Kimiko coaxed him backwards, kissing him, until the side of her bed caught the back of his knees and knocked him sitting on the mattress. She climbed on top of him, straddling his waist and running her tongue against his lips. She was feeling giddy and very satisfied with herself; here was the somewhat shy jounin she had been pursuing for three years, one hand behind her head and the other supporting his upper body off the bed, lips warm on hers. She congratulated herself.

But that she did too soon. She had gotten him out of that vest of his and was about to start ridding him of the very unnecessary shirt when he ripped his lips from hers, sat up and took her wrists.

"Kimi…" he panted, not looking her in the eyes. She felt like puffing in annoyance. She was so close, and now the shinobi self-restraint kicked in.

"What is it?" she asked in an urgent, breathless whisper that surprised even her. She did nothing to try and release her wrists from his grip.

"I don't want you to see it," he muttered, and only now Kimiko noticed that he had turned his head to the left, so that all she could see of his face was smooth, even skin. She let out a sigh, gently twisted her hands out of his and raised them to his cheeks.

"Raidou," she said quietly, trying to turn his head, but he fought back. "Raidou, please. I don't care about your scars."

His eyes shifted to her, but only briefly. He tried to pull his head from between her palms, but she was determined not to let him.

"Listen," she said, "I want to show you I don't mind them." Now he let her straighten his face, but still refused to look into her eyes. She examined the scars that spoiled the skin of the left side of his face and ran along his neck and disappeared under his shirt. She traced them from his nose to his jaw line with affectionate touches. He sighed and shivered slightly, and closed his eyes.

"Please," she continued, pressing her mouth close to his left ear. "Let me show you it's alright. Let me love you."

The jounin finally relaxed, keeping his eyes closed and easing himself to her mercy. She started from the nose, kissing the scars, down to where skin turned to fabric.

"I need your help with this one," she whispered, tugging at the hem of his shirt. Obediently he raised his hands, allowing her to finally remove the cloth. She made herself more comfortable on his lap and slid her hand into his messy hair and her tongue down his neck. He was breathing more deeply now, and also trembled slightly. She continued licking his scars, letting her tongue slide over the uneven skin. The blemishes covered all of his shoulder, some continuing to the back and some to his chest. She kissed, nibbled and licked, enjoying the moans she elicited from him.

"Kimi," he gasped at the spot where his clavicle met his shoulder, and she smirked against his skin. Carefully she nibbled some more on the same spot, earning new groans from him and getting his arm around her waist. He tried to pull her closer, but that was close to impossibility.

Now she moved back up from his shoulder, tracing kisses back up to his face, and there laid her lips on his. His kiss was more passionate now, hungrier, and almost needy.

Gently she pushed him onto his back without breaking the kiss, and then turned her attention to his scars again. Moving down them again she now continued past them, onto his abdomen. When her lips and tongue passed his navel he groaned and bucked his hips upwards.

She returned to his face, kissing it all over, especially the left cheek, leaving her hand to trace the line of his trousers.

"I love you," she whispered to him. Her hand moved past the waistband, and he threw his head back, moaning. "I love you," she repeated.

"Kimiko-!"

"I love you, Raidou," she said, between kisses to his throat and clavicles. "You're perfect."

Soon he came, his hands clenching the sheets, his head back and the shame of the scars forgotten.

The morning found them under the covers, the woman tracing lazy patterns on his chest and the male half asleep.

"How do you feel?" Kimiko asked, glancing up to the jounin's face. Raidou cracked his eyes open only a little and smiled sleepily at her, but didn't say anything. She interpreted it as positive. "See, I've been interested in you for some years now," she explained, turning her gaze back to his skin. She was on her left side, so the scars were mostly out of her range of vision. "I've been flirting with you for about seven months, quite shamelessly at times. I hope you noticed. At least Genma did." Raidou chuckled, and she smiled briefly as well. Well, they wouldn't be here had Genma not insisted that Raidou walk Kimiko home from their dinner.

"I noticed," he said, playing with some strands of her hair. "I just didn't think you were serious. You flirt with quite a few men."

"I do not," she snorted.

"Yes you do," he teased, now opening his eyes a little more and tilting his head a little to see her expression better. "With Izumo, and Kotetsu, and Kakashi – "

"Not fair!" she claimed. "Everyone flirts with Kakashi. No one means it, really."

"I think Mimi from the code breaking office is quite serious about him."

"Oh shut up," she muttered and leaned up to kiss him. He chuckled into her mouth. "Anyway," she said and went back to tracing swirls to his skin, "why wouldn't I have been serious with you?"

"Because of…" But he stopped the sentence before he would finish and looked away from her, ashamed. His hand disappeared from her hair.

Once again she forced him to look at her with a hand on his cheek.

"You thought I wouldn't be serious about you because of your scars?" she demanded, almost mad. He avoided her eyes but nodded.

"They aren't the most appealing thing," he murmured quietly.

"You're an idiot, Namiashi Raidou," she accused. "Why would a couple of scratches keep me from liking you? You don't see yourself. You're the kindest man I've ever known, an amazing ninja, and kami, if you aren't also the sexiest man there can be. So quit that about someone not liking you because of what there is on the outside and let me love you. Just as you are."

Raidou looked at her, mouth slightly agape, eyes shining in the dim light.

"Kimiko," he breathed. She was pouting and felt the prickling in her eyes, but would be damned if she'd cry now.

"I love you, you idiot. And when it comes to these – ," she ran her fingers across his cheek, " – they're a part of you, and I would never want them gone. And you had better accept that."

"I love you," he said after a moment of silence. He kissed her and wrapped her into an embrace that she thought she might always want to be in. Luckily it was still early. Her tell-me-everything date with Anko was still many, many Raidou-filled hours away.

A/N: I couldn't actually find anything that would suggest Raidou's scars go farther than his cheeks, but I hope no one minds. I'm anyway happy about how this one turned out.