"Sakura-chan...? Hey, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yells with a smile upon seeing his favorite cherry blossom walking down the street in front of him.
Sakura stops and turns around, "...That voice... Naruto?" Naruto couldn't help but smile cheekily once she saw him running to her, "Naruto!"
Naruto stops in front of her and they lock eyes for the first time in three years.
"Kami, Naruto, I almost didn't believe that it was you! You're back!" She says with a shocked smile.
"Yep, it feels great to be back home!" He says with a sigh, "Wow, you've really grown since I last saw you!"
"Me? Look at you! You're taller than me now!" She giggles, "And you don't look as scrawny as you used to."
"Heh, yeah! I don't know if it's because I'm getting older, or because of Ero-Sennin's training, but..."
The atmosphere around the two slowly grows darker, until they are surrounded by pitch-black darkness.
"Hey... What's going on?" Naruto asks, looking around at his surroundings, "Why did everything get so dar-?"
"Why, Naruto...?"
Naruto turns back toward Sakura.
The first thing he notices is the look in her eyes. They held fear, confusion, pain... She's looking at him as though he turned into a monster.
"Sakura-chan...? W-What's wrong? I-"
Sakura coughs.
Spots of blood fly from Sakura's mouth onto Naruto's face.
The spots of blood feels warm against his skin. He flinches, as to not let it get in his eyes.
After slowly regaining her composure, a drop of blood streams from her hairline, down toward her face.
"It hurts, Naruto... Why are you doing this...?"
Naruto could only look at her in terror and confusion, "S-Sakura-chan, what's happening to you...?! What am I doing...?"
A demonic howl echoes throughout the pitch black darkness.
Sakura yelps in pain as something rips through the torso of her blouse and skin. Spots of blood hit the ground as three gashes emerge onto her stomach. Her blood quickly drools out, running down her abdomen and blouse.
"S-Sakura! How... What's happenin-?"
"Ahh!"
Another three gashes appear onto her left thigh. Blood quickly flows out of the wound, down her leg.
"N-Naruto, stop!"
"What... What are you talking about...?!"
Her right thigh meets the same fate as the other.
Sakura hunches over, tears now staining her face.
"Please, Naruto... It hurts..."
Naruto gathers her in his arms once he sees the agonizing pain written on her face.
He feels how weak and limp her body is, but nevertheless holds on tight, "Sakura, I... I don't know what's going on, but-"
The demonic sound roars around them again.
The Uzumaki feels her body tighten and clench up as three more lines of blood are drawn through the backside of her shirt, down her back. These wounds are much bigger and deeper than the other ones. She hisses as the unknown force tears through her flesh like wet paper.
"N-Naruto..." She sobs in his ear, "I'm begging you... Please stop... Why are you doing this to me...?"
"I-I'm not doing anything..."
Once more, the eerie howl is heard within the darkness, louder than the previous times. The ground shakes from its thunderous and demonic roar.
She slowly pulls back to look him in the eyes.
"I'm... I'm sorry, Naruto... I don't know what I did to deserve this, but... I'm so-"
Sakura's words are cut off as a sudden sound of ripping wet flesh pierces Naruto's eardrums. Her eyes shoot open, her mouth gaping.
He feels her warm blood trickling down his arms that are protectively locking around her back.
"I-I... I'm so... I'm sorry..."
Sakura falls lifelessly in his arms.
The air around Naruto becomes heavy, as the terror of what just happened holds him in place.
"Sakura... This can't be happening... Sakura, wake up...! I didn't-"
"You... You monster..."
Naruto looks up, to see Ino directly in front of him, looking at the lifeless and majorly wounded Sakura in his arms with utmost shock, "...You... killed her..."
Naruto freezes.
"I-Ino... No, I didn't... She... Look, I don't know whats going on, but-"
"You killed her... You're... a monster..."
Naruto gently places Sakura's body onto the ground and takes a step toward Ino, "Ino, no, I didn't-"
She replies by taking one step back.
Naruto takes another step.
And so does Ino.
"The villagers were right... You're..."
"Ino, I didn't do... I mean, I-"
As Naruto takes another step, Ino looks at him with a face filled with fear and turns around to run for her life.
