The Last Prayer

Part 14 : Transference

KURENAI

A different hunger forces Naruto and Kurenai from his thoroughly soiled bed and into the kitchen. As everything in Iruka's kitchen is mostly expired, they decide having dinner in her house would be best. Fortunately, it's Saturday and Hinata is staying in her compound. Though Kurenai is thrilled by the idea of shower-sex, her vibrating body needs rest and thus after separate showers, they walk to her house.

Along the way, Kurenai senses it's safe to ask the blond, "Naruto, why is it that you never mentioned Ino-chan before?" The boy leaps a few feet in the air in clear panic, groaning nervously before Kurenai adds, "I was able to speak with her recently, is why I'm asking. You always mention your teammate Sakura-chan, but you've never mentioned Ino-chan."

Relaxing some, Naruto nervously answers, "did she say it was okay? To talk about it? Because she sooo didn't want me to bring it up... to anyone! Said she'd kill me if I ever did."

Kurenai can sense the disconnect. Clearly, he's referring to something specific, whereas Ino-chan felt like she was abhorrent to the idea of their pairing... 'or was that it?' she wonders, leading her to ask Naruto, "is she why you wanted me to teach you how to make girls feel good? Because you didn't make Ino-chan feel good?"

"I guess," Naruto admits, growing confused. "I can't really say, you know? I didn't know what I was doing and she... she was just so... I don't know. I thought we both liked it at the time, but then she said she didn't, so I was super confused."

Kurenai can't quite believe what he's alluding to without explicitly saying it and so tries, "the kiss?"

"The kissing, normal sex, anal sex; everything," he plainly admits. Kurenai is absolutely stunned as he continues. "She was my first, you know? I think I was her first too... even though I'm pretty sure she loves Sasuke-teme just as much as all the other girls do. I just don't get why she picked me and then said she hated it after," he glumly admits.

"She..." Kurenai didn't know where to begin, mentally gasping when she realizes this boy is just a bottomless pit of surprises. 'The heiress of the Yamanaka clan... wow,' she mentally gasps before finally communicating, "Naruto, as a woman I might be able to better understand her if I could ask you a few more questions."

"Really?" Naruto asks. "Oh, yeah, you totally could! Ask away!"

"Tell me about the time before it happened," Kurenai starts. "Essentially everything leading up to it." Naruto then explains the flower petal and Ino's desire to look for the flower; meeting her and walking through the forest; suddenly being jumped by her and her begging him to have sex.

"We did it for a while," Naruto explains fondly. "And at the end, she yells at me to never tell anyone and that she'd kill me if I did, which is why I'm super relieved she told you. This's been bugging me for a while," he tells her with a smile, and Kurenai feels a twinge of remorse for tricking this monumental secret from him. But she also worries others may learn of her secret just as easily. "So can you tell me why she was so upset? Did- Did I do something wrong?"

Kurenai couldn't answer him. She needed more information, especially since Ino-chan was acting suspiciously. "You know Naruto, if Ino-chan felt she made a mistake, she may not want to think about it, and being around you would have the opposite effect; it would make her think about it more. I don't mean to say you are a mistake, but if Ino-chan was sure she wanted to be with you one minute and then unsure the next, she would want to take some time for herself to understand why she did what she did. I feel she may have yelled at you so she could have some space to properly sort out her feelings."

"...Wow," Naruto marvels at the woman's explanation. "You think so?"

"Women can be very attuned to their emotions," Kurenai explains. "Sometimes it takes time to sort through them or they leave us very confused."