Part 32 – Meeting with Friends

Hearing birds loudly chirping outside, Uzu’s eyes slowly fluttered open, soon resting on her handsome partner’s face.

Still asleep?

She smiled, resting her head on his chest and enjoying the way that it moved up and down when he breathed. Hearing his heart thump vigorously, she calmed down easily, nearly falling asleep before a grunt escaped Naruto’s throat.

His hand on her waist moved down and cupped her butt, slowly kneading and squeezing it.

Damn, I love that …

Uzu straddled his waist, lowering her head just above his and locking gazes with him.

“Morning, little fox~.” Naruto whispered.

Seeing the teasing smile on his face, she suddenly remembered just what she had done yesterday.

A wild blush covered her cheeks as she thought back to how she henge’d into a fox girl for him.

For some reason, that had really turned him on and … she really couldn’t say that she disliked that at all.

She may or may not … do it again, if he asked nicely.

In her old world, she had learned that people were supposed to care about their partner’s fetishes after all?

Either way, she had fun and that’s all that matters.

The blush receded and she smiled back at him sweetly, humming in response and moving downwards to place her lips on his.

Feeling her own tongue weave into his, she shivered as his hands rested on her waist.

Are kisses really supposed to feel this … good? All the other kisses I’ve ever received were rather ‘normal’, but why do his …

A soft groan escaped her throat when they parted to catch a breath, clearly annoyed at having to stop so soon.

Slightly out of breath, she asked: “Want me to do the henge again next time?”

He seemed stunned at first, but then his smile and face seemed to light up: “Yes, if it wasn’t too weird or bothersome. I think I’d like that.”

She then nodded, moving down for another kiss.

Feeling something hard and hot press against her butt, she giggled into the kiss and whispered: “Right now?”

Naruto nodded, sounding slightly out of breath: “Yes, please.”

…

Around two hours later, they stood in the apartment’s kitchen, having showered and clothed themselves.

Leaning against the kitchen counter, Uzu stared right into Naruto’s eyes. His face was very close to her own, as he had put his hands around either of her sides and leaned into her.

He sighed: “Why does it need to take so long to get ready …”

Uzu felt a smile tug at her lips as she laughed softly: “Doesn’t it only take a few minutes to prepare instant ramen?”

Naruto sighed again: “Well, yes. But it’s supposed to be ‘instant’, right? Why does it still take so long …”

Uzu laughed again as she slowly moved her hands to cup his face, forcing him to meet her gaze. A second later, she locked his lips in a kiss.

Silly.

Remembering what he had just said, she smiled into the kiss and softly licked his lips.

When they finally let go, she said: “Shouldn’t it be ready now, hmm?”

Naruto’s face froze at first, before he looked at the two pots of ramen and back at Uzu, giving her a wide smile.

Eagerly, he grabbed a pot of ramen and ripped off the covering.

Sniffing at the ramen, he said happily: “You are right, it’s ready. Sigh, I should’ve done it like this much earlier. With you here, waiting won’t be too hard~.”

Uzu laughed, grabbing her own ramen and moving with him to sit down on the couch.

Naruto easily finished his ramen in a mere two minutes, then starting to stare at Uzu’s pot.

At some point, Uzu noticed and smiled, handing him the pot, which he gratefully accepted.

Watching him eat happily, Uzu leaned against his shoulder and rested her eyes.

…

Walking through the streets of Konoha, they were, once again, greeted by many villagers and received many smiles and offers for food.

At some point, they passed the Yamanaka flower shop.

Uzu looked inside and upon seeing a familiar face, she waved with her free hand and smiled.

Ino waved back, but then seemed to suddenly realize something as she rushed to the door and soon stood in front of them.

“Hello Ino, is something wrong?” Uzu asked kindly.

Slightly out of breath, she said: “Hello Uzu. No, nothing’s really wrong. I just remembered to tell you two that we’ll gather at the Nara estate later to have some fun, but also to talk about Sasuke for a bit. We hope that you two will attend as well.”

Uzu looked at Naruto. Upon seeing him nod, she said: “Sure, we’ll be there.”

Ino smiled gratefully and shouted, already turning back towards the flower shop again: “Alright then! I’ll go back to the shop and prepare for the barbeque then, I’ll see you there in around 2 hours!”

Uzu just waved silently, wondering how she can be so hyped up about things. Uzu preferred taking things slowly most of the time.

Uzu was also slightly unsure whether she could still talk to the other girls when not drunk. She’d have to see and assess the situation first.

…

Two hours later, the couple leisurely strolled through the streets of Konoha and soon arrived at the gates of the Nara estate.

Quickly being ushered in by the guards, they soon reached the main family’s house and entered through the front door, once again exploring the intricate furniture inside of the house before finally reaching the garden.

They were actually quite early this time, with only the Ino-Shika-Cho trio already being there.

Greeting each other, Uzu sat down next to Ino and Naruto stood with Shikamaru and Choji next to the grill from which Uzu could already see smoke rise into the air.

Not long after sitting down, Ino grabbed Uzu’s hands, slightly startling her.

“Okay … first things first. How does Sasuke look right now?!” Ino asked with extreme curiosity.

Eh? Oh …

“Well, he’s handsome? I guess … his voice is pretty deep too?” Uzu said, thinking back to the Uchiha she had seen not long ago.

Ino seemed deep in thought before she suddenly seemed to deflate: “Well, that all doesn’t really matter, does it? He betrayed us after all …”

Seeing a small tear form in the corner of Ino’s eye, Uzu felt unsure of what to do.

Uzu just instinctively leant over her chair and pulled Ino into a hug, gently stroking her back.

