Vixen
Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.
Naruko talking to Kyuubi in bold.
Kyuubi talking to Naruko in bold italics.
Chapter 5
The next day, they managed to make it to an Inn. Lord Ayaki was given his own room along with a couple ninja cats, while Sasuke and Naruko were sharing a room. Ayaki had insisted that an engaged couple should have their privacy and that the cats would let them know if anything was wrong. The ninjas couldn't exactly argue with that logic, so they were now roommates.
"How's your back feeling?" Sasuke asks awkwardly.
This was going to be awkward. There was only one bed. The Uchiha was currently contemplating whether he should try to be a gentleman and offer to take the floor. Unfortunately, he wasn't sure that would work.
What if Ayaki peeked in? If he saw him sleeping on the floor and Naruko on the bed, he would think they had a fight. That would make things unnecessarily tense during the rest of the mission.
"It's okay. It was barely more than a scratch." Naruko says with a nervous grin.
"Good." Sasuke says and the blonde nods.
"Um so I guess we might as well just figure out what we are going to do about sleeping arrangements. I could take the floor, but that might not be a good idea. Ayaki might peek in and then he'd ask a lot of questions." The blonde reasons.
Sasuke blinks. It looked like he and Naruko were on the same page. He had been thinking the exact same thing actually. The Uchiha just didn't know what to do about the situation.
"If you're comfortable with it, we can share the bed. If not, I'll take the floor and we'll just risk it." The raven haired ninja answers after debating the matter for a minute or two in his head.
"Damn it. Why did he have to ask me that?! If I say no, he'll feel bad. If I say yes, he'll think that I'm ready to have his babies or something!" Naruko whines in her head.
"You've agreed to marry him. He likely already believes you want to have his children anyway. Do you want to potentially compromise the mission because you are Mating Shy?" Kurama demands.
Naruko bites her lower lip. Kurama had a good point. They were getting married anyway. Just because they were sleeping in the same bed, didn't necessarily mean that they were going to do anything. Maybe it would be okay.
"It'd probably be better to share. That way we can avoid some very awkward questioning, if he happens to peek in." The blue eyed ninja replies.
"Alright. Well I'm going to take a shower. You can change into whatever you wear at night. I'll be back in a few minutes." Sasuke says, as he grabs some clothes to change into and heads into the bathroom.
"Well that's nice of him. He's letting me get changed without trying to watch." Naruko muses as she begins to change into her nightgown.
"Yes, though I think it's a bit pointless. He's already seen you mostly topless. That undergarment that you wore over your breasts left little to the imagination." Kurama reminds her.
Naruko felt her face burn hotly at the memory. Sasuke had just been tending to her injury, but then he had to make that comment. She supposed that it was a good thing though.
It might have been embarrassing, but at least now she knew that her future husband was attracted to her. That was something, right? What kind of marriage would they have, if they weren't even attracted to each other?
"Don't remind me!" She snaps at the fox demon.
"You are pathetically Mating Shy. I don't know how you are ever going to manage to Mate with him at this rate. You're too embarrassed to even let him look at you. Perhaps you are simply too young to be Mated." Kurama taunts her.
Naruko grumbles something about perverted foxes as she finishes changing into her nightgown. She slowly walks over to the bed and lays down. She couldn't believe this.
She was about to share the bed of a man that she mostly remembered as the kid that she used to fight with the most on the playground. It was crazy. The blonde had almost convinced herself that this was a crazy dream, when she heard the water running in the next room.
"What did I just get myself into?" She whispers.
Meanwhile Sasuke was enjoying his shower. He figured it would give Naruko time to get changed and he might as well be clean. That and it gave him time to collect his thoughts.
In the next room, Naruko was waiting for him. The woman who was going to be his wife and they were going to sleep together. Well they were going to sleep together in the most innocent way possible, but still this was a fairly significant step in their relationship.
"This might not end well." He says as he finishes his shower.
Sasuke quickly gets out and dries off. The Uchiha then proceeds to get dressed and walks back out to Naruko. She was already dressed. A gray t-shirt and a pair of orange pants.
Well it was obvious that she wasn't going to try to seduce him. No one wore that and then tried to entice their lover into spending some quality time together. It was Naruko though. Sasuke was sure that somehow the vixen could make a potato sack look sexy.
"Well you look comfortable." He muses.
"And you look wet." Naruko observes with a giggle.
He hadn't bothered to dry his hair off that much. It would dry naturally and his nerves were too shot to care. He simply shrugs at her observation.
"I'll dry off. So I guess that you prefer the right side of the bed?" He asks curiously.
