My very first story! Yeah! This is kind of going to be a series of one shots. So please enjoy. Mostly focuses on ItaxTema, but SakuxGaa is mentioned in here as well. ANY kind of encouragement would be appreciated. Contains lemony content towards the end.
BTW...I don't really think I need to say this, but I don't own any of the Naruto characters! Honestly, if I didn't I would have to post my crappy story here. For heaven's sake!
"Temari?" a voice called from down the hall somewhere. She was sitting on the bed in her brother's bedroom trying desperately to ignore the man calling for her. She stiffened when she heard a knock on the door. "May I come in?" he asked her from behind the door.
She gave him a muffled grunt of acquiesce and he slowly opened the bedroom door. Her immensely gorgeous husband of a week and a half walked into the room. He was wearing black pajama pants which were visible under his open silk robe. His chest was bare. His long black hair fell over his shoulder and she so wanted to run her fingers through it. It looked so smooth. If only she knew him better, knew she could trust him…
She grimaced at her thoughts. "What do you want?" she asked bluntly, harshly.
He sighed. "I wanted to ask if you would join me in your room. We're married after all. You can't just keep hiding from me in your brother's room."
"And why shouldn't I?" Temari shouted at him. "I barely even know you! Why should I spend one night in bed with you?" Her classic temper was making its way to the surface.
He took her verbal assault stoically, if you can call indifferently stoically. He stared into her eyes fiercely. "You don't have to," he replied when she finished. "I won't force you to do anything you don't want to." As he said this, she could read the honesty in his eyes, but she caught a hint of something else. Temari determined that pain. She knew saying the phrase had been hard for him.
Having his children was the reason he wanted her to be his bride in the first place. He wanted the best and strongest to be the mother of his children, and she had been the lucky young woman selected to be the mate of the infamous Uchiha Itachi. If she never slept with him it would be difficult for him to restore his clan legitimately. He was only allowed to have one wife and divorce wasn't an option. They were bound to each other until one of them died. And he couldn't really kill her because if he did, he would in turn be killed by her brother. It was a deal Gaara had made with the Uchiha in order to keep her safe.
It would be possible for him to have mistresses, but the children from such a union would not be considered legitimate children. They would never be recognized as Uchihas. They would be worthless. And everyone knew how Uchiha Itachi dealt with worthlessness; he destroyed it. Better to never create worthless things, then to create them and have to destroy them. Clearly, he would never have a mistress or lover outside of his wife, whom he was stuck with until she or he died.
"…You won't force me into anything?" Temari asked skeptically.
He sat down on the bed next to her. He looked at her solemnly. "I don't want you to be afraid of me. I want you to know that I respect you."
Temari glanced at him. She sighed. "I'm not afraid of you. It's just that…I just met you and now, three weeks later, we're eternally locked in a political marriage. I don't know you and I'm just…"
He put a hand on her thigh. "You're just moving slowly, trying to get to know me better," he finished for her. "I understand." She moved to grab the hand on her thigh and remove it, but he grabbed her wrist before she reached his hand, effectively turning her and forcing her to look into his pleading eyes. She flushed. "Listen Temari, I respect you more that I've ever respected anyone. I want you to have what you want. If you don't want to sleep in the same bed with me, so be it. I...the invitation is still there, whenever you're ready. But you will never get to know me if you spend all your time hiding from me."
Itachi stood up quickly, releasing her hand, and walked briskly out of the room. The door closed gently behind him. Temari sat dumbfounded on Gaara's bed. Did he really respect her? She didn't know. Yes, she was physically attracted to him. But was she attracted to him in more than just that? Only time would tell. She knew that eventually she would accept him, whether she wanted to or not. How soon she would give that acceptance was what the question really was. Itachi talking to her was making her rethink how soon it would really be.
Itachi sat on the couch in Temari's room reading a book. Well he was trying to read the book, but was actually spending more time thinking about Temari. He could easily understand her wariness of him. She didn't know him personally. In a political bargain, he had helped Gaara put an end to the Akatsuki, whom he had betrayed, and in return he got Temari. Well he hadn't intended on getting her. He wanted a pregnant wife he could take back to the Leaf Village so that they wouldn't kill him. Of course he wanted the best, and for the man who killed his clan because of inferiority, only the best would do. Gaara had said that any Sand kunoichi Itachi selected would be given to him. And after watching her fight, he easily determined that Temari was the best.
