Reviewers:

Shyguy1818: Thanks! I hope to make you a consistent reader for my story!

Vaibhavabcd:Oh! So glad to have exactly what you're looking for.

Kzzzzz: I wanted to add some sas and good old looks of appreciation in this story. Aim to please!

AN: Thanks to everyone who is reading this far in! Passing the 10k word count, which is a MAJOR benchmark from what I know writing stories here. I myself only start reading stories at 20k words, so all of you who start early really put me to shame.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter too!

Glazed Emeralds: A Hallmark Story

Chapter 3: A Proper Start

The sun's rays shot down from space, flashing past the satellites in orbit, and hit the low cloud cover over Konoha, illuminating the grey clouds in a luminescent film that lit up the town below it, signaling morning. Some of the rays floated through the window into Naruto's eyes as he casually stretched his body and sat up in bed.

Rubbing his forehead to assuage the need to go back to sleep, Naruto's eyes opened up fully and surveyed the amazing room around him. The space was rather large for a single guy to stay in, but was nice and warm too. The rich wood surrounding him in its entirety had a nice lounge area fit with a couch, chair and coffee table. And then there was this bed! Naruto's fingers smoothed over what had to be the most comfortable bed he'd ever slept in! It was soft and he sank in so nicely, and it was so big!

Naruto chuckled morbidly to himself as he shook his head. He still couldn't quite wrap his head around it. Who would have guessed that this would happen to him after the chaos of yesterday?

"You/You!" They both yelled across the room, stunned at seeing the other before them once again. As the woman's eyes began to survey him, Naruto gulped as his eyes betrayed him, roaming up and down as he ogled her tight outfit that due to the boxes, had pulled the fabric tighter, as her blouse and skirt pulled taut to clearly show the full outline of her delicious curves and her underwear...or lack thereof.

'Oh shoot! Does she even wear a bra? She's so hot and- shoot! Bad thoughts!' Naruto cursed as he looked over, and saw her face morphing into a fierce snarl as her eyes showed him images of her arm beginning to pull back and sock him across the face. Naruto did the only thing he could do. It was the only thought in his mind! There was no other way! He placed the boxes on the table next to them and then wildly threw his arms towards her, defensively so as he then….blundered like a complete and utter loser.

"I know what you're thinking!" Naruto rushed out of his mouth. "You must think I'm a stalker or a pervert, but honestly Miss, I didn't know you worked here! I just came into town this afternoon and I saw you run past and damn you looked good in that outfit earlier! N-not that you don't look amazing now, um, because you do but I mean earlier was just as good but um-and I followed your directions!"

Naruto turned his head down, rubbing at the back of his neck as redness crept up from his neck towards his ears. "I went and met the blonde mayor about this claim I have here, and she was hot too and, um and, she suggested I could stay here so I walked over, and I came at the worst time because you were bent over the counter with that fine ass of yours, prostrating back at me and I think you're incredibly beautiful Miss and, um, and uh uh-"

A soft giggle sounded out, emanating through the room, and gracing its melodic chords into his ears. Naruto froze mid blubber and turned his head, wanting to hear that giggle some more. He looked up hoping to see happiness and pearly white teeth, but only a neutral face was shown to him from the innkeeper. 'Did she giggle?' Naruto questioned to himself. 'She giggled...right?' But her face was completely neutral; she wasn't smiling or frowning, but not snarling as before. Just...neutral. Maybe he was just hearing things.

The innkeeper took in a deep breath, and Naruto held onto his own, hoping he had done something to diffuse the situation. If he couldn't stay here, then he'd probably be camping in the woods tonight.

"Alright then." She spoke with a softer tone, easing Naruto's nerves tenfold. "Let's start over, shall we?"

"Please!" Naruto sighed, his entire body sagging in relief. He hated making a fool of himself in front of others, especially in front of a beautiful woman like this one.

"Thanks for carrying the boxes." The woman nodded her head with a curt smile and moved back to the counter. "Welcome to the Konoha Haruno Inn. I'm Sakura. I can check you in. Do you have ID?"

