Chapter 10: A Special Bond

***Author's Note***

***EDITED And REUPLOADED***

Hey guys, FF has been screwy for me lately so I hope that you all get the notification that I uploaded this chapter and are able to see that it's updated. Last week it didn't tell anyone that I updated and uploaded a new chapter so I had much fewer views this week then on average. But I digress, thanks for reading and please Review, Follow and Favorite, it really helps.

This has been my longest chapter yet for this story so I hope that you enjoy it. Before we begin I just want to give you a heads up that Kurama might be a bit out of character in this chapter. I have him consider Naruto his closest friend and have him care for him as well. I don't think that that's too out there for the end of the series but I figured that I should at least let you know that no one's confused or thinks that I got Kurama wrong or something.

And now back to what you've all been waiting for…

XxxxxXxxxxX

(Shikamaru/Temari POV)

The two remained in their awkward and embarrassing positions for what seemed like an eternity. They each just stared into the eyes of the other and froze. It seemed like forever before Shikamaru managed to gather a single thought:

'Damn! I'm sorry dad, Asuma sensei, looks like I'm going to be joining you sooner than I thought.' He was so convinced that she was going to kill him for this, he was lying on top of her naked body, his knee in her crotch and his eyes about to be poked by her nipples. There was no way that he'd survive this encounter.

Coming to his senses, Shikamaru quickly got off of the naked woman under him. Backing away and climbing onto the edge of the tub. He swung his legs over the edge to get up before he turned his back to her and fumbled out an apology.

"I.. I'm so sorry, Tem. I, uh… I didn't mean to fall on you like that. I, I didn't mean to look at you like that either." The normally composed genius was besides himself, so many emotions and chemicals were flowing through his body. Making it extremely difficult even for this young genius to think.

"I'm sorry, Tem. It was an accident, you know that I'd never do that, right?" All the while keeping his view from her Shikamaru runs everything that happened through his powerful mind. He was expecting to get slapped into the next millennia after this. He was expecting to get an earful from her, but nothing came, no threats on his life, no lecture, nothing. After a few seconds of silence he decided that it'd be best to just leave, give her some time to come to terms with what happened and most importantly calm down.

The young blonde woman was still in shock, the man whom she had been crushing on for some time had just seen her naked. More than that he fell on her naked body. He got off of her and sat on the edge of the tub with his back turned to her. Temari's body was hot, it was on fire from their encounter, and her body wanted nothing more than to feel that sensation again. It was a few seconds before she was able to think.

'Shit! He saw me, he was on me! Wha...what am I supposed to do now? He's apologizing, should I apologize too? It was my fault, it was an accident after all. I thought about letting him see me naked but I didn't mean for him to actually…' Temari started to turn even more red, if that were even possible. She held her hands to her breasts and thought:

'Did he not like seeing these? He didn't saw anything about it. Does he, does he not find me attractive?' Temari thought to herself for a few seconds during the awkward silence about whether or not Shikamaru actually found her attractive, he's never once said anything about it, and now that he had not only seen her naked but laid on her as well she was sure that he didn't actually find her attractive. She is shaken from her thoughts when she sees her drenched crush begin to stand from the tub, preparing to walk away. In a moment she leans forward and takes his hand stopping him.

"Wait, Shika. Did you… did you not like what you saw? Do you not think I'm attractive?" The blonde ninja wasn't thinking straight she didn't know what she was saying.

The black-haired genius slightly moved his head in her direction, while keeping his view fixed on the sink, not being able to calm himself about what just happened. He replied:

"You don't think that I liked what I saw?" He asked, a small unseen smile creeping across his usual stoic face.

"Tem, I won't lie to you. I am a guy if you haven't noticed, and we guys tend to like seeing naked girls."

Temari grew upset when she heard this, he didn't really answer her. He always did this whenever she asked him something like this. He always answered without really answering, it really pisses her off.

"That's not what I asked, Shika, and you know it." The naked blonde woman said, growing upset.

"I asked you if you thought that I'm attractive. You don't, do you? You've never once said anything about it, you've never even looked at me in that way. How can you not? I thought that we, we were, I don't know… dating, or at least something? How can you not think I'm attractive and be with me?"

Unbeknownst to her Shikamaru's face froze. He had no idea that she thought that he didn't actually find her attractive. He didn't know that she was so worried that he didn't actually like her. How could she think that?

"You didn't let me finish, Tem. I have had a major crush on you for years now. You are the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, so do you really think that I would not think that you're attractive?" When she didn't reply he let out a sigh before he began to stand from the tub wall and moved to walk away before Temari suddenly grabbed his arm, swung him around and pulled him back to her, planting a kiss on his face.

