Every Woman Loves a Man that Will Listen

Alpha: Fanfic.net is being a dildo right now. So gonna have this uploaded at aff.net too. I want to have a new chapter updated and ff.net maybe down by then. (Also in case future lemon chapters are not ‘acceptable’ there you can find it here).

I. The Start of the Nightly Visits


A pounding sound could be heard from a faraway distance that wouldn’t go away. A low groan and incoherent speech was mumbled as the layer of black and white blankets was pulled up over an individual’s head.

The pounding on the door just seemed to get even more intensified and whoever was causing such a ruckus was too stubborn to go away; they sounded more desperate than anything else.

Cover’s drawn down, deep blue eyes slowly opened to stare up into a blank ceiling; unruly spiked locks were in disarray from disturbed bed rest and the childish night cap that adorn the young man’s head fell soundlessly to the floor.

The knocking; but Naruto’s bleary mind thought of it as pounding on the door didn’t let up. The young man’s eyes squinted, still trying to adjust his vision to see clearly from his sleep and to the dark lighting in the room; as the first thing he did was peer at the alarm clock, the bright blue light stating ’03:17 am’.

Alert, but still tired, Naruto made his way through his now very large apartment or house depending on how one looked at it. The sound was getting louder to his sensitive hearing and he could fainting make out the frustrated requests of the one responsible for waking him up during the middle of the night as he reached the living room and the front door.

The blond opened his door, his eyes widened in recognition and a look of disbelief to see the young female drenched from the top down in rain water. The summer storm the past three days in Konoha haven’t been that pleasant for anyone and still didn’t let up.

“Tenten-oneechan?” he asked softly, his eyes still not believing that a female albeit turning out to be one of his best friends over the course of nearly seven years now would come to his home, knocking on the door at such a time for anything.

There was never a time in the 21yr. old jounin’s life that he could remember any female coming to his home for anything; unless it was to give him information to report to the Hokage for a mission and if so that female was always accompanied by others, usually male.

Tenten stood there feeling out of sorts with herself, it was silent and she glanced only once at Naruto when he addressed her, probably startled and still not fully awake to comprehend he still had his unexpected company standing in the doorway. She was only grateful that his refurnished home had a patio deck that covered the top of the door to keep the rain from pouring down on her.

“Umm Naruto...” she whispered, she felt awkward just standing there and wasn’t really able to think of anything else to say. All the words she wanted to say to him and to explain why she was here in the first place was all right there in her head, but now standing here feeling cold despite the warm humid wind from the rain; all her words and courage flew right out the window.

What could she possibly say to him? More than that, what in the world was she hoping to gain by coming to Naruto of all people at three in the morning? What and how could he handle or understand her situation at all? She felt suddenly embarrassed coming all the way across town to see Naruto.

While Tenten was standing there being silent, Naruto opened the door wider while moving out of the way to give her entrance into his home. She didn’t notice yet, but reading her face those couple of minutes told him the basics of what he needed to know. He knew he had a reputation a long while back of being loud, obnoxious and an idiot; though if the people he grew up around only knew how much more observant he was than he let on, they’ll all probably die from shock.

For the most part, they still saw him as the same hyperactive 12 yr old genin. Now only just a more older and mature verison of the kid he used to be. But they didn’t realize he only did this to get on everyone’s nerves on purpose; when alone or on missions; he acted his true age, if he did that on a regular basis or just suddenly did it one day being and looking mature they would still die from shock, the thought of that happening made him chuckle inside.

And amidst his sleepiness, fatigue, and sluggish demeanor Tenten’s posture, facial expression, and slight movements simply informed him that she was nervous, uncomfortable, embarrassed, and saddened by something that happened not too long ago because even if the rain did wonders to drench her face and hide it; he knew she had been crying for a long while.

He knew she was crying a bit before he opened his door. He didn’t need to see the ruined mascara and eye liner most females were fond of putting on their faces. And the rain just added to the effect of Tenten’s whole look; ruining her favorite green and pink Chinese dress; her wet hair clung to her face and the style she put it in was ruined by the rebellious summer storm going on outside.

“Tenten-oneechan, sorry about spacing off there, come in,” he smile to her. Tenten was snapped out of her daydreaming to look up at Naruto hearing his offer to come inside. It was still something to most people and it still amazed Tenten that she was one of those people who had to tilt their head just slightly to be able to look Naruto in the eyes; he was surprisingly tall when he returned after his two and a half years away when he was 15 and from there on he never seem to stop growing until he reached his limit height of 6’3”.

Naruto closed the door once she was fully inside, “So what brings you here? Do you need anything Tenten-oneechan, are you thirsty perhaps?” he offered, looking a bit sheepish and awkward; he almost did that old habit of rubbing the back of his head with his hand when feeling out of place or embarrassed.

Tenten tried to smile, but it wasn’t reaching the corners of her face, “Yes, um actually can I use your bathroom to dry myself?” she asked the young man still clad in dark blue pajama pants in buttoned shirt.

“Sure, there’s a bathroom upstairs all the way to your left down the hall,” he said.

“Thank-you Naruto,” Tenten silently and slowly made her way up the steps to the bathroom indicated, unfamiliar with the large house she was in.

Naruto watched her ascend to the 2nd level before disappearing from his sight, “Well looks like I’m not getting back to sleep anytime soon,” he said to himself, smirking.

This was unexpected; he always offered but never thought any of the females he knew except for Tsunade-baachan would take him up on his offer to come visit him sometimes. The guys naturally always chose his place of residence when they got together and hung out; since he was a loner and his place was bigger than any of theirs combined. He wondered what Tenten wanted to tell him; it seemed urgent if she was in desperate need to come here the way she did. Either that or she just chose him on a whim not really knowing anyone available to talk to at this time of night.

Naruto decided to make his way over to the kitchen to make a pot of raspberry tea, since he knew the young woman was fond of it and most likely would want a cup to warm her up and calm her a bit from being in the rain and of whatever made her so sad.

xxx-----------xxx---------xxx------------xxx----------xxx

“Some night this turned out to be, 3 in the morning and I’m over Naruto’s…I seem to be a burden for people,” she sneer at her appearance in the mirror before turning her head away.

She didn’t like to see herself in the mirror after she cried it was a horrible sight to see her reflection that way. She had stripped herself of her clothing, taking a towel placed neatly on the rack to dry her body. Once she did that she wrapped herself with one and started drying her hair with another.

“Burden for Neji maybe but Naruto doesn’t seem to mind me being here. That damn Neji if he was so adamant of everything about me he-,” she paused sitting down on the marbled bathtub, “Should have said so!”

Tenten sighed sadly, there was nothing worse than having your feelings hurt or rejected so coldly by your crush/or what she had thought was a boyfriend.

“I mean I wasn’t asking for much! Unlike that weak minded hussy who had the nerve to hang all over him, but of course it was too much for the Hyuuga genius to bother to even say ‘hi’ to me. I bet if that were me drooling all over him like that he’ll probably lecture me about why I should not act that way.”

Taking her depressed thoughts off of Neji, she stood moving about in the bathroom finished drying herself and her damp but dry hair; she picked up her wet clothing reaching for the door knob when she heard a light knock from the other side.

“Tenten-neechan you all right in there?” said Naruto from the other side of the door.

Tenten narrowed her eyes at the door before realization dawn on her, “Oh damn it,” she swore softly to herself. In her fit of talking amongst herself about Neji and his ‘sweetheart’ she forgotten real quick where she was at, namely whose home she was in.

“Tenten-neechan?” he asked again sounding concerned.

“Oh…uh y-yeah! I’m okay Naruto I’m fine!” she tried to sound like she was happy when she knew she wasn’t.

“I just remembered you didn’t have anything aside from the clothes you had on, so I brought you something to put on until your clothes are dry. I’ll leave them by the door so I-,”

The bathroom door cracked open just enough for Tenten to take the clothes personally from Naruto’s hands. Naruto’s eyebrows rose into his hairline not expecting Tenten to just do something like that, he was pretty sure she would have wanted him to wait until he left to take what he offered to bask in her privacy.

“Thank you Naruto, how thoughtful!” she smiled at him, she took his night clothes while hiding the majority of her body behind his still closed bathroom door.

He smirked, “Your welcome Tenten, but I would have kindly left them here by the door without invading your privacy.”

“It’s alright, I’m fully covered anyway, besides it’s I who interrupted your slumber I feel like I’m more of a burden,” she said.

“True, you did interrupt my sleep but your not a burden at all; your always welcome here Tenten-neechan.”

“Thanks,” a smile wider than the first was spreading a bit across the brunette’s face at that comment. She was already feeling welcome and she hadn’t stayed that long yet.

“I know they won’t fit you perfectly, especially the pants since well both the night shirt and bottoms are mines; I unfortunately do not own anything remotely feminine; I’ll take your wet stuff to wash and dry for you okay? And when you’re ready I made some raspberry tea…um if you need anything else just let me know okay?” he smiled, taking the wet clothing she had worn.

“Uh…again thank you so much for this Naruto and I’ll love some tea- so…I’ll see you in a bit!” she smiled.

“Sound’s good,” he said before walking away from the door, heading down to the laundry room to wash Tenten’s clothes for her.

Tenten closed the door, before leaning against it and sighing. She thought for sure, Naruto would have acted like a complete idiot and tried to ogle at her even though she did her best to hide herself behind the door. She was surprised this night by many things revolving the blond.

He kindly welcomed her in, despite being rudely woken out of his sleep; he offered her something to wear while washing and drying her things; even made her favorite cup of tea; which was probably done by coincidence. There was no way Naruto could have known she like that specific brand of tea; and he actually made her smile forgetting her issues about Neji if even for a minute.

xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx

Tenten descended the stairs in pajama wear too big for her small frame; bare feet touching blue carpeting. She was greeted to the sight of seeing Naruto preparing to pour her a cup of tea; he even laid a plate full of rice cakes on the dinning room table.

Tenten took a moment to look at her surroundings, she was astonished at how big his place actually was, the place had three floors and very spacious. There was carpeting in almost all the rooms, except the bathrooms and kitchen area.

She was amazed she honestly thought that he still lived in the old small one bedroom apartment, located on this side of town. As mostly half of the buildings on this side of town looked run down and unused for many years. There were some, including his own place that had been rebuilt and fairly new.

Naruto passed her a cup of tea and two rice cakes once she sat down. She took a sip of the mildly hot tea.

“That’s really good Naruto! You make fine tea,” she said, grabbing one of the rice cakes on her small plate.

