A/N: Hello and welcome to another installment of Home! I appreciate any and all interest in this fic, reviews regarding your thoughts/criticisms are absolutely noted if you ever want to leave me some insight. This collection of one-shots is VERY loosely based off of the events of Naruto, Shippuden, and eventually Boruto(ish), but I wouldn't expect an accurate timeline or anything like that - the joys of fanfiction! I don't own anything but Akuri and the liquor involved in writing this, majority of the credit goes to Masashi Kishimoto. Delays are due to having to rewatch the series(to refresh myself on events/characters and to delve further into all of the spoilers, THANKS INTERNET AND UNCOUTH CONVERSATIONALISTS) and my regular wifely duties, writing is unbeta'd although I double-check it before it is published; I beg for your forgiveness on both fronts.
X Naruto X
There were times in the lives of Shinobi where their fate would be determined by a critical decision or a fatal mistake, some would live well into the age of retirement whereas others became memories with names on a plaque being all that remained. The days following the death of Asuma were hard on everyone who'd had the pleasure of knowing the Jonin, perhaps the worst of it shouldered by disciple of the late Sandaime's son. I spent many, many weeks with the Chuunin in hopes of showing my support in this dark period of grievance, the typically lethargic genius seemingly more torpid than I'd ever witnessed while he mourned the death of his mentor. Grief looked different on every single person I'd ever known; an emotion that never really registered on my radar, though I was learning aspects of it painfully and slowly. Those weeks eventually stretched into months divied up between work, training, and my friends. I still lived with Akuri, but it seemed that we only ever caught quick glimpses and rushed kisses over this recent stretch of time.
It was later in the evening when I finally returned home, wondering on my walk if I would enter an empty house or if my partner would be present. Upon arriving at my destination, I smiled tiredly at the sight of the lights being on, though it fell into a look of confusion when I saw two shadows speaking in the light of the kitchen. One of the silhouettes was definitely Akuri, the other not maintaining the curvature of breasts much from where I could see. To investigate the potential of an unnamed man in my home, I approached the door and slotted my key into the hole to unlock it and let myself in.
"I'm home," I called out, stuffing my keys back into my pocket as I toed the sandals from my soles. At the sound of two feminine voices, any concerns I may have about a male guest had drifted to the back of my mind. "Who's here?"
My question was answered without words as I padded into the kitchen, Sakura and Akuri's expressions tight as they huddled together over steaming mugs of tea. The aroma saturating the kitchen confirmed my suspicions, the beverages consisting of lemon and ginger with healthy dollops of honey stirred into each ceramic cup. If I'd been without a brain, I would have commented on the differences in their shadows that led me to believe a very flat-chested dude had been here instead.
"I don't really like the look on your faces," I informed, frowning as I turned to the cabinet to fish out a mug of my own to enjoy the fragrant tea. Once it was doctored to my liking, I settled at a seating mat to join my partner and our company; their collective silence clouding my nerves with apprehension. "You two are never quiet like this...did something happen?"
The women across from one another at the low table exchanged a look that I didn't quite understand, Sakura's sage green eyes finally coming to meet my own with her lips pressed into an unreadable line. The tension at the table sent bugs under my skin and I fidgeted uncomfortably, repeating my question out of impatience and anxiety.
"A rescue team recovered Jiraiya," Akuri finally granted, "alive, but I truly don't know how."
My jaw fell open in shock and I scrambled to find the words, though my comrade beat me to it.
"He went to learn more about the Akatsuki and happened upon their leader. After their encounter, I'm sure he'd assumed that Master Jiraiya was dead and left him out in the rain," Sakura's words tumbled out like an alphabetical vomit, "he's been in surgery with Lady Tsunade for a better part of the evening, she sent me to inform you, Naruto."
I was stunned into silence, my heart sinking down below my stomach and every last hair on my body stood on end. It baffled me to know that the legendary Sannin had been bested in combat by someone so sinister, though I could hear the most reassuring thoughts come to mind as I began to imagine what had become of my teacher. Confidence in the Godaime's medical prowess and her comrade's strong will to press on, the utmost gratitude for the recovery from Amegakure and treatment of the man who'd become like a grandfather to me.
"H-he's alive, though, right?" I finally squeaked out, meeting the medical nin's concerned gaze, "you said he's in surgery?"
"He is," she confirmed, "and I need to get back to the OR in case m'lady needs me. Once he's stabilized and out of surgery, I'll have someone send for you to see him."
