Just Reward

(POV SWAP: First Person – Yamanaka Ino)

After I spoke with Tsunade-sama about…certain matters regarding a…certain person…yesterday afternoon, I came straight home from having finished my duties. It was funny to think that Naruto's sudden appearance in the office had meant an early end to my work, but it made me all the more cheerful for what I had planned for today.

I'm suddenly very eager to probe that blonde idiot for some big news, news such as, oh, I don't know, the fact he's the Fourth Hokage's son amongst other things. 'Other things' being, 'how in the world did he just teleport into a room without a sound?' Why the hell didn't he mention any of this earlier? If he'd told us when he knew, then he wouldn't be spending his birthdays in isolation, away from some of these stupid villagers who still see him as the kunai and not the proverbial scroll it's sealed in. Gah, that just annoys me beyond anything else! He needs to open his mouth more! He can trust us…he can trust me.

If I were to go back in time to my academy days and tell my twelve-year-old self that I'd end up getting so close to my fellow blonde, I'd be laughed at and called the biggest liar in the world. But…I'm glad it's turned out this way.

It was such a weird experience. Sakura had come round to my house one night, soaked to the bone in the rain, but I could still tell she was crying. Everything she told me about what she had said to Naruto made me understand her predicament and take her side right away. I guess I wasn't too savvy to how Naruto must have felt about everything; because boy did he let it go when I got up in his face about it a few days later. I couldn't believe he would just push my best friend to tears in the way he did, and that anger was what controlled my actions as I tried to force him into a guilt trip. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to get the memo that said that Naruto had turned into somebody who wasn't taking any more crap from those who thought it was cool to just pit the blame on him all the time. Because of that, I got my licks just as much as he did.

That guy is such a mystery; he can be a blithering idiot one moment and a damn philosopher the next. He seemed to read me so well as I tried to literally knock some sense into him, both in my moves and the sorts of things that went on in my head. But eventually I found out about the Naruto he rarely let us see…the one that was affected emotionally by everything that happened to him. It was kind of heartbreaking to see his face twisted in such emotional pain, even as he landed a fist in my gut for my trouble…

So much has happened to him over his life, stuff that the pain of which I can't even begin to imagine. Raised without a family, hated by his home, beaten by his peers – which is something I now hate being reminded about – and sought out by an organisation eager on killing him. It was so shocking just to see such a fragile guy, somebody who only wanted recognition for his actions, but could never be seen past his massive burden. In return, though, he saw the Ino that I don't like exposing: the insecure girl who relied on her competitive streak and looks to make her seem like somebody important. An eye for an eye I guess.

On top of that, we both knew the pain of losing somebody close to us. Asuma-sensei…he was such an amazing man, he was something like an older brother to me, much like Shikamaru is now; I felt my heart tear apart as I watched him fall into the darkness, but I…I still tried to heal him, even as the medic in me knew he wouldn't make it. I just didn't want to let him go, but I can smile knowing that a part of him lives on in his adorable son. Kurenai-sensei is a lucky woman; there are few men like Asuma-sensei about…

Naruto is much the same. As much as he bragged on about Jiraiya-sama being such a pervert, I could see how badly his death had been taken. I'd never be so heartless as to say I wasn't sorry, I knew that feeling after all, and I knew that I'd be there to support him as his friend. So at least when our brawl finished, we had a common ground to lay as the foundation for a renewed friendship that's built up to this day.

The funny thing is…I'd soon started to see him in more of a light than just a friendly peer. I wouldn't say I was confused, no way; it's just that…the only other guy I'd liked in such a way was that asshole, the one who tried to raze the village to the ground. I don't know what Sakura thinks about him anymore, and I don't really care, she can have him as far as I'm concerned.

But that bastard's not the subject right now; it's the bastard's teammate I'm talking about here. After our first little…'chat', I caught him having his 'usual' at that Ichiraku place a few days later, so I just thought I'd join him and talk some more…as a friend of course. There's a funny thing about Naruto, if you say and ask the right things he'll respond in a much more intelligent way; he won't just grin and shout about training and the Hokageship…no, he'll give you his opinions, thoughts and a lot more. At first I was kind of scared to say it but…hanging out with him was fun. There I said it: I have fun when I hang out with Uzumaki Naruto. Jeez, the twelve-year-old me would be stabbing herself right about now if she were to listen to me drone on like this.

Another weird thing is that my ideas about liking that knucklehead beyond friendship aren't that misplaced. He's funny, especially when I have to knock him into line, loyal, gentle when you catch him at the right moment, intelligent when ramen's not the topic and, dare I say it, a looker. And yes, I said that as well: Naruto is an attractive guy. As a matter of fact, I'm not denying that I may have had some nosebleed-causing thoughts as he walked towards Sakura and I with that Uchiha slung over his…muscular…shoulder. Erm, anyway, moving on!

As the days went by after Naruto recovered, I don't think the idea of him as a…special somebody isn't that ridiculous anymore. Mostly because he seems to return some of my silly remarks and gestures, things like playfully pushing each other as we walk through the village, sitting just that little bit closer to each other on a public bench etc.

And that's suddenly reminded me of the rose…

--------------------------------------------------------------------

I was stood tending the shop on my birthday just under half-a-month ago, waiting for my shift to end so I could get ready for my party, and none other than my favourite blonde (my parents and myself aside) walks in. We had a cheerful greeting and a quick chat before he started to look around. At the time I didn't know whether it was for somebody, something or if he even had any idea what he wanted in the first place, which was a typical male shopping method: impulse and blind assumption. At that moment I laughed at the thought of giving him a lesson in understanding how a girl thought when it came to shopping; but I quickly threw it away, since he'd probably fall asleep the second I started.

Anyway, a part of me thought, reluctantly, that he was looking for something for my old friend Billboard-chan. We all knew how he felt about her…but since that incident all those years before, I wasn't sure whether he was going to finally bury the hatchet. I just watched him as he knelt down at one of the buckets containing some single pruned roses, a darker shade of red than blood. He walked back towards the desk holding this one little flower in between his thumb and forefinger, avoiding its tiny thorns.

"So, who's the lucky girl?" I asked him with obvious sarcasm and a smirk. He looked at me with those bright blue eyes, just one of the things that never ceased to send a shiver down my spine when they focussed on me…the good kind of shiver, of course. He just laughed with a small smile of his own as he pulled out his wallet. Honestly, what was so special about that thing? And who calls their own portable bank 'Gama-chan'? Well, Naruto apparently, and even though I may complain about it, it does look like a cute little accessory.

"I'm not saying anything, Ino-chan…" I felt kind of disappointed at that, didn't he trust me enough or something? Oh, wait…I suppose I am the gossip queen of Konoha, though. Maybe he was just being secure for privy's sake, "…but I can say that you'd like her. She's great to hang out with, kind of bossy, like you, and has a hidden gentle streak." It was around then that I started to feel a small pang of jealousy. I tried my best to keep my face cheerful as I took the ryou from his hand and placed it in the cash machine. Sadly, he gave me the exact amount, so I couldn't prolong his stay by stalling the handover of his change.

"Are you coming to the party later? Not that I wouldn't mind being the only blonde in the building, but…" I cut my sentence short as Naruto lightly chuckled at my quip, at least I could feel happy knowing that I could bring a smile to his face.

"You know I wouldn't miss it for the world." He said to me as he headed for the door. Being mesmerised by his smile was the reason for why I almost didn't notice that the rose was still lying on the desk in front of me.

"Hey, Naruto!" He turned to look at me for the last time with his eyes wide open in confusion. "You forgot your flower." I held the rose up in plain sight, but was surprised to see Naruto smile again and slowly shake his head.

"No, I didn't. Happy birthday, Ino-chan." Without another word, he was out the store and halfway down the street. I just stood there, completely stunned and with my arm still held out and holding the rose. I slowly brought it back towards my face to examine it. It was such a clichéd flower, and it was such a simple thing for a gift…but I loved it. Presents for a girl don't have to be so luxurious and expensive, sometimes it really is just the thought that counts (contrary to what some guys say). In fact, that little gesture touched me beyond anything else, and that was when I knew my feelings were in the right place.

After Naruto defeated that Pain guy years ago, I said something that even I considered a little bit of a joke. I said, "I could almost fall for him." But now…there is no 'could almost', I just know that I had from that moment on.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

And that was where I was now, stood in the shop once more until my mother came to relieve me of my duties. A lot of customers, both browsers and buyers, have been banging on about the Kyuubi festival. I would go, but there's somebody I'd much rather spend my time with tonight. Now don't get any big ideas, I just want to take some ingredients with me and have a go at making him a nice meal; it was the easiest thing on the list that Tsunade-sama had regaled to me yesterday after Naruto and Sakura had left the office. I'm not just a femme fatale, you know, I do cook at home sometimes as well, so he won't need to fear for his digestive system's safety. Then again…seeing the look on his face would be a treat.

Even though I've gone over my feelings so many times since my birthday to make sure I'm not just turning into another fangirl, and since confirmed it to myself, I don't know when the right time to say it would be. Even if tonight turns out to just be a progressive stage, I'll be happy.

I hope you're ready, Naruto-kun…tonight we'll see just how our bond develops.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

19:06hrs

(POV SWAP: Third Person)

"Go and have fun guys, there's no point wasting you're whole evening on me, just enjoy the festival." Naruto was leant against his open door as he tried to gently coax his current guests into leaving after a two-hour stay in his apartment. Stood in front of him were two members of another squad who had become an item only a few months before.

Hyuuga Hinata had a long-standing crush on Naruto for the best part of four years, but after Naruto's fight with Pain – during which Hinata confessed her love for him - he soon decided to settle the issue. At the time, he still felt some high emotions for Sakura, and on top of that he had never properly had time to understand the clan heiress. If they had spent more time around each other earlier, he told her, they could have been something more. Although this upset Hinata, Naruto quickly jumped back in by informing her of somebody who had been watching her with a keen eye. That somebody was Inuzuka Kiba. Details aside, the two took it slow in order to search their own feelings, and they finally started dating after Sasuke's return.

"But Naruto-kun, we don't want you to be alone all night." Hinata spoke with care and without a stutter. It seemed that being friends with Kiba for so long finally did something good for her confidence. Naruto felt a warmth creep through his chest that his friends had prioritised him over the festival, it was one of the few things that truly made them his precious people. On the other hand, he didn't want to be the centre of attention for too long.

"Don't worry about me", Naruto urged with a wave of his hand, "I'll be fine, I'm just happy that you both decided to come over." Hinata smiled meagrely with a small nod, which was outshone by the large nod Kiba extended in Naruto's direction.

"I guess we'll be off then. See you soon, Naruto, and happy birthday." Kiba bid farewell as he wrapped his left arm around Hinata's waist, an action that made Naruto smile. At least they were both happy…not that Naruto wasn't happy himself, of course. At different times during the day, a multitude of the surviving (and non-incarcerated) Konoha 11 had paid Naruto a visit. Tenten and Lee had visited earlier in the afternoon, but it was saddening to not see Neji with them…he was but one of the few people close to Naruto who was lost in the war, along with Chouji. Regrettably, Kakashi had lost a leg from the knee down when a stray exploding kunai landed behind him, and Shikaku, Shikamaru's father, was left blinded in a botched attempt to dodge a raiton jutsu from a Zetsu clone. In comparison to some of the other hidden villages, Konohagakure had it easy in terms of their losses.

Naruto quickly shook the saddening thoughts away. Even though he had been given life eighteen years ago to the day, another two lives close to him were lost at the same time.

"Tou-chan, Kaa-chan…" Naruto briefly looked up at the cloudless sky, bedazzled by the beautiful flickering of the stars. One shone out especially bright, and the blonde couldn't help but smile, wondering if it was his parents intermingled into that one entity, looking upon him from on high. He put the thought aside and walked back inside his apartment, wondering if Ino would make herself known. He had always wondered if his little display at the flower shop was a step too far, but seeing his fellow blonde wearing the present in her hair the day before was an uplifting sight.

With the thought of the purple-loving kunoichi swimming in his skull, he decided to return to his bedroom and lie down so that he could spend the rest of the night in peace, if he wasn't going to get any more visitors, that is.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ino was making her way into the lower quarter of the village with a barely noticeable skip in her stride. In her arms was a thirty-centimetre square box wrapped in a simple cloth and knotted at the top. She had already made her way through the busiest area of the village, game stalls and puppet shows amongst many others peppered the sides of the streets. Ino herself wasn't bothered that the villagers were all having a pleasant time in their unity, but she felt a greater concern for Naruto, who hadn't been seen all day, and she found herself feeling worried at the thought that he may be all alone.

Soon enough, she was entering a lesser-lit area holding a large portion of the village's accommodation buildings. She had already been to Naruto's apartment numerous times since the war ended, and didn't have to worry as she let her feet zigzag her through numerous side alleys and walkways. Eventually, she was exiting a staircase at the second floor of a newly renovated building; turning left to look out onto the outdoor deck, she saw a figure leaning over the open-air railings, looking out over what could be seen of the village from their position. Naruto's apartment was in that direction, but she wasn't too sure about the shaded person stood right in her path. Sucking up her concern, she continued on.

