[AN: Hello. So, 2020 sucked. Personally, financially, etc - coronavirus just sucked for me. Still does a bit. Unfortunately, I just couldn't justify spending time writing fanfiction at that time. Sorry to those who were disappointed.
Why come back to this now? Well, to be honest I wasn't sure I would. But looking at the notes for this story, the ending that I wrote, I find that I still really want to see it materialize. Plus it was fun to try writing again.
Ironically, I would probably have finished this in 2019 if I had crafted the storytelling differently and been more economical with how I structured things. I honestly didn't even realize how long it already was. It's... not short. I let things get out of hand.
Oh well. I know it's been a long time, but let's try to continue anyway! Although I'm pretty sure I've lost my touch for writing this. Hopefully the style is close enough to what it was. Even if it sucks for a bit, the fresh perspective will be good for it moving forward!
... Maybe? Well, hopefully you guys remember what the story is about. Even I'd forgotten a lot, but this is where we are and I still know what I want to do! Roughly.
Anyway, enjoy.]
/
The sun had risen on a new day. Naruto blinked the light and sleep out of his eyes as he groggily sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He could hear the sound of water running. He stretched his arms above his head and yawned loudly.
After about half a minute, the bathroom door opened and a towel-clad Sakura strode into the room.
"Hey," she greeted. "I decided to let you sleep in a bit, since you got pretty tired yesterday."
"Oh..."
"I hope that's all right."
The blonde squinted a bit at her concerned expression. Why wouldn't it be?
"Of course. No, I feel good today."
"Great! I'm glad."
Naruto eyed her as she smiled at him, noticing her shiver a little as a draft passed through the room.
"Um... Aren't you cold like that?"
She nodded. The white towel she wore was thin and stopped slightly above the knees.
"Yeah. I couldn't find my bathrobe. It must still be at my parents'."
Sakura had meant to get dressed straight away, but given it was so chilly, the prospect of sitting down next to him on the side of the bed proved too tempting. For his part, the blonde quickly put an arm around her and even more quickly cringed.
"Geez, you are cold, Sakura-chan."
"You're warm, though," She looked down sheepishly and smiled to herself. "Thank you."
She'd meant to say more than that, but it always felt so pleasant. This warmth that she could steal from him. She closed her eyes for a moment to enjoy it.
"... It's nothing," Naruto replied after what felt like a long time, but was in actuality just a second or two.
He turned his head to admire the peaceful expression on her face. His eyes fell absent-mindedly to where the towel loosely tucked into itself over the swell of her bosom. He couldn't help but think that it would be easily undone, and that this might even happen on its own.
A few seconds passed without progress on that front and he blinked, wondering if he was disappointed.
"Naruto?"
Sakura had opened her eyes to regard him, one interested eyebrow raised.
"Yeah?"
The blonde had been a little slow to adjust his gaze to lock back onto hers.
"Whatcha looking at?"
"Uh... Nothing," he lied.
The side of Sakura's lip upturned in a half-smile.
"Aw, c'mon. What're you thinking about, then?"
The blonde gave a brief shake of the head.
"You don't wanna know."
"Hm... Then let me guess," She tried to muster a stern expression, but it was clear she was having fun. "... It's something perverted. Right?"
"Erm..." His gaze drifted again, noting the rise and fall of her ribcage as she took a breath. He blinked a few times in succession. "... Sort of."
"Well?" she prompted.
She spoke as though he'd already agreed to divulge. This approach made evasion difficult.
Naruto chose his words carefully, a little disappointed in himself.
"It's your... things, I guess."
"Things? ... Ah," she replied sagely. "Ino-pig calls hers her girls."
"Er, I'm sorry."
"Why?" came her flat reply, punctuated by a chuckle. "Heh, I don't care. Just don't do that if I'm trying to talk to you, okay? You're usually such a good listener."
Naruto nodded, cheeks slightly red. Leave it to Sakura to find a way to turn this into a compliment for him.
