"How was it?"

"How was what?"

Konohamaru bites his lip in amusement at Hanabi's panicked voice answering her sisters.

"The…beach…?" Hinata asks, tilting her head as they both take a seat with the Uzumaki's at the barbeque restaurant they were about to eat at. He looks over to see her face growing red.

"Hot," Konohamaru interjects, resting his elbows on the table. "Pretty tiring, Hanabi was all sweaty, right?"

He sees her jaw flex, clearly gritting her teeth. He smirks.

"It was fine."

"Just fine?" Hinata asks, curiously. "You love the beach, Hanabi. I thought you'd be excited."

"Oh, she loved it," Konohamaru continues, bumping his foot into hers. "Had a great time, I could tell."

He's not lying, anyway.

And apparently, she really had had a great time, because when they returned to the village, she was rolling in his bed with him more often than he could have imagined.

He'd been told by women that he was good, but to have Hanabi Hyūga visiting him nightly (and sometimes daily, too) made him feel like a damn king.

Suddenly, Konohamaru found himself with Hanabi a lot.

His friends took note.

"Please don't tell me you're fucking Hanabi."

"Wh—what?!" Konohamaru hits his fist into his chest as he chokes on a piece of karaage, eyes blowing wide as he looks up at Moegi.

"Damn, right here, right now?" Udon asks in a joking voice, elbowing Moegi as he pulls his beer to his lips. "Brutal, Moegi."

"Konohamaru," Moegi says, warningly as she eyes him over her beer, "tell me you aren't."

"The hell—" He grabs his own beer and glugs it down, stalling. He sets it back down before shaking his head. "Not your business."

"Oh GODS!" Moegi slams her hand on the table between them, shaking everything on it forcefully. "You disgusting pervert!"

"Nice one." Udon raises his fist towards Konohamaru who glances at it before rolling his eyes. Udon drops the hand. "Is she as nimble as they say?"

"They say?" Konohamaru perks an eyebrow, trying not to let a hint of jealousy cling to his words. "Who says?"

"I dunno." Udon shrugs. "A few of the guys."

"Udon!" Moegi punches his shoulder. "Shut your drooling mouth! None of those guys have ever bedded Hanabi, I know it."

"How would you?" Konohamaru leans back, bringing his beer to his chest, hoping she's right.

"Because Hanabi would tell me," she points out, tapping her chopsticks against her plate, "she doesn't sleep with just anyone. But…you guys have been…"

"Hanging all over each other," Udon finishes, taking a sip.

"We haven't." Konohamaru shakes his head and Moegi scoffs.

"Yeah right. You guys went on that vacation, and ever since, I can count on one hand the number of times I haven't seen you with her." She holds up a finger. "You guys were at the training grounds together."

"Saw you guys go into a movie together," Udon adds, and Moegi lifts another finger.

"You brought her for drinks the other night." Another finger.

"You're offering to babysit the Uzumaki kids a lot more often." Another.

"You guys actually took a mission together last week." Moegi's hand splays out.

"Not to mention the dozens of times I see her trying to be sneaky at your window."

Konohamaru pales. Moegi closes the hand into a triumphant fist.

"Mhm." Moegi looks at him smugly, folding her arms over her chest. "Gotcha."

Udon barks a laugh, pushing his glasses up his nose. "That last one was a lie, idiot."

"Fuck…" Konohamaru mutters, looking away.

"How'd you do it?" Udon inquires, leaning in, and Moegi joins him.

"Seriously?" Moegi pushes as he leans back from their leering gazes. "She hates you. Or hated you, I guess. She would have rather died than let you put your grubby hands on her."

Konohamaru taps his finger on the table, staring down at his empty plate. He brings his beer back up to his lips, contemplating whether to tell his stupid friends anything.

Because, if Konohamaru is honest, he's not even sure.

The past two months had been a whirlwind of passion with Hanabi.

They hadn't officially declared themselves anything concrete. If it had to be described as anything, it would be friends with benefits—even if they hadn't ever really been friends.

And Moegi was a huge proponent that being friends with benefits was a dangerous path, and Konohamaru couldn't help but agree.

Mostly because he was falling victim to those dangers.

Feelings.

"It's…nothing," he sighs, setting his beer back down to pull out his coin pouch.

Moegi gasps, eyes growing wide. "Oh no."

"Moegi…" Konohamaru grumbles, digging for money.

Udon raises his eyebrows, glancing from Moegi to Konohamaru. "Oh, shit. He's…not…"

Moegi leans in. "Falling in love…"

"With…"

"Hanabi?!" Moegi and Udon gasp in unison, pressing their shoulders together.

"You guys are shitty together," Konohamaru huffs, dumping a random amount of money on the table, desperate to escape this encounter.

