Naruto jumped onto the balcony connected to Sakura's room. He walked to the door and lightly rapped on the wood. He heard a yawn from within Sakura's room, along with the rustling of sheets. Sakura's smiling face appeared from behind the curtain, but when she opened the door, that smile had disappeared. "You look like crap."
"Yeah I do," Naruto agreed. "But that's not important; I need you and Ino to come back with me to a campsite to heal the wounded."
"Oh, you could go clean up while I go get Ino and meet up with you at the gate." Sakura offered.
"No time, there are people suffering. I can be stinky for awhile, so let's go." Naruto declined and jumped down from the balcony and began walking down the street to Ino's house. When they arrived Sakura asked Naruto to let her wake Ino. "Sure, if you really want to." He said, surprised but happy to be able to avoid waking Ino.
A few minutes later Sakura appeared with Ino at her side. All signs of the two girl's previous hostility with one another seemed to be gone. Rather then dwell on it, Naruto just pushed his thoughts to the side and focused on accomplishing his mission, then he remembered that he'd told Lee and Ten-Ten to meet him at the gate after they had collected all the medical supplies they could. He started walking faster, prodding Ino and Sakura to keep up with him.
Sakura let out a long sigh as she stepped back from Kiba, looking over the newly healed Akamaru with an approving glance. "Thanks Sakura." The Inuzuka boy said appreciatively.
"No problem, I already learned about dogs as part of my training." Sakura said deflected. "Try to let him rest for awhile though, it might take a few days for him to fully heal." She added before moving to Shikamaru and checking his arm.
"Ino's been with Choji an awfully long time." Shikamaru noted.
"Yeah, don't worry too much about it." Sakura assured him. "She's just being thorough on the after checks.
"You think so?" Shikamaru looked up hopefully as she pulled away from his now healed wound.
"It'll be a little sore but nothing too painful." Sakura informed him before walking towards Choji's tent to check on Ino. When she walked in the blonde was packing up her medical supplies, leaving Choji who looked far better, but was for the most part just lying on his bedroll. "How did things go?" She asked.
"It was fairly routine, just a concussion around the motor cortex. I cleared that up and everything else was simple." Ino answered.
"That's good. I finished out here and I'm going to tell Kakashi to let everyone rest up for the rest of the day and start out tomorrow. We can head back now."
"I think I'm gunna stay and nap for a bit."
"If we head back now we could get some time alone." Sakura tempted.
"True." Ino relented. "I'm tired now though."
"Then we'll stay here for a bit. You catch a nap and I'll entertain myself with something else."
"Thank you." Ino smiled sweetly.
"Don't mention it." Sakura smiled back.
Naruto put his hands on the back of his head as he looked into the mid-afternoon sky. He couldn't make sense of Sakura and Ino's sudden tolerance of one another. With the news of Tsunade and Shizune getting together he could believe that his peers had begun dating. Everything had become so confusing all of a sudden, with all these relationships sprouting up, he might have someone crushing on him. Oh, wait he did, Hinata. He'd forgotten about that amidst his training and missions. Now that he thought about it, he could probably ask the Hyuga girl out for a date and stop jerking her around. If Sakura and Ino had gotten together, or even just come to peace with each other, anything was possible. He wondered if he should ask Sakura about the change in their relationship, weather it be romantic or friendly. He sighed and stood up, all this thinking was making him antsy.
Sakura smiled as she walked back to the village hand in hand with Ino. The two were about halfway to the gates, having just reached the road that lead to them. "Today was eventful." Ino observed.
"Yes, tiring as well." Sakura added.
"Maybe we should relax, go to the bath house and unwind a little bit, ya know." Ino proposed.
"That's a brilliant idea. I haven't been to the spring in awhile, I've been busy training. It really is strange that Lady Tsunade hasn't been more attentive to our training when she was usually so diligent before we were trapped in that cave. She's probably trying to figure things out with Shizune now, though."
"That's probably the reason, though I'm not about to question it."
"You're right; I should just enjoy the break while we both have it, right?" Ino nodded.
