Author's Notes:
First of all, I want to apologize. –weeps- I've been away too long haven't I… -continues weeping-
Second of all, I want to say that I worked really, really hard on this chapter. And that I hope you like sour to the sourest.
Now… Ready, set… read on. :D
CHAPTER 29
Kakashi was listlessly flipping through the menu of the restaurant, only barely listening to the distorted music coming from the twin speakers above his head when the familiar chakra of his three students made him look up from his breakfast contemplation.
As usual, Naruto called the attention.
"Kakai-senseeeii!!" the blonde hollered as he waved from the entrance, and people turned to stare as the blonde bounded into the restaurant, followed by his two teammates.
Kakashi's eye jerked in mild surprise at the mud-splattered appearance of his young prodigy and the pink-haired kunoichi beside him.
"Ahh yare-yare…" he mumbled with a shake of his head as he tucked the pocket book into his vest.
What sort of trouble could one morning jog invite anyway?
Naruto had a broad grin on his face as he came up to Kakashi and plopped down into the seat in front of him. The genin gave a bite of feisty laughter and stuck a thumb out at the raven-haired boy as Sasuke side-stepped a curious waitress. "Anou-sa…" he rolled his cerulean eyes and stuck a sneer out, "Temme here fell into a pig-pen and if that wasn't enough, he had to get Sakura dirty too!"
The girl had her head lowered in flustered embarrassment, but she abruptly jerked up in immediate defense to Sasuke, her green eyes wide.
"No… It was my fault Kakai-sensei! I lost my footing and accidentally pulled him in…" The pink-haired girl shot the blonde a mild glare. "Naruto no baka!"
The jounin calmly folded up the menu and the blonde hastily snatched it from him. "Yatta! Yatta!" the genin grinned, spreading the page of food selections.
Kakashi sighed and rested a gloved hand over his chin as he looked his two muddy students over.
"Mah. Well-"
"I'm sorry, sir?"
All four of them looked up at a waitress hovering over their table, and she gave an apologetic smile and bow. "I'm sorry, but we've just gotten complaints from another table about…"
Her voice trailed off and she slowly turned to Sasuke and Sakura just as caked mud fell over the floor.
"Yes, of course." Kakashi interrupted with an embarassed crinkly eye and bow, "My two students will be leaving immediately."
Sasuke rubbed a hand across one cheek and gave the girl beside him a sideways look.
And then the jounin's voice came. "Clean yourselves up and come join us for breakfast afterwards. We'll wait." "Okay." - "Alright."
The rushed answers came at about the same time from the two genin, and Sakura turned to Sasuke with an awry, flustered look.
Was he…
Just as eager as she was to be alone together?
She could no longer tell.
Because the raven-haired boy had already closed his eyes and turned around, walking towards the restaurant's entrance with his hands tucked systematically into his pockets.
-
The girl at the counter blinked up at the tall, blue-skinned ninja in front of her dressed in loose black. Beside his towering form, a smaller man appeared with a blonde girl the inn-keeper recognized as a guest staying in one of the rooms. She was clinging to the crook of the smaller man's arm.
Itachi pulled the straw hat on his head lower over his down-turned face, and the inn-keeper finally spoke. "May I help you?" Her eyes travelled to the taller man and caught the large barrel strapped to his shoulder.
"That's a large keg, you have." She lightly cajoled in mild conversation.
"Yes…" The shark-nin gave her a toothy grin that appeared almost intimidating. He shrugged the wooden barrel higher over his back.
"Because… It's Takeuchi-chan's birthday today." He spoke in a low gravelly voice as he looked over the top of the smaller man's hat.
"I'm going to have a party." The blonde finally spoke with a mechanical lift of a smile. And her blue eyes slowly blinked at the inn-keeper's face in a strangely empty way.
"Ah…" the woman behind the counter slowly nodded, and just to add more she threw in an awkward laugh. But the blonde girl's face remained frozen in that flat smile.
"Well happy birthday!" the woman tried enthusiastically to declare, pulling out the guest book from the counter's first drawer. "But I'll have to ask the two guests to sign their names here."
Itachi silently held his hand out as the inn-keeper gave him the ink-brush and Kisame reached sideways to pull the blonde girl closer to him.
"Ah, that was just embarrassing!"
Sakura pushed a palm up her face as she walked into the inn's large, broad entrance.
The boy beside her felt he had nothing more to add and he looked up at the lobby lanterns, listening to the wooden floorboards creak underneath their steps. While they walked, his hand was busy groping around one shorts pocket for the room keys.
After a moment, the girl heard him utter a silent curse.
"…My key is missing. It must have fallen into the pit." Sasuke flatly said, and his onyx eyes looked her over. "Where are yours?"
"I… left it in the room because I don't have pockets…" the girl answered with a cringe.
With a snatch of pink hair, she looked over to the counter, green eyes scanning the area waiting to catch a glimpse of the familiar inn-keeper.
After a moment, she gave up and stood on her toes trying to peer past the tall man shadowing the front of the table. But aside from his broad form, there was also the large barrel on his back that was obstructing her vision.
She lowered with a frown. "Sasuke-kun… Let's go there. We can ask for the spare key."
All the Akatsuki members had fake names - exactly for situations like the current one.
Unthinkingly, Itachi wrote his into the small column of the guest book - his old ANBU alias. 'Hatori Mizo'.
It wasn't such an uncommon name.
He was just starting on the first Kanji character when a familiar voice came over the silence.
"Ohayo."
My. How surprising.
Itachi's eyes flickered under his straw hat at the nostalgic tone, at the memories. He might have even felt a slight bite of a thrill, what with them standing barely a meter apart.
Sasuke.
