Due to high demand, here is the lingerie scene. This special and thus smaller chapter is rated M and consists mostly of foreplay and romance, no porn, no plot. If you're not interested in smutty scenes, even light and playful, you can skip the first part and start reading at the first oOo separation. You'll still want to read the last part... I think. :3

Shikaku had warned his staff and Minato: for two days, just two days, he would leave his office at no later than seven o'clock. Anything other than an invasion could wait until the next morning.

The day before his birthday, he came home to a pleasant smell coming from the kitchen. He had told Kimiko he didn't need any special meal, but that was tuna, his favorite fish.

"I'm home," he called as he removed his shoes.

"You're on time!" Kimiko replied from inside.

"I'd have dumped chores on anyone slowing me down."

"Isn't that abuse of authority?"

"It's authority, full stop. There are few advantages to being a Jounin Commander. I'm gonna enjoy this one when I need it," he grumbled as he stepped into the hallway.

"Close your eyes!" Kimiko demanded before he could step into the dining room.

He chuckled. "Are you going to draw this out as much as possible?"

"Yes, I am. It's part of the fun, isn't it? The anticipation?"

"Alright," he agreed, complying. "But I'm not stumbling in the dark like a genin."

"No, we can't let that happen to the mighty Jounin Commander. He might give me chores…" she teased. She sounded closer.

Her fingers brushed his cheeks as she tied a blindfold around his eyes. He touched it to check he could remove it if needed, but he couldn't see through it. It was thick dark fabric. Willing to play along — she was right, this was fun and enticing — he reached for her. He touched silk, smooth and light under his callus. He felt the deep of her waist under his hands, and he slid to the curve of her hips, to the top of her thighs, and then skin, just as smooth but warmer, and then silk again.

"Stockings?" he breathed.

She hummed in confirmation, pressed herself against his chest, and kissed his lips softly. "Do you want to go take a bath, first?"

"No. I'm hoping to get sweaty enough to need one later, anyway," he murmured, chasing her lips.

She shivered under his hands which made him smirk as he kissed her. She liked it when he lowered his voice.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as they indulged in a long, lazy kiss. When she pulled back, she took his hair tie with her, letting his hair fall on his shoulders. She liked his hair too.

He let her guide him and was surprised to find himself at the kotatsu where he could smell food. She sat with him, pressed by his side. He put an arm around her waist.

"I prepared sushi and maki so I can feed you. Is that alright?"

"So, I just have to lay back and eat?"

"I thought you might like that."

He had no complaints.

Nibbling and licking at her fingertips as she fed him, he got a few chuckles out of her. He smirked when she booped his nose after sucking on her forefinger.

"You're making a mess," she commented, laughing. A kiss on her lips halted complaints.

As they ate, he let his hands wander, discovering Kimiko's ensemble a hint at a time. The stockings were thick and smooth enough that he expected opaque satiny cotton, most likely white or black, with just a hint of lace at the top, mid-thigh. They were held by a garter, a matching satin ribbon, tied to…

He licked his lips as the soft texture of tuna pressed against his tongue. At the same time, his thumb slid on the bottom edge of his wife's kimono, asking for permission.

She trembled under his touch before shifting in an inviting position.

His hand slipped under the fabric to reach her underwear.

Satin again. Smooth, with just a hint of lace on the edges. There was just…

His nails grazed her skin as he played with the bows on the sides. Oh, he remembered that underwear with ties that could be undone. It was available in two colors, black and red or white and pink. He wondered which one she had chosen.

He groaned and leaned down to nuzzle her temple, kiss along her jaw, and lick at her neck. "I want to see and taste you," he rumbled, holding her with an arm atop her kimono and the other under, pulling her closer until she was nearly in his lap.

Breathing heavily, she leaned into him, trusting him to take her weight as she was unbalanced on her knees. With an arm on his shoulders, she let him pull until she straddled his thighs. She tilted her head to give him better access.

"There's still—" she murmured.

"I'm not hungry anymore." Not for food, anyway.

"Oh," she breathed out with a hint of false disappointment which meant she was pouting. "Alright. I'll just get the mochi that fell into my cleavage on my own—"

He squeezed her waist in surprise and groaned low. She was testing his self-control in a way he hadn't expected. He was discovering how playful she could be.

Sliding down her neck to her collarbone where the tip of his nose brushed the strap of her bras, he pressed his cheek to the silk of the kimono before dipping between her breasts. He kissed the soft skin in reach. He loved his wife's curves. While they couldn't be compared to his childhood crush's, Tsunade-hime, he had absolutely no complaints in this regard, and she knew his weaknesses as much as he knew hers.

