Troublesome Hormones

by naruko75

All Naruto wanted was to have some fun, nothing wrong with that right? Wrong. She never realized that sneaking around with one lazy bastard will come with its own set of consequences, especially when falling in love is the least of her troubles.

8. Chapter 8

Kakashi let out a giggle as he turned a page from his book. This book was just too good, no matter how many times he'd read it-fourteen times to be exact-he never gets tired of it, not to mention the other six volumes that was stashed on the top shelf situated in his room. Jiraiya, bless his soul, had been a formidable writer. Too bad he hadn't thought of leaving a legacy to continue his work, Kakashi thought mournfully. Ah well, at least he'd left notes on sealing in case anyone was interested and luckily someone was interested, so there's that.

He turned another page glancing down at his charge only to blink at the sight. He was sitting in the tree supervising Naruto as she worked on seals, make sure she didn't kill herself recklessly. He must have been distracted somehow, because he hadn't noticed that she'd stopped writing in her notebook.

The girl in question laid sprawled on her stomach on the grassy floor with books spread out in front of her, one hand was propped under her cheek and the other one was holding a pen which she kept biting the tip of. She was staring into space, face deep in thought.

Whatever she was thinking about must have been pretty serious, Naruto actually had worry lines marring her cute forehead and a small frown seemed to be tugging at her lips. And what really disturbed him was the small sigh she kept letting out at every interval. And it wasn't the usual I-am-tired kind of sigh, it was a mix of sadness and wistfulness. Which was weird, considering as long as he'd known Naruto he'd never heard her sigh in such a manner. She would growl, cry in frustration or punch when something would bother her, the point is she always voiced her troubles, well, most of the times. Often than not, she wouldn't show that something was bothering her so as not to worry anyone.

Still, it was greatly disconcerting to see Naruto like that, she was just too quiet. Kakashi jumped down from his perch and made his way to her. She didn't notice as he approached her, still deep in thought. He snapped his book shut loudly.

Naruto jumped at the noise, startled. She blinked up at him.

"Everything alright, Naruto?" Kakashi asked, scrutinizing her with his lone eye.

"Uh?" Naruto said a little disoriented. She grinned sheepishly, rubbing the spot behind her head as two red dots appeared on her cheeks, embarrassed at having been caught. "Sorry, did you say something, sensei?"

"I asked if you were ok." Kakashi said his tone amused and a little exasperated.

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Kakashi rolled his visible eye, pocketing his book in his back pouch. "You were very deep in thought."

Naruto shook her head to clear it. "Yeah, I'm fine sensei." She said flashing him a smile before going back to the forgotten note books in front of her. She tried to concentrate back on the notes, but it was hard since her mind was elsewhere.

Kakashi sighed. "Naruto, we've done enough studying for today."

Naruto shook her head stubbornly. "I said I'm fine."

"Naruto." His voice didn't brook any argument.

Naruto's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Alright." She sat up and started packing her stuff.

Kakashi watched her pack. Her focus still wasn't fully there. Kakashi sighed running a hand through his hair, already regretting what he was about to say.

"Okay, tell me what's wrong."

"It's nothing serious, I don't want to bother you." Naruto said quietly, not looking at him.

Kakashi sat next to her, making himself comfortable. Now she really got him interested. "It's no bother at all. Plus, I don't have anything better to do except read my books which can wait. So you might as well tell me. Maybe I might be able to help."

Naruto was quiet for a moment. It seemed she was considering whether to tell him or not. Kakashi waited patiently knowing that if he rushed her, she would just clamp up, give him that big fake smile she seemed to favor so much and flee. That would just not do, Naruto needed to know that she could count on people for help.

"Well, uhm..." Naruto said after a long moment of consideration. She shifted awkwardly fiddling with her hands. "Do you think I'm attractive?"

Kakashi blinked. 'Okay, that was a little unexpected.'

Naruto's face turned red when she realized what she'd said and how it may have sounded. She rambled. "Not that I want you to think I'm attractive or anything... I mean I want to know if I'm attractive but not in the way that you think because that will be just gross... I want to know is it possible for a guy to be attracted to me? A guy that is obviously not you haha... No offence to you Kakashi, I'm sure you will find there's plenty of women your age that might be interested as old as you are... I mean I'm way younger than you and -"

"Naruto," Kakashi interrupted suppressing his laugh. "You're rambling."

Naruto's face turned red. "I just wanted to make sure you didn't get the wrong idea."

He could have teased her about it, but instead he decided to give her a break and tried to discern the issue behind her question. Naruto wasn't the type to care much for her looks, so the fact that she was asking meant one of two things. A) She had suddenly turned into the type of girl that obsess about their looks, possible but highly unlikely. Or B) She'd met a guy. Kakashi blinked at the last option. Could it be? He studied Naruto, he was not an expert on these sort of thing but he'd been around teenagers, more than he'd like, to spot the signs and they're usually the same.

Coloring of the cheeks? Check.

Fiddling of the hands? Check.

No eye contact? Check.

There could be more signs that he was missing, but those were the obvious signs he could see. Naruto hid her emotions surprisingly well. Apart from a little embarrassment mixed in with shyness she didn't show signs of having a crush on anyone. Which was probably good, since he'd hate to have to run from her if she started squealing like some of the teenage girls he'd come across. Then again, he could be wrong. Maybe something else was bothering her.

He silently prayed it was the case, love advice had never been his strong point. He could still remember getting Minato-sensei into trouble one day when the older man had been desperate enough to ask the then 12 years old Kakashi for advice for an apology token. How was Kakashi to know that Kushina-san hated tomatoes because of some nickname they used to tease her with during her academy days? He'd just thought, since she loved cooking she could spice up some of her recipe with tomatoes, so he'd suggested Minato to buy Kushina some tomatoes on his way home. Let's just say the couch had been Minato's companion for a week and in turn Minato had made their training hell.

Not to mention Asuma, poor sucker may he rest in peace. Once asked Kakashi for advice on wooing a girl (he'd been planning on wooing Kurenai) so Kakashi had suggested he buys her lilies because every girl loved them (according to him), and guess what? Turned out Kurenai was allergic to them, suffice to say their date hadn't been romantic at all and Asuma hadn't spoken to Kakashi for days after that. He digressed, but the point is Kakashi sucks at giving love advice.

He contemplated standing up and walking away from this situation before it was too late, but as he looked at Naruto's pathetically sad cute face still waiting on his reply he sighed in defeat. Well, maybe he'd gotten more wiser in the love department during the years. At least he hoped so, for both their sakes.

"Honestly?" When Naruto nodded he said. "I think you're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, just like your mother."

Naruto smiled shyly shaking her head. "My mother was very beautiful." She mumbled wistfully.

"Yes, she was. But remember you have both the Namikaze and Uzumaki blood gene in you and your father was no ogre either, which makes you more beautiful than any princess I know." Kakashi said ruffling her hair.

Naruto laughed ducking her head away. "A princess huh? I didn't know you regarded me so highly, Sensei." She teased.

Kakashi smiled at her disbelief, but he was glad that he'd managed to make her laugh. A brooding Naruto didn't sit well with him.

She sobered up quickly though, biting her lips she hesitated choosing her words carefully before saying. "Do you think I'm attractive enough for a guy to like me?"

So he'd been right, there was a boy involved.

"Is this your way of telling me you have a crush on somebody and you don't know if they feel the same about you?"

Naruto looked at him like he'd just sprouted two heads. "What? No, that's ridiculous. What gave you have that idea?"

Kakashi paused wondering if she was being serious, when he saw that she was he sighed exasperatedly. "Naruto, you just asked me if I thought you were attractive enough for a guy to like you."

"Yeah, but what gave you the idea that I'm having a crush on someone?" Naruto asked brow furrowed in confusion.

"Well, the way you phrased your question made me think there was a boy involved."

"Oh... Uhm, right." Naruto said looking away to hide her flaming cheeks.

Kakashi blinked at the weird behavior, and he started second guessing his decision to stay. This was turning out to be well... A little out of his depth. "So does that mean there's a boy involved?"

"Well, yes... I mean no- maybe a little." She added quickly before he could speak. "But not the way you think."

"Okay," Kakashi said slowly. "So the reason you're worried about your looks is because there's a boy involved but somehow you're not romantically interested in him?" He raised an eyebrow when she nodded slowly. "Should I be worried?"

Naruto shook her head. "No, no... It's just something happened- nothing to worry about- and it got me thinking... You know, if it was possible."

"Of course it is," Kakashi said with a smile. "Any guy would be stupid not to like you."