He smiled eating his own rice cake, “Heh! I try dattebayo, are you feeling better now Tenten-neechan?” he asked.

Tenten put her half empty cup down, ignoring his question beaming a wide smile in his direction, one he quickly saw through too, “Your rice cake making isn’t that bad either!” she finished her first and started on her second.

“Thanks, but am I to believe Tenten-neechan is changing the subject?” he took a sip of tea, watching her face fall into a frown before continuing, “It’s all good you’ll tell me if you want to, I’m not prying. But do me a favor and not hide your sorrow; believe it or not I can tell how you really feel inside hidden or not.”

Tenten put her rice cake down, staring dully at the white polished wooden table underneath her and Naruto. “That obvious ne?”

“It all depends, but I already knew something was upsetting you when you first appeared at my door, I was kind of hoping by keeping you company, you’ll feel better but I could be just making things worse,” he rubbed the back of his neck, making his traditional fox-like grin.

“No! No, you have a natural talent for making your guests feel at home, that’s what a gentleman does,” she said winking at him, “Naruto…otouto.”

He blushed despite her teasing, “Well…you’re welcome.”

It became suddenly quiet between the two of them. There wasn’t any tenseness in the air, they were just deep into their own thoughts.

Tenten, making a decision to tell Naruto about her problem and Naruto waiting patiently for Tenten to tell him of said problem, broke the silence.

“Do you think it’s wise to keep going after someone who hasn’t or refuses to acknowledge your feelings for them?” she asked hoping he could provide some insistence, knowing he went through similar events with a certain pink hair kunoichi.

He looked surprised at the question, letting it play in his head for a moment. He almost looked depressed for a minute, than quickly repressed it with a pensive smile.

“I’m no good at these sorts of things, but I’ll try to help the best way I know how,” he said, giving her his trademark fox grin.

“Hmm, I think if Neji has outright refused your feelings and doesn’t reciprocate them, don’t continue to go after him. You’ll get hurt less and won’t feel as bad as you do now,” he said, thinking about what happened between him and Sakura two years ago.

Tenten looked stunned, “How did you know it was Neji? I didn’t say anything indicating it was him,” she poured herself some more tea.

“I may be dumb, but I noticed like everyone else,” he bit into a rice cake before continuing, “And well if he doesn’t know at all how you feel than just tell him. That way either of you aren’t left in the dark, he’ll know he has someone that likes him and you won’t keep wondering whether or not he likes you at all.”

“Just tell him?”

“Yes! What do you got to loose? Anyway I think he has a thing for you too!” he shouted excitedly.

The brunette just blushed, “Really? You think so?” she asked not believing him.

“I’ve noticed him looking at you oddly, studying you when he thinks no one is looking, so I believe you’ll having far better luck with Neji than I had in my entire life trying to woo Sakura!” he grinned.

This made Tenten smile, but it faltered a little bit, “What if there’s another woman involved?” she asked.

Naruto was thoughtful before responding, “Does he seem to take interest in her?”

“Not really, at least it doesn’t seem that way,” she said, “But she surely has one in him!”

“If you have competition, then…you should tell him anyhow, but not so soon. Maybe hint at going out as friends, but also as a couple I suppose a few times before letting him know if he hasn’t picked up on it yet. Neji’s a real genius so it shouldn’t be too hard for him to not notice,” he said.

“Wow, you sure seem to have a lot of insight with this sort of thing,” she said amazed at his advice.

Naruto only laughed, “You’ll make me die from blushing so much dattebayo!”

“Really you are; I never pictured you to act so mature Naruto!” she said.

“Nah! I see it as learning from my mistakes, if I did things differently, maybe Sakura…” he trailed off, “So anyway,” he said getting off that topic, “What are you going to do?”

“I think I’ll go through with your advice, I’ll ask him out, hinting at my feelings for him before I finally say how I feel if he hasn’t figured it out,” she said with determination, pumping her fist in the air.

Naruto followed her example, stepping on top of his small table, “Yeah! That’s the spirit I want to see Tenten-neechan! You go after your favorite precious person and nab him before that other woman does!” he yelled.

Tenten paused to look at Naruto questioningly; he looked at her and started laughing, she following behind him.

After their laughing fit, Tenten got up looking towards the door, realizing she still wore Naruto’s pajamas. “It’s well past time for me to go Naruto,” she said.

“Already? Well, I’ll go get your clothes then,” he said walking off in the direction of the laundry room.

Tenten just stood there, deep in thought, Naruto came back not too long ago with her dress and shoes, she took them going back upstairs into the bathroom to get changed. When she was done, she came back down giving Naruto his pj’s back and walking over to the door. He followed behind, throwing the clothes on the sofa and grabbing his own umbrella and raincoat for her to borrow.

“Well this has been a nice stay, hmm looks like the rain isn’t letting up anytime soon,” said Tenten already fully dressed in the clothes she came in. She sighed looking at the torrential storm, cowering at the thought to go back into it.

“It’s not that bad when you have an umbrella that works in good condition and a heavy duty raincoat,” he said holding out the items to Tenten.

“I could walk you or you could always stay here for the night,” he said absent mindedly. The young lady in front of him started to blush slightly, mocking annoyance.

“I’ll take my leave than you pervert!” she huffed.

“What?! What are you talking about Tenten-neechan?!” he was surely confused.

“Inviting me to stay the night with you, and hear I thought you didn’t turn out like Jiraiya-sama!” she accused.

A prominent blush rose to the surface on the young man's face before he started yelling to explain himself, “I’m nothing like Ero-Sennin! I didn’t mean it in that way Tenten, I just suggested it in case you didn’t want to go out-”

She started laughing, planting a chaste kiss on one of his cheeks, “Got ya!” she pinched his cheek a little.

Naruto stared at her bewildered for a second, than sheepishly grin, “Well…don’t do things like that its not right,” he still wasn’t over his embarrassment.

“I know,” she took his raincoat, putting it on and also the umbrella, “But it’s fun,” she said walking out the door.

He just sighed, “Don’t worry about returning those so soon I have extras okay?”

“Alright, see ya around Naruto-otouto!” she waved at him covering herself fully, umbrella over head and running out into the rain to make it home.

“Ja ne,” he whispered to no one in particular, shutting the door.


-----xxx----xxx---xxx---xxx---xxx------

blinding blur went by, springing from one rooftop to the next at lighting speed. A man with striking blond hair was in a rush; he only had less than an hour to stay at the hospital. He spent so much time between training and gardening; that he almost forgot he told her he’ll stop by her room again.

He knew of course that the lovely Yamanaka Ino refused to have him within a one mile radius of her breathing space.

It was his fault she was in there in the first place and he felt badly about it. The team the Hokage assigned for the A-rank mission consisted of him, Ino, Lee, and Hinata. It was all around an easy mission until they got into a fight with the strongest member of a three man team. All three missing-nin were considered S-class and were known as thieves that stole from the rich and assassins who killed. Their specialty was taking out groups of shinobi assigned to assist a client in need; pose at the ‘ninja’s they killed only to steal and kill the client for all they were worth.

During their fight with one of the last members, the four of them split into groups of two. He and Ino and Rock Lee with Hinata; somehow he took a critical blow in the back, covering Ino who did her body-bind technique so Lee and Hinata could team up against the man.

Ino got hurt a bit feeling part of the damage done to the enemy quickly went back into her own body; once Naruto saw she was back in her own body, he left her side to make the finishing blow, as Lee and Hinata were low on chakra, and they weakened the enemy a great deal.

He never thought the man could still move even after all the damaged to put on his body, so it came as a shock to him that once he released his ‘odama resangen’ he didn’t count on the guy using one of his comrades as a shield; luckily he reacted quickly stepping in front of the attack with lighting speed, pushing Ino out of the way as much as he could before getting hit with his own attack and passing out from blood loss.

He woke up the next day, in a hospital bed, with the members of team eight surrounding him. Hinata looking at him worriedly, Kiba was smirking, and Shino was quiet and stoic as ever.

He learned that aside from being grazed by his attack and having her share of bruises and a broken ankle, Ino was fine. He felt guilty and made sure to visit her everyday, even during his short stay in the hospital, he didn’t stay for long, the demon fox rapidly healing him, even taking the brunt of the damage which he was also noted on did a number on their enemy who was finished off by Rock Lee and Hinata.

To say the girl welcome his visits would be an insult, she hardly said anything to him, partly blaming him for her condition; to which he agreed to without question. He had profusely apologized to her until she got annoyed and told him to leave her alone.

He left, only to return everyday after that so see how she was feeling, and volunteering to help her with anything. Ino blushed prettily despite herself. She was a bit touched by Naruto’s annoying yet stubborn willingness to assist her in anyway he could. He never did comment on the small blush that rose across her face.

Of course he over did it with his suggestions having her yell at him and throwing an unused bedpan (which Sakura got her just to irritate her) at his face; she sported an embarrassed look, shouting for him to get out.

After Ino saw him come by again within the same day and after two hours he had been there, she sighed and just gave up, accepting his apology and his need to smother her, with doing anything she asked of him. She wouldn’t let on, but she was secretly enjoying the way he doted on her, even if he was getting on her nerves.

And this day would be no different than the others as well.

“HIIIII INO-CHANNNNNNN!!” Naruto banged her door opened wide with his foot and loudly announced his presence in her room by yelling and jumping on top of the bottom bed rail. He had a goofy grin on his face, but his shoulders were shaking like he was trying to hold in his laughter at the look on her face.

Ino was startled while eating that she started choking on her food before quickly coughing up her half-chewed rice, which now sported her saliva and flew to hit Naruto straight in the face.

“What do you want this time?! And don’t call me ‘Ino-chan so familiarly!” she yelled, crossing her arms.

“Ino-neechan spitted in my face, how rude!” he whined playfully.

Ino growled, “It serves you right for making me choke in the first place idiot!”

Naruto calmly swipe a napkin from her small eating area to wipe the half chewed rice from his cheek. He hopped off the bottom bed rail to throw the offending piece of food in the trash bin.

“I see your fine Ino-neechan,” he smiled, “How much longer until you can go home?” he asked, taking a seat in one of the chairs, pushing the bed railing down some and scooting his chair up to the bed.

“I was fine until you came again I said your apology was accepted you could just leave now. But since I know you’re not going anywhere still blaming yourself for what happen I guess I could tolerate you for a bit longer,” she said.

Ino looked at Naruto just nod his head, gently unwrapping her old bandages on her sore left ankle. He began to quietly rub her calf before moving down to her still bruised but healing ankle.

