AN: This took way longer than it should have for something that I've been trying to plan out since the first chapter. For that I am sorry. Please enjoy, and review it. This is my first go at writing romance and doing this particular ship justice is particularly important that I get right.

The next morning started out promising. Sasuke was, thankfully, back to his normal self. Clearly eager to prove that their new arrangement wasn't going to change anything he ruthlessly took advantage of all the openings in her guard, never pulled his punches, and was his usual competitive, driven self.

Shikako rubbed the bruise on her hip where he'd kicked her with a grimace. "Maybe we were a little too rough." she thought, only paying half attention to the instructor currently lecturing on the smooth muscle of the diaphragm. "I know I saw him favoring his ribs when we left."

She wondered what he had planned, if he even had a plan, for their date. She nervously toyed with her pen, bouncing it on her notepad.

"So I'm guessing she didn't take your affections well…?" Kiba commented as he assessed the enormous bruise across the left side of Sasuke's ribcage.

"Actually, we're going on a date later today." He answered. "In her defense, I didn't tell her about Crane breaking one of my ribs against a tree a week ago." He froze as Kiba's medical chakra slipped into his skin. "She wasn't the only one being rough, either."

"Well, you're alright, it's not refractured. You do know that Sakura is in Mist right now too, right?" Kiba retreated to retrieve a tube of lidocaine from a cabinet. "You don't have to still come here to avoid her."

"She would still find a way to find out if I went to a hospital."

"... I think she likes her medic license a little too much for that but whatever you say, buddy. Got any ideas for your big day?" He asked, letting Sasuke smear the numbing agent over the bruise. He got a look in return.

"Look, I'm aware that apparently people were betting on this and that people owe you money now, but am I really the one you have to be a smartass to?" he snapped.

"I can't be a smartass to my mother, she was betting the opposite way around."

"You mean you." Sasuke replied, shoving his shirt back down.

"...I'm on your side remember." He pointed out uncomfortably.

"I'm well aware…I've got some ideas. I'd rather not share them."

"You know I'm just going to find out from Ino."

"He says as though he doesn't actually want me to keep him in suspense." Sasuke commented, tossing back the lidocaine "I swear, why you don't ask her out is beyond me, you two gossip like nothing I've ever seen."

"Point, and because we have incompatible life goals. She wants to be clan head. I refuse to raise any child of mine as not an Inuzuka. And neither of us are willing to budge. It's not worth it to either of us to waste our time with something that isn't going anywhere." Kiba replied, taking a moment to consider his answer, crossing his arms.

Sasuke paused. "I..." He stopped. "I didn't even think you would answer that. I wasn't even really asking."

Kiba waved off his concern, "Sasuke, not all of us are as serious about all this as you are. Now please, I have shit I need to do."

"Well, I took your advice." Shikako announced to Ino on her lunch break. "We're trying it. He's supposed to be taking me on a date after class today."

"But is that something you decided that you wanted, or something you went with because I thought you might find that you liked it?" Ino asked, catching her eye.

"Because," She sighed, flicking her straw to the other side of the glass. "I wanted to try it, because I trust and love him as my friend… and maybe one day, something a little more." Shikako looked down. "You pointing out that we acted like a couple except for the kissing may have made it a little less frightening too."

"I'm glad I was able to do that for you." Ino beamed. "So, when you told him, what happened?"

"We just talked." Shikako confirmed. "Made sure we both knew that we have no idea how to do this and we didn't have any expectations in mind." Shikako paused. "He did admit to wanting to kiss me, but he's not expecting anything soon."

"You're not jealous, are you?" Shikako asked, suddenly remembering what she'd said about Shikamaru and Tenten dating at the start of the year. "Of me being in a relationship before you? I remember what you said during New Years."

Ino dismissed her concern with a wave of her hand. "No. Not anymore at least. I might have a few months ago, but now... I'm not worried about any of that."

"Oh so does this mean you've been holding out?" Shikako asked gleefully, leaning forward over the counter. "I'm hurt."

Ino playfully pushed her face to the side. "Nothing so dramatic, sister mine."

"Did he tell you where he wants to take you?" Ino added.

"I may have just told him that after I get out of class, he's taking me on a date and left it at that. We really just confirmed that we were going to try this and then we got distracted by something unrelated and he asked where we were going to go from there. So I told him. So I have no idea what he wants to do."

Ino was silent. "He is going to go overboard with that."

"I don't think so. I told him last night that I wanted to see that nothing changed with us during training this morning, and we got a little bit rougher than we probably should have. I still have a bruise." she bragged.

"Oh well." Ino sounded disappointed. "As long as nobody got too badly hurt."

"You were hoping he'd be falling over himself for me weren't you."

