A/N: Alright, so as it turns out, this story still has lots of readers if the reviews for last chapter were any indication. I'm sorry for reacting the way I did. I'm still really new to this whole author thing, and not great at reading the room. I'll try to be more optimistic from here on out :)
This chapter will feature some fun stuff. It's good to know that many of you are all for Haku's return, because I've been looking forward to writing her. She was my favorite part of Jack's take on the wave arc
Time for Chapter 32
Enjoy!
Shikamaru blinked several times as he attempted to process the current situation before him. Haku being alive was unsurprising, as Hiruzen had informed him months ago that she would be spared and allowed a degree of freedom, but to see her as what appeared to be a fully fledged member of the Anbu was puzzling, to say the least.
"I have several questions." the Nara boy said after having entirely failed to connect whatever dots there may have been. Haku twirled her mask on her index finger with one of its eye-holes.
"I'll tell you what I can." she said, looking past Shikamaru to his parents, who were both watching the encounter unfold silently.
"Forgive my late intrusion, but may I come inside?" she requested politely. Yoshino glanced at Shikaku, who gave a curt nod. Haku bowed respectfully and stepped through the door, brushing past the Nara boy as she did so. Closing the door a moment later, Shikamaru took a deep breath. He would be afforded no more time to think, it seemed.
"I'm assuming we're dropping ranks?" Yoshino asked, her eyes fixed analytically on Haku, who had settled shoulder-to-shoulder with Shikamaru.
"Of course. I have no official business here." the now-former huntress replied with a nod. Yoshino then gestured toward the dining room table, which was vacant. Needing no further prompting, Shikamaru briskly walked across the room and took a seat. He knew better than to keep his mother waiting. Haku appeared to recognize who held true authority in the household rather quickly, as she followed suit. A moment later, she was sitting across from the Nara boy.
"I'll put on some tea. Feel free to have your conversation. I'll try not to eavesdrop." Yoshino said, making her way into the kitchen as she spoke. Once she was gone, Shikamaru looked to his father, who was standing just beyond the end of the table. The older Nara, just as Yoshino had, took a long look at Haku. Once he was apparently satisfied with whatever conclusions he had drawn, Shikaku strolled away into the living room. Now alone for the moment, Shikamaru turned his attention to the girl across from him.
"I guess my first question is the obvious one. How'd you end up wearing the mask and gray flak jacket?" he started. Haku set her mask on the table and studied it for a few seconds.
"It was my only option other than a prison sentence. I've been contracted for two years of mandatory service in the Anbu unit. After that, I can do as I like. Well, within Konoha, at least." she explained. Shikamaru considered her answer silently. It made some degree of sense, but how the arrangement came to be in the first place was a total mystery.
"How did that get set up?" he asked skeptically. The former huntress gave him an apologetic smile and shook her head.
"I'm not permitted to tell you that. Let's just say…your leader is an opportunist." she said vaguely. While the reply told him little in terms of specific details, it gave him a fairly clear broad outline of what had occurred. Resting his elbows on the table and leaning his cheek on the heel of his palm, Shikamaru drummed his fingers on the wooden surface.
"I guess I'm not too shocked. He told me you'd be taken off the chopping block. Good to know that he was being honest." he said. Haku tilted her head off to one side.
"I take it you're happy to see me, then?" she asked, her tone hopeful. Shikamaru opened his mouth to respond, but soon found that his emotions were muddled.
"I don't know how to feel." he said honestly. The girl's expression fell ever so slightly, but she remained pleasant-faced. She then reached across the table and lightly pinched his right ear between her thumb and index fingers.
"How did this happen?" she asked with a frown. Flinching at the sudden contact, Shikamaru easily deduced what she was referring to, that being the hole Orochimaru had pinned in his cartilage.
"It's a really long story. Too long to tell tonight, honestly." he said. Haku shrugged her shoulders and released his ear, letting her fingers graze over his cheek as she retracted the hand.
"Fair enough. I'll just have to be patient, then. That aside, congratulations on making it into the final round." she said, drawing a look of surprise from the Nara boy.