The older Uchiha quietly lowered his head and checked his masked chakra.
"Can I have the spare keys to room 213?"
Out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw the tall, oddly blue-skinned man who was standing beside him turn his head in a slow sideways glance. The genin could have seen the sudden curious grin that swept across the shark-face.
Instead he ignored the man altogether.
"And,…" Sakura turned to the inn-keeper as she shuffled around, "How much is it to pay for a lost set of keys?"
"Forget it. I'll worry about that." The boy hurriedly said as the woman held out the spare to him and he took it.
"Oh..." The girl gave a teasing smile, and she stuck her tongue out playfully. "Sasuke-kun? …Are you always this moody when you're hungry?"
"Yes." The raven-haired boy answered simply, closing his eyes. "I am."
Under the shadow of his hat, Itachi's mouth softened fondly.
So…
In all the years, that part of his brother still hadn't changed.
Never late at the dinner table and the first one in the morning to grab the bento lunch from the kitchen counter.
"Oh well…" Itachi heard the girl sigh, interrupting his thoughts.
Her green-flecked eyes warmed as she bent to catch Sasuke's lowered gaze and she gave a soft smile. "You're adorable when you're angry anyway, Sasuke-kun."
The boy tilted his gray-tinged eyes to her, and to the girl's partial joy, stitched his eyebrows together with an annoyed frown.
"If it's alright with the two of you," the inn-keeper suddenly said, "I've sent the local house-keeper to your room to clean the place... She'll be arriving at your door anytime."
"Sure." Sasuke answered shortly. He pushed away from the table and slipped the keys into his pocket. "Let's go."
The girl's smile widened delightedly, and she swung around with a small hum.
Itachi's eyes almost seethed crimson - until he caught a glimpse of Sasuke's brown-splattered white shorts from just beyond the brim of his hat.
Dirt? No.
Mud.
He blinked in slow interest. But just as quickly Sakura had thrown an arm around the crook of his younger brother and the Akatsuki member's menacing flare of anger rushed back with full force.
Exactly who was this girl?
His eyes narrowed.
How very disappointing. She was undeserving of him. To have someone as insignificant as her lingering around his Sasuke, it was simply pathetic.
And how weak it would make his little one. All he'd been planning - the anger and pain that was essential to Sasuke gaining the right level of power and skill – all of it would go to waste.
Just because of this…
A petty crush. A useless thing.
Too easily, the brush in his hand snapped, and his eyelashes lowered to the split bamboo still in his clenched fist.
Hm.
"Oh my… I'm sorry…" the inn-keeper's forehead wrinkled as she turned from the two departing genin and saw the broken brush.
"It was an old pen… and… - ah yes," she rummaged quickly around the drawer and came up with a much thicker brush for the Akatsuki member.
"Here's another one."
Upon seeing the large-handled brush being held out, Kisame erupted in a sudden bout of gravelly laughter -something the handsome man was quite used to and had early on learned to ignore whenever he deemed it needed.
At the moment, he was in no mood to hear it.
The shark grinned knowingly and threw a rough, heavy arm around the blonde girl's shoulders.
"A little romp in the mud." He discreetly rumbled.
She only continued to stare straight ahead into the wall with the same painted-on smile. Not blinking, even once.
After the pink-haired kunoichi entered their rented quarters, Sasuke closed the room's door and extracted the keys from his pocket, slipping them across the drawer beside him.
He paused in front of the entrance and watched as the kunoichi begun to gingerly pad around the carpeted room. She bent over and carefully plucked her backpack from under the pile of white sheets on the ground and Sasuke did nothing - only watched her move around.
She bent to retrieve a towel and locks of hair slipped over her face. Graceful, slim fingers rose to tuck the stiff, mud-clumped strands delicately behind one ear.
The young Uchiha found himself simply observing. The sight of her pale skin shadowed against the soft light of the window from behind, the gentle curve of her nose and the soft, slight smile.
One leg stretched out, and Sasuke didn't miss the way her calves caught at the sun. His eyes took in the slim grace of her figure, the way she lightly stepped over the futon…
He very nearly smirked, remembering how the girl was so ironically clumsy with combat.
But then there was the intelligence hidden in her naivety and the charming, contageous affection she naturally had for everyone and everything.
And how could he have missed it.
Sasuke's shoulders lowered and his mouth softened.
Just one thought settled in quite naturally.
Sakura was… beautiful.
And the Uchiha finally realized that he did think much of it even if he'd been taught otherwise.
In his contemplation, he failed to anticipate the way her green eyes suddenly flickered up to him, distracted by his lack of motion. And Sasuke stiffened, realizing that she'd caught him in the middle of staring.
"Sasuke-kun?" she softly asked with a wrinkle of forehead, her backpack now dangling from one hand.
At the tone of her voice, he lowered his face, looking sideways at some part of the wall near the bathroom.
"You first." he broke in silently.
Tempting thoughts came, but the Uchiha abruptly pushed them away with a stubborn exhale and a cross of his arms.
"Oh, really." Sakura's tone was almost apprehending, and she pushed a hand to one hip with a bend of her head.
"And have you stand out here, dirtying the place…" the girl's voice rose with a small grin.
"Someone is going to come in and clean." The boy insisted and the crease between his eyebrows unknowingly deepened.
It wasn't just the girl's insistent nature.
Sasuke was finding it more and more difficult trying to stay away from her when he was well-aware duty always came first.
This is a mission. Focus on the mission, Uchiha. Control it. It's simple.
Discipline.
Trying to convince himself had never been so hard.
And strangely, had never felt so wrong.
Sakura was now in front of him. And how she got there, he didn't know.