Naruto returned the smile hesitantly. "Really? You're not just saying that?"

"Definitely."

Naruto sighed in relief. "Thanks Kakashi-sensei. Iit means a lot."

"You're welcome, but that's not really what's bothering you is it?" He asked studying her intensely and making her squirm under his gaze.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Naruto replied avoiding his eyes.

"One, you're a very bad liar and two you're being very vague which is unlike you, and it gives me the impression that there is more to it."

Naruto blew a breath, her hand went up to rub the spot behind her head nervously. "You know me so well, Kakashi-sensei."

Kakashi hummed. "No, you're just terrible at hiding your emotions."

Naruto's brow twitched. "Is that so?"

"Indeed."

She punched him playfully, "well, not everyone is a masterful liar like yourself."

Kakashi mock gasped. "I never lie!"

Naruto rolled her eyes at him. "So what do you call your lame excuses?"

"They're not lies, and you my cute little student, are trying to change the subject."

"I'm not little anymore." Naruto couldn't help grumbling before sighing. "You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." He replied sitting more comfortably to show that he wasn't moving until she spilled. No way was she going to leave without telling him, his interest was peaked.

Naruto seemed surprised at his persistence before a small smile made it's way slowly to her lips. "Okay, but you must promise me not to tell anyone what we discuss here. If you tell anyone, I know where you keep your perverted books." She threatened.

"Whoa! No need to bring my precious books into this. I promise I won't say anything." Kakashi said waving his hands in a placating manner.

Naruto nodded her head satisfied. "Good."

They fell silent, while Naruto tried to think of how to tell him without breaking her word to Shikamaru to keep it a secret, but she really needed someone's opinion, someone that wasn't a demon fox.

'Well, thanks for the vote of confidence kit.' She heard the voice of her companion.

'Oh stuff it, will you.'

'You asked for my opinion and I gave it. You're not entitled to follow it if you don't want.' The Kyuubi's voice dripped of boredom.

She knew the fox was right, he'd laid out the options for her and she took the one that was right. Yet, here she was about to ask Kakashi-sensei for advice. 'I just need another point of view.' She told herself.

Kurama snorted in her mindscape. 'More like you just want an assurance.'

Naruto's hands closed into fists, she gritted her teeth. 'You're wrong.'

'Admit it, Naruto, you're hoping that your teacher tells you that the second option is right. Despite choosing the safer option you still have doubt. You want him to assert that sleeping with one of your friend's boyfriend is fine as long as she doesn't find out.' His voice was slightly mocking.

Naruto tightened her fist until her knuckles turned white. Kurama could be very cruel sometimes, but she had to remind herself that he meant well so she shouldn't let him get under her skin. Plus, he was wrong. She didn't have any doubt about her choice being the right one, she just didn't like it very much. She didn't know how to avoid Shikamaru without arousing suspicions. She just wanted to know what her Sensei would do if he were in her place.

There was a pause in her mindscape to which she imagined the fox raising a fury brow in a dubious manner and then he said very deliberately. 'I didn't peg you to be the denial type, Naruto.'

Kakashi's voice stopped her from replying. It's a good thing too because she didn't know what to say to that.

"Naruto?"

Naruto opened her eyes, she didn't realize that she'd closed them. She blinked her blue eyes at him before smiling sheepishly. "Ano, sorry Kakashi-sensei. I was just talking to Kurama."

"It's fine, Naruto." Kakashi smiled behind his mask at least she thought he did by the crinkle at the corner of his lone visible eye. "Look, if you really don't want to talk about it you don't have to. I understand."

Naruto shook her head. "I want to." She hesitated a little more before saying carefully. "I want your perspective on something."

Kakashi nodded, inwardly wondering what this was all about. Naruto being secretive? That should be interesting.

"Right," she tugged on her hair nervously, she'd tied it in her usual pigtails that morning. "Hypothetically speaking right?" She waited until he nodded. "Say you have a friend, a girl. You guys have nothing in common or anything, you're just friends. And then one day you do something stupid like kiss her or maybe more... But whatever, the point is what you did was a stupid, stupid mistake and you shouldn't have crossed that line, but you did. Are you following me so far?" She asked when she saw her Sensei's eye was glazed over.

Kakashi thought for a moment before nodding slowly. "I... Think so."

"Great!" Naruto said brightly, now warming up to her story. Kakashi blinked deciding not to comment on the change of mood he just chalked it up to hormones. "As I was saying, you made a stup-"

"I think we already established that I made a stupid mistake. Hypothetically speaking, of course." Kakashi interrupted, he wanted her to get the point.

"Yeah, but I was just trying to emphasize how stupid of a mistake it was."

"You didn't have to, I got it the first time."

Naruto waved her hand dismissively. "Yeah, yeah. Moving on, where was I?"

"I crossed some kind of line?" He offered.

"Not you, both of you crossed that invisible line of friendship and... Well, I don't know what's on the other side of the other line, but you both crossed it and you realized you actually had fun and you want to repeat it again-"

"The stupid mistake?"

"Yes, but only now you realized it wasn't as stupid as it seemed... Oh, who am I kidding it was very stupid but you just don't care so you decide to do it again. The only problem is the girl has a boyfriend but they kind of broke up... And you and the boyfriend are friends too. So, what would you do?" She was breathless by the end of her rant. She swallowed to get her breath as she waited for his answer.

Kakashi ran the story over in his head, before nodding slowly in approval as if he'd drawn a conclusion. "Naruto you have an overactive imagination, and your story telling is quite fascinating. Are you sure you don't want to continue writing the Icha Icha series?"

Naruto looked affronted. "I'm not making that up!"

"Oh?" Kakashi smirked under his mask. Gotcha. "So it really happened?"

Naruto realized her mistake, and she tried to backtrack. "Yes... No... I mean it's just an hypothesis."

"Hmm, so which one of the two characters are you? Me or the girl?" He asked curiously.

"I-I, N-neither!" She denied unconvincingly. "Can you just tell me? Please?" She sent him a pleading look.

Kakashi studied his student. Somehow he doubted Naruto was the girl in the story since she didn't have a boyfriend. So that meant she was 'me' as in the male character, and she tried to trick him by swapping the genders. Smart, but not smart enough to fool him. But of course she could be talking about someone else altogether, but the fact that she'd stuttered when he'd asked her told him a different story.

He frowned at the idea of Naruto being involved with the opposite sex, no idea if he should be happy about that or apprehensive. On one side it was good that she'd finally decided to have fun before it's too late; because let's face it shinobi life was very short, you never know when will be the last time you return from a mission, but of course that's not what he wished of his student. She will live a long life if he had a thing to say about it. But what about when she became hokage? She would never have time for herself or her family-if she ever decided to have a family. So it was good that she found someone to have fun with.

But he was a little hesitant, because these sort of things never ended well, especially love triangles from the sound of it. Those ones always ended up messy. The lack of the word date hadn't been lost on him, Naruto made it sound like just armless fun, but how much of the story should he trust? He paused when he realised that that's what Naruto's intention were by telling him the story as an hypothesis. He didn't know which parts were made up or real. And there was also the identity of the boy to consider.

'In love with someone else huh?' Kakashi mused. Now who did he know in Naruto's circle of friends that fit the bill? Uhm, hard to say considering they all seemed to be infatuated with each other.

Well, it seemed she got him stuck there. He cannot guess the identity of the mysterious guy without more facts.

He felt proud for his blond student, she seemed to have grown a lot. He would never have guessed she would come up with something like that.

Now what to tell her, he scratched his chin thoughtfully. Well he could always tell her that it wasn't a good idea, nothing is worth the trouble that it would cause if this decided to blow up in their faces. Or he could tell her what she wanted to hear. Which was to go for it. Otherwise why else would she be worried?

If she wasn't considering it she wouldn't have bothered telling him. She would've just scoffed at the idea and forgotten about it, but the fact that it's bothering her meant that she'd been thinking about doing it again, whatever 'it' is. He didn't know what teenagers got up to these days, and frankly he didn't want to know.

"Well," he finally said after a moment of thoughtful silence. "I will tell you, but keep in mind that what I would do is not necessarily the best option, okay?"

Naruto nodded, already knowing he'd figured out that she was 'him' in the hypothesis, she made sure he wouldn't guess Shikamaru's identity though.

"Okay, let see if it was me what would I do?" Kakashi said looking up at the sky thoughtfully. "I guess, if the sex is good I won't mind doing it again."

Naruto squirmed, uncomfortable talking about sex with her teacher. What even gave him the idea that sex was involved was beyond her. Even though it was involved, he shouldn't have easily guessed it.

