First person perspective is a pain in the ass. I could only portray that certain individual's thought. I have way too much floating around in my head to just stick with one character. So say sayonara first person perspective.
Please note that I'm stealing a few elements from Geno Calamari's stories "Something or Other" and "Asinine Rationalizations". It's a Naruto and Sakura story, but I just love the way it's done. For me, a Naruto and Sakura has to be done very carefully. With her, it's a fine line between "Aw that's so cute.." and "Stupid bitch!". Most authors (to me) can never pull off the Naruto and Sakura. So I ended up avoiding them. Geno, does it in such a practical and hilarious way, it seems they were made for each other. Either way, I'm just advertising it because it's a wonderful series and should get more attention.
Disclaimer – I do not own Naruto. All characters thereof belong to its respective owners. I'm not writing this for any sort of profitable gain.
Chapter 1
The sun had already begun to set, basking the sky in an orange blue. A certain blond sat on a hilltop reminiscing the past six-teen years of his life. He was just getting to the beginning of his apprentice with a toad hermit, when said hermit, spoke up from the bottom of the hill.
"Oi brat! Start up a fire. It's getting dark. Hurry it up so we can start our fight."
"Yeah yeah.." The blond muttered. He hated that sort of fighting with him.
Some wood, and a fire jutsu later, there was a roaring campfire. The blond sat in front of his fire, almost proud until again, his sensei broke him out of his reverie.
"Must you be so boisterous in everything you do? I have matches for a reason." The man said sounding a bit irritated.
The blond smiled sheepishly. "Heh.."
Near the rather large campfire, two prominent figures sat crossed legged facing each other. One, whose white mane held an interesting glow with the moon shining off it one side, and a blazing fire on the other. This one held a serene if not amused expression. The other whose wild blond locks glowed an intense flame and yet held a sense of order, defying gravity with its very existence. This one looked downright constipated.
"Brat, we've been doing this for nearly a year already. You have to CALM down. You can't just throw around all that chakra without thinking. Just because you happen to have a large amount of it, doesn't always mean you have to use it all in one little match!"
"I know but –"
"Breathe." His eyes closed, already visualizing and molding his chakra.
"But-" His arms flaying about, trying to get the old man to listen.
The old man opened an eye and with a bit more force, "Breathe."
After the man was satisfied with the teen's heart beat drop, he grinned.
"Begin."
For the average Joe, one would think the two were just sitting there in some sort of meditative stance. To the sensitive mind of a shinobi, one would be amazed at the sheer amount of concentrated chakra swarming above their heads.
Art in near perfect form. It was nothing more than creating your own animal and duking it out, but few had the discipline to even learn the complicity and understanding needed to fight. A toad that vaguely resembled Gamabunta with twin scythes appeared above Jiraiya's head. Jiraiya frowned.
"I see the chakra, but is that really what you're going to fight with? A big mass of blob?"
Naruto gritted his teeth in frustration, failing to stay calm.
Over the year, Naruto has yet to find an animal that he finds comfortable fighting with. Naruto tried the toad before, changing its various forms till his head spun. Didn't work out. Wolf, snake, a slug even, and all sorts of other animals, none of which could fit Naruto's character. There might have been one, but Naruto didn't dare go in that direction.
Tonight, Naruto went with a hawk. That was the only animal he could put up a descent fight with. And of course, Naruto, one who absolutely loves flashy stuff, had all sorts of equipment on it. Armor, extra long talons, and a wingspan of over five feet to boot. Jiraiya's toad was only three feet tall. Naruto snickered but stopped. He knew better. Jiraiya always won these fights.
The two animals charged each other. The hawk was reacting a tad slower than the toad. The toad sliced the hawk numerous times, while the hawk was mostly getting lucky slashes every now and then.
Naruto struggled to keep the detail of the hawk and motions while constantly forming more chakra for every chunk the toad knocked off. It was tedious work for a novice to fight like this for long periods of time, and Naruto time of learning was equivalent to an academy student.
The hawk quickly went over the toad clawed at its back. Jiraiya aggravated Naruto by showing off his skill by making the toad look annoyed and jumped tackled the hawk while slicing off both wings. The toad backed off a bit.
Jiraiya looked at Naruto. He had that usual look of determination, but was sweating profusely. Jiraiya let himself a small chuckle. This was the only exercise in which Naruto would tire at after only ten minutes.
"Brat, lets call it quits for now. It's now seven hundred ninety-nine to ten." Jiraiya said tauntingly.
Naruto stared at his sensei inquisitively. They usually did this for at least an hour. This wasn't even fifteen minutes! Naruto wasn't going to voice anything though. He loathed finishing a good day with this. Working hard on a particular technique and getting it down elongated his ego during the day. At night he'd go back to step one with just doing this. But whatever happened, Naruto would always be a smart-ass.
"Feh. Impressed me, sensei. I didn't know you could count that far." Yah senile, twisted, pervert! He thought viciously.
"Whatever, brat." Ungrateful little shit!
They both understood each other. Despite what they both think of each other at times, they both would willingly give their life for each other if the time calls for it. In fact, one of the reasons Naruto was there in the first place was to be inconstant top-notch care.
Naruto exhaled and leaned back onto the grass admiring the stars. Shikamaru may have enjoyed gazing at clouds all day, but Naruto felt more peace staring up at the night sky, sprinkled with more stars than he could be bothered to count. He didn't really know what it was, but he never cared to look too in depth of his feelings. Not that ever did for that matter.
Jiraiya frowned. Jiraiya didn't like that look. Perhaps it was because it's the look he has while writing one of his books.
"Naruto."
Naruto looked up at his sensei a bit surprised. He only used his name for something important.
"When was the last time you ever thought about …. Home?" Jiraiya was casual about it, as if it was just something he thought of. He pulled out his notebook to start scribbling and waited for his response.
Nauto almost choked on his own saliva. He thought about home almost everyday. Sakura, Kakashi, Iruka, Tsunade, Shizune and everyone else he left behind. He might call the Sand village home as well since he was very welcomed there.
"Not lately." Trying to sound uninterested, but failed since it came out in a feeble squeak. Naruto gulped, praying he didn't notice that pathetic effort to lie.
"Hmm.." It was the sort of "Hmm" that translates to lying jackass.
"I guess you wouldn't mind if we started to head back to Konoha then, eh?"
"Fuck no!" Naruto stood up with a fist in the air. He quickly caught himself before he did something even more stupid.
"Not lately, huh?" Jiraiya roared with laughter at Naruto's flushed expression.
"Whatever." Naruto pouted. "I'm hitting the sack."
Jiraiya waved him off, still chuckling.
Just as Naruto was about to fall asleep, he heard giggling. Naruto frowned. Jiraiya only giggled while writing certain scenes in his… "modest" … novels. "Perverted bastard.." he muttered.
Jiraiya heard the insult and responded with a rock to his head.
"ASS!"
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Among a nearly foot tall stack of papers, Tsunade found her only source of entertainment from a small little toad and a letter consisting of only three words.
We're coming home.
Tsunade pondered a bit. They've only been gone for nearly two years. She distinctly remembered Jiraiya stating they'll be back after three, just to check in. Her speaker beeped. She hit the cute flashy pink button. The previous was an annoying red one.
"Yes, Shizune?"
"Kakashi is here."
"It's about time! He was supposed to be in here two hours ago." Tsunade massaged her temples. Everyone was starting to develop Kakashi's habit. She's going to have to correct that soon, very soon.
There was a sudden, if a bit soft, knock.
"Hurry up and get your ass in here, Kakashi."
He strolled in without a care in the world, his infamous orange book absent. Kakashi knows better than to read that in the presence of Tsunade.
"Well?" She glared at him expectantly with her hand out.
He looked confused.
"Where is Tonton's medicine!?"
"Is that what you called me for? I gave that to you yesterday." Kakashi resisted the urge to scratch his head.
