Naruto would have put up more of a fight if she'd known where this was going, but by the time the girls looped her in, having lured her with promises of 'some solid girl bonding time,' something she'd been longing for for years, Ino and Sakura had locked their arms around her own, and she was trapped between the two taller girls as they simpered reassurances to her, nearly yanking her off her feet when she dug in her heels as the storefront for Yuki's Intimates came into view.

"I don't need a bra," she protested, panicking.

Hinata shot her a sympathetic look, but Ino was having none of it. "Don't be stupid, Naruto. Sakura noticed while you were sparring, that means you definitely need a bra. Even if they're small. I promise you'll feel better once you're in one."

Her face was red and her fight or flight was in full gear, even as she privately admitted the girl was probably right, and that training with her breasts bouncing painfully was less than ideal. But the thought still terrified her—not owning the bra necessarily, but figuring out what she needed sounded absolutely horrible. She sagged in relief as they approached the door, seeing they were closed after 3 on Saturdays, and she tried unconvincingly to sound disappointed as she said, "Oh, gee, they're closed, guess we'll have to try again some other time—"

Sakura rolled her eyes and huffed as a giggling Tenten opened the door. "Oh, c'mon, you're going to pick right now as the time to become observant? I thought you'd want some privacy, and my mom is friends with the owner, so I asked her to stay open late for us. Come on." Her surprise at how thoughtful and sweet that gesture was blindsided Naruto so much that she was herded through the door without putting up anywhere near the fight she'd been gearing up for, and then she froze as she was confronted with an entire store full of lace and ribbons and straps and—

Sakura grabbed her by the collar and pulled her back when she tried to flee, calling sweetly to the concerned shopkeeper, "Sorry, Yuki-san, she's just nervous, thank you so much for letting us in!"

Naruto found herself being shoved into a changing room, but the door stayed open as the girls crowded around her. Sakura was all business among the giggling girls as she spoke softly but insistently to her. "Here's how this is going to work. Either I can measure you, or we can pull your shirt tight and let Ino eyeball your measurements, which sounds weird but I swear she's a genius and she'll get the right size and style on the first or second try." Breath coming in little gasps and her fingers shaking, she tried to calm down, but she couldn't get her breathing slow enough to try to count her breaths, and—

Someone took her hands gently, and Naruto opened her eyes, unsure when they'd closed, and found she was looking into Hinata's hypnotic, kind face. She let herself be soothed by the girl's quiet voice as she assured her, "Naruto, it's okay. Your body is safe with us. We won't look at you with judgment. I swear. We're here because we love you, and because girls need to look out for each other. We're doing this because you need it to be done, for your comfort and safety. Okay?"

Naruto squeezed her fingers, breathing slowly through her nose. "Okay," she agreed shakily, and Hinata offered her one of her signature sugar-sweet, gentle smiles.

Hinata held her hands tighter when her breath started to pick up again as Ino declared, "Well, fair is fair," and started to take off her own shirt. Naruto shut her eyes tightly, and listened to the shuffling of clothes as Ino demanded the other girls follow suit. She didn't open them until she flinched and drew back when Ino declared, "Okay, now it's your turn."

Naruto looked warily around at the other girls, at their bare arms and stomachs and backs, and distantly realized she was the only one of them that wasn't dressed in civilian clothes today. They were all looking at her with trust, and affection, clearly secure in their faith that Naruto wouldn't judge them, either. That was what she'd been wanting for years and years, for girls to like her and be her friend. And their underthings—their bras, she should probably get used to saying it—were really all very pretty, some delicate and lacy and others practical and colorful. She was startled by Hinata inhaling deeply through her nose and pulling off her own hoodie, looking quite uncomfortable with her face very red as it came back into view. "You don't have to—" she started, but the girl shook her head resolutely and smiled at her.

"We're in this together," she insisted, and Naruto shut her eyes tightly as she let Hinata's fingers grasp her zipper, undoing her jacket and pulling it gently from her stiff shoulders. She kept her eyes closed and held her breath as the shy girl stepped around her and gathered the fabric of her oversized tank top in her hands, pulling it tight against her body.

There was a brief silence, broken by Tenten saying, "Well, I was not expecting that," punctuated by Ino's low whistle, and Naruto was not having a good time at all.

"Damn, Naruto, you're packing heat," the blonde complemented her, making her cringe into herself. "That's a 30 triple at least. That cannot have possibly been comfortable to carry around with no support. I'm surprised your back doesn't hurt."

Hinata let go of her shirt, and Naruto was able to breathe again, crossing her arms protectively over her chest and still refusing to open her eyes as Sakura soothed her with a hand on her back. "You're doing great," she said, and then followed up with, "I'm going to go stop Ino from bringing back lingerie, will you sit with her, Hinata?"

When they were alone, Naruto finally opened her eyes, wiping at the wetness that had gathered there, and that trembly, ashamed, fragile feeling still hadn't left her. But Hinata looked so worried that she forced herself to smile and joke softly, "I always wanted to be closer to you guys, but at what cost?"

