With the one-year anniversary of the Fourth Great Shinobi war, also came Naruto's 18th birthday. This turned into a crazy celebration for all of Konoha. People from around the world were in the village for the occasion. The economy was making a killing off the event, food places and merchandise being sold to tourists abound.

I had never really paid much attention to Naruto's birthday in the past, which was pretty awful of me. I normally had always just celebrated my own birthday with a small dinner with my parents, but Naruto had never forgotten to give me a gift each year. Usually it was something dumb, like a flower he picked off from the side of the road, or a poorly made drawing of a heart. A lot of these gifts I had thrown away, since it had seemed too much like something a guy would get his girlfriend, but over time, I started to save some of the keepsakes.

For Sasuke-kun, I had gotten him a birthday card every year, which I would then throw into the river with the fantasy that it was going to him.

I had always just assumed Naruto celebrated his birthday with his other friends, or the family that my privileged life would forget he didn't have. Kakashi-sensei wasn't one to celebrate birthdays, so we never celebrated them as a team. Naruto never really told anyone when his birthday was happening, so I hadn't thought of it as something he cared about.

It was impossible to ignore the occasion now, as preparations for the celebration started weeks in advance. If I were to get him a gift, I would have had tons of time to plan for it, but I was still coming up empty handed.

Naruto was a very simple man. Too simple, I was finding. I didn't know what I could give him that he could want. He loved ramen of course but he ate ramen nearly every day. In fact, there had been numerous times where I had to spot him when we were at Ichiraku's. Naruto wasn't making as much money with the number of missions dropping, and a lot of his work was unpaid interning. Also, I only had half a rent to pay thanks to Ino, so I tended to be the one with the money. I'd probably paid for Naruto's ramen fifty times in the last few months.

What else did he want?

I couldn't come up with much: Naruto wanted to become Hokage, of course, Sasuke-kun coming back, sex… The only thing on that list I could give him was sex, and I was already doing that, which was terrible in its own right.

I went through stores and shops whenever I came across them, hoping for ideas. I even asked Ino, and after taking her along with me once, we came to the decision that men were considerably hard to think of gifts for. With Ino, I could always give her some sort of nice smelling lotion or candle. Would Naruto like a candle? It seemed so lame.

It would be fine. Naruto wouldn't be expecting me to give him a gift. In fact, me giving him a gift now would be weird. We were trying so hard not to be weird.

I shouldn't have been surprised that the closer it got to Naruto's birthday, the less I saw him. He was so popular now. I didn't mind hanging out with him with our own age group, or even with our seniors, but when he dipped into the younger kids, I lost my interest rather quickly. It wasn't like Naruto, and I were able to exchange many interactions during these times anyway.

When the festivities and celebrations started, I found myself at work. With the abundance of booze and excitement, there was an uptick in accidents, and I actually found myself really busy, especially since a lot of the staff had requested today off.

I was concentrating on cutting away a giant homemade mask of Naruto's face that some drunk man got his head stuck in. It was mostly made out of Paper-mâché but was surprisingly heavy. It was hard to tell where the man's actual face was, so I was cutting it away slowly in chunks, while one of the fellow nurses was holding him still for me.

"Am I gonna die?" whimpered the man.

"Well, not by my calculations so far," I answered, only slightly annoyed. The man had been unconcerned about the fit of the fake head until he vomited in it. I could already smell it, but he couldn't be in any serious danger if he could still talk. "Once we get this off of you, I'll do a more in-depth assessment."

"Sakura," I lifted my head to see Lady Shizune with a clipboard doing a check on each patient. "Surprised to see you still here."

"Where understaffed, so I decided to stay." I went back to my cutting. Lady Shizune was usually busy helping Kakashi-sensei, so I suspected he had sent her over here for the same reason.

"Still, out of all the staff, I would figure you would be the one to have the day off."

"It's Naruto's birthday, not mine."

"Of course. But you were one of the few to escape the Infinite Tsukuyomi. This is a celebration for all the heroes from the war, really. Though, I doubt the Sixth could afford to take the day off either," she sighed. Ha, I was sure Kakashi-sensei was somewhere in the woods, getting drunk and reading his porn book in peace. Especially with Lady Shizune out of his way.

I wondered if anyone thought of Sasuke-kun as a hero. He had really done half the work, but no one talked about him.

I continued to saw away.

"In that case, this day should be for anyone who participated in the war. We all did our own part." The mask came apart in half, and the man took in a gasp of fresh air.

As the day went on, we had a consistent number of patients, but nothing of serious emergency. This being a first of such celebrations, I was sure next year's festival would be more organized and have many more safety precautions. I didn't think Konoha was expecting this many people.

After dark, there was a sudden excitement to one end of the hospital that required a lot of the nurses on hand. Since I was working outside my shift, I stayed back to ensure that the remainder of the patients were dealt with. When I finished, I headed over to see what the hell was going on.

