90
Visiting home
Tenten was really quiet during the three day trip to Konoha. Temari had tried to distract her though with no real effect.
During the last night out Tenten chose to get the first shift. When she sat comfortably into the branches of a tree, she felt a worry not only for Kankuro, but for Neji as well. What should she tell him? Or maybe how she should tell him that regardless of her love for him for years, she was not going to be with him now? She sighed thinking that the best strategy would be to tell him the truth. She owed him honesty as a person she highly respected.
Shikamaru sat down on the ground next to Temari and quietly clicked with his tongue.
"I have serious worries about my problematic mother's behaviour according to our wedding."
Temari watched him for maybe a minute. She narrowed her eyes and eventually started to bite her lower lip.
"What did you just come up with?" he asked, looking at her carefully.
"How would you know I just came up with an idea?" she asked back.
"You always start to bite your lip when you have almost hatched a plan."
"Am I?" Temari frowned and realised he was probably right. "Right… What if we tell her we are already married?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we are passing through two big villages tomorrow. We could simply sign the certificate there with Tenten for a witness."
Shikamaru looked at her intensely
"I see two problems here. First - technically we haven't gotten permission from the Hokage…"
"That's true, but usually the problem is with the side that becomes short of shinobi, not the side that gains one extra."
"Correct, but still we don't have permission. And second… Are you sure you won't regret it if you don't have a celebration for the wedding?" He was talking intentionally slowly, emphasising every word. "I am fine with that though. But I don't like celebrations in general. Just… Think it over one more time. I don't want you to feel bad about it in a few years, ok?"
Temari pursed her lips then smiled slightly with a sigh.
"Actually I would be happy to have a small celebration…" she confessed.
"So we have to think of something else." The man stared at the darkening sky for just a few seconds, then looked at Temari again with a craftly smile on his lips. "But what do you say we get a false certificate?"
"What do you mean… invalid?"
"Yes, invalid with no legal weight. They look exactly like the real thing."
"What is the meaning in such an exercise? You want to live together with no real marriage?" She was sure she couldn't get to the point… His thoughts sometimes drifted way too far and way too fast.
"Oh, no, Temari. The only idea is to set the brakes on my mother. She would insist on an official celebration. But if we are already "married", we will be in charge of the conditions, since it will look like we are doing it for her."
"Oh…" Temari raised her eyebrows in disbelief. Her husband-to-be was scarily cold-minded. "So two rabbits down, only one kunai out, eh?"
"More or less…"
"And you think this is going to work out just fine?"
"I do. But we need to get in possession of at least two really expensive bottles of sake."
"And why would we want to do that?"
"To make sure we have the Hokage's favour on our side."
"Oh…" The vowel hung lonely into the air…
…
Tenten could see a female silhouette when they were near Konoha's gate. It was Sakura waving enthusiastically at her, a wide smile on her face. Tenten felt the urge to run over there and hug her tightly as she actually did. She was so damn happy to see her that she momentarily forgot about her utter worries.
"Welcome home!" squealed Sakura.
"Thank you so very much you are here to greet us!" said Tenten sincerely, successfully swallowing her happy tears.
"Tsunade-sama told me you are visiting us for two weeks. The girls and I have organised something little to greet you properly." She grinned and turned to Temari. "Temari-san, we will be honoured if you come along as well. You will be one of us soon."
Temari, untypically for her, was blushed in pleasant pink. Sakura did all in her strength to not laugh.
"Temari, the idea is actually good." Shikanaru carefully intervened. "I am going to be dealing with at least one pile of paperwork tonight. It will be fine if you at least have some fun."
She looked at him for a moment, then she moved her eyes to Sakura, then to Tenten. The last one nodded encouragingly at her.
"All right. I will join you," she nodded and smiled.
Sakura froze and waited for both Temari and Shikamaru to pass by and go ahead. Then she whispered:
"She has such an enchanting smile!"
"She has, hasn't she?" Tenten grinned. "I couldn't react properly when I saw her smile genuinely for the very first time. The whole Temari is actually really beautiful and charming… in the right sunlight…"
"I have never thought about her this way if I must be honest. But I guess Shikamaru has seen her in the perfect sunlight spot."
Tenten nodded, her eyes still following the couple.
"Well, I guess we will have to pick her up from his apartment later on." Tenten shrugged.
"Yes, this is exactly what we are going to do." Sakura grabbed her by the elbow and walked together with her pace to the village centre. "Your team went on a mission in the morning. And as far as I am informed, they should be gone at least ten days. This is if everything goes normal, of course."
Tenten nodded but said nothing. She was afraid to meet Neji and now felt relieved that the meeting will be postponed.
"Tenten, you look somehow… disturbed?"
