Sasuke stepped out of the club and into the street, the night breeze cooling him down somewhat. Sakura's performance had heated his blood past the point of being able to hide his feelings – and his body's reaction – to her. This whole mission, their first as a two-man team without Naruto and Kakashi, had brought to the surface all the things that had been smoldering underneath, refusing to be ignored and unacknowledged any longer.
It was bound to happen, he supposed. That all that repression and denial on his part would finally catch up. He could only hold back so much before more than a decade's worth of tangled emotions and tensions reached their tipping point and broke through his carefully crafted control.
Sakura, without even meaning to, always found a way to find the chinks in his armor.
They'd been treading a fraught line between friendship and something more for years, and eventually they would have to make a definitive, decisive step in one direction or the other. But if that black fury he'd felt at the club was any indication, when someone else had his hands all over Sakura, he knew now that he could never settle for just friendship.
Whatever may happen going forward, he knew this mission had changed things between them, caused a seismic shift in the complicated landscape of their bond. He felt like he was standing on the precipice of something, and he hoped Sakura would be there to freefall with him.
After ensuring that no one was trailing them, Sasuke headed to the narrow, nondescript alley they had decided on as their meeting place outside the club, once the hit was done. Relief washed over him when he found her already there, waving at him, huddled in her trenchcoat, still in those high heels she had worn for her dance number.
He noticed her shiver in the cool night air, and he remembered how little she wore underneath. His first thought was to bring her to shelter quickly, back to their room so she could warm herself and change into more substantial clothes. The said thought was followed, unbidden, by images of her twisting sinuously on the stage, and later in his lap, pressed so close he could lick the light sheen of sweat off her skin and tug that lace bra down with his teeth.
The duality wasn't lost on him, how Sakura could bring out in him both immeasurable affection and unspeakable desire.
She had always been the one thing that could distract him. His greatest weakness.
When he left her on that stone bench, so many years ago, it was because he needed undivided focus to become stronger, more skilled, more powerful, in his quest for vengeance. When he had placed her under a genjutsu, it was because he didn't want her to get in the way, and consequently get hurt in the crossfire, in his fight with Naruto. When he would stop by Konoha so fleetingly, in between his travels of atonement, it was because if he stayed any longer, if she moved any closer, he would stay until he forgot to leave.
But now, after finally coming home for good, maybe he could, at last, allow himself a chance at happiness. At love.
And both were intrinsically, inevitably linked to Sakura.
Sasuke reached for her hand, watching her like he would a skittish animal, gauging her reaction to the little gesture. When she didn't flinch or pull away, he felt pleased, mouth twitching at the wide-eyed look she cast at him, those tempting lips falling slightly open in surprise.
She smiled, luminous even in the dark, and he made a silent vow to cause more of those smiles, rather than be the reason for her tears.
And when she hugged him, giddy and beaming from their – her – successful mission, he wrapped his arms around her and returned the embrace, finding himself thankful that Naruto and Kakashi managed to convince him to agree to the prosthetic arm.
Kakashi had sagely advised him that he could do more things with two arms and two hands, and gifted him with a new Icha Icha Make Out Tactics editiondescribing in graphic detail the many such things. No loss of feeling, the recently-married Naruto had assured him, eyebrows waggling suggestively.
Sasuke had to agree, when his hand found hers again, noting the warmth of her fingers entwined in his, marveling at the feel of her slim, calloused hand, smooth but not soft, so fine-boned and yet so capable of monstrous strength, the hands of a healer who was also a warrior.
Walking briskly and wary of their surroundings, they made their way back to the inn where they had stashed their clothes and supplies.
When Sakura let go of his hand to rummage in her coat pockets for their room key, he felt strangely bereft.
xxxxxxx
Sakura inserted the key in the lock to their rented room. It was a small miracle she hadn't dropped it, what with her hand still remembering the feel of his, and Sasuke so close behind her that she could feel the heat from his body. She wondered briefly if Sasuke could hear the thumping in her chest, so loud to her own ears.
