The Melody of the Fox
Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto.
Chapter 36
Tayuya smiled softly to herself as she spooned some soup into her bowl. She didn't know why, but she'd gotten up extra early to make breakfast. It'd taken her the better part of an hour to whip everything up, though most of the time she wasn't really all there. Instead, she'd found her mind constantly drifting to the night before where she'd either fucked up or strengthened her relationship with Naruto.
She'd kissed him. Uzumaki Naruto. She'd grabbed him by the shirt and slammed her lips against his without even asking his permission. God, he was probably repulsed by her now. Or maybe he'd liked it. Perhaps he didn't even know how to feel about it, since she sure as hell didn't. Fuck, what if he still loved Sakura and was upset with her? She angrily slammed the spoon back into the pot as she found her mind once again spiraling downwards. Oh, right, that's why she'd gotten up early and made enough food to feed ten people.
Of course, she'd done all of this after staring at Naruto's sleeping face for a good five minutes. Not intentionally, but it was hard not to wake up in the same bed with someone and not spend some time wondering how you got there after the life altering event they'd just shared. She'd been still wearing her blue dress–that had ridden up until it just above mid thigh–and he was only wearing his pants. Apparently, he'd thrown his shirt off at some point during the night. Either that or they'd had a drunken make out session, which wouldn't have made much sense given that neither of them had been drunk and she'd definitely remember something like that.
Even if the chances that that had happened were slim, the thought still brought a tiny smile to her face. She sat down at the small table in the kitchen and began to eat, eyes lighting up at how good it tasted. For someone who'd just started cooking a couple of years ago, she was amazing at it. She never thought she'd ever cook for anyone else let alone herself, but here she was. Maybe Naruto would see that as a selling point and could overlook the fact that she was occasionally rude and a little violent.
"You're in a good mood," Anko mumbled, tired and bleary eyed as she shuffled into the kitchen.
Tayuya glanced up from her soup, eyebrows arching slightly. "Huh? No I'm not."
The jounin shot her a deadpan frown. "You were just humming. You don't hum."
The redhead averted her gaze, feeling a little uncomfortable under Anko's scrutinizing gaze. She actually hadn't even noticed she was doing it. "I hum sometimes."
"I've spent almost every day with you for the past two and a half years. You don't hum. Something good happen last night?" she asked, wiggling her eyebrows as she suggestively picked up a banana from the fruit bowl.
Luckily, Naruto walked into the kitchen, saving her from more invasive questions. His face flushed as soon as his eyes landed on his teammate's, and it was all he could do not to look away. "Hey, Tayuya-chan," he mumbled, unable to stop the slight waver in his voice as he spoke.
Tayuya felt her heart jump into her throat at his voice. It was the first thing he'd said to her since she'd kissed him, and she found that she couldn't even begin to read his expression. Was he upset? Happy? What the hell was he thinking in that big, stupid blond head of his? "Hey yourself." She was oddly proud of how strongly her voice had come out considering how unsure she felt at the moment.
Anko looked from Naruto, to Tayuya, and back again. They both had an equally sheepish look on their faces, and it was then that the woman realized what was up. "No," she gasped, the banana that had been in her hand falling onto the countertop. "You know what? I'm out of here. I'm too tired to even begin to deal with this."
He waited a minute or so after Anko walked out of the kitchen before speaking. "So," Naruto started, digging his fingernails into the orange he'd grabbed from the fruit bowl. He didn't really know how to ask, but he had to know.
Right after they'd kissed, a drunk Kankurou had stumbled out of the club with Temari, Gaara, and two other girls in tow. He'd been too busy trying to keep Kankurou from falling over himself to really ask Tayuya why she'd kissed him, and she'd been too busy trying to keep one of the girls' hands off of Naruto (the same girl who'd tried dry humping him earlier) to ask how he felt about it. In the end, they'd fallen into bed exhausted without saying another word to each other. At least that's how he remembered the rest of the night going.
"So," he started again, taking a deep breath, "Why'd you kiss me?"
