Naruto: The Prince of Lust

Snorting, an embarrassed Naruto chuckles, "nope! Definitely not."n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

INO

Sweaty yet under her covers, Ino's mind was on a vicious loop. She couldn't process anything but the repeating memory of her self-harming confession. It's night time and she barely remembers admitting to Sakura what happened with Naruto. She barely recalls her mother bringing her food and sadly repeating how it was all her fault. She doesn't remember eating, going to the bathroom, or washing. Ino simply stayed in bed with a mess of tissues scattered all around her.

It even took Ino several minutes before she realized a tapping noise was coming from somewhere, then several minutes after that to turn to the irritating noise. To her horrid shock, Naruto is sticking on the wall outside her window, looking at her.

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Immediately, Ino's mind catalogs everything about her appearance that's not up to her standards of public viewing. She could feel her nose is red and stuffy, her eyes were puffy and irritated from all her crying, her usually silky hair was a clumped mess, her skin felt oily and lifeless, and she smelled… horribly. Nothing about her was attractive and her immediate reaction is to throw the covers over herself.

With her trained ears, it's ridiculously easy for her to hear him enter her room and walk to her bed. She can barely breathe and much too soon, he's right beside her. He sits on the bed before placing his hand on her shoulder and she can feel his warmth like she never knew how cold the world actually is. Ino immediately felt his comfort and was aching for more until he slowly tries to draw the comforter off her.

When Ino holds tight, Naruto lets go and slowly voices, "if you hadn't told me, I never would've known." Ino is all too aware of that fact; much to her emotional agony, however, she says nothing as he softly continues. "Despite what you did, I still think you're a good person, Ino… or you never would've told me."

Drawing courage from thoughts of his smile and Kurenai's approval, Ino responds, "if I was a good person, I wouldn't have done that in the first place."

"Maybe," Naruto responds. "But Sakura seems okay with it, and if she can move past it—if she can trust you—then I want to as well." Ino's sure he can feel her heart beating a mile a minute. It's suffocating under the think sheet making her sweat worse, but, she didn't care as long as she can hear him.

"I came here because I don't want to lose you," he voices and an overly mortified, excited, sad, and happy Ino feels him try to remove the thick blanket again, and Kami help her, she lets him. She allows him to see her vulnerable face—mask-less—in all her unappealing emotions. Rather than be disgusted by what must be a laughter-inducing appearance, he smiles his genuinely sweet smile, and it breaks her heart when he confesses, "it won't be as easy as before but I think that's fine. I still want you in my life, Ino."

Rather than voice the immensity of the solace revitalizing her tired veins and withered muscles, Ino just wraps her arms around his strong neck and embraces him as hard as she can for as long as she can until. She hates herself for sobbing in happiness, but she can't stop how she feels. She holds him while he rubs her back, and eventually, she succumbs to slumber from sheer exhaustion.

....

SASUKE

Walking the bustling and hectic streets of Konoha to his mandatory counseling session with Yamanaka-san, Sasuke only registers a person is walking right beside him when the chilling voice speaks, "such a disappointment, Sasuke-kun."

To his credit, Sasuke continues his leisure pace with his hands in his pockets despite the gut-wrenching alarm going off in his gut. The young avenger didn't need to turn to know the elderly woman walking next to him was Orochimaru in a disguise. He's more concerned with how fatally distracted he's been for the past three days and mentally chastises himself for his slip. Still, he couldn't deny what Naruto had said shook him to his roots.

"My, my, my," the scratchy voice hums in amusement. Looking straight ahead, Orochimaru notes, "nine babysitters just for you. It's almost as if Sarutobi-sensei doesn't trust what you'll do."

"It's you they don't trust," Sasuke stated.

"Ambition frightens the weak," the legendary shinobi huskily returns. "Are you frightened, Sasuke-kun? Has the impotent weight of the ordinary horrified and robbed you of your ambitions?"

Again, Sasuke recalls Naruto's words during their team meeting three days ago, and again, he's never been so confused. He recalls the oddity of Sakura and Naruto arriving at the meeting spot together, their laughter and how much their serenity annoyed him. The moment it seemed to Sasuke like the Dobe was happier than he had any right to be, it instantly made him think it's due to a false sense of smug superiority because of his one win. Sasuke wanted to fight Naruto right then and there, however, his body tenses at the recollection of the blond's unexplainable power. His teammate may be an idiot, but his strength is genuine.

When the team united, Kakashi started, "alright, team." It was the first time they've been together since the prelims of the exam and Sasuke recalls constantly having to keep his anger in check. Though the air between them is tense, their oblivious sensei continued saying, "first, let's congratulate Naruto for making it to the third round. Congratulations, Naruto."

"Congratulations," Sakura yells with a bright smile, matching his as he coyly averts his embarrassed gaze. Sasuke remained silent as Naruto thanked them. Their sensei then added, "since you'll be facing Gaara, I want us all to train you for your match with him since he seems to be the likely dark horse."

Naruto seemed surprised by that, asking, "really?"

"Yeah," their pink-haired teammate calls out, agreeing with Kakashi. It wasn't the first time he wondered why she was acting so differently toward him and Naruto, but Sasuke didn't care as she asserted, "we'll make sure you're at your best."

It did surprise Sasuke when Naruto curses, "shit."

"What," a concerned Sakura asked.

The team became curious when Naruto turned to Kakashi and explained, "well, I thought you were going to train Sasuke so I made training plans of my own."

Though angered by his insinuation, Sasuke was more interested in his plans, promptly asking the Dobe, "what training?" He may have lost once, but he wasn't going to allow a second loss to occur. He'd sooner die than let Uzumaki Naruto think he was better than him.

"What I usually do," Naruto answered Sasuke with a non-committal shrug. "Plus whatever my Godfather's teaching me."

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