"I…" she sighed. She could be honest with Sakura to a really high extent. "Things changed…"
"How?" Sakura raised her eyebrows and looked at her face.
"How much time do you have?" Tenten asked with the slightest smile.
"I took an evening off and a whole day off tomorrow from the hospital. I am all yours during that time if you need me."
"Right… Let's head to my apartment… I will catch you up on the matter…"
"What about the information in your letters?"
Tenten shook her head.
"You don't expect really accurate information in non-coded letters, right?"
"Right." Sakura nodded.
"Kankuro left for a mission a few days ago… A mission he may not come back from."
"Well… All right. This may not be such a bad thing after all." Sakura looked at her. "I wouldn't wish something like that happened to him… But… If he gets killed and does not return, you will come back home faster."
"And there is the problem coming…" Tenten bit her lip and whispered really quietly. "I do not want to come back…"
Sakura stopped dead in her tracks and gazed at her as if she was completely out of her mind.
"What are you saying?!"
"I love this person, Sakura. I don't want to come back to my old life, I want to be with him. My heart aches so much even to the thought I may not see him again, that I can barely breathe…" Tenten just spit it out at once, not able to hide it in her wounded soul anymore.
Sakura opened and closed her mouth a few times in a meaningless attempt to say something, but everything she succeeded to accomplish were inarticulate vowels.
"I know this is a surprise." Tenten pulled her ahead, so she started walking again. "It wasn't something I expected either. He turned out to be something really different than what I thought he would be."
"He must be something extraordinary, all right." Sakura whispered, shocked. "But how did it turn out this way? What did he do to make you fall for him?"
"When we were here, he didn't really do much, to be honest. Though there were few moments I was strongly impressed. I felt a male undivided attention for the first time in my life and I was really enchanted. He was determined to help his sister though, so I was convinced it was just an act because of her."
"Nothing so interesting up until now, it seems. Though if you had the habit of going out more often with me and Ino, you would have given a lot of undivided attention, Tenten. You are beautiful and desired company even if you don't fully realise it."
Tenten blushed and decided to ignore the last part of Sakura's comment.
"Later on, he started to behave kinder to me, tender even. He hugged me so gently, that he literally made the world spin differently." She smiled dreamely. She was aware she couldn't possibly tell Sakura about the poison scratch and his fever on their way out of Konoha. Though she was sure her care for her switched the change in his behaviour to her. "And when we arrived in Suna, he kissed me…"
"He kissed you here as well. During the ceremony in the Hokage's office, remember?" Sakura reminded her. "That was your first kiss there, right?"
"No… He gave me a kiss in the apartment so that one in the Hokage's office wouldn't be the first one. I think he was trying to ease me, to not feel too uncomfortable."
"That is called common sense and it is an admirable and practical thing." Noted Sakura.
"But in Suna… he kissed me passionately like I was really attractive to him, like he wanted to…" Tenten gasped. It was strange to be able to use those words in front of Kankuro, and to be difficult to use them in front of Sakura, whom she had known for so long.
"Have sex with you?"
"Yes…"
"And did you have sex with him?"
"Erm, no…"
"Didn't he… insist?" Sakura was genuinely surprised.
"He… wanted to. He realised really fast I have never been with a man. Probably my inexperience betrayed me right away."
"And how did he react to this?"
"Much like you did." Tenten started laughing. " He said my choice is impractical."
Sakura also laughed - she kind of liked him a bit more.
"But he didn't insist. He respected my decision."
"And he didn't try to get you in his bed?" Sakura was impressed.
"Ah, well… He didn't really have to do that… I was in his bed every night." Tenten smiled and felt she was about to finally relax on the topic.
"Tenten…" Sakura started seriously. "I think he might have a serious physiological problem with his sexuality."
"I don't think so…"
"Have you ever seen him aroused?" Sakura asked bluntly, ignoring the red flush on Tenten's cheeks.
"No… But I have felt it." She explained to the frowning Sakura. "When he kissed me passionately that evening, he pressed close to my body and I felt… him…"
"He was hard at that point?"
"He… was…"
"Well, I must say I am impressed by his self-control then. Though he needed to have sex. What did he do? Did he go to other women?"
"No… He locked himself in the bathroom…" Tenten grinned and Sakura laughed out loud. "Also he suggested we share intimate and personal information just between the two of us in order to get closer. He was bluntly honest to my questions… Which also won me somehow." She confessed.
"You got to tell me more about that." Sakura said with an impish grin.
"I can't really share the intimate and personal things he shared with me… That was one of the conditions in the first place."
"Ok… But if you can't tell me the answers, you can at least tell me the questions, right?"
"That I can, I guess…"
…
"What have you done?" his mother's eyes widened.