In a few seconds they would lock themselves in, the door separating them from the world outside, away from the accomplished mission, away from the roles they played, away from the teammate-friend status that was hanging by a thread. Soon it would be just them, Sasuke and Sakura, and everything between them that led to that whole episode in the club.
Her mind now cleared of the smoky, exhilarating rush of being swept up in undercover play-acting, Sakura remembered how she behaved back in the club, straying from the plan, grinding against him like a cat in heat. She cringed inwardly, face warm from embarrassment. What if he had gotten the impression that she had regressed to her infatuated, fangirly self?
But her mind replayed the other things, too. The way he'd stared at her. The feeling of his body, taut under the teasing touch of her lap dance. His hands gripping her waist. His erection pressed against her thinly-covered core, the groan that escaped his throat when she had rolled her hips.
They entered their modest room. It was softly lit, bathed in the golden yellow pinlights recessed into the four corners of the ceiling. So different from the bright, flashing lights of the club, where she was confident even with all eyes in the room on her, and yet here she felt nervous, with just him and the dark and the way he was looking at her like she was his.
She wondered faintly if maybe she had pushed him too far with her teasing.
Sasuke shut the door behind him, the decisive click of the lock the only sound in the small room. The illumination from the lights and the shadows of the entryway brought into sharp relief the chiseled angles of his face and form, making him look even more handsome and imposing that she felt weak-kneed and lightheaded. Sakura knew then that it was a fool's errand to ever try to pretend he didn't affect her anymore.
He'd been silent since they left the club, and she had no idea what was going on in his mind. He turned to face her, eyes hooded and stormy. Time seemed to stand still.
The air was between them was near-stifling, thick with something they couldn't name, rising, building, until she couldn't take the tension anymore and broke the charged silence with nervous chatter.
"Sasuke-kun. About earlier. I'm sorry I went off-script, I was carried away by the role and I'm sorry if I made you uncomf— "
Suddenly she was slammed against the wall and Sasuke's lips were on hers, silencing her with a rough, searing kiss. She froze, unable to react out of sheer shock, her brain still processing the fact that Sasuke was kissing her. When his lips moved insistently over hers, one hand roaming her back and the fingers of the other digging into her hip, her awareness caught up and she was spurred into action, kissing him back with equal fervor.
The dam had finally broken, unable to contain any more all the things they had held back over the years, the suppressed feelings and unfulfilled desires turning incendiary. One arm snaked around her waist, pulling her body flush against his, and her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, trying to pull him even closer. Her other hand slid through his hair, carding her fingers through the messy, spiky strands at the back of his head.
He nipped at her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to him, granting him access, and his tongue swept past her lips, hungry and seeking. When her tongue met and tangled tentatively with his, he groaned into her mouth and his hands grabbed her hips, tugging her forward until their lower bodies connected. She squeaked in surprise when she felt him hard against her stomach, even through the thick fabric of her coat. Hard again.
Heat coursed through her, and her head spun with the realization that his reaction during the lap dance was no fluke. That she really could draw that kind of reaction from him. That he desired her and wanted her, beyond platonic friendship, beyond the professional relationship of being teammates.
They broke apart briefly for air, and she breathed in the scent of him; woodsmoke and fire, from his elemental type, and a clean, natural musk underneath that was all him. Fingernails scraping his nape, she dragged him back down to her lips, desperate to memorize the taste of him, as if it this might somehow turn out to be just a dream.
Sasuke's kisses grew more demanding, even more urgent. He plundered her mouth, tongue slipping inside again, pushing deeper, but she fought back, giving as good as she got, the heat and want between them escalating out of control. Her arms twined around his neck, clinging to him as his touch became bolder.
The hand on her hip had moved to her ass, squeezing her, and the other traveled down the outer curve of her clothed thigh. He lifted her off the ground easily, and she wrapped her legs around his waist by instinct.
Eager hands digging into the backs of her thighs to support her, Sasuke walked them to the bed without breaking the kiss, and sat them down on the edge of the bed.
She was glad she wasn't standing at the moment, because stringing together the words Sasuke and bed in a single sentence made her dizzy. She had imagined this. Tucked it carefully into the corner of her mind that had hoped for his return. Maybe not this exact scenario, but she'd always imagined him as her first. Wanted him to be her first.
