(*) = start/end of a lemon scene

5: Coming Home

Shizune was doing her early morning rounds and decided to pop in to see how Naruto and Tayuya were doing after yesterday's confrontation with Tsunade. Even though she knew that her sensei wouldn't hold it against the Genin, Tsunade knew how to hold a grudge.

As she lightly tapped on the door to the room, she opened the door slowly and peered inside. Tayuya's bed was the first things taht entered her line of sight as she entered, and found it empty. For a moment, the young woman began to panic, thinking the girl had made a run for it during the night.

But a light snoring attracted her attention to the corner of the room where Naruto's bed was, and found a sight that she would not soon forget. There, curled up on the bed was the missing redhead...with Naruto curled around her protectively.

Shizune had to bite her lip to keep herself from squealing aloud from the sight of the pair. Tayuya was curled up in a ball with her legs tucked close to her chest while she used her arms as pillows, facing Naruto. The blond himself had his arms around the girl loosely, his chin resting on the top of her head, and a silly little grin on on his face.

Shizune stumbled back out into the hall, nearly laughing as the adorable sight stuck with her, "Oh, what I wouldn't give for a camera right now!" She squeaked, hopping up on her toes excitedly. "Tsunade's going to be sorry she missed this!"

"Missed what, Shizune-san?" Kakashi asked, appearing behind the woman, and startling her.

Giving a startled yelp, she swung her clipboard out instinctively, only for him to catch it easily, giving her a slight eye-smile, "If that had hit me, I'd have been board to death...get it?"

Shizune gave him a sour look, "That's all you could come up with?"

Kakashi shrugged, "Would you rather I pulled you into a broom closet?"

Shizune flushed, but kept her mouth shut. Truth be told, she would have enjoyed such an encounter, but she wasn't about to tell him that. "What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"Can't I come wish my favorite medic good morning?" Kakashi asked, visibly smiling beneath his mask as Shizune swiped at him with her board again halfheartedly, a small smirk on her face.

"Don'y you try to con me, Hatake," she smirked at the man, "I know Tsunade-sama gave you new orders for Team 7, and I bet I know who's going to be replacing Sakura-chan when she's too bone tired from Shishou's training regiment."

Kakashi sighed dejectedly, "Alas, fair maiden has figured me out," he sighed dramatically, causing a giggle to burst from her, "As it so happens, I came to tell the lovely little couple that they are released into my custody to check out the old Uzumaki embassy." He said, smiling, "Legally, all of the propery belonged to Kushina-sama, and, by inheritance, Naruto. It's quite a nice piece of land."

Shizune smiled at that, "That would be wonderful since Naruto-kun lives in that horrible apartment!" She said, beaming at him before she checked her chart, "Tayuya-san is scheduled to have another healing session this afternoon, so you're free to do whatever you want until then. Naruto-kun's pretty much back to normal, but Tsunade-sama's just keeping him here to keep her company since they get along so well."

"Them?" Kakashi asked, jerking his thumb at the door, "Get along? Are we talking about the same pair of noisy gakis that were terrorizing Tsunade-sama yesterday?"

Shizune let a sly smirk cross her face, "Wanna bet me on that?"

"What's the wager?" Kakashi asked.

Shizune shrugged, "It's a win for you either way," she said, smiling up at him while batting her eyes at the masked Jonin, "You'll get your little closet quickie, but if I'm right, you lose the mask, and no Genjutsu this time." She said, and poked him in the chest, "Do we have a deal?"

"Deal," Kakashi smiled, "But I feel bad because there's not way you're seeing my face just yet."

Shizune smirked and cracked the door open again, finding Naruto and Tayuya still asleep, and curled up together. Kakashi poked his head in with a shushing gesture from Shizune, and found his one visible eye widening. "Well, that is surprising...at least we don't have to worry about the Uzumaki clan continuing on if this is any indication."

Shizune nodded, smiling, "It would be nice if Naruto actually had someone like that in his life," she said, stepping out of the room and closing the door quietly, "Hinata-chan is a nice girl, but she's far too timid around him to get anywhere."

"I agree," Kakashi sighed, following Shizune down the hall, eyeing the nearest closet, "Just how early are you doing these check ups, anyway?"

"Hm?" Shizune looked at him over her shoulder, "Oh, I do these about thirty minutes before the nurses do, it keeps me - kya!" Shizune soon found herself slammed up against the wall, "Kakashi?!"

"That just means we've got fifteen minutes before some nosy nurse comes along," he grinned, actually grinned as he pulled his mask down, which made the young woman blush. "What? A promise is a promise, after all."

