Naruto sat down first, his feet dangling over Tsunade's stone forehead. Soba was still standing, reveling in the autumn breeze that was swirling multicolored leaves around.
"It's going to be hard to go home after being here." She whispered, the words nearly lost in the wind.
"It's a hard place to leave every time I go, too."
"I'm-" She paused, wondering whether now was the time to say something like this. "-going to miss you." Naruto's bright blue eyes darted up to look at her. Unbidden, a gentle smile crept up his face. Soba couldn't bring herself to make eye contact, so she stared off into the horizon, hoping she hadn't just made everything really awkward. The blonde gently wrapped his long fingers around her wrist and tugged, trying to get her to sit by him. He was going to miss her more than he could articulate with words, so he pulled her close to his side once she had sat down. Soba let out a contented sigh, resting her head on the firm shoulder of one of the greatest shinobi in recent memory. Naruto's fingers absentmindedly traced patterns along her side as they gazed across the rooftops of Konoha. The silence lasted a total of ten blissful minutes before Naruto began squirming.
"There's something stabbing me in the side. Could you move your belt around?" Soba sat upright and reached into the pouch, pulling out the second issue of Icha-Icha to move it.
"That is what was poking me?! Wait. It's not orange." The kunoichi made her face into the picture of innocence, and Naruto jumped like the book had stung him. "You...you finished the other one." A nod.
"It's actually really good! Very, um, racy, at parts, but the story's well-written. Here, let me read you an excerpt." Soba flipped to the beginning of the book. "Well, let's get started!" She cleared her throat. Naruto swallowed thickly. The kunoichi got into it easily, reading the parts like it was an audition. The blonde watched her lips move, more captivated by her than by the words rolling off her tongue. His distraction meant that the moment he did tune in, he heard the absolutely raunchiest possible combination of words in any written language. "Okay. Wait. How does that even make sense? I can't even bend that way. Can you? I mean, look at this description." She paused mid-sentence, staring at the passage and biting her lower lip. Naruto stared at the teeth digging into the soft lips, subconsciously licking his own. She snapped him out of his daze by thrusting the book under his nose and stabbing a finger at a sentence. After he got over the initial shock of actually having read a sentence of Icha-Icha, Naruto screwed his face up, performing impressive mental gymnastics to sort out what the man was doing to his lover. He mimed some of the angles and noted Soba was trying the same.
"Maybe he is missing some bones."
"She's missing more. There has to be some way to-" Soba put the book down and did a headstand, like the book suggested, arching her back closer to the angle described. In her attempt to twist to the correct angle, she lost her balance and collapsed into a pile. "-no. This just doesn't make any sense."
"Hmm..." They murmured in unison, looming over the small book like figuring out the characters' pose would solve the world's problems.
"Ah well!" Soba shut the book with a snap, tucked it into a pocket and took a deep breath of the evening air. "Where are we going for dinner?"
"Uhhh?" Though the kunoichi had changed gears in a second, Naruto could not; his brain had decided to return to the image of Soba biting her lip in that unintentionally sexy way.
"Dai gave me a massive lecture on why I should eat foods other than ramen, peanuts and apples, and though I disagree entirely, I am completely willing to try something new. Ideas?" She suppressed a giggle when she caught sight of his facial expression, pretty sure of where his mind had gone. "You okay?"
"Huh?" Naruto's eyes were completely glazed over, and sharpened their focus when she nudged him in the shoulder playfully.
"Welcome back to the living. Let's go eat!" Sluggishly, he got to his feet and took off after the energetic Soba, noticing that he was significantly more observant of the movements of her body than ever before.
Soba performed her hand seals much faster than she had managed the past few days.
"Fire style, great fireball technique!" The kunoichi inhaled deeply, letting the fire smolder and build within her. She then expelled the biggest fireball she had mustered since she started training. It left a massive crater in its wake and even Sasuke subtly raised an eyebrow.
"Hn. You'd think you were descended from an Uchiha." Soba glowed with a combination of sweat and pride.
"I might be."
"You were born in Kusagakure."
"My adoptive parents were born there, yes." Sasuke's brow knotted together.
"You were adopted?"
"Yeah." The dark eyes focused on her face.
