Ridding Me of You

Authors Note: Minna-san!! I am back!!!! I have made a few revisions on this chapter and ill be doing a complete make over of chapter 20. God I miss this so much. I will try not to go underground again. Very Very Very Hard.

Chapter 19: Meeting Her Parents

A few meters away from their destination, Naruto could already see Sakura’s parents waiting like sentinels to greet their arrival. He knew right off the bat that they would be very mad about the fact that their daughter did not came home at the proper hour. Considering that he was the one with her, there would be no doubt about him sharing the blame for their daughter’s extreme tardiness.

Naruto composed himself, squared his shoulders and prepared to take whatever Sakura’s parent had in store for him. His and Sakura’s feet hardly had touched the two feet distance from the front doorstep when Sakura’s father boomed out:

“What have you got to say for yourself?!”

Sakura’s father fixed him a glare that nearly drilled a hole in his head. “You spent all day with my daughter without having the sense enough to escort her back home at the time she’s supposed to be home?! What in the world were you two doing?!” He paused here for a moment, but then balked upon realizing something that he had found very distasteful. “Don’t tell me you—“

“Tousan! Naruto and I were training!” Sakura interrupted her father in protest. Her mother gasped at, probably, the insolence displayed by Sakura whilst her father warmed even more to his lecture as though he found more evidence to fuel his anger. Haruno-san nigh scorched Naruto with the stare of contempt he threw in his direction.

“You were training with my daughter all day? What kind of man are you to treat a young lady this way? Was this just some ploy of yours to keep her with you?” Haruno-san’s lips tightened into a grim line, “Are you in love with my daughter, Uzumaki-san?”

Naruto was on the verge of giving a vindictive ‘yes’ to that. However, Sakura (who was very red in the face) suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth and provided an explanation to deter her father from his question.

“Otousan, we were late because we have to follow standard procedures. After training, meditation is required until you have fully regained the chakra you have lost in sparring. Then, we have to see to each other’s wounds. A day isn’t even enough to do all this!”

Sakura’s father narrowed his eyes, swiveling them from Naruto to Sakura and back again. He got one of his eyebrows raised in suspicion as he assessed them both.

“You like him, don’t you, Sakura?” he asked coldly, stumping them both. Dazed, Naruto turned his unblinking eyes to Sakura while she spluttered. He stayed mute, staring at her as she fidgeted in place, making all but just unintelligible sounds in her throat. Blood pounded in his ears as he waited for her answer, half-wanting for her to agree and half-wanting her to retort something that would steer them away from this conversation.

After the longest while, Sakura finally pulled herself together. She arranged her features in a matter of fact expression and said, “Teammates are required to train with each other, Naruto and I are teammates. We have to—“

Sakura’s mother shook her head. Disbelief was written all over her face. “Sakura…” She stared at her daughter and hen at him, which lasted far more than he liked. “Not—“

Whatever her mom was about to say. Sakura cut it off with a frustrated growl. Then, she spun hastily to him and shoved him away.

“Naruto, please leave.”

Sakura’s mother signed heavily. “I can’t believe this.”

Naruto didn’t budge from his spot. “Please do not blame Sakura,” he said, half-bowing, pushing against Sakura’s hand that laid on his chest.

Letting out another frustrated growl, Sakura bored her eyes into his and said, “Why would I be blamed for anything? We didn’t do anything wrong!”

Naruto pinkened a little as he became acutely aware of how near Sakura was. He opened his mouth but no words came… just this magnetized feeling stringing him closer…

“You were together all night!”

He snapped out of his daze—trance—acknowledging that Haruno-san’s challenging tone demanded an answer.

Sakura blinked, seemingly to have spaced out for a minute there as well. Nevertheless, her frustration rose to the surface after a mere second.

“We were training, Otousan!” She replied with exaggerated patience.

“And you came home together?” Sakura’s father asked incredulously.

It was weird that Sakura was still looking at him. Naruto can’t help but entertain the idea of taking her away—maybe back to his place…

“Ok enough! This is enough! Sakura move away from Uzumaki now!”

As though lightning struck the space between them, he and Sakura broke apart simultaneously. He didn’t know about Sakura, but he was feeling a tad breathless. Perhaps because if was as if they they were caught.

Sakura’s mother grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her further away from him. The distance left him bereft, which he instinctively made up for. He took two quick steps and once again became attached to Sakura.

“Go home, Uzumaki!” hollered Sakura’s mother. At the same time, her father ordered, “To your room, Sakura!”

For a fraction of a second, they were so surprised that they froze in place. But the screamed, “No” got them scrambling to obey.

Naruto did not want to go home. He dared to glance backward and saw a speck of Sakura disappearing inside of their house. She is going to her room, no doubt about that.

He can go there, see her, touch her. God, he is obsessed. He wanted to have her again. Somehow, it’s wrong. It’s not supposed to be feel this sexual because he knew he love her.

