If I Fall

by teresa

Senior year means endings as well as beginnings, decisions and ultimatums. Their time together is nearly at an end, but their friendship and love promises to last much longer. Sequel to Cause and Effect & Everything in Between.

14. Chapter 14

If I Fall

Chapter 14

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"Hey," Sakura set a cup of coffee in front of Shikamaru and sat down across from him with her bowl of cereal. "We need to talk."

"Mrphm?" Shikamaru muttered around a mouthful of Poptart that he was eating without even going to the trouble of toasting it.

"I know you're not usually at your best this early, but I promise to keep this brief." She leaned in, sipping her own coffee as she waited for the glassy dullness that indicated Shikamaru was mostly asleep on his feet to clear away to some extent. "Drink the coffee." She ordered, figuring that if it worked for Ino he was probably used to just being told what to do at this point. He sipped it without question but was still clearly out of it.

"What…time?" he might have been about to ask something else, but he yawned hugely, turned his attention back to his Poptart and munched at it steadily while Sakura shoveled cereal in her mouth waiting for the cobwebs to clear a little. "Today…is Saturday?" he managed finally.

"Yes." She nodded sharply. He frowned at his coffee, set down his half-eaten pastry and stood up shakily. "What is it? Where are you going?" she stood up, scowling as he tottered away from the table.

"I…need to go back to bed." He managed, yawning again and stretching so majestically his shirt rode up and showed an inch of flesh. "'sit even noon yet?"

"There's no rule about when to wake up on the weekends." She chided him. "And you're meant to be up. Remember, you have to work."

"Like…with a student?" he blinked at her blearily, and Sakura shook her head in disbelief. She had a newfound respect for Ino, who was out right now with Tenten, and had delegated this task to her. "Studying?"

"Yes, that's right." She finally managed, simply standing up and steering him back to his chair, deciding that being friendly wasn't getting her anywhere, she needed to be forceful. "You remember, the wedding's today so you promised Ino you'd get your other stuff out of the way. You rescheduled your session with Shiori to ten in the morning."

"Ten? On a Saturday?" Shikamaru sipped at the coffee, his face drawn in disbelief, a hint of recognition flashing behind his eyes. "What was I thinking…"

"That the wedding's at noon, and you want to be ready so she doesn't punch you." Sakura reminded him. "You know…I've noticed that Shiori comes over a lot more than the other students you're tutoring."

"She needs lots of help." Shikamaru frowned at his Poptart, bit into it, and then curled his arms on the table and plopped his head into them, crumpling the last bit of the pastry as he let his eyes slip closed. "Always…mmfrmm…annaffrim."

"Shikamaru, please don't go back to sleep." Sakura sighed and had a sudden vision of Ino trying to get both Aki and Shikamaru out of bed in the morning, and felt another surge of respect and sympathy for her friend. "Shikamaru, seriously, it's ten till, you need to finish your coffee and go get dressed." In response he let out a soft snore, and Sakura pursed her lips, trying to think of what Ino might do in this situation. She must have ways of handling this. After all, she hadn't noticed him losing jobs and skipping classes every day. Mostly she let him nap after class. How did she control him? "Shikamaru!" she snapped, trying to make herself sound like Ino.

He didn't even move.

"Shikamaru, dammit." Sakura leaned over the table and smacked him over the top of the head with one hand. His eyes opened and he straightened, blinking at her as though he had never seen her before. She stood up, moved back around the table and forcing the coffee into his hand, taking on the pose she had seen Ino adopt more than once when lecturing Shikamaru about one thing or the other. "Drink it all." She placed her hands on her hips and set her jaw, scowling at him as best she could. Shikamaru blinked at her once more before turning to the coffee, drinking it hurriedly as though he wasn't sure he really wanted to push her. "Now go change your clothes! You can't tutor anyone in your pajamas."

"I—" Shikamaru looked as though he was going to argue, but then he thought better of it, picked a few crumbs off the table and popped them in his mouth before heading upstairs, grumbling under his breath. Sakura was annoyed. She had really meant to use this as an opportunity to speak with Shikamaru in private, which was why she had so readily volunteered to do this for Ino and let the blonde enjoy going to go with Tenten to get her hair done. However, it was quickly becoming clear to her that Shikamaru wasn't much good for anything this soon after waking up. She shoveled down the rest of her cereal and walked upstairs with her coffee cup in hand, navigating the gates and stairs carefully. Last week, Sai had spilled water on the stairs and had been reamed out by Temari until Sakura had been able to get him away with a warning and some mopping. She really didn't want to be next.

It was tempting to just forget about this, to just go to her own room as soon as she mounted the stairs, but she headed down the hall and leaned on the wall next to Shikamaru's door, glancing down at her watch while sipping her coffee. She gave him until it was five minutes until his study session and knocked ominously, finishing off her coffee and pursing her lips as she heard some cursing and what sounded like a person falling flat on their face. After a bit, he opened the door, in the process of tying his hair back, his shirt buttoned incorrectly, socks mismatched, and a surly scowl on his face.

"How do you get anything done?" Sakura set down her cup and reached out, fixing his buttons for him in a business-like manner. "You're lucky Ino watches out for you."

"I did get here on my own, you know." He grumbled, suffering her care with the same scowl aimed straight at her. "She didn't get me to school when I was a kid."

"But…you know, Shikamaru." Sakura felt now was probably as good a time as any and plunged onward. "I know you're happy with her. That you feel lucky and everything."

"I married her, didn't I?" Shikamaru frowned at her still more deeply and Sakura bent, picking up her cup to walk with him toward the stairs. "I didn't even want a girlfriend before she came along. Now look at me."

"It's just…well, I know you get jealous when guys hit on her…or even a bit when she comes onto them, even though mostly she's joking around." Sakura continued. "But you know, sometimes she can feel jealous, too."

"Ha, yeah, 'cause I could possibly get someone better." Shikamaru snorted as they reached the front foyer. "No, she knows what I think, and I don't think she'd be jealous if she saw ten naked women climbing all over me. She's…well, she knows."

"You should just…well, just make sure." Sakura lost her nerve then, and felt guilty for meddling, so she kissed his cheek and fled back upstairs to the sanctuary of Sai. She forgot to even get rid of her cup, so she set it on the desk and climbed into bed, where he was awake, reading a book with only his underwear on. Sai seemed to not understand the idea of being self-conscious, but Sakura wasn't about to issue a complaint.

"If Temari sees you have dishes in your room, I hear there is a dungeon she will lock you in and force you to scrub the walls." Sai warned her in a solemn tone. She giggled and he set his book aside in favor of her. Sai was so sweet and easy to be around, so much easier to handle than Shikamaru. Too bad for Ino.

And he really did look good, sprawled half naked on the bed they shared, his skin nearly the same color as the sheets, but infinitely softer to the touch. It was too much for her to resist, at least. After all, there was still time before the wedding, and she needed cheering up after her failed attempt to interact with half-awake Shikamaru. It wasn't that the lazy man was a bad person, but compared to Sai…for her, at least, there could be no comparison.

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"She looks really happy, doesn't she?" Naruto breathed, watching Tenten standing flushed and glowing, staring up at Shino with a single-minded focus. "Really beautiful."

"An autumn wedding is unexpectedly nice." Gaara nodded solemnly on one side while on the other, Sasuke squeezed his hand in agreement. "I like the leaves."

"The red ones are my favorite." Neji opined, his meaning not subtle and certainly not lost on his lover who leaned against him, sighing happily as he felt the familiar arm wrap around his shoulder.

"Yes, look at all the colors," Temari, right in front of them, turned back and smiled, Kiba looping an arm around her neck and planting a kiss on her forehead. "It's not even cold out."

"I'm glad it didn't rain." Naruto agreed. "And Aki's being so good."

"I think she's asleep," Sakura, standing just in front of Naruto pointed at the small child resting quite still in her father's arms. "Shikamaru must be jealous."

"So…after this do we get to go drinking?" Kankurou asked, and Temari shot him a withering look just as the rings were being exchanged. The couple, not very far away, and seemingly in their own world, didn't notice their friends at all, as they were so lost in each other.

"Once again, Aki proves better-behaved than Kankurou." Sai smiled softly and turned to Sakura, his eyes gleaming with pleasure. Soon, this would be them, soon they would be getting married. Soon, she might even be carrying his child. Soon, they would be a family, bound together even more firmly than they were in that moment.

"I am happy for them," Hinata was clutching her own husband's hand, as if to assure him that he belonged here just as the rest of them did. "It is a lovely wedding, and very intimate."

"I'm glad his parents came." Sakura offered, smiling at the two pairs of parents watching nearby, eyeing each other a bit cautiously. She wondered if they had ever met before today. "I knew Tenten's would…but it must mean a lot to have them here as well."

