Chapter 4: New Changes
Ino sucked in a breath.
Then plunged into the water below. Free of Shikamaru, free of duty for the day, free of Temari's sharp, crowing gazes. She'd gone to Sasuke about Temari coming to her. She just went to Sasuke to break off something that was barely there, and he told her he'd take care of it. She thought he meant his feelings, at first.
But then she realized a change in Temari. She was…less.
Less nosey, less rude, less vigilant. She avoided Ino, steered clear of Shikamaru to the point where Ino hardly saw them together anymore since Ino broke up with him. In fact because Temari seemed so uncaring about it all, Ino decided that she wasn't going to go up to Hinata like she had been planning to for days, wondering how to bring it up, how to console her, but it was just one kiss in all reality. Ino would secretly make things up to Hinata, and finally, when their relationship was strong enough, she'd divulge about the kiss without potentially straining Hinata's marriage with Sasuke.
Sasuke.
Something was different about the way he came into her store yesterday. Temari was there, offering to help with the workload, seeing it was busy, and Ino was right about to decline any help from her, when Temari saw Sasuke and feverishly began insist on helping. Right as Ino was going to think about it, Sasuke walked in. She caught sight of his eyes first, as always, dark and enchanting, charming that day. He seemed perfectly unbothered, pleased even.
He leaned onto the counter with his arms crossed, watching her bend carefully to rearrange pots. "How's your day going, Yamanaka-san," he said, emphasizing that he was de-familiarizing, like she'd asked. But even the way he just said that made her feel a certain way, like he'd opened her up like a book and read all the pages, even the ones she hadn't gotten to herself. He sounded comfortable flirting in front of Temari, who didn't even hiss or grit her teeth. She didn't even lift her head from the work she decided to take on, regardless of Ino's permission.
"I'm doing well, Uchiha, you?" Ino asked, rising with a large pot, only to have Temari take it off her hands. She reached to grasp another, and Sasuke stepped forward, offering to take it.
"Don't think I can handle it, Uchiha?" she accused, trying to seem less playful, not that she could help it.
"I think there's much you could handle," he said, his eyes roaming down. She gave him a look, carrying the pot, only to have him take it off her hands too. He finished, leaning into her, "But there are things I'll just have to handle for you, for our sake."
"For me…" Ino's voice drifted off and she looked to Temari, who was halfway across the room, as if rushing to give them privacy. She looked back to Sasuke, who only smiled with half his mouth, knowing something she very well didn't. She could piece it together pretty quickly, but how had he done that?
"Our sake?" she echoed.
He nodded, walking beside her to see where she wanted the pot placed. "My sake, your sake, the Konoha village sake."
"Oh, you meant everyone," she said, trying to take the disappointment from her voice. She was shocked to even hear herself disappointed in the first place and her eyes flickered down away from him.
He caught it, that disappointment to add everyone else to just them and Ino saw that he saw, and she made sure to keep her eyes away. To not get sucked in. "Just over there, please."
Sasuke placed the pot down, and grasped Ino when she tried to turn to tend to more pots. His hand slid from her arm to her elbow, to her wrist, and he pulled her close. Her breath stole as he slid his arm around her. "I could mean our sake, like just our sake, you know," he said, searching her eyes.
Ino looked to Temari, who stared straight at them for half a beat, before looking away.
"I could never, never do that to Hinata," Ino said, mainly for herself and Temari. She said it so loudly, she had to look around to make sure no customer's heard and grew curious. Sasuke faintly smiled, like he knew something she didn't again. And she couldn't find the words to say how much she needed to know what it was. "Sasuke, really, I don't need any help," she said, pulling his hand away, even though every bit of her skin wanted to be ignited with his. She couldn't help but keep looking to Temari, but he kept pure focus on her, as if dining on the sight her. Ino whispered as he neared again, "I really can't do that to Hinata."
Sasuke lightly kissed her neck, leaning into her ear. "But could you do it for me?"
"Do what for you?" Ino asked, making the mistake of looking into his swallowing, familiar eyes.
