78

A Challenge

"Tsunade-sama!" Shizune opened the door without knocking, something really out of character for her.

"What's the matter?" The woman flinched and straightened her back in the chair. She was just approaching for the well-hidden bottle of sake.

"It is a note…" The black-haired woman was holding a paper in front of herself.

"Well, ok, a note… What's the fuss?" Tsunade frowned, annoyed by the interruption.

"The note is from Suna, Godaime-sama, it is from Temari-san. It seems like Shikamaru-san had done something that really offended her…"

"What?!" Tsunade grabbed the note by Shizune's hands. She unfolded it and started to read it with an increasingly deepening frown. Her eyes were going to jump out of their places. She started to shout loudly. "Nara Shikamaru! Find him and bring him here right now!"

Before even the sound of the last word had stopped jumping between the walls, Shizune was already out of the building and running down the street…

Shikamaru's face was obviously troubled when he stood up in front of the Hokage. Shizune hasn't told him any details, just that Godaime is furious and she requires his presence right away. Tsunade handed him the note, a stone expression on her face. He unfolded it slowly, swallowing down, as he felt something gathering up his throat. He lowered his sight and his eyes started to pass over the text, written in 3 rows:

"Nara Shikamaru!" The first one started. "What were you thinking exactly, leaving those things to me just like that?! Drag your lazy ass here immediately or the world will become too small for both of us being in it!"

It was like he really heard her yelling at him. Yes, that was definitely her style and her handwriting. His jaw clenched. After all, it hasn't been really smart to give her what he gave her. Obviously it was a rushed decision… But when he realised her life was in real danger, he just knew she's the one. There was no other woman for him…

His plans were so simple before she appeared in his life. Then he wanted an ordinary wife, if he had any. He wanted her to have a moderate appearance, just nothing really special. And most of all, he wanted a calm wife that wouldn't give him headaches every now and then. That was his great life plan… And he stuck to it until the moment Temari actually saved him, his life, just in the last moment when he had already surrendered. She called him "stupid"... Then she saw him cry his heart out in the hospital, barely standing up to the harsh words of his father and the Hokage. She had heard him blaming himself for the bad condition of his friends.

But when she was leaving for Suna, she smiled at him for the first time, and as well for the first time called him a "crybaby." But she also told him she would be there for him if he ever needed her…

Shikamaru was pleasantly and unpleasantly surprised when he started to work with her on the chuunin's exams organisation. Little by little they got to know each other and each time they discovered something a little more about the other. Before her last few visits, his stomach was clenched into a ball of expectation and he was more distracted than usually. And when he saw her, he had the strong desire of returning her smile… And he did…

Yes, there was a need for something drastically terrible to happen so he could think about it and recognise what she really was for him. He needed a serious push to do something. He was thinking that if she never got hurt, he may have invited her on a date… Maybe…

He returned to the note in his hands:

"That sounds really troublesome…" he said, succeeding to erase the worry on his face and replacing it with the usual boredom.

"You have 30 minutes to leave the village!" ordered Tsunade without really listening to him. "I want your report on the matter the second your foot steps in Suna and you talk with her. We can't ruin our relationship with Sunakagure because of your whims! I don't know what you have done and I don't care, but I want it fixed! Am I clear?!" With every next word her voice shouted stronger and stronger.

"Right." He nodded, stuck the note in his pocket and exited the office.

Temari was recovering incredibly fast. Her will was just impossibly tough. Two weeks after she woke up, she was already in control of her body and was slowly regaining her muscle mass. She had one really light training session with Kankuro. Being a big brother, he couldn't help but try to pull a prank on her. He succeeded to get some seals done without her noticing and finished them when grabbed her hand to help her get up on her feet. Doing this, he made sure to be able to move her hand just like he did his puppets. At one moment Tamari was doing really strange and vulgar gestures with her right hand.

That was just for a few seconds, because when she realised what was happening, she broke the technique easily.

Kankuro still laughed hard.

When they were done training together, Kankuro continued his training and Temari went to see Tenten at the school. The kids were incredibly happy to see her, which warmed up her heart.

When Tenten was done with the classes, they both sat down on the empty school yard.

"Did you send the note to Shikamaru?" Tenten asked.

