So, I'm alive, obviously, and after an unnecessarily long time, I finally wrote this chapter. I'm going to round up the story and conclude it soon. This story was my first multi-chapter fic and it showed how poorly I managed my organizational skills. I attribute my insecurities to the deep desire of wanting to write the perfect story that played exactly like in my head, which, proved difficult when the plot kept changing and different characters appeared and such. Sadly, my own love of the Naruto fandom was in the decline the past 2 years and Inked Emotions, the apple of my eye, felt more like a burden than a fun activity. I tried to push through, for the handful of people that read, this story.
Inked will always have a special place in my heart, I won't forget the lessons I've learned as a storyteller. I hope that I manage to bring justice to it by tying all the loose ends. To every single person who read, left kudos, and commented Inked, thank you.
The workroom is chilled and with her mid-section bare to Sai's gaze, Ino feels minuscule shivers enveloping her frame. The dark eyes trained on her laying form are carrying a quiet intensity that makes Ino want to squirm. He isn't completely lost in his mind, but Ino would bet that he's putting together something that would challenge her to move.
Ino has no intention to lose the game, not with Sai's taste lingering on her tongue.
Sai hooks his finger into his wide collar and with a simple move tugs the shirt off his jeans, over his shoulders to the floor. His smile is lazy and nonchalant. Ino faintly registers in the back of her mind because she's rather busy at the moment, getting an eye full of Sai's athletic body and tasteful tatts.
His black spills of inked tattoos cover his entire chest from shoulder to shoulder, down his shapely chest and his chiseled abs disappear under his jeans which end at the delicious curve of his hip bones. Ino spies more ink curving towards his back and the separate artworks fit together rather nicely.
Not that Ino is noticing. She is looking for artful purposes, really. The artist in her is slightly curious.
It's such a weak excuse that Ino can't be bothered to change it. No can do. She is distracted. Rightfully so.
His body is lovely, Ino can wholeheartedly agree, all pale skin and slick muscles carved with silvery scars and overlapping tattoos. She wants to reach out and touch, the taste of his skin still dominant over her tongue, but Ino swallows down the urge. She is smart enough to know that Sai is purposefully taunting her. There is no reason for him to be shirtless other than teasing her self-control.
When Sai steps closer, pulling on a pair of nitrile gloves, Ino is treated to a closer look at Sai's gorgeous skin. She realizes, with a breath-catching deep in her throat that the tattoos are there to cover more scars.
Up until now, she had no idea how much of Sai's tattoos covered his body. Well, she had her own fantasies from time to time, and Ino indulged in some creative brainstorming. All very scientific in nature, obviously.
The mostly black-dominated ink, stains his arms, flows up and over his shoulders and down his back, probably fanning out across his shoulder blades before gradually narrowing down to disappear underneath his belt. Sees the tattoos also cover his chest, angling toward his breastbone before winding together in the middle of his abdomen.
There is a jagged, broken-edged ninja star that camouflages a bullet wound on his shoulder blade. Thin slashes of various lengths – knife wounds? – that curve all over his arm is disguised as the claw marks of a feral animal. A patch of skin under his left nipple is completely hairless from a large burn that resembles an eclipsed sun. The other nipple is completely gone and in its place stands a basic outline of an inky rat.
A grinning skull of a dog, a flaming butterfly, a campfire with shadowy puppets around, a beetle with a rusted crown, a scarecrow with an eye patch, a delicate paper fan with a crow, an hourglass with spilled sand. There are more wounds smattered around his ribcage artfully hidden or enhanced by more ink.
The artistry of all mismatched tattoos is brought together under the loving embrace of a brittle tree; the rat peeking out of the trunk, the ninja star cradled among the dry leaves, the dog slinking among the curved roots, the sun resting above the naked branches. The vine-like tree brings all the little scars hiding symbols, together, gives them a home.