"But seriously, I mean, we have to have a party after this." Kankurou told them. "They don't even get their honeymoon until later, they need a bitching party."

"How very romantic and selfless of you." Temari arched a brow at her brother. "You think only of others' happiness, don't you?"

Any response he could have been about to offer was cut out by an ominous rumble. Everyone looked up at the sky as though waiting for this weather to suddenly break, even in the midst of this happy moment. Tenten and Shino were the first to recover, and the judge haltingly told them that they were now officially married. Shino, always so reserved and calm, pulled his wife to him with a suddenness that caused her to let out a little yelp, and he kissed her fiercely, his hands bunching in the back of her dress and crinkling the fabric. Taken slightly by surprise, she took a moment to return the embrace as fiercely as he was offering it to her, and when she did, it was as though she couldn't breathe, and her whole world was focused on him. If he let her go, she thought she might disappear, but instead he held her tightly, making sure she knew without a doubt who she was and that she was loved and needed here, by his side forever.

I'm married now.

It didn't seem real, even with the white dress and his neatly pressed suit, the leaves swirling around them in a fiery twist of color, with her friends around her smiling and wishing them well, the feel of the ring still slightly cool on her left hand, none of it could possibly be true. She felt his hand clasp hers tightly and there was the clink of their rings sliding against each other, and that, that at least seemed like something she could process, something within the realm of possibility. His mother was actually hugging her, and so surely this must all be some weird daydream she was having, because his mother would likely never hug Tenten if it was the last thing she did.

And then the sky broke open and it began raining.

It was the jar to reality that she needed, and she found herself smiling up at Shino, her hair coming out of the elaborate set of twists and curls it had been pulled up into, her bangs plastered to her forehead as the water poured down at a torrential pace. He was smiling as well, and she needed to kiss him, so she did. Then they both started laughing, as though this was some joke, something they had planned. She could see suddenly a flash of them in the future, older, but still happy, telling their children about this day.

And as soon as we were married, it started pouring down rain, didn't it?

Their laughter, mingling together and tethering her more firmly to this moment, this memory, the truth of it, would sound the same then as it did now. Was this a bad omen? No…no, she didn't think so. The rain felt nice on her face, washing away everything that stood between them and bringing them closer together. It was like the skies were opening up for them, showing them something. If they could stand together in the rain and cold and be so happy, nothing should really ever have a chance of driving them apart. She wasn't sure that meant everything would be easier from now on, but as she let herself be ushered into a car so they could get out of the rain, she couldn't stop smiling, she couldn't stop the happiness she felt from overflowing. At least in this moment, she knew for sure that this was what she wanted, what they both wanted, and there was nothing better than that.

"So what's it like, then?" Naruto had somehow been squashed into the car next to her, Shino still firmly on her other side. She blinked, trying to take in her surroundings more clearly and saw that this was Temari's car, saw Kiba in front next to her and had the sudden thought that whichever vehicle Sasuke had ended up in was probably regretting the separation from Naruto, as he probably was rather irate at that moment. She was glad she was next to the friendlier one of them, the one more likely to take everything in stride. "I mean, it's only been like five minutes, but still, you're married now."

"I don't know yet," she admitted, turning to smile again at Shino, and realized their rings were no longer clinking since he was holding her left hand with his right, but there, on the armrest of the car, she could see his own ring gleaming sedately and naturally, as if it had always been there. She would have thought it would be odd to see him with any sort of jewelry on, but it turned out that he looked good, his long fingers looked no less nimble, no less careful, no less familiar. "Probably mostly the same, but it's still…have you ever been in a moment, and realized while it was happening…this is something I'm always going to remember, this day is probably going to be as clear to me in ten years as it is now, I'll probably always think of this moment as one of those turning points in my life…have you ever realized that while it's happening? Because…that's what getting married was like. I keep thinking, I better remember this, I better remember just how everything looked, who was here, what I was wearing, what Shino's wearing, the words we spoke, everything…but then I realize that it would be impossible for me to forget, and I can feel the memory kind of…cementing itself, you know? Everything about today…I'm sure I'll always remember it."

"I agree," Shino nodded after a brief pause from both men. In front, Kiba was talking in a low tone with Temari, and they couldn't hear what the couple was saying, so it was likely they couldn't hear anything Tenten had just said, either. "I don't think I could say it any better than that. I feel like…even though we have been together a long time, now it is somehow…it is like I have said to the entire world, so that they all know, this is my wife, and I am her husband. We belong to each other, be belong together, and now…now everyone knows it at once."

"Not like I have 'property of Shino' tattooed on my forehead," Tenten elaborated, giving her husband a teasing smile, "but also, this," she let go of his hand for the moment to display her ring, the plain silver band that matched Shino's nestled against the engagement ring she'd already been wearing since summer, "everyone can see this, they look at my left hand, and they'll know that I'm married, and they'll know that there's someone important to me…someone I wanted to be with forever, so I made him my family."

"I guess…I understand that." Naruto's voice was slightly pained when he finally responded to the explanation. "It must…must be nice."

"But…it's not necessary! I mean, really it's this social contract that used to be something like ownership, and women would be sold and traded and wouldn't really have any rights…it's sort of antiquated to buy into it and it's not like it makes me love Shino any more or less…" Tenten babbled aimlessly, having suddenly realized how this must sound to someone like Naruto, someone who probably wanted those things, but was in love with someone he could not marry unless their society changed. And the fact that our country won't allow it…it must make him want that much more to have everyone recognize their relationship…and yet he has to be patient and be satisfied with what he has, with what assurances they can give each other. It's so unfair…why should anyone have the right to say that the way I love Shino is any better or more real than the way Naruto loves Sasuke?

"Don't feel guilty," Naruto grabbed her right hand, squeezing it lightly in reassurance as Shino reclaimed her left, his thumb brushing over the rings. "I know I can't marry Sasuke, I know that, and I know it doesn't mean I don't love him, that he doesn't love me or anything…"

"Naruto," Temari had apparently overheard the last part of the conversation. "I think someday things will change, and even if they aren't…well, you know we all recognize you. And Gaara and Neji, I think they have just as much of a right to happiness as any other couple. You know that we all think so, right?"

"Thanks, Temari," Naruto gave her a wobbly smile, trying to ignore the way Kiba was watching him through the rearview mirror, trying not to see the concern in his friend's eyes, the pity and the sympathy. "I know…I just…"

"It's okay, Naruto." Kiba offered then. "Isn't the whole point to say to everyone that this is the person you're committed to, that you're going to stay by them no matter what? Well, people do get divorced, so really it isn't necessarily more than anything else, just usually people don't get married right as soon as they think they might have something, so I guess there's that…" Kiba scowled, clearly not happy with the direction of what he was saying, possibly noticing the warning look Temari was shooting him. "I mean…no ceremony makes you love someone more. You've already stuck by Sasuke through some really fucked up shit, and no matter what dumbass stuff he does, you're always there for him, right? And he's always watching out for you, and he forgives you for anything, even though he's like the most begrudging guy ever, he just can't say no to you. So what's some priest or judge going to be able to say that we don't already all know? Marriage is fine, but it's like Tenten said, it's not necessary. It's not like you level off or something, and you aren't allowed to keep on being together unless you go through with it."

"Kiba…thanks." Naruto had released Tenten's hand and was staring at his lap fixedly, fidgeting slightly, and Tenten thought she saw an extra brightness to his eyes, so she tactfully looked away, not wanting to embarrass him further, whether or not he was crying.

"It's still unfair." Temari grumbled after awhile, not aware that Naruto had completely subsided at this point, as she was concentrating on navigating through the downpour and safely returning them all home. "I don't want to get married until everyone's allowed to."

There was a long, deep silence. Tenten felt a little guilty, but also slightly angry, as though she'd just been criticized for selfishly wanting to marry the man she loved when other people couldn't do the same thing. Naruto was a bit shocked, but no one seemed more startled than Kiba.

"Wh…what?" he spoke finally, and it was obvious that everyone in the back was watching Temari and him quite carefully now. "You never said…"

"Well, it isn't fair, is it?" Temari seemed angrier the more she thought about it. "Why should I be allowed to get married when my own brother can't? How is that fair, when Neji and him have been together so much longer than us?"

"So now you're saying that because of them being together longer, they're like a more legitimate couple than us?" Kiba's voice was suddenly low and very steady, but Shino could see from the angle he was sitting at the way his hands were clenched in fists, and he suddenly felt very uncomfortable, as though he was invading on an extremely private scene. At the same time…he understood what Temari was saying, but he didn't think it was very tactful of her to denounce marriage so completely with a newlywed couple in her backseat, even if it had only been meant to make Naruto somehow feel better. Not that depriving other people of any part of happiness was in any way likely to ever make Naruto feel better about anything, but that was really the only reason he could think of that someone so normally considerate of others would make such an insensitive comment.

