Unforeseen Consequences
Chapter 6: Grappling and Dinner and Drinking
Tsunade wasn't sure what she was feeling as she led her teammate and oldest friend and her secret love, to her home. It wasn't what you would think for Hokage, her home was actually her family's home that she had inherited. It was a three story home made of very strong wood, it was said that the First made it himself and the entire family lived in it at a time. Now it was pretty empty with the exception of her and Shizune. She remembered running through it as a child living with her parents and her grandfather and granduncle.
That had been a lifetime ago, now it was largely empty and she would most likely leave it to Shizune or Naruto. The place was meant for families to live in and she was too old to start now. It was one of the things she worried about with Shizune and now Sakura. The two looked up to her but both hadn't had many male callers it would seem. At least Sakura was making an attempt but as far as she knew, Shizune was still single. For a woman in her thirties she had better start soon, life as a ninja was short and she didn't want Shizune to end up like she had.
"What's up?" Jiraiya asked. "You looked a little sad there for a moment."
She cursed her lack of control on her face when her mind had wondered. "Just the ghosts of the pasts."
He nodded with her and she was glad for it, he would understand what she was getting at, maybe not exactly but he would know what she had been doing at least. When you get to be their ages, you start to think back on life and reflect on things. Some people became 'haunted' by their past, so he could understand given he himself had spent a lot of time with his own 'ghosts'.
They went into the quiet home, Shizune was most likely asleep already as the poor girl worked herself hard all day. Tsunade really wished that Shizune would take a day off now and then, every time she did the young woman kept giving her excuses. How was she to get a personal life if she kept on working all the time? The phrase 'youth is wasted on the young' came to mind, and it wasn't until now that Tsunade got the full meaning. She led him into the den as she went looking for the good stuff. Her mouth was watering just thinking of the burning liquid that would be in her mouth.
She came back to see Jiraiya had settled on the couch, normally she would have taken a chair but this was of course not what she had planned. She sat right down next to him, putting the drinks on the table, she caught his surprised look before he quickly hid his expression.
"So you said something about Naruto?" Jiraiya asked as he took his drink.
Tsunade smiled as she remembered that, "Seems like Naruto has got a couple of young ladies after him."
Jiraiya chuckled, he thought as much from what Naruto had told him. "Let me guess, those two girls that you trained who were fighting?" He saw her surprised look. "Talked to him before I came to see you, I had a feeling what was going on and he's clueless as usual."
He sighed as he took his drink, it burned but the taste was great. "That boy just doesn't understand a woman's heart unfortunately."
Tsunade felt that was the perfect opening for her.
Tsunade smiled as she leaned in closer to him, she gave him a smile that he had seen on many women. Usually with them trying to seduce some more money out of him. He never thought he would live to see this day. He looked into hose brown eyes and didn't see the usual friendliness, the fury, or anything else he normally saw.
He saw something else in her eyes, a longing in them for something else. This wasn't the Hokage at the moment, this wasn't his oldest friend and teammate this was Tsunade the woman in front of him. A woman that had deep scars on her heart and soul, that had loved and lost and been burned badly by it. He could see, in that moment, just what lay under her touch shell. Someone that wanted to be loved again but was afraid to, or at least had been afraid to.
"Tsunade, what's going on here?" He asked her seriously as he looked into her eyes with the longing of a lifetime. "Please, don't tease an old man."
She smiled at him as she pressed up against him gently as a hand went to his cheek. He nearly groaned at the slight touch of her hand, usually the only way he could get her to touch him, was to make her pissed. He had wanted for her to touch him like a woman would touch a man for so long.
"Do you think an old woman can make up for her mistakes of the past?" she asked him. "I know that I've made some mistakes but one that I want to correct is one I think it way overdue. That is, if you want me to."
Jiraiya felt his heart quicken, he had been with women before, it was his job to get information anyway possible. But no one had even come close to making him feel as he was now, he felt like a teenager again. Like he was alone with his first girlfriend in her home while her parents were out, he hadn't felt like this in so long he had forgotten it.
