"You are everything I have ever wanted, my love."
Rei gasped as Shinobu Kouboi wrapped her up in his thick, muscley arms, his dark eyes burning through her like a hot fire that would never go out.
"But we can't be together," she sighed, her rosy lips wrapping around each word carefully. Sweat slid languidly down her back, and her chest pressed against his own broad, muscle bound pectorals. He could feel her heartbeat and his own pounding out a rhythm in unison, the slick heat of the farm making her slide against his bare skin.
"I can't be without you, Miryoku!"
Rei swore she heard a record scratch.
She awoke, covered in sweat, and groaned to herself.
"I have got to stop reading romance novels right before bed," she grumbled, twisting uncomfortably out of her sheets, unsticking the fabric from her sweating legs and she stretched out her arms. Her window was still cracked open just slightly. She had left it open when she had left, and now the sun and the heat streamed through with abandon. She could hear the cicadas and the bustling of the villagers outside her window.
Disdainfully, she made her way to the kitchen, clicking on her fan as she went.
Where she lived, it got impossibly cold at night and burning hot during the day. The sun seemed too close or too far away, and the land refused to retain any heat because of the lack of humidity.
She poured herself a glass of water and gulped it down.
Rei spotted the book she had left on her couch, and wiping her mouth clear she made her way over and picked it up.
"Damn, even my dream lovers aren't great," she mumbled, thumbing through the pages. Amai was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't unusual. He hated the heat. She found the page she had left it on, some pervish, saccharine description of a night between two lovers. She enjoyed how authors wrote sex scenes, mostly because she found most of the descriptive words hilarious. "'She grabbed his hair and rode him like she would a horse, her own whinnying shouted into the night,' ahaha!" She couldn't hold back her laughter, imagining some well endowed cowgirl riding a beefcake of a man around like a horse while making her own supplementary sound effects.
"My god, that's ridiculous," Rei laughed, wiping a tear away from her eye and making her way back to her bookshelf to leave Icha Icha Paradise at home with it's sequels. "Maybe I should write a book."
She turned and looked around at her empty apartment.
"Maybe I should get a roommate," she sighed, rubbing her eyes, and made her way to the bathroom for a shower, stripping as she went.
Her casual clothes were much more comfortable than her mission clothes. She wore a flowery sundress, tied her hair up and grabbed a basket and some cash. She had forgotten to go grocery shopping before she left, and now was as good a time as any.
Sagai wasn't exactly a quiet village, especially when there was a good deal at the market.
Something about shouldering her way through the crowds was comforting and enjoyable to her. The stalls stood under colorful tents, the merchants calling out loudly to potential customers. Rei found herself distracted by pretty fabrics and vibrant flowers, smiling at laughing children and turning, stone faced and obviously jealous from lovey couples. The people in Sagai were peaceful and mostly kind.
"If it isn't Rei."
She smiled as she approached a fruit stall, the wrinkled, tan woman sitting in the shade grinning at her in return.
"If it isn't Granny Baba," Rei teased back, plucking a durian from one of the baskets and looking over it for any imperfections.
"You just keep disappearing. I'm only worried one day you won't reappear again," Granny chided. Rei offered her a coy smile.
"If I do that you can assume I've run off with an attractive man," she laughed, tucking the fruit into her basket and putting her hand on her hip.
"A man?" Granny laughed. "And who might this man be?" She asked, a mischievous look in her old eyes.
"Oh, I don't know," Rei sighed, waving her hand. "Someone muscley and hunky, with a big heart and an even bigger-"
"Oh, I didn't know you were back!" Rei was interrupted by a young girl coming out from behind the tent, a big smile on her pretty tanned face.
"Kishi," Rei greeted happily, her eyes lighting up. The short, dark skinned girl came around to give her a hug, her own eyes shining.
"Did I hear something about a man?" She asked, looking curious and somewhat delighted. Already tired of the thought, Rei gently rolled her eyes.
"Oh, not really. Just girlish fantasies," Rei sighed, dejectedly watching a young couple walk past, canoodling and crowing at each other.
"Good, that means you're still free to go out for a drink with me, then," Kishi smiled, her grin never leaving her face as she expertly dodged a flying sudachi. It nailed a poor man in the head who yelped, and turned to find where the assaulting fruit had come from.
"Young girls like you shouldn't be hanging out in nasty bars the way you do!" Granny yelled, shaking her old fist at the two.
"Granny, come on," Kishi scolded, rolling her eyes sassily and putting her hands on her hips. "I'm nearly twenty. I'm not that young."
"You look young to me!" Granny barked.
"Well, that's because you're a dinosaur!"
"Respect your elders!" Granny roared.
Laughing to herself, Rei figured now was the best time to make her escape.
"I'll see you later, Kishi!"
"Get back here and pay for that!"
Rei picked up her pace, laughing. "Put it on my tab!"
"Ugh, I hate the desert, uhn," Deidara scowled. He swiped a strand of long blond hair at his eyes, glowering at the scraggly brush and red bricks of the small village. People were milling about around them, but no one seemed to really be paying them any mind.
"This is barely the desert," Sasori replied. If he could scowl, he would have.
"Yeah, maybe not in comparison to Shit-Suna, uhn," Deidara snapped back, shaking sand out of his shoe. "What are we even doing here, yeah?"
Sasori could roll his eyes, and that he did.
"Do you ever pay attention?"
"Hardly, uhn," Deidara huffed as a gust of wind blew his hair into his face. He pushed it haughtily out of his face, blowing strands off his lips. "Damn, my lips are chapped already, yeah," he scowled, rubbing his mouth.
"We're here to meet with a slaver from Itagakure. He has important documents for us to acquire," Sasori growled, ignoring his obnoxious companion.
"How long is this going to take, yeah?" Deidara asked, tossing his teammate a glance, and then roving his eyes along the people around them. They wore colorful clothes and seemed genuinely cheerful. He couldn't imagine why. Sagai was hot and dry and awful. He was already sweating beneath his cloak. "Why the hell do I have to wear this crap, yeah? It's hot as fuck out here!"
His outburst caught the attention of several people around them, and they watched him as he walked away, glancing warily at each other.
"Oh, please, direct more attention our way, you idiot," Sasori replied sarcastically. "We'll have to find a hotel. I don't want to sleep outside in the sand." Picking up his pace, Sasori marched ahead. "Now, hurry up."