After the pain

Disclaimer: I can't think of anything witty to say at the moment, sooooooo I don't own
anything.

Again with the exception of two original characters Shani and Hashin.

Daarknesslives" You have given me an idea, maybe Meeka will meet Gaara..... I'll see if it will work in somewere along the line.
And I am addicted to reviews so leave them as often as you wan't.

Magiccat" Thanks, afraid it will be a bit of a wait but I hope you enjoy the ride until then.

Yondaime-dono: Well there is possibly going to be a lemon eventually but what form it will take is undecided at this point it might just be mentioned. But I'll let you in on a seacret. (The story doesn't end there)
But as of chap 16 it is still a long way off so I have to think about it some more, hope you enjoy the rest of the story in the mean time.

David: Thank you, soon you will know all.

Spiritwolf: I am slowly getting everything back up, and chap 15 is almost done, it's a monster and has taken me almost a month to get through it.


* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Chapter nine.

It was two hours into the shopping spree and Temari was certain that her cheeks would be permanently stained red.
Naruto was in the lingerie shop with her!

Sure he was by the door having a friendly conversation with the teller but still.
This was a women's store for crying out loud!
Making her selections as quickly as possible she took them up to the counter.
Temari avoided eye contact with Naruto as the woman he had been talking to rang up the items.

Then came the most embarrassing moment of Temari's life.
Naruto paid for the purchases, took the package and added it to the other bags of clothing he was carrying, then placing his free hand on the small of her back he ushered her towards the door as he said goodbye to the clerk.

'He just bought my underwear!'

'He bought your other clothes too, need I remind you that at the moment you don't have any money.'

'That's not the point!'

'Your right, the point is, you've never had a man buy you anything before and now that one has your not sure how to react.'

'But underwear! Its embarrassing people probably think we're a couple.'

'Hate to break it to you but the boy has bought you undergarments before, ones he picked out himself. And besides, who cares what people think anyway.'

'I do!'

'You can be such a prude sometimes you know.'

"Are you all right Temari?" Naruto asked.

She glanced up to see him giving her a funny look.
"Fine." She growled at him.

"Are you sure? You look a little miffed." He commented

Temari discovered right then and there as her blood pressure went through the roof that she didn't currently have the level of control over her emotions that she normally did.

"Why did you have to go in there with me?" She asked in exasperation after taking a couple calming breaths. "That woman probably though we were a couple!"

Now why did she have to go and voice her thoughts?

Naruto stopped walking. "You mean Jenean? Nah, she knows I go in there all the time."

Temari moved in front of him so she could look him in the eye as well as stop him from moving forward again.

"You go in there all the time?"

He nodded.

"What are you, some kind of cross dresser?"
She wasn't sure why Naruto's answering chuckle was pissing her off.

"No I'm not." His brilliant blue eyes were sparkling with laughter even though he kept a straight face. "Actually I've gone in with Sakura a couple times as well as Uta and Hinata when I'm helping baby sit." He informed her as a chuckle escaped.

"And every once in a while one of the guys will ask me to pick something up for them. Sasuke especially wouldn't be caught dead in that store."

Temari stared at him, was he serious?

"Are you kidding!?"

"Nope." He chuckled again and she felt her temperature rising again as well, and it was definitely from agitation.

"You’re saying that you go with your friends wife as well other female friends while they shop in a lingerie store!"

Another chuckle. "Yep."

"Why the hell would you do that?" She asked in a strange mix of shock and exasperation.

"Like I said, I help baby sit although sometimes they want a guys opinion."

Temari looked him up and down before narrowing her eyes at him.
"Are you gay?"
If he was it would certainly explain why she was so comfortable around him.

Naruto's jaw dropped. "Hell NO!" He practically shouted before returning her glare.

"You know, you look really pissed for a woman who claims nothings wrong." He growled stepping closer to her, effectively changing the subject.

Temari refused to give an inch, even though their noses were nearly touching.

"I'm fine!" She snapped. "And I'm NOT pissed."