Shikamaru's eyes widened, his mind once again imploding. All of a sudden Temari, the girl whom he liked was kissing him. Without hesitation he returned the kiss, leaning in closer to her naked form. The two stop after a few seconds to come up for air. Panting he asks:

"Tem, why, why did you do that?" He questioned, his mind still not working. The naked blonde in front of him let out a small smile.

"Because I love you too, idiot. You know, you're the dumbest smart person I know, how could you not tell?" The sand shinobi let out a loud gasp when the drenched man in front of her pulled her in and began attacking her lips.

The two soaked teens continued their kissing for a minute before Shikamaru began to slow the pace down and seemed to be stopping much to the displeasure of his blonde partner.

"What's the matter, Shika?" She asked, concerned. He stopped their kissing almost abruptly and pulled back a few inches, while still not letting go of her shoulders.

"Do you not want to kiss me?" She asked. He gave her a reassuring smile to crush those thoughts.

"It's not that I don't want to, Tem. I am absolutely fine with kissing you, I mean why wouldn't I be? I just don't think that we should go any further yet."

The blonde gave a slightly confused look, all the while still trying to pull him back in for another kiss.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

The black haired genius raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Don't try to act innocent, Tem. I felt you try to feel me up down there." He said, looking down to his crotch.

Temari followed his gaze and froze, unknowingly she had her hands on the inside his thighs, ready to grab his manhood. She blushed even more than before, she had no idea that she had been doing that.

"Not that I am opposed to you doing that or anything but I think that we should at least pretend to take our time." He said as he returned his gaze to her eyes.

The blonde Sand ninja was once again confused by his words.

"What do you mean by that?" She asked.

The Nara heir smiled and let out a chuckle, as he repositioned himself in the tub and gestured down to her crotch.

"I don't know if you've noticed or not Tem, but you're completely naked and partially laying on me. We're just a few seconds away from making out in this tub. I just think that we should come to our senses before we go too far and get carried away."

Temari followed his gaze once again and saw her exposed opening just a few inches away from his covered enlarged member. Her body was shaking, wanting his so badly it shocked her.

Smiling she replied with a sigh.

"Maybe you're right, Shika. I mean, you should've taken me out to dinner first, but there you go trying to have sex with me in a tub just like that out of the blue." She gave him a playful smile.

He returned her look and replied:

"Oh really? Well in case you weren't paying attention you were the one you started it. You kissed me first."

She playfully hit him on the arm.

"Well what did you expect me to do? You called me beautiful and told me that you liked me, how do you expect me to react? It's your fault." The Nara heir returned her look with a smile before looking back down to her naked body before quickly trying to cover his view of her with his hand. This raised a question from his blonde partner.

"What are you doing, Shika? Why are you covering your eyes now, you've already seen pretty much everything there is to see."

"I know that, Tem. But it's hard to concentrate with you being naked, dripping wet and lying almost on my lap. I'm trying my best to look you in the eyes right now." The Sand shinobi let out a pouting look and began to get up.

"Well if you're going to be like that then I'm just going to get ready for bed if you don't want me to stay like this. Now, would you please hand me my towel?" She asked as she tried her best to once again cover her naked body from her crush. But it wasn't really working as her arm only pressed in her large breasts in and made Shikamaru's eyes have an even harder time looking away from them.

It took a few seconds but he finally got up out of the tub and fetched her towel. Handing it to her he turned back around and began to walk out of the room to let her change. He knows that he just saw her naked everything but he figured it only polite and the proper thing to do to give her some privacy to change. Leaving the room he began to set out a fresh pair of shorts and a shirt for the night. Even though he was drenched he still needed to take his own bath. He dried himself off enough as to not wet the bed and he sat on the bed thinking about what happened until she came out of the bathroom.

Once she was covered by her towel the Sand shinobi grabbed her frilly underwear and nightgown and went back behind the 'safety' of the shoji screen to change.

'Damn that Shikamaru. Why does he have to be like that? I was more than willing to let him see me like that and to keep kissing. I kinda wanted to go further.' The blonde let out a sigh and slipped her revealing bra on over her large breasts and lifted her tiny underwear over her butt.

'I don't understand him sometimes, I mean we were this close to, to, taking the next step. Maybe he's right, maybe we should at least try to take our time. If he doesn't want to rush anything then we shouldn't. I've waited this long for him to even look at my chest, I can wait a little more.' She let out another sigh and grabbed her nightgown and took another look at it.

'How am I supposed to wear this, it's practically see through?' She asked herself. The blonde shrugged her shoulders deciding not to worry about it, he had already seen her naked anyway, what could the harm in letting him see her in this be? She slipped the revealing nightgown over her shoulders and stepped out behind the shoji screen and headed to the sink to wash her hands and brush her teeth, to get ready for bed. As she did she could see her crush out of the corner of her eye through the glass wall waiting patiently for her to get out so that he could take a shower as well. She decided to take her time, she was still a little upset that he decided to stop when he did. She respected his decision but still wasn't exactly happy about it. So she decided to take her time and make him stand there waiting outside the door.