"Wait, how did you know about that?" he asked. Haku pushed her dark brown hair behind her shoulders and blinked a strand out of her eyes.
"Apparently, the Chunin Exams are something of a sporting event around these parts. It's all my platoon-mates talk about. One of them got their hands on a copy of the tournament bracket. I saw your name on it." she said matter-of-factly. The shadow user sighed heavily. He was a public figure, at least for the time being.
"I'm fighting a girl again. It sucks." he grumbled. Haku giggled at his exasperation and covered her mouth cutely.
"Again, hm? So you had another match beforehand?" she inquired. Shikamaru nodded and rubbed sleep out of his eyes. Despite the undeniably fascinating situation he found himself within, he was still rather groggy.
"Yeah, there were too many genin left over from the second phase, so they made us participate in a round of prelim matches. I fought a girl from Otogakure. She threw a lot of needles at me." he recalled tiredly. The former huntress raised an eyebrow.
"Did she, now? What an odd choice of weapon." she said humorously. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and sat up straighter.
"Says the girl who could pin a bug to a tree with a sewing needle." he shot back. The girl smiled proudly, but said nothing. For nearly a minute, the silence endured.
"If me being here is making you uncomfortable, I can go. I'll understand." Haku said quietly after a time, her eyes fixed on her own lap. Shikamaru shifted in his seat.
"It's not that. I just didn't expect to see you again this soon. I don't really know what to say. I haven't had time to think." he said. Haku's gaze returned to his face.
"Well, you said you had a few questions, and you've only asked me one." she pointed out. It was a fair point.
"Where are you living right now?" the shadow user asked. Haku gestured to her mask, which still laid flat on the table.
"I live in the barracks. I don't get paid yet, so I eat there too. It's not the most comfortable life, but it's consistent. More than I'm used to, frankly." she said. Shikamaru winced. From what he had heard from his father's acquaintances in the corps, being a live-in member was unpleasant across the board.
"Think you'll survive two years of that?" he asked only half-jokingly. Haku's lips pulled into a smile again, her mood seeming to have lifted.
"I'd take it over jail time any day. Besides, I can spend my days off pestering you." she said. Shikamaru began to retort, but as he did so, another question popped up in his mind.
"How did you even find out where I live?" he asked. Haku laughed uncomfortably, her usual composure giving way to a look of embarrassment.
"How do I put this…" she began, trailing off as she searched for an appropriate explanation for her methodology.
"I may or may not have forcefully convinced a post-office worker to give me your address." she admitted, scratching the back of her head awkwardly. Shikamaru's mouth fell open slightly.
"So, you threatened my mail man?" he clarified. Haku groaned and buried her face in her hands on the edge of the table.
"Don't say it like that. It makes me sound creepy." she whined. Before Shikamaru could respond, Yoshino returned from the kitchen with a hot kettle of tea and a pair of cups. Setting it all down, Shikamaru's mother put her hand on Haku's shoulder.
"I was the same way when I was young, hon." she said with a chuckle, promptly leaving to join her husband in the living room a moment later. Lifting her face up from her hands, Haku blew a strand of hair out of her face.
"In my defense, he was being very stubborn." she muttered. Shikamaru carefully sipped the scalding tea he had poured for himself. He nearly spit it out once it hit his tongue. It was mint, which he despised.
"Well, now you know. Try not to make it a habit. People are sensitive around here." he said dismissively, finding that he hardly cared beyond the initial shock. Haku breathed an audible sigh of relief.
"Your parents seem nice. Your mother especially." she said, draining half of her cup of tea in one go. Shikamaru glanced off toward the living room.
"They're fine, I guess. Mom's a real piece of work, but dad is usually mellow." he said, bracing himself for an angry retort from Yoshino. When it didn't come, he relaxed. Haku's eyes shifted off toward the living room as well.
"Is that so? I'd better get used to them, then." she said. Shikamaru furrowed his brow and set his tea cup aside.
