The Harsh Truth

Chapter 26

The small platters of the rain drops were keeping him awake. His eyes were restless, looking at the ceiling of his room, where the shallow breathing of another living body interrupted, every now and then, the monotonous downpour's rhythm. The morning had yet to fully bloom, and he stood there, in the bed, with a steady and slow breath. He didn't want to wake up or startle the other occupant of the mattress. The purple hair was cascading downwards, gently tickling his bare chest. He could feel the small gusts of air that were produced from Anko's nose on his skin, as the woman lay with her face nuzzled against the spot that was perpendicular to his heart.

There was little to nothing that he could do to move without waking her up and he actually didn't want to. It was a dull morning. Probably he'd go downstairs, have a light breakfast, then train for a bit and finally head off to the Hokage's tower to do some paperwork. At least, the normal routine would be something like that.

Yet he knew that it wasn't going to be like that at all. Any moment, one of his Anbus would report the missing of Hinata Hyuga from the cells, another would spring up the search parties, while a third would head straight towards Orochimaru's apartment, and query the snake sannin on possible directions the girl could have taken.

Still, for the moment, he was fine being in bed. It was warm, at least, but not much else. Anko was something that, to Naruto's eyes, was a sort of mixture between a furniture item, a happy puppy, a fierce shield and probably a future martyr for his cause. She just wanted to please. Was this how Orochimaru felt when she was his student? He had a lot of things to do, yet he also felt the need to keep up a façade of normality. He wouldn't actually kill Anko now: she was loyal without fault, without question, without doubt. She had proven herself, and just like Itachi, he knew she would never betray him…again.

Such persons were rare indeed to come by, and he wouldn't toss them in the pits of hell, if he could avoid it.

The door slowly creaked open, revealing a figure clad in an utterly obscene and see-through pink satin nightgown, with black lingerie and a bright white smile on her face. Slowly, she began to creep to the other side of the bed. Naruto said nothing, remaining quietly in a mock sleep, conscious that Anko too had probably already woken up, since a Tokubetsu Jounin was more than apt in hearing the light movements of a mere chuunin.

Moments later, he could feel Karin's arm wrap itself around him, passing by his stomach. Just at the same time, Anko's own free arm did the same, but on the upper chest, while her breasts compacted against one of Naruto's sides. Karin did the same, and in the quiet and dull morning, two red eyes stared into two light hazel ones, electricity sparking from one side to the other.

The Senju's head knew perfectly well that the two women were mouth talking to one another, but opening his eyes would clearly mark him as awake. Anko would probably sense his heartbeat increasing, even if he just so casually half-opened his eyelids, while Karin would probably find out by reading his aura, if he thought faster than a sleeping sloth.

He could feel Anko tensing, and then Karin doing the same moments later. The purple haired kunoichi was now moving her head closer and closer to Naruto's own, and as quietly as possible, going as far as stopping her breathing, before giving him a light kiss on the lips.

That was the moment when he felt Karin start to do the same, slowly moving her own face closer, and then stopping midway. Naruto had the tingling sensation that Anko was actually watching her, daring her to go forward and smirking. Maybe the kunoichi suspected she would die of embarrassment, rather than actually go all the way through with it.

The Senju's head actually heard Karin gulp down in nervousness, before moving closer and closer once more. Mere centimeters separated her lips from his…and that was when Anko decided to pinch Naruto on the side. The Godaime Hokage would have actually rolled his eyes, if, instead, he hadn't decided to simply open them and stare straight ahead at the two red orbs of his daughter.