As usual, thank you, thank you ALL for the lovely reviews and encouragements! It's amazing and so motivating, and thanks to all those who have read the story.
A short note: I don't know what will happen to Anko in the cannon, but I had already included her in the story, and I didn't want to change it now – I was already sad to have to exclude Yamato in the story, not knowing what will happen to him ((
XOXOX
"You're supposed to pile it all up," the young Rokudaime protested loudly. "You're ruining it!"
"It would never have taken off the way you arranged them," came the annoyed reply.
"Since when are you the BBQ expert?"
"Since when do you know anything outside ramen?"
"Weren't you supposed to eat only snake food while being with Oru?"
Sasuke glared at him with narrowed eyes.
"If you two continue like this, I'm punching both of you out of your wits," Sakura warned. Boys never grow, she thought exasperatedly, as she watched the two arguing.
Night had fallen, and the three of them were in the small back garden of the Hokage's residence. Naruto and Sasuke was busy fawning over the small, brand new coal grill set which proudly adorned the space – gift from a grateful inhabitant from a neighboring village to the Hokage – while Sakura was tiredly sprawled on a picnic blanket on the ground, her back propped against one of the decorative boulders which adorned the garden, a soft cushion provided by Naruto wedged between her body and the solid surface for comfort. Naruto had wanted to try his new gift, and had wanted Sasuke and Sakura over for the 'inauguration'.
The two males had to practically kidnapped Sakura. They find her almost falling off her feet after a long 14 hours shift, half-heartedly protesting about having to complete some reports; protest which the Hokage had firmly pushed aside. As soon as they reached Hokage's home, she has been ordered to sit back and relax, while the two men would look after the food preparations.
Now, there she sat, lazily watching the two playing chefs and bickering like an old married couple. The latest disagreement was how to get the charcoal taken up properly.
"Sakura-Chan!" Naruto said making a long face at her threat. Even Sasuke looked chastised.
"And I still am unhappy that you have refused to let me include ramen in the menu," Naruto grumbled.
"Naruto," she said, rolling her eyes, "BBQ and ramen is not a good combination."
Sasuke gave a snort of agreement.
"Teme has suddenly become a nutritionist?" Naruto snipped.
"At least he eats a balanced diet with lots of veggies," Sakura piped in.
"You two are teaming up against me," Naruto protested. "Not fair," he muttered under his breath. "And don't forget," he wagered a spatula at Sasuke, "next time it's your turn! It's been ages since we've ate at the Uchiha's! You don't want to fight for the title of legendary sucker with Baa-Chan, right?"
Dark eyes slashed at him. "You had lunch at my place day before yesterday."
"Was it?" Naruto asked innocently.
Sakura sighed, burying herself blissfully into the cushion. She half listened to the two, her eyes filled with fondness. Dreams do come true, she thought. The team 7 did survive. She felt relaxed, enjoying the warm summer air scented with fresh grass, the sweet smell of summer fruits and the acid burning of charcoal.
The garden, designed by Ino, was small, cozy and inviting. It was a typical Japanese garden, with a tiny stream snaking in a corner, stepping stones to walk across the ankle length water, rocks, lots of rocks scattered artfully around, lanterns casting soft light here and there, and different variety of shrubs strategically placed over the lush green lawn. The house complemented the garden; it was a small handsome one storeyed building – Naruto had not wanted a huge house – the elegant Japanese architecture blending with the surrounding. The gang had a blast decorating it the previous year, when finally Naruto had been able to put some funds in its construction, at the insistence of his close ones. The result was a homey, comfortable yet classy décor which befitted the Hokage.
"I hope the food is ready tonight," she interrupted them. "I'm getting hungry."
Soon, the delicious smell of grilled meat waffled through the air, a while later, they all sat reclined on the ground, the food eaten, their stomach satiated and relaxed.
"That was delicious," Sakura sighed in pleasure. She felt well fed, happy and at peace with the world as she languidly watched the dying embers of the BBQ pit. A sudden huge yawn took her by surprise. "Sorry about that," she said, sheepish.
Naruto smiled as he looked sideways at her. He shared the large boulder against which she was reclined, propped barely some inches away besides her, while Sasuke sat opposite them. "You are overworking yourself, Sakura-Chan," he remarked, unhappily observing the dark, tired circles around her eyes.
She just waved his concern away. "I'm fine," she insisted, "and look who's talking. You're always finishing at late hours too."
"Can't you get more help at the hospital?" Sasuke asked, he as well having noted the dark circles which seemed to have become a permanent fixture on her tired face.
"We're quite under staffed," said Sakura. "We still have lots of follow-ups to do resulting from war injuries. This should taper out soon. It's more the teaching which is eating lots of my time right now."
"Why don't you space out your classes?" asked Naruto.
