DISCLAIMER: No matter how much I want it, I do not own Naruto. I am still only borrowing the characters and promise to return them in good condition – well, maybe slightly battered...

Chapter Seventeen:
Trust Me

I'll be the shadow at your door,
I'll be the moth into your light,
'Cause you deserve much more
~Sleeping With Sirens~

Naruto mentally berated himself. He kept telling himself that he was an idiot for not stopping to consider Sakura might be allergic to something. Though, seriously, who could have guessed she was allergic to flowers? She liked flowers. She was best friends with Ino, who ran a flower shop. She walked through fields of flowers on missions!

He cut through a wandering caravan, taking the opportunity to check on her. Holy shit. Angry red blotches covered her pale skin, clearly visible even in the pale moonlight. Though he couldn't be sure, he thought maybe the skin around her eyes was swelling too. He tightened his grip on her body, determined to fix the mess he'd made.

An old man on a cart cut him off and slowed down, getting in his way - seriously, why were there so many people on the road?! And at this time of night… They needed to get the hell out of the way before Naruto made them get out of the way. He muttered under his breath and took to the trees.

"You know, I'd feel a lot better about this if I was sure you weren't going to end up killing someone."

Her words were a bit slurred, but he understood her well enough. On edge, he snapped, "Yeah, well, that won't matter if your throat starts swelling and you die in my arms." That could happen with an allergic reaction. He'd seen it on some movie he'd watched once.

Sakura choked out a laugh. "I'm just miserable, not dying."

She might be thinking that now, but it was possible that the full reaction hadn't hit. Things would keep getting worse until they got the medicine into her system. With another curse, he jumped down from the last tree and began running up the side of the mountain, earning a startled yelp from Sakura.

When he finally put her down, she was going to kill him…

The miles flew by in a blur of light and shadow and pretty soon, Naruto veered into a well traveled lane leading into the bustling village of Hotaru and skidded to a stop in front of the open air market… which was closed.

He put her down, but still held onto her waist. "Are you kidding me?! There's no one here," he said in disbelief. "Where is everybody?" he shouted in anger and then punched the nearest closed stall.

"I'm fine, calm down. I can buy it from the store instead of making my own." Sakura shoved past him and marched toward the store she saw as he had raced to the market. "You're acting insane," she added in an irritated grumble.

He was. He couldn't help it. His woman was in danger and he could feel the something inside him shift. He took several deep, calming breaths and then ran after her as she turned the corner. Dammit, where the hell did she think she was going without him to protect her?!

"Sakura-chan wait for me! You shouldn't go off by yourself in this condition. Someone could hurt you, or you could fall in a pit, or wild animals could attack you…"

And why was he acting so fussy and interfering…?

Apparently Sakura thought the same thing. "Thanks, Mom, but I'm a grown-up. I do know how to take care of myself." She hurried inside, but Naruto could have sworn he heard her mutter, "But I might hurt you if you don't stop nagging me."

Naruto searched for the medicine aisle, but apparently Sakura figured it out quicker because she was already there by the time he figured out where it was. She grabbed a cheap brand, but he snatched it out of her hand. "Get the other stuff… the expensive stuff. It must work better if it costs more."

Sakura's face was on fire. She itched everywhere and she couldn't breathe all that well. Did he think she was so weak and useless that she even couldn't take care of herself? She grumpily hissed, "It's the same damn thing."

"No, it's not." When she didn't move fast enough, he reached around her and put the box back. The other box was two hundred ryo more, but it was a small price to pay when Sakura's health was on the line. "Take some now."

Sakura jerked away as if he'd waved a dead animal in her face and replied primly, "I'm not opening this box and taking medicine right here in the store. I haven't paid for it yet. That's against the rules."

Naruto glared. "I'm paying for it," he insisted. "You already know how this goes. Take the damn meds or I'm going to force it down your throat."

Toe to toe, she grumbled, "You wouldn't."