"Why's that?" he inquired. The former huntress looked him in the eyes and poured herself another serving of tea without bothering to watch her hands.
"I'd prefer to be on good terms with my future in-laws." she said casually. The Nara boy's eye twitched at the comment. She was almost certainly teasing him, but even outside of the unsavory circumstances under which they had met, the girl was painfully difficult to read.
"You'd better be able to cook, then. Mom's always ranting about how our generation can't do anything practical." he shot back, meaning the response as a joke. Fortunately or unfortunately, Haku's eyes lit up brightly.
"That's it? She'll love me." she exclaimed, thinly veiled excitement in her voice. Shikamaru sank down into his chair dejectedly.
"Oh, you were serious." he mumbled as Haku downed another cup of mint tea unnaturally quickly.
"But, we can save that conversation for another night. I've already put you under quite a lot of stress just by showing up." the former huntress said as Shikamaru fixed his posture. The shadow user scratched his cheek absently.
"Not stress, really. It was just a surprise. I've been through way worse this week alone." he said. Haku studied him intently for a time.
"You do seem a bit less childish than you did in the forest, I must say." she said. Shikamaru flattened out a few wrinkles in his shirt.
"A lot's happened since the last time I saw you. I don't wanna get into it right now, but I've been through some stuff now." he said honestly. Haku's expression softened slightly.
"Well, as long as you're still you, that's what matters to me, and you seem like yourself." she said. Shikamaru met her ever-consistent gaze.
"You really haven't known me very long." he pointed out. Haku shook her head and reached across the table to fiddle with his punched ear again.
"Quality over quantity. I'm more than sold on you." she said softly. Squirming a bit as Haku played around with his ear, Shikamaru carefully avoided knocking over the tea kettle.
"I'm kinda boring. Just a warning." he said. The girl released his ear and folded the hand on her lap.
"No, you're not. You just like to take things slowly, and that's alright." she corrected him. The shadow user glanced up at the clock briefly. Quite a bit of time had passed. More than he had expected.
"Well, thank you, I guess. You're nothing if not interesting, so there's that." he said upon returning his attention to the former huntress. Haku smiled at the near-compliment.
"Maybe you are happy to see me." she joked. Shikamaru's mind traveled back to his original response to the question, testing to see if his answer had definitively changed.
"I'm not unhappy about it." he said under his breath. While his tone had been hushed, Haku heard him all the same.
"I'll take what I can get for now." she said with a shrug, standing up and retrieving her mask. Shikamaru soon joined her in standing. Before they could take a step in any direction, Yoshino walked out of the living room.
"Leaving already?" she asked. Haku nodded reluctantly and pushed in her chair. The older woman then seemed to have an epiphany.
"I never got your name, if you're permitted to tell me." she said. The former huntress held her mask at her waist and bowed.
"Haku Yuki, ma'am." she replied. Yoshino nodded with a smile, signaling for Shikamaru to escort her out. Doing as he was told, Shikamaru tugged Haku on the wrist. The girl then followed him to the door, which the Nara boy opened. As she stepped out into the night again, Haku turned to face him.
"If you'd have me, I may come looking for you again soon. Times are quiet for the Anbu right now." she said. Shikamaru finally allowed himself to smile. There was no point in moping.
"Yeah, sure. I'm not always at home, though." he said. The former huntress waved a dismissive hand.
"I'll find you, even if you hide from me." she said. While her words held humor, her tone did not. Shikamaru chose to ignore it.
"Goodnight, Haku." he said. At his words, Haku stepped forward and pulled him in by his shoulder, leaving his ear right in line with her lips.
"Use my name more often. I like the way you say it." she whispered. She then released him, stepped back, put on her mask, and vanished into the wind. Staring out into the empty night for a few moments, Shikamaru soon stepped back inside and closed the door.
"That was her, wasn't it?"
Looking back over his shoulder, Shikamaru saw his mother standing just beyond the foyer with her arms folding across her chest. Rotating on his heel, the shadow user nodded.
