-Chapter 4-

~Sakura's House~

Naruto stretched when he got through the door. It was meant to loosen up his muscles, but it only made his body hurt worse.

Where is this pain coming from? he thought. And it was a perfectly legit question. He assumed rest would help it, even if it was just a little bit, but rest hadn't done anything for him. He hated not being able to get into his usual energetic and high-spirited self. The agony pretty much blocked out all happiness. It was sort of like having a bad headache; when you had one, you didn't want to move or speak or even try to look happy. It was because the pain was what your mind focused on the most. Well, for him, that pain was wracking his every cell! Right about now, he wished he could just tear himself apart.

It was getting frustrating, this pain. He had no leads as to where it might be coming from or why it was even there. What was more confusing, it spiked greatly whenever he used a jutsu. He could go to Lady Tsunade, but she would just hold him from any missions. It halfway seemed worth it. Part of him advised him to get help, but the other part, the stronger part, demanded that he get his priorities straight. He needed the money from his missions. The pain might go away the day he decided to seek out a medical ninja. If that happened, he would only look like an idiot.

I guess I'll just wait for an assignment. he thought. It's not like I can do much else in this condition...

But then...if he were to go on a mission, it meant he would have to act energetic and put on a bright smile. He hardly had the energy to make it through the day, let alone to act all hyper and impatient. He could manage a smile, though.

He got a sip of water from his water bucket. The pain was starting to make him sick at his stomach. He really detested that feeling... Luckily, he had a different bucket, the one he used for the days he got sick.

He opted not to eat anything. It was a waste of food when you were just going to barf it out. His stomach growled lowly in disagreement with his decision. It wanted food, but it was going to have to wait.

Naruto had discovered that if he lay still long enough, the nausea would subside altogether and the pain would lessen a bit. After that he would be free to eat whatever he wanted. Well, so long as it was still good.

He lay on his bed, which was really just a pallet with a pillow and covers, and pulled the covers over him. He didn't bother to change into his pajamas; he didn't figure he would sleep well enough to change.

He supposed there was a slight upside to the pain. It was so bad that he couldn't feel any mosquito bites. It was like being immune to itching!

As he rested, different things crawled into his mind, one after another. Like for instance, there was Sakura's "Sasuke fetish", and then somehow it went from that to him trying to train with a tree stump. The mind works in mysterious ways...

As do girls. he thought. Sakura in particular just gets weirder and weirder. For instance, why was she following me all day? Strange...

And that thought went from Sakura's behavior to the history of blond. But it was a thoughtful subject to wonder about. Like if the cavemen were all brown or black-haired, then how did blond come to be? And what about red? Did they just dye their hair so much it became permanently embedded in their DNA? Freaky just to think about...

After awhile of riding on the ever-twisting, ever-looping thought rollercoaster, he finally noticed that he wasn't nauseous anymore, just hungry. His stomach growled again, as if relieved that he noticed it at last.

Naruto grabbed a cup of instant ramen, one of the several given to him by Ayame, and filled it with hot water. He closed the lid and waited. It would only take a couple of minutes to cook, so he didn't have to wait long before he could dig in.

It was delicious, though not as good as Ichiraku's. It was chicken flavored with vegetables in it. More importantly, it was devoured within one minute, a record time that belonged only to Naruto. There wasn't a single person on the planet who could break that record. At least, he didn't like to think there was.

After he got done eating, he changed out of his clothes and into his pajamas. Lastly, he put on his always-important sleeping cap. Now he was ready for bed.

He must've passed out, because the next thing he knew, rays of sunlight were shining right in his eyes. He grunted and rolled over, only to remember that he needed to wait for a mission.

In a flash of lightning, he got out of his pajamas and changed quickly into his normal shinobi clothes, complete only with his headband.

He ran out the door and kept running until he was outside the Hokage's building, which for him, didn't take that long at all.

There, he paced back and forth, eagerly awaiting a call. Why wasn't someone coming to get him by now? He was one of the most powerful, and definitely most chakra-full, ninja the Hidden Leaf had to offer! Was there no quarrel that needed to be settled? Was there nobody that needed to be escorted somewhere? Didn't anybody need to be protected? Why wasn't there anything to do?

Eventually, he got bored and sat down on the bench beside the building.

Just a few minutes later, Negi and Shikamaru walked up to the front door, only to be stopped by none other than Naruto.