“I’ll be able to be released once my ankle is fully healed, Shizune-san said hopefully my stay would last three more days,” she decided to say, watching him massage her legs.

“That’s good, I’ll just rub your legs before I go this time, I have other stuff to take care of and can’t stick around too long,” he said smiling.

“It wasn’t like I wanted you around anyway, but since you’re so good at this I guess it’s worth tolerating you,” she felt a pleasant sensation go up her spine at his small ministrations on her leg, the one with the swollen ankle.

“Hey…Naruto?”

“What?”

“Why do you insist on taking my bandages off?” she asked suddenly, she noticed he did that all the time paying more attention to her sore spot than anything else.

“Because…when I look at Ino-neechan’s ankle, it reminds me of why you’re still here and makes me want to try even harder to help out so you can get back to doing what you like instead of being bore stuck here in the hospital all day…besides…” he trailed off, barely brushing his fingertips against the bruised skin.

“Besides?” Ino asked, curious to know what else was going on in that head of his, he was being relatively quiet today, usually; he would be bouncing around like a child that couldn’t sit still for a minute.

“Besides, Ino-neechan should show her ankles more often,” he said grinning.

Ino blushed before automatically removing her legs out of his reach, “What would make you say something like that?! What woman would want to show bruised and marred skin? My ankles aren’t something to be stared at!”

Naruto calmly grabbed her left leg firmly, setting her leg back down and rubbing her ankle which wasn’t as painful as it was when she first got there to the hospital.

“The bruising marks will go away eventually, and you have very pretty ankles with or without bruises,” he smiled, not paying attention to Ino’s red face or the fact it redden more when he placed a kiss on her swollen ankle.

The bedpan was instantly whacked hard on Naruto’s head, bending it; and his face took on a comical look with tears falling down his face.

Ino looked angry, but she was speechless and couldn’t come up with anything to say. Mainly because it shocked her to see him doing something like that; than again he had that reputation for being unpredictable at times.

“You’re cruel Ino,” he said before grinning at her again, removing the broken bedpan from his head.

“I heard kissing a sore or cut will make the pain go away, I wasn’t trying to be perverted if that’s what you thought, just sincere is all,” he began to redo her bandages with new ones. He’s work was sloppy, but it was better than nothing.

“You shouldn’t do or say things like that than!” she managed to find her voice again, crossing her arms. It seem she produced a habit of crossing her arms when dealing with Naruto.

“I was only being truthful,” he said going back to massaging her calf again.

Ino blushed, “Hmph! Be truthful, just don’t try to show it too! When you have a girlfriend then you can do all that stuff!” she said, lying back down on the bed.

“Gomen Ino,” he said.

Ino said nothing feeling tired and worn out by Naruto’s visit. He been going at it for awhile now, rubbing her leg and he stopped noticing Ino had fallen fast asleep.

He got up to remove her empty dishes and eating area away from the bed, covering her up properly. He smiled again removing a piece of strand hair away from the girl’s face.

“Heh, I wasn’t being loud today like usual because I knew you really tired today and I wanted to show even I could be considerate sometimes,” he muttered softly to himself.

“I’m sure you asked yourself that question Ino-chan,” he said to the sleeping woman in the bed.

Naruto sat in his chair looking at the other blonde sleeping with a smile on her face; he sat for a long while before getting up again. It was time he went, but before that, he took the day old bouquet he brought in from his own personal garden to be replaced by the new batch in today. Ino didn’t see him bring in anything, either she was sleep when he got to her room or she was up, talking with someone else fully ignoring his presence or yelling at him to be quiet when he made his rather loud announcement he was there.

He had wanted to bring some tulips as well, knowing immediately the woman fond of flowers and family owning a flower shop business would get the immediate meaning behind the tulips. Unfortunately, he didn’t grow any, and had to just settle for the yellow roses instead. He didn’t want to go to her family’s shop for them because he didn’t want anyone coming to the wrong conclusions or questioning him.

Besides, he heard by ‘word of mouth’ that Ino liked roses, but her favorite were cosmos, however those had just started taking root and personality wise, yellow roses did do Ino justice.


xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx


“How’s it hanging Mrs. Uchiha?” he teased a very well known strawberry haired jounin.

Sakura turned around to look at Naruto hanging upside down on a tree branch; only to flip himself off the tree to stand upright next to her.

His pink hair teammate from when they were Genin was walking in the direction he just came from. She had to meet with Tsunade today to do some studying.

She narrowed her eyes at him, “Don’t get cocky blondie, I’m not Mrs. Sasuke Uchiha yet,” she said sighing.

“Heh! Like you don’t already consider yourself his wife now,” he said, smirking at her expression.

Sakura chose not to comment, only nodding her head in agreement but her thoughts were on other things, things that didn’t entirely focus on Sasuke at all.

It suddenly became quiet between them. Since their situation two years prior, a very uncomfortable feeling crept up against the two long time friends. It made them become silent and forced them to come up with something to say to each other. Usually it resulted in Naruto coming up with excuses and Sakura, well forcing herself to ‘brag’ about Sasuke.

“Well, I gotta be somewhere right now so I’ll see you around beautiful!” he smirked before running off, jumping from treetop to rooftop.

One minute he was around, and the next he wasn’t leaving her to be by herself. This is what made her stop to think. Like for instance, she felt confused. Like she was being torn in two different directions; on one hand she favored the direction of the path she was going now, loving Sasuke, being with Sasuke, having Sasuke notice her, having him return her feelings. While on the other hand, she felt like she was being tugged to walk down the other direction towards a certain blond who’s heart she broken badly.

Nowadays she was beginning to regret it, not that she was willing to give up Sasuke, fat chance in hell that’ll happen; but the strain it put on their friendship. The way she went about doing it made her feel guilty and with good reason.

At first before Sasuke started to take an interest in her when he returned after their war with Orochimaru; she thought her feelings had died after the way he abandoned her and Naruto; thus she took to Naruto’s side. Even at one point she began to like him more than a friend, she never told him because she knew Hinata liked him also, liking him longer and she was trying to get over her one-sided love for Sasuke.

It didn’t mean she didn’t hint to him at her newly found like of him, but he was completely dense, so being too subtle was out, but she didn’t want to get on the Hyuuga heiress’ bad side. Hinata almost constantly defended Naruto’s character, when he was teased or doubted.

Just asking him out on a date, got the thought through to him, though she said she only asked him because he was nice enough to remember her birthday despite being in the middle of a mission just to get her something. It made Hinata back off, knowing Naruto’s crush on Sakura and after their one date together, he made even more of an effort to follow her around where ever she went.

Eventually, Hinata placed her feelings on hold for the blond, and started dating Kiba, it seemed out of the blue, but it’s what happened and they been together ever since. It was surprising when Sasuke started to act more like his normal self and started to be nice to her since she was just beginning to feel confident enough to let the blond know how she felt.

Sasuke started warming up to her even more as the days went by and her old feelings for him once again resurfaced and she left Naruto in the dark. So when Naruto, sincerely told her that he loved her, she let the words simply fly over her head and non too gently brushed off his confession, once again trailing behind Sasuke.

At first she was genuinely happy, her and Sasuke were an item and she took ever moment to brag about it, especially to Ino. After awhile her lovely dovey attitude changed, and the feeling of being with Sasuke sort of dulled out.

Sasuke was still a respectful and passionate lover, but she didn’t feel the same intense feelings as she had before. Maybe because one of her best friends was avoiding her or maybe it was due to something else Sakura refused to admit to even herself. It still came as a surprise he even bothers to talk to her albeit being short before heading off somewhere.

Sakura walked on into the hall, unable to let go of the fact that she did something wrong and Naruto’s ways of avoiding her without acting like he wasn’t, was her own punishment.

Once again she didn’t get a chance to apologize. Then again, she wasn’t so sure what she wanted to say sorry for. After all, Naruto wouldn’t accept a miserable sorry from her that didn’t even mean.

xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx

Soft fingertips ran smoothly down a hard bare, chiseled chest, light feather kisses followed the path of the sensual touch of fingers down tanned skin. A low moan was heard, the feeling of those fingers doing wonders to arouse the sleeping male underneath a very excited brunette.

Brown eyes met blue and the blue eyes belonging to a blond man came closer to the face of the woman before him; planting a soft kiss on her lips before grinning at her.

“You have an interesting way of waking someone up in the morning Kanojo,” he said.

“Hmm, I tried not too but I really wouldn’t mind going another round Koibito, at least before I have to leave,” Tenten said kissing Naruto on both of his cheeks.

Naruto mock disinterest in her suggestion, looking at her through one eye open, “I don’t know- I hardly got any sleep last night again because of you.”

“Aww come on Naruto! Don’t be so selfish, it was only four times,” she pouted crossing her arms.

“Yeah and each one I thought I would lose all that stamina I’ve been known to have,” he teased.

She looked almost hurt, “That’s rude! There’s no way I could tire you out!” she squeal, feeling Naruto’s arm pulled her into his hold and onto his lap.

“Another round eh? Who knew Tenten-chan was such a vixen in bed ne?” he said, causing her to gain a bright red blush on her face.

He began to kiss her, complying with her wish to satisfy her needs.

The fact that they were engaging in such activity was started only a few days prior, never before when Tenten visited his home had they done this before. Those times consisted spending the night together in the company of friends, but that changed suddenly when he slept with her and he never imagined doing something like that either.

After the first time, he thought she’ll hate him and regret it the next morning, that once they crossed that border of friendship into something more intimate he knew she wouldn’t come near him again.

How wrong he had been, she seemed to have loved that he took her first time instead; he was still amazed that he even took it in the first place. It was more shocking to him to see her come back wanting more, he was never one to really feel confident when it came to sex, but whatever he was doing, it surely was pleasing to Tenten.

He had to be doing something right if the woman was coming to his place again and again and again. She always seemed to thank him right after just like she done the first time they became intimate.

xxx-----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx

xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx

(Flashback)

It had been a week now since Tenten was coming over to his place. There hadn’t been a night she missed, when she started her nightly visits except for these past two days. The brown haired Kunoichi had to report to going on a B-ranked mission which consisted of her old Genin team.

When she did come around, it was made into this habit to come at various hours of the night, never in the day, at least that was the conclusion Naruto came to. His theory was since she first came during the night albeit being into the wee hours of the morning, she’ll start this routine of coming to his house when the sun was down and the moon was up with the stars in the sky.

Of course this ridiculous theory was made up as an excuse to hide the fact that she probably just came at night and not during the day because of embarrassment of being seen with the dead-last; but he’ll never let on to how he felt of her odd visits and he didn’t complain either way. Company was company no matter the time of day.

