chapter 16
"I guess they didn't know where to send yours, so they sent it here." Fuyumi handed Sakura a letter as she and Shouto took their shoes off before coming into the main house.
"What's this?" Sakura turned the letter over in her hand, 'UA' was stamped in large gold foil letters on the back of the envelope. "Oh!"
"Let's go to my room." Shouto pulled Sakura down the hall by her hand and into his bedroom, shutting his door behind them.
It had been a month since they had taken their entrance exam. She and Shouto had talked after their kiss, after they had both cooled down and were much better now. So much had happened between them in such a short amount of time, neither realizing how one had been affected by the other. It had been good to get some of their more embarrassing feelings out in the open.
Shouto explained his childhood to Sakura, briefly touching base on the major points. He told her how his mother had a terrible breakdown and was in a special hospital. How his father had sent her there after burning his eye with boiling water.
He confessed he hadn't visited her, that his own guilt and loathing prevented him from having any contact with her, how he wished he could see her but still, even after all this time, couldn't bring himself to face her.
He told her about his mother and father's quirk marriage, and how his father had created him for the sole purpose of ousting All Might from the top spot of the Pro Hero circuit. How he called him his Masterpiece.
Sakura told Shouto a little about her training, how she had been raised in a very small, closed community and about Team 7, omitting the more dangerous topics of shinobi, alternate worlds and exactly how she had gotten here, because of course, she didn't know.
Shouto had omitted a few things from their heartfelt confessions to one another as well, like how his father had driven his eldest brother to push himself so far in his training that he died, how he used to beat his mother and how far he had pushed him in his training.
Sakura didn't mention Shigaraki, his master or Kurogiri. Instead she told Shouto of Shi, Haru and little Kenma.
It had been a long conversation. Fuyumi had invited Sakura to spend the night in the guest room not wanting her friend to walk home in the dark. Shouto had protested, claiming Sakura could sleep with him in his room but Fuyumi, being the older sister, would not allow it.
Yes, they had gotten closer in the last month.
Sakura waited for Shouto to join her on his bed before opening her envelope first. They watched as a disc fell out with a small letter and immediately came to life.
"Welcome Sakura Haruno to UA High school, where all of the heroes of the past, present and future learn how to be the best that they can be! Join us in the pages of history, for you too are now a student hero at UA High!" A large man with shiny blonde yellow hair boasted before the disk went blank.
"I got in?" Sakura turned to Shouto who was already opening his envelope, watched as the same small disc fell out, and began to talk.
This time it was a small white...mouse that told Shouto he had been accepted to UA and that he looked forward to seeing him at the opening ceremonies in a month.
"We both got in." Shouto whispered, his eyes still on the now empty envelope in his hands. "We got in." He looked at Sakura who nodded.
"I'll find my answers." She tucked the disc and letter back into her envelope and shoved it in her right pouch.
"I'll surpass my father, then All Might." Shouto whispered. "With you."
"Yeah." Sakura scooted closer to him on the bed, threw her arms around his neck and hugged him.
"Did you want me to stay for dinner? I imagine your father will want to know you got in." She spent almost three nights a week at Shouto's house for dinner and the other four between her cave and Shigaraki's bar.
Shouto continued to ask her his questions, some of which she answered and some she didn't. Slowly they had fallen into a small pattern of understanding, tolerance and acceptance. It worked for them, for now.
Sakura acknowledged Shouto's effort not to push her too hard about her past, or business she thought was only hers and she tried her best to understand why he was so protective, why he was so controlling and that much of it had to do with his past, how he had been raised.
As for Shigaraki, he proved to be more amicable, the more conversation she offered, and seemed satisfied when she came over every Saturday to play shoji and watch T.V with him.
She had been fascinated by the T.V that had been on in the bar one day she had stopped in to ask Kurogiri about his quirk, but more so by Tomura's computer games.
At first Tomura had been hesitant to show her the Mmorpg he favored, worried they would get too close, that she would try to use her kunoichi interrogation skills on him again, but she hadn't.
Part of him was disappointed of course, but the logical sensible part of him was relieved. He didn't stand a chance against those kinds of skills. He kept his temper under control, and she began to open up to him more, just like Master said she would.
He was being patient and learning more and more about her each time she visited him. Tomura decided he would let their relationship move at her pace, a pace she controlled. He realized that was the only way he was going to get what he really wanted in the end, her.
Tomura had already promised her the world and she had rejected it. There was nothing more in this world that he feared more than someone who couldn't be manipulated by his master or reasoned with by greed, power or money. Over the years he had learned many things from his master, the most important lesson his master had taught him was how to manipulate situations to his advantage through fear, influence or strength.
None of which worked on Sakura. She truly was his equal. She had earned his respect.
Shouto hugged Sakura. He liked it when she put her arms around his neck, it was silly but it felt like he was saving her every time she did it, like he was holding her close and rescuing her. Like he was her hero.