I came across Tsunade-sama angrily stomping down the hall. "Shishō, what happened?"

"Your boyfriend's here," she grumbled.

I stopped in my tracks to gawk at her.

"Don't look at me like you don't know who I'm talking about," she snapped.

"Is he hurt?" I asked.

"He broke his arm."

"Oh, well that doesn't sound too bad," I said, relieved.

"I'm sorry. I mean, he obliterated his arm."

I winced. "The real one…?"

Tsunade-sama rolled her eyes. "Good thing too! You know how expensive that prosthetic is? He's going to need surgery. We can't fuse the bones back together non-invasively. His blood alcohol level was .13." She glared at me.

"Don't look at me! I don't know where he gets it from! I don't drink."

Tsunade-sama ignored my lying. "Well, he's in room 282. Maybe remind him the reason why the drinking age is not 18. Be subtle when you go in. I'm trying to keep a low profile on his location. The crowd he had going outside was ridiculous."

I told someone I was leaving for the night before slipping into 282. The bed at the far wall was concealed with a curtain, and I could faintly see that there was someone lying over there. I sighed and headed over there to see him.

"Sakura-chan… where have you been all my life?" he mumbled as his half-lidded eyes landed on my face. I did a quick scan of him before picking up the clipboard left at the end of his bed. It made me do a double take. His real arm was bandaged up to prevent movement as expected, but his prosthetic was completely missing.

"What happened? I thought you broke your left arm?"

Naruto lifted his stump in my direction. "It's gone! I blew it up!"

I glared at him for a moment before looking back down at his sheet. "Who prescribed you this much morphine?"

He flashed me a grin. "All the pretty nurses… It's my birthday," he whispered.

"I know," I replied flatly. "But seriously, where is your prosthetic?"

"Baa-chan said… If I don't know how to use my hands… don't deserve them…" Oh, that made sense that Tsunade-sama had confiscated it. "But she's wrong… I do know how to use my hands… Right? Sa-ku-ra-chan?"

"Well, obviously, whatever you did, you're fine." I don't know why I was even worried. I replaced the clipboard to the bed and was about to leave.

"Sakura-chan! Wait! I need… I need you right now… I'm… I'm in a lot of pain."

"Not possible with the amount of morphine they gave you."

"No. Please. If you could… just- I need a freakin' hand…!" He waved his stump drunkenly. "Please help heal me… It'll be quick."

"Tsunade-sama said you were going to need surgery."

"No. Not that. This is a different problem…"

I took a few steps closer to him, staring at him skeptically. "What is it?"

"Jus'… under the blanket. You'll see it."

I stared at his face for five seconds, ignoring the gesture that he was doing with his eyes. Finally, after giving him one sweep of my gaze, I asked flatly, "Are you referring to your erection?"

Naruto moaned as if he were in pain. "Please! I can't do anything about it! Baa-chan stole my arms!"

"She didn't. She took back her prosthetic that she gave you because you decided to blow off your arm, and now it looks like you attempted to do it with the only one you had left! How do you even have an erection with 26 milligrams of morphine? Physically, that should be impossible!"

Naruto grinned like that was a compliment. "I'm a talent."

"A talent for disaster."

"No, it was an accident… I was just juggling."

"You can juggle?"

"Nope. Apparently not."

"Oh, well."

"But I was good at it anyway. It was awesome. Everyone loved it."

I was afraid to ask, but "What were you juggling?"

"Shurikens. No. Wait. Rasengans. No wait. Rasenshuriken."

"Oh my god." I put a hand to my head. "I understand now. How could that go wrong?"' I asked sarcastically. "Well then, it's late so I'm going to go to bed-"

"No!" I already started to walk away. "It's my birthday. You haven't given me my birthday present yet…"

"I didn't get you anything."

Naruto's mouth dropped open in affronted shock.

"I never get you anything!" I said suddenly embarrassed.

"Then why are you cosplaying as a sexy nurse…?"

"Cosplaying?! I wear the same uniform every day!"

"It's been my fantasy since I was five years old…" Naruto admitted, flushed face gazing at me before traveling up my stocking clothed legs as if he could look up at my modest length skirt. The October days still being warm, I wasn't wearing any leggings or tights just yet.

"Five years old? Really, Naruto?" I tried to reprimand him, but his hot gaze was starting to make me feel warm too. I wasn't sure what it was about it. Naruto should, by all means, look absolutely ridiculous right now. Even with that expression. I wanted to wipe it off.

I was already eyeing the door, thinking about locking it. I did have a pretty nice uniform. It happened to cut my waist perfectly. I always felt good putting it on.

"A lot of nurses took care of me today, but none of them have been as pretty as Sakura-Chan…"

"Hmm…" I studied him, letting him guilt me into it. It was hard to say no to him. I couldn't think of the last time I had said no to him. Annoyed, I threw off my lab coat before I hitched up my skirt a few inches to Naruto's delight. "Whatever seems to be the problem, doctor?" I said, roleplaying and using an exaggerated dumb-girl voice while unbuttoning the first button of my blouse. "Well, it seems…" I stared at Naruto's stupid ass face, "... that the patient suffers from a great mental illness."