"Yeah. I mean I can lay on the left, if you prefer. It's not a big deal. I'm flexible." Naruko tells him.
That was the wrong thing to say. Sasuke's mind immediately took that in the opposite way that the blonde intended. Now he was wondering just how flexible his fiancée was.
Sasuke mentally slaps himself for such thoughts. She was just trying to be nice and his mind was in the gutter. Damn it. Maybe he should have taken a cold shower, instead of a hot one.
"You can have the right side. I prefer the left anyway." Sasuke says as he gets on the bed and Naruko blushes.
That blush said it all really. Naruko was apparently just as much of a novice when it came to the opposite sex as he was. Part of him thought that was romantic. They were going to be each other's first everything at some point. The other part of him saw that as a disaster in the making.
Neither of them were really sure of themselves or what the nature of their relationship was going to be. Eventually, someone was going to have to make the first move. It was just a matter of who.
"Okay. Great! Night, Sasuke." Naruko whispers as she snuggles into the blankets.
"Night, Naruko." Sasuke says as he reaches over and turns out the light.
The next morning, came faster than expected. Naruko wasn't entirely sure when she had actually fallen asleep, but she woke up feeling unbelievably comfortable. She was so warm and cozy. She smiles and snuggles further into her "pillows and blankets."
Hmm. Wait. Pillows and blankets weren't supposed to move or blow air on you. What was going on here?
That's when she looked behind her and blushed. Oh. That was why her pillows and blankets were moving and blowing air on her. Her head was currently laying on top of Sasuke's chest. The slight movement that she felt was just the rise and fall of his chest as he breathed and that also explained the slight air blowing on her.
"Oh. Well looks like he's not a morning person." She muses.
The blonde takes a few moment to examine her future husband. He looked completely peaceful when he was asleep. He must be having a good dream, she decides and then her blush grows even more when she realizes where his hands were.
One was draped over her waist and the other was laying over her breasts. She was completely cocooned by his arms. The blue eyed ninja doubted that it was possible for them to get any closer to each other.
"Never would have thought he was a cuddler." She says with a giggle.
"Maybe a little bit. If you tell anyone though, you are never eating ramen again." Sasuke warns her as his eyes slowly open.
"You are such a faker! How long have you been awake?!" She demands.
Sasuke couldn't help but laugh. The expression on her face was priceless. He wished that he had had a camera to capture the moment.
"I don't know. Maybe ten minutes. You were fast asleep. I didn't have the heart to wake you." He tells her.
"And you're cruel! How could you threaten to take away my ramen?! That's just evil. You are such a bastard!" She grumbles and flails.
Sasuke watches her flail. It was wrong, but he was quite enjoying the show. She was such a feisty vixen sometimes.
"I was only teasing. Well mostly. Naruko, calm down. You don't want to reopen your injury and you will, if you keep flailing around like that." Sasuke warns her.
Naruko grumbles, but settles down after he said that. He had a point. She was going to reopen it. It might be relatively minor, but that didn't mean that she wanted to deal with more bleeding. Yuck.
"Alright. Well we should probably go check on Lord Ayaki." She says.
"Mmm good idea. I'll meet you there. You might want to change into something a little more formal than sweatpants and a t-shirt, first." He says as he heads out of the room.
Sasuke chuckles as he hears Naruko swear rather colorfully at him. Yeah. He was definitely never going to be bored with her. There was still a chance that they might kill each other, but at least they'd go down fighting.
"Lord Ayaki, are you awake?" Sasuke asks as he knocks on his door.
Soon enough the door opens. Sasuke blinks when he saw the Lord petting the ninja cats. You would think they were just regular cats with the way they were purring.
"Oh yes. I'm awake. The cats were hungry and wanted feed. I decided just to stay up. How are you?" He asks good-naturedly.
"I'm alright. Naruko is going to be here in a couple minutes. I figured that we could get breakfast and then head off. We have a long day of traveling ahead of us." Sasuke says.
"Sounds good to me." He says and Sasuke nods in agreement.
Meanwhile back in the Leaf, Mikoto says as she prepares dinner. She already missed Sasuke. She knew that the mission was important though. It was a chance for him and Naruko to get to know each other without their families meddling.
To be fair, she did enjoy meddling. What mother didn't? Still she was realistic enough to know that too much meddling could easily backfire.
"Fugaku, I saw that." She says as she lightly swats her husband's hands.
"Saw what?" He asks innocently as he ignores the swatting and proceeds to eat the cookie anyway.