XxxxxXxxxxX

(Sakura POV)

The hero turned to face the pinkette.

"I promise that I won't try to peek at you, Sakura-chan. I already told you that I wouldn't anyway."

The girl smiled in response and turned to take her bath as she set up the shoji paper screen. It's not that she doesn't trust the blond hero she just doesn't want the first girl he sees naked to be her, that should be whoever he ends up marrying.

The pinkette began to fill the tub behind the relative cover of the almost see through shoji paper screen. Undressing a little slowly out of nervousness she went over what the hero said not a few minutes ago. He said that he said that he had feelings for someone but they didn't have them for him in return. The medical ninja thought about who it could be.

'Who does he have a crush on? It can't be Hinata can it? He said that whoever it was didn't like him, everyone in the village knows that Hinata has a major crush on him. So it can't be her. If it were then they would already be together. If it's not her then who could it be?' The pinkette ran through all the other girls their age that he knew.

'It can't be Ino, he said that he wasn't interested in her and was uncomfortable around her himself. I'm kinda glad about that, I don't want that pig using Naruto for her own enjoyment.' She turned off the water before checking the temperature, it was perfect, now the only thing left was to hop in and enjoy an nice, long, relaxing bath.

Sliding into the warm embrace of the water Sakura thought about the other possibilities for Naruto's crush.

'Who's left? Just Tenten and Temari right?' The pinkette imagined the blond hero with the two girls in question, she couldn't imagine him with either of the two.

'It couldn't be Tenten, could it? I just don't see that happening. What about Temari then? I don't see them together at all. She's way too, strict and demanding for him. He deserves someone a bit more mellow and relaxed to compensate for his over the top nature.'

Washing her hair the pink haired medic ran through a few more ideas.

'Is it maybe one of the non-ninja villagers I don't know? They sure do follow him around and ask him out a lot. Maybe it's one of them.' Sakura ran through some of the other girls in her head, before coming to the realization that she didn't really know any of them very well. She knew a few by name but she didn't hang out with any of the civilians very often. She tended to stay with her small group of ninja friends.

Soaking in the tub the pinkette went through more ideas of who it could be.

'What about that one girl that he met with Lord Jiraiya? What was her name, Shizuka from the Nadeshiko Village, right? Didn't she try to get Naruto to marry her? Could it be her?' She thought about it for a few seconds before coming to a quick decision.

'No, it couldn't be. She's in the same boat as Hinata, if Naruto liked her then they'd be dating already. Who could it be?'

Speaking to herself aloud now she started talking to herself.

"Man, why does he have to have a crush on someone else?" The pinkette lowered into the water a little more.

"That knuckle-head had a major crush on me when we were kids, and now that I'm actually getting interested in him a bit he's lost those feelings. It's been a few years since he asked me out on a date or tried to impress me with flowers or a gift. It seemed like everyday that he asked me out, and now that I'd actually consider saying yes that he stops. Why does the universe hate me?" She asked aloud to the empty bathroom.

"First I had a major crush on Sasuke-kun and he never gave me the time of day. He always rejected my feelings for him. At the same time Naruto always tried to ask me out and I rejected his feelings. And now that we're grown up and I actually wouldn't mind having one date to see how it goes with him he does a complete one eighty and stops having feelings for me." The pink haired girl sunk even lower into the water. Her nose was skimming just above the water.

"Maybe it's karma." She said, continuing her thoughts aloud.

"Maybe it's what I get for being so mean to him when we were kids and rejecting his feeling so harshly every time. I mean, even if I were to ask him out would he even believe me? What have I ever done to show him that I might actually like him?" In an instant her mind skipped to that cold day in the Land of Iron where she knows that she broke his heart.

"How could I do that to him?" She asked, looking to her hands as she remembered her words and actions.

"I told him that I love him, I hugged him, I even thought about trying to convince him by kissing him… but I couldn't bring myself to do it." The pinkette dropped her head into her hands.

"How could he ever forgive me for that? I lied to him, saying that I loved him. I knew that he had feelings for me back then. I knew how much me saying those words would mean to him. How… how can he still even look at me? He never showed it but I know that I hurt him. I must've broken his heart." Instantly her head snapped up and her tear filled eyes shot open.

"That's it, that's when it happened. That's when he stopped having a crush on me… when I broke his heart." She couldn't help but let her eyes tear up. That's when she sealed her fate with him.