"Thanks.." I replied, though the expression sounded as numb as I felt, my thoughts clouded around the white-haired toad-sage and the ongoing procedure.
"We'll do our best, have some faith," the pinkette promised as she stood, smoothing out the bloodied white smock she wore before vanishing in a cloud of white smoke.
With my comrade gone and privacy having been restored, I allowed my face to sink into my palms as concern began to drown me. I stayed like that for long, long minutes while I processed this new and unsettling information. It was Akuri's slim form curling against me that brought my head up again, one arm slinking around her as I stared down at the steam curling from my barely-touched serving of tea. It seemed that my fears regarding the Akatsuki were not in vain, the power of the figurehead alone nearly enough to end the life of a revered ninja from Konokagakure would certainly be enough to rip the fox from my form and destroy the place I called my home.
"Tsunade and Sakura are some of the best in the land," Akuri comforted softly, "if they can fix up me, you, and everyone else without fail, there isn't a shred of doubt that they'll do their damnedest to get him back to the pervy sage we all know and love."
"It's not that I don't have confidence in their abilities," I elaborated, "the thing about this that scares me is that this guy was able to beat the pervy sage, one of the most incredible shinobi I've ever seen. If this guy can almost kill a Sannin, what else is he capable of doing?"
The silence that settled between us was uncomfortable, uncertainty becoming disquietude while we spent time brooding together. This feeling wasn't one that typically lingered, my positivity generally being my driving force. Before long, we retired to our shared bed to attempt a few winks of sleep. The effort seemed to be in vain on my end, Akuri's chest rising and falling deeply while I stared at the ceiling from my resting place. My mind was running at a mile a minute, all of my fears and worries amplified by the recent news of my mentor. For a moment, I studied the kunoichi's slumbering face as more dread settled in and wondered if I'd be able to protect her in the event of an invasion. Hours of racing thoughts must have passed before I'd been dragged under the darkness of an unrestful sleep. My dreams themselves were plagued by the anxiety I felt, the once-peaceful experiences becoming the most corrupt of illusions.
I was relieved when I was woken, Akuri grumbling quietly as she stretched beside me and rolled out from under the covers to begin her day. It took me a moment of contemplation before I followed her into the kitchen, settling at the table while she got to work on the first kettle of tea and began her breakfast preparations. Neither of us spoke, I was content enough to watch her pad around the kitchen and perform one of our shared domestic duties. The scent of steaming rice filled our abode before long, the anbu plating up healthy servings for the pair of us before delivering both dishes on the tabletop. She finally took her seat after placing steaming ceramic mugs at both occupied seats.
"Thank you for the food," I expressed, bowing my head slightly in her direction before taking a hold of the dark wood chopsticks she'd deposited to the right side of my breakfast. With a practiced ease, I pinched a clump of grains between the ends of my utensils, leaning forward to take in the mouthful. The sudden knock at our front door startled me enough to drop my chopsticks onto the plate and into my meal.
"I've got it," Akuri insisted as I made a move to stand, getting to her feet faster than I could and strode over to the entryway to unlock and open the door. "Oh, Shizune. Come in, come in. I just made breakfast, would you like some?"
At the sight of the Hokage's attendant, I sat up at attention. I wondered then if Jiraiya's surgical procedure had been a success or if he'd succumbed to the wounds he'd sustained from the ringleader of the Akatsuki. Shizune settled beside me at our low table, offering me a kind smile from her place before she turned to Akuri to thank her for the serving of tea and rice.
"I'm sure you you know why I've stopped by so early," Shizune began after she'd inhaled a few healthy morsels of the seasoned grain, "Master Jiraiya's operation was a success and he's semi-conscious as of this morning."
"That's a relief," Akuri sighed, her tone mirroring the ease I now felt at the news. "When will he be roused enough for visitors?"
"It's a bit touch and go at the moment, so I couldn't give you an exact window for that," Shizune admitted, sipping at the steaming beverage that had been placed before her, "Lady Tsunade has him on pain medications and antibiotics, these ones are much stronger than what she'd given you after your procedure. They really effect his coherency and motor skills, so, we've decided to wait on visitors until he's able to lower his dosage without too much pain."
The remainder of our meeting was more or less small talk while we enjoyed our breakfast together, the Jonin taking her leave not long after her plate had been cleared and her mug drained. She pleasantly waved before exiting our home, gently closing the door to make her way back to the Godaime's office. Akuri doled out more rice and tea for the both of us, the perfectly seasoned dish going down easily. Once I'd finished, I stood and collected the dishware to deposit them into the sink, turning the faucet to coat each utensil in water to make the scrubbing portion easier.