When he informed Gaara of his decision, the Kazekage had seemed distressed. He knew that he would never be able to give his sister away without her consent. She was just too strong willed and temperamental for that. But he couldn't go back on his promise. So with a lot of persuading and an even greater amount of deceiving, Gaara, with the help of elder brother Kankurou, convinced Temari that it would be the best thing for her country was if she married Itachi. Out of loyalty to county, and a more personal devotion to her brothers' wishes, she agreed. He never wanted to end up with the Kazekage's sister, but that's what happened.
Itachi was replaying the wedding in his head (just the wedding, there was no real wedding night), when there was a knock on the door. "Come in," he called.
The door opened to reveal Temari. She was standing in her own silk robe with her hair down. She gave him a sheepish smile, and then sat down next to him. He was rather surprised that she was there, but he did not change his expression. "You came," he remarked in an emotionless voice. He had already used up his emotional quota for the day trying to convince her to move back into her room.
She shrugged. "I realized that Gaara's coming home in the morning and he and his wife might want to sleep in their own bed."
Itachi nodded wordlessly, although not convinced that her given reason was the cause. After a few moments Temari stifled a yawn. "Wow, I'm way more tired than I thought," she stated. "I'm going to go to bed." She stood up and took off the robe so that she was in her nightgown, and then settled down in her bed. After a few moments of expecting to feel Itachi sink down on the bed beside her, she fell asleep.
Almost two hours later, she woke up. She noticed that she was the only one in her bed. She scanned the room looking for Itachi. She couldn't find him at first, and then she heard his soft breathing from the couch. She stood up and walked over to the sleeping form. "Itachi," she whispered. His eyelids fluttered and the breathing pattern changed. "Itachi," she said a bit louder. He opened his eyes and looked up at her groggily. "You can sleep in the bed if you like," she told him quietly.
He stared at her blankly, and then when Temari took his hand, he rose off of the couch in a dazed state. She kept a hold of his hand because he wasn't exactly awake and would most likely end up in a heap on the floor if she didn't help him. He climbed on the bed and collapsed, quickly returning to his slumber. Temari went to the other side and settle back down in the bed. She fell back asleep almost as quickly as the man beside her.
When Temari woke up, she was draped over Itachi's chest. He was sprawled out, taking up the whole bed. She almost giggled. She hadn't expected him to be such an active sleeper. He seemed so calm and composed when he was awake. Scratch that. So emotionally devoid and uninterested when he was awake.
She propped herself up on one hand so that she could look down at his beautiful slumbering face and the hair that had got messed up from his tossing and turning. She took a lock into her hand. It was as soft as it looked. He grunted in his sleep, and she quickly withdrew her hand. He rolled towards her and knocked the hand she was using to hold herself up from underneath of her. She collapsed onto his back, effectively startling him awake.
"What?" he asked as he glanced over his shoulder at her. "Oh…" he said as he smirked, insinuating loads with the short phrase.
Temari quickly picked herself off of him, and shook her head, voraciously denying his invitation. "No! No! No! You knocked me over and I fell on top of you! I don't want…I can't! It was an accident!"
He rolled over to look at her. He shrugged. "Suit yourself. That invitation will still be there when you're ready, as well."
She glared at him and stomped out of the room. She wasn't gone for fifteen seconds when she charged back into the room. "That was faster than I expected," Itachi said.
Temari shot him a malevolent glare. "Don't hold your breath. My brothers are home and they don't appreciate seeing their sister in her pajamas." She snatched up her robe and angrily pulled it on. She marched out of the room and slammed the door behind her.
When Itachi was finally up, dressed and downstairs, he saw that Temari had gotten dressed. He wondered briefly about that, but then remembered that she still had her stuff in Gaara's room. Maybe he could convince her to move it back. That would make their current agreement more permanent. Where ever their current agreement was at. He shrugged. He always got what he wanted, and, as much as he wanted to respect Temari's wishes, he would get it. He was exceptionally patient, manipulative and cunning; she would come around, and he was willing to wait. Whether she stayed in her room with him, or moved back to Gaara's room, he would get what he wanted from her.
"Good morning," he said to her as he sat down at the kitchen table. "Sorry about earlier. I shouldn't get ahead of myself." Might as well give a fake apology, even though no part of him felt any regret for his actions. It would lessen the animosity between them.