(*)

Shizune giggled as she reached a hand up to touch his face. As she had thought, his face was very angular, somewhat like his father, only he had more defining features he must have gotten from his mother, such as the little beauty spot just under the left side of his his lips. With his Hitai-ate pulled down over his left eye, even if it was meant to block his Sharingan, it gave him a roguish look to him.

She reached up on her toes and kissed the side of his mouth, "Why do you hide such a handsome face all the time?" She wondered before lowered his head to her lips as he fumbled around for the door knob.

She moaned as he picked her up around her waist with one arm, and pushed the door open with the other, locking it form inside. "So," he said against her lips, "Fifteen minutes?"

"T-twenty," Shizune moaned out, his lips going lower toward her neck, "I-It's a small staff today...oh, that's the spot!" She shivered as he trailed his lips down her neck, moving her kimono out of the way.

Kakashi grinned, "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

A sigh escaped her lips as she hitched her left leg over his hip, pressing him against her, letting her feel just how ready he was. Seeing as they were strapped for time, she decided foreplay was out of the question, unless they wanted an audience. She reached between them and clasped him through his pants, causing his him to groan.

Shizune giggled and parted her kimono for him, granting him access to the mesh top underneath. Rather than go for it, though, the one-eyed Jonin chose to bring both of her legs around his waist, reaching down to free himself, and nudged her underwear out of the way. He wasn't gentle when he pushed into her, her back thumping against the wall of the closet, shocking a laugh out of her as she moaned from his entry, her hands reaching up into his wild hair as he began a quick pace that left her breathless.

Fast and hard, just what she wanted after so long.

"Gods, you're so tight!" He groaned as he moved.

Shizune gasped as he pounded into her, "Y-you've - Aie! - been so b-busy l-lately!" She ground her hips against him in time with each of his thrust, "I-I'm close!"

He grunted in response and kept up his pace, feeling his own release approaching. He crushed his mouth against hers as he ground against her, her inner walls clamping down on him, forcing his own release to burst forth. Shizune mewled against his lips, her body shivering in delight as the pair of them sank to the floor.

(*)

She sighed against him, smiling in satisfaction, "I never get tired of this."

Kakashi chuckled, "You mean getting pulled into closets, or just everything in general?"

"Shizune!" A voice roared, making them both freeze.

"Oh crap!" Shizune scrambled up, desperately trying to fix her clothes, "This is bad! If Tsunade catches us -!"

"I'll be chasing Tora for the rest of my life!" Kakashi hissed, trying to think of a way out of the mess they were in.

"Perfume! I can't find my perfume!" Shizune whimpered as she searched her pockets before spotting the bottle on the floor. She sighed and sprayed herself down to try and drown out any proof of their activities.

Kakashi opened the door and peeked out, "Alright, the coast is clear," he told her, "Let's get outta here before - "

"Before what?" Tsunade said smugly as she leaned up against the wall beside the door.

"Ah!"

"Aie!"

Tsunade burst out laughing as the pair ducked back inside the closet, tapping the door with her knuckles lightly, "Make sure you clean up properly before finishing your rounds, Shizune-chi," inside the closet, Shizune blushed crimson, "and Kakashi, remember to take Naruto and Tayuya to the property like I told you, got it?"

"Yes, Ma'am." Both groaned in embarrassment.

Tsunade chuckled and made her way toward, Naruto's room to wake him, but she couldn't resist at least one more jibe. "Oh, and Shizune?"

Shizune shyly poked her head out of the closet, "Y-yes, Tsunade-sama?"

Tsunade grinned at the woman, "Next time, use one of the empty rooms, they have privacy seals installed to tune out noise." She grinned as a mortified expression crossed the poor girl's face.

"How could I forget that!"

~Fwing~

Naruto and Tayuya looked out over the large compound, the area badly grown up with weeds and small shrubs. "Man, it looks like no one's been here for years!" The blond said, moving a tuft of grass that was hiding a stone walkway. "It'd take me all day to clean this place up even with Shadow Clones."

Tayuya, standing on a pair of crutches, nodded in agreement, "What a dump."

"And it's all yours," Kakashi grinned behind his mask, far more cheerful than he usually was for some reason.

Naruto sighed, looking out over the land again. There was a large shrine at the back of the property that looked in decent condition, but other than that, what few houses there were, everything was in need of repair. The house that would take the least amount of time to fix, it seemed, was a large shinto style building that had two stories, and a rather large inner compound. In the center of it looked to be a large oak tree, probably a garden plant, at least he hoped that was the case since it would be a hassle to cut down such a large tree when it had grown through a house.

