3

Chapter 3

Suki woke in the morning, feeling oddly comfortable. She was so warm and her "bed" felt so firm. She liked a firm bed. As she slowly began to wake up, she realized something was wrong.

"What the?" She mumbles sleepily.

Her pillow was moving! Pillows were not supposed to do that. It was subtle, but it was steady. A gradual up and down motion. She cautiously opens her eyes and soon finds out why.

Her head was on Naruto's chest. It was his breathing she felt. Now that she thought about it, that did explain the steady THUMP THUMP that had lulled her to sleep the entire night. She had thought that she'd been dreaming, but she hadn't been. That was just the sound of Naruto's heartbeat.

"Better get out of his arms, before he wakes up. I'll never hear the end of this." She tries to wiggle out of his hold.

She frowns. Naruto's embrace was a powerful thing, it seemed. No matter how much she squirmed or tried to move his hands, he wouldn't budge. It was like trying to move a mountain. Despite this, it was never crushing. She wondered about this contradiction, but decides it didn't matter. What mattered now was getting out of his arms, BEFORE he woke up.

"Are you ever going to stop doing that?" He looks at her.

DAMMIT ALL TO HELL! He was awake. How long had he been awake? Had Naruto been faking being asleep? That might explain his strong hold…

"Stop doing what?" She asks.

"Trying to run away from me. It's annoying." He teases her using the word that Suki had often used while they were Genin.

"Your chasing is even more so." She taunts him.

"It wouldn't be annoying, if you didn't run in the first place. But you know before we go out and commence with Operation Screw with the Council, we should probably practice. I mean it'd be awkward if we weren't used to the whole PDA thing. No one is going to believe it, if we looked shocked. Plus there's the fact that you don't know how to be nice and flirt." He adds as an afterthought.

"Excuse me?" She raises an eyebrow.

"It's not a big deal. You are just used to being chased. I doubt you even know how to flirt because well you've never had to." He explains.

"I know how to flirt. I just choose not to." She scoffs.

"They have to believe that we are lovers." Naruto continues.

"And you don't think that I'm capable of faking it." She states.

"Pretty much, yeah." He answers.

"That sounds like a challenge." Suki muses.

"What? No, I didn't mean it as a challenge. I'm just sayin-" Naruto doesn't get to finish his sentence as Suki had now moved to sit in his lap and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I'll prove that I am FULLY capable of flirting…when I WANT to." She informs him.

"Okay." The blue eyed ninja knew better than to argue with Suki when she had THAT look in her eye.

Oh that eyelash thing was new. Suki had lowered her lashes and was giving him what Naruto could only call a seductive look. Jiraiya had called this tactic, bedroom eyes. Suki had always had gorgeous eyes and seemed more than willing to use this to her advantage.

She leans over. He can feel her breath warm on his ear, her lips brushing against it. The busty brunette was straddling his waist in a rather…suggestive fashion.

"I want you." She murmurs into his ear in a breathless voice.

"…." Naruto was speechless.

Fuck! Shit! God dammit! He didn't know that he was capable of getting hard THAT fast. Where the Hell had she learned how to do this?!

"I t-take it back. You are very good at f-faking it." He tries to adjust their position, so that Suki didn't find out HOW good she was at pretending.

"Told you so." She smiles smugly and gets off his lap.

"Seriously? What is wrong with you? She does THAT and you do nothing? Any self respecting male would bend that vixen over that damn coffee table and claim her immediately." Kurama rolls his eyes.

"She was just pretending. She didn't actually mean it. It's just practice." Naruto tells him.

"Just practice, my tails. One can't fake such…desire." Kyuubii argues and it was at this point that Naruto cuts the link.

"But you know…um I don't think that approach is really appropriate in public." Naruto says.

"Probably not. I was mostly proving a point." She shrugs.

"So we need to work on things like handholding, kisses on the cheek, maybe on the mouth, and holding each other." He says.

"The kissing on the mouth thing is going to take some practice. You are a horrible kisser. Your teeth practically knocked mine out at the Academy." Suki smirks.

"HEY! That was an accident! That is NOT how I kiss for real." He protests.

"That's a challenge, if I ever heard one." Kyuubi says.

"BE QUIET!" Naruto barks at him.

"Considering we are getting married and have to kiss at the wedding, God I hope not." She continues taunting him.