"This one?" she asks with the curiosity of a toddler, her long fingers trail over a nasty-looking scar. It's a knotted mess of flesh that covered the tattoo artist's shoulder blade, hidden behind the broken hourglass.
"Garden fence. Slipped like an idiot."
Of course, he had been running away from armed guards in the middle of the suburbs with rain pelting down on him. The roads were slippery and climbing roofs even more troublesome. All in all a miserable night.
"I was going to guess a bullet wound. Makes it less cool, you know."
Sai can only let out a burst of bark-like laughter, something he didn't know capable of producing. He catches her other hand, bringing it close to his bicep where geometric skull's grinning mouth is shaped after an actual bullet scar. A souvenir from the police force.
Ino hums, contently, leaves a sweet kiss over the raised tissue. The gentle touch makes Sai's skin tingle. He doesn't deserve to be touched like this.
"And this?"
It's the beetle with the crown. He has to think, really hard, to remember how he got that scar. It's a difficult task, made harder by Ino's clever fingers touching his skin directly. He feels adrift like he is witnessing from the passenger seat of his own body. "Caught a dagger with my hip."
Her hand caressing the scar stops. "Your hip!?" her voice is strangled oddly.
He had been hanging from the edge of a balcony, fresh blood sticking his shirt to his back when the yakuza's thrown dagger had lodged into his unprotected middle. Rookie mistake.
The accusative tone turns her fine features into an adorable frown that makes Sai want to kiss it away. He doesn't even fight off the shit-eating grin stretching his mouth. "My hands were busy." And to show that he pinches her cute nose.
Ino's baby blue eyes squint. Her touch turns focused, bringing out a sound that might have been sympathetic, or might simply have been acknowledgment. Sai would call it bored and could have believed it were it not for the raw animal hunger that practically rolled out of him in waves.
"This one?" another finger over the slashes on his arm. Those look like the work of a feral animal but Sai remembers the guy with spiked glows and the grace of a cat. He had been one of the feral ones in Root. Sai had to put him down two months later.
"Training accident. My partner got me from the side."
He lets her explore more. Strangely intimate to share his past, careful to avoid details but enough to sate her curiosity.
"This one?"
Her eyes finally reach back to Sai's face and Ino sees the shadow of a sad smile, there and gone in a blink. Of course, Sai's past activities can be easily read on his skin and Ino has been staring without a word, far longer than considered appropriate. Anyone would be uncomfortable under such scrutiny. God knows, what expression her face has shown and Ino hopes it wasn't anything resembling pity.
Instead, she shifts on her seat, gracefully showing the curve of her chest before settling down. She's angling for a distraction, turning this fragile silence into another sexually charged moment for which Sai was probably counting on when he took off his shirt. Ino is about to get her first tattoo and she is in no way an expert; however, she's absolutely certain there is no half-nakedness involved.
"Do this often?" She asks, aiming for filthy and suggestive. The remark earns her a dark smile. There is a tone of elegance when Sai dons his gloves, paints, and tattoo gun lining his work table. From somewhere she can't see he brings out a stencil with bluish-purple lines. She tries to peak but, a slight of a hand, and it disappears.
Sai only hums, not responding to her question yet. Surprising Ino, he reaches for her jeans and unbuttons and unzips with practiced ease that has the blonde speechless.
"You jumped," Sai says, not meeting Ino's blue eyes. That sliver of insecurity slides into her heart like sweet honey. "I know my hands are unusually cold."
"Yes, they are," Ino replies. "I like that." Warm awareness spreads from his gloved fingers, ready to slide under her panties and travels down, deep down in her core. She is getting distracted and isn't that funny? How her own plan is turned to ensnare her?
Sai's smile is adorable, hiding his mischief. "I'm more creative without my shirt."
"Ass." Ino curses, as another finger is added to the mix, lightly pushing over her soaked entrance teasingly. Ino bites down the shameful moans threatening to spill. She knows how much Sai enjoys hearing her and she enjoys, even more, denying him.
