AN: got a little carried away here, so it's a long one.

3734 words in this chapter

Unmasked

Chapter 26- Home

September 15th; it had been weeks since she had stopped talking to him, and it was beginning to grind on him. It was different to before. She slept in his bed beside him, attended family events with a smile; she even stayed with him to train.

It wasn't even that she was not talking to him at all; she would still reply if he asked her a direct question, but she would never start the conversation herself. Something in her behavior began to scare him in its familiarity, and his mind fought to analyze why.

She was easily mimicking most of what he had done to her over the last few years, but that made no sense. He had done it to hide his feelings towards her, whereas she…

She doesn't have any feelings for me… she's said that right to my face… but this is not simply revenge. She said 'no sex', not 'no contact'. I'm far too confused.

He tested reaching a hand out to his wife as she slept on softly beside him in their bed. Her skin was so soft under his touch, something he only could tell from a brief memory, as the second he made contact, she sat up away from his hand. He could have bet his life on her sleeping, but now she was wide awake as she ran her fingers through her hair casually.

She swung her legs off the bed, pushing the sheets away from her semi-naked form, the very action almost forcing him to explore her with his eyes. He wanted to reach out again, to caress the vanilla smoothness of her skin and pull himself up towards her, but he knew from experience that this would only cause her to leave the room.

She always did the same. She'd taunt him with the knowledge that the more he tries, the more she would pull away. If he didn't touch, she would not stop him from looking, but he never managed to resist, not once.

This time, he was determined to re-assert his authority in the relationship, and sat up in the bed, facing away from her. The temptation to turn back again was over-powering but he fought as hard as possible. He reminded himself that he wasn't trying revenge, just trying to avoid this rut they were in.

"Ohayou" he sighed, almost as though he had forgotten everything that she had been doing to him.

"Ohayou" she replied in an even tone, not betraying any emotions.

This was at least an answer, which was more than she had given for a while, so he tried again. "Are you going to meet with Sakura again today?"

"It's Kakashi's birthday. She's occupied"

"Training then?"

He almost went rigid in surprise as he felt the softness of her lips brush his cheek and couldn't even turn to face her. "One hour, in the forest"

Then she was gone once again, leaving a slight chill in the air with the absence of her body-heat.

Shikamaru strode up the few steps to their new home, waiting in his mind for when she would arrive. She had been so indecisive lately, it had taken them weeks to find one she had settled with, and he had moved into this one a few days ago.

The main reason for this was the mini bridezilla war going on between his fiancée and his mother. Yoshino had been planning this wedding since the two of them met, and was very reluctant to change any details, but it seemed that Ino had other plans, determined to upset the families as much as possible.

Apparently, according to Ino, his living with Yoshino was a direct attack on her wants for their wedding, and it meant that he was taking the other side. As a result, he moved out, of course making his mother scream out the same reaction, but weighing up the fact that he would have to live with Ino for the rest of his life, this seemed to be the lesser of two evils. It was probably the first time he had stood up to his mother in such a way, and he wasn't anticipating seeing her again for a long time.

Ino hadn't been to the new house since before he moved in, but she had called earlier, whining about how much she 'missed him' and 'wanted to see him', so she was due to visit this afternoon. He knew that 'missed him' and 'wanted to see him' meant 'nag him about wedding details' in the language of Ino, but he wasn't going to refuse her.

He swung the door open with his foot, one hand still firmly in his pocket while the other held a cigarette to his mouth. He was about to sigh loudly and slump down onto the floor cushions beside the table when he noticed a pair of sandals by the door that weren't his.

Waking up a little, he searched the main room and couldn't see anyone. He then strolled upstairs to the first bedroom and found her sitting on the edge of their bed, staring out of the window.

He slid the Fusuma shut behind him with an audible click to alert her to his presence.

"Where were you?" she frowned

"I thought we were meeting later"

"We were, but we were meeting here. There was no reason for you to leave."

She was obviously in one of her temperamental unreasonable moods so he leant back against the door frame in preparation. "I wasn't going to stay here all day. I needed air"

"Why weren't you here making the house perfect for me?" she snapped turning her head to glare at him "I wanted to surprise you by coming earlier and you weren't even here. Don't you care about me?"

"Ino…" he sighed "of course I do"

"Then why?! Is there someone else?"