As she got closer, more and more of the ambient light illuminated the figure. It was a man dressed in a long sleeved blue muscle shirt, which was tucked into a pair of baggy black combat slacks. The dress sense wasn't what made her relax, though; it was the wild and unrestrained blonde hair. Only one person she knew had hair as crazy yet stunning as that. The figure looked over with a snap, demonstrating an apparent alertness. Ino saw the on edge movement and tilted her head to the side in confusion.

"What's wrong with you, then?" She asked with a sceptical laugh. The man quickly relaxed as they finally took in the purple top and skirt as well as the fishnet covering her elbows and knees. Naruto quickly scoffed before pushing himself off the railing and standing straight.

"Just being cautious, Ino-chan. He was wondering if you were going to turn up." 'He'? What did Naruto mean by that? Ino raised an eyebrow in curiosity, a gesture not lost on the man in front of her.

"Boss just put me out here to turn away any…undesirables." Ino had it pegged the second he said 'Boss'. She was interacting with a Kage Bunshin. The platinum blonde nodded in acceptance, and decided to have a quick word play.

"So…am I an undesirable, then?" Ino lifted her right hand up and, a little too innocently, placed the tip of her index finger at the side of her lips, bringing them forward into a small pout that brought out the shine in her small application of lip gloss. The clone stood back with a hitched breath before bringing his left hand up to rub the back of his head and flashing that silly, overly-toothy grin.

"Far from it, Ino-chan. Just knock and he'll open up." The clone stood to the side and motioned Ino through, catching an almost-hidden glance at her smooth fabric-covered ass as she walked past. Ino didn't just notice the look she was awarded with, but she could almost feel the clone's stare burning into her lower cheeks. She was happy to please, because even though it wasn't technically Naruto looking at her, it was Naruto who'd be getting the images when the clone dispelled.

It took only ten paces for the platinum blonde to end up standing in front of the correct door, and she wasted no time in bringing a lightly balled fist up to rap against the smooth varnished wood. Ten seconds passed with no answer, and so Ino repeated her motion. Twenty seconds of waiting received no response, either, and Ino was starting to get impatient. In a final bid to get the inhabitant's attention she returned to the method of her young days and smashed her hand against the door like it was a young Naruto's head. The rattling echoed across a significant distance, and was sure to wake up anybody who had planned on sleeping. This time, to make sure she was going to be heard, the purple lover wasn't going to stop until the door finally opened. After ten seconds of her hammering, she couldn't hear the loud and significantly pissed off voice from the other side of the door.

"I swear to Kami herself that if you're here to stir shit up…" Finally, the door was forced inwards, bringing a heavy creaking from the hinges due to the force of the movement, and Ino was met with…a definitely scary sight.

Naruto was stood before her, his body ablaze with blinding chakra flames of bright orange. His teeth were bared and his eyes held an anger that froze the girl to the spot. Only after taking in his presence did she notice that he had a fully charged and bright blue Rasengan swirling and swelling above his palm, surrounded in a cocoon of opaque orange. Ino was truly mesmerised by the sight of her friend, staring in awe as she watched his hair sway like it was caught in water, and how his canines had lengthened and given him a primal and animalistic appearance. She sought out his eyes again, and found them to hold a much more gentle air as the jinchuuriki looked appraisingly at his company.

"Ino-chan…" Naruto said before hanging his head with a loud sigh and allowing the Rasengan to dissipate into the air. He quickly dropped the chakra cloak and ushered Ino inside without a greeting. Ino, still shocked silent from Naruto's display of ferocity, remained standing in the hallway as Naruto closed the door behind her.

"What…what was that about?" Ino tried to say with a confident tone, but it came out more like an impersonation of a young Hinata. Naruto walked straight past her and motioned for her to follow him out of the hallway and to the first open area on the right, leading into the kitchen. Naruto always kept his property tidy, on the contrary of what many people had thought. He didn't bother living with too much luxury, and had all the simple amenities such as a fridge and freezer, kettle, toaster and microwave. A simple wooden table with metal legs stood at around mid-thigh height in the dead centre of the room. Two small scrolls sat on top of the table, Ino could tell one was still unopened due to the unbroken seal at the lip. She quickly remembered the two scrolls that the Hokage had thrown at him the day before, meaning that he still hadn't opened the second one since he got home.

"Sorry about that. But people who knock on my door like that usually don't come for birthday celebrations, you know?" Naruto shrugged his shoulders with a nervous and half-fake smile. Ino knew what her fellow blonde was talking about, but she was still surprised as to why he would react in such a way. The look on her face must have given her away, because Naruto was quickly grabbing the only open scroll on the table and holding it up for his guest to see.

"I told those moronic council elders that I refused to put up with these annual attacks anymore. So I said I'd defend myself by whatever means I could, even if it was against civilians." Ino was both shocked and surprised at this, surely Naruto wouldn't be so stupid as to willingly attack civilians, even if it was in self-defence. Naruto held the scroll out, encouraging Ino to take it. She slowly laid the box of ingredients in her arms down on the table, taking Naruto's curious gaze with it, and slowly unrolled the scroll and mouthed the contents to herself.

"Konohagakure no Sato Council Decree #32216

Adjudicators:

Senju Tsunade – Godaime Hokage

Utatane Koharu – Elder of the Konohagakure Council

Mitokado Homura - Elder of the Konohagakure Council

Effective as of October 10th on the year of his eighteenth birthday, and the window between the 9th and 11th of every October henceforth, Jounin shinobi Uzumaki Naruto is hereby permitted to use less-than-lethal force in self-defence only against any attackers, of both shinobi and civilian status, who may see fit to jeopardise the well-being and security of property of the aforementioned shinobi.

Those found to have performed actions that unequivocally mandate the execution of this decree are to be sentenced in accordance with Konohagakure laws pertaining to assault, vandalism, and any other charges deemed necessary and relative to the actions of the accused."

Ino looked up from the scroll and saw a pensive look on the man across from her; he appeared to be waiting on her reaction before saying anything. Ino quietly rolled the scroll up and placed it back down on the table before lightly coughing.

"I suppose that's fair", she said without emotion, "It's about time you got your own back on some of those idiots out there." As she folded her arms underneath her chest, she watched Naruto's shoulders fall as his pent up tension left him. He was worried about how Ino would react, but didn't want to keep the information a secret from her either, otherwise it would just seek to mess up a level of trust they'd carefully spent time building together.

"I just did that…" Naruto pointed back in the rough direction of the front door, "…as a scaremonger so I wouldn't have to hurt anybody. It just deters people from trying anything, and it's worked quite well so far. One group tried it about three hours ago…it was funny seeing their faces once I opened the door." Naruto smiled at his remark, but was all the more surprised to hear a small chuckle coming from Ino. It was then that Naruto felt that his interpretation of Ino was wrong; he could see that deep down she really did care about what he had to say…he just wished Sakura had been the same earlier. Ino saw Naruto's face muscles relax as he looked back to her, and walked back over to the table and her as-of-yet unopened box.

"Anyway, I thought you might be feeling a little lonely tonight, so I thought I'd whip up a nice birthday dinner." Ino started to untie the knot hovering above the box, but quickly noted how Naruto kept a reserved look and maintained a good metres distance away from the table. "Don't be scared, you wimp. I've cooked at home before, so I doubt it'll kill you. In fact, I think you might enjoy it." Ino quickly abandoned the box and walked over to Naruto, circling behind him and gently placing her hands on his shoulders. She caught a lavender-like smell coming from his muscle shirt, attributing it to either his clothing detergent or a deodorant; either way, she stole another quick smell before pushing Naruto in the direction of the hallway, and beyond it the living room.

"Now just go and relax, I'll call you when it's ready." She felt a sudden resistance to her pushing and saw Naruto turning his head around to address her.

"But I've done nothing today but relax, Ino-chan. Can't I help out in some way? Cut some vegetables, lay the table, anything?" Naruto's answer was a harsh shove across the hall and straight into the living room. He quickly turned to walk back out but an incredibly hard look from Ino promised him nothing but pain if he took another step.

"No!" She exclaimed as she pointed a finger right at the point between Naruto's eyes. "You will stay here and relax!" Ino caught the look of a pout hidden in Naruto's eyes, and a sneaky idea came to her. She walked forward with a little more hip sway than was required, which definitely caught Naruto's keen eye, and brought her face within inches of his own. He could feel her breath touching his lips, and he was hoping with all his heart that she would just move a little closer…

"If you're a good little boy…" she whispered with a not-so-subtle seductive tone, "…I might consider giving you a nice reward for your trouble." Naruto simply froze to the spot at the implication of Ino's phrase when coupled with her body language.

'Is she going to…?' Naruto didn't finish the internal question as he watched Ino walk away with an evil smile and that sway in her hips still remaining. He didn't dare follow her out of curiosity for his 'nice reward', although his mind was pleading, begging to find out right away.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

(One Hour Later)

It hadn't taken long for Ino to prepare a dish she had heard of and tried out from the western lands: cold chicken (which she had graciously stolen from the family fridge) with gravy along with numerous vegetables. At first Naruto was reluctant to try anything green or not soaked in broth, but the words that he had said to his mother on the day he gained the Kyuubi's chakra always made him think twice. The two sat next to each other and conversed over Naruto's day as they ate, where the male of the blonde duo explained how most of it had been filled with his friends coming over with gifts or just to keep him company for a while; either that or how he was scaring off groups of Kyuubi haters that knocked on his door with his enhanced chakra form.

There was one thing that Ino had always been curious about since Naruto brought Sasuke back. It was about how he was so cold on the day as he was stood in front of Sakura and her. Naruto said his emotions had got caught up in the moment, and he was angry at his assumed certainty of Sakura and Ino becoming immediately ignorant of him once Sasuke had recovered from his injuries. While Ino couldn't speak on Sakura's behalf, she assured him that she no longer felt anything for the locked up avenger.

Naruto had offered to clean up once they had finished eating, as just sitting around while someone else worked went against his ethic, and Ino had only accepted once she had joined in. With the majority of the remaining utensils lying on the draining board, Ino found Naruto stood staring at the surface in front of him as if he were in a trance. She quickly walked over to him as she picked up a fork and started to dry it off with a cloth.

"Hey", she said gently, gaining his attention by nudging his body with a bump of her hip. The birthday boy slowly looked across at her and gave an almost lazy smile. "You okay?" Ino asked as she placed the fork down on the counter and turned to face her host. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and quickly twitched his head to the side as if something was bothering him.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking about things." Naruto reached across Ino, who was stood on his left side, and grabbed a knife that lay drying on the metal board by the sink. Ino felt her spine tingle as Naruto's bare arm barely grazed her top just under her bust, and his face came, once again, within inches of her own. The move made Ino freeze for but a fraction of a second, and a small blush crept across her cheeks. She looked back across to Naruto, and could make out his own reddened cheeks under his whiskers. The image itself was quite cute in Ino's eyes, but at the same time, coupled with Naruto's muscular build as it sat right next to her and her arms begged to reach out and touch it, she thought it to be one of the most irresistible things she could have laid her eyes upon. Seeing him stood there as everything he was, she wanted to be sure of something before making the move she had hoped to earlier in the day.

"Naruto", Ino looked at the counter much like the man beside her had done earlier, and didn't look up as she felt his gaze on her face. She didn't hear him say anything, and as such she took it as a sign to continue.

"What do you think…about Sakura?" She didn't need to say much, but Naruto's entire range of movement had been reduced to zero as she said the name. She knew it was evil to ask such a thing of the man she had come to adore, but she wanted confirmation of her own suspicions before letting anything happen. "I know how you felt about her before the war started. So what I really want to ask is…do you still feel something for her?"

Naruto let out a heavy breath, as if the air itself was a weight on his shoulders. He remembered everything he had said to his teammate the day before by the Hokage's office, and even when stood next to Ino, he knew his thoughts and attitudes still stood. He continued to rub the cloth in his hand over the knife that had already dried two minutes before, trying to focus on something else as he tried to lay his answer out as gently as possible. Naruto had long since given up on trying to lie to himself about his feelings for Ino. The two had shared the same pain as well as realise each other's true selves. He and Sakura had never properly done that, and he wanted to keep that feeling of proper proximity alive in his relationship with Ino. Naruto narrowed his eyes in thought as he answered.

"Sakura's been my teammate for a long time. We've had our good and bad times, as well as shared a lot of experiences together, but I haven't forgotten a lot of the pain she's caused me, both through pining for a traitor and lying straight to my face. I'm not going to lie to you, Ino-chan…" Naruto said as he looked across and saw Ino's undivided attention facing him and him alone, he looked away once more before speaking, "…Even though it's less than before, Sakura still has a place in my heart." Ino felt her own heart clench at hearing that, and looked away with a hurt expression. So, Naruto still felt something for the pink-headed medic…of course, love can be a very powerful thing.

"But…" Naruto's quick vocal burst made her look straight back over with her eyebrows crooked from her previous moment of hurt, "…over the past few months, my eyes have been following someone else." He finished by turning his head and meeting Ino's eyes again. Ino didn't have to bother processing the look on his face in order to understand just what message he was putting across. Did he…did he really begin to think of her that way? Ino tried swallowing, but the lump in the back of her throat had seemingly become a part of her oral tract. She saw the look of want in his eyes, but it had the extra gentleness of somebody who looked at one they cared about. Ino felt that what Naruto had said had been enough, but she didn't know if she'd made herself clear enough, even with her flirty show before dinner.