Despite his insightful observations, Naruto turned around and headed on a path to Sakura’s house, where he would have zero visibility. Excitement pumped blood to every inch of his body. When he landed on his window sill, he nearly smashed the glass panel so he can enter. It was very good that the window easily slid up, allowing him to quietly step in.

His discreet entrance would have remained so if not for Sakura’s shriek. Naruto instantly crouched and vigorously signaled for her to quit it.

“What are you doing here?” she asked shrilly, but still keeping her voice hushed.

“Sakura?”

“Nothing’s wrong, mom! It’s just a…,” at a loss for words, Sakura looked at him, her frown contrasting greatly with his grin.

“Just a frog, mom!” She continued with a roll of her eyes.

Naruto scratched the back of his head sheepishly. “I don’t know why I’m here.” He inched forward slowly, going on his hands and keens towards her. She effectively stopped his progress by putting a hand--palm-up—against his forehead.

“Are you planning to sleep here?” She asked sweetly—deviously so.

He got into a contemplative pose and replied, “I think we’ve established already that I don’t know what I’m doing her earlier?”

Sakura sighed heavily. “We are going to get into deeper trouble!”

Naruto looked at her solemnly. “I want to stay. Do you want me to leave?”

Sakura closed her eyes and twisted her head side to side with dismay.

“But you can’t sleep here!” she insisted.

Something inside him rebelled, hearing those words. He drew up to his feet methodically. Sakura’s hand remained on his head, but it slid to his neck as he towered over her. Involuntarily, his right hand went to her waist and his left hand rested on her right leg. This he lifted, making it look like she was about to straddle him.

In his head, he was doing these things, but his eyes could plainly see he had done them already. Sakura’s not fighting back but there is a hint of fear emanating from her.

“Are you still there, Naruto?” She looked up to his face and searched it warily. “Your eyes…”

Naruto blinked. His demon—the kyuubi—is taking over again. The tell tale sign is the changing color of his irises.

“Would you be able to release yourself from me?” he asked, his voice rough with the effort of staying in command. “I don’t think I can control it…”

Alarm bells went off in Sakura’s head and she clasped the collar of his shirt fiercely. “Is it hurting you?”

“Why would I want to hurt him?” chuckled a raspy tenor.

Sakura scowled, covering up the surprise that she felt because of the sudden shift of Naruto’s body’s owners.

“Bring him back,” she snapped.

“In one condition,” the demon drawled. “We stay here for the whole night.”

Sakura groaned. Frustration made her hung her head and made her body go limp. She was in no danger of falling for he was fully supporting her weight with those sure hands on her waist and leg. What made her straighten up again was that her actions brought them closer—something that she’d rather not do unless it was really Naruto holding her up.

“If we get caught—“

“You live with us if your parents disown you, we follow you if are thrown out of the village, and we take you with us if we get thrown out of the village. Is there anything else that worries you?”

“Pregnancy!” Sakura blurted out angrily. The impatient tone of the demon inside Naruto ranked her nerves. This did not stop here however. A large knot of veins formed on her forehead when she received a scoff in return despite her very (to her estimation) worrying announcement.

“That should be the least of your worries,” he replied a bit kinder now. Dropping the subject all together, he started moving them towards the bed.

“Anyways, we should sleep,” he declared cackling gleefully.

Sakura’s eyes widened. She grounded her leg to the ground as panic surged to the surface.

“W-where’s Naruto?” she gasped while being dragged in his wake. After all, Kyuubi Naruto is a hundred fold stronger.

No response. He was busily pulling the sheets from her bed, positioning their bodies in the center and neatly tucking them in as he pulled the cover over their heads.

“Cozy, eh?” He winked. Before Sakura could let out a biting remark, he closed his eyes and loosened his hold on her.

Sakura made to pull away. She stopped when she noticed the fluttering of his lids open and the blue that once again shone from them.

Naturo looked nothing but aghast. He was slacked jaw as the realization of where they are and how tangled their limbs were hit him. His face was bright red.

“Gomen-neh, Sakura…”

She looked at him sternly. “I should kill you for this.” Despite her attitude, there was no denying that she too resembled a tomato.

“Are you kicking me out?’

“I should,” she replied in clipped tones.

“Okay,” he acknowledged.

No one moved though. Every muscle in Sakura’s body relaxed as she relished the familiar feel of his body. Naruto did not say another word. He snuggled closer, hugged Sakura closer and evened his breathing.

To hell with the consequences, they were both content. Who woulnd’t to remain in this way?

00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

They were both already dressed and ready to go out of the Hyuuga mansion, out of the Hyuuga compound. Hinata would have been happily trotting long the training grounds with her teammates if not for Sasuke’s insistence to face her father now and rub it in Hanabi’s face that they didn’t have anything to hide.

