More editing and adding content and such! No rest for the wicked. So, anyway, this chapter is pretty short, but enjoy!
She needed him. She had to have him inside. Right now. No or stop was not an option. She ignored the voice of sanity in her head, screaming at her, and reached for him.
Oh, yes! Upon contact, his chest muscles sent a spear of fire through her system. She needed to be closer. She needed to feel him. In her, above her, against her, and all around her. She needed to taste him in her mouth and breathe in his scent. He opened his mouth again to say something, but she couldn't care less of what he was going to say. Closing the space between them, she pressed her body and lips against his.
He resisted, and he kept resisting. He turned his head to avoid her mouth, but she sneaked a hand in his wet mane and locked him in place and licked at his bottom lip.
"Don't deny me, Shikamaru," she purred. "We both want this."
He attempted to say something else. Fuck! Again with the talking? She knew how to put an end to that...
Reaching down between them, she found his thick shaft, wrapped her hand around it, and gave it one smooth stroke. His body convulsed as his mouth dropped open in a groan.
That's more like it, she thought to herself. Catching his bottom lip between her teeth, she gave a gentle tug, and the restraint he displayed before shattered like antique porcelain china. Yes!
Bending quickly and taking her by surprise, he scooped her up and backed her up until her ass met the sink counter. Placing her on it, he forced his body between her thighs and latched on to her neck. Hard.
She arched into him and cried out in a mixture of pleasure and pain. Her hands found their way back into that wonderful hair again, and she tugged.
Everything happened so fast. She couldn't focus. She didn't want to focus. There wasn't any time to focus. Everything was now. Her neck stung. Her breast felt heavy and ached and begged for attention. The apex of her thighs throbbed and leaked liquid lava.
Her shirt was ripped from her torso. She couldn't remember what exactly happened to her bra. Her nipples begged silently by hardening for his undivided attention, and got exactly that. She moaned loudly as he sucked a nipple into his hot, wet mouth, while he pinched and rolled her other with his fingers.
Her jeans and panties; gone. The only thing she could remember was the humid air coming in contact with her slick folds. Unable to hold herself up, she remembered her head smacking against the wide mirror behind her rather hard. She spared one thought to hope that she hadn't cracked it, but that was all she had to offer.
When he began rubbing his hard member against her wetness, she almost climaxed. She felt him twitch and tighten and heard him hiss out a breath, as if he had almost done the same.
"Shikamaru..."
That was the only thing she got out. She tried to tell him not to tease her. She wanted to tell him that she was going to burst into flames if he didn't fuck her right now. She wanted to whisper sexy things to him and whimper in his ear as he entered her. She wanted to do so much, but she was flooded with so much sensation, it was short-circuiting her mind.
Coherent sentences were no longer possible. They only understood the shared communication between their bodies. Their hands and mouths all over each other. The groans and sighs of pleasure...
"Do it." She groaned, grinding herself against his hard-as-steel cock. "Take me... Fuck me...Now... Hurry... Now..!"
He was already sliding his arms underneath her thighs to pick her up and put her in could feel him throbbing against her entrance. So close...
And then he froze.
No! Not again..!
Reaching between them, she grabbed his manhood to steady herself and sank down on it, taking all of him in one stroke.
Or at least, she tried. She didn't move. Thinking she had missed in her haste to get to him inside her, she concentrated on her limbs and tried again. Her arms twitched in response, but nothing more. What the hell?
It didn't make sense to her. She didn't understand. Why couldn't she move her own damn body? Before she could put much more thought into it, Shikamaru's voice interrupted her.
"It's alright, Temari. I'm not going to take advantage of you."
His voice was eerily calm, and full of newfound resolve. Hers, on the other hand, was on the brink of hysteria. Rejected two times so close together... She couldn't handle it.
"No... No. No!" She was slowly coming to the realization that he was not going to penetrate her. "No! Shikamaru, you can't do this... Please, I'm begging you! Just once, please. Oh, please, please..!"
Carefully and calmly, he walked out of the bathroom door, and carried her over the unmade king sized bed. He tried to lay her down on it, but she tightened her hold around his neck and waist.