"Ino, wait!" He starts to run after her, but can't see past the darkness. He loses sight of her quickly.
"Naruto, how could you..."
He turns around and sees Tsunade standing right behind him, with Sakura's damaged body in her arms.
"B-Baa-chan... I-"
"She was your teammate, Naruto... Why would you kill her...?"
"I didn't!" He exclaims, wiping the tears from his eyes, "I don't know how... But I didn't..."
Tsunade turns her head away from him, "...I'm sorry, Naruto. But it has to be done."
"Wh-What has to be-"
"There he is!" He hears from behind her. "Get the demon! I knew he couldn't be trusted!"
A large crowd of people come into view, charging their way toward him.
Everyone in Konoha.
Kakashi.
Yamato.
Kiba.
Shikamaru.
Iruka.
Hinata.
Neji.
Lee.
Chouji.
Even Teuchi and Ayame.
They all have their eyes set on him, with looks of spite and malice. They want to rip him apart.
Naruto runs in the opposite direction, as everyone charges past Tsunade to chase him.
Every second, it sounds as though they're getting closer.
Their voices of revenge increase in volume. And he can hear each of his 'friend's' voice clearly and individually.
They want his blood.
"I didn't do it..." He mumbles while running. "I swear I didn't do it..."
He then hears the demonic howl once more.
He then abruptly runs into something that stops him in his tracks and places him on his posterior.
Or rather, someone.
"Why, hello, Naruto-kun."
Naruto looks up from the ground, to see Sakura's murderer.
"You...!" Naruto growls, standing up on his two feet. "Why did you kill her?!"
Kyuubi laughs and crosses her arms, "I didn't do a thing, Naruto-kun. You shouldn't place the blame from your actions onto others."
"Screw you!" He roars in her face, "You murdered her! And now everyone thinks I'm you! I would never hurt Sakura!"
"Mm, but you just did."
"Argh!" He growls. His hand tightly clamps around Kyuubi's throat, which doesn't seem to phase her.
"You want revenge, hm? You want to avenge your precious Sakura-chan? You want to kill me and get rid of me?"
Naruto's heavy and ragged breathing is the only response she gets.
She chuckles, then reaches around her back.
"Here." She holds out a kunai for him, "If you really think you can do it, kill me. I wont stop y- Hrghh!"
Drops of blood are heard hitting the floor's surface.
Naruto clenches the kunai tighter, shoving it deeper into her heart. Her blood covers the weapon and a part of his fist.
"Tch...!" She clenches her teeth as Naruto goes as far as to twist the sharp object clockwise while it's impaled in her chest. His other hand also never left her throat.
He closes his eyes and hangs his head. He never thought that seeking and going through with revenge could feel so satisfying, but so poisonous at the same time.
He doesn't even know if doing what he's doing is a good idea.
But he doesn't care. She had it comi-
"...Naruto..."
Naruto's eyes shoot open.
"Why would you... I don't understand..."
That voice.
He looks up, to see his hands no longer clenching at Kyuubi's throat and holding a kunai in her heart.
The heart and throat now belongs to a certain purple-haired Jounin.
A stream of blood drools from her mouth, and her hands weakly grab at his arm, futilely attempting to get him to pull the kunai out of her heart.
"A-Anko...? I... How did you... Why are you..."
She could only look at him with half-lidded eyes, the life quickly draining from her, "...I... You... You bastard..."
She then falls limp, just like Sakura had.
"NO!"
Naruto pants as his heart feels as though it's about to beat out of his chest. He places a hand over it, analyzing his surroundings.
He sighs once he sees that he's in his apartment. It's dark, but there's enough moonlight shining in his window to make out the familiar arrangements of furniture.
"It was a dream..." He mumbles out loud, rubbing his head as his heartbeat doesn't seem to slow down. His body is so covered in sweat, his bangs are hanging past his eyebrows due to the liquid weighing down his locks.
"Urgh... What are you shouting for...?" Someone mumbles next him. He looks over and sees Anko in bed with him, with closed eyes.
He looks away and buries his face in his palms. The dream... It felt and looked so real.
Anko cracks an eye open, to see Naruto leaning up in bed, with his face in his hands.
