WARNING: graphic content, adult/mature readers only. In fact some mature readers may decide this isn't for them. Read at your own risk.

NARUTO and its characters are owned by Masashi Kishimoto.

Tenten strode down the road to the front gates of the village. Two huge scrolls were slung from her back but it was the smaller scroll on her hip that she caressed. She was off on a special mission that always made her feel excited. She lived for these.

The road was tree lined and quiet. Which is how she heard a shy "anoo" coming from a bush.

"Hm? Who's there?"

"Anoo..." repeated the bush.

Tenten turned. "Hey, come on out, I don't have much time. I have to go on a mission."

The bush rustled and finally Hinata stood up from behind it. She was her usual shy, reticent self, staring at the ground and fingers fidgeting over each other. A small, stray twig clung to her hair. "Um, Tenten-san...are you going on a mission?"

"I just said I am." She put a hand on her hip. "I don't want to be late."

"Well, uh, that is...I...um..." Hinata's pointer fingers bounced off the tips. "Tenten-san, is it a special mission?"

Tenten blinked at her. It was supposed to be a secret. "Special mission? What do you mean by that?"

"I mean something that only you could carry out. There aren't many kunoichi like you, right? Your skills are so rare." Hinata's face was heated and she didn't seem able to meet Tenten's eyes.

Tenten held still. Should she be angry? Nervous? Intrigued? "What do you want to know, Hinata?"

"I want to be trained for these missions." She looked up finally and stared into Tenten's eyes. "I want to do what you do!"

Tenten almost scoffed. "You?! Do what I do?"

Hinata stepped forward. "Lady Tsunade doesn't think I can do a seduction mission, but perhaps if I was trained how best to seduce men-"

"Seduce men! Are you kidding me?" Tenten recoiled. How gross!

Hinata stopped short. She was sure she had seen Tenten's name on the list of ninja that were willing to do seduction missions. She was right below... Then Hinata smiled coldly. "I am sorry, I assumed you took missions for both men and women. But you truly are specialized, aren't you?"

Tenten stared at her, mouth hanging open.

Hinata stepped even closer, stopping only a few inches in front of Tenten. "Regardless, Tenten-san, I want you to train me. Will you do that? Teach me what you do with women. I'll be a very grateful student."

Tenten watched the girl cautiously. Her face was serious, her white eyes had a kind of desire mixed with a cold fire in them. It made Tenten eager. Oh hell, it made her want to throw caution to the wind as her pussy tightened at the possibilities. Tenten closed the distance between them and reached up to pull the twig from Hinata's hair.

"I don't know what this is really about, but if you're serious then you'll have to wait." They were face to face and Tenten could lightly feel the front of Hinata's jacket rubbing on her top as the girl breathed. "I'll be back in three days. Meet me at my house then."

Hinata looked into Tenten's warm brown eyes. There was a little more than an inch of space between their faces. She wanted to kiss the brunette but she was sure it would lead to delays for Tenten's mission. "Hai. I will see you then."

Tenten nodded. She could feel blood draining from her face. Never, never would she have imagined this happening. She turned away toward the gates. "I'll see you then!" She stepped away and a grin spread over her face. Her paces picked up until she was jogging and soon she was running, almost laughing out loud.

_m(0.0)m_

Naruto chewed his noodles thoroughly. He then plucked out a piece of pork and began working on it.

"What's the matter, kid, I've never seen you like this." Teuchi had paused in chopping ingredients. "Not since..."

"Father, you don't need to remind Naruto of terrible times. His friend is back home, right Naruto? So why do you look so sad now?" Ayame stirred the ramen pot gently and then turned to the counter.

Naruto looked into his ramen bowl. It was true he wasn't gobbling his ramen like usual. He sighed and put down his chopsticks.

In unison, Teuchi and Ayame gasped in horror and held on to each other. Teuchi reached out a shaky finger. "Y-you-you're not Naruto!"

"What? Of course I am!" Naruto slapped his hands on the counter. "I'm just thinking about something."

"Something more important than ramen? What could that be?" Teuchi looked almost insulted.

"Could it be?" Ayame leaned forward. "Oh my, Naruto, are you in love?!"

Naruto blushed completely. "I-"

Thankfully he was saved by several former classmates barging into the ramen stand. In the lead was a loud brown-haired boy with a leather jacket and a large white dog at his side.

"Shino, you can't tell me that you know women any better than me. Oh hey, Naruto. What's up? Did you order an extra spicy bowl today?"

Naruto said hi and then turned and chowed down on his ramen, effectively hiding his face. Ayame and Teuchi forgot their questioning and returned to their cooking, taking orders from the newcomers.

"Do you see, Sai-kun, you and I are not the only ones eager to feed our youthful appetites with Teuchi-san's masterpieces."

Behind Naruto Rock Lee and Sai had walked up. And then behind them was yet another pair.

"Oi, Sasuke-teme, Sakura-chan!"

"Hi, Naruto!" Sakura sat on one side of Naruto, Kiba and Shino were already on his other side.

Sasuke grunted at him. He sat between Sakura and the wall.

Rock Lee and Sai sat at the other side of Shino. Now the stand was completely full.