"Oh that's it!" Naruto pins her to the couch.

Suki wasn't proud of it, but she let out a startled meep. She hadn't expected him to pounce like a fucking lion or something.

She mentally corrected herself, more like a fox. Foxes were good pouncers. She had seen a few animal documentaries when she was a kid and remembered thinking that it was cute.

"Naruto?" She asks uncertainly.

"I'm going to prove you wrong." He captures her lips with his own.

Soft and warm. Her lips were soft and warm. Naruto heard Suki gasp, that was all the opportunity that he needed to deepen the kiss. Suki's kiss tasted like red wine and chocolate, he decided. Wanting more, he decided explore her mouth further, by gliding his tongue across hers and mapping her mouth.

He must have shocked the Hell out of her because for about fifteen seconds, she just laid there stunned. But after awhile, he felt her tug on his hair and pull him closer, with her original arm. (It looked like she was still pretty ginger about using the other.)

"Nhh." He hears her moan into the kiss as Suki returns it.

For once, Suki wasn't running away from him. She was actually trying to get closer to him. Even more shocking, she wasn't fighting for control of the kiss. The brunette was clearly allowing him to take the lead, even has her tongue seductively danced against his in a way that made his blood heat up. For some reason, the voluntary submission just excited him more.

Oh God! That felt GOOD. Suki's vocabulary had shut down, along with most of her brain. Well except the part that apparently processed the sensation of touch.

Where did he learn to kiss like THAT? She wondered as she returned it. There was a slightly citrus taste to his kiss and something that she couldn't identify exactly. She just labeled under category of masculine. The way he kissed her, made her feel like fire was racing through her veins. It felt painfully good. Her heart skipped a couple beats.

Naruto didn't want to. He REALLY didn't want to. But the blonde was not suicidal. If he kept going, Suki was bound to notice his arousal. She'd probably punch him for that. Whoever came up with the phrase, hit like a girl…had clearly never met Suki Uchiha.

"So…still think I'm a bad kisser?" He taunts her.

"Well you are better than you were back then. I suppose…kissing you at the wedding won't be so bad." She smirks cockily, though the fact that she whimpered when he broke the kiss and she was breathless, told Naruto just how seriously to take her lukewarm verbal assessment.

He couldn't help but feel a surge of pride that he had left her breathless. Her face was flushed in a lovely rosy color and her lips were slightly swollen. Suki might pretend otherwise, but now Naruto knew that he was a good kisser. He doubted Suki had much more (if any) experience at kissing than he did. But he figured that much like in every other area of life, Suki was hard to impress. So if he could impress her, he must be a damn good kisser.

"You think you are up for…a walk around the village? Maybe go see a wedding planner? It's okay if you aren't. I know your arm has to be hurting you." He suggests.

"I'm up for it. Just let me get changed." She heads upstairs to get something.

"Yeah. Good idea." Naruto says and races off to change as well.

A few minutes later, Naruto and Suki head off into the village. Everywhere they went, people were looking at them. Suki surprised Naruto by taking his hand first.

"You wanna go to the flower shop first? Ino's the biggest gossip in the village." He leans down and brushes his lips against her ear, to make it look like he was whispering Sweet Nothings to her..

"Good idea. Make sure to put on a Hell of a show for her." She agrees and walks with him.

"Hey, Naruto." Ino smiles at him, but she blinks when she sees Suki.

"Hey, Suki! Um what brings you guys here?" The blonde woman asks.

"We wanted to look at some flowers. You know every wedding has to have flowers." Naruto beams.

"…No way. You two?" She asks.

"Mhm." Suki nods in confirmation.

"How'd that happen?" The other woman asks stunned.

"Well…" Naruto pauses, they hadn't come up with a good bullshit love story yet.

Suki though didn't hesitate. He found out that the last Uchiha could be extremely creative when she wanted to be. He was frankly stunned at the story she pulled out of thin air.

"I realized while I was…away from the village, that Naruto never gave up on me. He was never far from my thoughts. I tried to break our bond, but he wouldn't let me. I couldn't let myself. I tried to break it, thinking if I was away long enough on a Journey of Redemption that the feelings would go away or he would fall in love with someone else by the time I got back. But he waited for me." Suki begins and notes the stars appearing in Ino's eyes, oh yeah she was buying this.

"And then what happened?" She giggles.