Through quiet sobs she uttered:

"Even if I want anything from him I won't get it from him… it's all my fault. If I hadn't hurt him like that then he might actually still have feeling for me."

After a few minutes the pinkette wiped the tears from her eyes and calmed her nerves. She thought of the numerous times that Naruto had asked her out when they were kids, but one in particular stood out. She couldn't help but reminisce.

((Flashback, at Ichiraku's before Naruto left with Master Jiraiya))

"Sakura-chan, you're looking beautiful as always. Please, take this." The pinkette had been standing outside Ichiraku's waiting for her teammates when Naruto had walked up behind her and spoke. Turning around she saw the bouquet of red roses in one hand and in the other a box of chocolate. He wore his usual wide smile and held the items out to her.

"Happy birthday, Sakura-chan. I know that you said that I didn't have to get you anything but I couldn't not get you anything for your birthday. So, here you go. Ino told me that these were your favorite flowers so I bought a whole bouquet of them. I didn't know what your favorite kind of chocolate was so I got some dark chocolate, I hope that you like them."

Sakura couldn't help but smile at this kind gesture, it was unlike Naruto to be thoughtful like this, it almost made her blush, almost. That was of course until he decided to open his mouth again.

"So Sakura-chan, I was thinking, that since it's your birthday and all that I'd take you out for some dinner, it doesn't have to be at Ichiraku's either. Wherever you want to go and we'll go. It could be a sort of date-" The young blond was cut off by a whack to his head by the pinkette.

"A date? What makes you think that I'd ever want to go on a date with you, Naruto? And stop buying me flowers and candy every other week, it's getting old. A no's a no. I thought that I made it perfectly clear that I was never going to date you. Now, if you'd get out of the way Sasuke's coming." She raised a fist and shook it aggressively.

"Now get lost, I want to eat with Sasuke by myself." The young blond's face dropped as did the flowers and chocolate in his hands. He turned and walked away.

((End flashback))

Looking back on it Sakura remembers that she didn't see Naruto for a few days after that. He also never again got her any flowers or chocolate for her birthday. That's not to say that he never got her anything, two years ago he got her a new picture frame for her picture of Team seven. Along with a matching one with the two of them hanging out in the village. For her last birthday a few months ago he went all the way out to the Land of Stone and got her a beautiful sakura tree forged out of pink glass and metal wires. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. It stood several inches tall and had shaped and polished wires wrapped together to form a tree. The tree itself was stunning but what made her heart stop was the amazingly detailed branches of the tree. Each wire was bent by hand to form a realistic looking branch. And on the end of each of the branches was a piece of pink stained glass shaped into a cherry blossom. The pinkette had no idea how someone could even make something of that detail out of glass. When she opened the tree sculpture from Naruto her heart stopped, it was so beautiful. She remembered asking but he never told her how much he had paid for it, he told her that it didn't matter, he was happy to get it.

Thinking that over Sakura couldn't help but feel tears for in the corners of her eyes once again. But these tears were different from the ones before, she couldn't help but smile and be happy at that memory. Naruto always went out of his way to make her happy and to get her nice things. She couldn't figure out why he had feelings for her though, she had never once returned his feelings and was rarely even nice to him as kids. So why did he always try to make her happy?

"It's a shame." The pinkette said the the empty bathroom, coming out of her thoughts.

"Once he starts dating someone he won't be able to do things like that for me anymore. I was really getting used to getting that close to him. It may suck but he should be with who he wants to be with, I should stop acting all clingy and let him date someone."

Her back starting to get sore from being in the same place for so long caused her to reposition herself in the warm water of the tub.

"I admit it, if he would've asked me out with the sakura tree gift on my last birthday I would've said yes. I would've at least agreed to one date." The pinkette couldn't help but remember the look on his face when he handed her the gift.

"He's always been so nice and sweet to me. Always asking how I'm feeling or asking if he can do something for me. And now that he's grown up… honestly he's hot. I couldn't think of anyone else in the village who'd I even consider dating. Shikamaru, Choji, Lee, Shino and Kiba are just too much like brothers to me for me to consider dating them. But with Naruto, it's different. Yes we're really close, I'm closer with him than any other guy in the village, but with him it's different. I don't feel that same kind of brotherly or friendly love like with the others." The pink haired medic held her chin in her hands.

"I can't describe it… I've never felt this way towards anyone besides Naruto." Her mind froze at her words. She eyes shot open. Did she just say that?

"Is that it?" She asked herself in a quiet voice.

"Do I, do I have… feelings for him?" Pausing at her words she thought over her question. Yes she admitted that Naruto was very attractive but was that it? He was always nice and kind to her but is that everything there was?

