After the pain

Disclaimer: So I only own the plot here, which I must say has at least a few original ideas in it. (I think) But I don’t own any of the characters.

Jessia: I'm so glad you like my little scribbles.
As for dear darling Shikamaru, I'm afraid he will not be mentioned for some time yet. (Can't give away a plot line)


Thank you all again for your reviews I really appreciate them all they help me keep going through some major writers block.

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Chapter eleven


Tsunade was not a morning person.

She sat at her kitchen table sipping some very strong, very black coffee.
It normally took at least three cups of the thick brew to get her going and she was only half way through her second cup.
She hadn’t even started getting dressed yet.
Clad only in a short lavender wrap that was loosely tied at her waist, her golden locks hung down her back in tangled disarray.

It was the only time of day that the Gondame looked anything less then perfect.
She was still half asleep and threatening to nod off again, after all she still had a good hour before she had to head to the office.

The sudden appearance of a tall shinobi directly across the table from her along with the loud pop that came with him nearly gave her a heart attack.
Her drooping eyelids snapped open as her body jerked upright. The movement nearly sent both her and her chair over backwards.

‘Something must be wrong!’ Her large coffee mug went flying as she jumped to her feet.

“What’s wrong?!” She demanded, ready to fly into action. Her earlier dozing completely forgotten in the face of a possible threat.

The masked shinobi before her merely shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I punched Naruto.” Kakashi informed her, his voice bland.

Tsunade blinked and froze in mid motion as she was about to push away from the table.

“What?!”

“In the face, sent him flying.”

‘Wha???’

“That punch wasn’t even supposed to land, it was a diversion.” Kakashi continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that his commander’s mouth was hanging open and she hadn’t uttered a word since the first outburst.

‘…………..’

Folding his arms across his chest in his ‘no nonsense’ stance Kakashi had the gall to glare at her with his one good eye.

“What’s going on Tsunade?”

The Hokage blinked and sputtered, trying to make sense of his cryptic statements.
While at the same time coming to realize that her personal space had been invaded for no reason!

“Kakashi.” She growled once she got a hold of her self she placed her hands on the table in front of her and returned his glare with one of her own. “Explain you’re self immediately!”

“I already did.” He replied meeting her snapping chocolate death glare head on.

And no, he wasn’t noticing the fact that when she leaned forward the weight of her breasts was causing her wrap to loosen.

“You mean to tell me that you came barging into my living quarters without permission to tell me that you punched Naruto!” The sentence ended in a shriek as she straightened to her full height. Such as it was at only five foot three.

The blonde Sennin was now furious and she pounded her fists on the table in anger, leaving two slight dents in the six inch oak.

“I don’t see the problem, this is important.” Kakashi stated firmly, never once moving from his cross armed stance as the woman before him fumed and was quite obviously trying to control her self.

Finally able to stifle the urge to choke the life out of his body Tsunade threw her hands up in the air as she collapsed back into her chair.

“”What’s so important about a black eye?”

The copy-nin’s eye rolled. “We’re talking about Naruto.”

“So?” Came the exasperated sigh.

Tsunade’s eyes narrowed again as the silver haired man in front of her sighed and shook his head at her.
The urge to do him bodily harm was starting to come back.

“The fact is I can’t touch that boy on his worst days.”

Her brows lifted at that revelation. “Since when?”

The scarecrow shrugged. “That’s not the point; he seemed to zone out after I nailed him.”

It was now her turn to roll her eyes. “Maybe he was disorientated or got distracted.”

“This is Naruto we’re talking about. He wouldn’t get disorientated in a fight if you cut his head off. And he hasn’t gotten distracted in a battle since he was a teenager.”

Tsunade rubbed her temples in small circular motions.

“Kakashi, I still don’t see what the big deal is. The world is not coming to an end because the boy got hit.” She pointed out in a tired voice.

For a moment she entertained the thought that maybe it was Hatake, Kakashi who had got hit in the head and maybe she should check him for a concussion.
His trail of logic was definitely working below its normal level of operation.
But before she could decide if she should give him a check up or simply knock him out and take him to the hospital his voice interrupted her.

“Something is wrong with the boy, and I want to know what it is.”

“And how the hell should I know what it is?” Tsunade asked in exasperation.

“You’re the one scheming and medaling in his life so you SHOULD know.” Kakashi’s normally bland voice held more then a hint of irritation.