"We got married on the way here." Shikamaru handed the certificate to his father. Shikaku's eyes slid over the letters and stopped on one particular row. He didn't say a thing though. Then brought it back to his son with the slightest smile, filled with understanding and compassion.
"But why did you do it? I so wanted to be at my only son's wedding!" She frowned.
"So I thought." Temari intervened. "And I told him so. But he insisted." She sighed. "He said the weddings are too troublesome to get involved in."
His mother looked at his daughter-in-law's green eyes. The young woman really didn't seem to be happy with the lack of wedding celebration. But she didn't seem to be devastated either though.
"I can't leave this like that." The mother said, setting her hands on her waist. "The wedding of my only son and the only heir of the Nara clan is going to be celebrated!"
Shikaku wrapped his wife's shoulders gently, leaned to her ear and whispered something to her. Shikamaru couldn't believe his eyes - his mother had blushed.
"Oh, yes, you are right!" She nodded quickly and grabbed her husband's arm, widely smiling.
Shikamaru's eyes were wide open - he couldn't remember any other case his mother agreed with his father on… well, anything… He thought this deserves a monument…
His parents hurried to leave his small apartment. They made them promise to come over for lunch the next day and talk it through the celebration. Then Shikamaru's parents left and their son locked after them. Temari smiled:
"Your idea was great," she said.
"Yes," he nodded and reached out to her. "If they think we are married, they will leave us alone. Now, you know when they were young, it was not acceptable to have a sexual relationship before the marriage."
"Yeah, probably they thought we were about to take full advantage of our marriage for the first time." Temari nodded.
"Personally I don't need another one's company."
She took his hand. Then pulled him to her and shamelessly pressed her shape to his hard chest. His body reaction was immediate, which made her feel good and somehow empowered.
"I am obliged to inform you that my father noticed and knows about our little lie." He smiled.
"He did?" She was surprised.
"Almost right away."
"But why didn't he say a thing then?"
"Because he knows my mother and also prefers to spare himself a problem or two. He is aware we have a plan."
Temari looked at him. Sometimes his intellect really puzzled her.
"And when do you want to do the wedding for real?" he asked informatively.
"Hmmm…" She sighed and closed her eyes. It was so pleasant to be close to him, to hear and sense his heartbeat. "After the chuunin's exams?"
"In 8 months?" Shikamaru calculated. "I like that."
Temari raised her face to him. Then she reached up and let his hair loose, removing his band.
"I like your hair so much…" She gently tangled her fingers into the tar colored locks and pulled herself up.
Shikamaru was already well aware of that fact. His loose hair, framing tenderly his face, acted like an aphrodisiac to Temari. So he let himself be consumed by her passion, concentrated in a single kiss. He suspected deep down himself that this woman was passionate even the first time he laid his eyes on her many years back. Though the last thing he intentionally thought on the chuunin's exam then was he could have directly taken advantage of her passion someday. That particular idea has appeared in his head just recently. Maybe about half a year before the coma incident. He had dreamed about her one night. It was a really vivid dream as she had wrapped her thighs around his hip and had pulled him down for a mind-blowing kiss. From this night on, he seriously had started to plan to invite her on a date. He wasn't sure he was going to do it… But there was no need to guess anymore… Right now he lifted her up and took her to the little sofa. He intended to undress her completely and make her squirm while screaming his name in ragged breaths, begging him to bring her release. He grinned just like a predator stalking his innocent prey.
…
Tenten was smiling at her teammates and her teacher. She was so happy she was able to see them and talk to them. Those were the people she spent the last ten years with, those she spent most hours a day with, those who shared her wonderful and dangerous moments. Lee never stopped babbling and showered her with his undivided happy attention. She didn't think she would enjoy that so much, yet she did. Her teacher on the other hand was mostly sobbing. But Neji… He was sitting there, smiling sometimes. He was joining the conversation sometimes but mostly he was staying quiet.
When the dusk fell, there was time for them to part. Neji offered to send her home and she agreed… They wished good night to Lee and their teacher then headed down to her apartment.
Tenten has had an honest conversation about her feelings for Kankuro with Sakura, but she never mentioned Neji. She didn't want anyone to know about all of this because she didn't want Neji to get compassionate and sorry looks. She was aware he would hate those. Now she sighed and tried to make up her mind in a sentence.
"I was already late then." Said Neji quietly and smiled at her slightly.
She flinched and blushed just a bit.
"I can see your tension. I can see you are happy to see me, but what you feel is not only a joy. And I must say I have expected that…"
"Neji…" She gave him a crooked smile. "I am really sorry I am not able to return your feelings the way you would like to." She quietly confessed.
"I know you would like to… But the last thing I would like you to do is neglect your own feelings in my favour. There will be nothing good coming out of such a gesture." He shrugged.
