Notes: This was written like 3 years ago and simply never published. Chronologically, this happens long after everything else so far.
Naked, the woman lay reclined on periwinkle sheets. The lamp on the nightstand beside them was dark; the only illumination was the moonlight shining through the open window above their bed. The cool, bluish light glowed almost white over her porcelain skin. After freeing her hair from a small, ornamented, silver barrette and placing it on the nightstand next to a long string of black pearls, she laid back and circled her arms above her head. The gentle rise and fall of her breasts as she breathed beckoned him.
Her abdomen twisted back so she could look up at him while he spooned her body with his own. She smiled coquettishly and said something, but he heard only silence. His hand slithered up her thigh and waist to grab one of her breasts and knead it for a moment. He then pinched her small nipple between his fingers until it puckered erect. Biting her lip, the woman closed her eyes and squirmed in a moment of familiar pleasure. Bringing his mouth to the nipple, he swirled it in his tongue and nipped it briefly before kissing his way up her chest and neck to her lips.
Breaking away from the kiss, she gazed at him with half-lidded eyes and whispered two words. "Take me," she seemed to say, but again he heard nothing. Not even the wind rustling the translucent curtains above them. Immediately, he turned her on her side and grasped the supple flesh of her inner thigh. He parted her yielding legs and inserted himself into her in one deft motion, as if he had done it many times before. In response, she gripped the edge of the bed. Again and again he thrust into her while watching her chest heave and mouth tremble as she gasped and moaned inaudibly. Soon overwhelmed, she buried her face in a pillow and clawed her fingers into the mattress. They quivered together one last time before she relaxed her grip and her body rested peacefully for a moment, fulfilled.
His fingers gently tucked a strand of stray, mousy hair behind her ear. Before he could take them away, she reached back to grab his hand and bring it to her chest where she entwined her fingers with his. He tenderly kissed her shoulder before finally resting his head beside hers.
Sasuke awoke in a cold sweat staring straight up at the sky through a thick layer of branches and leaves. The light which filtered down to him was clear and soft. He guessed it to be sometime in the early morning just after the sun had fully risen. That meant he had overslept.
Draping his forearm over his eyes, Sasuke cursed his dreams. That woman had appeared in them many times before over the past year or so. It had taken him some time to realize the same woman was appearing again and again because the initial instances were so brief and innocuous: walking some distance in front of or beside him on some road, sitting next to him at a table drinking tea or at a campfire, sometimes smiling, sometimes expressionless, and occasionally agitated. Sometimes he could see her face in detail like he did just now and other times only an unfocused impression. But now he recognized her every time regardless.
Lately, these visions were becoming more frequent and intense. Three nights ago, when he had first reached the boarder of Fire and Grass countries, she had appeared under yellowish lamplight sitting at a small desk littered with all kinds of papers and pens. She spoke to him in soundless sentences, intermittently pausing as if he were speaking back to her. But if he were, he could hear his own voice no better. Judging entirely by her expression, the conversation had started out candid and light, but then turned more frustrated or exasperated as it went on, until her eyes puffed up as if she were about to cry. Then, she stood up and walked away from the desk and that was the end of the dream.
This particular dream had been the most explicit so far. She had never before appeared naked, let alone had he made love to her. Sasuke's mind stopped for a moment at the thought. Was that what it was? It hadn't felt like just physical sex. He had undeniably made love to her. Sasuke shuddered, uncomfortable with the disconnect between the feelings of his dreaming and waking selves. He had a wife for fuck's sake.
The question plagued him: why this same woman every time? Sasuke knew it wasn't possible to dream about people one had not met or faces one had not seen. The human brain could not invent faces while sleeping. So why couldn't he remember who she was? And why were these visions always silent?
Sasuke tossed his thin blanket aside and sat upright. He needed to get where he was going- not that he had any meaningful destination. He rolled up his blanket and stuffed it into his backpack. Finally, he slung it over his right arm- his only arm- and departed.
For some time he walked down a nameless, sunlit dirt road on the border of Fire and Grass countries, but the dream refused to let him push it from his mind. It was like trying to not think about pink elephants. He wasn't even attracted to the woman, so why did some stupid, sensual image keep flashing across his mind's eye?
Closing his eyes, Sasuke thought long and hard. From her hair she had taken a silver barrette and placed it on a nightstand next to a string of pearls. He halted his steps. The barrette had a symbol etched into it...
A village symbol...
Iwa's symbol...
She was an Iwa kunoichi.
"Tch. Dammit." He muttered and continued walking. That didn't solve any problems, only raised more questions. He did not know anyone form Iwa. At least no one notable.
He sighed. Anyway, what did it matter? It was a stupid, annoying dream. It wasn't like any of it had been real.
Although, the way she had writhed beneath him... Sasuke refused to admit it, but the feeling of having given the woman mutual ecstasy, then to rest beside her in mutual satisfaction was not unpleasant.