Part five

------

Jiraiya was easier than Naruto had suspected he would be. He just gave her this odd look when she talked to him about it, asking her a series of probing questions, but not seeming judgemental about it at all.

"You want to take the whole afternoon off training," he asked, "To go shopping with older women."

"Yes." Naruto replied, wondering if the older ninja was going to suddenly get angry at her, or if maybe he'd just be happy to get the day away from her.

"And then afterwards you are going back to one of their houses, to eat, and then to stay the night?" A weird note had entered into his voice now, something that if Naruto had been forced to guess on she would have said was closest to suspicion.

"That's what I just said..." Naruto grumbled, wondering if the old man was going senile, or deaf or something.

"And at this sleepover... do you think you'll all be lying around wearing lingerie, and maybe hitting each other with pillows and giggling?"

Senile probably, Naruto decided, not being able to think of any rational explaination as to why he might otherwise ask such a thing.

"Uhh, I suppose we could be." Naruto said, trying to keep the doubt off her face. After all, it was probably better to humour him, right?

His face smile lit up his face in an instant, and he leapt towards her, grasping both her hands in his.

"In that case I approve!" he was telling her. One of his hands disappeared for a moment, to return and press something into hers. It was a camera, she noted looking down, "Just don't forget to take pictures!"

---

Sakura had been more difficult. If she'd been angry with him for spending the night alone with two women then she would have understood it, but that wasn't it at all. She was still acting really weird.

Sakura kept giving her all these really odd looks, and kept turning to watch her like she might run away or explode when Sakura wasn't watching or something. When Sakura spoke she was talking really slowly and deliberately, as if she was a young kid who needed teaching by her pink haired friend. She supposed the concern was nice, only it was hard to get over how unsettling the rapid change was to actually enjoy it.

That didn't even cover the flashes of anger that she kept spotting in the pink-haired girl's features. They didn't seem to be directed at her, yet seemed to appear every time she opened her mouth, especially when she mentioned her training regime. Was Sakura angry that her own training wasn't progressing so fast? Well as long as she wasn't in trouble for it then she supposed she could just ignore it.

She turned her attention to what it was that Sakura was actually saying.

"...you know that if anything is making you the least bit uncomfortable then you don't have to do it."

"Sakura," Naruto reminded his team-mate, "I'm only going to be spending time with my friends. It's not anything really bad or anything. Besides, ero-sensei has made me do much weirder stuff with him and it was okay."

That flash of anger returned to Sakura as she spoke again, "You just shouldn't have to be a girl if you don't want to Naruto, it's just not fair."

"Ah but Sakura, they really think I'm a girl. They'd be pretty surprised if I turned up as a guy, they wouldn't know who I was or anything. And anyway, I'm getting pretty used to being a girl now. I can manage it for a while. Don't worry I won't do nothing perverted or anything."

That only seemed to make the other girl wince.

"Naruto," Sakura said, somewhat cautiously, "If you do feel anything perverted then maybe you shouldn't suppress it or anything. I mean it would be okay if you like looked at them a bit wouldn't it..."

It took a few seconds for Naruto's brain to start working again after hearing that. She wondered whether Sakura would hurt her if she tried to take her temperature.

"Well," she replied slowly, "Haruka probably wouldn't mind too much, 'cause she's pretty proud of her body, but I dunno... It wouldn't feel right Sakura, you know. They are my friends, and I'm not going to stare at them like I'm some sort of pervert or nothing. If I didn't know them then maybe I would, but they've been really kind to me, so it just wouldn't feel right. 'Sides, I'm going o be a girl anyway."

Sakura bit her lip, and shook her head like Naruto just didn't understand. Well, maybe she didn't, but Sakura certainly wasn't making matters any bloody easier on her.

"I understand Naruto," she said, though she didn't sound or look like she did really, "Just it's alright to be a boy you know. Just try to be a boy on the inside if you need to be. If you have any manly thoughts or ideas, then that's okay. You don't need to be ashamed just because you're a girl at the moment."

To Naruto, it sounded like the ramblings of a madwoman.

