All Mine
Naruto wouldn’t let them
take her away. “You can’t have her! She’s mine! All mine!” Tayuya felt the same
way. NaruTayu One-shot.
He knew they were all
getting suspicious. But still, Naruto clung to the faint hope that they would
just overlook it, and forget about it. What did they care if he acted strange?
To be sure, he was now one
of Konoha’s top shinobi, and so he was an important asset to the village, to be
well looked-after. But he could take care of himself. Why did they have to get
all weird just because he didn’t eat at Ichiraku’s so much, or because he
didn’t spend all day every day training, or because he had turned down a few
opportunities to eat with Sakura?
Even Naruto, naturally
dense and slow to recognize things that didn’t involve deadly peril, noticed
the odd looks he got every time he did something differently than he would have
done a few months ago.
Tsunade had stared at him
when he turned down the month-long training trip with Jiraiya. What was so odd
about that? There wasn’t anything they could do out there that they couldn’t do
just as easily here. The Hokage had just gaped awkwardly until Naruto excused
himself from the room.
And Sakura had openly
gawked at him, mouth wide open, when he had turned down her offer to go to
lunch. Naruto was in a hurry, anyways, and he had eaten not so long ago. What
was her problem? Did she think that he would cling to his childish infatuation
forever? He had moved on.
Which brought him to the
root of the problem. Well, it wasn’t really a problem. Yet. Not until the
others found out would she be a problem. And Naruto was prepared to do whatever
it took should that come about, to make sure that she was kept safe.
Naruto unlocked his front
door, which he had replaced shortly after bringing her home many months ago,
walked inside, out of the blazing bright sunlight, and locked the door behind
him as he entered. The sturdy door, reinforced with steel girders, had been
necessary. As had been the replacement windows, and the new blinds.
He set the groceries on the
kitchen table for a moment, and sighed. He didn’t really feel like putting it
all away, but he knew he had to.
Naruto barely flinched when
a pair of warm arms wrapped around him from behind, hands reaching under his
arms to grip his shoulders. He felt her soft body pressed against his back, and
the heat of her face nuzzled into his shoulder blades. The scent of some sort
of tropical fruit entice his nose, the familiar scent of her shampoo. No doubt
she had just taken a shower, which would explain why she was so warm, even
against his usually overheated body, and the scent of exotic fruits that Naruto
certainly had not purchased at the store.
“Naruto, you look tired.
Why don’t you lay down, and I’ll put away the groceries?”
He smiled, in spite of his
exhaustion, and turned his head to try and see behind him. All that he could
get a glimpse of was her red hair, which shimmered a little in the dim, unlit
kitchen, with reflections of what little light came in from under the blinds.
“That’s alright, Tayuya. It
won’t take long.” He felt one of her arms remove itself, and he frowned a
little at the faint cold that he felt where her arm had been. “I just got some
flour, and fruits and vegetables, some milk, and…”
The arm reached around his
body, and a finger pressed itself against his lips. “I’ll take care of it,
Naruto. You do all the work, and make all the money, and bring everything here.
You keep my secret, and you are so much nicer than I could ever have deserved,
what with how I treated you those first few weeks…”
Naruto wanted to speak, but
her finger applied slightly more pressure on his lips when he considered it. Tayuya
knew him well. Resigned, he instead reached up and took hold of her hand,
kissing her knuckles softly. “As you wish, Tayuya.”
The red-head laughed, and
extricated herself from the taller blonde. “I shouldn’t have to ask to
do something for you, Naruto. Just let me be nice every once in a while.” She
moved gracefully, gliding over to the bags on the table, sorting their contents
before placing them each in their own place.
Despite Naruto’s rather
elementary medical skills, she could walk again. And well. The blonde was quite
pleased with himself in this respect, though he wished he could have done more
for her. He still remembered the stricken look on her face, as she realized
that walking was the extent of her abilities with her legs. Even jogging would
be too jarring, disturbing her weaken bones and muscles. Her life as a ninja
was over.
