AN- This will be the last warning, the last time I updated I posted 2 chapters at once, there are significantly less views on chapter 11 - Contact Part 2- therefore some people may have missed it. Please check that you have read chapter 11 before continuing.
A little lemon scene here, not too hardcore just a tiny reminder that once all relationships are formed, there will be some full lemon scenes.
One and a half week had passed since the battle of Suzuki Mansion. After freeing Jagger's captives and reuniting them with their families, the citizens of Tessa couldn't have been more grateful. Therefore, for the past week and a half, it had been a nonstop party for the Straw Hat pirates.
During this time, the Mugiwara crew also got to know much more about their new friend, Angel. It took the blond a few days and some reassurance to overcome her shyness, but after that, it wasn't long until she showed her new friends her caring, compassionate, relaxed and humorous side. However, there was one part of her personality that shocked the Straw Hat's the most, as Nami had been experiencing most recently. After a week of bonding, although it wasn't official, it was like she was another accepted member of the crew.
In this time, Naruto had also developed and strengthened his relationships with his new pirate family. He'd been a member for over a month now and he had established a unique but sound bond with every one of his crew mates.
To Naruto, he could easily brand Luffy as a brother. Ever since he arrived in this universe, the two males just clicked. He has great respect and admiration for his captain and in his dream in becoming the pirate king. Usopp and Chopper are also like siblings to Naruto. He respected them and their skills in their own field of expertise.
Naruto had developed a strange relationship with Zoro and Sanji. He would sometimes get caught in between their little disputes and join in with their verbal assaults. Though it isn't as intense and frequent as Zoro's and Sanji relationship, Naruto had to admit he somewhat enjoyed their little fights. Franky and Brook were the weird, older brother figures to Naruto. He enjoyed their company and personalities but sometimes find their posing and skull jokes were a little hard to understand.
Being the latest addition to his friends, Naruto thought it would be a while until he fully understood Angel's personality. He was so wrong, it turned out that Angel was far more open and energetic than she had shown herself to be. However, one night Angel was more open than usual, the Straw Hats learned that the reason she was alone all her life was because her parents were murdered by drunken Marines when she was very young. With no other relatives or close friends of the family, Angel had no choice but to live on the streets, scavenge any food she could find and wander aimlessly from one island to the next. That was until she ate a strange looking fruit and met a tall man named Jagger.
In the end, Naruto somehow became a big brother figure and attained a sense of responsibility over Angel, not only because the crew found out she was only eighteen but because he was the one who persuaded her to join.
With Robin, Robin was the big sister Naruto never had. He enjoys her smart, relaxed, mature and sophisticated personality as it served as a great change of pace from hanging around Luffy and Usopp too much. The two would always be seen talking about Naruto's past shinobi experiences and further general knowledge about the world of the pirates.
Then there was Nami, Naruto's relationship with Nami was difficult to explain. Despite strengthening their friendship after Nami had apologised for slapping him, at first, he was completely spell bounded by the girl. Her beauty and mouth-watering body were merely a bonus to her fiery and confident personality that he loved most about her. Naruto would be lying if he said he wasn't star struck by the navigator at the beginning of his new life as a pirate, but he promised himself to avoid a romantic relationship with anyone until his feelings over Sakura were over. And with Angel showing him that he still held great desire to love and be loved by Sakura, chasing a significant other was the last thing on the jinchuuriki's mind. Although that did not take away the fact that Nami was one of his closest nakama and he still held a small soft spot for the navigator.
The week and a half of partying had led to the Straw Hats walking back to their ship. The log pose was ready and so were the pirates. Usopp, Luffy and Naruto were walking on a long road towards the harbour with the majority of their nakama a great distance in front.
Naruto's and Usopp's arms hung over the embarrassed captain as they teased Luffy last night's antics.
"Hey Usopp-" Naruto whispered in his teasing voice. "Do you think we should find Luffy's girlfriend and ask her to join the crew?"
Luffy's face reddened even further from embarrassment and frustration.
"That's a great idea, come on let's turn back and find Luffy's girlfriend. I'm sure that would make you happy wouldn't it buddy?" Usopp's smirked at his mortified friend.
"Come on guys enough already." Luffy pushed in humiliation. "She's not my girlfriend alright, we drank, we talked and almost kissed, that's it."
Just as Naruto and Usopp were about to ask why he didn't kiss the dark haired girl who he was obviously into the whole night, Nami's voice rang through their ears.
"Naruto, Luffy, Usopp! Wait for us!"
The trio stopped and spun to view the voice. Strangely, Nami, in a tucked white shirt with rolled up sleeves, unbuttoned till her belly button, red bikini bra and a red and black checkered skirt , was walking with another beautiful girl with a pink belly top that showed too much cleavage, white short shorts, strapped heels and with fiery long hair. Both ladies carried several bags of shopping in each hand.
"Thanks for waiting up you guys." Nami smiled beautifully to the three males.
"No problem Nami, who's your friend?" Luffy asked genuinely curious. Likewise, Usopp questioned the identity of the new girl.
"Huh?" Nami was taken aback. "Luffy you baka, can't you tell? It's Angel?"
All eyes focused on the girl with red hair. Luffy and Usopp were taken by surprise at her new look while Naruto smiled passively. He knew it was Angel a while ago from the small beauty spot on the bottom right side of her mouth and green eyes that reminded him so much of Sakura.
"Sugoi! Angel is that really you?" Luffy completed highly.
"Your hair! It looks so different, it's great!" Usopp added.