She shivered as his goatee rubbed against her sensitive skin, while he could feel the satin and the lace of her bra against his nose. Pressing his hand to her back revealed that the underwear matched: the bra was tied with a bow at the back as well, easily undone if he wished. But his wife had planned this little game for him, and he would hate to spoil it. Smelling the delicate aroma of mochi, he licked at the soft skin until he tasted sugar. Only after a few more teasing licks did he use his lips to remove the confection from her generous cleavage, savoring the sweet taste while nuzzling her bra.

She was playing with his hair, scratching his scalp in all the ways he loved and that she had dutifully memorized. He hummed in pleasure as she rubbed a little deeper, releasing tensions at the bottom of his skull then down his neck. He straightened to kiss her face, reaching her jaw before finding her lips.

"I want to take you to bed, wife," he rumbled between butterfly kisses. "May I?"

She hummed in agreement and pressed her palms to his cheeks to steady him for a deeper kiss. "Go ahead," she said after pulling back. "Make yourself comfortable, remove the blindfold, and I'll be with you in a moment. I just need to tidy."

Disappointed to let her go, he complied nonetheless. It might avoid a few mishaps. Climbing stairs with a blindfold and a gorgeous, distracting woman in his arms might be his downfall when war had failed.

Their bedroom had been tidied and cleaned. The shutters were already closed. Nothing was different than usual. All the romantic crap seen in movies wasn't his thing, and Kimiko knew it. The last time they had watched a romantic movie together (for lack of anything better), she had admitted she didn't see the merit either, most often. She had made him laugh when she had complained about how difficult it would be to clean up rose petals from a messy bed.

Shikaku undressed and left the blindfold with his clothes. He laid down on the sheets in his underwear, lounging with an arm behind his head, closing his eyes for some rest while waiting. Keeping his ears open, he listened to his wife coming up, filled with anticipation.

He heard her stop at the door. Opening his eyes slowly, he took in the sight.

She was framed in the doorway, lit from behind, and radiant in white.

White and pink. Of course. It was more her style, he realized. Cuter than the dark shades.

"Well, hello there," Shikaku drawled while raising on an elbow.

Kimiko chuckled at his charming tone. She turned off the light behind her and stepped into their dimly lit bedroom. The bedside lamp was just enough to bathe her in warm light and show off the white silk.

She walked up to the bed, put a knee on the cover, and hesitated. Shikaku laid a hand on her thigh in a tender caress before drawing her to him. Following his invitation, she crawled forward and straddled his hips.

"That's a sight I could get used to," he commented with a smile. He admired the short kimono sliding open to reveal a generous cleavage and the curvy legs spread on the sheet next to him.

"But if you got used to it, what would be the novelty in that?" she commented with a little smile, tilting her head in a way that let her long hair brush over her shoulders.

"Good point," he admitted, stroking her thighs with his thumbs. "Do you like it? Wearing this?"

She bit her bottom lip thoughtfully. "I like the kimono and the stockings. The contact on the skin is nice, and I feel beautiful in them."

"You are."

She smiled contentedly at the compliment and ducked her head. "I don't really like the underwear. It pinches and rubs whenever I move."

"Well, we can arrange that, easily," he pointed out, his hands climbing up to reach her hips and the tantalizing bows just waiting to be undone. He waited for her to meet his eyes and hold them in silent approval before tugging at the ties.

He had a present to unwrap.

oOo

As a shinobi of his caliber, Shikaku had a very good poker face. He went through the next day without anything amiss until Minato walked into his office. A look at him and the bastard beamed before slapping Shikaku's shoulder.

"I'm glad you had a great night!"

"Shut up," Shikaku grumbled. "How the hell did you even know?"

"You smiled when I greeted you. That's great day behavior. Normal day is neutrality, and bad day is a grunt," Minato commented cheerfully.

Was he so predictable? … Mh. He might be, for Minato. He would worry about it when his staff was able to predict his mood as accurately.

"Anyway, I was just passing by to say Happy Birthday," Minato explained. He put down a can of Shikaku's favorite drink on the edge of his desk.

Contrary to civilians, shinobi didn't make a big fuss about each other's birthdays. The team, the clan, and the village came before the individual in their culture, and thus such personal celebrations weren't viewed as important. A small gift or party among family and/or close friends was all it needed to be.