She shook her head. "The quicker we have the new batch ready, the better it is." She shifted her weight to get to a more comfortable position against the boulder. "Once my class gets their cruising speed, they will be grouped in three and assigned to other doctors. It will not be so much on me then. Until then, it's my responsibility." She rubbed her eyes drowsily as another yawn caught up with her. "We need to pass down our knowledge to the next generation," she mumbled. "The will of fire."
Sakura could hear a low hum of voices, but she was too tetanised with sleep to catch the words. She foggily became conscious of a deep, quiet rumble of voice beneath her ears. Not wanting to come out of the heavenly warmth surrounding her, she instinctively snuggled deeper into the wonderful, warm surface underneath her, turning her head instinctively to bury her face into the buzzing medium and inhaling deeply as she did so. The low rumble beneath her ears immediately stopped. A deeply profound ba-doum, ba-doum noise took over.
This smells wonderful, she thought druggedly, nudging her nose deeper and taking a slow, long inhale to get maximum of the heavenly scent. Musky. Earthen. Male.
The ba-doum noise increased its tempo. She frowned, and surfaced from her torpor enough to realize that she was hearing a heartbeat. An accelerated heartbeat.
Male? She suddenly thought with a jolt.
She was immediately fully awake and dragged her eyes opened. She felt momentarily disoriented, before becoming aware that her face was buried into a chest; a warm chest. Rapidly gaining more of her senses, she realized that she was reclined onto a red robed body, with one arm around her as support, her own arms encircling a torso. Male torso, definitely.
Her breath hitched; snapping her head up, she found herself practically nose to nose with a wide eyed whiskered face. She was immediately immersed in the two pools of darkened blue orbs.
"N-Naruto?" she stuttered, her voice raspy from sleep.
Without real conscious thought, the green eyes, still with traces of sleep, migrated to the whiskers marks which adorned each of his cheeks, to finally settle on the lips which were so tantalizingly close. He has beautiful, sensual lips, was her hazy thoughts, and they are just a breath away. A sudden, wild longing flared in the pit of her stomach, and her lips involuntarily parted as heartbeat picked up speed.
His sudden sharp intake of breath made her raise her eyes back to his, and close to her ear, she could feel the increasing tempo of his heart. The serious intensity of his gaze made the small hair on her nape stood straight.
A low, discreet cough broke into her transfixed state, making her sanity returned, with it, the full realization of her predicament. Her eyes widened. She must have dozed off, and had been using Naruto as reclining pillow. Her face felt hot with awkwardness as she quickly detangled herself off him and clumsily scrambled some feet away. She reddened even more when thinking how she had been sniffing his scent, and ogling at his lips like a starved girl. With an audience in the form of her second team-mate, on top of it.
She looked at Sasuke, who had made the noise to snap her from her trance. He watched her back with thinly veiled amusement, one corner of his lips quirking slightly. She was thankful for the darkness which hid most of her embarrassment and deep blush.
"I'm so sorry," she mumbled, avoiding to look directly at Naruto. "I fell asleep." She was finding herself so often into very awkward moments with him that it was getting ridiculous.
"You were totally drained," Naruto said easily, his voice strangely rough, though.
"Have I been sleeping for long?" She glanced at Sasuke again, still unable to meet the blond's eyes.
"Barely 15 minutes," replied Sasuke.
"We thought it was better not to disturbing you," Naruto added.
"It's time for me to get going," she said, forcing a cheer in her voice to hide her agitation as she finally looked at Naruto. He looked quite pale in the faint glow of the lanterns.
"I'll walk you back." Naruto immediately stood up.
"No!" Sakura protested hastily. "It's only a short way, I'll be there in a bounce," she insisted. She needed to be alone.
"Okay," Naruto agreed after a short silence, hiding his disappointment.
XOXOX
Some days later…
Slouched on a high stool, one elbow propped against the bar counter and hand supporting her chin, Sakura's gaze was lost in the tall glass of her fruity drink, as if she would find the replies to her woes in the orange colored liquid. She was maybe among the very few in the loudly animated bar who was having a non-alcoholic drink. Well, she and Lee. Ino had made sure that there was non-alcoholic beverage provided.
It was Ino's birthday, and the Yamanaka girl had wanted to celebrate it in the trendy and friendly bar which was mostly visited by shinobis. A finger food buffet was located in the corner of the room, loud music blasted over the sound systems, and the mood was festive. Sakura recognized most of the people present, apart from a bunch of young male shinobis which she was not acquainted with. Most probably Ino's idea of providing partners for the still single Kunoichis, with her at the top of the list, Sakura thought ruefully when she had seen Ino's pointed gaze as she had introduced Sakura.
Making idle chats with unknown men was the last thing she wanted, and quickly making some excuses, Sakura had reclused herself, and sat alone at the bar, slowly sipping her drink. The loud chatters and laughs barely registered in her mind as she sank in her thoughts. As per the last couple of days, her mind was deeply preoccupied. She had been purposely immersing herself totally in work the past days, needing her mind to be faint-tired to be able to sleep. The little free time she had, such as now, was spent in reflecting on her actual state of feelings and evaluating her emotions concerning a certain former blond teammate of hers. Her emotions had been on a rollercoaster mode, sometimes feeling giddy with shaky feelings she got when thinking about him, to immediately, guiltily having to put a brake all those types of feelings – believing that she was not allowed to entertain such thoughts concerning him.
