A/N: For anyone still reading this, sorry this is late but I have an excuse for it! You see, I had last weekend off for prom, and before prom I was working six days in a row, that left me this week to write, and I still had to work Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Today. So… Um, Gomen!
Warnings: Well, obvious age gap but there's nothing too bad in this, may contain slight spoilers, but I'm pretty sure most people know about them.
Pairing: Asuma/Naru
Summary: The three teams go to 'get to know each other' by spending a weekend at a nearby hot springs resort. Asuma gets stuck sharing a room with Naruto.
Genre: Not too much romance, more WAFF than anything
Rating: PG 13 for the occasional swear
""-speech
''-thoughts
When he had first heard the idea, his first thought was: 'Fuck, can I smoke there?' quickly followed by: 'Does it matter? At least I get a break from paperwork.' Of course it would have been a lot better if it was only his team, Ino was a handful and a half already, but having to keep track of all the kids and making sure they weren't causing trouble… Damn.
But one did not mess with Tsunade-sama's orders, ever since Sasuke's attempt to 'run away' the fifth Hokage had been planning to try and force the three teams into creating 'strong bonds of friendship,' so that the Uchiha would stay put.
He really didn't see the point of the trip, since the Uchiha seemed stable enough and Uzumaki was the strongest tie to the village he had, and he really didn't think the Kyuubi host was going to encourage the ice king to 'follow his dreams' any time soon. But alas, he wasn't the type to deny himself a free vacation, and that's where his trouble really began.
Tsunade-sama was apparently a cheap woman and would only pay for six rooms, meaning everyone was going to double up. He had gazed at the pairs list uncaring, Shikamaru with Chouji, Kurenai with Hinata, Ino with Sakura… It wasn't until he saw his own name that an emotion made its way over his face, shock. 'I'm with Uzumaki?' He had expected to be with Shikamaru or Chouji, or even Kakashi, why the hell wasn't Uzumaki with Sasuke!
He had immediately addressed his concern to the Hokage, but, well, it seemed she had a good enough reason for pairing them up.
"Sasuke is with Kakashi because Kakashi will be able to tell if the boy is doing anything that can be considered strange. Naruto isn't too bright of a kid, as much as I love the boy, and he'll probably believe whatever excuse Sasuke would give him. Ino and Sakura are together because despite their antics they are capable of getting along together, I wouldn't want to throw Hinata in with one of them as they'd probably make her extremely uncomfortable, so I paired her up with Kurenai."
It was at this point that Asuma's cigarette practically fell from his wide open mouth. 'So she actually planned it out to be like this.'
"Kiba is with Shino because Shino is the only one who isn't too affected by Kiba's ramblings, if Naruto was with Kiba they'd get into a fight, and if Naruto was with Shino Naruto would probably go crazy from the silence. Shikamaru and Chouji are staying together for obvious reasons, so that left you and Naruto."
He had tried to convince himself it would be fine, it was only for one weekend, but what if Uzumaki tried pranking him in the middle of the night? He was known more for his mischievous conquests than his actions as a ninja after all.
'Don't worry; you know that the kid doesn't do that stuff anymore, or at least no big pranks.' He had taken a long drag of his cigarette before dropping it to the ground and crushing it under his foot. 'Tomorrow is gonna be fun.'
"WHAAAAT?" "Naruto! Keep it down!" "B-but Sakura-chaaaaan, why am I sharing a room with Asuma-sensei?"
Asuma smirked from behind them. "If you really need to know, you can go ask Tsunade-sama right now, and she'll give you a list of reasons why." Naruto and Sakura had both turned almost mechanically around when they heard the older man's voice and were now staring straight at him. He casually flicked away the ash on his cigarette before inhaling more of the bitterly sweet smoke.
Naruto had a small frown on his face and he coughed lightly muttering. "You'd better not smoke around me." Before stomping off in Sasuke's direction, Sakura not far behind.
'It seems the kid ain't to keen on being with me either. Meh.' He really could bring himself to care too much, the feeling was mutual.
"Alright kids, we're leaving now and we're going to get there around noon, and remember, don't do anything I wouldn't do." Kakashi lectured, all of his students seemed to frown and twitch as he whipped out his Icha Icha Paradise book.