"You know…on that day you defeated that Akatsuki guy, Pain." Naruto slowly nodded, and neither blonde failed to notice the fact that their bodies had automatically begun to close in, chest-to-chest, face-to-face. Ino's throat started to dry up, but it didn't stop her speaking with a cracked voice. "I was joking…when I said that I could fall for you."

"Yeah?" Naruto whispered as their faces broke the ten-centimetre proximity barrier. Naruto actually had no knowledge of Ino saying such a thing up until now, but he was too caught up in the girl stood before him, eyes half lidded and lips minutely parted and slightly pursed. For the second time that night, both teenagers could feel one another's breath on their lips. Without being asked, Naruto brought his left arm up and slowly, with a feather-light touch, stroked his hand up against Ino's right arm, from the forearm up to halfway between her elbow and shoulder. Ino slowly released a held breath from the soft feeling coming from Naruto's hands, hands that had been calloused from palm heel to fingertip from training and combat.

"But I…I'm…not kidding myself anymore…" That was all Naruto needed to hear. He pushed his head through the last two inches of air obstructing him, and brought his lips onto those of the blonde stood almost flush against him. Ino let out a small squeak as she felt Naruto's hard, muscular chest crush against hers, and his ironically smooth lips take her own. Ino's hands shot up around and behind Naruto's back to lie flat against his shoulder blades, pushing more of him towards her, more of the body of which she suddenly wanted to caress every inch. Naruto's hands quickly fell to the small of Ino's back and crept slowly south to cup her taut buttocks, eliciting another miniature moan from the platinum blonde as they both tried to attack each other's mouths from an angle that would bring a better sensation. Ino became the first to succumb, and she let her slick tongue creep out and brush against Naruto's lip. After the first contact got no response, she started to slowly and repeatedly prod Naruto's mouth with her muscle again, desperately seeking an entrance.

Naruto's brain was whitewashed once he felt Ino's lips, all despite being the one who closed the gap. He was too lost in savouring her texture, her taste, to notice something lapping against the inside if his lower lip. He let his curiosity lead him by parting his lips further, and felt something akin to some wet and slippery bug slide past his gums and caress the roof of his mouth. He let his eyes briefly flash open to see Ino's eyelids shut tight as she fell into the bliss of their labial union. Feeling left out, Naruto slowly pushed out his own tongue to battle with that of the girl invading him. Sakura be damned, Ino thought, Naruto was now on the short path to becoming her man. The pinkette had had too many chances to make things right and accept Naruto's feelings. But no, her way of just making things worse with every decision she made had sent a fine piece of human real estate her way, and for that she was actually grateful of her friend. Ino let out a whimper as Naruto realised, like any human, that he needed to breathe at some point within the next five minutes. His hands hadn't moved from her soft rump, and Ino wanted to feel more of the body she had just laid claim to. Her hands slowly took in every bump and valley in Naruto's muscle structure as they came back to the front, under his armpits and rested on his pectorals. Ino couldn't help but steal a quick squeeze, feeling how his flesh moulded with minor resistance to her exploring fingers; the response to which was for both of Naruto's hands to take a hard squeeze of both of her lower cheeks, making Ino tilt her head back and breath in sharply. Naruto saw the open window and dove back in, aiming his lips at the exposed flesh of her neck. It had only taken a quick round of kissing and a few playful squeezes, but Ino could easily feel how uncomfortable her panties were becoming as they slowly absorbed the run-off emanating from her rapidly dampening lower region. Never did she believe that Naruto would have such an effect on her just from the start.

"Naruto…" Ino breathlessly moaned as she let her left hand fall to Naruto's hip, while she raised her right to mould her fingers to the side of his face. Naruto slowly pulled away from her neck, leaving a tiny trail of saliva across her skin in his wake, but still kept his face close enough that their noses were practically touching.

"Ino-chan…I…" Naruto tried to start, equally flabbergasted, but Ino beat him to the punch.

"I want you…now…don't make me wait…" The jinchuuriki needed no further encouragement as he brought his head and hands down together to both lock lips with and lift Ino into the air at the same time. Ino was happy for Naruto's intuition; she knew she would probably lose patience if she had to walk to his room. As soon as her feet had cleared the floor, the platinum blonde was wrapping her legs around Naruto's waist as tight as she felt was necessary; she also encircled Naruto's neck with her arms so she could maintain their facial contact. She knew Naruto wouldn't mind if her clamping legs were too tight, she was just making sure that he was attached to her for as long as possible. Naruto walked down the length of the hall, handling Ino's bulk with no trouble as he moved like he would on any normal day…when a beautiful kunoichi wasn't latched onto his upper torso.

Thankfully, the door was already open a crack, and so it only took a small toe punt from the lip-locked Naruto to force it open and bang against the wall. Ino was far too wound up in Naruto's hands, lips and body to bother noticing when she had gone from a vertical to a horizontal orientation as Naruto laid her down gently on the bed to the left of the door. Naruto had always been curious about one thing, and he was surprised to think back and realise he'd never seen it before. As he pulled back and hovered above the tantalising kunoichi below him, feeling completely overwhelmed by the beauty she exhibited in her current position, he moved his right hand from her waist and let it glide up her body, accurately following the contours of her stomach. He brought his left hand out to support his weight as his right hand continued upward; he cheekily brushed the pad of his thumb along the outside of her covered left breast before curling his fingers behind her neck and finding his target. Slowly but surely, Naruto retracted his arm, taking the simple elasticised band that held up Ino's hair with it. She couldn't help but smile as Naruto's face blanked at the image he witnessed unfold. Never in their time as acquaintances or friends had Naruto seen Ino with her hair freely down and flowing, it was something that had slowly grasped his curiosity. What he was looking upon not only met but also further soared above his expectations. Ino looked like a proper goddess as her bright strands fanned outward and meandered like waves down her back. To Naruto, she looked greater than beautiful, but he couldn't help but say the word anyway.

"You look beautiful, Ino-chan." Ino's smile grew with an accompanying blush as Naruto's words only sought to make her feel even more special. Naruto moved back in to reunite their lips and finally started the ball rolling as his right hand was brought back up to Ino's chest. In a passing move, Naruto contracted his fingers and gently squeezed Ino's left breast from over her top, eliciting a louder moan from the kunoichi's throat. The fondling hand continued inward and upward, moving from her sternum up to her clavicle, where Ino felt the first button of her top being undone. She was happy that Naruto had decided to make the first move on the clothing front, mostly because she was unsure about pushing Naruto straight from clothed to bare-topped with one swipe of her arms. As Naruto's fingers slowly coaxed the third button into giving, exposing more of her body to the rapidly warming air, Ino's confidence grew, and she found both her hands travelling down to the hem of Naruto's muscle shirt. However, she didn't stop there. Her fingers managed to brush the bare skin of Naruto's lower stomach before finding the outer fabric of the waistband of his pants, making Naruto lightly groan in approval. Taking it as a good sign, her hands moved closer to their target further south. Naruto knew that at her current speed – which was far too slow in his opinion - she'd hit his erected tool in about three seconds. Ino's body was such a sight to behold that the jinchuuriki couldn't control his male functions, and was almost ready to start breaking through the elastic in his boxers due to how painful his hard on was swelling inside its fabric prison. But he would wait…he would let Ino explore it for herself once she reached it in one more sec-

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Ino's hands quickly shot back up Naruto's body and rested in the same place before, on his chest. Naruto couldn't believe it, his erection was right at its peak and bursting for action, and just at the moment of truth, some moron goes and slams their fist on the door. Naruto let his pain and frustration be known as he clenched his eyelids as tight as possible. He was almost certain that whatever asshole waiting outside just knew what was going on, and felt like breaking up the party for kicks. Naruto looked back down to Ino, whose face-enveloping blush had returned, and met both her teal eyes. She smiled nervously but quickly held off Naruto's worries by placing her hand against his cheek. He let his eyes drift closed as he savoured the feeling of her velvet-like touch.

"I…think it's for you." Ino said gently. Naruto opened his eyes again, but he could tell from Ino's posture that she had no intention of leaving. For that, he gave her a small smile of gratitude. The three slams against the door repeated themselves, demanding the attention of the apartment owner. With a growl of extreme disapproval, Naruto pried himself off his blonde and purple lover before walking out the door, making sure to close it behind him for the sake of her privacy, and marched with lead feet for the door.

One thing had suddenly crossed Naruto's mind. If the person violently smashing their hand against his door was there for the sake of hurting him, the clone he left outside should have dispelled, either because it had been hit or it needed to warn its creator. Since he had not been given a new feed of memories from outside, it could only mean one thing. It was somebody he knew. He was surprised he hadn't realised that when Ino had arrived, otherwise he would have spared her the trouble of the scary greeting.

With that in mind, Naruto didn't bother creating his chakra cloak, and instead opted to just twist the handle and pull the door towards him. What he saw…both surprised and amazed him more than anything.

Stood in a beautiful silk kimono with white cherry blossom petals embroidered into the pink fabric, along with a light red obi, stood Naruto's teammate Haruno Sakura. Her hitai-ate was absent, letting her smooth, straightened hair fall beside her tinted cheeks like a pink waterfall. Her blazing emerald irises shone out, even past the dark night sky, and froze Naruto where he stood. The obi around her waist was tightly wrapped so that it clearly outlined her hourglass figure, showing off her hips and how they gradually curved into the tops of her thighs. As a simple finisher to the outfit, Sakura had her uncovered feet inside a pair of pink, open-toed sandals that matched the hue of her kimono. Sakura flashed a bright smile as Naruto looked upon her like she was a princess; recently she had come to miss the way he looked at her. Despite the confident smile, Sakura felt the heat of her blood flooding under her cheeks, forming a bright blush that she felt could almost make her shine in the dark like a lightbulb.

"Hello, Naruto." Sakura chimed with apparent innocence, although a somewhat hidden low tone made it seem partially seductive as well. Not seeing any kind of reaction coming from the man she had come to realise her feelings for, she held her hands low and out to her side in order to frame her body and outfit as if she were modelling it, "Happy birthday."

The only reason Naruto had frozen was because his teammate of six years was stood right in front of him, and her best friend was down the corridor…lying on his bed…in the process of being stripped. Now he wasn't sure whether Sakura had tried any sort of temper control over their time apart, but he sure as hell didn't want the pinkette finding out anyway and risk her punching him into the next village.

"Er…Sakura", was as a good a start to a greeting that Naruto could think of as his mind was conjuring up all kinds of escape plans and excuses.

The two stood silent for a good twenty seconds. Sakura was quietly waiting on Naruto to say something other than her name, while Naruto was failing to come up with an idea that didn't involve him forcing Sakura to leave. Realising he would need to receive and give pain in order to keep the secret safe for the meanwhile, Naruto put on a tiny frown that quickly made Sakura's face fall.

"What…what are you doing here?" Naruto asked as he looked out onto the deck and saw the clone shrugging its shoulders at him. Sakura was taken back with the way Naruto forced his question, but she wanted nothing but to make him happy, and she felt the quickest way to do that would be by answering his questions.

"Well, I've been your teammate for a long time now, Naruto. I wouldn't be so stupid as to forget your birthday." Sakura tried to ease Naruto's (fake) sceptic look with a small teasing chuckle whilst pivoting her body to the left and right to further show off her attire.

'I'm sorry, Sakura.' Naruto thought, as he knew what had to be said. 'But you can't be here right now.'

"If you're looking to make an impression, Sakura", Naruto started by nodding at his guest's kimono, "Sasuke's still at I & T. I'm sure he'll be over the moon to see you." Naruto's deadpan tone certainly didn't lay off the sarcasm, but the way Sakura's face twisted from his words told him he'd definitely said the wrong thing. Her hands fell limp by her sides, much like the day before, and she looked at him like he'd just slapped her in the face.

"I mean, why waste your time here with a useless idiot like me when the guy you've been chasing for so long is sitting on his lonesome in a cold cell? Isn't that how you'd rather spend your festival night?" Naruto hated himself for having to say such horrible things, but a part of him was saying it as if it believed that Sakura still had feelings for Sasuke. He just watched as Sakura let her face turn to the ground, allowing her hair to mask her eyes. Naruto could feel the pain in his heart as well, but he was holding onto the thought that Ino would be able to show him true happiness.

"Why…" Sakura whimpered, forcing Naruto to look back at her. He could make out the small, clear orbs on her chin refracting the moonlight back towards him. "Why are you…still…ignoring me? Why…can't you just…let me talk to you again?" Sakura could hardly get a coherent sentence out between her choking sobs and gasps for air, but Naruto knew exactly what she was saying.

"Because…" Naruto felt his own emotional resistance crack. He hated seeing his teammate in such distress, but he didn't want that hope to come back. He couldn't afford to let himself fall prey to that trap of being pulled in because of his feelings, no matter how tempting it seemed.