She would be a fool not to see that something was slowly changing between them. But how was it changing, exactly? Maybe their friendship was just shifting as they grow older? Maybe it was still nothing more that some flirty moments between two good, oppositely gendered friends? A girl and a boy; maybe some flirtiness was bound to happen? She remembered how Jiraiya used to have light banters with lots of innuendos with Tsunade shishou…But they had still been nothing more than two very close friends.
The confused questions have been torturing her mind the past couple of days. It was getting damn hard to maintain the good friendly façade when inside she felt such stormy feelings. She was terrified of misinterpreting things, and despite his assuring words, she was desperate not to lose his friendship by making the mistake of crossing any boundaries that she should not. There would be no turning back or rectification if she did or said the wrong things, and she did not want to risk that. It was out of question that she talked about all this with him, the simple idea of his reaction in case all this was in her mind only and probable rejection made her shudder; she had to figure this out on her own.
Though not avoiding him purposely, she had avoided instances where she would be alone with him for too long. She knew it was cowardly of her to run away from the situation, but it was the best she could do for the time being. Until she could settle down her raging emotions, until she figured all this out, and resume the previous serenity of their friendship, she felt it was better to keep a safe distance away.
Said person had not yet made appearance in the gathering. She had come straight from the hospital, still in her working gears, and had thought to be the latest one, but Ino had informed her that the Hokage was having a late meeting.
She gave a deep sigh. Why are things so complicated, suddenly?
"That's one big sigh," drawled a feminine voice, and Sakura turned her head to see Anko. "May I join you?" Without waiting for a reply, the older Jounin slid on the empty high stool and propped her hands on the counter.
"Anko-san," greeted Sakura almost reverently. Anko was a figure that most Kunoichis looked up to, being one of the rare female veteran and a war hero.
"So, such a sigh can only be linked to man problem," Anko drawled with a roguish grin.
Sakura looked up in surprise and mortification. God, was she so transparent? She thought grumpily to herself.
"I_," Sakura stopped, suddenly fumbling.
"Don't worry, it's not that obvious," said the older woman. "Except to the most seasoned eyes, that is," she grinned deviously.
Sakura laughed nervously, her cheeks pink.
"What are you having?" Anko asked, peering into Sakura's glass.
"It's the fruity punch," Sakura replied almost timidly.
Anko rolled her eyes. Beckoning the bartender, she said, "Give me a bottle of sake and two cups, please." As soon as her order was set in front of her, she filled the two cups to the brim, one of which she pushed towards Sakura. "Here. This call for a good ole sake. Great to take off the edge of problems," she told the fidgeting Sakura. "Specially man problems. It was how I managed to rope that old sensei of yours," she crackled.
Sakura almost fell off her stool in surprise. "Kakashi sensei..?" she asked, her jaw hanging open.
Anko winked at her. "The very one. It was high time I get him in my net!"
Sakura was still digesting this last piece of news, when they were joined by the birthday girl. Ino looked gorgeous in a black short dress, and Chouji, holding her by the hand, seemed to be very aware of the fact. The muscularly bulky and handsome young Akimichi could barely remove his eyes from her.
Seeing the cup of sake in front of Sakura, Ino exclaimed, surprised, "You're having sake?" It was very difficult, almost impossible to get Sakura to have alcohol. "Great!" the birthday girl enthused. Not giving the pink haired girl time to respond, Ino immediately called for Ten-Ten and Hinata, and ordered another bottle of sake and some more cups.
Chouji declined the offer of a cup. "I'll leave you girls to yourselves," he chuckled, looking indulgently at his fiancée. Before he left the girls to join Lee and company, Ino went up her toes to dropt a swift kiss on his cheeks, making him blush deep red. He was very shy about open affections in public.
"So, Forehead, let's drink!" Ino cheered as all the cups had been duely filled, Anko approving.
"Why not?" Sakura finally said, joining in the enthusiasm. She was feeling a rebellious streak growing inside herself, and the need to let go of some of her inhibitions. She had been moping too much lately, and she wanted to have some fun.
XOXOX
"This is an excellent plan." Naruto looked up at Shikamaru, impressed. "As was expected from you," he said seriously.
Shikamaru huffed, trying to hide his embarrassment at the praise.
Sasuke, Neiji, Sai and Kakashi, all standing around the Hokage's desk and pouring their heads onto the large paper layout which Shikamaru had opened on the table, nodded their heads in agreement. The Nara had pictorized his plan by simple flowcharts and putting down his ideas on a map of the journey from Konoha to Suna. Black dotted line showed different routes he had proposed and red arrows showed strategic points where each different group would rest during the three days journey from Konoha to Suna. His strategy was simple yet brilliant: several different groups would set out from Konoha, each groups, except one, would have a false Hokage, a Naruto's kage bunshin. The several envoys would have two functions; that of multiplying the invitation to get attacked, and that to act as decoy.