"Shikamaru, don't reject me. I can't... I just can't... Don't do this to me. Don't do this to us,"she tried desperately to persuade him. "We both want this."
Instead of considering her pleas, he pried her loose from his body, gently placed her on the bed, and turned to leave the room.
"Don't reject me!" She called out to him, but his pace didn't slow. "Shikamaru? Shikamaru!"
Long after he was out of her sight, she screamed his name, hoping, praying, wishing any anything else that would make him come back to her. Dejection and abandonment flooded her system like a sickness, taking over and destroying all the good sensation and lustful clarity that was with her only a few moments before.
As her real common sense and reasoning came rushing back to her, she realized the full extent of what she'd done. She was out of control. She was out of control and insane. She knew it. She now knew that Shikamaru knew as well. The thought made her blood run cold, and she began to shake uncontrollably. Resisting the almost overpowering urge to sob, she curled into the tightest ball she could and held on to herself, preparing for the other detoxing symptoms that came after the shaking.
To the point of convulsing where she was rocking the whole bed, she clamped her mouth shut so her teeth wouldn't chatter and bite off her tongue. There was rustling around the room, and then the bed dipped, but she didn't care until she felt the softness of a blanket on top of her and arms wrap around her from behind.
Her mind took her back to her childhood, and in a mix of convulsing and panic, she tried to escape the grasp.
"Hey, hey. Easy now, it's just me."
"S-s-shik-k-kamaru?"
"Were you expecting someone else?"
"I-I-I thought you l-left..."
She felt the muscles in his arms tightened as he brought her closer to his body. "No, Temari. I haven't left you. I'm here."
"B-b-but I—"
"No more talking." He cut her off. "Just...take it easy. I'm not going anywhere, Temari."
She nodded in acknowledgement, and sank deeper into his embrace. She was so cold, and he was a furnace, radiating heat that reached even the chill in her soul.
And he was true to his word. He didn't leave. He was there for the whole thing. Temari had lost rack of time, but she was sure, that over the duration of hours, he held her and whispered soothing things to her until the convulsions stopped. He was gentle and thoughtful when she became feverish, wiping her body down with cool water and a washcloth until the fever broke.
He stayed, even when she begged him to leave in between acts of vomiting. He just waited outside the door until she was finished; brought her a glass of water to rinse out her mouth, scooped her up into his arms like she was an infant, and placed her back in bed.
At one point, she had calmed down and was comfortable enough to fall asleep in his arms. Someone playing with her hair always made her sleepy. She should've told him to stop, but it felt so damn good…
"Temari?"
She awakened quickly with her heart trying to beat out of her chest. She tried to sit up, but a hand on the back of her head stopped her.
"Whatisit?" She mumbled groggily.
"I was going to ask you the same question," he answered easily enough, but the sleep was thick in his voice as well. "You were whimpering…in your sleep."
Her awareness came flooding back with a vengeance. That's when she realized her face was on Shikamaru's beautifully naked chest, and her leg was thrown over his. She felt the scratchy material of pants, and the weight of his arm around her shoulders, cradling her to him.
Temari expected to feel panic. She expected to feel very uncomfortable and vulnerable. She expected to roll away from him and make an excuse as to why she did. What she did not expect, was to not feel any of those things.
She waited. Oh, with bated breath, did she wait...
But it never came. No panic. No uncomfortableness. No vulnerability. The fast heartbeat from her sleep was actually beginning to slow down.
The one thing that scared her, though, was the fact that she was comfortable with him holding her like this. It scared her because she wanted to sink into him. She wanted to fade into him. She wanted to bury her face in his neck and deeply breathe him in. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and hold on to him like he was to her…
She wanted to hold on to him like he was hers...
"Temari?"
The rumble in his chest that was her name excited he—.
She stilled and stiffened.
~oOo~
Shakamaru felt her tense up, and his guard went up. Something was very wrong. Choosing to wait out the situation, he remained quiet and still. About five whole minutes past before she breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
"So what was that about?"
He felt her relax against him, and he resumed stroking her hair. If the method wasn't broke, then he wasn't going to modify it.