"We're just about at the village." Ino observed. Sakura frowned and the couple dropped hands started talking about medical jutsu until they reached the spring.
After the two of them had stripped and dressed in towels, Sakura and Ino went into the warm pool of water. The warmth of the water soaked into Sakura's muscles and washed away the day's toil in a few short minutes. "This is nice; I haven't felt this relaxed in awhile."
"I agree. We should come here together more." Ino proposed.
"That's a good idea, we should come here every once in awhile. Maybe ever two weeks."
"It's a plan then." Ino smiled.
Tsunade yawned and stood from her chair, walking behind it to look out the window. The sun was disappearing from the sky, leaving only a pinkish trail across the sky. The Hokage stretched out and looked back to her desk. There were less than a dozen forms waiting on her desk. "I should finish these before I take off, shouldn't I?" She asked rhetorically.
"Yes, you should." Shizune answered unnecessarily from the shade beside the window.
Tsunade groaned and returned to her chair. "After I finish this, we should go somewhere." She suggested.
"Where, we couldn't be affectionate around anyone, I don't feel like being cooped up away from everything." Shizune shot her down.
"I was thinking we could sit on my grandfather's head and watch the sunset from there. It's pretty secluded so we could relax together." Tsunade replied, stacking the signed forms. "You'd better decide quickly, or we'll run out of sunset to watch."
"That sounds nice." Shizune admitted. "Did you plan anything else for tonight?"
"No, this is only the first date." Tsunade pulled a picnic basket from under her desk.
"You're prepared, when did you have time to pack that basket?" Shizune smiled.
"When I sent you out for lunch." Tsunade answered as she began walking.
"Are you going to blindfold me? Is there a circle of candles on top of the first Hokage's head? What sort of romantic notions do you hide behind that jewel on your forehead?" Shizune teased.
"You're so mean sometimes." Tsunade chided with a smirk. "I must be rubbing off on you."
Their conversation dropped off as they hit a full street. They forded through the crowds of people ushering them on past politely until they dipped into the alley way that hooked onto the path that lead up the mountain side. The women walked up three quarters of the path before linking hands and beginning to lean comfortingly together. At the top of the path which was directly above the Hokage faces, Tsunade dropped Shizune's hand and smiled. "Give me a few minutes to set it up." She requested.
A few minutes later Tsunade returned and offered her hand to Shizune. The brunette took the offered hand and was pulled against Tsunade before being picked up and carried bridal style. Her arms wrapped around Tsunade's neck and she buried her face until she felt herself being set down on a plush blanket. She released her hold on the Hokage's neck and let Tsunade help her steady herself. "Look around." Tsunade told her.
Shizune lifted her face and did a three-sixty of her surroundings. The orange tinted light bathed Konoha in an ethereal twilight that cast long shadows, giving her current perch an amazing view. Tracking up the mountain face, she saw that she was sitting on a red silk blanket that was stuffed with down or cotton. On the blanket were two matching pillows and two wine glasses. Tsunade reclined back on one of the pillows and offer her a glass. "What are we drinking tonight?" She asked.
"Konoha's finest wine." Tsunade answered as she pulled a long necked bottle from the basket. She poured Shizune's glass before pouring her own and setting down the bottle. "I hope you like it; I've been sitting on that bottle for awhile."
"A prized bottle of wine on a first date, is everyone who dates you this lucky?" Shizune joked as she took a small sip. "This is really good."
"I hope so." Tsunade smiled as she tipped the glass to her face and sipped. She turned her attention to the sun and held her arm out for Shizune to snuggle up to her. Her attendant smiled and scotched over carefully to snuggle up to her.
Naruto smiled as he oped the door to his home and stepped inside. He flipped on the lights and looked around. His plants with looking a little thirsty but were fine. The rest was almost exactly the way held left it. The blonde boy layed down on his bed and stared up at the ceiling for awhile. His mind was whirring with thoughts of Hinata, Shizune, Tsunade, and relationships. After the sky had darkened and the stars twinkled in the sky he decided that he should get a shower and change his clothes. After he changed into a spare outfit, Naruto went to the building washroom and threw a basket of dirty of clothes into the washing machine. He set the washer and turned it on before going to be one of the shower stalls and stripping down to bathe.