Tenten didn't say anything but she gave him a grateful smile. Neji has come up with a sober conclusion and used mostly logic to get to a decision.
"Thank you, Neji…" she whispered.
"You certainly don't need to thank me." He smiled the slightest smile. "I am a grown up man, I will handle this. I doubt my affection for you will disappear though. It will most probably change a bit, just like yours have changed."
She nodded.
"Yes, I have realised I love you, Neji… Just not in the way I did years back, that's true."
"I am a bit sorry I didn't get it then. Though I definitely don't regret that you've found someone to love. And I really hope he loves you back." He genuinely smiled. "He is a lucky man."
Tenten couldn't hide the wave of sadness that washed over her suddenly, averting her face aside.
"What's wrong?" He asked, worried.
"There is a great chance he won't come back from the mission he is on now." She shared, quivering.
"There is always that option hanging, that's our way of life." He replied calmly.
"I know that, Neji. But this is different. If they are sensed, they will probably get killed. I am really afraid I am not going to see him ever again. And that hurts… really really hurts…" And then she just collapsed. Tears welled up in her eyes, ran down her cheeks. She tried to suppress her sobs, but failed miserably.
Neji gave her a compassionate hug. He hadn't really seen such an emotional reaction all that often. So he just stood like that, hugging her, waiting for her to get a grip of herself.
"I am sure he will do all that he can in order to survive and come back."
"I know that." She replied while wiping off her tears with her sleeve. "I am just afraid "all" maybe not enough."
Neji patted her back gently, trying to comfort her. It was weird that now he didn't feel even a bit of jealousy as he expected he would.
"No one knows that." He whispered. "But if something bad happens and he doesn't come back, you should return home. There are a lot of people here that love you and will support you no matter what."
She nodded, not able to say a thing…
…
Tenten had gone to Suna really early the previous morning. Temari had started to accept her as the only female friend she had at all. Now there was awareness she was going to miss her. And also she couldn't help but be worried if Tenten would be fine by herself on the way to Suna.
To ease her worry, she had got up really early this morning and decided she was going to surprise Shikamaru. She sneaked out from under his hand leaving him sleeping peacefully.
"Temari, what on earth are you doing?" Shikamaru asked, entering the kitchen.
"Ah, Shikamaru!" Even so untypically for her, yet she again blushed and tried to cover her actions. "You are up really early…"
"It is really hard to sleep when you have the feeling there is a whole herd of wild horses in your kitchen, you know…" He lazily scratched his neck and tried to see what was behind Temari's back, even though he suspected it already, judging by the smell…
"I am sorry, I will try to be quieter." Temari didn't move.
He sighed.
"Well, I am up anyway…" He approached and attempted to wrap his hands around her. "Let me help you?"
"Nara Shikamaru, I am more than capable of handling this." Temari stated and placed her palms on his bare chest to push him away.
He could finally peeked over her shoulder and his suspicions confirmed - she was trying to make pancakes. He grinned mischievously.
"Look, I just happened to get a really beautiful and extremely passionate fiancee…" He leaned down and kissed her forehead, completely ignoring her blush. "I would like to enjoy her for at least a few years before she loses part of herself while preparing me breakfast. Like a finger for example." Shikamaru grabbed her hand and kissed every one of her fingers. "I like your hands with 10 fingers, Temari."
She laughed.
"You do, don't you?" She asked with a daring smile. "Come here…"
Temari burrowed her fingers in his dishevelled hair and pulled him to her. She sealed his lips and pushed her tongue right in his mouth, seeking his. One of her hands slid shamelessly on his shoulders, going down his back, passing ahead over his hip, then descending even further to his lower abdomen.
"What are you doing?" He asked, taking a sharp breath.
"I was thinking I owed you for last night…" She said, taking his bottom lip between her teeth.
Shikamaru grinned. He had let his wild imagination loose last night driving her almost insane due to her senses overloading. She had passed out for a few minutes and that was indeed his doing. Right after she had recovered enough to speak, she had threatened to get back at him. He was sure she already made plans on that matter. The man was nothing but curious and plainly excited about those ideas of hers. He was sure he would enjoy every single second.
"Temari…" He murmured between two kisses while fighting to stay on guard regardless of the sensations her hand was causing caressing his arousal.
"Mmm?"
"The pan is burning…"
"What?" She needed a second to comprehend what he meant. "WHAT?!" She pulled her hand away from him, making him growl in disappointment, though fully ignoring that. The woman pushed him back, took the pan and stuck it under the running water of the sink.
"Ah well, we are going to eat sandwiches for a change this morning…" He said not at all sadly.
Temari bursted out laughing - they were eating sandwiches every morning…
