The Promise of Tomorrow

A/N: Here we fucking go, you guys wanted it, and I did it! First chapter is more or less absolutely the same so you may just skip to the second! Second chapter begins with their release and their first day out in freedom.

13.8.18 A/N: I elongated this for more fluff and angst before they leave the prison!

The heavy metal doors of her cell were roughly forced open just as she had managed to settle down somewhat comfortably in her new, a bit less than dank, abode. Tayuya briefly looked up, but as no one immediately entered, her eyes drifted shut again. Her injuries hadn't healed fully yet and bothering herself with whatever the stupid ANBU guard wanted was simply out of her depth right now.

Initially she had been surprised by how clean her prison cell was. White tiles on the floor, gray painted walls and a decent sized window. Underneath the window was a small desk with a chair. A separate door lead to a small bathroom with a shower. And aside from her nightstand and the cot she was sleeping on, the cell was barren. So unlike the disciplinary cells at Orochimaru's hideouts. And she had spent a lot of time in them. In hindsight, getting captured may just have been the best thing to happen to her.

If only she wouldn't still bear the damn curse mark. It burned upon her skin, steadily flooding her with liquid fire, putting her in a constant and silent agony that she couldn't escape from. She couldn't make a sound to save her life, her tears only ever seen as a sign of her despair. And it was, but the medics put it to her crushed and her imprisonment.

Tayuya tilted her head when she heard someone enter. As soon as the footsteps crossed the threshold, the door was slammed closed and locked once more. And then there was silence, she couldn't even hear the newcomer breath. Eventually, she heard the sound of something dripping onto the tile floor, a steady plip-plop that continued for a while until there was some rustling of cloth and suddenly the sound of tearing.

She opened her eyes, careful not to move to fast, and sat up.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?!"

It was the first thing that came to her mind, she just spat it at him. At that blonde guy she had punched in the face when he tried to get past her. The idiot that claimed to take Sas-gay back from his kidnappers. Hah! The idiot Uchiha was all too eager to leave the village and have his ass fondled by Orochimaru.

The blonde didn't answer, in fact, he didn't even acknowledge her presence. He was standing there, swaying slightly and tearing up his eyesore of a jacket.

Tayuya blinked when she saw what was underneath.

A gaping hole in the middle of his chest, blood still pouring freely from it. She could see that his ribs stood at odd angles, some even visible in the mass of blood and meat. The blonde stopped tearing up his jacket, having transformed into one long strip of cloth and a few bits that he let drop to the ground.

With a few quick and definitely painful movements he wrapped himself up, bandaging his wound as best he could. When he tied the ends up, he grunted once in pain, looked up at her and then-

Fainted.

Great. Now he was there one the ground besides her cot, bleeding all over her relatively clean floor.

"Oh fuck off," she groused, "What is wrong with these people here?"

Because she couldn't move anyways, Tayuya knew there was nothing she could do about the (probably) dead body and laid back down, exhaustion gripping her and pulling her into a nightmare riddled, pain filled sleep.

XXXXXX

When Tayuya opened her eyes again, she saw blue. Clear, cerulean blue. It was her favorite color. It reminded her of the sky, a sense of freedom. It looked nice.

But this blue did not stem from the sky. She blinked owlishly and stared into two blue eyes mere inches away from her. Eyes widening in shock and bewilderment she tired to sit up but her shoulders were held down by a pair of hands. Instinctual fear took over and she opened her mouth to curse, tried to wiggle her body out from under him but his hand came up and covered her mouth. She tried to kick him, use her legs, but they were still in no condition to be moved and she nearly passed out from the pain as her vision flared white.

When Tayuya regained her sight, the blue eyes were gone and so was the hand over her mouth. She sat up, way too fast, and cringed in pain.

The teen they had thrown into her cell was sitting at her side on the cot, staring blankly at her.

"What the hell?" she rasped out. "You have a death wish or something?!"

He chucked humorlessly, a strange look in his eyes. "Don't act like you could grant it. You are in no condition to do anything."

Tayuya fumed. "Why are you even in here, shithead? Failed to get your lover back?"

He laughed loudly which transformed into bloody coughs and heaves as he spit blood into his hand. He looked at it for a second before he looked back at her.

"No, I dragged his sorry ass back. Broke every damn bone in his body, but he was alive. But apparently," he spoke with an undertone of pure loathing, "attacking the last Uchiha in such unnecessary and brutal fashion is a capital offense. Never mind that he put a hole into my chest." He sighed and slid off the cot, sitting on the floor and leaning against it instead.