"Do I like him?" She asked, her voice low and shaky. She thought about it in her head. It would explain her recent actions and feeling towards him over the past few weeks, like how she always got jealous whenever another girl asked him out or just a while ago when she climbed on is back to massage him. Was all of that jealousy because she liked him without realizing it?

The pinkette shook her head of her thoughts realizing that the water in the tub had started to go cold. She had been in here for longer than she meant to. How long had it been? No doubt Naruto would be starting to get concerned over how long she'd been in here. He probably thought something was wrong.

Standing up the pink haired medic ran through all of her thoughts in her head again before stopping on her question if she liked Naruto.

"I, I don't know. I mean, we're really close and he's always really sweet to me but I don't know if I like him like that. Maybe, I don't know. It couldn't be that bad though, dating him, I'm sure that if he liked me anymore that it might be actually kind of fun." She sighed as she dried herself off and tried to warm herself up from the cold air.

"Does he like me?" She asked herself, stopping in her tracks.

"I know that he used to have a major crush on me when we were kids but that's all it was right, a childhood crush?" Thinking about it as she changed into her underwear and her nightgown she stopped once again when she thought of something.

"But what if it wasn't just a childhood crush?" Thinking of the sakura tree that he got her she realized how many gifts he had gotten her over the years. Also all of the times he complimented her on how she looked, she couldn't help but blush a little.

"Were all of those gifts and compliments a subtle way of telling me that he liked me? They couldn't be, could they? Why did he stop telling me that he liked me? If he liked me then why did he stop asking me out?" Once again her mind jumped to that day in the Land of Iron.

"That's why, because you don't anymore. You can't still have those same feelings for me after what I did to you that day. I must've broken your heart. There's no way that you would still like me after that."

Once again the pinkette tried to shake her head clear of thoughts in order to think. She couldn't decide whether or not she believed that he still liked her or not. Yes he was nice, sweet, kind and would occasionally get her a gift or take her out for lunch after he got back from a mission but that was nothing out of the ordinary, right?

The Pink haired ninja's mind was overflowing with thoughts, her mind was a jumbled mess at the moment. The best course of action right now would be to stop thinking about it for awhile and let her mind calm down so that she could think rationally. This wasn't something to rush, she had to make sure she has one hundred percent certain either way before coming up with any ideas of what to do as the next step. If he did like her would she tell him how she felt? Would he even believe her? If he didn't like her would she tell him anyway to get it off her chest or just leave it alone? She had no idea.

XxxxxXxxxxX

(Naruto/Kurama POV. Note: Used for Kurama's text.)

Back to our blond haired young hero he has done everything in his power to not watch her through the shoji screen, he's tried reading a book, sorting his supplies and clothing for the mission, he tried playing a few board games with his clones and he is now currently trying to meditate on the bed to distract himself from looking at her shadowed form through the screen.

But try as he may the young hero couldn't bring his view away from his crush. Even through the shoji paper screen he could easily see her outline and shadow clear as day. He couldn't help himself, she was in the perfect position to spy on her body. She was turned to the side so with every motion he could see her bust through the screen. What surprised him was that she never even once looked over to see if he was watching her. Did she trust him that much? The young hero didn't know how to feel, he promised yet here he was watching her. He couldn't help it.

"Come on, just stand up once so I can see your whole figure, Sakura-chan. Come on, do it already." The blond hero was hoping for her to stand like she was now to the side so that he could see the outline of her butt.

As he was trying to turn away from watching her Kurama spoke up inside his mind.

"I thought that you promised that you wouldn't watch her bathe? You do realize that you just lied to her, right?"

Naruto entered the prison in his seal and came face to face with the fox. He replied:

"I said that I wouldn't try to peek at her, I'm technically not peeking at her, I'm watching her shadow. Neither of us said anything about that." He saw the fox demon give an amused smile.

"And they say that foxes are sly. Well just don't come crying to me when she catches you and lays your butt out on the floor. If you deserve it then I won't heal you. I've got better things to do then heal your sorry butt everytime she hits you."

The blond hero stepped closer to the open cage that Kurama slept in.

"You've got better things to do? Like what, sleep?"

"You better believe it, kid. I'm the nine-tailed fox, I'm meant for more than your personal medic whenever you do something stupid and end up getting hurt."

The blond looked a little sad.

"But if you're not going to heal me then who is?"

"Ask your girlfriend over there in the tub, she a medical ninja. She should be able to heal you up after she knocks you out just fine."

Naruto sighed and sat down on the mighty fox's enormous paw.

"Sakura's not my girlfriend, Kurama. She's just a friend. And besides, she's not going to hit me, she promised."

The demon let out a breath out of his nostrils.

"Well not everyone keeps their promises, Naruto. Not everyone is as genuine as you. So don't expect her to actually keep that promise."