Tayuya shrugged her shoulders. She had to admit that she was a little put off by his straightforwardness. She expected a lot more hemming and hawwing before he got around to asking her. "I dunno. Felt like it."
"Oh." He nervously tossed the orange from hand to hand. "So, like, what did you mean by it?"
She shrugged again, still not quite meeting his eyes. "What do you want it to mean?"
"I dunno." He raised his head to look at her, taking a deep breath. "Look, Tayuya-chan, I..." He saw her face crumble slightly even though she tried to hide it. He knew he should come clean about everything before things got too serious, but he couldn't bear to see her upset. Not after they'd just reconciled.
"Hey, what smells good?" Kankurou yawned, scratching his bare stomach as he stumbled into the kitchen. Luckily his eyes were still closed, so he missed Naruto suddenly dropping his orange and Tayuya picking up her spoon and becoming a little too interested in her food.
"O-oh, uh, Tayuya-chan made breakfast," Naruto stuttered, neck turning a light red.
"Really? Sweet!" He poured himself a bowl of her soup and took a sip, nodding appreciatively at the taste. "So, dude, those girls I took home? Fucking crazy! I could barely feel my legs when I woke up this morning, and then we did it again! I'd offer you a piece of them, but I already kicked them out." He took another long swallow from his bowl and sighed. "So, are we training or what? You might actually win today with me being exhausted and all."
Naruto glanced over at Tayuya to see that she was quite content to just slowly sip her miso soup and not look at him, so he grinned and nodded. "Yup! Just let me get dressed." He turned on his heel and exited the kitchen, shooting one last, helpless glance at his teammate.
As soon as the blond was out of sight, Kankurou turned his eyes on the redhead. "What about you? You training with Temari?" His eyebrows furrowed slightly as he noticed the pink hue of her skin. "What's with your face? You sick from last night?"
Tayuya shook her head a little too quickly. "No, I just uh. This heat. You know."
The jounin nodded in understanding. "Yeah, it takes awhile to get used to. Try sucking on ice cubes––it helps."
"Thanks. I'll do that."
Kankurou raised his eyebrows. "I don't know you very well, but you don't seem like the thanking type. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Would you just fuck off already?!"
"There's the Tayuya I think I sorta know and love!" Her glare deepened, so he wisely took his bowl of soup and left the kitchen, leaving the girl alone to her own thoughts.
––––––
Tayuya read over the scroll for what felt like the millionth time that day. It was late afternoon, and she'd been trying since morning to get the stupid technique down. The most annoying part was that it really wasn't that hard. All she was doing was making a fucking mountain, which really should have been cake for her. Her chakra reserves were plenty large enough to do it, and she'd performed similar techniques dozens of times over the years.
Hell, she had almost as much chakra as she did while using the stage 1 cursed seal. It had initially bothered her that she'd become so powerful shortly after receiving the Sozo Saisei, but after a few months, she'd learned to accept it. And why shouldn't she? Just because Orochimaru's power boost came with a shitload of drawbacks didn't mean the Sozo Saisei did, too. Besides the whole 'dying a few years earlier' thing (which really didn't matter considering her profession had such a high mortality rate to begin with), she hadn't noticed any other adverse effects.
Tayuya shook her head, realizing that she was getting lost in her thoughts again instead of focusing on her technique. At least she wasn't thinking about Naruto and that stupid kiss this time. She ran through the seals at a slower pace to make sure that she was doing them right and slammed her hands into the ground. "Ninpou: Earth jutsu!" Instead of the mountain she was expecting, a pathetic handful of dirt sprung up from the ground. Frustrated, she slammed her fist into the tiny mound of sand and swore loudly.
A shadow passed over her a few seconds later, and she could immediately tell by the shadow's four ponytails who it was. "I'm pretty sure that's not how you perform that jutsu," a light, amused voice said from behind her.
Tayuya rolled her eyes. "Golly gee whizzers, that's sure nice of you to point out. Oh, hey, did you also notice that I was flipping you off?"