Tayuya wanted to laugh but as she inhaled she cringed in pain as her seal hammered out another dose of agony. She fell backwards into her pillow and bit her lip so she wouldn't scream. Blood pooled in her mouth and she was about to pass out when the pain suddenly stopped.

Blinking, she saw his eyes again, this time as they pulled away from her neck.

"That thing," he said before she could gather her wits to curse at him, "is disturbing. The malice it radiates makes me sick."

"What... What did you do?" she wheezed, clutching her mark with one hand and using the other to try and push him away.

Never before had anyone stopped the mark from hurting aside from Orochimaru himself. Whatever he did, why was her skin moist at the mark?

"Kissed it better," he said, grinning as he climbed of her again.

"Huh?" she asked dumbly, her mind still numb from the pain.

"I said, I kissed it better." He grinned and got closer, whispering into her ear in a breathy voice. "And you loved it."

He quickly ducked out of range as she swung at him. "Fucking pervert!" she hollered and instantly fell silent again as pain flooded her once more. He ribs were still tender and the muscles still broken.

"If you say so," he said, shrugging and sitting down on the second cot in the room. Tayuya hadn't noticed there even was a second one. "But you better get used to it. I can't sleep if you moan in agony all the time."

She opened her mouth only to close it again. She was going to gut him one day, sadly, this day seemed yet so far away.

"Fuck you, pervert," she grumbled eventually and laid back down to sleep. Her nightmares came again, but they seemed to be her very own this time, not induced by the cursed seal. She wasn't tortured by the painful memories of her mother, at least not as persistent as it was with the curse mark fully active.

XXXXXX

"Get off me, fucker."

She woke up once more to Naruto, as he introduced himself, hovering over her. Though she was loath to admit it, she had slept by far better than she had ever before. The amount of actual sleep she had gotten in the fast five or so nights greatly sped up her recovery. She still couldn't feel anything but pain from then but she firmly told herself that it would be fine.

"And a good morning to you, too, Tayuya," he said, smirking as he climbed off her.

Naruto was way to smug about this. By now she semi trusted him not to rape her or something in her sleep but maybe he just waited until she could actually fight back. She shuddered. Not what she wanted to think about right now.

Ever since she had moaned involuntarily as his lips brushed her ear he grinned like a loon whenever he elicited the same effect once more. Which was why he looked at her like that. Its not like its her fault that her ears are sensitive!

Tayuya tried not to blush and turned aside to face the wall.

"Fuck you, pervert shithead."

He laughed, the cough was gone already and she actually wondered why he hadn't died for a moment. "I'm no such thing. I just help you out. You are the one enjoying it."

"Fuck, I'm not-!" she snapped and sprang halfway of her cot when the pain cut her off. Her body froze as her muscles pulled taut and she tilted ever so slowly over the edge and towards the ground.

With a startled and painful yelp she found herself in Naruto's lap. There was a flash of something she hadn't seen in anyone's face for as long as she could remember. Genuine concern. It turned her stomach upside down and instead of being filled with butterflies, the seal on her neck flared to life as if it had sensed the tiny bit of happiness, and had her cry out in pain.

Tayuya hadn't been awake enough the other times to feel Naruto do anything when he did stop the pain. This time however he could feel his hot lips burn against her skin just a second before the burning pain was washed away by a pleasing warmth. But then she felt him pull away and the dull ache threatened to return. She wasn't ready to face the pain again, to feel all this agony, to hear that bastard laugh so coldly and cruelly again. So she pulled him closer again, silently willing him to keep the pain away. She had no idea why she would trust someone's teeth at her throat like that, but in that instance, she did. Tayuya trusted the guy that she barely knew from an enemy village, whose best friend (or so she suspected) she helped get to defect, with her life. Or what was left of it anyways.

She warped her arms around him, around her only source of warmth, of comfort, she had in years. Tayuya expected him to say something, call her a bitch, an enemy, just something! But he never did. Naruto's arms came up around her, if a little hesitant, and squeezed her into his chest. This, Tayuya remembered dimly, was her very first hug. Prying her eyes open she saw his dirty blonde hair and part of his exposed neck. The dirty bandages were still slung over his shoulder and his once white shirt was nothing but dirty gray at this point. His shoulder, his neck. They were unmarked, not a blemish on his skin. No curse mark tom speak of. She stared for a long suffering second before she leaned forward, her lips slightly parted and-

Naruto pulled back, looking at her with half lidded eyes. His arms slowly slipped from her and Tayuya nearly whimpered at the loss of warmth.