Besides, he could admit that he felt lonely during the two days she was away, so used to just staying up awaiting her arrival instead of going upstairs to his bedroom to sleep.

Usually their nights were spent talking about missions they had. Tenten would fill him on the current gossip around town well things only the girls talked about and sometimes Naruto with his limited experience with women would comfort Tenten the best he could or give advice about the stoic Hyuuga genius she still had a thing for.

For a moment Tenten had told him his advice seem to be working to get Neji to notice her aside from training or going on missions like they’ve done when they were twelve.

Among their talks when she started to get a bit depressed, he’ll silently set up the small coffee table in his living room for her with raspberry tea and rice cakes, she’ll cry and he’ll hug her and listen while she told him of her frustrations and demeaning herself, thinking of all the negative things about her personality in general.

As a younger brother that cared, Tenten had started to address him as such since she was a year and seven months his senior; would do his best to see her smile. He didn’t quite know what to do when girls cried; and he felt even more awkward if he was the cause of their tears. All in all he’ll say what he thought and hoped sounded good and she’ll smile and thank him for his company before heading out to go home.

That’s how their friendship stayed like they were truly a brother and sister pair. That was after a week, the two nights she was gone and the three she came back around for, the third night destroying that bond of a brother-sister relationship and into something Naruto couldn’t put a name to.

It happened on a rainy night like the first time he met her at his door, it was past midnight, and Tenten stood there soak and wet, hair sticking to her face. Brand new red dress the one he, Sai, and Sasuke were forced to buy with Sakura around town for Tenten’s birthday last year, was ruined and clung to her body. She held her red sandaled heeled shoes with just two fingers, she seem to have walked or ran bare footed this time. And the last thing to add to her appearance was the tears that were running down her cheeks.

Naruto already familiar with this scene and having an idea of what happened was already prepared to deal with it the best way he knew how to. However before anything was said, Tenten flung herself at the startled blond, clinging onto his shirt pressing her face into his chest while she outright sob. She knew Naruto wouldn’t think less of her for doing such a thing as she felt strong but gentle arms and hands resting on her back comfortingly.

“I-I got y-you all…wet- I’m sorry,” she mumbled finally looking up at him with unabashed tears sliding down her face.

Naruto just chuckled, wiping her tears away with his thumbs, “There’s no need to apologize it’s a little rain water no harm done,” he went over to closed his door shut and lock it.

“Naruto-otouto, Neji- Neji told me…” she trailed off, looking distraught and the flow of her tears wouldn’t cease.

“Take your time, don’t rush yourself in telling me everything. I have all the time in the world to listen,” he said, walking the distance to his kitchen.

“You can use the bathroom to change into something like last ti-,” Naruto was stopped mid walk at the threshold to his kitchen by feminine arms tightening their hold around his waist area from behind, refusing to let him go any farther.

“I always knew! I- knew that somehow Neji wouldn’t return my feelings but I decided to believe that maybe there was a certain chance that he would,” the brunette was finding it harder to stop crying and the more she told Naruto the more she cried. The more she cried, the tighter she'll cling onto him afraid that he’ll go away too.

“And for a minute he did seem to show some forms of affection for me; forms of affection that weren’t for a friend and teammate, but for me as a woman. I thought he was finally opening up to me, acknowledging the feelings I had for him. I know its hard for Neji to open up to anyone when it comes to expressing his emotions, but I thought that when he confided in me to show just a slight part of himself he never showed anyone I was beginning to think…but I was wrong!”

“I’m sorry Tenten-neechan, I thought I was right in assuming Neji felt the same way as you did about him, all he ever did was talk about you on the rare occasions we were teamed up to do missions. I guess my stupid advice I gave you hadn’t worked,” the blond had a sheepish look on his face, though Tenten couldn’t see it, she knew it was there probably to cover up his feeling of hopelessness.

It was one thing she knew about Naruto and that was how he hated to feel he fail to help someone accomplish their goal no matter what it was or what it took to make it happen. Tenten felt a small smile grace her lips at that thought.

“It’s not your fault Neji doesn’t see me that way Naruto. In fact you would be surprised at how much your little advice helped me out in the end. It means that much to me, even though I failed at getting Neji, at least I had your advice. It gave me the courage to tell him how I really felt and even with his rejection…at least I know the truth- rather than feeling in the dark wondering what Neji thought of me,” the tears started again, and her hands tightened to the point Naruto thought she was going to tear his shirt in two.

“Still I promised you-” he released her hold on him turning around so he could face her, hugging her this time, taking the pins that held her ruin hairstyle out of her hair, to make it fall around her face.

“I promised you I’ll help you get Neji to notice you some kind of way…I even swore it on my nindo and I never break my nindo Tenten-neechan.”

Chocolate brown eyes looked into deep ocean blues; and Tenten could see the sincerity and compassion in Naruto’s eyes. He almost looked determined, to fulfill his promise to her, as if he would make the Hyuuga genius love her the way she wanted him too.

This made her smile, really smile at her dear friend, “I know that, but matters of the heart are a different thing all together, it wouldn’t be fair to both me and Neji if you tried to make him want me. You’ve done more than enough for me, I think encouraging me to tell Neji was more than enough to not break your promise.”

She suddenly stood on her toes to kiss the blond on one of his stripped cheeks.

Naruto was startled by the kiss to his cheek. Startled because of how close this kiss was to his own lips, completely different then the many chaste or playful kisses Tenten gave him on his cheek.

“…Tenten…neechan?” Naruto couldn’t form a decent sentence than that. You could see the barely visibly pink flush to his pale-tanned face.

“Hmm…just because I didn’t fully get what I want, doesn’t mean you broke your promise Naruto, you promised your advice would get Neji to notice me and he did, if not the way I wanted, but he did all the same,” she whispered softly, still holding onto him. She buried her face in his chest; not planning to let him go.

Naruto’s look of surprise at the soft kiss was replaced by a grin, “I guess I can’t argue with you there. So will it be raspberry tea and rice cakes again?” he asked her.

“You’re very sweet,” she mumbled into his chest; and he didn’t catch her words.

“Tenten-neechan I didn’t get that, maybe a change of something else would be preferable?” he suggested.

The young woman hadn’t let go of him, “Something aside from my favorite tea?” she asked, looking into his eyes with a glazed over expression; of course Naruto didn’t catch this sudden look, nor did he get the underlying meaning in her words, at least in Tenten’s opinion.

“Yea if you’re tired of drinking it, but if not I can make some-”

Tenten giggled at her clueless friend, “You’re sweet, you’re really sweet Naruto,” she said.

Naruto’s face was tinted pink, and Tenten didn’t know he actually did get the gist of what she asked, pretending to act clueless to the look and question she sent his way.

“Ah no way, me sweet? Don’t say stuff like that Tenten-neechan or you’ll make me blush dattebayo.”

“I really meant what I said and there is one thing I would like aside from tea.”

She often asked herself why her friend never had any relationships, or try to pursue any. She knew of the Kyuubi no Kitsune as everyone now did and she also knew of his heartbreak concerning Sakura with the return of the Uchiha.

There was also the slight chance that he may have started to like Hinata, something the Hyuuga heiress would give anything to have, but before that theory was proved true, Hinata started to date Kiba content in knowing that Naruto would finally have Sakura.

Of course Hinata couldn’t have been more wrong in that assumption as well as the rest of them. It amazed her how he could be so determined to make her dream come true even though she knew it wouldn’t; while he given up on trying to find someone for himself.

“Umm…what would you like Tenten-neechan?” he asked again pretending he didn’t know what she meant.

“Naruto…drop the –neechan to my name,” she whispered.

“What do-,” he was successfully cut off by a pair of warm soft lips pressed to his.

“I meant what I said,” she said softly kissing him into shock again, “You’re sweet, you’ve made me feel more than welcome into your home. You're so kind,” she paused again to repeat her actions.

“You comfort me when I feel down,” three more kisses in between, “And you listen to me,” again to kissed him.

“You’re interested in what I have to say and the best ways to make me feel special, focusing all your attention onto me,” again she kissed him and let it linger for awhile before breaking contact.

“Tenten…” to say Naruto was speechless would be an understatement, the young man couldn’t form any words and the female confessing all these things about him weren’t making it any easier for him to get a word or two in as she pressed her lips to his again.

There was an evident blush gracing Tenten’s face as her hands were moving, caressing Naruto’s face, “And most of all you make me feel like a woman, a special woman who you love Naruto so…” she trailed off caressing the blue eye man’s face with her hand before planting another kiss to his lips, which he returned with uncertainty.

“I’m glad I could make you feel all those things Tenten but…are you sure you should be doing this with me?” he asked her, still concerned for her. She was just dumped by her longtime crush, even he had needed sometime to himself to think of how to deal with Sakura’s rejection.

“Tonight, I don’t want to think about my failure I had with Neji, I want to feel like a woman Naruto,” she suddenly blushed, burying her head into his chest, taking in his scent.

“You know I’ll do anything you ask me to, if it makes you happy Tenten,” he said.

“Well could you continue to make me feel this way?” she asked, “I would appreciate it very much,” she said kissing his cheek.

“Are you sure? Wouldn’t you want to do this with some one else? I’m not that experienced with this sort of thing,” he asked still trying to stall and blushing because of admitting something like that to her. He hoped she wouldn’t make fun of him and at the same time maybe it would make her stop and think.

“I’m very sure Naruto and there’s no one else,” she kissed and he returned it again, “We could learn together,” she said, hugging herself to his body.

Obviously she wasn’t put off and to his relief she didn’t tease him, offering to learn with him.

“Sure, but don’t you think you’ll regret doing this with me?” he said, leaning down to kiss her forehead, running his hands through her still damp hair.

“If I do, then I’ll just have to think about it later but right now I don’t, please Naruto make feel like I’m your woman, that special person you love,” she hugged him.

“Anything to make you happy Kanojo,” he said, lifting her lithe body into his arms, kissing her as he made his way upstairs to his bedroom.

Tenten kissed him back with much vigor, getting more into the heated kisses they were sharing. She wanted him to give her tongue entrance into his mouth, which he gladly recieved. He easily made his way up the step and into his bedroom, holding her body up to his by holding onto her thighs.

Naruto sat Tenten down on his bed, helping her get out of her wet clothing. Tenten was reciprocating the offer, getting on her knees on the bed so she could meet his lips again in a kiss. She moved her hands up and under the shirt he wore; feeling the soft yet firm muscled skin of his abdomen and torso.