Her reaction was one he wasn't really expecting. "You don't need to apologize. We're married. You want kids. And I'm here preventing that. Give me more time, Itachi." She didn't look up from the eggs she was cooking. Itachi gaped (yes he really did gape). In the last twenty-four hours she had gone from completely avoiding him to almost ready to consummate their marriage. Had his few words really had that profound of an effect on her?
She brought a plate of scrambled eggs over and set it in front of him. Itachi looked up at her, but she was carefully avoiding his gaze. He mumbled his thanks, and she moved away from him, sitting at the opposite end of the table. He put a fork full of eggs into his mouth, and chewed cautiously. He had already tasted enough of Temari's cooking to know that it could be horrendous. Fortunately, the eggs were alright; not flavored or anything special, but edible. He figured that there was really no place you could go wrong in cooking an egg if you didn't use any seasonings and didn't burn it.
He sprinkled some salt and pepper on, and took a few more bites. He looked at the other end of the table at Temari. She still had her gaze averted. "Temari," he said, "I will not rush you or force you. I will give you all the time you need."
Temari nodded. Itachi waited for more of a response, but when she said nothing, he went back to his eggs. They really weren't bad at all. When he had finished, Temari asked, "Itachi, can I ask you something?" He nodded. "How do you really feel about me? Do you see me as an object to be used to restore your clan or is there more to it?"
He sat silently for a while. He finally said, "It's more than that." He paused for a moment. "When I saw you fighting, I saw your incredible strength and ability. I thought that you were the strongest kunoichi I'd ever seen, and would be a more than suitable woman to restore my clan with. I was also attracted to your beauty. But now that I've been around you more, I truly value your personality, your fighting spirit, your attitude. I know that I'm not really an expert on the subject, having never dealt with it before, but I think I may love you Temari."
Now it was Itachi's turn to look away in embarrassment. He was not used to revealing any emotions at all, and he had just revealed a huge one. Temari stood up and walked over to him. "Thank you for telling me," she whispered, wrapping an arm comfortingly around his shoulder. He looked up at her. She smiled down at him, and he returned his own barely perceptible smile. Everything he had told her he had known. It was just he hadn't really wanted to have to voice it out loud.
He shrugged out of her half embrace. He stood up and was about to walk out the door, but Temari's hand caught his wrist. "Itachi, thank you for telling me the truth," she said much more earnestly. He nodded. She moved in front of his path.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and drew him into a hug. He looked down at her in surprise. After a moment, he returned her hug, pulling her against his chest. After a few seconds, the kitchen door opened. Kankurou walked in and smirked. "Get a room you two," he jested.
Temari stepped back from Itachi with a deadly glare on her face. She then proceeded to verbally assail her brother. Itachi smirked, and then left the room, heading towards Temari's bedroom. This continued until Gaara and his wife, Sakura (yeah, they're married, get over it), entered the kitchen. Gaara cleared his throat to get his siblings attention and when they turned to face him, he glared disapprovingly at them. "Sorry Gaara. This is all Kankurou's fault," Temari apologized.
"It is not!" Kankurou protested. "I wasn't the one who was making out in the kitchen!"
"We were not 'making out', idiot," Temari hissed.
"Enough," Gaara said. He went to the table and helped himself to the eggs prepared by Temari. Sakura sat next to him. Kankurou stuck his tongue out at her and joined the other two at the table. Temari stalked out of the room, muttering under her breath. She decided to take a walk, and she walked out of the house and into the desert sun.
After a good hour of wandering, she found her way into a bar. She sat down for a drink, but before she could place an order, a hand covered her mouth, and she felt a needle pierce her skin. She could hardly give a muted cry before the drug took effect and she slipped unconscious.
When Temari woke up she was in the middle of a forest. She was bound to a tree, and could hardly move. She heard the voices of the captors somewhere nearby. They were whispering to each other. Temari listened to what she could of the conversation. "We must not let the Uchiha restore the clan."
"But why is the girl important?"
"You idiot! She's his wife! We need to kill her before she can conceive his children! "
"I don't know…she seems like she could be used for so many better things."
Temari shuddered at the topic of the conversation. There were only two voices. She could fight them. But she didn't have her fan. And she was bound to the tree. She was at their mercy. Not a comforting notion, but she knew that if they harmed her, their lives would be forfeit. If Itachi truly loved her, he would not hesitate to kill them, and Gaara of course would do the same. That gave her some hope, some chance of bargaining her way out of the situation. The captors seemed to be arguing so Temari sank back against the tree and waited for something to happen.
