-Patience is a Virtue: Permanent Sunset chapter 3
It's raining again…the sky, it has been crying often. The mountain pass had flooded and the "family" had been forced out of the burrow. Sakura, still in a coma-like-state…Ino, feeling the heavy burden of child-bearing. It was too much for them, the cold wind, the hail that had fallen, the freezing rain…almost intolerable. We had no choice but to take shelter in the woods, at higher ground. We did our best. The Suna leader, Gaara summoned a great shelter of sand for us. It took a severe amount of chakra and the rain would destroy parts, meaning more chakra to repair the damage. The great blanket of sand over our heads eventually failed as he had no choice but to rest and regain his energy. The hail continued to fall on us, cutting our faces. The rain fell harder…time was slow and we had no idea if it was day or night. Our lanterns were extinguished, candles broken, and blankets were soaked.
The tree branches were cracking and hissing as they fell to the ground. Shikamaru took lead of our group and moved us farther from the mountains. Mudslides pushed rocks and trees down the cliff sides. We needed to move. Shikamaru had the most experience as a leader, seeing as he became a chunin long before the rest of the group during the exams and first to become a jounin last year. With Gaara at his side, though he was kazekage, they treated each other as equals.
Two weeks have passed…the winds had died down and the fierce weather has halted. The group of 200 have become a group of 183. The storm had passed, but the aftermath was devastating. We lost 12 infants to pneumonia, as did 5 children between 4 and 9 years. With our lack of medical ninjas, we could not save them. Before our return to the burrow, we held a small funeral and cremated the bodies, having no place to bury them. Their ashes were blown away with the wind. Siblings, cousins, friends, were lost…Sadness stayed with the group for days…
Sakura remained dormant through the entire two weeks, stable, but dormant. Choji and Lee took turns carrying her, occasionally Naruto would help. We kept her hydrated by dripping small amounts of water in her mouth. Ino stayed by her side to help. But she was forbidden from carrying anything or anyone that weighed more than fifteen pounds, orders by Kiba.
Akamaru was a great help in the woods, he located clean water and even caught a few small animals for food, mainly squirrels, rabbits, and any fish that he managed to not scare away.
The elders did their part by gathering edible plants and nuts. It was readily available and kept the children quiet when they complained of hunger.
Finally, upon reaching the burrow, the flood waters had dried up some and they could clean up the messes. The west hospital chamber was first and cleaned up quickly. Lanterns were re-lit and blankets dried out. Kiba began treating as soon as possible. Many were frozen from the rains and were nearly hypothermic.
"Has she awoken yet?"
"Hmm? Oh, no not yet Naruto." said Ino as she wiped Sakura's forehead with a wet cloth. "She's still burning up, damn that flood. It seriously wrecked the burrow and we lack supplies now. I don't think we have enough blankets and medicine anymore."
Naruto scooted closer to Sakura's table and stared at her expressionless face. "This room cleans up well."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Ino raised an eyebrow. "You say the strangest things…"
"Yeah, I'm impressed with how quickly we got this place fixed up. We can care for Sakura and the others now. Kiba is doing a great job and all, what a knucklehead, he even got his dog on duty." Naruto was trying to cheer her up.
Ino stopped what she was doing to look up at him. "Do you even have the slightest idea of what you're saying?"
"Nope!"
"You'll never change," Ino smacked her forehead. "Well, at least pull up a stool…err.. rock, whatever and help me clean Sakura up."
"Sure! Towels are in the corner right?" Naruto said as he bounced to the nearby alcove in the wall and grabbed a fresh towel. "By the way Ino, what had happened to you? I mean before you came to the burrow. You slept a lot during your first few days here and I was just…wondering… um yeah"
Ino nearly dropped her cloth over Sakura's face. "Uh, um… well…" She was completely lost for words. "I'm not really ready to talk about…it… yet. Didn't the others already clue you in?"
"Well, I do know about the baby. But what I want to know is what happened before you were rescued by Gaara, Temari, and Choji. Were you alone?" Naruto waited for an answer.
"He is certainly being patient with me." Ino thought. "Why didn't you ask me this before now? Well anyways, I was taken to a room in the upper level of the old school. They were doing tests…on me."