"You're sure your bunshins would hold up for three whole days?" Shikamaru asked Naruto again. The young Hokage nodded. His bunshins could last for a week if he wanted, unless they were fatally injured.
"I don't see any loopholes. This should work," slowly agreed Kakashi, though he was still apprehensive of the danger Naruto was putting himself into. They were supposed to set out to Suna in less than a week, and being the only senior who was in this secret plan, he felt responsible of the young Hokage.
Naruto looked thoughtful. "I'll make a change, though," he said after a silence. "I'll keep the number of envoys down to two only. Only one decoy."
Shikamaru looked back at him. "Naruto_" he started, but the young Hokage stopped him.
"I don't want to put more than necessary people at risk," he said quietly. "Please…" he looked at the young Nara.
Shikamaru gave a sigh. "Troublesome, as usual," he mumbled. 'Okay, I suggest we'll take these two routes then," he said, and everybody once again poured their head on the paper, while Shikamaru explained.
A short while later, a knock sounded on the door. Kiba, accompanied as usual with Akamaru, entered the office at Naruto's 'Come in!' As per Shikamaru's advice, Kiba would form part of the real Naruto's envoy; his and Akamaru's tracking ability was crucial. Shikamaru quickly briefed Kiba on the mission.
Sakura and Tsunade were absent from this meeting, Naruto had still refused to involve them at that point.
"You're crazy not to tell Sakura," Sasuke bluntly told him, "she's one of your security consort and you allocated medic-nin; she should be included in the envoy."
"I really doubt you would be able to exclude her," Kakashi added, agreeing with Sasuke.
Naruto sighed. "She would not be agreeable to this and I don't want her to try to dissuade me," he said. "I know she will try to." And he may be selfish, but he was reluctant in to expose her to this danger by taking her in the mission.
"But you would need a medic-nin," Neiji pointed out.
Shikamaru nodded in agreement, but Naruto stubbornly refused to heed.
"How do you intend to inform her that she is not to accompany you, anyway?" asked Sai. He failed to see how Naruto would pull this off.
Naruto shrugged at the questions. "I'll deal with it when the times come," he said.
The others eyed him exasperatedly, really not expecting him to get out of that as easily as he was thinking, but they did not pushed the issue. The meeting continued for a longer while before all the details were settled.
Finally, looking at the time, Shikamaru tched. "It's late. Let's go. Ino will kill us otherwise."
The others agreed, all having been invited to the birthday bash.
When the group entered the bar, Naruto's attention was immediately drawn to an incredible sight which caused him to do a double take and his eyes to widen; that of Sakura, perched on top of a table, swaying to the slow music number blasting in the air.
His prim and proper Sakura-Chan, dancing, on top of a table at that…it was a sight to behold. She was in her working gears, but even the drab white short-sleeved shirt and red demure knee length skirt split over her black shorts looked hot on her slim form. Naruto felt his mouth go dry as he watched her, his eyes riveted on the sensual sway of her hips while she tried to follow the slow beat of the music. He watched, enrapt, when she raised her arms almost languorously above her head and arched her body to and fro.
Suddenly, she lost her balance and stumbled, and giggled, spoiling the effect and he blinked. As he looked closer, focusing on her face, he saw her flushed cheeks and her glazed eyes. And he immediately realized that she was drunk.
"What the hell!"
Sasuke's muttered expletive broke into Naruto's bemused state. The young Hokage recollected his thoughts and took in his surrounding. He noticed the group of young males which had gathered around the table, literally at her feet, heartily cheering and encouraging her. He felt a sudden heat roared in his chest. Nodding some greetings along, he immediately made his way towards the pink haired, Sasuke following closely at heels.
Sakura only saw them when they reached her table. She smiled brightly as Naruto looked up at her. "N-Naruto! Sasuke!" she slurred heavily.
"Sakura-Chan, get down now," he murmured, reaching out to catch her hand and gently pulling her down.
"Show is over," growled Sasuke at the protesting gathering males. The cutting black eyes and the glacial aura emanating from the Uchiha immediately dispersed the small crowd.
"You are no fun!" she pouted, as Naruto helped her down the table.
"You're totally wasted," Sasuke said abruptly.
"Hey! It's a party. I'm having a blast!"
"You know that you can't hold alcohol," Naruto chided her. "How many did you have?"
It took very little to get her high, as they've discovered on her 20th birthday, the first time she had a drink. She had sung for hours at the top of her voice, screaming tunelessly until her voice got hoarse till the wee morning hours. They still teased her endlessly about it.
"Who cares?" Sakura giggled as she swayed into Naruto. She gave a loud hiccup, which threw her into another fit of giggles. "I'm having fun!"
Naruto smiled despite himself.