"Whaa?"

I walked over to the door to lock it, my heels sounding louder on the tiled floor. "Oh no, doctor! Is it serious?" I returned to Naruto. "I'm afraid so, nurse. We will have to start the treatment immediately." I pulled out a pair of vinyl gloves from a nearby box on the counter and slipped them on with a snap. Naruto's blue eyes had lost some of their haziness and were focused on me. I planted a foot at the end of the bed. "Please secure the patient." I moved the bed away from the curtain with my foot to give myself room and untucked the bedding so I could get to Naruto's ankles.

All of the hospital beds had features to help assist us with the different needs of our patients. I pulled out the stirrups normally used for gynecology work, tugging Naruto down to the end so that his feet could go in them. He grunted a little from pain, as I hadn't been gentle. There were also large straps hidden underneath the beds to hold down patients who were struggling with delirium. I strapped the largest over Naruto's middle.

"Uh, Sakura-chan? Maybe we should have a safe word."

I went to a cabinet drawer for a clean rag, before glancing over at Naruto with a raised eyebrow. "Trust me. I'm a doctor," I said jokingly. Naruto had pretty much let me do anything I wanted to him these days; not that he seemed entirely comfortable all the time, but I had the impression that the fear turned him on. I returned to him, slender gloved fingers caressing his chin. "Last chance for a safe word," I replied softly.

"I trust you. You're a doctor."

"Good." I stuffed the rag into his mouth. "Patient secured." I found a nearby abandoned chair with wheels. Dropping myself into it, I wheeled over to Naruto's spread legs. "Oh, no! This is really bad."

Naruto made a sound of confusion and distress, making me wonder if he remembered we were only roleplaying. I rolled my eyes. He couldn't see what I was looking at because of the stretched material of his hospital gown. I wheeled myself over to the side so I could make eye contact with him.

"It's very… engorged," I said, feeling a little ridiculous. "I don't know if we have any equipment that can accommodate such a size. What do you think we can do, doctor?

Seems like we have to improvise, nurse."

I wanted this to be pretty quick. Tsunade-sama didn't say when Naruto's surgery was supposed to happen, but if she was dragged over here at this hour, she must be planning on doing it herself and want to get back to bed as soon as possible.

Wheeling my way back to the cabinet, I looked for a lubricant. I wasn't going to pass up free lube since the hospital had plenty. Because it was Naruto's birthday, I decided to be nice and picked the warming one so he wouldn't be too surprised. I tisked as I went back over to my patient: stiff, angry, red and wanton. He still had somehow managed to hold his erection despite the fresh breeze from being exposed, spreading goosebumps across his thighs. I wasn't sure if I should be impressed or concerned. There was still a certain energy emitting from him, and I almost wondered if it had something to do with the power of the Nine-Tails.

"Oh no, doctor, has the stupidity spread to the rest of his body?

Only one way to find out." I grabbed his balls which made him flinch before I started to pat and prod him in a very unsexy like manner, following my usual exam routine. Naruto squirmed in frustration. "The patient doesn't seem very relaxed," I said rather loudly. "We're going to have to fix that," I breathed into his skin. I kissed the inside of his thigh, making him squirm. Working my way up, I suddenly bit into his flesh. He cried out, thrusting into the air so violently, I wasn't sure if the bed strap was going to hold. They were made to keep down ninja, but not all ninja were like Naruto.

The very first soft stroke I did with my tongue made Naruto moan so loudly I was afraid someone was going to come in. I tried to convince myself that the hospital was quite used to moans of all volumes. Naruto blindly thrusted up in the air, trying to find my mouth again. "Hold him down, nurse." I mumbled as I placed both hands onto his hips so he wouldn't accidentally hit me in the face. I made sure to thoroughly coat him with my tongue before inserting him down my throat, humming the 'Happy Birthday' song. The tempo was a little fast due to nerves, so I reminded myself to move a bit slower.

Naruto mumbled unintelligible words through the rag in his mouth, the stump of his missing arm moving this way and that uselessly.

Once I got a good rhythm going, I deemed it safe to let go of Naruto and unscrew the cap of the tube of lubrication. I had gotten much better at this than before, after having a surprisingly mature talk with Naruto on how to prevent from hurting him. I moved slowly, using only one finger to apply light pressure down his scrotum before lubricating the rigid tissue. I only allowed one knuckle to sink in first, using the reaction of his body to know when to push deeper or remain still.

The lewd whine he made made me feel suddenly wet.