He wouldn't say it was expected, but it was hardly strange. Things either mattered a great deal to her or they mattered not at all.
"Uh... Did you do that much before?" she asked, donning a small smile. "If so, I never noticed."
"Not really... It's that towel."
She glanced down at it.
"Oh. It's too small?"
Sakura's beauty had a way of making him feel small, he realized.
"Maybe...? I guess."
The pinkette didn't seem to mind his flushed face. It was either that or she didn't notice. It was never easy to tell which was the case.
"Hm," she hummed idly, sitting up straight for a moment to look herself over properly. "... I wish they were a bit bigger."
"Aren't they kinda big already?"
"Eh, not really," She sighed. "They're not like Ino's."
His only thought was that this would not be an improvement.
"Why do they need to be, though?" Naruto couldn't help but ask. "I like them..."
Sakura's expression brightened at this.
"Hehe... Do ya, now?"
He glanced away embarrassedly.
"I think you know..."
"Well, they've gotten bigger than they used to be, I suppose."
She'd started blushing as well.
"Yeah, I was surprised."
Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
"Aw, now you're just making fun of me."
"What? No."
She adjusted her towel with a frown.
"Come on. They aren't big, you know that."
"They're not small, though," he replied, his expression earnest. "They're not."
The blonde tightened his arm around her smaller form to bring it close to him. Sakura couldn't help but smile once again at the feeling of warmth.
"Heh, all right, all right, they're not. You win. Geez."
A rarity - against her, he typically lost. She yawned sleepily and leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder and nuzzling it a bit in an effort to warm up more.
Naruto moved a hand to gently run his fingers through the hair atop her sizable head. It was still a little wet. A quiet minute slipped by, quickly as it does when one is enjoying themselves - which he certainly was, so much so that it was a little scary to him.
"Man, it's crazy."
"Mm... What is?" she asked groggily, a little too relaxed.
"You've turned into such a babe... I mean, you always were one, but..." He took a short breath. "God, you're so beautiful, Sakura."
He spoke almost as if this was a hardship. Perhaps it was. Her eyes fluttered as her face became a little warmer than was comfortable.
His forgoing the honorific lent a sense of urgency, as if he hadn't even particularly wanted to say that, hadn't wanted to sound slightly pathetic and embarrass her, but he just couldn't help himself.
"You're not so bad-looking yourself, though," she offered, mustering up a goofy grin, but he simply went on.
"Lee's not the only one who's gonna end up falling for you. I'm not so dumb that I don't realize that."
"But you don't have to worry about anything, Naruto," she replied, her forehead wrinkling. "Right? Since I love you."
"... Yeah..."
"It's not like I'm kidding around here, you know. I would never. Never," Sakura said pointedly. "Hurt you, I mean. You know that."
"I know. He just made me think, I guess. I really want you to be happy. You deserve that more than anyone."
"Well, do you wanna know what makes me happy?"
He nodded after a moment. The pinkette raised her free hand and lightly poked him in the collarbone.
"Me?"
She nodded back, nudging him again for good measure.
"My precious person. Just being with him makes me happy. Being with you. I feel like I've already missed out on a lot of time I could've been happy with you, Naruto. And I wasn't there for you back when you really needed me," She took a languid breath, her expression becoming a bit solemn. "... I still kinda feel like I failed you. And that I should've known better. I guess that's part of why I wanted to live here with you."
"But, Sakura-chan, you didn't owe me that. You didn't owe me anything."
"I know that's how you feel. But it's really important to me. I'd hate it if you needed me and I was somewhere else. But it's okay if you still don't completely understand."
After a moment, he tentatively shook his head.
"I'm starting to understand... It's just that-"
He paled as he realized how it would sound. Sakura's green eyes widened a little. Perhaps she realized as well.
"... What?"
Naturally, she wanted to hear it anyway.
"Well, I..." He gulped. "I always need you."
Sakura smiled and gave a simple nod.
"I'm starting to understand that, too."
"Y-you are?"
"Mm-hm," she hummed pleasantly.