Naruto looked up the fox and grew a little upset at his words.

"What are you trying to say, Kurama? That Sakura's not going to keep her promise? That she lied to me?"

The large demon fox only nodded his head in reply.

The hero crossed his arms and turned his away from his friend.

"Why do you always have to be like that, Kurama? Why do you always say that she's lying to me?" The blond questioned.

"Because all she's ever done is lie to you, kid." The powerful demon replied.

"You always run around trying to gain her affection and you always end up getting hurt, both physically and emotionally. All she ever does is hurt you, Naruto." Naruto looked to his large friend and couldn't help but smile.

"I, I just don't want to see you get hurt by her anymore, kid. Okay?"

Naruto let out a little laugh.

"Awe, Kurama. I knew that you liked me. But who knew that you had this softer side to you?" He joked.

The mighty chakra beast seemed to get a little flustered at Naruto's words.

"It's not like that, kid. It's just… that we're connected. I feel everything you feel. I feel the same way you feel whenever you are around her. And I also feel the same way whenever she does something to hurt you."

"Let's just put it this way, kid. I've known you for your entire life. I've been with you every day. Through every hardship through every heartache, I've been there. But I've also had to feel and share that pain as well. So believe me when I tell you that I know you better than anyone. You can't hide anything from me. I've always been here watching your life through your eyes."

The mighty demon lowered his huge head closer to Naruto.

"Even though I never thought it true, you've considered me your closest and oldest friend. And I… have learned to feel the same. Besides the old man of the Sixth Paths I've never been this close to a human before. I truly consider you a close friend."

The hero of the Leaf let out an 'awe'.

"And as your friend I strongly advise that you forget about pursuing this relationship with Sakura. It's only because I'm your friend that I'm saying this; I think that you should top trying to be with her, forget about her and move on to another girl. There are girls all over who like you, go and be with one of them. Surely one of them could make you happy."

The hero reeled back and punched the mighty beast. Though it was not even close enough to hurt. Naruto was just upset.

"Yeah one of them could make me happy, but they wouldn't be her. They wouldn't be Sakura-chan." He ended with a smile.

The fox demon couldn't help but sigh.

"You'll never change, will you, kid? You'll never give up on anyone until your dying day."

The hero of the Leaf let out a smile and held out a fist which the demon returned with a fist bump.

"You better believe it, Kurama. Hell, I even managed to befriend you, a tailed beast. With enough work I'm sure that I can get Sakura-chan to know how I feel."

"Speaking of her you better get your mind back to your body, because she's calling you." Kurama smiled as Naruto's eyes widened as he focused to listen for her voice.

"Thanks for the talk, Kurama. I promise to talk to you soon, okay? So you don't feel lonely." He said with a smile.

"I don't get lonely. I'm the nine-tailed fox! I am the most power-" He was cut off when Naruto left the seal and his mind returned to his body, thinking:

'Sure you don't, Kurama. You just go on telling yourself that.' Coming back to reality Naruto was greeted with an attractive girl in an almost see through nightgown with a set of revealing underwear beneath it. She was waving in front of his face, trying to get his attention.

Surprised by seeing his crush in such revealing clothes he jumped back on the bed in instinct. Flailing his arms around like a lunatic.

"S-Sakura-chan? Wha- what's going on?" He asked, his mind melting, all the while trying not to look down from her eyes.

The pinkette gave a concerned look and leaned in closer much to the young hero's dismay.

"Are you okay, Naruto? I was calling you for like five minutes. Did something happen?"

"No no, I'm fine, Sakura-chan." He said as he waived the air. He was still trying to keep his eyes glued to hers but her cleavage under her nightgown was making that very difficult. She always lectured him for dressing 'inappropriately' whenever he didn't wear a shirt or was in his boxers or something, so how can she wear something like that and act like everythings fine?

"You sure you're okay, Naruto?" The pink haired medic asked.

"Do you want me to check you out with my healing chakra?" She asked kindly, still a little worried about him.

"I'm fine, don't worry about it. I was talking to Kurama, I couldn't hear you, sorry." He gave a sheepish smile. Hopefully she wouldn't ask what they were talking about. But of course she did.

"Oh Kurama. How is he? Is everything okay? What we you guys talking about?" She asked as she sat on the bed next to him, about a foot away but it was still really close considering what she was wearing.

The hero tried to think, no way he'd tell her what they were talking about, that just wouldn't end well. Quickly he came up with an answer.

"Nothing really, we were just talking to pass the time. You were taking a while in the bath so I decided to talk to Kurama since I had nothing to do." He tried to give a casual smile and apparently it worked because she believed him.

She let out an apologetic smile when he said that. She rubbed the back of her head and replied.