“What?” Ino mumbled, seemingly surprised, before relaxing into the hug.

“Weren’t you about to cry? I was told that you hug people when they cry.” Though nobody did that for me in my past life … though that’s mainly my fault. How can you hug someone when you never see them cry anyway?

“Mhm.” Ino mumbled into Uzu’s shoulder.

A few seconds later, Uzu released her again and Ino seemed to have recovered completely, judging by the genuine teasing smile on her face as she whispered: “So, onto the actually important thing, how is Naruto in bed?”

Uzu blushed slightly, not expecting her to be so blunt about asking about that.

Normally, Uzu would never talk about such things out loud, especially not to people she didn’t know THAT MUCH yet.

Either way, somehow, she felt at ease with Ino and whispered back: “Uh, I wouldn’t know what to … compare it to. But he is very gentle … at times. He lasts very long as well, and he knows exactly where to … you know. Anyway, I like it a lot?”

Finally looking up from their interlocked hands, Uzu saw Ino smile happily. Looking towards the grill, intending to just sneak a peek at Naruto, her eyes met his and she saw him blush slightly.

He heard? O.o

Uzu’s heart started to pound as heat rose to her cheeks.

A few seconds later, she closed her eyes and sighed.

Upon hearing Ino talk, she opened her eyes again: “I’m glad that that part of your relationship is going well. I sincerely believe that sex is a big part of a relationship~ and if something doesn’t work in that department, then it can never last.”

Uzu just nodded and smiled back slightly.

…

A few minutes later, the rest of the group slowly entered the garden and a merry atmosphere spread through the Nara main family’s house.

The boys of the group lightly chatted around the grill, taking in the smell of the meat being grilled, while the girls sat in their chairs and laughed and giggled while talking about many different lighter topics.

…

“What do you all say, we go shopping next week?” Ino asked the group of girls, receiving only nods in return.

Uzu smiled, observing the group around her. Sakura had really changed and Uzu quite liked that. She didn’t know whether Sakura still liked Sasuke, but … if she did … then Uzu would honestly and sincerely try to help the group in bringing Sasuke back to Konoha.

Ino still seemed to have some minor feelings for Sasuke, but mainly in terms of appearance. Uzu knew that she’d not feel too bad if Sasuke never came back, she had said so herself as well. Though as to how much her words were to be believed concerning that, would only show itself within time.

Tenten was a kind and happy girl that loved gossip just as much as Ino and the rest did.

And lastly, Hinata. Well, while Uzu really hadn’t liked the way Hinata had behaved when she first got to know her, especially with Naruto, Hinata had somehow changed a lot.

Uzu just couldn’t figure out how exactly she managed to change so much, or who changed her. Uzu wouldn’t ask though. She was now so much more like her canon self, and at the same time nothing like her at all.

She is kind, but not shy or quiet. Of course, she is still somewhat reserved, as expected of a somewhat clan heiress, but that’s that. She openly talks about things she wants and doesn’t necessarily hold back.

Uzu liked this new kind of Hinata and she’d make sure not to hold her earlier behavior against her.

…

Some time later, when the food was finally ready, the group of people sat down on chairs and happily ate.

After everyone was mostly finished, the atmosphere changed when Shikamaru said: “We need to talk about Sasuke.”

“Yeah.” Ino agreed, closing her eyes and nodding.

“Naruto, we all know that you somewhat value Sasuke and that you want to bring him back. Please know that we’ll try our very best to help you in doing that. However, we all just weren’t as close to Sasuke as you or Sakura and thus we don’t really hold many great feelings for him. When we decided to send a group to the land of iron to deal with him, we thought of the village and even other villages as well. What the Akatsuki is doing … we must not let happen. We do not want an all-out war, but I fear … that it might be inevitable either way. Also, I believe that you realized that by joining the Akatsuki, Sasuke will inevitably take a part in hunting you.” Shikamaru said, looking at Naruto.

A few seconds of silence later, Shikamaru continued: “We sent Sakura, Kiba, Akamaru and Shino there with the intention of bringing Sasuke back, but also to kill him if he resisted, which would have been a more likely scenario. He hasn’t come back until now, so why would he come back after being asked to? We’ve not managed to bring him back this time, so we’ll try again because we are in this together.”

Naruto said, smiling sadly: “Thank you, for thinking of me even though Sasuke should not deserve to have people try to save him. Joining the Akatsuki means being the enemy of the whole shinobi world and he’d naturally be chased and killed by someone sooner or later. I’m glad though, that you all are still trying to help me fulfill my vow …”

“Sigh *munch*, Naruto don’t worry about this. We are friends, aren’t we?!” Choji said.

The rest just nodded and smiled at Naruto, being happy to help him as well.

“Well, if we can help the hero toad sage in something, then that’d be a huge honor, wouldn’t it?” Kiba said, smiling brightly as Akamaru barked in agreement.

Conversations between the several people in the garden turned much lighter and easier after that.

They vowed to meet in a barbeque restaurant sometime later this week to drink and release some stress before finally parting for the day, as it was quite late already.

Uzu and Naruto quietly walked back to their apartment.

Upon entering their room, they undressed and laid down on their bed, enjoying the feeling of each other’s skin touching.

After leisurely talking for a while, discussing today’s events and talking about interesting things others had said to them today, the couple slowly drifted off to sleep.

…

A/N: Well, there we go. Another chapter ^^ (I totally didn’t forget the thing with the fox girl that we more or less joked about in earlier chapters :3)

Again, can’t say when the next one will be written or released :O

I do have some other things to do lately :c (And no, I’m not just gaming and being lazy c:)