'Noon eh? I guess I'm gonna start drinking early then.' Hot springs were fine and dandy every once in a while, but drinking was just so much more fun. 'I wonder if I can get Kurenai and Kakashi to join in on this.' He exhaled a puff of smoke and glanced in the other teachers direction. 'Probably won't be to hard, send all the kids off to the springs and then let the sake flow.'
It was, in fact, extremely easy to get Kurenai and Kakashi to join him in drinking sake once they had arrived, unpacked all their stuff and sent the kids on their way. It was one o' clock when they started.
"Oi Asuma, take it easy or you'll get drunk before five o' clock rolls around." Kakashi said humorously and Asuma paused mid-drink. "Maybe if I get smashed off my face I won't remember having to deal with the kid sharing my room." He muttered and Kakashi's eye squinted.
"Naruto's not that bad of a kid. He's really great once you bother getting to know him. Besides, Sasuke's best friends with him and Sasuke hardly likes anybody, that alone must say something." "He's right Asuma, we've all seen how Naruto's become a better student, and he doesn't even pull pranks anymore. He's a good kid." Kurenai piped up and Asuma shrugged his shoulders. "If you say so. But at least you two get to share rooms with calm, quiet children." Asuma took a small sip of sake, savoring the flavor. 'I guess he has become less annoying, I just hope I don't wake up with a hangover and Naruto screeching at me.' That thought immediately caused Asuma to stop drinking for several hours. The mere thought of Naruto yelling at him if he was hung-over was enough to send a shiver up his spine. 'That would hurt.'
He walked gracelessly to his room at nine thirty, a bit tipsy, but not really drunk. He opened the door slowly and made his way inside, and collapsing on his bed, not even bother to change into pajamas.
'I can't believe the kids aren't out of the hot springs yet, they're gonna look like lobsters once they finally get out of there.' He thought softly as he stifled a yawn, the alcohol running though his veins was making him warm and tired and he could feel his eyelids growing heavy, and then the door creaked open.
He was just beginning to open his mouth to tell the 'intruder' to be quiet, but then his eyes caught sight of the figure.
Golden hair dripping wet and for once obeying gravity, half opened crystal blue eyes glazed over from weariness, tanned skin tinted pink and gleaming in the lamplight.
It might have been from the sake he'd been drinking, but the boy looked good, all flushed from a day at the spring, yes, definitely the sake.
"Oi Uzumaki, have a nice time?" He asked as nicely as he could manage while inwards shaking his head at the fluttering his heart made from his second long gaze at the kid.
Naruto nodded his head briefly, a frown marring his beautiful features and Asuma's eyebrows furrowed, what had the kid's panties in a knot?
"Asuma-sensei, could you please call me Naruto? Everyone else does and it feels weird when someone calls me by my last name." Asuma's eyebrows rose slightly, that was why the kid looked so depressed? "Sure, whatever you want Naruto." A small, serene looking smile broke out on the boy's face and Asuma felt oddly dejected when he had to turn away from that warm smile to hide the blush staining his cheeks.
'It's just the sake, it's just the sake. Uzuma-Naruto isn't nearly this appealing when you haven't been drinking.'
"Asuma-sensei, are you all right?" Naruto asked worriedly as he took a step closer to the older man.
"I'm fine Naruto, I think I've just had a bit too much to drink, I'll be fine in the morning." "Oh…" Asuma could almost swear he heard hints of sadness in the voice; maybe he had been to cold? No, the boy was used to Sasuke, so he must be used to cold responses. 'I think this is the beginning of a long night.'
"Is there anything I can do to help?" 'Yeah, stay away from me till I sober up.' "No." "Alright…" Naruto shuffled to his bed and Asuma could help but have his eyes follow the movement. "Goodnight Asuma-sensei." The lights were turned off and Asuma could hear the boy shift around on the bed and his breathing become even as he drifted off to sleep.
'Don't worry, I'm sure you'll have your head back on straight in the morning.' Asuma thought to himself as his eyelids dropped down and he too was carried off into dreamland.
