-Sakura's Pov-
As soon as I shut the door to Hinata's room behind me, I turned to see Naruto leaning against the wall with a serious expression. Without him having to say anything, I knew he'd overheard the conversation we'd just had.
I didn't envy the position he was in. The girl he's in love with was undoubtedly going to go after her little sister once she's back on her feet, meaning she was going head first into danger's path yet again. Both he and I know that there's nothing anyone could say to Hinata to talk her out of it. She was going to save Hanabi or die trying.
The issue lies in that while she and Naruto obviously care deeply for one another, she was leaving with or without him. There's a chance she'll try and convince him not to join her, even, because she doesn't want him to be in harm's way. The Hyuuga girl was loyal to a fault.
It still surprised me that she accepted our help in being rescued rather than hide her location from Naruto so he wouldn't have to face any struggles on the road. She must've been incredibly scared.
"They caught a kid with one of those things in his neck. He's in the study."
I blinked as the blonde man suddenly spoke and tore me from my thoughts, "Really? How'd they manage that?"
"Kankuro said Matsuri went rogue."
My eyes widened in disbelief and I lowered my voice in case anyone might be around, "Shy little Matsuri?"
He nodded. In this kind of conversation, I'd usually expect him to smile excitedly at such a response, but he didn't.
After a pause, I gave him an empathic look before laying a comforting hand on his shoulder, "You heard Hinata, didn't you?"
He nodded, frown deepening as he, too, lowered his voice so the girl in question wouldn't hear us from where she lay in the nearby room, "I feel like I'm going to make the wrong move and…"
"I think putting in an effort and making a mistake is better than not doing anything at all, don't you?" He and Hinata's encouraging words from throughout the day had finally gotten to me and I was feeling hopeful about my current situation.
Naruto looked surprised by my response, "She's so shy, though. I don't want to put her in a situation that she can't handle yet."
My brow furrowed in disbelief, causing him to look at me in confusion, "That girl just survived being shot and nearly burnt alive. I think you're underestimating her."
Realization came upon his features and his frown softened slightly, "...You might be right."
Naruto went back downstairs to assist Kiba and Neji with interrogating our group's new prisoner, insisting he'd only come up to check on us and that both Hinata and I were forbidden from coming downstairs until everything is sorted out. I wanted to argue, but I was too tired and had something I wanted to do anyway.
When I opened the door to the bedroom Ino and I were sharing with the Uchiha brothers, my face paled when my eyes landed on a shirtless Sasuke kneeling down as he searched the bookcase. He looked back to see me and stood up before crossing the room to grab a shirt from the closet.
"N-No, it's okay!"
He froze halfway through the process of putting it on to give me an uneasy glare. It was obvious he was feeling as uncomfortable by what happened last night as I was, but I couldn't tell if he was angry at me for running away from the situation rather than talking to him about it. He sure seemed upset, given that he hadn't even tried to talk to me since and everytime I look his way he's glaring at me.
I shut and locked the door behind me before nodding, hoping my face wasn't as pale as it felt. Ever since he grabbed my wrist and I freaked out, my body's been on edge. Yesterday, before that, I would've blushed as he straightened his spine and sat the shirt back on top of the dresser.
Firm, attractive muscles glared at me from his bare skin and I had to admit that I found him incredibly hot. Hesitantly, I crossed the room to approach him and his eyes followed my every move.
Once I was close enough, he bristled. Either he didn't want me close to him anymore or he thought I was forcing myself to do something I wasn't comfortable with. Praying it was the latter and that I wasn't forcing myself on him, I raised a slightly trembling hand up to his chest before running it slowly up to reach behind his head so I could pull him lower. Soft lips pressed against mine and I was relieved not to sense any hesitation on his part.
Our kiss ended after just a few seconds, but he didn't pull away and remained close enough that if I moved even slightly, our lips would touch again. My eyes remained closed as I spoke, "If you want to take back your offer after what happened yesterday, I completely understand, but if not then I want to try again."
A wave of relief shot through my brain, but it was foreign and hadn't come from me. My eyes shot open to land on his. The glare on his face had faded and the tenseness in his body had disappeared.
My body moved on its own as I pressed my lips to his once more, feeling the anxiety from yesterday finally start to slowly melt away. My free hand lightly grasped his wrist and I walked backwards, toward the bed, without parting from him. He let me pull him along and didn't resist in the slightest when I turned to switch our positions.
When he sat on the edge of the bed, I moved my hands to his shoulders and hesitantly climbed down to straddle his lap. I parted my lips from his for just a moment, worried I'd fall backwards without him holding my waist, "Can you make sure I don't-"
"I know what to do, Sakura," he cut me off before pressing his lips against mine more firmly than before. Large hands danced over my hips, making me feel more secure in the position we were in.
The blood finally returned to my face and I could feel a slight blush starting to form. A small sound of surprise came from my throat when he gently pressed his tongue through my lips to swirl around with mine, but I quickly got myself together and reacted.
His chest was pressed firmly against mine and I was glad the sensation excited me rather than make me nervous. After a minute or two of warming up to this type of mood again, I slowly pressed forward against him and he immediately understood my intentions and lay back on the mattress.
Our lips parted when he did and his arms fell to his sides. Black and red eyes wordlessly encouraged me to continue when I hesitated to do anything. I gingerly pressed my palms against his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin heat my slightly chilled fingers. Slowly, I ran them down to his abdomen, eyes following as I studied the way his muscles moved beneath my hands. That intense sensation that'd been rising in me yesterday returned with a vengeance and my brow furrowed in response.