"There you are!" Ino loud voice boomed as she made her way across to them. "Better late than never!" she said happily, slapping the Hokage on his back. She was quite drunk herself, although still standing firmly on her feet.
"How many did she have?" Sasuke asked his eyes narrowed on Ino.
"My, my, very protective team-mate, aren't you?" Ino teased. Sasuke glared at her. She sighed, and looked at the madly giggling Sakura. "She just had three cups," she admitted. "It was all it took."
"I think it's time to get you home," Naruto said a while later as Sakura was insisting to dance again. He knew that she would feel very embarrassed the next day when she sobered up, and though he felt very amused to see her in this state, giving him another opportunity to tease her for the next decade, he wanted to spare her the ordeal of facing the aftermath of her making too much of a fool of herself. "Let's go. I'll walk you home."
"I'm a big girl," exclaimed Sakura, annoyed, "and I don't need to be walked home!"
"Yeah, I can see that," replied Naruto, biting his lips to prevent himself from laughing as he watched her hilarious attempts to stand up from the chair without falling down. If she caught him laughing at her, she could very well sent him flying into the walls of the bar. She was drunk, not rendered powerless.
"I'm not drunk!" she insisted belligerently.
"Sure, Sakura-Chan," he murmured, deftly edging her towards the door. He turned to look at Sasuke expectantly.
Dark eyebrows rose. "You surely don't need help to carry such a feather weight?" Sasuke drawled, and returned back to his drink.
Quickly saying his good-byes to Ino, Naruto ushered Sakura outside. The cool, late night summer breeze was refreshing. She stumbled, and he encircled her waist with one arm to support her. Even with her mind being drunk fuzzy and her advanced tipsy state, Sakura felt a tingle going up her spine at the warm contact of his arm around her.
"I can walk by myself!" she protested and tried to wiggle off.
With a sigh, Naruto released her waist, but still held to her arm. "Sakura-Chan, the quicker we go, the faster we'll reach your home," he patiently told her.
But she was not listening to him. "Ooh, the shiny stars!" she exclaimed, looking up at the sky. And immediately swayed again. "The sky is moving!" she giggled.
Without another word, he swung her up in his arms.
"Oops!" she cried out, flinging both her arms around his neck.
"It'll be quicker this way," he told her firmly.
"Okay," she agreed meekly.
She's still as light as ever, Naruto thought as he settled her in his arms. She hoisted her head high up to his shoulder, and her warm, sake scented breath teased the sensitive skin at the crook of his neck, causing a slight shiver to go through him. Pushing some chakra at his soles, he made some swift jumps on the deserted road. Her home was not far, they would be there in a couple of jumps at most.
"Na-ru-to." The whispery, sultry way she said his name in his ear, drawing out each syllable almost languorously, made his heart flutter.
"Yes, Sakura-Chan?" he replied, keeping his voice level and concentrating on keeping his steps safely on the road. Another bounce and they'll be at her doorstep.
"Will you give me a kiss?"
Naruto missed his step, and almost stumbled to a fall. He looked down at her. "Sakura..?" he gulped, eyes wide, forgetting to breathe. He surely has misheard..?
She giggled and drew her head back a little to have a better look at his face. "You know," she hiccupped, "the famous goodnight kiss that a boy gives to a girl?"
He stared into the green, innocent, sake dazed eyes which looked up at him. Recovering from his shock, he wordlessly steered his concentration back to the road, not having the slightest idea how to respond. He knew it was the sake speaking. There was absolutely no way that a sober Sakura would have made such a suggestion, he thought ruefully.
The next bounce brought him to her apartment building, and he swiftly climbed the stairs to reach her door, carrying the precious load carefully.
"Here we are," he said. Giving a nervous chuckle, he looked away from those lovely green eyes. "You're home now."
But she did not remove her arms from his neck, and he could not put her down.
"What about my goodnight kiss?" she repeated, attempting to smile enticingly, her words heavily slurred.
"Err…" he stammered, his mind racing for what to do. He started by gingerly putting her on her feet. She swayed, and had her hands not still been around his neck, she would have fallen.
"The ground is still moving," she giggled, "and you are not replying!" she pouted.
"Sakura…" he murmured tightly. Her soft body so close to his as she clung to his neck was making his heart hammering in his chest and doing terrible things to his sanity.
Sakura raised her head to look up at him. "You've become so tall…"she whined, frowning. "How come you have grown so tall?"
A tender smile crept his lips as he watched her mulish frown, the beloved forehead tantalizing him. She's stoned, he admonished himself. You are the one in control here. Taking a deep breath and getting a grip of himself, he gently stepped back from her, gently disentangling her arms from his neck, while supporting her by the waist.
"Sakura-Chan, give me your keys."
"And then you'll kiss me?" she slurred. "I've never kissed a boy, you know," she pouted. "Ino keeps reminding me about it."