She couldn't do much more than nod her head and agree with Sakura, "Um okay then. I'll try do that."

There had to be some sort of rational reason as to why Sakura was all of a sudden telling her it was okay to look at girls when a few weeks ago it had been completely forbidden. She was almost tempted to ask Sakura if the other girl had developed a crush on her or something, but she was scared that would get her hit, and besides that didn't make much sense either. If Sakura had a crush on her then she'd hardly be wanting her to look at other girls, now would she.

But if not that, then what? The only other explanation she could think of was that a species of mutated, extraordinarily intelligent rats had eaten her brain, and were now controlling her body from the inside of her skull. That was perhaps more likely than Sakura spontaneously developing a crush on her, but it still seemed a little far fetched, and so she just put it as another item in the box of 'weird, unexplained girl things'. The box, had it of been real, would be getting pretty full by now.

"That's all I'm asking of you," Sakura was saying, "Just remember that it's okay to be whoever you are inside."

---

Clothes, Naruto was rapidly coming to decide, were best when she didn't have to think about them too much. She could handle a quick decision about what felt comfortable, or what would make her look distracting enough to make male opponents drop their guard, or what piece of clothing was the nicest colour (ie she could spot the orange one). If she was forced to she could even tell, with relative accuracy, what would suit her figure and complexion. However, some things were taking it too far. If you spent more than a minute and thirty seconds thinking about what you were going to wear then you were wasting time, as far as Naruto was concerned, but for today at least she could live with it. She hadn't come out today to buy clothes efficiently, she'd come out to spend time with her new friends. They seemed to think it was important to waste hours choosing the perfect outfits, and even if their company hadn't made that part bearable, then she would have put up with it to avoid letting her new friends down.

That part she could cope with. It was thinking about the other things that was really bothering her.

"Oh I bet your sensei would love to see you in this one!"

He probably would, but Naruto was doing her damnedest to avoid thinking about it. It was Haruka who was doing most of the damage. Miyu would fuss about her, and hold up dozens of dresses in front of her to see how they set off her eyes or whether the shape would look good on her, and Naruto could mostly ignore what was being said and done and focus purely on the fact that the much older woman was paying her a lot of attention. It was nice to know that Miyu cared that she looked good, even if Naruto herself wasn't particularly concerned about it.

With Haruka however it was a different story. She didn't seem to be capable of looking at more than two or three items without mentioning her old letch of a teacher.

"What do you think he'd think of this one?"

or

"I bet he'd love to see you in this!"

or

"Oh, he'd definitely want to get up close and personal with you in this one!"

Usually she was right too. The letch would love to see her try these things on, and that last one... she could just imagine him demanding they do grappling training if she wore it. She didn't want to think about it, but it was hard not to when Haruka was pretty much forcing her to answer.

"Uhh... yeah I guess he would," Naruto said, eying the too small and too thin piece of clothing Haruka was holding up in front of her.

"Well it's in your size, so why don't you try it on?"

Trying not to let the doubt show clearly on her face, Naruto took the garment and slipped back into the changing booth. She could probably make Haruka stop just by explaining that she didn't particularly want to look good for Jiraiya, but she didn't want to make the older girl worry about her. Sakura kept asking her all these really weird questions about the old letch, acting like she should be upset about all the training he was making her do. Really, Naruto didn't think that being a girl was all that bad, and was sort of surprised that Sakura did. Maybe she had secretly always – in her deepest hear of hearts - wanted to be a boy. That would explain why she was after Sasuke all the time, because, as much as Naruto'd come to like the guy, she still thought he was pretty girly looking.

Anyway, the important thing was that Sakura was acting really strange about her sensei, and she didn't want her other friends to start worrying about him too. It was enough of a pain just having to deal with the old letch without having to justify the decision to everybody as well.

She looked down at herself as she finished pulling on the dress.

The things that Miyu was picking out for Naruto to try on tended to be a little too formal and feminine, but regardless of any other flaws they might have they were always both elegant, and tasteful. You could hardly say the same for Haruka's choices.