He woke up late the next morning, the sun was already up and Naruto was already out of bed, and judging from the slight pain in his stomach, he had definitely missed breakfast and lunch was fast approaching.
'Ah. It's good to be in my right state of mind again.' He stretched his arms over his head and cracked his neck before hopping off the bed and putting on a clean pair of clothes. 'Maybe I'll go down to the springs today, have a nice long soak.' He strode down the hallways, making a quick stop at the cafeteria for a cup of coffee and a muffin before making his way to the game room.
'Maybe I can con Shikamaru into play chess with me, he'll probably do it, maybe.' A small smile stretched across his face as he entered the room, but the smile was quickly replaced by a look of shock and he jumped back into the hallway.
"Please Shikamaru, you're not doing anything eyes!" "It's far too troublesome, no." "But Shiiikkkkaaaamaaruuuu, if you teach me, then the next time you want to play chess, you can ask me!" "No." "But I'll keep bugging you like this if you don't teach me! Isn't that the overall most troublesome thing!" Shikamaru was silent for a while and then sighed before picking up a chess piece.
"This is called a pawn, it can only move one space forward-"
Asuma watched with slightly interest as Shikamaru went through the basics of chess with the other boy, even though he personally knew Shikamaru should be far to lazy to teach anyone anything. 'So why is he bothering to teach Naruto chess?' He was going to find out, it couldn't just be because Naruto threatened to annoy him, Ino always whined about Shikamaru not helping her carry around things and Shikamaru never faltered in his opinion, that it was too troublesome.
He had waited outside the room for a least an hour before Naruto got up and left, sincerely thanking Shikamaru for bothering with him before leaving through the opposite door. Shikamaru turned back to the chess board and began to put the pieces back in place.
"Oi Asuma-sensei, are you going to stand outside the door all day, or are you going to come in and play a game." Asuma stepped into the room uneasily, he should have known that at least one of the two would have noticed him, other than ducking behind the door he hadn't really tried to hide his presents.
He stepped forward and sat in the chair opposite Shikamaru and moved a pawn, Shikamaru did the same.
"Why did you bother teaching Naruto chess?" Another pawn moved. "Is it because you couldn't stand him annoying you." Pawn.
"Actually, I did it because I might as well have more than one person to play chess with." Bishop.
"But you have to admit, having him annoying you until you caved in would probably be pretty bad." Knight.
Shikamaru glanced up from the bored, his eyebrows pinched together and his lips pursed in a frown. "You know," he began as he watched Asuma bring forward another pawn. "For years I wondered why everyone seemed to hate Naruto," He moved his other knight. "Sure he played some pranks, but that couldn't have been enough." His sharp eyes followed Asuma's movements as the older man moved forward another pawn.
"I figured it out during the Chuunin exam." Shikamaru's eyes met Asuma's as he idly toyed with a Bishop. "Red chakra, his birthday, the villagers hating him. Kyuubi was sealed inside of him." The Bishop was moved forward.
"If you know, then why-" "Am I friends with him?" Asuma nodded, his mind completely loosing grip of his chess match as he moved a pawn forward. "Only idiots would believe it's actually Naruto's fault that all those people died years ago. Besides, although he is rather troublesome at times, he's one of the best friends someone could have." He moved a Knight forward. "Checkmate."
Asuma looked down at the board in shock, during the conversation he had left his Queen completely open. "I think that's a new record." "No, I've beaten you in five moves before." Shikamaru replied dryly as he lifted himself out of his chair. "I think I've had enough if chess for today, I'll see you around Asuma-sensei."
Asuma lazily rearranged the pieces before a rumbling in his stomach reminded him the lunch was almost over. 'Alright, time to get some food in me.'
He arrived in his room five hours later with a dinner tray in his hands. He had just spent four wonderful hours soaking in the springs before he finally decided that if he stayed in much longer he'd turn a very feminine shade of pink.
He carefully set down the tray on his bedside table. It was a simple meal of rice, miso soup and grilled fish, but he practically inhaled it all the same. 'Damn it I really need a cigarette.' He thought woefully as he felt his pants pocket, the small carton rested just under the fabric and his eyes glanced over to the door of the room, and then over to the balcony door. 'I'm sure as long as I don't smoke inside the room no one'll get pissed at me.' He stood up and moved towards the balcony door, heaving it open and sucking in the fresh evening air before he fumbled within his pockets for his lighter and cigarettes.