"You are trying to sneak in dessert before you've even had dinner! Honestly, sometimes you are worse than the boys." She says in exasperation as she places her hands on her hips to show that she meant business.
"You only live once. You might as well enjoy it. Besides, Itachi is out on a mission and so is Sasuke. That means there will be extra food. It would be a shame to let it all go to waste." He muses.
She shakes her head in amusement and wraps her arms around his neck. She loved this man. Most of the time, he was a rather serious and dedicated Clan Leader. Occasionally though, he could act like an overgrown Genin. This was apparently just one of those times.
"You are lucky that I love you. I would have hurled a fireball at anyone else dumb enough to steal one of my cookies." She reminds him.
"Oh yes, I know. I'm very lucky." Fugaku says as he kisses his wife.
Mikoto smiles and kisses back. She hoped that somehow Naruko and Sasuke would one day have this. It was an arranged marriage, but that didn't meant that it couldn't become a love match.
"Yes, you are. Shall we invite Kushina and Minato over for dinner?" She asks after breaking the kiss.
"It might be a good idea. We are going to be family, after all." Fugaku agrees and Mikoto nods.
Hopefully, this would work. Things were getting far too tense between the Uchihas and the rest of the Leaf village. If something wasn't done soon, it could end in tragedy. Mikoto could see it coming from a mile away.
"Alright. I'll send out a hawk to them and see if they want to join us." Mikoto says as she quickly pens a note and ties it to the foot of a messenger hawk.
"They really are such magnificent animals." Fugaku muses as he wraps his arms around his wife's waist.
"Yes, they are." Mikoto agrees as she leans back into her husband's hold.
This would work. It had to work. The only other alternative would be to mount a coup. It wasn't as if they could manage to flee with such a large Clan. Naruko and Sasuke were truly their only hope for peace.
"I know you are scared, but Sasuke is a good boy. He'll do the right thing. I'm certain that Naruko will as well. They'll find a way to make this work at least in public." He assures Mikoto as he kisses the top of her head.
"You're right. Somehow, everything will turn out as it is meant to." She whispers as she watches the hawk fly off through the open window and into the sky.
A few hours later, Naruko, Sasuke, and Ayaki had stopped for lunch at a roadside café. Naruko was chatting animatedly with Ayaki about what the Academy was like when a pretty waitress walks over to take their order.
"What would you like?" She asks as she takes out her pen and paper.
"I'll have ramen!" Naruko says excitedly and Sasuke snorts in amusement.
He had no idea how she had that body, when most of her diet consisted of cheap noodles. He decides to pawn it off to good genetics and intense training.
"What are you snorting at?!" She demands.
"You and your obsession with ramen. I'll take a tomato salad, please." Sasuke answers Naruko and the waitress.
"Well maybe you'll develop a new appreciation for ramen, like you developed a new appreciation for orange!" The blonde grumbles.
Ayaki chuckles. Yes, this was going to be a most entertaining journey, it seemed. Certainly, he had never expected his trip to be so eventful.
"I'll have the fish, please." He says simply.
Sasuke feels his face heat up slightly. He couldn't believe that Naruko had brought THAT up. Well it wasn't like Ayaki or the waitress would get the reference, but still!
"Alright. Coming right up. Let me know if you need anything else." The waitress says as she runs her hand along Sasuke's arm suggestively.
Ayaki blinks. Oh this wasn't going to end well. He doubted that Naruko was going to tolerate such behavior. It wasn't as though the waitress had any way of knowing that Sasuke was taken, but still this was going to get ugly and fast.
"Thanks. I'm good though." Sasuke mutters.
The waitress pouts and heads off to get their order. Sasuke didn't think much of it. He was used to such incidents. So he didn't see what was coming next.
"I can't believe her! She totally was all over you!" Naruko exclaims.
"Naruko, she touched my arm. It's not like she tried to jump me. It's nothing." Sasuke says with a shrug.
"I would suggest you go find that other female and let her know in no uncertain terms that your Mate has already been Claimed. Otherwise, this could become an issue." Kurama suggests.
"Oh believe me, it's tempting. She didn't know though. Sasuke did! I can't believe he's not upset or anything about this!" The blonde says.
She didn't like it. Naruko didn't like it at all. Sasuke was going to be her husband. Random women shouldn't be hitting on him. He should have told her to buzz off.
"You're actually jealous of a waitress?" Sasuke asks in surprise.
"I'm not jealous! I just think that you should have told her that you were engaged!" Naruko yells at him.
Sasuke raises an eyebrow. Naruko could deny it all she wanted, but she was completely jealous. He didn't know whether to be flattered or offended that she actually thought the waitress was a "threat."