"It's very cute watching you two together. You have a beautiful friendship." Ino admitted.

"Hey. You're just as much family as he is." Shikako insisted.

"Last week, I called Shikaku 'dad' on accident, and he didn't even look at me weird. You don't need to worry about me feeling left out of your family." Ino reassured, patting her on the hand.

"How was class?" Sasuke asked, getting up from his seat beside the door.

Shikako grimaced. "I couldn't focus." she admitted, taking his offered hand and slipping her fingers between his. "I already know the material though, so it's no big deal."

"Does your mom know about this?" Sasuke asked after a moment. "I didn't know if she would want us to come to your house for dinner, so I didn't make any reservations or serious dinner plans."

"The opposite. She probably thinks that's where you'll take me." Shikako answered.

"Well, if you're hungry now, we can do that." He paused. "How much chakra are you running on? I kinda planned on teaching you something."

"Yes, please let's go eat. As long as it isn't something like Chidori, I should be fine." She waited. "Do you plan on telling me what you want to teach me?" she poked. "And where are we eating. Not at your apartment, I'm too hungry to wait for that."

"Anywhere you want, then. I'll cook your favorites next time in advance."

Shikako paused to consider that. "Ichiraku."

"...No, seriously. Anywhere you want."

"I meant it! We haven't been there since Naruto left, and it's…ours. You know?" She insisted. "It's homey and familiar, and it's not quite my house or yours but as far as eating out goes…" She shrugged.

"No, I get it. I'm sorry I was so dismissive." He apologized.

Shikako waved him off. "Please." She scoffed, "We mess with each other enough that that's going to happen occasionally."

"Well, then," Sasuke hesitantly brushed his thumb over her knuckles. "To Ichiraku's?"

"Welcome back! It's been a long time since you've dropped by! How have you been?" Teuchi asked as they ducked under the curtain.

"Fine." She lied. "It didn't seem right to come without Naruto." Shikako answered truthfully. "Shrimp please, one egg, no naruto."

Sasuke gave his order as well, and claimed the stool next to her. She studied him.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you going to grow your hair out?" She asked.

"I wasn't planning on it. Do you want me too?"

She shrugged. "I don't think it would look bad. I don't think you should go any shorter than usual."

"I'm definitely not cutting it shorter." He reassured.

"So what have you been doing while I was out?" Shikako asked when their food came out, snapping her chopsticks apart and popping a shrimp into her mouth.

"Not much. Kiba's going to put his application in to get his Hunter-nin certification, so I've been helping him get ready for that. And freaking out about this of course."

"Good luck to him." She commented. Hunter nin in Konoha were an interesting culture. On the one hand, they were completely transparent as to their identity once graduated and were distinctly not ANBU, yet went through the same training and had access to some of the same facilities as ANBU.

"I'm glad you're not freaking out about this now." Shikako stated.

"Oh I'm still nervous about getting things right. But our friendship isn't in danger, and that was my biggest fear."

Shikako pulled him into a short hug. "Never. Now what are you going to be teaching me? You never answered that." She asked, going back to her food.

"You've done a lot to make me feel included in your family." Sasuke answered hesitantly, looking away. "Way more than you ever had to." "And I want you to feel included in mine." He said more firmly. "Learning the Grand Fireball technique is supposed to be the mark of an adult, and it's the only clan tradition I've ever been a part of. So I figured it's something I probably should have taught you as a friend before now anyway, and that it might be fun to do it as a date." He finished quickly.

"And I figured the firelight over the water might be romantic, especially with the sunset coming on soon." He muttered, embarrassed. "I hope you're okay with that."

She stopped eating and tugged on his hand to force him to face her. "No." She shook her head. "I'd be honored. You shouldn't think that you have to do something like that just because I did. Your situation is different. You….

"You have less of your family's traditions than I do, and that makes them easy for me to share." She said, her choice of words slow and methodical. "For you it's more of a sacrifice, and I'm grateful you want to share them with me." She grinned, the corners of her mouth quirking up. "But I do think it'll be fun, so, good choice, I guess? I realize I didn't give you much room to figure something out, and this is creative."

"I'm surprised this thing's still standing, honestly." Sasuke commented, tapping the boards of the dock with his heel.

"I guess they paid for it to be done right the first time." Shikako replied, her mind clearly somewhere else. "How deep is it?"

"Deep enough for a seven year old to dive in and not touch the bottom. Three meters, maybe a little more? I've never really asked." He looked up. "If you want to go swimming sometime, we can."

"Maybe next summer. It's going to be getting a bit cold for that soon." Shikako flopped down on the end of the dock, her toes dipping into the water. "It's getting too cold for that now." She observed. "Anyway, you were going to teach me to breathe fire?"

