Blondage

Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Kishimoto.

Author's notes: The sky is falling! Mwahahahahaha! Now I can pick it up and throw it at you!

-o-o-o-

With a low hiss of displeasure, a dark emerald eye cracked open as the stabbing pulse of sunlight slammed into it and force it shut once more. Eyes tightly ground together, she curled tighter back into the comfortable, warm sheets and the… warm body next to her? Confusion struck then, as Temari frowned and carefully reviewed what her senses were telling her.

Warm, soft, and most definitely naked skin she was currently curling into. Well, entangled with would be a better way of describing it when she realized that with a few tentative pulls and the other person's instinctive tightening of their grip on her limbs. Frowning slightly, she very, very carefully opened a single eye and dared to glance down.

What she saw, made her groan half in resignation, half in disbelief. Pale streams of blonde hair were wild and matted from sleep as they pressed back into her face. Sighing slightly she took a slow, deep breath, before forcing her second eye to crack open as she studied the younger girl in bed with her. The lazy bum's teammate.

Slowly memories filtered into her head then, as she took a moment to close her eyes and breathed in the rather nice and slightly floral scent of the girl's hair. They'd gotten together, to celebrate the survival of everyone who'd been involved in the retrieval. Well, more accurately, they'd gotten together to celebrate Chouji, Neji, Kiba and Naruto's releases from the hospital, as well as a kind of mourning for their lost comrade.

Then Jiraiya had shown up, with a lot of food, a lot of sake, and a strangely solemn look on his face. One toast, had lead to another and another. Jiraiya had left them to their fun, and most likely their own consequences well before anyone had gotten more than barely tipsy, taking the boy Lee with him at his teammate's, and strangely enough, Gaara's insistence.

Things had devolved into a blur after that, though she did blush just a bit as she remembered flashes of dancing and sunny hair. She remembered seeing the first time she could ever recall Gaara smiling, a true, free, and easy smile with the boy who had defeated him such a short time ago. And she'd remembered the way the lazy bastard had taken one look at the look she'd given him, and practically run away.

The anger and pain that she'd felt from that rejection had hit a moment later. So, she'd drunk, and drunk more, and poured out her frustrations to the girl she was in bed with now. Then, they'd danced, and made the boys drool. A part of her smirked just a bit at the memory, the feeling and the reassurance, that despite everything, she still had what it took to get a guy's attention.

Then the memory followed its natural progression, and she frowned. She managed to worm one arm free, then carefully ran her arm behind her. There was an indention there, a lingering warmth that had almost gone completely cool. Gone.

A part of her was outraged, furious, hurt and insulted. A part of her even felt used and betrayed. But still, she focused her mind and slowly, made herself consider the facts despite the blinding pain of the headache throbbing between her temples, and the way her body just ached. Anger, frustration, aggression in a way that was completely foreign to the third member of their little tryst. All of it had come loose last night, and there was a chance, a rather large one in fact, that guilt had driven them off.

It was the kind of thing they'd do after all.

Sighing softly she leaned down and lightly nudged the girl next to her. "Wake up."

"Mmm... dun wanna, warm." The mumbled response came back as the girl snuggled back up against her in an almost kittenish manner.

"Yes, yes. I know all about how comfortable it is, but it's time to get up."

"mmm... ow.... hurts." The girl's whine made Temari wince slightly as the sound assaulted her ears.

"Not so loud..." Temari hissed back as she winced at the sound pulsing out of her bed companion's mouth.

"Owwww.... Yeah... too loud." The other blonde agreed after a moment, before blinking slightly as her deep blue eyes slowly fluttered into focus and she blinked slightly at their position. "Um... Temari...?"

"Yes, blonde teammate of the lazy jackass who ran from me, whose name I can't remember at the moment?" Temari drawled back with a slight smirk, even as she winced slightly.

"... Ino." The girl in question glared slightly back at the girl before wincing as her head throbbed slightly and she furrowed her brow in concentration. "And... he did do that didn't he...?"

"Yes." Temari agreed with a slight growl, before a slight smirk curled on her lips. "Hence the large amount of sake, the dancing and...."

"Dancing..." Ino paused a bit before blinking slightly as the memories hit her. "Huh, the guys really drooled didn't they?"