"Because I know I'm not the one you wa-" Naruto never saw the charge coming. Before he could react, Sakura had lunged forward, grabbing him by the front of his muscle shirt and swinging him into the wall on the left.

"You are such a brainless IDIOT! How can you be so moronically dense?" The force of Sakura's broken voice alone was pinning Naruto to the wall, much less her rock-cracking grip, and he was genuinely shocked to see his teammate with tears pouring down her face as she started to scream just inches away from his face.

"You're letting our past blind you so much that you won't accept what's right in front of your face, Naruto! I just want you to see that I've changed just like everybody else has!" Sakura punctuated many of the syllables in her sentences by pushing Naruto back into the wall behind him with a sharp extension of her arms. Naruto hadn't seen this form of Sakura in a long time, and it only made him feel more useless as he watched it happen with greater force than before.

"And don't you dare say it's because of Sasuke and me!" Sakura quickly had her index finger pointing at Naruto's face in warning, "I haven't gone to see him since you brought him back because…because…" Naruto feared the next words from her mouth. He was hoping she was just going to give a small excuse, but by sod's law, it was not to be so.

"Because I fell in love with you, Naruto! Did you get that? I love you! And I'm not lying to myself this time! I…love…YOU! " Sakura ended her rage by maintaining a short eye lock with the frozen shinobi before burying her face into his chest and crying away the rest of her anger. And that was it; the original suspicion that Naruto refused to believe had just been confirmed. After all this time, he'd told himself that Sasuke was all that mattered, and it turned out that he was no longer the one that Sakura had opted to follow. Before he could think further, he felt the frequency of convulsions coming from the body in front of him shorten, and tried to let himself move forward, but Sakura had other ideas.

Even though she was still annoyed that Naruto had tried to blow her off as the Sasuke-stalker once again, she was beyond ecstatic that she had finally told him of the feelings she'd been bottling up the past few months. She had come with the intention of making his night…very special, and she was hoping he'd accept her because of what he had said about still having feelings for her. She didn't care who this other person was, but she was determined to come out of the situation with the prize of Naruto.

"Naruto-kun? Is something wro-" Naruto's eyes shot open in horror. He looked back down the hall and saw Ino stood at his bedroom door, still wearing her half-unbuttoned top and twirling some of her freed locks between the fingers of her right hand, fingers that soon froze solid as she looked upon the new guest.

'Oh, please no…' Naruto begged to the Gods. But it was too late, he felt Sakura slowly move her head to face the third party in the apartment. The two young women stood there gawking at each other; Ino because of Sakura's state of dress, and Sakura because of Ino's state of undress.

"Ino?" Sakura asked in a high pitch as her emotions piled up again. There was just no way. Her best friend of all people was stood by Naruto's bedroom, about a third of the way to having her top removed. All of a sudden, she had never felt so betrayed. Sakura had, around two months before, let Ino know about how her feelings for Naruto had moved into the romantic zone, and trusted Ino to keep it a secret so that she could eventually surprise the blonde Jounin. And now she finds said blonde on the way to doing some unimaginable things with the only one who knew her proper feelings.

"Sakura…" Ino let out with a breath. She knew the game was up, but she in no way was feeling the urge to step down. If anything, she felt she was more entitled to Naruto, since the pinkette had spent most of her time putting the guy down and insulting him almost every time they met for a mission. Naruto so desperately wanted to say something, but kept quiet for the sake of his own safety; he wouldn't want both girls to suddenly erupt on him and beat seven shades of purple out of him. As a replacement he opted to wet his pants in his mindscape at his impending pain. Instead of pain, he felt the body stuck to his chest violently detach itself and take a step back. He saw the renewed pain on Sakura's face and started to put a hand up to explain.

"How long has this been going on?" Out of the two blondes stood in front of her, Sakura sent the question more in Naruto's direction as she pointed at Ino.

"Sakura, let me explain." Naruto desperately wanted Sakura to understand the simple fact that nothing had happened until that night, but he could tell from Sakura's edgy movements that she was ready to kick up a storm.

"You and that pig have been getting all kissy with each other while you've been pushing me away haven't you? It's all just a big sick joke to you isn't it?" Sakura shot a lethal glare at Naruto, the tears falling for the second time that night; it wasn't hard to tell that the thought of him blowing her off while trading saliva with her best friend was sure to make her angry beyond anything else.

"No it's not!" Ino quickly interceded as she put her hands up and started to walk forward with cautious steps. "Naruto and I were-"

"Just about to get down and dirty in his bed by the looks of things!" Sakura cut in with a venomous hiss. She could see Naruto's regretful look, but was surprised to see anger on the face of her best friend.

"How about you let me finish, forehead?" Ino screeched as she came within at least two metres of the other two apartment inhabitants. So surprised was Sakura by the outburst that she decided to give Ino a small chance to explain herself. She took a deep breath in through her nose, all without breaking eye contact with the distraught pinkette, before elaborating.

"I wasn't a hundred percent sure this was going to happen in the first place! I only came by about an hour ago to make Naruto a meal; things just…went from there." Sakura's face told them both that she obviously didn't believe a word that had just been said. The tear-ridden medic looked back at Naruto, who only affirmed Ino's statement with a nod due to his concern of possibly receiving physical pain if he so much as coughed.

"So…Ino's the one you said was 'taking my place', huh?" The pinkette's voice was nowhere near confident, as every syllable was entrenched inside a mild sob. Naruto didn't like the way Sakura had said it, even though those were almost the exact same words he had used the day before. "Since when did you two ever get so close? If I recall, Pig, you disliked Naruto as much as I did in the academy!" Ino took one last step forward until all three shinobi were stood in a triangle, almost perfectly equidistant from one another.

"Don't remind me about those days, Sakura; I've put them behind me, just as Naruto has. And just so you know, I'm pretty sure I understand him better than you ever have!" Sakura's face scrunched in disbelief at the statement. She had been right with her own accusation as to Ino's past attitude towards the other blonde in her presence, but the pinkette herself had been Naruto's teammate for six years; how could she not understand him?

"What are you talking about? I've been his teammate for years, there's hardly anything I don't understand!" Inside, Naruto didn't like Sakura believing she knew everything about him. He wanted to cut in at that point and add his own piece of mind, but Ino had closed the gap between the two kunoichi even further until the triangle shape between them had become a thin isosceles.

"Sakura, you were always too focussed on Sasuke to bother asking Naruto anything. Things like his likes and dislikes, his opinions, his actual feelings. I've been close to him long enough to know just how much he truly cared about you. When he first told me, I was jealous of you, did you know that? I was so envious because you had somebody who was willing to follow you to the ends of the Earth and die for you. And you? You continued to use him as a doormat." Sakura could make sense of where Ino was coming from, and hearing her describe Naruto's past feelings with such passion made her see just how stupid she had been to have ignored them for so long. The only problem now was that she might be too late in reciprocating those feelings. Naruto stood as wide-eyed just like Sakura, all while Ino let out her own feelings; but being referred to in the third person whilst he was stood in the hallway made him feel a little uncomfortable.

"Er…I'm right here, you kno-" Naruto started to hold his hand back up, but it was soon shooting back down to his side as a wall of noise hit him dead on.

"Be quiet!" Both girls snapped their heads to look at Naruto's blue eyes, their snarling faces were indeed promising a swift beating if the only male of the trio didn't keep it zipped. Naruto tried to shuffle further backwards as if he tried to become part of the wall he was currently propped against.

"I can't believe you." Sakura said in a breathy whisper, "You knew how I felt about him, Ino…I…I thought I could trust you." Ino sighed at Sakura's upset words, but all she heard was the loophole and felt it necessary to act on it, despite how it may hurt her. Naruto was what mattered to her at that very moment.

"You never said nobody else was allowed to fall in love with him, Sakura. And…that's exactly what's happened to me in recent weeks." Ino spoke gently before looking back to Naruto, whose eyes betrayed his conflicting emotions. The girl he had once loved with the entirety of his heart, and soon lost a lot of that love, had just confessed to him; and now the girl for whom his feelings had started to grow exponentially was making an admission, too.

"I…I love you, Naruto." Ino held a small smile as she repeated her earlier, interrupted sentence with better meaning and clarity. Naruto had the good grace to smile with the confession, but inside his mind was tearing itself apart. Sakura saw the reaction that Ino's confession had received from her teammate, and she felt her heart split in half and then half again. She knew it right there, she was too late. Sakura tried to hide her heartbreak inside a cough, which got both blondes to look at her with different emotions written in their expressions.

"Well," Sakura coughed again as she shut her eyes and began to walk backwards towards the door, which had remained open throughout the argument, "I…hope you enjoy your time together…" Her voice broke at the thought of her two blonde friends embracing in more than a friendly manner. Feeling more tears well up in her eyes from the thought, the pinkette turned to bolt and soon heard two voices shout out behind her.

"Sakura!"

"Sakura-chan, wait!"

The medic-nin froze mid-step. The second voice, without a doubt, came from Naruto; she'd never forget how he used to say her name, and she involuntarily let an intricate warmth flow up her body from hearing it after such a long absence. Slowly and delicately she turned back around, halfway between inside and outside the apartment, and saw Naruto facing her with his arm partially outstretched in her direction. At that moment, Naruto's eyes had instantly changed. All she could see from his brilliant sapphires was a look of love and regret, a look she had wished to see directed at her more.

"You…you haven't called me that in over a year." Sakura allowed herself a small smile as she tried to hold back her tears with a sniff. Naruto took a strong step forward, but kept his body at such an angle that he'd be able to look back at Ino without hassle. The platinum blonde had respectively silenced herself, although Naruto's sudden actions made her suspicious as to what he was planning.

"That's because I thought you were after the teme. I thought he was the one you wanted, so I figured pushing you away would get you closer to him once he was back in the village." Naruto closed the gap between them as he explained himself. Yes, the confession two years before had been a factor, but he also wanted to make sure that Sakura got the man she wanted. And he figured by being less reliable to Sakura, it would assist in reaching that goal.

"I wanted you to be happy, Sakura-chan, so I tried to take myself out of the equation." Realising half of the root of their long misunderstanding, Sakura's face lit up with relief and pure happiness. Seeing Naruto look at and speak to her like she was one of his treasured people was one of the few things she had been dreaming of witnessing once again. With a tear-choked laugh, Sakura faced her teammate fully and walked toward him, slowly pushing her left hand out to grasp him. Naruto was half expecting a slap, but was mildly surprised to feel Sakura's slender fingers cupping his face. Through as yet unshed tears he could see Sakura's joy bringing a long-lost light to her beautiful face.

"You big baka", Sakura whispered, "You've always been my supporter, my admirer and my saviour. Why should you be the unhappy one any longer? I looked inside myself months ago, and I knew my heart was following the wrong person. I…I was a complete idiot myself to not see everything you had to offer: security, loyalty…love." Sakura was lost in the feeling of Naruto's skin against her fingers, and remembered the feeling of embracing his body from a few minutes earlier, and sought that feeling once again. The force with which she magnetically glomped him pushed him back and drew a small laugh from the young man, who responded by lightly encircling his arms around her back. Although it was an intervention of her own personal objectives, Ino smiled at the cuddly reunion. Inside, however, she was worried as to what choices Naruto would make within the next few minutes.

"Sakura-chan", Sakura pulled her head back with a milder expression of happiness as Naruto spoke in a serious tone, "I meant what I said yesterday. A part of me loves you still, and I'm not over what happened in Tetsu no Kuni…" As happy as the admission made her feel, Sakura knew there was an ulterior stanza approaching, "But I can't deny the way I feel about Ino-chan, either." Naruto knew fully well that there was a third person still in the apartment, and he turned his head to look at the wide-eyed blonde next to him. The conversation had suddenly turned into a game of emotional ping-pong; a compliment to one girl was a shot in the heart to the other.

"And I can't possibly make a choice, because I can't bear the thought of hurting either of you. I live to see my precious people happy, but I don't want to give that happiness to one person at the cost of another losing it." Naruto's predicament was easy to see. The girls beside him, though, weren't happy that Naruto's chivalry had surfaced and had begun to insinuate that nothing was likely to happen if somebody else was to be hurt; despite that, both of them were touched by Naruto's thoughtfulness. Ino had already come so close to having the man for herself, but Sakura's confession this time round had freed the part of Naruto that he had sealed away, the part that hoped for a relationship with the pink haired medic.

'This isn't fair', Ino thought to herself, 'Doesn't Naruto respect us enough to let us make our own…decisions…?' Ino's face instantly lit up with a brainwave. She wasn't sure about the potential consequences, but she figured it would at least be worth having a go. Ino slowly walked next to Naruto and let her right hand glide across his shoulder, much like she had done to push him out of the kitchen earlier.

"Naruto", the man in question looked over to the young woman not currently in his arms. She could tell from his eyes that he was wordlessly apologising underneath an apparent desire for her to not leave. Naruto himself was splitting his mind apart over what he should do or how he should proceed, but the small smile that Ino was giving him made him think she was opting to leave. He didn't want to say anything that would disturb the pinkette burying her face into his chest, so he opted to try and let her know that he in no way wished for her to go.