"Kazekage-sama, your sister has been kidnapped!" a breathless courier blurted as he ran into Gaara's office.
"What? Is this true?"
The messenger nodded. Gaara dismissed the man, and then ran out of the office, leaving his paperwork half finished.
"Sakura! Kankurou!" Gaara shouted as he ran into the house. "Temari's been kidnapped!"
Itachi was sitting on the couch in Temari's room when he heard Gaara shouting from below. He walked down the stairs to hear what Gaara was yelling about. "Temari's gone? " Kankurou asked in exasperation. He paled in horror. He couldn't bear the thought of losing her. He left them, as Sakura, Gaara, and Kankurou made arrangements to set out to look for Temari. They wouldn't include him in the search anyhow; he was a prisoner as far as they were concerned. So he snuck out of the house and sent out his chakra to track hers. He found the trail he was looking for easily enough and followed it.
Something must have happened because Temari's captors were suddenly acting jumpy. Temari didn't know what, but she was thankful when the two of them grabbed their weapons, and darted off through the trees. She was left bound to the tree, all alone in the forest. She growled. More waiting. This kind of thing didn't agree with the easily angered and impatient kunoichi. But it wasn't like she really had a choice in the matter. The binds where just too secure.
But the forced alone time gave her an opportunity to think things through when it came to Itachi. With her life being threatened, she recognized that Itachi was important to her. Her separation from him made her realize that she missed him. Could she really be falling in love with him? She never thought that she would love him. She just assumed she would accept what was expected of her and go along with it. Now she wasn't so sure if she would simply be accepting her duty. The feeling gnawing at her now told her that it wouldn't be.
Itachi came upon a spot where the chakra path got tricky. It seemed one of the two captors had backtracked and had gone off in a different direction. He couldn't let the man live so he followed the trail. He found the man easily enough and dispatched of him quickly.
Somehow Itachi had failed to notice the appearance of the man's partner, and was ambushed when he turned away from the corpse. It was a useless attempt at an ambush. Itachi's eyes turned crimson, and he peered into the other man's eyes. The man went ashen and his face twisted in terror as the vision filled his mind. He screamed. He slumped on the ground, writhing at the horrors the vision was showing him. The man would be a useless shell when he woke up. Itachi retraced his steps, and then followed the original trail.
Temari heard footsteps in the forest. The sound was coming from behind her, and with the tree obscuring her view, she had no way to determine who it was. She sat quietly waiting for the person to come into view. She wasn't sure whether it was someone coming to rescue her or one of the captors.
She heard the person from somewhere on her right so she glanced over. To her relief, Itachi stood looking at her. The feeling that had only previously been gnawing, now took the opportunity to wring her. "Itachi…" she murmured. "I,uh… thank you." He didn't move but instead continued staring. "Aren't going to untie me?"
"Hmm…" was his reply.
Temari started to get slightly angry at his lack of interest. "You could at least come a little closer."
He shook his head. "I can't…I made a promise to you. I don't want to break it."
Temari was confused and had to wrack her brain for the promise that he was in danger of breaking. Then it struck her. He wanted her and he didn't want to force her; that was the promise he'd made. Her head reeled, but during her few hours of thinking time she had already knew the answer she would give him. "Itachi, I…" she stammered. Then a smirk played across her face as she finally found the correct way to give her answer. "I'm ready to take up that invitation."
Itachi smirked, then moved towards her, his speed blurring him from her vision. He kneeled beside her sitting form, pulling out a kunai to cut the ropes binding her. He put the kunai back in his holster and straddling her legs, he took her chin in his thumb and index finger, pulling her into a kiss. He held her there for a moment, allowing her taste to infiltrate his mouth. She wrapped her arms around his waist pulling his hips towards her stomach. She moved one hand to run under his shirt, tracing the outline of his defined abs.
He pulled back to catch his breath. He marveled at the increase in his own heart rate. The way his breath caught in his throat as her hand caressed his stomach. He wouldn't have thought that her touch would have this affect over him. Cause him to totally disregard his apathetic facade. To burn with a desire that dissolved his patience and threatened to overwhelm him.
She smirked at him. Grabbing his, shirt she maneuvered him so that she could stand up, then as she did so, she dragged him up with her. Itachi pinned her against the tree, running his hand up her leg, under her skirt. She drew a sharp breath as he pulled down her mesh leggings and her panties. He lifted the skirt and crushed his clothed body against her, taking her mouth into his feverishly. She responded by throwing a leg around him, trying her hardest to get at him, even though his clothes prevented it.