"You know," he said, leaning back a little more so he could look at her, "I really hated you when I came in here for the first time. I barely remembered you and the hole in my chest was kinda making my head light. So when I woke up again after I passed out... I was angry. Everything came crashing down, that I lost everything. It was frustrating." Naruto shook his head, and looked deeply into Tayuya's eyes. "I tried to kill you," he told her, his gaze not wavering, "I really tried, but I couldn't. I saw in how much pain you were, not just because of your broken bones and all that, but because of that mark."

Naruto placed a hand upon her curse mark. She looked up at him uncertainly, emotions boiling in her head, filling the vacuum left by the curse mark. "You talk in your sleep," he said, "About Orochimaru and... and your mother. That he took her from you and tried to-"

Tayuya didn't listen anymore. She clamped her hands over her ears and shook her head violently. "Shut up!" she screamed, "Shut up! I' don't-... I don't want to fucking hear it!"

"I'm sorry," he said and pushed her off himself before she could do anything. Standing quickly, he walked to the other side of the cell and leaned against the wall with his back to her.

Tayuya growled. "I don't need your pity," she bit out through gritted teeth.

Naruto was silent for a moment before his form shook and slowly his laugh began to escape him, but there was no humor in it, no real emotion aside from... despair or something like that. Tayuya couldn't tell.

"Pity?" he asked, more to the wall then her. "Pity is not something I'm willing to give to someone like you." He turned around to look at her, sliding down the wall until he sat on the ground. "No, I admire you."

"Sure you do," she scoffed, "Now fuck off!"

He chuckled. "But I do. I am amazed by the fact that your aren't just an empty shell." His blue eyes seemed to glow in the half light of the cell and her breathing hitched. "I admire that you still stand, that you still defy whatever is thrown at you." He shook his head. "I couldn't do that. I'm too weak."

"You survived a bloody hole in your chest," she countered, trying not to take the compliment, "Not my definition of weak."

"That's not strong," he said, "People tended to call it stubborn." She snorted a laugh.

Then Tayuya remembered a question that burned in her mind ever since he had first calmed her seal. "How do you do it?" she asked, "Block the seal, I mean."

Naruto shrugged. "Really, I don't know. When I fought Sasuke, my chakra pushed back the seal effects whenever I hit him with enough of it. So I figured I could do the same to you."

"Why... Why your mouth though?" sh asked, turning only the slightest bit red. But in the dim light of the cell she was sure Naruto couldn't see it.

He laughed sheepishly. "I have an unholy amount of chakra. Whenever I try to expel it from my hands," he placed his palm flat against the floor. Suddenly there was a loud thump and the tiles cracked beneath his hand, "I destroy things. The only point of my body where I can safely expel chakra is my mouth. I just gathered it there first and... well... let it wash over the seal, I guess."

Tayuya placed her hand on her neck where the seal was. It did indeed feel kind of subdued. "Still...," she began, reaching for a pillow, "Fucking pervert!"

She chucked the pillow right in his face. The first prison pillow fight ever ensued.

XXXXXX

After a time, Tayuya was truly glad that she wasn't alone in her cell. And she was even more glad that it was Naruto. Half a year alone in a room with white tiles and gray walls with just one window without the use of her legs... it was like Orochimaru's lairs all over again, yet not as bad. She had leaned a lot about the blonde teen, which wasn't surprising, given that all they did was talk and... well, he would help her with the mark. That and the fact that he had to help her to the bathroom. Her legs were healing slowly because as a prisoner of war, extensive medical care was one of the things she was denied. her legs would heal just fine on their own, It just took extremely long... That also gave her more time to talk to her cellmate. Not that she had anything better to do.

Apparently, Naruto was scarily good at drawing. With a piece of charcoal he drew a picture on the wall a little besides the desk. It was a picture of her. And it was incredibly good, she had to admit that. She had no idea how he could draw her hair like that, so life like, with just a piece of choral. She'd later ask him to draw other things, like a lake, a town, trees in a forest and so much more until the wall was completely covered in his drawings. But the most prominent one was the picture of her, as if he had put most of his efforts into it.