Haruka's picks ran the gamut from exceedingly casual to really quite formal, but every single one of them did its best to flaunt her body. She wondered if it had anything to do with Haruka's own teacher. Maybe she'd been taught by an even bigger letch than Naruto's own sensei. She'd have to have been, if she really thought that dressing up like this for him was important.

This particular dress was made from a lilac fabric that shimmered to shades of pink, red and blue when it caught the light. Small and delicate were terms that described it adequately, but only if you were in a particularly forgiving mood, which Naruto decided she probably wasn't any more. The skirt was slit up one side, and short enough to show off a lot of her thighs. The body covered just enough of her front to avoid being completely scandalous, but the back, sides shoulders ere nothing more than an intricate lattice of slender, criss-crossing straps that showed far more than they hid. Flowing sleeves stretched from her wrists up to halfway between her elbows and shoulders.

The straps made it tricky to get the damn thing on; it was hard to know what was supposed to go where at first glance, and even once she'd worked that out the execution wasn't entirely simple. Finally though she pulled the last bit into position, finished sliding into it, and turned around to take a look at herself in the mirror.

She had to struggle not to gasp aloud.

The sight made her rather glad that she didn't have a penis right now. Even so though, it was relatively breathtaking. She really had to work out a way to stop Haruka dressing her, she realised, otherwise she might end up loving herself as much as Sasuke loved himself.

Now that really would be a shame.

"Mmm, I like it," Haruka's voice was a little throaty as Naruto stepped out of the change room and did the slow twirl that the women seemed to think was necessary, "What do you think?"

It was pretty sort of, Naruto couldn't deny that, and the thought of seeing someone else wearing it was a pleasant enough thought that she could feel her cheeks heating. Haruka's bold grin confirmed that her blush was well and truly obvious. Still the idea of actually wearing it where people like the old letch could see her made her quite nervous.

"I don't know Haruka..." Naruto said, searching quickly for a slightly honest reason to reject it, "it's pretty difficult to get in and out of."

"That's the beauty of it," Haruka said, leaning in close and speaking under her breath, "It's fairly forgiving in the wash, and the skirt is short enough that if you are really in a hurry that you won't need to take it off."

Naruto wondered if Haruka's exaggerated wink was actually supposed to make her even more confused.

---

Miyu's house was big, much bigger than she'd expected. Certainly there were bigger, but compared to her own cramped apartment it might as well have been mansion.

"My husband is away on business," Miyu explained as Naruto stood gawping at the expansive living area, "and he's taken the boys with him. Trust me, it feels a lot busier and fuller around here when the boys are home. It doesn't take many men to make the place feel very cramped, and there's always something needing tidying up when they're around."

Taking a look around Naruto wondered if she was right. Her own place tended to be a lot messier than this house, which was almost radiating of beams of tidiness. Was that something that girls were taught; how to be neat?

"Still," Miyu continued, "It's seemed a little quiet ever since my daughter got married and moved out. The house always seems just a little bit too big since then, and its worse when the men aren't around, so it's lucky that you girls agreed to come over."

Naruto watched as Haruka gently touched the older woman and brought into a quick hug. She wondered if that was the sort of thing she should be doing too. Part of her was convinced that if she tried anything at all similar that she'd only end up getting hit for it. Sakura always used to hit her for anything like that, and sometimes just for smiling the wrong way.

Come to think of it though, even Sakura was acting differently these days. Now Sakura hadn't only stopped hitting her for the odd accidental touch or anything, she was actually dragging her into hugs too, often at the strangest of moments. Her eyes tended to get all misty when she did it, or angry looking sometimes. It couldn't be just because Naruto was a girl now, because Sakura knew that it was still her on the inside.

Maybe, Naruto had been starting to wonder, Sakura really did want to be a boy on the inside, and she found Naruto attractive as a girl. The very thought probably should of made her feel happy, but instead it was just weird and confusing. She didn't want anyone to like her just because she looked cute as a girl, not even Sakura. Besides, she wasn't even sure that was what it was. She really wanted help with it all, but she didn't know who she could ask about it without ending up just getting in any trouble. Even if Sakura really was feeling that sort of thing, Naruto doubted she'd like it if she started telling other people her theories and thoughts.