A soft chuckle interrupted them.

"My, this sure looks interesting." Came a gentle voice.

Temari and Naruto both turned to see the white-eyed Hinata smiling at them.

The sand kunoichi felt her cheeks flame as she realized how it must look being caught in such a petty argument.
She really needed to figure out why she was reacting to strongly to such a minor thing.

"Hinata-Chan." Naruto greeted the newcomer warmly.

"Sorry." Temari apologized, bringing his attention back to her. "I'm afraid I'm a little off kilter lately."

Naruto's trademark grin returned full force.

"No problem." He assured her before turning his attention back to the Hyuga woman, who Temari belatedly realized had a small child resting easily on one hip and another older one by the hand.

Since when did the Hyuga heir have children she wondered.

Naruto crouched down and held out his arms. The little girl in her buttercup yellow dress squealed as she let go of her mother's hand and flung herself at the blonde.

"Fly! fly!" The little one demanded.

Standing upright Naruto complied by tossing the girl into the air then easily caught her again when she came back down.
The little sprite giggled wildly as her black pigtails whipped about her face.

Hinata sighed. "I wish you wouldn't do that Naruto." She admonished gently.

Naruto just continued to grin. "But she likes it."

"Again! Again!" The child demanded, and so she was launched into the air a second time.

Temari could understand why Hinata disapproved it was heart stopping to see such a small body plummeting down towards the ground.
She saw Hinata shake her head as she approached the woman before the Hyuga turned her pale eyes towards her.

"It is good to see you again Temari-san, it has been quite some time since your last visit to Konoha. We have missed you the last couple times your brothers have been here."

"It has been a number of years." Temari agreed for the second time that day. "But obligations you know."

Hinata nodded her understanding.

"I'm afraid I am a little further behind currant events then I thought I was Hinata-sama, I didn't know you had children."

Hinata smiled warmly. "Yes these are my precious babies. The imp busy wrapping Naruto around her little finger is Shani and this little fellow." She indicated the baby on her hip. "Is Hashin, he's only ten months old."

Temari leaned down for a closer look at the boy.
Hashin smiled at her around the hand he had stuffed in his mouth.

The sand kunoichi barely noticed, she was staring into the strangest pair of eyes she had ever seen.
The pupils were white while the rest of the eye was a weird kind of reflective black.

"He didn't inherit the Hyuga eyes, I'm surprised." Temari commented as she straightened.

Hinata chuckled. "There is a possibility that he has the ability only time will tell, his eyes are actually a combination of mine and Shino's." She informed Temari. "Shani's are the same."

'I had forgotten that she married the bug user.' Temari thought. 'Boy have I been out of the loop.'

"I see you've been shopping." Hinata commented nodding towards the packages Naruto had left on the ground when he picked up Shani.

"Yes, Naruto's been helping me." Temari folded her arms and glared at the tall blonde who was to busy playing with the little ebony haired girl to notice.

"He even followed me into the lingerie shop!"

Hinata laughed. "Yes he would, nothing fazes that man. He's followed me into almost every shop in town when he's helping me with the kids."

"It was very embarrassing." Temari grumbled.

"I assume you mean for you?" The Hyuga asked kindly.

Temari nodded, she was sure her cheeks were turning pink again.
Hinata moved closer and patted her on the shoulder.

"Naruto almost never gets embarrassed he just walks into anything without blinking. Next time something like this comes up you just need to tell him to wait out side. He'll understand." She counseled in her gently voice.

Temari smiled weakly, maybe she had over reacted a little too much.

"Mommy, can we go with Uncle Naruto to get groceries?" Shani asked, suddenly appearing beside the two women.

"We were heading there anyway dear so I don't see why not." Hinata answered her daughter.

Shani clapped her hands as she bounced up and down on her toes in excitement and Temari was convinced she had never seen anything as cute as that little girl.

Naruto walked up behind the girl smiling. "Sounds fun." He stated.