While showering Naruto decided that he would ask Hinata out in the morning, there was no use having the poor girl run after him when they could just go out and settle things. It wasn't like he didn't have feelings for Hinata; he thought she was a devoted friend and one of the most skilled senserey ninja from his academy class. He needed to move on from his childish crush on Sakura, it was obvious that she had moved past her infatuation with Sasuke. She hadn't batted an eyelash when she'd been informed that the mission to retrieve him had failed. It seemed like everyone was forging through the trenches of social interatction and relation, it only seemed approprate that he would too.
The next morning Naruto woke up early and wnet to Ichiraku's for breakfast. The old man and aughter were so overjoyed to see him; they treated him to three free bowls. He ate quickly and thanked Ichiraku before heading over to the Hyuga compound. When he arrived at the gates he found Neji and Hinata's father standing in the courtyard.
"Young man, your name is Uzumaki?" The aged man asked.
"Yes, my name is Naruto Uzumaki sir." He answered "Yes, I came to see Hinata, she's a friend. Is she her?"
"Hinata is in the houe, I'll go get her."
"No sir, don't trouble yourself." Naruto insisted.
"Very well, try not to get lost." Naruto nodded and trotted to the house to find Hinata. After a couple minutes of searching Naruto found Hinata and Hinabi in the dinning room.
"Naruto-kun." Hinata stuttered, her face cherry red. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to ask you something is there somewhere we can talk." Naruto grinned and scratched his head awkwardly.
"Oh, sure. Follow me." Hinata stood up and lead him through the hosue to a deserted hallway. "What did you want to talk about?"
Naruto paced anxiously. "Well, this is kinda sudden but, I was wondering if you would come to dinner with me tonight? Not to Ichiraku's but at one of the more high-end resturants on this side of town." Naruto proposed.
Hinata's eyes grew wide with exitment. "Naruto, are you asking me on a date?" She stuttered out as her face grew hot.
"Well." He hesitated. "You could call it that." Naruto admitted.
Hinata gasped and threw her arms around him, proclaiming. "Oh, of course I'll go!" Before drawing back shyly with a mumbled apology.
"I"ll come by around six, nothing too classy where we're going so you don't have to dress up too much." The blonde informed Hinata. "I should go though. See you at six." He walked out of her room and left the house.
Naruto sighted and looked at himself in the mirror of his room. He'd decided his normal orange jumpsuit to be far too gawdy for a refined establishment and opted for something less conspicuous. This less conspicuous was a dark green button down shirt and matching black slacks and a pair of black slip ons instead of his open toed sandals. He'd even taken off his headband for this occasion but he still had on his necklas. He felt over dressed and stuffy he hoped that Hinata enjoyed herself tonight dressing up like this would have been a total waste. He tucked his wallet into his pocket and flipped the lights off before leaving.
The walk to the Hyuga compound seemed much longer than usual and downright uncomfortable. When he finally got there he was releaved the resturant was only a few minutes away. Hinata was waiting at the gate, dressed in a violet spagetti strapped evening dress that touched her ankles and matching purple sandals. Her hair had been parted and pinned to acenuate the curves of her face.
Naruto stared unabashedly for a few seconds before he managed to speak. "Hinata you look amazing. You clean up pretty nice, huh?"
"I'm not that pretty, but you can clean up too, Naruto." Hinata replied shyly
"If you say so. Let's get going." Naruto suggested, deflecting her compliment.
"Alright, then where are we going tonight?" Hinata asked.
"Just up the street and around the corner. It's called the Vanishing Wall. I went there with Iruka for one of my birthdays, they make good food." Naruto anwered.
"Oh, I've een there too. Its one of my favorite resturants." Hinata smiled.
"That's good, I picked the right one then." Naruto grinned nervously.
"You have insight." Hinata praised him.
"Oh, we're here." Naruto pointed out.