It was a shock that his usually keen sense of awareness had failed him at that moment, but the fact that the kunoichi now had his backpack held out in front of him together with hers- That was even more surprising.
And then the girl surprised him yet again when he caught her hand rising to the zipper over her collar.
She pulled it down just enough so Sasuke caught a glimpse of the bandages around her chest.
"You want fast, right?" Sakura looked at him. "Taking a bath together will save more time."
The kunoichi gave him a feisty grin.
One Sasuke had only started seeing a few days ago.
And he discovered with irritation, that he rather liked that smile.
And that he liked the idea even more.
"It will save water too..." she gave a laugh and her eyes closed adorably.
But the boy was far from the point of laughing it off with her.
"Sakura…" the boy's jaw was ticking, "…You shouldn't be kidding about things like that."
She opened her eyes and the sparkling glimmer told him just how much she was enjoying the moment.
But after a pause, she'd settled and angled her head at him, emerald eyes searching.
"It's just… Sasuke-kun… you're always so serious. And…" the girl lowered her head with a bite of natural timidity, "When I heard you laugh this morning, I… wanted so much to hear more."
"But this is not funny." Sasuke snapped in a low voice. "Not after… just what I said a while ago…"
The boy's voice trailed off.
She looked up at him, captive interest stretching across her face.
"…You really want to… together, Sasuke-kun?"
"-What kind of a question is that… Matakeh!" He exhaled audibly and turned away.
His blushing flustered look, coupled with the confused aggravation was irresistible to her.
And the kunoichi admittedly couldn't understand her impulses. She stopped bothering with those ever since she'd first kissed him.
So she did what she wanted badly to do, slipping her arms around his sides, embracing him.
And to her brief joy, the boy didn't pull away.
"Don't be mad." She murmured charmingly with a small smile.
The warmth of him. The way his body visibly softened the moment she spoke.
On the outside Sasuke placed a fortress he wanted most everyone to think was impenetrable.
But she could with just the right kind of affection make him crumble.
And seeing what the boy was like on the inside… vulnerable, unguarded, even just a bit scared… –
Sakura could at times go so far to say… she might be clinging on to the moments only to hold him.
"…I'm hungry." The raven-haired boy said after a brief pause.
"I know…" He heard her say, and her voice continued.
"I know… what you want, Sasuke-kun."
And it was all in the way the kunoichi said it.
What I want…
His heart beat quickened. The rush of thoughts came. The heat and the longing. And the unbearable need.
The need for her.
More and more quickly, his sense of what was important – the mission, keeping away, remaining unmoved by emotions – it suddenly didn't make sense why he was still resisting.
Why he was so stubborn.
"…Sakura."
She heard the voice, loved the smooth octaves that reminded her so much of his graceful taijutsu. And suddenly Sakura's dress had loosened around her shoulders. She'd barely realized it.
The girl pulled away to a heated obsidian stare.
"The shower will be quicker than the tub." The boy whispered.
He tugged her zipper free the rest of the way.
And then the boy gave her a meaningful smirk. One that was just as easily losing to the urge of desperation in his eyes.
"A shower will be good." The girl agreed with a smile, reaching up and running her free hand over his spiky raven locks.
Kakashi was at the sixteenth page of his book.
Naruto was halfway through his first bowl.
The crackling music continued to the slurps of the blonde genin and the jounin closed his eyes.
Kakashi wasn't the type to meddle. He never did unless he felt the need.
But this…
This was bothering him.
"Naruto…"
The genin focused slits of eyes at him, and he sucked a noodle sloppily into his mouth.
"Mm?"
"How do you feel…" the jounin silently asked, as he closed the book, "about Sasuke and Sakura?"
The blonde's eyes widened. All too readable for the experienced teacher.
Just as quickly Naruto tried to cover his look with one of boredom. "Eh? Kakai-sensei, what are you talking about?"
"There's really no need to keep it from me." The jounin tilted his gray head and gave a small smile. "It is already quite evident that the two are seeing each other."
Naruto choked.
And Kakashi was anticipating it. Just as every part of his student's predictable nature.
The blonde coughed some more, and then raised his teary eyes to a bamboo cup being held out to him.
He slowly took it with another strangled cough, pressing the rim to his mouth and drinking the warm tea.
"I'm fine with it." Naruto straightened after a pause, swiping the back of his hand over his mouth.
And the jounin narrowed his lazy eye at the boy and crossed his arms. "Really."
"Yes!" the blonde almost cried out, replicating the copy-ninja's defiant gesture with a flash of indignant blue eyes.
"Mm-mm..."
Silence.
"Kakai-sensei?"
"Yes, Naruto."
"How long have you known?" the blonde slowly asked, lowering his hands and slumping.
"For a while now." The jounin provided vaguely, and he kept his face uninterested.
"I suspected you would feel at least even a little bad… seeing as I know you have an interest for Sakura."
"I want her to be happy!" Naruto declared with even control, much too quickly.
"Of course." Kakashi nodded while his other hand once again reached for the pocket book. "But that doesn't mean you can't feel bad about it. And it doesn't mean you have to hide your feelings from everyone else."
The blonde lifted his eyes to his teacher, only to be greeted by the bright red cover of the book and a fluff of gray hair above it. Naruto was about to mopingly look down when he heard the jounin speak again.
"After all… that's what friends are for too, right?"
Naruto looked back as Kakashi lowered his book and gave a soft curl of eye. "Aside from being your teacher, I'm also a friend. So you're not alone."
He went back to the book, "I just wanted you to know that."
"Kakai-sensei…" Naruto mumbled with sudden suspicion. "…When you say 'I'm not alone'… Are you saying you like Sakura too?"
The jounin twitched and gave his student a flat look.