He gave her that charming, half-smile again, that smirk that made her feel like he was toying with her. He told her in her ear as a customer wandered in. "Fuck me."
Her jaw would have slung open, if she was younger. If she wasn't more well practiced in power and control by then. She peered at him through dewy, soft lashes, arresting his very heart in his chest. "You sure do handle a lot, Uchiha. But I don't think you could handle me." She patted the top of his shoulder, reminding him: "You're a married man, I heard they're fairly boring." She winked.
He gave a chuckle that almost sounded like he'd prove her wrong in her own moans. He tried to grasp her waist again and she slipped out of his grip, but he was well-trained. So well-trained that in a few steps he was in front of her again, like it was as easy as a dance. She parried away from him though, moving from his way, stealing a teasing look at him, reminding Sasuke she was also agile and quick. He moved faster, coming so close and wrapping his arm around her so fast that she unexpectedly erupted in giggles and he laughed. She conceded to his smoother speed, and walked away, beaming to the customer, "May I help you?"
Ino couldn't help but look at Sasuke again. His gaze stayed on her, and it wasn't just a private excitement or a harsh, rough need to prove his power in bed, it was endearing, happy, like he'd just played a game with the love of his life, and that could hold him over for awhile, keep him in a good mood.
Ino emerged from the lake waters now, trying to clear the earlier memory from her head as she went for another lap. She needed to get that his look out of her memory, sight, and vision. She couldn't stop seeing it, stop thinking about it, stop interpreting it that way, no matter how many times she tried to convince herself it was something else. How could he love her?
She'd spent the rest of that day avoiding Sasuke, which wasn't hard, since he often disappeared with the ANBU and came back out of the blue like he never left.
She just didn't expect to dwell on it so much. To see everyone with dark, silky hair and immediately think it's him, her heart hopeful and racing and excited just to talk to him. Just talk. They were friends, after all.
Sasuke swallowed as he watched Hinata nervously fidget with her light beige bedroom robe, after asking him to wait a moment, then suddenly moving to disrobe in front of him. He grasped her hands. "What are you doing?"
Her voice threatened to stumble, but she cleared it, saying quietly, "We haven't done…we haven't…it's been a while."
"You want to?" he asked, surprised.
She tried not to shake her head. "It's not that, I-I just-I just thought that maybe you wanted it by now. You just got back from your mission." She said, "You always-always want to after a mission."
Sasuke released her hands and let her disrobe. He didn't know why he expected her to initiate more than just taking off a robe. After she did, she stood there, looking at him with wide eyes, wondering why he wasn't taking control like usual. He moved forward and slid his arm around her, watching her pale, moonlit skin look like matte marble. If he looked away from her eyes, she wasn't hard to look at. He just felt like he was ravaging her whenever he did things with Hinata. His mind would wander to Ino, and he'd forget who he was with, biting her until he heard her whimper. Then he'd remember again.
He brought her robe together, and frowned. "Hinata…"
"What's wrong?" she asked, her lilac orbs confused, scared she did the wrong thing.
He looked away from her. "Nothing is wrong. I haven't showered."
"Oh, sorry," she said quickly, suddenly embarrassed. She grasped a clothe, her face reddening. "C-c-c-c-an I wash y-y…" she stopped, then finally said, "you?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed. Did she hear about something? Is that why she was so insisting on being with him? Sasuke frowned again, looking in her eyes to see how much she might know, but she could barely lift her pupiless orbs off the floor, so he bent down and looked up at her. "Why?" he asked.
His eyes were inescapable. Hinata's pale eyes rushed to find cover anywhere but beneath his gaze. Her hands shook. "B-be-because I want to. I want to."
He undid the black crisscrossing strings of his pants, then stopped when her hands shook towards it. He exhaled roughly, looking away, but letting her try.
Hinata's hands drew back after finishing with the strings, but she could barely push his black ANBU pants down. He took off his vest, and letting it fall to the floor as he rolled his eyes, before taking control. He grunted, pushing her up against the tiles of the bathroom, lifting her up and onto his waist. Her small hands flew to his shoulders for security, his eyes not leaving hers. Then she finally said it, guilty: "N-N-N-N-N-Naruto."