"Finally, some good news," Akuri commented, rising from her place to meander to our bedroom. "Let's get dressed, we can go drop off some fresh flowers for Itasuke and leave some with Sakura for Jiraiya."
My heart became a little heavier at the mention, noting that I'd never disclosed that happening with the toad sage. For a moment, I wondered if the Sannin would have liked the thought of a mini-me. I didn't really know how much he liked children, if they were something exceptional or something bothersome in his eyes. To distract myself from the sad and obtrusive thought, I began the process of shedding my pajamas and exchanging them with my favored orange ensemble. Once I was sufficiently covered up, I turned to the full-length mirror to inspect myself for flaws. The sight of Akuri's nude reflection became the most interesting thing to focus on then, her long hair shaken out from it's restraints.
"You're making me want to undress," I revealed lowly, eyes trained on the dimples above her nether-cheeks. "It's been a while, too, you know?"
"Trust me, I know," she replied aloofly, bending over to rummage through a drawer for clothing articles. Her motion left my mouth dry, though the part of her that I could see wasn't parched in the slightest. My arousal was marred by a twinge of guilt, aware that the time I'd been dedicating to my close friend had taken it's toll on our sex life. I'd been gone from first light to starlight most days for what had to have been months, with only the occasional romp in our bed to show for it.
"I'm sorry," I expressed wholeheartedly, turning to finally face her head on. My next words were cut off by her mouth on mine, her naked body now fully pressed up against my own. Without having to think about it, my hands found the soft and warm skin of her lower back to make us physically closer.
"Don't be sorry," she huffed, dexterous fingers finding my zippers and buttons faster than I thought she might have, "just make it up to me this afternoon, okay?"
I didn't have to be told twice, turning us around to kiss her heatedly against the wall beside the mirror. My hands roved her form, fingertips happily reacquainting with every curve, scar, and stretchmark of her. The embers of wanting were stoked to a hearty flame, desire clouding my mind like a shroud I hadn't been under in ages and I was happy to be blinded by it. I needed this more than either of us realized at that moment in time, our mouths working against one another in fervor and hands pawing to grab hold of each other. The moment I felt my pants drop down to my ankles, I fished my straining erection from the froggy undergarments I wore before hauling my mate up to pin her between the wall and myself. Blue and green orbs darkened with lust when I caught them, grinding my hips forward to brush against her opening questioningly.
"Fuck me," she ordered breathlessly, reaching down between us to carefully position the head at her lips. "Don't forget to pull out."
"Noted," I rumbled, rocking forward and lowering her onto myself in the same fluid motion.
The snugness I'd buried myself into felt impossibly tight, every last part of my cock being stimulated by the silky walls of my partner, and I couldn't be still for much longer. Without a missed beat, I began to start working in and out of the groaning woman I'd sandwiched against our bedroom wall. Those slim fingers of hers dug deep into my shoulders to hang on for the ride, short nails making little crescents over the firmed skin that drove me to thrust harder. The sounds of our skin slapping together repeatedly coupled with breathy moans and ragged curses was eventually enough to help push Akuri over the edge of oblivion into her first climax, her internal muscles rippling and contracting so strongly that I had to think about my training with Gamakichi and Gamatatsu to prevent following her into carnal bliss.
"That good, huh?" I asked cockily, tightening my hold on her as she sagged against me to catch her breath. "Lucky for you, I guess. I'm not done with you, yet."
I deposited the shuddering Uchiha on the bed, rifling through the nightstand drawer to responsibly tear open a condom and roll it down over myself. Her milky thighs spread open invitingly despite having gone through the throes of orgasm so recently, hooded eyes fogged with desire still. Without any other hesitation, I crawled on top of her to slide back home and illicit another moan from her pretty pink lips. Nothing could ever compare to feeling the inside of her without some sort of barrier, but I'd learned to cope with the textural differences and enjoy the experience altogether.
"God, you feel good," she praised lowly, ankles locking behind my back. "I missed you, I missed this."
"So did I," I made out, focused more on scooping my hips to ensure I'd graze her g-spot. I'd noted the smallest raise inside of her once before and studied how her body responded to it being touched, looking forward to the keening I knew would come of it.
"Naruto!"