"Do you really want to find out how far I'll go if your life is on the line?"

"You need to stop acting this way." But instead of punching him into next week, she watched him open the box and dole out a dose of the disgusting pink liquid. Sakura took it as a shot. "We done yet?"

Not by a long shot. "No. We need…" He shoved the stuff back into the box, and considered. What else would she need? God, he didn't know the first thing about this crap. That stupid movie had focused more on the dying part and less on the treating it.

"While you're figuring that out, I'll be walking this way."

He followed her, eyeing the contents of each aisle they passed. Chocolates—chocolates would be good. Girls really liked that stuff when they weren't feeling good. Naruto veered into that aisle and started to choose some random brands. Then he stopped. What if she was allergic to nuts or something? Why had he never noticed if she ate only certain types nuts before? Didn't he know everything about her?

Carefully examining the nutritional facts on the back of each package, he decided on basic milk chocolate and dark chocolate. On second thought, maybe he should get some of the white stuff too. There was no telling what Sakura would like, but she'd already proven she was particular about weird things.

…and she even liked vegetables…

He walked in the general direction she'd gone, but stopped in front of the soup section. Did an allergic reaction count as sick? Maybe he should pick up some chicken noodle soup too… Yeah, good idea. He had always heard that soup was healthy. Before he could second-guess himself, Naruto added two cans to the stuff in his arms.

On a whim, he stopped in the bath and body section and picked a few different bubble bath bottles. He wasn't a fan of the whole bath thing, but he knew Sakura was into it, and he remembered something about taking baths when you have chicken pox. Maybe it was the same for allergic reactions.

A cart would have been a good idea, but it was too late now. He shifted the stuff until nothing was in danger of falling and kept going, glancing down each aisle as he passed. Sakura was nowhere to be seen.

She wouldn't have left without him, right?

Hell, of course she would.

Naruto spun around, ready to drop everything and go sprinting after her. Then he caught a glimpse of her on the other side of the store. She had something pressed against her face—he recognized it as frozen peas when he got closer. See, who likes vegetables?!

"There you are."

"Here I am." She sighed and lifted the bag long enough to frown. "What's all that?"

"Ah…" He felt stupid standing in front of her, his arms overflowing with random crap. Maybe he should have just left everything alone and gone with her to the freezer section. "I thought you might want some of this."

Sakura leaned in, nearly smacking him in the face with her frozen peas. "Chocolate, bubble bath, and chicken noodle soup. I'm not sure what your planning, but count me out."

Naruto blushed. "Um, I didn't know what would help, so I got a bit of everything. Maybe I got a little carried away."

"I…see." Those green eyes focused on him, and Naruto suddenly lost all thought.

Sakura finally broke the moment by shoving the peas back against her face. "Can we go, please?"

"Yeah, sure. My bad." Naruto dumped everything into the cashier's lane and tapped his foot as the young man rang everything up. The kid moved so slow, Naruto was tempted to toss him aside and just do it himself.

"I need the peas, ma'am."

With a long-suffering sigh, Sakura handed them over. He wasn't sure, but Naruto thought her skin was a little less red. Either that or it looked less red because red covered every inch he could see. It was hard to tell in this light. "We should go to the hospital." Why hadn't he thought of that first? It was the logical thing to do.

She accepted the peas back from the kid. "We are not going to the hospital."

"You could go into amafatic shock…"

"It's anaphylactic shock and stop right there. I am a trained medic. I know what I need." She actually reached out and put her hand on his arm. Every muscle in his body jumped to attention, which was damned inconvenient at the moment. For her part, Sakura didn't seem to notice his pants fitting him a bit tighter. "I'm really going to be okay."

"But you should see what you look like, Sakura-chan. Your face is puffed up like a balloon and there's red spots everywhere."

"I really don't need a description, Naruto. I know I must look terrible."