Once he was looser and I could use two fingers, I found myself submerged in my work, moving faster and more insistent with the twitching of his hips. The sound of his groans was only broken by the noise of his head thrashing against the bed. I gave him a quick glance to make sure he hadn't injured himself, and only then did I notice the beeping of the machines measuring Naruto's heart rate. I don't know why I hadn't heard it before, as it really was much louder than what Naruto was being. Maybe no one would notice some extra moaning, but the sudden change in the machines was going to attract attention.

Naruto popped out of my mouth. "Fuck," I said aloud, when I realized someone would be alerted to come check on him. I thought about stopping immediately and running away. What would be the worst thing if someone caught Naruto in here with an erection? Well, it would depend on who came in. I didn't know who prescribed Naruto the extra morphine, but there was quite a bit of nurses that had huge crushes on Naruto already. I didn't like to think that one could be bold enough to finish what I had started.

If it was Tsunade-sama, Naruto would just be dead. No question about it.

Naruto's tip was already leaking, and though he gave a whine when I had stopped sucking him off, my fingers were still subconsciously working. I put him back in my mouth and decided to end him as fast as possible. Sucking him hard against the pull of my mouth, I aimed my fingers right into his prostate.

When he was finally cumming, I thought I could feel all the energy in the room be drawn into his body, all electricity and power from the machines, all light in the universe. Surely, everyone else in the hospital would know what had just happened.

I shifted my hips slightly, sitting heavy in the chair to try to appease my own frustration. But there was no time for that.

I felt like I was moving too slow, as I was already removing my fingers and gloves, while still sucking him dry. As soon as it was all swallowed, I pushed back in my chair, throwing my gloves into the trash and grabbing some cleaning wipes next. I started wiping him not at all gently. "Someone's coming," I hissed.

Naruto didn't seem capable of understanding spoken language. The wipes were tossed in the garbage next as I undid the stirrups and straps, tucking Naruto messily back into the bed. "Fuck, the door." Using the chair as if it were a pinball, I pushed off the bed, then the wall to get to the door to unlock it. Out the window was the least chance of running into someone, and I desperately did not want to see Tsunade-sama. I ran back to the other side of the room and ripped the rag out of Naruto's mouth.

"Sakura-Chan!" he gasped, reaching for me with his stump.

"No time," I said. Good thing ninja were so used to using windows as exits and entrances. The machines were dying down since Naruto was beginning to catch his breath. His eyes drooping made me think he would fall asleep soon, which would really be the best-case scenario. Maybe they would blame all the beeping on a simple nightmare or something.

I jumped down the second story to the ground below, thankfully no one sober enough still being up at this hour. I then re-entered the hospital so I could take a shower and wash away the sin I had just committed.

Getting away with exhibitionism once did not teach either of us any lessons.

I wound up never going home that night. By the time that I could escape from the hustle and bustle of the night's hospital, I was too tired to make the trip and just ended up passed out in one of the break rooms. Since my shift was supposed to start early the next morning, going home didn't seem to be worth it anyway.

I had heard Naruto's operation went by smoothly as expected with Tsunade-sama's skills and Naruto's healing abilities. I took to avoiding his wing altogether, as I was afraid that returning to the 'crime scene' would get me busted for sure. I never broke the rules. Even the ones that everyone broke, like not checking your phone messages on the clock, or being a few minutes late from lunch. I had worked tremendously hard for Tsunade-sama to notice me when she first returned to Konoha, that becoming the perfect role model for the hospital had become most of my focus for the last several years. At least when Naruto and I weren't trying to find Sasuke-kun.

However, avoiding the situation wasn't stopping my mind from dwelling on it. I found myself distracted, not hearing what people were saying to me, and making small mistakes. I mumbled over my words, as if Naruto's cock was still in my mouth. No amount of coffee could make the feeling go away.

After messing up a person's file too much with permanent ink that not even white out could save it, I had to make more copies of the form, so I trudged myself to one of the many storage rooms where we kept the copier.

I had only half attempted to brush my hair which was an extra mess since I fell asleep with it still wet on an uncomfortable couch, and though I had showered, I hadn't brought my deodorant with me so I was nowhere near as fresh as I could have been. And with thoughts of last night, I was horny. I should have gone home, for the sole purpose of getting myself off.

The door to the copier room was in my line of sight, but I was suddenly being whirled around in a circle, which caused my tired brain to shout out, and before I knew it, I was somehow already in the copier room, a hand over my mouth, and a strong arm around my body. There was a strange thrill that accompanied my adrenaline, even though I kept telling myself I should be annoyed. Part of me had really hoped he would come find me.

"I like it when you scream, Sakura-chan, but maybe keep hushed for now." I ripped his hand from my mouth.

"I'm working, Naruto," I said, holding up the form I had come to copy.

Naruto pulled it out of my unexpectant fingers and tossed it over his shoulder where it fluttered to the ground. "I have my hands back," he growled at me dangerously.

