A Wild Night!

Chapter 14

He held her close, and continued to rock her back and forth long after her sobs had begun to subside. She shook in his hands, and Sasuke couldn't bring himself to let her go, even for a second to readjust the uncomfortable position they had found themselves in.

Sarutobi Asuma was an unfamiliar name to him. He'd heard of him, certainly, even seen his face on the Sandaime's family tree when they had been studied the Hokage in the academy; but Sasuke doubted he had ever even talked to Asuma. His death hurt, as the death of all comrades did, but Sasuke knew that he would get over it.

Naruko, though, Naruko was a wholly different breed of person compared to Sasuke. She felt strongly for everyone, not just a few handpicked people that Sasuke was still making his mind up about.

"He- he's in a better place." The words that escaped his mouth were clumsy, as one might expect. Her sobbing didn't intensify much to his relief, but she certainly didn't feel any better from his 'comforting' words. "A better place..."

"Shut up," Naruko whispered, and Sasuke couldn't help but wince.

It seemed to take ages for her shaking to stop.

Sasuke looked down.

Naruko looked up. Her blue eyes shimmered, ugly blotches of red scattered about her tear stained cheeks. Her whiskers stretched, her lips wobbled, and that tortured expression that marred her features made his gut clench.

"Sa- Sasuke." she managed to force out.

He swallowed. "... yeah?"

She stared into his eyes a moment longer, unflinchingly, unknowing or uncaring of the tears that still poured down her cheeks.

Then, Naruko tipped her head upward, and captured his lips in a kiss that was equal parts clumsy and awkward.

Sasuke recoiled, because the salty taste of tears was not something he often found himself partaking in when he kissed her. Not to mention, you know, she had just been sobbing into his chest and the next moment she was pressing everything against him-and now was not the time when he could allow her curves to tempt him into doing something they'd regret.

With great difficulty, he managed to ease her off of him.

"Naruko?" Sasuke said. "What are you doing?"

She clawed at the collar of his shirt, and pushed him onto his back. "Please." she rasped, her voice croaked; tears dripped from her eyes and down onto his cheeks. "I need this, Sasuke-I need it."

It didn't take a Hokage to realize what 'it' was. "Naruko, we can't." he said. "You're not in your right mind, it would feel- it would be wrong."

"I don't care if it feels wrong!" Naruko said. "I need to get my mind off of it, somehow." She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes for a moment. "I just feel so terrible right now, Sasuke-there's this ache in my gut, my heart, and it just won't go away..! But..." She drifted off.

"But what?" Sasuke asked, his tone solemn.

"When I'm with you, I always feel so good." she whispered, voice a breath on the wind. "When we're-" She audibly swallowed. "When we're making love, I feel amazing; so please, Sasuke, please just help me. Get my mind off of this pain, I can't stand it, I just can't. Please."

Sasuke turned his head, and refused to meet her gaze.

She wasn't in her right mind, Sasuke reasoned. Girlfriend or not, to take advantage of someone who was so stricken with grief and guilt felt unbearably wrong. He was an Uchiha-he had his pride, his dignity, but more importantly, he had the brains to know that sleeping with her then and there wouldn't fix a thing. If anything, it would make everything worse once they were finished, because the pain would come back full throttle.