"I got…a feeling. I thought that it was going to lead to more…but, it didn't."
A feeling, huh? If she was referring to her nyphomania, he didn't know, but he wasn't going to push. He could feel her fragileness. "Mhm…"
"You know what?"
"Mhm?"
"It feels good…To not wake up, knowing that there is someone in your bed that you had sex with, almost involuntarily."
That happened?! He felt anger rise up in him. Damn those asshole who took advantage of her. He'd make sure it would never happen again. "Mhm."
"Is that all you're going to say?"
He paused for a second. "Mhm."
That earned him a jab in the ribs. He feigned a serious injury, and she giggled lightly. Just when he began to think things were on level ground, she did a turnabout. Without warning, she began to pull away.
"Hey," he tried to keep her close to him without actually forcing her to do so. "You're taking my body heat with you, you know."
She kept trying to pull away. What the hell just happened in two seconds? He was losing ground fast. He didn't want to make her nervous, so he let her go, and watched her scoot to the other side of the king bed and turn her back to him. "Did I miss something here?"
"I'm better now, Shikamaru. Really, I am. Thank you for all your help. It was…nice. But, you can go now. I swear I have it all under control from here."
As he sat up and watched her, his mouth hung open in astonishment. How the hell did she just go from cuddling to kicking him out? Not knowing what to say, he said the only thing his brain could muster up. "What?"
"Shikamaru, let's be honest with ourselves. There is no place this can go but down. Why not leave it on a good note? It's better than the alternative…"
"Which is?"
"Hating each other," she stated simply. Her voice was devoid of all emotion, and it worried the hell out of him. While he tried to figure out a solution, she carried on. "You hating and being disgusted with me… Me hating you because you hate and are disgusted with me…Trust me, it can get ugly. I don't want to tarnish this. I don't want your opinion of me to change…"
"My opinion about you is not going to change, Temari."
A soft laugh came from her direction. "You say that now. But what happens when you get tired of the episodes? What happens when I lose control again and do something…unforgivable..?"
"That won't happen."
She was already shaking her head before he finished. "You say the exact same thing as everyone else I tried with. Just stop, Shikamaru. This is not something you can win at… I am who I am. Sure, everything will start out amazing, and then the quick descent into hell."
Damn. As he stared at the back of her golden cranium, he struggled with his own to figure out what to do. He searched for the right words to say. Something to encourage her… Something to persuade her... Something that no one else would have sai—
"I want to kiss you, Temari."
Bingo. Even though he hadn't planned on saying that right away, the words were out, so he would have to play it by ear. And it caught her attention. She turned to stare at him, her eyes wide and shocked. Shikamaru took that as a sign of encouragement.
"Yeah, I said it. I want to kiss you, Temari. I've wanted to for a long time."
She continued to stare at him, like a damn snake was coming out of his mouth. Before he could say something else to keep the momentum going, she shook her head. "No."
Oh, he was not having any of that. Getting out of the bed and moving to sit at her side, he gave her a level stare. "I know what you're thinking. I'm attracted to your condition, not you, right? Well, you're wrong, and I can prove it."
When she said nothing, he grabbed the blanket from the bed, and wrapped it around her naked body, covering her from his eyes. "Point number one: If I only wanted to have sex with you, then wouldn't that be what we would be doing right now, instead of talking?" He held up a hand before she could speak. "Yeah, yeah… The first part didn't go so well. That was a mistake. Mistakes must happen to learn from them… They're a pain in the you-know-what, but helpful all the same."
He held up two fingers. "Moving on to number two… I know I suck when it comes to troublesome women, but, come on, cut me some slack, Temari. You have to be blind if you hadn't noticed how I've been looking at you, and spending time with you in this whole situation."
She stayed silent, and Shikamaru hoped like hell that was a good sign.
Θ
Θ Θ Θ
Θ
Temari gave one brisk knock on the door and waited. And waited…
Soon, the door opened, and Konoha's favorite ninja, Uchiha Sasuke, stepped into the threshold. The air began crackling with tension as soon as they laid eyes on each other.
"Sand girl."
"Uchiha defect."
