Author's Note: Story's almost done, guys! Thanks for sticking with me. Hope to hear from you guys about this chapter... I'm pretty excited about it. :p
Wasn't sure whether to up the rating for this story, but this chapter is rated M for adult content.
xx
The warm months settled pleasantly.
April continued her part-time job, while Shen did her best in school. And between the time spent with just the two of them, shopping or enjoying movies at home, there was time with the boys. It was a routine that, despite its consistency, never seemed to become dull or tedious, if only because of the company April enjoyed.
Saki made a conscious effort to reel in any jealousy, and April likewise kept from making any moves that seemed overtly offensive to him. After all, he shouldn't have to be the only one who watched himself, she reasoned. There was no need to go out of her way to make him feel sensitive. And honestly, April had no desire to be around anyone else.
The man who had been The Shredder in her own time was her very own Saki here.
He teased her, but he didn't baby her. He never questioned her abilities or her talents. He emphasized to her, above all, that she had the strength to do whatever it was she put her mind to.
"If I had a daughter," he told her one day, as they ate their lunch at a leisurely pace, "I would train her to be a kunoichi."
"Really?" April asked, before blinking awkwardly as she realized she should have been less surprised than anyone to hear such a thing. It was possible that Shredder had trained Karai purely out of revenge, but then again, perhaps not. He hadn't known Yoshi was alive, not until New York. And why wouldn't he raise his children as he had been raised? It was what Splinter had done.
"My father does not put much faith in female ninja," Saki admitted. "But I believe they are as capable as they wish to be, just like men."
April smiled, but it was a bit uneasy, and she simply shrugged.
"That's true, I think. But it applies to more than ninjutsu, right? That wouldn't be all you'd teach her?"
Saki glanced at her curiously. "I hope not," he said earnestly, and April relaxed. Not Shredder, she reminded herself.
Not yet. Not ever.
Thanks to her.
Xx
April and Saki left early one Saturday morning, though he wouldn't tell her where they were heading.
"Come on!" April admonished, tugging on the arm he wasn't using to steer. Saki's old truck bumbled its way up the mountainside, having left the city behind over half an hour ago, and now only an expanse of deep green forest surrounded them. The sun shone brilliantly overhead, occasionally dropping in through gaps in the branches of very old, tall trees. Saki had turned off the radio and rolled down the windows, and the warmth of the wind and smells of the forest rolled in and around the cab of the truck, inviting and natural.
"Tell me!" April exclaimed again, but Saki only shook his head at her, the very picture of patience.
Finally, after another twenty minutes, the truck detoured from the unpaved road and slipped through an opening in the trees. The tires crunched over gravel and the darkness of the forest peeled away to reveal a sunny blue sky, seemingly all around them, and beyond that, far below, and even bluer ocean than April had ever seen.
Her lips parted, and Saki smirked before getting out of the truck and reaching out a hand for her. April followed with a squeal, but she quelled her rush when she realized just how high up they were.
"Wow..." she murmured, as she and Saki stepped away from the line of trees to the clearing on the edge of a great cliff. Hundreds of feet below, water pushed and pulled against the rocky walls, and when they pulled back, revealed sandbars, no doubt filled with tiny ocean creatures.
April walked cautiously to the edge, her heart humping. It was so beautiful, and as much as she wished for a camera in that instant, she knew photos would never do this place justice.
"This is the southwestern coast," Saki explained to her, his fingers curled in hers. He nodded to the water. "And that is the Pacific Ocean. The other side of the islands is in the Sea of Japan, and further south than that is the East China Sea." April edged closer, peering over the edge of the cliff. It was not quite so high as she had first though, but it was still staggering, and she carefully moved away. Large rocks jutted out of the water, and when she squinted, she could see fish occasionally jumping up and slapping against them.
"It's amazing," she said, smiling back at him. "I've never seen anything like it."
Her eyes raised to the tops of the cliffs, all covered in lush green, and her eyes landing on something tall and white. "Look!" she beamed. "A lighthouse! And caves! There's so much down there, Saki. I wonder if anyone ever goes down there and explores it."
"Sure they do," he said, letting go of her hand and moving to the edge of the dropoff. "Yoshi and I often came down here as children. And we would jump off this very cliff." April narrowed her eyes.
"No way."
"Yes, yes." Saki toed closer to the edge, far too near for April's liking, and he responded to her glare with a grin of his own.
"Saki, don't you dare! You will give me a freaking heart attack! Come away from there!"