The resturant was small and homey, having been made out of a flat apartment building.. The inside was decorated with floral arangments and line hung red lanterns that gave the place a relaxing atmosphere that was enhanced by the insenses of well prepared food. There were only five three seated table in the main dinning room and three prvate rooms tha could hold up to twelve people. The establishment was family owned, the three men and a few boys worked in the kitchen. Women and girls acted as waitresses.
They chose an empty table by the window that face the garden in the side yard. A few minutes of comfortable silence passed before a waitress came to attend to them. They ordered shabushabu bowls for both of them. While waiting for they're meal they fell into a pleasant conversation about their academy days and the other genin. The topics deflty avoided Sasuke and his last mission. By the time the first round of meat had finished cooking, they had run through all the thoughtless topics either of them could think of and they fell into silence while they ate, both grasping for something to talk about.
"This really brings back memories." Naruto smiled as he dipped a large piece of meat into duck and soy sauce.
"How come?" Hinata asked, picking up another piece of meat.
"This is what I ate with Iruka back when I came here with him. I was such a brat then, its embarrassing to think about."
"That's kinda of cute." Hinata smiled at him before eating the cutlet in her hand.
"You think so?" Naruto asked while she chewed.
"Yes, it cute. You were so rebellious back then now you're just as stubborn but devote too. It really is cute." Hinata clarified.
"I never thought about it like that." Naruto smiled at her.
They dipped back into more of their small talk for the remander of the meal. Naruto payed the tabbed, sweating when Hinata started giggling at his froggy wallent. The walk home was pleasant, they said goodbye at the gate of the Hyuga compound, making promises that they would do this again sometime.
Once Hinata had gone inside Naruto took off his slip ons and walked down the street in bare feet. He'd made it halfway to his apartment when he saw Sakura coming out of the Yaminaka's flower shop. His questions from before sprang into his mind. "Oi, Sakura I need to talk to you." He called. Sakura puerked up and came across the street to him.
"What is it Naruto?" She snapped impatiently.
"Well it's a personal matter, so maybe we could go somewhere private? My apartment is close." Naruto suggested.
"Sure, whatever, let's go." Sakura replied, sensing that she knew what Naruto was going to inquire of her.
When they stepped into his apartment Naruto flipped on the lights and allowed Sakura to sit wherever she wanted. She chose the cushion by the ttable, Naruto say on the bed. "So what did you want?" The pink haired girl asked.
"Well, um." He hesitated. "You've been actin differently lately. Especially around Ino, you two are so friendly now. Not its bad or anything, but it makes one wonder if there is something going on."
"What are you implying Naruto? Sakura inquired, a lump forming in her throat.
"Are you and Ino togther, like as a couple?"
Sakura froze, her face hard. "No, that's sick to that. We just decided that the feud between us was stupid and childish. So we made amends." She lied.
"Oh, is that all?"
"Yeah, I'm gunna go now."
"I'm sorry. My mind is so meddled now. I didn't think this through."
"Don't worry about it." Sakura assured him before leaving.
Ino smiled as Sakura walked into the flower shop. "You're here early. Its only nine in the morning. I was just heading out to see Lady Tsunade."
"Ino I need to talk to you." Sakura said. "Privately." She stressed.
"Okay then. Let's go up to my room." Ino suggested. She turned and started up the stairs, listening for Sakura behind her. Once they were inside, Ino sat on her bed and looked up at Sakura who had remained standing. "What's up?"
"Naruto figured it out, he guessed that we were together. I told him we weren't but if Naruto can figure it out then other people will, and they might bring it up to my parents. This isn't good. How are we going to pull this off?"
"Sakura, we could come out to our friend, to the ninja and tell them to help us keep it quiet." Ino suggested. "Izumo and Kotestsu did it and it worked out for them."
"I'm scared Ino. I don't know what to anymore." She walked over and sat down next to Ino and put her face in her hands. "I'm lost here."
"Calm down, it'll all work out in the end baby. Ino wrapped her arms around Sakura. "Trust me on this."
"I love you, Ino. I really love you." Sakura gushed and hugged her back.