Kakashi looked at her knowingly, and she just knew that he was smirking under his mask. "Was the sex good, Naruto?"

Naruto bit her tongue and forced herself to keep from blushing. He was just trying to trick her into admitting that sex was involved, he caught her once but she wasn't going to fall for it a second time. "I wouldn't know about that, I didn't say anything about sex, did I?"

"I suppose you didn't," Kakashi shrugged uncaringly but he still had that knowing look in his eye. "But I'm a grown man, kissing is not enough for me. Kissing is for debutant like you."

Naruto's eyebrow twitched in irritation, debutant uh. 'I will show him debutant.'

'Calm down, this is just what he wants. To get a rise out of you so that you'll slip up and tell him what he would like to know.'

Naruto froze. Is that so? 'Well played sensei and you almost got me there.' Naruto took a deep breath to try and calm herself. This is all her fault, what was she thinking asking Kakashi-sensei for advice? Of course he would turn it into a cat and mouse game or is it a dog and cat? She thought, referring to his summons. Naruto glared at him. "Whatever, you old pervert."

Kakashi pouted under his mask. "I'm not old."

Naruto rolled her eyes. "Yes you are, and the sooner you admit it the better it is for you. Those grey hair of yours won't keep covering up the silver ones growing underneath forever."

Kakashi narrowed his eye at the mischievous glint he could see in her eyes. "Is that so?"

"Yep!" Naruto said sticking her tongue at him.

Kakashi laughed ruffling her hair. "Whatever, brat."

Naruto scowled at Kakashi's smug face before letting out a chuckle.

"So," Naruto said slowly after a moment. "You're just going to do it again?"

Kakashi nodded knowing that she was referring to her hypothesis.

Naruto frowned thoughtfully. "What about the third party? The one that she's in love with?"

Kakashi shrugged. "As long as he's not in the picture, it shouldn't be a problem."

Naruto bit her lips in hesitation before deciding to ask. "But what if he is in the picture?"

Kakashi stared at her. "Then that would be a problem, I don't think it's wise to get involved with someone that's already taken, Naruto."

Naruto shook her head stubbornly. "We're talking about you, Kakashi, what would you do?" She pressed.

No honorific, Kakashi thought. She must be getting impatient. He sighed, well, it wouldn't hurt to tell her and if he was lucky she might not even try to take his words to heart. "I guess I would still do it, I mean it's not my fault that she can't resist my dashing looks."

Naruto refrained from snorting and pointing out that no one can see his face therefore no one knew whether he was good looking or not. Instead she waited for him to continue.

"Plus, if she really wanted the guy she wouldn't have come to me in the first place."

"But you guys are friends!" Naruto insisted. "Wouldn't it be like betraying your friendship?"

"Oh? I'm friends with the hypothetical boyfriend?" He really seemed surprised. Naruto refrained from throttling him in place, instead she nodded once. "Hm I guess I'm doing him a favour then. I can't imagine dating someone that would sleep with a friend of mine."

"Hey, it's not her fault that she can't control her desires." Naruto felt the need to defend.

Kakashi waved dismissively. "It all comes down to choices. People choose to do what they do, consciously or not."

"Wow," Naruto blinked, now looking at her teacher in a new light. "That's a bit cold, don't you think?"

Kakashi shrugged uncaringly, taking out his book from his pouch to read. "I'm not exactly a nice person. Anyway, this is just an hypothesis like you said. What I would do doesn't necessarily mean I might do it if it ever happens."

Naruto nodded absently, her mind running through everything Kakashi said. So according to him, the third party is not a problem as long as they weren't in the picture. Well, that sucked considering Temari was pretty much in the picture, and Naruto didn't think she wanted to use Kakashi's method either. She wasn't a mean person, she would never deliberately hurt someone just for her own benefit. To be fair, Kakashi did say that what he would do was not necessarily a good option. She'd already made her choice anyway, which is for the best.

One thing Kakashi was right about though, was if Shikamaru really wanted Temari he wouldn't have slept with her nor kissed her. But there's also the fact that he and Temari had broken up to consider. Naruto didn't think Shikamaru would have looked at her as anything but a friend if he'd still been together with Temari. What if she was just some kind of replacement until Temari comes back into the picture?

To her shame Naruto realized that she didn't really mind, as long as she got to experience that night again. And it's not like they're together, right? So maybe it's not going to hurt Temari... Much. After all, she'd been the one to break up with him. Maybe the sandy haired girl wouldn't be too resentful about the whole thing. Then again, considering the circumstances of their break up maybe she would. Agh! This was just taking her back in circles.

Naruto's attention was pulled from her thoughts when Kakashi stood up, apparently ready to go. He dusted himself in one motion and turned to look down at her.

"As your teacher, I would advise you to follow your gut and not your heart. But knowing you, you probably don't know which side your gut is." Naruto scowled at the jab but Kakashi held out his hand to stop her protest. "So what I'm going tell you is, if you think what you're doing is going to hurt anyone then don't do it."

Naruto looked down. "I don't think it would hurt her, I mean they're not even together right? But I'm not sure she will be happy about it either, and I really don't want to come in between the two of them in case they work things out, ya know?"

Naruto had given in him another clue, but it seemed she'd given up trying to pretend it wasn't about her.

Work things out uh, Kakashi thought, so that means the two mysterious friends had broken up. 'Now who do I know that fits all the clues.He and I need to have a very private talk.' Kakashi might've wanted Naruto to have fun, but it sounded to him that the guy was just using Naruto as some kind of replacement for the other girl.

Naruto was bound to be hurt at the end, she seemed too invested in this. He could just tell her to stop considering it or she might get hurt, but he didn't think she would listen to him because it seemed she'd already made up her mind even if she doesn't know it yet. The fact that she was considering the whole thing was proof.

Kakashi adjusted the grip on his book smiling down at her. "Well, you just have to make sure you make a decision that is right for you then." With that he walked away with a wave.

Naruto watched him go until he disappeared out of the field. She sighed, lying on her back on the grass. "How do I know what's right for me?" She mumbled looking up at the sky, it was clear today, Shikamaru must be disappointed. 'The question is, why does something wrong feels so right?'

Naruto shook her head to clear it and with it her mood, she didn't like feeling depressed. And her mood had been like that more often than she'd like these past days, she needed to get herself together. It's not like Shikamaru had agreed, the guy obviously didn't want to sleep with her again.

Whatever, it's not like she had time for distractions anyway, she needed to train to be hokage and for that she needed Sasuke's help and she owed him a spar. With that, she packed up the rest of her stuff and was gone in a flash of orange.

---

"Morning."

Naruto looked up from where she was sitting with a smile. "Good morning, Sakura-chan." She said cheerfully.

Sakura eyed her outfit in distaste. "Back in your trousers, I see." She said sitting down. They'd both planned to have breakfast together before Sakura had to go to the hospital.

"It's more comfortable." Naruto shrugged.

Sakura rolled her eyes and decided to give it up as a lost cause. After ordering something to eat they both started eating.

"So," Naruto started after short moment of silence. "How's your work at the hospital?"

Sakura shrugged, "Quiet. We haven't gotten a lot of patients lately but I guess it's a good thing."

Naruto nodded in agreement. "Definitely. It means people have stopped getting sick and missions have gotten less dangerous."

Sakura nodded distractedly. "Uhm, yeah. Listen, Naruto." When Naruto looked up in question she said. "What I said the other night... Uhm can we just forget it?"

Naruto's brow furrowed in confusion before realisation dawned on her. She'd completely forgotten about Sakura breaking down after their mission and telling her about the fact that she still had feelings for Sasuke. Naruto inwardly slumped in shame, she'd been so busy thinking about her situation with Shikamaru that she hadn't given a second thought about her friend's dilemma. And now it seemed Sakura was embarrassed about her little breakdown, but to be fair Sakura had been drunk and Naruto understood that her friend wasn't herself that night. She just wished she could help Sakura somehow.

Maybe she could go talk to Sasuke and make him see that the pink-haired girl was sincere in her feelings for him. Then she remembered what Sakura told her about the probability of Sasuke having feelings for her, which was ridiculous to Naruto. Sasuke and her were just friends, albeit friends that fought all the time. But incase it was true and he did indeed have feelings for her...

"Naruto, did you hear me?" Sakura nudged Naruto with her foot.

Naruto looked up from her thoughts. "Sure, Sakura whatever you say."

Sakura smiled in relief. "Thanks, Naruto."