"I'm not saying that, I'm just saying that they have an equal right to be married, and I refuse to take part in an institution that discriminates against people who are just as worthy and casts a social stigma on them." She told him, her voice extremely tight and starting to become a bit high.

"Well, I just think this might have been a nice conversation for us to have before you announced it to our friends!" Kiba snapped at her, and she shot a quick glare at him before returning her attention to the road.

"What, you think it's fine that we could get married and they can't?" she asked, her back going extremely straight.

"No, I don't think it's fine at all, but I also don't think you should say how you think it's crap right in front of freaking Shino and Tenten. I mean, fuck, they just got married like ten minutes ago, now you're telling them it's like a total scam and you won't have anything to do with it!" Kiba was definitely raising his voice now, and Naruto gave Tenten a desperate look, as though he felt he was the cause of this fight and wanted to somehow make it right, but wasn't sure how. "And seriously, don't you think that's something between you and me if we decide we want to get married or not, not something you just drop in casual conversation? Like, 'oh, what's this, it's raining pretty hard,' 'oh yeah, I'm never going to marry Kiba,' 'is that so, very interesting.' Like, what the fuck, Temari! You think that I don't have any say in anything!"

"I didn't mean it like that! I'm stating my opinion, and it was relevant to the conversation! It's not like I brought it up out of nowhere." She snapped back. "And I'm not saying that I think Shino and Tenten did anything wrong, it's no more than if they voted for something I didn't, it's a political decision, it's nothing against you in particular, and you have never shown any interest in politics, so don't start on me now!"

"I think it's pretty fucking personal!" Kiba shot back. "You think because I'm not interested in every damn representative from every fucking prefecture I don't give a shit about the world? Well, even if I did only care about my own life, when you come out of nowhere, without even discussing it with me and say you're just not going to ever marry me, well shit! I mean, what the fuck do you want from me? You want me to prove myself by fucking changing all the laws and shit!? Sorry, I don't have the money to buy out a bunch of votes, so I'll just have to leave that end of things to you!"

"I would never buy out votes!" Temari snarled at him, pulling in front of the house with such a vicious wrench of the wheel Naruto thought they were going to fly over the curb and right into the lawn. "And even if I did discuss it with you in private, you're not going to force me to do something I don't want to do if I don't want to do it! And I don't see what the big deal is, it's not like you've proposed to me! It's not like you ever said anything about ever wanting to marry me! Don't get all high and might with me now just because I'm taking the option off the table! And anyway, it isn't like I said I never would, I just said as long as things are this way—"

"You might as well say never, it's not going to change any time soon!" Kiba cut her off, and she slapped him across the face with a resounding smack of her hand.

"It's nice to see you have so much hope for the future!" she had tears of frustration in her eyes, "And speaking of tactless things to say, nice job calling gay marriage doomed forever with Naruto right behind you!"

"I don't really—" Naruto tried to interject, as much as Kiba's comment had stung, he didn't want to make things worse.

"You're the one who's insisting that we get all this out right in front of our friends!" Kiba snapped back. "So if you don't want to marry me, what the hell is the point of this relationship again?"

"You're the one who said that's not all there is!" Temari burst into tears, and it seemed like she was going to slap him again, but she clenched her hands into fists instead, and then yanked the keys out of the ignition. "Asshole!" she stumbled slightly on her way out of the car, slammed the door behind her and raced inside. In the backseat, everyone was frozen, watching Kiba, who was now uncomfortably aware of the attention.

"I didn't mean anything bad against you, Naruto." Kiba mumbled after a long moment, and the blonde nodded slightly, feeling very numb. He hadn't expected the car ride to be quite so eventful. "I mean, I totally wish you guys could…if you wanted to. I just…don't think it's fair that one person chooses everything and the other just has to go along with whatever."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." Naruto nodded sharply, as if to convince himself that it was, in fact, fine. Kiba licked his lips, turned as though about to say something else and shook his head, leaving the car and going inside, hopefully to make up with Temari. Naruto turned toward Tenten and Shino, offering a tremulous smile.

"Well…that was exciting." Tenten finally spoke, and they all left the car. Shino wanted to carry Tenten, and Naruto joked that they would fall in the mud, at which point Tenten smacked him over the head with her bouquet, which she realized in the rush, she hadn't thrown or done anything with, just letting it sit in her lap the whole way back. In the end, the boys both helped her inside, lifting the skirts up so that she wouldn't ruin the dress she was wearing, laughing probably more than the situation warranted just to ease the tension that had been built up on the ride home.

"Oh, Tenten!" Ino rushed to her as soon as they got inside, all three of them dripping a bit on the entryway from the rain they'd walked through just getting to the house from the car. "Oh, your hair! Naruto, did you get pictures before it rained?"

"Of course, what do you think I am?" Naruto scoffed, putting on a superior air that was more posturing than anything. Tenten could see he was feeling uneasy and trying to hide it. "She still looks great, though, doesn't she?"

"You are far too kind, Naruto." Tenten ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek affectionately. This might have normally bothered Shino, who wasn't too fond of her showing affection to any of their male friends outside of casual hugs and things, but it was obvious he understood the situation, and was willing to let this pass without comment or concern on his end.

"You have to throw the bouquet still!" Ino pointed to the bunch of flowers, slightly damp still from the sudden shower. "We can do it here, just stand on the stairs, everyone else is home already," she peered around into the living room. "Hey guys! Tenten's going to throw the bouquet!"

"What's the point?" Sasuke grumbled as he entered the foyer with the rest of their friends. The parents had left to their hotels, not wanting to intrude on the young people having a party, but Hinata and Suteru were there as well. "Isn't it to see which girl is getting married next? Just give it to Sakura, case closed."

"Hey, you don't know!" Ino insisted, and she looked around for other single women in their group and realized at once that there was only one. "Temari and Kiba could elope!"

"Don't bet on that." Kiba shot Temari a look so venomous that everyone who hadn't been out in the car now saw quite obviously that there was something going on between them.

"Well, fuck, there's only two single ladies," Kankurou, who apparently could also count, announced loudly. "More like one and a half, since Sakura's already engaged. Shit, this'll be like the quickest bouquet throw ever. I mean, unless we're counting Aki, but I'm really not gonna put any bets on her being next, much less being able to wrestle flowers out of Temari's death-grip."

"I don't think we have to…" Tenten mumbled, feeling uncomfortable as Ino ushered her through the baby gate and onto the first landing.

"This is pretty silly with only two of us." Sakura admitted as Ino pulled her forward, flushing slightly as she felt everyone's eyes on her. Temari, however, flatly refused to take part.

"I'm not interested in marriage." She hissed at Ino, though her eyes were glaring daggers at Kiba. "Any time in the foreseeable future."

"Oh come on, there has to be more than one person!" Ino threw up her hands after having her wrist smacked when she tried to pull Temari forward. "Sasuke, how about you? Neji?"

"Why am I the woman?" Sasuke snarled.

"Well, the person on bottom usually—" Kankurou began helpfully and was smacked in the back of the head by his brother, who shook his head in silent disapproval. "Well geez, anyone who'd bottom for fucking Neji…" he seemed to think better of what he was saying partway through and gulped, edging away from a very angry redhead.

"Such a stereotype, simply because I have long hair." Neji sighed and rolled his eyes, trying with limited success to draw his lover's attention away from his sudden desire to maim his own brother.

"Is anyone going to cooperate?" Ino stomped her foot down insistently, and no one answered, so she rolled her eyes and did little to pretend she wasn't annoyed when Tenten, feeling foolish, tossed the bouquet to a clearly embarrassed Sakura.

"You know, I had a small wedding so I wouldn't have to do all this stuff." Tenten pointed out gently, knowing that in a way, Ino was trying to recapture the feeling of the ceremony she claimed to have been cheated out of.

"Can we get to the drinking now?" Kankurou asked loudly, and laughter filled the entryway. "I'm gonna order pizza."

"Classiest reception ever." Tenten remarked dryly as she hitched her dress up and returned to her husband's side, taking more comfort than she should have even needed in the kiss that he immediately dropped on her lips when she reached him. "I hope there's some Beefeater, nothing says class like a fifth of gin."

"Not that you'll be drinking." Shino chided softly. "You know, we could just go back to our room…"

"No, I'm hungry." She nodded. "Pizza would be good, although yeah, no booze for me, thanks. And just do me a favor: don't drink so much we can't have sex tonight. I don't want to have to remember a sexless wedding night with my husband passed out in a whiskey coma on the ground in a puddle of his own vomit."

"Hey, don't you need to change before eating pizza?" Sakura tugged at Tenten's sleeves and did such an obvious job of shooting the brunette significant looks, arching her eyebrows and tilting her head, that Shino knew they were clearly up to something. "I can help you, you know."