"Your mind's not clear. You're thinking too hard about something else and not molding your chakra correctly," Temari said, sitting down next to her and squinting at the scroll.
"Yeah? What tipped you off?" she grumbled.
Temari sighed. She knew that Tayuya was trying to goad her into a fight to shift the attention off of herself, but it wasn't going to work this time. "So, you gonna tell me what's up with you and Naruto?"
The way Tayuya winced confirmed Temari's suspicion that she was trying to distract her. "There's nothing up with us."
The blonde leveled her with a deadpan stare. "I just finished watching Kankurou kick Naruto's ass around the training grounds with a puppet for the past hour. There's obviously something going on."
Tayuya huffed. Temari was really starting to annoy her, and it wasn't like her to dance around an issue anyway, so she decided to just say it. "I kissed him."
"What kind of kiss? How long? Any tongue? Did he grab your ass?" the blonde asked, eyes shining as she leaned forward.
The genin sat back, uncomfortable with both the questions and the raping of her personal space. "I don't know, a regular kiss! It doesn't matter since he hasn't even said if he liked it or not."
Temari was quiet for a good few minutes, face screwing up in thought. Every now and then she'd tilt her head to one side, and subconciously, Tayuya found herself mirroring the blonde's actions.
After awhile, Tayuya couldn't take it anymore. "What?!"
"I was trying to decide who should make the first move."
"What are you talking about? I already did."
"No, I mean..." she lifted her hands, made a hole with one of them, and pushed the pointer finger of her other hand into it.
Tayuya's face instantly flushed, and her mouth dropped open in horror. "Gross!"
Temari smirked. "Is it?"
The redhead jumped to her feet, apparently tired of talking. "I'm gonna shower your skeeziness off. I don't know why I even bothered telling you."
Laughing, Temari grabbed Tayuya's wrist. "Hold on a second, will you?"
"What?"
It took her a couple of seconds, but she was eventually able to slow her laughing into a slight giggle. "Look, in all seriousness, you should probably play it cool for awhile. You don't want to scare Naruto away by demanding he give you an answer or pressure him into a relationship he doesn't want."
"I don't want a relationship either!" she exclaimed, not quite believing her own words. "But do you want me to just act like it never happened? There's no way that'll work."
"I'm not saying you can't talk about it, but if he doesn't bring it up, you shouldn't either. Give the guy some time to figure it all out, you know?"
Tayuya slowly nodded her head, finding Temari's advice to make a surprising amount of sense. She herself couldn't make heads or tails of the situation, so Naruto would definitely be lost. "I guess. Thanks."
"No problem. Although I give it a week before you two are..." she once again shoved the pointer finger of her right hand into her left, trying not to laugh at the disgusted look on Tayuya's face.
"That's it, I'm fucking out of here."
"You can't deny it forever!" she called as Tayuya stalked away. Once she was far enough away to not be seen, Temari grinned. The next couple of months were going to be fun.
Lying in bed, Naruto stared up at at the ceiling of the bedroom. Technically, he wasn't supposed to be here. Technically, Tayuya still hated him and had never given him permission to come crawling back to their bed. Somehow, though, he didn't think she'd mind too much.
He nervously licked his lips and glanced towards the open doorway for the tenth time in as many as minutes. Any minute now, Tayuya would come walking in, freshly showered and ready for bed. Her long red hair would still be fairly moist and limp since she hated drying it, and she'd smell like fresh strawberries with a hint of grass mixed in. It was an odd combination now that he thought about it, but it was one he wouldn't change for the world.
The soft padding of bare feet on hardwood immediately drew his attention, and he quickly sat up in case Tayuya actually did try to attack him.
"Oh, you're in here," Tayuya said, pausing slightly in surprise before continuing to walk into the room.
Naruto shrugged and smiled weakly, relieved that she didn't seem upset by his presence. "I figured this would be the best time to catch you. I wanted to talk." Her face dropped into a slight frown, causing his to do the same. Well, that wasn't a good sign.