"What the hell are you talking about, you never stopped by-"
Kakashi pointed behind her.
She turns around and spots the medicine on one of the shelves.
"You were uh.. Ah.. resting. I didn't want to uh.. ah.. disturb, Tsunade-sama."
Growling to herself, she handed Kakashi the letter. His eyes widened a bit. "They're coming back.. When?"
"Monday next week."
Kakashi looks at the letter then to Tsunade. Twice.
"There's only three words.." He said hesitantly, seemingly afraid to tick her off.
"Jiraiya wouldn't send a poor little toad to come here from that far away. And don't tell Sakura. She's been moping around lately and I think it would be a nice surprise for her to see that Naruto finally came back. All right. I have no further use of you. Get out."
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Shikamaru hated Wednesdays. It's when he had these stupid weekly meetings with the Hokage and the higher ups. It was to get experience with stupid strategic planning and such. Though he hated to admit it, thinking it's too troublesome to do so, he was a brilliant tactician already. It was merely easier to label everything stupid since he was very, very lazy.
He gave a pathetic wave to Shizune.
"Tsunade-sama is talking to Kakashi right now. It won't take long."
He nodded and went through the hallway to stand next to the door. They were talking about something. He knew better than to eavesdrop but was too lethargic to move otherwise.
Why the hell would she ask a prominent Jonin like Kakashi, just to get some pig medicine?
Shikamaru's continued eaves dropping and his eyes widened. It was more of a small twitch, but that's pretty much Shikamaru's shocked expression. Naruto's coming back?
The door opened as Kakashi walked out. He pulled out a familiar orange book.
Pausing to look at Shikamaru, Kakashi spoke, catching the Chunin off guard.
"I'm the only one who knows how to get it without getting killed." Kakashi shrugged and walked off. Shikamaru blinked.
"Shikamaru, get your ass in here, now!"
Shikamaru winced at the piercing shriek of the Hokage's voice. This particular meeting will not end well. He mentally stored away a thought to talk to Chouji to plan .. something .. for Naruto's return. If Shikamaru hadn't planned on playing Shogi with Chouji later, he wouldn't even have bothered.
Shikamaru walked in. Slowly.
"Faster!" Tsunade barked.
"Troublesome.."
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Near Kohona's gates, two guards over heard an argument that has plagued man since the beginning of time itself.
"Pink!" A blond roared.
"Brunette!" An equally emotional old man shouted back.
"Brunette is so plain and everywhere, I'd rather go for a unique hair color you old traditional geezer!"
"Which is why it's damn sexy! I mean really, brat, are you that kinky to enjoy seeing two shades of pink down there?" Jiraiya paused to let the last counter sink in.
Jiraiya started to get impatient after five minutes but when he saw the blush he grinned like a madman
"You know, sensei? I just might.." Jiraiya roared with laughter since the blond actually had to actually think this over.
"You had me worried for a second. A little slow on the response there, brat." He said as they walked in through the gate. There was an ANBU member standing in front of them.
"Uzumaki Naruto, Hokage-sama requests your presence immediately."
"What does she want with me now? I just got here!"
"Brat, just go. You know that temper of hers." Jiraiya chuckled.
"Yeah, yeah." With that, Naruto simply disappeared.
The ANBU member appeared to be shocked.
"That chakra..that speed..?
"A technique only he can do. He managed to get his tenant to teach him a few things."
The ANBU almost let his mask fall. "You mean…"
"Yeah." The ANBU tried to read his face, but Jiraiya's mask was blank. Mind numbingly blank.
The two men were at an awkward silenced that seemed to stretch forever.
"So, Jiriaya-sama, when is volume four coming out?" Jiriaya grinned.
"My boy," He said, putting his arm around the elite nin. "Patience is a virtue."
The ANBU started to loose his composure.
"But you left us with that horrible cliffhanger! What's Kyte going to do when he finds out Sona went all the way with his sister? Will he forgive her? Will he accept her despite the fact she goes both ways! Jiraiya-sama you have to get volume four out!"
If he had any composure after that rant, he might as well strip down and sing after inhaling helium.
Jiraiya started to get annoyed. Half the villager's men, even a few of the women, were tailing him asking about the upcoming volume. Jiraiya then got an idea.
"SHUT UP!" Silence. "Finally. If you really want to know, send me a letter with your questions or comment with a small five-dollar fee. I'll get back to you ASAP." Jiraiya grinned evilly.
"But we don't have your address!" Someone called out.
Jiraiya pulled out a large box seemingly out of nowhere.
"Put it in here." He stated smugly.
It would be nearly a week later when Tsunade found out about his corrupt box and told Jiraiya to stop.
There were no refunds.
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Naruto stood before Tsunade for inspection, but for what reason he didn't know. He normally didn't mind people staring, having nothing but cold looks thrown his way since as far as he could remember, but it has already been fifteen minutes for crying out loud. She had that disconnected look, as if she wasn't even looking at him at all.
"Aye granny panties!" Before he even knew he blurted that out, he was sure he was going to get knocked through the wall.
"Oompf!" The blow didn't actually hurt that much, but the splinters stuck in his ass did.
Oh the joys of hated being right.
"Hi again!" Shizune, whom was way too chirpy with the fact that Naruto just got punched through the wall.
"Don't give me that look, Naruto-kun. You should be thankful you went through only one wall." She said beaming. Someone patted his back.
"Jeez!" Naruto turned around and swatted the hand away. "Do you have to sneak up on me every time, Kakashi-sensei?"
"Yo." Kakashi said, ignoring the question as if it wasn't worth a minute of his life.
Naruto blinked.
"Whatever. I'm out of here."
Kakashi sighed and put a hand on his shoulder. "Yeah its good to see you too." He said sarcastically. "I'm sure you don't want to sleep indoors tonight so here are the keys to your apartment. It's the same one. You still remember where it's at?"
Kakashi could only sigh as one of his first students walked away without a seconds glance.
"Yeah."
"Naruto that wall is coming out of your pay!" Tsunade yelled.
Naruto cursed as he left. And cursed again as he started to pick at the splinters.
Rushing back to his old apartment and letting himself in, he took a good look around. The place was a wreck. Dust everywhere, cobwebs, you name it. He threw his belongings on the ground. "I'm way too lazy to clean up. I wonder what's in my fridge?"
Peering in, the only thing he saw was a large amount of bottled water, some condiments, and a half eaten sandwich. He threw it in the garbage. He didn't want to be tempted by it later.
"Better go shopping."
He had only barely finished packing his fridge and bathroom when Jiraiya showed up at this door. Naruto groaned.
"What now?"
Jiraiya flashed Naruto a very sincere smile.
"Camping trip!"
Naruto whined and complained but, managed to endure another three days with Jiraiya.
"Sensei, we've been here for three days and for the most part, I've been stuck here with you in the forest! What's the point of coming to Konoha if you're just going to make me train in the forest!" Naruto shouted. It was true. Two days and he did nothing but his daily exercises and meditations with Jiraiya. He hadn't met anyone yet.
"Okay you loud mouthed brat. Complain, complain. Is that all you do?" Jiraiya sighed. "I have to talk with Tsunade anyway. Take the week off. I have a lot of research to catch up on as well. The fans are going wild for my next volume." Jiraiya grinned. Oh how he loved the money he was making.
"Finally!" Naruto sped off towards the village.
Jiraiya shook his head at the rapidly fading figure.
"Good luck. For you and the village's sake."
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Aimlessly wondering around the village for nearly half an hour, Naruto stopped, unwillingly.
Try as he might, for the life of him, Naruto couldn't move. His brain kicked. Only one person (not to mention the rest of his clan) could do something like this.
"For a guy who complains about things being troublesome, you sure as hell do troublesome things!" Naruto growled.
