finally || naruto and tsunade

vi

Tsunade smiled, her eyes closed, sighing in content.

"I love you."

The three words, whispered in her ear by a man she trusted her heart and soul to, brought a rush of warmth to her chest.

The words, combined with gentle fingers running up and down and across her naked back and neck, left her skin covered in goosebumps.

"Oh?" She half whispered, half moaned. "Is that so?"

Her lover, her man, her idiot, laid next to her in the bed they shared in Sunagakure no Sato as naked as she was, half of his body draped in sheets as he rubbed her back softly.

Even with her eyes closed, Tsunade could feel Naruto's gaze on her.

"Definitely." He stated certainly, his ardent response making her chuckle.

She cracked a single eye open slowly, bronze drifting across the handsome face of Uzumaki Naruto.

"I love you, too, Naruto." She swore in a gentle, sincere tone. Her eyes drank in the blue of his, and in that moment, she wondered how she was ever able to live without this person in her life.

That contagious smile of his lit his features, his entire face lighting up as if he were the happiest person in the whole wide world. And maybe he was.

"I want to tell Gaara about us." He whispered, his eyes still peering into hers, determination welling in them.

Tsunade, surprisingly, didn't feel the nervous, anxious feeling that usually came with others finding out about her relationship with her blond lover.

"I figured you would." She replied, not unhappy or scared. "You share something special with him. I understand the desire to share this secret with him too."

Naruto smiled at her, unknowing of just how beautiful she thought that smile was. She wished he smiled like that more often. That wish was thoroughly squashed by the selfish part of her heart that wanted that smile all to herself.

"Can I?" He asked hopefully, his fingers still gently rubbing her back in unintelligible patterns. "Do you mind? I know he wouldn't think differently of you. He always talks about how much he respects you."

Tsunade sighed, though not in annoyance. It was a content sigh, a peaceful sigh. She wondered if the sudden desire to rub her back was a sneaky tactic to butter her up.

But then she remembered that Naruto didn't have a deceptive bone in his body, and wore his heart on his sleeve.

"No, I don't mind at all." She said honestly, smiling softly at his bright expression.

"Thank you, Tsunade." He said, leaning in close to press his lips into her neck, unintentionally making her moan. Without leaning back out, he said, "I really do love you."

His words were so soft and quiet that she barely heard them. But she did, and she had the warm butterflies in her stomach to prove it.

| To Love |

Gaara blinked, slowly and deliberately. Once, twice, three times before he finally smiled at his best friend.

"Is that so?" He said amusingly. Naruto had just admitted to being in a relationship with the Godaime Hokage, the Slug Princess, a Sannin.

With Senju Tsunade.

And all Gaara could do was smile.

"Yeah..." Naruto nodded, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "We celebrated her birthday together and it sorta just... happened." He said, blushing.