Naruto ordered yet another bowl of ramen. I am not distracted, he thought. I'll prove I still love ramen best!

Around him he could hear the others saying hello...

"The youthful flower in bloom, Sakura-san, I have not seen you in several months. Will you not grace my eyes with more of the sight of you?"

"Hello, Naruto. How have you been? Kiba is distracted tonight. That is because a woman turned him down."

"She did not turn me down! Man, you can't believe anything Shino says, he gets it all wrong! I totally scored. Things just got different after that."

"As I was saying, after the night together, the woman turned him down for more. That is because sex-"

"Shut up, you moron!"

"Hello dickless, ugly, traitor. Are you having a fine evening?"

"Ugh, stop calling me that. So Naruto, have you kept up sending flowers to you-know-who?"

"Hn."

Kiba turned to Naruto. "I'm just sayin common sense says she would date me, right? It's men who are only in it for the sex. Women only do it if they like ya. So what am I not getting?"

Naruto slurped the last in his bowl. "I don't know, man. But if you figure it out, tell me. I got the same problem."

"Yeah, really? Some girl let you score with her?"

"Yeah she did, she totally did!"

Sakura sat up straight. "Uh, Naruto, maybe you shouldn't-"

"Oh so that's why you're so distracted tonight!" Ayame cooed. "A girl left you high and dry."

"Whatever, man, you were probably terrible and that's why she doesn't want to see you again." Kiba shook his head. "I know I satisfied her. But then she wouldn't talk to me again!"

"Tsch, no way I didn't satisfy her! And we were already dating! Your problem is-"

"Wait, you were already dating?" Kiba frowned. "No way, you're talking about-"

"Gentlemen," Rock Lee's voice rose. "This is perhaps not the time or place to discuss-"

"Shut up!" shouted both Kiba and Naruto. They both hopped off their stools and faced each other down.

"I'm talking about Hinata, who else would I be talking about! Who are YOU talking about!" Naruto demanded.

"Ugh this SUCKS! I'm talking about Hinata too! You guys broke up, so she should be fine to date me now!"

"What the HELL," Naruto bellowed. "Why would she date you? What did you do to her!?" Naruto grabbed Kiba's shirt. They were in the middle of the street now, growling at each other.

"Screw you, pal! You had your chance." Kiba pushed Naruto off. "I didn't do anything she didn't want. In fact it was her idea!" Akamaru stood between them, growling at Naruto.

"Like hell it was!" Naruto charged Kiba and leaped over Akamaru.

The boys rolled together in the street. They fought and kicked as people stepped out to stare. Akamaru barked and whined, left out of the fight.

At the ramen stand their former classmates watched them. Sasuke frowned. Sakura also frowned with her hands on her hips. Sai stood still with an unreadable face. Shino frowned and few bugs flew around one hand in uncertainty.

Only Rock Lee was at all excited. "Yes, the youthful vigor of men competing for their first love! Is it not moving, Guy sensei?! Sakura-san, the bloom that brought my own youthfulness to blossom, will you not stand at my side as we-"

Sakura had punched him. "No, I'm not gonna stand at your side while these two idiots fight over a girl who doesn't want either of them!"

The fight got to a point where Kiba had Naruto pinned under him, where he had a hand pressed to Naruto's chest. He looked down at the blond under him. There was...just a second. A turn of his head. It caught Kiba unawares. A blue eye that twisted just so and a jaw that moved.

And then Naruto threw off Kiba and jumped to his feet. "Teme! I'll kill-ack, what the hell!"

Akamaru had barreled over Naruto and reached Kiba's side. He barked at Naruto.

"That's right, Akamaru! If you want to make this a real fight, asshole, you better be ready to take on both of us. Right now I was just playing with you!"

"Oh yeah, if that's what you want, I'll whup your ass!" Naruto put his fingers together for shadow clones.

Kiba watched, ready to jump into his favorite jutsu. More Naruto's. That was kind of exciting. He told himself it would make the fight more fun.

Something else knocked Naruto down. He looked up and realized it was his teammates. "What now?"

"Tsch, idiot." Sasuke looked away like something pained him.

"Naruto, you should know better than to fight all out in the middle of the village. Besides, this is a stupid fight to be having." Sakura rubbed her hand and Naruto realized she was the one who hit him.

On Kiba's side a cloud of insects surrounded him and his dog. Shino appeared. "You will not fight Naruto. That is because you-"

"Alright, I get it! Jeez! I didn't mean for it to get out of control."

Sasuke looked over at Kiba as the cloud thinned out. He saw the brunette staring at Naruto. Sasuke frowned like he tasted something bad. "Tsch."

Only Sai remained at the ramen stand. Even Rock Lee stood a little away, nursing a sore jaw. He watched Team Seven. Sasuke stood so stiffly while Sakura helped Naruto stand. From the way he looked at Kiba with anger and then at his own teammates... Sai nodded to himself.

The group started to pull itself apart but halted when Teuchi cried out. "Oi, oi! What do you think you're doing! Get back here and pay for your food!"

Sai tossed his money on the counter and stepped forward to meet Team Seven.