Angel smiled happily but blushed deeply. "T-thanks you guys, I was really nervous about what everyone would think, I'm glad you like it."
Naruto's smile brightened. "It really suits you Angel." Causing her blushed to deepen. "Why did you change it in the first place? Sanji and I are going to miss our fellow blond." He teased happily.
"I'm sure you two will be fine." She waved with a smile. "I did this because I wanted to do something that signified a new chapter in my life." Angel looked at Nami with admiring eyes. "I was unsure of the idea at first, it was Nami-chan who gave me the courage to go through with it."
Nami smiled to the newly red head. "And afterwards we did a little shopping-" Nami added.
The males flinched at the word shopping.
"We found so many cute outfits and the shop keepers gave them to us for free! Can you believe how nice everyone in this island are?" Nami's beaming smile widened.
Meanwhile, Luffy, Usopp and Naruto remained in a haunted state from remembering their last shopping trip with Nami.
"What do you think Naruto? Do you like it?" Nami voiced playfully with her arms behind her back to show of her outfit.
Naruto was brought out of his stupor from hearing his name being called and his eyes were instantly directed to Nami. Her angelic face looked beautiful as ever and he could swear his boxers became a little tighter from gazing on the curves of her easily viewable cleavage and sexy long legs. Pretending to judge her clothes and not be caught admiring her assets was a difficult task even for the jounin.
With blushing cheeks, Naruto looked away at a random direction and mentally cursed Nami for dressing too provocatively.
"Y-yeah I like it, i-it looks great on you Nami." He stuttered nervously.
Nami smiled in return. "Thanks."
However, she mentally sighed. 'He's blushing, but that wasn't exactly the reaction I was hoping for. Looks like I have to work a little harder to gain his attention.'
Meanwhile, Angel's eyes turned into love hearts and hugged Nami tightly. She rubbed their cheeks together and spoke lovingly.
"Of course it looks good on your Nami-chan, anything will look good on your sexy body! Your big boobs, long creamy legs, flawless figure, those teasing love handles and your cute bum! Kyaa! It's all too much! I wish I could be your girlfriend so I could keep you all to myself, I would dress you up in cute little outfits all day and we would have so much fun, of course I would prefer it if you didn't have any clothes on but that's okay, we can take it slow if you want-"
Despite her moving cheeks, Nami smirked awkwardly as she tried to lean away and escape Angel's loving arms.
The three boys could only smile in awkward happiness and stare in amusement. They'd seen this for a week straight now but it never failed to blow their minds away.
"Can you believe how close those two have gotten in less than two weeks?" Usopp quizzed as Angel continued her loving speech in the background.
"Nope. I can't believe I'm saying this but she's worse than Sanji." Luffy added.
Naruto kept his awkward smile. "Who could have guessed she played for the other team. She really was putting up an act all this time."
Somehow enduring Angel's embrace, Nami grabbed Naruto's attention with her eyes and silently mouthed. "Help me!"
Naruto grew a devious smile and shook his head. "Come on guys let's give the two love birds some time on their own."
The two males agreed and turned to make their way back to their ship.
Nami's face inflamed from frustration. "I hate you Naruto! I'm fining you for 5 thousand beli for this!"
Said blond raised a goodbye wave to the angered navigator.
1 Hour Later
"Nami, is everything ready?" Luffy questioned enthusiastically.
"Yes captain, food and supplies are stocked and everyone's present and account for!"
Luffy punched the air with enthusiasm. "Alright then! To the next island!"
The sails of the Thousand Sunny dropped and the crew marched towards the back of the ship. They waved to the gathered citizens of Tessa who came to express their gratitude for one last time.
A few hours later
Ending her conversation with Sanji and stepping out the kitchen, Nami looked at the sight below and felt utter bliss. Naruto, Angel, Usopp, Luffy, and Chopper sat peacefully fishing on the side of the ship. Nearby, Brook was helping Franky build some sort of device that Nami wasn't totally interested in, Zoro was catching some sleep with one of his regular day time naps and Robin, sitting on the wooden circular seats beneath the mast, had her nose in some book as always.
A normal, everyday, mundane scene it may be but Nami cherished these moments. It's when she felt most safe and secure. It was home.
She looked up into the clear blue sky.
'Temperature seems fine, air pressure is normal, no signs of abnormalities… we should be fine for a while.'
She looked back down to see Naruto standing from his seat and handing his rod to Angel. It appeared he was leaving because the fishing group seemed to be protesting about his sudden action. Naruto gave them a small smile before shaking his head and headed to the stair towards the kitchen.
Naruto also gave Robin, Brook and Franky a small smile and wave.
But as Nami watched him walk towards her, she could see that little smile on his face was obviously forced. She couldn't tell how she knew, she just did. Picking up on small things like these are just one of many perks of spending every minute of every day with the same group of people. She loved his big genuine smiles and this current one just didn't have the same edge to it.
Naruto gave her the equal fake smile and a wave before entering the kitchen.
Truthfully speaking, this wasn't the first time Nami had caught Naruto acting strange. After defeating Jagger, despite all the fun they've had celebrating their victory, Naruto had been spacing out quite frequently. Whether be in a bar, restaurant or simply walking from one place to another, he had been secluding himself in his own little bubble of thoughts until someone snapped him out of it.
it wasn't just the momentary period of isolation that bothered Nami, Naruto was much quieter than usual and he'd been training much less often.
He was consumed in his own mind, that part was clear as the sky above Nami's head. But what could he be so worried about that he couldn't share it with his crew mates?
