Part 24

Uzu hadn’t slept this deeply in years.

Warm. Soft, yet firm …

She traced her hand across the warm skin that her body had unconsciously moved closer to.

She didn’t want to open her eyes yet, she just wanted to enjoy this warmth and safety a bit longer, but alas … it wasn’t meant to be.

The hospital room’s door opened slowly, and several presences entered.

Had she not sensed who it was, she might have been angry … but these people were Naruto’s friends, they were here to see him and see whether he was alright or not.

She slowly opened her eyes and moved her head to look at Naruto’s face.

Two gentle blue orbs looked back at her, his lips stretched into a gentle smile.

She couldn’t help but smile back … before she finally consciously realized that they weren’t alone in the room anymore.

She slowly sat up and finally moved her eyes to regard the seven figures that had just entered the room and moved closer to the bed.

Ino, Shikamaru, Choji, Sakura, Kiba, Shino and Hinata …

Ino’s face just seemed to scream ‘since when?!’.

Shikamaru looked at them with a lazy smile, clearly already having known about this in some way.

Choji munched on his food and smiled brightly.

Sakura … looked surprisingly relieved. There was not even a spark of anger, hate or displeasure on her face.

So, she has really changed, huh?

Uzu moved her eyes to inspect the other three people in the room.

Kiba and Shino both looked at Naruto and her before moving their eyes back to Hinata. Their eyes showed a hint of sadness when looking at Hinata.

They probably rooted for Hinata to get together with Naruto …

When Uzu’s eyes finally met Hinata’s, her face warped into a frown. The sheer hatred and anger radiating off of Hinata’s eyes was kind of surprising.

She had always been a rather quiet girl in canon … but … she’s so … different here. Though that was kind of obvious the moment she all but pressed her breasts against Naruto back then.

As she was moving her sight back to Naruto, she suddenly heard him say: “Haha, I’m glad you all came to visit me! Are you all okay?”

“We’re okay, don’t worry about us. We’ve just really wanted to check on you!” Kiba said, smiling at Naruto.

“Yeah. *munch* Naruto, thank you for bringing everyone back … *munch*. And, also, thank you Uzu-san for fighting for the village and helping everyone with your slugs. You saved many people out there *munch*.” Choji said, his eyes slightly red from tears.

Seems like not much time has passed yet. He must have lost someone in the fight …, Uzu thought, before nodding and smiling slightly.

The others just nodded and made sure to thank Naruto and Uzu as well.

When Uzu’s and Naruto’s eyes met, she was suddenly pulled onto his lap and hugged around her stomach.

While she was a bit stunned at first and it did feel a bit embarrassing to be stared at by the other 7 people in the room, she soon relaxed and leaned into him.

When her eyes met Ino’s, Ino gave her a very wide grin before she said: “We’ve all seen him, let’s leave them to themselves, I’m sure they have lots and lots to talk about~. Naruto, Uzu, let’s meet for lunch sometime, okay?”

With that, she pushed Shikamaru and Choji out of the room and Kiba and Shino soon followed. Only Hinata remained for a bit longer, giving Naruto a pained stare, as if he had betrayed her in some way: “So she is the one you … love. I see …”

After that, she gave Uzu another hateful stare and left the room, slamming the door shut.

As silence returned to their room, Naruto hugged her tighter and whispered into her ear: “I’m so glad to see you again. Before I saw you in the earthen pit, I thought that something might have happened to you … we’d been delayed a lot because the toad we left in the village was killed …”

Naruto sighed, before he rested his head on her shoulder and leaned into her cheek.

Uzu moved her arms and gently rubbed his hands to comfort him.

A while later, she asked: “How do you feel? Everything alright?”

“Mhm. Don’t worry, I’ll be fully healed in a few days. Do you already know what happened in the cave?” Naruto asked.

“Not everything. Tell me?” Uzu responded, pulling herself out of his arms and turning around to sit on his lap facing him and resting her legs on either side of his stomach.

(A/N: Dunno if I managed to properly portray that position ?)

Her arms curled around his chest as she rested her head on his shoulder, waiting for him to explain how he got so injured and who had taken Nagato’s body away.