Hinata's eyes were fond. "I've been telling them for months that we should invite you to things more, they kept saying you wouldn't want to do things with us because you were too much of a tomboy. I think they're really excited to get to know you as one of the girls, honestly. I know I am." Her blush intensified, and she concluded softly, "I've always really admired you for how insistently you were yourself, and how brave you are. I admire you for how brave you're being right now, too."

Naruto didn't know how to respond, didn't have time to figure it out, because Ino was bustling back in with an arm full of little scraps of fabric that made her heart rate pick back up, pulling one of the garments out and saying, "I'm pretty confident, but I'm gonna need you to let me see you in this one to make sure it fits. Want me to kick everyone else out?"

Defeated, Naruto just nodded.

…

One harrowing hour later, Naruto was approaching the check out counter with a blush she was worried had become permanent, only walking because of Sakura's hand between her shoulder blades, urging her forward. She felt weird, and constrained, but even she could admit that it was nice to not have anything bouncing or moving or hurting while she walked.

Ino handed over the tag for the bra she'd been ordered to walk out in—a comfortable but fancy-looking garment, the supportive part close to the color of Naruto's skin but with an overlaid black lace portion which extended up to her shoulders and showed bare skin underneath—and Naruto shyly placed the others on the counter. Three were sports bras—"Trust me," Tenten had insisted, "When training is going hard, you won't want to wear it for a third full day straight."—which Naruto really didn't mind so much because they covered her cleavage and had thick straps, and one was a plain, practical tan without any frills, but the other two… Well, they were both black and lacy as well, one a "push up" according to Ino, and the other a "racer back" that clipped together in the front and covered far less of her breasts than the others.

She was grateful the ordeal was over, but then the nice older lady behind the counter said, "I'm running a special, matching underwear comes free for two sets when you by three bras," to Ino's delight and Naruto's intense nausea as the other blonde skipped away and returned holding little scraps of black lacy fabric she refused to look too closely at. She was finally given the total, then, and it was a lot, more than she was expecting, but still easily less than half of what sensei had given her, seemingly having emptied out his wallet in his tipsy attempt at being a good guardian.

Sakura's eyes widened when she pulled out the bundle, and she said something that attracted Naruto's suspicion immediately: "Wow, sensei gave you a lot." Which was strange, because how did she know the origin of the cash? She'd put it away discretely, and she and sensei had been far away when he'd given it to her. What if— "There's enough here to go replace your hideous orange jumpsuit with something more sensible for a kunoichi. The shops are still open, we should go."

"Please no," she begged as she handed over an appropriate amount of cash and was given change in return. "Please, this was a lot, I don't think—"

Ino interrupted her with a wickedly excited smirk. "Oh, yes, we should, while Naruto-chan is still beaten into submission. Great idea, Sakura."

…

Kakashi hadn't gotten what Kurenai called 'sloppy drunk' in years, but considering he'd needed Guy to escort him home with an arm around his back to keep him upright, he'd achieved exactly that. He'd had no idea how stressed he was about Naruto, and her well-being, and his intense feelings for her, until alcohol had alleviated that stress a bit and made him want more. Even upon arriving home, he'd fished the brandy out from under his bed and poured himself a glass on the rocks, which he sipped at while halfway dozing on the couch, wondering when his young charge would be getting home, and hoping that Sakura's mission had been a success.

He was not at all prepared for Sakura to bust into his house without knocking, Naruto dragged behind her begging for something—he wasn't sure what—not to happen, and look at him just after he'd managed to pull his mask back on and say, "Where's her bedroom?" with no preamble or greeting whatsoever.

Kakashi gestured with his glass, blinking as he tried to catch up. "First door on the right," he said, and the girls were off, with no other communication aside from Naruto's mutinous, betrayed glare, thrown at him over her shoulder.

He wondered vaguely what was happening, and even more vaguely if he should intervene, as he heard thumping, yelling, and pleading emit from Naruto's bedroom. "You're being dramatic," he heard Sakura yell. "Shut up, it's not the end of the world, now take off your damn pants." And oh, man, yeah, maybe he should intervene… But he didn't, morbidly curious to see where this was going. It didn't take long for the ordeal to seemingly end, Sakura emerging from the girl's room with a large bundle of orange fabric in her arms as she called over her shoulder, "One week, I swear! If you want your jumpsuit back in a week, we'll call it done, but give that a chance! You look adorable, it's way sneakier and more practical, it's not so loose that enemies can grapple you with it… it's an improvement!" Then, seeing Kakashi on the couch with a bemused expression and a drink in his hand, she rolled her eyes and said, "Don't let her stay in there too long, okay?"

Then she was gone, and silence fell over the apartment. Kakashi wasn't sure what to do, so for a minute or two, he just let the silence stretch. Then, thoughts muddled and with no particular plan in mind, he hesitantly called out, "Naruto?"

