Okay, here's the second and last chapter. Again, review if you feel like it, but please no flames.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: do you THINK I own Naruto? Or Genma? No, all I own is Karasu-chan.
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Aoitori woke up the next morning with a splitting headache, a large gap in her memory and a feeling of security.
She ignored the headache and temporary amnesia, focusing instead on figuring out where she was. She was in a vaguely familiar room, lying in a bed she'd never tested before. She was warm and relaxed.
That was when she realized she wasn't alone. A strong arm was snaked around her waist, a tall, well-built body lying close behind her and enveloping her in warmth. Soft lips were pressed lightly against her shoulder blade. The lips moved slightly, his breath tickling her back.
"Awake already, gorgeous?"
Genma felt her tense and knew she was awake. He murmured a greeting and loosened his arm, allowing her to roll over and look at him.
She stared, then flushed, and then turned bright red. He swallowed a laugh—it had taken him a while to figure out what was going on, too, and she had been way more hammered the night before than him. He was just waiting for her temper to break.
Then she did something unexpected—she hid her flaming face in his bare chest.
"Oh, God," she groaned. "What the hell was I thinking?"
"You weren't, not really," he reminded her. "You were plastered. Absolutely tanked."
"Did I really say that?" She whispered, mortified.
"Which part were you wondering about?" He inquired.
She was silent. He smirked, even though the effect was pretty much lost, since she still had her head buried in his chest.
Which was quite a nice feeling, actually.
He pulled his thoughts away from that road and went back to her present shock. "Right, now I remember. You mean the part where you told me you can't stop thinking about me and you want to be with me for the rest of our lives?"
She stiffened. "You leave for your A-rank mission today," she said brightly. He could have sworn he heard a note of panic in her voice. "Hopefully, you'll get sliced up into little pieces, and then I won't have to worry anymore. I'd better go—"
"Karasu-chan. Stop."
Why couldn't she stop shivering whenever she heard his deep voice? It was irritating as hell. And why wasn't that infuriating nickname doing anything whatsoever to infuriate her?
She fell silent and his voice softened.
"Why didn't you tell me before?"
"I hate you," she answered stubbornly. "There's no way in hell I could like you."
"So you like me?"
"No. I don't love—"
She froze. He froze.
Then, with absolute conviction, she said, "I'm still drunk. Don't listen to anything I say."
"You said something else that was strange last night, you know."
She didn't answer.
"You said that there was no way you'd have the courage to say this when you were sober, so I'd better listen good while you were drunk."
Still no answer. He gave a low laugh.
"Are you embarrassed, Karasu-chan?"
She was quiet for a minute. Then, in a low voice, she said, "you know…I really, really hated you."
He stopped laughing. "That was past tense."
She sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, it was."
He hesitated.
"Aoitori…"
She glanced up, shocked to hear her real name on his lips. For once in his life, his dark eyes were completely serious.
"It's a quick mission," he told her. "Escorting some rich dipshit who thinks he's important enough to get attacked. With Aoba along, it'll be fast and easy—I honestly think Hokage-sama just wants to give us busywork. When I get back, do you think you might be able to hate me a little less?"
She looked up for a long time, neither moving nor speaking. When she did finally talk, her voice was even.
"I have one question," she said. "There's a reason I never even thought about falling in love with you, you know. You do have a reputation as a womanizer—"
"You're not exactly discreet yourself, you know."
"I don't sleep around, Genma, but you do. How do I know this isn't just some—"
He cut her off by firmly pressing his lips against hers. His kiss took her breath away.
"Trust me," he said quietly as he pulled away, his lips grazing her cheek.
"Shinobi can't trust anyone," she hissed once she'd gotten her breath back. But it was halfhearted, a last-ditch attempt to preserve her dignity.
Her heart melted when he flashed her that wicked smirk. He lowered his head to hers again and kissed her gently, smiling against her mouth when she responded willingly. His fingers traced down her jaw and throat almost lazily, making her shiver. He pulled his head back and gazed down at her with a strange expression in his dark eyes.
"I hope you realize," he said calmly, "that your brother is going to castrate me. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to shower before work." He paused.
"You're welcome to join me, if you'd like," he added thoughtfully.
She shoved him off the bed, listening in satisfaction to his surprised yelp. Then she sank deeper into his bed, closing her eyes with a small, smug smile.