The pinkette rested a hand on his shoulder, seemingly content to leave it at that. He gazed at her, trying in vain to read her mind. His heart started to nervously beat faster.
Sakura gave his shoulder an encouraging rub and planted a light kiss on it before looking back up at him with a slight frown.
"I have to go back to work tomorrow," she said.
"Oh..." This eventuality hadn't occurred to him. "You do?"
She nodded.
"I'll miss you."
The sentiment should have been silly. But it didn't come off that way.
"... Will you come back?"
She smiled. Now it was starting to.
"Of course. I live here."
"... Right," His features scrunched up as he cringed internally, lamenting how that fact had somehow slipped his mind. "Ugh... God."
Sakura laughed airily.
"Haha," She gave his side a teasing nudge. "You're such a goofball."
"I know..."
She lowered her head to his shoulder once more, playfully kissing it again. His gaze turned to find her emerald eyes peering up at him from behind his shoulder. The angle was such that he couldn't tell what her expression was.
"... It's all right, Naruto," The tip of her nose softly tickled his arm. Naruto could feel something twisting in his midsection. The pinkette continued to eye him, now with a hint of concern. "You okay?"
He wasn't sure.
"Yeah..."
She was the only person who could be so intensely perceptive towards him. It was at times hard to know what to say to someone who sometimes knew what he was feeling before he did.
Sakura lifted her head and moved it closer to his until they were face to face, her eyes narrowing a little. The blonde raised an eyebrow quizzically. When she wanted to kiss him, she rarely hesitated.
"Sakura-chan," he whispered.
"You have some sleep gunk in your eye."
"Oh... I-"
He reached up with a hand only to have her gently stop him with her own.
"Let me," she said with a grin.
Naruto nodded after a moment. Sakura moved her face even closer to his until it no longer fit in his range of vision. His nostrils filled with the smell of the lilac shampoo and mint-scented soap she had used twenty minutes ago.
Then she deftly raised her hand like the surgeon she was, one extended finger slowly closing in on his right eye. He held his breath and stayed as still as he could, perfectly still as only a ninja could.
Her finger blurred as it got closer and closer. His heart beat faster as he continued to expect a contact that never came, even after what felt like a significant amount of time. He began to wonder if she was just messing with him.
"... There!" Sakura exclaimed suddenly, smiling widely as she abruptly pulled away from him. Her chest heaved dramatically and her bangs fell into her eyes as she let out a breath she had been holding. The front of her index finger was on display, as if she was starting to explain something intricate to him. "I got it! I-!?"
The blonde's eyes flashed as something within him cracked and gave way. He grasped the nape of her neck with one hand while simultaneously yanking on the knot of the towel with the other. It came apart easily as expected, crumpling to the floor satisfyingly and exposing the surprised pinkette to the morning air.
"H-hey," she stammered.
He quickly kissed her before she had time to think, one hand clumsily fumbling over her naked body until it found and clamped over her right breast. The other soon followed, grasping and vigorously kneading the left one. She quivered at his touch as if it was a mild electric shock.
"Ngh..." she moaned softly, gradually going limp.
His hands fell to grip her hips to pick her up, quickly transplanting her into his lap. Full of nerves, he hastily returned his hands to where they were before. He might not be smooth, might in fact be downright clumsy with this. But he would enjoy her in his own time. Enjoy the soft and seductive aspects that he loved. In the way that he wanted to. And because he wanted to.
Or perhaps because he had to.
The blonde gave one nipple a testing prod with the pad of his thumb. His eyes were drawn to it as it sprung back into place hypnotically. He flattened his hand against the mound, trapping the pink nub inside the crevice between his middle two fingers. He shuddered slightly.
He started telling himself that he needed to calm down. This was fine. He had all the time in the world.
Sakura squirmed in his grasp, her groin pressing forcefully against the spine of his white-hot desire. It throbbed in something close to agony. He could only hope that all the time in the world would actually suffice.
"Naruto..."