Eyeing his lips pointedly, she hoisted her face towards him, while smiling beguilingly. Naruto looked at the alluring, pink lips angling towards him. He felt paralyzed to the spot. His dream girl was all for kissing him right now; it only remained for him to respond to the invitation. But looking once again into those sweet boozed up eyes, he could not bring himself to do it. She was drunk, and however much he longed and craved to feel those lips of hers, he did not want it to be when she would forget it the next day; he wanted their first kiss to be when she would be clear headed and would remember afterwards.
"Sakura-Chan," he said carefully, "Lets talk about this another time, ok?" She definitely was not in a state to understand the raging, potent longing burning through him right then.
"Naruto!" she wailed, "I want a kiss now, not some other times!" Wide, baleful eyes looked at him and she sniffled. "You are not attracted to me," she pouted. "It's okay, though. I knew it."
Had it been another setting, and another situation, he would have been delightfully amused by her look of the little girl being denied a candy. But as such, he was having a hard struggle to keep his control in check. "Sakura, you're totally wrong. And you're drunk right now, you don't know what you are doing," he murmured.
"No need to find excuses when you don't want to," she said dolefully, turning away from him. She swayed to the spot and started to fumble in her pouch for her keys.
Grasping her shoulder, he gently turned her back. "It's not excuses, Sakura-Chan."
"It is!" she said petulantly.
"When we kiss - and we will kiss, I promise you that," his eyes flared as he said this, "I'll want you to be sober. I don't want you to forget our first kiss."
The green eyes still looked unconvinced. "You will kiss me? Promise?" Her tone was getting more slurred by the second.
His heartbeat sped even more. "Promise," he said solemnly.
She smiled brightly. The next instant, she was crumbling towards the ground, and he managed to catch her on time before she hit the floor. "Promise of a lifetime?" she asked before passing out.
"Promise of a lifetime," he chuckled, looking down tenderly at her as he hoisted her up.
Searching in her pouch, he found her keys, and balancing her in his arms, he opened the door and carried her directly to her bedroom. He carefully placed her on her bed. She did not even budge when he laid her down, totally dead to the world. She looked so vulnerable, asleep, and he smoothed a bang away from her forehead. He removed her boots, and pulled up a blanket over her; she liked having her blanket over her, however warm the temperature was.
That was all he could do, he thought. She would have to sleep in her clothes; they did not seem to be uncomfortable anyway. Giving the sleeping Kunoichi a last glance, he left the room, and exited the apartment. He locked the door from outside, and glide the keys back inside though the thin slot between the door and the floor, hoping that she will have the idea to look down on the floor for her keys.
His heart was still drumming in his chest as he made his way home, not in the mood to return back to the bar. His mind could not shake off her heatedly whispered words, and he could still feel her warmth against him, his body was still pulsing with reaction.
His rational side knew that he made the right decision. This was not any girl; this was Sakura. He had too much feelings invested in this to act bashfully. But still, he was human and a very horny male; and he was already regretting his noble act of not taken up the invitation to kiss her, the girl who he yearned for so much, whom he was always dreaming about.
I need a cold shower, he groaned. Definitely a very long, very cold one.
XOXOX
The beep of her alarm broke through Sakura's drugged mind. She winced at the insistent beeping, and as she awoke from her sleeping state, she felt engulfed by a splitting headache. At the same time, she became aware of the horrible taste in her mouth, her tongue feeling awfully parched and felt as if it has tripled in thickness.
Groaning, she blindly groped her side stand until she found the offending alarm clock, and with a tap, stopped it. Slowly, painfully, she opened her eyes, the intensity of the light swarming to her eyes worsening her headache. It took some long seconds to get her bearings, and as she slowly regained her senses, part of the night's memories came to her.
Ino's birthday party.
The last thing she remembered was taking the third cup of sake. She groaned as she closed here eyes again. She had been drunk. And now she was dealing with a massive hangover. She felt nausea welling up her throat, her previous meal rushing up. Her headache surged when she sat up and swung her foot down from the bed to make a dash at the bathroom, making it just on time and she emptied her stomach in her wash basin.
She cursed as splashed some cold water over her face. How could she have let herself drink again when she knew that she had very little resistance to alcohol? She thought, despaired, as her head ache was far from dissipating. It was as if a hammer was being banged in her brains. Peering painfully at the mirror, she saw that she looked as awful as she was feeling: drawn and red eyes, sallow skin, white lifeless lips. She opened her cabinet to look for aspirin, which she gulped down as soon as she managed to put her hands onto. If she went by the last and only time she got drunk, it would take hours for her hangover to go.
She tried to recall the night's event, but everything was a blank haze after that third cup of sake. She felt a nervous pit in her stomach, a feeling of doom which she could not shake off; as if she should remember something very important, but could not. She frowned, racking her brains to remember, but was drawn to a blank. Straining her mind was making her headache worse, so she gave up.