Naruto learned that Tayuya could play many instruments aside from the flute, all of them taught to her by her mother who was once a great musician in Kumo. She showed him how to carve a flute out of wood, and taught him how to play it. He wasn't bad, Tayuya had to admit that, but not as good as her. After some time, it came to pass that someone brought them a simple violin, somehow smuggled into their cell. Naruto suspected that it came from the ANBU guard of their cell block but he was never sure of it.

Both of them had a mutual little fascination with coffee. The flavor, the color, the different sorts of beans, they both had always loved to have a cup of it, despite the fact that it was quite rare in the Elemental nations. They joked that they would open a coffee shop or something once they got out of there. It all seemed so far away now.

It was getting colder in Konoha, the temperature was dropping more and more each passing day, and both Naruto and Tayuya had become very much aware of that. Prisons were not exactly known for their central heating and even tough they had more than most prisoners. It still surprised Tayuya that they got all that extra stuff they had, though Naruto told her that his former sensei tried to smuggle as much stuff in as possible so if she needed something really bad, he could probably get it.

But right now, Tayuya doubted that the guy could smuggle a heater in here. The sun was setting and as it's light vanished from the window the temperature dropped drastically once more, though this time, it seemed far colder than it was the day before. She huddled herself in the extra blankets down on her cot, glaring over at Naruto, who didn't seem to be affected at all by the freezing temperature.

"W-Why a-aren't you c-c-cold!?" she asked through clattering teeth as he casually sat there on his bed. He had mercifully left his blanket to her.

Naruto looked up from the sheet of paper he was scribbling on and tilted his head. "I've never been cold or anything near that. Comes with being a jinjuriki, I guess."

"That is so not fucking fair!" Tayuya spat, a puffy could forming from her mouth.

As she shivered and her teeth clattered her curse mark suddenly began to ache again. Tayuya tensed and the clattering of teeth stopped. Looking up once more, Naruto placed his drawing aside and walked over to her. He stopped in front of her for just a second, his face tinged red, and pulled aside the covers. Tayuya cursed as the cold air rushed against her but instantly fell silent as Naruto slipped into the blankets and forced her stiff body to lay down with him before he pressed his lips onto her neck, just where the mark was.

A breathy moan escaped her lips, she couldn't help it. He was so warm, so wonderfully warm against her, so she drew him even closer. Naruto had been her rock, ever since she met him. Without his presence, without his comfort, she might as well have died out there in the forest, buried under trees. If not for him, she might have gone insane from the pain, from the loneliness and the nightmares. She would have broken beyond repair, but Naruto had held her together. Despite her prison sentence, of which she didn't even know how long it was, she felt like she had a future now. A future that she had no idea how it would look, but was certain to include one thing. Naruto. Naruto. Naruto!

She chanted his name like a mantra, feelings boiling over in her heart, that had once been devoid of everything but pain and sorrow. His lips against her skin felt so good. So right! She pried her heavy eyes open, woozy from the warmth and the rush of blood, and saw his exposed neck. Just like she had seen in half a year ago.

And this time, this time she wouldn't think twice about it.

Her lips felt like they'd burn off when hey met his skin, her head like it might just catch fire and her heart was about to burst from her rib cage as it hammered away harder than it had ever before. Naruto stiffened for only half the fraction of a second before a growl rumbled beneath her lips and he pressed her body flush against him. His lips left the mark, but never her skin, and electricity jolted through her at ever new inch of her his lips met.

Tayuya's eyes grew heavy, her ears buzzed as blood flooded her body faster and faster, her body grew so sensitive all of sudden at the delicious friction, the sounds she made when his skin drifted over hers in delicious friction... it was overwhelming her. And it was perfect.

But then his lips left her, she whimpered and pulled on him, willing him to return to her. But he held fast and she pried her eyes open.

She was met by a gaze of piercing blue, darkened by desire. Desire for her. Tayuya shivered but held his gaze, willing herself not to grind herself against him.

"If we hadn't met as enemies-," he began and Tayuya felt her newly reformed heart crack, she felt like she could hear it shatter in her chest. Her hopes were washed away by the feeling of lead in her gut.

Tears began to form, she couldn't stop them. There was nothing left for her of Naruto would push her away. Nothing left to life for. She closed her eyes, she couldn't look at him when he rejected her, but his hand, which had been somehow beneath her shit on her waist, made it's way up to her face and cupped her cheek. Instantly her eyes snapped open again. Naruto smiled at her.