That was it for the blonde woman.
Headless of her state of dress which was starting to slowly slide more to the state of undress without her noticing, Tsunade got to her feet and stocked around the table so she stood directly in front of the tall man.

Because of the nine inch difference in their height she had to tip her head back to keep eye contact with him.

“For you information mister ‘barge in at an ungodly hour.” She poked him in the chest with one long manicured finger. “I have no more of an idea of what’s going on in Naruto’s head then you do.”

*POKE *

“And for the record! I’m not scheming OR medaling, I’m attempting to match make and nothing more.”

*POKE *

“So the next time you have something to talk to me about that DOES NOT include a life or death situation. I suggest you wait until I’m in my office.”

*POKE* *POKE*

“And if you EVER enter my quarters without permission again I will fry your ASS!”

Her eyes sparkled dangerously.

“Do we understand each other!”

“Perfectly Hokage-Sama.” With a puff of smoke he was gone.

“I could have sworn you were smiling when you said that Kakashi.” Tsunade growled to the now empty room.

After taking several calming breaths she turned and went in search of her coffee cup.
She found it on the floor on the far side of the room in about ten pieces.

While staring down at what had once been her favorite smiley face mug she realized that the front of her wrap had fallen open and was showing off more then a little skin as the light purple material was barely covering her nipples.

She refused to blush as she straightened the cloth and tucked it back into place.
She wasn’t ashamed of her body quit the opposite in fact and the man had barged in of his own accord.
Of course if she heard that he had told any one about seeing her this way she would quite happily shut off every chakra path in his body.

Once everything was back in its place she went in search of a new mug only to discover that she was out off coffee.

At that she started cursing Kakashi to the depths of hell while planning to find him a six month mission guarding scarecrows in a farmer’s field WITHOUT his damn books!

* * * * *

Kakashi casually strolled away from the Hokage tower his hands in his pockets while his mask hid the grin on his face.

‘Mission accomplished.’

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Naruto was feeling pretty good as he climbed the stairs of his apartment building.
He had just finished scaring a certain nosey ANBU into almost wetting his pants.

Telling someone that he would incur the wrath of on Sabaku no Gaara if any more reports involving the Kazkage’s sister were falsified tended to do that to a person.

He felt almost guilty using the fear Gaara still tended to strike in people to get back at the ANBU but he shrugged it off, the red head would have done far worse if he had been there and read the report that came in.

As soon as he was facing his own door the satisfaction he had been feeling evaporated.
He still had to face Temari over what had happened that morning.
He wondered if she was going to throw things at him if she was angry and if he should dodge the projectiles or simply let them hit him.

He stood staring at the wooden door.
He was not looking forward to opening it and going inside.
Funny how one potentially upset woman scared him more then any opponent that he had ever faced.

Knowing he was only putting off the inevitable he took a deep breath and quietly opened the door and stepped inside.
After turning and closing it without having any shouting or deadly projectiles sent his way he slowly turned and came face to face with…..

A sparkling wall???

Why were the walls of his apartment shinny?

Looking around as he stepped farther inside, he didn’t see Temari but every visible surface he could see was sparkling clean.

Had his walls ever been that white?

Naruto always kept his place relatively clean and tidy but this, this was……
He wasn’t sure there was even a word for this; immaculate didn’t seem to do it justice.

For a moment he felt like he had stepped into the twilight zone, into an alternate reality of his home.

Then Temari appeared from the bathroom looking rested and in good humor.

“Hi Naruto, welcome home.” She called cheerfully.

Wait, cheerfully?
Why was she cheerful?
She was supposed to be mad at him or upset or something.
Not welcoming him home.

Had anyone ever spoke that phase to him before?

Completely bewildered he trailed after her and leaned against the kitchen counter while still looking around the spotless apartment.

“Um.. Temari…” Turning towards the woman his voice failed when he saw that she was busy scrubbing the sink.

‘Now this is really getting weird.’

It wasn’t that she was cleaning exactly, after all most kunoichi somehow managed to juggle both work and the managing of a household.

It had more to do with the reality that it was his house that had been cleaned and the fact that he had never seen Temari do anything but beat the shit out of other people. Until this last week of course.
Seeing her in a more domestic roll took a little getting used to.

“Wha’cha doing?” He finally asked teasingly as he turned and propped his elbow on the counter top and rested his chin on his hand.

He couldn’t help but stare at her, the shock was starting to wear off and she just looked so cute the way she was fiercely scrubbing the steel sink.
Her bottom lip caught between her teeth in concentration.