And they both resumed eating their breakfast. If Sasuke did have feelings for her, that could be a problem. Not to mention it could be awkward. Naruto shook her head inwardly. No, there's no proof that the bastard liked her in that way. But just incase, she would have to find a way to discover if Sasuke did have feelings for her and if he did, Naruto would just have to cut those feelings before it got any further, she decided with finality. Now how to find out... Uhm, she could always ask him surely he wou-

"Hello, bitches!" Ino said loudly plopping herself in the seat between the two girls.

Sakura reddened in embarrassment at all the dirty looks being sent their way.

"Ino." She growled softly.

"What?" Ino blinked innocently at her. She turned to wink at Naruto who was grinning behind her cup.

"So, what you guys talking about?" She asked, taking some of Sakura's eggs and eating it.

Sakura glared at her. "We were just talking about how much of a pig you are."

Ino froze narrowing her eyes. "Really? And I suppose your forehead need to eat too because you've got bread crumbs on it, billboard brow."

Sakura fell for the trap and tried to wipe her forehead, when she saw that there was nothing she sent daggers to her best friend slash rival who had a victorious smirk on her face.

"You-"

"Come on, you guys stop arguing." Naruto interrupted Sakura's comeback. "You guys fight worse than Sasuke and I."

The two friends glared at each other some more before settling down.

"Fine." Sakura said going back to her coffee which had gotten cold. She grimaced and called the waitress for another serving. Seeing as Ino was still eating her eggs she rolled her eyes and pushed her plate towards the platinum blonde who was too happy to oblige.

Naruto shook her head at her two friend's antics.

"Weren't you supposed to be on a mission?" Sakura said as a cute waiter came and dropped a new fresh cup of coffee on their table. "Thanks."

Ino gave the waiter a flirtatious smile, batting her eyelashes. "Can I have a cup too?"

The waiter smiled. "Absolutely, ma'am."

"Oh please, call me Ino." Ino said in a sweet voice leaning forward to expose more of her cleavage.

The waiter's gaze immediately latched on them before clearing his throat, his cheeks tinting pink. He looked away. "Uhm sure, do you want some milk into your coffee, Ino-san?" The poor guy didn't know where else to look.

Ino pouted at the honorific, she sighed in mock disappointment before shaking her head to his question. "No, make it plain, and could you bring me more of these delicious eggs?"

"Of course, ma'am." The waiter bowed but then her cleavage was in perfect height with his eyes, straightening quickly he stammered an apology before making a hasty retreat.

Ino laughed as she watched him go, she turned to see Sakura giving her a dirty look and Naruto with mouth her gaping wide open, breakfast in display.

"What?" Ino blinked innocently.

Sakura shook her head in exasperation. "You're shameless."

Ino shrugged. "I can't help that they make it too easy for me."

"Whatever, you didn't answer my question."

"Uh? Oh, nah Shikamaru and Chouji went alone I was busy with something else. They should be back today if they're not already back."

Naruto perked up at hearing Shikamaru's name mentioned. So that was why she hadn't seen him lately, she mused. She'd thought he was avoiding her somehow. Not that she would blame him if he were.

"Speaking of Shikamaru," Sakura said, concern replacing the annoyance on her face. "How's he handling the break up?" Ino had told her about Temari breaking up with the shadow master, more like she complained about it, Sakura thought wryly. Apparently her friend was convinced that it was all Shikamaru's fault.

Ino scowled crossing her arms. "The baka wouldn't talk about it, but I'm sure he isn't even sad about it. You should be more concerned about Temari, the poor girl must be devastated."

Sakura nodded in agreement. "I can't begin to imagine what she's going through. Three years is not easy to get over from."

Naruto who was quiet until then decided to talk. "But from what I heard she broke up with him." She pointed out feeling the need to defend him somehow.

"Yeah, but she had a good reason to. He left her when she needed him the most. I mean, she came to him because the council is pressurizing her to get married and he flat out said no, saying he's not ready; I call bullshit!" Ino said slamming her hands flat lightly on the table, and making the people sitting close to them jump.

Naruto shook her head. "So what if he's not ready? You can't blame him for that, he is still young after all. Who gets married at that age?"

"Uhm, hello? We're ninjas, which means we have a very short life. Nineteen might as well be the perfect age to get married."

Naruto rolled her eyes. "I don't see you married."

Before a fight could form between the two blonds Sakura interrupted.

"Hey, guys come on. For all we know things didn't exactly happen the way we think." She said rationally, trying to calm them down without being accused of taking sides. "Maybe there's something more to it."

"Yeah, maybe he cheated on her or something. That is if it isn't too troublesome for him to do, he probably is too lazy to look at another girl." Ino said with a smirk an attempt at lightening the mood. She waved a dismissive hand to the waiter who returned with her order without giving him a glance, he frowned but went without saying a word.

"It's called faithfulness. It means he respect Temari-san enough not to cheat on her." Sakura reasoned, a hint of approval in her voice.

Naruto blew a silent breath, trying not to look guilty because that was too close for comfort. "Maybe it's love." She mumbled.

Ino snorted. "If he loved her I don't think marriage would've been a problem."

Naruto gritted her teeth in irritation. "We don't even know if the council is really behind all of this?"

Ino rolled her eyes as if speaking to an idiot. "Of course they are, why would Temari lie?"

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know, but shouldn't we have heard anything from Baa-Chan if it was a council-related situation?"

Ino narrowed her eyes irritably, fed up with Naruto. "What's up with you? Why are you taking Shikamaru's side?"

"Why aren't you? I thought he was your friend." She shot back totally avoiding the question considering she hadn't the slightest clue why she was defending him.

Ino glared at her. "Of course he's my friend, which is why I don't understand why he allowed his girlfriend of three years to break up with him and to top it all he hasn't gone to talk to her yet, and it's been a full week already!" She said, frustration coloring her tone.

"I believe that's none of your business, Ino." An annoyed voice cut in before Naruto could respond.

They turned to see Shikamaru standing close to their table, his expression set in annoyance. They hadn't heard him approach.

He stared at each girl in turn, his eyes paused momentarily on Naruto. He was surprised to see her face blank, but her eyes were full of emotions he couldn't quite read. He could barely see relief and confusion, but before he could read any further she dropped her gaze to the cup in her hands. When she looked back up there was only determination written on her face, but before he could analyze the sudden change Ino interrupted him reminding him of the reason why he was there.

"What do you mean it's none of my business? You're my friend and I need to make sure you're not making a huge mistake!" Ino shrieked glaring at him.

Shikamaru winced at the noise. "Look, I understand that you're worried about me and I appreciate it, but I would like you to bug off now. My fault or not you can't change what happened. All the details are my business so just lay off."

Ino glared harder at him and he spotted a little hurt in there too but he ignored it. Ino needed to know when to leave things alone, having a discussion about his relationship in a public coffee shop, loudly at that, was not okay with Shikamaru. To top it all she'd been arguing with Naruto about it; he hadn't heard much but from what he'd caught he presumed Naruto was defending him where as Ino thought he was the worse scum to ever walk the earth. He felt a little bitter to know that one of his best friends thought the worse of him, but whatever, Ino needed to realize that not every story had a fairytale ending.

Brushing off her glare he made his way around the table to sit down. "I'm not even here for this, I'm here because you're both needed at the hospital." He said tiredly laying his head on the table.

"A patient?" Sakura who had been quiet since he'd arrived said.

Shikamaru lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "I don't know, but it's the hokage that sent me."

"Oh, well we better go then." She said standing up. "Come on, Ino."

Sakura nudged the platinum blond who was still glaring daggers at Shikamaru's head. Seeing that the dark head was ignoring her, she let out an annoyed huff before standing up and without saying goodbye she walked out of the shop.

Sakura sighed, dropping money to cover her and Ino's food she turned to the other two with a smile. "Well, I will see you around you two."

Naruto smiled back. "Bye, Sakura-chan."

Sakura waved as she followed after Ino.

When they were both alone Naruto contemplated whether to stay or go, but decided she might as well stay. They had an unfinished business to talk about and Naruto would make sure everything was settled between the two of them today. She was fed with all the confusion with her emotions. She was tired of feeling all these things that she couldn't explain and she still didn't know whether sleeping with Shikamaru one last time would be the right thing to do.

"Careful, you might hurt yourself."

Naruto looked up to see Shikamaru staring at her with a smirk. Her brow furrowed in confusion.

"You were in deep thought." He elaborated with a teasing smirk.

When she realized what he meant Naruto scowled, her cheeks reddening. "Shut up." She muttered.

He chuckled causing her blush to deepen.

Naruto looked down at the table. "I'm sorry about what happened with Ino, we got a little carried away, I guess."