"Oh, I don't think…oh, oh, okay, yes, thanks." Tenten let Sakura drag her away, and Shino frowned down at his tuxedo. He knew that Tenten thought it looked very nice, but he felt that if she got to change out of her dress, he should get to be comfortable, too.

"We should watch movies!" Ino was suggesting loudly. "Romantic comedies!"

"Is there any way I could want to kill myself more?" Sasuke asked her in a wry tone. Rather than telling him off for being cruel, Naruto looked rather subdued and followed Sasuke back into the living room without comment. Gaara felt immediate concern at this. Naruto had never hesitated to tell Sasuke he should be nicer in such a situation before, and the only thing that Gaara could think of was that he was upset about something. When he saw the way that Naruto grabbed Sasuke's sleeve and held it, he couldn't help feeling that Naruto looked like a puppy that had been kicked. Did Sasuke say something to Naruto to make him act this way?

"Look at Naruto," he whispered to Neji, tugging him toward the living room as well. "he seemed fine earlier…did something happen?"

"Other than that idiotic bouquet debacle, no." Neji flipped his hair and narrowed his eyes. Naruto didn't look happy, that was for sure. He looked as though he didn't want anyone to see him, and he couldn't help thinking that it did look like someone had said or done something to hurt the blonde's feelings. Considering how resilient Naruto was, Neji had to wonder who had said it, and what they had said. Also, how quickly Gaara would put them in the hospital when they found out. Of course, Neji might help, depending…

"We'll sit with them." Gaara nodded resolutely, as though this was a big change in their usual arrangements. Neji was now so accustomed to having Gaara and Naruto sit together while Sasuke and he sat on either side, he felt as though they'd been issued some sort of seating chart. However, there were always slight variations. For instance, Sasuke was on the couch, but Naruto had opted to sit on the floor between his legs, his arms curled around a leg like it was some sort of living banister, his head leaning against the knee with Sasuke's fingers idly moving through his hair. Gaara of course sat down on the ground next to Naruto at once, so Neji took the spot on the couch behind Gaara and next to Sasuke. He was fine with this arrangement, as he could also play with Gaara's hair while the heads of the two men on the ground leaned toward each other, not saying anything yet but likely soon to be exchanging whispered whatever-it-was those two spoke about all the time, and he enjoyed Sasuke's company, despite their past rocky patches. Admittedly, Sasuke had far more reason to dislike him than vice versa, but Neji couldn't help feeling that the opportunity to have sex with him had been more than adequate reparations for any problems in Sasuke's own relationships he had caused.

"Naruto upset?" he whispered, and Sasuke blinked at him, as though surprised to be reminded there were people that talked to him other than Naruto. This was the look that preceded most conversations with Sasuke.

"Probably," Sasuke returned in a hushed tone as Ino and Kankurou engaged in a heated debate over whether or not Pumpkinhead was a romantic comedy appropriate for this quasi-reception party. "Think about it."

"What?" he frowned, looking down to see that Gaara had shifted so that he had an arm looped behind one of each Neji and Sasuke's legs, and hooked firmly around Naruto's waist. The blond had just heaved a great, shuddering sigh, and Neji was trying to figure out whether he was turned on or about to cry. He still wasn't exactly the master of reading Naruto's expressions, especially when he could only see about a quarter of his face. "You didn't fight, did you?"

"Would he be like this if we did?" Sasuke shook his head and furrowed his brow as though amazed at Neji's stupidity. "Think about it like he's probably thinking. He's an orphan, his whole life he's just wanted a family, wanted to find out what that means, what it's like, and he just spent all day watching two of his friends get married."

"But that doesn't…" Neji fell completely silent as the pieces fell into place, and he blinked in surprise at Sasuke. He would never have expected such emotional intuition from the Uchiha, that was for sure. But on the other hand, Sasuke had been immersing himself completely in everything that had anything to do with Naruto for the entirety of their college career, so if there was one person in the world that he would think Sasuke understood well, it would be Naruto. "Have you two ever…talked about that?"

"Of course," Sasuke sighed, unable to resist petting Naruto's head lovingly, smiling softly as the blonde head pushed into his hand and he let out a soft noise of contentment. "Have you?" he nodded toward the red head of hair resting below Neji.

"Yes, a few times." Neji shrugged. "But there isn't much to say, is there? We'd get married if we could, but we can't. It's not something we'd leave each other for; neither of us wants marriage more than each other. End of discussion."

"Just because that's all there is to say doesn't make it hurt less for him." Sasuke shrugged, and Neji felt a surge of affection for this man. He sometimes thought that if he had never met Gaara, there might have been something real between Sasuke and him. He certainly felt that of all his friends, Sasuke knew him the best, and the fact that they could both understand each other so well without having to drag everything out into conversation was something that he felt few people could appreciate, but he certainly did. In any case, he had built up a real affection for Naruto over time, and to know that Sasuke saw so clearly what Naruto felt, what he wanted and what he hid from others, made Neji pleased. He took his hand out of Gaara's hair, slinging it casually behind Sasuke's shoulders, only barely touching, but still making a clear statement. He put his other hand back in place in Gaara's hair, causing his lover to look up to see what the cause of the shift had been. Rather than glare at Sasuke, as he might have two years, or even one year ago, he gave a soft, approving smile and settled down again, murmuring something softly to Naruto. It was nice.

The argument between Kankurou and Ino over what was an appropriate movie was still raging. She kept denouncing all of his suggestions as too scary, and he retorted that her suggestions were even scarier to him. She had returned this volley by commenting that he was the only one here afraid of commitment, and Kiba had let out a loud, abrasive laugh before going to the kitchen to fix himself a drink. Kankurou was now torn between getting a drink for himself or continuing the argument.

"Well I'm not fucking watching anything with Meg Ryan in it unless she's like a fucking zombie! It's almost Halloween!" Kankurou insisted.

"Would you keep your language under control? Some of us have children present!" she gestured majestically over to where Shikamaru was playing what appeared to be patty cake with Aki, who did not at all seem concerned by her mother's agitation. "And it isn't Halloween yet! It's Shino and Tenten's wedding day! We have to watch romantic stuff."

"Do Tenten and Shino get any say in this?" Tenten entered the room, now wearing normal clothes, and had taken her hair down so that it fell in a shining black sheet over her back. Shino immediately rushed to change as well, feeling it was distinctly unfair that he had to be the only one all dressed up. "And did you already order the pizzas?"

"Yeah, duh," Kankurou scoffed as though the question was ridiculous in the extreme. "So I know Tenten's gonna be on my side here. Shouldn't we watch like, a scary movie instead of some bullshit love-fest? I mean, if you wanted crap like that, you'd get married in one of those love months. Like…February. That's when Valentine's Day is, right?"

"And I continue to question your ability to keep a girlfriend why?" Ino scoffed, looking to Temari for support and seeing her nursing a rum and coke and looking extremely withdrawn, a scowl on her face. "Right, Temari?" she prompted, knowing that if ever she could find an ally against showing a scary movie at a wedding after-party, it would be Temari, who seemed sometimes to side against Kankurou on principle alone.

"Yeah," Temari shrugged, and Kiba shot her another look of pure venom.

"Um, what the heck is going on with you two?" Ino scowled, annoyed at the lack of cooperation from the person she'd most been counting on to side with her. She had a shrewd idea that Tenten and Shino were so pleased with themselves that the movie choice could be a documentary on bridge construction and they wouldn't have any problem with it.

"Man, did Temari cut you off or something, Kiba?" Kankurou started laughing as though this was the best joke he'd heard in a long time. "Man, I fucking told you, just do what she says or she'll chop your dick off."

"Shut the fuck up, ya goddamn idiot." Kiba snapped, and at the sudden feel of everyone's gaze swiveling to him, he grumbled something unintelligible, slammed back his drink and went back to the kitchen. Temari muttered something under her breath and made a mocking face after him. Hinata looked alarmed, clapped her hands over her mouth and followed him to try and bring him back, leaving Suteru feeling very alone and very uncomfortable in the room with her friends.

"No one's allowed to break up at the wedding party." Ino stated loudly, and Shikamaru heaved a sigh.

"Just leave them alone, Ino." He told his wife, bouncing their daughter on his lap and tilted his head. "Come on, just pick something and come sit down."

"Yes, for god's sake reign her in." Temari grumbled, and Tenten pursed her lips, looked over at the extremely subdued Naruto and bit her lip, trying to decide whether she'd rather just let this blow over, or if she should interfere.

"Hey there, queenie," Ino scowled, extremely annoyed that her assumed ally had turned so completely against her. "Don't start in on me. It's not my fault your boyfriend's sick of the short leash."

"Someone should put you on a leash." Temari snarled, and Sakura turned to her in surprise.