"I was told before that I had a great behind." He is laughing at her, Ino knows. "Thank you for noticing."
The black tattoos ripple over his pale skin, the ink coming alive with every move. Her hungry gaze is all over Sai, the curve of his shoulders that begs her to sink her teeth on, the thick arms she fantasies lifting her up, the erotic hip bones disappearing under his low-hanging black jeans. The absolute beauty of a cock he hides under his pants.
The air is charged; weeks of building up adding to this moment with both of them half-naked, and obviously yearning that hasn't diminished but accumulated, with every kiss, every touch, every glance. The blowjob earlier feels a lifetime away. Ino's gut clenches and she fights the desire to press her knees together and lock his arm in place so she can rub herself to a much-needed orgasm.
God, he is gorgeous. Ino has only seen half of him at a time and she's already itching. Her clothes feel restricting over her suddenly sensitive flesh. In her mind, Sai reaches up to her, his long artistic fingers brush her shoulders down to the swell of her breast, he skims over her trembling stomach and leaves fire in its trails to slip inside, under her underwear, where he finally touches her directly instead of the little teasing touches.
She whispers his name, and Sai is so close that they are sharing the same oxygen.
"Lovely." Sai gives a little breathless laugh, his pale fingers caressing a particular spot that makes Ino giggle and twists away. Her hip bones are sensitive and have to be touched firmly. "I'd almost call you sweet if I didn't know better."
Ino nips at the exposed collarbone – just because they are right in front of her, that's an offer if she knows one – with a bit more strength than necessary.
"Hey! I'm super sweet. Like honey, or sugar. Just good enough to make you lick your lips." She mocks halfheartedly which morphs into a moan when Sai grinds his palm right over her clitoris.
"Menace," Sai says, all serious if not for the smile playing on his pale lips. "Now, behave Ino. And no peeking."
Behaving is the last thing on her mind. Ino bites off the moan building in her chest as Sai changes his gloves for a clean pair. The old one is glistening with Ino's desire and the blonde is close to begging shamelessly for being edged without reward.
"This is unfair." Ino pouts, aiming for a mix of adorable and childish. "You shouldn't tease a girl like that if you have no intention to deliver."
Sai, of course, just lets that taunt fly away. With his new gloves on, he pulls out a strip of cloth and ties it gingerly around Ino's eyes.
"When I said no peeking I meant it, Ino."
"Don't trust me not to look? Well, this does play into some interesting fantasies of mine. I knew you had a kinky side inkman."
"When one of your senses is rendered useless, the others work harder to make up the loss." Sai snorts softly adjusting the design over Ino's hip. "Now, I would never mar your skin with something ugly and I'm asking you to trust me, as an artist, and as a man. You will like this tattoo. I designed it myself while thinking of you."
Ino doesn't need a mirror to know the slight flush tainting her cheeks. It is sweet. So very sweet of him that Ino doesn't mind the element of surprise. She is a dramatic girl and appreciates a good reveal.
"That tattoo better come with some orgasms. You owe me interests."
The buzz of the tattoo gun is loud. Not loud enough to cover Sai's deep chuckle. "Oh, don't worry your pretty little head. I know how to handle your whims."
There is a retort in the tip of her tongue but that's when Sai starts tattooing. It's not as painful as Ino feared, still, it has Ino clenching her jaw in discomfort. She has a general idea of how big it will be the stencil was half a page and Ino can just suck it up.
"How are you holding up?" Ino opens her eyes but her vision is still dark with the blindfold. She takes a deep breath and nods jerkily. "Let me know if you feel nauseous or close to fainting. We can take breaks."
"It's not that bad."
Then Sai shifts his arm.
An innocent movement, nothing worth mentioning except. Except it's the hand holding the vibrating tattoo gun and Sai presses down his forearm, sliding the arm between her jeans-covered legs, and good God that feels fantastic.
