Unforeseen Consequences

Chapter 7: Searching for Answers

It was the next day and Naruto went through his usual routine when he got up, he hadn't really slept all that well because his mind kept racing. So even with only five hours of sleep he woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. So he just got up anyway, he sat down in the kitchen as his breakfast was cooking. His mind kept playing back to when Ino and Sakura kissed him on the cheek. They both felt really nice to him but was he supposed to feel nice about it? Were they just being friendly to him or was it something more? After all they had been a lot nicer lately for some strange reason but maybe that was just part of it.

But the fact was that he just didn't know, even with nearly three years being around Jiraiya he didn't know much about girls. Then again that was because he kept trying to make Naruto do things he wasn't ready for and most of the things were perverted so Naruto had just tuned him out to get to more training from him. Now he was wishing he had paid more attention to his lessons on women, although there were still things he wouldn't want to try if a second chance.

On his fifteenth birthday, Jiraiya had tried to get him into a brothel. Of course Naruto had no way to know exactly what that was until he had stepped inside. He had seen the room full or beautiful women in clothing that was either very provocative to just down right slutty. When Jiraiya explained what the place was for and why they were there, Naruto had ran out of the building faster than any point in his life. Okay sure there had been that temptation but he wanted his first time mean something, well okay, he wanted his first time to be with Sakura, but still he didn't want to have just some random woman paid to sleep with him.

But despite that, he had very little experience with girls. He never understood them and they seemed to get angry or act weird around him. Like how Hinata always stuttered, played with her fingers and fainted. He always thought that she was that weird and strange girl while in school. It wasn't until he got to know her that he saw her as more than that, but in all honesty he didn't know much about her. He thought of the other girls he knew and how little he knew about them.

Tenten was on Team Gai, she was into weapons, seemed to be the sensible one and liked her hair in those buns but other than that, he didn't know much about her. Temari was Gaara's brother, had a temper when she lost it, can be kind of scary and used wind and that fan, but nothing else came to mind. Looking through all the women he had met, he never knew much about their personal lives.

So far he knew a lot more about Sakura, only because of that dinner last night. He had learned more about her in those few hours then he had in the years he had known her.

But still, he had no idea what to do now. He came to the decision that he needed help.

Naruto went to the Hokage's tower, if anyone could help him understand women, then another woman could help. So Tsunade was the first on his list, he jumped across buildings and decided on the window on his choice of entry. If she couldn't help, well he could always ask Jiraiya. He had been a little helpful before and if anyone knew where the old hermit was, then she could help him out with that at least. He didn't have time to go through the normal way anyway. But he was disappointed to see that Tsuande wasn't around, he did see Shizune working hard at the desk. In fact she was working a lot harder than normal.

'Heh, I bet Tsunade-baachan is hung over and Shizune-neechan is covering again,' Naruto thought as he came up to the woman.

Shizune had an earthly beauty about her, she wasn't stunning but she was pretty, it was hard to peg her down. At times she acted mature and cool headed, then she would slip and be almost like a teenager. At the moment though, unknown to Naruto, she was working so hard to have something to focus on. She needed something, anything to just forget what happened.

"Hey Shizune-neechan!" Naruto yelled out startling the older woman.

She jumped out of her sheet with a yell to see Naruto, "Please don't do that!"

The boy only laughed a bit, "Sorry, anyway have you seen Tsunade-baachan or even Ero-sennin?"

Shizune's face got fully red at that, she looked a little shaky as well and Naruto thought she might be coming down with something. "Hey are you okay?"

"I-I'm fine, nothing happened!" Shizune yelled out.

"Huh, nothing happened?" Naruto asked confused looking at the older woman that had become like an older sister to him. He looked around the office, nothing seemed out of place here so if there was something going on it wasn't here. "Did something happen? Hey does this happen to have something to do with where Baa-chan and Ero-sennin are? They're not planning something like a mission are they?"

Shizune went pale as her mind went back to earlier that morning.

-Flash back-

Shizune had woken up to the sound of her alarm clock, with a single hit she shut the thing off and only sighed before forcing herself up. Years of living with Tsunade had forced her to get out of bed, because if she never then Tsunade would never. Her mentor was a heavy sleeper and liked to sleep in, especially if she had too much sake the night before. With a few stretches she went about her morning routine, bathroom, got a small shower to help her wake up. She couldn't help but look herself in the mirror.