"Well, most of them." Temari's lips quirked just a bit as she remembered the look of horror on one of her brother's faces and the look of detached neutrality on the other, before her eyes flashed as she recalled the final person to join their dance.

"Huh?" Ino blinked slightly as her brow furrowed just a bit in concentration before her eyes widened in remembrance. "Oh… oh shit!"

"I think that's why it's just the two of us now." Temari agreed before rolling just slightly onto her back, and pulling the slim, smaller girl onto her chest. "See?"

"Oooow… No more sudden movements." Ino whimpered softly and glancing towards the rest of the bed. "Dammit, first Sasuke-kun now…"

"Well, thinking logically, I can't exactly…" Temari paused wincing as her own head throbbed. "Ow… Fuck. One helluva way to lose your virginity."

"Oh… oh…" Ino's eyes widened in recognition and she blushed brightly as her eyes widened in shock. "Oh sweet kami… I… I was saving myself for Sasuke-kun! Daddy… Daddy's going to kill me!"

"Ugh, quieter, girl, quieter." Temari let off a slight whimper of pain despite herself at the girl's suddenly rather loud voice. "And… what the hell? The Uchiha went traitor, girl and you're still pining for him?"

"He's… he's just confused." Ino spoke up quickly as she shook her head was the denial was obvious in her words.

For a moment, Temari said nothing, staring at the girl atop herself who couldn't bring herself to meet her eyes, mulling over the options in her mind before speaking slowly. "Right… confused. Confused enough he used the same move he used to hurt Gaara on his own teammate, who was trying to bring him back."

"Wha, what?" Ino's eyes widened in shock before she started to shake her head in denial only for the sudden motion to send a swell of pain into her skull. "Sasuke… Sasuke-kun wouldn't do that! Not to his own teammate!"

"Ugh, I shouldn't have said that." Temari groaned softly as she reached up and disentangled her arm from Ino as she rubbed her temples. "Aw, fuck it, I'll just drag your ass down to crazy lady and let her yell at me and explain things to you."

"Wh-huh? Crazy lady? And shouldn't have said that?"

"Mission details, fuck I'm never getting this drunk again." Temari hissed slightly and waved her hand. "Yeah, crazy lady, about so tall, breasts the size of watermelons and with a temper that…"

"Craz-… Tsunade-sama?" There was another of those shrieking cries of disbelief as both girls then immediately winced at the pounding in their heads. "Owww… Don't call our Hokage crazy."

"Girl, this whole village is crazy." Temari groaned softly as she shook her head a bit. "Now, come on, let's get a shower and go see your big boss."

"Ugh… where are we even?" Ino grumbled as she slowly looked around.

Temari blinked slightly before she shrugged her shoulders slightly. "You know what? I have no idea… but we still need that shower unless you want to meet up with your Hokage smelling of sake and…"

"Right." Ino groaned softly before blinking slightly. "Who's going first?"

"Who said we'd be taking turns?"

"Wha… Eep!"

-o-o-o-

"Um, Tsunade-sama? There are two genin kunoichi that say that they need to see you." Shizune spoke up as she glanced carefully through the door at a less than pleased looking Hokage. "One of them is Temari-san from the Suna team and the other is Shikamaru-san's teammate."

"What do they want?" Was bitten out with a growl as Tsunade eyed her apprentice warily.

"Um, Temari-san said something about hangovers, pillow talk and mission details?" Shizune answered helpfully before glancing back over her shoulder as she heard the guilt hiss of breath that left Temari's lips.

"… Joy." Tsunade sighed slightly and made a vague gesture with her hand, waving for Shizune to let them in.

Temari entered first, her still damp hair devoid of the usual four tails and her fan missing from her back as she favored as she gave the Hokage a brief nod of acknowledgement. "Hokage-sama."

"Right, what is it this time?" The tone of annoyance rippled through the air, and caused Ino to immediately turn her head and glare at Temari

"This time? What'd you do before?"

"I didn't do anything." Temari answered stoically as she locked her eyes with the Hokage without even glancing at Ino. "Right, Tsunade-sama?"