“Just tidying up a bit.” She replied, turning on the faucet to rinse out the sink.

His eyebrows went up.
“Just tidying? Temari my apartment didn’t look this good new.”

Her flaxen head snapped up and her silver eyes scanned the rooms.

“I guess I did get a little carried away.” She admitted a faint blush touched her cheeks.
“I was just going to tidy up a bit.”

Naruto chuckled. “Well I really appreciate it, the place looks great!”

Temari barely seemed to hear him, her brow furrowed slightly as she continued to peruse her handy work.

“I don’t know what came over me, I never do house work.”

Not having a clue what to say to that statement Naruto decided to change the subject.

“Well, since you worked so hard to get the place like this, let’s not mess anything up just yet. I’ll take you out for lunch.”

Her silver eyes finally rested on him and she gave him a funny look.
“You mean it’s only noon?”

“Closer to one actually, but ya.”

“Strange, it felt longer.” She mused for a moment before shrugging. “O well.”

Temari dried off her hands then they moved to the door.
As Temari slipped into her new sandals Naruto decided he should apologize before they left the building.
Even though she didn’t seem to be angry or upset he didn’t want to take any chances.
He knew from experience that women never forgot any grievance, even if they pretended other wise.

“About this morning….” He wasn’t really sure how to start.

“O yes.” Temari interrupted him. “I wanted to thank you for that.”

He blinked, completely confused. “Thank me?”

“Yes, I realized that I must have made some noise while I was dreaming and you came to check up on me.” She smiled at him.

A real genuine smile that reached all the way to her eyes causing them to sparkle.

“Its funny actually, you were in my dreams last night too.”
She didn’t mention the waking up on top of her thing.

“I was?” He seemed incapable of uttering more then two words at a time. He was still too stunned. And her smile wasn’t helping either.

“You saved me.”

“I did?” ‘Smooth man, real smooth.’

“Mmmm Hmmm.”

Temari reached up and brushed off some dirt from the left shoulder of his jacket.
The gesture felt intimate, the way she had stepped closer to him.

‘Kiss her!’

‘I don’t think that’s a very good idea.’

“Bull! She’s practically coming on to you.’

‘No she’s not. Besides I’m trying to apologize for kissing her earlier.’

‘So kiss her now then apologize for both.’

Naruto wished he could dismiss the voice in his head as the Kyubi, but he knew that wasn’t possible. The fox was now completely sealed and the blonde shinobi found it rather disconcerting that his own inner voice sounded so much like the demon.

“You’re not angry about the kiss?” The words came out before he could stop them.
He was back to being as stunned as when he first walked into the apartment.

Temari shrugged at his question.

“No harm done, besides we’re friends.”

With that she stood up on her toes and gave him a soft peck on the cheek.

“There. Now we’re even. Shall we get going? I’m starving.”

She then proceeded out the door leaving a very stunned Naruto to trail after her.

He wasn’t sure what to do next. The woman was just acting to strangely, not at all how he had been expecting her too.
But then he had to admit that he really didn’t know her all that well, so maybe she was normally this easy going when she wasn’t out in public.
He had no idea, the only side of her that he had ever seen was the tuff as nails chick that rivaled Anko and Ino in the scariness department.

With the exception of the last week of course.
That was the other thing that was starting to bother him.
Why did she seem so comfortable around him?
Was it possible to recover from what she had been through that fast?

Naruto finally gave his head a shake, all of the questions bouncing around inside his skull was starting to give him a headache.

So he decided too just be glad that she wasn’t mad at him or crying again and just try to go with the flow.

* * * * * * * * * *

All through their meal Temari had tried to figure out what had come over her.

She felt happy and bubbly and she had enjoyed scrubbing walls for crying out loud!

She didn’t even want to touch on what had possessed her to tell Naruto that she had dreamed about him. Even if it was true.

Then there was the kiss. Both kisses actually, why on earth she had allowed the first and given the second was quite beyond her at that point.

And since when had she become such a chatter box?
She had practically talked Naruto’s ear off on the way to the restaurant.

Something wasn’t right, she had assisted women who had been through experiences similar to hers and she had witnessed the depression most of them had fallen into at one point or another.
So why wasn’t she depressed?
Or more nervous around men?

It didn’t make any sense at all.

Even now an hour later collapsed on Naruto’s couch exhaustion finally having caught up with her still weak body.

The only question that had been answered was why she wasn’t nervous around men.

The answer was simple, she was.