"We're supposed to live here?" Tayuya asked uncertainly, "Great...fan-fucking-tastic...I land myself in a powerful clan, and find out the only property they own is an overgrown - "

"Come on, Tayuya-chan," Naruto smiled back at her, "It's just a little work, and we'll have ourselves a nice place to live...way better than that nasty old apartment I lived in for so long."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Are you sure you don't want a few more Genin teams to help out?" He asked, "I'm sure that the others would be more than happy to help?"

Naruto grinned hugely, "Nah, I got this," he said, forming his signature jutsu's hand sign, "I could use the work out from lying in the hospital for so long," he said.

"And running around with Tayuya-chan chasing you was being lazy?" Kakashi asked, his eyebrow raised as Tayuya snorted.

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto roared, and hundreds of puffs of smoke popped into existence. Tayuya looked on in amazement, seeing so many advanced clones was rare for someone as young as Naruto, who was only a year younger than herself, as she found out from Tsuande earlier that morning when it was made known to her that she was indeed an Uzumaki half-blood just like him.

Unfortunately, for some reason that was left unexplained, while Naruto had an insane amount of chakra even without the Kyuubi adding to it, Tayuya had average chakra for the rank of Jonin...speaking of which...

"Why the hell did she have to bust me back down to Genin?" She grumbled as she hobbled through the grass toward the main house where Naruto's army of clones was beginning to clear away the tall grass and fallen limbs from the surrounding trees.

"Standard procedure for a newly inducted shinobi," Kakashi smiled, "Depending on how high your individual skills are, we rank you where we think you would be best at."

"And for me that's the bottom?" Tayuya growled, pissed beyond belief. "I'll be damned if I have to work my way through some pansy ass D rank missions to earn some real cash!"

Kakashi sighed, "Don't worry, my team has some rotten luck when it comes to missions. Our first C rank was upgraded to A within a couple of hours of leaving the village, and the only reason we continued with it was because they all insisted on it."

"Man this place is huge!" One of Naruto's clones laughed as it scurried about inside the mansion, "There's like fifteen bedrooms in this house!"

"Oi, get back to work!" Yelled a clone that was cutting grass, "Don't be a slacker!"

"Look who's talking!" Yelled a clone on the roof that was tossing off broken tiles.

"Hey, we need some stuff to fix the screen doors!" One of the clones inside the house said.

Tayuya shook her head, "Man, those things are useful." She said as she sat herself down on the porch, rubbing her injured leg, "Wonder if I could do it?"

Kakashi shrugged as he watched the clones work, making fast work of the yard as he saw many of them making piles of limbs and grass in cleared off areas. "Shadow Clones are unique among cloning techniques, because the jutsu produces solid clones, and feed information back to the caster when they are destroyed or dispersed. They're really good for information gathering, and training with multiple jutsu."

"Yeah, I know all that," Tayuya sighed, "Orochimaru knows the same technique, but never taught anyone else because he liked keeping them to himself unless he was teaching someone he deemed special." She twirled her finger in the air in irritation. "All I ever got was Genjutsu training, and flute lessons."

Kakashi smiled behind his mask, "Still, that is something that you were regarded as one of his best kunoichi when all you had was Genjutsu to fight with."

"And look where that landed me," she said, stretching her arms above her head, "Got myself blown to hell by a blonde bitch and her lazy ass boy-toy, and now here I am, with a broken leg, and a ticking time bomb on my neck if Orochimaru ever decides to find me."

"Jiraiya is working tirelessly to figure out a way to remove it," Kakashi assured her, "Once he does, you and Sasuke aren't the only ones that will need to be looked after. Another kunoichi in this village was afflicted by the same mark that Sasuke now has on his neck, but apparently it's slightly different than his."

Tayuya looked up at him, "If you're talking about that Anko woman I kept hearing about back in Oto, then I've got a pretty good idea why." She said, "That seal he put on her was the first one he ever used on a live human, and all others that came after that one were different because hers doesn't change her like mine does in the stage three mark."

Kakashi nodded, "I'd almost forgotten that you're classified as a level three seal user," he said, "Have you ever seen one of the seals removed?"

"Actually, I have," Tayuya said, surprising the Jonin, "thing about it is, though, it's not only dangerous, but it takes a long time to do. Orochimaru did it once, successfully, but he was completely drained of chakra, almost to the point of absolute zero. It's the most vulnerable I'd ever seen him until this whole thing with his arms." She said.

"How was it done?" Kakashi asked, but the girl shrugged.