"What about him?" Sasuke asked roughly, annoyed by the blond already.
Hinata's eyes flew up to Sasuke's and at first he didn't realize why, until he realized she was trying to confess something.
Slowly, he let her down.
"What is it?" Sasuke asked. His voice and tone was cold, but he was too impatient to care about making himself seem so annoyed.
As he waited, she reddened more, trying to find the words. He half-expected steam to start pouring from her red-hot skin, but he waited, looking elsewhere but her nakedness that she'd quickly moved to cover. He redid his pants, waiting whole minutes. Finally, she mumbled something so quietly, he had to crouch and put his ear near her mouth just to catch it.
Hinata said, "H-He has-has-has a nice smile. I feel-feel bad for liking his sm-smile."
"His smile?" Sasuke repeated, expecting more.
When he looked back at her, he realized that was it, and he stood up. He didn't expect to have laughter bubbling in his chest and throat. His smile? That was it? He thought about fucking Ino, burying his twitching, hot member deep inside her soft walls until she screamed again and again for more as he felt her raking nails scrape against his skin. He went near insane thinking of her moans that used to drive him to the brink and off a cliff of pleasure. Just the memories alone got him through a night with Hinata, and he barely thought of how it'd make her feel if she ever found out, and here she was worried he'd be mad that she liked some blond dope's smile.
"What pisses me off," Sasuke said, "is that he doesn't even have a good smile."
Hinata's head dipped lower in apology, but Sasuke finished, "But you're allowed to like it. It's not a crime, at least not maritally."
Sasuke didn't expect her to smile, to glow up like that, or even hug him half naked. "Th-thank you, Sasuke, honey."
Honey.
Sasuke only nodded, trying to pretend like he didn't hear that, but he hugged her tighter for her sake.
The Next Day
The sun was boiling over the sky early morning the next morning. It was so hot Ino was panting, rushing to get her floral arrangements done in time for a wedding. How could she have slept that late? What was she thinking waiting for Sasuke to show up out of no where? How would he even have known to show up?
Wasn't she supposed to still feel something after breaking up with Shikamaru last week?
She could barely catch her thoughts as she raced to put the white flowers with the black flowers, as was instructed, but when she finally peered closer and got a good look at it, she realized she'd brought the cream-colored roses with navy blue flowers. She groaned out, needing a minute to sit, and likely only having that much time to do so before she had to get up and start running again.
"What's so bad about cream and blue, anyway?" she muttered, when she felt it. She sat up, nervously at first, running a hand through her hair to smooth it, before turning around.
Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Sasuke. But it slowed back down when she saw Hinata.
Hinata was walking with her arm around Sasuke's, looking at the little, unopened shops that would be available for business again in about an hour. She pointed at tiny figurines and he nodded, most likely agreeing to buy them for her.
Ino's stomach sank and twisted, though it had no right to. She slipped beneath the bench, trying to scoot underneath it to get behind it and be hidden. She peered back at the couple from the slits in the wooden bench, breathing out as she saw him very nearly smile at Hinata when he was talking.
What was she thinking? That they could ever…why was she even hiding?
Ino dusted herself off before standing. She turned on her heels, grabbed the flowers, and ran.
By the time she got back to the venue, she had seconds to spare to set everything up, smartly grabbing a wagon earlier to carry even more flowers to make up for the near-blunder. As she placed them, arranging carefully, she kept taking glances at the little figurine stores. That could've been her, married, pointing at what she wanted and sweetly asking her husband to buy it for her, him nodding.
When her job was finished, Ino let the wedding party keep the flowers, too tired to go back to retrieve them. Instead she went to the river to read, trying not to think about the day, or that morning. Quietly, she held open a book, balancing it on her lap as she laid out on the field grass and bit into an apple with one hand, and drinking a gourd of water with the other.
Suddenly, a large shadow swept over her, like a dark sunrise.