Naruto's whiskered cheeks rose and the boy gave a foxy grin.
Ah well… Kakashi wearily sighed as he looked up at the ceiling.
At least he's spoken.
He does like Sakura.
Muddy crumbling bits of dirt were everywhere.
Over the sink, the counter and the tiles, floating inside the toilet bowl and sliding to a stop inside the ceramic bath tub.
Sasuke's shirt went over his head and he dropped it distractedly over the floor just as Sakura's lips rushed to cover his.
She had a way of pressing forward, he noted.
And he had a way of backing up whenever she did.
The girl made a sound as he blindly slid his hands over her shoulders, pushing the crimson dress away from her. His mouth worked a hefty number of hungry combinations, tongue, teeth and lip nipping and kissing. The sleeves came away from her arms and he drew back breathlessly, pausing only to admire the way he'd ravished her.
The girl raised her head to study him, and Sasuke looked back unflinchingly.
Their breaths fell short in the silence and the boy and girl stood, filling in the moment with the familiar hesitation and coiled tension.
Sakura was the one who broke the spell.
With a determined smile, she shrugged off the offensive garment, and reached forward, hands pressing to his muddy shorts.
Her fingers freed one button. And he felt the material loosen.
Forced himself to breathe. But his chest ached while he waited for those agonizingly slow fingers.
"Come on, usuratonkachi…" he whispered with just a hint of impatience.
Sakura leaned forward to kiss the boy and she was getting better every time.
The tantalizing way she slipped her tongue across the line of his lip, flicked and teased, insistently playful, and aggressive and painfully sweet.
The world swung causing an upset in the boy's balance and he took a step back again.
His knees folded into the toilet bowl behind him and Sasuke stumbled into the plastic seat with the girl's arms still stubbornly clinging around his shoulders, and her mouth still sharing his air.
Such clumsiness should have irritated him. But now, he no longer cared.
"The shower..." his breath wedged, "…is that way."
The girl's lip was nibbling along the clean side of one cheek and she pulled away with just a bit of difficulty.
"Yes, that way…- … I know." The girl distractedly answered.
The need pushed. He wanted more.
Sasuke's mouth came forward and he crushed her lips to his, surrounding himself in the warmth as her arms lowered to his sides, grasping at the material of his shorts. She tugged and Sasuke lifted his hips so the girl could slip it off.
Lower. The shorts landed somewhere behind them and the kunoichi's hands stretched in frantic exploration across his stomach, settling over the planes of muscle and skin. His body arched into her palms and her fingers molded over the rising twins of his pelvis, onto the garter of cloth clinging there precariously.
The last bit of cloth.
Sakura made to tug at the material, but his hands reached out for her skin, briefly skimming across ribs and settling over her back, nimbly unfastening the knot of bandages that wrapped across her chest. Hurried and heated. His fingers knew where to go and soon he'd undone the complex tangle and started unraveling. With each tug, the gauze loosened, exposing the kunoichi's smooth, flushed skin and Sasuke craved more and more.
"You're a quick learner…" Sakura said. And he looked into the burning green of her eyes, knowing he could in reality spend mere seconds learning, but that it was never enough. Not with her.
The girl silently pulled the bandages away and he finally saw her nakedness, felt the fire that came with the memories, remembered what she wanted and how she wanted. He reached up, more willingly now than the first time, and touched her - pushing his fingers into the weight of her small, full breasts, brushing his palms over the sensitive peaks and loving the falter of her breath when he did.
His body tightened seeing the way Sakura's eyes lowered to him. Her sweeping eyelashes pressing to heated skin.
"… What about…" the airiness of her voice broke the silence.
"This." She reached down to his boxers.
"This… I'll do it." The raven-haired boy cut in.
The girl pulled away and Sasuke stood, almost hesitated. Struck suddenly at the sight of the kunoichi as she settled back, face flushed, dark shades of glistening emerald eyes watching him.
"Sasuke-kun…" She murmured, for no particular reason at all. Her voice was filled with a need he so recognized and his stomach curled with heat when he saw the way Sakura bit at her moist lip.
His insides clawed. The boy discovered he rather liked the way she looked. The restraint and lust she hid under the thin layer of girlish shyness.
Yes, he did like that look.
Sasuke's twist of mouth turned into a grin and he slipped one side of his boxers lower, purposely giving her a glimpse of more pale skin, curves of hipbone, the flat lower belly…
The thoughts of breakfast, a waiting mentor, Naruto, all of it left him.
Sakura's eyes flickered as the sight greeted her and she almost diverted her gaze reflexively, only to find that she couldn't really.
But Sasuke thought he liked it even more now, the way her eyes fastened steadily on him.
It stirred something inside he'd barely been aware of - to try to tease and lure Sakura just as she'd done to him and the thrill of it causing his frantic heartbeat, the rising anticipation.
He'd never felt excitement the way it came now, something new yet again.
Sasuke lifted his eyes to her.
And he knew his body wanted it badly.
He slipped one hand into his shorts.
And he very nearly smiled with satisfaction when the kunoichi's eyes widened before she quickly blanched deep red.
Seeing the way his actions affected her, gaining the upper hand and dominance… The delicious feeling heightened his boldness.
"… Sakura…?" He knew the girl liked the breathy whisper of her name, just by looking at the subtle changes on her face and in her eyes, her sudden escalation of breath.
His hand moved - an upward slide of knuckle against cloth and he gave her a slow, lazy blink, with just a trace of a curling smirk.
"Mmm…" He gave a low, quiet hum.
"Sakura."
Oh gods…
The girl realized she'd given a soft, high gasp. Unable to help it at all.