"He used a high level seal that I'd never seen before," she said, thinking back on that particular day. "The subject complained about the seal causing him discomfort, and when Orochimaru had a look, he realized that the mark was incompatible with the host. Normally, he would have left him to die, but the guy had a unique kekkei genkai that he wanted to gain control of once he switched bodies, so he removed in favor of another seal."

Kakashi nodded, tapping his chin as he say beside her, "I see..did you see how the seal worked?"

Tayuya smirked, "Yeah, I did," she said, "when he started, the curse mark just started pealing away in layers. From what I saw, that's the only way to remove the seal without triggering the kill command etched in. It's the first thing to go, and then you're free to have a go at the real mark. But it takes a hell of a lot of time, and even more chakra to use a sealing method like that."

"How many layers would Anko's mark have?" He asked for the woman's sake.

Tayuya sighed and leaned back on her arms, and laid flat on the floor. "Being the first of it's kind, I'm gonna say that it's a two stage mark, instead of a three stage like mine. The first gives you a small power boos while covering the area afflicted by the mark, stage two is the same, except it pushes a drug into the body to keep the user wanting more, and stage three is the full transformation." She gestured to herself, "When I change, my skin turns dark, and I grow horns like an ogre, and I have golden eyes just like Orochimaru does when he's fighting a powerful opponent. All of us in the Sound Four had a refined stage three mark, while others were less so. We were more in control of ourselves even after the drug dose."

Kakashi grimaced as this mark sounded more and more nasty by the moment, "What about Sasuke's?"

Tayuya smirked at him, "Wondering when you were gonna ask," she grinned, "His is a little different than most. Besides the work he did on Anko, there have only been two he gave the Curse of Heaven to, and both of them have had an extremely rare, and powerful Kekkei Genkai. The first was Kimimaro Kaguya, who used the Dead Bone Pulse to make weapons out of his own bones. And the other was your little spazz of an Uchiha."

"What's the difference?" Kakashi asked, puzzled.

She shrugged again, "Every mark has essentially the same three marks," she said, holding up her hand and ticking them off on her fingers, "Obedience, power, and the drug introduction. But when Orochimaru places that particular mark on someone, that means he's chosen that person to be a potential vessel. Those marked with that one have the power bit doubled, making the draw of the mark almost irresistable because the drug being pushed into the system also has a small amount of enzymes from Orochimaru mixed in, making them drawn to Orochimaru himself, not just the power. Removing one of them would cause the mark itself to fight back, making it way too fucking difficult for anyone but Orochimaru to do because the mark would know its master."

"I see," Kakashi sighed, "So, in a sense, Sasuke has a stage four mark?"

"I guess so," Tayuya said, "There are subjects that have the rare stage four on them, but they usually don't live long enough to hold any merit." She said, shivering in recollection, "They became stuck in the stage three form, almost alway going insane with bloodlust, or just plain dying right off the bat. Some of them even turned to stone."

Hearing that, Kakashi almost immediately knew what the 'power' part of those marks were. Senjutsu, that explains a lot! "Are there such cases as a stage five?"

Tayuya remained quiet, sitting up to watch Naruto and his clones. "There...there was one...but there's no chance of something like that happening again."

"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked, curious.

Tayuya sighed, "All of us that have a curse mark change our forms in one way or another. If I had a stage four mark, I'd bulk up like an ogress, probably be taller, and twice as powerful as I was in the third stage." She said, "When Orochimaru created the fifth stage, that part became unstable. The one person that could control himself in that state rose up against Orochimaru, and came really fuckin' close to killing him. See, in that state, say, I used it. I wouldn't look like an ogress, I'd actually be one, in the flesh."

Kakashi nodded, "And, this man, what did he become?"

Tayuya smiled, "The only thing that could ever hope to challenge a viper, is a falcon." She said, smiling fondly, "But even if the falcon swoops down, and catches the viper, it'll still get bitten by the viper and die from it's venom."

The Jonin looked at her for a moment before sighing, "Sorry for bringing up a sore subject. He was obviously important to you."

"Closest thing I had to family until recently," Tayuya said, "he was older than me when we met. I was only seven, and he was already fifteen. Funny thing, he was a samurai from Tetsu no Kuni, and he had a Doujutsu as well."

"Did he?" Kakashi asked.

Tayuya nodded, "It's how he almost beat Orochimaru." She said, "It didn't have a name, and he was the only carrier of it. Orochimaru wanted to use him to breed a new line of Doujutsu users, but he refused. After he received his mark, he fought tooth and nail to keep alive and tried to escape every chance he got. Finally, Orochimaru got tired of it, and went to him. And that's just what he wanted. His Doujutsu forced the target's killing intent back unto themselves, and made them gut themselves whenever he turned his gaze on them. Orochimaru nearly fell right into it, but apparently meeting Uchiha Itachi made him more cautious around people with Doujutsu."