"I've wanted this for so long…" He said in a whisper as he let his own mask drop. She could see the longing in him the pain he must have carried for never having what his heart wanted most in the world. She was so sorry for that pain as she had never wanted to hurt him like that, she had just been too scared to open up again. She could also see something else in him, love. He loved her, maybe he always had loved her and it was amazing and frightening at the same time.
"I know," She told him moving even closer. "You know…I hope in the next book, that you'll make it so that Akihiko and Mitsuru get together."
Jiraiya paused for a bit as he was wondering what she meant, then it clicked. Those were characters from his books in fact they were two of the mentors of the main character. She had read his books, and she had figured out that he based Akihiko on himself and Mitsuru on her.
"You read them?" He never thought she would once even look at his books.
She blushed a little, "I was curious I think that's when I first started to fall for you. Those words you wrote about them, about how Akihiko felt for Mitsuru…I never knew you could be that way."
He felt a bit embarrassed about that, "I…could never actually say the words, they always came out fine on paper but I just couldn't say them."
She touched his lips with her fingers as she moved in closer he could feel her hot breath on his face. "Then, let's not use words."
Their lips met and for Jiraiya he could have died happy at that moment, this moment was something he had been waiting for, for decades. Her lips were still soft and he could taste the drinks on her mouth. He pulled her to him and she actually giggled as he did so. She adjusted herself on his waist as the kiss went into a more passionate embrace. All the years, all the build up emotions that they both had to keep locked up, came out of them like a flood.
Tsunade felt his kisses going to her neck as she pulled him close, it had been a lot easier than she thought to get him, but then again he obviously had been waiting for a very long time for this. She felt a shiver run down her spine and kicked herself for not opening up sooner to him. She felt him undoing her top and that's when she realized where they were.
"Wait, not here. What is Shizune comes down?" she asked him.
"Well then we'll just have to change locations," He grinned as he easily picked her up making her give a surprised yelp as he carried her bridal style.
"I can walk you know."
"This is more fun, besides you have any idea how many times I've fantasized about this?" He smiled as he started to carry her. "Now where is your room?"
-Next Day-
Ino was already waiting for Naruto in his team's training area, when she had found him earlier that morning she had managed to catch him and ask him for the training he promised. He had seemed happy about that, she knew that he loved to train with his friends for a few reasons. One being that he had trained alone for most of his life it wasn't until Team 7 when training started with others. He was also obsessed it would seem with training, for him, it was something fun. That was something Ino just could never understand, but that was Naruto for you.
She had thought about wearing something a bit more sexy, but honestly she didn't want to come off as a slut or something. Besides, her usual ninja attire was good enough for both the training and the sexy bit. With the short skirt and all the skin she was showing off how could it fail? She remembered her mother's and father's reaction to her change of clothing. They hadn't been comfortable with their daughter going out like this but she was growing up into a woman and needed to express herself.
"Hey there Ino-chan!" Naruto yelled out as he waved to her with that large bright smile of his.
She couldn't help but smile back as she waved Naruto's happiness was always infectious. He just had this warm personality that you just wanted to wrap around you and never be without it. How had such a guy stayed single all this time? Well, the fact he had been kind of immature earlier, he hung out with perverted teachers, and a few more incidents. She still remembered that one mission with him to get a princess married to her arranged husband. That had been the worse mission of her life, and not to mention an incident with Naruto that she never wanted to speak of again.
Okay, so maybe it was moments like that, that had blinded to the other side of him for all this time. But she was willing to overlook his negatives and now saw all the wonderful positive things about him.
"Hope I didn't keep you waiting long." Naruto said grinning.
"No I haven't been here long," Ino smirked at him. "So what's up first?"
First they did some warm ups and some stretching to get their bodies ready, Naruto then said that a light spar would help him understand her fighting style better. He had seen that fight with Sakura but in this they wouldn't use any ninja tools, or anything other than taijutsu skills. Ino had to admit that Naruto had become a better fighter since he left. She remembered when he used to just fly into a fight with no real technique behind it, he had basically just brawled into fights.