"Don't be hasty, Tayu," he chided in such a husky and breathy voice, it seemed to light her on fire all over again. "Again, If we hadn't met as enemies, this could have been so much easier. And happened so much earlier."

And then his lips met hers and it was perfect.

XXXXXX

NEW PART!

She awoke feeling warmer than it should be possible. Wasn't it winter or some shit? But that didn't matter. Tayuya snuggled deeper into the warmth and sighed in content. The warmth drew tighter around her, but not causing any discomfort, but it wasn't enough. For whatever reason, she wanted it to be even closer, so she brought her arms around-

Her eyes flew open. "Oh shit!" she cursed and pushed in the same moment.

Naruto was catapulted out of the cot with a yelp and rolled the distance all the way to his own, empty cot. With a groan he sat up and sent a mild glare in her direction. "Oh shit indeed. What was that for?"

"You- you!" Tayuya was grasping for the right words while also going through the fog of last nights memories. What the hell had happened? What had she done? What had he done to her!? "What did you do!?" she finally shouted.

He frowned before standing up. She realized that he still wore pants, which did little to comfort her raging mind.

"What do you remember?" he asked her, familiar with the fact that her memories were sometimes hazy. He cursed the damn seal.

It had the habit, or the function, to fog up any positive memory to the point where it was but flickers and shambles of what had actually happened. And he knew, that it terrified Tayuya. If she didn't remember them falling asleep together after... after...

Naruto blinked. He had kissed her. He had kissed her! And he wasn't dead!

Happiness bubbled up in his stomach and a smile began to form on his lips, but Tayuya frowned and frowned even more as time went by.

Correction, he wasn't dead yet.

Not that he would blame her, of course. Tayuya never wanted to talk about it, but her nightmares were terrible. Her dreams must be extremely lucid because she shouted or whimpered whole sentences. Sentences that turned his stomach upside down and fueled his hate for Orochimaru beyond what he had thought possible.

Things like, Leave her alone!, Get off my mother you swine!, Stop it! I beg you, leave her alone!, Why?! Why do you do this?! Am I not enough!? Why would you need another child!?

That and other things kept Naruto awake for weeks. From what he gathered, Tayuya's mother was used as breeding stock by Orochimaru. The thought alone made him sick and had his gut clench in fury. Flickers of conversations he interpreted as being between Tayuya and her mother clued him in on the fact that Orochimaru planned to use Tayuya for the same as soon as her body was old enough to handle... to handle... subsequent impregnation and birth. That night, Naruto's stomach had emptied about thrice in a row. The thought was too revolting for him to handle.

He knew Orochimaru to be a sick bastard but that stuff- these atrocities... If he ever got close enough to Orochimaru, he'd torture him first and serve him to Tayuya on a golden plate with an acid apple in his fucking mouth.

From these things alone he could understand her mistrust. Hell, he would understand it if she'd try to kill him. Though he would really like to explain things to her because being with her was by far better then being murdered by her.

"You can't remember," he simply stated when he didn't say anything. She shot him a glare. "Do you want me to tell you? Will you even believe me?"

"Try me!" she snarled back.

Naruto winced mentally at the harshness but told her anyways. After telling her that he had slipped into her cot he stopped her from verbally lashing out again. He told her how the seal had acted up again, how he had soothed the pain and she clung to him for warmth. How they had gazed into each others eyes and then... kissed.

She was silent when he ended his retelling and after a while Naruto grew uneasy. Had he acted hasty? Had he lost her? The thought hurt, by far more than these rejections he got by Sakura ever could. Or the punches she threw to emphasize them. Geez, the girl was by far to violent. Not even Tayuya had hit him that often. Though that may just change now.

"Do you mean it?"

Her voice snapped him out of it but he still answered without even thinking about it.

"Yes." His voice was solid and unbending, speaking form his very heart.

She averted her eyes and he could see her cheeks reddening ever so slightly. His heart bounced in circles in his chest.

"I... I can deal with that."

XXXXXX

"Help me walk."

Naruto stopped his workout and looked up at her. "Huh?"

She frowned. "You heard me, idiot. Help me fucking walk!"

Yes, her legs still hadn't healed enough for her to walk or even stand on her own. Tayuya wasn't stupid. She knew her muscles had atrophied like shit and if she ever wanted to walk again, let alone kick Orochimaru's ass, she needed to exercise.

She frowned as she swung her yet useless legs over the bedside to sit up. "I need to fucking move them or they won't ever heal."