Little Hashin lifted his chubby arms towards the blonde man. "Too...Too."

Temari mentally shook her head as Hinata relinquished her son to Naruto.
What was the man some kind of kid magnet?
She watched in amazement as he once again crouched down, this time so Hinata could set Shani on his shoulders. The little girl grabbed onto his ears for balance having obviously ridden like that before.

Naruto then scooped up all of Temari's shopping bags with his left hand while balancing Hashin on his right hip he then straightened and headed down the street.

Hinata caught her staring and chuckled. "He's something else isn't he."

Temari could only node as she had been struck dumb by the sight Naruto made as he strolled down the street with his load while Shani could be heard telling him about a new dress she had gotten.
She couldn't put her finger on it but it had struck a cord inside her that she hadn't known was there and didn't know what it meant, so she decided to shrug it off for now as she and Hinata started after Naruto and his load.

* *

It was definitely the most entertaining shopping trip that Temari had ever been on.
Once inside the small grocery store Naruto had found a cart and set both children in it along with the bags of clothes then proceeded to roar around the store making the weirdest noises for sound effects for the carts every stop or turn.

Temari and Hinata only caught glimpses of the threesome rushing in between isles.
They never lost track of them however for the children seemed to be constantly laughing and shrieking with glee.

At one point Hinata commented dryly "The only good thing about all the noise they make is that after shopping with Naruto the two of them are completely worn out by the time we get home."

The two women had a good conversation while shopping at a much slower pace.
Temari told Hinata the short version of why she was staying with Naruto.
While Hinata filled her in on the many goings on of Konoha since her last visit, which turned out to be a lot.
Obviously Gaara and Kankuro hadn't bothered to tell her a lot of things after their visits.

The sand nin had to say she had never enjoyed a visit with anyone as much as she did with Hinata.
The once overly shy Hyuga was friendly and out going and extended an invitation for Temari to come visit her home when ever she liked while in Konoha.

When all was said and done Temari and Naruto walked Hinata and her children home to the Aburame compound.
Then on the way back to Naruto's apartment Temari Apologized again to snapping at him earlier.
He waved her off saying it was already forgotten.

Secretly the blonde man was glad to see the woman's temper surface, even if it was directed at him, to him it meant that she was on the way to getting back to her old self.


* * *(* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * *

The Hammock swayed as Naruto settled down on it for the night.
He was exhausted but had a feeling sleep wouldn't come easily.
The reason of course was because he had a flaxen haired beauty sleeping in his house, in his bed.
And he was sleeping on his balcony.

It didn't help that after six years of silence Kyubi had decided to start talking again, despite Naruto's best efforts to shut him up.

And the kitsune seemed to really like Temari for some reason and was not keeping that fact to him self.

The blonde man had to admit the whole situation was very ironic, any other time they had been around each other he could have made a pass at the woman he hadn't been interested and now that he was interested he couldn't.

Yup, he was interested all right. Hell she liked his cooking, even if she had fallen sleep at the table part way through dinner.

'That has got to be the dumbest excuse I have ever heard you use!'

Naruto sighed the fox was back.

'Go away Kyubi, I'm not talking to you remember.'

'Tuff Kit, I'm talking to you so just listen.' The demon snapped. 'You want that female, you always have whether you admit it or not.'

'I'm going to lock you up completely again if you don't shut the hell up!'

'Not before I've had my say your not! You want a female, Hell you NEED a female, so go claim her already!'

Naruto did his best not to dwell on the images the demons words invoked in his head.
'This is none of your business Kyubi.'

The fox snorted. 'It's still about that girl isn't it?'

'Don't go there.'

'Look Kit, I know part of it's my fault. I should have never encouraged you, but give me a break. Human females are in an entirely different group then vixens.'

'Nice excuse Furball.'

'Hey! I told you before, just because I'm a couple thousand years old doesn't mean I know everything!'

'Ya no shit!'

'I don't know how many times you expect me to apologize to you I messed up so get over it already! I did try to change your mind before all the shit hit the fan.'