As Tayuya finished, she saw
the direction of his gaze, and knew what he was thinking. She frowned,
disappointed that Naruto so often beat himself up over her inability to run or
jump. She was so pleased to be able to stand and walk, she could hardly express
it. If only Naruto would really, truly believe her when she said that
she was content, when she said that she didn’t need anything more.
And that did not pertain
only to her legs. Tayuya was content with her life here, in Konoha, as well. With
Naruto, who had so patiently healed her after the terrible injuries she had
received, who had put up with those first, horrible weeks, when Tayuya had been
a bitter, ungrateful, savage, fiery-tempered fury, cursing him and striking him
and doing everything she could to hurt him, mentally and physically.
Her life here, as simple
and as quiet as it seemed, was a relief, now that Tayuya had time to really
consider it. She had no missions, she had no obligations, and she had no
responsibilities. Tayuya didn’t really even have to do anything around the
house, except to dress and feed and bathe herself. Naruto would always take
care of everything, if she let him, and would never complain.
It was probably around the
end of her first month here, Tayuya supposed, that she had fallen for him. Although
to everyone else he was a brash, loud little boy, Tayuya saw the side of him
that no one else witnessed. The quiet, contemplative side. The sad side. The
side that made the present-day Tayuya want to cradle him in her arms and mutter
sweet nothing in his ear.
And so she did, as well as
she was able with the larger blonde ninja. Edging him over towards the couch,
she got him to sit down. Then, when she had seated herself, she gently leaned
him over, until his head rested in her lap.
Tayuya whispered words of
thanks and admiration as she ran her fingers through his rough, spiky hair,
massaging his scalp and rubbing random patterns around his head. Once Naruto
seemed relaxed, she spoke up.
“You really need to stop
blaming yourself, you know. I’m just so happy to be able to walk, and to walk
without pain. Please don’t beat yourself for not being a perfect medic. It’s a
wonder you were able to do this much for me, Naruto.”
The blonde closed his eyes,
and Tayuya began to pet his face, gently rubbing his sensitive whisker marks
with a single finger.
“I like it here, Naruto. And
I like you, Naruto. And I am perfectly content to spend the rest of my life
like this. I enjoy living here… with you.” She forced the words out. She had to
make Naruto see that she was happy. Seeing him in pain hurt her so much.
Naruto cracked his eyes
open, looking rather drugged, probably from her continual stimulation of his
whiskers. “I’m glad, Tayuya, but… I don’t think it can last forever, like
this.”
Tayuya frowned. He wasn’t
thinking of sending her away, was he? Her movements slowed, and Naruto noticed
immediately where her thoughts had gone. If he was clueless to everyone else,
he was not so to her, after spending so much time in her presence, these last
three months.
“It’s not that I want you
to leave, Tayuya. I would never want that.” Tayuya’s hands resumed their normal
speed. Good. “It’s just that other people are noticing how I act, now. Because
I’m a good ninja, they pay more attention. They notice when I spend more time
at home, and they ask funny questions… or they stare at me, with suspicion in
their eyes.” Naruto closed his eyes, basking in the warmth of the red-head’s
attention. “I’m just afraid that you’ll be found out, I guess. I worry about it
a lot.”
Tayuya nodded in
understanding, though she knew he couldn’t see it. She delicately drew a
fingertip along each whisker on the upturned side of his face, smirking
slightly as Naruto shivered in pleasure.
A sudden knocking at the
door interrupted their moment together. Naruto sat up immediately, and began
straightening up the room a little, handing Tayuya a brush that had been lying
on the floor nearby.
Tayuya shot him a worried
glance as she hurried out of the front room, and climbed the stairs as quickly
as her legs would allow. Once Naruto heard her shut the door to her room, he
walked over and opened the front door.
Sakura stood nervously in
the doorway, glancing around Naruto into the darkness of his home. She couldn’t
see much, since it was so very dark, especially compared to the bright light
outside.
Naruto squinted at her, and
queried, “What do you need, Sakura?”