"Wait, guys! What are you doing here?" he asked angrily, knowing exactly what they were doing here.

The twosome turned to him and sighed.

"We were asked to go on a mission. What else would we be here for?" Shikamaru replied.

"How come I haven't been able to go on missions but you two do?"

"It's not like we're as perky as you. These things are such a drag..."

"Shikamaru, I'll handle this," Negi interfered. He turned back to Naruto. "Naruto, Lady Tsunade told me she wasn't going to call on you today because she wanted you and Sakura to spend some time with each other."

"Wait a second... Me and Sakura? Didn't she at least tell you why? I mean, Sakura and I aren't exactly a couple, we're just friends. And besides, I always do something wrong to make her punch me. Grandma Tsunade's lost her edge in this kind of stuff..." he said.

"What you two do together is none of my concern." "Yeah, just go spend a little time with her and just think of it as a...er...a mini-mission." The pair told him.

A mini-mission... Of course! Sakura must have been feeling bored or lonely or something and told Tsunade about it! He was one of the funniest guys alive, so it was only natural that he should be called on for such a thing. Nobody was better suited for this job, and keeping a comrade happy was an important role of a shinobi. Well, that's the way he thought it was supposed to be. He dashed off, toward Sakura's house.

"Lady Tsunade didn't really give you that message for him, did she?" Shikamaru asked once his friend was out of earshot.

"No. I just needed him to stop bothering us. After all, it's only an escort mission, and the sooner we get started, the sooner we can complete it and get back here," Negi answered. "I just hope she doesn't find out I sent him..."

"Yeah, Negi told me all about it!" Naruto said.

The pinkette sighed heavily. "Well, I guess you want to come in now..."

A huge smile brewed on his face. "Gee, Sakura, thanks!" With that he ran inside, though he didn't forget to take off his shoes first.

Not that she said he could come in, but now it was a little too late just to shove him out. She happened to notice, however, how he was admiring her place, the living room, wondering what rooms were behind the closed doors, and even the kitchen, which connected to the living room. He seemed to like the kitchen the most. How typical of a guy...

Well, what was she supposed to do now? She couldn't be so civilized that hot tea in tiny little porcelain teacups would be the first thing she served to him. On the other hand, she couldn't be so loose that she would throw a wild party. Besides, it was just Naruto. It wasn't like he deserved special treatment.

...So then why did she feel the need to treat him like he was the ambassador of New England?

She sighed; it was a real head-scratcher.

Naruto turned around and waited for Sakura to say something, kind of like he was waiting for a command to be given to him. He didn't really know what to do now; this was the first time he'd ever been in a girl's house. What was he expected to do? How was he expected to act? What was he expected to say?

"Uh, so are you hungry? We've got leftovers, and my mom baked some macadamia nut cookies yesterday," Sakura said, breaking the awkward silence that had enfolded itself upon them.

"Oh, I'm not really that hungry right now. Thanks for the offer, though. It looks like Sakura has a nice side after all!" He grinned the usual Naruto-grin.

"Shut up! I didn't even invite you to my house!" she retorted.

A sudden and rather random thought came to her. Naruto had been cut by a simple kunai knife... No way would he not have enough energy to dodge that! This was Naruto, after all! On top of that, he'd told her he had been really tired when that happened, so tired he couldn't get out of the way and had to have someone else rescue him. It wasn't in his nature to do that so plainly... Then there was the undeniable fact that she had sensed something was off with him. Yeah, he looked okay and sounded okay now, but what about when he was alone? Was he okay then? She doubted it. Her instincts were telling her something was different, but she just couldn't find anything wrong with him.

She held back a groan. Why, when, and how did Naruto, of all people, of all shinobi, become so mysterious and hidden? She knew it was because he was hiding something...right? Didn't that mean he was hiding something? Or maybe he wasn't, maybe he was just changing naturally. No, no, if he was changing naturally, it wouldn't happen in a split second. It would take time, it would be gradual.

Sakura shook her head, as if shaking her head would expel those thoughts. It was just way too many questions for Naruto. Shikamaru? No. Negi? No. Ten-Ten? No! Even Hinata! But Naruto never kept secrets! He never hid anything! What the heck? WHY NOW? WHY HER?

"Hey, Sakura, you okay? You look a little spacey there," Naruto stated, bringing the pinkette out of her frustratingly impossible thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking, that's all," she replied.