"What did you want to talk about?" she asked, standing unsurely at the foot of the bed. She ignored Naruto's incredulous stare in favor of looking down at her quickly chipping toenail polish. It had been Temari's idea to paint them, and just like she figured, the junk hadn't even lasted a full day. It was impossible for it to stay on since they trained everyday and wore open toed sandals most of the time.
"The kiss," Naruto said exasperatedly, unable to believe that she was going to try to sweep the whole thing under the rug.
Tayuya winced. "Oh. Yeah." She bit the inside of her lip and looked around the room, refusing to meet his gaze. "Sorry."
The silence between them was deafening. Both were at a loss for what to say but for very different reasons. Finally Naruto was able to find his voice again, though just barely. "Sorry?" he practically whispered. "I thought you...I don't know, liked me back," he mumbled.
At this, the redhead snapped her head up to look at him. Her heart hammered against her ribcage, and her body suddenly felt warm all over. "Liked you back? Wait, do you like me?" Asking him the question made her feel like a little girl with her first crush, but she didn't care. Not right now.
Naruto's face was flushed, and now it was he who couldn't meet her eyes. "Well, yeah, I guess. I dunno."
A slight pressure on the bed made him glance up, and he was surprised to see that she was now sitting on the bed facing him. The way her light brown eyes stared intently into his was a little intimidating if he was being honest with himself, and he could practically see the eagerness in her eyes. "Do you or don't you? Spit it out!"
Now full on blushing, he sighed angrily and shrugged. "I do, okay?! I-"
He never got to finish his sentence as Tayuya had sprung forward and kissed him, shoving her lips forcefully against his. He just barely remembered to kiss her back this time, and his arms instinctively wrapped themselves around her waist.
She crawled forward another few inches and forced him back against the headboard, wanting to get as much of his lips as possible even though there was nothing more to take. She felt her head pound with excitement-or maybe it was her heart-and the only thing keeping her from moving even closer to him was the feeling of his hands pushing her back by the shoulders.
They panted roughly, staring at each other with a mix of confusion and disappointment. She still felt too lightheaded from the kiss to form a complete sentence, so she uttered the only word she could grasp. "Why?"
Naruto seemed to be similarly out of sorts as he took a few seconds to speak. "Why did you say sorry for kissing me?"
Tayuya sat back on her haunches, looking distinctly uncomfortable. Her mind was suddenly a lot clearer, almost as if it'd sobered up after a long night of drinking. "Well, you were the first guy I ever kissed, and I didn't really ask if it was okay with you. I thought you might be mad."
A dark look flashed across his face, but it disappeared almost as soon as it came. "I'm not the first guy you kissed. You kissed Musashi, remember?" he mumbled, unable to stop the bitterness from creeping into his voice. He instantly knew he'd said the wrong thing when he saw her furious expression. Gone was the beautiful, slightly shy Tayuya he'd just been kissing. She was back to her normal, angry self again.
"Let's get one fucking thing straight," she spat, grabbing his chin tightly in her hand. "Musashi kissed me. Alright?"
He wanted to argue that that was a technicality, but at the same time, he realized that he was being stupid. It was just...the thought that someone else had tasted her lips before him rubbed him the wrong way. He felt horribly selfish, but he wanted to keep Tayuya to himself now that he had her. He never wanted her to even touch another guy, let alone kiss them.
Naruto blinked at this train of thought, realizing how ridiculous he was being. He was acting creepy and possessive when they hadn't even agreed on anything. "Sorry," he mumbled, only half meaning it.
Her anger immediately dissipated, and he was relieved when she smiled again. "Whatever, doesn't matter." She leaned forward and pecked him on the lips, finding the simple action addictive. Each time she did it, a slight tingle ran from her lips to her toes, and before she knew it, she was moving in for another.
Tayuya squeaked slightly when Naruto flipped them around and lie her on her back, apparently growing tired of her setting the pace. She barely had time to reorient herself before he was kissing her again, this time slowly and softly. She couldn't decide whether to keep her eyes open or closed and her arms lie awkwardly at her sides, but all of that changed when she felt his hand tightly grip her hip. A groan slipped out of her throat, and almost against her will, her hips pressed up into his.