Still wondering why she would want something like this with a person such as him. It didn’t make any sense to him but, she asked and he would comply because that’s what he does best. Some kind of silent vow to please others so they wouldn’t be sad or disappointed, and he wouldn’t disappoint Tenten.

He’ll pretend for her, and for himself that way the situation will not feel so awkward. It was easy to pretend, he’s always done it before and nothing would stop him now.

Pretending the woman underneath him, showing him the desire she had in her eyes for him; was really his lover would help him make the experience all the more pleasurable.

One by one their clothes, both dry and wet ended up on the floor in a pile by the bed.

Tenten felt her blush intensify with the pleasing look Naruto was sending her way. The blond took her chin in his hands, kissing her as he moved above her. He laid her down on the bed, going from kissing her lips to her jawline and neck.

He began moving his way down her body, his hands roaming her flesh, only to stop to feel the softness of her breast. Tenten let out a breathless sigh, as she felt Naruto massage her breast and roll her nipple between his thumb and index finger.

Naruto continued to kiss his way down her body, stopping to suckle firmly on the other nipple of Tenten's breast. He moved his other hand from her other mound, moving it down to massage her womanhood.

"Naruto," she whimpered once again. The blush on her face, reddening with every touch he made.

She felt him move his way down her down her body, spreading her legs a bit more. He then started to part her labia, moving his tongue and two of his fingers inside of her.

The biting on her bottom lip to conceal the small whimpers she made by the feel of his tongue flicking sensually against the hot and moist area of her sex. The small thrusting he did inside her with his fingers. Her entire body was on fire, and she could feel herself reaching her climax with every lick Naruto made to her clitoris.

Tenten moved her hands through the blond's hair, moving his face closer to her vagina, as he continued his ministrations. She was almost there, but she stopped him before she reached that point.

Naruto looked up into her face, wondering why she stopped him. He didn't get a chance to ask.

"I want to feel you in me Naruto-kun."

That one statement alone reconfirmed him, that she was enjoying herself very much.

Naruto positioned himself at Tenten's entrance, slowly moving inside her. Once he felt himself all the way in he slowly moved back out before swiftly entering her again. The sudden yelp of pain mixed with an audible soft sound of pleasure alerted him to stop his movements when he entered her.

"Kanojo, are you okay?" he asked her.

"Its okay, I'm alright," she hugged him to her body, kissing his face before locking lips with him again.

Tenten sighed softly when she felt Naruto slowly enter her again.

"Oh! Naruto!"

Tenten didn't know what suddenly gave Naruto the confident to go through with this; but his whole demeanor changed, from being shy to becoming bold. She didn't mind it in the least, but the way he spoke earlier she had thought he didn't quite know what to do just like her.

The sounds of Tenten's moaning turned him on even more. His thrusting began to quicken with Tenten's moans rousing him on. She felt so tight inside and warm.

The brunette tightened her hold on him, nails scraping against his back in ecstasy and legs squeezing around his waist. She loved the way he moved inside her.

"Naruto! Please go harder! Please!"

Naruto grinned at the flushed face and look of enjoyment Tenten had.

"Okay Ten-chan," he thrusted inside her slowly before halting. Lifting both of her legs up over his shoulders, he then started to thrust harder and deeper inside her.

Her moans became more vocal, and their bodies were drenched in sweat. He moved faster inside her, coming closer to reaching his orgasm.

"Naruto!" Tenten squealed, fist clenching the sheets.

"Ten-chan," he grunted under his breath as he continued to move inside of her.

"Oh, Naruto I'm going to-"

"Ten-chan come for me!" he yelled, moving faster and faster almost reaching his peak.

"Naruto!!" Tenten cried out as she reached her climax, her vaginal walls tightening around Naruto's hard member as he plunged deep into her reaching his orgasm as well.

There was silence in the bedroom minus the small pants of breath coming from the two. He didn’t say anything as the woman under him wrapped her arms around his back, burying her face into the crook of his neck.

Naruto could feel the light kisses on his neck and the small suckling caused by Tenten, who occupied her time with her neck.

“Thank you for making my first time special…Naruto-kun,” he could barely hear her, she was very tired he noticed.

He said, he’ll do anything to make her happy, and in the end, it gave him a sense of joy to see the genuine look of happiness adorn Tenten’s face.

"You're welcome Ten-chan," He smiled genuinely at her, watching her smile brighten.

He moved from above her to lay by her side. He wrapped her nude feminine form with one of his arms bringing her closer to him. Naruto deeply kissed the brunette one more time. He caressed her face softly, noticing she was on her way to sleep.

"Go to sleep now, Ten-chan."

With that, Tenten soon closed her tired eyes to sleep restfully beside Naruto.

Maybe in the morning she’ll regret it, regret doing this with him, but that was fine after all she wanted to play pretend and he went along with that. She wanted to use someone for a purpose if for that moment, that was fine too because he pretended as well.

If it makes her happy he’ll do it because it was all part of his nindo and he never really truly broke his nindo.

(End Flashback)

xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx

It was from that moment on, that Tenten’s nightly visits literally took on the meaning of the phrase nightly visits. Though during the day it was as if nothing happened, except nowadays whenever she met him on the street, she’ll pretend that nothing was amiss.

If you were observant to take a closer look at Tenten’s face you’ll be able to see the sideway glance she stole in his directionand the way her cheeks sported a rosy color when she knew he caught her looking his way.

The hint of lipstick gloss she added on her lips, the kind she knew he liked. Lastly the way her walk changed just slightly; walking with a little switching of her hips when she believed he was looking her way.

Naruto watch the woman in front of him leave his side of the bed, using one of his sheets to cover her nude form. She kissed both his cheeks before she met his lips one last time; searching the floor for the gift he gave her four days prior.

The blond had a huge smile watching her become frantic. He noticed she never took her bracelet off. The only times it managed to come off was during their bouts of intimacy and when they were done, he was the one that would end up finding it.

“Sweetheart,” he said, walking over to her to put her bracelet back on for her.

"Thank you Koibito."

Tenten had the grace to look shy and blush eyes focusing on the floor, she hugged him before gathering her things and closing the door behind her, leaving him to his solitude.

Naruto stood there for awhile in all his glory, before sitting back down on his bed. The day was just beginning, he hadn’t had any missions to do lately. He decided to see Tsunade-baachan to see if she had anything. Any missions at all even if they were D-ranked just to get his mind to think of something apart from his lady friend he had a hard time saying no to.

The woman was starting to puzzle him and even though he was pretending just like she was, he felt he was getting attached and the last thing he wanted to do was get attached to someone he was only doing favors for. He knew getting attached wouldn’t do him any good in the end; it happened before with Sakura, he was sure it wouldn’t be any different with Tenten.

xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx----------xxx

It was a Friday night, a night when all the kunoichi got together. Deciding that during this week they would have their girl’s night out on Friday. Since most of them could find time to hang out on Friday or weren’t schedule for any missions for that day.

The group only consisted of a small handful, most of the ladies in their clique hadn’t arrive yet, still just coming from work or taking care of other errands.

In this group currently was Ino who was enjoying her time being released from the hospital after her four day stay. Kin, an ex-Sound ninja who became a Konoha ninja, who was thought to be dead from the technique Orochimaru had used on her. She swore her allegiance to Konoha after that incident and been living in the village ever since.

Hinata was there along with her younger sister Hanabi. Moegi more or less was dragged by Hanabi to come. Only to escape the annoyances of Konohamaru and Kiba; her older sister’s teammate and current signficant other.

Also sitting at the large round table the girls reserved for their get together at the fancy restaurant, was Tenten who sat next to Temari who was in Konoha for a few days on business. Shizune was there, sitting next to the wind mistress and Hanabi.

All the women, except Sakura and Tsunade had been accounted for showing as Anko and Kurenai walked in together making their way over to the table. All the while just about every male eye was on the duo. A bad thing to stare when in the company of your woman, though Kurenai and chose to ignore the men and make their way over to the younger generation of kunoichi in the back. Anko however, smile and suggestive movements with her body as they walked by.

All of them decided to come dressed in their usual ninja attire foregoing getting all dressed up just to spend a few hours in each other’s company. After all, a few of them still had things to do or missions to get ready for when this was over.

“Good evening Kurenai-sensei,” this was addressed by Hinata who was moving over to make move for the two older women.

“I guess old habits die hard, Hinata-san,” Kurenai smiled at her ex-student.

At this Hinata blushed, “Hmm I suppose Kurenai-sensei,” she said and the two laughed at her statement.

“I guess everyone’s all here, I just hope this place has some good dango I’m starved!” Anko exclaimed.

“Not everyone, forehead girl hasn’t shown up yet,” said Ino who was sitting with her legs crossed, next to Tenten and Moegi, “She’s still working at the hospital with Tsunade-sama.”

“They will be here real soon, Tsunade-sama never passes up a chance to get out of doing her paper work and drinking sake while doing so,” said Shizune.

“You couldn’t be more right, but you shouldn’t say things like that about your Hokage Shizune I have an image to keep after all,” Tsunade said, hand on her hip. She smirked, settling down next to her assistant.

“What image? As Hokage, your image is one who slacks off and sleeps on important documents Tsunade-sama,” Shizune outright laughed at the menacing glare Tsunade was pointing in her direction.

Most of the other women at the table were holding in their laughs, Anko laughed along with Shizune, Kurenai only smirked once before masking her indifference, the others hid their laughs through snickers, smirks, or smiles.

The women gathered ordered their drinks, going into conversations about their week, or what man they had their eye on.

“It sure is nice to get a break like this every once and awhile,” said Temari, sipping her sake unlike the eldest blond sitting at their table. She never knew the Hokage could knock back so many glasses.

“Yes so let’s enjoy every moment of it,” Hinata said, passing the sake bottle over to Ino rejecting to drink any and refusing to give any to her younger sibling and Hanabi’s friend Moegi.

Hanabi glared at her sister, snatching the bottle out of Ino’s hand filling her and Moegi’s sake cups to the brim before kindly giving it back to Ino who just put the bottle down on the table. Finding the silent sibling rivalry to be more interesting.

Hinata returned the glare back, challenging her sister, Hinata gave Hanabi a look that clearly said ‘Don’t you dare drink that sake!’

Hanabi’s eyes slanted even more replying to the silent message, ‘I’ll do whatever I want sister dear, just because you’re a goody-goody doesn’t mean I am one too!’

Both looked ready to activate the byakugan.