It turned out that it was Naruto who she wasn’t nervous around.

A fact she discovered when she had insisted on heading back to the apartment on her own after their meal and desert as Naruto had to head back to work and she didn’t see the point in him taking her all the way back just to backtrack to the Hokage tower.

She had reasoned that she would have to be on her own sooner or later, so had shooed him away despite his protests and headed off.

As it turned out, without the big shinobi at her side the return walk had taken on a very different aspect.
All the alley ways seemed menacing and the shadows seemed to move.

She walked on egg shells the whole way; as far as she was concerned she thought she was doing fairly well until a man she passed winked at her.

Then it had taken every ounce of will power she possessed to keep herself from breaking into a panicked run.

With a groan she rolled over on the couch she was currently occupying and buried her dace in the cushions beneath her.
Now that she was safely locked inside the apartment and had had a chance to calm down she felt like an idiot.

But she grudgingly realized there was nothing she could do about the whole thing now, she just had to do better next time.
For now she was forcing her mind away from the whole incident and was trying to come up with something else to think about.

Like how it wasn’t a good idea to clean an entire apartment like there was no tomorrow when one was still recovering from injury.
Once she had actually sat down for lunch she had found it difficult to get moving again.

‘Note to self; cleaning is evil.’

Her entire body was sore, her muscles ached and her hands were killing her.
How she had walked to and from lunch without collapsing was a mystery.

Well not completely, adrenalin had been a key factor on the return trip.
At least something in her body still worked properly.

Nope, that wasn’t a good topic either.
Now she felt like a pathetic weakling, which at the moment she felt she technically was.
But that didn’t mean that she wanted to dwell on it.

So what else could she focus on?

‘What about those women?’

‘O yes, the bitches!’

Anger suddenly resurfaced burning through even her exhaustion and pushing aside all her other emotions for the time being.

After leaving the restaurant, Naruto had been stopped by someone who had questions for him so Temari had wandered over to a nearby street vender to wait for him.

It was then that she had been approached by three women, two of which were kunoichi.
And they had started asking her strange questions.

******* Flash back *********

“You’re the woman who’s been staying at Uzumaki’s place aren’t you.” The red head in the group stated rather then asked.

Temari had no idea how to react to the woman’s hostile words and manner.
So she simply nodded as she took in the three women’s appearances.

All three of them made her uneasy, there was something in their eyes that she couldn’t quite place but it sent a shiver up her spine.

“So how was it?”

Temari drew a complete blank on what it was they were talking about.

“Have you moved in?” One of the others asked. “You’re taking your life in your hands you know.”

“What?”

“You're not going to hold out on us are you?” The third asked, not giving her time to even attempt a reply as all three started moving closer to her.

Temari then got the distinct impression that she was being stalked and she had no idea why.

Taking a defensive step back the sand-nin came up against something hard and unmoving.

“What’s going on here?” Naruto’s deep voice sounded from behind her.
At the same time she felt his arm wrap around her waist and drew her back to tuck her against his side.

“Uzumaki, hello.” The red head greeted rather coolly. “We were just having some girl talk.”

“I’ll bet you were.” Naruto growled.

Temari was startled by his tone as well as the feeling of the growl that vibrated through his chest which she was currently pressed against.
Looking up she saw that his normally sparkling, friendly blue eyes had turned cold.

“We were just getting to know your new girlfriend.” The redhead informed him.

Temari bristled, not only at the assumption but also at the way the woman’s tone of voice made the statement sound very much like an insult.
She had the sudden very violent urge to do bodily harm to the redhead.

“Temari-Sama is a ninja from sand, here on important business and she just happens to be under my protection for the duration of her stay in Konoha.” Naruto informed them.

“I don’t see a sand insignia anywhere.” The petit brunet remarked snidely.

It wasn’t until that moment that Temari noticed the loss of her Hitai-ate that she usually wore around her neck.

“Nice try Uzumaki,” The redhead snorted. “Why didn’t you just call us?”

Naruto pulled Temari closer to his body just as she felt herself really starting to get mad.
Bodily harm didn’t begin to describe what she wanted to do to that woman.

“Even IF I would allow you inside my house there is no longer a reason for you to want to be there.” Naruto stated coldly as he started steering Temari away from the strange threesome.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” The redhead spat, stepping into their path.

Temari hit her limit, she was about to pull away from Naruto’s grasp and beat the shit out of the woman and take a great deal of pleasure doing it too.
There was no way in hell she was going to let someone talk like that to someone she cared about.