"Yeah. My name's Naruto." He replied as he handed over his entire wallet. The woman whose name was Sakura accepted the wallet and quirked her eyes as she pulled his ID from its slot and mouthed his name as she entered it into her computer. Her fingers paused for a second over the keyboard and she looked up at him curiously.

"Naruto? That sounds familiar to me. I know it's not a popular name, but I swear I've read that somewhere before. Were you in some books or something like that?"

"Um, s-sort of." Naruto blushed nervously as Sakura looked back down and typed more information into the system. He got this question rather often, but it was in his best interest to not tell others. He learned more about others when people thought they knew his name from somewhere. After all, his newly deceased godfather wrote smut in his youth and well into his adulthood and his deceased parents, being rather close to him and some of his biggest fans, named him after the godfather's first and most in depth character.

So the real insight entered Naruto's mind as he grinned slightly as he watched Sakura's emerald eyes move back and forth behind her pink tresses of hair. Did she read that kind of material? And if so, could she possibly have fantasies like that? Naruto shivered as the setting sun behind them shined against her hair and across his vision. Best not to ruin his second chance with his innkeeper.

Sakura entered in the duration of his stay before printing out an official copy and sliding it over to him to sign. "The room is going to be $70 a night, only breakfast is included. If you care for dinner, then it will be added at the end of your stay."

"Alright then." Naruto nodded as he signed below and slid it back into her awaiting hands.

Sakura filed the paperwork into a slot behind the desk and stepped out from behind it, stepping around him like a dancer in a stage performance and moved to the door that led back. "Follow me and I'll show you around the premises."

Naruto smelled a delicious strawberry scent wafting around himself and shivered happily, his mind eager to follow such an alluring scent. "Yes Miss." He fell into step slightly behind her, as she pointed out the hallway that went across the whole front of the inn. Stopping after only a few feet, Sakura slid a door to the side and Naruto looked in to see the room with all the tables that he'd seen outside, giving what he assumed were the guests dedicated entrance to the eatery directly from the rooms and bypassing the lobby altogether.

"This is the dining room." Sakura gestured. "Breakfast is open from 6:30-8 and dinner is at 7pm sharp. The breakfast is included in your stay, as well as the cheaper items on the dinner menu, but a la carte. I can also get you a small list of eateries in town for some options. Most of them are closed right now in the off season, but there are still a few good cooks here in town."

"You are the cook?" Naruto questioned, noticing the way her body seemed to exude pride while her face told him absolutely nothing.

Sakura shrugged. "Since I was 16. I haven't had a complaint yet."

"That sounds amazing, Sakura." Naruto praised, hoping to get a smile from her, but her lip only twitched up for a second before she continued on.

"I will warn you that we don't get many visitors this time of year, so while you may be my only customer, a lot of the townspeople come in here to socialize and before they start work or for family celebrations."

"Sounds like a thriving business year round."

Sakura nodded slightly, pursing and licking her lips quietly as her cheeks dared to tinge the slightest shade of pink, staring at his face for a few seconds, making Naruto a little nervous, intrigued to know what she was thinking. "Anyways, the town is rather close-knit so you might be asked about things from the city and things we don't have here. Just take it as good fun and you'll be fine."

"I see." Naruto hummed as Sakura slid the door back again and continued on, turning left to follow another hallway. Naruto widened his eyes at seeing a staircase on one side and followed his innkeeper up as he whistled.

"You have a lot of rooms here." He commented, figuring that their winter months must be much busier. He spoke of that, all the while trying to bite his tongue to hold in a lewd comment as he walked behind her on the stairs, watching her posterior move side to side with every step she took.

"We have a total of thirty rooms; twenty on the first floor, and ten on the second floor for a slightly higher cost." Sakura spoke as if she had rehearsed this question hundreds of times, which he supposed she had. She seemed used to this place, as if she grew up in these halls, but with a town so small, he had little doubt that everyone had been everywhere in each of the buildings.