Although she was thirty she looked a lot younger, she was pleased with that, but at the same time she felt like she needed to move on with her life. Lately she had seen couples and felt a hollow part inside of her; she never really had a decent long lasting relationship. Always on the move with Tsunade since she had been a young woman in her teens meant little time to put down roots. But being back home you'd think she could finally find the time.

But it wasn't easy, with her job helping Tsunade and plus the fact she was still kind of shy around men. Shizune groaned as she pushed those depressing thoughts aside. She was still young and had plenty of time for that kind of thing. So with that, she put on a robe and went to wake up her mentor and someone who was like family to her. Although there had been downsides to being under Tsunade's care and working for her, she wouldn't have changed a thing.

She gently knocked on the door, mainly because if she was in a foul mood she had a tendency to throw things. And with someone of her strength that could be anything that wasn't bolted to the floor or on fire. She waited and guessed that Tsunade was in one of her deeper sleeps.

"Tsunade-sama, it's time to get up," Shizune said but still no replay. It looked like she would have to resort to going in and waking her up physically. She opened the door but the sight she saw was something she had never believed would happen. Plus it was also a sight she wished she had never seen. There on her bed, the sheets were all thrown around and only a thing piece of cloth was just barely covering the two occupants.

Tsunade was curled up against none other than Jiraiya, both naked and both wearing smiles. Shizune froze there in pure shock, her mind had just shut down at this. Since when did this happen? How long had this been going on? And why couldn't that sheet cover him from the waist down!

She tried not to look, she really had tried, but it had just been hanging out there. She blushed and that was when Tsunade turned onto her back and she saw all the love bites on her upper body and the scratches on his chest.

"No more Jiraiya, I'm tired and sore…" Tsunade said in her sleep.

Shizune couldn't take anymore, she quickly shut the door and ran to her room and locked herself in there. She decided on another shower and to wash her eyes out. That was the absolute last thing she ever wanted to see in her life. Bloody and wounded bodies she could take, those two in that position, never. She quickly dressed and snuck out of the house, she needed to have some time to herself and focus on something, anything. She just hoped she could look the two in the eyes again.

-Present-

Naruto was starting to give her a very worried look, she had been staring into space for a full minute and she went from pale, to looking kind of green and then red. Maybe she was really sick with something after all. If she was sick then she really needed help, so he quickly grabbed her arm which got her out of her memories.

"You look really sick, come on and take me to where Baa-chan is so she can take a look." Naruto said seriously.

"EEEEEHHHHH!?" Shizune fought off Naruto's hold. "N-No! I'm fine! I'm really fine, we don't need to see Tsunade-sama!"

"You sure?" Naruto looked at her face, her color looked better but she looked to be sweating a bit now.

Shizune couldn't face Tsunade, not yet but there was also the fact that what if she was...still in bed. He fought the shudder at the return of that mental image. If they were and Naruto just barged in like he normally did, it would not end well. She had to think of something fast something to make sure that he didn't try to find Tsunade just in case.

"S-she's not even in the village," she quickly said to him. "You were right, she and Jiraiya-sama are visiting, uh...informants! Yeah, one of Jiraiya-sama's informants have information but only will give it to the Hokage. They'll be gone for a bit."

"Oh so that's it."

Shizune sighed at her lie, thankfully Naruto wasn't good at detecting lies. "I'll find Sakura or another medic just as soon as I finish up this last batch of paperwork okay?"

Naruto thought about it and nodded, he trusted Sakura to help Shizune and there were other medics. Besides he wasn't sure if Shizune was someone he could talk about girls with, she was like a sister so it would be really odd for him. Maybe he would try later when he couldn't find someone else, plus if she was sick he wanted her to get better before he threw his problems onto her shoulders.

"Well okay, I can look for someone else if they're both out of the village. I'll see you later and get well soon!" Naruto smiled as he jumped out the window.

Shizune watched him go and sighed as she collapsed into the Hokage's chair. She felt so drained and it wasn't even close to noon yet. She groaned as she rested her head on the desk, maybe it was time to finally take that vacation that Tsunade had been trying to get her to take. Just go somewhere and relax, not thinking about work, not thinking about her own lack of relationships in her life, and most importantly not thinking about what she had seen this morning.

So as Naruto left the Hokage's office he was left trying to find other people he could ask for help. Kakashi was still out on a mission and wouldn't be back until tomorrow, Yamato was with him as backup apparently too. He didn't know if Yamato had any experience with women, as there wasn't much about the man he knew personally. Kakashi read all those books by Jiraiya so Naruto figured that Kakashi would know more about women anyway out of the two.