Moegi just stared at the clear liquid her friend/silent rival had poured in her unwanted sake cup, swishing it around, making a little spill while contemplating whether she should drink it or not.

“Well don’t influence such behavior in your friends Hanabi-chan,” Hinata said, taking Moegi’s cup passing it over to Tsunade who just drowned her seventh cup.

“Hmph! For kami sake Hinata, it’s a little sake! I’m sure Moegi can handle one little cup of sake, she’s older than me and more than eligible to drink if she chooses,” Hanabi bellowed, drinking her own cup just to annoy her sister.

“Don’t make excuses or use your friends just to do the things you want,” said Hinata.

“Like you’ll do anything about it,” Hanabi said, getting ready to drink from a full bottle of sake to piss Hinata off.

A menacing smirk that would do the current Kazekage proud graced the Hyuuga heiress’s lips, “I can always tell otousan about your ‘little’ incident with that boy five weeks ago.”

That spark the interest of the women around the table, all giving Hanabi an appraising look.

Hanabi’s face went three shades redder than it ever had in her life, the sake bottle in her hand wasn’t all that appealing as it was and she sat it down.

She quietly turned her head to look at her older sister, “You wouldn’t dare?”

Hinata’s smirked widen, taking a drink of her juice, “I dare.”

“How- why?...” the youngest Hyuuga looked flabbergasted.

“You and Chichiue never seemed to be on good terms before and you’re bluffing you don’t have the heart to do such a thing,” the younger sibling stated, face reddening with the thought of ‘that’ incident and the embarrassment she’ll feel if it was out in the open.

A chuckle than a small laugh came from Hinata, “Believe it or not but Otousan and I do in fact hold conversations very long conversations Hanabi-chan. You’ll be surprised at the things I have mentioned to him, this wouldn’t be any different.”

“So what I want to know is what did happen and with who?” Kin said, smirking in Hanabi’s direction.

Hinata smiled at her embarrassed sister, “A very embarrassing situation, I’m sure Hanabi-chan wouldn’t have wanted her sister to found out about, of course she should haven’t been in my room when it was happening.”

“So you lost your virginity to some guy already? You get around fast there kiddo,” stated Temari, snickering at the younger Hyuuga’s red face.

Moegi’s eyes widen, “Hanabi-chan! You mean you...you really- did that?!”

Hanabi sweatdropped, “What?”

“Who was he! Was it Konohamaru?!” Moegi shouted, looking embarrassed and a bit peeved at her friend.

“Hey! What are you talking about?! Nothing like that happened! You’re making me sound like a loose woman oneechan!” Hanabi screamed at Hinata.

Hinata didn’t respond, inside she was having the best maniacal laugh she ever had in her entire life. Who knew Hanabi would get so worked up over something so simple as that? Even she didn’t think it was such a big deal; but than again knowing that your father is Hiashi Hyuuga…Hinata could only sympathize with her sister.

“So what did happen Hanabi-chan?” asked Anko, sticking a piece of dango in her mouth.

Hanabi crossed her arms, turning her face away to stare at a wall, “Nothing I care to talk about alright? No I didn’t lose my virginity thank you and as if I’ll ever let that idiot touch me. How you can stand Konohamaru is beyond me.”

Moegi sneered at Hanabi, “Hey! I didn’t say anything about liking Konohamaru! I- just wanted to know was all, don’t be so defensive.”

Tsunade smiled at the young girls’ conversation, “Ah, to be young and in love,” after her tenth cup, she simply decided to forgo the small saucer cups altogether and drink straight from her bottle.

“Nobody said anything about being in love Tsunade-sama,” Moegi whined, blushing all the more thinking about a certain teammate of hers.

“You can’t hide it from me, I know it when I see it and you’ve got it real bad for that brat,” Tsunade said, laughing at Moegi’s flushed face.

“Yeah, and Tenten has someone she likes, preferably Neji?” Shizune teased, looking at the faraway look the girl had on her face, looking at the pretty expensive bracelet she wore all the time on her arm.

“Huh?” Tenten was only half listening to their conversation, thinking about a certain blue-eyed blond hair male with his adorable whisker marks on his cheeks, who was so sweet to her.

“So Tenten who gave you such a beautiful bracelet I bet it was Neji?” this came from Sakura who stood behind the brunette bending down, sticking her tongue out at her.

Sakura was the last to arrive, just a few minutes behind Tsunade; she made her way to sit down. The order of the seating going like so: Tenten, Ino, Sakura, Moegi, Hanabi, Hinata, Kurenai, Anko, Temari, Kin, Shizune, Tsunade and back to Tenten.

Sakura was eyeing the piece of jewelry Tenten seem so fond of.

“Looks like he really went out of his way, it looks expensive,” the pink hair kunoichi explained. She eyed it some more a slight frown gracing her pretty lips.

"Very expensive."

“It wasn’t Neji that gave me this, Neji rejected me when I told him of my feelings,” she said looking wistful.

“Anyway, seems like Sasuke’s been up to some buying himself Sakura, those are pretty,” Tenten replied taking the subject off her of and onto Sakura who loved the attention.

She pointed at the shimmering diamond shaped cherry blossoms earrings the pink haired kunoichi was proudly showing off.

Sakura squeal smiling, “I know! He got them for me this morning to apologize for skipping out on our date last night, because of his ANBU duties.”

“You just love to brag don’t you forehead girl?” said Ino, instantly provoking Sakura into an argument.

“Yeah I sure do,” said Sakura sneering at Ino, lifting her head up in the air proudly in Ino’s direction.

“Sasuke always gets me the best of everything and these little babies only cost him a mere 55,700 ryou naturally.”

“Whatever!” Ino scoffed.

The other women around the table sighed refusing to get into that argument; the younger ones glaring a bit at Sakura who loved to rub it in whenever her dear ‘Sasuke’ brought her anything, especially to Ino.

“Jealous are we piggy?”

“Like hell I am! Admiring whatever someone else got is far more interesting than listening to you gloat!” Ino shouted.

“Just because I bagged Sasuke and you hadn’t been successful with either Sasuke, or Shikamaru even Sai doesn’t mean you can take it out on me,” Sakura stuck her tongue out, smirking.

Ino had angry vein marks popping around her head, “Who wants either of those two? Shikamaru is totally not boyfriend material in my book and he’s a teammate and Sai acts more than just anti-social he acts like he doesn’t like women at all!”

“Better luck next time Piggy!”

“Of course all the more luck for me forehead girl when I do find my special guy, but right now I prefer to be single while I prowl around for potential partners; one better than even Sasuke!” Ino gloated.

“You take that back you anorexic swine!”

“Make me you fake big breasted metal head!”

“Can we ever go anywhere without you two bickering?” asked Kin looking weary.

“No!” the both of them said in unison.

“So childish,” Kurenai said, calmly taking back her last dango stick from Anko’s hand.

“So who did get Tenten-neesan her bracelet?” asked Hinata switching everybody’s attention back to the brunette who glanced every now and then at her bracelet.

“What?” she asked, getting stares from the ladies around the table; a visible blush spread across her face.

“Stop spacing out and tell us who it was. Hearing about your new guy is better than hearing Sakura brag every five seconds about Sasuke,” said Ino, ignoring Sakura who was making faces behind her back.

Taking Tenten’s arm to inspect the pretty bracelet more closely, Sakura leaned in as well.

“If anything this thing looks like it cost only 30,000 ryou," Sakura said.

“Huh? That expensive! Whoever he is surely must care deeply for you.” Said Tsunade, she and the other women at the table staring intently at the pretty bracelet.

Tenten’s eyes widened, “You really think so? I didn’t think he would go out of his way for such an expensive gift, I just liked it because its pretty and the sentimental value placed on it,” she blushed, looking back down at the silver and gold chains that entwined each other while holding small sparkling diamonds surrounding heart shaped jade and pink amazonite gemstones.

“It is beautiful,” said Hinata.

“That's where you're wrong Sakura. I saw this exact bracelet passing by a jewelry shop, it was worth 500,000 ryou. That's more than I make doing B and A-ranked missions put together!” Ino exclaimed.

“500,000 Ryou!!” the women at the table yelled in shock, even Tsunade who was sitting next to the young brunette had to cough from swallowing her sake down the wrong pipe.

“500,000 ryou no way!” said Sakura pushing Ino into her spot to sit closer to Tenten getting a gook look at the bracelet.

“The things I could do with 500,000 ryou!” Tsunade looked at the sparkling bracelet on Tenten’s wrist.

“Yep, definitely 500,000 ryou, you must have really done something for some guy to pay that much money for you,” said Tsunade.

“I told you so,” said Ino scooting back into her place literally pushing Sakura over.

Tenten started to truly blush, “I had no idea and usually I got so careless with it, but if this really costs that much money…the entire set might have cost him more.”

Tenten’s face was getting exceptionally red for various reasons aside from the gift Naruto brought her.

The entire table got deathly quiet, and Tenten wasn’t quite sure how to handle the different stares she was getting.

“Umm…are you guys alright?” she felt awkward and just went to looking down at the table at her still full sake cup she hadn’t touched since arriving there.

“ONE MILLION RYOU!!” the ladies at the table yelled all at once getting stares from the other patrons in the restaurant.

“Entire set?” asked Kin, still in shock.

Tenten just nodded, “Hai…you see I gotten more than just this bracelet, but a matching set of earrings, a necklace and artfully crafted hair ornaments, which all go with this beautiful dress.”

“That’s some money to be spending, 3 million big ones. Tenten what did you do to find him?” asked Temari very interested in this guy Tenten was dating.

Tenten, “Ah…well nothing really,” she said, she was sure her whole body was on fire.

Sakura looked to gain a sour taste in her mouth, the earrings Sasuke brought her didn’t seem to do her justice compare to Tenten’s present her ‘mystery man’ gave her.

“Who is he? I’m curious about him, maybe we know him?” said Sakura smiling, but inside Inner Sakura was pissed!

“Shannaro!! Shannaro!! Who the hell does this guy get off with upstaging my Sasuke-kun!? Buying all that stuff for Tenten! Like she deserves to have that much money spent on her!”

After all, there was no way Tenten could have found a good looking guy that would spend so much on her. At least no one that could out do the Uchiha. Especially not a young handsome and very attractive guy.

“It’s…” Tenten paused, debating if she should let that information slip out.

In her opinion she really shouldn’t, for one thing, she and Naruto weren’t really a couple. She was only using him for her own benefit, as shameful as that was she was glad she could at least admit that to herself and he never complained, probably already knowing that.