Naruto stood up and stretched his back. "Alright," he said, "What do you need me to do exactly?"

"Just hold me up so I can put some weight on these useless little shits."

That was easier said than done. Well, it was easily done, really. But Naruto was standing behind her, arms slung around her und her arms and around her torso just beneath her breasts. She tried her damnedest not to blush but was just appeased in the end by the fact that he couldn't see her face anyways.

"Fuck that hurts!" she hissed through clenched teeth as she pushed against what little weight Naruto left for her to stand against.

Naruto didn't ease the weight. Instead he asked "How long can you do this? Before it does any more damage than it helps?"

Tayuya snarled. "Fuck... if I know!"

Naruto just hummed as he slowly moved forward so that Tayuya would take a few steps herself. "Okay," he said, "We'll do this everyday for about... ten minutes?" Tayuya just grunted and huffed as she moved her legs. "Yeah, ten minutes it is. So ten minutes everyday until it gets easier and then we go longer." He received another huff in response. After the approximate ten minutes were over, he let Tayuya sit down in her cot.

She was breathing heavily, her face still showing her discomfort. "Oh fuck that hurt!" she bit out and leaned backwards until her head rested against the wall.

Naruto nodded. "Well, if it helps?"

Tayuya scoffed. "You just like to fondle my tits!"

Naruto turned an alarming shade of red in an alarmingly short time. "I didn't! I swear I didn't! You slipped and I wasn't prepared and just-"

"Fondled my tits," she finished for him.

"Fuck you...," he grumbled back at her.

She laughed loudly. "You actually cursed!"

"Well I was bound to pick something up!" he shot back, "Your vocabulary is freaking extensive after all!"

"Damn right it is!"

It was another cold night and it was another night in which Naruto ended up warming Tayuya when he had soothed her curse mark. She didn't kick him out this time. Waking up was still fairly awkward.

XXXXXX

Sleeping arrangements didn't change then. Not immediately, at least. But on very cold nights, Naruto would simply go over to Tayuya's cot and she would lift the covers without a word for him to slide in. He would hold her and eventually she would grasp the hand that he had on her stomach and squeeze it. But waking up was really awkward the. Because spooning like that Tayuya awoke to the fact that Naruto was a healthy teenage boy. Okay, awkward didn't even begin to describe it. Disastrous would be more fitting. Because Tayuya did not, in no way at all, appreciate waking up to Naruto's erection pressing against her butt.

To his dying day Naruto would praise Kurama for the quick healing of every wounded body part.

In Tayuya's defense, it only happened once. Well, and that one time after that, were Naruto's private parts were far more than just too close to her own private parts.

One night, an especially cold one, Tayuya was woken by Naruto lightly shaking her awake.

"W-what?" she asked groggily and then frowned. Why did her throat hurt? She rubbed her eyes and frowned even more. She had cried. Dammit!

"You had a nightmare," Naruto's voice tickled her ear and she thought the urge to shiver.

She remained silent, resolute to not talk about it.

He sighed. "You know, even if you don't talk about it, I pretty much know what you dream about."

Tayuya tensed and tried to slide away from Naruto but he just drew her closer. "And because I know what you dream about, I understand that you don't want to talk about it. So I'll just tell you what you dreamed, and you'll listen.

"You dreamed of your mother. Of how she was returned to her cell, I guess, after... after they were through with her. She told you not to worry, that it would be all over soon. Then something else, another memory maybe. You shout at Orochimaru or Kabuto or something like that. You shout at them to tell you where your mother is. But they don't tell you so-"

"So I go look for her."

Naruto fell silent and drew her closer as she continued speaking in a toneless voice.

"I ran down the corridor she was always dragged off to and kicked down every door. Well, every door a seven year old girl can kick in. But I couldn't find her. I passed by the labs, the prison and then when I ran outside I-" Her voice broke and she chocked back a sob. Tayuya took a deep breath and turned around, looking Naruto directly in the eyes as he met her gaze without hesitation. "I found her in the mud, buried under a few other dead bodies, just as they were about to dispose of them. I dragged her out of there. She... she still dripped of- of...!" She clenched her teeth and blinked away some tears.

"I saw the marks on her neck. Even then I knew what they meant. She was strangulated to death... while they... while they violated her!" she snarled, tears rolling freely down her cheeks. "The other bodies. It was them. This bastards that killed her! I- I couldn't even think. I just sat there in the rain over my mothers dead body and cried. I cried until I passed out. I awoke in my cell. I was alone ever since. I buried her the day after. Got punished for it..."

