Surviving the Team

I walk into the streets knowing that Sasuke will not follow (isn’t pride an amazing thing). My wanderings lead me to the Yamanaka flower shop and I go in hoping to find Ino. Of all the people I know she would know what to do about this situation. I would go ask Tsunade but that would be like telling my mother and for that I needed the kind of courage that only Ino could give.
Kami please don’t let her be on a mission.
Looking in the window I notice that her mother is at the registers but I decide to go in any way. It’s worth a shot.
“Hello Sakura, to what do we owe the pleasure? Here to buy flowers for your Sasuke-kun.?” She laughed saying this. She knew I was over Sasuke but both our mothers like to tease us about how foolish we had been back then.
“Actually I was wondering if Ino is here?”
This made her smile even brighter. Both our parents were glad that we were friends once again.
“Yeah she is in the back … Ino! Come take your lunch break! Sakura is here!”
There is the sound of hurrying feet and then she is in the room like a flash of lightning tackling me to the floor. What is it about blonde hair that makes people more boisterous?
“Forehead Girl!”
“Ino-Pig! Calm Down!”
“Oh my God! I just can’t believe that you are back! I have so much to tell you! You are NEVER allowed to take a mission that long again! Do you hear me?!”
“Yes Ma’am but I have my something to …”
I am rendered speechless, because at that very moment I notice something very strange about the hand that Ino had been waving in my face.
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
The shit eating grin on her face and the twinkling of diamonds on their finger told me otherwise. I can’t believe Ino is getting married. As loud and as boisterous as she is on the outside she really is very soft on the inside. Everyone who didn’t know well enough wondered how she could stay faithful to just one person the way she did with Shino, (even more they wondered how she’d ended up with him) but he was the only guy who had had the ability to see her fierceness as a front. To the best of my knowledge (and I have very good knowledge being the woman's best friend and all) Ino had only had one sexual partner. She would flirt and tease, but when it came down to it she would freeze in fear. It takes a special kind of person to show the kind of dedication that would let Ino drop her barriers and Shino had never wavered in his admiration of her.
“I’m getting married and I have to tell you all about it.”
She screamed dragging me to our favorite teashop.

Four hours later I leave the teashop my head full of Ino-Shino (I really hate the fact that even their names go together) stories and wedding plans. I almost felt sorry for the guy, Ino has been dreaming about her wedding since childhood. It is going to be a grand affair. He can afford it though his family makes a lot of money tracking people down and Ino deserves everything she wants.
In my reverie I bump into something very hard and very warm, strong fingers wrap around my arms keeping me from falling over my own feet.
“Oh! gomen … I really should look where I am …”
“And you call me clumsy?”
My body freezes.
“Aww come on Sakura-chan, you're not afraid of me are you?”
“Of course not.”
I tilt my head to look into those cerulean blue eyes that I know so well.
“Well thanks for the catch Naruto but I really have to go … it’s been a long day and I just want to get some shut eye. You know how it is long mission and all …”
I know that I am droning on, drabbling to distract him so that he doesn’t notice the fact that I am inching very slowly backwards. Apparently my drabble isn’t enough of a distraction because he frowns slightly then tugs me so close to him that not even light could spill between us.
“You know for someone who isn’t afraid of me you sure are eager to get away.” A genuine sorrow comes to his face, his lower lip protruding to form the most adorable pout.
“You're hurting my feelings Sakura-chan.”
“Naruto … I… I didn’t mean to I… mmmph”
Apparently all that nonsense about having hurt feelings is exactly that because Naruto’s mouth is suddenly on mine taking advantage of the fact that my mouth is open from speaking. His tongue is rubbing against my lower lip and coaxing me to response. It only takes a few moments before I do. Who would have thought Naruto would be so good at this. I feel him smile against my mouth at my acceptance and I realize just how long he must have been waiting for me to let him do this. Through the years although he has gotten better at hiding it there were little things that let me know that he still loves me, loves me so much that he consistently puts his happiness on the back burner to ensure my own. The knowledge hits me lie a sledgehammer and in that moment I decide that this (whatever this is) has to be about him not me. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull away just enough to murmur against his lips.
“Naruto lets get out of here.”
He looks at me as if wondering whether he heard me right, mistrust evident in every muscle that has tensed in his body. Surely I haven’t been that cold to him. I tug him closer to me, going on tiptoe so I can whisper in his ear.
“I want you Naruto. No one can stop me from taking you but you.”
Hearing his own words spoken back at him snapped him out of whatever distrust he must have been feeling and I wonder how many times people have tried tot use his feelings for me against him. But the thought is lost in the brightest of smiles as he suddenly wraps his arms around me and picks me up bridal style.
“Naruto! What do you think you're …?”
The words are snatched from my mouth in the brilliant burst of speed that Naruto has become known for. Suddenly I am being laid down in a huge bed. A bed larger than what I thought Naruto owned.
“Naruto where are …?
The question is never finished because once again I feel his lips on mine and I am lost in the sensations. I let my hands travel up his back eager to touch the muscles that have developed there. He smiles against my lips and pulls back to take off the offending article of clothing. I sit up to meet him, lips claiming a feeling that I have already missed. I feel his arms wrap around me and pull me into his lap and I use the moment of distraction to take of my shirt. In this position I am taller than him and so I lower my head to kiss him. The movement causes my back to arch in a way that holds my body away from him. The arms around my waist snake up my body pulling me closer so that he can massage my now exposed breasts. His mouth leaves mine to trail a path down my chest, my body begging him to finish with his mouth what he started with his hands. The feeling when he latches his mouth around my nipple is exquisite and I cannot stop the moan that spills from my lips.
“What the fuck are you two doing?”
My head whips around to see Sasuke for the second time today and it is only then it dawns on me that the room we are in is not unfamiliar. After all it was Sasuke’s room.