Her chest felt mere seconds from exploding, and she hadn't known, didn't ever think she would see it… - Such a different side of him, more surprising, much bolder than she ever imagined even in the best of her daydreams.
After she had slightly recovered and shut her eyes in embarrassment, the girl finally spoke.
"Please, Sasuke-kun when you do that-"
"…I know you like it." He gave her a charming smirk that diminished the traces of arrogance and the boy withdrew his hand.
"Now turn on the water."
She didn't hesitate at all.
The water was coming down at full-blast and the sound drowned out their breath.
And then Sasuke had slipped closer, sliding his hands over his boxers, finally peeling the material off.
She did the same with her own pine-green shorts.
But before she could start with her underwear, his mouth had pressed to one muddy cheek. And his heated breath stirred at her neck.
"You should accept… whatever it is I might do in this shower."
Then the boy hooked one finger over the lace for her, and pushed the panties down.
"I should tell you the same thing." Sakura whispered, stepping even closer.
And at the sound of her voice, at the idea, the boy finally caved, pulling her into the water with him.
The mud fell off their skin, out of their hair and down their chins, spreading out into murky pools of transluscent brown. Water cascaded down their faces and the recent memory came over Sakura as the boy's lips parted hers - when he had kissed her in the rain, and she'd first felt his love, when he'd first shown he accepted her.
But even this was more than that.
She felt like she knew him now – more than ever. She felt closer to him.
Sasuke pulled away after a moment, reaching for the soap, working a good lather. Cleaning and scrubbing until he stopped, because the kunoichi had dumped cold shampoo over the top of his stubborn spikes.
He turned around to her already foamy white head, and the sight of the girl almost made him crack a smile.
At least until she suddenly reached up with both hands to playfully scrub at his hair.
"I can do that." Sasuke pulled away with a look of annoyance. "And this is too much shampoo. I'll smell like flowers."
A giggle shook her, and the boy gave a brief snort, though he didn't at all feel upset.
Really, it was strange.
This feeling.
His gray-rimmed eyes fell over the soaked strawberry shade of Sakura's hair as she laughed, and he noticed the way his own mouth finally tugged upward with a smile of its own.
Sakura, he realized with a softening gaze, was slowly starting to change him.
The tensai heard no opposing voice in his head anymore.
The way he had worked to train himself all this time. That unfeeling person in his mind, was someone he no longer wanted to be.
His purpose, his revenge, suddenly seemed insignificant.
Petty compared to what Sakura had opened his eyes to. Useless because it would achieve nothing worthwhile.
His hands came forward, touching to the flat expanse of her stomach, running soap down Sakura's belly, and up between the middle of her breasts. He loved the way she sighed in contentment, though he said nothing. Her fingertips pressed to his scalp and she watched the water run through her hand and over his dark, feathered locks, moved her gaze lower to the soap bubbles sliding along his broad shoulders and down his chest. Blinking back the streaming water, she found the curve of his jaw and kissed it, opening her lips to the trickle of droplets and tasting the sweetness. Sasuke's body responded, rubbing with need against her, scraping his teeth over her earlobe, feeling soaked silken strands on his nose.
She gave a sharp gasp when one of his hands made the bold move along her inner thigh, teasing the bulk of artery there. And with ease he proceeded to wash her, running the bar of soap up the hollow of her spine, towards the curve of nape, and down. Sakura shivered.
"Cold?" The boy lightly asked, and his tone was almost nonchalant in comparison to his tender gestures.
Sakura realized that as strange as it was, despite the warm shower, she was indeed feeling the bite of a chilly draft at certain places, but that it was the least of her cares.
"Actually yes I am, but-" Sakura's voice ended tightly with a swallow because the boy's hand was now snaking along her legs, dipping with slippery soap into crevices, that apart from him, only she had ever touched, spreading out over the curves of her thighs, swiping between the gap of her legs…
"Good." He whispered with a glint of dark eyes.
Just as the word ended, the boy slid her left leg sideways and pressed it to the tiles with enough impatience to cause a reaction in her mint-green irises. And then he smirked, running the soap bar in his hand over her dangling lower leg, soaping higher to the side of her knee and across her inner thigh, closer and closer to where she needed it, until she sucked at her lip and unknowingly swallowed water.
And he finally reached her intimate center, using the back of his hand and his knuckles to tease the sensitivity with more soap, watching the girl squirm under him until she was pulling in small sounds. "Mmm… Sasuke-kun."
"Yes..." He unthinkingly responded pressing his lips over her slight whimper.
One last time, he soaped her stomach. And then rinsed the bar and placed it in its dish.
The chills came over the surface of her skin, battling with the heat underneath as she looked at him.
And the sensation of cold intensified, oddly foreign but pleasant.
"…Do you know, Sakura…" his voice broke in. And the boy's eyes moved over her face before the dark, spheres of onyx glinted.
"…That menthol applied to the skin naturally increases bloodflow…?"
Menthol. Her eyes flickered and he smirked knowingly.
So that's what is in the soap.
"The skin becomes more sensitive to pressure, and the senses heighten." She said with a faltering murmur.
…More sensitivity.
…Senses heightening.
Her stomach wedged.
And soon, she did start to feel the effects rushing along her lower body, flooding into her center as the water rinsed away the soap bubbles. "I've never had this before."
"It's a stone village specialty." The boy said, pressing his palm up her middle. "This soap."
They couldn't afford to waste any more time.
The girl felt the sure motion of his hands and his moist lips settled over her chin, tongue lapping up at the rivulets of water, spearing into her open mouth and caressing the softness inside.
