sakura's lap. "Have you ever thought about going on there on a temporary basis, like have Tsunade assign it like a mission and if you decide to stay there you'd only have to put the paperwork in about a month or two before your mission was up and you wouldn't have to leave. And if you decided you didn't like it then you would just return from your mission."

"I've thought of it, but I'm also worried Naruto would take it as a slap in the face if I don't move. I mean he's like my brother, I would do anything for him. It's just so complicated." They sat in silence a few more moments, Ino thought Sakura was done talking and almost didn't hear her as she talked just above a whisper. "And you."

"Me? What about me?"

"Well you have a clan here so it's not like you could ever move and if I moved I wouldn't see you as often," she said, her voice still fairly soft, shy even.

"Sakura," she spoke surprised. She had been wondering about that aspect of their relationship as well, it was part of the reason she even brought up the subject, but she didn't think Sakura had even thought about them when it came to moving. She slowly pulled herself into a sitting position, Sakura lifted her head back up to meet her gaze. She looked slightly embarrassed, her cheeks a rosy pink, but she kept Ino's gaze.

"I know we haven't been dating long, but I mean, it's still something I think about." Without thinking Ino's lips crashed down on hers and Sakura had to steady herself against the couch as she found herself with arms full of Ino as she crawled up on her lap. Ino had a feeling of deja vu remembering that one time after the movies. Ino ran her hands through Sakura's short hair, her lips darting out between her lips to lick Sakura's asking for entrance for which she readily complied. Her tongue wasted no time in delving into her mouth, their tongues sweeping against each other. Sakura's hands found their way to Ino, one in her hair holding her head in place, the other making it's way to her waist. Ino was wearing a t-shirt and jeans since it was a casual day and the t-shirt itself was short enough it rode up before Sakura even put her hand on her hip, so Sakura's hand caressed bare flesh, her skin was already so hot. Ino's mind was fuzzy and full of the feeling of Sakura. Her hand in her hair, on her hip, her tongue hot in her mouth. She moaned into the kiss as she ground her hips into Sakura's. That seemed to be the wake up call as Sakura quickly pulled her back.

"Sakura," she asked confused. It wasn't like they hadn't made out before, hell they'd gone a lot farther then that before.

"Sorry Ino, but I just think we should slow it down for a day or two. Until you're recovered." That was the fuse that lit the bomb inside of Ino. On the outside the girl looked calm and collected, though annoyed, on the inside she was about to explode.

"God damnit Sakura!" Sakura actually flinched and looked like she wanted to be anywhere but where she was trapped under Ino right now. "I know that I just got out of the hospital, and I know I'm still recovering but I am not a god damn teacup, I don't need to be handled with care! I will not break if you handle me a little roughly!"

"Ino I just-"

"No you know what, you wanna take it slow until I recover. How is this for slow?" With that she all but jumped off the other girls lap, stomped her way to the bedroom, and slammed the door. Sakura sighed letting her head drop back hitting the back of the couch again.

"Damnit!"

AN: Finally a little trouble in paradise, I wanted to through something really physical in because it had been a few chapters. Anyway hope you enjoyed!