"Would you mind going to the bedroom? There's something I want to…discuss…with Sakura." Sakura looked up and across at the mention of her name; usually, a 'discussion' with Ino consisted with either an isolated argument, or the sharing of a devilishly mischievous plan. She could immediately recognise the half-smirk on Ino's face as she waited for any kind of reason as to the blonde's wish. Naruto was more concerned about an impending violent rut that would soon break out in his hallway, the small smirk he saw only made him believe his own notion even further. Ino only looked back at Naruto with a much more urgent expression and twitched her head in the direction of the bedroom back down the hall. Despite Naruto's reluctance, he remembered that acting defiant in front of either of the two young women in his presence would result in an unavoidable gain of some painful injuries. Slowly relinquishing Sakura from his grasp and giving Ino a look that promised trouble if they caused a ruckus, Naruto edged himself further down the hall in a much brisker pace than Ino would have liked. Every time the man looked back over his shoulder, he was met with Ino's impatient frown, which was backed up by said kunoichi waving her arm as an indication to keep moving.

As soon as Sakura heard the click of Naruto's bedroom door reattaching the latch, she felt her whole body get flung like a weighted ragdoll as Ino dragged her into the living room by her wrist. Sakura started to worry that the 'who's better for him argument', like the many that had been before regarding Sasuke, would repeat all over again. Ino came to a halt in the dead centre of the room, but used Sakura's inertia to pull her past her and spin her around so they ended up face to face. As far as the pinkette could tell, Ino had no look of malice upon her features, nor was she exhibiting any traits that previously hinted at a Yamanaka rant.

"What are you thinking, Ino?" Sakura nervously fumbled with one of the kimono lapels by her collarbone and pulled it closer across her body, shielding herself. Ino's eyes shot a quick glance at Sakura's chest, now covered by the kimono fabric, but thought nothing of what the superior medic was doing.

"I'm only going to ask you this one question, Sakura. If I like your answer, then I'll tell you exactly what I'm thinking." Sakura mentally braced herself for whatever question was coming her way. Because of Ino's unmoving frown and dead-on stare, the pinkette had no idea as to what was coming. Ino had her question set up before she'd even started the conversation.

The night had indeed taken an interesting turn; one moment she was lying on Naruto's bed on the road to having a passion-filled night, and she suddenly walks out of his room to find her best friend pinning the guy to a wall. While Sakura and Naruto had been resolving their misunderstandings, Ino's curiosity was being directed at Naruto's soundproofing. The door was open a substantial distance when Sakura had – a little too eagerly – knocked on the door; but since Naruto closed it after he had exited the room, she didn't hear anything, not a sound until she had walked out and found the two teammates at the front door. Ino breathed deeply through her nose while still staring at the young woman across from her and opened her mouth to speak.

"Do you love him? Do you truly love Naruto?" Sakura was amazed that Ino had in fact significantly lowered her volume as she asked the question. Her voice was soft and caring, completely opposite of the Ino that Sakura found herself talking to and arguing with all the time; the pinkette figured that her friend was saying this for Naruto's sake, and as a way of showing how she seemingly cared for him, too. Sakura was answering within two seconds, she had never felt more sure of anything in her life.

"I do. I won't say that what I once felt for Sasuke wasn't real, but with Naruto…it's so much greater, so much more powerful. I feel like I can't be myself unless he's around." Ino saw nothing but pure honesty in her friend's eyes and lightly nodded.

"Good answer", the blonde replied in a low and breathy tone, while Sakura mentally flinched at the new smirk that had suddenly spread across her face.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Ten minutes had passed without a single hint of a noise inside the apartment. Sat on his bed inside his room with his head resting in his palms, Naruto was trying his best to mentally prepare himself for whatever was coming his way, be it pain, happiness…pleasure, anything. It was disconcerting enough knowing that the two kunoichi supposedly 'discussing' outside were the most famous amongst others for their tempers and competitive attitudes, and yet they were being as silent as a sleeping mouse. The blonde quickly found himself in a catch 22 position: if he went outside to investigate all the silence and still found the girls talking, they'd surely beat him into the floorboards; but if he stayed where he was and let the girls seemingly talk it out, he was scared over the possibility that they'd both storm into the room and beat him into the floorboards anyway. But that was when he started to use his brain again. He figured that he was more than likely the topic of…whatever was going on outside, so why would the two participants suddenly attack him out of the blue? With that in mind, the jinchuuriki let out a breath laced with relief and hidden hope.

At that moment, he heard the familiar tiny squeak of the door handle being turned. He lifted his head and looked on curiously as the door edged inwards, noting the slender, manicured hand attached to it. Before Naruto could begin to anticipate the coming sight, the hand attached to the door stopped moving forward, leaving only the hand up to the wrist in view. The blonde narrowed his eyes in disappointment, but quickly widened them again as he heard Ino's voice from next to the doorframe.

"Naruto-kun?" The girl sang slow and tunelessly, "Are you still alive in there?" Naruto remained silent as he tried to decipher the potential meaning behind Ino's tone, but a small growl from the hallway kicked him into responding.

"Er…yeah. I'm good." Naruto subconsciously shifted on the bed, placing his feet apart in such a way that he'd be able to launch himself onto them in case of a less-than-desirable sight.

"Good…" Ino lengthened the word considerably in an uncharacteristically cheerful demeanour. "Now, Naruto-kun, close your eyes", she said in the same tone. As reluctant as Naruto was to comply, he didn't want to risk Ino nor Sakura seeing his defiance and, once again, smacking him into the floorboards. The blonde let his eyelids droop down, all the while keeping his dwindling sight focussed towards the hand at the door, which still hadn't budged.

"Are they closed?" Naruto only heard his fellow blonde talk as he looked at the infinite blackness that lined the inside of his eyelids. Naruto took a deep breath in both preparation and slight worry before he called out in the affirmative.

"Yeah". After a short and quiet shuffling noise, which he assumed to be somebody looking through the gap to make sure he was telling the obvious truth, Naruto felt a small waft of air glide over his nose from the speed at which the door had been opened. Naruto's sense of hearing was soon put to good use as he heard not one, but two pairs of feet make soft patting noises against the floor with every step. Naruto knew no escape was possible once he heard the door latch engage against the frame once more. There was the distinct sound of one person whispering a 'shush' to the other before all the sounds of movement died right in front of Naruto. The jinchuuriki turned his head down towards the floor in wait, but only needed to do so for three seconds before he heard Sakura's voice instead.

"Eyes open, Naruto-kun." Because of the simple act of Sakura adding the suffix in such a deep and incredibly sexy tone, Naruto did away with opening his eyes as slowly as he'd closed them. No, he forced his eyelids apart and looked at the two kunoichi stood in front of him before immediately having a mental whiteout.

His manhood stood no chance in staying down.

His two guests were stood but a metre away from the birthday boy, their arms evocatively wrapped around one another's waists as they faced each other to a three-quarter angle…wearing nought but their underwear. Ino's, as expected, was a dark shade of purple that perfectly contrasted her light cream skin and platinum blonde locks. Her garments consisted of a solidly fabricated, non-padded underwire bra that clung to the shape and roundness of her 36C chest. The less than pleasurable temperature in the apartment had allowed her pert nipples to stretch some of the fabric out with them…not that Ino minded. It circled under the blonde medic's arms to the latch in the centre of her back, but there were no shoulder straps that Naruto could see. Her panties were of a normal, daily-wear design that covered enough of both the back and the front of her lower region to make her decent.

Sakura's outfit, however, was meant for situations like this. She was wearing a jet-black two-piece with a woven floral design over the half solid, half lace cups of her 34B bra that had the gall to expose a fraction of her areolae, a pattern that the equally revealing panties had mimicked by flashing barely a few strands of the tuft of pink hair that lay above her maidenhood.

So shocked was Naruto by the sight that he thought that he had actually been beaten to death, and his mind was showing him a pleasant image of the two girls that instigated it. The only thing that identified the image as reality to the overwhelmed jinchuuriki, was that he could feel the tenting in his pants as his manhood was flooded with blood quicker than a bucket sat underneath a researching Jiraiya.

The seductive duo looked like they were only gaining confidence from Naruto's blank, open-mouthed stare as they smiled with a bright glint in their eyes.

"Happy birthday, Naruto-kun", both girls chimed in perfect sync, making Naruto furiously move his head in an apparent attempt to look at both girls at the same time. The overload of seeing bare skin, persuasive lingerie and these two things attached to the two girls he was having conflicting emotions over, made all the blood quickly fall with gravity, away from Naruto's brain and towards either his nose or groin. Within half-a-second, the out-of-his-depth Jounin was flat on his back in an undeniably dizzy state.

"Oh dear…" Ino innocently, and rather sarcastically whispered, "…I think we need to wake him up. Don't you?" Ino parted her smiling teeth and let her tongue peek out and run along her top lip as she glanced over to Sakura, who kept a reserved smile and nervously laughed. She couldn't believe she had agreed to Ino's proposition, but she knew it was for Naruto, and that was her main reason for accepting.

Naruto was brought out of his ten-second blackout by the noise of rustling coming from around his legs, which soon became the feeling of hands roaming along the insides of his thighs, awfully close to his…tool. With a groggy groan, he lifted his body up and propped himself on his elbows before looking down to the area of activity. It was a truly unbelievable sight.

Because Naruto had spread his legs earlier in his precautionary state, he had left a perfectly shaped window for both girls to kneel down next to each other and begin their activities.

"You know, Naruto-kun", Sakura began as she threw all caution to the wind and let the palm of her right hand lie right on top of his trapped erection, earning a sound that mixed a moan and a whimper, "The great thing about being in a situation like this with two medics…" Sakura pushed her palm further up Naruto's manhood, getting a tiny moan as well as a successful hold on his zipper, and slowly coaxed the metal downwards. Ino simply knelt beside Sakura and watched with a half-lidded stare of lust, her excitement over the coming release of Naruto's erection growing further than it had when she and her fellow blonde were alone.

"…Is that we know all sorts of places and methods that we can use to instigate pleasure." Sakura had timed it perfectly. The second she had stopped talking, the zipper had been pulled down as far as it could. Ino decided to begin with her participation and started by sliding her right hand up past Sakura's – catching a quick feel of the fabric of Naruto's boxers, as well as the pulsing organ hidden beneath it, on the way – and deftly undid the button above the zipper with a twist of her fingers. The waistband of Naruto's combat slacks loosened considerably, allowing Ino's hand to continue upward and roam underneath his muscle shirt and along the chiselled plane of his abdomen. The motion caused her to lean forward slightly, and only did a better job of putting Naruto's penile area closer to her face; an image that brightened Ino's small blush and increased the heat and liquid output of her already moistening vagina.

Naruto couldn't believe it was all happening. His mouth had become dry from the excitement knotting in his lower stomach, and his eyes were closed from the silky smooth feeling of his teammate's hand moving at a snail's pace along the underside of his near-exposed penis. Although the blonde female anticipated the coming sight, she had become slightly more interested in seeing the body her hand was presently sampling. She quickly stood up and leaned forward so that she could reach all the way to Naruto's shoulders.

"We got most of our clothes off, Naruto-kun", Ino said as she yanked Naruto's body vertical, allowing him to look into her eyes, "I think it's time you started to join us." Naruto's own sapphires, however, had been diverted to the beautiful scene being displayed by her barely-bound cleavage, which hung down and just begged to be given attention. Ino saw the optical movement, but neither did nor said anything to insinuate anger. Instead, Ino, like Naruto earlier in the evening, pushed her head forward and engulfed Naruto's lips again. While Naruto's body still mutinied from the barrage of erotic senses, he couldn't control his mouth from pushing back and engaging in another tongue battle with Ino, who was already hitching his shirt up and past his chest. Once Ino had pulled away, yanked Naruto's shirt over his head and chucked it into the opposite corner of the room, she was bringing her lips down onto Naruto's left nipple, coaxing it into protruding further with her dexterous oral muscle.

Seeing all this unfold with a small jealous pout, what with having not felt Naruto's lips upon hers in her life to that present moment, Sakura took the initiative and, without any regrets, looped her fingers around the waistband of Naruto's boxers and pulled them all the way down to his knees – pants included - with a sharp tug. The small gasp that followed caught Ino's attention as the blonde had been exploring the deep gaps between Naruto's abdominal muscles with her tongue.

Both medics stared at Naruto's erection – which needed no support as it pointed straight towards the ceiling – with equal lust and gratitude. The seven-and-a-half inch rod that Sakura had unleashed, with veins making tiny pulses that collectively made it twitch with each heartbeat, only complemented the jinchuuriki's muscular and toned body.

"My, my…" Ino breathed out deeply as she slowly brought herself back down to her knees next to Sakura, who was deeply swallowing at the prospect of what she could do with such a handsome looking piece of flesh. Naruto had managed to keep himself propped upright in the position that Ino had pulled him to, and was gobsmacked - not to mention nervous beyond all cognition - that he was totally bare and naked in front of two of the most beautiful kunoichi in the village.

"Girls…" Naruto strained out as he saw and felt Sakura's left hand crawl up his thigh and slowly tease the base of his swollen penis with her fingertips. Sakura looked up with a half-lidded stare while Ino merely shot him a cheeky smile.

