damned_institute | Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

Momo's mind was turning over all the possibilities surrounding this "field trip" to the surrounding town when she settled down in the corner of the Sun Room away from the Arts & Crafts room. She curled her legs underneath her as she waited for Shouko-san to find her. The shinigami had no idea what she looked like, so she kept an eye on all those entering the room.

It was still very cold, or at least she was cold, and the momentary thought of getting her coat from her own room passed through her mind amidst the field trip thoughts. She pushed it away and decided to deal with it being as cold as it was since she'd already been late to one meeting today and didn't want to start making it a habit.

As she waited, she pondered the next day's possibilities. Maybe, just maybe, once away from the institute the shinigami will have access to their full reiatsu. And if not, maybe they'll have a better idea of how they are being limited so much. Maybe Aizen would be able to find her then. He'd save her... right? Right?

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"Yeah, a big one," he explained and draped an arm over his eyes. Naruto trusted people rather easily as long as he could see no reason not to, and Usagi was a good person; he could tell. "We used to get into fights all the time. We hated each other at first, but then we went through a lot of things and grew close. I don't have a family, so I began to consider him like a brother to me. Then all of a sudden he wanted to leave, and I tried to stop him, but I couldn't..."

"Do you have any siblings or family?" Naruto asked and let his arm fall back down at his side, glancing her at. He was always curious to hear different people's experiences with bonds.

When she mentioned the amount of information Landel's must have gathered, he grunted his agreement. "Lee 'n me found the files they keep on all the patients after we split with you guys that night. To be able to seal all our individual strengths, they gotta know a lot about where we all come from."

Naruto's description reminded Usagi of the way she and Chibi Usa used to act around each other... well, they still sometimes acted that way, but they still cared about each other. Usagi felt sorry for Naruto, if he had no family he needed his friends so much more. "Does he know how you feel?" she asked softly, suddenly feeling guilty for prying.

"I have a mom and a dad and a younger brother, and a-" Usagi had already told Naruto about her powers but she wasn't sure how he would react to hearing she had a daughter from the future hanging out with her. "-a younger cousin who lives with us. We fought all the time too and then-" Chibi Usa getting possessed by the Black Moon was easy summarized "-we got into a HUGE fight because she thought I didn't like her so..." but the thing with Mamoru... "she tried to steal my boyfriend, but then I told her how I felt and we worked things out!" Usagi ended proudly.

The only time Naruto had been partly truthful with Sasuke about how important he was to him, with actual words, was at the Valley of the End, and even then not with whole truths, and even then he had also declared to break every single one of his best friend's bones. He stalled a little bit, thinking over the question carefully.

"It's hard to make him understand," Naruto decided, forehead crinkling. "He's lost. I'm not sure what to do anymore. If I can't help him, I--" he trailed off on a hint of desperation, stopping himself before he unloaded three years of worries onto an unsuspecting victim.

He found himself raising his eyebrows at certain parts of Usagi's story.

"She tried to steal your boyfriend?" He repeated a little incredulously. Girls had weird ways of getting revenge. It was true that he didn't understand how real families were supposed to work, so maybe this was common. Nonetheless, he smiled approvingly after she finished. "I'm glad you managed to understand each other in the end. Hey, so you do have a boyfriend!"

Naruto pointed this out by sitting up and looking at Usagi like he had caught some important fact too late. A mischievous grin spread over his face as he finally understood: "You were just teasing Sakura-chan, huh? What's your boyfriend like? What's his name?"

"You can do it, I just met you and even I can see how much you care!" Usagi could tell that his problems with his friend went a lot deeper than she could understand without knowing the other ninja. Maybe she would seek him out sometime and find out if he was as thick-headed as Naruto made him out to be...

"Yeah, I was just teasing her," Usagi replied, sticking her tongue out and winking at him. Boys were so slow. She had hoped her little "push" would have helped Naruto out. There was nothing wrong with love, not even in a place like Landel's.

"His name is Mamoru," she answered, punctuated by a deep, dreamy sigh. Usagi repositioned herself on the couch so that she was sitting cross-legged with her hands in her lap. "He's tall and has dark hair and is really smart and mature..." And I miss him, she thought, giving a little sniffle and rubbing one of her eyes.

When he was twelve years old, he would have buffered any accusation that he actually cared about Sasuke with irritated huffing and denial. Considering how far he had gone for him by now, Naruto flushed a small amount and rubbed the back of his neck instead. Usagi was an outside source, so it was even easier to be free with her, in a way.