"What kinds of tests?"
"All kinds…blood tests…measurements…my mind control jutsu…" she scratched her chin. "Well, they almost found the secret to my jutsu, then Temari had blown a wall down with that fan of hers and Gaara trapped everyone in sand. He didn't kill any of them. Choji untied me. After that, I can't remember much except that I had passed out from shock and humiliation of being naked in front of my teammate and two ninjas from Suna. I guess Gaara had found some of the testing documents and brought them here. So Kiba has been monitoring me ever since. Hopefully, Sakura will take over as soon as she wakes up."
"By the looks of it, it may be a few days." Naruto said as he continued to dry Sakura's hair with the towel. "Shouldn't you be relaxing with your condition?"
"Kiba says I should be, but I hate feeling helpless. I'll go against his word for now, he'll just have to deal with it." Ino smiled at him. "So…you do know who the father of this child is, right?"
"….yes. I was pissed off when I'd heard. I wanted to rip out my own hair. I'm sorry that my old sensei was the man to do it…he would never do something like that if he were himself," he sighed. "I'm afraid…for the women. When my next birthday comes, it will my turn."
Ino stood from her seat next to Sakura and stepped quietly to Naruto to stand behind him. She reached over his shoulder and enclosed her hand over his, which still held the towel. "Don't worry, by then the curse will be gone. I'm sure of it." she whispered into his ear.
"Hopefully before Lee's time as well…" Naruto looked at the floor.
"It will be," she said. "Stay with Sakura for a while?"
Naruto nodded and continued to dry Sakura's hair. Ino let go of Naruto's hand and left the hospital wing without another word.
Three men stood outside the entrance of the burrow, candles and lanterns in hand, shadows dancing on the cliff side wall. It was the blackest night they had ever seen.
"We lack too many supplies now, Shikamaru…Gaara. Flood waters have depleted the medicines and the food. Even Akamaru can't make up for the lost food and water supplies."
"We realize this, Kiba." said Shikamaru.
Gaara nodded. "We have already decided that we need to send a group back to Konoha to retrieve goods and medicines."
"We can't lose anymore of the children…I've already failed them once." Kiba lowered his eyes. Akamaru lay on the floor next to his feet and whined a little. "There are eight more little ones in the hospital wing, two are hypothermic and the other six are showing signs of an upper respiratory illness. It is only a matter of time before it develops into pneumonia."
Shikamaru sighed. "Troublesome. At this rate, there will be no Konoha or Suna to rebuild once the curse is gone. I bet the villages outside our countries are just as bad."
"Then we have no choice." Gaara announced. "We have to find the other captives in Konoha and bring them here. We'll infiltrate the school and the medical wards."
"Fine by me." said Kiba. "Who is going?"
"We'll take the strongest male ninjas. We cannot risk the women being taken hostage. Anyways, we need the most protection here." Shikamaru stated. "Temari is the most talented female ninja. We'll leave her in charge along side you, Kiba."
"Alongside me? You want me in charge?"
"We need you stay as the medic and Akamaru will aid you as always. You'll lead the group until we get back." Shikamaru rested one hand on Kiba's shoulder.
"Right." Kiba nodded in compliance. Akamaru barked lightly.
Gaara took this as a sign that the meeting was coming to a close. "I'll alert Naruto, Lee, and Choji and gather all the teens for a short meeting. We don't want the younger ones to panic in our absence. We leave at the crack of daw…well, whenever we all wake up seeing as there is no dawn." He took his leave inside the burrow leaving Kiba and Shikamaru outside.
Shikamaru gave his next statement some thought before grabbing Kiba's attention again, "Kiba…"
"Yeah…" Kiba raised his eyes to Shikamaru once more.
"You didn't fail…"
A large weight was lifted off of Kiba's shoulders. "I needed to hear that…thanks." He lifted an arm and put on Shikamaru's right shoulder in the same fashion as earlier.
They acknowledged each other and also shook hands before Kiba decided to call it a night. He and Akamaru disappeared into the burrow.