"You always were the slow one. I was tailing you for over twenty minutes." Naruto did in fact knew someone tailing him, which was why he was wondering around in the first place.
"Whatever yah ass." Naruto retorted.
"Chouji's house. Follow." Shikamaru said, releasing the bind.
Naruto followed wordlessly for being bored too long. Visiting Chouji seemed like a good idea anyhow. Till he found Sakura that is..
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
"Shit! Chouji lives here?!" Naruto stared, bewildered at the huge mansion/house.
"Yeah," Shikamaru drawled. "Unlike most clans, whoever the strongest is in the clan's highest regards. They get their own home, servants, and pretty much have total freedom in doing whatever you want." Shikamaru paused to let it sink in.
Shikamaru smiled a bit. "You know Naruto, Chouji made Jonin a few months ago."
"HE MADE WHAT?!" Naruto was twitching.
"Ever since that mission, Chouji devoted his life to nonstop training. Working relentlessly during the day and hunched over scrolls at night. It was a drastic change." Shikamaru knocked on the door.
"Oi fat-ass. Open the door." Shikamaru called out.
Naruto snickered but when the door opened he nearly fell back on his ass.
The towering figure before him was anything but fat. Yes he was big, but it sure as hell wasn't because he was fat. Huge bulky muscles had replaced his old flabby arms. Cleary defined chest, but still had a ghost of a gut with the standard four pack. The big brute hadn't bothered putting on a shirt.
"Naruto! Man! I almost didn't believe it when Shika told me he spotted you yesterday! Quit gawking and get your ass in here."
Chouji patted his back as he walked in, knocking Naruto into a pair of soft warm pillows.
Wait a minute…
Naruto looked up to a beaming red haired babe.
"Hello, Naruto-kun."
"Bah!" Naruto flung himself (reluctantly) from the well-endowed woman. Ripe, enormous…
"Ah, so you've met my cousin Imari, eh Naruto?"
"Uh, yeah…." Naruto said, failing to hide the trail of blood from his nose.
Imari was staring at Naruto, looking a bit hurt.
"Naruto-kun, you don't remember me?"
Naruto stared at her for a long time. Shikamaru coughed.
"Holy shit! Ayame?!" Two years and she gets that much bust! Wow..
She nodded fiercely.
Chouji looked confused. "How does he know your nickname?"
"Before Naruto left, he would always come to dad's ramen shop. Our number one customer."
"Hell yeah! Best place in the world. But damn, I had no idea you were related to the Akimichi clan."
Ayame heaved a sigh.
"It's a bit of a long story. I'll tell you later whenever you drop by." She pinched his butt and grinned devilishly. "We nearly ran out of business without you to inhale all our ramen, Naruto-kun."
Naruto scowled.
"You would have run out of business years ago if it weren't for me. Be thankful that I showed up today for lunch. Were you there earlier? I don't think I would have noticed a rotting corpse near me since I was eating.."
"I was here helping to set up for the party, idiot." She looked at him fondly.
"Oh." Party?
"Anyway," Shikamaru started, annoyed with having to talk so much today already. "The party is at eight, which is an hour away. So," Pausing to stare at him, "Naruto, you should .. change."
"Party? What party?"
Shikamaru let out an exasperated sigh.
Chouji answered. "A welcoming party for you of course. I doubt people will know its for you though. We didn't feel like decorating all that much. Besides, putting "Welcome Back Naruto" would have been weird. We don't like you that much. Still, we invited tons of people."
"Yeah. So go change before you forget." Shikamaru said, growing even more irritated for speaking way too much today.
Naruto looked down at himself. It looked similar to what Jiraiya wore, but with a different tone of colors. Which was orange of course. Chouji decided to grace Naruto with his opinion.
"You look like a dumbass."
Naruto groaned. "It's that blasted pervert sensei of mine. He's the one who makes me wear this crap."
Ayame smacked Chouji over the head. "It doesn't look all that bad. Look at Shika-kun. He wouldn't iron his clothes even if it was to save his own hide." Shikamaru just shrugged in response.
Everyone went silent as Naruto tore off his clothing revealing dark colored pants and a rather stylish looking orange shirt.
"Ah. Much better."
Ayame slapped her forehead and groaned. "Still wearing that dorky color.. Gotta love those foreign pants though."
"Thanks.. Hey! IT'S NOT DORKY!" Naruto roared.
Shikamaru and Chouji shook their heads.
Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Naruto had never been to a party in his entire life. There was food, music, a lot of people he didn't even know, and last but not least alcohol. In short, he was having fun. He danced with any girl willing, laughed and horsed around with Chouji, who to Naruto's surprise to learn that he was quite the lady's man. But he avoided the drinks. Jiraiya had recorded what Naruto did when he first got plastered. He shuddered.
Naruto nearly fell over when he spotted Neji walking in with a very cute girl in pink, and was going to say hello but walked over to Lee instead. Naruto figured Lee was better company than Neji.
"Oi Lee!" Naruto made his way through the crowd to where Lee was eying the drinks longingly.
"Why in all the fire's in hell, is that you Naruto?! Heh, looks like somebody finally got that growth spurt."
"Damn straight. I wasn't gonna stay short forever."
"It's good to see you again, but I have some uh.. business to attend to." Naruto noticed Lee eying a girl in the corner with crutches.
"Sure. Whatever."
Naruto sat down feeling slightly depressed. He used a Henge earlier on himself to hide the whisker marks. I wonder if all those girls would still have danced with me knowing who I was…
"The hell you looking so down for, Naru-chan?" Came a vaguely familiar obnoxious voice.
"What did you just call me?" Naruto stood up to the offender. "Temari?"
"The one and only." Naruto smiled. Only she could be this arrogant and not piss him off with the attitude. And only she could still look good wearing a simple white top and a brown skirt.
"What are you doing in Konoha?" He asked as he got rid of a few cramps in his neck.
"I could say the same to you."
Naruto stared at her blankly. Temari twitched, then grumbled. It unnerved her to whenever Naruto just gave her such a blank look.
"Okay! My brothers and I have special privileges on going from here to home." She saw his smirk and put him in a headlock with a smack to the head.
"Stop calling me Naru-chan and knock off damaging my brain cells." He pouted even though he didn't really mind
Naruto had literally stumbled into Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara traveling with Jiraiya half a year back. He spent nearly two months goofing off with them, well not so much with Gaara, but he had a blast with Temari and Kankurou. Jiraiya was a little more than pissed when he found out what Naruto was doing half the day but didn't say anything. Jiraiya wasn't that much of a heartless bastard to deny Naruto companionship. He did make him work triple efforts the next four months though. Naruto cringed when memories of grueling training flooded his mind.
Temari, also in deep thought, absentmindedly started to caress what could have been scars on his cheeks.
"Jeez. Get off me will yah?" He maneuvered his way out and stood in front of her.
Temari frowned at him.
"What's with the frown?" He stared at her with a curious if not worried expression. That expression always meant an overly long lecture. He hated getting lectured. Especially by someone who was barely two years his senior
"You're hiding." She said flatly.
"Okay...."
"Drop the Henge, Naruto. I thought I told you to stop being ashamed," She paused to lean in and whispered in his ear, "of the burden you carry." She knew. Thanks to Gaara that is. The loner just didn't know how to keep a secret. Go figure.
"I'm not ashamed. It's just.."
"Not ashamed? If you weren't you wouldn't be here sulking thinking about how bad people might take it if they saw your birth marks and know who you really are."
Naruto sighed and looked away.
"C'mon. They're playing my song. Dance. Now." She ordered as she grabbed his hand and led him through the crowd to the middle of the enormous living room.
When Temari turned around to look at Naruto, his hands were on his knees and face scrunched up in a pained expression. She looked at him and cocked an eyebrow.
"Someone….Hnn… crotch.." He was breathing heavily. No matter now much you train, you can't train that spot.