"I wondered how a fire style user had been born into that village."
"Now you know."
"Is Dai-"
"His affinity is earth." A pause.
"Hn. Fraternal twins." Soba nodded.
"Doesn't it make you mad that you know nothing about your family?"
"Not really." The kunoichi shrugged. Not one to prolong serious discussions about the past, Soba started making hand seals again.
The evening before their departure, Kiba suggested that they all go out on the town for a raucous night of drinking and tomfoolery. Dai was the one that had used the word tomfoolery, and then had to explain it to his friend. It was a Friday night, so the entire village atmosphere was more relaxed. Dai and Soba were back at their apartment getting ready, having set 9 pm as a meeting time for a late dinner. The kunoichi, an apple between her teeth, was rustling through her pack for some makeup.
"Dai, haf you theen my eyewiner?" She called out to her brother, who was trying to negotiate his hair into something presentable.
"Yeah, I was using it to make myself extra pretty for Kiba tonight." Dai drawled, but his sarcasm went unappreciated. His twin growled in frustration. "Are you trying to make yourself pretty for a certain blonde whose name may or may not be Naruto?" He saw a scowl reflected in the mirror in front of him.
"I just want to look nice."
"It's going to take more than just eyeliner to make a troll into a princess."
"You keep sassing, and I'll keep increasing your payback."
"I'm beginning to think you're all bark and no bite. That boy's got you all soft." The older twin smiled in a genuine way at his dear sister.
"I. Am. Not. Soft."
"Squishy, like a stuffed animal. Or onigiri." Nothing delighted Dai more than seeing Soba's blood pressure rise. The kunoichi stalked into the bathroom and mussed up Dai's hair in retaliation.
"My eyeliner is right HERE! Why didn't you tell me?" She brandished a small, brown pencil.
"Like I said, I was making myself beautiful." He looked at his sister and pretended to jump from shock.
"Oof, you best catch up. You only have an hour." She delivered a loving right hook to his side.
Soba had, for the first time in years, dressed up and done her makeup fully. She walked a little behind Dai, self-conscious about her appearance.
"Do I look okay?" She stammered.
"Soba, you will go to the grocery store wearing gi pants and chest wrap, with blood and dirt smeared across half of your body, and you ask me now if you look okay?" The woman was uncharacteristically meek. It was as though taking off her katanas and battle gear had taken her confidence, too. "He likes you when you're sweaty and nasty - which is often, might I add - so of course he'll still like you with a little bit of makeup on your face."
"That's not why I dressed up."
"Yes, it is. You look great, imouto." Dai pulled her to his side in a quick hug.
"You actually smell good, Dai. On the prowl tonight?"
"Hardly. I just found my soap." Dai had not fussed with his clothes nearly as much as Soba had; he was wearing plain black pants, a green t-shirt and a hooded sweater to ward off the cold. For once in her life, the kunoichi had abandoned all practical sensibility and had put on a flirty plum-colored skirt and the black shirt she had bought with Naruto earlier that week. Her long, brown hair was curled, cascading down her back, and her forehead protector served as her headband. The first person she caught sight of when they approached the restaurant was Sakura. The pink-haired kunoichi waved the two of them over eagerly, mouth forming a surprised 'o' upon seeing Soba.
"You look great!" She smiled.
"Don't seem so surprised!" Soba laughed, still wringing her hands nervously. "You look really good too, Sakura! That top is cute!" Sakura had not shorted herself in getting ready, either. She was wearing a loose, red and pink top over a pair of short, white shorts, and her hair was tidier than she usually kept it. Kiba strolled up five minutes after the twins, dressed much like Dai.
"Already sharing clothes?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
"No, we just both have great taste." Dai muttered. "Besides, Kiba has short little legs. We can't share clothes." The tattooed man smacked his friend.
"Who are you calling short?"
"I just said that you have short legs, not that you're short."
"That's the same thing!"
"No, it isn't."
"It is!"
"It isn't. But you are, in fact, short." The two bickered back and forth.
"You know I don't do social."
"Come on, temeee, just this one time."
"No."
"Come ooooon."
"I said, no."
"I'm buying."
"Hn."
"Is that a yes?"
"No, it's a 'hn.'"