She flipped onto her side, and peered up with a wince of her eye to steady against the actual sun and the hidden face.
"You come down here to read erotica too?" Kakashi drawled lazily, stealing a spot right next to her. Without warning, he grasped the book off her lap, inspected it, and placed it back where he found it, and laid down, popping his place open in his book all in one languid movement. "Romance, erotica, all the same thing. Only difference is one wishes they could be going at it and the other does."
Ino's mouth leapt to say something sharp, but she cooled herself. "If you don't mind, I was here first," she told him politely.
"I've been coming here to read since the war ended back when you were a pup, I think it's fair to say I was here first. My butt dents are like my signature all over these spots," he countered.
"Yeah, but this area is the only one with shade and water," Ino protested.
"Then good thing there's space enough for two," Kakashi said, and Ino stuffed down.
"Is that any good?" she finally asked a minute later, leaning to take a look.
"Would I be reading it if it wasn't?" he asked, idly flipping a page.
"You're barely reading," she accused. "You're only staring at the pictures."
"Because I memorized the words, and if you don't mind, leave all questions for the end."
Ino opened her mouth to say something else, but then caught sight of Sasuke, sparring and doused in sunlight. Her words caught in her mouth and she leaned back down. It wouldn't be fair to go up to him without Hinata.
Ino went back to reading, hoping Sasuke saw her with someone new, even if he'd be wrong.
She scooted a bit closer to Kakashi, leaning towards him a bit.
Sasuke punched the ANBU recruit, harder than he meant to.
Without even looking to the kid to see the undoubtable gushing blood from his mouth, Sasuke threw a towel to him, not taking his eyes off of Kakashi and Ino, laying next to each other, reading together. His fist went up, but this time the kid ducked away, scrambling back.
"Never run from your opponent," he said, still looking at them, but running towards the kid, who full-on fled from him. Sasuke stopped his pursuit, and looked back to Ino, the way her stomach was just bare, her skirt pooled around her waist, and her legs just tented like that. He could've…"Find that kid," he instructed another ANBU hopeful. He breathed out hard, trying not to remember his favorite way of waking Ino Yamanaka up in the morning, with his fingers buried deep into her sweet warmth between her legs and his tongue sliding over her, until she pleaded for him to get inside already.
He looked to Kakashi and anger flared inside of him.
Why was he with Ino? And reading those books. If he so much as glanced at her skin, Sasuke swore he'd go over there.
Sasuke went over there anyway.
"You're on ANBU training property," he informed Ino, who rolled over onto her back from her side and looked up at him, her cerulean orbs wet and in-want. Or so he imagined. He steeled himself. "We're training."
Kakashi pointed to a line next to his arm. "That's how far the property goes to. We're quite a ways from your precious training ground."
Sasuke looked to the silver-haired man. "We've expanded."
Ino gathered her things, and Kakashi sat up. He looked from Sasuke, who was looking at Ino, who kept looking at Sasuke. Kakashi had read enough books to know not to get in between, but then again Sasuke Uchiha had been a pain in the ass since coming home thirteen years ago when Sasuke was eighteen. In fact, Kakashi remembered him stealing several spots in the ANBU, sending home anyone who didn't make the cut. Even him.
Kakashi turned to the blonde, and asked, "Wanna grab lunch, Ino?"
Ino blinked hard, trying not to look at Sasuke and get nervous.
Only wanting to spare wraths, she shook her head, looking up to Sasuke. "No, Hatake-san. Sasuke and I have lunch plans."
Sasuke looked back to her, ready to be angry at her acceptance, before registering what she said.
"You do?" Kakashi asked him.
"We do," Sasuke confirmed, and by then Kakashi knew he couldn't do anything to stop them anyway. Sasuke told Ino, "Might as well make it dinner."
Ino nodded.
"You-you-you-you can't make dinner with me?" Hinata asked, trying not to watch Sasuke get ready.