She uncrossed her ankles and settled on his lap, her knees sinking into the bed on either side of his hips.
Sasuke's lips left hers to press a line of kisses along her jaw, then down the side of her neck, his hands rhythmic along her sides. Her mouth fell open, taking little shallow breaths, a tightening feeling unfurling throughout her body.
"I- I was thinking about you," she admitted, drunk on his attentions. "Up on the stage. Before the— before the lap dance."
"Did you now." Sasuke pulled back, looking both curious and pleased. A slow, sideways smile lifted the corner of his mouth. His gaze turned predatory, knowing he had her backed into a corner. "And what about me exactly were you thinking of?"
She ducked her head, cheeks burning, hoping the lights were dim enough that he wouldn't notice how red she was. "Let's keep it at that, Sasuke-kun. It's embarrassing."
"Tell me, Sakura," he said in her ear, biting the skin just below it.
It was a command more than a plea, and she shivered at his tone even as she felt the heat in her cheeks spread down her neck and chest. She wondered dazedly if it was possible to blush so much to the point that she would spontaneously combust.
She gripped the lapels of his suit even tighter, as if she wanted to hide her face in it. "That you were the only one in the room." She glanced away, past his shoulders, looking at anything but him. "That I was stripping just for you." It came out in a rush, barely a whisper. Any softer and he might not have heard it.
But he did, and the sound he made did warm, strange things to her belly. He stroked her cheek and turned her face back to him, like she did to him earlier that night when she discovered the effect her lap dance had on him.
He tilted her chin up, forcing her to look at him. "I was thinking the same thing." She stared at him, noticed the way his eyes flashed at her, territorial and possessive. "Wanted to be the only one who could see you. Wantd to drag you out of that place and bring you here and have my way with you."
Sakura was suddenly aware that they were in the same position as they were back in the club, she straddling his lap, Sasuke hard and aroused between her thighs.
Sasuke's fingers moved to the first button of her coat, about to wrench it open.
"Sasuke-kun, wait," she said softly.
His hands stilled. "Sorry," he exhaled. He rested his forehead against hers, breathing rapidly as he tried to regain some semblance of control. "Shit. I'm sorry. Was I going too fa—
"No, no," she reassured him. "That's— that's not what I meant." She kissed him to let him know she was okay with this, then trailed her lips to his ear before flicking her tongue over his earlobe. He jerked under her, the hold on her hips vise-like.
"Let me continue?" she whispered.
When she pulled back to look at his face, his brow was knit in confusion but he nodded. She slid off his lap and he let her go. His hands fell away, and the loss of their warm roughness on her skin made her ache for his touch again.
Sakura slinked backward a few feet away, a slight sway to her hips.
Her hand drifted to her coat's topmost button, just below the hollow of her throat. She slipped the button from its hole.
Then the second one.
Sasuke's eyes widened, then darkened dangerously, as it hit him, what she meant by continuing. She meant to continue the striptease she had started at the club.
Just for him.
She tried to steady her trembling fingers, focusing instead on the way his intense gaze followed their descent down her front.
The rest of the buttons opened, one by one, until the coat was completely unbuttoned. Sakura rolled her shoulders back, and the coat fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.
Like on the stage, she was down to her nearly see-through, skimpy white lace underwear.
His throat bobbed.
The scorching stare that swept over her was exactly the way he had looked at her in the club, a heady mix of reverent and carnal. There was no target to attend to now, no raucous crowd to be conscious of; here, there was only each other.
His arms were tense at his sides, as if trying to restrain himself from grabbing her.
She was determined to make it difficult for him.
Sakura's fingers travelled to the left strap of her bra, and tugged it tantalizingly down her shoulder. The right strap followed, leaving her bra precariously close to falling.
With a coy smile, she hugged herself and crossed her arms over her ribcage, just below her breasts, keeping the bra from dropping, but it had the effect of pushing her breasts up, accentuating the cleavage she had displayed at the show.