"Mmmm…-" Sakura couldn't help moaning, shutting her eyes to the heat spreading out over her face, and the sudden responsiveness of her body to his fingers. She arched into his hand, needing more. Her slim fingers clutched to his locks of hair. And then she tightened with a soft intake of breath when Sasuke circled her and finally pushed a finger in deep.
"Your arm-" she squeezed out, "You're not supposed to move it around, Kakai-sensei will-"
"-Sakura, stop talking." He mused with a pained smile. "I don't care."
"But- Sa-…" the girl whimpered, tightening her grip around his nape when he pushed a second finger inside and started rocking his palm. And the struggle that came over her face, the flitting pleasure and concern for him, the way her fine eyebrows stiched together in conflict. He came forward, ignoring his own unfulfillment and taking from her, hearing her harsh breath and feeling the willingness of her mouth against him. Another hand came forward to stroke the sensitive bump outside and the girl's upright knee almost buckled if Sasuke weren't pressing her so close to the wall.
He'd learned enough in the forest to know just where and how to touch her. And his hands settled easily into the rhythm he knew gave her the best kind of pleasure.
"Sasuke-kunn-!" she gasped out against him. Her muscles tightened and she wedged, eyes catching the slight glistening gray orbs. The ecstacy worked up rapidly into her spine, tightening underneath her stomach, heat flowing amidst the cooling effect of the soap.
The combination felt wonderful and her harsh breath flooded over him as the water struck their bodies.
The pad of his finger was only so light to caress her, but Sakura finally knew what "heightened senses" meant. And she gasped tight against him as the feelings washed over her middle and down between her legs. Her heartbeat accelerated and the blood rushed to places that ached with need for more stimulation.
But he knew this.
And Sasuke was relentless, never breaking the motion. He watched despite his own clamors, the way each stroke pushed the kunoichi under him higher and faster to that brink where nothing mattered anymore but those few seconds that seemed to encompass everything.
And Sakura surprised the boy suddenly, unaware that she was doing it, but that her hips rocked against him the way he'd imagined countless times before he closed his eyes at night.
A groan escaped him at the sight of her. Flushed and needing so badly her hands gripped his shoulders.
"Sakura…" She heard his whisper of desperation amidst the flood of pleasure.
And the voice pushed her closer.
"…A bit more-" the girl moaned. And he kissed her.
Just a bit.
Sasuke felt it in the way she trembled, the way her hips suddenly arched so his fingers naturally pushed in deeper, even when he did nothing. And then her teeth bit down with another moan over his lower lip. Something she had never done before and was wise to never do again. Because the simple act finally sent his tolerance off.
He shoved her back with one shoulder and bit just as hard on her lip, closing his eyes to the small cries that told him she would all too soon, shatter.
Abruptly, he remembered how intimate, how complete it felt to look into Sakura's eyes at that moment of unsurpassable pleasure. He only wanted the same for her.
"Sakura?-" He whispered, "Look at me… Sakura."
She was. He realized, already looking at him, with her beautiful flecks of sea green. Her cheeks bloomed with heat and he saw how it made the kunoichi even more desirable.
His onyx eyes observed her in with a mixture of hunger and fascination.
And the pleasure drove her as she finally broke, the gush of feeling shook Sakura till she wrapped her leg around his back and cried out, losing herself to the repeating motion of his hands. The pulses continued to strike, bittersweet in torrents, and her head dragged up with small murmurs over the tiles at her back, saying his name again and again, until the feeling faded into calming warmth and Sasuke's hands settled with a light press over her skin.
The thrill of sending her there and then watching the climax of emotion, the response of Sakura's body to him…
It made Sasuke ache even more for her.
And it was worse than anything he had felt, even more agonizing than the pain in his left arm.
"I need you…" The boy suddenly whispered.
The first time Sakura had ever heard him really say it. And the magnitude it brought was enough for her to think it was a tear that trailed down her cheek, though it might have only been the water.
Her hand slipped between them, wrapped around him to the sound of his faltering breath. And the agonizing strokes came, slow and paced, sweet and gentle the way Sakura always was. His body hated it, but every other part of him loved it.
"… Haven't you learned anything?" he stubbornly said.
"Haven't you?" she asked back with a lingering smile.
"I've been trying to teach you to be patient, Sasuke-kun."
"I'll be patient some other time." He shot back hurriedly. And he pushed his groin forward with emphasis.
With a laugh, the girl reached out sideways and lathered at the soap. Wordlessly, Sakura stroked it over his hard length and Sasuke gave a smirk. "Oh…?"
She blinked lazily and gave him a squeeze, watching his eyes lose all casualness at the gesture.
Her grip was firm, but still, painfully slow as she slid over his tip and down against his hilt and Sasuke's head lowered with a soft hiss. "Damnit, you're being a tease."
Another hand came to clutch at one side of his bottom and his eyes narrowed as he looked at her.
"I love how firm you are." The girl boldly stated with a grin and she gave the cheek a squeeze.
The boy's eyebrows stitched together and he gave a sharp thrust in response.
"Move your hand, Sakura."
She stroked along his head and the thrill spiked so much his eyes fell shut and he buried his mouth into her neck. So Sakura settled into the motion, hard even strokes and brief pulls to his sensitive tip. Before long, Sasuke was starting to enjoy the heightening ride of pleasure, groaning and scraping teeth along her jaw, slipping his hands over her breasts in appreciation. Her hands gave another squeeze to his bottom and he discovered with a low growl that he might like it. He thrust at her, obsidian eyes narrowing into tiny slits of pleasure.
"Room-cleaning." Came a muffled voice from outside.
Sakura's hand paused, mid-stroke. And the boy gave a muttered curse.
It had slipped Sasuke's mind.
Had the person just let herself in?