"We were training and somehow the heat of battle became something more. We've been keeping it a secret because we didn't know how the village would react, but Kakashi has decided to approve of our relationship and help soothe over any worries that the others might have. So we decided there's no reason to hide our love anymore." Suki smiles at the other woman.

Yeah. Suki was a genius. Naruto always knew that of course, but damn. She had just completely made that up in under a minute. Wow. He was probably going to need to get her to write that down and memorize it for future reference.

"That's so romantic! I'm really happy for you. So what kind of flowers were you interested in?" She asks happily.

Suki to her credit looks at Naruto. The brunette looks at him as if he was really her lover and she wanted his input on the flowers. Naruto rubs the back of his head sheepishly, like he knew anything about flowers.

"We were just you know…gonna browse and see what we liked." He offers lamely.

"Oh sure! Well let me know if you need anything." The blonde ninja nods her head at them energetically.

"We will." He grins and leans down to whisper something in Suki's ear again.

"Don't freak out. You said to put on a show." He mutters.

"I won't freak out." She promises.

"Alright."Naruto slowly slides his hand down her back and over her ass, grabbing it firmly.

Suki somehow manages not to jump. Whatever she had been expecting, it hadn't been that. Damn, Naruto wasn't afraid to go for it either. His touch was…confident to put it mildly.

"It's a good thing you warned me." She whispers to him.

Naruto couldn't believe that Suki hadn't Chidoried him yet to be honest. He'd never touched a woman like he was touching her now. He was sorta mourning the fact that Suki had traded in her shorts for pants a few years ago.

"Yeah. Well I didn't want to get Chidoried or something." Naruto whispers back.

Jirayai would have said something stupid at this point like, Baby got back! Despite his limited experience, he realized that Suki definitely had a nice ass. If she took after her mother, he could understand why Suki's father had been so grabby.

"Is she looking?" Suki murmurs.

"Oh yeah. Her eyes are about to pop out of her head." Naruto assures her.

"Mission accomplished then. You can take your hand off now." Suki nods at him.

"What? No. We want to make it look as realistic as possible. So the longer we are seen touching and stuff…" He trails off.

"You're right." Suki admits, though Naruto could see that her cheeks had taken on a slight blush.

"You mind picking out some flowers…?" He asks.

"Roses are traditional. Red, white, and yellow." She answers.

"Yellow…didn't see that coming." Naruto mutters.

"Same color as your hair. Thought it was fitting." Suki replies.

"Didn't figure you for a romantic." He laughs as he places their order with Ino.

"I can be, when I want to be." She shrugs.

"Good choices. How soon do you want them?" Ino smiles at the 'happy couple.'

"Place them on back order. We can't get married until my arm…adjusts." Suki frowns at her bandages.

"Ohhhh. Alright. Yeah! Sure. No problem." The bubbly blonde giggles.

"Thank you." Suki smiles at the other ninja as if this was all perfectly normal.

"You wanna go get some lunch?" Naruto glances at Suki.

"Sure." Suki says and kisses Naruto's cheek.

"Great! To the Ramen Shop." He laughs.

"…Some things never change." She says and shakes her head in amusement, following him.

"Awe come on. Besides, if we can convince the Old Man, we can convince anyone." He says.

"I suppose he does act as a surrogate father for you in some bizarre way. God knows you see him as much as you do Kakashi." Suki muses.

"Yeah!" Naruto agrees.

"Dammit. I just realized something." Suki shakes her head as they walk into the Ramen Shop.

"What's that?" The blonde asks.

"…We don't have wedding rings on." Suki answers.

"Ohhh. Well we can get them." He says.

"If you go and buy them AFTER we told Ino that you proposed to me. It's going to look weird. She'll know something is up. We'll have to use my parents' rings." She murmurs.

"Are you okay with that? I mean…it's not exactly like their marriage." He questions her.

"I'll have to be. Besides, if it wasn't for you…I'd be dead. I'm sure they won't mind. Give me your hand" She sighs.

"Um what for?" Naruto looks at her in an utterly baffled way.

"I'm no Itachi, but my Genjutsu is decent enough that it will work till we get home. I doubt anyone is going to suspect that people would actually Genjutsu wedding rings." She was apparently tired of waiting because Suki takes Naruto's hand and performs the Genjutsu.

"Whoa. These match the real ones?" He looks down at the silver wedding band with a heart carved out of diamond and ruby to look like the Uchiha Crest.

