Too Sexy for a Shirt – 7
By: Clever Audrey
Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it, nor am I making money off of it.
Warnings: mild innuendo
AN: At last! I've been busy, so please pardon the late update.

"What the- !" Asuma started, and tore off his jounin vest as fast as he could, tossing it violently against a nearby tree.

Kurenai refrained from chuckling and darted at her distracted sparring partner quickly. Well, if she'd thought her vest had been one of those huge, nasty leeches from the Forest of Death, she'd have tossed it away quickly too. As it was, she was just glad that her little illusion had worked.

It makes the rest of my plan easier, she thought, ducking carefully under a neat swipe from one of Asuma's chakra-lengthened knuckle blades. Now I just have to get close enough to finish it!

The two of them had been dancing around the edges of a relationship for several years now. She liked him, he liked her…but between the demands of training genin teams, harder missions in between those, and the reluctance to get close to someone you might lose inherent in all shinobi relationships, they'd just never gotten any further than that.

At least, until now…she hoped.

I'm tired of dancing around this. I haven't had a decent date in two years, and haven't had more than a date in…I can't remember. Much too long. Hence, her plan to get her reluctant friend out of his shirt during this particular sparring match…and hopefully out of his inhibitions as well.

Kurenai held back a grin, and set up another illusion that made Asuma freeze, just for a second, to try and dispel it.

Fortunately, a second was all she needed.

She darted behind him, grabbed the back of his shirt out of his pants and slit it neatly up the middle with her kunai. Two flips back and she was safely out of range of the double-cut he aimed at her as he spun, and there she paused, letting herself grin at his puzzled expression.

Keeping an eye on her, Asuma paused long enough to slip off his torn shirt, as it would now get hang down his arms and hinder movement. Even when he was back in a ready position, though, Kurenai still didn't make any move to attack him, just took in the (as she had suspected) quite lovely view of his well-muscled chest.

"Are we done?" Asuma asked, still puzzled, after a moment of silence.

"With the spar, I think so," Kurenai rose from her crouch and sauntered forward, sheathing her kunai. Asuma lowered his blades too, then dropped them in surprise as she ran her hands up his bare chest to rest on his shoulders. "With other things, however," she went on invitingly, "I think it's time we got started."

He went from surprised, to uncertain, to thoughtful, to grinning in about two seconds, then raised his hands to her waist. "Maybe you're right."

Some time later, Kurenai sighed regretfully. "We should probably get back."

"Mmm," Asuma rubbed her cheek with his chin, his beard pleasantly rough and ticklish. Rising from where they had stretched out under a tree, he retrieved his vest and put that on. "Did you really have to cut my shirt, though?"

Kurenai grinned and winked at him. "Well, subtle hasn't been working so well, so I figured it was time to be more direct."

"Well, I must admit I'm glad you did," he offered an arm, and they strolled back towards town in a companionable silence.

Kurenai mused that she must be spending too much time around Anko – she'd been rather shy around men just a few years ago. Then again, she mused, glancing up fondly at her partner, a little boldness wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

Later that night, after dinner and other, even more pleasantly-tiring occupations than sparring, she revised that thought. Nope, a little boldness isn't a bad thing at all.

AN: Well, there you go. Haven't ever written these two before, but there's hinting at something between them in canon, so I think this works. :) Next, something different: Rin has to take care of the men on her genin team - Kakashi, Obito and Yondaime! ;P