He didn't know any of his female friends enough to get their opinion on girls, or at least he wasn't comfortable with that. Since Sakura and Ino were the ones he was confused about they were out, Tenten didn't seem the 'girly' type to him. Hinata was nice but weird, she always fainted and he might even get any answers out of her if she did that again. He thought about his male friends, so far they were all single so what would they know about girls? He became a bit depressed over this, was there no one he could turn to?

He sat on the rooftop where he was thinking about it, maybe there was one person that might help. He took off for Sai's place, now although Sai had no experience in a lot of personal stuff, the guy read all about those subjects. Sure, the boy didn't always put it in the right context or misunderstood things, but it was better than nothing. And he had gotten a lot better, when they first met all he did was insult people all the time. After that failed mission to capture Sasuke at Orochimaru's hideout he had changed.

He was still clueless but he didn't use insults with people anymore.

He knocked on the door hoping he was home, the door opened to reveals Sai's pal face. He had on a neutral expression but on seeing Naruto, he switched it to his usual plastered smile. Naruto knew that Sai's smile was just something the other boy did to 'fit in' more with others. Although at times he had seen Sai really smile, he wondered just how much Sai could feel at times. Sure Naruto had been lonely growing up but Sai had it even worse, with his emotions slowly being stripped away along with whatever his real name had been. The only person Sai had had been a brother of sorts.

But since coming on Team 7, Sai had slowly been regaining everything that made a person human. He researched every part of social interactions it was that part that Naruto hoped that could help him out.

"Ah, Naruto what can I do for you?" Sai asked.

"Actually I was kind of hoping you could help me with something," Naruto said scratching the back of his head. "Can I come in?"

Sai moved away as Naruto stepped in, he hadn't really been in Sai's apartment all that much, maybe twice. But the place was still the same everything was neat and tidy and organized. It was also filled with Sai's drawings, sketches and paintings. There was everything from animals to landscapes, although Sai rarely drew people. That was odd to Naruto but figured that was just what Sai liked to do, and he did it very well. In fact he as kind of secretly envious of Sai, he had no real talents outside of being a ninja like Sai. Well, there were his pranking skills, but that was hardly the kind of thing he did anymore. In fact usually his spare time was just training, sure he relaxed now and then but he didn't have anything like what Sai did.

Naruto knew he had no talents in things like art, music or anything like that, but looking at all of Sai's painting he kind of wished he did. It might be fun to have a hobby that he could enjoy, but he just hadn't found anything he had any talent for yet.

At any rate he was getting distracted and needed to get back on track. "Hey Sai, you keep reading all those books about people and stuff still right?"

Sai had a momentary look of confusion on his face it was one of the real emotions that he knew Sai felt. "Yes, is there something you wanted in particular?"

"Yeah…see I've kind of been getting some mixed signals and I need help. Do you have books about, well, girls and stuff?" He felt really embarrassed asking about this kind of thing, especially to Sai of all people. But Sai just smiled his usual smile and went to pick up several books. Apparently he had been reading up on it.

"So what exactly is your interest?" Sai asked him. "Still trying to get Sakura to like you?"

Naruto sputtered as he tried to think of an answer, although Sai knew it already. Although he didn't understand the whole 'dating' thing, he was well aware of Naruto trying to get Sakura to go out with him. Although he never knew why, the woman was a great comrade and to have someone backing up your team. But she was too violent at times and was hard to understand. Kind of like that blonde friend of hers with the long ponytail, he thought back to Ino. That girl would act nice but could switch very quickly into violent demeanour with her teammates.

"I just need some help in understanding girls a bit," Naruto said as he looked through one of the books.

"Ah," Sai had read many books on this. "That is one of the most difficult subjects, from all the books I've read I haven't seen any book totally agree with the other."

"What, really?" Naruto started to feel a bit disappointed now. He was hoping that maybe there would be a book that could explain everything, but if what Sai said was true, then how could he trust any of the books to give him the right answer.

"This sucks, why do girls have to be so hard to figure out!?" Naruto sighed as he dropped his head. "Man I'll never get those two then."

Sai blinked as he thought about what Naruto just said. At first he thought that Naruto was here only because of Sakura, but that last statement meant more than one woman was involved. This was very interesting he had little chance to observe complex emotional relationships in the flesh. "Are you having trouble with two women in particular?"

Naruto nodded his head, "Yeah, lately Sakura and Ino have been acting strange with me. They've both been pretty nice and even have been hanging out with me more." He went into how everything had been differently lately. How Ino had sparred with him, how Sakura took him to her home for a nice dinner, but then how both had kissed him on the cheek.