Nami remembered the emotional conversation between Naruto and the pink haired girl he called Sakura.
'Could Naruto be thinking about her? He said something about confessing to her before so… was he ever in love with her in the past? Or… still in love with her?'
Nami shook her head violently to remove the thoughts in her head and to prevent overthinking the situation.
In an attempt to forget the past, there was an unspoken agreement between the Straw Hats to avoid sharing their nightmare experiences with one another. Could this be the reason behind Naruto's recent peculiar behaviours? Nami had to find out, she couldn't stand seeing his fake smiles anymore.
She took a big breath to solidify her resolve before heading to her room then searching for Naruto.
Aquarium
Sitting silently on his own watching all types of fish swim by with one arm hung over the long sofa, a leg semi crossed over the other, Naruto was once again consumed by his thoughts. Disarray wouldn't even begin to illustrate his frame of mind for the past week and a half.
Since his encounters with Jagger, day and night, Naruto had been playing the memories of every minor detail of their fight. Every move, every jutsu, every single thing that happened had plagued his mind. But the more he thought about it, the more chaotic his mind became.
'I should have lasted much longer in that fight, there's no way I could have been tired from that much chakra. And even all my jutsu seemed weaker than usual too?'
The troubled Naruto pushed a little deeper in his psyche.
'Hey Kurama, is there something wrong with me?'
The fox scrunched his brow. 'Wrong? I'm not following you? You're in top physical health are you not?'
'Then why do I feel a little different? It feels like I'm only running on eighty five percent of my strength?' Naruto questioned worryingly concerned.
'So you lost fifteen percent of what exactly?'
'Of everything, taijutsu, ninjutsu, speed, stamina, everything. I know my body better than anyone and I can tell I'm not as strong as I was back in Konoha? I should have lasted a little longer and been able to use one or two more jutsu before I ran out of chakra in that fight?'
Kurama hummed in interest 'I have to admit I was a little surprised to see you almost getting your ass handed to you by that pirate but, from what I can tell there's nothing wrong with your body. Are you sure this isn't one of your paranoid moments that your big breasted Hokage warned you about?'
Naruto's anger spiked. 'Shut it fur ball! If you were me how would you have beaten an almost indestructible opponent without rasenshuriken, bijuu bomb and none of your elemental jutsu did any damage?'
'Used the chakra of the demon fox inside of me, isn't that obvious?'
Frustrated Naruto pointed at the fox. 'Like I've tod you a million times, unless I know I can't take care of something myself, I don't need you to fight my battles for me anymore! I can't be relying on you all my life, Kurama. I'm strong enough to take care of myself and that's that.'
The demon playfully rolled his eyes and stayed silent as Naruto's anger simmered. 'Do you really think I'm just being paranoid because of my… condition?' He asked slightly concerned.
Kurama looked back down to his partner. 'Possibly? Isn't that one of the possible symptoms that Tsunade told you about? She said your constant need to improve yourself comes from your over alertness and false believes of weakness, so it is possible you're having an episode where you're thinking you're not strong enough. If not that perhaps your expectations for yourself were too high?'
Naruto frowned in questioning.
Kurama sighed deeply. 'This was the first time in three years you've face someone who pushed you to your limits right?
The blond nodded.
'Maybe with all the training you've done, you didn't expect a single pirate could be such a challenge? You need to be careful Naruto, people in this world may not be shinobi but that doesn't mean they hold no threat to us.'
'No I know that already, the thing that's bothering me most is this unshakable feeling that I'm not at full strength?'
'Well you may not be totally paranoid there, you're not training as much as you did in Konoha and when you're travelling on the sea as you are now, you're only training in the mornings and nights when the ship is stationary.'
Naruto shrugged an unconvinced shrug. 'I guess you could be right? I have been slacking recently and back home I used to train all day long.'
The fox's eyes narrowed. 'Don't place all the blame on your living circumstances kit, there's been plenty of opportunities for you to train in the past week but instead you decided it would be better to sulk in your own little pity party.'
Naruto's cheeks developed a layer of red from anger and embarrassment. 'I'm not sulking in my own pity party, stupid fox.'
Kurama huffed loudly. 'Yeah right, then how come whenever you're not analysing your fight the only other thing you can think about is Sakura? If you want to return to full strength then I suggest you stop thinking about the Haruno girl and do some training.'
Kurama paused to see his partner's thoughtful face and softened his tone. 'You got to move on Naruto, she made her choice and like you said before, you have to respect that.'
Naruto controlled his emotions before responding.
'How can I stop thinking about her and move on? You heard everything my subconscious had to say.'
The memories of the fake Sakura's words rang in Naruto's head.
~You still fear that I will never accept your love even after I rejected your feelings~
~You fear that your unconditional love for me will never be requited.~
~let me tell you a secret Naruto, your feelings for me will never change, and they never will~
Naruto left his mind frame and returned to the room. He looked at his hand and wondered about all his troubles. His trail of thought was snapped by the opening of the aquarium door. He gave a quick glance at the approaching visitor.
"Oh hey Nami." He voiced lazily then continued fish watching. His glance was so fast he failed to notice the neatly folded piece of orange and black clothing in her hand.
The navigator forced a tiny smile and sat down next to Naruto.
"Here." She offered the clothing and placed it in the space between them.
Thoughtful Naruto looked back down to see his folded orange and black jacket he had on the very first day he met the Straw Hats. He was a little surprised to see the jacket not because he was finally reunited with it but the fact he'd been so busy that he forgot he lost it.