"Ino don't be ridiculous" he remarked casually then stumbled over to fall on the bed beside her, looping his hands behind his head. He knew exactly what this was about. "What has she said now?"

"She says that I am being improper making you move in here without me, and I tried to explain that Daddy wouldn't let me and then she started saying that this marriage was supposed to draw the family together not apart and that I was ruining it and I wasn't fit to be a wife if I couldn't stand up to my own father… she makes me so upset Shika-kun…"

"Shh…" he comforted, deliberately not touching her in case she got angrier "don't listen to her… I don't"

"Do you think that I'm not fit to be a wife Shika?" she asked softly, shuffling closer to rest against his chest

"Of course I don't. I wouldn't have proposed if I thought you weren't"

"But maybe she's right… if I can't stand up to daddy…"

"Trust me Ino; you have no problem standing up to me." He smirked, but quickly hid it

"Should I move in here? Would that make you feel better?"

"I feel fine Ino, you do whatever you want. If you don't want to until the wedding, to make it a special event like you said, then don't."

"Is it slutty to move in with a guy you aren't married to?" she asked, biting her lip

"Ino, I'm not Sakura." he scowled "I'm not here for girl talk"

"But Sakura's married… she doesn't know anything about being a single girl anymore…"

He sighed again, heavily "Neither do I, and you aren't single, you're engaged and fully capable of making your own decisions."

She sighed back, and sat up to stare back out of the window. "I don't like this house"

He felt like banging his head against a wall, and was suddenly thankful for the fact he was lying down, so he wouldn't get a chance to. "Yes you do, you are just restless. In a weeks time you will be able to relax again."

"Only one week?" her eyes snapped back to him, wide "We are never going to be ready… there's so much to do. Dear Kami it's going to be a disaster!"

"Ino…" he rolled his eyes, getting very agitated now "It's not going to be a disaster"

"How do you know? How can you possibly know that?"

He gave up and sat up beside her, reaching for one of her hands before kissing her lightly on the lips and whispering in her ear "I trust you"

She instantly blushed and fell silent, staring back into his eyes.

A second later, she pulled herself onto him and began to kiss him back hungrily. It had been weeks since they had even had a chance to kiss like this and she was taking the opportunity as fully as possible.

However, when his hand snaked around her back, she froze. She suddenly stopped moving, but her eyes showed the same amount of confusion that he felt at the action. It seemed as though she didn't want to stop, but she did.

She smiled against the pillow, enveloped completely by the nostalgic comfort of the situation. Warm arms wrapped around her from behind as she lay there snuggled into the soft sheets.

His breath tickled the back of her neck soothingly as she weaved one of her own hands back to play with his hair. She realized that, waking up like this would easily be the best thing she had ever experienced, and she never wanted anything more.

Not once had she, since being with him, had to wake up alone or unwanted. She hadn't once gotten up to leave him before he was awake, and she never had to.

More than a month ago, she had considered buying him an alarm clock for his birthday, but now that day had come, she could open her eyes to find her own by the side of his bed. The day that Tsunade forced them onto honeymoon leave, she had emptied her own apartment and moved in here.

The discussion hadn't lasted long; 'Your place or mine?' he asked, and she instantly replied 'With that garden? Do you really need to ask?'

Of course, she had made quite a few alterations to the layout of the apartment and mostly redecorated it from it's grey, mucky origin. It was nothing too extreme, just a few things to lighten up the place and keep it cleaner than it had been.

Photos were now on some of the walls in frames, things like their old team photo and some she had taken recently as milestones. She had kept colour schemes subtle, so it didn't feel to him like she was invading completely, but it did add a slight personal touch to his place.

Ino had instantly criticized her for moving into a small apartment like his, where there was no room for expansion, but seen as neither of them was in a rush to bring in any extra family members, it wasn't a huge priority. It was much more important to Sakura that it felt comfy, like it did when they stayed together before.

This right now, was possibly so comfy that she wondered whether soon it was going to cycle back around to uncomfortable any second. She looked up over her shoulder but couldn't see him, so she shuffled around in his grasp to get a better view.

His arms shifted in response and he breathed deeply, letting her know that he was awake. Her hand dropped from his hair to trail down his bare chest as his eyes slowly opened.

"Ohayou Sakura-chan" he smiled softly.