Deeming this the appropriate time to give Sasuke an once-over, she took in his tousled hair and rumpled clothing. The fact that she knew just what—or who, for that matter-he had finished doing had her blood boiling. "You know, I don't appreciate you at all."
"Likewise."
Temari stepped in close, already a live wire. "And you know what really gets to me? The fact that you use Sakura as some kind of fucking sex toy. That. Really. Pisses. Me. Off!"
He continued to keep his expression bored. "This has nothing to do wi—"
She went there.
Oh, she so went there and she meant it. Jabbing her finger into his forehead, she got so close; their breaths seemed to become one. "It has everything to do with me, asshole. You've got exactly one more damn time for her to come crying to me, saying that you left her again for some unknown period of time. Just once more… Do you know what I'm going to do to you?"
She didn't give him a chance to answer. "Go ahead and leave her again. Go on, do it, you son of a bitch. Because when you do, I'm going to have a set of balls to use as a paperweight!"
Sasuke's features contorted in fury. "Fuck you, you crazy bitch. Get your damn hands off me! Female or not, you'll regret it."
"Give me a reason to show you just how fucking crazy I can really get."
By the time Sakura came downstairs to find out who was at the door, they were about two seconds from being at each other's throats, glaring and make silent threats to one another.
Temari could just about feel her friend roll her eyes and sigh in frustration, but she was not backing down from this bastard. There were a lot of people that feared the Uchiha, but she wasn't even slightly impressed. Fuck him.
"Really, you two?" She squeezed between them and pushed them apart. "Do you always have to do this when you see each other?"
"Your friend is a fucking lunatic who needs to stay out of business that doesn't concern her."
Sakura turned and frowned at him. "Sasuke!"
"Give me your opinion, Sasuke. Would you like your balls bronzed or stuffed?"
"Temari!"
When she saw it was pointless for her to attempt to make them talk through it, she sighed and grabbed both of them by their arms. In one fluid motion, she managed to get Temari inside the house and toward the kitchen, and at the same time, getting Sasuke out the house without them killing each other.
"Go wait for me in the kitchen please, Temari. I'll be in there in a second."
Still fuming, Temari made herself march to the kitchen and resisted the urge to punch something. Breathing deeply and pacing around the kitchen like a madman, she finally calmed herself to the point of where she could hear over the blood pounding in her ears. She wished she hadn't.
She could hear soft talking and the rustling of clothing. No doubt Sakura was in his arms, begging him to not go away for very long. She was so in love with him. Had been in love with that bastard since they were children…
The talking stopped and silence ensued. Taking a deep breath and a chance, Temari eased her head around the kitchen threshold to see what was happening.
Of course…
Sakura's arms were wrapped around Sasuke's neck, and they were kissing deeply. Tongue and all. Yuck.
Just when Temari was going to turn away, Sasuke made eye contact with her. He dragged his mouth away from Sakura's mouth and down her neck, where he paused. He gave Temari an evil grin, and then bit down on Sakura's neck, while at the same time; he picked her up by her ass. Sakura cried out in pleasure, and then slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Sasuke, stop it!"
He cut his eyes away from her and looked up at Sakura. "Funny. That's not what you were saying a while back."
"Sasuke!" The hand that covered her mouth swooped down to cover his. "Put me down before Temari comes in here and rips you a new one."
His brows came down challengingly, but he set her onto her feet anyway. "I have to leave now. I'm already behind schedule."
"When will you be back?"
Sasuke's eyes flickered back to hers before he looked back at Sakura. So, she had shaken him… Good. Because she meant every damn word of the promise she made him.
"I don't know."
Temari noticed Sakura's obvious shoulder slump. A classic sign that someone was despaired. "Will it be more than a month?"
"I don't know, Sakura."
"Sasuke," she grabbed onto his shirt. "Let me come with you! I have some vacation time saved up. I know you don't like expressing your emotions, but I know you want me to be with you. I see it in your eyes every time you leave. Well, now you don't have to ask. I'll come with you, no questions asked. Just let me pack a few things and w—"
"No, Sakura."
She stuttered to a stop in her excited rambling. When she spoke again, her voice was a quiet, hopeful whisper, and Temari's heart broke for her friend. She really was in love with him…
"What?"