"Go put on something that you wouldn't wear to a funeral."
"Is that...Sasuke? How did Naruto manage to convince him to come?" Kiba wondered out loud, breaking off his pointless fight with Dai. In the meantime, several other friends of Kiba and Naruto's had joined the group. Shikamaru, a bored-looking shinobi with brown hair in a ponytail had arrived with two others: Ino, a bubbly, long-haired blonde and Chouji, a good-natured, chubby man with spirals on his cheeks.
"Who else are we waiting for?" Ino asked, hands on her slim hips.
"Lee, Tenten, Shino and Hinata should be here soon. Lucky that we're all in town for a night together, ne?"
"Someone, please, tell me Guy-sensei is away; I don't think I could handle his 'youth' randomly showing up tonight. Lee by himself is a handful..." An unidentified male voice mumbled.
"I think a lot of the older jounin are getting together, too. This could get messy..." A female voice.
"Oi!" Naruto ran up to the group and was greeted warmly. Sasuke skulked up behind him, trying to avoid how sensational everyone thought his presence was.
"Do you own anything in any other color, Sasuke?"
"This isn't black. It's navy."
"Sasuke-kun! We're gonna make you dance by the end of the night!"
"Naruto! How'd you get him to come out?"
The chatter rose in volume as the old friends caught up. The remaining four shinobi they had all been waiting for showed up, slipping easily amongst their teammates. Soba and Dai got sucked into the throng and got to know the lively group. Dai seemed to have an easier time of it since he wasn't the center of major gossip, working the crowd like only he knew how. Naruto, on the other hand, was doing everything he could to try and get to Soba from all the bodies. He had spotted her head bobbing in the crowd, but was intercepted by Shikamaru on two separate occasions. When the group had piled into the restaurant, it was all Naruto could do to get anywhere near the kunoichi. The shinobi horde had occupied a long banquet table, and the blonde spotted Dai, but the woman he was looking for was nowhere to be found.
"Naruto, she went to the bathroom. It's that way." Sakura pointed him down the hallway to his left, and smiled. He gave her a thumbs-up and peeled out of the dining room. He hadn't made it far down the hallway before he spotted Soba turning the corner. His mouth parted slightly in shock, keeping up with the slow trek of his eyes up her body. Naruto noted how long her legs stretched in the skirt she was wearing, and how accentuated her curves were. The makeup served only the purpose of making her eyes look somehow greener than they were before. There was no way that there was enough time left in his life to marvel at the woman before him. She stared back, equally surprised at seeing him in black pants and a button up shirt that couldn't possibly belong to him.
"You took your hair down!" He commented, that being the only thing he could coherently say.
"Mhm! It took forever to curl, though. I had to enlist my super-manly brother to help me." She idly tossed a few of the strands forward over her shoulder. Soba smoothed her skirt, still nervous about being in such revealing clothing.
"You don't need to be so worried." Naruto fumbled for words when she took a step closer to him.
"Hah. I didn't know you even owned clothes that weren't orange." The blonde flushed, shoving his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "That shirt looks good on you." Even though Naruto was the one to force Sasuke to wear something that wasn't somber, the stubborn Uchiha had made him change too. He self-consciously tugged on the collar of his form-fitting blue-gray shirt.
"Sasuke made me wear it because he said if he had to wear something that wasn't black, I had to avoid orange." He scratched the back of his head again and grinned. Soba smiled, imagining the scenario.
"But he wore navy, which is pretty much black."
"We already fought about it. I gave in because I actually wanted him to show up."
"By some miracle, he did. Well, we're both awkward and in bizarre clothes for the night. Let's make the most of it!" The kunoichi made to head back towards the dining area, but was stopped by Naruto saying her name softly. She swiveled on her heel. "Hm?"
"You...um. You look beautiful." Both of them looked down briefly at their feet and Soba felt a distinct flutter in the pit of her stomach when she lifted her eyes to meet his. Her inner self berated her for losing her composure, yet again. It was fast becoming a very distracting habit.
"Thank you."
A/N: I've been updating quickly because I've been procrastinating like a champ, but there is a good chance the next chapter will take a lot longer to write (scary midterms coming up :|). Thanks for reading! Comments are appreciated :)