Her cries had escalated in volume the moment I'd found it, smirking in victory as I doubled my pace at that angle. I craned my neck to begin nipping and suckling at her neck and collarbone, leaving little reddened marks everywhere I went. All the stimulations were paying off, my partner's calls of pleasure raising and bouncing from the walls back to me. I kept at it, my efforts culminating and resulting in an earth-shattering orgasm being wrung out of us both before long had passed. Once I'd found myself completely spent, I withdrew and rolled off of Akuri to dispose of our small latex guardian.
"Ready to go get those flowers?" I asked her once I'd returned from the bathroom, grinning at the image of her sprawled on the mattress.
"You're the one who did all the work, yet it's my legs that aren't capable of getting up," she responded with a good-natured roll of her eyes, "you'll have to give me just a moment."
Once she'd regained control of her motor function, we joined the world of the dressed humans and ventured toward the Yamanaka floral shop in search of the perfect arrangements. I'd never really pictured myself as the type to frequent a florist, but I was finding it more familiar with every visit. Akuri had developed a peculiar interest in botany after her surgery, I'd noticed, her meticulous eyes picking apart every petal and stem.
"How about these?" I asked, pointing to a small grouping of pastel blue-dyed carnations tied with a simple white satin bow. "For Itasuke, I'm not sure what to pick out for the Pervy Sage."
"Good choice," she murmured, taking the bundle in hand. "I think we should choose peonies for him, I remember Ino telling me that those are a great gift to give someone while they're recovering."
"You're a great listener," Ino's compliment startled me nearly out of my skin, the blonde coming up from her place at the counter where I hadn't initially noticed her.
"I can retain some info here or there," Akuri returned kindly, "thanks again for your help the other day."
"Anytime," the Chuunin assured with a noncommittal wave of her hand. "Going with the carnations and peonies? I can wrap those up at the desk if you're ready."
The exchange took no more than a few minutes, our journey to the village hospital underway at last. Our first stop, once we'd arrived, was the infant cemetery to pay our loving respects to what would have been our son. Akuri was the one who knelt down first and tended to the memorial flora, her left hand coming to rest on the sun-warmed head stone for a few long moments. I soon joined her, covering her hand with my own as though this were the only way to channel our emotions below the earth and leave our love with Itasuke.
"I bet Jiraiya would have been the proudest grandpa," Akuri entertained sadly, "the worst example, but he would have loved Itasuke, I think."
"We never got to meet him, but I feel like he would have stolen the hearts of everyone in the village," I told her in earnest, "he'll always have mine."
We leaned into one another for comfort before standing to leave the fresh plants in the sunshine, our footsteps feeling a smidge heavier as we continued toward the reception desk. The two old biddies of graying blonde and brunette were at their permanent post at the intake, squabbling with glee amongst the two of them to determine who would greet us first.
"Well, hello there, my dears! It has been absolutely too long since I've seen your young faces!" The lighter-haired one gushed, wrinkled hands clasping and her sagging cheek leaning on the back of one like a pillow. "Who are you here to see, aside from me?"
"They didn't come for you, you old bag," the brunette bantered with a brief cackle, "clearly, they came to see me!"
The pair engaged in a playful tiff, their topic of debate being who our person of interest possibly could have been and I could feel Akuri's annoyance as well as my own. When I caught a glimpse of my partner, she'd inched away ever so slightly while the aging receptionists faced off with giggles and teasing. Successfully, we escaped the elders without their awareness and managed to locate the Sannin's lodgings on our own. The white-haired elder was fast asleep when we entered his room, a warm solace emanating from Naruto as he placed the arrangement on his end table and scribbled a note on a pad that had been there as well. Once he'd seemed satisfied with having seen Jiraiya at last, we made ourselves scarce to allow the old man some quiet recovery.
X (the significance of teachers, Akuri's POV)
The sound of my bedroom window sliding open alerted me to the snowy-haired Jonin crouched on my windowsill, one of her long pigtails hanging down low enough to brush along the foot of my bed.
"Doing okay after yesterday?" Yuki's caring question made me want to cry, but I held it in and stuck to the mild irritation I'd been feeling for more than a day.
"I hate everyone and I'm hungry," I retorted grumpily, "my brother and Naruto are lucky I love them."
"They definitely are," she chortled, climbing in the rest of the way to settle on my bed across from me. "I was stopping by to come check on you, but I just realized that I haven't had lunch yet, either. Want to grab a bento with me? There's a really cool place we could eat too, like a cute little picnic. My treat, clearly. You're undergoing one of the worst parts about being a woman."