The pink-haired medic-nin
resisted the urge to frown. This was just for everyone’s peace of mind, right? He
had been acting weird, and so once they all saw that there was nothing, wrong,
there wouldn’t be any problems. It wasn’t like Naruto had anything to hide,
right?
“Erm… can I come in, Naruto?”
Maybe it was just her eyes,
but Sakura could have sworn that Naruto’s gaze had quickly swept around the
area outside before he slowly nodded. “Sure, Sakura. Have a seat anywhere you
like.” He gestured toward the couch and two chairs in the living area not far
from the doorway.
Sakura walked over and sat
on the couch, leaving plenty of room for Naruto. She took special notice when
Naruto locked the door behind him, and then took a seat in one of the chairs. Surely
that wasn’t suspicious, right? Locking the door was just common sense, right? And
sitting on the chair was just a way to avoid an awkward situation, right? Or
maybe he had given up on her… but for who? Naruto didn’t seem the type to give
up completely. If he had passed her up, there had to be someone else. But no
girl in Konoha had ever noticed Naruto give them more than a passing glance.
Sakura closed her eyes, and
tried to clear her thoughts. Tsunade was counting on her to find things out for
sure. Taking a deep breath, Sakura was about to speak, when she noticed a
faint, tropical scent.
Shampoo? Naruto didn’t look wet at all. He didn’t look like he had showered
recently. And this was a girly sort of scent.
“Naruto, what it that smell?”
Naruto feigned confusion, even as his mind raced to come up with an answer.
How could he possibly explain such a thing? Failing to come up with a good
answer, he pretended ignorance. “What smell?”
Sakura’s eyes widened. How could he not notice this? His nose was far
superior to any normal person’s, and barely inferior to Kiba’s. “What do you
mean, Naruto? How can you miss it?”
Naruto scrunched his nose up and sniffed, pretending to concentrate on
smelling. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sakura. But anyway, what did
you want?”
Sakura stared at him for a moment before she remembered herself. That was so
unlike Naruto, getting straight to business. It was so… suspicious. Maybe
Tsunade was right. Something had to be up.
“Naruto, you’ve been acting… strange lately, and, well, we’re worried about
you.” Sakura almost stopped when she saw Naruto’s eyes narrow dangerously. This
wasn’t good. He was angry already? She hadn’t even gotten to the worst yet. “We
don’t know what to make of it, but you’ve been different ever since a while
ago. We want to know why.”
Naruto stalled for time. “Who is ‘we’ and why is it any of your business?”
Sakura flinched at the clipped tone in Naruto’s voice. “I’m here on behalf
of Tsunade. Everyone has noticed it, though, Naruto. You don’t train as much.
You don’t eat ramen as much. You don’t horse around as much. You don’t…” Sakura
couldn’t bring herself to show that she had noticed his lack of recent attempts
to woo her. “You don’t act the same. Why?”
Naruto saw it, the perfect card to play here. If Sakura and Tsunade went for
it, he might be in the clear. Perhaps for good. “I’m growing up, Sakura. I’ve
finally started listening to everyone’s advice. People tell me to eat stuff
other than ramen, people tell me that I shouldn’t train all the time, people
tell me I need to be more serious. And I finally did. So everyone’s been
staring at me for the past months like I’ve grown a second head or something.
What’s so wrong about maturing a little?”
Sakura felt abashed. “I’m sorry, Naruto, we just…” She couldn’t believe it,
in hindsight. This was exactly how they’d always told Naruto to act, and when
he did, they’d taken it as a sign of a problem. How silly. “It’s just… we
didn’t really expect you to change, Naruto. I guess, I guess that we didn’t
really want you to change that much, even when we said otherwise.”
Sakura gathered her courage, and then pressed a little further than she
needed to, embarrassed to know that Tsunade would be listening to this from
just outside, via the tiny microphone Sakura wore under her shirt. “So you
don’t really need to stop being silly, or…” Sakura took a breath, “asking me
out…”
The killer intent from upstairs was quickly controlled, but Sakura couldn’t
have missed it. She gasped, and suddenly she found herself looking into the
angry red eyes of the blonde ninja sitting across from her. Angry, and scared.