"Temari, let's all just have a nice time, okay?" she sat down next to the annoyed blonde, who shot her a smoldering glare. "Come on, it's a happy day, isn't it? Tenten and Shino are married, everyone let's just get along, okay?"

"Oh screw off, Ms. Perfect, go make your perfect baby with your perfect boyfriend and have your perfect fucking wedding and leave me the fuck alone!" Temari stormed out of the room, and Sakura froze completely, eyes wide, unsure of how to react or what to think of what had just happened.

"Sakura, in many ways I think you are perfect, but I do not think it is something to hold against you." Sai told her, patting her arm reassuringly, a bit confused himself and not sure what exactly he should say.

"Yeah, see, no one's in the mood for bullshit romance," Kankurou threw up his hands. "We're watching Texas Chainsaw Massacre!"

"Kankurou, if you think I'm okay with Aki watching that, go ahead and put it in and see what I do to your head." Ino threatened. "And you can be the one to try and get her to sleep when she has nightmares."

"Whatever, she fucking loved Resident Evil." Kankurou snorted, and both Ino and Shikamaru gave him a look of such rage and shock he giggled nervously. "Come on Aki, who's a zombie? Show Uncle Kankurou how the zombies go!"

"Graraw!" Aki pulled a grotesque face and gnashed her teeth, "Aki zommy! Raww!"

"Great, thanks." Ino rolled her eyes and blinked as she found her lap full of toddler, and Shikamaru lunged at Kankurou, looking ready to strangle him.

At precisely that moment, all the lights went out and another roll of thunder, this one louder than those they'd been hearing since after the wedding, sounded over the yelps and shrieks of surprise. A bolt of lightning followed soon after, the light illuminating the tableau of Shikamaru chasing Kankurou, who was clearly trying to use the dark to escape, everyone else frozen and watching it happen, Ino holding Aki close while the little girl looked around in surprise.

"You guys stop freaking out, you're scaring Aki." Ino scolded her housemates as the sound of scuffling in the hallway and the rain still pounding down filled the space left when all the power went out. The little girl made another growling noise, belying her mother's claim that she was afraid of the sudden dark and the sound of the storm.

"Is the power going to come back on?" Sakura asked the room in general after another crack of thunder and flash from outside. "Or should I start looking for candles or something?"

"Let me go flip the breakers, see if that helps." Chouji made his way back out of the room just as Kankurou scrambled back in.

"Shit, guys, hide me!" he pleaded, and was rewarded with a snort of laughter from Ino.

"Honey! He's in here!" she called out, and there was the sound of footsteps, a sound like something being hit very hard, and Kankurou whimpered quietly before Shikamaru moved toward where the pale light coming through the window showed his location to everyone in the room, their eyes growing used to the dark.

"Isn't there a flashlight or something in this house?" Ino asked, allowing her husband to take their daughter back when he made his way back over to her.

"I thought there was in the coat closet, right? Temari would know." Tenten stood up, carefully making her way out of the room towards the front entry to find the flashlight in question.

"Tenten, you shouldn't be up." Shino's voice caused her to pause in her cautious progress across the living room, and she smiled in the dark, veering toward where she thought the voice had come from. "You could fall or something."

"I promise I'll avoid stairwells." She told him softly, reaching out blindly and taking a step forward. He met her partway, his arms going around her at once, enfolding her and pulling her into their shelter. "I'm getting a flashlight. There's one in the coat closet, isn't there?"

"I think so…here, let me," he tried to leave her behind, but she held his hand, shuffling carefully out of the room toward where the closet was and fumbling around together, laughing when a roll of wrapping paper fell on her head, and then suddenly there was light. "Got it." He aimed it at the ceiling, giving his face a slightly haunting under-lit appearance, and she took advantage of it to lean over and kiss him firmly.

"Hero of the power outage." She whispered lightly, smiling against his lips, and he chuckled lightly. She took advantage of his distraction to take possession of the flashlight, moving into the kitchen in search of candles, Temari, or both. "Hey, Temari?"

"She's not in here." Kiba spoke up from the counter, where he was drinking straight from a bottle of rum. Hinata was standing near him, looking concerned and frightened, and she smiled nervously at Tenten. "Prob'ly writin' about 'er fuckin' Kampf upstairs."

"Haha, you're so funny." Tenten rolled her eyes. "Do you know if we have any emergency candles? I thought we had a bunch, didn't we have some when the power went out during that storm last January?"

"Oh, I think you're right," Hinata turned, hands shaking and started fumbling through the drawers. Kiba took a deep swig of the rum and gave Tenten a flat look as if challenging her to force him to help. "Maybe with the light bulbs…" there was more shuffling and Shino came into the kitchen as well to help, Tenten doing her best to light up as much of the room as possible to assist them.

"Hey, where are the circuit breakers in this house?" she asked and Hinata let out an excited noise and held up two boxes of candles.

"Down th' hall…by the back door, ya know, tha' big panel." Kiba answered, apparently forgetting to be no help at all. Scowling as he realized what he'd said, he took another deep swig and Hinata clicked her tongue in disapproval.

"Kiba, you shouldn't—"

"Hey, you can't tell me what to do." He huffed, and Tenten rolled her eyes, helping Shino prop the candles up in the half dozen holders in the back of the drawer Hinata had found them in and trying to ignore the way that Hinata was trying to persuade Kiba to turn over his bottle of rum.

"Come on, then, you don't need that." She told him, her voice gentle and warm, and Tenten looked up at Shino, arching her eyebrows as though to ask whether they should just let this unfold or interfere. He pursed his lips and searched through the drawer for matches, giving Hinata time to prevail, but it was clear from the slurred curses and the little whimpering complaints that she was getting nothing done except for annoying Kiba. "Please, Kiba, what would Temari say if she could see you doing this to yourself?"

"Prob'ly be excited." Kiba returned as Shino helped Tenten light a candle and then gathered the unlit ones to follow her with the lit candle, matches, and flashlight. "I was always gettin' wasted cuz of you, so she'd prob'ly jes think…I maybe meaned…men…meant…wha' I said."

"Kiba, please, you're not going to make her happy getting silly like this." Hinata sounded close to tears, so Tenten turned, but realizing she and Shino both had their hands full, she realized she couldn't just stay here trying to get sense out of Kiba, she'd have to just come back after she gave everyone candles in the living room. Shino and her kept on, crossing the entryway and intercepting Chouji, who let them know he'd tried the circuits and had no success.

"Hey, can you take these…I wanted to go help Hinata with Kiba, he's getting surly." Tenten held out the candle and matches, retaining the flashlight for herself and Chouji reached out, but Shino put himself between them, reaching out the hand with a box of candles in it.

"No way, I don't want my pregnant wife trying to subdue a surly drunken soccer player." Shino told her firmly. She was about to say something rather tart about how if she was only to be handled gently then she supposed they wouldn't be having any more sex until the baby came, but had a sudden fear that he would actually agree to this, so she bit her tongue and put up with his overprotective behavior. "Temari should take care of it, he's her problem."

"I could go…or I guess I could try to find Temari…" Chouji looked as though either one of these options had absolutely no appeal for him. "Or…something."

"No, don't worry, here," he handed all the unlit candles and holders to Chouji before taking one for himself, lighting it and kissing Tenten. "I'll take care of this."

"You're addicted to this hero thing, aren't you?" she teased him, smiling softly. She knew that Shino really hated interfering, and while he didn't necessarily hate helping his friends, he was more of a behind-the-scenes sort of helper, not so much the holding-your-hair-while-you-puke, holding-the-rum-where-you-can't-reach sort of helper.

"I do what I can." He told her, a small smile on his lips. "After all, if there's any day I should choose to impress you as much as possible…you said you were remembering all of this forever, right?"

"Now you're just getting smarmy." She stuck her tongue out at him, very much the mature married woman as he winked and turned to take care of the Kiba situation, and she turned toward the living room. Shino couldn't help feeling pleased at the gleam in her eyes when he had volunteered to help their friends, but that didn't make him want to try wrestling a bottle of rum away from a surly Kiba by the light of a candle, nor did it make him want to be a party to any sort of confrontation between a drunken Kiba and his ex-girlfriend Hinata, who was now married to another man, especially considering the argument he had overheard that day between Temari and Kiba regarding marriage in general. He wasn't sure getting Temari there was the best idea, but he thought it was the best way for those two to just discuss their problems and move on with their lives. After all, avoiding each other wasn't going to solve anything, that was for sure. He decided that it was most likely she was in her room, and if so, unless she also had a flashlight up there, was probably stranded now that the sun had set and the power was out, unless she wanted to risk a repeat of Sasuke's graceful stair gymnastics.

