Chapter Thirteen: Cursed, Nonsense

                                    

                                          
Chapter Thirteen: Cursed, Nonsense 
The night her coworker, an utterly quirky and vivacious Sand nin by the name of Sumara insisted that Sakura join her for a party. The night that the alcohol, and time spent healing, let her admit for the first time, that sweaty palm, heart racing feeling was attraction. The night she kissed a fellow Kunoichi, and was proven utterly and completely wrong in her assumptions about passion. 
Sakura had worked with Temari for years. Ever since the day they met at the Chunin exams, the blonde had always stood out in her mind. At first as someone to fear, then as someone to respect, but the more she got to know Temari, the more Sakura's uncertain emotions changed into a desire she could recognize, but didn't know how to accept. 
It was no secret that as well as she and Shikamaru got along in some ways, that they butted heads in others. Well, in the fact that he'd hated Sauske since the mission, he nearly lost his best friend. In Ino's case, Shikamaru could forgive her feelings, but in Sakura's..... It was different. 
Regardless of their obvious chemistry, Sakura still saw Temari with other people, and was just drunk enough to use it as an excuse to cross a line she never had. Kissing a female, let alone a fellow Kunoichi, had never crossed her mind in the past, but from the second their lips pressed..... 
Sakura fell into the electric and intense sensations that drown out the world, and every nagging thought on the matter she'd forgotten she had. Talented, brazen, every bit as intense in a carnal sense as Temari was in battle, the kiss was an all-consuming thing that swept through her. One that had the pinkette grinding and searching for relief she never had. 
Half of the let-down with Sauske was that it was over so fast, she never even had the chance to figure out what made women's eyes roll back in their head, but with the assistance of Temari's hands ruthlessly guiding and grinding Sakura's hips against her thigh..... It was a sensation she'd never forget. 
That sly grin, Temari was known for, played with a shade of teal that Sakura had rarely seen. "Find me later," was all Temari said when someone pulled her away. Nervous as she was, Sakura was so confused, if not curious, that she did just that. Finding her with Shikamaru, was the douse of cold water the Kunoichi needed. 
The reprieve and excuse not to follow such a new and possibly dangerous line of thinking. At least until Sumara got her to spill the beans. Being witness to it, and Sakura unable to keep it in another second, the two of them spent the following weekend drinking, talking, and the far more experienced Sand nin, pointing out the very real difference between feelings and attraction. 
That single weekend turned into day in and day out of friendship. An entirely new sort of no-holds-barred connections and conversations. Oddly enough, it was Sakura's relationship with Sumara that allowed her to come to terms about her feelings for Kakashi. 
It wasn't long after the party that Temari and Shikamaru became exclusive, that same night probably if the way he was going at the blonde was any indication. One of a thousand things she admitted to her undefinable best friend, slash girlfriend. It was a relationship so utterly, beautifully, magnificently different. 
Sex went from this mysterious, somewhat dark and forced thing to an act of passion, trust and pleasure. It was a whole new world, once Sakura allowed her heart to open and heal. The pairs' days spent, mostly in genetic and medicinal work; their nights in research of other kinds.
There were frequent jokes and pranks allowing Sakura to be herself, her whole self and be happy rather than so judgmental of her growing pains. For the first time since she was a Genin, Sakura was happy. She knew what it was to have a best friend again in the wake of so much pain and death. To have someone who didn't need to have been there to understand each other. There was an undefinable connection in the way that they could even at times finish one another's sentences.