"You're horny," Sasuke suddenly spoke, making me jolt slightly in shock. He looked amused as he moved to cross his arms behind his head, "I can feel that you're confused about it."
The light blush on my face surely deepened because it suddenly felt multiple degrees warmer in the room. "D-Don't tease me, asshole," I averted my gaze from his with a frown, humiliated.
His muscles flexed under my fingers, making me look back up to see that his amused look hadn't faded in the slightest, "I'm helping you, remember? You were curious and now you know."
With my glare remaining, I didn't argue and returned to exploring his torso with my hands to see if any of it made me uncomfortable. Once I was sure no alarms were going off, I gripped the bottom of my sweater before pulling it off over my head. Then I tossed it onto the floor beside the bed and placed my hands on either side of his body as I moved to hesitantly press my skin against his.
When I met his gaze, I was shocked to see his amused expression had fallen into one I didn't recognize and his arms had come back down to his sides. I froze mid-motion, one hand above his shoulder and the other against the mattress by his hip, "Did I do something wrong?" The last thing I wanted was to make him feel any type of negative emotion while doing these types of things.
He didn't say anything, but shook his head before gesturing for me to continue. A bit confused, but otherwise fine, I did. Mustering all the bravery I could manage, I nuzzled my face into his neck and pressed a soft kiss against his jawline, surprised to see goosebumps raise on his skin in response. His hands twitched at his sides.
"You can touch me, too, if you want. Just…go slow."
Large hands immediately came to rest on my hips and I hesitantly kissed his skin again. His skin tightened and a small smile tugged at my lips. I think I accidentally found one of his weak spots rather quickly. Rather than torture him, I pulled back to kiss him deeply. Calloused fingers ran up the bare skin of my hips and down my back. Sasuke was trying to touch every piece that he could.
After another few minutes, another wave of what I now knew was arousal rushed through me and I surprised myself by letting my body naturally respond to it. My hips pressed further into his for a few moments and I found that the pressure made the sensation turn into something pleasurable. A soft sound had managed to get lost between our mouths, but the Uchiha man didn't stop kissing me to say anything. I was about to move on from the fact, only to feel something press against my jeans, between my legs.
My body jolted in surprise and Sasuke let me pull away to straighten my spine back up so I could look down. I was a little breathless, but still managed to speak clearly, "I-Is that…?"
He nodded, but spoke after pausing for a moment, "Just ignore it if you want."
I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "You're actually attracted to me?!"
His brow furrowed in disbelief, like I'd just said the last thing he'd expected, "What?"
I pressed my hips against his again to feel him beneath me, making him sit up on his elbows to give me a bewildered look, "I was under the impression you offered to do this because you aren't attracted to me and knew you'd be able to control yourself."
"No one would make an offer like that if they didn't find the other person hot. Idiot." For some reason, him indirectly calling me hot flustered me more than anything else we've done and I had to take a second to take deep breaths so I didn't get light headed.
He watched me with his disbelief not fading away, "How are you so smart yet so dumb at the same time?"
My eyes reopened so I could glare at him, "Well, you can't really blame me for being confused, can you? Out of all the girls-"
"Shut the hell up, Sakura. Just go back to what you were doing."
My anger flared, but dissipated when I looked up to see he'd thrown an arm over his face so I couldn't see his eyes anymore. For a few moments, I wasn't sure where to go from where we'd left off, but then I glanced between his face and lower body a few times before backing up a few inches on his lap.
He jolted slightly, but didn't protest when I nervously moved the waistband of his pants down as far as possible without actually exposing him. My eyes landed on the light scar atop his "v" muscle and my face burnt wildly as I ran my fingers across it.
A wave of his emotions came over me and I was stunned beyond believe to realize he was actually feeling a bit shy. That was probably why he'd hidden part of his face. My sexual guide being made nervous by someone as inexperienced as me gave me quite the burst of courage.
With a new bravery surging through me, I climbed off his lap and rested my knees on the carpet in between his legs so I could lean down and press a soft kiss onto the scar.
"Don't go further."
I glanced back up to see him glaring at the ceiling rather than looking at me. It was quiet for a moment before I spoke hesitantly, "Sasuke?"
He took a deep breath as he closed his eyes for a long moment before sitting up to look down at me. I had to move back slightly and arched my neck up to look at his face. He looked almost angry when he spoke with a glare, "If you do anything else, I'll need to leave the room. Do you understand?"
My eyes danced down from his face to the hardened shape between his legs before remeeting his eyes with a look of embarrassment and nodding, "O-Okay."
He ended up giving me the shirt he'd worn earlier in the day to throw on and then we ended up cuddling on what was now considered "our side of the bed". With my leg strewn across his hips and my head on his shoulder, I absently traced his abdominal muscles with my fingers, "So…"
He made some sound from the depths of his chest that I assumed meant to carry on with whatever I wanted to say, "Am I doing alright so far? I know this whole thing started so I can overcome my fear, but I wouldn't say no to some feedback."
His chest rumbled slightly when he let out a short chuckle and the arm that was wrapped around my body tightened for a moment, "You're a quick learner." I let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, grinning when I felt him slightly chuckle again.
Another quiet few moments passed before I broke the silence again, "You know…I think you're hot, too."
His chest moved as he breathed steadily and I watched it rise and fall.
"I know. I have eyes."
I pushed myself up off the bed with one arm so I could look at his face with a glare, "What's that supposed to mean?"
He gave me a relaxed smirk, "You make some pretty telling faces."
I collapsed against his chest and buried my face in my hands, making him laugh again, "How embarrassing!"