"Yeah, it was." he replied. Yoshino did not respond immediately, taking her time to ponder the odd girl she had just allowed into her home.
"I can see why it was so hard for you. She's a real heartbreaker. Looks around your age, too." she said. Shikamaru slid his hands into his pockets and began making a beeline for his room. As he attempted to pass her, Yoshino stopped him with a hand on his chest.
"I could feel you struggling the minute she got here. Don't guilt yourself any more than you already have. You've been punished already. Move on and take it for what it is." she advised. Shikamaru nodded, beginning to walk again once his mother's hand left his body.
"I'll try." he said in response, more to himself than Yoshino. Within seconds, he was up the stairs and back in his room. Flopping down onto his bed, Shikamaru sighed.
'My life just got a lot more complicated, didn't it?'
Naruto pushed down his unease as he made his way through the slightly-ajar gates of what was once the densely populated Uchiha complex. Though he had initially resisted the task of delivering a bottle of antibiotic pills to his raven-haired teammate, the reward of a free meal had been far too exciting to ignore. Much of his apprehension regarding the small-scale mission was due to the many hard lessons he had learned about taking walks too late at night.
'He followed her home. Why couldn't he have just given them to her then?' Naruto pondered as his set foot in the Uchiha sector for the very first time.
The first thing he was struck by upon fully entering the area was its sheer size. It was more or less a small neighborhood based upon what he could see. Multiple housings, at least two other buildings of unknown utility, and a lengthy middle street that stretched on for quite a ways. Thankfully, he had a solid guess as to where Satsuki was at present. Of all the buildings, only one was emanating light. The house was on the far left several buildings down.
It wasn't much, but it appeared that one of the inner rooms of said building was currently being occupied. Taking this piece of information as his only lead, Naruto began the fairly long trek toward it with a sigh.
'She's got this whole place to herself. She's all that's left here. I'm honestly surprised the village has left it alone all this time.' he thought to himself. The utter silence of the area was both unsettling and depressing. Unsettling in its atmosphere, and depressing in its context. Dozens of innocent people had died on the very ground he now walked on, and the silence was their legacy. Shaking off the disturbing thought, Naruto continued onward.
Upon coming within a hundred feet of the building from which the light was streaming, the illumination in the window cut off. Whatever light that had been turned on within had been deactivated. Taking the development as confirmation that Satsuki was most likely inside, the blonde jogged his way up to the steps of the dwelling. Before he could begin to climb them, however, the front door opened. Wearing her usual garb of a dark blue Uchiha-branded shirt and skirt of the same color was Satsuki.
She looked quite tired, as evidenced by the half-lidded status of her eyes and the forward bend in her posture, but she was still as brooding as ever. For a time, the girl simply stared down at him from her higher perch atop the stairs.
"I don't remember inviting you in here, Naruto." she pointed out as a lead. Despite her obvious exhaustion, Satsuki's pronunciation of his name was still as intricate as it always was. The blonde shrugged his shoulders and slid his hands into his pockets.
"Your front gate was open. Besides, I'm here on orders. I'm here to give you some pills Sensei wants you to take." he replied, producing the bottle of pills Kakashi had given to him an hour prior. Satsuki raised an eyebrow at this.
"I never took you for the type to be my delivery boy, but I'll take it as a sign that you finally know your place." she said with a smirk. Naruto internally prickled, but managed to push down his urge to snap back at her erratically.
"Oh, and Sensei also told me to feed the pills to you by hand." he countered casually. The retort had quite the unexpected effect on the girl. Instead of faltering or showing any real embarrassment, Satsuki made a quick leap down from her doorstep. She landed directly in front of him and straightened out her posture to accentuate her height.
"Oh yeah? Get to it, then. Do it quickly enough and I might not bite you." she goaded him from well within his personal space. When he found that he didn't have the nerve to follow through on the sarcastic remark, Naruto's face twitched ever so slightly. Easily noticing this, the girl swiped the bottle from his hand and stepped back a foot.
"That's what I thought. Now get going. I'm not big on letting people in here." she said bluntly. Suddenly feeling quite defiant, the blonde shook his head and stood his ground.
