"I've been trying my best, but I still miss him. I can't just --"
"Me too."
"I think... I think I always will."
"Me too."
"...You're the only one who understands, Sakura-chan."
"Whatcha readin'?"
Sakura eyed the blond stranger who'd slipped in her cafe booth. She didn't feel
like being rude today, so she tilted up the cover of his book to show him. He
laughed when he read the title. He had nice blue eyes, she noticed, and his
laughter held no malice at all.
"Vampire chick lit? Really?"
"Hey, it's great for escapism," she retorted, only a little defensive.
"I'm sure real vampires think so. All that hype about silken shirts and
raven locks and alaba-something skin..."
"Oh-ho, someone's a connoisseur in vampire chick lit, I see."
He flailed his hands quickly, horrified and amused in equal measures. "I
was just curious about them! And the ones with wild tormented artists and gold-hearted
hustlers and CEOs who are so successful they can afford to go a-courting all
day. I bet it gives real vampire CEOs hives."
"That's exactly why they're so fun to read," Sakura replied, grinning
until her sharp, white fangs showed.
"... Okay. Tell me again how you broke your penis and then I'll see whether I feel like fixing it."
"A-are you a Slayer?" the stranger asked, eyes wide with shock.
Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "Not to my knowledge." Then she
punched him through the chest and watched him burst into dust just like the
first assailant had.
Naruto sneezed. "Weirdest bloodline ever."
"You broke my bed," she muttered, voice blank with utter disbelief.
Naruto grinned sheepishly and bounced a couple of times. "Mattress is still
good!"
The mattress started listing to the side with little warning. Sakura slipped
along the sheets until she collided with him; the light impact finished shoving
Naruto down, and then they spent a minute or so squirming against each other
and trying to straighten up. She pushed herself up on her arms in the end, but
he didn't. He was trapped there, she realized, between the wall and the tilted
mattress, tangled in the sheets, hindered by her weight.
"You broke my bed," Sakura repeated with dangerous softness.
She sat up across his hips and growled down, "You're going to pay me back,
and you're going to pay me now. I swear Naruto, the only way you'll leave my
room alive is if you leave me too exhausted to kill you."
"Say AAH," Sakura instructed.
Naruto was torn. Sakura-chan feeding him! ... Asparagus.
In the end he opened his mouth and swallowed, of course.
"... That Kakashi plushie is the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life."
"Sakura-chan, it's not a plushie! It's a TARGET!"
"So now you sleep with your targets? That's going to look nice on your
ANBU sheet."
"It's okay Naruto, it's okay, I'll have you free in a minute -- just don't
move, it'll be okay--"
He chuckles, rough and pained. "Yeah. S'okay. You're the best healer in
the world. The hottest, too."
"Are you flirting?! It's really not the moment--"
"...Heh. 's the best moment!" Bloodstained grin. "Like you better
angry than scared."
When she sees an hourglass figure and hip-length gold hair amongst the women
reaching the hot springs, she stiffens, and her hand instinctively feels around
for something to throw. But then she sees he's not looking right or left; he's
just looking at her. His full lips curve into a secretive smirk as he slips
in the water beside her. Sakura sinks to her chin in the bubbling water and
glares for all she's worth. It's too late to make a scene, sadly enough.
Then long legs tangle with hers and a hand wanders up her inner thigh, and she
closes her eyes and tells herself the red of her face will be attributed to
the water, and no one can see anything past the bubbles anyway.
She spreads her knees and smooths away all facial expression. It's too late
to make a scene, after all.
She doesn't see him as a man. She knows he is. But he's not 'a man', he's 'Naruto'.
Silly, annoying, steadfast, funny. Adjectives for a brother, maybe. For a teammate,
a best buddy.
His body cuts through the waterfall like he barely notices its strength, tons
of water breaking open on his shoulders. His flat, darkened hair doesn't take
attention from his widening jaw anymore -- or from his neck, his wide shoulders,
his defined body.
She pretends her nipples have tightened with painful swiftness only because
of the spray and the wind. But she's not cold, not cold at all, and it has little
to do with the sun and a lot more with the way Naruto's bare arms rise overhead
to punch through the waterfall again.