"Oh, come on now. This is a little drop, nothing more," he snickered, and then, at last, he relented and held up both hands. "Fine, fine..." he stepped away from the cliff, his back to the edge. April had barely relaxed when Saki stopped his movements, hands still held up in a submissive pose, and she spotted that split-second smirk before he rolled back his entire body and did a back flip straight off the cliff.
"SAKI!" April shrieked, running to the edge before skidding to a stop, her buldging eyes on the turbulent water below. She saw a splash that might have been him, but it was too hard to tell, and she turned and sped down a sandy trail she'd spotted a moment before. Half-running, half-falling, April ran all the way down the length of the rocky face on the barely-there trail, and once she reached the sandy pit at the bottom, she was out of breath and nearly hysterical.
"SAKI!" she screamed again, as water lapped at her ankles from where she stood on a sandbar. "SA -"
"What took you so long?" came a voice behind her, and April whirled to face a grinning Saki, shirtless, soaking wet and too damn smug for April's liking.
"You SORRY son of a -" April leaped at him, but Saki was too fast, and he laughed as he dove out of her attempts to maim him. She did manage to get in a good kick to his shin before he relented.
"Okay, okay, I'm sorry!" he said, holding up hands in an offering of peace. "Relax, I am unharmed!"
"You scared me half to death!"
"Yoshi and I jumped off that same cliff when I was nine!" he exclaimed, unable to stop laughing, and April was forced to stop and inhale deeply just to avoid totally losing her mind. Saki saw his chance to escape and took it swiftly, hurrying back into the water and diving under a wave. He emerged a moment later, still chuckling.
"Come swim!" he offered, as if that made everything better. April folded her arms with a huff, determined to maintain her irritation. It WAS really hot, and she'd just burned through all of her energy running down a damn cliffside, but to give him the satisfaction was just too much.
"I said I was sorry," he pointed out, sounding as contrite as he could manage, which was not nearly enough in April's opinion. She made a face, her chin turned up and away.
"I don't have a swimsuit," she muttered at last, eyeing the water with envy.
"Neither do I," he pointed out, eyebrow raised. April caught his snarky look and cut him yet another glare. Ooh, he thought he was so funny. And he didn't really expect her to get in the water, she could tell. Well, let him be the one surprised for a change.
With a haughty look (that included sticking her tongue out at him), April reached up with as much confidence as she could muster and peeled off her shirt. Then, without pausing to take in the glorious image of his shocked face, she shimmied out of her shorts as well.
Thank you god that I chose to wear cute underwear today, she thought, her cheeks stained red but her expression resolute. Then, with a smirk of her own, she tossed her clothes aside and jogged into the water, diving right next to him and disappearing underneath a wave.
She popped up behind him a moment later, startling him into turning around.
"Well?" she said coyly. "Let's swim."
xx
It was an experience April would remember for the rest of her life.
The bright sunny day burst into the water with a million sunspots, twinkling against bright sand and dark, shiny rocks. April and Saki dove deep and scoured the sand, digging up treasures in the form of unusual shells and other odds and ends. They laughed endlessly, losing words to choked mouthfuls of water as they exhausted their bodies moving in and under the waves, sometimes letting their limbs fall lose so the ocean could carry them lazily to other parts of the shoreline.
April jumped up on a series of rocks set up like stepping stones, and Saki followed close behind her, leaping from rock to rock just after her.
"Look!" April exclaimed, pointing at a school of brightly colored fish.
"Oh, there are fish in the ocean," teased Saki. "Call all the scientists."
"Shut up!" she knocked him on the arm before hurrying off, delight giving her energy and pushing her to find a nicely edge rock wall to climb. With Saki behind her, she gripped piece after piece, scaling the wall with waves rushing up underneath her and the wind biting at her still-wet back.
"Go!" Saki encouraged her when she faltered, her body trembling with exhileration and fear when she saw how high up she'd gotten. "You can do it! I am here if you fall!" So April pushed on, heat from the sun pushing into her back and spurning her towards her goal, a ledge some thirty feet above the water.
Finally, she reached it and edged onto the small outcropping of rock, turning shakily until she faced the ocean again and the rock face was at her back.
"Oh, Saki..." she breathed. "I feel like I'm in the sky!"
"Now you have to jump!" he replied, still far below her. "Go! I am here!"
April shrieked as she got close to the edge, her body trembling violently, but she wanted to do it, she wanted to jump. She geared herself up, faltered, and then backed up to take a deep breath. Then, with one last glance at Saki below, April took in a deep breath and jumped straight off the edge.
She screamed all the way down, but when the water rushed up to meet her, Saki was there too and he pulled her back up to the surface before she lost her breath.
