Chapter 23

-Sakura's POV-

As soon as I shut the door to Hinata's room behind me, I turned to see Naruto leaning against the wall with a solemn expression. Without him having to say anything, I knew he'd overheard our conversation.

I didn't envy the position he was in. The girl he was in love with would undoubtedly o go after her little sister once she was back on her feet, meaning she was going headfirst into danger's path yet again. Both he and I know that there's nothing anyone could say to Hinata to talk her out of it. She was going to save Hanabi or die trying.

The issue was that while she and Naruto obviously cared deeply for one another, she was leaving with or without him. There was a chance she'd try and convince him not to join her, too, because she didn't want him to get hurt. The Hyuuga girl was loyal to a fault.

It still surprised me that she accepted our help in being rescued rather than hiding her location from Naruto so he wouldn't have to face any struggles on the road. She must've been truly frightened.

"They caught a kid with one of those things in his neck. He's in the study."

I blinked when the blonde man suddenly spoke, "Really? How'd they manage that?"

"Kankuro said Matsuri went rogue."

My eyes widened in disbelief, and I lowered my voice in case someone was nearby I wasn't aware of, "Shy little Matsuri?"

He nodded. I'd usually expect him to smile excitedly at such a response in this kind of conversation, but he didn't.

After a pause, I gave him an empathic look before laying a comforting hand on his shoulder, "You heard Hinata, didn't you?"

He nodded, frown deepening as he, too, lowered his voice so the girl in question wouldn't hear us from where she lay in the nearby room, "I feel like I'm going to make the wrong move and-"

"I think putting in an effort and making a mistake is better than not doing anything at all, don't you?" His and Hinata's encouraging words throughout the day finally got to me, and I felt hopeful about my current situation.

Naruto looked surprised by my response, "She's so shy, though. I don't want to put her in a situation she can't handle."

My brow furrowed in disbelief, causing him to look at me in confusion, "That girl just survived being shot and nearly burnt alive. I think you're underestimating her."

Realization came upon his features, and his frown softened slightly, "You might be right."

Naruto went back downstairs to assist Kiba and Neji with interrogating our group's new prisoner, insisting he'd only come up to check on us and that both Hinata and I were forbidden from coming downstairs until everything was sorted out. I wanted to argue, but I was too tired and had something I wanted to do anyway.

When I opened the door to the bedroom that Ino and I shared with the Uchiha brothers, my face paled. A shirtless Sasuke knelt as he searched the bookcase. He looked back to see me and stood before crossing the room to grab a shirt from atop the dresser.

"N-No, it's okay!"

He froze halfway through the process of putting it on to give me an uneasy stare. It was apparent he felt as uncomfortable by what happened last night as I did, but I couldn't tell if he was angry at me for running away from the situation rather than talking to him about it. He sure seemed upset, given that he hadn't even tried to speak to me since, and he was glaring every time I looked his way.

I shut and locked the door behind me before nodding, hoping my face wasn't as pale as it felt. Since he grabbed my wrist and I freaked out, my body's been on edge. Yesterday, before that, I would've blushed as he straightened his spine and sat the shirt back on top of the dresser.

Firm, attractive muscles glared at me from his bare skin, and I had to admit that I found him incredibly hot. Hesitantly, I crossed the room to approach him, and his eyes followed my every move.

Once I was close enough, he bristled. Either he didn't want me close to him anymore, or he thought I was forcing myself to do something I wasn't comfortable with. Praying it was the latter and that I wasn't forcing myself on him, I raised a slightly trembling hand up to his chest before running it slowly to reach behind his head so I could pull him lower. Soft lips pressed against mine, and I was relieved not to sense any hesitation on his part.

Our kiss ended after a few seconds, but he didn't pull away and remained close enough that if I moved even slightly, our lips would touch again. My eyes remained closed as I spoke, "If you want to take back your offer after what happened yesterday, I completely understand, but if not, I want to try again."

A wave of relief shot through my brain, but it was foreign and hadn't come from me. My eyes shot open to land on his. The glare on his face had faded, and the tenseness in his body had disappeared.

My body moved on its own as I pressed my lips to his once more, feeling the anxiety from yesterday finally start to slowly melt away. My free hand lightly grasped his wrist, and I walked backward, toward the bed, without parting from him. He let me pull him along and didn't resist in the slightest when I turned to switch our positions.

When he sat on the edge of the bed, I moved my hands to his shoulders and hesitantly climbed down to straddle his lap. I parted my lips from his for just a moment, worried I'd fall backward without him holding my waist, "Can you make sure I don't-"

"I know what to do," he cut me off before pressing his lips against mine more firmly than before. Large hands danced over my hips, making me feel more secure in our position.

The blood finally returned to my face, and I could feel a slight blush forming. A small sound of surprise came from my throat when he gently pressed his tongue through my lips to swirl around with mine, but I quickly got myself together and reacted.

His chest was pressed firmly against mine, and I was glad the sensation excited me rather than making me nervous. After a minute or two of warming up to this type of mood again, I slowly pressed forward against him, and he immediately understood my intentions and lay back on the mattress.

Our lips parted when he did, and his arms fell to his sides. Black and red eyes wordlessly encouraged me to continue when I hesitated to do anything. I gingerly pressed my palms against his chest, feeling the warmth of his skin heat my slightly chilled fingers. Slowly, I ran them down to his abdomen, eyes following as I studied how his muscles moved beneath my hands. That intense sensation rising in me yesterday returned with a vengeance, and my brow furrowed in response.