"Take it like a man and dance."
She, wrapping her arms around his neck, and him holding onto her waist, Naruto couldn't help but enjoy himself again. Dancing with an actual friend had a better feel to it than just picking some random girl whose skirt was unbelievably short, or whose top was just a tad too low. Temari could beat any of those girls any day.
Perhaps it was because she didn't have the bit of fat flab most civilians tend to carry?
In one of the most tranquil moment of his life, Naruto almost missed the flash of pink hair.
"Temari…" He said into her ear.
"Mm?" Temari murmured, lost in the moment, head comfortably resting at his chest. Not really caring that Naruto was the only male ever to see her vulnerable side.
"It's Sakura." She looked up. A twinge of jealousy knotted in her stomach at just hearing the girl's name.
"Are you familiar with her?"
"Um, we've spoken a number of times.." Temari answered, not really sure where this was going.
"Introduce me to her!" He pleaded.
"What the hell for, she's your freaking teammate!" She hissed.
"I'm not going to go to her as myself. I have to know if even after two years she's still stuck up on that Mr. I-wanna-throw-everything-away-because-of-one-guy, I can't keep wasting my life on her." She could sense the inner turmoil and regret. She held on to him a little tighter. "She's the main reason why I even bothered coming back here. Temari-chan, please?"
Looking into his eyes she growled. She damned his intense blue eyes.
"Fine. You owe me big time for this. I don't enjoy lying to acquaintances."
Naruto nodded feverishly. "Yeah, just say I'm your cousin or something. Ooooo! Say my name is David!"
"What the hell?" Temari exclaimed.
"I dunno… It was the name of a kid who defeated a giant. Ancient story Jiraiya made me read. I can tell you about it in detail later. Now come on, off to Sakura!"
When the pair finally caught up to the pink haired kunoichi, she was having some sort of argument with Ino.
Sakura's back facing the two, Ino motioned Sakura to look behind her.
"Oh, hello Temari." Sakura was going to say something else but stopped dead in her tracks at the teen besides the sand nin, as did Ino.
"Ahem." Temari coughed, noticing the incredilous look on both of their eyes. She stole a quick glance at Naruto. He's only got the Henge on for his birthmarks, so why the hell are they staring at him like that? Does he really look that good?
Naruto, being the naive imbecile he is, was totally oblivious to both of looks he was receiving.
"Sakura, I'd like you to meet a good friend of mine back home. His name is David." Temari felt extremely awkward saying the name. It just didn't fit.
There was a yellow blur and Ino was suddenly seen at "David's" side, clinging to his arm.
"David! How about you and me ditch these two and go someplace where we can have to ourselves." One could note of the awkwardness Ino said David with.
Looking down, Naruto almost agreed because he couldn't think since Ino had her boobs all over his arm. Which had the intended effect.
Naruto shook his head. Damn you Jiraiya! This wouldn't be so hard if it weren't for you. Stay focused!
Ino wasn't really trying to get "David" alone. Yes, she found "David" attractive, but she mainly did this for Sakura. She had Shikamaru after all, even if he was a lazy good for nothing. In a good way.
Sakura, finding herself the only person she knew without a team, slowly fell into a depression. Her first crush deserted her, a person who she had treated like dirt for the most part, nearly died trying to keep a promise for her. And to top it off, she wrote off her first friend ever over something as childish as a crush. Simply put, Sakura felt like shit.
Ino could only helplessly stand by since there was nothing she could do. She introduced guy after guy to Sakura, whom would just politely declined their invitation. Lee had his chance, but blew it with his narrow-minded thinking. Ino noticed the look on her face when she saw David. Thinking rather on impulse, she latched onto David trying to lure Sakura out. It worked.
"Ino, get off David." Sakura politely said, but violently shoved Ino away.
"Sorry about her, she doesn't get out much." Sakura smiled.
"Heh, no problem." David smiled back.
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Ino, smirking to herself, elbowed Shikamaru in the ribs.
"Ow. What did I do this time?" Shikamaru rubbed his repeatedly offended ribs.
"Nothing you moron. But look at that." She pointed at "David" and Sakura.
"So? It's just Naruto and Sakura talking." He muttered, not really getting how big this was.
"What the hell do you mean it's just Naruto and Sakura talking? Sakura never talks to any- WHAT?"
"Even the music can't seem to drown out your screams." He commented, rubbing his ears.
"THAT," She said while forcing Shikamaru to look at the pair talking. "GORGEOUS HUNK OF MALE IS NARUTO?"
"Yes." He was a little more than uncomfortable since his girl openly admitted something she never said about him.
"But he's so.. so hot! And his birthmarks, or at least I think they're birthmarks, are gone. You're so lying."
"Why the hell would I be lying?" Shikamaru scowled. He sat down in a chair. Women, he thought.
Ino positioned her rump adequately in his lap. "Aw.." Ino cooed, playing with the tip of his nose. "Is someone jealous of another person's looks?"
"No." He desperately tried to ignore her two girls that were meshed in his face.
"Oh just admit something for once. You might actually feel better about it. But, you know, you'll always be top in my book, Shika-kun."
She leaned in to kiss him in that soft gentle way, the way many poor romantic saps always envisioned.
But in the end, it was a lie since to the on looker the two was trying to eat each other.
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Temari couldn't bear to watch the two talk. She wondered around upstairs and found couples littered all over the place, making her feel even worse. Eventually she found herself standing outside on a balcony. Alone.
Shikamaru. She had been attracted to him a bit; thinking a smart-ass like him would make a good man. But that got shot to hell with the appearance of Ino. Besides, learning a bit more of Shikamaru, she found he just wasn't her type. There was no connection between them. No real spark. Hell, there wasn't a spark in him. He would not actively participate in a relationship. After dealing with Gaara and pissed scared boys back at home (scared of Gaara) Temari did not want to be the one forcing the relationship all the time.
Then there was the living paradox called Naruto. Powerful but weak. Smart and stupid. And just damn fun to be around with. She didn't really understand that pang deep in her stomach when he was around. Was it a crush? Was it love? Or is it simply because she never had any real male companions before?
Her feelings towards him when he first arrived in her village was fear. He had defeated Gaara and was getting trained by one of Konoha's finest. After that passed she hero worshiped him a bit, and then she discovered he was like the perfect little brother. Naive, innocent, smart when needed and would kick anyone's sorry hide that dared to lay a finger on her. She had never truly felt safe until she started spending time with him and it did feel good to listen to the blond brat prattle on about his problems all those months ago, it made her feel needed. That was definitely a new feeling. Whatever it was, it was giving her a headache thinking about it.
She shivered in the cold. Catching her by surprise, a pair of powerful and warm arms wrapped her up and began to spin her around in circles.
"Woohoo! Temari can you believe it?" Naruto sang.
"Naruto you idiot! Put me down!" Temari was glad he couldn't see her flushed expression. Oh God.. I'm seventeen and I still blush like an idiotic schoolgirl, she thought dejectedly.
"She's over him! She's over him!" He still sang, ignoring her demands.
"How do you know she's over him anyway." She struggled a bit more and gave up. The bastard didn't even know his own strength.
"She said she'd have lunch with me. Woohoo!"
"Did you tell her who you actually were?" Temari was starting to feel a little dizzy.
The spinning abruptly stopped.
"Aw shit! I forgot about that!" He let her go.
"Well stop standing there like an idiot. Go downstairs and tell her."
"I can't." He whined. "After we said good bye she went home. I then spent the next half hour looking for you! I guess I could tell her tomorrow. Aw man.. She's gonna throw a fit."
I've been standing out here for over half an hour? I think way too much…
"Well, Naru-chan, it's getting late. I have to get up early tomorrow and head back home with Kankuro. Work."
"What? My first day back.. Actually ..I've been here for nearly three days.. Not the point but your just going to leave me?"