"You've really improved Naruto," Ino said as they took a break.
Naruto was proud someone had noticed, "Yeah, Ero-sennin trained me in taijutsu a lot those years, he said I really needed to refine my fighting skills."
"Well it shows," she told him honestly. "So you think you can show me some moves?"
Naruto spent the next hour teaching her a few punches and kicks, with some follow up combos. Ino had learned a few new tricks that she couldn't wait to use on Sakura in their next spar. She would be in for a surprise that was for sure. Next they moved into more grappling moves for her training. She didn't know much about them, as she had never trained in this type of fighting. She as a distance fighter and when she got in close she knew the basics but nothing beyond that.
It wasn't as easy as she thought it would be, apparently grappling was very complicated and you had so many counters for every move. They went slow as they went into the motions and practiced them. Ino had to admit that having him this close and touching her was very nice. She noticed how nervous he was when his hands had to touch and the times he blushed as well. But Ino found out that he was a good teacher as well, he made it simple and easy to learn.
For the next two hours they trained and by the end, Ino felt like she had learned a lot
"Alright let's see what you've learned," Naruto told her as they had finished with the grappling lessons. Naruto always enjoyed training with someone, but this was the first time he was actually teaching. Well, other than what he taught Konohamaru, but those were different. This was with a friend that wanted his help. He got into a ready pose as he waited for Ino to start things off, she came at him very quickly as he launched out a punch.
He dodged with a half-step and grabbed her wrist and quickly tried to her it behind her back for an arm lock. Ino felt her arm being twisted back so she quickly did a modified cartwheel to untwist it. She grabbed his own wrist to get him into a reversal. Naruto quickly countered and on that went, each time they went for a joint lock they would find the other would counter. Eventually Ino thought she had him, that is until she felt his foot hook the back of her ankle. The next thing she knew, she was falling to the ground with him on top of her.
He had her wrists pinned as he was over her smiling at his victory, she paused panting as she took a moment to enjoy the situation. He had some sweat on him and he was breathing hard, he looked very sexy to her in that moment. She felt totally under his power and given how close they were, she wanted him to slowly go down and kiss her, like in some romantic moment she had seen countless times in the movies. The hero would be over his lady and they would slowly start to kiss. Her face blushed as the mental images of this situation brought out in her, they were alone and anything could happen.
Naruto took Ino's pausing as a sign that she was giving up he grinned down at her noticing the red on her face. He just thought that she was just flushed from working hard, not of the many different fantasies that were playing through her mind at the moment. "That was very good Ino-chan, but looks like I won."
'Oh really?' Ino's mind came back from fantasy land as she heard that. If there was anything that Ino didn't like it was losing, she suddenly got an idea on how to turn the tables on Naruto.
"You know if anyone saw us like this, they might think we were up to something perverted," She said sweetly to him. She slowly raised one of her knees up getting ready for her opening, just as she thought Naruto looked to see how they were. He blushed as his grip instantly was lost as his hands let go of her wrists. Before he could apologize, Ino capitalized and pushed up and twisted them both. Now Ino was on top of him holding him down by his shoulders.
She took time to enjoy just how strong his shoulders were before she smiled at his pouting face.
"Hey, that was cheating." Naruto said.
She just giggled, he just looked so cute when he pouted like that. She gave him one of her very sexy looks as she slowly lowered herself down against him. Naruto got more nervous as this wasn't the kind of thing he had thought would happen. He could feel her body pressing up against his, his face felt really hot too and his throat got very dry. Ino was a very good looking girl and he had never had a girl like her this close to him like this.
"All is fair in love and war," She told him in a husky tone. "Besides you should be prepared, if you're not comfortable around women they could take advantage of you like I just did."
Naruto never thought about it, it was true that he didn't have any experience with girls. Hell he had never even kissed one before and this was the closest he ever got without being hit. Although he had to admit, it felt really nice.