Last night had been turned around on her—instead of him succumbing to her, he had gotten the upper hand within five minutes. However, she would be damned if she let him have the last word.
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Kurenai, Shizune and Anko stared.
And stared. And stared.
And then, they stared some more.
Yes—even the irrepressible, psycho, homicidal Mitarashi Anko was struck speechless.
Finally, Aoitori had had enough. Her eye twitching, she slammed her hand down on the table.
"Dammit!" She yelled. "What's wrong with you people?"
The three other kunoichi shared a glance.
"Um, Aoitori-chan," Kurenai said slowly. "Did you just say that you…slept with Shiranui Genma?"
Aoitori flushed. "Are you really gonna make me repeat myself?"
Anko cracked up. Aoitori scowled at her as she doubled up with laughter, falling sideways onto the floor and proceeding to have a fit.
"It's not funny, Mitarashi!"
She turned her glare on Kurenai and Shizune, who were currently trying their best not to mimic their insane friend. Shizune was biting her lip hard, and Kurenai was doing her best to hide her smile behind a hand and a polite cough. It wasn't working very well. Aoitori scowled and sank down in her seat, crossing her arms obstinately.
"I fail to see the humor here," she said pointedly.
Kurenai stopped trying to hide her amusement and openly grinned.
"Oh, come on, Aoitori-chan," she said with a slight laugh. "We're just happy for you."
"Happy?" Aoitori cried. "I go from hating a guy to fucking him in one night! I'm confused as hell! How does this inspire happiness?"
Kurenai and Shizune each gave her a withering glance. Anko was still in paroxysms of laughter on the floor.
"You're an idiot," Shizune said—very bluntly for the soft-spoken, easily panicked kunoichi.
"You haven't really hated him in years," Kurenai added. "Not like you wanted to make yourself believe."
Aoitori glared at her hands. "Shut up. You don't know me as well as you think."
Shizune rolled her eyes. "You've had the hots for him for ages, admit it. That's why you fought with him so much—you were terrified of being attracted to a guy you've waged war on since you were six."
Aoitori was silent for a minute. Then she gasped, her eyes widening.
"Shit!"
They both stared at her. "What?"
She buried her head in her shaking hands. "I think…I might have told him I loved him."
"What?" They shrieked.
"I was drunk!" She cried desperately. "I was totally, totally drunk, and I let it slip—"
"Let it slip?" Kurenai said, startled. "You mean—"
Aoitori froze.
"Aoitori-chan," Shizune said slowly. "Are you—actually—in love with him?"
Aoitori began to slam her head against the table. Repeatedly.
Anko's shaking hand reached up and grasped the side of the table. She dragged herself up, still wiping her streaming eyes.
"Hee, hee, hee!" She giggled. "Oh, that's rare! Shiranui Genma and Yamashiro Aoitori! The most unlikely couple in the history of ever!"
Shizune glared at their hyperactive friend. "Don't make this harder, Anko-san!"
"But, Shizune!" Anko cried, still laughing. "You haven't been here for the past few years. You have no idea what terror these two put old man Sarutobi through! It's priceless!"
Shizune's curiosity was piqued. She couldn't help herself. "How deep did their enmity run, exactly?" She asked.
Anko gave the glaring bluebird a wicked grin. "Oh, it was deep," she said happily. "Couldn't get within a mile of each other without starting a fight and destroying part of town. Ended up putting each other in the hospital more times than not. Hey, hey! Kurenai! Remember the time it was so bad Hokage actually put them both on a restraining order from each other? They weren't allowed to get within twenty meters of each other for six months."
Shizune paled. "What did you two do?"
Aoitori didn't answer. Kurenai sighed.
"Doesn't matter anymore. Aoitori-chan, listen."
The younger girl didn't say anything, but her blue eyes flicked to the older kunoichi.
"You told him you loved him?"
"I said something like it…then I covered it up."
"What did he say?"
She was quiet for a minute. Then she said, "Well…I told him I hated him, and he asked me if I'd be able to hate him any less by the time he got back. I said I couldn't trust a Casanova, and he kissed me. And…"
She paused. Shizune leaned forward. "And?"
She scowled. "He invited me to take a shower with him."
Shizune and Kurenai facefaulted. Anko sat up.
"Well? Did you?"