"Naruto, what time do you think it is right now? It's already two in the morning!" Temari huffed.
"Really? Shit. Time flies when you're having fun, ne?" He chuckled.
"I'll see you around, Naruto." Besides.. I don't think I can deal with you right now; Temari did her best to ignore the pain resulting from not discussing things such as this. She had been doing it her whole life. She was getting sick and tired of it. The life of a shinobi was growing ever so annoying. She always had to be strong, never show emotion, never get attached.
He changed so many things about her, without really doing it. Just by influence. He changed her priorities, her goals, even how she interacted with people.
She forced herself to turn away from the person she didn't even know had already anchored himself to her life.
"Bye, Temari. Oh wait!" Temari stopped and turned around.
"What?"
"When are you leaving? I want to see you off at least. I haven't bugged Kankuro in a while anyway. Oh man, the shit we pulled..."
Various areas of her village were subject to Naruto's and Kankuro's somewhat light pranks. They earned numerous nicknames. None of which were complimentary.
"Believe me Naru-chan," She said in between laughs, thinking back to when they fooled a bunch of druggies to smoke tea. "You don't want to see me off."
Crossing his arms over his chest he asked defiantly, "And why is that?"
"I'm leaving in a couple of hours."
Naruto fell over. "Say what?"
"And I know you. Your body works like a clock. I bet you still fall asleep at four thirty sharp."
Naruto blushed and scratched the back of his head. It still was true. No matter how hyper he was, for the life of him he couldn't stay up past four thirty.
"I guess I'll see you if you ever come back. Hell, I might just go and visit." He resolved.
"I'll look forward to it. But, before I go Naru-chan… take of that Henge." She tried to look stern, but ended up grinning.
"Heh.. Forgot about that." He said, smiling sheepishly. Naruto escorted Temari out and released the henge. Temari gave him a halfhearted smile for his efforts.
"Much better. Later, Naruto."
"Bye, Temari." He said as she walked out. He turned around and spotted Neji, who seemed to be downing shots alone with no signs of letting up. He meandered over and grabbed himself a random cup and Neji poured from the bottle for him.
"Naruto, good to see you." Naruto didn't notice any slurring, and despite that Neji just downed about four glasses, not even counting what Neji had before he showed up, the Hyuga looked very much sober.
"Dude, you hold your alcohol well."
Neji gave a light chuckle and shook his head.
"Believe me, I'm gone. This," he gestured to one last shot, " will be my last one. A few more than I'll be so belligerently intoxicated, I might pass out on the floor."
Neji snorted.
"A drunk Hyuga Genin. Perfect"
"So you're telling me, that even after two years, you're still a Genin?" Naruto said, in between gulps of a large plastic cup. Naruto was making damn sure he wasn't going to drink too much.
Neji exhaled, annoyed to no end. Even after two years, he still was loud, obnoxious, annoying…
"I do not have to explain anything to you." No way in hell was Neji going to say he was waiting for him to come back. Even if it was to try and smear his carcass on the pavement legally.
"Che. Party pooper. Oi Lee, what the hell is the matter with you? You've been ogling the liquor all night. Just grab one already."
"I'm afraid I cannot. Hokage-sama, Gai-sensei, as well as Neji and Tenten forbid it. I don't exactly know why though." The taijutsu master still didn't know what sort of monster he was while totally hammered.
"Who is Tenten?" Naruto did not remember their third member. Obviously.
"She's over there." Lee pointed.
"Hey! It's that hot ass girl I saw walk in with Neji earlier. Oi, Neji, aren't you two like.. together or something like that?" He waited for a response. None came.
"What's with the silent treatment? Wow, look at all the bottles around her. Did she really drink all that? I'm surprised she can even stand." Naruto yapped a lot. He didn't enjoy silence all that much.
Neji and Lee shrugged.
"You guys are such hypocrites. Drinking so much and not letting Lee get some. To hell with them, Lee, here." Before Neji could react, Naruto had slammed a bottle in Lee's mouth.
"Naruto you fool! You'll bring the death of us all!" Neji yelled.
"The hell are you talking about? I just gave Lee some- Oof!" Quicker than any one could follow Lee had dashed and slammed his fist into Naruto's gut.
Naruto flew through a wall. Luckily, it wasn't wood so no splinters.
"I'm getting really tired of flying through walls!" Naruto spat and ran back inside.
What he saw was insane. There was a whitish green blur moving all over the place. Girls screaming and running around all over the place, shinobi were barking out orders left and right. What the hell is going on?
Amongst all the screaming and chaos, Chouji's roar was heard.
"Who the fuck gave Lee liquor!?" There was a pause. "Damn it Neji, why didn't you stop him!" Another pause. "Whatever. Just try and lure him out of here before he breaks something else! Shikamaru help get everyone out before they get hurt!"
Naruto frantically searched the room for someone who knew what was going on. He gave up after a minute.
"What the HELL is GOING ON?!"
Shikamaru smacked him from behind the head. Naruto turned around.
"Idiot. I was getting to the good part." Shikamaru looked like he had put on his clothes hastily. Naruto swore he smelled familiar.
"Lee is strong. When he gets even a small amount of liquer, he loses his discipline and control. He can be very dangerous, as you can so plainly see."
"Oh. Lets take him down then." Naruto said, not really knowing how much trouble Lee was when even he was slightly tipsy.
"Too troublesome. Just help me herd the people out."
"But I want to –"
"Help. Before I tell exactly who gave Lee the alcohol. They'd mob you.
Naruto grinned guiltily.
"About time you took off that Henge."
Naruto made a face.
"What are you, my mother?"
While Neji was trying to get Lee's attention, Naruto and Shikamaru was trying to get people the hell out. Naruto was doing most of the work, with his clones running all over the place, taking hits for those who couldn't defend themselves.
Naruto was starting to get frustrated. All of the techniques that he could have used to hold Lee down were too destructive and would ruin Chouji's house. Naruto did not want to piss the newly instated Jonin off.
It didn't help that the people he was helping were looked at him apprehensively, figuring out who he actually was without the Henge. Some of the looks came from the exact same girls he danced with earlier.
"Oi, Chouji! Everyone is out." Naruto called out. A few more blurs and more clones were hit out of existence.
"Finally." Chouji clapped his massive hands together. "Operation: Take out Lee."
Neji zipped into view at Chouji's left side.
Shikamaru merely walked over which ruined the dramatic flair Choiji had intended.
Neji had a devilish smile at his lips.
"Naruto, this may take a few hours. Do you mind taking Tenten home? I don't want her to sleep on the cold floor." It was more of an order than a request.
Chouji anticipated Lee's movements and tackled the blur; the blur was flung outside from the force.
Chouji nodded towards and Neji and Shikamaru.
"Lets go!" Chouji yelled.
The three ran off with Chouji slightly behind.
"Wait! I don't even know where she lives!" It was too late. They were already gone.
The huge house felt so creepy without anyone in it.
Naruto spotted Tenten propped up against the wall, sleeping.
"Stupid bastards.. Make me take care of their teammate."
He poked her a bit. "Oi, Tenten, you okay? You had a mess load of drinks here.. You better not hurl on me."
Tenten blearily opened her eyes, unfocused.
"I'm…perfect.." She slipped into unconsciousness again.
"Where the heck am I gonna take her? I don't have the slightest clue on where she lives." Roaming around her pockets for an I.D., he couldn't find anything but a tiny scroll that he couldn't open.
"Oh screw this. I'll just take her to my place." He lifted her up onto his shoulder but found that her head was too close to his lower buddy, so switched her around. This didn't work out too well either since her rump was now near his face.
"Oh man. None perverted thoughts. None perverted thoughts." Naruto chanted as he began the long walk to his apartment.
Fumbling with the lock he kicked the door in. Walking to his room still holding Tenten, he smelled the sheets. Naruto snickered. Tsunade had sent some poor unfortunate Genin team to clean the storm wreck known as his living space. He set her on the bed.