"She crushed Jiraiya with her fan for peeping on her." Tsunade countered with a bemused chuckled. "Then launched him across the village, got a respectable distance with it too. I don't think I threw him that far until we were at least 20."

"Wind helps." Temari admitted with a slight shrug of her shoulders before finally hanging her head just a bit as a slight flush crept up on her cheeks. "I have to apologize, Hokage-sama, I accidentally divulged mission specifics to Ino here."

"Accidentally?" There was a note of skepticism in the woman's voice as she regarded the girls in front of her. "And how exactly do you accidentally divulge mission specifics?"

"Being naked, having a massive hang over, her laying atop me and talking about Naruto." There was a pause before Temari reluctantly added almost absentmindedly. "And the traitor."

"Will you stop calling Sasuke-kun that?" Ino hissed slightly with a light growl as she glared at her companion.

"No." Two voices chorused in answer to the youngest female's question before Temari and Tsunade glanced at one another.

"Sasuke Uchiha is a traitor." Tsunade stated without an ounce of room to argue the point as she glared at Ino. "That is a simple fact. The one and only reason I haven't branded him a missing-nin with a kill on sight order is Naruto."

"How the hell he can want that after what that… boy did to him." Temari snorted loudly as she crossed her arms about her chest.

"What do you know about that?" There was a snap as Tsunade's eyes locked onto Temari's and narrowed into slits.

"I was there when his instructor brought him in, the rain didn't wash the blood out of his clothes. Wasn't too hard to figure out what happened after I talked to Shikamaru and Gaara." Temari shrugged her shoulders just a bit and canted her head to the side at Tsunade's unreadable look. "What? You know I'm more than just a pretty face."

"You've also got a talented tongue from what I remember." Ino quipped without even thinking, before paling dramatically as she realized just what she'd admitted to.

"Thanks." Temari offered with a dry smirk. "Yours wasn't too bad yourself, but you're better with your fingers."

Tsunade twitched slightly before glaring at Temari. "You, I can't do anything to... but as for you!" She wheeled around and jabbed her finger at a suddenly 'eeping' Ino. "Are you ASKING to be transferred to the seduction and infiltration corps?"

"I'm a combat kunoichi!" Ino immediately protest, violently shaking her head.

"Since when?" Temari snorted softly and rolled her eyes at Ino's sudden blushing glare. "You did more on your back than I ever saw you doing in the chunin exams."

"Why you..." Ino's eyes flashed as she glared back at the girl she'd woken up with.

"If you two are finished with your little lover's quarrel?" Tsunade cut in with a sigh even as she fought back the urge to smirk at Temari's barbs. "What exactly are you two doing here."

"She needs the disclosure on the mission, and to be reminded why she shouldn't go blabbing it around for everyone to hear." Temari jerked her thumb towards Ino before pausing as she reached up and lightly ruffled her own hair. "Then we need to ask where we can find someone."

"And exactly why am I giving a disclosure to someone who wasn't a part of this mission, on the orders of a foreign genin of all people?" Tsunade hissed with narrowed eyes as she glared back at the girl.

"Because both her teammates were involved in it? Because all 11 of them seem a pretty close knit group..." Temari paused, before frowning slightly. "Well, other than the little Hyuga girl. She just kind of eeps and hides in the background."

"That's Hinata for you. She likes to just stare and drool over Naruto." Ino smirked slightly, before frowning just a bit and shrugging. "You should've seen her while we were dancing."

"I did." The dark growl that left Temari's voice made Ino snicker and Tsunade blinked slightly in confusion.

"Wait, the Hyuga heiress has a crush on Naruto? MY Naruto?" Tsunade spoke up for clarification as her eyes took on a speculative gleam.

"I think we're getting off topic." Ino cut in as she saw the spark starting to flash across Temari's eyes. "I know that everyone went to get Sasuke-k-, Sasuke back... and they weren't able to. I know a lot of people that went on the mission were hurt, badly..."

"Chouji, Neji, Kiba and Naruto all nearly died," Tsunade said seriously as he slowly shook her head and frowned. "So did Lee and Gaara in fact. It was only because their opponent died from sickness that they survived."

"Well, at least it helps remind Gaara that he's human after all." Temari noted before frowning slightly. "What I want to know... is how the HELL did the Uchiha beat Naruto?"