"Are you okay?" he asked with a snicker, pushing back her damp hair.
"That was AMAZING!" April exclaimed, throwing up her arms with a splash. "I jumped! From up THERE!"
"Yes, you did," he said fondly, large hand cupping her cheek.
Xx
April wasn't sure how so much time could have possibly passed, but they were still in the water when the sun began to dip in the sky and cast it in shades of pink and orange. They swam towards the sandy shore, but Saki stopped at a large, broad rock in the ocean and sat himself upon it, turning to pull up April between his legs with her back against his bare chest.
Water dripped from their skin, wetting the rock and clinging to them in long, languid trails that soaked them from the top of their heads to the tips of their toes. When April fell back against Saki's chest, both of their legs pulled up on the sun-warmed rock, she realized how exhausted she felt. Then Saki's hand reached up and curled at her bicep, and she slowly turned her face towards his, their eyes meeting.
Without speaking, Saki moved the hand at her arm up her damp skin, his fingers spread, searching as they caressed up her neck where her hair stuck to her skin in wet swirls. When his hand found the top of her neck and brushed her jaw, their lips met passionately, eyes closed and minds lost.
April felt her body come alive again, despite the tiresome efforts from earlier, and she reached up an arm to cup the back of his head, desperate to feel him closer. The sensation of his bare skin against hers, something new and frightening, left her dizzy with desire. His other arm snaked around her waist and the heat of his skin against her naked stomach spurned an eletricity in her belly that pushed ever lower.
When his hand gripped her hip, she felt the languid, slow-building crest inside of her encouraging her as Saki had done earlier. To push higher, go further. To achieve that great height she wanted, frightened as she was of it.
April pulled her lips from Saki's just enough to breathe, and their faces hovered close. Saki murmured something in Japanese, and April's mind registered distantly that it was the first time she could remember him forgetting to use English with her, though his words might have been lost to her anyway as he tilted his head and caught her neck in a scorching kiss. Air flew out of April's lungs as she felt his hand move into her hair, gently tilting her head to the side and moving his lips to her bare shoulder. Water lapped at their feet and mist jumped to their bodies, but everything April felt was Saki's hands and lips.
And still it wasn't enough, so she turned carefully on the rock, reluctantly pulling away from his kisses so she could move on the limited space of the rock to face him. Then, with deliberate slowness, she stood on her knees and slipped her hands over his chest until they fell behind him and on his back. The motion brought them close again, and their mouths met hotly. Saki's hands found the backs of her thighs and in one fluid motion, he slipped her knees over his thighs until their hips were pushed flush against each other.
She gasped against his mouth, the unfamiliar sensation of his hardness against her groin shocking her senses. Everything about Saki was firm, from the taut way he held the sculpted muscles of his arms to the ridges in his stomach, and now the evidence of his desire, every bit as ardent as hers, pressed against her in unquestionable yearning.
Their kiss slowed, and they parted only a few inches, the sky outlined a deep pink behind them as the sun dipped into the horizon.
"We can stop," murmured Saki breathlessly, no small amount of effort keeping his hands at bay.
April's eyes remained on his, her entire body trembling in a way that was not all that unpleasant, though it frightened her a little. "Is that what you want?" she whispered.
"No," was his honest reply.
April's heart skipped a bit, and for a moment, she looked to her curled fingers against his chest. Still, it was not because she was taking the time to decide on her answer, only gathering the courage to say it.
"Me either," she murmured, dipping her head towards his again.
Xx
They slipped out of the water into a rocky alcove, one where the moist sand sat just out of reach of the tide. Saki's arms caught April and pulled her close, his kisses alternating between gentle and deep, passionate and tender as he caught the backs of her legs and laid her against the wet sand. Water pushed in gently, lazily catching up to April's body, cool against the skin that felt as if it were a thousand degrees.
Alone, with only the sound of the ocean and the growing chatter of nighttime creatures, April reached up to Saki and pulled his body flush against hers, filling every inch of space with his skin. Their clothes fell away, and the shadows of the shallow cave offered some courage to April, who tucked her shyness into Saki's body to shield it from view.
He took her arm then, kissing it along the inside from the inside of her elbow to the tips of her fingers, before his own laced there and he brought it up beside her head. April caught his eyes and brought his face close, her body thrumming with need but her inexperience and fear causing her to balk until he dropped his lips to her stomach. The jolt in her stomach brought her back to awareness, erotic pressure building in her groin until she felt his fingers press there.