Shikamaru shrugged. "I'm not surprised, Ino always had a penchant for drama and the fact that you kept disagreeing with her only helped driving her more nuts."

Naruto looked up at him crossing her arms on the table. "It wasn't my intention to make her mad." She shrugged looking away again. "I just felt that someone needed to defend you somehow."

Shikamaru smiled. "I appreciate it. Next time try not to push her too hard, okay? It will only make her suspicious." As soon as Naruto looked up at him, he knew that he'd said the wrong thing.

"Suspicious for what? Nothing is going on between us." She couldn't help sounding a little bitter at the end of her sentence.

There was a short awkward pause before Naruto blew a frustrated breath.

"Sorry," she mumbled not looking at him as she took the forgotten cup of coffee. It was cold but she forced herself to drink it just so she could have something to do. She would've died if she could just to escape this awkward situation.

Shikamaru cleared his throat after a moment. "No it's fine... Uhm, you right I guess. Nothing is going on between us."

Naruto looked down at her now empty cup, hoping that he couldn't see how much what he'd said stung. She hadn't expected it to affect her like that, she'd known that he wasn't interested in her but to hear him admit it was a blow to her pride. That alone told her she was getting too invested which was not good. She nodded slowly standing up.

Without looking at him, she dropped coins on the table to cover her part. "I have to go." She said not waiting for him to respond she made her way out of the shop.

Not even five step away from the shop Shikamaru caught up to her grabbing her by the arm when she wouldn't stop.

"What?" Naruto said exasperation lacing her tone. When he didn't say anything she rolled her eyes and turned to go.

He only tightened his hands around her arm.

Naruto was getting impatient. "What do you want, Shikamaru?"

"I want you."

Naruto blinked in surprised which turned to confusion, not sure she heard correctly. "What?"

Shikamaru took a deep breath and released her, confident that she wouldn't try to escape anymore. They needed to finish this conversation today or else it would never be finished. They would keep putting it off, but Shikamaru was done doing that, he wanted to end the issue right today. "I want you, that's the truth. I don't know why but since that night when I'm close to you all I want is to touch you until I've had enough. But I can't, because if I do things might change between us and I can't predict the outcome which is driving me crazy because I've always been able to predict any outcome. It's the way I've always worked."

Try as she might Naruto couldn't help the feeling of happiness that bloomed in her at him admitting that he wanted her that badly. She was relieved that she wasn't the only one that felt that way. Naruto nodded and as if in silent agreement they both started walking again.

"You know I've been thinking a lot about your proposition." He continued after a moment of silence, he was grateful that Naruto was letting him talk without interruptions. "Only sex, no strings attached, but I realized that would've worked if we were complete strangers." He said with a crooked smile.

Naruto frowned but didn't say anything. She was trying to think where he was going with all this.

"But we're friends and that changes lots of things, I don't want you to get hurt at the end if I don't meet your expectation."

Naruto stopped, not sure if he's trying to say what she thought. Carefully as if afraid to get the wrong assumption she said. "I wouldn't have any expectation, if this... Thing were to happen it would be purely physical, no emotional attachment whatsoever."

Shikamaru too stopped to look at her thoughtfully.

Hope bloomed inside Naruto, if he was thinking that meant he was actually considering her idea, despite his hesitancy he actually wanted to try it. But then doubt started creeping in replacing the feeling of hope. Did she really want it herself? Despite knowing that there might be consequences was she willing to risk it? Naruto knew the answer without thinking about it.

She tried to resist the feeling she really did, but a big part of her wanted this in a way she couldn't explain which made her believe that it was more than mere curiosity. It was something deeper and a part of her was afraid of what it could mean, but the other part was intrigued and determined to find out. Just the thought of his lips on hers was enough to send her heart racing for the hokage mountain.

She licked her lips absently resuming their walk, her brows pinched in thoughts. Calm down, she mentally chided herself. Shikamaru hadn't agreed... Yet. She looked at him in the corner of her eye, he was still thinking which was good, it meant he wouldn't need much persuasion. Naruto felt like a hormone possessed teenager, and maybe she was. She couldn't care less. Right now all she cared about was satisfying the sudden hunger she had for the shadow master, and she was sure she just needed one night to keep the monster at bay.

Naruto stopped when an idea occurred to her, sure that Shikamaru would agree with it at least. A voice inside her told her not to do it, but she ignored it. She was done listening to her mind, it just kept confusing her. From now on she would act first and deal with the consequences later, Naruto style.

Shikamaru who'd stopped with her looked at her questioningly. They've stopped in front of a lake, Shikamaru could see families having a picnic a little distance away and a father teaching his son fishing on their right, no one paid them any attention.

Naruto looked up at him with excitement shining in her eyes. "I just had the craziest idea, but hear me out first before you make any judgment, okay?"

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow but shrugged. "It would not be the first idea of yours I've heard that's crazy, but can we sit down before you tell me your 'crazy idea.' " He didn't wait for her to respond before he dropped himself on the grass with a groan. "Man, that walking really exhausted me."

Naruto rolled her eyes but followed him by sitting down next to him. "We barely walked, you're just lazy."

They were facing the lake, and Naruto could see the water reflecting the blue sky, small crystals were sparkling on the surface. Naruto found the image beautiful, but she shook her head in favor of focusing on the real world. She didn't have time to be admiring water crystals. She turned to find Shikamaru looking at her with a look she couldn't quite identify.

"What?" She asked thinking that she probably had something on her face.

Shikamaru shook his head slightly pulling himself from his daze. "Your eyes," he said softly brushing her bangs away from her face. "They're reflecting the water."

Naruto resisted the urge to shiver at his slight touch, her brow furrowed instead in confusion. "So?"

Shikamaru shrugged pulling his hands back, an odd look crossing his face. He cleared his throat looking away. "Nothing. It's just... Nice I guess." Beautiful was the word he wanted to use but he didn't want to give her the wrong idea, things were already awkward between them as it was.

"Thanks, I guess?" Naruto said still not following his odd behaviour, but she brushed it aside for the moment she had bigger things to worry about like his reaction to her idea, but she couldn't help feeling excited nonetheless about it. She took a deep breath. "We both can't deny that we're attracted to each other, right?"

Shikamaru nodded, his mind working trying to guess where she was going with this.

"Right," Naruto continued, tugging her hair nervously. "So I was thinking we give each other one more night, you and I have... Uhm... Sex one last time. A whole night if we have to... To satisfy our craving for each other." She mentally cringed at how stupid 'our' sounded. It sounded a lot better in her head. Her face was probably doing a great impersonation of a ripe tomato, right now.

Despite having said the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard, Shikamaru couldn't help smiling at how cute she looked. "You're right, it is crazy."

Naruto huffed. "Well, do you have a better idea?"

"Come on, a whole night of sex? That's insane."

"I said only if we have to." Naruto pointed out to which Shikamaru rolled his eyes. Naruto scowled her hands going on her hips. "You know what's crazy? Having to hold ourselves back when we obviously want each other, and you know what else is crazy? Having you in my head every single damn time I'm trying to live my life!" She crossed her arms in front of her chest in obvious frustration. "If we don't do this I think I'm going to go crazy."

"Okay, I hear you." Shikamaru said with his hands up in a placating gesture, he sighed. "I get what you're saying because I feel the same way, but I just don't think it's a good idea. Things might change between us and I don't want to lose your friendship."

Naruto's gaze softened. "Things doesn't have to change if we don't let it. Aren't you at least curious to know why we're attracted to each other? Just think of it as an experiment or something, we'll just need one night. I promise.

Shikamaru looked at her skeptically. "What if one night is not enough?" What if it turns into more? Was what he wanted to ask but he didn't dare, afraid that Naruto wouldn't be able to reassure him enough.

"Hmm." Naruto hummed thoughtfully. "I don't think we need to cross that bridge yet, but I'm sure having sex with you one last time will be enough to make me swear off sex for the rest of my life." She teased just to lighten the mood.

Shikamaru smiled cockily. "Are you sure? Because my skills in bed are quite subpar, enough to get you addicted to it like a drug."

Naruto rolled her eyes playfully. "I'm sure."

Shikamaru chuckled. "You know," he said thoughtfully reassessing her with his gaze. "You're different."

"What do you mean?" Naruto said hoping that her unease wasn't showing.

Shikamaru shrugged, his perceptive eyes studying her. "You're acting different."

Naruto laughed nervously scratching the back of her. "Don't be stupid, dumbass."