She sits up beside him, yawning and stretching her arms, "What's wrong, Naruto-kun? It's, like, three o'clock in the morning..."
He suddenly hugs her tightly, something that catches her off guard.
"I didn't mean to do it..." He whispers, "I swear I didn't..."
Anko sighs and wraps her arms around him, now putting two and two together. He had one hell of a nightmare.
He constricts his arms around her, and she feels how he's holding on to her so tightly, as if she'd disappear if he let go.
She gently shushes him once he silently starts sobbing.
"It's okay, Naruto-kun. I'm here."
Naruto couldn't help but let the tears fall. Dreams are not supposed to feel so real. He felt, heard, smelled, and saw everything that occurred in his mind. Almost like being trapped in Tsukuyomi.
He thought he had involuntarily murdered Anko.
Anko sighs again as he grabs hold of her even tighter. She never was known for being the most sympathetic of people. But she can't help but to pity him for what he's going through. She can only imagine how bad his nightmare was. She can feel his heart pounding multiple times a second through the hug alone.
Being in the Torture and Interrogation department of Konoha, she had seen plenty of men cry as a result of mental and emotional torment. And she could tell, that Naruto's situation isn't much different. While she would occasionally laugh at and ridicule prisoners for crying like a little baby while being tortured, she knew that Naruto's case is different. His own mind is torturing him. He's having an internal battle with himself, one that may not end for a few more months, even years. It's a bit different when someone else abuses a person's mind and emotional well-being, but when someone's mind does it to their own self, it's as if they're physically beating themselves up, with no true way to stop it. They just have to sit there and roll with the punches.
Anko and Naruto remain in this position for quite a while, until Anko manages to calm him down enough for his heart rate to return back to normal.
"...Sorry for waking you up." Naruto mumbles, wiping his eyes.
"Don't worry about it. You must've had one hell of a dream."
Naruto stares blankly into his apartment, "It wasn't a dream... I don't even think it was a nightmare... It felt so real..."
Anko rubs his back, "Well, whatever it was, it's over. Nothing that happened in your mind is real. I forgot to tell you that you may have horrible dreams due to what happened, but try to brush them off. It's not real, despite how real it may seem or feel."
Naruto slowly nods. She sees his uncertainty and pulls him by the chin to kiss him passionately.
"Don't worry." She says, looking him in the eyes, "Whatever you may go through, I'm here for you."
This manages to earn her a small smile from him, "Thank you, Anko-chan."
She flicks him in the nose, "Don't call me that. Now come, lets go back to sleep. I need my beauty sleep if you want to continue having a good-looking girlfriend."
Anko lays on her back, and Naruto cuddles her side, using her breasts as pillows, hugging her tightly and securely.
She gently plays with his hair. While having seen men so vulnerable in her life to the point where she could snap her fingers and they'd flinch in fear, she'd never seen someone she truly cared about as vulnerable as Naruto, other than Kurenai. His night terror rocked him hard, and while she doesn't particularly know how much more it'll take for him to reach his breaking point, she knows that he's a bit fragile at the moment, and needs only a few more pushes before he cracks.
In Anko's life, she has only truly cared for two people.
Kurenai has known Anko since they were Genin, and they share a fire and ice kind of relationship that proves that opposites do attract in some cases. She cares about Kurenai like a sister, and while Kurenai is a lot more open to her emotional side than she is, seeing her cry about Asuma and her pregnancy yesterday was the first time she'd seen Kurenai so emotional since her father's death, which was quite a few years ago. Kurenai is otherwise a pretty strong woman, who keeps on the positive side, even when she has her bad days.
Anko has known Orochimaru longer than she knew Kurenai. And before he abandoned her, she'd never seen Orochimaru touch on his emotional side. He wasn't stoic and lifeless, just didn't have a care in the world. He's so confident in his abilities, that he believes he could play God, with enough effort. Anko had even tried to annoy Orochimaru at times, given her childlike personality, only to be rewarded with a light scolding and a nonchalant attitude.
Even when she met him in The Forest of Death during the Chuunin Exams, he seemed to just be toying with her, despite how serious she was set on killing him.