"Tanjoubi omedetou Kakashi" she smiled back

"Already?" he groaned "I feel old"

"I know" she smirked teasingly "I'm surprised you haven't gone grey yet"

"Very funny" he leant down and kissed her on the lips, pulling her beneath him as he did so, then leaning up for air "Have you got the day off?"

She knew what he was suggesting and rolled her eyes "Got something in mind for your birthday present?"

"You mean you haven't bought me one?" he mock frowned, causing his bottom lip to jut out.

"Of course I have… but that's for later" she pushed her lips around his stuck out one, forcing him to smile into the artful kiss.

"Can we just not have a later? Now is just fine" he sighed as he withdrew

She giggled lightly "Yes, we can have now all day"

"Ok, I'm going to go back to pretending to sleep now…" he told her, then lay just to the side of her, holding her close to him.

She would happily have let him aswell, if it wasn't for the fact that someone started knocking on the apartment door. "So much for that theory…"

He moved his arms reluctantly to let her through and she slipped out of the bed quickly to go and answer the door.

The rush of cold air that followed forced her to quickly throw on one of his larger shirts which he was still appallingly bad at packing away once they were washed.

She shuffled through the rooms to the door, hoping sincerely that it was something very important to get her out of bed like this. Of course, it wasn't, and she should have just stayed in bed, but she was too polite for her own good.

"Kakashi is sleeping Genma, what do you want?"

"Sakura, Baby, don't be harsh." He let his eyes wander up and down her figure shamelessly, before smirking at her "I get it… I bet you've got your birthday suit on under there especially for him haven't you? Sleeping my ass…"

"Genma; is there a reason for you being here?" she continued stoically.

"I can't just come and see a mate of mine on his birthday?"

"Genma, you only have three settings: flirt, attack and annoy. None of those constitute friendship, so I seriously doubt your intentions are honorable."

He sighed in defeat and flicked his senbon between his teeth. "Is he coming out of there at all today?"

"You want to embarrass him drinking" she glared, un-amused by his attempts at being subtle

"Gees Sakura, lighten up. You're turning into a crazy possessive wife. Are you scared he's going to find someone else at a bar… a younger woman?"

"It's cold, you're annoying me. I'll tell him you're looking for him when he wakes up, but now, you can go away."

"Tsunade actually sent me with a message for you. Apparently there are some details in some report thing that she wants to do something with or something like that."

"Coherent and accurate, I can always rely on you Genma" she joked

"I don't like how you say my name" he pouted "It's so accusatory"

"Would you rather I knock you unconscious again?"

"good point." He turned to walk down the street "Well I had better go and…"

"Tell Tsunade I'm not doing anything until tomorrow. If it's an emergency, get her to send someone who has the other half of their brain still present."

"Hai, whatever" he waved carelessly over his shoulder

"Do I need to write it down for you?"

He turned back to glare at her disapprovingly "don't patronize me"

Tenten faced Neji, breathing heavily and coated in sweat. It had taken a lot of training, but it had now reached a point where she was no longer the only one sweating, and that gave her more than enough of a mental victory, even if she had yet to beat him completely.

He was trying to hide how out of breath he was by going for a drink, but she wasn't fooled. She giggled to herself and climbed onto a branch of a nearby tree.

No matter how angry she was with him, for various reasons, a spar always served to relax her. Hiding up here was the only way she could make sure he wouldn't notice this fact.

It wasn't long before she dropped down to attack again, bored with what seemed like hiding from her husband. She never intended to ignore him so much, just to teach him a lesson. The problem was, that she never fitted a time into her plans were she would forgive him and move on, not because she didn't want to, just because it didn't occur to her.

She charged right at him and, although he was not focused towards the fight, he still managed to infuriate her by sidestepping her lunge and quickly sending a kunai after her.

She dodged it, knowing that he had not expected it to hit, and looked up to find that he was out of her sight. He had moved off, able to use his Byakugan to see her even a distance away, and knowing that at this distance he could deflect any arsenal she sent his way.

She breathed a sigh in frustration and started to recollect her thoughts. The only way this would progress would be if she used her offence, rather than waiting for him to come to her. That's just typical…

However, there was one thing he was currently unaware of. She hadn't been playing at full speed.