"'Bout what?" he asked.

Crap, of course he would ask that! It was such a standard question; why wouldn't he ask it? She needed to think up an answer, and fast. But she couldn't tell him she was thinking about him. That was far too embarrassing. So then, what? Well, there was always dinner, and even though her mom was planning on heating up leftovers instead of cooking, she could always use that as an excuse. And if for some reason Naruto decided to stay for dinner, she could say she just forgot. Yes, it was perfect!

"I was just thinking about what I should make for dinner, nothing important."

Just then Naruto felt his heart pulse irregularly. He resisted the urge to clench his chest and smiled innocently. As scared as he was, he didn't want to frighten Sakura. Not now, not ever.

He just barely held back a grunt of discomfort as his heart pulsed again. It was as if it was throbbing and romping around inside his chest. It didn't hurt, but it felt like something was going wrong. It definitely wasn't a heart attack, but what if it became one? And what if it-?

...His mind went blank. There was nothing. So he didn't know that inside him, the nine-tailed fox was letting its powerful chakra seep into Naruto's central nervous system. This would allow the fox to control Naruto's every movement. For all Naruto knew, the nine-tails could be mocking him for being so weak against the very beast he was supposedly able to control.

"Well, you know, ramen's always a good option," he said. The voice sounded just like Naruto's, the comment even more so; Sakura was completely oblivious to what was really going on.

"Ugh. I don't get how you can keep yourself from choking on the stuff. For one, you eat the same-flavored ramen every single day," she returned sarcastically.

Naruto moved a little closer to her, not nearly enough to make her feel uncomfortable or threatened. "Yeah, you're right. Maybe it's time I try something new. What do you think?"

"I think it's a good idea. What do have in mind?" Why was she being so nice? Especially to Naruto! Yeah, he was a good, funny guy, but let's face it, they were just friends. She was acting so differently. It was almost like she was...flirting... With Naruto. Her. Not Hinata. Oh, man, this was definitely a first. But she didn't really want to stop. It felt natural, liberating in a way.

"Well...uh... I don't really know if you'll let me try it," he said, daring her to say she would.

She took the dare. "Nah, it's fine." She smiled cutely and batted her eyelashes. "Even a top-rate shinobi can be a really good cook."

It would've been so adorable to the real Naruto how she complimented herself. He would've blushed at it. But right now, right here, the boy Sakura saw in front of her wasn't the boy she knew. It was not Naruto.

In a matter of seconds, the genin had moved from near the middle of the living room to right by her side. He studied her face. Her muscles had tensed up a bit at first, but she relaxed them. Her face showed no signs of distress. She was tolerating him. In the animal kingdom, if a female allowed a male to be so close to her without attacking him, it meant she would let him court her. And unless it was a sea louse, under no circumstances was the male to show aggression or dominance over her. Otherwise the female would reject his courtship and either chase him off or attack him. The fox had observed that it was pretty much the same in humans; the innate instinct to be calm and courteous to a female was the same, and it was essential to the entire courtship process. Only if the females decided to reject them, they could still attack or run them off, but usually they "broke up", as the humans phrased it, and parted ways peacefully. At first this was astonishing to the fox. The females in the animal kingdom never did this. It had awed the fox that the humans had developed a less violent method of rejection.

From studying the humans, the fox had, over time, learned that the females of the human world forced their blood to rise when embarrassed. Courtship usually caused a certain level of embarrassment which made the blood vessels in their cheeks fill and expand with blood. This, in turn, caused their cheeks to turn a light shade of pink. Right now, Sakura was showing all the right signs, giving off all the right signals. Her cheeks were pink and she was looking down while fiddling with her hair, which strangely was also pink. The fox had never really gotten why humans, especially the females, wished to change the color of their hair. Though right now that same crafty beast could care less. Apparently, even though he wasn't of the same species, he was making all the right advances. Judging from the pinkette's reactions, it was clear he was doing well.

"So...you said you would let me try anything, right?" he said playfully.

"Well, yeah, I guess I did say that," she said, giggling afterwards.

Why am I acting like a lovesick puppy? I don't love Naruto! ...Do I? she thought. Right now it kind of seemed like she did. Maybe she was just being moody, but...

"So if I hugged you right now, you wouldn't mind?" he continued.