"I'm not coming out!" she threw back instantly, and the stupid, drunk part of him that was currently holding the reins thought, Well, I'll come to you, then as he pushed to his feet, glass in hand.

The door wasn't quite closed, so just a palm against it caused it to swing open, and Kakashi leaned most of his weight against the door jam, crossing his arms over his chest as he considered the girl sitting on the floor with her head in her hands. "Huh," he said. "New clothes. Let me see."

The look she shot him was incredulous, but she obediently got to her feet, offering him a deeply sarcastic curtsy and an angry, embarrassed glare. She looked—well, she looked adorable, like Sakura had said. Tight but stretchy-looking black pants tucked into sensible black combat boots, and a form-fitting long-sleeve orange shirt. What really caught his eye though was how much of her neck and shoulders and delicate, bitable collarbones were exposed, the sleeves sitting almost off-shoulder and revealing a teasing peek of the straps of a lacy black bra. She was so slight, he'd had no idea how small her waist was, he wanted to see if he could touch his fingertips together with his hands around it, and the way the flat plane of her stomach led his eye to her chunky belt and her hips was enticing. She turned, presumably to show him the black spiral on the back of the shirt, but he was winded by the view he was granted of her butt, small and round and so cute and bitable, and he was really going to have to tamp down the urge to nibble on the girl if he was going to get through this conversation with his sanity intact.

She met his eye, and he realized she'd been talking the whole time. "—so then she said that my clothes were inappropriate for a shinobi," she was complaining animatedly, still glaring and flushed a charming pink with that dangerous little pout. "And that people could use them to grab me, or get me caught in things, and—"

"She's right," Kakashi heard himself say. "I was going to make you address that before I let you advance to chūnin."

Naruto shot him a vicious look and resumed her tantrum as though he hadn't spoken. "And I was so caught up in finally being included as one of the girls that I went along with it, but then when she was walking me home, Sakura said she was going to take my normal clothes from me because if I had them available, I'd never wear these, but I don't want to wear them! I—"

"But you look so cute," Kakashi interrupted thoughtlessly, snapping his eyes up to hers when he realized he'd been watching her breasts as she spoke, admiring how nice they looked under her correctly-sized shirt with proper support—not that he hadn't enjoyed the alternative of her nipples poking through her clothes. Luckily, Naruto wasn't paying too close of attention to him, just letting out an aggravated huff as she threw herself down into her desk chair and began to fussily take her hair down from her braid, which—well, if Kakashi had been distracted before, seeing the waves in that beautiful golden cascade of silk wasn't going to help.

"I don't want to look cute," she argued helplessly, shaking her hair out. She looked up at him then, wary. "You're still drunk, aren't you?"

All at once, he remembered that all of her abuse had been at the hands of a drunk man with access to her bedroom, and it winded him. He nearly dropped his glass in his haste to twist around, cover the distance to the bathroom sink across the hall, and dump it out, returning with apologies already pouring from his lips. "I'm so sorry," he heard himself say again as he met her wide, surprised eyes. "I'm so sorry, I didn't think it through, I shouldn't have—"

"It's okay!" Naruto interrupted with her hands raised placatingly. "It's okay, sensei, I'm not scared of you, I know there's no amount of alcohol that could make you hurt me."

That blind, misplaced trust made his chest squeeze and his stomach flip, and Kakashi tried to reclaim his usual passivity as he averted his eyes and reasoned, "Still, I shouldn't have assumed it would be okay with you. I won't come home drunk again."

"You live here, sensei, you can do whatever you want, and be as drunk as you want. Okay? Do you know that you're swaying?" He didn't. He'd been assuming it was the room. He shook his head, and she sighed and got to her feet.

Bizarrely, Naruto took him by the hand. Well, almost; she grabbed his wrist, and dragged him down the hall until she plopped him into a chair at the dining table. He barely stopped himself from snatching at her hair like a toddler as she turned away, busying herself obtaining water as she guessed correctly, "I bet you haven't eaten, either, have you?"

"No, ma'am," Kakashi answered, half a joke and half buried in a memory of Kushina asking him the same thing in the same exasperated tone.

Naruto snorted as she pulled out a pot. "You're getting ramen. And don't call me ma'am, sensei, it's weird."

"I don't have ramen," he answered vaguely, before taking several deep pulls of the water, realizing he hadn't had any in a while. "And I keep telling you that you can call me Kakashi at home."

"Well, Kakashi," she teased, and he practically purred at hearing his name on her lips, the strangest erection he'd had in years making itself known to him. He almost forgot to listen to the rest. "No, you don't have instant ramen, which would be a superior option for sure, but you have udon, and bouillon, and vegetables, and eggs. So you're getting ramen."

"Yes, ma'am," he agreed, and Naruto laughed, the sound filling up the room and all the empty places in his chest.