Over the last few weeks, she hadn't been seeing nearly as much of Sakura as she claimed; no one really did. The new Mrs Hatake had recently become the villager's number one made up excuse for being somewhere other than where they should have been. This worked wonderfully, especially as she had been spending nearly all of her time at home or at work, so she had no way to disprove people's alibis.

No, instead of meeting up with her friend everyday for the last few weeks, she had been following in her footsteps and spending some quality time with her old sensei. Of course, it wasn't quite in the same context, because she would rather stab herself in the lung with a senbon than make out with Gai, but she did learn a few things.

It was these things that caused her to smirk as she felt Neji's presence beside her, obviously having gotten bored waiting for her.

"Are you giving up already?" he asked gently, scanning his eyes over her to check if there were any medical problems causing her to stop fighting.

Knowing what she knew about her own body at the moment, she couldn't allow this, and quickly sent a shurikan his way to distract his attention.

"That was weak Tenten" he noted as he deflected it with the back of his hand effortlessly and stepped forward.

As he plunged an arm towards her, certain of his victory, she slipped underneath him with the super-fast speed she had been preparing to unleash, striking upwards into his blind spot with the heel of her foot as she emerged on the other side of his parted legs. His head was knocked forwards, causing him to lose his balance and tumble head first into the dirt.

This maneuver had now left them lying on top of each other in a tangle of limbs, which brought a blush to both of their faces. Tenten, thinking quickly, wrapped her legs around his upper torso from underneath, pinning him to her as her hands gripped onto his ankles either side of her head to further force him still.

A huge grin worked its way onto her face as she drew the edge of a kunai she held in one hand along his foot just enough to draw blood in a sharp, painful movement. "You'd be dead now"

"I know" he struggled to talk with his chin crushed against the ground "You've been working on your tai-jutsu"

"I have" she pushed him further down for effect, forcing him to eat dirt for a second before she let go and waited for him to roll off.

He sat up off her, spitting out pieces of earth as he glared at her.

She prepared to stand up, brushing herself off a little with a sigh. "I finally beat you"

He refused to acknowledge it, too annoyed at the attack on his dignity.

She looked back over at him with a scowl. "Trust you not to even congratulate me. You're such a sore loser"

He rubbed at his jaw deliberately "Hai, sore…"

She got up and leant against a nearby tree with a nervous smirk. "Well I'm used to the taste of dirt"

She then quickly wished she could take back her words as he gave her a look that was so pitiful, so regretful, that her heart jumped involuntarily.

His inner words were written all across his face and she could barely look, knowing exactly what he must be feeling- having been there herself. She had just beaten him to the dirt and then pretended like she was the one with problems, just like he always did to me.

"I didn't mean it that way…" she mumbled, staring down at her feet.

He pushed himself up to face her "which way did you mean it?"

She blushed, realizing that she had found a quick and entertaining way to forgive him. "I meant… I'm used to the taste of dirt… so…. I um…"

His eyes widened slightly as he realized her intent, and stood closer as she looked up at him. "You wouldn't mind tasting it again?"

Recognizing that he was gradually taking control again, she decided that she had to instigate it, and pulled him towards her, crushing their lips tightly together.

It was odd, their little relationship, how he somehow was always the most fragile of them and she always fought to get passed that. No matter how hard she tried to dominate him, she was always gentle, afraid of marring his porcelain aura. She felt stronger around him, even just in terms of control, and that made what they had worth trying for.

She let him go a second later, pulling her lips away to wait for a reaction.

It took him a while to register what had happened, stunned into silence before he finally stuttered out, "T-Tenten… does, um… are you…?"

She rolled her eyes at him "It was going to happen eventually"

"Ano… "

"Dear Kami I'm married to Hinata" she sighed and pushed passed him to pick up the few weapons that still lay around the area "we're done here. I'm going home"

AN: ah well. I wrote it. Little snippets of lightheartedness for ye.

Once again I have no idea what to write next, so a poll it is:

Do you want…

To skip forward again to the SHIKAINO hen & stag nights

To continue the next little filler fluff bits from this chapter

To come up with a plot point significantly for NejiTen or KakaSaku

To add a little pre-wedding war for Shikamaru and his bridezillas

If you want a specific couple or anything, feel free to suggest which.

I really need feedback on what is and isn't working pleshies.

Oh, and wish me happy birthday. (there is half an hour until I turn 18. woot!)

Stay shiny and show the luff

Xx Belizma-chan xX