Yes, he realized with aggravation, the inn's staff did have access to all rooms.
Matake.
"Go ahead!" Sakura suddenly bit out loudly from under him.
He gave her a look and she stared back with a feisty grin.
"Okay then…" the voice responded through the crack in the bathroom door this time,
"I'll just let myself out afterwards."
"She knows it's just me in here. Better be quiet now, Sasuke-kun…" the girl mused in a hushed tone, and her eyes danced.
Quiet?
She gave his length a tug, and the boy sucked in a breath.
Quiet.
The rush of water would silence small sounds, but if he wasn't careful they would be found out.
The thought died because the menthol was spreading nicely and Sakura's hand was gripping hard once again. Pulling at the tip and moving down, giving a few more strokes until her hand left to explore more of him, down past the shaft…
He pushed in another breath when she reached to clutch lower at another part she hadn't yet touched.
His body reacted with a jerk.
"Sakura…" he clenched his teeth, fighting down the odd blush that suddenly came over him.
"…This feels different." The girl giggled discreetly, silencing herself into his shoulder as she gently cupped him. She kneaded with curiosity, and it was to her just another part of Sasuke she wanted to learn.
But her touch had unknowingly called something else from him, and the fire raged, causing his eyelids to lower with pleasure. He was turned on, and the flickers of red in his eyes told her.
"Still feels good to me." He murmured, between barely parted lips.
And then he was pushing on her, doing himself the favor, dragging his pelvis over hers and insinuating the friction. Rougher and more insistent now, tongue flickering out at the girl's chin and lip.
He pulled away with hard eyes. "That was my limit-" he said with a breathless pant.
"And you've breached it."
Sakura was surprised with the boy's sudden power as he clutched her hip and pulled it to his body.
With a thrust, the full length of him slid along her grip, and the girl found herself watching heatedly, stroking, as he rocked into her hand. His head fell back and one hand wrapped around her nape in a grip for control.
"Sakura…" He pushed out, eyes falling shut to the droplets of water trailing down his flushed cheeks.
She responded to the heated whisper, catching his lip with her teeth and sucking. The boy gave a low moan into her mouth.
The first spiral of waves came, and Sakura felt the boy stiffen over her, biting back harsh sound as sleek wetness leaked into her palm.
And then the pleasure was escalading more and more, controlling his desperate thrusts for motion, the shallow struggles for more air.
He needed…
Needed… her.
"Tighter-" Sasuke tore out with distressed breath against the girl.
"…Like this." Sakura squeezed him and his chin tilted to the ecstacy, eyes flying shut.
Barely a moment passed and already Sasuke was losing the control, his love-bitten mouth pressing sloppy kisses over every stretch of skin he could reach. Pleasure - spikes of it came…
And he ground into her with a shudder, biting down over the curve of her neck.
Sakura responded with an upward arch of her own, her slim hips brushing against his.
And now he was at that point, teetering at the invisible cliff, so close and about to fall.
And badly… he wanted it. To feel the way she would finally tighten around him when their bodies joined.
Her hands loosened over him and he took the opportunity, gave in to the need, sliding his length over her intimate opening, enjoying the foreign sensation that felt only right. Lower, until he was probing at her soft entrance and she was spreading out for him. Ready.
So close, he could do it… enter her right now.
She saw the raging desperation on his face.
"Sasuke-kun…" At her voice, his hazy eyes lifted to her.
"It's okay." She urged softly. And Sasuke looked at her flushed face, into her accepting eyes, torn in decision.
But a part of him knew he wasn't thinking clearly and she was no different.
Not at this point when they were both run by the moment.
This is the wrong place, the wrong time.
But she wanted it. As much as he did. Sakura was more than willing.
Yes. His insides roared at the idea. Do it.
Her first time. Right now.
You're so close.
Do it.
"No." he ripped out sharply, and he pulled away, pushing a hand to himself and finishing off. The pleasure came, it streaked through him in high euphoria the way it always did. And he ignored the slight emptiness, shutting his eyes in frustration and pushing his mouth to hers instead. Her hands pressed to his hips as he gave in to the harsh pleasure - caving with a silent moan he was careful only the girl would hear.
And Sasuke couldn't help himself, his mouth found a discreet place on her neck he knew would be hidden by the collar of her dress, and he bit down on the surface, sucking a dark rosy mark to her skin, claiming her. His own.
Mine.
Just mine. Sasuke couldn't help the selfishness, and his tongue traced with finality at the portion of skin that was already starting to bruise.
They both heard the door to the room close with a muffled thump, and knew the house-keeper had finished.
Sakura looked down at the boy in her arms as his body softened against her with a low release of breath.
"Sasuke-kun…" Her voice held the lingering question, the wavering confusion and disappointment.
"No…" he repeated.
Sakura watched him raise his crimson eyes to her.
She saw that the black tomoe dots were already fading.
"Because it's not right." His low voice spoke, "…On a comfortable bed, when we have all the time to do it. Then…" His voice trailed off.
Her green eyes softened with understanding and the girl kissed his cheek with a tender smile.
"…The way I'd always wanted." The kunoichi murmured.
"Then… that's how we'll do it." Sasuke gave in with a sigh, and he reached up to turn the shower off.
The leaves of the forest rustled and glitters of sun struck against the ANBU captain's metal arm protectors as he adjusted his headset. In silence he scrutinized the two people standing casually in front of him.
"You…?" Keska's brown eyes flickered towards the first jounin, and then he angled his head sideways towards the other jounin with a raised eyebrow. "Both of you?"
"Yes sir." Daisuke grinned and the toothpick in his mouth lifted.
"Candidates for my new ANBU team." The commander gruffly mumbled with a scratch to his vest, and he cringed as the stitches gave a pinch of pain.