"…Why are you…ah…doing this?" The man spoke with an unintentional moan as Sakura's hand moved closer, allowing her fingers to encircle more of his hardened tissue around the base. Ino's smile became softer as she lowered her head and placed an open-mouthed kiss by his deeply carved Adonis belt; she could just barely feel the heat coming from his member radiating towards her left ear.

"Because we don't want you thinking that you can only have one of us, Naruto-kun." Naruto's eyes widened and quickly shifted over to Sakura as she spoke, even while her lips sat mere inches away from his purpled glans.

"So instead of you having us and worrying about which one you'd have to choose, Ino and I will have you to share between us instead. That way…" Sakura stopped herself mid-verse to sigh with lustful pleasure as she brushed her cheek against his shaft and allowed a small rivulet of her saliva to crawl over her bottom lip, "…We all win."

As much as Naruto wished to display his scepticism to the idea, good as it may have seemed, the mind-bursting pleasure and inadvertent torture coming from between his legs reduced his vocals to nothing but mindless sighs and groans. Sakura and Ino, now level to each other once again, knew that the time for talking was over. All they wanted now…was Naruto.

The jinchuuriki's ensuing growl of ecstasy almost rattled the walls as he felt two sources of lubricated pleasure independently go at either side of his shaft. Against his natural response to the pleasure, Naruto fought to open one eye and look down. Ino had lowered her head and started to frivolously lash out at the base of Naruto's penis with her somewhat over-salivated tongue, while Sakura tried, with very energetic movements, to wrap the whole of her own wet muscle around the circumference of his shining, blood-engorged head. The pinkette occasionally finished some of her licks off with a kiss, which only sought to further both Naruto's pleasure and the area of his skin that was covered with her rapidly cooling saliva.

Sakura was in disbelief that her first labial contact with Naruto would be against his hard-on, but the feeling of her soft lips being squashed against his hardened skin only made her panties' resilience to her bodily discharges more futile. She had barely been at her escapades for a minute, and already her slick vagina was calling out to be seen to, thus increasing Sakura's desire for the man she was heartily gorging her lust upon. Ino was in much the same state; she had already come to this stage with her new love, but the fire inside her stomach that took away more of her resilience every time she stroked at his flesh or cupped his testes with the palm of her left hand demanded better levels of pleasure…and much more of it.

Sakura couldn't take it anymore. Filled with the desire of feeling everything Naruto had to offer, she stood up and hopped onto the bed next to the jinchuuriki, who kept his eyes closed from the pleasure engulfing his erection. Within seconds, he felt the mattress dip on either side of his waist as it took a weight, and was immediately suffocated by a kiss that pushed him onto his back. He retracted his eyelids and saw only closed eyes and a large curtain of pink hair surrounding his face. Unfortunately, all the erotic pleasures he was currently feeling meant that Naruto could not savour the moment of kissing the very first person that he loved; nonetheless, he was still more than happy at the development. Sakura had finally discovered the one thing she had wanted for the past six months: to feel Naruto's lips, despite the fact that she had already had her mouth around his penis beforehand. It was pure bliss, his mouth was a lot softer than she had first imagined, but she couldn't have been happier that its undivided attention was focussed on kissing her.

Ino was grateful for Sakura's re-positioning, because it allowed her to have complete control over the marvellous tool that she was tauntingly licking from base to apex. Although she could tell that her ministrations were fully appreciated, thanks to the muffled moans coming from the bed and the clenching fists lying upon the mattress, she wanted to do more not just for Naruto's pleasure, but for hers as well. With that in mind, Ino's head descended and fully wrapped around Naruto's glans before slowly sinking downwards. Every repetition of her ensuing up-down motion allowed her to take more and more of her prize into her awaiting oral canal. To top this off, she quickly moved one hand behind her back and unclasped her bra, which Ino had begun to see as more of a hindrance to her ultimate goal than help. As she shimmied her body to shake off the offending garment, she took her time in once again bringing her tongue along Naruto's erection, sampling the feeling of every bump and depression caused by the intricate pattern of veins and capillaries that squiggled past one another just millimetres under the pink-tinted skin. Suddenly feeling a small emptiness, Ino's lips were soon returning to the task of attempting to practically swallow Naruto's cock.

"Naruto-kuuun…please…" On top of the bed, Naruto and Sakura's lip lock hadn't properly progressed, but the impatience of a certain medic changed that. With only the small amount of whispered words, Sakura used her actions to explain her desires…her raw needs…to the man underneath her by grabbing his right wrist with her left hand and sliding it over her slim stomach, subtly pushing his fingertips inside the lining of her lace and silk panties. Naruto was slightly disappointed that he was forced to forgo the more romantic sides of caressing, but the way in which Sakura forced her head forward into her kisses told him that she was in no mood to beat about the bush…figuratively of course. Naruto had heard that delicacy was key when it came to manipulating the female sexual organs, and so he let his middle and index finger slowly slide onto Sakura's nether lips, which he was surprised to find were already moist in sexual anticipation. Higher up the pinkette's body, Naruto had decided to put use to his other hand despite the ongoing oral pleasures bestowed upon his erection by his fellow blonde. His fingers were soon squeezing Sakura's right breast with a soft grip; but he, too, had an impatient streak just like anybody else. That impatient streak came out as Naruto slipped down the fabric covering Sakura's breast, letting the creamy mound fall forward and stop with a small jiggle, before performing the same action to her left breast with the same hand, since his other was presently occupied with exploring and caressing the outside of the medic's soaking flower.

Naruto knew he couldn't resist, and so put all his energy into encircling Sakura's left bud with his lips and shooting his tongue out to flick it around inside his wet and humid oral cavity; to top it all off, he harshly pinched her abandoned right nipple between his thumb and forefinger. Naruto only increased his three separate ministrations as he heard the sweet sound of the pinkette's high-pitched moan echoing throughout the room; oh, how he had dreamed of being the one to make Sakura moan like that. Just as he had made the thought, Naruto was groaning aloud himself when he felt an inexplainable softness and warmth wrap around his painfully hard shaft, while he could make out the familiar, smooth texture of a tongue running over his glans.

Ino, like Sakura, knew she was losing herself in her own lust and perversion thanks to the sight, touch and taste of the magnificent piece of flesh now sliding between her deliciously soft breasts, which could narrowly reach around Naruto's two-inch girth. She held a certain pride in the knowledge that she had undoubtedly beaten Sakura in chest size, and that she had the upper hand when any sexual use of her mammaries was a necessity.

"Aaah!" Sakura screamed with her back arched and face looking up to the ceiling, eyes closed in complete ecstasy. Apparently, the act of Ino sliding Naruto's cock into her cleavage gave her fellow blonde such pleasure that his fingers had constricted once more. In doing so, the middle and index fingers of his right hand had sunk into Sakura's hot and fluid-saturated vaginal canal; a movement that seemed to force Sakura's arousal to skyrocket. Even as she continued to move her body up and down in order to provide the most erotic feelings with her compressed tits, Ino looked up and saw Sakura's hips undulating back and forth to get the most out of Naruto's fingers.

"Na…Naruto-kun!" Sakura cried out between heaving breaths as the jinchuuriki's tongue continued its attacks on her severely stiff nipples. Naruto felt Sakura's hips rolling over his fingers, and decided to add his own pumping to the wet and intimate contact; Sakura moaned after every inward movement and let her chest push further towards Naruto's mouth as her breaths deepened. Although she enjoyed making Naruto feel as good as he did, Ino was also starting to feel left out. She had been so focussed on Naruto's throbbing manhood that she never bothered keeping an eye on her own panties.

Pulling her chest away from the pillar of flesh, which was twitching even more than when it was first revealed, Ino quickly and uncaringly brushed the fingers of her left hand over her own maidenhood, and found no area covering her slit to be dry. She found herself shivering as her finger passed just underneath her clitoris, further stoking the fire inside her stomach and forcing her mind to reject all logical thought. Her psyche had become so enraptured by lust that she only wanted two things for the rest of the night: Naruto's cock, and the substance that it expelled. With that in mind, she lowered her head and sank half of Naruto's manhood down her mouth without any leeway. Her right hand held him steady as she let her lips rub against his rock-hard penis with every upward and downward motion of her head, allowing her tongue to continue lubricating it with her body's excessive excretion of saliva, some of which seeped from beneath her clamping lips and coated what her mouth couldn't yet venture to. On top of the moans, sighs, deep breaths and soft squelching sound of Naruto's fingers invading Sakura's vagina; the loud slurping sound of Ino greedily sucking at every reachable inch of Naruto's cock only accomplished a greater erotic ambience. In her lower area, the blonde's hand had crawled under her panties and started to furiously rub her labia, imagining that the hard rod penetrating her mouth was performing the same action to her virgin pussy.

"Ino-chan…I…I'm…!" Naruto called out with a severe hitch after pulling his lips away from Sakura's. The medic was too embroiled in her own Naruto-induced pleasure to be annoyed that Ino would instigate the man's first orgasm, instead she simply pumped her hips faster, and coaxed Naruto's wrist and fingers into moving with greater speed and vigour. The two lying on the bed looked into each other's half-open eyes, breaths intermingling in front of their swollen lips, and wordlessly projecting everything they wanted to say. That, however, didn't stop Sakura from whispering an 'I love you' underneath her heavy pants. Naruto was so close to the edge that his hips instinctively thrust upward, not only pushing himself further down Ino's gullet, but giving her the cue she wanted in order for her to use a special little technique.

The human penis was no alien to either of the medics, as they had studied sexual anatomy as part of their training in both the written and physical state. Above that, both of them had had to fix a few, Sakura more than Ino. Ino quickly brought her left hand back, being all too careful to keep Naruto's tool between her lips, and pumped it with green chakra using her Mystical Palm technique. She pushed her hand forward and touched the tips of her index and middle finger against his perineum and forced a small amount of chakra through his skin and hitting his prostate. Naruto felt the warm, electric-like spark from Ino's fingers and could hold himself no longer.

"Argh!" Ino became aware of the rapid twitching of Naruto's cock betwixt her lips and felt a wave of pride wash over her as his seed shot over her tongue. She'd read the sexual help sections in a few magazines and was led to believe that a man's semen was bitter and even mildly salty. She found this to be partially true as more and more of Naruto's essence spewed into her mouth and over her taste buds. She guessed that Naruto must have eaten a considerable amount of fruit or something with minor sweetness, as it reflected in the tangy and even minutely citrus-esque taste of his seminal plasma. Ino's muffled moan, which vibrated down Naruto's cock and made his hips jerk again, reflected the blonde's happiness at the…gift…she had received from the birthday boy.

"I'm coming!" Sakura screeched in blind pleasure as she bathed in the incredible feeling of Naruto's fingers stroking her inner walls. Naruto lifted his head up and planted multiple open-mouthed kisses along her neck as he waited for the pinkette to ride out the wave of orgasmic rapture that had rapidly heated her skin and her dripping core. In order to keep his other hand occupied, Naruto reached behind Sakura's back and desperately fumbled with her bra strap, although subsequently failing to find any leeway. Sakura didn't give any thought to her clothing, even as she felt another pair of hands swiftly separate the clips over her spine and slipped her bra down her arms; she was too embroiled in the happiness that she had been brought to an amazing release by the man who now held her heart. The next thing Sakura knew, she was locking lips with the other female in the room. Sakura's surprise couldn't be seen for the pleasure her half-lidded stare exuberated as Naruto watched both medics lashing their tongues at one another. From the relatively low lighting in the room, he couldn't see the additional substance that was flowing between their mouths.

Sakura's eyes narrowed sharply in a wincing fashion as she felt the slimy but slightly sweet substance lap into her mouth courtesy of her fellow medic. Sakura soon realised what the intrusive substance was, and relaxed her face as she sampled the tang of Naruto's discharge. Ino pulled away, but was further stunned as Sakura lunged her head forward and tried to obtain more of the essence of the one she loved. After another ten-seconds of tongue battling, Ino gently nudged her friend back and smirked.

"I had a feeling you'd want to taste him", she whispered before giving Sakura the hint that she was to relinquish her position by lightly pushing her shoulder to the side. With an upturned frown, Sakura slowly lifted her left leg back over Naruto's body to join her right, leaving her teammate's body completely open to the air.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto feebly called out before slowly opening his eyes and seeing a different pair of the breasts to the ones he'd previously been fondling and suckling upon, but he was too enveloped by his exploding synapses and the different size and shape of the newcomer(s) that he couldn't think to say anything other than the names of the two girls currently sat next to his naked self on his bed.

"Ino-chan…that was…unbelievable." Naruto got no downtime as he was pulled up by his shoulders and directed to the head and backboard of the bed. Although his muscles felt like jelly, Naruto knew the sight of these two stunningly attractive young women; topless with their attentive nipples in the air for anybody to see, and the sodden patches on their panties, was something that would keep him hard all night against his conscious will. Both girls knelt next to each other as they appraisingly stared at Naruto's rigid member, his glans still a red-purple and prepared along with the rest of his fleshy pole. Ino made the first move by crawling up to her newly shared lover and straddling his waist much like Sakura had done. Naruto had already placed his body and pillows in such a way that the backboard held his whole upper torso at a slight incline, but it was enough for him to seem almost vertical.