Ino whimpers. Happens out of her control and frankly, Ino doesn't care. As long as Sai keeps pressing his arm down and all that delicious vibrations travel down to her middle.
"Enjoying yourself, Ino?"
He has the audacity to ask, the jerk while Ino is humming in pleasure and her eyes close, not that it would change anything with the blindfold on her but at least it gives her a sliver of control.
She's been horny since she stepped inside the shop. Now, her eyes are bound, Sai's taste on her tongue, and he is shirtless, an image seared into Ino's eyelids and the fucking stimulation between her legs.
Ino is weak. She is wound tight like the strings of a violin and under all the pure basic need, she doesn't even feel the tattoo gun biting over the skin of her hip.
The orgasm comes out of nowhere, powerful and sweeping over her like a wave. Sai has to lean forward and trap her legs with his naked chest while his gun-free hand slides under her shaking chest. The looming feel of Sai just adds to her pleasure and Ino moans.
"Damn it Ino."
Sai is swearing and, strangely, Ino can hear it – Oh, the tattoo gun stopped, that's why it's quiet all of a hmm –
Ino's thoughts disperse like smoke because Sai is kissing her, no, more like devouring her, and Ino's hands dive into his soft, soft, soft hair just to bring him closer. It's not a sweet romantic kiss. Oh, no. It's desperate and lustful and quiet, like a dirty secret to hide in a dark alley.
He licks her bottom lip before taking a bite of the plump mouth and Ino answers by driving her nails into Sai's back. Sai grunts, settling better between the V shape of Ino's legs. Heat floods Ino's chest like every time Sai manhandles her into a better position and she can only make needy little noises that Sai greedily swallows. Sweet Jesus, it's good to be ravished, Ino's skin is sensitive and her hip is burning subtly.
"Temptress." Sai hisses into her jaw. "I will never finish if you can't be quiet." Even though he sounds angry, Sai doesn't stop mouthing Ino's neck.
"Right back atcha."
She is dizzy. The kiss. The orgasm. The corded muscles under her hands. Oh, how she wants him inside her. The mental image sends a shiver down her spine.
"Sai." Ino clears her throat. "Finish this damn tattoo so we can finally fuck. I'm done waiting. I'm done teasing. We are going to fuck and that's final."
"Someone is eager."
"I'm not the only one." She can feel that wonderful cock on her thigh. "Fucking tease."
"You started it, Ino." His gloved hand slides over her skin to cup her chest. "But I agree. No more teasing." He drops one last kiss on her lips, then her nose, her cheek, and finally tugs at her ear. "I will make it good."
It's an exercise in control. Ino keeps playing every touch and kiss in repeat as Sai works silently. He might be quiet but Ino knows that he is also anticipating the grand finale.
Seems like hours but finally, Sai puts the tattoo gun down. He gently wipes her hip down and takes her blindfold off.
The room is bright and Ino has to blink a few times to get rid of the dark spots. The first thing she sees is Sai, still shirtless and hair mussed and lips sinfully red. In his hands, there is a mirror, aimed at her bare middle and Ino sees her first tattoo.
It's gorgeous. Of course, it is. Right over her hip bone, curving gently over her reddened skin there is a bouquet. The purple hue of the nightshade is Ino's favorite color and the lines are delicately done for a deadly flower. Under the nightshade rests a little cluster of forget-me-nots and Ino is sure that baby blue is the exact shade of her eyes.
"Belladonna." Beautiful woman in Italian but they are actually poisonous. "You sap."
"If the shoe fits. The deceptive beauty hides the danger. I have to admit, the forget-me-nots are more indulgent."
In flower language, forget-me-not flowers can mean many things. True love – that you love and respect the person, or fidelity and being loyal to the person. Another meaning is that they are about remembrance. An ode to the good memories shared between two individuals. That you will always remember them and keep them in your thoughts.