Shikaku had celebrated birthdays with his teammates since they were genin. The rules of their gathering were simple: the other two paid for the birthday boy's meal, they toasted for the occasion, and that was it. No songs, no balloons, no surprises, Shikaku had demanded from the get-go, staring at Inoichi pointedly.

So it didn't change much from their usual meetings, and that was just fine.

"Okay. Spit it out," Inoichi demanded twenty minutes after the beginning of their dinner.

Shikaku didn't look up from his yakitori. "I'm not giving you any more details about my sex life, Inoichi." They already had heard enough.

"No, not that. The part which has your brain all puzzled."

"What are you talking about?" Shikaku grumbled, meeting his friend's curious eyes.

"There's something on your mind. It's not the mind-blowing sex you had last night, for some reason."

"How do you figure that?"

"You're too lazy to fantasize while eating, and yet you're barely noticing what you're going to put in your mouth. That's cheese and beef yakitori. You don't like cheese and beef."

After a glance at his skewer, Shikaku handed it over to Chouza without a word. Always willing to finish his friends' food, Chouza accepted it happily, but with a look that meant he was agreeing with Inoichi and waiting for Shikaku to talk.

"Alright." There was no point beating around the bush. "I might be in love with Kimiko."

Inoichi's eyebrows climbed up while Chouza's smile grew large.

"That's great!" the second exclaimed.

"Is it the sex talking?" the first questioned.

Shikaku threw one of his skewers at Inoichi with a roll of his eyes.

"No, it's not the sex talking. I've been thinking about it for some time… since she asked about the lingerie actually," he admitted, leaning forward with his elbows on the table. "The fact she didn't make a fuss about the magazine, and that she was willing to do this for me…"

Inoichi nodded in understanding. "Yeah, she's in love with you."

"What?"

Inoichi met Shikaku's surprised eyes before turning to Chouza for support with an exasperated look. The Akimichi nodded solemnly as he chewed on the meat.

"She is, for sure," Chouza agreed.

Inoichi looked back at Shikaku with a pointed eyebrow before explaining: "She's stepping out of her comfort zone for you, Shikaku. If it's not love, she has no reason to do so."

"Akane thinks it was really brave and sweet of her," Chouza added. "She hopes you're going to do something nice in return for her birthday."

Shikaku looked from one to the other before leaning back in his seat. "So, I wasn't imagining things."

"That's a good thing, right? You don't seem happy," Chouza said.

Shikaku grunted and bit in a piece of chicken. After chewing and swallowing, he grumbled: "If I'm the last to fall in love then it means she's waiting on me to catch up, which means I'm the one who has to speak up now."

"You're not happy… because you have to tell her you love her?" Chouza translated.

"Yes."

Inoichi snickered before laughing frankly at his friend's annoyance.

"Troublesome," Shikaku muttered.

When he came home at one in the morning, Shikaku was as discrete as ever. Kimiko was sleeping on her side, her back to him. Yet, without fail, his wife stirred when he slid between the sheets.

"Shi?" she mumbled while glancing over her shoulder with half-closed eyes.

"Yeah, it's me. Go back to sleep."

She hummed and burrowed deeper in her pillow. "Good night."

"You too. Love you."

"Love you too," she mumbled.

For a moment, he thought she would manage to fall asleep without catching up, but she didn't disappoint. She startled suddenly and rolled to look at him. In the darkness, he only caught the widening of her eyes.

"Are you drunk?!"

"No," he denied calmly. "I mean it."

"Oh…" She shifted, hesitant, before reaching out to brush his bare arm. "Me too."

"I know." Leaning on an elbow, he bent down to kiss her.

The weather was hot in the middle of summer, and neither of them wore much to bed. When she pressed against him, her bare skin brushed his from thighs to toes, and Shikaku groaned. Giving up, he rolled over her, leaning on his forearms on each side of her so he could kiss all over her face.

She squeaked in surprise. "You're drunk!"

"Am not."

"I can taste and smell the saké on you, Shikaku."

"Not drunk enough to change my mind about the fact I love you," he amended. Just drunk enough to blurt it out and make it easier.

She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck. "I believe you. You'll still have to say it again in the morning, though."

"Is that so?"

"And in the evening, and the day after that, and also the day after that, and then…"

He nipped playfully at her ear, hiked up one of her thighs over his hips, and leaned more on her, causing her to stutter.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Y-yes."

"You need to hear it more, is that what you're saying?"

"Yes."

"I think that can be arranged, Princess."