She felt his arms curl around her back as well before he finally spoke: “Pain … Nagato, and I are similar. So, very, similar. We have different experiences, suffered a different pain, but we could have been in the each other’s position so easily. It was coincidence that he was Pain and I am Naruto, the protagonist of Jiraiya’s first book.”

Uzu remained silent as she felt him tense up in her arms.

“Nagato he … he saw himself in me. His younger self. For him … for Konan and him, a world shattered when their friend Yahiko died. That’s the one they used for the Deva Path Pain. All three of them had been Jiraiya’s students before and they took on his dreams for peace, especially Nagato. Just like me, they had believed that peace was possible. Pain and misfortune made them gradually lose hope …” He continued and Uzu felt a tear flow down his face and drop onto her shoulder.

“The things that the Naruto in Jiraiya’s book says, were inspired by things that Nagato had once told him during their time together. And … Nagato … he … entrusted me with his dream. The dream he had gotten from Yahiko at some point. Both Jiraiya and Nagato believe that I can somehow achieve peace and break the cycle of hate that will exist in the world of shinobi as long as there is war and greed. In the cave, I told them I would search for that peace and that I’d never give up. But, you know, I’m not all that sure about everything … even now, I believe that there are more humans that are cruel and evil than people that are … are …” Naruto’s voice got quieter and quieter until the end.

Uzu felt as his hands gripped tighter onto the fabric of her clothes.

What could I possibly say … that would make him feel better?

Uzu felt cold, thinking that she was, again, unable to help someone she loved feel better.

The only thing she could do was gently stroke the back of his head and try to comfort him as tears flowed down his face.

“I can’t tell you what to do or what is right, but whatever you choose to do … and wherever you choose to go, I’ll be with you, if you want me to …” She whispered in his ear and she felt his harsh grip on her clothes soften as his breathing slowly returned to normal.

“Thank you … I’m glad you are willing to stay with me. I’m really glad.” He said, slightly moving back his head and locking eyes with her.

The bright smile on his face and the way his eyes lit up after meeting hers, warmed her heart and she gently placed a kiss on his lips.

As she was about to pull away again, his hands moved to cup her cheeks as he moved in for another kiss.

This one longer and more intense than the one before.

After they let go, Naruto let himself fall back onto the pillow.

“After Nagato revived the people of Konoha and died, some masked guy with a Sharingan suddenly appeared in the room. He was strong and it happened very quickly … he … took Nagato’s body and fought us for a while, beating us in the process and then vanished again. He never said a word …” Naruto explained, sounding a bit pained.

There was a bit of silence after that.

“Sleep some more?” She asked, receiving a nod in return.

She laid down on her side and let her leg rest in between his as her free hand traced lines on his chest.

Using his arm as a cushion, she closed her eyes and soon fell asleep.

… (proofread until here)

When she next woke up, she noticed that it had already become dark outside.

For a few more minutes, she basked in the warmth Naruto and the blanket provided.

Slowly and gently she got out of the bed and noiselessly left the room to check up on Tsunade and Jiraiya.

By the time she reached her room’s door, she looked back and saw that Naruto was still asleep, she decided to come back for some more sleep later.

…

Entering Tsunade and Jiraiya’s room, her eyes widened …

Oh. I probably should have checked with my chakra waves first … or maybe knocked?

Shizune was asleep on her chair and rested her head against the wall.

Uzu had believed that Tsunade and Jiraiya would be asleep but … here they were, apparently feeling recovered already and currently furiously kissing each other.

They hadn’t noticed her yet, too focused on each other, and she quietly left again, returning to her own room and meeting an awake Naruto at the door.

“Where did you go?” His voice sounded slightly tense.

“Tsunade and Jiraiya’s room is next to ours, I just decided to check on them … they suffered some serious wounds, but apparently they’ll be fine.” Uzu answered, shutting the door behind her and stepping into the room.

“Sigh, I see. It’s just … I woke up and couldn’t find you anywhere, so I decided to look for you …” Naruto said, his voice getting quieter.

Uzu couldn’t help but giggle softly, seeing his embarrassed expression. She moved forward, stepped on her toes and threw her arms around his neck.

“Didn’t I tell you that I’d stay with you? And … you didn’t even try using the seal on your left hand. Naruto, don’t worry, I’ll always come back to you, alright? That’s what we promised …” She said as she slowly pressed her lips onto his and smiled, noticing the slight blush on his face.