A cleverly disguised love declaration.
Ino's mouth is dry. Her hands are shaking faintly as she cups Sai's cheek. Sai's own hand settles over her, pressing her hand closer to his face.
"I won't." She whispers, tugging him closer to her face for a sweet, sweet kiss. "I can never forget."
Even though they planned for an epic sex marathon, the chair is hardly the place and with a cute blush, Sai admits that he doesn't have condoms with him. So they get dressed, Sai drilling Ino over how to take care of her tattoo. Ino nods along, making mental notes and tucking into her purse the antibacterial soap to wash her tattoo with.
Her hip is tender and a little swollen and Ino tugs down her top carefully. Sai is waiting with her coat and helps Ino wear it like a dutiful butler.
Once back in the entrance, Ino cocks her hip to the counter catching her face on the mirror in the corner. Oh, she has a happy smile and a healthy blush. She finds, suddenly the clarity surprising her, she is happy. Spending time with Sai makes her happy.
After, Ino only hears the shrill shattering of glass.
Sai's iron grip has her around her shoulders and her knees hit the ground hard when pushed down abruptly. The loud bangs keep exploding and Ino can't make heads or tails because everything happens so fast. More glass explodes, everything echoes and Sai is cursing into his phone.
"Keep your head down. Stay there Ino!"
That's Sai's voice cold but familiar. Ino opens her eyes, she had them closed with panic, sees Sai crouched over her form and a gleaming black gun at his hand. His muscles are tense, ready to jump into action and the bangs are gunshots, shit someone was gunning the shop.
Sai keeps her covered, huddled close behind the marble counter in front of the entrance. The shots keep rinning and Ino fears that they will never end. She is going to die and –
Breathe. Focus. Fear is the mind's killer. Breathe. Panic won't help.
Ino licks her lips. Her pale hand has a death grip on Sai's black shirt. Slowly, carefully, she lets the fabric go. Sai has a gun. Sai knows what to do. She can't hold him back with her fear.
Sai will get them out of this alive.
The gunshots stop. In the silence, a car rumbles, and tires shriek on asphalt as the car presumably rides away.
"Ino?"
She absently nods her head. "I'm fine."
"Are you hurt? Ino, look at me, darling, are you hurt?"
He talks softly, gently. Like Ino is a glass tower about to crack. She is not. "I'm fine, just caught me by surprise. I'm fine Sai, you were quick. I wasn't hit. I'm fine."
At this point, who is comforting who isn't very clear. What Ino can process is that they are alive and Sai stands with her. His black eyes have genuine worry and a muscle in his jaw is jumping with how tense he is. Ino caresses his jaw, right over the muscle, and drops a kiss over the place cheek. The skin contact helps her stabilize herself, and by the way, Sai let out a breath and sags slightly, it goes both ways.
Her eyes flicker up. The mirror she was looking at is cracked. A bullet right in the middle of the spiderweb of cracks mocks her. It's a warning, one that she can read just fine. "My head was right there."
Sai looks at the mirror. "Shin's coming." He says gaze zeroed on the mirror.
"I don't know who was it but I swear Ino. They won't get away with it." The dark promise in his voice should be terrifying. However, it has the effect of calming her. She's alive and Sai's alive.
Shin is there in one blink, the joyful grin was gone and his eyes are hard as stones. He nods at his brother, then at Ino, and finally at the carnage around. Whipping out his phone, he aggressively starts texting while he keeps one hand on his hip over his gun.
"Take the princess home, Sai. I'll handle this. I have some favors to call in from here and there."
Sai nods at his brother, grateful to take Ino away from the danger zone but also conflicted. He wanted to hunt down the bastards himself. For daring to attack his territory. For daring to scare his girl. He doesn't know if the first shot, the mirror where Ino stood, was deliberate if their target was him or her.
It eats at him. How close he came to losing Ino.
One lucky shot is all it takes.