"Yeah." Sasuke flopped down to sit beside her. "The Grand Fireball Technique, it's a pretty simple and straightforward C-rank technique. There's six hand seals: snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, and tiger, in that order." He started off, running through the hand seals as he said them. "Fire is in the breath, so take a deep breath in and imagine your lungs as a focal point to draw chakra and air. The more chakra you give it, the bigger the flame. When you want to let it loose, make a pincer with your fingers and thumb and create a little spark between the two, like a propane torch and blow all the air and chakra out." Sasuke demonstrated, and a column of flame shot forward like a lance before coalescing into a familiar sphere about three meters across, creating a sunset glow and pearly steam across the water.

"And that's it really." Sasuke finished, shifting his weight to lean back against one of the support posts. "Your turn…Princess." He stated, the last word hesitant, and hastily offered.

Shikako felt the blood rush to her face to accompany the pleasant butterflies in her stomach and embarrassed excitement. "Ummm, ok.""A-alrighty," She took a moment to calm down and suppress the intimate yet not unpleasant feeling of being watched. She ran through the seals, and took in the breath, focusing on separating a portion of her Earth chakra, cleansing it of her natural element and transforming it into the smoldering flame made familiar by the feel of Sasuke's. She gathered what Fire chakra she had made in her mouth as directed and blew hard, mimicking the stern flow of air and chakra she had observed and felt from Sasuke's demonstration. "Fire Release: Grand Fireball Technique!" Upon reaching her partially pinched fingers the flow of air and chakra ignited into a roiling, high powered jet of molten flame, and with it, came a unique feeling of elation and raw empowerment she hadn't felt since picking up her lightsaber for the first time. "LOOK AT ME IROH, I'M A GODDAMN DRAGON!"

Shikako cut the jutsu as her breath and gathered chakra ran out. She laughed, elated and a little breathless. "Well?" She asked, proudly. "Do I need more practice?" She asked her clearly pleased partner.

Sasuke smirked, his Sharingan disappearing with a blink of his eyes. "Maybe a little." He said teasing.

Shikako grinned and ran through the seals again and expelled another gout of flame, feeling like a dragon trying out her newfound powers, or a bird having just gained mastery of flight. Another plume of superheated steam rose from the lake.

As she finished, Sasuke took a scroll out of his pocket and unsealed a collection of cheap bamboo and paper sailboats with rubber band powered paddles clearly bought in bulk from a toy store. "You want to play a game?" He asked.

"Am I a fucking dragon?" She asked as poshly as she could.

Sasuke shivered. "We let ten of these things out on the water, and the first one to set six of them on fire wins."

"You're on." She whispered in his ear playfully. Sasuke jumped.

"I swear, I should shove you in the lake." He grumbled, winding up the rubber band engines of the toy boats and setting them free in the water.

"You'd better not." She threatened, grabbing up a boat to help him. "Not when I'm wearing white scrubs."

Sasuke paled. "Dammit." He said viciously. "You've got me there. No impromptu swimming for you."

Once all the boats were out on the water, they settled down to watch them drift out into the quickly dispersing steam so their first couple of blasts wouldn't end the game too quickly.

Shikako leaned up against Sasuke, dropping her head against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms cautiously around her waist. After a moment he spoke up. "Shikako?"

"Hmm?"

"I can't thank you enough for agreeing to give us a try, despite your nervousness about it."

Shikako grinned. "I'm glad I said yes." She returned, honestly. "You were right. This is fun, and it was a great idea for a first date."

"Anything I can try to repeat?"

Shikako paused. "Don't take this the wrong way, but it's private. It's just us, in a space we can be comfortable in."

Sasuke shook his head, confused. "Why would you think I might be offended by that?"

Shikako took a minute to answer him. "I didn't want you to think I would be embarrassed to be seen with you in this kind of a role."

Sasuke snorted, exasperated. "I wouldn't have thought that. Anything else?"

Her smile grew broader. "I like the fire, can you teach me more of that?"

"I've created a monster." he said dryly.

"Hear me roar." she replied.

"I'd love to. If you want, I'll teach you Dragonfire next, that's a B-Rank. Or Phoenix Flower."

"Absolutely. Think they're far enough away now?" Shikako asked, noting the position of the toy boats.

"Yeah, first one to six wins- Hey!" he yelped as Shikako shoved herself off of him.

"Readysetgo!" she interrupted, flashing through the hand seals to unleash her first fireball to snatch up a boat fifteen meters away.

Sasuke responded with his own.

"Well, you win, congratulations." Shikako sighed.

Sasuke shrugged. "I'm just faster on the draw, and I've been doing it longer."

"The exercise or just the technique?"