Naruto didn't say anything but he held her gaze with his own.

When Tayuya's labored breath had calmed down, she prepared for the pity he would shower her with, those sad eyes that would act as if they understood, as if they could feel her pain and help her. But... she didn't find such in Naruto's eyes.

He smiled sadly at her. "I told you before, I won't pity you. Pity is for the weak and broken. And while you are certainly not whole anymore, you are neither weak nor are you broken. I can't comprehend loosing someone like that, I never had a family, nor anyone that close aside from the old man Hokage. His loss hurt, but it can't compare. But even if I can't understand it completely, I can still listen."

Maybe it won't help you, maybe it will, I don't know. I can only offer to be here for you. Mind you, that one of this made you any weaker to me. If anything, it just showed me how truly strong your heart is to go through all that and still be as wonderful as you are."

Tayuya just stared at him and for the longest time Naruto wondered if he had said something wrong. The she sniffed once and wiped her tears away.

She grinned. "Way to be sappy, lover boy!" Her voice was still shaky. "That was the most you ever said to me in one go!"

Naruto snorted and rolled his eyes.

XXXXXX

It was the following night that Tayuya stopped him before he laid down on his cot. She just held on to the hem of his shirt and looked down at her feet.

"Lay down with me," she said, barely above a whisper.

Naruto nodded. "Okay," he said and let her pull him along.

Once they were tucked in, Tayuya turned around and looked into his eyes before she buried her face in the crock of his neck.

And then she just started talking.

About everything.

From the time she remembered living with her mother and being taught by her, the day Orochimaru abducted them for their special Genjutsu abilities, how he experimented on her ad kept her mother away from her. How she first saw her mother being violated, how she buried her in the forest and was punished with a week without food for it. How she trained harder and harder to get strong enough, how she received the curse mark when she was ten and nearly died. How she signed the summoning contract of the doki who viewed her more of a meal than a summoner and only her flute could control them. How she was pitted against countless others without even knowing why and she just fought to survive it all. How she was chosen as guardian of the north gate and received her title. She told him how the sound four were first formed and how Kimimaro creeped her the fuck out. How she was stupid enough to let Kabuto patch up her wounds which he only used as an opportunity so carve her a few new scars and 'gather data'. How she did missions up to the point where they had to infiltrate Konoha for the invasion. And how she was one of the four who upheld the barrier in which Orochimaru killed the Third Hokage.

When Naruto didn't react to that and just held her all the more, Tayuya continued.

She told him how they got out of Konoha, how they were instructed to infiltrate the village once more after they had been through a training/torture session with Kabuto and his failed experiments. How they met Sasuke and how he agreed to come with them. And then, how she first met him.

"I just saw you, in that kill me orange jacket and punched you right in the face. Really, I could't have missed if you would have been flea sized with that jacket." She snickered. "But I had to let your horribly dressed ass pass when that lazy shadow guy attacked me. And I would have beaten his ass if not for that bitch with her fan."

Naruto smirked. "Then I ought to thank her."

"You fucking what?!" Tayuya shouted indignantly.

He squeezed her tighter. "Of course! If she hadn't dropped a forest on you, I wouldn't have met you."

She scoffed but he could feel her face grow warm against him. "Well, she could have fucking knocked me out instead of burying me..."

"Yeah, she could."

"Oh she better had! Now I'm a' beat her sandy ass when I get out of here!"

Naruto laughed. "And that would end you up in prison in Suna. She is the daughter of the late Kazekage after all."

Tayuya groaned into him. "God dammit."

XXXXXX

Was it the second year? Or still the first? She honestly couldn't tell anymore but it wasn't long after she could finally walk again. Which wasn't much fun, just walking around in the cell and to the bathroom.

Anyways, it was when she stumbled out of the shower (her legs weren't all that strong yet) when she noticed that something was different. Something being Naruto, of course.

"What?" she asked when she pulled on some socks.

He glanced at her and looked away again. He did that a few times before he stood up with an exasperate sigh.

"Look," he said only to stop and scratch his head. Tayuya knows that he always does that when he isn't certain about something. So she decides to give him time.

He turns to her and just stares, gazes into her eyes. She's taken aback by the raw emotions she sees in them. She stands up as well and makes a few shaky steps towards him. Now she needs to know what he has to say.