"No, no, no!" Moegi whines, covering her face as Udon sighs, shaking his head.

"Konohamaru, you're an idiot," Udon tsks, Moegi nodding in agreement.

"He's going to be a crying, heartbroken mess in two months." He hears Moegi tell Udon.

"I give it one."

Konohamaru stomps out of the restaurant and takes a deep breath of air in, pinching the bridge of his nose.

He isn't falling for Hanabi.

Is he?

As Hanabi buries her face into a pillow, her skin is practically burning on her back from Konohamaru's lips leaving trailing kisses there. As he thrusts into her, one hand guides her hip and the other relentlessly teases her clit. Explosive energy is building up in her, and she tries to tell him, beg him—then, suddenly, he's pulling out of her and flipping her onto her back, dropping back onto his elbows and covering her lips with his own.

As he pushes into her again, she lets her muffled moans travel from her mouth directly into his, hooking her legs around his hips. His hand travels down her stomach until it reached her clit again and she keens loudly, his lips leaving her as he braces himself with one hand. She squeezes her eyes shut, clutching the fabric of the sheets underneath them as heat builds in her core once more. "Fuck—Konohamaru!" she whines, hips bucking upwards as she feels it wash over her.

"Coming for me?" he whispers eagerly, and she knows he's admiring her. Every single time he drags an orgasm out of her, he takes her in with his eyes. Seems he really enjoys watching her, and she doesn't really mind, as long as he keeps gracing her with those fingers.

"Yes, yes—" she gasps out, pulling a hand up to grip the pillow under her and bite down on it.

"Gods, you're gorgeous," he groans, fingers still working her clit even as she comes down. "Fucking beautiful."

She pants under him, unable to respond as her other hand wanders to the dip of his back, fingernails digging. She feels herself spasming around him as his thrusts become longer and slower, dragging her slick along himself. She reaches down to push at his hand. "Kono—stop—"

"Really?" he whispers, leaning back in to cover the crook of her neck with his lips, "you want me to stop?"

"With—with your hand—" she whines, grabbing at his wrist, "it's sensitive!"

"Mhm," he mumbles against her skin, digging his teeth in before releasing, "and you feel amazing around me when you come."

"Fu—ah—" She arches her back as his fingers remain there, rubbing deep circles. "Kono—"

"One more," he begs quietly, and she can't even pretend to dislike it, he's just so damn charming, "then I'll stop."

"Fu—fine!" she whimpers, reaching up to wipe at her face, a mixture of tears and sweat on her cheeks. He trails his lips up from her neck to her cheek to kiss them away.

"You're so good to me," he whispers against her cheek, pressing his hips deeply into hers, filling her completely before stilling himself there, fingers still relentless. She pants, pushing her nose into the pillow below her, clenching around him. "Hanabi, I'm fucking addicted to you."

"Shut up," she breathes out, shaking her head.

"It's true." He covers her lips with his and bites down on her lip. She cries out, legs tightening around him instinctively. He releases the lip. "I can't stop thinking about you, making love to you."

"Don't call it that." She digs her fingernails deeper into his skin until they feel slightly wet with blood. He hisses quietly, burying his nose into her hair.

"Why?" he asks, still working her over even as he remains inside of her. "Every day for the past month—"

"It's not—"

"Come for me, honey."

She gasps, whines, twists.

"Come for me," he repeats, pulling himself back up to look at her again, "fuck, yes." His way with pillow talk is so much better than any other guy she's ever been with. He could have her a mess with just a few words and she tries to pretend that pisses her off. As her walls flex and her legs tighten, he runs his fingers through her hair, pulling her face back up to look at him, and she finally opens her eyes, finding his face overcome with hunger. That was the only way she could describe it, the relentless hunger he had for her, for her body and everything she gave him. Then he leans down to kiss her, and she kisses him back. He pulls back just a bit, his lips still teasing hers, and then—"I love you, Hanabi."

"Fuck—!"

Hanabi moans, louder than she had before as she feels herself gush, tighten around him, wet and sloppy, and—what?

"What the—" she gasps out, "what did you—"

"I love you," he repeats, he sounds so sure, "I fucking love you, Hanabi—"

"Get off of me!" she yelps, pulling her hands to her chest, "what the hell—"

"Really?" he breathes, "you don't love this?" She gasps as he pulls out of her and quickly works his way down until he's between her legs, his tongue on her.

"You didn't say that—" she huffs as he drags his tongue along her slit, lips covering her clit. She grabs at his hair and pulls, harshly. "Kono—"

"I fucking love you," he repeats, though it's muffled as he pushes his tongue inside of her, and she has no choice but to dig her fingernails into his scalp. "I love you, I love this—" She bucks her hips into his mouth as he speaks, "—I love your body, your eyes, your smile—" She whines as his finger enters her, immediately curling upwards. "How you talk, how you fight." She grips his hair tighter. "How you look when I'm fucking you."