Other than those two, Anko doesn't care much for anyone else. Not to say that she hates everyone and doesn't have any friendly acquaintances, such as Kakashi or Ibiki. She just wouldn't shed a tear if they died the next day.
However, something attracted her to Naruto. It could be their similar personalities. It could have been his unique looks. It could have been her yearning for wanting something or someone different, apart from everyone else.
Or it could have been their similar pasts.
She'd seen how he was shunned at a child, due to him containing Kyuubi. And each time she saw it or heard about it, something touched her inside. She didn't pay much attention to it, but she definitely felt a connection, and could even see herself in him at some points.
They shared the same wild and carefree smiles during the day, but had the same frowns and feelings of neglect at night.
Since Naruto was young at the time, she felt no level of attraction, and didn't really care too much about him, despite feeling a bit sympathetic, since she's always been a sociopath of sorts. But seeing him drunk in the bar that night... she didn't want him to throw his life away. If it were anyone else, she wouldn't care. But something in her mind made her want to look out for him. To make sure that he didn't suffer as much as she did.
And that's why she has wanted to be in a relationship with him. To help him. To care for him. To be there to help him up when he falls on his ass, even if she may be the one pushing him.
She knows that he'll need some kind of support to remain strong.
And she knows, that she's the kind of support he needs.
She continues to play with his hair until both of them fall back to sleep. As they continue to hold each other while the moonlight shines upon them, the sounds of snoring fill the apartment.
"Sho you told Tshunade-shama the truth about whah happened?" Anko asks through the toothpaste.
"Yeah."
"And whah happened?"
"She shaid she doeshn't blame me and that she'sh not mad at me. She shaid that she undershtandsh that it wash an accshident." Naruto replies, brushing his own teeth as well.
"Whah?"
"I shaid that she undershtandsh that it wash an accshident and that it washn't my fault."
"...Whah?!"
Naruto groans, "I shaid...! Hold on." Naruto spits out the combined liquid of saliva, toothpaste, and water filling his mouth, "I said that she understands. She told me that she knew all along and that she wasn't upset with me."
"Oh." Anko spits the contents in her mouth into the sink as well, "Well, that's good then. One less thing you have to worry about."
"Exactly." Naruto and Anko then exit out of the bathroom, heading for the closet to get dressed in their casual clothes.
"And how about that new jutsu or whatever you're making with Kakashi? Any progress?" Anko asks, equiping her mesh bodysuit.
Naruto grins, "I'm almost finished with it. I managed to add my wind chakra to the rasengan and now all I have to do is manage to make the shape, so it can-"
Anko interrupts him with a kiss, "Hey, I didn't ask you all that, blabber-mouth." She teases with a grin.
"You're so mean to me." Naruto replies, chuckling.
"You know you love it." Anko says, "So I'm assuming that you wanna head straight to Kakashi once we finish getting dressed."
"Of course!" Naruto replies, "I'm eager to finish this jutsu!"
"Heh, as if I couldn't tell already." Anko mumbles with a playful shake of her head. Soon the two get dressed in their normal attire and head out of the apartment.
"Hey, Anko?" Naruto says.
"Hm?"
"How do you think people are gonna react?"
She looks at him, "React about what?"
"About, you know... us. Now that we're dating."
Anko stops walking and faces in front of him, prior to exiting through to the outdoors, "Naruto-kun, lemme ask you something."
"Okay."
"You like me, right? Do you enjoy being with me so far?"
Naruto nods, "Yeah, of course."
"And you know that the feeling is mutual when it comes to me, right?"
"Yeah."
"So that's all that matters." Anko states, "Who cares about everyone else's opinion. I don't know if you noticed by now, but we've both been called nasty names in the past and we've grown to a point where we can brush them off, for the most part, at least. So now we're dating. The slut and the demon, as they would say. Who cares."
"Yeah, but I'm talking about our friends... for example, how would you think Tsunade-sama would react?"
Anko chuckles, "Naruto, are you embarrassed of me or something?"
"No, of course not! I'm just saying, since... you're my first girlfriend, I don't really know what to expect."
Anko grins, "Not a lot should change. We just started dating, thats all. So people may look at us differently, so what. Other people's opinions shouldn't matter much. You're an adult, so you can do whatever you want and not have to feel a certain way because of what others may think. All that matters about the whole dating thing is how we feel about each other, alright?"
