Starting over

#36 Finding Love

Naruto POV

I woke up and waited for my thoughts to clear before I realized that the events from yesterday were real. I looked out of the window and saw that it was almost sunrise. I slowly got out of bed, changed into my shinobi attire and went downstairs. I took a pan and all the ingredients for pancakes out of the fridge.

Temari POV

I woke up to the first Sun rays hitting my face and smiled as I got out of bed and changed into something that covered more of my body than my t-shirt and panties that I wore in bed. I still kept my clothes comfortable since the doctors had told me to keep it calm for one or two days so that they could be sure that my body had healed completely. Since I could already smell that Naruto was already preparing breakfast I went downstairs into the kitchen and watched him silently from behind while he was cooking.

"Hi Tema. Thanks.", Naruto greeted me after I had given him a pair of plates. "Good morning Naru.", I greeted back before taking two cups and filling them with some orange juice. "How are you feeling?", the blonde asked me still with his back to me. "I'm feeling great, I actually wanted to thank you again for saving my life two days ago.", I said sitting down at the table. Naruto chuckled slightly before grabbing a spatula and putting a pancake on a plate. "Close your eyes for a sec.", he asked. I complied and closed my eyes. Hearing him set down a plate in front of me I wanted to open my eyes, but I felt a hand restricting my view, so I didn't even try to reopen my eyes. "You know, I wasn't asleep yesterday. But don't worry, I am happy to be your sunshine, more than you know.", I heard Naruto whisper into my ear before giving me a kiss on the cheek. He lifted his hand from my eyes and I saw three heart shaped pancakes with sugar aligned on the plate in front of me. I looked up to see Naruto happily munching on his own Pancakes. He noticed my stare, swallowed his food and grinned. I smiled back, noticing the same sincerity in his eyes that had shone through his voice moments ago.

I took a bite from the pancakes and was instantly reminded of the many times that Naruto had cheered me up and helped me.

After we had finished our breakfast Naruto and I washed up. I still was thinking about what Naruto had said and how I was going to react to it. We had eaten in comfortable silence but we hadn't exchanged a single word. Finishing our routine of washing up together I made my decision and approached Naruto.

Naruto POV

"You know, back when you moved in with us I knew that we would become close friends. And we did. And as the time passed I developed some strong feelings for you. You helped me so much over the years and always were there for me, I really like that about you.", Temari said while I stared into her blue green eyes. "Don't mention it. I really like you too...", I began but was interrupted by Temari who had moved closer to me and cupped my cheeks with her hands. She smiled at me and leaned in closing her eyes. I closed my eyes and leaned into the kiss as well. It was a feeling of pure bliss that surged through my body as soon as our lips touched. It wasn't long but it felt like an eternity for me. As we parted I saw Temari blush madly I cupped her cheek with my hand and smiled at her. "I'm sorry. I interrupted you. You were saying?", she asked grinning sheepishly. I smiled back, put my other hand behind her back and pulled her towards me, connecting our lips for a second time. This time the kiss lasted longer and my hand found its way into her hair caressing it while deepening the kiss.

After our kiss Temari was slightly out of breath. She looked me in the eyes and leaned her forehead against mine while catching her breath. "What will Gaara and my father say about this?", she asked a bit worried. "I don't know, but I don't think that they will be against it.", I replied causing her to smile. "Well, come on, we have to get ready for training.", I said taking her hand with a short peck on the cheek. "Didn't you know, I have today and tomorrow off. The doctors want to be sure that everything is healed correctly so I am supposed to stay put for two days.", Temari retorted with a grin on her lips. "But you still could come to the training grounds to be there for the briefings on my hat and we will do the next week until the chunin exams.", I reasoned. She nodded and went with me towards the stairs.

Baki was already at the training grounds when we arrived. We had decided to first talk to Rasa and to then tell the rest of our friends about our relationship so we tried to keep a bit of distance to each other. "Where is Gaara?", our sensei asked seeing that we had come without him. "I don't know I haven't seen him yet.", I said scratching my head. Just then Gaara jumped into the clearing in the training ground. "Ah ok, now that you are here, I have to tell you three something. Because of the way our last mission went, Rasa and me have decided to let you guys take a small vacation. We won't have training or missions until we meet for the chunin exams. We will meet here in nine days at sunrise to travel to Konoha. I hope you recover from our last mission and are ready to give your best at the exams. Dismissed.", Baki told us. Temari and I grinned at each other while Gaara smiled softly before standing up. "Well I'll go and meet up with a few friends.", the redhead said before flickering away. After I had fixed Gaara's seal and after our promotion to genin, people started to open up to him and he had found some friends among the younger chunin and genin. So we smiled as he left and went to talk to Rasa about our current situation.