"Both, but I didn't think of training like this until you brought up Replacement tag. And then it started to click. And it was more rewarding anyway." He answered. "You want to stay out practicing a little longer, Tatsu-hime?"

Shikako wrinkled her nose as the color rose to her face. "Are you going to call me that all the time?"

"I won't call you that at all if you don't want me to." Sasuke pointed out, sitting up straight. I'm sorry if I crossed any lines."

"You didn't," Shikako reassured, "but let's leave the endearing nicknames for a bit later. Alright, Tiger?"

Sasuke winced. "Oh, ow. Ok, you win. I surrender. Where do you want to go?"

Shikako paused to consider that. "I think we should just go back home. Play shogi and relax for a bit. Besides, Shika's going to find out eventually, because I'm not going to insult you by trying to hide it, and I shouldn't have to anyway, and I'd rather just be upfront about it from the start."

Sasuke was silent for a moment. "Ok, that sounds…..fun."

"Oh, if it isn't, Mum will have words with him. Don't you worry." She said, taking his hand.

"We're home!" Shikako announced as she opened the door and lead him inside.

"Okaeri!" Yoshino answered

"I'll get your shogi board." Sasuke offered.

"Sure."

"How was school?" Yoshino called back from the living room couch.

"Fine." Shikako answered, leaning over to give her a hug around Kino.

"Where's Shika?" Shikako asked as she collapsed back on the couch.

"Logistics is keeping him a bit later. Someone new misfiled some paperwork. He'll be back soon, he sent a blackbird." She answered. "Where's Sasuke."

"Getting my shogi board." she said as just as he entered the living room, box in hand.

"Hello again. Did Kino stay asleep after I left?" Sasuke asked as he sat down.

"For a little while, thankfully. How was your date? Did you two have fun?"

"Yep, I learned how to breath fire. And we went to Ichiraku's."

"I said that I would take her anywhere she wanted to eat, because she didn't want to wait for me to cook, and she chose Ichiraku's." Sasuke added quickly. "I did not make that decision."

Shikako brushed that off. "No one is going to think you're being cheap on me."

The front door opened. "Tadaima!" Shikamaru announced.

"Okaeri!" the three of them answered from the couch.

He disappeared up the stairs for a minute before coming back down and shrugging off his chuunin vest. "I got the formula you wanted." He yawned, hanging up the armor and slouching over to his preferred chair.

"Have you eaten yet?" Yoshino asked.

He shook his head. "Have you?

"It's staying warm on the stove."

He let out a long-suffering sigh and hauled himself out of his chair with no further complaint. "Do you want anything?"

"Put some tea on, please. The black tea with mint." Yoshino requested.

"The whole pot, please." Sasuke added, as he relinquished the shogi box to Shikako so she could set it up on the coffee table.

He waved his hand in acknowledgement as he trudged into the kitchen.

"Since when did you sign the Blackbird contract?" Shikako asked when he came back, placing a pawn in opposition to one of Sasuke's.

"Since it was easier to send them with messages than get other people to carry them." he turned his attention to Sasuke. "Ino said to tell you that she and Kiba want to talk to you both whenever you have time. I don't know what about."

Sasuke rubbed his eyes and deployed his silver general against her bishop "This not how I wanted this to come out." "That's ok, I do. What do you have tomorrow?" He asked Shikako.

"Class as usual. I'm guessing Kiba knows?"

"Kiba's like my Ino so, yeah." He summarized.

Shikako looked up and caught his eye. "I didn't think you were that close."

He shrugged. "We're not exactly that close, but we're pretty good friends."

"Knows what." Shikamaru said, not asked. "Or is it the kind of Classified that we're not supposed to be getting into but you keep dragging us all into anyway."

"Life keeps dragging us into it. Or do you think that if you stick your head in the sand it'll just magically bypass you?" Sasuke retorted. "And no, it has nothing to do with that."

"I'm trying the entire dating thing out." Shikako answered dryly, steering the conversation back to a hopefully less confrontational topic.

"With-" he broke off, the answer obvious. "Since when?" he asked, voice deceptively light.

"Since tonight."

"Technically yesterday night. That's when you agreed to trying it out." He corrected as she finished collapsing his defense like a house of cards.

"Aww, I bet you'll memorize it too." She said sweetly, declaring sweet, sweet victory as she nudged his king out of the way.

"I'm getting it tattooed." he joked.

Shikamaru studied them as they reset the board. "How's that going?"

"I learned how to breathe fire." She bragged. "He's perfect."

"Aw, Thanks. So are you." Sasuke replied just before she snatched his Silver general and turned it against him. He sighed, unable to stop an exasperated smile from forming. "I just love you so much."

She smirked.