"Yeah, I guess I'm just being... Stupid." He said, but his expression was sceptical. Naruto was hiding something, this wasn't the first time he'd noticed that she seemed more than she appeared, she actually seemed to have a brain behind that head of hers. The first time he'd thought it was because he was drunk, and was seeing things that wasn't there, but now he's not drunk and he can tell that Naruto acted dumber than she actually was. The question was why hide it?

He shoved the thought aside to be analyzed later, right now he needed to make a decision that would either be the best thing he has ever done or the worst mistake of his life.

"One night, huh." He said softly looking over the lake thoughtfully.

Naruto nodded. "One night, that's all we need."

"Okay," Shikamaru took a deep breath nodding. "Okay." He repeated more firmly, his decision made.

Naruto looked at him in surprise. She hadn't really thought he was going to agree so quickly.

He gave her one of his lazy smiles that she was starting to like so much, as if he could read her mind. "You're very persuasive, and I have to admit that I'm quite curious myself about how this whole thing will turn out."

Naruto released a breath she hadn't known she was holding. She shook her head smiling. "You didn't need much persuading. You secretly wanted it as much as me."

Shikamaru didn't smile back,"You're right." His expression was in that odd look that she still couldn't quite read as he looked at her, then it was gone again.

Naruto was left with an odd feeling of emptiness that she couldn't place. It was like being ripped off a blanket on a very cold night. She was left cold and... Lonely.

"After tonight, we go back to how things were." Shikamaru said, drawing Naruto out of her odd thoughts.

Naruto blinked as what he'd said occurred to her. "To...tonight?" She sputtered.

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "The sooner the better, don't you think?"

Naruto licked her lips nervously. "Don't you think it's too... Soon?"

Shikamaru shook his head. "I think it's the perfect time. We do this once and for all. The sooner we get over it, then we can get back to our normal lives." As normal as their lives were.

Naruto frowned at him. "I'm glad you think this is something to get over with." She grumbled under her breath, ignoring the slight pang his words brought to her. What had she expected? Of course he was going to be cold about this whole thing.

Shikamaru winced. "That's not what I meant, look," He rubbed his head in frustration. "This is just an arrangement, Naruto. We can't do this unless I know for sure there will not be any emotional attachment. Like you said yourself, we'll just be 'experimenting.' You've got your reason for doing it and I've got mine, but it can't happen if you're not really sure you can abide to the rules." Sensing that he'd been a little too harsh his gaze softened a little. "It's not too late to back off, I will understand if you do."

He was giving her a way out. Any sane person would've taken it and gone without ever looking back, but not Naruto. She took that like she took everything else in her life. A challenge. No way was she going to chicken out, of course she could be detached with this, she will show him. She lifted her chin and tried to look as dignified as she could, but probably failed, she said. "Of course I can abide by the rules, I'm the one that came up with it, remember?"

Shikamaru nodded but he still felt a little doubtful, a lot of things could go wrong. He was ready to take that risk, because he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold himself back when she kept making all those facial expressions that should've looked ridiculous on anyone, but managed look pretty hot on her. Her innocence just added an air of beauty to her. Shikamaru blinked himself out of his daze. Speaking of emotional attachment, if he kept having thoughts like that he was the one that was going to be in trouble.

"So tonight, huh." Naruto said pulling him out his daze. Shikamaru looked over at her, she was looking over the lake and once again his gaze was drawn towards her eyes. Like each time he looked at them, he was always surprised to notice how impossibly blue they were. He forced his gaze away from her eyes to the rest of her face, to the whiskers marring her face, one of the effects of being born to a jinchuriki. His eyes traced the curves of her pink lips, if it wasn't for all those people around he would've kissed them already.

Shikamaru quickly looked away, not wanting to be caught staring again when Naruto looked at him questioningly. He blinked belatedly remembering she'd spoken to him.

"Hm? Oh yeah, tonight."

Naruto cleared her throat, a little embarrassed at what she was about to ask. "Okay, this will sound a little weird but your place or mine?"

She was right, it was weird. Shikamaru had never imagined that such a question would one day be a priority to him and yet here he was trying to decide whose home would best to have frivolous sex.

Ah well, stranger things have happened to him.

"Is your apartment soundproof?" He asked her, trying to ignore the voice in his head that was telling him how crazy he was for agreeing to this.

Naruto shook her head thoughtfully, trying to imagine her little beat up apartment with her nosy neighbor. "Nope. Plus, my bed is not really comfortable."

Shikamaru nodded, he'd already guessed something like that. "Then my place, it is."

"What time?"

"I don't know," Shikamaru said thoughtfully. "But it should be very late."

"Hm." Naruto hummed picking up small stones from the floor. She lifted the stone and threw it as far as she could. They both watched the stone skip on the water until it sank.

"So how are you going to come without anyone seeing you?" He asked watching Naruto throw more stones into the lake.

"Huh? Oh," Naruto shrugged. "Shunshin, I guess."

"Be careful not to get caught. If anyone sees you entering my apartment rumours will start flying." He said looking around as if expecting someone to be spying on them.

"Except, it won't be rumors." Naruto joked with a wink, snickering.

Shikamaru scowled slightly. "Naruto, I'm serious."

"Stop being paranoid, Shikamaru." Naruto rolled her eyes. "I will be careful, and even if anyone sees me, no one will guess that we're doing anything suspicious. They will just assume I'm there for a mission."

Shikamaru raised an eyebrow. "Late at night?"

"A very special mission." Naruto added with another snicker. When Shikamaru's expression didn't change she threw her hands up in the air in surrender. "Fine, I will be careful. I promise."

She grumbled about him not having a sense of humor, but he ignored her.

Shikamaru wasn't being paranoid, he was just being overly cautious. Sex is supposed to be a spontaneous thing, and the fact that they were planning it beforehand just showed how ridiculous the idea was, but he knew that he had to do it. Somehow, this felt right to him. Nobody told him he couldn't have fun, right? And after tonight they could both go back to normal, as if nothing ever happened.

So why was he feeling like he was about to get more than he bargained for?

Naruto frowned down at the little stone in her palm in thought. She hesitated a little before asking the thing that's been bothering her, probably the only reason that's been stopping them from acting on their attraction. Guilt for Temari. "So, what about Temari?"

Shikamaru tensed a little at the name, he already knew what she meant. He'd been pondering the same question himself, but one thing was for sure. "She has nothing to do with this, so she doesn't need to know anything."

Naruto gave him a sideway glance, rolling the stone in her open palm. With the help of a little chakra she threw the stone and watched as it skipped. "You're planning on getting back with her, right?"

Shikamaru lied on his back to look up at the cloudless sky, strange he hadn't thought of smoking since he'd left the coffee shop. He took out a cigarette and lit it before answering Naruto's question.

"That's the idea." He exhaling smoke from his mouth.

Naruto frown in disapproval both of his smoking and the fact he seemed nonchalant about the topic. "So you're going to keep this from her? "

Shikamaru sent her a mildly irritated look. "Well, we're not together right now. I think it's okay if I go a little 'astray,' don't you think? After all I'm an asshole." He said a little bitterly still not over the fact that she'd broken up with him without giving him a chance to explain why he wouldn't marry her. Keeping the thing with Naruto a secret is his revenge. He felt vindictive. He then sighed, suddenly feeling stupid for being bitter. He just didn't know what else to do, and he didn't want to have to tell her that while they were taking a break, he'd slept with someone else. He could just imagine how that will go.

Naruto's frown deepened but this time in concern, it seemed Shikamaru wasn't quite as over the break up as he acted he was. She sincerely hoped they resolved their issue, meanwhile she had to agree with Shikamaru. Frankly, she was kind of relieved too. She didn't want to have to confront Temari and the drama that might ensue if she ever found out.

Agh, that sounded like something out of a romance affair novel with Naruto being the mistress.

She took a deep breath, trying to bury the guilt that was threatening to surface. It would just be this one time, she told herself, then they won't ever have to speak about it. With that she turned to Shikamaru, only to feel her breath catch in her throat when she found him staring at her, again. But this time it was different, the look was different.

Naruto swallowed hard, fighting off the warmth that was spreading fast from the tip of her toes up to her face. The look in which he was looking at her was the same look he'd given her that night before he'd first asked to kiss her, the night it had all begun. The same look he'd given her the morning after and that night in her apartment; she knew what the look meant even before he breached the distance between them.

Naruto didn't hesitate to reciprocate the kiss. He tasted of cigarette and something faintly sweet, but she found the taste faintly addictive. His tongue brushed lightly on her lips making her shiver slightly, pulling him closer to her.

Next thing she knew, they were both lying on the grass his body half on top her. She could feel his heart pounding and it gave her a sense of satisfaction to know that she had the same effect on him that he had on her.