"You don't have a reason to be jealous. She's not my type and you're my fiancée. That and I doubt she looks anywhere near as good as you do in orange." Sasuke mutters as he waits for their food to come back.
Naruko feels her face heat up. Damn it. He knew that she was jealous and then he had to go and say that.
"I'm really not understanding the significance of the color orange in this conversation." Lord Ayaki says.
"STAY OUT OF IT!" They both snap at him and the Nobleman gulps.
"Right. Right. My apologies. Clearly, this is a lovers' quarrel. I meant no offense. Ah look. Our food is here." He says cheerfully, hoping that would be the end of the spat.
He really didn't want to get caught in the middle of a fight between two powerful ninjas. Two powerful ninjas who were lovers and likely would fight dirty with each other, if things went too far. This could end in a complete disaster.
"Here you go." She says as she leans over and places the food on the table.
"Thanks. Vixen, did you have any idea what venue you would like for our wedding?" Sasuke asks.
If Naruko was jealous, he'd humor her. This way, the waitress would know that they were engaged. Hopefully, she would back off and somehow he would be able to calm Naruko down.
"Oh um I don't know. Did you have somewhere in mind?" Naruko asks.
"Probably outside. It's likely to be a large wedding." He replies and the waitress walks off in a huff.
Ayaki chuckles. Well that was certainly a nice save. He had to give the boy credit for that much.
The rest of the day passes without incident. They continue on their way towards the Cloud Village and decide to make camp in a forest for the night. Sasuke quickly sets up the tents and Naruko makes some clones to keep watch. She really needed to talk to Sasuke and didn't want to get distracted by guard duty.
"There a reason why you just made a dozen shadow clones?" Sasuke asks from his position in their tent.
"Yeah. I didn't want to be neglectful of my duties, but we really need to talk." Naruko says as she enters the tent with him.
"There's a phrase that never ends well. Alright." Sasuke says as he makes room for her.
She felt silly. Sasuke wasn't going to be interested in a civilian, but she had been jealous anyway. Still she wanted to know where she stood with him.
"Maybe I was a little jealous." She admits.
"A little?" He asks dryly.
"Bastard, shut up! I'm trying to apologize to you!" She grumbles.
Sasuke shakes his head in amusement. Well that was Naruko for you. You never really knew what she was going to say next.
"I'm sorry?" Sasuke says in a baffled voice.
"Yeah! That's better. So I guess we should get rings or something. That way random women won't be hanging all over you. It's your fault. You shouldn't be flashing your biceps around like that! Bastard!" She grumbles.
Sasuke shakes his head again. She was definitely jealous and being completely illogical. Somehow though, he found it cute.
"How was I flashing my biceps? I was wearing a long sleeved shirt!" Sasuke counters.
"Well she apparently thought that you were." Naruko mumbles.
He sighs and pulls Naruko close to him. Apparently, he was going to have to act and act quickly. It was cute, but Naruko was feeling insecure about their relationship. So was he for that matter.
"Naruko, I know that we didn't choose each other. You're going to be my wife though. I don't care if some random woman hits on me. That means something to me. You have absolutely no reason to be jealous of her or anyone else. It's cute, but it's really not necessary." Sasuke tells her.
"Well how would you like it, if it had been someone hitting on me?!" She asks.
"I wouldn't like it. I probably would have been tempted to throw a fireball at him or punch him." Sasuke admits.
Naruko blinks. Really? For some reason, that made her happy. She knew that should disturb her, but she was pretty sure he was joking. It meant that he cared though. That was a good thing.
"Oh good!" She says happily, seeming pleased about his answer.
"You're happy that I would want to beat up some guy for hitting on you?" Sasuke asks.
"Well no! You shouldn't beat them up, but I'm happy that you would be jealous. It means that you care." She says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"You're cute when you babble." Sasuke tells her and he brushes his lips against hers.
Naruko's eyes widen when she felt Sasuke kiss her! He was kissing her on the mouth! She kisses back instinctively.
Apparently, that was all the consent Sasuke needed. He deepens the kiss and holds her with one hand by the waist. His other hand quickly undoes her pigtails and he deepens the kiss.
The Leaf Ninja moans quietly into the kiss and melts into it. So this was kissing. Real kissing. It was nothing like the accidental kiss at the Academy. No this made her feel like fire was racing through her veins, but it was a glorious fire. It felt good. Really good.
"Like I said, you're going to be my wife. You have no reason to be jealous." Sasuke whispers, after he breaks the kiss.