It was getting to the point of being unbearable. But he couldn't, yet. Though being acknowledged by her was something he had managed with a lot of effort, remaining stoic when she did was another task entirely.
He took a breath and shifted away, his palms flattened against her ribcage. He shivered to feel it gently expanding with air. His heart seemed to have lodged itself somewhere in his throat.
"You, you... You d'li'em," Sakura sputtered, her cheeks flush with crimson.
She gave him a dour gaze. His eyes widened worryingly.
"Sakura... W-what did you say?" he whispered.
The pinkette cleared her throat and looked at him more firmly.
"Ehm... I-I said," Her lips curved into a shy smile. "You really do like them..."
/
"So. Kurenai-sensei spoke to you?"
Shino had accompanied Kiba to an eatery at his request, though it had taken minutes until the Aburame deigned to say anything.
"... Yeah. It was bad," Kiba replied. "Although my mother was worse. So much worse."
The bug ninja took his sweet time to reply.
"Why have you done this to yourself?"
Akamaru barked, as if echoing the sentiment.
"Hell, I dunno. I don't even understand how it got to this point. Everyone thinks of me as a jackass."
Seconds passed. Kiba wore an irritated expression.
"You're not even gonna disagree? You could at least humor me," he asked, knowing full well the request was futile.
"That is not our way. Why, you a-"
Kiba put a hand up.
"Yeah, yeah," They'd been over this. "Feh... No one gets where I'm coming from."
"Perhaps he would?"
Shino tilted his head to signal behind Kiba. The dog user turned to look and saw that Lee had entered the restaurant. He couldn't help but notice that he wasn't walking in his usual upright fashion, and that his gaze was distant.
"... What's up with him?"
The Aburame shrugged.
"Lee," Kiba called out. "Over here."
The taijutsu user turned and gave the faintest acknowledgement before walking over.
"Er... Have the two of you ordered anything?" he asked.
"No," Shino answered dispassionately.
There was an awkward moment of silence before Lee decided to sit down, then several more after he did so.
"So..." Kiba voiced anxiously.
Shino just gazed blankly back at him, while Lee glanced intermittently between the two of them.
Kiba's brow furrowed. Lee was usually good for getting a conversation started, if nothing else. But he seemed to be acting the role of a second glacier.
He thought with some amusement that Shino still had him beat, since the bug user actually seemed comfortable in this situation.
"... Maybe I will go," Lee muttered shakily. "I am not really that hungry."
Kiba did an exasperated double take.
"C'mon, man, don't be like that. How's it going? You still wish you were Sakura's boy-toy?"
Akamaru let out a high-pitched yelp. The sound signified danger, a warning that Kiba was in no particular need of. He'd realized right away that that had been the wrong thing to say.
Lee went wide-eyed and stood with a jolt, bumping into the underside of the table with such force that it was upended with a mighty crash. The members of Team Kurenai flipped away, naturally toppling their chairs as well. A hushed silence fell over the establishment, and the other patrons - almost all civilians - could only gape at this bizarre scene.
Lee stared at the flipped table in aghast embarrassment. Then he turned and stormed off without uttering a word.
An older male voice rang out amid the confusion.
"Inuzuka," Both Kiba and Shino turned to look at the displeased proprietor standing behind the bar. "Get out."
Kiba's face quickly twisted with protest.
"What?" he snarled. "But I didn't do shit! He just flipped out for no reason at a-"
"Kiba," Shino interjected quietly.
Kiba let out a weary sigh and gave up. He hardly cared, but he didn't want to cause his teammate further trouble by getting them banned from this place. He wasn't sure how often Shino came here.
The two shinobi quickly set the table and chairs right side up before walking out alongside Akamaru. Shino looked upon Kiba with an incomprehensible stare after they'd made it outside.
"Well done," he intoned.
"Ugh... Sorry," Kiba muttered in reply. "I guess that was my fault."
He would have asked that his mother not be told about this, but this was Shino he was speaking to. Shino didn't tell anyone about anything.