"No…" She shook her head. "I sent it to Tsunade-sama," she said, smiling.

"You really will play that tough, eh?"

"I will."

"Godaime will most probably make him leave immediately." Tenten shrugged.

"I really hope so."

"I have no idea how fast he will arrive, but if Godiame had stressed him out enough, I would say two days. When did you send it?"

"Yesterday morning."

Temari smiled and explained what she needed to be done by Tenten.

"Oh, wow! I would give my right hand to see this in person." Kankuro's voice got them out of their conversation.

"Didn't you have a training session?" His sister frowned.

"We finished earlier."

"Kankuro, it is really a bad habit to snoop and eavesdrop this way. It is at last rude." Tenten joined the scolding.

"Oh, I agree. But I do not regret at all that I have been snooping and eavesdropping in this case." He grinned. "Temari, this is huge." Kankuro looked at her.

"And it is none of your business." She hissed with annoyance.

"But it would be good if Gaara knew about it." He said seriously. "You better tell him about this, I am serious." Temari nodded at him. "And by the way, I would expect him this evening."

The women looked at him doubtfully.

"You sent the note by a bird yesterday morning. It should have arrived by noon and Shikamaru probably left almost immediately." He shrugged. "I would have rushed if I was in his place…"

Temari got up and sighed.

"I better go talk with Gaara." She turned away and headed to her younger brother's office.

Kankuro leaned to Tenten and slightly touched her shoulder.

"Come with me." He pleaded quietly.

"Where do you want to go?" She raised her eyes to look at him.

"Just come." He grabbed her hand and pulled her lightly.

She sighed and let herself be led somewhere unknown. He headed to the Kazakage's home.

"Are we going home?" she asked and he nodded.

"Why?"

"It is time for us to talk."

Cold shivers crawled on her back and she felt stiff. She didn't dare to say anything more until they reached their room. While Kankuo was closing the door, she sat on the floor.

The man was still silent, heading to the bathroom. When he came back, his face was cleaned - no paint was left. She looked at him questionably.

"The conversation kind of requires you to see my face." He quietly explained, which caused her tremble.

Kankuro sat on the floor against her, his knees touching hers. He looked in her hazel eyes.

"Do you remember our conversation when I came back home wounded? When I asked you what I missed?" She nodded and he continued. "There was something you weren't ready to tell me then. Are you ready to share it now?"

"I don't think it is something of your concern if I may be honest." She whispered a bit defensively.

"Does it concern the object of your eventual romantic feelings?" He asked directly.

Her eyes widened for a moment and she looked away.

"So it concerns me." His words were calm but really confident. "If I am asking, I do have a reason to do so." He smiled warmly.

"All right… Before my teammates left for home, I had a conversation with one of them…" she started talking, looking at her hands, laying in her lap.

"Neji?" he asked and she nodded.

"He… expressed his strong affection towards me." She was whispering as if she was saying something really shameful.

"That doesn't sound really romantic…"

"Well, for his character I would say this can be counted as quite romantic." She defended him.

"Is that all?"

"He also said… he felt some jealousy… from you…"

"Now, did he?" Slight smile blossomed on Kankuro's lips. So he did read Konoha's shinobi correctly. "That is interesting…"

"I am sorry, but the rest of our conversation exceeds many times my comfort's zone borders." Tenten was aiming at what Neji had said about the way Kankuro was watching her and that he doesn't hide his feelings. As well as if he didn't say anything at the time, later will probably be late.

"Ok, don't tell me then. What I am really interested in is if he told you that he loved you and wants you to be with him."

"He told me he will be waiting for me in Konoha when I come back home."Tenten said, still avoiding his eyes.

Kankuro nodded slowly.

"But why are you asking me all of that? What is your goal?" It was her turn to try to get some information out.

"Well, from what I heard, Temari will certainly get married to Shikamaru." He shrugged. "When this happens, you will be free to go home."

She flinched - actually she never thought of it from this point of view.

"The question is… Will you want to go home?" His voice was really quiet, but really tense.

"I don't know…" She confessed with a sigh.