Two large cups of black coffee, a thorough teeth brushing and a long shower later, Sakura was feeling much better. The aspirin had taken its effect, her head-ache had subdued, though not disappeared. Toweling her hair, she again tried to recall anything of the past night, but still nothing than some vague, blurred recollections came to her. She remembered badly wanting to dance. Did she dance? She suddenly cringed in embarrassment. She hoped that she had not done anything similar to singing at the top of her voice on her 20th birthday.
She also remembered Naruto accompanying her home. He must have tucked her in, because her boots were neatly arranged by her door. But for the life of her she could not remembered what they had talked about. She suddenly felt uneasy. She hoped that she had not babbled anything stupid, what with her recent state of mind when she was around him. She swallowed in nervousness.
As she set out for work, she found her keys on the floor by her door. She smiled, touched by Naruto's thoughtfulness.
XOXOX
"I did WHAT?"
"Ow, ow, don't scream in my ear, Forehead!" Ino groaned painfully.
The Yamanaka girl was dealing with a massive hangover herself. She did not have any mission lined up for the day, and she had been planning a late morning in, but the early visit of her pink haired friend had dragged her out of her bed much more earlier than she had wished.
"Why didn't you stop me?" Sakura wailed, making Ino wince.
"You were really adamant about climbing up that table to dance!" Ino protested defensively. "And you know how you are when you put your mind to something!"
Sakura palmed her face, distraught. She had made a quick detour to visit Ino, wanting to know what she could not remember of the night. And now she was burning with mortification when Ino told her that she had been dancing on top of a table. It was definitely worst that singing at the top of her voice! That's it, she thought. I solemnly swear that I will not drink sake again. Not ever.
"Hey, Forehead, it's no big deal. It was mostly our friends present."
Giving a resigned sigh, Sakura finally nodded. It was true; dancing on top of the table among mostly friends was mortifying enough, but not the end of the world. She then looked suspiciously at the blond. "Did you ask Naruto to accompany me home?" she asked.
"No, he himself proposed to," Ino assured her. As Sakura continued to look unconvinced, she waved her hands in front of her. "I swear!"
Sakura gave a sigh.
"Why, did anything happen?" asked Ino, excited curiosity dancing in her eyes.
"No!"
"How can you be so sure? You don't remember anything anyway, right?"
Sakura shot her a withering glare. "Because this is Naruto we are talking about, and I have total trust in him!"
"I was more thinking about you doing something, Forehead. Not him."
"Ino!" Sakura growled, her eyebrow twitching in annoyance. Inside, though, she had some misgivings. But surely she was dramatizing, worrying senselessly over nothing. "I need to go now," she told her friend, and quickly left, feeling the need to hide herself in her work.
XOXOX
Sakura dropped her bone-tired body into her chair. She wearily rubbed her aching temples. Unsurprisingly, it had been another hectic day – when was it actually that they have had a calm days since the war anyway – and her lingering hangover had not helped. Her class had been particularly difficult today, her students had seemed slow. Then, right after the class, she had had to tend to a badly injured Jounin, which had taken a full one hour intricate chakra healing.
"I'll complete the report by this afternoon, Haruno-san," Yuki, who had followed her in the office, said.
"Thanks, Yuki." Glancing at the clock, Sakura saw that it was already 4:00 in the afternoon. Still two more hours for her shift to be over, unless there was another emergency cropping up. "Let's go over that briefing," she said, and they both set to work, Sakura briskly issuing instructions and Yuki taking notes.
"That seems to be it," Sakura said after one hour. She rolled her neck in the attempt to get rid of the growing crick on her neck.
A knock brought both women's heads to rise. At Sakura's "Come in," the door opened to reveal Naruto.
"Hokage-sama!" Yuki was quick to her feet as she greeted him.
"Yuki-san." Naruto smiled warmly at the girl, who immediately blushed.
"Naruto? What brings you here?" Sakura felt a sliver of uneasiness running through her.
"Hey, Sakura-Chan. Am I interrupting anything?" he deftly avoided her question.
"Oh, we're done already," Yuki breathlessly put in before Sakura could place a word. "I was just about to leave." She smiled widely and gathered her stock of reports.
Sakura swallowed. She did not want to be left alone with him, added to that, she felt the uncertainty of the morning come back in full fledge. Chiding herself, and short of finding an immediate excuse to keep Yuki, which her sudden dead brain could not conjure up, she had no choice but to let the young girl go.
"See you tomorrow, Haruno-san!" With a bow to Naruto, the young girl left.
"Tough day?"
Naruto's soft query brought her back from her almost desperate contemplation of the now closed door through which her assistant had just left. She steeled herself and looked up to meet warm, blue eyes watching her closely.
"Yeah." Not being able to bear the suspense, she decided to open the subject herself. "Thank you for getting me home last night. I'm sorry to have been such a hassle."
"It was no hassle, Sakura-Chan. You know you're never a hassle to me."
She hid her nervously twisting hands underneath her desk. "I hope I didn't make a nuisance of myself?" she probed.
Blue eyes danced with amusement. "No, you didn't," he replied, and she relaxed.