"I did just say I was hungry," I pointed out, rolling out of my bed with some discomfort. My womb felt like it was the size of my house and dying to explode from my flesh, a symptom I'd have to endure for the next forty years of my life just for being born with internal bits rather than external. "How long is this supposed to last again? This sucks and I hate it."
"Four to seven days, it'll come back every month, and it'll happen every single month until you're most likely over fifty," Yuki professed glumly, "you can only get out of it if you're going to have a baby, which is the biggest no-no ever at this point in your life."
"Why do I have to have them? Why don't guys bleed out of their peens or something?" I demanded with exasperation, "Why do I have to be miserable?!"
"Boys wouldn't be able to handle it," she remarked with a laugh before addressing my third question. "Think about it like this: your uterus spent an entire month sprucing itself up for the baby that's coming. It was so excited, just so thrilled to finally have someone there."
I frowned at her analogy, but remained silent for the conclusion.
"She waits, and waits, and waits for the baby to get there, but she finally realizes that there won't be a baby coming to this beautifully decorated and healthy uterus," she continued. "So, she decides to trash the entire house because she's so angry about it."
Yuki's humor was her own brand and I found that I appreciated it more than I'd ever realized, her comments and jokes were typically able to pull me from my foulest of moods when she happened to be around me. Without much further discussion, I accompanied the Jonin to a small restaurant I'd never visited before called Umami. I followed my mentor into the establishment, all sorts of decadent and savory scents flooding my nose and making my mouth water.
"What's the biggest and best thing you've got today?" Yuki inquired at the service counter, dark eyes glittering joyfully. "We're in dire need of a girls' day lunch, you see."
The clerk explained a small handful of the day's available dishes, all of them sounding delectable. The kunoichi selected three of their largest items to be packaged to-go and covered our tab, our order appearing on the counter within fifteen minutes of placing it. With an extra pep in our steps, my sensei led me to one of the largest fields of wildflowers I'd ever seen in the village. My jaw dropped as I stared across the expanse, too many different colors of petals to catalog danced in the light spring gusts.
"I told you it was a cute little spot," Yuki boasted with a grin, stacking her two bento on my own to reach into her backpack and retrieve what appeared to be an old blanket, "I'll lay it out and we can get to it, alright?"
"Yeah," I uttered, still unable to tear my eyes away from the marvel of nature before me. It had been years since I'd had any sort of interest in flowers, the last time being when I used to make them into crowns with some of the other little girls who I'd attended the academy with. My sensei clearing her throat caught my attention and I finally fell out of my trance, shaking my head to clear it and joining her on the spread out tan blanket. It wasn't very long into our meal before my senior began speaking again.
"I didn't just stop by to check on you," Yuki confessed after swallowing her bite, "Lord Third has had an eye on you for some time now, if you didn't know that."
"I had a feeling when I was assigned to your team, well before I was due to graduate from the academy," I acknowledged, "what's he thinking now?"
"We've been discussing your chances of passing the Chuunin exams for weeks now, the one thing we can't determine is how well you'd do on your own or on a new squad," she exposed, deep mahogany eyes settling on mine inquisitively. "I've been your sensei for quite some time now, I realize that you're gifted, and you have an ability that only few others have the chance of wielding. You aren't exactly a team player, but you'd never leave a teammate behind."
"Do you know anything about the squad I'd be assigned to?" I adjured after a moment of deliberation, holding her gaze evenly. "I've heard horror stories about the Chuunin exams, I'm not scared or anything. But.."
"But?"
"I'm just calculating the odds and I'm not a fan," I revealed, "and if the others taking the exam find out that I'm a solo-squad, there's a good chance that I'll be targeted by the lot of them. You know I can throw hands with more than one person at a time, sensei, but I'm still only one person. I couldn't fend off too many at once, it wouldn't matter if I activated my Sharingan or not."
"I can't tell you who you'd be assigned with, but I absolutely can tell you that you're going to hate it," she imparted with an impish laugh, "you'll be able to pass, but you're not going to like who you pass with."
"I hate pretty much everyone right now anyway," I retorted with a weary sigh, picking up my chopsticks to resume my boxed lunch. "Tell the old man to get me a new squad then, I'm ready for a promotion anyway."
"I'll miss you as my student," Yuki bubbled, "but, I'm hopeful that one day you'll join my rank and we can work together again."
"At least we're ending Team Yuki on a good note, right?"
"You've got that right, girl," she beamed, her nose crinkling with the elated expression.
Unbeknownst to me, this would be the last day I'd ever spend with the bright and fun-loving Yuki Mokotsu.