He poured the bath water over himself, washing his skin so diligently, Hinata wondered why he was being so thorough then. She wished he'd have been that attentive when he dragged blood and dirt in the house, barely taking off his fight-soaked ANBU uniform and falling straight into bed ater a quick, more-water-than-soap wash.
Sasuke had forgot to answer her, until he saw her attempt to reach for him. He grabbed her fingers to keep her from touching his shoulder. "What? What is it?" he asked.
"F-food?" she said, her voice sounding more like a whimper than in-question.
"Food?" he echoed, then remembered. "I thought I said before that I couldn't make it. I have plans elsewhere tonight."
"Maybe we could-we could go together?" Hinata tried.
Sasuke stared at her, but didn't answer. "Can you get my lower back for me?" he asked.
Hinata looked back at him. That night she was in the middle of getting dressed for dinner, when he abruptly canceled on her without explanation and started a bath, asking where their good soap was.
She scrubbed his lower back, stealing a look at him.
He was undeniably handsome, his eyes were just the start to a perfect, charming face that could bring storm or sunshine, depending on where his thoughts and moods were. Of course people asked him out to dinner, he was good at what he did, but he had asked her out to dinner last night.
Okay, he didn't truly ask. He said they were going to dinner when he got done with training the new ANBU recruits. He'd come home earlier than she expected and without even looking at her, he searched for soap and canceled. She realized then they hadn't ever gone to dinner before outside of walking home together and randomly stopping to eat.
She nodded eagerly when he said they were going to dinner, a smile breaking onto her lips.
She tried to express how much she'd really like that, but Sasuke was already leaving for the day. She spent her day looking forward to it, and didn't even think about Naruto, which took effort.
Now he was canceling on her, no explanation. She couldn't truly say why that hurt so, so much. He nearly looked back to her, waiting, and she finished helping him, before he stopped her.
"No, I'll do it," he said, remembering how awkward it might be to ask her since he had every intention of having Ino that night. Asking Hinata to help him betray her was excessive, he decided.
Ino wanted to pick a safe outfit.
Nothing too over-the-top and I've-been-waiting-for-this, and nothing to suggest she didn't care, but what she ended up settling on was something sexy, but hard to take off, just to make it hard for her to make decisions like the one she was subconsciously thinking of.
It was a little black number, with crossing strings and it was a bit short when she sat down, but what wasn't shorter sitting down other than pants? It was steaming hot in the private booth, with live octopus being served with burning hot pressure by disappearing waiters. It was fun, interesting.
She waited eagerly, her dress black like the seat, which only added to the exotic appeal since it made her wavy vanilla hair stand out all the more and made her ocean-blue eyes dazzling on her face.
Still, she didn't expect Sasuke to arrive so… charmingly, himself.
His smile was only half his mouth, but it showed a straight, pointed row of pearly teeth that was charismatic, the way he pulled a chair out for her was charming, and he smelled so charmingly good and was so put-together that she could barely remember how to sit in a chair and didn't even look at it as she tried to sit, lost in his eyes. She stumbled and he grasped her arms and waist, her weight bearing on him, her skin crossing over his clothes. "Easy, Ino, that's for later," he promised.
She laughed it off, or at least tried to, and stepped back, easing into her chair. She rolled her eyes at him, driving him crazy in a way that truly made him want to take her right there. Don't roll your eyes or you'll have to be punished…he thought to her.
"You keep looking at me like that, I think I'll have to run away," Ino teased gently, trying to make him stop looking at her like he wanted to ravish her body, it made her want to take her dress right off.
"You nearly slipped away yesterday as a beginner's luck," he said, still thinking about their little dance, his eyes taking in her skin, "and my distraction."
"Beginner's luck is all I need," she grinned up at him and he touched her lap. It was warm and smooth and he leaned in, tilting his head.
Ino looked around the restaurant, and didn't chance kissing him there. She squeezed her eyes. At all. She couldn't chance kissing Sasuke Uchiha at all. Married. Married. Married. His palm grasped her face and brought her close, his other hand moving between her legs, and he held her gaze with his sexy, strong eyes. He chuckled with how quickly her eyes hooded with sultry need.