Shino opened the gate and headed upstairs, noting that he could still hear the sounds of hushed arguing coming from the kitchen, which meant that he couldn't just go back to Tenten and say that Kiba decided he was sick of drinking and being surly whenever he fought with whoever he was dating at the time. As soon as he reached the top of the stairs, he turned and knocked on Temari's door, and frowned when there was no answer. He tried again before calling out her name, and when there was no answer, he carefully opened the door, to see the room was empty.

Well, I'm out of ideas. Where does Temari go when she's angry?

Logically, there were only so many places she could have gone if she hadn't actually left the house. She clearly wasn't in the kitchen or dining area, nor the living room as he had just been to all of those places. She wasn't in her own room, which meant she was either in the bathroom, which wouldn't make sense for such a long period of time unless she was showering or something, down in the den, or out in the back near the pool and the newly installed hot tub. He turned and headed to the window that overlooked the backyard, looking for someone outside, and saw no one. Well, that made sense. Who would go out in weather like this, especially for a swim? So she was either in the den or hiding in someone else's room. He wasn't going to check everyone's room, so he headed back downstairs, locking the gate again and then walked over to the front door so that he could make his way down to the den.

The doorbell rang. He frowned.

Not exactly the weather for visitors.

Just as the thought struck him, thunder rumbled and the lightning following soon afterward lit up the windows in a blinding flash. He blinked and decided that it was probably more important not to leave people to the mercy of the elements on the front porch than it was to stop Kiba puking on the kitchen floor, so he answered the door, his candle guttering in the gust of cold air as the shivering figure came in at once. She looked familiar, but he wasn't sure he knew her, really. He wasn't going to force her out, but at the same time, he was very wary of strange women in the house with his pregnant wife and his friends.

"Excuse me, are you lost?" he asked her, trying to be polite. He closed the door, and the candle kept burning quite miraculously. The blonde girl smiled, shaking slightly with a chill from the change of temperature, her clothes dripping in the entryway.

Maybe the sound of her messing up the floor will solve the problem of locating Temari. I believe she has some sort of radar about these things.

"My name is Shiori, I'm a friend of Shikamaru's," she grinned apologetically. "See, well, really, he tutors me, and I was over here earlier, and he loaned me a paper on television versus reality...see, we're studying it right now, and he mentioned he'd written a term paper concerning it, and I could make a copy if I liked…and I didn't want him to think I was going to just keep it, so after I'd made the copy I came to bring it back, but I got here and the doors were locked, no one was around, and then I got distracted with other errands and caught in the rain and a bit turned around, and then I saw his car on the street…well, I nearly started crying, you can't know how relieved I was. I'm freezing, and thought I'd drop off the paper, and maybe dry off a bit…wait out the storm if it isn't too much trouble. You see, I live all the way on the other side of campus, and I'm so afraid I'll get lost again, what with the lights out and all the rain and everything."

"Um…fine." Shino blinked, a bit overwhelmed by the length of this explanation, but the girl had blown herself out like a sort of miniature storm, and he found himself at a loss for words. "Well…Shikamaru's in there…last I saw, they have candles and things…I'm looking for someone right now, so I'll just…"

"No, thank you so much for letting me in out of the rain!" she exclaimed, her smile brilliant and exuberant and, he thought, a bit forced. He was used to Tenten's slow, easy smile, the way her eyes would light and show her wry humor in the twist of her lips and the tilt of her head. He didn't know about this young student girl with her long stories and her over-bright smiles.

"Whatever," he frowned uncomfortably and headed downstairs, and there he lifted the candle and peered around. "Hello? Temari, are you down here?"

"Who…Shino?" Temari had been on the couch, lying down apparently under an afghan, and she sat up at the sudden light and noise. "The power's out, I see."

"Yes, the storm." He felt that was adequate explanation. "Kiba's drinking himself into idiocy upstairs, if you feel like talking things out at all."

"That's his answer to everything." She scowled, but stood up and straightened her hair, coming around to follow him back upstairs. "I'll take care of it."

Shino didn't even follow her to the kitchen, he simply handed her the candle at the top of the stairs, pointed and then went to the living room, considering his mission accomplished.

The living room was in a furor, which seemed to center around the girl he'd let in, Shiori.

----------

"Kiba, please, don't act this way." Hinata clenched her hands together and frowned, wishing that Tenten and Shino had left one of the candles behind. "Come on, then, set the bottle down. You know she wouldn't want you drinking yourself foolish."

"Oh…shuddup, she ain'…ain' you, she don' care." Kiba frowned at his bottle, now nearly empty, though it was hard to tell by anything other than the weight of it in the near total darkness that surrounded them now. "Tha' was always…the problem wi' us. I was neb…nend…never gonna be good enough. Bet that S'teru doesen…don' drink like this…" he heaved a great sigh and handed her what felt like a completely full bottle of something she couldn't identify in the dark. She knew it wasn't his bottle, his bottle couldn't be this heavy still. "Here, grab tha' an' we can…can sit down an' do shots."

"Kiba, really," Hinata frowned. "You know I don't do that."

"C'mon, ya don' hafta act like that wit' me anymore, ya know we don' gotta…impress each other now." He slapped her shoulder heartily. "C'mon then, have…have a…one drink with me…fer ol' times sake."

"Kiba, I don't…I can't drink, you know I'm trying to…to…you know." She flushed, feeling unaccountably embarrassed considering the fact that she had once been pregnant with this man's child. "Suteru and I…I know that you must know…I mean, seeing as how things are, and we really want a family, so we've been trying a while…I shouldn't drink, you know."

"'Nata, drinkin's jes' gonna help ya wi' that, truss me." He wrapped a friendly arm around her shoulder and started toward the dining room table. "I mean…less yer pregnant…right now? Are ya?"

"No…no I'm not." And at the admission, suddenly Hinata did want a drink, and it wouldn't be so bad, would it? Just one drink with her friend, with this man who knew her so well, who could understand what she was going through, she was sure, better than most anyone she could think of. And with the state he was in…he probably wouldn't remember anything she told him anyway. It would be nice to have someone besides Suteru to discuss her troubles with. She thought that no matter what, Suteru would never hold her accountable for anything, and right now…she wanted someone a little more honest. And then a thought struck her. "Okay, we'll have one drink, then." She told him. "One drink, and then you have to go to bed, okay?"

"Man…sucha game killer." Kiba's smile was so wide his teeth gleamed a bit even in the black of the kitchen, and she fumbled about, finding two clean glasses and pouring the drinks, hoping it wasn't whiskey. She sorely hated whiskey.

"Ugh, gin." She scowled at the glass after she'd taken her first gulp.

"Whaddya mean? Gin's great, tastes like Chrismas…trees like…kinda." He slammed back the glass and giggled uproariously. "Well, thas like a martini kinda, but no olive, big ole glassa gin. Classy drink fer…classy lady."

"Kiba, you are very drunk." Hinata told him as sternly as she could manage. She wasn't sure she wanted to drink a glass of gin. She wondered if she could dump it out in the sink without Kiba noticing, but he could apparently see well enough to notice she wasn't drinking anything.

"Gotta drink yer drink or I'm not…goin' ta bed!" he announced, and she sighed heavily, deciding that if she had to do this, she might as well get it over with quickly, so she started gulping it down, her eyes watering, her tongue and throat burning, her body suffusing with the sudden heat that came with drinking even a small gulp of liquor quickly. Kiba was clearly impressed with this, and she finished her glass before he was even close to finished with his. "Man…'nata, since when canya drink like tha?"

"Come…come on then and finish." She frowned, knowing that likely it wouldn't be long before she started feeling the effects of downing a glass of gin in about two minutes, and she would most likely regret her decision, but if she could just get Kiba to lay down, she could have some water or coffee or something, and Suteru wouldn't know…but it was nice to kind of…let go of herself for the moment. "It's time for you to go to bed."

"Man, all tha' an' ya still ain' drunk." Kiba laughed and shoved his glass at her. "Here, ya need it more than I do. So…tell me 'bout it. Bout you and S'teru."

"I don't…everything's fine." Hinata's hand wavered, but she found herself excusing the action as her fingers closed around the glass and raised it to her mouth. She panted after taking a deep gulp, the taste still foul and the burn still too much for her. If I just drink this, he'll go to bed, it's not like there's really a reason for me not to drink right at this minute…it'll be fine, better for me to have more than usual than for him to get alcohol poisoning. "Everything…everything is fine."

"No's not." Kiba patted her shoulder and nodded shakily. "If it was, ya would'na drank all tha' gin like the way I do when I feel like…like my heart's broke…broken."

"It isn't him." She smiled sadly, looking down at the glass, catching the barest gleam of light off the liquid. "It's not his fault."

"Wha' happened…" Kiba leaned over, his face close, scrunched up in that adorable way he had when he was trying very hard to think and had been drinking. "Ya didn'…is it 'bout the baby…from before?"