"Oh, no-no-no, you still look… um… really cute. The uh… the red bumps bring out your uh… your eyes."

"No."Sakura had to admit it - he was being sweet. Annoying, but sweet.

"Are you sure? Because it's no trouble to get you there." He tried to mentally map out the route. Crap - was there even a hospital in this village? Well, they might have to break a few of the village laws along the way, but whatever it took to ensure to Sakura's safety, he'd do.

"I'm fine. Promise." She gave him that look - that look that said she was fast losing patience. When Naruto just stared, Sakura reached up and grabbed him by the lapel on his jacket and shook him. "Did you hear me?" she demanded.

"Okay-okay… if your sure. We should head over to the Firefly inn then, right?"

Sakura gasped and then moaned.

"What is it? Are you okay? Are you getting worse? Should I take you to the hospital?"

"No," she moaned, "We forgot our packs…We've got nothing to wear."

"Oh." Naruto slumped against the building and frowned. "Well, I'm pretty sure Ino and Sai will figure it out. I wouldn't be surprised if they have it sent to us tomorrow."

Sakura looked at her reflection in the window and checked her face. "I think the swelling's going down; we can run back into the store a buy a change of clothes and then we can walk to the inn and we can get our rooms."

"Yeah, right. There's no way I'm leaving you alone tonight."

"You're seriously not going to let this go, are you?"

"Are you surprised?"

Sakura smiled. "No, I guess not."

~o~O~o~

The room was beautiful, but of course she knew it would be. There was a small lounge, a bedroom, and a bathroom. It was probably pretty big too, but it seemed so small with Naruto in it. Sakura rolled her shoulders, trying to scratch without actually scratching. What she needed was a shower, but she didn't particularly want to do it with him here. She dug her nails into the side of her neck and froze when his eyes zeroed in on the movement. "You aren't better."

"It takes a while for the medication to kick in." But the reaction wouldn't stop for good until she had this crap off her skin. "You want to go check out your room while I jump in the shower really quick?"

His gaze skated over her, so intense it was as if he'd run his hand down the front of her body. Okay, wow. Maybe she needed to take a cold shower. Like, now.

"I think it's next door." She waved at the doorway behind him and backed toward the bathroom. "I'll only be a minute."

"I'll stay," he said firmly.

Sakura sighed, knowing that he wasn't going to budge. "Fine, suit yourself."

Naruto shadowed her retreat. "You shouldn't be alone right now."

Oh crap. "I'm not alone. You'll be right here." She motioned at the room as she started towards the bathroom. "I mean, not here-here, but in the same general area. If my throat starts closing, I promise to scream for help."

"If your throat starts closing, you won't be able to scream for anything."

His words shouldn't make her think of sex. They really shouldn't. But, seriously, could anyone blame her? Here he was, stalking her through the lounge toward the bathroom, and she couldn't help but remember the last time they'd been alone in a room together.

No. Bad idea. Really bad idea. They were supposed to take things slow… weren't they? Wasn't there a reason for them to take things slow?

Damned if she could remember what those reasons were.

"Stop." She held up a hand.

He didn't stop walking until her hand rested against the middle of his chest. "I don't need to be in the shower with you, but I'm not leaving you alone until I'm positive that you're all better."

"You're being paranoid. I'm a medic, remember?" Her voice came out breathy and low. Crap. Sakura made an effort to sound normal. "And where, exactly, do you plan on waiting?"

Naruto grinned, the wolfish expression making the breath stall in her lungs. "The bathroom, of course."

"Of course…"

She wasn't sure how he did it, but the next thing she knew, she was sitting on the bathroom counter and Naruto was taking off her boots. "I really like these, by the way."

"Oh." Sakura watched him pull off the second heeled boot, carefully sliding it off her foot. She could just imagine how he'd stand and pull off her shirt, then move on to each article of clothing until she was naked, all while using the same gentle touches. She shivered, trying vainly to keep her toes from curling.