Frightened.
Sakura tried to calm him, but she knew he could feel the others converging
on his house, their chakra signatures closing in, making him feel trapped,
threatened…
Cornered. Sakura knew that any sudden change could set himoff.
The front door burst into splinters, and Tsunade walked in, looking
strangely serious, considering that it was Naruto, her favorite knucklehead,
that she was speaking to.
“What have you been hiding, Naruto?”
His red eyes narrowed fiercely, and his lips drew back, exposing sharp
teeth. “Tell them to get back.” He waved his arm around, indicating the ninja
outside. “Tell them all to get back.”
Tsunade shook her head. “There should be nothing you need to hide, Naruto.
Don’t worry, they won’t hurt whoever it is unless…”
They both heard the windows upstairs shatter at the ninja entered quickly,
and Tsunade lunged toward Naruto.
Just a bit too late. The blonde skipped the stairs and leapt straight up, blasting
the ceiling out of the way in a controlled burst of red chakra.
Sakura heard the quick sound of hand-to-hand combat, and several groans as
ninja were knocked out. An unconscious body fell through the hole in the
ceiling, and landed on the carpet with a dull thump.
Naruto grabbed Tayuya, and jumped out of the already-shattered windows,
landing in the street below. More ninja, some of them ANBU, gathered around him
in a circle, containing him. Cornering him.
Tsunade bolted outside, and saw the girl held in Naruto’s arms. Tsunade felt
sure that she had never seen her, but she seemed familiar somehow.
Shikamaru emerged from the shadows next to the house, and Tsunade turned to
him. “Nara-san, do you recognize this woman? She feels familiar.”
The shadow-nin’s eyes widened as he saw her face, framed with shockingly red
hair. “She’s one of the sound ninja we fought on the mission to get Sasuke!”
Tsunade’s eyes narrowed. So that’s where she had heard of her. Now that
Shikamaru reminded her, she remembered the mission report, and the description
of the red-haired flute user who had supposedly died after being sideswiped by
Temari.
“Naruto! You’ve been
keeping an enemy in your house for months?!” Tsunade was
incredulous. Why would her idiot grandson in all but blood do such a thing?
Naruto snarled, holding
onto Tayuya in a sort of bridal style, while she clung to his shirt with a
death grip.
Tsunade spoke in a low,
controlled voice. “Naruto, you can’t do this. Give her to us.”
Naruto’s snarl turned into
a vicious growl. “You can’t have her! She’s mine! All mine!”
And he sprinted away so
quickly that he blew by the surrounding ninja before they could move. He raced
the walls of Konoha, jumped up on top, and then vanished into the forest
without a single look back.
Tsunade and Sakura could
only stare in horror as the gathered ninja and ANBU took off after him.
Naruto held Tayuya’s face
as they sat together in their small hut, located in a village far from Konoha. “Are
you sure that you’re okay living out here, love? I’m not exactly inconspicuous,
even out here. They might find out about me and come to get me, even if you
stay here at home all the time…”
She kissed him sweetly on
the lips, and Naruto forgot what he had been talking about. She caressed his
cheeks with both hands, and, looking straight at him whispered softly, in an
echo of his words just days before.
“They can’t have you back. You’re
mine. All mine.”
So… yeah. Another one for
the NaruTayu crowd. Who are the most appreciative of my reviewers, which is why
they get more. That and I do so like NaruTayu. I just wish there were
more. Written by other people, I mean. It’s no fun to read my own works.
It was hilarious. I was
looking up NaruTayu earlier today, and under some sort of search settings, I
got a page where 4 of the first 7 results were my NaruTayu works. Heh.
So anyway, let me know what
you thought of it. Constructive criticism will help me improve. Flames will
amuse me, but not contribute to better writing. Short notes just to let me know
you read it are also appreciated. Thanks.
-demonicnargles