"Then I should tell you what I was hoping I will avoid telling." He gave her one sheepish smile. "You should have noticed by now, that I am not indifferent to you?" He waited for her nod before continuing. "I intend to be blunt. I think you are amazing for reasons I want to keep for myself. My mind, soul and my body are attracted to you very strongly. But I know myself… The strong attraction for me always starts with a blind passion, erasing the other aspects of potential relationship. In this case I want to know if I am capable of developing such feelings as love and deep affection, so I have to exclude the body attraction part until this blind period passes. Which means I should not touch you in intimate ways meanwhile. And I find that like incredibly hard exercise since you are goddamn sexy."

She was looking at him as if he lost his mind. She was shocked… And she was very flushed hearing his last sentence since she couldn't remember being called sexy by… anyone.

"You want to have a relationship with me?"

"I do."

She didn't know how to continue, so she went in one of the possible directions…

"Why do you think I would let you touch me in a "intimate ways", anyway?" She asked.

"Because I am very persuasive when I want something. I have my ways to convince you, if I really wanted to do it." He said yet blunt again.

"So there is no option in your head, where I say no to your perverted self?" She was amused and slightly angry at his confidence at the same time .

"You can say no, of course. But it will be a "no" for reasons beyond your body's wants." He smiled and winked at her. "I can see, sense and smell your body reactions to my own body, Tenten. And it is definitely not a "no". I can bet on it."

She was silent for a bit, leaving aside he read her body better than she did. It was too much to comprehend right now…

"So what exactly are you telling me… What do you want me to do?"

"I am letting you know I intend to chase you until I get you." He smiled.

"What will happen if your feelings turn out to be just passion after all and you just can't fall in love with me?"

"They won't if I keep getting connected with your mind and soul." He sighed. "See… The connections I can make have 3 components - mind, soul and body components. Until now, even if I start with equal affection towards all of them, I end up feeding up only the body component connection. Then the focus of the relationship falls in imbalance and it is falling apart. What I aim now is to strengthen the other two connections enough, so the relationship stays intact even when the third component is in existence."

"Ok, no matter how weird this sounds, it somehow makes sense…" She said quietly.

She looked at his eyes. What was it that she would lose, really? If this didn't work out properly, she would go home. No matter if she would be with Neji or not, she would be far enough from Kankuro - he was not from her village and she didn't have to work with him on a daily basis. Then she thought of Neji and realised something really important - she loved him very much, but she didn't want to marry him. She was unable to imagine her being part of his family.

"Think about it…" He took her hand. "I am really patient and very stubborn, so I want to invest those qualities of mine into this as well..."

"So no matter what, you want to work out for this relationship this way? You are certain you are not going to touch me in "intimate ways"? You are confident in your patience, stubbornness and self-control?" She asked innocently, but he sensed she is up to something he probably won't like.

"Yes." He replied cautiantly.

"Are you ready to test them out?"

"What is it that you are going to throw out at me?" He looked in her eyes, trying to figure it out.

"You see, there is a tiny possibility I will fall in love with you eventually and you decide you can't develop deep feelings towards me. So that would leave my heart broken. This sounds really unfair to me, if I have to be blunt about it."

"If that's the case, it surely sounds like it." He agreed.

"So I am going to give you a chance to win me over. But…" She looked into his eyes. "I am going to set up a condition… Or a challenge if you like it more."

"I do like a challenge." His eyes flamed up really beautifully.

"If you restrain yourself by touching me for the next 10 days, I am going to let the relationship we are building go your way with your conditions."

"What is the catch?" Kankuro narrowed his eyes.

"I am going to provoke you to do it. So if you want this to work out, you should control yourself. Those are your words, this is what you need." She smiled.

"So you just decided to arrange a little torturing session for your own amusement?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Yes. Because you are so confident in yourself, I want to make it harder for you." She teased.

"Right… Then you should probably set ground rules." He sighed.

"You can touch my arms, hands, legs below the knee and my face. For every other part of my body, you will have to ask for my permission." She didn't really like the way he smiled… With one really vicious smile. Though he didn't say a word. "You can't kiss me if I don't kiss you first. You can't return my caresses in a provocative way." To make her point, she slid her fingers from the knee to about the middle of his thigh. He grabbed her hand and removed it from there.

"You have decided not to test my self-control, but to get me insane." Kankuro said seriously.

"Maybe I did." She shrugged. "And I have one more condition."