Soon enough, he moved his arms around her and grabbed her waist before gently entering her mouth with his tongue.

When they finally parted again, both panted slightly and Naruto grabbed her knees, raising her into the air, pressing her against his chest and carrying her to the bed.

He gently sat her down on her back and leaned over her, once again deeply kissing her as a hand undid the cloth of her kimono top.

Soon enough, his hands found their way towards her stomach as they traveled gently up to her breasts.

In between one of their kisses, a moan escaped Uzu’s lips before she said: “Are you sure about this, Naruto?”

He mumbled: “What? I’m feeling very good … I’m pretty sure I’m healed.”

“That’s not what I mean, I know that you are pretty much healed already, but … we are being watched by the guards that were ordered to protect us and the people in the hospital.” Uzu said next, staring into his eyes and losing herself in their gentle blue light.

She watched as his face reddened. He slowly moved away and helped her clothe herself again.

Sitting down on the bed next to her, she heard him whisper: “Uh, let’s just sleep some more … we’ll continue the rest some other time?”

Resting her head on his chest, she nodded, mumbling a ‘yeah’ before closing her eyes and feeling their blanket being pulled over her and Naruto’s body.

She felt his lips gently touch the seal on her forehead before he also relaxed and they both slowly drifted off to sleep.

…

Uzu awoke the next morning, feeling a hand touch her butt and gently squeeze it.

She opened her eyes and raised her head, soon meeting Naruto’s gaze.

His hand stiffened and soon moved to rest on her hip instead.

She only chuckled lightly, saying: “You know, it’s alright, you can touch me whenever you want. I’d really just prefer if we leave the more intimate stuff for when we are actually alone, alright?”

She watched as his face reddened, but a smile tugged at his lips.

When he had pulled her onto his lap when the other members of the rookie 8 came to visit him, she had noticed a slight hesitation in his grip, but when she let him easily shift her around, he relaxed slightly, albeit still a bit tense.

She figured that it was because he was unsure whether she wanted to be seen with him in public? But she wasn’t quite sure.

She personally didn’t mind kissing him in public or hugging him or all that. Not that she was in public that much anyway.

She giggled softly at the thought, making him look at her with a questioning gaze.

She shook her head, gave him a short kiss and then slowly sat up. After stretching her body, she slowly got up and walked into the room’s bathroom, intending to wash up.

The bathroom was pretty big, fitting for a more ‘high-end’ room reserved for ‘important’ patients.

Taking off her clothes and storing them in a storage scroll meant for dirty laundry, she soon entered the shower and made sure to carefully wash her body.

After drying off and putting on new underwear, she decided on wearing shorts and a tank top. She hadn’t worn something like that in a while.

She opened the bathroom door, the gentle vanilla smell she so liked escaping the bathroom as she stepped towards the bed, her bare feet hitting the slightly cold floor.

She looked at Naruto who was still lying on the bed and a slightly teasing smile appeared on her face: “You know, you could have joined me in the bathroom … those people outside wouldn’t have been able to see us there~.”

She had actually half expected him to do just that … but maybe her old world’s … ‘entertainment’ industry had just been that good at influencing her thoughts …

She could swear that she heard a soft growl escape his throat, but even if he was disappointed, his face didn’t show it as he stood up and walked up to her.

Uzu found her eyes wander on his bare upper body as he stopped in front of her.

Snapping out of it, she looked up just in time to see his face come closer to hers and capture her lips.

She felt him turn her around and she soon found herself pulled into the bathroom as the door closed behind them.

…

It was only an hour later that they finally stepped out of the bathroom.

Naruto came out first, a very satisfied and happy grin on his face.

He had somehow gotten another jacket and a new pair of pants to wear.

Uzu followed out after him, her face slightly flushed in both anger and satisfaction.

She had been forced to shower again, just because he had decided to mess her up again. Especially all the sweat made her smelly.

“And I had just showered before that …” She mumbled, huffing, but a smile found its way onto her face soon after.

She saw Naruto turn around: “Shall we go visit Jiraiya and Tsunade now?”

Grabbing his outstretched hand, she nodded and followed him out of the door.

…

A/N: Uh, yeah! There you go! :3