Damn Shizune-chan and her special "fondness" for him.
Ah, fuckbit.
"Well, if we successfully track the two Akatsuki members down then, yes." Atom said as he played at his explosion of curls with one burly hand and gave a small smile.
"Okay…" the ANBU captain dragged out with an arched eyebrow and he crossed his arms.
His eyes settled over the smaller jounin. "What can you do?"
Daisuke's odd purple eyes shifted and he gave Captain Keska a hesitant look. "Excuse me… sir?"
"Your talents, lilac boy. C'mon… wow me! The credentials you have, potential skills to utilize, your clan abilities and achievements, the amount of A-rank missions and the class of criminals you've brought down… maybe even the number of times you've stared at a man and he'd raced off pissing his trousers." The brown-haired commander was ticking the points off his gloved fingers, "…and everything else you can contribute to this mission, so we can bring the bull-fucks down with everything we have, got it?"
"I got it sir." Daisuke said with a half-nod, and a choked laugh.
"This isn't funny, lilac-boy." The captain leaned against the tree with sudden seriousness. "Now tell me. Better yet, show me what you got."
"Well…" The smaller jounin shook a lock of midnight-blue hair away from his face and his dark-purple eyes peered down and all around the captain's face and body. "Right now, I can tell that you've recently been near the hokage and her right-hand prodigy. And on your way over to see us, you'd met one of the Yamanaka clan members as well as come into direct contact with two to three people who are of jounin status…"
"Hmm…" Keska's mouth rose with amusement. "That's freaky-brilliant, lilac-boy."
"In the last two weeks, you've seen 4 dead bodies…" Daisuke continued with a blink, and Keska thought he saw a shift of the boy's purple irises. "And… I can tell there's something alive currently hidden in the grass about a feet from where you're standing, captain."
The commander jerked and abruptly looked down. "Oh great sun god's ass-hat is that an actual Torai bullfrog? Holy shit…"
The two jounin's flinched with shock as the captain quickly lowered to the ground with a childish grin.
"Holy fuckin' shit!!" His finger reached out to poke and Atom finally saw the large amphibian leap forward to scramble up a rock.
"…I haven't seen this kind with the orange stripe since I was in first grade." Keska gave a chuckle and just as suddenly he stopped and the 21 year old's shoulders lowered with a nostalgic sigh.
But the captain pushed himself up from the grass with newfound interest.
"That's hella-credible, Daisuke. Explain how you do it?"
"I can see chakra signatures or general life force, even when they are behind objects or placed under genjutsu…" the jounin started, before looking at Atom and then continuing, "…and I can see the residue as it gets passed along to other people. The dead have their own signature and I can recognize that too."
The captain listened to everything, and then gave a nod as he scrubbed at a stubbled cheek.
"What else is there?"
"Here?... Ah, eto… There's another frog, I think-"
"No." The captain broke in with a crumbling frown, "I mean your skills, ass-hat."
"Right." the jounin suddenly bit out, and he internally cringed. "My clan specializes in breaking curses and seals."
"Dispelling? Well that's perfect, pretty-boy." The captain stepped forward and gave Daisuke a hard slap to his back. "You're hired. Because our trippy bull-fucks just love messing around with things of that sick nature. Now… "
Atom looked down as the captain stood in front of him. "You, oxy-moron. I presume your talent is mindlessly throwing shuriken at innocent passers-by?"
"Sir, I did apologize for that incident." The bear-like jounin frowned.
"Yes. And I've forgiven you." The captain casually shrugged. "But you see, oxy-moron, I am a natural jerko-bastard and have an affinity for making fun of people." Keska gave a grin and stretched one hand over his head. "So tell me, Atom, are you handy?"
A ball of spikes came out of nowhere, dropping with a heavy thunk in front of the captain's face, and Keska raised one eyebrow. Looking up at the glint of steel and following the winding stretch as it led into the large jounin's dark shirt-sleeve.
"Interesting." The brown-haired ANBU captain murmured.
"And you can manipulate what other part of your body to do that? Are you strong enough?"
"All of it." Atom stated in answer to the man's first question, and the second one…
The jounin reached out behind Keska's shock of spiky brown hair, at the tree standing there.
And the captain didn't bother moving when the jounin yanked it effortlessly out of the ground by its smaller branch, with one clutch of a hand. Keska watched bits of bark, pebbles and one small bird's nest drop to the spaces of ground around him.
"Ah." He grinned after a brief pause. "Well, ain't that shitloads worth of energy pills."
The captain shook his head and pinched fingers to the bridge of his nose.
"Alright, oxy, you've proved your point. Now, please… replant the tree and let's start talking about this "trail" the both of you say you've found."
At the mention of the trail, both jounins' faces grew shadowed, each aware of their share in the responsibility, of the future and the outcome. And after a few more words from Keska, the three men leaned in to formulate the conclusive discussion plan.
Author's Notes:
Gyaahhhhh!!! First of all, so so sorry that it took longer than I usually do to update this chapter. I went to China, and when I got home I was just too lazy and focused on some art instead. AHHH!!! –prepares to shield herself from tomatoes- Please, you know the drill! Basket and Sasuke at the corner! (haha)
Anyways, I know many of you were waiting for this supposedly great lemon, and I do hope I've satisfied at least some of the readers. (-.-)" –sweatdrops-
Believe it or not I've worked hard on this. And if I've disappointed anyone… please treat me nicely still. And tell me in a nice way what I've done wrong. Thanx all for reading. And as usual, I'm a sucker for comments and if you love love love meeee… -winks and then sweatdrops- Wahh-… oh just comment already. :D