"Sakura…" He opened his mouth, and once again, his eyes flicked toward Temari's direction, except...something was different. She held his gaze, and in that moment of eye contact, Temari understood him like their souls were connected.
So…The son-of-a-bitch wasn't as much of a son-of-a-bitch as he pretended to be. He really did care for her, but there was something in the way of him confessing his love for her.
Temari knew about that all too well. Everyone had their own ways of dealing with problems, and much like her, Sasuke chose solitude. Not because they wanted to, but because people that they would grow to care about would get hurt, and that was always the most painful part.
Her heart ached for her friend, but now there was a dull pain for Sasuke as well.
Understanding now that he didn't want to her to hear what he had to say, she turned away and busied herself in the kitchen, running the water and banging pots and pans unnecessarily as she searched her friend's house for her tea kettle. Sometime later, while thumbing through a cookbook she'd found and waiting on the water to come to a boil, Sakura came into the kitchen, her eyes puffy and red.
"Is he gone?"
She nodded once, and broke into a million pieces. As Sakura cried, Temari went over to her and lead her over to the kitchen island stool, and rubbed her back and said stupid things like "it will be alright" and "he'll come back to you," because that's what friends did for each other.
Temari was making cups of comforting peppermint tea when Sakura had calmed down enough to talk.
"Go ahead and tell me, Tems…"
Temari slid a cup in from of Sakura, and took a seat next to her with her own. "Tell you what?"
"That I'm an idiot. That I shouldn't be crying over him. That I don't need him."
"Does it work any of times I've told you that?"
She paused. "No. Not really…"
"Then why would I say anything like that now?"
She didn't answer.
They stayed quiet together for quite some time before either of them spoke again.
"You know, he really isn't a bad guy, even though everyone says and thinks he is."
"I know, Saka."
It took her some time to catch up. "I knew you were going to say that, Tems, but you don't know him like I..." She turned to Temari in disbelief. "What?"
"You heard me right."
She blinked slowly, trying to process what was being said and playing catch up all at the same time. "But... You two were just about to fight each other not long ago..."
Temari shrugged and played with the teabag inside her mug, refusing to look up and meet Sakura's stare.
"Well, we came to an...agreement."
"During your verbal harassment of each other?"
"No," Temari shook her head. "Forget that part."
Sakura threw up her hands in frustration. "Tems, you're not making any sense! That was the only time you two were speaking with each other!"
"It was a silent agreement."
"What?!"
Temari finally turned toward the poor and confused girl and held up her hand to silence her. "Look, don't worry about it, alright? You should be elated that I finally approve of him. Just know that we won't be causing anymore trouble in between us anymore."
Temari held up the mug and smiled. "And, to put a big ugly bow on it all, you're a terrible host. You ask too many questions, and you make your guests make the tea while you whine and complain about life—without even asking about how they're doing. I have never been so disrespected."
To her delight, Sakura laughed. "Oh, screw you, Temari. I don't remember inviting you in the first place."
"See? Even with all the support I give you, you're still ungrateful."
Sakura had to swallow her tea before she spewed it all over the kitchen. Setting the mug down, she took in Temari's appearance, and her smile melted off her face. Immediately, she was concerned and attentive. "Damn it, Temari, why didn't you say something sooner? You look as bad as I feel right now..! What happened?"
"You don't get to see him as much as it is. There's no way I would interrupt you two, even if I didn't like him at the time. If he wasn't already leaving when I knocked on your door, then I would have left you two alone." She gave her friend a sideways smile that she knew looked frail. "Besides, even my personal therapist needs a vacation."
Sakura got that look in her eyes. The look of determination. The look that made most of the nurses and doctors under her scatter in fear. The look that said you're going to tell me what I need to know right now, no negotiations. Temari liked that look. It reminded her that her friend was a lot stronger than what she often thought.
"Enough with the small talk. You tell me right now why you're barely holding yourself together."
She took a deep breath, and once again, held up her mug. "We're going to need something stronger than peppermint tea."
~oOo~
"Damn..."