"I found it after you went unconscious on the very first day we met. It was pretty torn up at first but I just finished stitching it back together. Sorry it took a while to give it back to you but sewing isn't exactly my specialty." Nami somewhat chuckled.
Naruto failed to express emotions. "Thanks Nami, you didn't have to do that for me you know. But I am grateful, really." He looked away once again to view the fishes.
Nami could tell he was genuinely appreciative from his voice. But she never expected him to be so unresponsive and it worried her. She looked into his neutral face and questioned.
'I wonder what's on his mind right now to make him like this.'
As they sat silently, Nami searched her mind on how to approach the distressed blond. Before she could say anything, Naruto interrupted.
"Is there anything I can do for you, Miss Navigator?" He asked kindly.
"Wh- N-no I just came to check to see if you're okay?" A surprised Nami replied.
Naruto gave her a teasing look and raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Now look who's checking up on who?"
Nami blushed from anger as she remembered their little argument in Tessa. Although she was happy to see that they'd reached a point where they could make fun about it.
"Baka, I told you before, I didn't mean to get angry at you back then, I was just having a-"
"Bad day, I know, I remember." Naruto finished for her and replaced his teasing smirk with his fake smile.
Blushing Nami looked down to her hands. "Y-yeah."
Silence enveloped the room as Naruto returned to fish watch.
"So… are you okay?" Nami asked carefully.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Naruto said lazily, devoid of emotions.
"You can tell me if something's bothering you, you know. If you need someone to talk to I'm here to listen."
Naruto flinched but luckily Nami didn't notice. "What are you talking about, nothing's bothering me."
Like a light switch, frustration begun to build within Nami, her hands clenched before replying. "You're doing it again." Her voice was quiet but solid.
The change of tone caught Naruto's attention. "Huh?"
"You're not being honest with your feelings." She said coldly, remembering the first night she entered his room over a month ago.
"You may have the others fooled Naruto but not me. It's obvious that something's been on your mind recently and instead of sharing your worries with us, you've isolated yourself and your thoughts to the point that it's killing you inside, and for what? To prevent us from the burden of your problems?"
Naruto looked away.
"Naruto, you need to understand that whatever's important to you is important to us as well. So whatever may be worrying you now or in the future, tell us so you don't have to face it on your own, that's the meaning of being nakamas."
The blond took a moment to reflect on his recent actions and didn't like what he was saw. Nami was right, he was isolating himself and his worries to the point that if he didn't express his feelings his mind would have imploded. He also felt guilty for trying to handle everything himself and which only lead to Nami worrying about him.
Accepting her words, Naruto formed a small smirk.
"All our lives, shinobi are trained to hide and supress our emotions towards our enemies, but I guess all that training is useless against you, huh Nami."
A shade of red spread her cheeks and a rush of relieve passed her system from hearing his relaxed, teasing tone.
An equal sized smirk curved Nami's mouth. "Well if someone like me could read your emotions so easily then maybe you were a terrible shinobi." She teased back.
Naruto chuckled and leaned back on the sofa. "Maybe you're right?" He ended the exchange of banter.
Silenced developed and the seriousness returned.
"I'm sorry for making you worry about me Nami." Naruto whispered gently.
The girl looked down on to her hands. "Its fine, I just don't like seeing you so down that's all."
Naruto paused and took a long, deep breath. "So, what's been bothering me recently?" He questioned out loud to himself. "I don't even know where to begin?"
Nami tensed as she prepared herself.
"Well… lets see, I single handedly started a war, my body's been feeling a little weird and I can't get Sakura of my hea-" Wide eyed Naruto abruptly paused and froze on his seat.
'Shit! I can't believe I accidently said Sakura's name. I hope Nami didn't hear that.' Naruto thought in dread. He cursed himself for speaking about the one thing that was most personal to him and never wanted to talk about to anyone.
Meanwhile, a jolt of anxiety coursed through Nami.
"S-Sakura? Was she your friend who Angel turned into?" She asked boldly, careful to avoid the tone of over curiosity or jealousy.
Naruto unfroze himself and sighed, out of everything he said Nami had to have focused on Sakura, but it's too late, he couldn't avoid the subject now or else it will look more suspicious. Truthfully, Naruto needed to express his thoughts to someone, he was going absolutely crazy from storing it all in his head. However, the last person he wanted to express himself about Sakura to, was none other than the one who asked him first. Nami.
Having no choice in the matter, Naruto reluctantly nodded. "Y-yeah, she was."
His voice was coated with sadness and pain, something Nami easily recognised.
Sakura's face flashed in the navigators head.
"She's beautiful." Nami whispered honestly. Her head sank low and she remained silent to grant Naruto the lead.
He shifted his stoic eyes to the fish tank. "She is." His voice remained layered with sadness.
"But that's not for me to say, she loves Sasuke, he's the one that's supposed to tell her she's beautiful."
His mind traced back to his conversation with the fake Sakura as returned a look of confusion.
Naruto smiled and shook his head. "Oh right, you probably don't have a single clue what I'm saying do you?"
Nami returned a small smile and lightly shook her head in agreement.
"My bad." Naruto's smile diminished and his seriousness resumed.
"Do you remember the first time you came into my room? The night I told you about my friends, my life, heritage and teammates-"Naruto paused at the final word.
"Yes, I remember."
"Do you remember asking me the names of my teammates?"
Nami hummed in confirmation. "You changed the subject as soon as I asked, I thought I hit a sensitive topic so I forgot it and never thought about it since."