He was dressed back in his normal clothes, prosthetic in place, and not so much of a cast. Tsunade-sama really was in a class of her own when it came to medical ninjutsu. Since she allowed Naruto back his prosthetic, she must not have suspected anything that happened earlier. "Well, you should go get discharged then. There's no reason for you to stay at the hos -"

He grabbed both of my shoulders. "I had a dream about you, Sakura-chan."

"Y-yeah?"

"You were a doctor, or a nurse, I can't remember which…"

I laughed embarrassed. "Weird, anywa-Come on, Naruto, I smell terrible." Naruto was inhaling the side of my neck.

"No, you smell good, Sakura-chan," he moaned.

"I'm at work. This is not appropriate," I said halfheartedly. Naruto was already pulling up my skirt and feeling my thighs with his hands.

"That didn't stop you before, at work, appropriately. You wouldn't even let me kiss you," he pouted. The fingers of his left hand moved past my unwashed underwear. "Your mouth was filthy," he growled as he gave me a big open mouth kiss. The moan I made was from his fingers reaching me rather than his tongue, but it allowed him to make the kiss deeper, supporting me with his prosthetic gripping my ass. "I have to make sure all my fingers work," he said before kissing me again. "Can ya help me out?" I found one of my legs lifting and wrapping around his waist, and then one of my arms going around his neck for balance as he leaned more over me.

My breath was speeding up with the more he pulled with his hand, Naruto inhaling all of my oxygen until I was dizzy. I was lifted up and placed on the open copier machine without much thought from either of us, though the machine was most likely not made to accommodate my weight.

"Let me fuck you," Naruto murmured into my ear, before trying to swallow it. We had already gotten away with it within the hospital once, and though I knew I would scold Naruto for such indecency later, I was too thrilled to not follow his lead now. I was feeling sort of powerful when I reached to undo Naruto's pants. Naruto had already unbuttoned my blouse so his face could reach into my chest. He was probably ruining the bra I had on as he stretched it to fit under my breasts, but I hardly noticed. I wanted him back inside me. Once he was free from his pants, he looked up at me, grabbing both of my legs underneath the knee. Flushed with my chest now out, and absolutely drenched, I stared back at him.

"God, Sakura-chan," He lifted my legs to adjust me, and I squeaked when my ass was pulled across the glass of the copy machine. My arms were behind me to keep support, so I kicked my underwear the rest of the way off before Naruto guided himself into me. My head fell back and hit the wall behind us. Naruto knew just how to adjust himself to whatever height I was at, whatever position. We had screwed each other so many times at this point, he always knew the correct angle to drive me crazy, even if sometimes, like now, he was moving so goddamn slow.

One of my hands flung to his chest, gripping the fabric of his shirt. I lifted the material a little with the intent to keep the front of it from getting dirty, but I caught the way his abdominal muscles were gliding under his skin with every drive he forced into me. I shuddered.

"You're so dirty, Sakura-chan," Naruto grinned when he caught me staring. He came closer to give me a kiss, the thumping now causing the machine to beep when miscellaneous buttons were pushed.

When I heard papers being printed, I looked at the copier.

"Look at me," Naruto demanded, turning my face forcibly to his. The way he rammed into me made me want to close my eyes in pleasure, but his fingers dug into my cheeks to get my attention. "Look at me," he commanded again. "I want to see your eyes when you're cumming."

I moaned in answer, trying to keep eye contact. If his eyes weren't so beautifully hypnotizing, I don't think I would have been able to keep up the stare. My voice rose higher as the pounding finally sped up. I felt my eyes begin to roll back, but Naruto moved his grip from my face to the back of my head, pulling my hair and returning me to focus. "You can do it."

"N-Naruto-"

"You're almost there."

My grip on his shirt tightened as he touched our foreheads together, my orgasm growing with the sound of my voice. The way his expression changed as he stared at me, like he was looking at the most glorious thing he had ever seen made me cum harder. I nearly ripped a seam in his shirt as I stared at the endless blue within his eyes.

He kissed me lazily after, eyes still open and on me. I sighed, contented and satisfied. "You're so gorgeous, Sakura-chan." Naruto said against my mouth. "I should marry you."

"Hmm?"

Naruto leapt a good amount of space away from me. "I didn't mean that," he said quickly. He fumbled with his pants. "It wasn't even my thought. Sometimes Kurama's thoughts get mixed up with mine and I get -"

"What the fuck are you talking about?!" I snapped, feeling a sudden swarm of anxiety over I didn't even know what.

"Um." Naruto paused, trying to reorganize himself. He seemed to forget how to zip up his pants. "Kurama doesn't really understand, uh, mate-marriage-the whole thing, with humans, so he's like, just assuming shit."

"Wait, hold on! The Nine-Tails is talking to you? He's here?! How much can he see?!" I suddenly covered up my chest.

Naruto stared at me like he was confused by my reaction. "Sakura-chan, he's always there."

"That's a huge invasion of privacy!" I shrieked.

