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PART 7; Not Obsessed
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Much of Naruto's contemplation on which non-Sasuke shinobi to drag along to The Sand with him and the gang consisted of, well, him constantly reminding himself that Sasuke wasn't an option. It was bastard's own damn fault, so he could stay in Konoha and suffer. He liked to wallow in misery by himself anyway, and girls found it hot for some reason. Naruto would have placed all his chips on the table and wagered that at least five ladies would be willingly knocked up with an Uchiha heir by the time he got back, but Sasuke was so picky. The if-it-sucks-air-and-it's-female-he-wants-nothing-to-do-with-it kind of picky at that, but Naruto still had faith in the guy. Sort of.
It was time to get serious, now.
"Naruto-kun, we haven't got much time. Please, if I may make a suggestion-"
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The next thing he knew, they were at Sakura's door. Or Naruto was, at least, while the rest stood far behind. It was 'his choice' albeit Lee's suggestion, and Naruto only went along with it because he didn't know what else to do. If she agreed to come, then that would bring down the amount of girls in Naruto's non-wager by one. Maybe two; Sakura could have always had twins. And why stop at twins? There was one lady in Konoha who had up to seven kids at once one time. One who has nothing better to do in his childhood than to spring havoc amidst a village who hates him learns the strangest things.
He was drawn from his thoughts by a familiar wave of repressed fury on the other side of the door. It was like a bomb with a burnt out fuse the moment before it explodes. Not quite hell-raising, not quite pleasant, very scary.
It was a mood that was uniquely Sakura.
"H-hey, Sakura."
He wanted to run for his life. Instead, he gathered the nerve to explain the situation, only adding things about how nice the weather was and scratching behind his head a few (hundred) times. Sakura didn't look pleased.
Naruto swallowed. "So, will you come?"
She took two, maybe one-and-a-half seconds to think about it.
"Absolutely not!" was her answer to Naruto's request. After all, they caught her at her worst time. She was dressed merely in a blue bathrobe with curlers in her hair and a green cleansing mask (which got a good scream out of Naruto the first time he'd ever seen her like that, earning him a good punch in the jaw in return.) Had Lee not intervened and apologized profusely for the rudeness and disturbing her at such a delicate hour as this, they may have all been done for. By the time Lee had tears running down his cheeks, Sakura sighed and slammed the door behind her.
"Give me five minutes," she grumbled.
Twenty minutes later, she emerged fully dressed and pampered with a mug of coffee in hand. She looked like a human being, much to Naruto's relief. There were only two times Sakura looked like a monster ready to bite his head off: in the morning, and when she was angry. Put the two of them together and Yondaime have mercy!
"Ready to go, Sakura-chyyyan?" Naruto pumped his fist up and winked, to which she promptly ignored. All of her focus was on Lee at the moment. Yeah, sure, Lee always gets all the attention. Even after all these years those eyebrows were still pretty hard to get used to.
"Will you help me gather my things, Lee-san?"
Lee looked as if he couldn't be happier. With a salute, he said, "Sakura-san, it is my honor and duty to assist you in any way I possibly can! Please lead the way."
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Little did Lee know he'd be helping her pack half her bedroom. He was more than happy to carry her things along with his, insisting that it would only aid in building his physical strength and spirit. Of course, who was she to refuse such an offer? He seemed to want to carry them more than she wanted him to.
They did a thorough brush of the room, taking extra care not to miss anything she may need for the mission. After all, it was a month away from home. Lee wouldn't want her getting homesick if there was even one more thing in her room she could bring to keep that from happening.
That's when he opened the wrong drawer.
Blink. Blink. EEEAK!
About five seconds too late, Sakura bolted forward and shoved the drawer shut with her hip. "What're you digging through a lady's drawers for without her permission for, huh?"
Lee's face sank into a ghastly shade of white, and then a violent shade of purple once he was in the middle of apologizing for the wrong he had committed and all the ways he was going to make up for in on the trip to Suna.
"-How could you ever forgive me, though my intentions were not in the least bit perverse. You- I- that one over there is your underwear drawer, so I assumed the others would be safe. I shouldn't have. I-"
"Lee-san!" Sakura slapped him square across the face, not because she was angry, but because she thought he'd never breathe again if she didn't. It took a moment for him to gather his barings, but once she had his undivided attention, she sighed. "It's all right. It's not your fault. Just-" Her half-lidded eyes trailed toward the banging and yelling from the door, which was Naruto most likely assuming Lee was messing with her personal attire because he was rooting for her to smack him silly. Sakura blushed and turned her gaze back to Lee. "-don't mention anything to Naruto about it, or anyone at that."
Lee looked befuddled for a moment, and then dead serious. "Your secret is safe with me, Sakura-san. But if you don't mind my asking... it's none of my business, but... " he was blushing now, every bit as embarrassed as Sakura was when she first feasted eyes on the offending content in that particular drawer.
"It was Sai's disgusting idea of a good birthday gift," she said with a pout. She half-expected Lee to ask why she didn't just burn the drawing or something. She often wondered that herself.
"Oh, did you receive the birthday card I sent you by any chance? I wanted to deliver it to you personally, but I was on a very important mission with Gai-sensei--not that your birthday isn't important, because I most certainly put all of my heart and effort into finding you the perfect--"
But the subject change was most welcome.
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All packed and ready to head off, Naruto couldn't help but take one last peek at Konoha's gates that were fading into the horizon behind them.
He thought of Sasuke again. Of course, it wasn't weird for him to think about his teammate. Naruto wouldn't be surprised if that boy crossed his mind every single day since way back before he could even remember. Sasuke's personality and attitude were about as nice as explosive diarrhea, and twice as frustrating! Naruto's gut boiled with all kinds of things when he thought of Sasuke. Same thing happened when he thought of ramen, sort of, except ramen was much nicer. Mmm, ramen.
"Naruto, don't fall behind," Sakura called out. He hadn't realized he'd stopped until he noticed how far away his group was.
"Aye, I knew dragging his ass along would be troublesome," murmured Shikamaru. He looked thrilled as always, frowning in an exasperated manner as if he'd rather be doing anything else in the world but this, all because he couldn't wait to see, oh, whasherface. Gaara's sister. Everyone and their dog knew that. Seriously. Just ask Pakkun.
Naruto caught up, choosing to push Sasuke far from his mind, or at least attempting to. Sasuke wasn't worthy of having every part of the future Hokage's brain occupied, especially after last night. He felt kind of bad that he'd left without saying good-bye at least, but Sasuke was a big boy. He'd live.
The question at hand was this: Would Naruto?
T B C
A/N: HOLY CRAP I'M ALIVE! XD Ahaha, well, RL crap has yet to wane much, but I find comfort in writing (my favorite form of procrastination.) Anyways, my favorite pairings won't be made obvious at all during these next few chapters. -gigglegigglesnort- I'm thinking of starting other fics soon, too, now that I'm feeling comfortable with this fandom. I really want to write (I hear the snarls and hisses already) a NaruSaku. Something short and sweet. I didn't even like the pairing before Part 2, and now I'm all over it, like, eee! (though NaruSasu's still my Number One T7 pair.) Sakura would be seme, too.
As always, thanks for the reviews. I really appreciate receiving feedback (who doesn't?) so, hehe. This is me being not-so-subtle about wanting reviews. :P