There was no way in hell she was ready to let anyone else know. None of the women except maybe for Tsunade would actually believe her about the fact that Naruto does indeed have that kind of money on him. How? Tenten didn’t know, but he was doing something other than just saving money from all his missions he went on.

Even tonight she was amazed that he did have that kind of money. Most of all, none of them maybe for Hinata really saw the blond as serious or thought of him as more than an obnoxious friend; like she did at first. They would probably all laugh at him and her.

“For his sake I won’t say…I think it would be sort of offensive to his character, anyway he’s not my boyfriend, just a friend,” she said.

“Why? Is he some kind dork? Too embarrassed to be seen with someone unattractive Tenten?” Sakura snickered.

“It’s not like that at all!” said Tenten embarrassed that Sakura was partially right.

She was embarrassed to admit she was seeing Naruto and more embarrassed to admit she was starting to wish he really was her boyfriend, even giving herself justified reasons why she wouldn’t say who he was.

“Than how is it like?” the pink haired kunoichi rose a delicate eyebrow appraisingly.

Tenten glared at the young woman sitting next to Ino. There was another reason, one more reasonable than all the rest. She knew it was a sensitive topic to speak of Naruto in front of Sakura and Hinata, but it didn’t bother Hinata as much as it did Sakura. She didn’t know what made Sakura a bit distant from her blond friend; but whenever the subject was brought up, it made Sakura angry and a little depressed.

“Well? Are you gonna share or think of reasons to defend your ‘so-called’ boyfriend?” Sakura teased.

Tenten looked defiantly at Sakura for even saying something like that.

“I don’t need too! He’s sweet! And considerate of my feelings! He’s very kind, affectionate, and he listens to me. I mean really listens to what I have to say, tries to understand my needs. He’ll promise to do anything that makes me happy,” Tenten was smiling again getting that glazed look in her eyes again.

“Sounds so romantic!” Moegi sighed dreamily; Hanabi smiled a little thinking along the same lines.

Tenten just nodded her head, “He’s gentle and strong too, and very handsome Sakura!”

“Okay! Okay! No need to be defensive sheesh! You don’t have to tell us who he is.”

“I bet he’s a shinobi ne?” Ino stated.

“A jounin,” Tenten gave away.

“I also bet he’s someone we all know!” Ino said again.

“Hmm…maybe, maybe not, aside from that I truthfully didn’t know how costly this was,” said Tenten showing her bracelet.

“I thought he was just being nice, to give me what he did, to tell you the truth I didn’t think it was worth much, being who he is,” she said embarrassedly, “But the reasons why he did give it to me made it feel like it was worth all the gold in the world,” she smiled, reminiscing about that night and the next day he gave her, her present.

“So…for the last time what did you do?!” asked Ino excitedly, “You have kept us in suspense I can’t take it anymore!”

“Well to put it simply we got intimate,” Tenten whispered, face returning to its flushed form, “I was upset when Neji rejected me and I went to him, somehow through all my frustrations and with him trying his best to make me feel better, I started to pretend that he was really my lover and not a friend. He tried to talk me out of sleeping with him, despite my willingness to be with him in that way. He complied, doing what he thought necessary to make me happy, even though he said I’ll regret it later.”

She sighed continuing, “Truthfully at first I did the next morning, he said he already knew I would and would do something to make up for it. I didn’t know what he was talking about until he gave this to me the next day. He said to look at it as a symbol of giving back what I naturally couldn’t get back; and a way of thanking me for giving him something of mines that he was certain I placed more value on than anything; because taking my virginity was something I had originally planned to give to the person I loved,” she finished.

It was silent around the large round table, no one saying a word. The older women smiled knowingly at Tenten, and the young women in her age group squirmed in their seats, squealing or looking surprised.

Regardless of their outward expressions they all had the same thought in mind, “Just what type of man does something like that?!”

“Since I now know how much my present costs, I finally understand what he meant by ‘In exchange for giving away your most precious gift to me, here is something I’ll give to you in return, it may not equal what you lost and can’t get back but I hope you’ll see it that way’,” she finished.

Tenten giggled, “He’s so silly at times, buying a gift worth a lot of money thinking it’ll replace the value of losing my virginity,” she smiled, caressing her bracelet, “He really is thoughtful.”

The women around the table all had dreamy looks on their face, imagining what man would and secretly wishing they knew a guy that would go out of his way for them like the one Tenten was smitten with; though she wanted to deny it.

“I wish I could find someone like that, all the guys I fall for or hooked up with are either broody, lazy, anti-social, perverted, or an idiot,” said Ino sighing.

“Falling for a blond idiot now huh Ino?” asked Kin, sporting a sly look.

Ino narrowed her eyes, “I didn’t say anything about having a thing for Naruto! He’s so annoying and randomly says things that sound perverted!” she screamed.

Kin laughed, “I didn’t say anything about ‘Naruto’ period, which means you’re obviously thinking about him now eh?” asked Kin, chuckling at Ino's blush from anger and embarrassment.

This statement caught Tenten’s attention and a small frown graced her features; she was curious, yet her frown deepened considerably with Ino’s blush and everything the blonde was saying.

Tenten wasn’t the only one scowling, a certain pink hair woman was scowling yet inside she was livid; and an ebony hair woman with pearly white eyes was looking a little depressed, rubbing her hands together, she covered her depression quickly with a smile.

“He’s so clueless! Thinking I wanted him constantly visiting me in the hospital when he was the cause of my four day stay in the first place!”

“Aww come on the brat isn’t all that bad, look at all the effort he put into helping you recover Ino,” Tsunade said, emptying her bottle, “Heh, sometimes it is nice to have him around, he helped so much during his stays at the hospital, those were the best 30 minute breaks of my life.”

“What being a real pain?” Sakura scowled.

Ino returned the gesture, “Not much a pain as someone here, more of a nagging annoyance though,” the blonde smiled.

Sakura stuck her tongue out at Ino childishly.

“You have to admit it was so cute seeing him smother over you like a mother hen,” said Shizune, “I couldn’t do much as my usual check up on Ino-chan.”

Ino huffed, “All Naruto did was annoy the hell out of me, answering my calls without asking! Fixing my bed sheets when not needed, volunteering to help me bath, trying to fix my new bandages, feeding me when I wasn’t hungry! Geez!…a simple sorry and a ‘get a well card’ would have sufficed! Even okaasan’s visits weren’t that bothersome.”

“Get well card? Naruto did more than just annoy you senseless, going out of his way to change and get those flowers for your vase everyday,” said Anko.

“He had the most cutest expression on his face when Kurenai-chan and I caught him going to Ino’s room with a bouquet of yellow roses,” she said.

“Hey! Didn’t I walk in on him giving you leg massages that day Chouji and I came to visit?” said Kin.

“Yea, it was only because it was the only thing he was capable of doing that wouldn’t cause so much trouble and felt nice I guess… wait a minute? Those roses were from Naruto?!” Ino’s expression went from embarrassed to shock in mere seconds.

Kurenai and Tsunade nodded their heads, “He always replaced them every night before they could wilt away,” Kurenai said.

Ino’s smile widen, “Yellow roses, one of my favorite flowers, that almost sounds thoughtful of him.”

Tenten absent-minded was turning the bracelet over and over on her wrist; frowning at Ino’s optimistic face. Somehow, Ino’s expression and the way she spoke of the blond was unsettling to her.

“I guess if you overlook his annoying qualities, he’s not so bad,” she said smiling, digging in a pocket to finger one of the small yellow rose buds she kept from the flowers she now knew Naruto was getting her during her stay at the hospital.

“Also he’s, quite…handsome in his own way,” she finished.

Unknowingly to them, three women at the table had a dark aura surrounding them.

The young woman with ebony hair nervously shook, unable to fill her small sake saucer to take her first drink of the night; hoping the sake would calm her nerves. She didn’t want to end up activating the byakugan from her annoyance and finding some excuse for why she activated her blood limit to begin with.

A pink hair young lady’s anger was causing her to dig her high heels deep into the floor. Her heels were doing a good job of making deep impressions and cracks into the floor with her inhumane strength.

The third, a brunette was suddenly fingering a small shuriken in her pouch; estimating the accuracy of her throw at the wooden pole just 20 feet behind Ino, while making it pass her face just by half of an inch.

“Then why don’t you date him?” suggested Kin, oblivious to the deathly stares of Hinata, Sakura, and Tenten who looked at the two for different reasons.

“Please! I may have said he’s not all that bad, and a bit cute but its Naruto! He’s idea of a date would probably be at Ichiraku’s stand for ramen, and being immature and wearing orange all the time; hmph! All he’s attention would be busy thinking of missions, training, and Sakura even though she’s with Sasuke!” she said strongly proving all the reasons why Naruto didn’t fit her description of boyfriend material.

At this Sakura had the gall to snicker, she and Naruto may more or less be on speaking terms but she was whole heartedly confident the guy still acted like she was the only woman for him. She knew he still wasn’t over her after all this time and the thought of that made her smile.

“That’s a bit harsh Ino, I’m sure even he eats something other than ramen all the time,” said Kin grinning at Ino.

The ex-Sound female, after spending most of her time with Naruto never found him to be- frustrating to deal with. She herself thought he was pretty cute, and would be just fine if she didn’t discover how much he followed Sakura around all the time like a lost puppy.

If anything, that was her only pet peeve with the young man. She would gladly try her hand at him if he didn’t act like Sakura was the only female on the entire planet. Once she found out about his unwavering feelings for the pink hair girl and even when they seem to be dating, she instantly started looking for a guy elsewhere.

“Nope, he’ll probably expect me to pay for everything and be so frustratingly annoying! Just like he’s visits to the hospital,” Ino said with finality.

Hinata smiled, her smile actually looked to be strained really. Naruto was a very sweet person, even though she was with Kiba-kun for reasons she will not get into, she thought it wasn’t right for Ino to speak of him that way.

Hanabi stared at her sister questioningly, this talk about the blond shinobi must be getting to her, why else would it explain her sister pouring her sake in her glass full of fruit juice and downing it back like a natural.

“I guess you’ll be searching a very long time for you’re ‘Mr. Right’ you seem to have such high expectations for the man that would want to have you,” Kin said.

“Of course, I like the notion of wanting to be treated, like a queen sometimes; I want the guy I love to worship the ground I walk on,” Ino said.

“Tenten is everything okay?” asked the sand kunoichi.