Ino felt she had enough fun with him for the moment and gently got off him, she offered him a hand as she helped him up. "Thanks for the training Naruto I really enjoyed it and I hope we can do this more often," Ino said to him honestly.
"Sure, I'd like that Ino-chan, you're getting really strong!" He grinned at her.
She smiled at the compliment and she decided to reward him for helping her. So Ino got close to him as again he got a confused look on his face. Then she gave him a quick kiss on his cheek, making his eyes nearly bulged out of his head as his cheeks blushed a lot from it. He had never had a girl kiss him on the cheek, well when he was awake that was. He still had that picture of the Princess Yukie, but he hadn't been awake while resting in the hospital when she had.
"Hey are you doing anything tonight?" Ino asked hoping that he was free.
"Tonight?" Naruto thought but then he remembered his promise to Sakura. "Oh sorry I can't, Sakura-chan invited me over for dinner with her family. But I'm free tomorrow afternoon if you want to get together."
"Oh...okay then," Ino kept a neutral expression on her face when he told her that. They made plans to meet up later in the afternoon tomorrow. She watched him leave as she thought of what he had told her. There was only one thing that Ino could think of when he told her that Sakura had invited him over.
'Damn, why the hell did Forehead have to think of that? That would have been a good idea, now I'll have to work even harder to get his attention. Well I'm not losing!'
Ino dusted herself off and went home to shower, change and plan her next move.
-That Evening-
Naruto was a little nervous, in all his life he had never, not once been asked over to a friend's house for dinner. It was really a new experience for him, a bit of him was scared that Sakura's parents would be like those that thought of him as nothing than the demon. Then again, he had never met Sakura's parents, he didn't know much about her family now that he thought about it.
'Man, all this time asking her out for dates and stuff, how come I never got to actually know Sakura-chan?' He thought to himself. Maybe they would have gotten to know more about each other if they both had been more open as kids. She had been too busy chasing Sasuke, and he had never liked to talk about his life. He always bragged on how great he was, or was going to be, but never about his past. Well, on the off chance that her parents didn't hate him, he wanted to make a good impression.
He had quickly showered and changed into his civilian clothing, the black shirt with the spiral on it, but with some decent pants to go along with it. He wasn't sure if he was to dress up or not but Sakura had told him it wasn't formal. Still he tried to look his best. He kept walking until he found Sakura's home, she lived in a building that the lower part was some kind of merchant store. He saw plenty of items but they looked more like stuff you buy for you home. Thinks like a vase, full scale mirrors with gold trim, lamps, a few TV sets and such. He couldn't make out much but the Haruno store looked pretty decent.
Maybe that was another reason he had never met her parents, this wasn't the kind of store he went into. Hell, he still had all his original furniture since the Third had given him his old apartment. At any rate he found a door that would most likely lead to the living area above the store. He pressed the ringer and hoped he was on time. After a few seconds the door opened and he smiled to see Sakura there.
"Hey there, good timing Naruto. Come on up," Sakura led him up a flight of stairs and he came into what looked like a small area where you put away shoes, coats and stuff. He kicked off his shoes and followed her into a living room. It wasn't a bad place as he looked around, you could see that it was very well lived in. Pictures lined the walls, items with sentimental value were placed in plain site, and very well clean. It was the total opposite of his place on so many ways.
"Why don't we sit down, mom is just finishing up and dad is finishing his inventory." Sakura told him and for a moment was wondering if they should be in seats or take the couch.
'Take the couch then we can sit together with him, maybe even sit right against him!' Inner Sakura's voice rang out. Since Sakura was much more outgoing her inner persona hadn't much to say at times. Although she usually ignored her inner voice, this time she might actually take it.
"Come on, we'll take the couch," she said feeling a little heat on her cheeks.
Naruto felt himself blush at the thought of sitting so close to Sakura in that kind of setting. He nodded and the two sat down, only a few inches separating them. Thoughts of earlier with Ino ran into his mind, how close he had been with her and then how at the end she had actually kissed his cheek. The blushed a little heavier at that, he still hadn't figured out why she had done that. Meanwhile Sakura didn't like the silence and decided to start a conversation.