"Oh, trust me, I know! Just don't think about it. It's better that way." I gaped at him, but before I could get more embarrassed something worse happened that effectively made me forget all about Naruto or the Nine-Tails mentioning marriage. "Oh, shit! Sakura-chan, we accidentally copied your ass!"

"WHAT?!"

Naruto grabbed the papers before I could reach them. He gazed at the image for a moment before his eyes quickly darted away. "Holy shit." He pressed his fist to his mouth as he stared hard at a corner of the room. "That just gave me an instant boner."

"We have to destroy them!" I exclaimed, ignoring Naruto.

"What? We can't! This is literal art!" He flashed the picture to me, and I was mortified that it did indeed copy an image of my ass. You could even see the outline of Naruto's testicles if you looked into the dark shadowy part hard enough.

"If someone finds one of those copies, I'm going to be fired!"

"No one is going to know this is us," Naruto stated calmly, looking at the sheet again. "Man, I almost want to submit this to a dirty magazine or like a museum or somethin'."

I reached over to grab the sheets of papers from Naruto's hand, but it seemed that I had become glued to the copier machine from the mess that we made on it. "Seriously, Naruto. We've gone too far here. Someone is going to find out. I'm sticky and gross, and this is hospital property."

Naruto folded the copies and stuffed them into his pants then under his shirt to protect them from me. He looked around the storage room. "Good thing there's all this cleaning supplies here!"

"I'm not spraying glass cleaner on my crotch!"

"Oh, that," Naruto dropped to his knees before me, me still sitting on the machine as if I were on a throne. He moved his hands up my legs. "I'll take care of that for you Sakura-chan." He licked the inside of my leg, locking his eyes with me.

I blushed. "That's - That's gross. That's your own -"

"If it's good enough for Sakura-chan to swallow, it's good enough for me." His head disappeared under my skirt.

I closed my eyes as I felt him clean me up with his tongue. "Don't get me going again, Naruto."

He gripped my thighs tighter.

"I mean it. I need to get back to work."

Once he gave me a thorough cleaning, he rolled back on his heels to grin at me. I glared haughtily at him as he handed me some paper towels that were in the room. I carefully dabbed myself dry, before cleaning the copier machine like my life depended on it.

"Hey, you wanna get dinner tonight?"

"Sure," I answered, disinfecting each individual button. "Out of groceries again?"

"Nah, just in the mood. How 'bout I treat this round? Where do you want to go?"

"Ichiraku's is fine."

"Don't ya wanna… go somewhere else for a change?"

"I don't know." I looked at him. "Did you want to go somewhere else?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Okay."

"Yeah?!" Naruto said, suddenly sounding excited. "Yeah! We'll mix it up!" I stared at him confused. He started straightening his own clothes, looking proud of himself. "Wear something nice."

"What?"

"I mean, you are always wearing something nice. But like, change out of your uniform or something." This conversation was getting me so weirded out that I didn't hear the footfalls until the supply room door flung open.

"Pick you up at seven?"

My eyes went wide while Naruto's went blank as the presence of Tsunade-sama appeared behind him. Naruto spun around.

"What are you doing?" Tsunade-sama demanded.

"I-I-I-I was getting my arm fixed -"

"Get out!"

Naruto ducked under Tsunade-sama's arm, as they were still braced in the doorway, and I was alone to face my punishment.

"You are on very thin ice, Sakura!" It didn't appear there was a way of playing dumb, and I didn't think I could even attempt to think of a story. It was possible that Tsunade-sama had only caught me dilly-dallying in the storage room, but by the glare in her eyes, I knew I was in worse trouble than just getting distracted by a friend. I felt my entire body turn as pink as my hair. I cast my gaze to the floor, unable to speak or do anything.

"There has been a complaint of noise coming from this closet."

The silence that followed was deafening. It was so bad I was praying for the yelling to start soon.

"What the hell were you thinking?! Fornicating?! Seriously?! You are to set an example for this hospital. Today you have been sloppy, stupid! Shizune had to finish printing out those scripts for Might Guy." Shit. I completely forgot about that. "I would like to retire one day, and I was really hoping I could leave the hospital in your capable hands. But this- This is unspeakable. This is the type of offense that warrants termination."

In the back of my mind, I knew what I was risking, but to hear Tsunade-sama say it, I realized how very real the possibility could be. The hospital was all I had. If I was fired, sure I could still practice medical ninjutsu on missions, but the majority of my work was here. I didn't have any dreams or goals. I just figured I would always be here, at the hospital, where I was making the most difference I could. I felt myself succumb to tears as the realization that I had accomplished absolutely nothing in my life sunk in.

"Don't look at me like that! I'm not firing you, okay?"

I slapped my hands over my mouth at Tsunade-sama's snap, as if I could halt my crying that very instant.