Sakura reached the top and pulled off to the side, allowing Naruto to stop next to her. He immediately knew that she must be proud of this place, because she smiled gently as she gazed at the 2nd floor balcony around them, the wood surrounding an entire inner courtyard of a garden. He wondered in this small town if there was a gardener. Maybe she did all of this herself with the owner. If the mayor couldn't afford a staff, then he could only imagine how the receptionist and owner worked out.

"What's that over there?" Naruto asked as he pointed to a line of wooden slats all the way up to the balcony line, an inlaid entrance of paved stones from the garden leading into it, as above, steam gently billowed out of it.

"That's the entrance to our bathing pool. It's open all day for village use and also at night for your use while staying here. Just take the sign next to the entrance and flip it when in use before you step further inside."

Naruto looked up to the open air above the courtyard and looked back at her with a confused face. "It must be freezing in the winter when the snow comes and fills this place up. Are there no showers in the rooms? I mean, bathing is nice, but the water must be freezing."

Sakura shook her head with a shrug added in. "This place is more traditional in design. You can use the one in your room, but the hot water only lasts for four minutes, so I'd advise stopping the water to soap up unless you like cold showers...someone like you might need one." Sakura muttered out the last bit as she looked away.

Naruto blushed as he cleared his thought at her passing comment. She wasn't wrong though. Naruto readjusted his pants as they continued on into a small interior hallway. Sakura continued on. "As for the cold, this inn was built with that in mind actually. The pool is actually heated over a set of geothermal tubes that heat up the water to a nice seventy degrees, so it's rather lukewarm. Besides that, in the winter, the steam heats up the whole interior, melting the snow well enough to stay outside in the courtyard. You'd feel warmer in that water and as the only guest, you can stay as long as you'd like, so you should feel most comfortable."

Naruto smiled as he followed her down to the end of the corridor where two doors were situated across from each other, though the one on the left no doubt looked over the town itself and was set inside its own little hallway. "Thanks for the guide."

"My pleasure, Mr. Namikaze." Sakura nodded as she turned to the right, and Naruto corrected himself and faced the door right on the hallway. "Here we are." Sakura spoke up as she unlocked and then pushed it open, walking completely into the room.

Naruto stepped inside and was stunned at the sight of an entire suite, filled with a huge bed, a couch, a few chairs, a bathroom, and even a sitting area next to the window that looked over the forest behind the town.

H-he couldn't believe this. Surely this woman was trying to be nice to him, trying to turn a new leaf, and start over as she had suggested. "All this? You could have put me in a smaller room."

"If you prefer that, I can-"

"No! No, this is beautiful. I can pay you more-"

Sakura raised her hand to stop him. "As I said, it's the off season, so we don't raise our prices to accommodate the lesser business. $70 a night will do. After all, you've already signed the papers."

Naruto nodded in defeat as he reached into his wallet and handed over the money for the first night into her outstretched hand. She really wasn't trying to hustle him.

"Pretty affordable for such an amazing place." Naruto smiled as he gazed into her emerald eyes, her orbs staring back at him, not bothering to count the money and trusting him. "You must really like working here."

Sakura spoke nothing and moved past him to the doorway before turning her head and nodding. "If you need anything, just pick up the phone and dial 7." She turned away and Naruto took one last stare at her fine, fine figure but looked up as the door began to close.

"T-thank you!"

The back of Sakura's head nodded to him as she shut the door. "Enjoy your stay at the Konoha Haruno Inn...Mr. Namikaze."

Naruto shook his head at the memory. He truly didn't know what she was thinking, an enigma that only made him want to unlock her inner workings all the more now. 'She seems pleasant enough, and respectful, and patient, and...like an innkeeper.' He finished his thought lamely.

Naruto sighed, rubbing the back of his neck groaning. She was just doing her job, and not mixing her personal opinions with it. That was admirable. Naruto's stomach rumbled, and he looked at the time.

"Well, at least I get breakfast."

AN: More of a building chapter, hence why I'm posting it as extra this week, but I wanted to write down all the areas that will be referenced and talked about in the upcoming chapters without having to describe them in greater detail. Let me know your thoughts and-

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