"Why is that so hard to believe?" Ino finally growled out as she glared at Temari. "Sasuke was the top rookie of our year! Naruto was the dead last!"

"Dead last?" Tsunade snorted softly as she reached into her desk and pulled out a small bottle of sake and took a sip. "The kid who mastered the Rasengan in a month? The boy who mastered the Shadow Clone in hours? That Naruto?"

Ino immediately flushed slightly at the Hokage's almost condescending tone before blinking just slightly. "Well he was! And... Rasengan... why do I know that name?"

"... I know I should know it, but..." Temari frowned herself before shaking her head. "Can't say."

"One of Fourth Hokage's favorite, original techniques." Tsunade offered with a slight smirk. "One that took him over three years to develop, one that took his teacher, Jiraiya over a YEAR to master himself."

Temari blinked a moment, before whistling slightly in surprise as the realization sunk in. "Damn. Now that is impressive. So... How did the kid who did that, can summon the Toad Boss, and beat Gaara into being a real human being end up as the dead last?"

"... Wait, summoned the Toad Boss? Beat GAARA?" Ino stared in shock at Temari. "I thought... that was Sasuke!"

"Huh, the brat summoned 'Bunta?" Tsunade smirked slightly as she leaned back just a bit and took another sip. "And that old thug listened to him? And he beat Gaara huh? Well that clarifies that question. No one ever really reported on what happened."

"Gaara..." Temari paused, before taking a slow, deep breath. "Gaara unleashed Shukaku. Even let him take over eventually. Naruto... Naruto still beat him."

"Shukaku?" Ino asked questioningly as she stared over at Temari uncertainly.

"You'd know him as the Ichibi." Temari clarified before shrugging her shoulders slightly and pursing her lips at the dumbfounded expression on Ino's face before she turned and glanced at Tsunade. "What, didn't your academy teach you about jinchuuriki?"

"Nope, they don't." Tsunade answered the question as she took a slow sip. "At least around Ino's age they didn't."

Both girls turned and stared at Tsunade, one in disbelief, one in confusion as Temari spoke up. "Why the hell not? Every major village has one, other than Konoha!"

"Not true." Again, another sip of that sake as Tsunade glanced down into the sake for a long, quiet moment. "Mist lost theirs when he was killed and the Sanbi escaped. It's somewhere along the coast line last we heard. Stone had two, but one of them has been a hermit for a long, long time. Cloud has two, and Waterfall has one."

"... How the..." Temari stared incredulously at Tsunade who gave her an almost patronizing look in response.

"Girl... I'm a Senju. My grandfather was the one who gave the demons to those villages in the first place." Shaking her head, Tsunade took another quiet sip. "You think he didn't leave us means of keeping track of them?"

"... Oh." Temari blinked a moment, then blinked again. "I thought they went..."

"They did." Tsunade glanced down at the bottle in front of her. "Suna still got the Ichibi all on their own though."

"Ah... Huh?" Ino spoke up confusion evident on her voice as she glanced between the two.

"Jinchuuriki are people who are used to restrain demons." Tsunade spoke up softly as she glanced down into the bottle. "They are living prisons, who keep those around them safe from the demon's wrath, while in turn, they are generally able to harness at least a portion of their prisoner's power." She slowly clenched her free hand, knuckles audibly cracking. "And in exchange for keeping their people safe, they're ostracized, feared, and hated as if they were the demons themselves."

"Which, apparently isn't too good for their mental stability." Temari noted dryly as she shook her head. "Imagine that. Of course… doesn't help when they're TRYING to turn them into a weapon."

"Wait… so, these jinchuuriki have demons sealed inside of them…" Ino slowly frowned as she glanced at Temari. "Including your little brother… Who is a bloodthirsty…"

"Was a bloodthirsty." Temari corrected quietly before shaking her head and glancing at Tsunade. "That Naruto… He changed Gaara. I don't know how, but he reached him."

"He's good at that." Tsunade noted with a faint smile on her lips as she nodded her head quietly.

"Exactly how much power do they have?" Ino asked with a slow hesitation in her voice as she glanced between the two other blondes.