"Great. I'm stuck on the couch."
Taking a quick shower and putting some his boxers and sweatpants on, he dropped on the couch and fell asleep.
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Naruto woke up parched. After getting something to drink from the fridge, he brushed his teeth and remembered the brunette sleeping in his room. He grabbed a bottle of water for her, whom was most likely dehydrated from all the alcohol from earlier in the morning.
As quietly as he could he walked into his room and heard her curse.
"-ing sun. Fucking hangover." He watched her roll over. Naruto noted her extremely shapely rear.
"Great. It's official. I"m a pervert. Thanks a lot ero-sennin." He muttered.
Shaking his head, he decided to make his presence known. "Colorful vocabulary you got there."
After being told to shut up, he thought it would be good payback to keep talking.
"You had a shit load of drinks last night uh.. this morning. I'm surprised you're awake. Its only eight." She kept trying to ease away the headache by massaging her temples.
Naruto felt sympathetic for her and used a technique Tsunade taught him when bringing her to Konoha. Walking towards her, he did the best he could to not make too much noise with his footsteps on the carpet floor.
"This usually helps my sensei when he gets hangovers."
Naruto massaged various parts of her head and eased chakra to certain parts of her brain to numb the headache and actually cause pleasure. She moaned.
None perverted thoughts. None perverted thoughts..
Too busy trying not to act like his sensei, Tenten managed to put him into a choke hold and was rather rough about it
Naruto was annoyed. He could have just left her there alone on Chouji's floor but brought her here, and this is the thanks he gets?
"Where am I?" She sounded rough, but he could smell the traces of fear leaking out.
"Jeez! Why are you so rough! I pi-" Jeez. Her grip is pretty strong. Not bad.
"Where am I?!" She repeated, sounding a bit more desperate.
Naruto was growing more annoyed, but tried to keep his temper in check. This was a lady after all. It's not as if he introduced himself properly anyway. What did he expect from her? She did wake up in an unfamiliar area.
"I'm not saying nothing until you let me go, Tenten."
"Who the hell are you?" Naruto didn't feel like talking to anyone while unable to breathe normally.
With a sigh, Naruto easily broke out of her grasp and had her pinned on the bed, straddling her waist.
Looking down at her face, Naruto was right. Crap! She's super cute! Shit..Of all the damn positions I have to use… Naruto was shaken from his thoughts when she said his name.
"Naruto?" All the fear was gone and was replaced by.. awe?
"You know my name? That's surprising." How in the world does she know me?
Tenten, noticing this odd position, and the fact that he was shirtless, and figuring out this was definitely NOT one of her dream fantasy settings..
"Naruto? Is that really you?" Making sure, just in case.
"Um yeah."
Oh God, he's gorgeous!
Admiring his body a bit more she looked at his eyes again. She smirked.
"Be gentle. It's my first time."
Naruto practically flew off her and stumbled onto all sorts of things.
She started to rub her sides again from all the noise he was making. Perhaps teasing him wasn't such a good idea yet.
"Eh, sorry about that." He hands her the bottle of water. "Don't want you to keel over from dehydration now..heh.." What the fuck was that? I sound like a dork!
She didn't hear a word he said as her eyes ran across his body. Neji's build had muscles but looked so sculpted and athletic, almost feminine. Lee was down right bulky. Too bulky. Naruto on the other hand was some heavenly combination of both. Rippling shoulder muscles, powerful looking chest, and a well built abdomen. But still slim enough not to be unattractive. She almost drooled.
"What?" He asked uneasily.
"Mmm.. Nothing." Still staring, she took a sip of water.
"Then what are you staring at?" He was growing more uncomfortable.
"Nothing." She smiled sweetly.
"Nothing? You keep staring at me and you say nothing?" This girl was starting to drive him nuts.
"What, you got a problem with me looking at you?" She asked innocently.
"No.. Wait! Yeah I do! No wait.."
Naruto continued his sputtering when Tenten walked passed him, briefly scraping her rear against him
"I'm hungry. Get me something to eat." He stopped talking immediately and followed.
Hell yeah! I've got him whipped!
Naruto shouted back.
"Kiss my ass!"
Tenten twitched.
Wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
"-then Neji told me to take you home. The punk was smiling; he knew I didn't know where you lived. Set me up. I should kill him later."
Tenten laughed. "I still can't believe you gave Lee liquor. The last person, who did that, was sent to a remote outpost for weeks. Poor guy still doesn't even know why. At least I know how I ended up here.." Oh Neji you devil! I could almost kiss you!
Naruto nodded and just kept slurping down ramen. Tenten marveled the fact that he ate so fast and managed not to splash anything anywhere.
"Did anyone ever teach you any manners? You eat like a pig." She kept staring at him. He hadn't put on a shirt yet.
"At least I ate. You barely took three measly bites."
"Instant ramen sucks. I'd rather eat real ramen." Noticing the smell of alcohol all over her, not to mention some perspiration, she decided she needed a bath. Or a shower at least "Do you mind if I take a shower here?"
"Uh.. not really.." Naruto mumbled, not really all that comfortable of having a female, not to mention a good looking one, naked anywhere in his humble abode. He might pull a Jiraiya and peek. She might attempt to kill him if he tried. Might.
"Great!" She beamed as she pulled out and opened a scroll, the same exact scroll from earlier that he couldn't open. She did a few hand seals and a puff of smoke appeared. After the smoke cleared, there was a toothbrush, a bar of soap and some extra clothes. Naruto did his best to NOT stare at the black thong that was peaking out from under a shirt. He was amazed nonetheless with all the stuff that literally came out of thin air.
Catching his look, Tenten shrugged. "My family excels at being able to pack things in scrolls." She looked at her belongings and sighed.
"Something wrong?" He inquired.
"Not really. But I'll have to use your shampoo and toothpaste."
As she walked away, again, Naruto tried to ignore her shapely rump, barely picking at his ramen.
wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Walking into his bathroom, Tenten happily noted the place was spotless. Old looking, and it wouldn't hurt to replace some of the cracked tiles or repaint the place, but clean all the same. Not bad for a guy.
Disrobing, she turned on the shower. Nothing happened. Turning both knobs in both directions hadn't worked either.
"Naruto! Your shower is busted!" She yelled.
"Hit once under the shower head, and twice above the hot and cold knobs!" Came the slightly muffled reply.
"What the hell? Get your ass in here!" She yelled back. Pulling on a towel she opened the door. Naruto stood there with an impatient expression.
"Well? Don't just stand there. Get my shower started!" She slapped him on the rump for motivation. He was moving too slow for her liking.
He glared at her. "You could have just said please." He said walking to the shower, rubbing his ass. After doing the necessary rituals for summoning, water shot from the shower head.
"Give it five minutes for hot water." A light tinge of pink formed on his face from the fact that a flimsily thin towel was all that separating him from her nude form. Not to mention the bathroom was tiny. He knew he was blushing slightly. He just didn't know why. He saw much more skin at the party. Perhaps it was because she was a kunoich, so everything about her was nice. Nice defined calves, shapely muscular thighs, a few scars here and there. Naruto just didn't know. He didn't really want to know. She was just damn fine.
"Thanks. You can get out now. Unless you want to help me bathe." Naruto was out the door before she said the word "bathe". Tenten laughed before closing the door.
Naruto tried not to think about the fact there was a naked female in his apartment. Mentally chanting his "keep from being perverted" motto, he ate four more bowls before she was finally finished.
She walked in while drying her hair she as Naruto was still slurping down ramen like there wasn't going to be a tomorrow. "Are you still eating that crap? I really have to show you the place where it's absolutely delicious. You would be paying of course."