Someone moaned, she didn't know if it came from him or her, but judging from his smile on her lips it must have been her.

After a moment, he pulled away causing her to let out a small sound of protest.

He chuckled, a deep sexy rumble that made her want to pull him back to her. They stared at each other, Naruto albeit dazedly.

"Wow." She whispered softly in awe.

Shikamaru chuckled again. "You should save that word for tonight." He tried to pull away completely, but Naruto's hand grabbed his ninja vest stopping him from moving further from her.

His eyes crinkled in amusement. "Come on, you don't want anyone to see us do you?" He gave her a peck on the lips, Naruto's knees went weak. She was grateful that she was already lying down or she would have fallen down and probably embarrassed herself in the process.

"Don't worry, we've got the whole night to have fun." He winked pulling away, this time Naruto didn't stop him only because she'd realized that they've been kissing who knew for how long with people present.

She quickly sat up almost bumping Shikamaru on the head in the process. Naruto glanced around to see that they were the only ones there, she hadn't noticed anyone leaving.

"They left when they saw us kissing, they were disgusted by our behaviour. Frankly, I think it was the noise you were making that scared them away." Shikamaru said amusedly.

Naruto's head snapped back to the boy next to her in horror, already imagining what people were saying about her.

When she saw Shikamaru's eyes was bright with amusement. She narrowed her eyes at him and in response he bit his lips, possibly to keep from laughing. The bastard was messing with her.

"You." Naruto growled pushing him, she made to stand up, but Shikamaru caught her arm.

Shikamaru chuckled, apparently giving up fighting off his laugh. "Now who's the paranoid one?"

Naruto clucked her tongue in annoyance. "That wasn't funny. Someone could've spotted us."

"It was funny, especially your face." He said with a smirk, his eyes twinkling in mirth.

Naruto was about to snap at him, probably something very rude but stopped when he caught her face in his hand.

"Relax, I made sure everybody was gone before I kissed you." he said softly kissing her on the lips, again. "Plus, I covered us in genjutsu incase anyone else came here."

Naruto shook off the momentary distraction that was Shikamaru's lips. She blinked as his words registered in her dazed brain. Since genjutsu had never been her strong suit, she had to close her eyes and focus hard; sure enough a moment later she could feel a faint trace of chakra surrounding them. Shikamaru's chakra.

Naruto was impressed, she always knew Shikamaru was smart but that did not stop her from being surprise every time he did something amazing. She hadn't even thought about genjutsu let alone seen him use it.

"When..."

"When did I do it?" Shikamaru shrugged. "The moment we were alone, before the kiss. It's only meant to last five minutes."

Naruto nodded slowly, still baffled that she hadn't noticed anyone leaving. She'd been too engrossed in talking to Shikamaru that she'd forgotten everything around her. It's weird, she couldn't decide whether it was a good thing or not. But she had to admit that she didn't really care. Anyone would've forgotten their surroundings if they'd been kissed like that, and the thought of it being a taste of what's to come that night is enough to make her giddy.

She was quick to clamp down on the feeling though. She felt a little frustrated at him for emphasizing on how they shouldn't reveal whatever they're doing but then he was the one dropping surprised kisses on her in a public place.

"That was risky." Naruto said with a frown. "Anyone that was a ninja could've found us, and the fact that we were hiding under a genjutsu would have been kinda suspicious."

Shikamaru blinked, taken aback by her words. "I guess so, but no one caught us."

"Yeah, but they could have!" Naruto said said, frustrated.

"Hey, all I wanted was to seal our deal with a kiss. Plus, you liked it didn't you?" He asked with a raised brow.

"That's beside the point," Naruto said fighting off a blush. "I just think we should be more careful. We can't let anyone catch us before things could even begin."

"Why are you being rational all of a sudden?" Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, as if trying to figure her out. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

Naruto shook her head vehemently. "No, no."

"Are you sure? Because if you are-"

"I'm not." Naruto interrupted firmly. "I just don't understand why you kissed me, I mean you're the one that said we should keep this private but then you kiss me here," she waved her hands around them. "You're just contradicting yourself and me in the process."

Shikamaru hesitated a little. He couldn't tell her that he'd been wanting to kiss her from the moment he'd laid eyes on her in the shop. It felt like he was violating a part of their little deal of no emotional involvement. "I-I told you," he shrugged a poor attempt to look unconcerned. "I just thought that a kiss would seal our deal better."

"Oh." Naruto couldn't help the little disappointment curling in her stomach at his answer. "Is that all?"

Shikamaru shrugged again not looking at her. "Why else would I do it?"

'How about because you wanted to?' She wanted to snap at him instead she swallowed shaking her head. "Nothing, never mind."

They fell into an awkward silence for awhile before Naruto stood up abruptly."I have to go. I'm going to see if the old hag wants me for something."

Shikamaru remained on the floor, he watched as Naruto dusted her pants. He clenched his hands to keep them from pulling her back to him. He didn't understand where these urge of touching her was coming from. Troublesome.

"See you... tonight?" He hesitated a little, afraid she might have changed her mind.

Despite clearly being upset, Naruto managed to give him a smile and a nod. "Tonight." With that she was gone.

Shikamaru watched her go, he felt a little unsettled that she was upset and somehow it was his fault.

'Hello, captain obvious why else would she be upset?' Naruto wasn't one to get upset easily, she had her moments but she always bounced back minutes later. For some reason, he noticed, since that night their conversation always ended up on the wrong note and he had to wonder if that wasn't just the beginning of the changes he'd been fearing.

Too late for regrets now. He'd already decided that as long as he was attracted to Naruto things would never be the same again. He might as well enjoy and have fun while it lasted. Naruto would make a hot lover, he decided.

Shikamaru froze when he realized what he'd just been thinking. This is just a one time thing, he told himself. After tonight things would go back to normal. It had too.

Too bad he just felt like he was lying to himself again, troublesome.

---

It didn't take long for Naruto to start having second thoughts about the whole thing, but each time she kept remembering his lips on hers further cementing her decision.

"This is crazy." She muttered under her breath while pacing in her apartment later that night.

The rest of her day had been hard and tedious for her. At least mentally. She'd tried to talk herself out of it, convincing herself that it wasn't too late to back out. Yet, it seemed her heart had been set already.

Naruto even tried to contact Kurama so he could talk some sense into her and stop her from probably making the biggest mistake of her life or maybe the best mistake of her life? Well, it all depended on how it would end. But the bastard wasn't responding to her calls.

Naruto took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves, but seconds later she resumed her pacing this time while smacking her forehead. "Stupid, stupid. Oh, why did I have to be so stupid as to agree this!"

"No," she said as she stopped pacing abruptly. "I didn't agree to it, I freakin suggested it!"

"Oh no," she murmured gripping her hair. "I'm an idiot."

Suffice to say Naruto spent two hours-with a ramen break in between- panicking, before she decided if she was going to whine she might as well do something productive while at it. Like get ready.

After showering and shaving every inch of her already smooth body, she went in the room to face another dilemma.

What to wear.

What does someone wear for a one-night stand? Naruto wondered, because she didn't think her usual sweat shirt and shorts was appealing for this kind of occasion. Not that she knew what was appealing for this occasion.

Naruto let out a little disgruntled noise when she realized she didn't know what kind of panties were appropriate for sex. Seeing all that made her almost wish she'd agreed to go lingerie shopping with Sakura and Ino.

Almost. Because nothing was worth the torture of spending a whole day shopping with those two devils.

After a few minutes of aimless searching she gave up, throwing her hands in the air in frustration. This was ridiculous, why was she wasting time looking for clothes that will end up on the floor anyway?

With that she ended up wearing a pale-yellow dress -the only simple clothing Sakura had chosen for her- on top of a white pair of underwear. Surely, Shikamaru would be grateful that she wore something that's easy to take off.

She tried to do something with her hair, but ended up putting it in a messy bun. Hair styling was never her strong suit.

By the time she was done it was way past eleven. She grimaced, well, Shikamaru didn't specified the time so she wasn't exactly late.

Naruto took a deep breath to calm her nerves once again, what if this was all a mistake?

Well, she won't know unless she went there. Plus, Naruto reasoned, she had nothing to lose. And after tonight she will get over her attraction to Shikamaru and things would go back to normal. Hopefully.

Naruto took another deep breath, she closed her eyes trying to picture Shikamaru's apartment, at least what she remembered of it. She lifted her hands in a shunshin sign, a second later she disappeared in puff of smoke.

...

Shikamaru looked up from where he was sitting drinking tea- his fifth cup to be exact- when a light knock sounded at his door.