Naruto paused once again to meet Nami's eyes. "Kakashi Hatake, Sasuke Uchiha, Sakura Haruno."
Taking the girl's quietness as a sign to continue, Naruto looked up to the ceiling. "You're going to need to know a little bit about my teammates if you want understand a word about what's bothering me." He sighed unwillingly. He really did not want this conversation with Nami but her sudden interest in the topic was essentially forcing him to. However deep down he was slightly grateful, he needed some form of release otherwise he would have driven himself insane.
Main Deck
Peacefully sitting while reading her book, listening to the energetic voices of her nakamas in the background, feeling and smelling the gentle ocean sea breeze, Robin lowers her book ever so slightly to peek at the sleeping swordsman's to her side.
An embarrassed smile curved her full lips.
That smile however was short lived as a recent memory flashed in her mind.
FLASHBACK
It was the first of many nights in Tesa Island celebrating the Straw Hats victory over the Jagger pirates. Located in one of the islands finest bars, the nonstop party had reached its peak, the music was buzzing, drinks were flowing, and pirates and citizens alike were dancing like hyperactive children.
The intoxicated Robin leaned her back on the bar as she stood next to her best friend Nami who was busy ordering the next set of rounds, the archaeologist adjusted her eye sights to the laughing green haired man sitting around a table filled with their crew mates.
She instinctively bit her bottom lip as her body temperature and a needing between her legs begun to intensify.
She spotted Zoro taking another swig of his drink, but someone on the table must have told a funny joke because he choked and spat some of his drink on his shirt mid-gulp.
The entire table cheered and laughed at the swordsman. Zoro laughed along and stood from his seat and headed for the toilets at the back of the room to dry his shirt.
Believing an opportunity needed to be seized, Robin leaned over to Nami's side. "I'm going to the restroom, I'll be back in a minute."
Nami hummed happily and nodded. "Okay, but don't be too long because I won't be able to carry all these glasses by myself."
Robin developed a devious smirk. "Oh don't worry, it'll only be a quickie"
Drunk, shirtless and waving his shirt up and down to dry the piece of clothing, Zoro was forced to stop as he heard the sound of opening doors.
He turned to see who entered and to explain his current lack of cover. But discovering who entered, Zoro's jaw threated to drop and his words caught on the back of his throat.
"Oh? Half naked already I see, you weren't expecting me to meet you here were you?" Robin purred seductively, leaning on the doorframe with her arms crosses, wearing a tight black dress, black garter belt, knee high socks and a conniving smile.
"R-r-robin, w-what are you doing here?" Zoro took several steps back and scanned the area. "Wait a second, don't tell me I'm in the girl's bathroom?" His cheeks reddened from embarrassment.
Robin shook her head and slowly approached the shirtless man. "Nope, don't be mistaken Zoro-san, you're in the males restroom." She purposely swayed her hips as her words oozed with lust.
In his intoxicated state, Zoro gulped nervously. With every step she took closer, the harder it was to keep his lone eye away from her mouth-watering figure.
Attempting to regain his composure, Zoro straightened up and spoke semi seriously. "Alright then, if I'm in the right place then what are you doing here?"
Robin maintained her sexy approach, Zoro took another step back but only to feel the marble walls on his back.
She stepped forward and pressed her body, especially her large soft breasts on his chest. She interlocked their legs while her hands rubbed from his naked collar bone to his broad shoulders. She then looked up to see him with determined eyes.
"I'm here to do what we always do, Zoro-san" Her soft but eager voice and irresistible body was pushing Zoro to the edge.
The swordsman remained uneasy. "What? Here? Now?"
"Yes here and now." She pressed harder, in more ways than one. A small smirk formed on Robin's lips as she felt a very large and very hard bulge pressing below her stomach.
"Are you crazy? What if someone walks in and sees us? What if-"
Before Zoro could protest any further, Robin shifted her hands to the back of his head and smashed their lips together. The unexpected and hungry kiss caused Zoro's eye to widen and his hands frozen still as his lips slowly returned the kiss.
Allowing his inhibitions to slip for a hot, steamy, momentary moment, Zoro released all his suppressed physical needs by aggressively sliding his tongue in Robin's mouth which, judging from her moans, she kindly accepts. Their wet and eager tongues danced perfectly around one another as their hands begun to grope their partner's physique. Robin could feel her thong soaking from her juices just by the touch of his shirtless, muscular body. She started with his chest, moved down to his rock hard abs and stopped at his waist. Likewise, Zoro's bulge continued to twitch in anticipation, his hands roamed from her lower back to her addictive round ass.
Giving her behind a tight squeeze, Zoro and Robin broke their kiss to refill air in their lungs. They stared into each other's needing eyes and fatigued breaths. Their hearts pounded harder than ever they've ever experience before, the thrill, the chances of being caught, it only intensified their lust.
Robin leaned in so their lips were inches away. "I don't care if someone walks in, it's not going to stop me from taking what I want."
Zoro paused and blinked for a second. He analysed what her sentence meant, was she hinting by saying she doesn't care if they were spotted being intimate that she wouldn't mind something more than their current relationship? In the end, he opted to think it was the alcohol talking.
They both leaned in at the same time to continue their kiss, Zoro's hand maintained massaging her ass while Robin was now on the offensive, and she pushed her tongue inside Zoro's mouth to lead the way. The fire of desire burning in Robin was reaching unbearable levels, she wanted him inside her and she wanted it now.
One of her hands swayed away from his hips and clenched a fistful of the bulge poking her stomach.