Naruto could do little more but stared at her in astonishment. Not only was this girl comfortable at knowing who he was, waking up at his place, using his shower, but she even liked ramen and didn't seem to mind if they ate with each other in the future. Maybe its because of the alcohol in her system still..
Tenten still drying her hair, caught his look. "What are you staring at?" She mocked trying to mimic his voice. She looked at him beaming.
"Very funny." He said as he stood up and made himself another bowl.
"So, Naruto-kun," Naruto-kun? Says the crazy lady who was choking me earlier.. "What have you been doing these past two years? Everyone missed you. It was so utterly boring without someone raising hell."
I missed what I didn't even get a chance to have..
"All over the place. You should see the Chunin Exams in the hidden village of Mist. Almost the whole exam is underwater. Psycho is you ask me. It's not even fair. The resident shinobi had a mad unfair advantage. You just know they train for that stuff all the time."
"That's harsh. Cheaters.."
"Yeah. It was total bullshit. I didn't get to see the rest though, ero-sennin-" Tenten raised her hand.
"Who's the ero-sennin?"
"Jiraiya-sensei." Naruto stated like it was the most obvious fact in the world. Tenten shook her head and motioned for him to continue.
"Like I said, before I was rudely interrupted," Tenten stuck out her tongue. "Ero-sennin hates public places and events. He does whatever he can to avoid em'. Unless there are women around, the perverted bastard." He pauses for a second. "You know what's funny?" He asked while sitting down next to her.
"What?" She sneakily scooted closer to him. The blond didn't notice.
"When Jiraiya asked me to go train with him around the world, I thought it would be easy." Tenten cocked an eyebrow.
"You thought training with one of the sannin would be easy?"
"Yeah! The first time we trained, he just showed me a technique and just sat there monitoring me. Well.. he did throw me into this huge ravine..."
"He threw you off a ravine?!" She almost stood up.
"Calm down. It was just motivation for me to summon something large enough to get me out of there. As I was saying it was easy training. Sort of. Anyway, the second time he taught me something was when we were getting old lady Tsunade..."Tenten slapped the back of his glared yet again. "What the hell was that for?!"
"Don't you dare make fun of Tsunade-sama!" Her furious expression quickly disappeared and she smiled pleasantly. "You were saying?"
Naruto grumbled before starting again. "While we, or ..while he was searching for Tsunade-sama," Tenten looked pleased. "Before he left for the day, he would teach me steps to this one technique and would practically desert me for weeks. He would stop by to drop off supplies or food, or a weird tip, but that was all."
Tenten nodded. "Didn't turn out like you thought it would, did it?"
"Not at all. I guess when he officially called me his apprentice he took it seriously. Almost two years of hell. I'll show you a quick example.. c'mere to the living room." He said standing up. Noticing her confused expression he grabbed her hand. "C'mon. I need more room, I can't do this in the kitchen."
The distance from the living room to the kitchen wasn't that much, but it gave Tenten enough time to really view the place.
The place was fairly clean, not a speck of dust in sight. A few scrolls here and there, a shabby looking couch and an old television set. The lack of pictures did upset her a bit. There was only one picture and it was his old team. Kakashi, Sakura, Sasuke-baka, and of course, Naruto.
I knew he was an orphan, but to have utterly nothing? Oh Naruto..
"Tenten!" Naruto said as he gently shook her. He was rather annoyed with her zoning out like that.
"Sorry. You were going to show me something?" She looked around and noticed he wasn't even holding anything.
"Yeah. Hold out your hands and spread out your legs a little."
"What are you going to do?"
"A training method ero-sennin used on me. Brace yourself. You might fall." Before she could have a say in the matter Naruto went through a haze of seals and tapped her ankle and wrist.
Catching her totally off guard, her wrists and ankles were brought together and down she fell. Instead of hitting the floor on her rump, something warm was holding her from behind.
"I told you to brace yourself." Tenten squirmed a bit and turned her head and bit a piece of his chest. Naruto almost dropped her.
"What the hell? You know, you have a bizarre way in showing appreciation." The extreme close contact was like an alarm clock for Naruto Jr. He made sure his buddy didn't accidentally make contact with the struggling kunoichi he was holding.
"I can't even move! How strong do you have to be just to walk around?"
Naruto let out a knowing laugh. "Well, these shackles, if you will, have nothing to do with the physical body."
Tenten looked clueless. "Explain before I bite a nipple off." Naruto quickly put her at arms length. He liked both of his nipples. He could restore it back anyhow, but still.
"Okay, just start gathering as much chakra as you can. Nothing fancy, just like they showed us how back at the academy."
Tenten was about to bite him again, but decided against it and gathered chakra.
He felt a small rise of chakra, but that wasn't going to cut it. "That's all you got? You have to give off more than that to move around in those."
Tenten turned to give him a glare and continued. By the time she could move she was getting breathless.
"What the hell!? You have to constantly generate this much to move around all the time?!" She yelled. Most of her techniques didn't require so much for a long period of time.
"Yeah. Try having this on while climbing a tree, or when the geezer asked me to go camp out on a lake."
Had Tenten not have the shackles on, she would have laughed. But she did so she just got pissed.
"How the hell can anyone do those things while generating this much? Most of it is going to waste since you're not doing anything with it."
She barely started to throw punches and kicks to begin to feel the strain. Quickly growing tired, she gradually lowered the chakra to the bare minimum to keep the shackles from locking up again. Despite the drop, she was still generating a lot, for her that is.
"This is an excellent way to build up your pool of chakra. Forcing you to generate this much.."
"Heh. Took me an hour to figure that out." Naruto grinned sheepishly.
"You never did strike me as the bright type." Tenten said, hitting his shoulder playfully. Both laughing genuinely it threw him off when she suddenly grew serious.
"Now get this shit off me. Now."
After a long set of hand seals, Naruto muttered, "Release." And the shackles disappeared.
Tenten collapsed on the couch eying him curiously. His hands were fast. Real fast. "Goodness. How in the world did Jiraiya-sama think up something like that?"
"Who knows? The crazy geezer had tons of other stuff to torture me with as well. This is but a small sample. He's perverted and sadistic. What more can I say?" He sat down on the couch as well.
Looking at Tenten, she was snoozing peacefully on his couch. Naruto decided to leave her alone and went into his room to study some scrolls Jiraiya left him.
Naruto reluctantly began to read.
Sona was shivering in the cold. Her bare breasts aching for Kyte's warm hands.-
"What the fuck?! Jiraiya, you senile old bastard! These are your notes!" Quickly rolling the scroll back up, Naruto rummaged through another set, hoping to find the scroll that was supposed to be filled with ancient history and myths.
Lost in his reading, he failed to notice a fist coming down on the back of his head.
"What the hell?!" He turned around to a very grumpy looking Tenten.
"I thought you had ditched me alone in a neighborhood I've never been in, and here you are reading. You could have at least answered when I called!"
Naruto turned his body around on the bed smiling sheepishly. "Sorry. I really zone out when I read."
"What are you reading anyway?" She asked as she flopped down on the bed next to him.
"Wow." She was amazed at what she read. "I had no idea you were a nerd.."
Naruto snatched the scroll away. "Jiraiya said I just have to know this stuff. I caused all sorts of hell for him at first, but it reels you in after a while.. I ended up enjoying reading these," he gestured at the scrolls, "then listening to one of his marathon lectures. I never thought he could lecture with that much depth to it, being the pervert that he is."
"Is he really? I mean, everyone I know holds Jiraiya-sama in really high regards.. Yet you insult him every chance you get." Her hair wasn't in its bun so she started twirling a stray lock around.
Naruto snorted. "When I first met the guy, I caught him peeping in the women's bath."
She raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.
Naruto continued to read while Tenten seemed to just lay there lifeless or bored even. Little did our young hero know, Tenten was quite content with just being near him. Sure he's a tad weird, and his people skills need work, but that is expected, when your only companion was an old man. She was surprised he wasn't constantly blushing or staring at her. A bit uncomfortable, she shifted her body so that his side was acting as her pillow and dozed off yet again.
