Title: Aphrodisiac
Fandom: Naruto, post time-slip
Rating: PG-13
Archive: No archives unless I put them there myself, no MSTings.

One-shot. Bit of an experimental style! Drabble-ish, but too long to be a true drabble because I just can't write anything briefly.

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Gratitude was a powerful aphrodisiac.

He was well aware of that, of course. All shinobi knew both gratitude and sex could be dangerous weapons. They were taught such at an age too young to fully appreciate how effectively those weapons could be turned against the supposed wielder.

It was just as well he wasn't the type to be tapped for clandestine missions. His chosen form of jutsu, as well as his distinct flair for theatrics, made him unsuitable for undercover work and its attendant complications.

His position in his own village meant he was often tapped for diplomatic missions, sometimes paired with his sister, sometimes sent alone when traveling into the benign territory of the allied Fire country.

'Benign,' he thought, was a relative term. There were dangers in the Fire country for him, all right. Just not physical ones.

Well, not 'physical' in the usual sense of 'being put into harm's way'...

He couldn't help but come into contact with her when in Fire country's hidden village of Konoha. He was a natural envoy for his brother, which meant he was often involved with negotiations with Konoha's Hokage. And she was the Hokage's apprentice.

He had been seventeen when she saved his life. It was an impressionable age for most civilian boys, to be sure, but he was already a seasoned shinobi, an adult in the eyes of his village, and not normally prone to being impressed by anyone. He had not recognized her at first. In retrospect he wasn't sure if that was due to being in the final throes of a painful, slow-acting poison or if it was because she looked so much like a woman, not the skinny little 12-year-old girl he had taken the chuunin exam with. He had watched her through pain-hazed eyes slit nearly closed as she pulled her pink hair to the top of her head and worked over him, convinced she was a final hallucination brought on by his impending death.

He would have appreciated the hallucination more if it hadn't been accompanied by wrenching agony as she used a technique unknown to the Sand clan, pushing liquefied chakra into his body and then pulling it back out, slowly and methodically (and very, very painfully) leeching the poison from his system.

Awareness came later. Recognizing Naruto, he realized who she must be as well, someone more than the child he barely remembered but who was not, despite her mature appearance, quite a woman yet. He did not forget the debt he owed her, exactly, but it was more important to reel in the council and rush to save his brother.

After the crisis was resolved he did not precisely forget her but he did not think of her much either. His sister, their usual emissary to the hidden shinobi village of the Leaf, would return and mention her in passing, and he would be polite and listen to what his savior was up to now. Although the two years between them weren't much, at seventeen he considered fifteen to be very young and certainly his vague sense of gratitude didn't have any impact on his libido.

No, his libido didn't kick in until he was twenty, dragged protesting to Konoha because the Uchiha heir was getting married and his siblings insisted it would be undiplomatic if they didn't all attend. And she was there, a bridesmaid wearing a traditional kimono that seized his attention in a way the leg-baring battle attire she usually wore couldn't, and suddenly he was very, very grateful indeed that she had saved him. He told her that at the reception afterwards, hoping those two years on her gave him a worldly air. She blinked her big green eyes at him, chuckled, then flicked open the fan that matched the kimono and covered her face so that all he could see were her eyes laughing at him over its edge.

That night he lay in bed with hands pressed tightly over his face, wondering if a nosebleed had ever proved fatal. He even considered checking into the local hospital and, as a visiting diplomat with a certain amount of clout, demanding her attendance, but that would only put him further in her debt and right then he felt as if much more gratitude would literally be the death of him.

His siblings were surprised that it took as much effort to drag him back to their home in the Sand as it had to persuade him to attend the ceremony in the first place. After that, however, he began to alternate diplomatic duties with his sister, although he tried do so only when a trip to Konoha was involved. Meetings with the Hokage meant she would be present, too, and his own status allowed him to demand and receive the guide of his choice while there. His chosen attendant did not give any indication that she minded, and he kept his demands to simple requests for company at meals. She was a bright and sunny companion, so different to his moody brother and serious sister. She liked to talk, and he liked to listen to her, although at times when he looked back at their evenings he was surprised at how much she listened to him. She had a knack for drawing people out. He was grateful for that as well.

It was during his third trip that he kissed her for the first time, convinced that he was moving too fast even as he did it. They were heading to a ramen shop she liked, and Naruto was likely to be there because he usually was, and suddenly he wanted just one private moment before he had to share her anyone else. He touched her shoulder to stop her, almost lost himself in her green eyes when she glanced inquisitively back at him, then his hand slid to her elbow and before he knew what he was going to do he tugged her off the main street to an alcove that was more private. It was brief and somewhat awkward, her hands starting to go to his back before colliding with the summoning scrolls he kept there. But her mouth was warm and she grinned at him when he pulled back, rubbing a finger over her upper lip as she remarked that she hoped she wasn't covered with his paints. She tucked her hand against his elbow as she smiled, and he really wished they were just about anywhere else except about to go into a ramen shop to be mugged by Naruto.

On his next diplomatic trip the Hokage didn't recognize him at first, glancing up from her desk and then around the slim young man standing before her as she looked for the emissary from Sand. It took her apprentice's appreciative comment on his lack of make-up before the Hokage caught on. He was then subjected to a piercing stare from the most fearsome woman he had ever met. Eventually the Hokage waved him off with the announcement she would see him the next day once he had his real face on. After that he wore his expected guise for any meetings he needed to attend, but his forays around Konoha with his favorite companion were usually bare-faced.

They got better at kissing each other. She learned to put her hands places where she wouldn't accidentally summon a puppet or two, and he learned how to not leave grease paint all over her face on those occasions when he felt he had to kiss her in spite of wearing it.

It was nearly a year later that their relationship progressed physically. It didn't happen any of the ways he planned at all. Orochimaru was gone but the Sound ninja remained a threat, and what was meant to be a diplomatic mission to assess that threat went sideways fast. He awoke disoriented, staring up at a vision of her, her pink hair twisted on the top of her head the way it had been when he'd been poisoned all those years ago, half-turned from him as she barked out an order over her shoulder. He reacted without thought, reaching up to snag his fingers in her shirt, pulling her on top of him. She yelped and gasped and struggled for about half-a-second before her hands tangled into his hair and she was doing most of the kissing, which was a good thing because he realized he used up the last dregs of his strength grabbing her in the first place. After a moment, though, even his drug-hazed mind understood it was far too quiet, and he gazed over her shoulder to see his sister with her hands pressed against her mouth in astonishment, his brother looking very mildly interested, and about a dozen shinobi and med-nins from both Sand and Leaf registering a range of emotions from outrage to indifference. His brother remarked that it was a shame that Shikamaru had just been named permanent ambassador to the Sand, which brought his sister enough out of her stupefied state to glare at the Kazekage, and everyone began murmuring at once and made sure they looked elsewhere while the couple on the bed disentangled themselves.

He remained at the hospital for two days, which he was convinced was her way of punishing him for being injured in the first place.

After his release on the third day he opened the door to his apartment to find her on the other side. Wide-eyed he stood aside to let her in. She did not leave until the Leaf party's departure, nearly a week later.

Yes, gratitude was an aphrodisiac.

He looked forward to his next trip to Konoha so he could express his gratitude to her again.