"Yeah, I won't give up!" He answered, lifting a fist and grinning appreciatively at Usagi. When she confirmed her intentions in giving Sakura a little push, he snickered heartily. It all made sense now.

"Well, it worked," he beamed and placed a hand by his chin, very mock-suave. "You're as much of a genius as your friend, you know that?"

Naruto listened to Usagi's description of her boyfriend, Mamoru, who sounded like a pretty good guy considering the string of adjectives she used, and understood immediately what her small sniffle meant. He faltered for a second before brightening and turning to her. They mirrored each other's positions on the couch and must have looked a little bit like two peas in a pod to any observer.

"Hey, I'll make you a promise, alright? I won't leave this place until I've made sure you've got a way to get back to your home and back to him. We can work together, and nobody deserves to get left behind."

"I promise too!" Usagi replied with a smile, immediately brightening up again from his promise and his assertion that she was indeed a genius. She would see Mamoru again, she knew that for sure. When not around food it seemed like Naruto would be a good influence on her.

"So did anything happen with Sakura?" Usagi asked slyly, leaning over closer to him.

Mutual promises! Naruto's grin widened, teeth flashing through his smile. He never went back on his word and would make sure that Usagi made it home before he even thought about leaving her behind.

When she leaned in and placed emphasis on the word happen with her question, Naruto's cheeks colored red but his grin did not vanish, only became more wicked and, if possible, even wider. His eyes squinted closed and he snickered again, pleased with himself.

Oh, how Sakura-chan would hurt him if she could see him now.

"Kind of," he answered smugly. "She told me she likes me too and we had a few moments. But, but," he turned all the way in and faced Usagi, also learning forward and seeking her counsel. "How long have you been with your boyfriend? Have you ever kissed him?"

It would be a good chance to find out what girls liked, from an actual girl. Not from Jiraiya, who could not be trusted with any matters not training related.

"Well... umm..." Usagi turned bright red. It was one thing to share intimate details between girlfriends, but with a boy?! She suddenly imagined Umino trying to ask her what she and Mamo-chan did in their private time and nearly fell over. But on the other hand Naruto wasn't Umino, he was more like a girlfriend, and it would be for a good cause. He could be her student, and she the professor of LOVE!

"Well!" Usagi started again, regaining her composure and determined to give him a proper lesson. "But remember, this is for YOU only, don't go telling this to your friends, it's a special one time only lesson!" She trusted Naruto, but she liked adding a disclaimer.

"Okay. We've been together a while now. And yes, we've kissed, lots of times. You should be very forward about that, girls like guys who take charge-- but not too much charge!" She gave him a warning look as though he should know exactly what she meant.

Usagi's thoughts drifted off the more she spoke. "Mamo-chan has his own apartment so that makes things easier. No distractions. It's more romantic when it starts to get dark out too. Couches are good for making out, so is the bed... the table... up against the door... the floor... it depends on the mood..."

He nodded very seriously when Usagi warned him about spreading this information. It would probably be lots of top secret girl mysteries, and he recognized that he was very privileged to have this source of learning.

"Yes, sensei!" He responded obediently, giving her a small salute before she continued. As she started explaining, Naruto's eyes widened and his shoulders stiffened -- especially at her warning look, to which he nodded very rapidly again (but what was too much?) -- and by the time she was going on about location, his face was as red as hers had been in the start.

"Ehhhh?! All those places?! Y, you, you've," he sputtered, looking at Usagi with newfound and wide-eyed respect. She was experienced! And she didn't look much older than him! Naruto wasn't clueless about sex (it was impossible to be clueless about sex with the kind of influences he'd had in his life) but he had since only had one kiss in his life ...

... And it was one kiss he preferred never to talk about or think about again, thank you very much.

"So, so, I should make the first real move?" He asked, pointing helplessly at himself. With most things, Naruto considered himself firmly in charge. With Sakura-chan, Naruto knew his place and tried not to think about what should happen if he ever crossed a very serious line. He folded his arms over his chest and adopted a carefully thoughtful expression.

"Ero-sennin was right all along, huh. What if it's kind of complicated, like you know she also has feelings for somebody else and you don't want to get in the way too much? Are there any rules about that?"

"Of course all those places! Variety is the spoon of life as they say," Usagi nodded sagely and crossed her arms.

"That means you have to try even harder!!" Usagi exclaimed in disbelief. Naruto really didn't know anything about love or girls... "I guess the only exception is if the other person is your friend, but even then alls fair in love and war!" That was key, everyone knew that.

"You have to prove that you have better skills than him..." That gave her an idea! "Time for a practical lesson!" Grabbing the couch pillow behind her she shoved it at Naruto. "Let's see your technique!"