Zoro withdrew his tongue and grunted deeply at the sudden attention to his cock.
"And this is what I want-" Robin whispered, stroking his throbbing piece at teasing pace.
"You have no idea how much I want your cock in my mouth, Zoro-san. Sometimes it's the only thing I can think about, stroking its long shaft while I suck the tip, pushing it down my throat and gag while I play with myself."
Zoro's grip on her ass tightened as another groan escapes his lips. He'd always loved this drunken, animalistic, instinctual, horny side of Robin, so it went without saying, the urge to bend her over and take her was quickly consuming him.
The long, thick meat in her hand twitched again under her ministration, her rubbing hands picked up the pace and seeing her teasing have so much effect on him brought a sense of self pride.
"After I'm done sucking your dick, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to lay you down and slide this thing deep inside my wet little pussy. I want to feel every inch of your cock caressing up and down me, I want you to hit all my spots and reach in the deepest parts of this tight soaking wet pussy. I'm going to ride you nice and slow until you can't handle it anymore and the only thing you want to do is shoot your hot, thick, delicious cum all over me, that's what you want too right Zoro-san?"
Zoro continued to fight the urge to take her as he stared at her evil smirk. With her lips a hair away from his, all he wanted to do was kiss those full red lips of hers and make hungry but passionate love. In the end, his sense of ethics took over and he withdrew his hands to grab her arms.
Shocked Robin raised an eyebrow from feeling Zoro gently push her away.
"Robin, we can't do this." His voice was solid, obviously reluctant.
"And why not?" She whispered seductively and attempts to close their distance.
Zoro held his grip to maintain distance. "Because… we just can't okay. Not here, not now."
Robin smirked and slowly pulled on the helm of her dress to expose more of her legs. "Are you saying you don't want me?" She teased seductively.
One look of her smooth thighs caused Zoro to raise his voice by a decimal. "Robin stop!"
Shocked, Robin did what she was told.
"It's not that I don't want you have sex with you, trust me, there's nothing more I wanna do than… Argh! I can't believe I'm actually saying no to this… we just can't."
She paused passively, anticipating a reason for his unusual behaviour.
"I've been thinking, you know everything you said about what our relationship is and what we mean to each other, I think we need to give one another some space and time to think about that. What we do, what we've been doing, it's… you know, it's amazing. But this thing could jeopardise our friendship if we're not careful."
"Zoro-san, I'm practically throwing myself at you, I think we both know what I want."
The swordsman's eye hardened. "Robin, you're drunk, I'm drunk, neither of us are thinking straight. The last time we spoke you said you were unsure how you felt about me right? So how can I trust anything you're saying now?"
Robin sadly looked away knowing he had a valid point.
"We need to give each other some time to think alright?" Zoro released his grip on her arms. "I'm not exactly sure how I feel towards you either. I don't know if it's only physical or if it's something more? Regardless, it wouldn't be right to do anything else until we know exactly what we want from each other."
Robin crossed her arms and nodded in agreement. "You're right, you're absolutely right. We shouldn't be doing this, what was I thinking, I'm so sorry. Please forgive me."
Zoro shook his head. "It's alright, it's not like I stopped it when I should either."
The two shared an embarrassed smile and chuckle.
"Well-" Robin fixed her dress and hair. "I think its best I leave, being caught like this isn't exactly a situation we can get out of with a simple excuse."
Zoro grabbed and wore his shirt. "Damn right, I think we pushed our luck enough for one day."
Robin smiled and turn to make her leave. Was she mortified? Yes, but was she smiling? Yes.
She was actually relieved that Zoro was a gentleman and prevented himself from taking advantage of the situation. If she had done what she originally planned, it would have been that much more complicated to do what Zoro and she have agreed to do, think about what they truly mean to one another, find out what their current relationship is and what do they want their relationship to be like in the future.
Seeing Robin leave the room, Zoro sighed in relief, their secret was unharmed but this episode was too close for comfort.
He looked down to thing causing the tightness in his trousers with self -disappointment. 'Great, now I'm stuck with this thing. Did I really just pass up on some great sex… I could be the biggest idiot in the world.'
END OF FLASHBACK
As Robin returned to her reading, Zoro's single eye creaked open to view the beautiful archaeologist. For several moments, he just observed every minor aspect of her being. The way she sat, the way her hair swayed in the wind, the way she held a book, the way she licked her thumb before turning a page, how deeply fascinated and absorbed she was by reading a book.
He then thought about who she was. Her personality, her history, her relationship with the other crew members and eventually his own relationship with her.
Even after all that, he had yet to decipher the code to his true feelings towards the raven haired beauty.
Aquarium
For an uncertain amount of time, Nami listened and she listened well about Naruto and his relationships with his teammates.
Firstly, he described a grey haired older male who he called sensei, Kakashi Hatake. A student of his father, Naruto's first jounin teacher, comrade in arms and a very close friend. Naruto explained how Kakashi was an erotic novel loving, unpunctual person but undeniably one of the best shinobi he had ever met and Nami couldn't help but smile at how compassionate Naruto was as he spoke about him.
His tone of voice and body language experienced a staggering shift of mood when he spoke of the other male in his team named Sasuke Uchiha. It was clear from his conflicted expression that Naruto had a complicated history and relationship with this Sasuke person, but Nami could never have imagined how truly complicated it was. Naruto started by explained how Sasuke and he never met eye to eye at first contact and it took time, extensive missions and a couple of life and death fights for the two to finally get along.