Temari nodded sullenly. Halfway through the saki Sakura had on hand, Temari told all there was to tell. Just to keep herself busy in the impending silence, Temari took another drink of the saki.
"Damn..."
"You said that already, Saka."
She served Temari, and then herself, her face scrunched up thoughtfully, temporarily oblivious to her own situation with Sasuke. "I know... But, I thought for sure that... Damn..."
Now Temari was curious. "Care to fill me in? You seem more upset about this than I am."
Sakura settled back down into her seat, and sighed. "No. It's nothing like that. I just thought for sure that PerceptiveShadow was... "
"Shikamaru..." Temari caught on, but shook her head. "No, he couldn't be. First off, he's too lazy. Second, after all that mess was said and done, I checked my messages on the way over here. Shadow messaged me three times during all that had happened with Shikamaru. Besides that, Shikamaru was being kind of jealous when Shadow sent me that gift card for the spa at that business luncheon."
"Well, that kills my theory... It is kind of exciting when you think about it. Two men, fighting for your attention. I bet they would fight if they actually met each other."
Temari rolled her eyes at her friend. "You need to stop reading those books filled with porn and drama."
"And I say that you need to start."
They took the last shot together, and headed to the living room, where they ended up on the couch, catching up on TV shows.
"So, have you made a decision yet? Are you going to pick one of them to be with?"
Temari stared at the TV, but her thoughts and concentration were beyond the commercials currently on. Could she make a decision?
Shadow came out of nowhere. She didn't know a thing about him, besides that he wanted to fuck her, or what he looked like, but he ignited something within her that no one else had. Also, the fact that he knew so much about her kind of worried her... He could be some weird, fat stalker and she might wind up having to kick his ass.
But, on the other hand, she kind of enjoyed the mystery he was shrouded in, and even though he was a complete horndog, he knew where the line was, and was capable of interesting conversation, which is always a plus. She prided herself in judging people, and so far, no alarm bells went off about him. She was enjoying the fun, for right now.
Shikamaru was by far, a safer choice. He had proven that even though he wanted her, he wouldn't take advantage of her, and that made him honorable, which in turn, made him more sexy. She couldn't forget, nor deny the attraction between them either. She had always thought he was attractive, and was surprised to find that he shared the same thoughts about her.
But, he was her boss, and that put a stop to her thoughts like no other. She really enjoyed her job, and she knew if things went bad, which was inevitable, she would never be able to stay there with him.
Decisions, decisions...
"No, I haven't. Honestly, I'm just enjoying myself. All of this is exciting and all, but, it won't last long. One of them, or both, will move on, eventually. For all I know, Shadow could be married with kids, and Shikamaru really does have a woman on the side... I'm just trying not to let it all sweep me up in the confusion."
Sakura nodded. "Makes sense. I just want you to find someone who will take you as you are, Temari. You really don't understand how good it feels until it happens..." She glanced at a picture of Sasuke on the table next to the couch, and her voice became distant. "And when it does happen, you'll never accept anything less."
Buzzing in her pocket stopped her from answering immediately. Digging the high-tech device out of her pocket and studying the screen, she almost smiled when she saw who the message was from. Trying to appear indifferent, she clicked the message open.
9:28 P.M. - PerceptiveShadow: Are you alright? I'm starting to worry about you...
In all the turmoil, she had forgotten to answer the first three messages he sent. She thought for a minute, and typed out a message.
9:29 P.M. - MsSunaShine: I'm fine. I apologize for not replying sooner. I had another...episode today.
A message came back almost immediately.
9:29 P.M. - PerceptiveShadow: An episode? Another one?
9:30 P.M. - MsSunaShine: Too much to text... A lot has happened since yesterday. You were the cause of the first one, you know.
This was her chance to get a better read on him. Depending on what he said, or if he said anything at all, would determine their status. The wrong answer, and Temari simply wouldn't bother with him anymore. She didn't have to wait long.
9:31 P.M. - PerceptiveShadow: I figured as much. I didn't mean for that happen... Too much to text... Are you busy? Will you meet me somewhere?
It only took Temari a few seconds to decide.
9:32 P.M. - MsSunaShine: Where?