"Kono!" she moans, urgently trying to bring him up, and he finally relents, fingers pulling out of her with a lewd sucking sound. "Fuck—what are you—" He cuts her off as he pushes himself back inside of her, grabbing her from under the knees to pull her apart as he rests on his shins.

"I don't care—" he pants, the sound of their skin slapping and her moans filling the room, "—I love you, Hanabi."

"Kono—" she whines, pulling the pillow over her face as he pumps in and out of her, until she feels him twitch inside of her and his movements come to an abrupt halt, filling her to the hilt. "Gods!"

Then he collapses on top of her, arms coming around her waist to hold her tightly up against his chest. "I don't care, Hanabi, I really don't—" She tenses up. "I'm in love with you"

"You—you can't-" She instinctively wraps her arms around him.

"I already am," he breathes into her neck, pulling her closer if that was possible. "I'm already in love with you."

"You're an idiot," she sighs, turning her face away. "You're a horny idiot. You're in love with fucking me."

"That, too," he admits, slowly pulling up from her. "But I love you, too. All of you."

"Shut up," she shoots back, forcing her palm into his cheek to push him away. He reaches up to grab the hand and pushes it back into the bed.

"I won't," he inhales, pushing the wrist in harder, "won't shut up until you understand—"

"You're so dumb." She shakes her head, trying to wiggle her wrist away. "Delusional, you just love being inside of me."

"Of course, I do," he breathes, grabbing her other wrist to pull above her head, "I love every single part of you."

"I've treated you like garbage for ten years." She finally looks up to lock her eyes with his.

"I don't care. I fucking love you."

"You can't love me."

Konohamaru pauses to look at her, really look at her.

He hadn't planned on going about it this way, but he didn't even regret it when it slipped out. In fact, he leaned into it.

Konohamaru had always worn his heart on his sleeve, and Hanabi had always poked at that heart in some way or another. He never had expected her to rip it off and take it for her own, though.

For months, they'd been acting like a couple. She was in his bed every night or every other night barring missions. He was taking her on dates, kissing her in public (despite her resistance), and calling her his girlfriend to anyone who asked. And Konohamaru decided that he had in fact fallen for Hanabi.

So as they lay in a hotel bed together after attending some clan leader's wedding that she had been expected to go to (and that she had invited him as her date for), Konohamaru decided now was the time. After watching several haughty men approach her and be swiftly rejected, he had to make sure she knew.

"I can love you," he retorts, leaning down to take her lips with his, and he smirks against them when she returns the kiss. Then he trails his lips down the corner of her mouth, her chin, her neck, reaches her chest and begins drawing circles with his tongue around her nipple. He tightens his grip on her wrists as she wiggles under him, then pulls them together to lock into his one hand. He brings the other hand back down to find her hip and steady her.

"Y—you can't," she pants out, and he decides he wants to hear her panting out her words for the rest of his life. He drags his finger across her hip bone, dipping back between her legs to find her clit again. "Kono, gods!"

That, too. He wants to hear her cursing his name underneath him for the rest of his life, too.

He whispers into her chest, "let me love you," before wrapping his lips around the teased nipple, simultaneously dipping his finger between her puffy folds.

"No-" she exhales shallowly, but he ignores it, instead deciding she wasn't adequately taken care of if she wasn't screaming his name.

So he moves quickly, releases her wrists and pulls his hand from between her thighs, and spreads her wide open. He positions himself against her opening and pushes in, slowly, while running his thumb over her clit, swollen from his relentless teasing of it the entire night.

"F—fuck—" She reaches out for him on instinct. That makes his heart flutter, the way she needs him, and she can't even hide it. He grins, willingly obliging, coming back to rest on top of her again. He keeps his hand between them as he fills her and her arms wrap around his neck, forcing his nose into the crook of hers. "Kono, please—!"

"What, honey?" he mumbles against her neck, trailing his lips to her ear. He connects his lips there, asking, "what do you need?"

"Ahh—" she gasps out as his tongue teases her, his fingers tease her, he teases her. "I don't—I don't—"

He groans into her neck as he feels her tighten around him. "Fuck Hanabi," he grinds out, nearly coming himself as her walls suck him in, "how—" he inhales sharply as her heels dig into his back, "—how do you expect me not to fall in love when—" he feels her nails digging again, "—you're so damn perfect—"

He pulls his arm from her back to drag himself up from her, just enough to capture that pretty flushed face as she comes for him. It's almost unreal how much he enjoys watching her come, almost more than coming himself—but not quite. It really does it for him when he can see her moaning, gasping, struggling to breathe as he works her over, and—

Fuck—

"Come for me," she breathes, coming down from her own high and the words shove him over the edge. When she reaches up to drag her fingers into that spot behind his ear, he groans a deep, throaty groan, leaning into the touch as she whispers, "that's right, good boy…"

Then he collapses.