'What ever.'

The Kyubi growled in frustration. 'Look, the past is the past, so leave it there.'

'That's enough Furball!'

'Whether you want to or not, you need to hear this!' The fox yelled back. 'I don't give a damn what that bitch said OR did, as far as I'm concerned she is rotting in hell some were so for crying out loud get on with your life!!!'

'K-Y-U-B-I!!!!' Naruto snapped.

He couldn't handle the Kitsune's voice or words any longer.
So for the first time he used a combination of spells he had learned from Jiraiya years before.

He bound the nine tailed fox and shoved him as far back into the dark recesses of his mind as was possible.
Thus making it impossible for the demon to communicate with him unless the new seal was released.

It wasn't until he was finished with the Jutsu that Naruto realized that he was breathing hard and had started to sweat.
Then it was like he had woke up from a night mare. Images flashed through his mind, invoked no doubt by Kyubi's words.

It was like a photo parade of a time and place that he wanted to forget.
Of a reality that he refused to acknowledge.
Forcefully shoving the memories away he tried to focus on something, anything else.

An image of Temari entered his minds eye, of her getting angry at him earlier that day.
Her silver eyes flashing as she glared at him.
What a glorious sight.

Naruto felt his body slowly start to relax onto the hammock.
The woman was dynamite.
He had wanted to kiss her then, to wrap her thick braid around his hand and drag her body against his.

Sighing he shook off the image before it got him into trouble.
Sure he wanted her. That he would admit.
But he would not act on it.
Not only because of how he had found her but because of who he was.

His fate had been sealed along with the ninetails inside of his body.
He was destined to spend his life alone.
In a cold dark world that was for him alone to inhabit and endure.

Sure he could put on an outward face of happiness.
He could fill his days helping others, his students, his two best friends with their children.
But at the end of the day he would still be alone, and it would always be that way.

Naruto sighed again this time it was a depressing sound.
Closing his eyes he willed himself to fall asleep.

He may hate his life but when the sun came up he had responsibilities to deal with.
And he would and no one would ever know.

* ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Some time during the night Naruto was woke from a fitful sleep by a whimper coming from his bedroom.
He lay still for a couple minuets listening as silence fell once again, he didn't want to act without sufficient cause.
When no further sounds came from inside the building he once again closed his eyes.

He had nearly nodded off again when a soft cry sounded, louder then the first one had been.
Knowing he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep now until he was sure that everything was alright Naruto slide quietly out of the hammock then padded silently through the apartment to the bedroom.

Temari had left the door open and he could see her small form lying in the center of the bed.
Her long flaxen hair lay unbound across his pillows.
Moonlight filtered through the window, giving the sleeping woman an unearthly glow.

If it wasn't for the knit brow and the occasional jerk of her hands or head she would have been the picture of serenity.

Moving to the side of the bed he watched her intently, trying to decide if he should wake her or not.
Although she didn't appear to be having an all out nightmare, her dream did not seem to be a pleasant one.

"Temari." He whispered, still not sure if he should be disturbing her.

The Kunoichi's head turned slightly towards him. "Naruto?"

"Yes."

Her hand reached out towards him and he grasped it gently and gave it a light, reassuring squeeze.

"There you are." She whispered.

It was hard to tell with the shadows but Naruto thought she smiled at him.
Then to his surprise she pulled him down, face first onto the bed.

Finding himself in a very uncomfortable position, being only half on the bed he twisted his body so he could bring his legs onto the mattress thus he ended up lying beside her.

Naruto had barely straightened when Temari rolled and snuggled up to his side, wrapping an arm around his waist and burrowing her face into his neck.

He froze, her body was pressed so close to his that he felt her take a deep slow breath.

"Mmmm...much better." She breathed against his skin.

His body had automatically tensed as soon as she touched him, and her words didn't help the tension level at all.
Then he started to doubt that she was even awake and knew what she was doing.
Waiting with bated breath, the blonde man held perfectly still, bracing himself for the moment that she became completely alert and pulled away from him and demanded to know what he was doing on the bed with her.