Nami's history lesson lead to Naruto explaining Sasuke's tragic past, the Uchiha massacre, his reasons for betraying the Leaf village, Naruto's own training and eventually their final fight that persuaded Sasuke to come home.
As she listened intensively, Nami began to create a better picture of who Naruto was as a shinobi by connecting the dots between the stories he first told and the stories he's currently sharing.
After his tales of Sasuke, Naruto's mood, composure, body language, everything, changed in an instant. The transition of stories about Sasuke to Sakura was a difficult one and Naruto took several moments of ambiguous silence. In this time, Nami said nothing, she waited patiently as she watched Naruto's thoughtful expression.
"The girl you saw, the one Angel turned into. Her name is Sakura Haruno." Naruto started emotionally. "She's the smartest, strongest, caring, extremely hot headed kunoichi with the smallest temper I've ever known."
He purposely avoided eye contact with Nami. "And I've been in love with her ever since I was twelve years old."
Nami's eyes rounded slightly. She sat quietly waiting for Naruto to continue as her worries and predictions about his troubles slowly unfolded.
"The thing is, she has never felt the same way about me, she has always been in love with Sasuke. Ever since our first days in the academy it's always been about Sasuke. Even with all the time we spent together without the bastard and having eventually grown close, even with all the training I did with Jiraiya-shishou in order to get stronger and fulfil my promise to her of bringing him back to the village, she has never seen me in the same way she sees him." Naruto paused to control his emotions.
"I still remember the day Sasuke finally came back home to us, to the Leaf, to team seven. Throughout that entire day Sakura had this smile on her face that she couldn't get rid of. I didn't blame her I mean, it was that day me and her had been waiting and training for years, Sasuke was finally home. But that smile, her smile, it wasn't for me. In fact, throughout that day it was as if I was invisible to her."
Nami looked down to her hands and used the bangs of her head to cover her face as Naruto continued.
"After all the political crap and punishments were out the way, Sakura and I would spend all our time with Sasuke to help him rebuild his life within the village, and during that time, I truly couldn't have been any happier. We were all together again, we spent time, we ate, we relaxed, joked, argued, but most of all we had fun, it was everything I ever wanted since Sasuke left. It even got to the point that he and I would no longer annoy each other and treated the other as the brother we never had. The best part of all this bonding was that Sakura was there. For the last three years, she and I had gotten closer than we've ever been and I couldn't help this feeling that she was finally seeing me differently."
Naruto chuckled a single sad chuckle. "I soon realised all of that optimism was nothing but wishful thinking."
Nami lifted her head and broke her silence. "Wishful thinking?" She nervously asked.
Naruto twitched, he couldn't believe how relaxed and how easily he can tell Nami anything, but knowing he shared a little too much, the male quickly stood from his seat to leave the room. "You know what, um, I um, I actually remember I promised Robin to talk about-"
Nami grabbed his wrist to cut his sentence short.
The caring look she gave him was enough to silence the blond and his urge to leave slowly simmered thanks to her angelic face. Naruto understood and he understood well, he returned to his seat to accept her quiet request.
He leaned back on the sofa, untied his headband, placed said headgear on the top of his folded jacket and sighed deeply.
"The day I came here was also the day I confessed my love to her." His voice was low, reluctant and oozed with sadness as Nami's eyes expanded.
"Before the war started I would always ask Sakura on dates on nearly a weekly basis, but it was never anything serious, I knew she would say no and she always did, that never bothered me because it's not like it meant anything. But the day I came here, I finally confessed to her, and I promised myself that no matter what her answer was, I would accept it. But as you can probably guess, she turned me down and I ended up breaking that promise. I was so caught up in my own emotions that I fucked up on a mission that I asked for." He explained grimly.
"Thanks to baa-chan, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura and I were ordered to investigate something strange outside the village. That's when I saw the dimension window. It all happened so fast that I can't remember it all too clearly. But what I do know was I let my feelings get the better of me, I acted like an idiot and as a result, I ended up here… not too bad though I supposed, it could be worse right?"
He gave Nami a cheeky shrug and smile.
Nami returned a small smile but her happiness was short lived and the seriousness of the conversation resumed.
"It may be just me but it seems that you were jealous of your friend Sasuke?" Nami's voice was neutral, no sense of insult or jealousy present.
"I was." Naruto replied bluntly. His quick response and honesty surprised the navigator.
"I probably still am? I don't know… I just don't understand what she saw in him in the first place? He has never shown any interest towards her, never cared for her the way I did, he was never there for her when she was at her lowest but she even with all that… she still loves him. What does he have that I don't?" Naruto stayed silent in his own small reflection bubble.
Next to him, Nami could only feel sympathy for the emotionally torn blond.
"Hey, Naruto, don't start comparing yourself to others okay? A girl's heart is far more complicated than you'll ever know, I mean, we say we know what we want in a guy but really we don't have the slightest clue. We constantly change our minds and when we finally do know what we want it's usually already too late. And sometimes, just sometimes, we overlook the guy who was always there for us, the guy who would treat us right and who we were meant to be with… even when that person was sitting right next to us all along."
Naruto looked at the Nami with mixed, uninterpretable emotions. The silence in the air was tense, then, Nami bravely initiated eye contact.
"Do you still love her?"
Naruto froze.
His mind blanked from the sudden unexpected question and Nami's unreadable eyes were too much for him to handle, he looked to the floor before replying.
"I- I don't know." He replied honestly.
"I want to respect her decision and I do want to move on but… you heard everything Angel had to say. Apparently deep down I do still love her."