Naruto smiles and nods, "Gotcha."
Anko grins, "Good." She then turns around and opens the door, hand in hand with her new lover.
As they walk down the different streets in Konoha, Naruto feels uneasy by the amount of eyes staring at them. Yes, he's had eyes glaring at him while walking down a street due to the demon within him in the past, but now it seems like EVERYONE they walk past is staring at them with any combination of disgust, shock, or confusion once they see that his and Anko's hands are interlocked.
He looks at Anko, and can see that she looks as content as can be, completely unfazed by the eyes set on her and Naruto.
"Er... Anko?" He whispers to his girlfriend.
"Yeah?"
"I usually wouldn't complain about something like this, but it seems like everyone we come across is looking at us..."
Anko smirks, "I know, isn't it great? While I'm not an attention seeker, seeing everyone reacting like this is just priceless."
"I guess... But, I don't know, I think it's kind of... unsettling."
"Hah, it's not like they're gonna do anything about it, you have nothing to worry about." Naruto shrugs and tries to brush off the looks as best as he can.
That is, until Anko gets an idea.
"Hey, Naruto-kun." She whispers in his ear.
"Hm?"
"On a scale from one to ten, how much do you think the villagers are gonna react to this?"
Naruto raises an eyebrow, "React to what?"
Anko suddenly grabs the back of Naruto's head and pulls him into a very heated liplock. Everyone's eyes in the vicinity, including Naruto's, shoot open in shock. Anko wraps her arms around his neck as she blatantly uses a lot of tongue action in the kiss, even going so far as to moan a bit provocatively.
She grins mid-kiss once she hears certain people gasp. While surprised at first, Naruto succumbs to Anko's oral efforts and closes his eyes, returning the favor. Anko then decides to turn up the heat a bit by raising one of her legs to wrap around Naruto's. Her hand descends toward his posterior and grabs his cheek aggressively, pulling their clothed loins together.
Soon, Anko breaks the kiss with an exaggerated 'Muah!' and separates from him. She chuckles as she wipes her mouth from the saliva, knowing that she doesn't even have to turn around to look at everybody to know their reactions.
She sighs happily, "So what do you think, Naruto-kun? I think I would rate that a nine."
Naruto still has his eyes closed and his lips puckered. It takes a snap from Anko's hand to force him back into reality, "Er... What...?"
Anko laughs and moves behind him to push him, "Just come on. I don't want anyone spraying us with a hose."
She tries to move him, only to see that Naruto is fighting against her, "Um, Anko wait a second..."
She looks at him, "What?"
"You walk in front of me..." He says with a very saturated blush.
Anko raises an eyebrow, "Why?"
"Just do it...!" He whispers. Anko shrugs and moves in front of him, only to be grabbed and pulled very close to his torso.
She almost asks what his problem is, until she feels something poking her in the back.
Anko laughs out loud as Naruto pretends that he's hugging her from behind as they walk, "Hahaha! Too hot even for you, huh?"
Naruto growls bashfully as he hides the tent in his pants, "Sh-Shut up!"
Anko finds this to be very entertaining, "Heh, I'm pretty sure they saw it already anyway. No use in hiding it now."
Naruto's blush could only redden from embarrassment, "Damn it, Anko...! Why would you put me through this...?!"
"Hehehe, its not my fault that you reacted to it more than the villagers did. And telling by how it feels like someone is pushing a lead pipe against my back, you must've really enjoyed it."
Naruto curses under his breath, "... I think there were kids around, too..."
Anko snickers, then shrugs, "Oh well. They gotta learn sooner or later."
It took ten whole minutes for Naruto's erection to die down.
"Aw, I was actually getting used to the feeling of having your boner rammed against my lower back." Anko jokes teasingly once Naruto separates to walk beside her.
"I hate you." Is all Naruto replies with.
Anko smirks, "Sucks for you, cuz now you're stuck with me."
Just as Naruto half-jokingly asks himself what he got himself into, he spots a familiar someone walking their way.
"Oh, hi, Naruto-kun." Ino greets with a wave.