"Sorry about that, I didn't mean to be that long. I was in there for almost an hour until I realized how long it'd been. I got distracted thinking about stuff I lost track of time."

"No it's fine, no harm done. I'm not in that big of a rush, we have a little bit before we need to turn in for the night. I'll just go take my shower now." The young hero stood up and began to walk to the bathroom before passing by the love seat which had a pillow and a blanket thrown on top of it.

It took a second but Sakura realized that Naruto had planned to sleep there for the night. She smiled at this. She is surprised that he had the sense to know that even though they were going to be playing a couple for this mission that they couldn't sleep in the same bed. Even if they had technically slept next to each other before on a mission.

The Pinkette thought of that time when they had slept in the same bed for the first time. It was when they were on a mission in the Land of Iron a few months back, she had gotten terribly sick and couldn't walk. Naruto carried her for days before stopping in a snowdrift to wait out a storm. He knew that he needed to keep her from freezing during the night so he sat her on his lap and held her against his body to share his body heat. When that wasn't enough he summoned a dozen shadow clones to surround her. He had each clone remove their shirt so that they would be able to share body heat better. Sakura remembered going in and out of consciousness during that, one moment she's being carried by Naruto, the next she's in his lap with his arms around her and the next she's surrounded by a dozen shirtless Naruto's. Let's just say that it startled her. The second time when they shared a bed was after Naruto's fight with Sasuke, he was out for days. Sakura stayed by his side in the hospital the entire time, only leaving to go to the bathroom and check in with Lady Tsunade. Besides that she never left his side. She spent most of her days sitting next to him on his hospital bed waiting for him to wake up. She never really thought anything by it but she ended up falling asleep next to him on his bed. She woke up snuggled up against him. She couldn't help but smile at those memories.

'Wouldn't it be nice?' She thought to herself.

'Wouldn't it be nice to be able to sleep like that with him again? In both those memories we laid next to the other for comfort, for protection. Because we felt that special bond that I can't explain.' She sighed to herself. With every passing thought she was coming closer and closer to deciding that she actually liked him.

The blond hero walked into the bathroom right as the pinkette stopped him.

"Oh yeah, Naruto, wait." She called, stopping him in his tracks, he turned to see her.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I uh, I might've accidently used up all of the hot water, I'm sorry." She said a little nervously, she felt like an idiot for taking so long and for using all of the hot water.

The young hero raised a questioning eyebrow before he seemed to get what she said.

"Oh don't worry about it, Sakura-chan. I don't like taking hot baths. I haven't taken a hot shower in years. I only use cold water." The pinkette gave a shocked look.

"You don't use hot water?" She questioned. He nodded in reply.

"Why do you take a shower with cold water? How can you stand that? I have to have hot water with my bath."

The blond shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know, guess I just got used to it I guess. I haven't had hot water in my apartment for years. Guess I just grew up taking cold showers." He went to turn and walk away to take a bath but was stopped by the pinkette.

"Wait, you don't have hot water in your apartment?" She questioned. He gave her a nod of the head.

"Since when?" She continued. This made the blond think, how long had it been?

"A few years I guess. I think it went out when we were first taking the Chunin exams. It's been out since." The pink haired girl gave a shocked expression.

"And you've just been living without any hot water for all these years? Why didn't you tell Lord Third, or Lady Tsunade, or even Kakashi sensei? All three of them would've been happy to have someone come in and fix your hot water." The hero's face lowered a little and he shrugged.

"I didn't want to be a bother. They all had much more important things to do than have set someone up to fix my water."

"Naruto." She said stepping a little closer unconsciously. She was wondering why he didn't say anything.

"It's not like you would have inconvenienced them or anything. You know that, right? All you had to do was tell Lady Tsunade or Kakashi sensei and they would've just hired someone to come over and fix it. It would only take a few hours at the most."

She watched his face as it seemed to grow almost pained by something.

"I know how it works, I just didn't say anything as a kid because I didn't want anyone coming over to fix it." This confused Sakura, why didn't he want anyone to fix his hot water?

"Why's that, Naruto? You okay?" She asked, she could see his pained expression, it was a rare sight on his usual smiling face.

It took a few seconds but he finally answered.

"Because I saw how the villagers saw me, they thought I was a demon. And I didn't want one of them coming into my house. And besides, I was doubtful that anyone would've even agreed to go into my house." His eyes studied the floor as her eyes studied his face.

She stepped to him and placed a soothing hand on his shoulder.

"Naruto, I understand a little bit about them not wanting to go in your house but why are you so against them going in your house to begin with? I've been in your house plenty of times, so has Kakashi sensei." He gave her a weak smile.

"I let you guys in there because I trust you." She gave him a questioning look and he sighed, he didn't really want to talk about this story but he seemed like it was the only way to tell her why.