Aoitori stared at her friend. "No. I shoved him off the bed and fell back to sleep."
"Oh." The crazy lavender-haired kunoichi sat back, clearly disappointed.
"So," Kurenai said, recovering quickly. "You going to give him a chance?"
Aoitori considered it.
"You know what? I think I will." She smirked. "If nothing else, his skills are… astonishing. In more ways than one."
Seeing that she was lost in her own world, Kurenai grinned an uncharacteristically wicked grin and leaned over to whisper in Anko's ear.
"That's seven thousand yen to me, Mitarashi."
Anko's scowl sent daggers her way. "Collect it from the betting pool, Yuuhi."
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The problem with sleeping with your best friend's sister, Genma mused, was that it was very difficult to figure out just how one would go about broaching the subject.
It wasn't like he could just go up to Aoba and say, "Hey, Yamashiro, what's going on?…Oh, and by the way, I banged your sister last night."
No, that would send him straight to hell in a handbasket with wolves on his tail and steel up his ass. Missing a couple of vital body parts he'd much rather have intact, thank you very much.
He supposed he could just not say anything. It was probably the safest option, and he'd be able to get home pretty much unscarred. However, he had the feeling that if he didn't mention it, Aoitori would withdraw certain privileges for a very long time…and probably take those same body parts along with them.
As Nara Shikamaru would say, this is why women are troublesome.
He thought back to that morning. After his shower, he and Karasu-chan had talked briefly before he'd had to leave. She'd never been good at showing her emotions, and he'd been able to make her blush redder than a tomato—albeit a very attractive tomato—but he'd managed to get some idea of her true feelings. To his delight, they coincided almost exactly with his own.
Genma was many things, but 'fool' wasn't among his titles. His view of Yamashiro Aoitori had changed drastically over the past few years—from disdain and outright hatred, to grudging respect, towards something akin to admiration…that admiration had grown and changed, until now, when he couldn't get his mind off her.
It had been like that for the past several months.
He was also pretty observant—he was ANBU, after all—and he'd noticed slight changes in her behavior towards him. It had started just after the restraining order was withdrawn and they'd seen each other for the first time in half a year. She was much less violent than before. At the time he'd thought it was out of resentment—she was avoiding conflict because she didn't want to be bothered, or something like that. Then, gradually, their relationship grew to the point where they could actually look each other in the eye without threatening to disembowel the other with something pointy and preferably dull.
There was one more thing Genma had—brutal self-honesty. No matter how much he may have denied one of his faults to the world, he acknowledged everything about himself in the privacy of his own mind. And recently, his feelings for the smaller, blue-haired Jounin kunoichi had grown to the point where he could no longer ignore them.
He loved her.
And after last night and that morning, he was pretty sure she felt the same.
Genma was jerked out of his thoughts when his friend spoke.
"Penny for your thoughts, Shiranui?" Aoba asked calmly.
Caught by surprise, the younger jounin didn't answer.
"Have fun last night?" Aoba continued. "I mean, I don't really remember what happened…at all, actually. I was pretty smashed. What did you do?"
"I—uh…" he took a deep breath. "Aoba, look. I think I'm dating your sister."
Aoba looked at him, the expression in his eyes hidden behind his sunglasses. "You think?"
"Well, uh—"
"What, exactly, brought about this occurrence?"
Genma, remembering the serious seduction that had occurred, flushed slightly.
"Well, I—I mean, she and I—um—I don't—"
"Finally."
Genma gaped at his friend. "What?"
Aoba stared at him. "You two have been sending out sex vibes for years. We've all been waiting for you to just get together and do it." He scowled. "Lost two thousand yen on that bet, too. I had you set for three months ago."
"You—" Genma's mind was whirling. "What?"
Aoba shrugged. "Oh, never mind. The important thing is that you're both happy. I trust you had a good night?"
He held up a warning hand when Genma opened his mouth.
"No—don't give me details, Shiranui. I don't want to know how my little sister is in bed, thank you all the same. Anyway, let's finish up with the mission, and then we can get you back to your blushing bride."
"It's not like we're getting married," Genma muttered under his breath, still slightly red.
Aoba grinned at him, then turned his attention back to the forest they were hopping through.
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All right, there you go. Again, if anyone wants flashbacks, review and tell me—I'll do my best. Thanks for sticking through.