He paused to drag his deepest most sincere feelings from within himself. "The funny thing is, I don't want to be. I don't want to be hung up on her forever but, how do you stop loving the only person you've ever loved?"
Naruto's questioned stunned the navigator, no words came to mind as she searched for an answer. However, how could she generate an answer? She'd only dated one person before and she wasn't sure if what she felt was true love.
A few moments passed and neither pirate said a word. Knowing he caused this muteness, Naruto finally questioned Nami about what's been bothering him regarding Sakura.
"Hey, let me ask you something?"
Nami hummed in questioning.
"If you and I have been friends for most of our lives and then one day I forgot your birthday, would you think I was a bad friend?"
Nami quizzed the change of subject at first, then it came to her, Angel's version of Sakura spoke something about her birthday. She leaned back on the sofa before replying.
"You can't blame yourself for forgetting her birthday, Naruto. Considering everything that's happened to you lately, anyone would have done the same thing?" She reassured softly.
Unconvinced Naruto ran his hands through his hair. "Maybe? But still, I wish I could at least send a letter or a message wishing-"
An idea cut his sentence short. An idea that caused his eyes to expand and shot up from his seat.
"A message! Of course! How could I have been so stupid all this time?!"
Confused and on the edge of her seat, Nami wondered where Naruto's sudden energy and enthusiasm came from.
"W-what are you-?"
"I'm such an idiot, I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner." Naruto was far too inspired by his idea to hear her. With a wide smile, he turned to face his navigator.
"Nami, I think I just found a way to get back to Konoha."
The girl's heart sank. A sudden ache burned in her chest to the point she couldn't express a single letter. The idea of Naruto leaving and never coming back was like a poison in her veins, an idea she wanted to protest but couldn't find the words how.
Consumed by hope and determination to even think about the possible consequences of his actions, Naruto bit and drew blood from his left thumb and swipe some of the red substance on his right palm. Perfectly completing a set of hand signs, he pressed his hand on the wooden floor.
"Summoning jutsu!"
Wordless but panicked Nami was dazed by the appearances of the sudden smoke from the floor. Unknowing what to expect, she sat nervously waiting for said smoke to dissipate.
When it did, the hopeful smile on Naruto's lips instantly vanished. With the smoke gone, he was greeted with an empty, wooden floor board. No summon, no toad, not even a jutsu formula. He shut his eyes in disappointment as his hope of returning home quickly faded away.
'I guess the jutsu doesn't work in other dimensions.'
'We're beyond the limit of the jutsu, Naruto. From now on, we're really on our own. This is the turning point of your life, accept it.'
Nami sat watching Naruto's defeated figure with great guilt. It was obvious Naruto's plan of returning home failed but why did she feel so relived about it? She knew how much he loves his old home and how important fulfilling his dream of Hokage was to him, but nevertheless, she was selfishly happy to see his return ticket home fail, and just admitting that feeling to herself, she couldn't feel any lower.
"Naruto I-"
The blonde then did something she could never have foreseen.
A smile.
His usual, real, heart felt smile.
"Don't sweat it, Nami. From here on out, I'm all yours."
Nami's cheeks reddened like roses. "Eh?!"
She knew what he meant was he is now fully committed the crew but the comment took her by surprise.
"Are you sure you're okay?" She asked worryingly.
Naruto's smiled widened. "I'll be fine, really. Am I sad that the jutsu didn't work? Sure, but it's not like the end of the world or anything. I'm in a whole new world to have new adventures and achieve new goals that I never thought possible. But the best part, I have great new friends to create new memories with."
Nami pulled a sad accepted smile.
The blonde's attention then fixated on his old, folded jacket and headband next to Nami. The clothing and head gear reminded Naruto of something Angel said hours ago about her new hair colour.
'I wanted to do something that signified a new chapter in my life'
With a cheeky grin, Naruto formed an idea.
He ran his hands through his hair several times to pull the long, spikey, yellow threads to the back of his head. (AN/ Think of Aizen from Bleach without the single loose bang of hair)
Feeling refreshed and renewed, he took one long breath and smiled at Nami's direction.
The navigator lost all words as her cheeks reddened even further. Just when she thought he couldn't get any more handsome, he goes and pulls this. The new hairstyle not only enhanced his facial features but gave him an air of maturity and sophistication.
"Thanks for the talk and listening to me, Nami. I really appreciate it." Naruto nodded his gratitude and headed to the exit.
Nami shook her head to escape her star struck state. She quickly took his belongings and stood.
"Hey wait! Don't forget about these."
He turned to face her once again and smiled sadly.
"You keep them, I don't need them. They're from the old chapter of my life, I want to focus on the chapter I'm writing right now." He spoke with absolute truth and acceptance.
Understanding his perspective, Nami reach for his headband.
"Even this?" She asked with uncertainty.
He nodded. "Yes, even that." Naruto said confidently. "It's been over a month since I left which means baa-chan would have been forced to listed me as MIA or maybe even a missing nin by now. If I am a missing nin then I don't deserve to be wearing the Leaf symbol. And anyways, I'm a pirate now. A headband with a skull and crossbones wearing a straw hat, now that's a headband I should be wearing."
The two shared a nice giggle before Naruto left the room leaving Nami alone with his old belongings in her hands.
'You're a pirate now, huh? You've come so far in such a short amount of time haven't you, Naruto.'
AN-I know pretty much all of this chapter is talking and no action but please stay patient. This chapter and the next two or three are important chapters that will tie up a lot of loose ends and answer many unanswered questions.
Oh yeah... Angel likes girls.