"Are you okay? You aren't having a seizure, are you?"

For a second she thought he was teasing her, but there was nothing except concern in his clear, blue gaze. She pushed to her feet before she convinced herself that his stripping her was a fantastic idea. "I…" Her words trailed off at the look on his face, eyes gone nearly red with something like need.

Sakura found herself holding her breath, waiting to see what he'd do. Would he insist on continuing to help her? God, what if he took her right here on the bathroom counter?

She bit her lip, another shiver racking her body. She'd just wait and see.

"Are you cold?" There was no mistaking the fact that Naruto knew exactly what the source of her shiver was. He braced his hands on her hips, his chest brushing against hers.

"Sakura, I asked you a question."

He had, hadn't he? "No, I'm not cold."

"You need to get into the shower."

"Yes, I do." His hands coasted up over her sides, taking her shirt off in a smooth move. As he tossed it to the side, Sakura tried to come up with a protest. But what was there to protest? She wanted him to touch her more than she wanted her next breath. Naruto didn't keep her waiting, tracing a single finger over the pink lace of her bra. "I like this better than your boots."

What was she supposed to say to that? "Thank you."

Naruto moved back down to her skirt, undoing it carefully, the draw of the zipper unnaturally loud in the bathroom. Was she really going to do this? It was undoubtedly a mistake. A really big one. But, with her body practically quivering with need, Sakura suddenly didn't care.

He went to his knees and helped her step out of her skirt and pulled off her shorts. Then Naruto sat back on his heels and just looked at her. "Damn, you're beautiful."

It didn't mean anything. Words were less than worthless—easy to throw out there, even easier to take back. Oh, but she was starting to figure out how much he meant them. Sakura bit her lip, waiting to see what he'd do next.

Finally, Naruto reached down and covered her hand with his own. Sakura blinked.

She'd been scratching without even realizing she was doing it. He brought her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss against her knuckles. "You need to get this stuff off your skin."

"You're right." She took a step back and her knees buckled. Naruto caught her easily before she fell. The heat of his hands on her bare skin felt so good. Too good. She didn't want it to stop. Which meant she really needed it to stop. Sakura steadied herself on his shoulders. "Jeesh. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"You're having an allergic reaction and are doped up on meds. It's understandable."

Yeah, that sounds good.

He stood and, keeping an arm around her waist, leaned into the shower to turn it on.

"What are you doing?" Sakura watched, wide-eyed, as he took off his shirt. And as always, the sight of his chest mesmerized her.

His hands went to his pants and her jaw dropped. "Naruto…"

"Relax." He shot her a surprisingly playful grin. "I'm not going to take advantage of you when you're sick, I promise. But I don't want you collapsing and hurting yourself. It looks like I need to get in the shower with you after all."

"What?!"

"Trust me."

She should probably argue, but then his pants were off and Sakura couldn't focus on anything but his thighs. Wow. Just…wow. The black boxer-briefs molded to his body perfectly, leaving little to the imagination, and she couldn't help but notice how turned on he was. Naruto turned to test the temperature of the water and she actually whimpered at the sight of his butt.

"Is something wrong?"

Yes. No. Maybe? All Sakura knew was that her ability to resist touching him was fading fast. She sneezed.

"Come on, Pinky. Let's get you cleaned off." He yanked back the curtain enough to step in and pull her in after him. Immediately, Naruto moved aside and shifted her under the water. It couldn't have been all that warm for him with the one showerhead, but he didn't seem to mind. Instead, he nodded at the shower caddy. "Soap?"

Sakura handed him the body wash and tried really hard not to notice how the water had plastered his already-tight underwear to his skin. God, the man was temptation personified.

For his part, he seemed all for keeping his word to not take advantage of her. While she was trying to decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing, Naruto soaped up his hands. "Arms."