"Do you want any help with the cooking?" Haruka was asking now, following after Miyu as she headed off to the kitchen.

Naruto moved to join them, propping herself up on her elbows and watching them across the top of the counter that separated the kitchen from the living area. She could recognize some of the ingredients that the two older girls were pulling out from the cupboards, but a surprisingly large number of them – mostly the herbs and sauces – were completely unknown to her.

The things they were saying now were fairly confusing to Naruto too, and she wondered if this was more weird girl talk stuff, or if there were guys out there who could understand all this cooking jargon stuff too. Certainly no one had ever taken the time to explain any of it to her.

"Naru-chan," Miyu addressed her, wearing her protective face again, "Are you okay dear?"

Naruto shook her head, trying to brush the question away with a few flaps of her hands.

"It's nothing bad. I'm just a bit confused about what you guys are talking about."

"Confused?" Now it was Miyu who looked puzzled, "Confused about what?"

"Uh, all that cooking stuff," Naruto replied, "I don't really understand any of that sort of stuff. Normally I just eat cup ramen when I'm at home."

"You can't just eat ramen," Miyu said, looking as horrified as if Naruto had just admitted to eating babies, instead of just cup ramen, "and you really should know how to cook by now anyway."

"I should?" Naruto asked, wondering why no one had told her that. Probably because she was really a guy she supposed.

"Of course," Miyu assured her, "What if you get married? Do you expect your husband and children to live off cup Ramen too? Every woman, especially every wife, needs to know how to cook a good meal."

"Really?" Naruto asked. She hadn't ever really thought particularly about where it was that other people's bento's had come from, but he hadn't particularly associated them with wives or mothers, "I thought Women did other things mostly. Like take care of the children, and you know, look after their husband and stuff." Unless they were a ninja of course, then they'd have to get someone else to look after the children she supposed.

"Oh Naru…" Miyu said, sighing, but smiling warmly at her too, "You know that not everything in a marriage is about taking care of your husband in the bedroom…"

"Well, ahh you got to look after them other places too, right?"

That seemed like a pretty reasonable thing to say to Naruto, but it made Haruka laugh and Miyu colour.

"Only adventurous youngsters like you do that sort of thing all over the house dear… Us older ladies barely have enough energy for doing it just in the bedroom."

That seemed a little strange to Naruto, shouldn't you be helping someone no matter where they were if you really loved them? Still, Miyu did have a lot more experience than her, so she supposed that she must know what she was talking about.

"Um okay then…"

Haruka laughed again and reached over the bench to squeeze softly on Naruto's hand.

"Don't worry Naru, Miyu's a little bit traditional. Still, you really should know how to cook anyway. You can never be sure when it might prove to be useful."

"I suppose so..." Naruto reluctantly and uncertainly agreed. The three minutes that Ramen took to cook was already longer than Naruto preferred to wait, it hardly seemed like she'd manage to be patient enough to take the time to fully cook a meal every evening.

"Come on around here," Haruka said, beckoning to her, "You can start by learning how to cut the vegetables."

And so, with the other women taking turns to lay their hands over hers to show her the correct actions, Naruto started to learn how to cook.

---

By reapplying her jutsu Naruto could cause her hair to instantly transform back to a perfectly styled condition, yet now she was discovering that there was a certain pleasure in letting someone else brush it out for her. The gentle tug of a brush on her hair as she sat between Miyu's legs was oddly comforting and relaxing. Naruto could almost imagine that the brush was pulling all the droplets of tension out of her, collecting it as a ball of shed hair nestled amongst the base of the bristles.

"I used to do this for my daughter." Miyu had said when she started, and maybe that was part of what made it feel so comfortable. Miyu was acting almost like a mother to her tonight, which was making her feel not only comfortable, but also almost cherished.

Haruka on the other hand wasn't the least bit motherly. She was far too teasing, far too lively, but that life also was a comfort to Naruto. It actually reminded her of herself, though no where near as bad as she could get at her most boisterous. That thing alone didn't cover more than a small fraction of Haruka's personality, but coupled with her friendliness it was by far enough to put Naruto completely at ease in the girls presence. Except for, of course, when she was doing something embarrassing.