She was only wearing a tank top and a pair of shorts, having decided to forego underwear since she frankly found them uncomfortable to sleep in. If she'd known that this was going to happen, she might have reconsidered. When his chest accidentally brushed against her quickly hardening nipples, she gasped and broke the kiss, only to have him find her lips again a second later. Their kissing wasn't as clumsy as she thought it'd be, and surprisingly enough, it was actually getting better. Much better.
His hands were beginning to roam a bit, rubbing her sides and stomach in slow, lazy strokes. He was being careful not to get too close to any of her more private areas, which was something she both appreciated and loathed. Half of her wanted him to just rip her clothes off so that they could really start having fun, but the other half was glad that he wanted to take things slow. It made her feel like he truly respected her, even if she didn't necessarily want him to.
As he hovered above Tayuya, Naruto's mind began to race. What about Sakura-chan? A voice that sounded distinctly like the Kyuubi's retorted 'What about her?' and even though he was loathe to admit it, he had to admit that 'the voice' had a point. Tayuya was just as beautiful, smart, nice (when she wanted to be) and probably twice as sexy as Sakura-especially considering that the girl beneath him was at least a full cup size larger.
His eyebrows furrowed slightly at the thought of her being sexy. If he was being honest with himself, he'd always been sort of attracted to her. Even when she wasn't walking around in skimpy night clothes, everything about her commanded his attention. Her strength, her laugh, the cute way her nose crinkled when she scowled...
In fact, her attractiveness was the reason he'd nearly ruined one of his best shirts the night before. After waking up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, he'd returned to their bed to see that Tayuya's dress had ridden up well above her waist, fully exposing the simple, black boyshorts she'd been wearing underneath. His nose had immediately begun to drip blood as it all rushed to his head, and it'd taken the better part of ten minutes to wash most of the stain out.
Being the gentleman he was, he'd pulled her dress down upon returning to bed in what had to be the scariest thirty seconds of his life. He couldn't imagine how he'd explain himself if she'd woken up while he was straightening her clothes.
He wasn't sure how long they made out for, but at some point, their kissing had begun to slow until they were just staring at each other. When she broke out into a wide smile that reached her eyes, Every coherent thought was instantly wiped from his mind. It was the first inkling he felt that he might actually be in love with her. He fully realized that it was probably a mixture of his hormones and the feel of her burning skin against his, but it was more than that. It had to be.
"Had enough of me already?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in silent challenge.
Naruto grinned down at her. "Never."
Satisfied by his answer, Tayuya leaned up on her elbows to place another kiss on his lips, closing her eyes to fully savor the contact. Never in a million years did she ever think this would happen. For years she was certain that she didn't even have a libido, but the butterflies flapping around in her stomach and her heartbeat going two hundred miles per hour told her otherwise.
When she reluctantly broke the kiss he expected her to move to her side of the bed, but she instead simply rolled over and pulled his arm around her. He caught the hint and moved closer to her body, spooning her from behind–which was a bit awkward since he hadn't fully calmed down yet. She didn't seem to mind, though, so he tightened his grip on her midsection and nuzzled his face into her hair before falling fast asleep.
AN: This is one of the hardest chapters I've ever had to write of any fic, holy fucking shit. Trying to convey that awkwardness and clumsiness and overthinking that comes with a new relationship-while keeping their base personalities-felt impossible. I had to throw out two versions before this one, and I'm still very 'eh' about it. I don't like the way it flows, either, because I stole parts from the previous two versions and slapped them together into this one. It's a little shorter than I like, but I just had to finish this and not let it slow me down anymore. It's been MONTHS.
Thanks for all of your opinions! I'm still a bit unsure, but right now I'm thinking raise it to M to accomodate some citrus and post the more hardcore stuff to /in a separate story(?). I mean, I'm not planning on writing a sex scene every chapter or anything.