"One more?" He laughed. "This seems like not enough for you?"

"You are going to answer all of my questions related to sex. And you are not going to mock me about it." She continued, ignoring his remark.

"Why on earth would I mock you about it?" He was smiling, but his tone was serious.

"Because I lack experience and skills."

"Experience and skills come up with knowledge and practice." He leaned a bit ahead to smile at her warmly. "This applies to everything."

"Why are you smiling like that?" She asked, annoyed at his amusement.

"Because I was really terrified to have this conversation with you. And this was not even close to the possible results I had expected."

"Is this a bad thing?" Tenten asked, wondering how she should interpret it.

"It is actually very interesting… I don't know if it is good or bad yet… But it is kind of strengthening the mind connection component of my relationship with you. It was surprising and creative… A bit terrifying, but fun altogether."

"Then you won't mind answering me how often you have sex usually?" The girl asked, getting over her uneasiness.

"If everything is normal, I am not on a mission and I am not wounded, I have sex between two and four times a week. This is it to not feel tense by the lack of sex."

"So your decision is to masturbate 2-4 times a week instead?" Her face gradually deepened to redness, but she had decided to be brave. She was somehow sure Kankuro was not ever going to laugh at her.

The man reached to her face, caressing her chin tenderly.

"With that torture you have in mind, I am not sure how often I will have to be alone with myself…" He said honestly.

"I was thinking of including a condition about that as well…" She shrugged and laughed out loud at his terrified facial expression.

"Let's get all of that straight - you want to keep me aroused almost all the time during the next ten days. And I can't have sex with you, as well as with other women. And you want to forbid me from masturbating - the thing that can help me keep myself sane in this situation?" The man looked her straight in the eyes. "Not happening. I am stubborn, but I am not crazy. We both have obligations related to other people and we can't really afford to involve them in our personal challenge. What you thought to suggest will make me distracted and I would endanger my teammates. So… no." His tone was kind but at the same time it was somehow firm.

"Well, when you say it like that, it really sounds unresponsible." She agreed with a note. But the truth be told, she never really thought of including the masturbation part in her challenge. It was just to provoke him to say what he thinks out loud.

"And when those 10 days of torture start?"

"From today?"

"Are you asking me, or telling me?" He smiled widely.

"Telling you." She confidently said.

"That's good. This day is going to end soon."

"Is it?" Tenten reached and traced her pointer over his collarbone.

He took a sharp breath.

"Do you know that teasing is actually a big part of the sexual act itself?" He asked, closing his eyes, shivering.

She pulled away her finger. No, she didn't think about it.

"Really?" She honestly thought kissing and intimate touching were part of the sexual act.

"Really. When your body is open to a certain person, almost all the touches and caresses you get from that person, are really generating a great amount of excitement."

"So me touching you will really be a torture to you, then?" Tenten started to doubt if her idea was as good as it seemed in the beginning…

"Yes, I am not lying about that." He nodded and opened his eyes, already darkened with passion. The girl thought honestly for maybe the first time, that he was indeed sexy… "Do you want to experience what I am going through?"

"You are asking me to break the grand rules?" She smirked.

"No. Just give me your hand." She gave him her hand and he took it carefully. "I am not breaking any of your rules, I promise. Now close your eyes."

She gave him a doubtful look, but he didn't actually give her a reason to not believe him until now. So she closed her eyes and suddenly her senses were way sharper. She felt his lips touching her skin on the top of her hand, tracing a little path to her fingers. Then she felt his teeth carefully bite her pointer, causing her breath to hitch in her chest. What came after that, made her moan quietly, without even realising she did, until she actually heard the moan leaving her mouth - he put the tip of her pointer into his mouth and softly sucked it in. She flinched and instantly got goosebumps all over her body. Her eyes opened and she looked at him with real confusion. Her sides were in a pleasant pink colour, signalising her incoming excitement.

"So… you obviously felt what I mean." He smiled mischievously, still holding her hand.

"I… Kankuro, I obviously didn't think that through well enough." She said apologetically. "I wasn't aware… I am sorry…"

He chuckled and placed a kiss on her palm.

"Do you want to quit that challenge?" She asked quietly. "I can call it off, really."

"Don't you dare." He laughed and winked at her.