She peeled his hand off though. "No touching, Uchiha."
He blinked at her.
She hid a smile behind her sake glass she brought to her lips. He grasped her arm and took her drink, downing it. He exhaled, setting it down, and looking at her so hungrily, she willed the food to come before he took her body for dinner. "I could lick this off your clit tonight, if you want."
"Sasuke," she hissed. "You can't just say that."
"Why do we have to pretend like we don't want to fuck each other?" he asked, severely honest. "I want to fuck your brains out, and I know you want to have me inside you again."
"How would you even know that?" she said through pursed lips, pouring another sake.
"Pull your legs apart, and prove me wrong," he said, stealing her drink again.
"Hey!" she laughed. "You're paying for it if you're gonna drink this like water."
"I'll pay for that and for a place for us to finally fuck," he exhaled.
"Then we do what? Forget like we never did it and avoid each other, hating that we couldn't control ourselves?" She poured and drank from the cup they shared.
He shook his head. "No, then you agree to be mine, become an Uchiha, and have my children," he said with another bout of brutal honesty. "I couldn't imagine their mother being Hinata."
Ino was taken back, but didn't swallow the idea. She said bitterly as she drank another, "So you just want me for my childbearing abilities."
Sasuke opened his mouth to object, but became frustrated he couldn't articulate how much more than that Ino was to him. Building his family was everything to him, all he's waited for in thirty-one years, and though she was only twenty-eight, she could give him children, romance, excitement, a life.
Ino moved out of her chair to stand and Sasuke grasped her to him.
"Ino, we both deserve what we couldn't give each other before. I stupidly married her for status."
"No, we both deserves something…" The sake went into her empty belly.
"Something real," he insisted. "Give me tonight and I'll show you."
She smirked. "With you all married-up, I doubt you can show me anything life changing."
He grinned wolfishly at that, rolling up his sleeve. He strategically pressed her to the bar table, pushing his hand underneath her dress. She pushed his hand out. "Sasuke!"
"Shh," he said against her ear. He made her knees come together feeling Sasuke's fingers against her inner thighs.
"You can't," she insisted, her body jolting when he found her string panties. She whispered something to him, but she couldn't hear herself over her own breathing. "You can't feel me up in public."
Who knew when a waiter might appear?
"A room then?" he asked, loving how soft and silky she was there, and wet.
"I'm not even drunk." She added, her legs drawing together weakly, "And we haven't eaten."
As Ino's mind left her, Sasuke wanted to hear her moans, he didn't care for the food between now and that. "I want you to be sober when you're screaming my name. You won't slur your words and anyone who hears us can't mistake who's giving it to you so hard and good that you're shouting."
"Shouting and screaming?" she echoed, her head throwing back to laugh, but keeping it there when his fingers found her mound. She leaned over the counter, breathing out heavily, the feeling so good that her fingers curled into her fist. He didn't bother grazing around, he pushed two fingers into her, earning a gasp that made him hard. Tiny, breathless escaped mewls, mixing with the sound her wet friction made. "Ah!" she cried softly, "Ah…" it felt so good her eyes watered and her legs couldn't hold her up. Her fingers squeezed and her eyes rolled back in pleasure, her toes rising. Don't stop, she wanted to plead to Sasuke, please, please, please.
"Ask me to stop," he dared in a whisper, knowing she wouldn't. She parted her legs instead. "More?"
She shook her head. She forced herself to say, "Hinata."
"She isn't here," Sasuke assured.
Ino scooted back. "Our waiter could see us."
"Then let me fuck you first and we'll come back," he said, taking his fingers to his mouth to taste her. It was exactly as good and exciting as he remembered.
She would've crumbled to the floor, if she hadn't wanted him back in her so desperately. Somehow, Ino found the strength to stand. Don't do this, she told herself. Slowly, she closed her eyes, praying for more than just the strength to stand up on her own.
A/N: PLEASE REVIEW! That's how I know to make more :) Also, only click on this if you like stuff like this, and don't send pathetic random messages lol.