Naruto didn't mind. Still in the buff, something warm pressed into his side was more than welcomed.
Tenten finally woke up from her nap and glanced at the clock. "Jeez. It's almost eleven already? I must have been asleep for a while.."
Naruto turned to her in shock. "Huh? What time is it.. 10:51? Shit! I have to meet Sakura for lunch in nine minutes!"
Tenten tried. Oh she tried. But can you really expect her not to stare at the one person she dreamed about for almost two years strip right in front of her and frantically (and failing) to find something to wear? Sure, the only thing he took off was his sweatpants, but still.
"Damn it! Where did those little bastards pack my clothes?!"
Tenten avoided most objects thrown in her way. Book, scrolls, anything that wasn't what Naruto was looking for.
"Ah ha! Found you, you sneaky little bag!"
Quickly getting dressed, much to Tenten's dismay, he headed out the door. She counted to herself to when he would stick his head back in the room. She was on twenty.
"Tenten!" He snuck his head through the door.
She stood up and crossed her arms. "You have a brain after all!"
"Sorry.. Can you come with me?"
"Why?" She didn't want to sound like she had nothing else to do.
Naruto scratched the back of his head. "Well, yah see, I asked her to come to lunch with me at the party, but, one thing lead to another and I used a Henge on myself so she wouldn't recognize me. You could be there to help restrain her in case she flips out or something." He looked at her pleadingly.
"Why in the world, would you do something that moronic?"
"It's a long story. Now c'mon!" He grabbed her hand and went out the apartment, kicking the door shut.
Walking through the crowd, Tenten noticed a number of people staring at them. They whispered or pointed, thinking she didn't notice. It all was ticking her off. She was also aware how the multitude seemed to sway away from them, as if trying not to touch Naruto in anyway possible. Naruto didn't appear to care.
"Naruto," She whispered, "what is with these people?"
"Don't worry about it. This part of Konoha doesn't really appreciate ninja all that much." He answered gruffly.
Though he kept a straight face and kept looking forward, she knew he was lying. If they didn't really appreciate ninja, they would have given her the same look. They never did. She was somewhat familiar with the neighborhood; it was where she would go to the Ichiraku Ramen.
It all kept bothering her. Other shinobi's obvious contempt with the boy, the villagers actions and words about him. How he seems to be so burdened. As if the whole world was on his shoulders. It didn't show much, but she caught that look on his face a couple of times. He looked so exhausted as if he was tired of life.
The sneers and hushed voices didn't stop till they reached the café and went inside.
Walking in, the atmosphere was much more comfortable. Soft music playing in the background, people enjoying themselves, and a pleasant smell to top it off. Naruto gave a sigh of relief. He Looked around he didn't see the pink haired kunoichi. "It's already 11:14.. She's always been punctual. I wonder what's keeping her?"
"Knowing her, she probably forgot about a session with Tsunade-sama." Tenten fumed. She was still a tad jealous with the fact that Sakura was chosen as her idol's apprentice.
"Lets just grab a seat and save one for her. You think this place serves ramen?"
Tenten stared at him incredulously.
"What?"
Tenten just shook her head.
After finding a spot near a window a waitress walked up to them and handed them a menu.
"Good morning. I'm Mera. Whenever you're ready to order call me." She gave a polite bow, looking at Naruto as if she remembered him from somewhere and walked away.
Naruto was seated next to Tenten, she wondered if he was going to put on the Henge or not.
"Are you going to meet her like you are, or are you going to use the Henge first?" She asked bluntly.
"I'm in the Henge now."
"I don't see anything different." She said defiantly, intensely gazing at him.
Naruto pointed to his cheeks.
"I don't see.. Oh! You took off the lines. Why don't you just take it off instead of putting a Henge on it."
Naruto looked confused. "Those lines are birthmarks." He released the Henge.
"I always thought you drew them there or something." She ran her fingers on his cheeks.
"You can even feel the crease. That's one strange birthmark you got there."
"Feh."
"That's all you did and she didn't recognize you? That's peculiar.. You'd think your own teammate would be able to pick you out of a crowd a mile away." Tenten had been staring out the window while speaking, but since he didn't respond to anything she turned to him.
There it was again. He normally looked carefree and generally happy, but his face held so much concern over something she had no idea over.
What is with him? Loud and obnoxious one minute then the next he looks like someone told him his mother just died.
"Naruto-kun." She tapped his shoulder. Nothing. "Naruto!" This time she added a whack from behind.
"Yeah?"
Tenten sighed.
If there was an awkward silence, Naruto was oblivious to it. Thinking to his life, he would do almost anything to be a normal civilian. Keeping a no good, dirty mouthed fox in check, looking over your shoulder for any looming cloaked bastards, aiding the village, saving it numerous times. And for what? It was as if he was shunned away for two years.
It was two long years with nothing but a demon and an old man for company. No real friends. No real parents. No one he could really just break down sobbing to, no one who can ease away his pain. He wasn't Sasuke. He had no real reason to keep on living. Nothing but his own selfish desires to be acknowledged. To be seen as a real person.
Not just some damn container.
Naruto wondered on numerous occasions if the fox would really die along with him. He never confronted Jiraiya about it. Half too scared, half not really wanting to know the answer. If the fox would stay sealed for sure if he died, Naruto might have killed himself already. But Naruto knew he couldn't die unsure. To let that monster terrorize anyone again, he'd go to hell and back to make sure that didn't happen.
Taking a quick glance at Tenten, he smiled a small sad smile. Naruto always could sorta pick out people who would grow important to him. He's been right with everyone so far, even if one beat the living crap out of him, he felt Tenten would end up on his growing list of precious people. If he was lucky, he might see her as something more.
Tenten tapping his shoulder interrupted his thoughts.
"Naruto, she's here!" Tenten whispered.
"Oi Sakura!" Naruto waved her over. "Have a seat!" He was beaming like an idiot as he stood up.
"Sorry I'm late. Shizune-sempai had me do few errands and I lost my track of time." She gave Naruto a quick hug.
"It's fine. We weren't waiting that long." He pulled her a chair.
"We?" She then finally noticed the other kunoichi seated right besides "David".
"I believe you know, Tenten-san. She told me so much about you." He was still grinning like an idiot.
Why does that grin look so… familiar?
Sakura gave Tenten a quick greeting. "Tenten, I had no idea you knew David."
Tenten nearly fell over from the name. David? "Yeah, we met at the party last night. He's actually a good friend of Lee and Neji. I'm really surprised you don't know him though. He is a nin from Konoha." Tenten grinned mischievously.
Sakura looked perplexed. "I thought he was from-"
She stared at "David". Still grinning like an idiot. Then it dawned on her.
Only one person can smile like that.
She almost gasped when she saw the appearance of whisker like marks on both sides of his face.
"Hello, Sakura-chan!" Naruto's grin gave way to horror.
"Naruto…" An evil green aura surrounded Sakura. She started to crack her knuckles. People started staring. Tenten wisely backed off. Although running across the room to avoid the thrashing that was soon to come was a more suitable definition.
"I'm going to kill you!" She screamed. Naruto merely grinned that foxy grin of his.
"Can't kill wutcha can't catch!" With that, Naruto was nothing but a whirl of wind out the door, with Sakura hot on his trail.
"What's with them?" Mera asked.
Tenten shrugged. "Don't worry about it. They'll be back. They have to eat sooner or later."
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I LOVE ALL MY REVIEWERS. So much encouragement. But damn whoever reminded me of Hinata. I have no idea what to do with her yet. Someone asked for fluff. (Scratches head) I really don't know when that's going to happen..Please make note that this is my first EVER attempt at romance. So if things look odd, ..Sorry? Again thanks and much love to everyone who reviewed.