"You're horny," Sasuke suddenly spoke, making me jolt slightly in shock. He looked amused as he moved to cross his arms behind his head, "I can tell you're confused about it."

The light blush on my face surely deepened because it suddenly felt multiple degrees warmer in the room. "D-Don't tease me, asshole," I averted my gaze from his with a frown, humiliated.

His muscles flexed under my fingers, making me look back up to see that his amused look hadn't faded in the slightest, "I'm helping, remember? You were curious, and now you know."

With my glare remaining, I didn't argue and returned to exploring his torso with my hands to see if any of it made me uncomfortable. Once I was sure no alarms were going off, I gripped the bottom of my sweater before pulling it off over my head. Then I tossed it onto the floor beside the bed and placed my hands on either side of his body as I moved to hesitantly press my skin against his.

When I met his gaze, I was shocked to see his amused expression had fallen into one I didn't recognize, and his arms had come back down to his sides. I froze mid-motion, one hand above his shoulder and the other against the mattress by his hip, "Did I do something wrong?" The last thing I wanted was to make him feel any negative emotions while doing these types of things.

He said nothing but shook his head before gesturing for me to continue. A bit confused, I obeyed. Mustering all the bravery I could manage, I nuzzled my face into his neck and pressed a soft kiss against his jawline, surprised to see goosebumps rise on his skin in response. His hands twitched at his sides.

"You can touch me, too, if you want. Just…go slow."

Large hands immediately came to rest on my hips, and I hesitantly kissed his skin again. His skin tightened, and a small smile tugged at my lips. I think I accidentally found one of his weak spots rather quickly. Rather than torture him, I pulled back to kiss him deeply. Calloused fingers ran up the bare skin of my hips and down my back. Sasuke was trying to touch every piece that he could.

After another few minutes, another wave of what I now knew was arousal rushed through me, and I surprised myself by letting my body naturally respond to it. My hips pressed further into his for a few moments, and I found that the pressure made the sensation turn into something pleasurable. A soft sound had managed to get lost between our mouths, but the Uchiha man didn't stop kissing me to say anything. I was about to move on from the fact, only to feel something press against my jeans, between my legs.

My body jolted in surprise, and Sasuke let me pull away to straighten my spine so I could look down. I was a little breathless but still managed to speak clearly, "I-Is that…?"

He nodded but spoke after pausing momentarily, "Just ignore it if you want."

I blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "You're actually attracted to me?!"

His brow furrowed in disbelief like I'd just said the last thing he'd expected, "What?"

I pressed my hips against his again to feel him beneath me, making him sit up on his elbows to give me a bewildered look, "I was under the impression you offered to do this because you aren't attracted to me and knew you'd be able to control yourself."

"No one would make an offer like that if they didn't find the other person hot. Idiot." For some reason, his indirectly calling me hot flustered me more than anything else we've done, and I had to take a second to take deep breaths so I didn't get lightheaded.

He watched me with his disbelief not fading away, "How are you so smart yet so dumb at the same time?"

My eyes reopened so I could glare at him, "Well, you can't really blame me for being confused, can you? Out of all the girls-"

"Shut the hell up, Sakura. Just go back to what you were doing."

My anger flared but dissipated when I looked up to see he'd thrown an arm over his face, so I couldn't see his eyes anymore. I wasn't sure where to go from where we'd left off for a few moments, but then I glanced between his face and lower body a few times before backing up a few inches on his lap.

He jolted slightly, but didn't protest when I nervously moved the waistband of his pants down as far as possible without exposing him. My eyes landed on the light scar atop his "v" muscle, and my face burnt wildly as I ran my fingers across it.

A wave of his emotions came over me, and I was stunned beyond belief to realize he was actually feeling a bit shy. That was probably why he'd hidden part of his face. My sexual guide being made nervous by someone as inexperienced as me gave me quite a burst of courage.

With a new bravery surging through me, I climbed off his lap and rested my knees on the carpet between his legs so I could lean down and kiss the scar softly.

"Don't go further."

I glanced back up to see him glaring at the ceiling rather than looking at me. It was quiet momentarily before I spoke hesitantly, "Sasuke?"

He took a deep breath and closed his eyes briefly before sitting up to look down at me. I moved back slightly and arched my neck to look at his face. He seemed almost angry when he spoke with a glare, "If you do anything else, I'll need to leave the room. Do you understand?"

My eyes danced to the hardened shape between his legs before remeeting his eyes bashfully and nodding, "Okay."

He gave me the shirt he'd worn earlier in the day to throw on, and then we cuddled on what was now considered "our side of the bed". With my leg strewn across his hips and my head on his shoulder, I absently traced his abdominal muscles, "So…."

He made some sound from the depths of his chest that I assumed meant to carry on with whatever I wanted to say, "Am I doing alright so far? I know this whole thing started so I can overcome my fear, but I wouldn't say no to some feedback."

His chest rumbled slightly when he let out a short chuckle, and the arm wrapped around my body tightened for a moment, "You're a quick learner." I let out an exaggerated sigh of relief, grinning when I felt him chuckle slightly again.

Another quiet few moments passed before I broke the silence again, "You know…I think you're hot, too."

His chest moved as he breathed steadily, and I watched it rise and fall.

"I have eyes."

I pushed myself off the bed to fix him with a glare, "What's that supposed to mean?"

He gave me a relaxed smirk, "You make some pretty telling faces."

I collapsed against his chest and buried my face in my hands, making him laugh again, "How embarrassing!"