"If you think that was unbelievable…then the rest will feel like the best dream you've ever had", Ino seductively murmured on Naruto's lips before kissing him again. Both blondes had the same idea as each of them placed one of their hands on the sides of Ino's last layer. Ino let a frail smile crawl across her face as the half-soaked material was peeled away, quickly cooling her moist vagina as the ambient air touched it. The sensation made Ino gasp with the shiver that shot up her spine and to her occipital lobe. Sakura didn't like the fact that she was being put aside again, and so crawled up next to the two and placed her right hand on Naruto's chest.

"Hey, Pig, I haven't had a chance at his…thing…yet." Sakura didn't know if her new blush at having to vocalise Naruto's anatomy was showing, but her voice definitely displayed her slight embarrassment. Ino looked over with a tiny frown as she let her hand fall between her body and Naruto's, taking a full wringing grasp of the man's member and making Naruto gasp.

"I haven't even come yet, Forehead!" Ino's harsh tone was dripping with desperation and lust, easily putting forward the blonde's eagerness to have her internal fire satisfied. "Besides…we'll both be getting a lot more turns, won't we Naruto-kun?" The look she shot Naruto 'persuaded' the befuddled jinchuuriki into nodding, lest he get smacked into the mattress.

"But…what about protection? I mean…ah…" Naruto tried to put forward his argument, but the descent of Ino's body meant that his head was brushing against her labia, eliciting a moan from both of them, "…I don't want anything to happen to y-" The jinchuuriki was suddenly silenced by a lithe finger pressing against his lips, squashing them back against his face. He only moved his eyes to the perpetrator, following a cream-coloured arm up to Sakura's pink hair and jade eyes that shone with love and appreciation.

"Bless you for being so considerate, Naruto-kun", Sakura flashed a playful pout before leaning down to the man's ear and whispering, "We're both using a contraceptive jutsu taught to every kunoichi over sixteen. It's got an eight hour window of effectiveness, so you can come anywhere…you…want." Sakura punctuated her mind-blowing insinuation by slipping her tongue into Naruto's ear. The sensation was extremely weird for the jinchuuriki, but it was quickly dwarfed by the searing heat and moisture coating his glans as Ino let her weight go and slowly dropped herself on his length. During their discussion outside, both girls revealed to one another that all of their years in training and combat had rid them of their hymens during their early years of puberty, which they felt would make the feeling of their first time that much easier to bear.

"Ino-chan…are you sure?" Naruto couldn't help but bare his teeth at the feeling of Ino's warmth surrounding his girth. Ino's head had fallen back as she tried to quell the small amount of pain that accompanied the stretching of her opening. Moving her head back to a level position, she placed her hands on Naruto's stomach and smiled, the imagery of which changed the meaning of the small tears teetering over her lower eyelids. They weren't tears of pain anymore, as Naruto first thought; they were tears of pleasure and pure, unbridled happiness.

"More than anything in my life."

Naruto's heart was thumping in his ears; never, did he think that any girl, let alone two, would love him enough to allow him the ultimately rare opportunity of claiming her/their virginity; it spoke more than any words ever could as to how true and how powerful both Ino and Sakura's feelings for him were. Although Naruto's thoughts were of love, completeness and contention, he soon found his mind being wiped clean again as Ino let her whole weight go. Two of the teenagers in the room moaned from the sensation of having their genital areas being filled or squeezed by the other, while the third person in the room gasped as the hips of both blondes rubbed together, transforming the duo into a singularity of erotic senses that prioritised nothing but the two of them. Sakura, taking advantage of the tightly shut eyelids of her best friend and her remaining teammate, slipped in behind the former and circled her hands around the young woman's waist.

Instinctively, Ino titled her head to the side, which gave Sakura a perfect view of her neck, as well as gave her a window through which she could see what the pleasure was doing to Naruto. She saw his lightly tanned chest, covered in an amazing sheen of sweat, rise and fall at such a rapid pace that Sakura wondered if he'd had a second orgasm from simply entering Ino. Every single time Naruto opened his eyes, he was sure that he was going to wake up within the next coming seconds, because each new image that filled his sight was more beautiful than the last. First it was Ino lying on his bed with her hair lying flat and spread out behind her (clothed at the time), displaying the beauty that Naruto knew she was hiding, then it was both Sakura and Ino stood in front of him with nothing on except their underwear; now, it was a naked Ino writhing in ecstasy, impaled on his hips, while Sakura knelt behind her with a small smile as her hands slowly crawled up Ino's stomach and timidly cupped both of her breasts, making the female blonde eject a sigh of pure bliss.

With only a melodic exhalation, and no words spoken, Ino's hips rose as she shifted her weight onto her hands, which pushed into Naruto's body and only added to the senses crashing through his whole being. Because of Ino's inexperience, she found herself to be subconsciously squeezing around Naruto's cock, which only made her happier when the noises emanating from Naruto's mouth gained volume. She could almost commit every blood vessel on his throbbing manhood to memory as her lower lips moved around his girth, stroking her inner walls and bringing some form of delightful sound from her voice box.

"Ino-chan…amazing…" Naruto murmured under his breath, gripping Ino's hips and assisting her path as she continued to rise and fall on his rock-hard erection. Ino felt so complete, so physically fulfilled that she couldn't put up with the mellow pace both she and Naruto were pretending to deem as acceptable.

"Naruto-kun! More…please!" Ino desperately breathed out before she used her movements to make her desires known. Without any communication, she urged her thighs to work harder, lifting herself higher and dropping herself with greater force, pushing Naruto's manhood further inside her, achieving a scream of satisfaction upon her first drop. Naruto started to move his own hips, his thoughts focussing on giving Ino more attention as payback for her incredible first blowjob. Sakura was minutely disappointed that she couldn't be Naruto's first, but she noticed in how both blondes maintained eye contact that their connection was somehow deeper than she first thought. The pinkette knew Naruto's face all too well; he was looking at Ino in exactly the same way that he looked at her. Still feeling left out, Sakura pushed her body forward, squashing her breasts into Ino's back and reaching around to pinch the blonde's nipples. It was easier said than done, as Ino's tits jumped with every thrust from Naruto's hips, which forced her body upward and shook her chest. Naruto himself had moved his left hand up and grasped Ino's bounding mammary, allowing her nipple to rub against his palm and generally doing his best to focus on Ino's satisfaction. The ensuing gasp told the jinchuuriki that he was doing the right job.

"Oh Kami!" Ino's cry not only reflected the feeling that Naruto was bestowing upon her body, but also from Sakura's exploring hands. She leaned forward and placed her hands against the top of the backboard as means of supporting herself. The angle of her body exaggerated the sway of her breasts and brought them closer to Naruto's face, tempting the jinchuuriki into wrapping his lips around her right nipple. Sakura had decided to let her medical know-how manipulate Ino's body in a much softer but more effective manner. She lowered her swollen lips to the blonde's shoulder and licked from the top of her trapezium upwards, traversing across her neck, past her jaw line and upward toward her earlobe before taking said earlobe between her teeth with a light grip. Her oral skill was not the only thing being implemented.

Ino felt that her moment with Naruto, filling her to the brim with his manhood as he vacuumed his mouth to suck on her pert teat, couldn't feel any better. That was soon to change as she soon felt a third hand crushing her left breast into her body as the fingers attached to it pinched her nipple harshly.

"Haah!" Ino shrieked inside a loud gasp which gained substantial intensity as a fourth hand took the curved path down her toned midsection, the fingers curving its way through her thin strip of darker blonde pubic hair, before slipping over Ino's self-lubricated skin and flicking ever-so-softly over her clit. The action made Ino's next moan vibrate her chest, forcing an interesting feeling to seep from her soft mounds into the hands gripping her. Naruto felt Ino's pussy tighten around him and push him all the further towards his second release of the night. Every single sight above him added to his building arousal: Ino's beautifully round, soft breasts, leaping with every enthusiastic thrust but inches away from his face; the way her skin glistened with her arousal-induced sweat; the slick feeling of entering her heated channel, sheathing himself fully to the hilt; the beautiful sounds leaving her parted lips as he thrust into her…

Thinking about all of those individual quirks, combined with the velvety feeling of Ino's walls completely surrounding his pulsing member, Naruto was struggling to keep himself restrained.

"I…I'm going to…", Naruto's vocal chords strained. Ino, for the first time in their genital union, brought Naruto into a searing kiss, tasting his gums with her tongue once more whilst continuing to impale herself on him. She pulled back only enough to fill her sight with Naruto's bright blue irises, breathing heavily onto his face and feeling his own heated pants cover her lips like a layer of silk. She quickly moved her hands from the backboard to the tops of Naruto's shoulders, feeling the slickness of his skin from his sweat and his how his body shifted from the impact of her hard landings.

"In…inside, Naruto…please…" Her eyes said everything, Naruto could see the want, the lust, the desire; all of it…reserved for him. His thrusts became erratic as he tried to continue his sampling of all the amazing senses by holding off his inevitable orgasm. Sakura could tell from the frequency of Ino's high-pitched moans that she was also teetering on the precipice of coital sanity. Since she was there to assist for the time being, the pinkette anxiously rubbed Ino's clitoris with her index finger, occasionally brushing against Naruto's pre-ejaculate-covered cock as it continuously hammered into her friend's vagina.

"Coming…I…aaah!" Ino quickly blurted out before she succumbed to the multiple points of pleasurable contact roaming her body.

"Ino-chan!" Unable to hold back any longer, Naruto had no choice but to trust Sakura's information and let his passion go. Naruto's arms circled all the way around Ino's waist, pulling her body into him as she sat all the way down on his hips, pushing his ejaculation further inward. Sakura watched in awe as Naruto's hips jumped with every spurt that burst from his cock, a movement that also made Ino's body twitch as her own orgasmic release leaked down and further saturated both the bed sheets and the penis of the man spewing his seed into her.

"Naruto…" Ino hissed in delight as she felt the warmth of Naruto's semen splash against her canal walls and cervix; the knowledge that she was guaranteed to avoid pregnancy thanks to the jutsu made her all the happier that she and Naruto had bonded on the highest level with Sakura's help. She dropped her head down and fiercely kissed the blonde still embedded deep inside her. She knew she had made the right choice as she tasted Naruto's sweat across his lips as well as feel the breaths from the seductive groans coming from his throat in his moment of cooling off. Naruto was in disbelief; he was waiting for the inevitable moment that he woke up and found out it was all a dream. But no, the wet heat he felt around his cock, the stiff nipples and soft breasts rubbing against his chest, and the tongue ferociously writhing against his lips and teeth…they were all real. The latter of those feelings ended as Ino pulled away, but only until their noses were touching.

"I love you…" Ino said breathlessly as her hands slid up Naruto's neck, her left ending up cupping his cheek and the fingers of her right raking through his thick hair. Naruto never felt so warm; not just in the physical sense, but mentally as his heart lifted from hearing Ino repeat her earlier confession. Naruto knew now that Sakura felt the same, and that made the moment twice as special; that both of them were willing to give their bodies, as well as their love. Naruto knew his own feelings, and couldn't deny them to the young woman he had just consummated a relationship with.

"I love you, too, Ino-chan", Naruto breathed with a crack and embraced Ino's lips again. His eyes were closed before he saw the single tear trailing down her cheek. Naruto opened them again as he felt a third hand glide across his chest, and a fourth stroking his shoulder. On top of that, he felt two mildly hard points touching his left bicep and pectoral. He looked over and saw that Sakura was leaning flush against him, giving his eyes all the attention she had to offer. Her emerald orbs seemed over moistened from impending emotions, and her thoughts became voiced.

"Naruto-kun…my feelings are the same as Ino's…" Naruto was already fully aware of this due to the pinkette's loud confession by the front door, but he still saw a small amount of distress in Sakura's eyes. Before he could ask about the apparent problem, Sakura was making it known.

"Am I…still precious to you?" Sakura's answer was a strong and passion-filled kiss from the blonde whom she was staring at, even as Ino sat in silent bliss on his hips, sighing into the crook of the man's neck. As Naruto had said many times, he knew that being honest with himself was the way to handle the moment. Sakura chocked with emotion as she felt her favourite blonde's tongue gently stroke her own. She let out a tiny whimper as said blonde retracted his head.

"I wasn't lying, Sakura-chan", Naruto tried to say confidently, but the energy he had put into his first proper sexual encounter made him breathless. "I loved you for a long time…and a feeling like mine…doesn't just vanish into thin air." Sakura did and didn't understand what Naruto was saying, but that only made her more concerned as to how he would answer. "Even with everything we've been through…I still love you…and that makes you very precious to me." Sakura sobbed with glee at the admission before pulling Naruto's head to hers for another kiss.

Ino was too out of breath to speak, and so she smiled as the teammates admitted their own love for the other. Despite the happiness of the moment, Ino understood Naruto's problem. He loved them both, and they both loved him. Sure, Sakura had told Naruto that she and Ino could share him, but what would that do to his feelings? Even now, Ino's heart felt slightly downtrodden at hearing Naruto confess to her friend, but she figured that Sakura must have felt the same at hearing his confession to herself. The situation, in Ino's mind, was becoming complicated. She simply watched as the two traded apologies and small explanations between kisses, all the while enjoying the feeling of Naruto's amazingly stiff cock buried inside her.