"Tell me," she whispers and takes his hands. They're hot, nearly burning up against her skin. "It's just me, you can tell me, can't you?"

He gulps and squeezes her hands a little. "And because it is you, it's all the more difficult. It's because you are so... so wonderful. So strong, so compassionate, so honest, so... so beautiful, that is harder to say."

She blushes but doesn't shy away. "So out with it, lover boy. I know I'm great already."

He smiles. "And you are. You are the greatest to me. I mean... I..." Naruto takes a shaky breath but he smiles still, cheeks red and eyes still an ocean of raw emotion directed at her.

Naruto complemented her before, that wasn't what had her breath hitch. It was his eyes. Eyes that conveyed such adoration she couldn't believe it was directed at her. But she knew that look. She had seen it in the mirror after she could finally stand on her own. And she could stand on her own because of him. Not just stand on her feet. Just stand as a person, as herself, because he was there, because he had listened. When she had made it to the shower her eyes were still alight with the same glint of... of affection as Naruto's were now. Only that his seemingly glowed and overflowed with it.

She swallowed as her throat ran dry. This was what getting serious meant, could it be?

Naruto's heart threatened to jump out of his throat any second now. Tayuya's eyes lit up with something akin to recognition and she hadn't stepped back, hadn't let go of his hands. She just swallowed once and waited. This was his moment! Say it already! Tell her that you freaking love her! That you love her to bits! Do it you idiot! Just do it!

He takes a deep breath, only then realizing that he hadn't inhaled in over a minute. She was right. It was just her. And while it did make things harder, it also made them easier. He told her things before. His nightmares, stories of his team, his dumb crush, of the girl that always fainted, of his lazy ass sensei, of how he came to see Sasuke as a brother and how that bond shattered when he tried to kill him. So how was this any different?

Because she could reject you.

That must have been the least appropriate moment for the Kyuubi to speak up.

What the hell do you want!?, he snarled back mentally, Can't you see I'm busy!?

You are failing spectacularly at asking her to be your mate, the fox snorts. You told her of me, of your atrocious crush and your homosexual expirience with that Uchiha. How could you possibly drive her away after that?

Oh fuck you! Naruto thinks back, This is serious! What the hell am I gonna go without her!?

Exactly. What will you do without her? Crawl back to your pathetic crush?

Hell no!

And what will you do when you get out of here and another male finds her appealing?

Naruto swallos thickly. He does not want to think about that.

Of course you wouldn't want to! the fox laughs, She is yours after all! Just get over with it already! Do it or I'll take over and do it for you!

You little-!

But Naruto is running out of time when Tayuya speaks. "Naruto?" she asks in a small voice, laced with uncertainty.

No, he won't let her down, he can't! He lover her! Lover her too much!

Just say it you god damn bastard!

"I love you."

It isn't a shout. It isn't a whisper. Not a squeak, not stuttered. It is said with utmost confidence, with the utmost truth from within. It is a statement, a reflection of his innermost feelings and thought and the very sum of his existence. It all comes down to her. To Tayuya.

To the girl he loves.

And then-

She smiles at him.

NEW part END!

XXXXXX

"Oi, Naruto! How much longer are we stuck in here again?"

The blonde sighed as he stepped out of the bathroom. A smile tugged on his lips, she had asked the same question eight times already.

"Tomorrow, so lay down already or it will never be morning. Kakashi promised to get us out first thing in the morning," he answered her and threw the towel back into the bathroom.

"But I'm not tired yet! It feels like I've been sleeping straight for three fucking years!" she whined, slowly turning on the chair she sat on, "Fuck, I don't wanna lay do-" She froze when she came to face him but quickly smirked. "Oh, suddenly the bed seems all the more inviting!"

He laughed as her shirt hit his face, though he had the decency to blush when her panties joined the top. He was grabbed (not by either of his arms or hands, mind you) and pulled forward. Mindful of the appendage, the pull wasn't exactly rough. He came to a stop in front of the bed, Tayuya slowly laid down on her back and held out her arms, grinning up at him. He twitched (not his face though), grinning down at her.

"Now make love to me one last time in here, lover boy!" she commanded him grinning like a loon, "Because tomorrow, you will have to find us a new bed first!"

EDIT A/N: I hope you like the more detailed first chapter! I realized that simply reposting the one shot as first chapter was kind of lame.. So here! Hope it was fluffy enough! I seriously ran out of cotton here.