"Exactly." Shelooks down at her own.

It was weird to "wear" her mother's ring. Even if it was just a Jutsu. She would be wearing it soon enough. There was no physical weight on her hand, but the weight of reality definitely was slamming down. She was actually going to do this. Maybe she should try to talk Naruto out of it? He did deserve a real marriage.

Naruto having known Suki since they were like five, knew when she was brooding. Most people couldn't tell the difference. Her facial expressions rarely changed. But her eyes would darken and lower. Oh yeah, she was brooding. Emergency measures had to be taken to snap her out of it.

"Don't worry. We have Kakashi on our side and I'm sure they'll understand. We're in love and getting married. They'll be happy for us, once they get used to the idea." He nods at her as suddenly everyone within hearing range was staring at them.

Yup. That had snapped her out of it. At first, he saw that she more than a little angry he had pulled that without a warning. But Suki being a good ninja, was used to having to adapt quickly. She wraps her arms around his neck and leans into whisper something into his ear.

"If you ever pull a stunt like that again without warning me, I'm going to strangle you." She warns him but she kisses his cheek and leans her head into his to make it look like she was seeking reassurance from her lover.

"I had to. You were brooding. It got you to stop, didn't it?" He asks her quietly.

"I was not brooding." She half growls at him.

"Yes, yes you were. Come on. Let's get some food." Naruto pulls her inside the shop.

"Hey, Old Man! Can you get me some Ramen, a milkshake, and a salad with extra tomatoes for Suki? Oh Suki what do you want to drink by the way?" He asks.

"I'll just share the milkshake with you." She says.

"Alright. Yeah, that's it!" The blonde laughs happily.

"Sure. Is it true that the two of you are getting married?" The shop owner was openly gaping at them.

Suki, ever dramatic and stoic as ever at the same time, just raises her hand. She was showing him her wedding ring and everyone else that happened to be looking, from their table. The Old Man blinks.

"Yeah! I mean…it took us awhile to realize why she couldn't kill me and I couldn't give up on her, but we finally did. It's love. I think it was mostly because we were so young when everything happened." Naruto grins at everyone.

"You're still young." The Ramen Shop owner points out.

"Yeah. But not 12 or even 15 anymore." He counters.

"Well that's true. If you were 15, I don't think Kakashi would allow the wedding to go through. This order's on me. For my best customer and his soon to be wife." The civilian smiles at them.

"Really? You don't have to do that. I can pay." Naruto shakes his head.

"It's fine. This small of an order isn't going to make me grow broke." He assures him.

"Alright. If you are sure. Thanks!" Naruto goes back to Suki with their food.

Suki sticks two straws in the milkshake and starts sucking. Naruto blinks. She gives him a look like don't be thick. Just do it. Soon enough they were both drinking from the same milkshake with two straws.

"How's your arm?" He asks after awhile.

"I think I could use another pain pill." She admits and Naruto hands her one.

"Thanks." Suki smiles at him gratefully as she takes it.

"Did she say how long you had to wear the bandages?" The blonde questions.

"Two weeks. Optional after that." She answers.

"That's not so bad." He says.

"Mhm, especially when you take such GOOD care of me. We can play Doctor to pass the time." She actually purrs at seductively, there was absolutely no mistaking the sensual lilting of her voice as she suggested playing Doctor.

Naruto wasn't exactly sure what she meant by playing doctor. But he liked the way she said it! He liked it A LOT.

It seemed some other patrons had caught it though. He was getting a few thumbs up from some of the men, when they thought Suki wasn't looking. They really should know better, Suki was aware of her surroundings at all times. Thankfully, she seemed to be ignoring it. Likely because that was exactly the type of reaction she was hoping for.

After they eat, they head off to see Kakashi. Mission accomplished, they hadn't killed each other yet. It also looked like everyone was buying their act. He couldn't wait to watch the Council squirm.

"Hey, Kakashi." He smiles, once they arrive.

"Ah Naruto. Suki. Amazing, you are both in one piece." He chuckles.

"Miracles happen once in awhile" Suki says with a shrug.

"I suppose they do." He agrees.

"Suki, I had a new Jonin uniform brought in for you. Why don't you go try it on and see if it fits? You've been away for a couple years. So it wouldn't be surprising if it needed adjustments." Kakashi hands it to her.