He knew she didn't need a hero but part of him, a very small selfish part of him wished she did, so he could be there for her, protect her, make her cling to him. He wanted to be needed.
"I'd like it if you stayed for dinner, so would Fuyumi." He hugged her with one arm, and scooted them back up against his headboard with the other. "Dinner won't be for a couple of hours though." He moved the side of his face against the softness of her hair and kissed the side of her cheek.
They had kissed a few more times since their first kiss, but he wanted more she could tell. Each time they touched he tried to push farther, to see how far she would let him go, asking without saying that he wanted her.
"Shouto." Sakura moved her head to the side, avoiding his kisses. "Your sister could walk in on us." His mouth dropped to her neck, she squirmed, he pulled her up onto his lap.
"No she won't." Shouto ran his palms up under her shirt, up her back until he ran into tightly wound cloth. "What are you wearing? He asked her, his fingers pulling the bottom band of her chest wraps.
"Oh." Sakura laughed a little. "That's my chest wrap." She lifted her shirt up so he could see.
Shouto stared at the white band that wound round and round Sakura's chest covering her bosom. He thought she was just small, petite but if she wrapped her chest then her breasts were… "Why do you wear that and not uh, what other girls wear?"
"Well, you know how I told you about my village?" Sakura pulled her shirt back down.
"After we graduate from the academy at twelve, all the women wear them so our um, breasts don't get in the way when we fight." She tried to explain. She had never had to explain chest wraps to anyone before, everyone in Konoha knew what they were, even civilians.
"Did everyone in your village get trained how to fight?" He asked her curious, his hands still on her back.
"Not everyone. It was a choice really. I mean, the clan kids had to, usually their clan made them go to the academy but the civilian borns, like me, could if they wanted, but no one made them. Most civilian born didn't go to the academy. I was one of two that went from my year." She shrugged. "No one thought I would amount to anything."
Shouto couldn't believe it. "...but you're so strong and powerful." How could anyone think she was anything but phenomenal?
"I wasn't always as good as I am now, Shouto. What I am now is the result of years of training, blood and loss." Sakura looked him in the eye. "Experience."
Shouto nodded slowly. "I think I understand.
The right corner of Sakura's mouth turned up in a half rueful smile. She didn't think he understood at all and there was no way to make him see everything she had gone through, how hard she had worked and what she had lost because of it. "Maybe."
"It's frustrating isn't it? Trying to live up to others' expectations of you, their unbelievable demands?" His hands came up on either side of her face, and he pulled her down into a soft kiss.
Maybe he did understand, at least that part of her, she relaxed into his embrace, tilted her head to the side and let him flip her onto her back.
"Sakura." He exhaled her name over her lips. "Spend the night tonight. Fuyumi is going out with her friends and my dad is in Kyumuei tonight."
Part of her wanted to, wanted him, but the logical part of her reminded her if she did that, it would mean more to him than it meant to her. She had never meant to stay here in this world. Could she sleep with him and leave him later when she had to, like she planned to?
She knew by now Shouto was not the kind of boy you kissed once and moved on from. He was the kind of man you married. Sakura knew exactly where Shouto's thoughts lay. He was thinking of their future together while she was only in the now, waiting to leave.
As soon as she figured out how to get back home, she would be gone and he would be alone again. She had been hesitant to build the bond with him that they had now, if she slept with him...
"I shouldn't." She couldn't give him what he wanted. This wasn't a forever relationship for her. He wouldn't understand. "Shouto, I don't want to hurt you but I can't give you that."
He bit down on the inner lining of his cheek hard to keep himself from saying something he would regret. Did she think he kissed just anyone? He told her she was his first kiss, she told him he had been her first kiss. He didn't understand why she was holding herself back. She wanted him, he could tell.
Was she afraid? Fuyumi told him that some girl's were scared their first time, that it hurt women more than men. Was that what Sakura was worried about? He didn't think so. She wasn't the type to back away from something she wanted for fear of pain, he had learned that much about her so far.
Was she worried he wouldn't marry her? He thought he had made his feelings for her very clear, more so than she had made hers.
Was it another man? He knew she had made other friends besides him. He knew of the book store owners, but he also knew she sometimes went to Kamino Ward. Shouto asked her about it a week ago, but she had refused to tell him much, saying she would tell him when she was ready.
"Do you have …" Shouto started then stopped. She wouldn't tell him. "Is there a reason why? I mean, I'm not trying to pressure you but… you know that I..."
She understood. "There's no one else Shouto. I only kiss you."
His heart skipped a beat. He had been worried for nothing. "Okay, sorry. I just...sometimes I know you…"
"When I'm ready. I'll tell you." Sakura closed her eyes and kissed him again. If, I'm ever ready, she opened her mouth to him, pushed down her guilt and let him play with the ties on her skirt, pulling them loose one at a time until he could run the backs of his hands over her stomach.