"Well, Gaara has the Ichibi, the weakest of the tailed demons." Tsunade as she took a slow sip from her sake. "Extrapolate from there."

"I don't even want to think about what the Hachibi jinchuuriki can do." Temari shuddered slightly. "Let alone with a Kyuubi one could be capable of."

"That's… that's a lot of power." Ino whispered softly as her eyes grew wide.

"Yes, it is." Tsunade agreed even as her eyes narrowed into slits at Temari. "But, they're human. A fact that far, far too many people forget, and like all humans, they evolve based on the people they interact with. If there's no one to ever tell them they're anything but a demon and a monster…? What do you think they become?"

Ino blinked slightly before she slowly went over everything she knew about the workings of the human mind, and winced visibly. "Ow. Just… ow. So, basically people treat them like pariahs, then point their fingers and go 'See see?' when they turn into what they made them?"

"Mhm." Tsunade took a sip and shook her head again. "I've met jinchuuriki that were rabid beasts that needed to be put down because of how they'd been twisted by the people they were protecting, and I've met jinchuuriki that were the brightest souls I've ever met."

"So, again… I still wonder how the hell the Uchiha managed to beat Naruto." Temari clarified as she glanced at Tsunade again.

"He was trying to bring him home, safe and sound. The Uchiha had no such compunctions." Tsunade answered with a shrug. "Add in that the Uchiha had apparently fully surrendered to the Cursed Seal of Heaven that Orochimaru placed on him, and fully matured his sharingan?"

"Ow." Temari winced slightly before shaking her head. "And he put that Chidori technique into Naruto's chest."

Tsunade's face immediately darkened over as she gave a curt nod and a slight growl. "Yes, he did."

"Sasuke… a… a…" Ino stuttered slightly as her eyes went wide, staring in disbelief at Tsunade. "But, Sakura never told me…"

"She doesn't know." Tsunade shook her head and glanced out the window, looking back over the village. "She doesn't know how close Naruto came to dying."

"But… he seems fine!" Ino immediately protested. "Chouji, Neji, Kiba, you can tell they were almost dead, but Naruto is bouncing around like he always is!"

"Naruto inherited a healing factor from his father." Tsunade answered quietly as she kept her eyes staring out across the village. "Without it, he would have bled out and died at the Valley of the End just like my grandfather did."

"Naruto… Heals?" Ino blinked then stared, blinking slightly in surprise as she stared at Tsunade. "How fast?"

"According to Kakashi, he once stabbed the back of his hand with a kunai to bleed out poison, rather messily at that. Less than a minute later it was almost healed." Tsunade pursed her lips slightly before shaking her head. "By the time Kakashi brought him back from the Valley, he was already most of the way healed. If you didn't see the blood on his jacket, shirt and skin, you'd never know he was injured."

"I did." Temari stated simply as she stared towards Tsunade, before wincing slightly. "And I apologize for revealing that information."

"Meh." Tsunade waved her hand slightly. "Don't do it again." She turned her head before glaring sternly at Ino. "Her, I can't do anything about, you though? Do I need to… clarify what I'll do to you, Yamanaka, if you so much as breath a word of this to someone not authorized to hear it?"

"No, Hokage-sama." Ino agreed with a nervous gulp as she watched the woman glaring at her.

"So, you said you needed help finding someone?" Tsunade arched a brow back towards Temari.

"Yes," Temari agreed, before shifting and blushing slightly. "You see… when we, um… went to bed last night, there were three of us. When we woke up, there were only the two of us."

Tsunade stared at the girls for a moment, before blinking, then blinking again before a slight snort of amusement left her. "So, basically you two got into a ménage a trois, and but the third person up and ran off before you two woke up?"

"Well, knowing them, I'm not exactly surprised." Temari agreed, even as she blushed again and nervously glanced around as Ino did the same. "More that they completely and utterly freaked out I think."

"That sounds about right." Ino agreed, before frowning slightly and crossing her arms about her chest. "Still doesn't make it right though."

"Kids." Tsunade rolled her eyes a bit and smirked as she sipped her sake again before settling it down on the table. "All right, who do you two need to find?"

Ino and Temari glanced at one another for a moment, before blushing again as they spoke up in unison. "Naruto."