Shikamaru decided to head inside as well, seeing that his guard duty was completed. Before going inside, he found the small boulder they normally used to seal the entrance and guided over. It was semi-heavy, but a strong ninja could move it. He squeezed into the hole before moving and shifting it to cover the entrance completely.
"There…perfectly in place," he said as he inspected his handy work. He made his way to one of the spare chambers. It normally remained empty, since everyone was in the regular living quarters. Plus it was the darkest room, private too, he liked it that way.
It was quite comfortable for him, after the flood waters had drained, he had to air out his fur comforter and the pillow he had. His extra set of clothes were soaked and they were still airing out in the pockets and around the seams. There was a spare bag in the room where he kept litter. It lay near the bed of fur.
"Lame…my favorite pair of shorts were nearly destroyed…" he said to himself. He picked up the shorts and touched the pockets. "Still damp here." He laid them across the floor again to dry some more.
He was beginning to tire and decided to relax until he fell asleep. He removed his traditional green vest and mesh shirt and tossed them to the floor. His muscles were sore from the two weeks of traveling through poor weather. He carried some of the small children when they couldn't touch the bottom crossing streams and was forced to climb a few trees when he lacked chakra to run up. He stretched his arms and flexed a little to relax the tendons. He had to admit, after puberty struck him he developed pretty nicely.
He pulled the elastic tie from his hair and let his locks fall to his shoulders. He ran his fingers through his hair a few times and gently ruffled it. "Getting long again." He scratched his head and tossed aside the elastic, landing on the vest. He reached for his only kunai knife in his vest pocket and contemplated trimming it. Sitting on his makeshift bed of fur, he pulled his bangs in front of his face and took a little off the ends, about an inch.
His back was facing the entrance to his room, so he did not see the person who decided to enter without permission.
"Can I help you with that?" a voice said coyly.
Shikamaru jumped slightly and turned around to see who startled him. "Temari…ever hear of knocking?"
"I would have if there was a door to knock on." she laughed. "Some ninja you are, didn't even hear me come in."
"I was distracted." Shikamaru cursed himself for saying the lamest excuse in the book.
"Whatever…so can I give you a hand or not?" she said sternly.
"Do what you want." Shikamaru truly didn't care at this moment. He was too lazy to argue and he gladly gave up his kunai to the woman behind him. She set down her lantern and reached for the kunai in his hand.
Temari began trimming the back of his hair letting the stray hairs fall into her palm before disposing of them into the little bag near the bed. "You have a lot of split ends, you know."
"mm.." was his response.
"Not really into talking tonight? Come on, you haven't even thrown a sarcastic comment at me yet." she smirked. "Too lazy for even that?"
"Why are you here, Temari?" Shikamaru asked in a dull tone.
"Just because." she responded.
"Troublesome…"
"I knew you would say that. But, I did come here because my brother just told me you and some of the other ninja are leavin' on a mission tomorrow. Gaara said I was to be left in charge with Kiba." Temari continued trimming off to the side of his face.
"And…" he rolled his hand to make her hurry along.
"Well, I know what you're up against. The elites are no laughing matter. My other brother Kankuro , he is one of "them" now. At least, last I knew he was terrorizing Suna with the other elites and he tripled in power. Those puppets of his almost act according to their own will and his. I was faced with them before Gaara and I managed to escape with the few children and teens that we had."
"I know that. But we need to go tomorrow, and Gaara suggested you to stay here. To overlook the repairs and look after the others. We trust you." Shikamaru shifted his feet out from under himself to change positions.
"There, it's all done." Temari ran her fingers over his scalp and lightly shook his hair to let any more strays fall. She put his kunai aside and continued to lightly run her nails through his hair again. "I don't want anything to happen to Gaara when he's there tomorrow…or the others." She ran her hands up and down the back of his neck now.
Shikamaru closed his eyes, enjoying the feel of her hands on his scalp. It was like heaven and it made him shiver slightly when she went over the back of his neck. Her nails scrape lightly over and over again.
"I wouldn't want anything… to happen to you either.." she said as her hands traced small circles down his neck and over his exposed back. She began kneading the muscles which were knotted with tension and stress. "I couldn't bear it."