He has assured her that everything would be fine, that he would do all the talking and would only need her to sit back—keep an innocent expression on her face.

“But we didn’t really do anything wrong, Sasuke…,” she said softly. They were both standing in front of the room where her father receives his audience. Hinata knew that he father would be most likely staying in this chamber at this time of the day, which was why she had suggested to Sasuke for them to look here first. Secretly, she hoped that her father went to a trip to another village for the day.

Sasuke squeezed her hand and gave her a side-long glance. “Don’t worry, Hinata.” Confidence clothed his whole person, boosting her trust in herself to not stutter and make them both look guilty. More so, the comforting solidity of his hand in hers steadied Hinata’s nerve, calming her racing heart.

“Ready?” He asked and she nodded. A single rap on the door, one twist of the doorknob and they were inside of the room. Seeing her father facing them the moment they entered-- arms crossed like a forbidding God-- made Hinata sweat and feel clammy once again.

“Hyuuga-san,” Sasuke greeted as he and Hinata bowed low. Formalities usually make her father a bit amenable and she thought t it was very wise of Sasuke not to straighten–up until after her father had bidden him to do so.

“Rise, Uchiha-san and please let go of my daughter’s hand.”

Gently, Sasuke slipped his hand from hers.

“My apologies, Hyuuga-san.”

A dissatisfied grunt was her father’s reply. “State your business, Uchiha-san.”

“As you wish,” Sasuke returned courteously. He made a small nod before continuing. “Your daughter transported us to the hot spring to avoid any violence that may have occurred between me and Neji-san.”

“Because he saw you and Hinata naked, like Hanabi did?” her father asked pointedly.

Sasuke spread his arms out and gazed at her father in a steadfast fashion. “We were training, Hyuuga-san. Neji refused to listen when we were explaining this to him.”

Granted that Hinata had not known her father well enough to say that he does not spit, she would have readily believed that her father would have spat right then. He was that… spiffed.

“What were you training for that it required Hinata to be naked?” The icy manner her father asked Sasuke this made Hinata flinch far more than what she already was doing. Sasuke, on the other hand, stood solidly against the harsh barrage of words her father had thrown at him.

“We were training not to be distracted by beautiful traps such as your daughter, Hyuuga-san.”

Her father harrumphed. “I see that you are not very successful in you endeavor, Uchiha-san.”

“Well,” Sasuke inclined his head and shot her a brief lopsided smile before returning his gaze back to her father. “Your daughter is a bit hard to ignore, Hyuuga-san. It would seem that she had gotten some very good genes from her parents. An excellent ninja too.”

Rumor has it that her father usually tips the favor towards the individual who knew how to sweet talk. Hinata had her doubts about this before, but seeing that smug little grin on her father’s face now as a reaction to Sasuke's praises, she could not have become more convinced.

“The Hyuuga lineage is one of Konoha’s finest,” her father said as he nodded sagely. He rubbed his chin contemplatively, and then focused his attention to Hinata. “Were you able to defeat him in this training session, Hinata?”

Honesty was one of the virtues Hinata completely adhered with. Given in a situation that she and Sasuke actually sparred, Hinata was pretty sure she would lose. Having this in mind, Hinata began to shake her head ‘no’ in time with the negation she was about to tell her father.

“I—“

“She had me pinned down at some point, Hyuuga-san,” Sasuke cut in smoothly, preventing her from going any further than her mono-syllabic explanation. “But, your daughter is very light and I saw it fit to reverse the situation and flip her on her back in order to pin her down.”

“Indeed. She is being quite conscious of her appearance nowadays. Her attraction to the opposite sex is getting in the way of her ability to become physically fit…”

While her father droned on about her, Hinata fidgeted in place. The crimson shade her face adopted ever since Sasuke’s comment on “beautiful traps” had not yet faded and she could honestly feel her face throbbing in time with her pulsing veins. As if this was not enough, Sasuke’s hand found hers once again and clasped it firmly.

The circumstances that Hinata found herself in was, at best, befuddling. She didn’t know what to make of Sasuke, didn’t know the intention he had behind his actions. What’s more was when her father paused to get his wind back for another long-winded narration, Sasuke suddenly asked, “Would it be alright to train with your daughter now and then, Hyuuga-san?”

Her father regarded Sasuke for the longest time, and to Hinata, it seemed like he suddenly lost his good humor due to Sasuke’s request. Not waning to attract her father’s attention (which might in turn result to her being the target of his sour disposition), Hinata directed her gaze to her and Sasuke’s linked hands.

“I see no problem with that, Uchiha-san,” Her father answered in a cool tone, “But if you had courtship in mind as well, I would have to say, no.”

“Just training, Hyuuga-san,” Sasuke returned.

Her father gave Sasuke a curt nod. “Good. Kindly take your hand off my daughter, Uchiha-san.”