"Do not worry about it."
"You didn't get to eat because of me. I know how much that blows."
Shino seemed to contemplate this for a moment.
"If I found such things to be truly intolerable, I would not choose to be your friend."
Kiba wordlessly stared back at him, blinking a few times.
"... But I have," he clarified.
"I got that. I was just surprised."
The pair started to walk back down the street.
"Why?"
The Inuzuka rolled his eyes.
"Now you're the one asking?"
/
Sakura had come to encircle the blonde with three out of her four limbs, so as to efficiently leech off of his body heat. Her head lifted off the pillow to kiss his cheek.
"Love you," she said.
Naruto turned his head to give her a tentative glance. Spying a bead of cold sweat that was slowly trickling across the diamond on her forehead, he reached out to blot it with the side of his finger. She smiled faintly at him.
It really was that simple for her. She didn't need to think about if he was a pervert or an idiot, because it would make no difference.
This was likely fortunate for him, since he felt sure that he was both of those things.
"Sakura-chan."
"Mm?"
His mouth opened and closed. This line of discussion was not one she would enjoy, he realized.
"Um... I forgot what I was going to say."
Sakura tilted her head disarmingly.
"Aw, that's no good. I like getting to hear what's on your mind, sweetheart."
He relaxed a little and gave a soft smile at this.
"Even if it's just about how pretty you are?"
"I especially like that," she admitted. "That reminds me. When we're done at my parents', would you go shopping with me? I want to buy clothes."
"Okay. Why all of a sudden, though?"
"Well, it's not like I can walk around in a towel. Hah," The pinkette couldn't help but chuckle at her own joke. "And moving made me realize that I don't own that much stuff. I'd like to have more and different clothes... Ones I actually bought for myself. You really want to go with me?"
He nodded.
"Of course. That sounds fun."
"Fun? Pffwahaha," Sakura laughed uproariously, thinking that it was very few boys who would react this way.
The blonde raised an eyebrow to see her cracking up - she seemed in rather good spirits today.
"How's that funny?"
She stopped laughing and gave him a blank look for a moment, seeming to process that it wasn't that amusing.
"I guess it's not, really. It's just that guys are supposed to find that stuff really boring."
"Like, just waiting for you to try on different outfits?"
"Mm," Sakura hummed in assent. "Well, you could tell me which ones you like. I want to get at least one that you think is really cute."
"I don't see how that would be boring... I'd get to spend more time with you."
They both smiled at this.
"You're surprisingly good at being a boyfriend, Naruto."
"Er," Naruto blinked pensively. "... You really think I am?"
"Yeah!" The pinkette gave an unexpected shake of the head after a moment. "Wait... No."
His expression became genuinely baffled.
"No?"
"You're good at being," Sakura reached across his body to seek out his hand with hers, tightly interlocking her fingers into his larger ones. Her voice rose with a cheery, hopeful intonation. "... My boyfriend?"
Naruto found himself unexpectedly choked up at this.
"It's... I'm... Guh..."
The title wasn't a big deal, merely a basic expression of Sakura's fondness and respect for him. But the weight of how their relationship had changed was powerfully resonant. He supposed it always would be.
"You okay?"
"Yeah... I was going to say that it's not very hard, but..."
The pinkette laughed melodically.
"Hee hee. It's a little weird, isn't it? Being with me? Or maybe a little different from what you expected?"
The dynamic was indeed not difficult, but he wouldn't call it easy, either. Still, 'weird' seemed insufficient as a descriptor.
"Well..."
"Be honest," Sakura urged.
"... Kinda, I guess," There was an awkward moment as both pondered this. "I mean, I'd already thought it was crazy how much I loved you. But I didn't know the half of it, back then. There was a lot about Sakura-chan that I still didn't understand."
She raised an eyebrow.
"So you were still thinking I was flat-chested?"
"Pfft, no," the blonde scoffed. "I said that there were things I didn't get... I wasn't saying that I was freakin' blind."