"I've got a feeling you aren't actually going to take those, so I'm not leaving until I see you do it." he countered stubbornly. Satsuki maintained unwavering eye contact with him as they competed to stare a hole in one another's skulls.
"Why's that? Looking for an excuse to poke around?" she asked only half-jokingly. The Jinchuuriki snorted and made a wide gesture to the buildings surrounding them.
"Not much to see around here. Just some empty houses and you. No, I just know that you're as bad at following directions as I am." he corrected sharply. Satsuki seemed to momentarily lose her composure, but she regained it quickly.
"You're gonna be here awhile if you want to actually watch me take those pills. I'll do it later." she said dismissively. Naruto, once again, remained steadfast despite her attempt to ward him off.
"I guess I'll be out late tonight, then." he said simply. Satsuki scowled at his refusal to be turned away initially, but the look of irritation slowly gave way to one of resigned calm.
"Fine, suit yourself. But I'm not feeling nice enough to let you inside. We're taking a walk." she declared, trudging past him as she spoke. Though somewhat perturbed by the fact that he would be forced to endure the nighttime cold for longer than he had originally anticipated, Naruto quickly caught up to his teammate.
"Aren't you gonna get cold? It's pretty chilly tonight, and all you've got on is a short sleeved shirt and a skirt." he asked skeptically as they walked along. Satsuki shook her head and kept her eyes locked straight ahead of her.
"The cold's never bothered me much. My heating is pretty bad, so I had to get used to it a long time ago." she revealed. Naruto winced and scratched the back of his head.
"Hate to say it, but I've been there. Still am, really." he said with a self-deprecating chuckle. The Uchiha girl nodded and turned a corner, prompting him to do the same. For the next few minutes, they walked in relative silence. For whatever reason, Naruto found himself content within the quietness. For all that the voided nature of the Uchiha sector unsettled him, Satsuki's presence within it was oddly remedial.
Throughout their unplanned, unrouted journey, Naruto had taken several glances at her face. He had quickly noticed that the usual antagonistic smugness that had occupied her features only minutes before was gone, and had been replaced by a look of something resembling reminiscence. The emotion didn't appear to be entirely positive, but it was something of an improvement either way.
"Are we going anywhere specific, or are we just walking in circles?" Naruto finally asked after nearly five full minutes of silence. Satsuki glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and stopped walking. They had halted in front of the largest building they had encountered in the area so far.
"I didn't really plan on going this direction, but here we are. My old house." she said vaguely. Naruto blinked at the revelation and looked the house up and down. Despite its apparent status as Satsuki's former abode, it looked to be the most run down of all the buildings. Before he could respond, his teammate made her way over to the front steps and climbed them.
Just as it appeared that she was going to enter through the front door, she recoiled slightly. A moment later, she turned her back to the entrance and descended the steps again before seating herself at the base of them.
'Why did she...stop?' Naruto wondered to himself as Satsuki kicked absently at the dirt on the ground. She then glanced up at him from her seated position.
"You can sit down, you know." she said strangely. Snapping out of his thoughts, Naruto did as he was told and sat down a few feet to her left on the same step. Once again, they said nothing to one another initially. Apparently sensing his lack of will to lead the conversation, Satsuki took the reins herself.
"The silence bothers you, doesn't it?" she asked to break the streak. Naruto pursed his lips and drummed his fingers on his bent knee.
"A little, yeah. Knowing how it all got this way is what makes it feel so eerie to me." he admitted carefully. A soft laugh then escaped Satsuki as she gazed up at the rising moon.
"Imagine being in my shoes. I slept with those bodies for a week before the council got off their asses and came in to clean it all up." she said quietly. Naruto stared at her with wide eyes.
"A week...with corpses? How'd you not go insane?" he asked in sheer disbelief. Satsuki turned her head back toward him and cracked an odd smile.