He had no intentions of taking it slow; apparently, she didn't either. As his fingers slipped under her shirt, massaging her breasts sensuously, she grasped at the waistband of his pants, desperately trying to find the part of him that would relieve the tension she was feeling best. She managed to wriggle them down to his thighs. Itachi was still too focused on Temari to notice what she was doing, so he let out a cry when she roughly grabbed his member. His eyes flicked up to hers, and he saw the anticipation and lust coursing through them.
"Now," she whispered to him releasing her grip on his manhood. "Please." She was begging. She couldn't wait anymore…well, neither could he. With a smirk, he pushed inside of her, causing her to whimper out of satisfaction. She moaned with each drive inside of her, matching Itachi's rhythm. When she reached her peak, her scream of pleasure resonated through the forest, and then she slumped onto Itachi in exhausted ecstasy. Not too long afterwards, he reached his peak. Exhausted, he eased himself and Temari onto the forest floor. He pulled off his own shirt and finished removing his pants. He gently kissed her neck. In their desire, they had opted for speed over thoroughness. He wasn't done with her yet …
Sakura, Gaara and Kankurou heard Temari's scream ring through the forest. In alarm the three of them ran towards the sound. Sakura easily navigated through more familiar terrain, leaving the two brothers behind. "Please be all right," she whispered over and over to herself. Temari meant so much to her beloved Gaara, and the easily angered blonde kunouchi had grown on her as well. She didn't want to see anything bad happen to her. Sakura was certain that Temari was able to fend for herself, but that didn't stop her from worrying.
Sakura heard someone talking ahead of her, so she slowed down to a walked and slowly crept forward, trying to remain hidden. She edged over to a bush and peered at the scene in front of her. A crimson blush covered her face as she turned to head back to Kankurou and Gaara.
She didn't have to go far. They hadn't fallen too far behind. "What's wrong?" Gaara asked, as he dubiously took in the color of Sakura's face.
Sakura shook her head. "Your sister is fine."
"What about that scream we heard?" Kankurou asked worriedly.
Sakura blushed more. "Oh, I'd say it was your sister's scream alright."
"Then what are you, the medic ninja, doing here, if Temari's hurt?" Kankurou asked incredulously.
"Temari's not hurt. Itachi, he took care of the situation and now they are...She's just…umm…" she glanced about nervously, blushing as she was trying to find away to put her next statement.
Fortunately Gaara had understood what she had been trying to say. "Kankurou, you idiot! Itachi and her are having sex!"
Kankurou's mouth formed an "o" shape. Sakura shot Gaara a "thank you for not being an idiot and understanding what I was trying to say" look. Gaara frowned and his brow wrinkled in displeasure at having to think about his sister having sex.
They trio decided to wait for the two. They had come all the way out here to retrieve Temari and they weren't going to leave without her, no matter how long they had to wait. After an hour, Temari and Itachi came into their view, holding hands and definitely fawning over each other. They stopped when they saw the three waiting for them.
"Hi guys," Temari said, bashfully. "What are you doing here?"
Sakura and Gaara, both having decided it would be best not to mention that they knew what the two had been up to, answered respectively, "Taking a little break, we knew you could take care of yourself. No rush," and, "Looking for you."
Temari nodded. The group made a small fire, having decided that they wouldn't be able to get back to Suna before dark, and Sakura cooked dinner. They ate in silence, desperately trying not to bring up the love making session. Sure they wanted to know about how Temari had been kidnapped and had then been rescued. But Gaara had decided for the sake of his own sanity and probably his life as well, he didn't want to talk to his sister about her sex life. Sakura, having witnessed the incident, was probably scarred for life. Temari knew that they knew, and it wasn't really a subject she wanted to discuss. She was very very glad that they were avoiding it. Itachi…well, Itachi was kind of sitting around with a smug semi-grin on his face, the only thoughts running through his head were of Temari and, uh, doing Temari.
Then Kankurou, feeling awkward because of the silence, decided to lean over and ask Itachi, "So, how was it?"
Unfortunately for him, Temari heard him and she started pummeling him, all the while giving him such a thorough lashing with her tongue, his physical scars would be long gone before the mental ones would go away. Sakura put an open palm on her forehead. Gaara rolled his eyes and glared at his brother. Itachi crossed his arms over his chest, looking triumphant. He'd gotten what he wanted. That and so much more.