The bitch was going down!

The arm around her waist tightened, preventing her from moving from the big blonde’s side.

“Kyubi’s gone.” Naruto stated flatly before brushing past the stunned women and heading off down the street, dragging a still angry and now slightly confused Temari with him.

“Damn Jackals.” He muttered when they were out of ear shot.

His long legs ate up the ground and Temari found herself practically being carried by the strong arm around her waist.

I t was a few moments before she managed to speak.
“Um… Naruto could you slow down a bit.” She asked quietly, the anger having left her just as quickly as it had come.

He stopped abruptly and released his hold on her, allowing her to step back.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

“Who were they?” She asked, still a little flustered from that whole encounter.

“Kyubi’s fan club.” He growled before started off again, this time at a slower pace.

Temari quickly followed him. “You have a fan club?” She asked.

She found the thought rather odd especially considering how hostile Naruto and the three women had acted towards each other.

“Not me, Kyubi.”

She glanced up at him and noticed that his jaw was clenched tight in anger.
But his comment puzzled her.

“But the Kyubi is inside you doesn’t that make you basically one and the same?” She asked.

She knew that her brother had merged with his demon and was under the impression that Naruto had done the same thing.

“We may be in the same body but that doesn’t make us the same.” He growled causing Temari to flinch slightly at his harsh tone.

“But I thought you had merged with him.”

“For a while, a long time ago. But not any more, I sealed him, he’s no longer around.”

“Oh.” For some reason Temari found that last bit of news almost sad, she wasn’t really sure why there was certainly nothing in his tone of voice to indicate that he wanted it any other way.

“So what exactly is a Kyubi fan?”

”To put it bluntly, it’s someone who wants to get fucked by a demon.” Naruto spat out the words like they left a bad taste in his mouth.

Temari sputtered, completely taken aback by his answer. It was not at all what she had expected to hear.
One look at her companions face told her that he didn’t want to talk about it anymore so she decided to let the subject drop. For now.

Instead she suggested that they stop for some desert at the ice cream parlor they were passing.

*************** END FLASHBACK *** *****************

Even now the reminder had Temari’s hands itching for her lost giant fan.

Suddenly bursting with pent up aggression the flaxen haired Jonin surged to her feet and started pacing across the apartment.

“How can any one treat Naruto like that?” She questioned the empty room.

“How can they act like his not part of the equation, like he doesn’t matter?”

“He’s a great guy I knew that even before he rescued me.”

Silver eyes flashed dangerously as she continued to replay the incident in her head.

“HOW DARE THEY!” She screamed, having worked herself into a fine fit of rage.

She stopped her pacing suddenly and stood glaring across the room at the door.
It was more then a little tempting to go after those whores and work them over a little bit as a release for her anger.
But then she would have some very serious explaining to do afterwards.

After all she was a guest in Konoha, and to beat up some of the village’s citizens, as low life as they may be.
It wouldn’t be very good for her country’s alliance.

Sighing in frustration Temari’s more logical side started to take over and she acknowledged that there really wasn’t anything she could do about the whole encounter, especially now that it was long over.

‘Maybe I shouldn’t have started thinking about that; it’s not exactly relaxing me.’

‘No kidding check out your hands.’

Frowning Temari lifted her hands as she wondered where that stray thought had come from only to discover that her limbs were shaking uncontrollably.

‘Strange.’

Heading back towards the couch she tried to figure out what was causing her hands to tremble so badly.
Her answer came in the form of her knees buckling and she barely made it onto the couch before it felt like her entire body gave out on her.

Obviously her angry pacing and the short adrenalin rush that came with it had depleted her already tiered body so that it was now a struggle just to remain sitting upright.

Groaning at the effort she managed to bring her legs up and stretch her self out on the sofa before her strength completely gave out.

‘This is so frustrating! I wonder why it’s taking so long for me to recover.’

She felt her eyelids start to droop and cursed her own weakness even as she wondered absently if she should go to the hospital to get checked out.

‘You still need to go have that test done like the old lady suggested.’ Her inner voice reminded her.

Luckily she was too tiered to start getting upset over that reminder.
Her eyes grew heavier and she finally decided that it wouldn’t hurt to close them for ten or fifteen minuets.
Maybe after a quick rest she would feel better.

Allowing her eyes to drift shut she snuggled into the cushions.

A faint smile touched her lips as she started to doze off.

‘Naruto’s couch smells like him.’
Was her last thought before sleep claimed her.