"When I was a kid before I entered the academy a group of about a half dozen of the villagers broke into my apartment in the middle of the night. I didn't know it then but they did, I had a demon inside me. They of course hated me and wanted me to leave. So they broke in and attempted to scare me out of the village." He slumped against the wall and Sakura started growing concerned, this was very unlike Naruto.

"I was only five years old. I was asleep in my room when they broke into my room. They were dressed in all black robes and wore these demon and monster masks. One of them… one of them swung a sword at me in an attempt to scare me." He paused for a few seconds and Sakura found herself rubbing his shoulder in comfort without realizing that she started.

"Needless to say he missed, he ended up slicing my chest open. I, I was so scared, Sakura-chan. I was still young, I had no idea why the village hated me. Well soon after realizing that he had actually hit me they all freaked out and left, probably worried that Kurama would've gotten pissed and attacked them."

"I remember lying in my bed for hours not being able to move I was so scared. It took almost two days before the pain was unbearable and I went to Lord Third who in return sent me to the hospital. The doctor told him that I should've died from that slice. I didn't realize it until later but the only reason I survived was because Kurama had been secretly healing me." He stopped talking and turned his gaze from her. He didn't like talking about or even thinking about those times when he was a kid.

The pinkette remained silent and motionless except for her hand which she kept rubbing his shoulder and back for comfort. She didn't know what to say. She knew that Naruto had a rough childhood growing up but she didn't even imagine that anything like that happened to him. Not knowing what to do she did the only thing she knew to do in a situation like this. She comforted him.

In a single motion she brought her other hand up and wrapped her arms around the blond hero, hugging him with all her might. She looked to him and could see tears forming in the back of his eyes. She couldn't stand the thought of her Naruto being in such pain without her.

"I'm sorry, Naruto, if I would've known then I wouldn't of kept asking. I'm sorry." She continued her embrace for a few seconds before she felt him return the hug. Unbeknownst to her he was being extra careful as to not hug her too tight. He was having a hard time controlling the feelings that he suppressed for so long.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. It's not your fault, you couldn't have known. I'm fine now, thanks." The hero said softly after what felt like a few hours but was actually just a half a minute of silence between the two in each other's arms.

The blond went to pull away and we realised that the pinkette had no intention of letting him go. She didn't want to see Naruto like that, while he said that he was fine she knew him well enough to know that he was lying. He didn't want her to worry so he put on a brave face.

"Don't lie to me, Naruto. You can't hide anything from me. I know that you're not fine." She increased her grip on him and hugged him tighter, completely unaware that her body was pressed into his.

"Whether you like it or not you're going to stay here and hug me until I'm certain that you're okay. You always say that you're not hurting so that those around you don't worry." She began to get a little choked up herself.

"Don't you know that we care for you, Naruto? Lady Tsunade, Kakashi sensei, everyone from our academy class, me, we all care for you. Don't you know that it hurts us to see you hurt? You can't go around pretending that you're fine and smiling to the world when you're hurting."

She paused for a few seconds to catch her breath and to think of her next words.

"Naruto, promise me right now, and this promise means more to me than any other I've asked before, more than Sasuke, more than anything. That if you're ever hurting that you'll let me know. That you'll be honest with me, never lie to me about how you truly feel. You shouldn't have to go through anything alone. I'll always be here for you. Can you promise me that, Naruto? That you'll always tell me if you're hurting and to never lie to me about how you feel?" She asked as she finished by looking into his cerulean blue eyes.

For some time neither of them spoke before a small smile stretched across his face and he returned her hug again.

"I promise, Sakura-chan. I promise that I'll tell you if I'm hurting. I also promise to tell you how I really feel. I swear on my life. If this is more important to you than bringing Sasuke back then I'll be certain to always be honest with you." The two teens stood there in there room for a few more minutes before either of them even thought about letting go.

"Thanks Naruto." Sakura said as she loosened her grip before letting go and stepping back from him.

"Are you all better now?" She asked with a smile. She knew that answer.

"Of course." He replied.

"I had you there to comfort me, I've never had anyone there like that before, feels… nice." He said with a smile.

"Well if you ever need a hug then you know who to call, I'll always be here if you need me, Naruto. We all will."

She gestured to the bathtub and did a little shooing motion with her hand.

"Now go take your bath, it's late, we need to be getting to sleep."

The blond hero thanked her with his signature smile that, unbeknownst to him could melt her heart if he did it right, and walked into the bathroom and began to get ready for his cold bath.

XxxxxXxxxxX

***Author's Note***

Thanks for reading, please leave a Review, Follow and Favorite. Please let me know what you thought of this chapter.

Until next time, this has been Hephaestus.