Sai thought about all of that, he thought about all that he had read in his books on the subject of girls and relationships. The sudden change in attitude of the girls was odd, plus was kissing significant? He knew that a kiss could be anything from just friendly to acts of affection. He had read that a man and a woman that have been together for long periods could develop feelings for each other, so that could explain that Sakura might have romantic feelings that had developed. But Ino was something he wasn't sure on.

Ino he had only met a few times so whatever could have caused her to act differently?

"It certainly is difficult, why not just confront them?" Sai figured the frontal approach was best.

"W-well what if they just see me as a friend and I just make things weird?" Naruto was worried about that. Well not so much with Sakura, he had been trying to date her for years but she just brushed it off. Ino was a good friend and he didn't want to make a fool out of himself again.

Sai just shrugged, he wasn't sure what to say exactly. "Why do you want to be with them, I mean is there any kind of attraction to them?"

Naruto looked at Sai like he had grown a second head and it started to sing show tunes. "Are you kidding? Sakura-chan and Ino-chan are two of the best looking girls in the village. Didn't you call Ino-chan gorgeous the first time you met her?"

In fact Naruto was a little weary of talking to Sai about Ino, if he thought she was good looking would he try to help him out? What if he wanted Ino for himself, but then again he didn't know how Sai felt about Ino anyway.

Sai remembered that meal at the BBQ place with Team Asuma, "Actually I found that when I tried to give nicknames to people on their attributes they get angry, so I picked the opposite."

Naruto blinked a few times, remembering how he used to call Sakura an 'ugly hag' and if what he said was true, then he thought that Ino was ugly as well? What the hell did this guy look for in a girl!? Both were beautiful so how could anyone consider them anything but that. "What the hell do you find good looking in a woman then?!"

Sai thought about it and shrugged, "I don't know, I haven't found it yet." He gave that same smile as always and Naruto felt like more pissed off then anything by it.

-Elsewhere-

Sakura was shopping for some new clothing, if she wanted to really entice Naruto she realised she might need something more than her usual wear. She had worn sensible clothing all her life but maybe she needed to be less conservative. Plus she really didn't have any real 'date' clothing, and that needed to be changed. She also had no idea what Ino-pig was up to, Ino had always been the one that had been more comfortable with her looks and with flaunting it. Sakura looked in the mirror of the changing room she was in, she frown at her two setbacks. One was her forehead; sure it wasn't that noticeable but being picked on so much because of as a child left her insecure about it.

The next point however was as she looked down, although she wasn't a total flat chest like she used to be, she hadn't really gained much either. Standing with other girls her own age she felt a little cheated, but was Naruto a breast girl? The fact was she wasn't sure what he liked in a girl, he liked her for so long but she never did figure out why. She had been horrible to him, like all the other girls had been, but he kept coming back for more. She would have to ask him that, as well as ask for forgiveness.

But at least she had other things going for her, her bright green eyes and pink hair gave her a very unique look. She wasn't fat, she was actually very slim and slightly athletic now. She hoped that there was still time with Naruto. It was true at first she hadn't liked him at all, she had been too focused on Sasuke like all the other girls. But as time went by she learned that Naruto was a very good friend and also a great teammate. After Sasuke left, she only had Naruto to help her through it all, he kept trying to make her smile and she remembered how she tried to leave the village. He ended up following her to help her get Sasuke back.

Looking back on it, it had been a very stupid idea. They both nearly became missing nins because of that stunt and it was only thanks to Jiraiya that they had an official mission to find the Sound Village. The mission didn't go well but it was then that she learned two things. First was that Naruto despite his faults, was a really great person and someone she could depend on and made her feel better about herself. The next was to finally take being a ninja seriously and she had asked to train under Tsunade as soon as they got back. When Naruto left for his own training, she missed him every day. When he came back she had been overjoyed, like a missing piece had returned to her life. It wasn't until Ino started to chase him that she realised something she had kept hidden, even from herself.

She wasn't sure when she started to like Naruto more as a friend, but she knew she did. It took seeing another girl that could take that away from her that made her make a move of her own.

Meanwhile another known blonde was doing the same thing, Ino however did have some nice clothing for dating but she had never really used any of it. Despite being so sure of herself sexually and in her beauty she hadn't dated once. Oh sure she had been interested in boys, first Sasuke but when he left she had to let those feelings go. So she focused on her ninja training more, and time with her team as well as looking after the flower shop. When she met Sai, she thought she found a very interesting cute guy, he even called her gorgeous. Why Sakura blew up at that, she still had no idea but whatever.