Naruto looked at him and Rock Lee. "So what're you guys doing here?"

Rock Lee answered, "Tenten was assigned a solo mission and Neji is working on clan business. So I came here for dinner, assuming you would be here as well. I found Sai-kun on the same road."

Sai nodded and Sakura jumped in. "See, Naruto, lots of us came here just because you're here too!"

"Yeah, whatever." He tossed his pay on the counter and Sakura, Sasuke and Rock Lee followed suit.

Shino and Kiba waited until they stepped away to approach with their pay. Kiba caught Naruto looking at him. Something electric passed in the glance and he felt his skin prickle.

Sasuke pulled Naruto's sleeve, as if to make him let go of his animosity. When Naruto turned away Kiba felt he could finally breathe. What the hell was that?

Rock Lee walked a short distance with the group and then stopped. "Well then, my friends. I am afraid I must part with you here. My nightly routine of one thousand high kicks, four hundred laps around the village and fifteen hundred crunches must increase due to such a heavy dinner. I need to start at once so that I may sleep enough before my early morning routine tomorrow."

"Okay, Lee-san!" Sakura waved, politely relieved to be rid of him.

"Yeah, bye." Naruto barely looked at him.

"Hn."

The foursome continued walking. Finally Naruto burst out, "Why the hell did you need to pull me off him, dammit? I was finally working out some frustration, dattebayo!"

"Tsch, you idiot. You would have demolished the street along with your favorite ramen stand."

"Mou, but we could have gone out to the field to fight it out."

"Naruto, you should save your fighting for actual enemies. You can spar Kiba, but not if you're so mad you say you want to kill him!" Sakura shook her head. "Of all things, you two fighting over Hinata!"

"But Sakura-chan, you and Ino used to fight over Sasuke-teme all the time!"

"Ugh! Naruto!" Sakura blushed. "That was a long time ago!"

Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at her. He caught Sai looking at him. He looked away.

"Well still. You don't still argue with her sometimes?"

"No! Well, actually..." Sakura grew thoughtful. "I haven't seen Ino in a while. I assumed she's been working or going on missions."

"She's at the flower shop everyday, dattebayo. How can you not go see her?"

"Uh..." Sakura fidgeted. "I just...haven't. We barely got along before."

Sai glanced at the pink haired girl beside him. She honestly didn't know?

"We hung out a little bit a few months ago when she and Shikamaru broke up. But then she went on a mission and I just never caught up with her after that."

Naruto skipped a little as he walked. "Dammit, now I have all this energy. I really wanted to burn it off with Kiba. I should have gone with Rock Lee on his night workout, dattebayo."

Sasuke twitched. "Dobe. If you want to burn off energy then let's go out to the field. We can spar there."

"Yeah?" Naruto looked hopeful and then his face grew serious. "Don't think I'm going easy just 'cause we're sparring. I need to get this frustration out, dattebayo!"

"Perfect." Sasuke practically leered at him. Then they jumped to the rooftops and raced away.

Sakura tsked. "Boys. Why do they have to be that way?"

"Perhaps you are not enough to keep them in place, ugly."

"Ugh, Sai! You better watch your mouth if you don't want to get punched too!"

Sai smiled his fake smile. "Very well, perhaps you should pay better attention to your friends. There is suffering close to you and you seem quite unaware of it."

Sakura glared at him. "What do you mean? What suffering am I not aware of?"

"You are not aware that your friends harbor such pain. Your friend Ino refuses to take missions because of what she suffered on her last one. And the traitor -" Sai held up his hands to fend off the fist that Sakura raised. "Sasuke, I mean. He still carries a lot of pain. Haven't you noticed his eyes, they turn to you and to Naruto. Something has changed between you and it reminds him of pain."

Sakura stared at him and frowned. Did... Was Sasuke remembering his family when the three of them had gone to bed together? And Ino... "Well, I don't have a lot of time for mysteries. Sasuke-kun lost his family so Naruto and I try to be there for him..."

"No, that is not it. Or that is not all of it. I know the look of abuse." Sai looked down for a moment then back at Sakura. "It looks like this." Then his face changed, very subtly. He didn't make a transformation or a genjutsu. For Sai it was immensely unpleasant. He allowed all the feelings he normally pushed deep down to come up and show themselves. He could feel the anger in him encouraging to hit Sakura and force her to understand. But he kept his hands at his sides and held onto pain for just a moment longer, pain and humiliation and more than a little fear.

Sakura gasped and stumbled back. She couldn't explain what she saw. It was Sai. Nothing more and nothing less. But his usually placid face suddenly carried weight and pain and darkness. It alluded to misery so deep it was almost impossible to talk about it.

"Sai..."

Sai's face went back to normal as he put away every single one of his emotions. He was calm and cool again. He smiled. "Do not concern yourself with me. It is my reason for seeking you and Naruto tonight. You are Sasuke's teammate and a person he trusts. Do you understand what that means? Go."

Sakura looked to where Sasuke and Naruto had gone. She looked back at Sai only to find he had already disappeared. She shook her head and followed after the boys.

Next time... back story AND some couplings the header of the story warns about!