"I was a teenager and in love once, as hard as that is to believe... but for fuck's sake, don't the both of you have your own apartments? I can't think of a least sexier place. This is your one and final warning. After this, you can say goodbye to your job, and say goodby to Naruto too, because he will be dead. If he can't keep it in his pants for the duration of your shift, it just takes a few snips to make sure that he never has that problem ever again!"

I was sent home soon after. Tsunade-sama didn't want to pay me anymore overtime if I hadn't actually earned it. I obsessed over the embarrassment and blamed it all on Naruto. Sure, it takes two to tango, but I would never have ever thought of doing all of this if it wasn't for his persistence. How was it that he was always so horny?! Surely, we could go a few days without touching each other. I mean, we survived the majority of our friendship this way. I needed to put my foot down. I needed to set up some boundaries. Why did I feel like I had to go along with him?

The sex was really good.

But that wasn't an excuse! I didn't need it that badly!

By the time Naruto was over, I had a huge spiel already planned out for him. He hadn't even had time to greet me before I was yelling at him about how it was his fault that I almost got fired. The more I shouted, the bigger his grin seemed to get, which just made me angrier really.

"Relax, Sakura-chan. Grandma-Tsunade would never take away your job. And even if she did, what's stopping you from making your own hospital to run instead? You don't need her."

"My own -!? Money, for one thing! And why would anyone come to my hospital when we already have a perfectly good one in the village!?"

"I'd go! And there are a lot of people that would come just to see you! You're quite popular. And don't worry about the money problem. When I'm Hokage, I'll get the funds for it."

"It's not just money, I would need to hire doctors, nurses, specialists! All the equipment that would need to be ordered. We would need a space! Who knows when you are going to be Hokage." I rattled on the whole way to dinner, argumentative but still somewhat excited about the fantasy even though there was no way I could pull it off at the moment.

I got myself so into the little details and logistics of it, that I hadn't even realized where Naruto had taken me until we were already seated, and I was looking at the menu. The cheapest thing listed was a side of bread for 2,000 yen. Where the hell were we? I looked up from the menu to notice an indoor water fountain nearby. "This is a fancy place," I commented. "The food's expensive."

"Yeah, I guess."

"You don't think that'll be a problem, with you paying this time?" I tried to remind. I could just guess that Naruto miscalculated the money he had to bring with the pick. Good thing I brought my pocketbook just in case. I looked over the menu again. There had to be a reason why Naruto picked this place. Was there some sort of ramen dish named after him or something?

"Nah, I got it Sakura-chan!"

"Are you wearing a button-down shirt?" I asked, giving Naruto my full attention for the first time that night.

"What? I guess."

"I didn't think you owned a button-down shirt."

"Heh, it's Shikamaru's."

"Shikamaru owns a button-down shirt?!"

"Yeah, who would have thought."

It did look too small on him. Naruto had plenty of shirts. Why would he need to borrow one? Though I supposed that maybe none of the shirts that Naruto owned would be allowed at a place like this. Why were we here? "This... feels a lot like a date," I forced out.

Naruto laughed. "Weird!" He looked back at his menu. "But hypothetically... if this was a date, why would you not want it to be? Is it the restaurant? Is it too fancy?" he whispered at me.

I sat there without words, taken a back. This was a date!? "But I thought... I thought we weren't going to do that."

"Yeah, but why not?" Naruto looked me in the face. "I understand... what we lost," he said quietly. "But if he was here or not, I mean, the way I feel hasn't changed. I still want to be with you."

My heart started pounding.

"Is it...? Do you not feel the same?"

Naruto's voice was sounding sadder, and I knew I had to say something soon. "No, of course I still feel the same!" He let out a breath in relief. "But it's..." What was it? What Naruto said made sense. Just because Sasuke-kun wasn't here didn't mean I cared for Naruto less. I was willing to be in a relationship with Naruto with Sasuke-kun. Why couldn't I be without him? Sasuke-kun was practically asking me to in his letter to me. Even he wanted me to be with Naruto.

But did he really? I remembered one of the last moments I had with Sasuke-kun, him asking me if I loved Naruto. I hadn't known how to answer at the time, as Sasuke-kun seemed so broken when he asked me, his insecurities leaking out of his body and being absorbed by my skin.

And with all his self-hate, him leaving was him sacrificing himself for us, a sacrifice that we didn't ask for or need. He took it upon himself to make that decision for us. If Sasuke-kun ever did come back to the village, as little chance as that seemed, I wanted him to see what mistake he had made. I wanted him to see how miserable both Naruto and I were and just... stay with us. But if I was with Naruto... If I was happy with Naruto, it would prove the bastard right.

"It's because that's what he would have wanted."

"What do you mean?"

I looked around once to see if anyone was watching us before whispering his name, like his entire existence was a secret. "Sasuke-kun. He left us, because he thinks we will be better without him. He's such an ass, I don't want to prove him right."

Naruto gave a short laugh.

"Does that make sense?"