He inhaled the smoke deeply and his eyes fluttered shut. 'Having one of these against my lips again is like having the lips of a lover pressed against mine… Or at least something like that.' He savored every sweet puff until the stick hardly went past his fingers and he then crushed it against the railing and threw it to the side. He vaguely thought about lighting another one, but quickly squashed the idea, he was lucky Naruto hadn't come in for the first one, he wasn't going to push his luck.
'I guess I'll just have to wait until Sunday night when we're back home, and then I can smoke a whole pack.' A satisfied grin spread over his lips as he opened the door to go back in the room.
"What were you on the balcony for Asuma-sensei?" Asuma nearly jumped out of his skin and his eyes locked on Naruto's still form.
"No reason, just checking out the sun set. Whatcha reading?" "Nothing." The boy pulled the book closer to his face and Asuma shrugged his shoulders before making his way to his side of the room and changing into his pajamas, which were really just a pair of faded pants, and slipped into bed. 'Maybe if I go to sleep now I'll wake up and can have another smoke before Naruto gets up.' He allowed himself to relax his body and in mere minutes he was already drifting off…
… Only to be awoken seemingly moments later but the sound of hushed sobs.
Asuma opened his eyes slowly and all he saw was inky blackness, he allowed himself a few minutes for his eyes to adjust to the very little light before he discreetly turned on his side.
Naruto was crying. Had it been in another other situation or any other person, Asuma probably would have told them to stop crying and start acting like a man. But he'd never seen the boy cry, hell, he'd hardly every seen the boy without a grin on his face. He silently crept out of his bed and knelt down beside the weeping boy.
"Naruto? What's the matter?" It took a few more sniffles before Naruto responded. "Nothing." Asuma almost rolled his eyes at the reply. "It's obvious something is wrong, so just tell me what it is already." Naruto began crying harder and Asuma almost smacked himself. 'Come on, try and be a little more understanding, he won't tell you if you're a complete bastard to him.' "Look Naruto, sorry for snapping at you, but could you please tell me what's wrong, maybe I could help you."
It seemed those words broke the dam and suddenly Naruto had hurled himself into Asuma's unsuspecting arms and began to softly stammer his problems.
"I-It's just th-that I don't like the th-thought of Sasuke being with Kakashi-sen-sensei and n-not me. I know it's str-strange, but Sasuke depends on m-me and I don't wa-wanna let him down. I can't s-stop feeling like if he's away from my side for one s-second, that he'll go b-back to Orochimaru a-and forget all about me!" 'Who could ever forget about you?'
Asuma gently ran his hands through the boy's hair, something he knew used to calm him down when he was a kid and thought the monsters in his closet were coming after him. "Don't worry Naruto, one weekend of you not being glued to Sasuke's hip will probably be good for him. He can't lean on you forever, that's the reason we all came here, Tsunade-sama wanted Sasuke to get closer with everyone."
Naruto's tears had stopped, but his breathing was still hitched from his crying. Red rimmed blue eyes sought out Asuma's own and Asuma couldn't help but feel the need to protect the owner of those innocent eyes.
"Asuma-sensei, d-do you think that Sasuke will ever get along with everyone?" Asuma stopped running his hands through Naruto's hair and he began to idly play with the soft, silken strands.
"I don't know about everyone, but there must be at least a couple others that he could accept as his friend. Maybe Shino." Naruto chuckled a bit at that and Asuma had to stifle a smile from spreading across this face. 'Not this again, you do not find this boy attractive in any way, shape or form.'
"Anyways, crying your heart out is an exhausting business, you should get some shut eye." Naruto apparently wasn't listening as he burrowed himself into Asuma's warm chest. "Thanks for listening Asuma-sensei." He said softly and Asuma outwardly scoffed and inwardly sighed. "No problem kid, now how about you get back into bed." "No, you're nice and warm." The boy's reply was almost a whisper now and Asuma had a bad feeling that he was going to fall asleep griping his waist.