"Maybe I did. They say that insane people don't tend to realize they're insane." she suggested. The Jinchuuriki opened his mouth to respond, but closed it when he found that he had no clue what to say. He then turned his gaze to the ground at his feet
"It's funny. I used to think that losing them was what hurt so much. But over time, I think it just opened my eyes to the idea that, no matter how many friends you make, how much family you have, you're just a human being. All alone." Satsuki said vaguely, earning a furrowed brow from Naruto.
"What do you mean by that?" he asked skeptically. The Uchiha girl then held her hand up to the moonlight as though she were studying it closely.
"In reality, no matter how much I cried, I'm still who I was the day before they were all killed. I haven't changed. Friends, family, relationships, it's all just stuff you bolt on to cope with just how lonely you are in and of yourself. When it all goes away, you're just stuck with who you really are. That's what hurt me, I think. Having to deal with myself on my own for once." she explained ponderously. The Jinchuuriki considered her logic for a moment before sighing.
"You definitely used to smile more. Before it all happened, I mean. I never knew you back then, but you used to play with the other kids and laugh. That all went away. Maybe you didn't become a different person, but you definitely changed a little." he said. Satsuki glanced at him and lowered her hand back to her waist.
"I didn't know you paid that much attention to me." she replied. Naruto kicked a small stone away from his feet.
"I usually liked to pick a person to pay attention to for the day. When you're totally friendless like I was back then, you've gotta come up with something. I picked you a few times. You looked happy back then. Then that just...stopped. Not that I don't understand why." he explained quietly. His teammate's expression shifted through a number of emotions before finally settling on one of apathy.
"Yeah, well I'm never going to be that person again. Sorry if that's disappointing to you." she said blankly. Though he noticed that she had blatantly contradicted her own logic, Naruto opted not to press her any further on the topic.
"Why'd you stop when you started to open the door to this place?" he asked after a time. Satsuki remained silent in response. Just as he was about to change the topic due to the lack of a response, she finally answered him.
"It's...where Itachi killed my parents. Right in the foyer. I haven't gone in there since it got cleaned up." she admitted slowly. At this revelation, Naruto sobered completely.
"Sorry for asking. That's awful." he muttered apologetically. Satsuki, much to his surprise, shook her head and looked back in his direction once again.
"You had the right to ask. I'm the one who led you out here. It's fine." she assured him. Naruto gave a reluctant nod and met her eyes briefly.
"How often do you try to go inside?" he asked. Satsuki rubbed one of her eyes as her eyelids grew heavy with the attempted onset of sleep.
"This was the first time in a while. I've only tried three times including tonight. It's not a thing I can work myself up to do most of the time." she said honestly. Naruto's expression softened somewhat.
"Why'd you try tonight? Not criticizing you, just wondering." he inquired curiously. Satsuki's face then gained a slight degree of color.
"I guess it's because...you were here. Don't take that the wrong way. It just felt less scary with another person here with me." she explained meekly. Naruto cracked a smile at this.
"I never took you for the type to be afraid of much, but hey, we've all got fears. No need to be embarrassed about it. Especially for something like this." he said. The Uchiha girl calmed somewhat, but remained visibly uncomfortable.
"I just want to be able to face it, you know? Their bodies aren't even there anymore. The blood is gone too. It's just a room. I hate being so shaken up by it." she said dejectedly. Naruto then surprised them both by reaching out and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"Like I said, there's nothing to be ashamed of. I've got my fears too. I'm usually too nervous to look at myself in the mirror, because I'm afraid of what I'll see. We're all coping with stuff. Don't beat yourself up for not being ready yet." he said kindly. Satsuki seemed to quickly recognize the meaning behind his self-admitted struggle, and when she did, she shook her head and let out a bitter laugh.
"Life's sucked for both of us, hasn't it?" she mused in an empty voice. Naruto returned the laugh, sighing tiredly soon after doing so.
"Just a little bit. I'm not giving up on trying to make it better, though. It's already improved since I became a genin. Baby steps, or whatever they call it." he said optimistically. He then let his hand drop from her shoulder.