He moved from one to the other, his big hands sliding over her skin. First her arms, then shoulders, bypassing her breasts to her stomach. Each touch had the heat at her core winding tighter until she was almost panting with need. Then he was on his knees in front of her. Again. Sakura bit her lip as she watched him, his brow furrowed in concentration, as if washing her were the most important thing in the world.

Once her legs were clean enough for his satisfaction, Naruto paused, hands on the outside of her thighs. Guess he'd finally noticed the fact the water had made her panties and bra damn near transparent. She could almost feel the stroke of his stare as he moved forward until his breath ghosted over her skin.

Would he kiss her there? Did she want him to? God, this had nothing to do with want. She needed him. Sakura was already wound so tightly, she was half convinced that a single touch would send her spiraling over the edge.

But Naruto didn't touch her.

He blew out a breath and pushed to his feet. "You should be good now."

"Good? There was nothing good about this," she thought in disappointment.

Except…

He'd kept his word. Even when it had to be painfully obvious of how much she wanted him to break it. She had never had someone try to take care of her since she was a little girl and it warmed her heart. There was just something so sweet and tender about it. Sakura moved so he could turn off the water and then accepted the towel he offered. When he pointedly looked the other way, she stepped out of the tub.

Naruto cleared his throat. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Alright." She nodded, eager to put some distance between them before she did something unbearably stupid, like throwing herself into his arms and begging him to make her come. "Let me go grab those clothes we bought." Hopefully the task would keep her distracted long enough to calm down her hormones. She headed for the lounge, where she had set down the bag, trying to ignore the devastatingly sexy half-naked man in her bathroom.

God help her.

She didn't want to.

~o~O~o~

Naruto leaned into the spray and turned the water colder, hoping it would kill his raging erection. The way Sakura had looked at him while he soaped up her body really hadn't helped with his control. As it stood, he was hanging by a thread. He could feel the raging need to touch her, to love her. But he wouldn't. He couldn't. He promised.

Naruto gritted his teeth as the icy water ran down his body. It wasn't until he could no longer stand the freezing temperature before he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower.

He had almost thrown caution to the wind and ripped off Sakura's panties. Really, who would have blamed him? She'd been so close, her body shaking beneath his touch, everything he wanted right there in his face, practically begging for his mouth. If he'd licked his way down her stomach, she wouldn't have stopped him. No, if her response was anything to go by, she might just have urged him on.

But he'd promised he wouldn't take advantage of her, and if there was one thing Naruto would never do, it was to go back on his word. Especially with this woman.

Naruto grabbed a fluffy peach towel off the rack and roughly dried himself off. He grew angry at himself as he kept picturing Sakura in the shower. Already he could feel his erection making its unwanted return.

"Not again… Come on, Uzumaki - you can do this. Think of something else… think of… think of Sakura's pink nipples… no-no-no, think of something else. Sasuke! Think of Sasuke naked!"

Naruto looked down and gave a sigh of relief. "Okay, that worked, thank god." He wrapped the towel around his waist and opened the door slowly, wanting to give her plenty of time to hear him coming.

"Sakura?"

"In here."

Following the sound of her voice across the bedroom, Naruto peeked out the door and into the lounge. She was standing by the sofa pulling clothes out the bag. She held up a pair of pajama pants and a T shirt. But he had eyes only for her. She wore a tiny pair of pink shorts with a drawstring that just begged for him to undo.

Damn it, he needed to focus on something else.

Naruto dragged his gaze up, but he never made it to her face. The white tank top was borderline see-through and he couldn't help but notice she wasn't wearing a bra. Shouldn't she be wearing a bra or chest bindings, or something like that? Why the hell wasn't she wearing a bra? Hadn't the shower been enough of a test—one I passed with flying colors, thank you very much? This woman was obviously trying to kill him.

With a an extraordinary amount effort, he focused above her shoulders. She'd pulled her hair into a high ponytail. Between that and her fresh-scrubbed face, Sakura was the very picture of the girl next door. More like the wet dream next door.