He stood up glancing around to make sure everything was in place. He opened the door to a nervous Naruto tugging on her dress. Shikamaru stared, he couldn't help himself. She looked so beautiful in that short dress that he had to grip the door hard to stop himself from reaching out and pulling her to him. Partly because he didn't want to freak her out and the other part because he himself didn't understand where those urges were coming from.

"Hey." His voice came out breathy.

Naruto smiled tucking her bangs behind her ear. "Hey."

"Hey," he repeated before shaking his head from his temporary daze, he opened the door wider to let her in. "Come in."

Naruto seemed relieved at his words as if she'd been afraid that he might send her away. "Thanks." She gave him a shy smile before going in.

Shikamaru swallowed hard as he closed the door behind and followed her in the living room. "So..." He trailed off as he came up empty to what to say.

Naruto didn't notice his lack of words, she was busy looking around her. "Nice home you have here." She commented turning to look at him.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Thanks."

They fell into silence, both staring at each other. Shikamaru's didn't stray from her face. Despite never putting any makeup Shikamaru had to admit Naruto may as well be the most beautiful girl he'd ever laid eyes on, and that's not just his hormones talking. The dress she wore was loose but it did nothing to hide the curves of her body. He couldn't help but be disappointed that her hair was tied, though.

He watched as Naruto's eyes studied him in return and from the way her eyes roamed hungrily on his body, it seemed she liked what she saw. He was wearing a long sleeved sweatshirt and jeans.

Her eyes snapped back to him questioningly as if to ask, what now?

He resisted the urge to chuckle as he closed the distance between them, deciding instead to take the lead. It was only natural since he was the more experienced between the two.

Shikamaru left a foot-space between them just in case she wanted to change her mind, he didn't want her to but he had to leave the option open.

He reached out to cup her face lightly, hesitantly. He looked down at her questioningly, silently asking for permission.

Naruto leaned on her tiptoes in response, lightly grazing his lips. Their lips barely touched but he could feel his control slipping. She leaned back with a small smirk on her lips as if she knew what effect she had on him, her eyes daring him to kiss her.

Shikamaru was all too happy to oblige. He leaned down to kiss her warm soft lips, he kissed her lightly at first then he felt her tongue slide against his with a deliberate tempo. She tasted like ramen, she must've eaten it before she got here.

Shikamaru moulded his mouth with her, deepening the kiss. With a sigh, she moved against his touch, increasing the momentum of the kiss. He glided his fingers down her back just above the zip of her dress, she shivered slightly at his touch.

Shikamaru forced himself to pull away after awhile. Naruto made to follow him but he held her back with his hands on her shoulder.

Naruto blinked confusedly at him. "What's wrong?" She asked softly her voice nothing more than a whisper.

Slightly out of breath, he took a shuddering breath stepping away from her completely. Shikamaru turned away, trying to regain some control of himself. This was too much and too fast, he shouldn't be wanting her so damn much. What if... What if this was just a mistake?

"Shikamaru?"

He flinched at her concerned tone, even her voice was enough to make him dizzy with desire. All these emotions were new, he doesn't remember feeling this much desire for Temari.

"Come on, Shikamaru tell me what's wrong with you?" Naruto said behind him, her voice with a hint of frustration.

Shikamaru took another shuddering breath feeling his pulse slow down a little. "I don't think this is a good idea." He said without turning to look at her, but he felt her presence all the same.

"What?"

Shikamaru turned to see her expression was one of disbelief and a little confusion. "I don't think -"

"I heard you the first time," Naruto said impatiently. "What I want to know is what made you change your mind? Did I do something wrong?"

Shikamaru quickly shook his head. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"Then what is it?"

"It's... I don't know." He scratched his head in frustration, undoing his ponytail in the process. "I just feel that it's too much for me... It's driving me crazy!"

Naruto rolled her eyes slightly before sending him a glare. "So you think this is easy for me?" She didn't wait for him to answer, not that he would have. "This is too much for me too, all these new feelings and desires are driving me crazy too!"

Shikamaru winced at the loud tone of her voice. "Okay, calm down. I didn't mean to upset you, I just don't think this is right."

Naruto gave him an incredulous stare.

He knew he sounded a little like a coward but he couldn't help it, the feelings of desire that Naruto seemed to awaken within him left him a little wary of the situation he was getting himself into, and his rational side couldn't help but make itself aware.

He looked up just in time to see Naruto approaching him with a stubborn glint in her eyes.

"Naruto, wha-"

Shikamaru was cut off by Naruto's lips on his. Before he could protest or think of pushing her away her tongue slid in his mouth tasting, exploring the cavern of his mouth. He gasped as pleasure shot up through him.

"Don't fight it." She said softly into his mouth.

Naruto's hand snaked up behind his neck, pulling him closer. Shikamaru's arm reflexively went behind her back causing her to arch into him. He groaned.

Naruto breathed a laugh, nipping lightly at the base of his neck. "See," she whispered on his neck, her hot breath sending shivers down his back. "You want this." Her hands slid down from his neck to his stomach, her fingers lightly skimming the hard muscles there. She brought her mouth close to his ear her hot breath sending sparks of fire down south inadvertently causing his stomach to clench. "You want me." Then her hands dropped to his lower side, right on his bulging groin.

Shikamaru gasped loudly ,his eyes a fraction wide. He looked down at the girl who blinked innocently at him to the hand that was still holding his manhood. He licked his dry lips a little nervously, "Uhm..." He stuttered.

Naruto leaned forward to kiss him on his jaw. She then looked up at him with her big blue eyes, the expression would have been one of innocence if it weren't for her hand that was currently holding what could be her greatest weapon. From the glint in her eyes it seemed she was aware of it. "You want me, don't you?" She applied a little pressure just for effect.

Shikamaru groaned softly. "Fuck, yes!" He said almost buckling under her hand, his voice sounded choked.

The hand pressure disappeared to be replaced behind his neck. Shikamaru opened his eyes, he hadn't known he'd closed them. grateful for the break. His relief was short-lived because Naruto's hips swayed, making sure to brush his already tight appendage. Shikamaru was sure his eyes were rolling back in his head, but he didn't care when Naruto was busy torturing him.

The worse part was that he liked it, oh yes, he was enjoying every minute of it. He couldn't help the thrills of pleasure that went through him every time her body went anywhere near his groin, the sparks only growing fiercer and stronger in him. Her taste was like a drug, addictive. Her smell was intoxicating his senses. Her warm chakra fluctuating and enveloping.

Shikamaru held himself from taking her then and there; the fact that she drove all his senses on high alert kept him back, and his brain automatically tried to analyze the problem.

"Shikamaru look at me."

Half lidded brown eyes met blue eyes. They were so close, their noses were almost touching.

Blond brow furrowed slightly in confusion. "Why are you hesitating?"

"I..." Shikamaru swallowed hard. Damn her for looking so innocent and sexy at the same time. She had no idea what she was doing to him by just standing there with her flushed lips and an expectant expression, he could feel the last remaining of his will slipping.

"Are you afraid that you might end up liking it so much?" A hint of a smirk let him know that she was joking.

He snorted despite himself, he shook his head at her. His hand going behind her head pulling her to close the distance between them. "Not even close." He kissed her lightly on her already bruised lips. "I'm afraid this might end up meaning more than I would like it too." He said against her lips.

Naruto blinked up at him. "Is that all?" Before he could respond she stepped back away from him, out of his reach. "Don't worry, I promised you sex." She said reaching at the back of her dress. "And that's what you're going to get, no strings attached."

If only she knew that Shikamaru was more worried about himself, but before he could have a chance to tell her he got distracted by Naruto who's dress slid to the floor. She kicked it aside along with her shoes.

Shikamaru's mouth suddenly went dry by the sight of Naruto in her white cotton panty and bra. Her curves, he still cannot believe that she'd managed to hide them all these years. He felt a slight pleasure at knowing that he's the first male to see her naked. Well, almost naked.

Naruto's eyes glinted in mischief as she kicked her dress to the side. "So where's your bedroom, lover boy?" She said with her signature foxy grin pulling on her lips. At that moment she looked like a sly vixen.

She didn't wait for him to respond, she turned around giving him a perfect view of her tanned back before sauntering off in search of his bedroom.

Shikamaru watched in awe as she disappeared into the hallway. He was sure that his mouth was gaping open but he didn't care. He just knew that she was going to be trouble.

Shikamaru felt a grin pull at his lips. Too bad he was willingly going to be dragged down with her.

He chuckled softly. "Troublesome, woman."

With that, he followed after her making sure to take her dress from the floor-no way was he making that mistake twice.