She turned away from him. No, right now she she wouldn't mind at all. But normally he wasn't this bold with her. Normally she would beat him to a pulp for even thinking that! Maybe it was just that back then she was so wrapped up in Sasuke she was ignoring Naruto altogether. Yeah, that actually seemed to be a very reasonable and logical answer. Had he always been this bold? Had she just not noticed? It seemed like he was acting a little differently than normal. She couldn't exactly put her finger on it, but something was still off. Something...but what?

She felt a pair of arms snaking themselves around her waist and a head being rested on her shoulder. Her thoughts diminished until Naruto was her main focus. She didn't object, didn't resist, didn't struggle to get out. She let him do whatever. She didn't even speak, she just savored the moment. Eventually something deep inside her took over and her head turned to lean against his. She really didn't try to reclaim her body as her own. Naruto wouldn't hurt her, ever. She knew this way before she started giving in to him.

When the fox felt Sakura place her arms over his, he was at first afraid she was going to push him away. But she didn't. In fact she seemed to be pleasured by this. It also seemed like she was waiting for him to proceed to something else. But what? Was this it? Was this the end of the line? The fox didn't know what humans did in such a situation. Perhaps he could kiss her. Maybe at first on the cheek, so as not to rush her.

He turned his head and pursed his lips, just barely grazing her cheek. He was trying not to be forceful with her, but it would turn out that it wouldn't have mattered either way.

Sakura, upon feeling his gentle kiss, swiftly turned around in his arms. She threw her own arms around his neck and stood on her toes so she could kiss him. It was fully, on the lips, and definitely passionate. What had taken over inside was giving her the bravery and boldness of someone she wasn't. Now she was grateful it had taken over. It was like her body instinctively recognized each sensation she felt and responded of its own accord. She was just a bystander, watching and feeling what went on. She was getting pretty decent enjoyment out of kissing Naruto, something she would never truly admit to anyone.

The nine-tailed fox failed to realize something about Naruto; all humans in general, actually. When enveloped in an intimate moment such as this, the human body starts to do things on its own, regardless of the will of the person that body belongs to. It acts on its own will, and seems to listen to no other. To the fox, this was an advantage. It didn't need to do much work anymore. Now all that was left was just to sit back and watch, and also keep Naruto's consciousness at bay. Plus, it might help move things along if the tailed beast encouraged the instinctive nature of what was going on.

Naruto pulled the pinkette closer to him. He dared not break the kiss. Unfortunately, though, Sakura felt the lack of oxygen in her lungs. She puled away just enough to suck in precious air. Her heavy breathing was mixing with the genin's. Their lips barely touched, and it was looking as if neither of the two were willing to fully part.

Sakura wouldn't have normally dove in for a kiss like she had done just now, but her hormones were raging and her heart was pounding. Her mind was foggy and everything was a blur. She hardly even knew what she was doing anymore. Part of it might've been what she felt when kissing Naruto. He had been masculine and assertive. In a weird sense, it was endearing. In a more logical sense, it really turned her on. She liked a relationship where the man took charge. Not that she wanted zero freedom, but when the man made the first move and ended with the last move, well...she really liked that.

Naruto knew better than to force a kiss on her when she was still catching her breath. He could feel her heart beating. It was speedy and regular. She was really down to earth right now, he could tell.

Meanwhile, the fox used Naruto's nose as a substitute for his own. Naruto's human nose couldn't pick up any traces of pheromones, but when endowed with the nine-tails' chakra, it allowed the beast to smell the scents that Sakura, whether she knew it or not, was releasing. And from what he could smell, she was in heat. Of course, this wasn't news to him. He'd been timing this day for awhile now, waiting and anticipating the right moment, when Sakura would be at her peak fertility. Now, finally, the waiting was paying off.

A/N

Okay, you guys got what you wanted. Well, sort of. Anyway, I think we all know what's going to come next. Give me some time. Also, terribly sorry for the slow update. Shouldn't have taken that long and you guys didn't deserve to wait that long. But at least I updated at all; it's better than dropping the story altogether. So just bear with me until the next update, okay?

Also, PLEASE STOP WITH THE SPOILERS! I KEEP TELLING YOU I HAVEN'T WATCHED ALL THE EPISODES YET!

So now no new chappie until the reviews hits 55 reviews.