Their mouths met again, pressing heatedly and growing more fervent as April arched into the touch, unable to decide if she had any control over the way her body reacted to his skilled fingers. Saki coaxed noises out of her with a divine sense of patience until she hooked a leg around his and urged him him against her. Saki's hands left her and slid over her breasts, lips finding a spot just between them as he pressed against her opening. A single moment of fear spiked through April, but the revolt of her body was stronger and she arched her hips up towards him until he was buried inside of her, eliciting a noise from Saki that April cherished with pride.
"April," he exhaled, gathering her body in his arms and continuing his heated kisses, finding her breasts and her shoulder and every inch of her that needed to be touched. As his speed increased, April's hands jumped to the wet sand and curled there, digging in and gripping it for dear life, her lips parted and her head tossed back.
A whimper escaped her, echoing off the cave walls and then falling, lost to the sounds of the ocean. She felt as if a string had gone throughout her entire body, pulling and tugging at the most erogenous parts of her until at last it tightened, drawing a cry from her that was swallowed up by the encroaching ocean.
The rush of sensations overwhelmed her for a moment and April closed her eyes tight, her chest heaving as Saki succumbed with a shout to the wondrous loss of control.
By the time they'd both gotten their breath, the water had pushed up around them and they sat up together, still wrapped in one another's arms. April's throat felt dry and her muscles screamed for sleep, but despite the pain – and the additional pain she would no doubt feel later – she could never remember feeling more content.
"We should get out of here before we drown..." she whispered, the first words spoken in an hour, and even though her face was scarlet at their lack of modesty, she couldn't resist a smile as she turned and pressed her bare chest against his. Being this comfortable with someone was a marvelous feeling, and Saki's smile in return to her, soft and gentle and more loving than anything she'd ever seen, was enough to ward away any doubts she had.
"Yes," he agreed, finding their clothes before they were washed away and then leading her back up the sandy trail to the truck.
Xx
The ride back home held little conversation, but it was a comfortable, sated silence, settled mostly by exhaustion. In fact, they might have finished the entire ride without a single conversation had it not been for Saki stopping at a stop sign in the center of town.
"Where have you two been?"
Saki jumped at the sudden appearance of Yoshi at his window, before relaxing and glaring at his brother.
"And why are you wet?" Yoshi continued suspiciously, his hands gripping Saki's open driver's side window. Saki opened his mouth to reply, but another voice cut him off.
"Stop bothering them about their date, Yoshi!" Shen shouted from the other side of the truck cab, where she had suddenly popped up next to April, nearly startling her into falling over on her seat. "What they do is none of your business!"
"Date!" Yoshi exclaimed from his side of the truck. "How do you know they were on a date?"
"Oh, I forgot," Shen said sarcastically, before pointing heatedly across the inside of the cab, forcing April to learn far back in her seat. "You wouldn't know a date if it took one of your stupid nunchucks and hit you in the face!"
Saki slumped against his seat, his hand over his face.
"What? Are you talking about yesterday?" Yoshi argued incredulously from his side. "I told you, I showed up! You weren't there!"
"You were late, Yoshi!"
"Only by a few minutes! I was busy with -"
"Training, oh yes, believe me, I know!"
Yoshi made a disgruntled noise. "You know what, you keep holding everyone to your ridiculous standards of time, you're going to end up a lonely old cat lady!"
Shen gasped dramatically. "Oh, you little – Come on, April, we are going home!"
"I, uh -" April glanced at Saki, who rolled his eyes and beckoned for her to go with the irate Shen, though he did pause to squeeze her hand affectionately. "Okay, then!" April got out of the truck cab at the stop sign, but by now, Yoshi had realized his mistake. Instead of rounding the front of the vehicle, he leaped straight up and jumped onto his stomach on top of the truck cab, sliding to Shen's side and giving her his most desperate look.
"GET OFF MY TRUCK, YOSHI!"
"Please Shen, I'm sorry," Yoshi said, ignoring Saki. "I should not have said that."
"You have thirty seconds to get off my truck!"
"Shut up, Saki! I'm trying to make amends!" And then - "Seriously, Shen. Please. Go to the festival with me in a few days."
"I'll think about it," Shen folded her arms haughtily.
"Twenty-eight, twenty-nine, thirty," Saki dead-panned, before gunning the truck forward, and the girls took a jump back just before Yoshi rolled off the back of the truck and landed in the bed with a high-pitched shriek and thud.
Batting away the cloud of dust left behind by Saki's truck, April and Shen exchanged amused glances.
"Well," said April jubilantly. "I had a wonderful day."
They linked arms, and Shen grinned.
"Oh, do tell."
xx