He can't think like that. Emotions cloud judgment. Revenge and anger won't help him in the hunt. He needs to get his shit together.
A warm hand slides into his and Sai grabs her hand like a lifeline. Ino's well-being is his priority.
"I'll take you home."
He doesn't remember the ride or walking her to her door. As the door is clicked shut, Sai acts.
In a flash Sai has Ino pinned at her wall, slamming their lips together with a desperation that's edged with fear. Her thigh winds around his hip, her hands in his hair. Sai's hands are under her top, touching her naked back. His fingers are cold and Ino moans at the chill that runs through her. It doesn't take long for the cold to give away to heat.
He can't stop kissing her. He almost lost her and he can't function like this. His mind runs around with what-ifs and Ino's taste is heaven itself. An anchor he never needed before but won't let go now that he has one.
Ino's hands push his jacket off his shoulders and hers join his a moment later. His shirt is next, followed by Ino's top and jeans. He kicks off his shoes and his hands are greedily canvassing her hips.
The corridor is dark, they are frotting like teenagers with a curfew. Even rough and desperate, Sai is careful with the new tattoo. He pins her hips and angles them away so he doesn't accidentally brush over the bandaged and irritated skin.
Of course, Ino doesn't have the same restrictions. She dives, her hands following the curve of his spine, going down to brush his jeans. It's the wrong move.
Sai snatches her wrist with a lightning-fast move, slams it near her head. The hold is gentle and Sai has twisted his hold at the last minute and the back of his hand took the brunt of the move. "Careful, I'm armed." Sai murmurs above her lips. They aren't kissing but he's so close that his moving lips touch her mouth.
Never to be deterred, Ino dives back into the kiss.
He had to hold back a groan at the forceful touch of Ino's lips. He wanted, needed, something rough to get his built-up emotions out of his system, and the gentle caresses he normally used to make his lovers melt wouldn't have worked. They need to reassure each other. This sex goes beyond shallow lust.
It is irrational but he can't help it. He needs to touch her, hold her.
Ino raises her hands up to tug at Sai's inky black hair, pushing her legs apart to give more space between her trembling thighs. Sai feels like a thief in, stealing her breath and taste, leaving no skin untouched.
Ino's free hand slips under his jeans, careful to avoid the gun secured near his spine, and Sai arches closer against her as long-nailed fingers dig into his skin. He wants to do the same, but there is no getting more skin-to-skin contact for as long as they kept kissing each other with a consuming need.
He finally pulls away, feeling like they are connected for centuries instead of minutes. Ino's red lips pout like she is angry at Sai for breaking the kiss and moving away.
Mouth twitching to a smirk, Sai falls to his knees right in front of her.
Ino's baby blue eyes widen in surprise.
the only light source in the room is from the streets and still, Ino feels her melt at the sight of Sai, shirtless and on his knees.
"Paying back the interest."
Just the way the sentence rolls from his tongue is like electricity. Ino's blood is boiling at the wonderful, powerful man between her legs as he looks up at her like she is salvation.
Sai's mouth closes over her sex and Ino's brain shortcuts. Ino knew that Sai could kiss, and he proves himself even better, sucking, licking, curling his tongue right before he flattens it over her peak.
Involuntarily, her hips buck up but Sai is like an unmovable mountain and takes in the rolling bottom with grace. Stays anchored so Ino can use that skillful tongue to climb further up to what's promising to be a fantastic orgasm. Her skin is burning, her mind and thoughts are blurred with intense need.
One pale hand sneaks under her thigh, right at the curve of her bottom, and pulls. Ino sways, her eyes wide open, she reaches out and tries to find anything to hold on to.
Sai's hair is soft between her fingers as she grips them tight enough to hurt, way more than one would consider comfortable, but Sai doesn't show his discomfort. On the contrary, he speeds his movements working Ino higher and higher.