"Um…you're staring."

He couldn't help it, nor could he help noticing she seemed to like his eyes on her body. Naruto cursed as he grabbed the pajama pants out of her hands and hurried back to the bathroom. It was rude, but the peace between them was too fragile to ruin because his dick was making a tent of the stupid peach towel. He took his time dressing, helped along by the fact the pants were too small.

By the time he'd dressed, he had his physical reaction under control. Still, it was going to be a long-ass night with her prancing around in those cute little booty shorts.

~o~O~o~

Naruto wandered into the lounge where she was sitting. She had all the pamphlets listing the activities offered at the inn spread out before her. He eyed one for a restaurant and asked, "Did you need to eat anything?"

"You really are a mother hen," she said affectionately. "I already ate a little something with Ino earlier so I'm not hungry. If you are, you can leave me. It's okay."

"You're so cute when you're patronizing me." He grabbed the bag from the market and held out the allergy medicine. "Dose yourself."

She laughed. "And did I mention that you're unbearably overbearing too."

"There you go again, kicking me when I'm down." He waited until she took the meds and then took the little cup to the sink and rinsed it out. "Now we can relax," he said as he sat down as far away as he could to her on the couch and picked up the movie guide.

Sakura shivered. "I'm cold," she said. "Maybe you can sit next to me."

"Um, I can turn up the heat in the room."

Sakura took a deep breath. "You don't want to sit next to me?"

He flinched a little. She could almost see the battle between what he wanted and what he thought he should want. "Is it because I said I want to take things slow or because I look so ugly right now?"

Naruto's head snapped up and he growled, "You're not ugly. You're just too beautiful." He got up, ran out of the room and came back seconds later with the blanket from the bed. "I don't want to do the wrong thing," he said as he covered her and say down next to her. "Are you comfortable?"

Sakura shook her head. Thank God. He didn't know if he had the strength to move to the other side of the couch right now. This next question was harder, but Naruto couldn't stand being this close and not at least asking. "Can I…hold you?"

She answered quietly, "I would like that."

She was already burrowing into him by the time he got his arm up and over her. Damn, this felt good. Her head settled perfectly into the dip of his shoulder, giving him a whiff of her shampoo. "I like this too."

He could feel her smile against his chest. This was going to be one hell of a long night, but he'd known that going into it. Eternal optimist that he was, Naruto had hoped that he would have her in his arms again. It just felt so right. With them cuddling like this, he could almost pretend this little slice of domesticity wasn't just a fantasy. That he might really have a chance with Sakura in the near future. "Get comfortable and let's watch something. Tomorrow we can decide what we want to do while we are here."

After a brief hesitation, she slipped her arm over his stomach, her nails making his skin twitch, and gave a shuddery sigh. "Thank you for taking care of me, Naruto."

"Anytime, Sakura-chan, I'll be there anytime you need me."

AN:

Thanks to everyone that followed/favorited/commented on the last chapter!

Yeah, so I know this is kinda cliché. I just really liked the whole role reversal thing… call it an author's prerogative. Yes, I know that Sakura is a big tough girl and can easily take care of herself, but I like to think that because of that fact - what Naruto does for her makes it all the more special. This does not make her weak in any way. I don't care who you are, it feels nice to have someone take care of you when you're feeling down.

So I wanted to let everyone know that I am going on a tiny hiatus for the holidays. I will return in a month. And here are this week's recommendations:

A Soul's Salvation byLady Kogawolf: Guidance comes from the last place Sakura expected, and now, she must walk a new path with surprising results.

Pink Umbrellas by ignitesthestars: Sakura's a disillusioned bar tender, and Naruto's been stalking her a month now. However, once she actually takes the time to get to know him, she wonders if she hasn't been a little quick to judge. This one shot was recommended by bedpostmonster. I read it and loved it.

Ja Ne,

AZFAERYDUST