"Alright. Thanks." She heads off to go try it on.

"So how is it going really?" Kakashi asks.

"Well…better than expected. We decided to act like it's real just to really fuck with the Council. Suki is…well she could have been an actress. Didn't know she was this…um creative. Hey, Kakashi what it means when someone Plays Doctor?" Naruto looks at him innocently.

Kakashi almost chokes on his water. Thankfully, he managed not to. He blinks. Then he walks over to Naruto and whispers into the blonde's ear, EXACTLY what that meant.

"No way! Suki was actually okay with letting them think that we were going to do that?!" Naruto blinks.

"Precisely. Hmm well that's more creative than I expected. I always thought of Suki as a more get down to business sort of girl. I didn't expect a playful side. Naruto don't look so shocked. You are getting married. People are naturally going to assume that you are acting as husband and wife in more than name. It's not as though her reputation is at risk." The CopyCat Ninja reasons.

"…You always thought of her as a get down to business type?! Kakashi, what the Hell are you doing thinking about SUKI like THAT?" He snarls at him.

"I mean in the most general sense. She's far too young for me. But I suppose it is a good sign that you are already so possessive and made jealous so easily." He muses.

"I'm not jealous." He fumes.

"Uh huh and Pakkun is really a ninja cat." His former teacher laughs.

Luckily for Kakashi, Suki came back a few minutes later. "It fits." In her new uniform. Much to Naruto's delight.

"Good. Good." Kakashi states.

"What'd you say to piss off the loser? He looks like he wants to kill you." Suki questions.

"Oh I just explained what you meant by playing doctor." The silver haired man nods sagely.

"Wait. Naruto you seriously didn't know what that was? For Godsakes you traveled with JIRAIYA." Suki looks at Naruto incredulously.

"I mostly tuned it out when he got all pervy." Naruto shrugs defensively.

"Am I going to have to give The Talk to my own husband?" She mocks him.

"HEY! I'm not THAT clueless. Just because I'm not a pervert like Kakashi, Jiraiya, and I guess YOU…doesn't mean that I don't know about that stuff." He counters.

"Did you really just call me a pervert?" Suki asks.

"Well I'm not the one talking about playing doctor!" The blonde glares.

"If your that bashful about it, it's a really good thing I didn't mention the potential applications of shadow clones when it comes to sex." She shakes her head.

"I'm so proud of you for embracing your sexuality in such a creative way." Kakashi pats Suki on the back.

"Kakashi, don't touch me. I'm just mocking Naruto. It's not like we are actually going to do anything." She blushes deeply.

"Oh yeah? Is that why we made out and you let me put my hand on your ass without killing me?" Naruto taunts, not at all sure why he felt it necessary to argue that point when it was what they had agreed on.

"That was…practice and to make it look convincing." Her blush only grows darker.

"Then why are you blushing?" Kakashi chuckles as if he was positively delighted by this turn of events.

"CHIDORI!" Suki lunges at Kakashi, but the man manages to dodge.

"Oh boy. I hope you have home insurance at this rate." He teases.

"I do." Suki seethes.

"You are supposed to say that at the wedding, not now." The CopyCat Ninja informs her.

"Kakashi, you are SO annoying." She states.

"I wouldn't be a very good teacher, if I didn't embarrass my students from time to time. It keeps you on your toes." He nods at her.

"Right. Well…the loser and I have lots of planning to do and murdering the Hokage, probably would get my pardon revoked." Suki sighs.

"Yeah, it DEFINITELY would." Kakashi agrees.

"Lots of planning like what?" The blonde asks.

"You're the one that wanted the ceremony. There's the invitation, the cake, the clothes, food, and other things." Suki was obviously in planning mode.

"Wow. I never thought you were one of those girls that daydreamed about her wedding." The blonde stares at her.

"I'm NOT. I'm just practical and I know that weddings just don't happen!" She snaps at him, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"Uh huh. Well you're right, I guess. Let's get going." He says and leads the angry Uchiha off.

Kakashi laughs when he sees Naruto's hand went straight to Suki's ass. The glower she gave him, was almost enough to make him choke on his laughter. The Council might not realize it, but there was a very good chance the two of them would end up destroying the village in a fight or if they actually managed realize their feelings, during their Honeymoon. Suki had already raised an interesting point of contention with that shadow clone suggestion