Shikamaru let out a small groan and opened his eyes a little. She was making him feel so good right now, almost too good. "Temari…we shouldn't…"
"What… I know you're enjoying this. I want to make you feel…" she started.
"But this isn't right, not like this…here in a cave-like setting. If your brother knew about this…I could kiss my ass goodbye."
"My brother wouldn't give a damn, neither would the other." she said. "I care very much for you and I haven't given you much attention since before the hokage's death."
"Yeah, but that was almost child-like attention, joking around. Nothing serious. Not like this." He turned his gaze over his shoulder to look at her. She was smiling at him.
"It was, but, what do you say we take our friendly relationship to the next level?" she asked. Her hands were roaming to the front of him now, wrapping around his neck and bringing her face closer to his.
"You m-mean…you and me…t-t-tog...ether…" he swallowed hard.
"You're stuttering… it's a serious turn-on for me." she said in a seducing manner. Her hands now roamed his chest and she began kissing his neck.
Shikamaru didn't know what to do. An ultra gorgeous woman was in his room, alone with him and he was just sitting there as this woman was massaging his chest, kissing his neck, and asking him for…
He thoughts disappeared instantly as she gently brought her lips over his. He was stunned and she was not a bad kisser either. He gave in, shut his eyes again and let his instincts take over. There was no way he could pass up an opportunity to be in a relationship with this girl. He moved his lips against hers and parted them slightly to let his tongue wrestle with hers. She tasted sweet and bitter at once, a wonderful combination to him.
Temari kneeled on the bed next to him and he turned to her for better access to her lips. Now embracing each other, Shikamaru ran his hands up her back and to her neck. He reached her hairline and played with the wispy flyaways before reaching for the lower two pigtails and unraveling them. She moaned against his lips, urging him to go on. He raked his fingers through the loose tendrils and moved on to the second set of tails, quickly removing the elastics.
She traced his mouth with her tongue and followed a path down the front of his neck to his chest, stopping to explore his collar bone and gently pushed him back with her hands. He now lay completely on the bed with her still ravishing his upper body. Her hands were resting on his abs and were gradually moving lower.
Shikamaru's stomach was fluttering and his heart pounding, a completely new feeling for him. His breathing became heavier and hypnotic. He wanted to return the favor to her, make her squirm under his touch. Maybe in a minute…
Temari's hands came to the top of his pants and she decided to play with him some more by bringing her face closer to his belly. She licked at his stomach muscles and they contracted lightly to her touch. Her hands dropped even further to the button of his pants and she began to work with it, easily undoing it. She could clearly see the bulge between his legs that begged to be touched.
Shikamaru moaned again and started running his hands through her hair, encouraging her to go farther. Temari had a fire burning in her belly. She wanted him badly, prolonging was getting harder. She could just hurry and tear off his clothes, but where's the fun in that? Patience is truly a virtue.
"Can I?" she asked him.
"Hm?" he glanced down at her. He could see the lust in her eyes, she wanted to take this further and he nodded. "I want you to."
She pulled down his zipper and cautiously reached inside to gain access to him. Her eyes widened as she touched his length. He was certainly what many would call a "big boy" and she didn't want to wait to receive him into her mouth. She gave a final glance up to his face and saw a look of eroticism in his eyes. Quickly, she pulled the front of his pants down without taking her eyes off of him, paused for a moment, then took in the sight of his piece. Gently she lowered her mouth around him and she heard him take a sharp breath and then release it. She started off at a steady pace, letting him enjoy it. When she gained more confidence in her work, she moved a little quicker. One of her free hands tickling his belly as she continued.
Shikamaru was in ecstasy. How did she learn this?!? He could feel a buildup of heat in his groin. If this continues on…
"Temari…if you…k..keep this pace up…I'm going to…"
She stopped moving her head and removed her lips from him. "But you like it."
"Oh trust me, I loved it…but I want you to feel the same pleasure. My turn.." and he quickly sat up and grabbed her arms and pushed her down on the bed. He pinned her arms over her head. He looked at her with amusement. "You tortured me, now it's my turn to torture you."
To be continued….