She seem to be studying the brunette who was frowning and looking upset, preferably at Ino. She also noticed her unwavering need to play a game of ‘twirl-the-kunai’ on one finger while looking in Ino’s line of vision. The reason she knew she was doing this was because she ducked her head under the table to pick up her used wooden chopsticks that fell on the floor.

The question brought Tenten out of her funk and she immediately stopped twirling the kunai and took her hand off her shuriken; looking at Temari with a smile plastered on her face.

“Yes! Everything’s okay, I’m fine just intrigued with Ino’s story is all.”

Temari rose an eyebrow questioningly, “Yeah, it is very intriguing,” the wind mistress said, smiling as if she figured out something.

“After all,” Temari added looking between Ino, Sakura, Tenten, Hinata, and even Kin.

“If Naruto were to actually be anything like Tenten’s ‘special friend’ I wouldn’t mind dating him at all. He’s more than cute he’s very handsome, and powerful with his affinity to using the wind element that’s an added plus in my book. Besides, he’ll be especially welcomed into the family seeing as my little brother and he are the very best of friends. Instant blessings from the family if we were to get married,” she paused to look rather serious about her statement to look at the faces of the five women.

She started laughing when she was met with expressions all ranging from infuriation (Ino), displeasure (Hinata), haughtiness (Sakura), contempt (Kin), even slight curiosity from the younger two ladies at the table and was she sensing jealousy radiating off of Tenten?

For her part though, Temari did mean every word she said, the boy was already boyfriend material in her case the moment he changed her brother for the better. The only thing he had to do was just get a little older, and mature a bit for her tastes.

Kurenai, Tsunade, Shizune, and Anko were smirking, trying their hardest not to laugh at the ladies expense. It was more interesting just listening than adding to the conversation, you never know what you might hear. Snorts, and giggles were heard from the four eldest women at the table.

The four sighed and Tenten just went back to admiring her gift. Hearing the girls around her trying to guess who her ‘special friend’ was; all of them instantly crossing out Naruto’s name on this ‘list’ they made. Seeing the single women cross out the blond’s name actually made Tenten smile.

“If only any of them had a clue,”

Tenten thought, she smiled assuring herself that none of the young women in all of Konoha will get a clue about the blond shinobi. That was just fine with her; no woman wanted him and as long as Ino and perhaps the rest of them kept telling themselves he wasn’t worth pursuing, Tenten was relaxed.

But just in case, she should finally start making the effort to completely get over Neji, and think of Naruto as a real lover instead of foolishly playing pretend. She didn’t need competition, nothing good ever came out of competition. She saw what it did to Ino and Sakura’s friendship.

And she’ll be damned if she has to fight for a man she had first.

xxx---------xxx--------xxx----------xxx------------xxx

There was nothing better than giving the Hokage your mission report that you completed your duty than going home tired and on an empty stomach and doing this all on a Monday night no less.

This is how Naruto felt at the moment, he was away for almost a week, on a special A-ranked mission.

He would liked to have tagalong with Sasuke’s group on the S-ranked one instead, but only ANBU members were needed specifically for that mission. After 20 minutes of useless insults thrown back and forth between he and Sasuke and dealing with Tsunade’s impatience with wasting her time; he quietly settled for his A-ranked mission with all the seriousness and maturity in the world. Acting like he never started his stupid fight with Sasuke to begin with.

Inwardly he proved himself right yet again and chuckled on the inside. Yep, they’ll all die of shock one day, with their faces stuck that way and their hearts forgetting to pump blood for circulation to the organs and their minds blank of any thoughts.

He thought his baachan would at least catch on to his little game by now. Of course he couldn’t go on the S-ranked mission, he knew it was specially needed for talented ANBU members like the ‘Bastard’ and his squad. And it was so funny how he easily could rile Sasuke up. Sasuke only had to take one good look at the blond before the game of ‘let’s see who can out insult the other first’ started.

Everyone around them surely had a good laugh or two at the way their ANBU leader got unglued when around his friend.

Naruto headed straight into his kitchen the minute he entered his home, not bothering to sit or change out of his ninja attire. The only thing he managed to do was take off his jounin vest and the orange shirt along with it; leaving him with a black muscled tee, black baggy pants, bandaged from his calves down, and his shinobi sandals.

The only thing on his mind was finding food and ingredients to fix a quick meal; after he ate he would shower and go straight into a blissful sleep.

At that moment, a small knock came suddenly at Naruto’s back door, one of his eyebrows raised questioningly.

Whoever it was, was in luck since he was in the kitchen this very moment preparing a small dinner for one.

He just came home from reporting to Tsunade-baachan on his A-ranked mission. Well he’ll just make more now since he had a very persistent visitor at his back door; most likely it was Tenten again as she was the only one he knew that had a tendency to make it a habit to meet him during odd times of the night. Actually she was the only person that came to him during the night.

Though he found it odd for her to go to the back door as she always came to the front; and since the two weeks she started staying over, he was sure her knocks were timed in such a way as to signify who she was when she came over. Well whatever she wanted to do was just fine with him, maybe she was in a rush this night and had something to do that was very important and couldn’t stay long.

Naruto, confident in knowing who was at his door this late, and being 11pm it was rather late, opened his door smiling genuinely at who he automatically assumed was the woman he started preferring to as ‘Kanojo’.

The huge grin he had plastered on his face completely fell. His expression changed to pure disbelief and he felt a sense of déjà vu.

Two weeks ago, Naruto never thought he’ll have a female visitor. Two weeks ago, Naruto never thought that female visitor would ever revisit him again, aside from coming to his house at night. During the course of the past two weeks, Naruto accepted the routine he found himself in when Tenten came over and only Tenten.

Now after two weeks have past, Naruto wasn’t prepared to be faced with the same dilemma; with a different female. He only hoped this one would go differently than the first, as flashbacks of all the things he done with Tenten went through his head. He also hoped this particular female didn’t have the same issues that Tenten had.

This particular female he had no desire to act upon her wishes if such become anything what Tenten asks of him; which is usually a few romps between the sheets. He just prayed this one wanted something completely and totally different than the one before her.

“Naruto-senpai?” the sudden shy question hung in the air.

The female younger than him by a few years stood there looking totally unsure of her self probably thinking why she was there to begin with.

Alas there she stood head reaching just barely to his chest, red auburn hair now long and styled in two pigtails tied at the bottom of her head. The huge kid goggles she had were replaced by smaller ones she wore over a red bandana with her forehead protector attached. Her ninja attire was mainly various shades of reds, ranging from a dark blood red to a magenta looking color. She no longer called him ‘boss’ or ‘Naruto-niichan’ opting to call him ‘Senpai’ instead, since he taught her quite a few techniques she wanted to learn for herself.

Naruto being himself let the poor shy girl inside his house, closing the door. He never would have pictured the young lady standing before him to be the shy type, that her red flustered face could rival Hinata’s. He was sure she would deny being even remotely shy while still looking like a brilliant red tomato if he told her she was.

“What do I owe the pleasure of seeing you here Moegi-chan?” he playfully asked.

The female in question just looked to have her face more red than it was before.

“Uh..um…Senpai?” a worried expression crossed her face.

“Yes what is it Moe-chan?” he asked again patiently waiting for her to say what was on her mind.

“Senpai if I ask you a certain question that otherwise is…embarrassing-” she murmured the rest, visibly shaking from nervousness.

“Hey Moe-chan why don’t you sit down okay? I was in the middle of making something to eat on a short notice, I’ll make more now since you’re here. If you sit maybe it will help you ask this ‘embarrassing’ question of yours. I swear on my ninja way I won’t laugh.”

“You see Senpai, Konohamaru’s being a jerk again except when it comes to Hanabi-sama and Udon pretends to act oblivious to everything around him except his precious mathematical equations!” she huffed saying everything in a rush while evading asking her question.

“Yes and how does your question tie into this? Konohamaru’s always an ass when Hanabi-chan is around and Udon only pretends to be that way opting to avoid trouble.”

He already knew she was mad with both her teammates, preferably Konohamaru as he was the one she had a crush on. Plus whenever she was mad with the male members on her chuunin team she usually came to him to vent and ask well demand he train her by sparring with her.

This was than followed up by her chatting away about anything and everything, while he endured the torment of letting her inflict her ‘girly activities’ upon him. Naruto was never so embarrassed as having the guys (especially Mutt boy) tease him about Moegi’s ‘flower wreaths’ in his hair. Something he knew he shouldn’t have encouraged in her to do when they were younger.

This made Naruto feel comfortable being familiar with the situation; yet a small feeling in his gut told him otherwise and no, it wasn’t the damn fox pestering him. He was sure this time she wouldn’t want to spar with him, it was going on midnight for one thing and well he wasn’t in the mood to spar even if she were.

“I told Konohamaru how I felt Senpai…and…” she suddenly got quiet, lowering her head to the floor, auburn bangs covering her eyes.

He said nothing, knowing she was feeling sad waiting for her to continue; she needed time to get whatever was bothering her off her chest. He learned sometimes saying nothing gave better results; since the person talking knew all your attention was focused solely on them.

She was sniffling a bit, “Konohamaru didn’t say anything at all he just looked at me than left without saying anything!” Moegi was holding back her tears not wanting to cry over something silly as Konohamaru’s silent rejection of her confession.

He silently moved over to gently push the younger girl in a chair to sit down; but was overwhelmed by the sudden tightness wrapped around his waistline.

“Moe-chan?” he said softly, rubbing the top of the crying female’s head. He knew she was crying a bit, he felt the small wet spots on his muscled tee.

She just seemed to hug him tighter while pressing her flushed face into his chest.

He had put a smile on his face, hoping to get her to cheer up by stating his suggestion, “How about I talk to Konohamaru about it tomorrow, I’ll even make him apologize, though right now, try eating something and afterwards I’ll take you ho-”

“Naruto Senpai! Please make love to me!” She yelled her rather embarrassing question, which was successful in not only cutting him off but making his brain shut down to the point he could no longer think.

“Uhh…Moe-chan…w-what?” she didn’t just ask him what the he thought she asked right?

No…NO female in Konohagakure asks him that unless they were Tenten and lived in other countries like snow and greenery right? No female in her right mind who was four years his junior would ask him that. It was illogical, it was usurped, it’s a joke it had to be!

“Senpai! Please! Make me into a woman!” she begged him.

Okay, it is illogical and apparently it’s not a joke. She was in fact asking her ‘senpai’ to rid her of her innocence; and only one sentence apparently went through Naruto’s head at the current moment.

“You have got to be shitting me!”

Yes, that one sentence did wonders to sum up his predicament perfectly, as it was repeatedly going off in his head over and over and over again.