"A bit." She shrugged, feeling like this was still far too hard to talk about, and downing the rest of the gin. "There, that's that. Let's go."

"Whoa…kay." Kiba stumbled with her out of the kitchen, and she frowned as she realized that she was very dizzy, and that it probably wouldn't be the best plan she'd ever had to take these stairs…but then again, if she was having trouble, there was no way Kiba could navigate these stairs himself. There was an unnecessary amount of giggling as they unlatched the baby gate, and Hinata wasn't entirely sure if she relatched it, nor how they bypassed the second gate, whether it was Kiba or her that opened it, and then they were in his room. Not the room he'd shared with her, the one he lived in with Temari now, and had for a couple of years. She realized only then she still had the gin. "C'mon an' sit down…tell me bout it."

"Well…" Hinata had a dim, distant awareness that she was starting to feel the effects of the alcohol, but she wasn't sure whether there was anything she could do about that now, nor if she really wanted to stop it at this point. As if to underline this, when Kiba opened the gin and handed it to her, she took a deep swig before carrying on, slumping next to him on the bed. "Tha…that wasn't the only time."

"Ya…you've been pregnan' again?" Kiba blinked at her, his eyes gleaming in the lightning strike that illuminated the room just then. "Like…with S'teru's kid…kids…how many?"

"If…if I count ours, I've had…five miscarriages." It was a struggle to enunciate, but she did it somehow, and the silence that Kiba greeted this news with was satisfying as well as ominous. She slammed back the gin once more.

"Have…have ya seen a doctor?" Kiba finally spoke, still drunk, but his tone hushed and as solemn as he could manage. "Cuz…I don' think it soun's tha' safe fer you…if ya keep missing…miscart…keep losin' them."

"Yes…the doctor says…isna…it's not safe, that I shoulden…shouldn't do that…but I know wha's expected of me." She admitted, hot tears spilling down her cheeks as she told him the truth that she wouldn't even tell her husband. "I can' tell Suteru…he wouldn't want to…if he knew, he wouldn' want to. But I have to…Kiba, I want a baby so bad."

"Well, 'nata, ain' gonna help anyone if yer dead when ya have it." Kiba told her as wisely as he could. She handed him the gin, then took it back and drank it in hot, blistering swallows. "Don…don' drink so much, ye'll get stupid."

"I wanna forget." She heaved a great sob, and at the sound of her tears, he turned, and took the bottle, and then somehow they were kissing, and somehow the comfort turned into something more, and somewhere…somewhere in the middle of it she realized that they shouldn't be doing this, realized that it wasn't a memory she was seeing right now, this wasn't three years ago, with her nursing him through a drunken stupor. They were past this, weren't they?

And when the door opened and she heard a scream, saw the sudden illumination, it didn't even really process. It disappeared, and she couldn't remember which of them fell asleep first or if they even really finished, or what had happened. All she knew was the next day, that's where she woke up, naked with Kiba and a blistering headache. In the bed he shared with Temari. This was not right.

----------

"Oh my god, you have got to be kidding me." Ino scowled when she saw the sopping wet girl enter the living room, and Shikamaru immediately stood up in surprise and recognition, handing her Aki so he could see to their unexpected visitor.

"Dude, it's hot philosophy girl!" Kankurou, by now recovered from the sound smacking he'd received at Shikamaru's hands when the power first went out, chuckled jubilantly as soon as she entered the candlelight now illuminating the room. "Hey baby, need help changing out of those wet clothes? Kankurou can warm you up."

"Just leave her alone, seriously." Chouji spoke up unexpectedly, and Kankurou blinked at him in surprise before frowning.

"Hey, if that pizza place thinks I'm going to let them being late because of the power outage slide, they're sorely mistaken. My pizzas are free in four minutes, bitches!" Kankurou did a few fist pumps in the air, but most of the room was focused on the newcomer.

"Shiori, you're soaked," Shikamaru stated the obvious, looking around. "What are you doing here? Let's get you some towels, you must be freezing…"

"Oh no you don't!" Ino stood up, thrusting her chin out as Aki looked around excitedly from her arms. She seemed to find all the candles especially fascinating. "No strip-down alone time with the hot young co-ed in the bathroom, thank you very much, mister. Sakura, you go get some towels."

"Since when are you master of the household?" Sakura was taken aback, and while she was interested to see the much discussed Shiori, she didn't feel this was really fair. "If you don't want Shikamaru to do it, do it yourself."

"I have a child to care for." Ino reminded them all with a very high and mighty attitude.

"Stop using Aki as your slack-excuse!" Tenten blurted out, and Ino blinked at her, she threw up her hands. "I'll get the towels, come on, your name was Shiori, right?"

"You're right, Tenten, this is stupid. I can grab her some of my clothes, she'll need something dry." Sakura offered.

"Oh no, actually, get something of mine so you don't have to use the stairs. My pajamas are in the top right hand drawer." Tenten called over her shoulder, heading out by candlelight, and Sakura grabbed another candle to do as she said. Ino gaped in shock.

"What is this, a come-as-you-will slumber party?" she turned back on her husband. "I don't remember ever inviting this skank over in her wet t-shirt to spend the night and ruin our towels."

"You know, water doesn't really ruin towels." Shikamaru pointed out, clearly annoyed. "It's kind of the main thing they're made to deal with."

"Yeah, but I'm not keeping any towels after you have sex with her on them!" Ino protested, her voice shrill. Shikamaru's eyes went wide. "They'll be your damn affair towels, and I won't have them in my house."

"This is actually Temari's house." Gaara noted quietly.

"Maybe not the best time to speak up." Naruto offered, and the boys on the floor subsided into silence.

"I don't care who owns it, it's my house!" Ino yelled, clearly losing touch with reason. "And I won't have some floozy come in here with her Nietzsche and her stoicism and try to lure my husband away with hot warm-me-up-after-the-storm bathroom sex on my towels!"

"Dammit, Ino!" Shikamaru finally raised his voice in return. "Go take your meds! You're not making any damn sense!"

"Don't talk like that in front of the baby!" Ino shrieked back as the child in question began to cry, likely agitated by the sound of her parents arguing. Sakura and Tenten returned, clearly wanting to usher Shiori away to be dried and warmed, but Ino would have none of it. "Don't you dare give her a damn thing! You can go out in that storm and drown for all I care if you think for one second you're going to steal my husband!"

"I…I didn't…" Shiori's blue eyes were wide in shock and surprise at this outburst.

"And don't use that look on me! I invented that look, girly, and you're about ten years too young to be anywhere near as good at it!" Ino went on, Shino slipping back into the room and blinking when he saw his wife by the strange girl, clutching at towels that she finally simply handed over. Ino was struggling to hold her child, who was now throwing an all out fit, and she finally set her down, and she stumbled away toward Chouji.

"Oh, come on, don't mind her." Tenten was not in the mood for Ino's games, and felt that at least today, her wedding day, she shouldn't have to deal with them. She ushered Shiori out of the room with Sakura following them hesitantly.

"Don't you take her…dammit!" Ino stomped and stormed out of the room, passing Temari on her way to the kitchen for a calming drink.

"Hey, has anyone seen Kiba?" Temari addressed the agitated inhabitants of the living room. "Never mind, he probably stumbled up to bed." She looked around, frowning. "So what's going on in here, then?"

"That hot philosophy babe is here, and Ino flipped out about Shikamaru having sex with her." Kankurou explained quickly, and Temari's face paled.

"We haven't had sex!" Shikamaru interjected before anything further could be said. "I have no plans to have sex with anyone besides my wife! Chouji, here," he reached out to his friend, who was trying to calm Aki, bouncing her in his lap and whispering softly in her ear.

"Calm down first," Chouji insisted. "You'll make it worse if you're going to yell. Aki doesn't understand, she'll just think you're angry at her."

"I don't think I need lessons in how to be a father from anyone in this house." Shikamaru seethed, but he did take a deep, calming breath, and once the color had left his cheeks, Chouji handed his daughter over, now burned out on the excitement and clearly dozing in his arms. She stirred slightly, but Shikamaru kissed her dark head and she gave a great yawn and settled against his chest.

"Is everything going to be okay?" Temari wandered over to him, not really excited to go upstairs to a drunken Kiba. He always got frisky, and she wasn't in the mood, and besides that, he'd want to take up the whole bed. Maybe she'd sleep in the den just to teach him a lesson.

"Yeah, she just wandered in…I don't know what's got into Ino." Shikamaru sighed, kissing his daughter's head again as though for reassurance. "I've never seen her like that…I don't know what made her think I would ever…"

"Hope the lights come on soon, she needs to go to bed." Temari offered, and when he blinked at her with dark eyes, she sighed and moved on to the real point. "Look at it from Ino's side of things. Even if Shiori doesn't mean anything by it, she's over here more often than any of your other students—"

"I teach a lot of them in the library, but this was just more convenient—" he cut in, and she pressed on.