Variety, the spoon of life, as they say: Naruto was making mental notes all the way along, chin dipping down and the cogs in his mind churning furiously. Would Sakura-chan appreciate him trying to make out with her on a couch? On a table? Up against the door? Would it cost him his manhood trying to figure it out?

He looked up again, befuddled while she continued to explain. "B-but, Usagi-chan, he's the same friend I mentioned before, and she's liked him a lot longer than she ever liked me and--"

A couch pillow was suddenly shoved into his hands, and Naruto sputtered his surprise. "Ghk!" He gripped it and switched his gaze from pillow to Usagi, considering her instructions and feeling himself become very flustered.

"Technique?" He repeated in a smaller voice. Usagi was a lot more like ero-sennin than he would have ever expected. "I don't really have one! I've never really kissed anyone before, well, there was this one time, but it was an accident and it was totally wrong and gross and, uh..."

He held the pillow out in front of him and considered it for a moment. "How should I start?"

"If you prove you love her more I'm sure he'll understand!"

Usagi swiftly grabbed another pillow, she was going to have to show him EVERYTHING. "Okay. So." She propped the pillow up in her lap so that it faced her. "First you have to move in close, because she has to smell you. Smell is more important than you think, because everyone gives off their own furmones. It's some animal thing or something." She considered her words and added. "But don't forget about about deodorant, and maybe a little cologne if you have that. But too much drowns out your natural furmones."

Usagi paused for a moment and faced the pillow. "Next, you move in slowly, locking eyes with her. If she likes you she'll move closer too..." she pulled the pillow in. "Now, when you get to that point you're at a crossroads. Show me what you would do!"

Unwittingly, he mirrored every small move she made with her pillow. He positioned it in his lap the same way and watched both his teacher and his pillow very intently, a small sweat breaking out and his body very obviously tense.

"Furmones? Whoa, I'm not into some animal thing," he protested a little bit. That sounded kind of kinky. Not that he was necessarily against kinky. "But I don't think I smell bad, so that's good. Unless there was something weird for lunch and my stomach didn't agree and... I guess you have to be careful about that kind of thing when you're trying to impress someone, huh? Man, there's so much to remember with girls!"

Naruto watched Usagi pull the pillow in closer and mimicked her. He kept looking back and forth rather than concentrating on the target, making his movements very not smooth and unsure. "What I would do--"

What would he do in that situation? Truthful to his personality, Naruto brought the pillow to his chest in a bear hug and grinned around it. If Sakura moved in closer, he would ecstatically cling to her above all else.

"Sakura-chan~!!" He exclaimed happily, imagining that it was her he was holding in his arms.

"Don't ever eat any garlic or chili or--" Usagi's instructions were cut off as she watched Naruto in horror as he attacked his pillow.

"You're doing it wrong!" she insisted, whacking him with her pillow. "That's not how you be romantic! You have to be mature. Like this--" Usagi pulled her own pillow close to her chest again and began whispering in its "ear" in her imitation a lower, more manly tone. "Oh Sakura-chan, I love you...!" Usagi leaned in and shoved her face into her pillow, wrapping her arms and legs around it. After about a minute of gentle caressing and suffocating herself with the pillow she popped her head back up to make sure he was still watching.

"Understand?"

He made another incomprehensible noise of surprise ("Nghk!") and halted his demonstration once Usagi used correctional force by smacking him with the pillow. He scratched the back of his head and watched her carefully, eager to see what his mistake had been.

His expression morphed from curious to indecipherable in the span of that minute, while Usagi proceeded to practically devour her pillow. It looked to Naruto more like she was attacking her opponent during a spar rather than imitating a romantic encounter. If that was what girls really liked, it was going to be easier than he realized. Still, some nagging voice reminded him that this demonstration was close to a foreshadowing of his ultimate doom, if he ever pulled a stunt like that with Sakura.

Naruto held his head in his hands in dramatic despair and ruffled his hair furiously. "Gaaah!! No way! No way! I can't do that to Sakura-chan, she'd, she'd castrate me! She'd kill me! I wouldn't make it out alive or with all of my body parts intact!"

"You can't be intimidated!" Usagi lectured. So he liked violent types... that was interesting.

Just as she was about to question his preferences the nurses began filing in to take them back to their rooms.

"We can continue lessons tomorrow," Usahi sighed, putting her pillow back in its place on the couch. "Don't forget to meet us in the Female Block hall tonight~"

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Day 27: Sun Room (4th Shift)

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