When Sai's name tumbles past her swollen lips with a moaning plea, the tattooist growls, his fingers sinking into Ino's flesh with urgency. The sound vibrates over her core, like a ghostly caress to accompany his talented mouth and Ino comes hard enough to have spots dancing in her eyes.
The complaint dances at the edge of her lips and Ino has never been one to hold back so she says it straight at Sai's face. "You have ridiculously high standards for foreplay, has ever anyone told you that?"
"If you won't use your mouth to moan, I'll gladly gag you."
Ino lets out a high-pitched sound that is transforming into a curse, knowing her, Sai swoops in and seals the tempting and noisy mouth with his own.
"You came a lot," He doesn't have to say it, Ino can deduce from the slick covered inner thighs that itch, warmer than they should be.
"'S been a while," she answers, heaving deep and slow like she ran a marathon. The apartment is so silent that Ino can hear a faint, irregular dripping. It takes her two heartbeats to realize it's coming from her, overflowing desire is literally pooling under her. She'd be embarrassed if Ino didn't find it hot.
Sai picks her up like she weighs nothing.
"Your room?"
Too tired, muscles liquefied, Ino only mumbles, "End of the corridor, left."
She's on her back over her covers in a blink. With the heavy cloak of afterglow easing her muscles and turning her brain to mush, Ino doesn't resist as Sai undresses her completely. Familiar hands disappear and Ino cracks open one eye to catch a glorious ass enter her small bathroom.
"What-"
Sai comes back as swift as he left. In his hands, he holds a towel which he uses to gently wipe down her neck, her armpits, her chest, her legs, and lastly her sex. It tickles and Ino lets out a muffled moan disguised as a giggle.
"Behave, Ino."
It's the last thing Ino wants to do. Her skin feels stretched thin, even with the fantastic orgasm, she is ready for another. She needs to feel Sai. The feeling bubbles up from somewhere deep inside her. Primal.
Ino spends hours mapping the exotic tattoos over Sai's chest. Sometimes gently – her long digits ghosting over the black ink as if they are fresh wounds and she's scared of hurting him – and sometimes roughly – manicured fingers leave red trails that mix with the black markings, trails leftover by raw desire and deep passion.
Ino's teeth scrape over too sensitive flesh in her quest to taste every ink marked inch of him and she soon finds herself pressed onto the mattress, Sai looming over with burning eyes that make her breath catch in her throat.
She teased the young man beyond his limits and the strained, strong muscles over her heated body are undeniable sexy for Ino. Thank God, she has a whole new box of condoms in her bedside drawer.
"You don't know what you're asking for," Sai utters, voice low and cold like steel, barely restrained, "You really don't know."
Ino tilts her head to the side, purposely exposing more of her delicate neck to Sai's hungry eyes.
"Maybe I don't," Ino agrees breathily, rolling her hips with a small smirk. A mutual shudder runs between them at the intimate contact, "or maybe, I'm doing it on purpose." she leans upward until her eyes only see deep pools of black, smirking and challenging Sai.
"Careful Ino." Sai purrs, voice pitched low enough to be a growl, head tilting to the side in a decisively predatory gesture that had no business being as appealing as it is. "You're playing with fire, and soon you'll burn."
"Oh, looks like we are back to corny teen drama lines. Let me try." She licks her dried lips and Sai's eyes follow the pink tongue travel over kiss swollen lips. "I wouldn't mind the fire as long as you're there to keep me cold."
Her imagination is terrible. Ino would switch with the real deal in a heartbeat.
Ino is without a doubt, the most beautiful thing Sai had ever had. Sai bitterly thinks about his botched attempt of sculpting, because it was the only way to capture those fine curves to do them any justice. Then again, the cold marble couldn't express the finer details Sai happened to be so fond of. The light blonde color of her silky hair, the healthy glow of her milky skin, and her eyes.
Sai could look at Ino's eyes and they would never lose their magic. They are an interesting play, a piercing blue that grew darker around the pupil. Like a lake that got deeper and deeper towards the center. Some days they seem greener and when she is angry a silver shade appears.