He might have overdone it when he lost track of how many rounds they had gone because he almost instantaneously falls asleep on top of her.

Hanabi sighs shallowly as she wraps her arms around Konohamaru's neck, letting him be cradled by her as he sleeps.

He had to be going insane.

Drunk off her, maybe. She had that effect on people, she figured.

Let me love you.

"Damn…" she sighs against the crown of his head.

Well, this wasn't what Hanabi expected when she stumbled into the shower with Konohamaru.

Amazing sex? Well, she had heard he was good in bed and he did not disappoint. Someone to drag with her to clan events? He made good company, it was easy for them to banter insults about the posh people who attended them. A sparring partner who actually gave her a run for her money? Hyūga trained with Hyūga and that was terribly boring, training with Konohamaru was fun and he always kept her on her toes (and subsequentially curling them).

But love?

Hanabi couldn't love him, and he couldn't love her, either.

Hanabi has too much baggage and him not enough. She's a mess, and she decided a long time ago, no one should be forced to love this mess. And now that she actually kind of cares about Konohamaru, she's certain she can't let him end up loving her, either. He's actually…kind of sweet.

Not kind of, he is sweet. He bandages her hands for her when he notices she's cut up after sparring, he sweeps her up by the legs and arms to carry up hills, he washes her hair for her and spoils her in bed. If Hanabi didn't know any better, she'd think her heart was melting whenever he did those things. She never thought her heart to be soft and squishy like her sisters until Konohamaru.

And he's not just sweet, he's funny, brave, and surprisingly intelligent. Calling him dumb as rocks was her and Udon's favorite insult for him, but that just wasn't true, she realized. His quick wit stopped surprising her within weeks of hanging around him in some friendly capacity.

When Moegi and Udon began fake-gagging anytime they were together, she knew she was getting too close.

Hanabi gasps and shoves Konohamaru off of her when some deep rumbling comes from his chest.

He also snores.

She couldn't love someone who snored. No, that was simply unacceptable.

Tiredly, she drags herself to the bathroom to get ready for bed, and promptly falls asleep next to him, praying he won't invade her dreams tonight.

Not that he hadn't been in them every night since that day.

Konohamaru chose not to bring it up the next day, decided to let her stew in his confession of love for a little longer.

She'd come around, he knew it. He'd make her come around; he had no problems doing that. She just needed some time, he figured, and that was okay. It had only been around 6 months since that day at the beach, but he was sure of it. He had fallen in love with Hanabi, just like his stupid friends told him.

6 months might not be enough time to convince her, so he'd just have to keep at it. Keep taking her on dates, keep tagging along wherever she went, keep making sure she was satisfied in bed. Being a clan heir must be exhausting, and he would ensure he was there to take a little stress off of her.

So when they go on a relatively relaxed mission together a month later, a delivery, he corners her.

"We have a couple of extra days," he tells her as he grabs her hand, pulling her towards him before she can react. She gasps and stumbles into him, hands pressing up against his chest as she looks at him. He smiles down at her, really enjoying the way she fits just right up against him. He'd dated plenty, but Hanabi was really the first tall girl he had dated, and he clearly didn't know what he was missing. He still towers over her, but it's kind of nice not bending halfway down to kiss a girl. Especially a girl as beautiful as she is. Her beauty had just been lost on him for the last decade because she had been such a mean girl.

"So?" she asks, tilting her head curiously. A little smile ghosts her lips and he leans in to take them with his own. She giggles into the kiss, and he pulls her in closer until her chest is flush against his. That's a good sign. He wants more good signs.

He pulls back just slightly to speak, "so the Waterfall village is less than a day away…we could stay there tonight."

"Oooh." She bites her lip as he pulls back a bit more to take in her pretty smile. "It is very pretty there."

"Like you."

"Oh." she shakes her head, rolling her eyes. "When did you start saying such cheesy things?"

"Ah," he says with a grin, rubbing his nose against hers, "I've always said cheesy things, just not to you."

"I see." She raises an eyebrow. "I should consider myself so lucky."

"Lots of people would think so," he agrees with a nod, leaning in to take her for another kiss before she can return with yet another snarky remark.

Being teased by her had always made his blood boil in the past, but now, it makes his heart feel light.

He pulls away and then turns his back to her, crouching to his knees. He looks back at her curious expression and waves her towards him, "I'll carry you."

"Oh!" She laughs, swatting the top of his head. "I'm perfectly find walking."

"I know that," he clarifies, nudging his head, "but I want to. Please?"

She clicks her tongue, rolls her eyes, but she still has a smile on her face and pink cheeks.

All part of the plan.