"If you ever want to try to open that door again, and you don't think you can do it alone, come and get me. I'll do what I can to make it less scary." he said to end a long stretch of silence between them. His teammate blinked several times at the offer, but eventually relented to allow a small smile to spread across her lips.
"It might be a while, and I still want to be able to do it alone, but I'll keep that in mind. Thank you, Naruto." she thanked him softly. A cold wind then blew across the empty Uchiha sector, causing them both to shiver. In contrast to her earlier dismissal of a low temperature bothering her, Satsuki made a surprising move by scooting into Naruto's side and curling up.
"What're you doing?" the blonde stammered. His teammate shook her head and manually guided his right arm over her shoulders.
"J-Just shut up and hold me, okay?" she snapped back, her teeth chattering slightly. For a night near the end of summer, it was truly frigid out. Flustered though he was, Naruto did as he was told and hugged her into him from the awkward angle they were sitting at.
"Like this?" he asked. Satsuki nodded, her shivering becoming less severe as they shared their respective body heat. Naruto couldn't help but find humor in it all.
"I told you you'd get cold." he said. The Uchiha girl grumbled an unintelligible response, squeezing down on his abdomen with each garbled word.
"Don't get cute with me after tonight just because you're getting lucky right now." she said a few moments later in a far clearer voice. Naruto shrugged as best he could.
"I'm probably still gonna make fun of you for it." he said. Satsuki glared at him from under his arm. There was no true negativity in her eyes.
"I'll bite you." she threatened. The blonde held up his free hand defensively, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"I haven't even tried feeding you the pills yet." he joked. The raven-haired girl huffed a bit, but said nothing. For several minutes, the pair sat on the steps of Satsuki's former home, tangled up to escape the cold. Despite how truly awkward it felt in and of itself, Naruto found that he quite enjoyed the feeling of holding a person, no matter how dubious the situation was.
"You smell good." the blonde blurted out, tensing the moment the words left his mouth. The thought had been on his mind, but he had hardly considered how it would sound out loud before voicing it. Bracing himself to be struck, shoved, bitten, or some combination of the three, Naruto was quite surprised to find that he was unharmed ten entire seconds after his blunder. Nervously glancing down, the Jinchuuriki was met with Satsuki staring up at him wide-eyed.
"I, uh, didn't mean to say that out loud." Naruto said clumsily. The Uchiha girl said nothing. Instead, she turned her head and nuzzled her face into the edge of his chest, gripping him more gently all the while. It was an obvious, if rather awkward, gesture of affection. For all his density, even Naruto could recognize that fact. Opting to return in kind, the Jinchuuriki squeezed her and ran a hand through her hair. Much to his surprise, Satsuki let out a quiet, contented sigh.
"This never happened." she muttered into his side, dragging one of her hands across his chest with her eyes shut. She almost sounded sleepy. Sensing her fading out, Naruto reluctantly stood up with Satsuki in tow. Once they were upright, he carefully peeled her off of him. For the briefest of moments, she gave him a look of blatant disappointment. It quickly vanished, like a ghost in the night.
"Let's get you back home so you can take the pills and go to bed." Naruto suggested. The Uchiha girl rubbed her eyes and nodded in agreement.
"You're gonna eat something before that. I've got extra food." she said. Finding no reason to argue, the blonde simply fell into step next to her as Satsuki began to walk back toward her current residence.
Upon returning to Satsuki's home, the pair shared a set of bland sandwiches.
A/N: Okay, so, Satsuki definitely comes off as a bit prickly at the start of her and Naruto's scene (which is normal for her, but they'd been a bit friendlier of late). Consider the topic at hand, and where they are. It would absolutely put her in a defensive mood.
Also, I gave you all some romance. This is a slow burn, and it'll be a minute before they even pretend to tie the knot, but that little ending scene should make it clear where their feelings are headed.
(Also, these scenes took place on the same night, around the same-ish time).
Hope you enjoyed Haku and Shikamaru as well. Tried to give both pairings some shine this chapter.
Please leave a review if you're able :)
I love you all
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