"Yeah," Naruto waved his hand. "Fuck that bastard." There was something off with the way Naruto said that; it was too carefree, too fake.

No, this was bad. Why was Naruto considering it? Of course, it was plain to see how Naruto felt about me, and in a very logical sense, us getting together should work out perfectly, but-

"Have you given up on him?" I asked in a whisper.

"What? Of course not!"

"I mean, on him coming back to the village."

"Of course, he's coming back to the village. Kakashi-sensei can't keep him out there forever. Not when he's not Hokage anymore," Naruto grumbled.

"Okay. But... that letter. They were lies. You know that, right?"

"I don't really want to talk about him right now," Naruto said in a serious voice. "Let's just enjoy dinner."

I bit back a sigh, feeling hopeless in the situation. This did not feel right, and I didn't know how to fix it. "Do you want to split something?" I asked, trying not to think. "I'm not all that hungry."

Naruto gave me a look like he didn't believe me. I did normally have a pretty healthy appetite.

"It could be romantic," I said.

"Fine," Naruto gave in. " I might be a little short for the bill," he finally admitted. The both of us laughed, but there was a heaviness that lingered for the rest of the meal.

We parted ways, neither of us suggesting going to the other's apartment. We hadn't fought at all. Actually, it looked like we had a pretty good time from an outsider's point of view. Naruto and I didn't stop cracking jokes on anything we could think of pertaining to the fancy restaurant. I even got Naruto to try the side of brussels sprouts that dinner came with, and he admitted to liking them. This led to me promising to introduce many more different varieties of veggies to his diet, in which Naruto commented on my mediocre cooking skills. The banter was familiar but seem to hold something back. Tension. There was tension, but I didn't know what kind of tension.

Something wasn't right.

I opened my apartment door in destress, Ino already in her pajamas, snacking on a yogurt in the kitchen.

"Welcome home, honey," Ino stated sarcastically. "I made dinner," she offered me her half-eaten yogurt, but I hadn't understood her joke.

"I already had dinner," I explained.

"I know. I saw you hand in hand with everyone's knight-in-shining-armor heading to the most romantic restaurant in town."

"I think... Naruto, took me on a date..." I stated slowly, not really focusing on Ino.

Ino sucked on her spoon. "Yeah. Because you guys are dating."

"No! We are not dating! That was the first time it happened."

"Semantics... You guys are a couple. Together. It's about time he took you on a real date anyway."

"No. We're not like that. We are just friends."

Ino rolled her eyes as she scraped for the last of her yogurt. "You told me you guys were fucking again."

"Yes. Fucking," I said, a little out of breath as I tried to get my brain together. Shoes. Those should be taken off. "It's not a relationship. I am not his girlfriend."

"Sure, but you are dating."

"We are not!"

"But you just went on a date with him."

I shouted in frustration, kicking off my heeled sandals. "How did that even happen!?"

"If you didn't want to go on a date with him, why did you say yes? You've always said no before."

"He tricked me!" I cried out indignant.

"Did he now?" Ino was obviously not interested in my dilemma anymore. She started washing her spoon.

"Maybe there was a miscommunication somewhere. I don't know. I thought I've been pretty clear. I said that I am not ready to be anyone's girlfriend. That's not a confusing sentence!"

"Yeah, but there's verbal communication and then there's other communication."

"Other communication?"

"Yeah, you know, signs, hints, body language, intent. Are you fucking anyone else?"

"No."

"Is he fucking anyone else?"

"No, but -"

"So, your exclusive and dating. By definition you're his girlfriend."

I covered my face with my hands. "No!"

"Poor Sakura... How woeful. Someone loves her and buys her dinner. How terrible." I pouted at her in between my fingers. "Chill. No need to rub it in to the painfully single." Ino draped herself dramatically over the half wall that divided the kitchen and the living room." If only there was someone out there who loved me."

"I love you," I said apologetically.

Ino glanced up at me. "Not as much as you love Naruto."

"I love the both of you. I just... Let's just switch lives. Take over my mind. Take my body. I give up."

"Don't temp me, you tease. Get over here." I came closer to press my face into Ino's chest while she put her arms around me. "Though, I know you are saying that you've been really clear, but I don't know. Even I'm confused, and I'm not Naruto. You sleep with him, and you love him, but you don't want to be his girlfriend? It doesn't make sense, Sakura." Had I been stupid all this time? Probably. But I thought Naruto understood me. I thought Naruto would feel the same. "You want me to tell Naruto to fuck off?"

"No." I mumbled. But I did want Sasuke-kun to come back.

AN: has sort of become my practice version for this story. lol Because I keep changing up the chapter breaks. lolz. I thought of adding another part to this chapter to kind of wrap up this feeling, though it would have changed the tone, and now I'm thinking of switching the order of some things, but that also means I have to rewrite that section and may be too lazy to do so. If I am, I will include the next scene in this chapter. We will see how it will goes.