Speaking of which...

A bright flash momentarily blinded Naruto, even though her eyes were half closed; it must have got Miyu too, because the brushing stopped for a couple of moments. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision, Naruto looked up to find Haruka ws playing with the camera Jiraiya had given her earlier.

"Now, now," Haruka said, smirking and shaking a finger at Naruto, "Turn that frown upside down missy. I know that your sensei has probably seen in your nightclothes often enough Naru, but trust me, he'll love this shot anyway. You looked so cute and peaceful sitting there with your hair down like that. Trust me its going to be a masterpiece."

Naruto sighed and stuck her tongue out at the older girl, provoking another short laugh. It was no use complaining too much, because Haruka was well meaning enough not to be doing anything too horrible but also mischievous enough to enjoy the complaints anyway.

She supposed it wouldn't hurt overly much if Jiraiya ended up with a picture of her in one of the pieces of lacy night-ware he kept giving her; after all the letch had spent days watching her train in bikini's by now, and they covered significantly less. Still, it did make Naruto wonder if she should take revenge by making sure that the old letch ended up with a picture of Haruka on his camera too. The older girl was actually wearing something surprisingly similar to Naruto, and she had no doubt that he'd enjoy it immensely. The one problem with that idea though was that doing something like that would probably offend Miyu's sensibilities far more than Haruka herself.

Besides, the old letch really didn't deserve something that nice.

"Well now, we'll just ignore that little pest, won't we Naru-chan?" Miyu was said haughtily, separating Naruto's hair into three parts, and carefully twisting it into a tight braid, "There. All done now, and I'm starting to feel quite tired. I think it might be time for me to sink beneath my bed-sheets."

"Hmm but surely you could wait up for just one more story Miyu? We've all got plenty left to tell I'm sure."

"I've had plenty enough of your sort of stories for one night Haruka," Miyu returned,
"You can continue to rob us of our innocence in the morning, don't you think?"

"Innocence?" Haruka asked, affecting a startled look, "I didn't think either of you had any of that left. Which reminds me, we haven't heard all that much from Naru at all tonight, and I'm sure she has a lot more juicy stories that she could share with us."

"I'm sure she does, but personally I can manage without the gory details, at least at this time of the night."

Naruto was quite glad that Miyu was against gory details, because the only story she had that really involved gore was the story of the mission which had resulted in her first kill. After such a pleasant evening she could do without having to dwell on that incident at all.

"Well if you are going to be such a prude," Haruka said winking, "then I suppose I could cope with a little beauty sleep myself too."

Miyu showed the Haruka and herself to a spare bedroom with two made beds, and gave them both a hug before she headed off towards her own room.

It was funny, she realised as she slipped beneath the fluffy covers of one of the beds, how different it felt knowing that there was an entire large house out past the door of the room instead of just a cramped living area and kitchenette. It was mre than odd really, it was almost unsettling.

A yawn from beside her distracted Naruto from her thoughts, and raised her spirits a little too. That was another thing that she wasn't used to, having another person so close to her as she settled down for sleep.

"It's sort of weird," she murmured aloud, "having someone else in the same room."

"Mmm hmm," Haruka replied, yawning sleepily again, "I know what you mean. It can be pretty strange when your partner isn't here with you, can't it? Especially when you are young and have all that energy for other related activities too."

"No it's not that..."

Naruto wasn't sure how to say it. She didn't have a partner, and had thought that Haruka knew that, but that didn't seem important right now. She couldn't work out how to tell the older girl that she'd never felt closer to being an accepted part of a family. She was lying, ready for sleep within arms-reach of another person who treated her with kindness.

She couldn't shake the thought that maybe, just maybe this would be what it was like to have an older sister. Was this what they were like? Did they listen to you, care for you, buy you things and tease you about all sorts of weird things?

She turned to try and ask, but found it was too late. Haruka was already asleep.

Tomorrow. Maybe she'd ask about it tomorrow.

And then she too slept.

------