"I can guess what happened next," Kakashi nodded, "what was his name?"

Tayuya smiled fondly as she thought of the boy, "I always used to call him Gen-niisama to annoy him, but his name was Genosuke."

=|Unknown Location|=

Orochimaru ground his teeth in agony as his arms bled in their blackened form, "This is taking far too long!" He growled, "Sasuke will have to wait." He rose from his seat, "Should I take too much longer, that blasted Shinigami will claim the rest of this body just as it consumed my arms!"

He staggered into the hall where he found his white-haired assistant. "Orochimaru-sama, shall I prepare the subjects?"

"Yes," the man hissed in pain, "While I would have liked to have Sasuke as soon as he arrived, it appears the many of the Sound Four have perished." He growled, "I can no longer feel their marks. Only Sasuke's and Tayuya's remain."

"Perhaps they are on their way?" Kabuto suggested, "Who knows? Tayuya-chan could have defeated Konoha's forces?"

Orochimaru scoffed, "I highly doubt that foul-mouthed brat was able to defeat an entire squad." He said, "You said it yourself after sending Kimimaru-kun out, Konoha wanted their precious Uchiha prince back!"

"It's unfortunate, then, that Sasuke-kun won't be joining us," Kauto said, sighing, "I had hoped to examine his Sharingan. I could have used them in my research I took over from that fellow Danzo sent to us...Kido-san, wasn't it?"

Orochimaru grinned, "Yes, his idea of artificial Kekkei Genkai was intriguing," he said, licking his lips, "Such a shame that he was sending Danzo information on us, or else I may have let him live a little longer...now...go down and find me a decent vessel, the strongest one we have, preferably with a Kekkei Genkai."

=x=

Back at the Uzumaki embassy, the area was starting to look like a clan compound thanks to Naruto's hard work. When Tayuya returned from having her leg worked on, it was to find the blond finishing up the yard, and setting fire to a large pile of debris. "Wow, you've really been working, huh?"

Naruto looked up at her and smiled when he saw that she was standing, albeit leaning, on two legs instead of her crutches. "Yeah, I finally got everything cleaned up around here," he jerked his thumb toward the main house, "Turns out this place had some building supplies stored in the cellars, so I got the clones to fix up the inside and get everything ready for us to live here!" He grinned brightly at her, "Great, huh?"

"Fuck, yeah, it is!" Tayuya grinned, "This is way better than sleeping in a cell, or a underground like Orochimaru's compounds!" She said, taking in the area, and noted that all of the tall grass had been taken down, as well as the wild shrubbery, "Hey, you know I could've helped, right?" She said, scowling, "You didn't have to do all the work."

Naruto shrugged, "Eh, no big deal. I worked up a really good sweat, so I feel great either way."

"That's good, I guess," she said, "But I don't like being considered lazy, so next time you try so build or clean, tell me and I'll help."

Naruto grinned, "You're sure in a good mood, Tayuya-chan," he said, laughing when she scowled at him, "Something good happen?"

Tayuya smirked for a moment, and pulled a Konoha hitai-ate from her pocket, "Check it out, Shithead, I'm officially a Konoha kunoich!"

"Hey, great!" Naruto yelled excitedly, "Now you can help us track down Orochimaru!"

"After I get this mark off of me, dumb ass," Tayuya pointed to her neck, "Don't forget that that prick could still control me, or even kill me if I was close enough to him, so no way in hell am I going near him until that old pervert figures out a way to get rid of it!"

Naurto sighed, "Aw, well, I guess we have to wait around on Pervy Sage until he gets his act together." He grinned, "Wanna go grab a bite?"

Tayuya nodded, "I could eat, but can we do something besides ramen? I need something more substantial."

"Sure," he said, smiling, "Akimichi's Barbeque is only a few blocks away, and they never turn me out, and I really wanna hear about how Choji's doing." He said as he made his way toward her, and saw her stumble, "You okay?"

"Yeah, my leg's just a little weak, still," she said, then glared, "I'm not gonna let you carry me if that's what you wanna say."

Naruto smirked, "Aw, you know you liked it!"

"Aw, shut up, fucktard!" Tayuya roared, and began chasing after him as he blurred passed her. "Hey! Get back here!" She roared, tearing after him, her weakened leg forgotten, "What is it with you and running all the time!?"

"I usually don't have angry red heads chasing me!" He laughed.

Things are moving along nicely for our favorite blond, and red-head, but what's going on with Orochimaru? Woooweee! This is gonna be fun!

Don't forget to review!