"Come on Naruto, don't fall asleep on me now." Too late, the boy was already gone to the land of the living and was still gripping Asuma tightly around the waist.
'If I try and get out of his hold he might wake up, if I stay like this, I think I'm going to have an awkward morning.' But he didn't have the heart to wake the boy up, so he carefully lifted himself and Naruto up onto the bed and settled down for sleep.
'I just hope I can wake up before he does, I don't want to have to explain this.' And Asuma wasn't positive, but he was almost sure he was blushing as he closed his eyes and drifted off.
He woke up feeling warm and content, as if he had slept for ages. He briefly considered laying there for a couple more hours as he allowed his eyes to flutter open, but quickly discarded the idea when he saw a blonde head of hair snuggled into his chest. 'Damn, he's still holding onto me.' He then noticed that his arms had been wrapped around the boy and quickly withdrew them, and small embarrassed blush staining his cheeks. 'I have to get into my bed before he wakes up.' He thought desperately as he began trying to pry Naruto's arms off of him. It didn't work. He tried again, gripping the boy's wrists and trying to remove them. It still didn't work. He squirmed and kicked and tried to wriggle his way out of the grip, the but boy wasn't letting go!
'Alright, he can't have slept through all of that.' Asuma's eyes narrowed, a plan formulating in his mind.
"Do I have to wake you up like sleeping beauty and give you a kiss?" Naruto still didn't move, but Asuma saw a blush spreading over the boy's cheeks and couldn't help but go. 'So sleeping beauty is awake. Kawaii.' But he still needed to detach the boy from him.
"Well…" He whispered, as if to himself. "I've gotta go get a smoke, so I guess I'll just send Kiba in he-" "K-KIBA?" Asuma grinned down at the angry looking boy. 'Well, at least he doesn't have a death grip on me anymore.'
"You had better not send Kiba in here! I don't wanna get kissed by him!" "So you wanna get kissed by me?" Naruto shut up and blushed while Asuma chuckled dryly. "Let's go down to the hot springs, nothing like some warm water to wake you up." Naruto looked up at him confused. "But warm water makes you tired." "Same difference, let's go."
Liquid warmth engulfed his body and Asuma sighed in contentment. He heard a splash to his right and saw Naruto surfacing a couple meters away from him. 'This might not have been one of my best ideas.' He thought to himself as he watched the boy out of the corner of his eye. 'I thinking I'm getting into that drunken state of mind again.'
Naruto leaned against the side of the spring top stretch out his legs, his eyes were half closed and his hair was drooping from previously gained moisture. He was softly muttering and groaning as he fully stretched out in the water. He painted a very attractive picture. His glossy eyes moved to his left and he smiled when he caught sight of Asuma, slowly beginning to make his way towards him.
"Asuma-sensei…" Oh God, the boy was practically purring. "Why were you saying that stuff about waking me up like sleeping beauty?" He boy slumped down beside Asuma and leaned against the older man's side.
'In these situations it is best to keep your cool and lie.' "…" 'Damn I wish I could smoke in here.'
If he didn't do something soon the kid was going to fall asleep slumped against him, and then if something like last night happened, and someone walked in…
'One would think that he got enough sleep last night.' "Oi, Naruto. Wake up." Naruto eyes fluttered open and he playfully glared up at Asuma. "Oh, do you feel like answering my question Asuma-sensei?" Asuma's eyebrow began twitching. 'Tricky kid.' "No, I don't feel like answering your question." Naruto just smirked.
"You know, Sakura-chan once said that people who don't answer your questions have something to hide. And Sakura-chan is always right." "Well if Sakura-chan is so great, why don't you go hang out with her?" "You sound jealous." Asuma briefly glanced down at the victorious smirk of the boy's face. "Well I'm not."
That sat in silence for a couple of minutes, neither of them really knowing what to say until Naruto broke the silence.
"Hey Asuma-sensei?" "Yeah?" Naruto was suddenly gone from his side and standing in front of him, his face looming closer until Asuma could feel the boy's lips pressed against his cheek. "Thank you Asuma-sensei, for caring." Asuma smiled. "No problem Naruto, no problem at all."