Also, your review replies (sorry if they aren't very long; I'm tried...):

WaterHedge- Well, if you want those kinds of stories (though there are no other Naruto ones at the moment), you should visit my profile. Flowers Will Bloom seems to be one that tons of people like. 26 chaps and 400+ reviews. My reviewers rock. Also, Sticks and Stones. Forgot how many chaps and reviews but I think it's a pretty good ratio.

thedarkpokemaster- I kinda got in three different POVs without actually making a POV. :P Meh, I tried to keep it at an even pace, but I'm not so sure how well I did with that.

DarkStorm28- Yes, yes it is. Though it's not too clear, the pain is, in fact, the doing of the nine-tailed fox. It's chakra hurts Naruto, and when it tries to put him in those trances he goes into, the fox must tap into his nervous system to control him by using its chakra, since it's trapped. Oh, I'm sorry. I hope you continue reading, though. Ask anybody who knows my stories; I always give a happy slash comedy relief every now and then. *sighs* Okay, if you don't like the story, don't read it. I'd much rather get less reviews (don't worry, I tell this to everyone who criticizes as much as you do this same thing) than get bad reviews that make people unwilling to read this story. And believe me, I've had a reviewer out to get me before and everyone began hating that reviewer because they liked the story and that guy was ruining it for them. I'll try to make peace, but after that little incident, I run out of patience with stuff like this more quickly.

somewhat skeptical- I'll just tell you what I told DarkStorm28; I HATE people that criticize too much. Advice is accepted, that much criticism is called FLAME. If you don't like this story, then WHY are you reading it? No offense, dude, but you are just TRYING to get on my bad side right now. You wanna read something happy and unrealistic? Go look for something happy and unrealistic! I'm so frikin SICK of putting up with other people's CRAP!

pepergirl001- Thank you!

of michigan- I didn't know that.

Excele Kurokami- I've read your review but it's far too long to reply to. Thank you for the information, though. Also, I don't know if you knew this already, but Kurokami means Black God. Oh, but also I must disagree with you on that only thing that can beat NaruSaku. In my personal opinion, not looking down on yours, NaruSaku is what I always call a "proper pairing", in which case the pairing matches the show. Such as in Sailor Moon, SerenaxDarien is a proper pairing, not SerenaxDiamond or SerenaxAndrew. And like in Danny Phantom, the proper pairing is DannyxSam, not DannyxVlad(gross!) or DannyxValerie. I always go with proper pairings, with the only exception being BBxRae. WAY BETTER THAN BBxTerra! RobxStar and BBxRae, but mostly BBxRae. Teen Titans should've given Beast Boy to Raven, but that never happened. Instead, those idiots made it CRYSTAL CLEAR that Starfire and Robin were together both during the series AND in the movie, but during the last few episodes they made it so Raven is saved by Robin. THAT'S where the idea of RobxRae came into play. I hate RobxRae! ERGH IT IRRITATES ME TO NO FRIKIN END! Okay, I'm gonna shut up now.

alexmaster- I'm getting there, I'm getting there! It's not the easiest thing in the world to write a story. It takes alot of imagination and creativity. You're lucky I draw so much, otherwise this story wouldn't exist.

Tea Unicorn- Glad you think so! This chapter was what I was aiming to get to for a long while now. Sat through three boring chappies to finally be able to come across this one. :D

Echo Uchiha- Thank you for all three of your reviews! ^_^

9-tailed reaper- Hope this is long enough for ya! :)

Gohan Videl fan 489- lolz! It is heating up! XP

Saiyan Videl fan 99- You're reading it all go down right now.

dragonball z fan 300- I don't plan on having Sakura absorb the Kyuubi. XD However, you're right in the fact that eventually Naruto will find out and YES he will be infuriated.

NaruSaku fan 100- Arigatougozaimasta! :)

Rocketshipping fan- Oh, wow! Thanks, that means alot to me!

Rose Contestshipping fan88- Okay, I KNOW you're the same person with multiple accounts. You have to be. Right?

Kagome333- I told you already on a different story, I can't continue The Divide yet. I'm actually still surprised someone even remembered that story. Anyway, MAYBE I can try to continue it two weeks from now; how does that sound? I say two weeks because we are currently in the process of deciding whether or not my bird can be transferred from my dad's house to my mom's house. My dad has already agreed, but my mom's answer is still pending. We are currently awaiting results. So anyway, I'll see what I can do.

Thanks, and have a nice day! Or not... :3 Muahaha...