There's a moment right before he buries himself inside her where he sees too much, feels too much, there's just so damn much, he can do nothing as the floodgates inside him batter down. It's when her gasps go sharp, and her fingers are in his hair, fluttering kisses across his scalp, Sai feels his heart flood with fondness. Too lost in a symphony of heat and limbs to notice, but it takes his breath away all the same because of the intensity he feels.
She lets out a faint puff of amusement, and he looks at her astride in his lap. There's an imperceptible raise of her brow, at once questioning and taunting. She's not quite sure why he's slowed at this particular moment, with her head tilted back and lips parted, panting, but he sees how she lets him off and goes along with it.
He traces his fingers along her waist and up to her breast in a little apology, outlining the under the swell of it with his forefinger. From there, like a practiced musician, his hands play her, until her hips tremble and she moans, easing herself down onto him. All at once, they're back at that juncture where he sees her soul naked for him, blinding in its longing for his heart.
When he slides home to the heat, to the exquisite tightness, he hears a harsh exhalation. It leaves his lips the moment she arches against him, and he can do nothing but hold her still and wait as the friction sets off a spark in his whole body. Staring back are the colors of the deepest hurricane clouds. She waits.
Then they move.
He makes it last. He makes it last oh so long. And when they're breathless, coming down, they don't so much as a shift but melt into each other, content in letting the cool air stroke their skin.
"Sai," she breathes out sometime later when he's picking up the sweetness and light and placing them in the corners of his heart.
A pause.
"We'll be all right?"
Her breath tickles, like butterflies against his neck. He invites silence into the dark. It echoes against the walls, a cacophony of uncertainty. He wants to stay but he can't.
All he manages at that moment is a sweep of her cheeks and a lingering kiss on her forehead, hoping, praying, it conveys everything he means to say but can't.
"All right," she chuckles, hand on his heart. "It's ok. It's all right."
And where there was a fluttering before, there is now the sweetest of aches pulling him down and down and down into her warmth, where he sees too much, feels too much, knows too much— where her assurance to him is in every little kiss she plants on his face.
He holds her hard against his chest and doesn't close his eyes— to make it real, and scatter nightmares into the moonlight.
"You have to leave."
Her voice comes out slow and crooked. One could even say she was close to begging but Ino Yamanaka didn't beg. Sai must have seen something on her expression that makes his black eyes soften, his whole face turning as gentle as the hands running through her hair.
"I won't be gone for long," he promises. "Someone has to do crowd control. Find out who attacked and why." His dark brows come together, lips thinned and eyes hard. "If they plan to do it again, I must know. Believe me Ino, I have no intention of having a repeat of it."
Sai fishes out a dagger from somewhere, Ino thinks he'd be a great magician with the way he conjures things out of thin air and presses the weapon tilt first into Ino's palm. It's lighter than she imagined it to be, the black leather wrapping around the handle is worn-out with usage and the blade is hidden under a simple metal scabbard. Ino draws the blade away from its cover and is marveled at the dark gray edges, perfectly polished and ready to be used. There is something carved on the cross-guard but within the darkness of her room she can't make it out. Kageuchi sai, the Shadow Performer.
"Shin has one too. shinuchi shin the Star Performer." He patiently explains. "Shin had commissioned them when we graduated, so to speak. It's something that connects us together because we aren't blood brothers."
Ino reaches up for a kiss. It tastes salty, like a goodbye.
"You hold it like this, thumb here and-" patiently Sai arranges Ino's hold until he's satisfied. "There are only two of them in the whole world, Shin has the other." his dark eyes catch her gaze, a message an urge sinks into Ino's soul.
"You'll have to come back if you want it back."
"Exactly." He drops a small but warm kiss over Ino's temple. "Sleep. I'll handle everything."
And he leaves.