'Hold on…' Ino quickly thought in realisation, '…How is this guy still hard?'

"Please, Naruto-kun…love me…" Sakura whispered as she planted a light kiss on Naruto's cheek, "…Touch me…" She said over his lips, guiding his hand to her delectably round and taut ass, which she was no longer covering with her soiled panties. Her head moved across and licked the rim of his ear before she deeply whispered with a not-so-subtle desperation.

"Fuck me…I need you…I want you…" Naruto froze at Sakura's sudden lack of reserved attitude. He knew right there that his teammate and second lover wasn't taking no for an answer; then again…why would he say no at all?

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto said in disbelief as Sakura moved over to Ino, who knew it was now the end of her 'turn'. The blonde slowly pulled herself up and let Naruto slip out of her still-tight sheath, albeit with the latter's almost sentient reluctance. The buxom blonde moaned in disappointment as the feeling of completeness vanished from her lower region; but on the upside, Ino knew that a part of Naruto was still inside her, and that made her smile. Sakura watched in amazement as Naruto's member swayed as Ino's pussy relinquished its grasp of it, but the marvellous, shining organ remained standing tall, making the pinkette question just how much stamina the knucklehead had. The thought of that thing sawing in and out of her body made Sakura blush, but at the same time inhale in anticipation.

"You're still so hard…" Naruto noticed his own anatomical situation, but said nothing as he himself was surprised by his sexual persistence…maybe, he thought, he followed more after Jiraiya than he first believed. Naruto's thoughts were quickly shunned as he felt a hand tenderly wrap around his length, easily sliding along the entirety of its shape thanks to the lubrication of Ino's discharges. Naruto soon found himself being led by his cock into rolling to his left thanks to the hand that had tightened its grip, it seemed he was too embroiled in said hand that he didn't notice the person it belonged to lie flat on her back. Soon enough, Naruto was on his hands and knees between Sakura's legs, said woman's hand stroking his length with spread fingers.

"You might want to know, Naruto-kun", Naruto looked to his left and saw Ino lying on her side with a content smile on her face, eyes half-lidded from her lost energy and her right and left hands innocently stroking at her still-dripping pussy and right nipple respectively, "That underwear was the only thing that she had on underneath that kimono". Naruto looked back with a raised eyebrow, stunned at the fact. Sakura had the decency to blush, even as her whole body was hot and full of colour.

"Were you…planning on something, Sakura-chan?" Naruto ironically asked with a cheeky grin despite the current position he was in. Sakura reached up with her free right hand and pulled Naruto's head down to hers.

"It worked, didn't it?" The medic asked with a smile before running her tongue along Naruto's cheek and tightening her grip on the hardness of the man between her legs. Naruto groaned at the pressure being exerted against his sensitive hardness, the sound of which made Sakura give a few energetic pumps to tease him further. The hands lying next to Sakura's head clenched and crushed the sections of pillow that were in their reach, and Sakura was taken aback by how undeniably hot the blonde looked as his exposed teeth shone in the low light and how his hair shimmered with his sweat and framed his unblemished face. Sakura finished her ministrations and wordlessly apologised for the tease with a kiss, but she kept Naruto's head near. The man made the position more comfortable by lowering himself onto his elbows, bringing his chest mere inches away from Sakura's rigid nipples.

"Take me, let me feel you", Sakura growled as she let her aroused state of mind take control. The hand around Naruto's girth pulled his hips further in until his glans sat poised at her opening, briefly rubbing past her clit as a sample of what was to inevitably come. The contact made Sakura's hips automatically buck as a gasp escaped her mouth. Ino had begun her recovery and opted to help Sakura in mutual thanks for the support she had silently provided; she shifted through the thirty-centimetre block of air between them until their skin began to rub against the others. In order to allow Ino room, Naruto lifted himself up again, bringing himself back so his knees were his only support. Naruto occupied his hands by softly caressing the legs he was knelt between, starting from Sakura's hips, over her thighs and resting on her bent knees; his erection, still going inhumanely strong after two mind-numbing orgasms, was lying flat over her pubic mound. Sakura started gnawing on her lower lip in a mixture of excitement and fear of the coming pain that she had heard so many women talk about.

"Don't worry…he'll take care of you", Ino comforted her friend by gently stroking her stomach before looking up to Naruto, who was calmly looking at her, "He did for me." Naruto felt slightly embarrassed as Ino complimented him with a bright smile, despite the fact he and two of his past academy graduates were naked on the same bed.

"Naruto-kun", Sakura gasped, "I can't wait any longer…put it in…" Sakura was somebody who knew what she wanted, and the look that Naruto saw in her eyes told him that he didn't need to ask twice. Pulling his hips back, Naruto was about to bring a hand down to hold his member steady, but already found both young women with their fingers wrapped around him: Ino for the sake of helping, and Sakura because she wanted no downtime in getting to feel what Ino had experienced. Naruto saw the lust and need in both pairs of eyes, he couldn't believe that both hotheaded and loud girls had suddenly become such gentle and strangely perverted beauties.

With not another word, Naruto's bulbous head was pushing Sakura's labia aside, earning a gasp from the kunoichi. Sakura found a somewhat delicious pain shoot through her body as Naruto entered her at a pace that wasn't sating her desire to have him ravage her as her mind had fantasised about when she had watched Ino ride him. A sharp buck of her hips found Naruto going from a quarter inside to just over half within a fraction of a second.

"Ah!" Sakura wailed in a mix of pain and fulfilment. She couldn't believe that she had come this far with a man that she used to beat multiple times a day as a child. His cock was inside her, taking her innocence and purity, stroking against her inner walls, pulsing in sync with his heartbeat…and she loved it.

Naruto was in disbelief, he was two inches and closing into being fully embedded in his only female teammate; the wonderful girl that he had dreamed of bringing happiness - whilst hoping she would return it - had her legs wrapped around his waist as she practically begged him to ram his cock inside her. Just as he had thought of that, Naruto felt his hips rubbing against those of the girl he was intent on pleasing. He was all the way in, utterly and completely buried in the young woman he always admired.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto sighed, enraptured with the second unique warmth surrounding him. The way Sakura's rib cage stuck out from her arched back actually increased her erotic attractiveness. Ino leaned across and claimed Sakura's lips as her way of assisting in the pain; however, the pinkette must have forgotten to turn on her pain receptors, either that or she had learned how to control them, because she eagerly began to shift her hips around Naruto's sensual organ, wordlessly hinting for him to move – what with her talking organ being occupied by that of her friend. Sakura moaned into Ino's mouth as she felt Naruto's retraction, as well during the moment she felt him fill up her eager and wet channel once more.

"Naruto…oh Kami…" Sakura exhaled in bliss as she interlocked her ankles and forced Naruto's hips further in. Subconsciously, her mind seemed desperate to keep her teammate as close to her as possible, in both body and spirit. Naruto, for the sake of the moment, wanted to keep his pace calm so that Sakura could have a full feeling of what was happening both in and outside of her body.

Sakura knew a lot about the human body: muscle and skeletal structures, tenketsu, organs, pressure points, ligaments and much more…but nothing Tsunade taught her had prepared her for the sheer wave of thrilling rapture that swarmed her senses once her vaginal area had been completely stimulated. She had masturbated before, but the shallow depth her fingers could reach combined with just the stimulation of her clitoris couldn't lift a candle to the amazing fulfilment provided by the solid piece of man sawing in and out of her body. However, that sawing just wasn't doing it.

"More!" Sakura cried out her lustful desperation, "Harder, Naruto-kun!" Naruto's eyes showed a flinch as old memories of the pinkette's previous bossiness came back to him. Naruto wanted to treasure the moment, but he realised that his time for subtlety was over; this was about Sakura's pleasure and what she wanted. Naruto pushed his back muscles into thrusting harder, bringing his hips as far back as Sakura's locked feet would permit and pushing back in with equal force. Ino watched with amazement at the way Sakura's body jumped from Naruto's inward thrusts, how her eyes scrunched in coital bliss and the way her mouth hung permanently open as if to silently moan. In being honest to herself, she found the sight to be even more arousing than the image of just the man himself. She figured that the sight of Naruto fucking her had pushed Sakura into a minute state of heat. Gentle sex would not do the job.

"Gah!" Sakura felt Naruto hit a special spot deep inside her on the top of her canal, sending an exquisite shock up her spine and making her hips buck. Sakura's mind was jelly; she had no idea that sex would seem so pleasurable, even for a woman. Now she understood why some people of her gender could be as perverted as men. She didn't care about poise anymore, she wanted the feeling of being sent into pure happiness by the one she loved, to have him shoot his very being into her body; and above all, she wanted him to know that she wanted it.

"Fuck me, Naruto-kun! Faster! Harder!" Naruto decided not to question her requests with his body, and so he felt inclined to sate her present desires. Ino realised that Sakura needed no help. The way she moaned, screamed and effectively ordered her teammate to pump into her with everything his stamina would allow told her that the better medic knew what her body wanted and would accept nothing less. Naruto's mind suddenly made a challenge of the situation, and he knew he would never turn down a challenge as enrapturing as giving sexual pleasure to his second lover. He knew he had the energy and put it straight to use. With every amount of strength his back muscles could give, Naruto rammed his member into Sakura's eagerly awaiting pussy, sending an unbelievable feeling through his body as her soft, wet walls stroked every inch of his cock.

Sakura's short, sharp scream almost deafened Ino, who watched with mesmerised eyes as the pinkette's body violently jolted with every inward thrust. Ino couldn't help but smother her mouth over her friend's right nipple as both jumped from the massive impact of their hips. The slapping sound coming from Naruto and Sakura's slamming hips added even further to the debauched noises echoing off the walls, that as well as Naruto's repeated groans and pants. Sakura felt the knot in her mound tightening its last inch, and she knew she was going to blow from the sheer power that Naruto was smashing into her sopping pussy, which only added to the lubrication of Naruto's cock and made it easier to slam into her again, hence creating a beautiful, sensual cycle.

"Sakura-chan…can I…?" Naruto cut off his unfinished question to moan more at Sakura's amazing warmth and sheer tightness. She was everything he had imagined and more, he knew he was right to have wanted her. But now, he was even more grateful as he had two beautiful women that could give him love and pleasure.

"Yes! Come inside me! Please!" Naruto didn't need to hear anything else. He knew what she wanted, and he was happy to oblige.

"I'm…I'm coming…Naruto!" Without any more forewarning, the knot burst, and Naruto felt a new, warmer liquid flow over his erection, and he knew he was at his limit. Seeing Sakura in her complete blissful state and hearing her moans furthered his arousal, and finally pushed him over the edge of his sanity.

"Nngh!" Naruto grunted loudly and with mild strain as he let his dam burst for the third time in 30 minutes. Ino, having already experienced the feeling of Naruto's orgasm shooting inside her, thought back to their moment as she watched Sakura jolt with Naruto's twitching body. Sakura, on the other hand, had hit seventh heaven. Feeling the hot seed of her love pumping further inside her and heading to her womb was a great feeling. She had wanted it ever since Naruto had fingered her, and she knew the wait – as well as the immense, pleasurable sex – was undoubtedly worth it.

Naruto held Sakura tight against his cock until he knew no more of his essence could come forth for that moment. Feeling completely worn out by the force with which he had drilled into Sakura, he quickly pulled out and landed flat on his back like a ragdoll with a loud sigh. He felt a small amount of tiredness overcome him, but his eyes soon widened as he felt the mattress fabric compress once again as the weight applied to it drew closer to his body. His eyes remained pasted on the ceiling, but the sight those eyes saw was soon filled by blonde and pink hair. The girls' heads were upside down in relation to his body and sight, but that didn't stop Sakura from lowering her head and giving Naruto a cute peck on his open and panting lips. Ino made her own kiss deeper, but Naruto could still sense the care and sensuality behind it.

"Happy birthday, Naruto-kun." Both girls quietly chirped. Naruto smiled, but his face soon fell in shock as Sakura said the last sensible thing of the night.

"But your present's not finished yet."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

For the next three hours, the trio continued their sexual adventures, exploring their boundaries, likes, dislikes and even hidden fetishes that their consciousnesses had suppressed. All of them finally knew what it was like to experience a bond that excelled every other one that they presently held. Ino knew her mind had chosen the best man for her. He was loyal, supportive, friendly, incredibly good looking and even more incredible in the bedroom. Sakura's initial hope had been to seduce Naruto based on the lingerie underneath her kimono, but the outcome of finding Naruto and Ino had been so much better. Part of her was having a hard time believing she had ended up giving herself to Naruto, but behind the ramen talk and stupid grins, he had a lot of traits that she had wished to see in Sasuke. Only once Sakura had passed out from her pure bliss-induced exhaustion did they agree it was time to rest.

Naruto couldn't have been happier and even more touched by the willing sacrifices that both girls had made to show him how much they cared. It was, without a doubt, the best birthday present he had received to date. However, he now had a mind-bending predicament.

He loved them both, they both loved him, and all three of them knew it. But which girl would he end up potentially spending his life with?