Although she had tried to talk to him, the boy was strangely distant, not like Sasuke was. He had been cold, but Sai was just something different, not cold more like he was just...the only thing she could think of was slightly out of reach. Like Sai was someone on the outside looking in at everyone. It was odd but after trying he didn't really seem at all interested in her, she didn't any vibes off him. She might still be trying to get that boy even still to notice her until she went into Naruto's mind.

That had changed everything, especially how she saw Naruto.

Well she wasn't going to lose this time, she was now looking at a killer new dress that she wanted to use with Naruto. She had lost too much ground to Sakura and it was time to really get things moving. She was currently in a green Chinese style dress with golden patterns on it with a high collar. There were no arms to it, so her arms were totally bare. The slit on the side went high, showing off one of her long shapely legs. It was perfect for her so she would take it. She undressed and put her normal clothing on as she was prepared to pay for it. Ino pulled open the shade and stepped out, just as the person in one of the stalls next to her walked out.

Both women were surprised to see the other and both cursed whatever luck there was working against them.

"Forehead," Ino said to Sakura.

"Ino-pig," Sakura said back just as calm.

The girls glared at each other as the long time rivalry kicked in, even as friends they still didn't like to lose to the other. So now they were both in a bit of a staring contest, that is until Ino saw what Sakura had and smirked. It would seem that Sakura had similar plans for the future.

"Oh shopping for new clothing, why would you ever want to do that?" Ino said slyly.

"I could say the same to you," Sakura said in retort seeing the dress. "Aren't you afraid to show a little too much in such a daring thing?"

"I only needed a dress, by the looks of you, you needed a full wardrobe," Ino smirked at the bag filled with new clothing. "I don't see why you needed all that, I've just needed one nice dress, I've kept my closet up to date for other things then being a ninja. You never know when a cute guy will come along."

'Ha take that Pinky,' Ino smirked at the job to Sakura's zero track record in dating. But Sakura wasn't going to be the only one to pull on that card.

Sakura just shrugged as though it was nothing, "Well I was concentrating on being a real ninja and to become strong. Besides, since when have you ever been on a date? Last I saw you tried to get Sai to notice you and how did that turn out?"

'Back at you pig!' Sakura smirked at the blonde.

Both girls stared coldly at the other not either one budging from their spot.

"I'm not going to lose to you, this time," Ino said with a small smile, this one wasn't one of malice. This was a pure challenge to a friend and rival. "I may have gotten behind you as a ninja, but I'm catching up. I also plan not to lose to you in love either."

Sakura returned the smile, "Good, but I won't make this easy you know."

No longer hostile, the girls attitudes quickly changed the kind that only other women would be able to understand. To any male looking they wouldn't be able to see how two women could be at each other's throats one minute and totally changed the next. It was just another reason why men would never totally understand the mind of a woman.

"I know," Ino told her with a nod. "That's why I'm going to do my best, besides he's worth it."

Sakura gave a slight smile as she thought of Naruto and how the dinner with her family had been. It had been a very relaxed and fulfilling moment. Her family liked him and the entire night had felt just right to her, like he fit in perfectly with her life in something more than just friend and teammate.

"Yeah, despite everything he is isn't he?" Both girls giggled at the shared joke knowing full well Naruto's good and bad points. "Well then, to the next round?"

Ino nodded her head as they shook hands they learned the lessons from Sasuke. They would fight their hardest but they wouldn't destroy their friendship over it. They may fight it out, but in the end they would always maintain their friendship no matter what. They paid for their clothing and had just left the store when they heard a familiar voice.

"Oh Ino-chan, Sakura-chan, what are you two doing together?"

They turned to see Naruto walking up behind them on the road. Both girls gave each other a look, it would seem that the next round had just started and both girls wanted to get the first jump at Naruto. And poor Naruto had no idea what was to come, he had just been walking thinking on the things he read in Sai's books and his own talks with the boy. He didn't expect to run into his said problems at once, what he also didn't notice was the shadow following him.

Up in the buildings behind one of the signs was Sai, in his usual civilian clothing. He had been curious about human relationships and Naruto's problem seemed very unique. It was possible that both girls liked the boy but maybe he was reading it wrong. Human emotions were so very complicated that he ended up doing the wrong thing. Maybe by studying Naruto and the girls he could get some valuable insights. He had a small notebook with him as he was ready to make notes on what he observed.

Next up Chapter 8: Naruto in the Middle