"Sakura, I…" Shouto gasped as she bit down hard on his neck. "I…"
"Don't." She shushed him with her mouth, over and over. Don't please, don't tell me you love me. I can't Shouto, I can't love you back.
"Not yet." Not ever, she kissed him hard, pushed up against his hand as it slid down, under the elastic of her shorts.
"Please." He almost begged her. "Sakura please." He moved against her.
"Can't." she panted into his mouth. "I can't give you that yet, not yet." Kami, she wanted him, but she had to keep her head. She couldn't do that to him, she couldn't give him that, then leave him, possibly without telling him goodbye.
She wasn't that heartless. She really did care about him.
Not yet, she said, not yet, okay but soon? He wanted to ask her but didn't. Don't push her, that's what his sister told him when she sat him down to have a talk with him about his and Sakura's relationship at their father's request.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry, but I want to make you feel good" He couldn't get enough, this wasn't enough.
"Let me do that at least, please?" He waited, he wanted her to tell him, he wanted to hear her tell him to touch her there.
"I…" Sakura bit her lip, her eyes closed, then nodded. "I want you to, just be gentle Shouto, I've never…no one's ever..." Her eyes flew open as he slid his longest finger all the way up into her untouched sanctuary.
"Just me." He panted into her hair, his own eyes closed as he withdrew his finger from her body, felt her slippery wetness with his thumb and pushed another finger up inside her with the first. "Only I can touch you like this Sakura."
"Mh hum, yes please." She whimpered beneath him. It felt so good. Ino told her it felt good to be touched, to be kissed but Sakura didn't think it could be this good, if she had, she might have let him touch her sooner.
He could feel her body move with him, felt the inner walls of her sex clench around his fingers, he didn't know the inside of a woman could be so hot, could smell so good.
Shouto opened his eyes, he wanted to see her, he wanted to know he was making her feel good, Kami the noises she was making were driving him mad, her soft whimpering, her barely begging moans, for him, all for him.
Something was building up inside her making her want to scream, something intense and…
...he could feel it, she was close, was this what it meant when they said a woman orgasamed? Was this what the website said...Shouto was pulled forward by the hair on the back of his head as Sakura wrapped her leg around his arm.
"Don't stop, please Shouto, fuck please it's so, you're making me…" A long moaning cut through the silence of his bedroom as Sakura's arched back flexed and relaxed against his bedding. "Shouto…"
He leaned into her, kissing her gently, his mouth dry. "Kami you're so beautiful Sakura, so beautiful and mine." He laid his head down on his pillow beside her, falling to her side, reaching out and gathering her into his arms. "Mine."
Fuyumi stood outside of her youngest brother's door, her fist raised to knock. She had heard everything.
"I hope you used protection Shouto, we don't need another Todoroki, just yet, even so, I'm sure dad would be thrilled." Fuyumi turned on her heel and walked back to the kitchen.
"Will the kunoichi be joining us this Saturday as has become her habit, Tomura Shigaraki?" Kurogiri set the bottle of champagne in the refrigerator under the bar that he purchased for Sakura today.
"Yes." Tomura lifted the lid off the box in front of him on the bar. "I have something for her."
Kurogiri peered into the box. "Ninja tools?"
"Yes. She asked me if I knew of anyone in Japan that still made shinobi gear in the old way. So I asked around." Tomura ran a finger along the flat edge of the first kunai.
"Ah, Giran?" Kurogiri moved the whiskey bottles on the top shelf, dusting in between them. "The kunoichi will be pleased. She seemed rather worried she would not be able to replenish her dwindling supply."
"These cost a fortune. She'd better be happy." Tomura set the lid back on top of the box and pushed it to the side.
Knock. Knock.
"How's my favorite villain today?" Giran pushed the door to the bar open and stuck his head in through the crack looking around. "Where's your girlfriend Shigaraki? Out shopping?" The C-Rank criminal stepped fully into the bar, the plume of his smoke denting the still air.
"What do you want?" Tomura turned on his bar stool to face the man.
"Right, no small talk, straight to business, a man after my own heart." Giran spread his hands out before him. "Got a few more small fry for your big gig next month." He kicked the door open and two people stepped inside. A girl with long worm-like hair and a man who looked flatter than a piece of paper.
"Great." Tomura spun back around in his chair, his hand on top of the box of weapons he had gotten for Sakura. "Fill them in Kurogiri. I'm going upstairs."
"It is my pleasure, Tomura Shigaraki." Kurogiri bowed from the waist.
"What's up with him? He's been more laid back lately, less crazy." Giran lit another cigarette as Kurogiri paid him out his finder's fee in silence. "Right, right none of my business, but they do say women have a calming effect on even the most unhinged men." His subtle chucking followed him out the door, leaving Kurogiri alone with the two new recruits.