She gave a loud sigh. "Well, for sure this is the last time that I touch alcohol," she grumbled. "I made such an ass of myself; Ino told me that I danced on the table!" She still felt mortified as she thought about it.
He gave an amused chuckle. "It wasn't that bad," he said, an air of mischief surrounding him. He stalked the edge of her desk.
She eyed him suspiciously, not liking the mischievous look on his face. "So, what brings you here?" she asked again.
"A promise to fulfill," he replied solemnly.
She blinked. "A promise to fulfill?" she repeated dumbly.
"Hum. A promise of a lifetime." His eyes was cheerfully devious, his cheeky grin impish.
Her eyebrows almost touched in an enquiring frown as she watched him edging towards her seat. "What do you mean?" she asked nervously, tensing in alert.
He had something up his sleeve, she was certain of what. Was he planning a prank on her? He came to stand in front of her chair, and she felt a shiver of jitters running down her back as she looked up at him. Before she could utter another word, he wrapped both his hands around her upper arms, and in one smooth, strong sweep, brought her to a standing position.
"WhatMMMmm!"
Sakura's brain froze up on her. She stiffened, for one shocking second not comprehending what was happening. Then, as her senses rushed back to her system, her eyes widened, almost taking up her whole face and realization dug in.
He was kissing her! Naruto was kissing her… On the lips.
As her paralyzed brain registered the fact, she became acutely aware of firm, searching chapped lips hotly molding her own. His one arm encircling her waist, pinning her close to him, and the other had crept up to her face, the fingers slightly calloused on her cheek. Her own hands laid limply by her sides, shock having immobilized them. She felt the blood rushed away from her head, making her feel dizzy. All her senses zoomed on the burning contact of his lips on hers…the slow, probing movements, beneath which her own quivering lips seemed to have softened to accommodate his harder, sensually searching ones.
The kiss was brief; she felt his hot tongue caressing her bottom lip once, and before she had recovered sufficiently to react, he pulled his head back. The half lidded, darkened blue eyes surveyed her, his breathing shallow.
"You're supposed to close your eyes, you know!" His wry, unsteady voice reached through her foggy haze.
She gasped for air, realizing that she had been holding her breath the whole time. As she did so, her nose was filled with his warm, unique scent.
He slowly lowered his hand from her cheek, but still kept the arm around her, his face close enough to hers that she could feel his warm breath on her face. She was sure her legs would have caved in had he not still held her.
She felt a wild rush of blood flooding her face. "W-what was that about?" she choked in a breathy whisper.
He took a slow step back, releasing her. "A promise fulfilled," he chuckled huskily, looking triumphant and pleased with himself; but at the same time nervously edging away from her, fearing a probable punch.
But she stood frozen, and looked at him blankly, her mouth hanging open. She was still trying to assimilate the fact that Naruto had kissed her; at the same time trying to juggle with comprehension of what he was saying.
Light clicked in her mind suddenly. "Something happened last night didn't it?" she squeaked out with a mounting realization. "I must have done something…stupid!"
"Not stupid," he assured her, his eyes taking a teasing glint again. "Definitely not stupid. I'll leave now! Bye, Sakura-Chan."
And he left her planted there, face crimson, eyes wide, heart drumming, her nose still filled with his scent, and the imprint of his lips still lingering on her own.
He did taste like ramen, was her unbidden thought as she unconsciously moistened her dry lips with her tongue, and it was delicious.
XOXOX
That had been much less scary than I had expected, Naruto thought gleefully as he practically sailed out of the office. He was out of there limbs still intact. She had not knocked him off the walls off Konoha, as he had feared.
Uzumaki Naruto has kissed Haruno Sakura, and was still alive to tell it.
Granted, it had been a very brief kiss, but it was a start, and he felt exhilarated. His grin dazzled everybody who crossed him on his way out of the hospital. Everybody in Konoha was used to the bright smile of their Hokage, but the hospital staff was subjected to an even brighter smile and chirpier greeting than usual on that day, making them quirk their eyebrow in curiosity at what could have made the Rokudaime so glowing with glee.
Naruto found himself nose to nose with Sasuke as soon as he exited the hospital.
"Teme! What's up?" he chirped brightly.
Sasuke observed the beaming face silently for a long minute. "Are you two finally official?" he asked abruptly.
"Huh?" Naruto blinked. "What are you talking about?" he chuckled almost nervously.
"You and Sakura," came the impatient reply.
"What? No!" Naruto spluttered, scratching the back of his neck. He peered at the usual stoic face of his friend. "What a queer question!"
"Your face look like a 100 watt lit bulb, you're smiling like a clown, and you're coming out of the hospital," Sasuke remarked patiently.
Naruto grimaced. Nothing escape the Uchiha's dark stare, it seemed. "No, we are not official." At Sasuke's impatient sigh, he added, "Yet."
Sasuke examined the blond's face again. "I won't even ask what happened to cause you to shine so, then," he drawled, as the two started to walk away.