That moment never came however, in fact the kunoichi snuggled closer, draping one leg over his and shifting so that their bodies touched from shoulder to toe.
After a few moments her slow even breathing told him she was in fact asleep, at least she was now.

Naruto debated whether he should try to slip out of her embrace and run the risk of waking her again or wait until she moved away from him her self.

Finally he decided not to disturb her and thus run the risk of a confrontation.
After all she was still under the covers while he was on top, it really wasn't any different then how they had slept on the way home to Konoha.
He would go back to his hammock as soon as she moved off of him.

Stifling a yawn the logical part of his brain hoped that would be soon, he was beat and he really needed to get some more sleep.

But another part of him, a small voice that actually sounded suspiciously like the Kyubi told him to pull her closer and enjoy the scent and feel of her.
Her hair smelled of his shampoo and he found that he liked it.

His eyes slowly drifted closed, he just needed to rest them for a moment....

* * * * * * *

Temari woke very slowly, she could feel the sun on her face but she wasn't ready to open her eyes just yet.
She was far too comfortable.
Her other senses also started to become more alert, that's when she realized that the blankets seemed a little heavy.

Her lashes lifted and she found herself faced with a mass of sunshine yellow hair.
A smile touched her lips when she realized it was Naruto's head resting on her chest while the rest of his body covered most of hers.

He was still sound asleep.

Still half asleep herself she didn't think twice when her hands lifted to smooth his unruly locks away from his face.

'His hair feels like silk.' She wasn't sure how she expected it to feel, but she liked the texture and sunk her fingers deeper to gently massage his scalp.

Naruto made a soft humming noise and shifted his head, moving into her touch.

Smiling again she continued to rub her fingers in tiny circles when a thought came to her.

'I thought he was going to sleep out on the balcony, I wonder what he's doing in here.'
She was still too relaxed to be alarmed with the situation.

She felt one of his hands move and as it came to rest on her hip she could feel the heat of his palm, even through the covers.
It was then that it truly clicked that he was almost completely on top of her.
And to her complete surprise the realization didn't frighten her.

"I wonder why this isn't bothering me?' She mused. 'Perhaps it's because I've slept this close to him before. Granted it was in a slightly less intimate position but still...'

Her lack of reaction to their close proximity was actually starting to bother her more then the actual proximity.
She was still trying to decide if she should be reacting differently when Naruto yawned and stretched his back.

The movement caused him to move more onto his stomach, thus covering more of Temari with his body.
His head rolled so his chin now rested on her breastbone, it didn't look to be a very comfortable position for his neck but his eyes remained closed and he mumbled something under his breath.

'I think I really should be doing something about now.' She told herself.

But she was too comfortable to move, and she had to admit that she felt safe lying like this.
Her hands slid from his hair and skimmed the sides of his face until her fingers came to rest against either side of his jaw.
She watched his eyelashes flicker but remained closed.

Temari found herself chuckling to think all this time she thought that Naruto was a morning person.

"Mm.. trying to sleep here." He mumbled, the pout on his face was priceless. Causing the kunoichi to giggle.

Brilliant blue eyes flashed as Naruto finally decided to open them.
She smiled.

"Good morning Naruto."

"Mornin."

"Sleep well?"

"Very." A slight smile curled the corners of his mouth. "You?"

"Like a baby." She assured him.

Both fell silent simply basking in the early morning sun that streamed through the window and enjoying the quiet moment between them.

Temari stretched slightly and Naruto pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"I'm probably crushing you." He mumbled as he slowly moved onto his hand and knees.

"Not at all, I was quite comfortable." She assured him, running her fingers along his jaw as he moved away from her before letting her hands come to rest on her stomach.

He smiled down at her and Temari's still sluggish mind absently wondered if he was close enough to kiss her, and if she should ask him to.

* * * * * * * * * * **