"So how was your day? Anything interesting today?" She asked him smiling.
"Oh yeah, me and Ino-chan were training today," he smiled back at her.
Sakura's smile was frozen in place as she heard that, "Oh…really…how was it?"
"It…went really well," Naruto felt himself blushing again as he tried not to remember the more physical parts of it. But it wasn't easy, he never knew that Ino had such soft skin, or how it felt when she pressed her chest against his body.
Sakura could see his reaction, obviously Ino had tried something with him, well whatever she had done she wouldn't lose. She felt her nerves being overridden by her jealousy as she got closer so their bodies touched. It was only after his arm brushed up against his that her comment sense kicked in and realized that maybe she shouldn't be so impulsive.
"To hell with that! It's not being impulsive and thinking too much which made you waste too much time!" Inner Sakura shouted out.
Naruto noticed how close she was and felt his body heating up, where girls always like this when they got older? He remembered when Ino and Sakura would have nothing to do with him when they were all younger, now both were getting very physical with him, not that he was complaining. It would just get some getting used to. Thankfully a welcomed distraction came into the room carrying a small try with a tea set on it.
"Oh I thought someone was here," Mrs. Haruno said as she walked into the room and set the tea set on the table. "So you must be Naruto that I've heard so much about."
"You've heard of me?" Naruto blinked in surprise.
"Why of course, Sakura talks about you often you know." She said smiling at them as she looked the boy over. "Now I see why my daughter does."
"M-mother!" Sakura grew really red at this as her feelings were being pointed out like that in the open. Her mother just giggled a bit as she started to pour tea out for them all.
"Ah finally all that was done," a male voice said. It was Sakura's father, Motosugu Haruno. He was a tall man with a slim build he had short brown hair and was clean cut. The one thing that did stand out were his green eyes, they were exactly like Sakura's.
"Oh that's good to hear," Saki Haruno smiled. "I was afraid you would be down there still."
"Oh no I managed to get all the new inventory done, would have had it done sooner if they delivered it on time." He stretched out to get his body more relaxed and then noticed his daughter with a boy. "Ah, so you must be Naruto, nice to finally meet you."
Naruto smiled at the older man, "Thanks Mr. Haruno."
"Don't be so formal son," He laughed as he sat down. "You can call me Motosugu you know."
"And don't be afraid to call me Saki dear," Sakura's mother told him. "After all, you've been with Sakura for years now and seem to be very close, it's the least we could do."
"Oh okay, thanks then Saki-san." Naruto was feeling more at ease now. Her parents seemed really nice and he was glad to feel welcomed into their home. Eventually Naruto felt really comfortable in the Haruno home. When the meal was ready they all sat down at a nice table. The parents were at either head of the table and Naruto and Sakura sat across from each other.
Naruto looked at all the food, he did eat other things than ramen now and then. A few things he didn't know what they were but they looked good. He couldn't help but get a nice large portion for himself, when he started to eat he couldn't help but like it. Apparently Sakura's mother was a really good cook.
"Wow, this is great!" Naruto said after a few mouthfuls.
"Why thank you, and you seem to have a very healthy appetite." Saki said seeing how much the boy was eating. She was wondering if the boy ever ate anything at all, then again he was at that age, when boys ate a lot and seemed to gain nothing.
"Yeah, Naruto has always had a big stomach, especially for ramen," Sakura giggled glad that Naruto was eating normally and not wolfing it down like he sometimes did while at the ramen stand.
"I used to be like that at his age," Sakura's father said laughing, "Although I grew out of it, since I started to put on too much weight I had to stop."
"Not a problem for me, with all the training I do I pretty much burn it all off," Naruto grinned his fox like grin.
Sakura smiled as she saw his playful grin, she had seen it many times but she had never taken the time too really look at him. It was actually very cute looking, she was looking a little too long as Naruto noticed her staring.
"Huh, something wrong Sakura-chan?" He blinked in confusion.