"And don't pretend you can't tell she's good looking. You're married, not dead. And I mean…she does look a bit like Ino. Of course Ino would thinks she's your type. She's young, energetic, the biggest difference is she likes to hear you talk about philosophy." Temari pointed out. "And she remembers the sort of plotter she was, and of course she thinks this girl is up to the same tricks, and she's terrified of losing you, so she's acting a little irrational."

"That's not…I mean, Ino's so much…so much more…" Shikamaru scoffed, and Temari patted his shoulder.

"You just need to let her know that, then." Temari told him. "Make sure she knows, she's not naturally insecure, she'll believe you if you tell her the truth. And maybe from now on…don't bring your students home. Especially any that Kankurou would be interested in sleeping with."

"Fine, fine." He grumbled, feeling distinctly hard-done-by. "But I still think it's ridiculous to think that girls would want to fight over…oh…" he blinked at Temari as though finally remembering everything that had happened between them his freshman year, and she rolled her eyes, moving on.

"Just take care of it. I know you think you don't deserve her, but you know," she tilted her head to one side. "It might not have occurred to you to realize she thinks that she doesn't deserve you."

"No…not really." He frowned down at Aki, and Temari held out her arms to take her. "Thanks." And he left the room to look for his wife.

----------

"I'm sick of this drama." Neji leaned over to Sasuke. "I think we should steal a candle and leave."

"Definitely." He squeezed Naruto's shoulder, and the blonde looked up at him, eyes wide and worried. "Hey, let's go to bed."

"Sure…bed, let's go to…" he nearly jumped out of his skin when the rumble of thunder started up again, and Sasuke smirked.

"Naruto…since when are you afraid of storms?" he asked the man, who had gone very pale. Gaara was watching him, brow furrowed in concern as though ready to offer to go beat up said storm if that would make him feel better.

"I'm not!" Naruto assured them hastily. "Okay…except when it's all dark like this…I don't like it. Usually…I'll just take a sleeping pill or something if there's a night storm so I don't bother anyone."

"Sasuke didn't know," Gaara shook his head at Sasuke as though this oversight was unforgivable. "I see."

"Come on, Naruto, we'll go to bed and you'll forget about it and fall asleep," Sasuke offered, feeling a bit guilty that he had not known this thing about his lover.

"No…I don't want to be up there…the window, you can see the lightning." Naruto admitted, flushing with shame.

"Do you have any of the pills?" Neji asked. "We could watch over you in our room and Sasuke could take you upstairs when you fall asleep."

"I lost them…put them somewhere during summer break and I couldn't find them again." Naruto admitted. "I was meaning to get more…"

"Why don't we just go to our room, there's no window." Gaara offered. "Besides, with four people you will feel safer, correct?"

"We could borrow some alcohol." Neji added on. "That should put you to sleep…or at least calm your nerves."

"Is this the reason you've been squeezing my leg so hard?" Sasuke asked, and Naruto nodded shamefacedly. "Let's go, then."

"Oh…okay." Naruto let himself be led back to Neji and Gaara's room by candlelight, and after a few moments, Gaara and Neji came in with assorted alcohol.

"We weren't sure what you would feel like." Neji shrugged, setting down a bottle of vodka and two bottles of wine while Gaara set down a bottle of tequila and one of whiskey.

"I don't want to get wasted, just sleepy." Naruto frowned at the bottles. "Just the wine for now, I think." There was a struggle to open one of the bottles, and then Gaara handed it to him carefully. Naruto sat down on the bed and Sasuke joined him at once, with Gaara and Neji soon climbing onto it as well.

"You can sleep in here, if you like." Gaara offered, and at the look Sasuke shot him, he blinked. "You can, too, of course. There's room."

"Well, now what?" Sasuke frowned, and Neji shuffled over to his dresser, shifted through one of the drawers and produced a deck of cards.

"We have alcohol and cards, I think we're set." He grabbed the vodka and tequila, distributing the bottles, and Gaara gave him a wicked grin.

"What's with that look?" Sasuke blinked at the redhead, who only smirked more obviously than before.

"Have you ever played poker with Gaara?" Neji asked, and Sasuke shook his head, shrugging. "Well, be prepared to lose your shirt."

"We're not playing that kind, are we?" Gaara asked, and Neji shook his head. The cards were dealt and even Naruto started to lose his nervousness as the game progressed, almost every hand going to Gaara, although Sasuke won a few, as did Neji and Naruto. However, even without betting money or chips, it was clear that Gaara was winning if they were to announce any sort of victor. The bottles became emptier as the night progressed, and then, just when they were all at the point when nothing seemed important anymore except for the fun they were having, the lights shuddered back to life, and they looked around in surprise.

"Wha…what time is it?" Sasuke asked, glaring at the empty bottle of whiskey, as though amazed he had finished it himself. He really hadn't. Neji kept stealing it from him, and Naruto had found this so funny he had also snuck in a few drinks, even though he wasn't a big fan of whiskey.

"My clock says…wait, 'swrong, isn' it?" Neji had probably had more to drink than anyone there, between about a quarter of Sasuke's whiskey, the bottle of wine they had all split, and most of the vodka. "Anyone wearin' a watch?"

"It…is three…three-fort…um wait," Naruto started giggling, nearly spilling what was left of the tequila, which Gaara manfully rescued for his own purposes. "I forgot…how ta read a clock…" he continued giggling, falling over and messing up what was left of the card game.

"I think…'sabout time for…for sleep." Gaara made his eyes very wide, as though trying to appear sober, but mostly he looked surprised. Neji started laughing, leaned over, and kissed him sloppily.

"Storm's prob'ly over," Sasuke turned to Naruto, setting aside the unreliable whiskey bottle. "Wanna go upstairs?"

"No, we're havin' a sleepover!" Naruto continued giggling, and Sasuke couldn't help himself from laughing as well, letting the blonde pull him down to kiss him roughly, his hands stumbling over his lover's body and doing a reasonable job of finding everything he was looking for, even in his state. "Ah…mm, Sasuke."

It occurred to Sasuke momentarily that maybe, it wasn't the best idea to stick his hand down his boyfriend's pants two feet away from a man he knew loved Naruto and his boyfriend, but that seemed a very mundane concern when he wrapped his hand around his lover's shaft and had a momentary struggle as he tried to work him off with one hand and unfasten the pants with the other, all while trying to kiss Naruto so hard he couldn't breathe.

"Guys…c'mon, 'stime for bed." Neji apparently decided to be the voice of reason, and he pulled Sasuke off of Naruto, hands not very rough, but then again, he wasn't exactly at his peak. Gaara started laughing when this was not very effective, and he helped his boyfriend, Sasuke rolling off of Naruto and letting out a little giggle that struck the others as so funny they all started laughing as well, Naruto rolling toward his boyfriend, possibly embarrassed about his aroused state, or else just not really wanting to be pulled away from Sasuke.

"Wanna borrow pajamas?" Gaara asked, and clambered over on top of Naruto, his hand slipping and splaying over Sasuke's chest so that he fell over on top of both of them, Neji snorting with laughter and falling down as well, rolling over and falling with a thump to the floor, making them all break into laughter again. Neji pulled himself up, his hair in his face, snorting with laughter as Gaara also got up and pulled Neji to his feet, laughing with him as they started to pull off clothes, so Naruto and Sasuke at the same time tossed aside socks and pants and shirts, clambering under the covers clumsily, pulling on the soft old shirts that Gaara gave them, making room as Gaara and Neji climbed in as well, shifting about as Sasuke turned off the lamp, and settling down slowly together in the arrangement they were most accustomed to, with Sasuke on one side, Naruto beside him, with Gaara next to Naruto and then Neji on the other edge of the bed, curling together as they tried to find the most comfortable position, trying not to fall off either side of the bed, Sasuke snuggling against Naruto, Gaara wrapping an arm around the blonde, the blonde burrowing his face against Sasuke's neck, Neji's lips brushing against the back of Gaara's neck, his hand resting on his lover's hip, his fingertips dangling down across his stomach.

Gaara moved closer to Naruto, and Neji moved with him, and then things sort of tilted, and Gaara let out a low, keening noise, and Naruto moved against him, and he turned, letting Gaara kiss him, soft and slow, with the noise of Sasuke and Neji's breathing on either side, the knowledge of what was happening a little ominous, but everything seemed so nice, and the edges were so soft and fuzzy, and the concerns of what this might mean didn't really extend past whether Sasuke seemed bothered, whether Neji objected, and when they didn't, that meant everything must be fine. And when the two on the outside moved, and it became confusing who was kissing who, and which hand was where, and what clothes they still had on were tossed aside, it was more than fine, and it felt…it felt…

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To be continued…