"N-nothing!" She quickly went back to her meal hoping he didn't notice the blush forming on her face that she could feel. What she didn't notice was her parents noticing if, they shared a secret look but said nothing on the subject.
Over the course of the dinner the Haruno family would ask Naruto questions as he did the same. They learned a bit about each other that night. Naruto learned that Sakura's family hadn't been here the night of the Kyuubi attacked. They had been on a trading mission and only got back after it, Saki hadn't wanted to go but her husband didn't want to leave his pregnant wife behind. It ended up being very lucky for the both of them. Also a lot of the merchandise he had gotten had been very helpful to the village after the attack.
Sakura's parents also learned a bit more about Naruto, how he planned to be Hokage one day, they learned that he was very close to the Tsunade and Jiraiya, like the rumours had said they were. Although they were surprised at how he got away with the nicknames he gave them. Sakura and Naruto would go into a few of the more pleasant stories, sometimes even finishing each other's sentences at their shared experiences.
Overall, for Naruto it was the first time he truly felt what it was like to be part of a family. Sure it wasn't really his family, but Sakura's parents made him feel welcome in their home. All his life he had wondered what a family dinner was like, he felt a bit of pain at the loose of never having this growing up. But that was soon replaced with the joy of actually experiencing it. He was always one to focus on the positive, and not the negative after all.
He felt very happy and a part of him didn't want it to end, but he knew it had to eventually.
When it was time to leave he made his farewells.
"I hope you come again Naruto," Sakura's mother said to him smiling. "It was very nice having you over so I hope that Sakura invites you more often."
"Really?" Naruto's face lit up at this.
"I don't see why not," Sakura said taking his hand. "Come on, I'll show you out."
As they left both Sakura's father and mother watched the two of them leave with knowing smiles on their faces.
"They do make a nice couple," Her mother said.
He nodded, "He seems like a good kid, plus he makes sure that our daughter keeps coming home. Can't fault a boy for something like that." He said holding his wife it was always scary whenever Sakura left for a mission. Each time they wondered if today was the day they would be told she had been killed. But meeting Naruto, helped to put their minds at ease.
Naruto was all smiles when he got to the front door with Sakura, "Thanks for everything Sakura-chan, this was a great night."
She was happy that she had made him happy, "It's no problem and if you ever want to do it again don't be afraid to ask okay?"
She noticed something change with his smile, it wasn't the broad one that lit up a room. It was small but it seemed to pack more emotion into it. His eyes got this look in them as well, the joyous look was replaced with something else, something she had never seen in his eyes before. She hadn't noticed just how expressive his blue eyes were, or how lovely they were. Thinking on it, she had never seen eyes like Naruto's anywhere else, never that shade of blue or the intensity they held.
"Thank you." He said in a voice that was barely above a whisper.
She felt that this was a side of Naruto that he kept hidden, that part of himself that he didn't show because it would only be a burden to those around him, at least in his mind. Her heart ached for what he must have endured in life to hide this side of him. Before she knew what she was doing she leaned forward and going slightly on her toes she planted a small kiss on his cheek. The same cheek that Ino had kissed earlier.
Naruto was bright red now as Sakura had just kissed him, twice in one day two good looking girls had just kissed him. He noticed a slightly shade of red on her cheeks now, it really made her looks really cute for some reason.
"You're welcome," she told him as she quickly went back inside and closed the door. She rested her back against it as her heart was hammering in her chest. She couldn't believe she had just did that, she had just given Naruto a small kiss, sure it wasn't on the mouth or anything but was it too forward? Although she did feel a smile growing on her face as she felt the emotions of kissing Naruto, it felt right to her.
Naruto just stared at the door totally stunned. It was a full minute before he realized that he should be getting home. Although on the walk home the images of Ino and Sakura kept running through his mind, the way that he had been noticing Ino, the warmth of being welcomed in Sakura's home, and the kisses at the end of each one. His hand went up to his cheek as he felt the lingering sensation of his last kiss fading. He had no idea what was going on, but there was something going on and he was going to find out.
Next up Chapter 7: Searching for Answers