Sasuke was looking at her so intently that she squirmed, squeezing her thighs together. The movement drew his attention to their apex, covered only by the flimsiest scrap of lace, and she nearly mewled when his tongue involuntarily darted out to lick his lips.
Forging ahead with her impromptu private show, she turned around in an about-face so that her back was to him. She reached both arms behind her and unfastened the hooks of her bra. Peeling the lacy garment completely off her arms, she held it up by the strap, playfully waving it, before tossing it to the floor.
She looked over her bare shoulder and threw Sasuke another coquettish smile, biting her lip.
His hands fisted in the bedsheets.
Sakura was topless now, and the cold air of the room stiffened her nipples into peaks. She made a show of her hands slowly shaping the sides of her breasts, following the curve of her waist, to finally resting on her hips, drawing attention to the hourglass of her figure.
Hooking her thumbs on the sidestrings of her underwear, she shimmied her panties off her hips and down her thighs. Bending over at a slightly exaggerated angle to emphasize her ass, she finally slid the lace panties even lower until they joined her coat on the floor.
With the courage of the damned, she took a deep breath and turned around slowly to face him once more, baring herself completely naked to his gaze.
Sasuke's eyes were sharingan red.
"Beautiful." His voice was husky yet tender. "So fucking beautiful."
The sharingan glowed, tomoe spinning.
She blushed furiously at the implication, that he was filing this away in his mind. "Sasuke-kun…"
"Just making a memory," he breathed.
He was staring at her like a man starved.
It was gratifying to see the image before her. Her medic's eye noted the rapid rise and fall of his chest, his slightly parted lips, his pupils blown wide. Took in the sight of him, jagged hair even more mussed, expression fiery with longing and torment, his normally stoic exterior splintered to pieces by her.
"I'm feeling awfully overdressed, Sasuke-kun," she teased, more confident than she felt, looking at him from beneath lowered lashes. "Quite unfair, really."
Smirking at her bold remark, he held her gaze, then shrugged off his black suit. The black tie followed, then his white buttondown shirt, tossing the garment to the floor. Her eyes swept over his lean, sculpted form. The strength in his broad shoulders, the corded muscles of his arms, the ridges of his abdomen. The scars littering his biceps and torso only made him more attractive, carved him into the man he had become, lent a harsh-edged ruggedness to his masculine beauty.
His voice cut into her own frank admiration. "Can I touch you, Sakura?" he asked hoarsely, sounding strained.
Fire shot through Sakura's veins, and all she could feel was the overwhelming need for him to touch her now.
"Please."
Her senses barely registered the shunshin. Suddenly he was in front of her, closing the distance between them in a split second. He flash-stepped, flickering like heat haze, and the next thing she knew she was flat on her back on the bed, Sasuke caging her body from above her.
It wasn't the first time she'd seen him from this angle; she'd lost count of the number of times he had knocked her flat and pinned her underneath him during a spar, lingering a second too long to make her wonder, but pulling away a moment too soon to make her doubt, leaving her breathless from both the exertion of the spar and the firm weight of his body holding her down.
Now, she was not given room to doubt. This time, he didn't pull away.
Sasuke sank his fingers in her hair and tugged her head back, baring her neck to his mouth. He spent more time there, as if trying to clear away any associated bad memories, replacing them with better ones. She knew what he was trying to do, appreciated him even more for it, so she turned her head to the side, offering more access, offering her trust. Her arms came up around him, hands caressing up and down his back, feeling his muscles shift under her palms with every movement.
His lips trailed hot, open-mouthed kisses down the column of her throat, breath warm on her skin. He peppered kisses all over, each press of his lips both apologetic and worshipful.
His mouth mapped the sensitivities of her neck until she was undulating restlessly against him, eyes squeezed shut and lips parted in bliss. He worked his way over her jaw, nibbling and licking all over neck, teeth scraping against her skin. He licked over a spot near her pulse point, then sucked hard enough to leave a mark.
Sakura bit her lip, suppressing a whimper.
Sasuke paused and moved back up to her face. He tilted her chin up and ran his thumb across her reddened lower lip, freeing it of the abuse from her teeth. From the reproachful look on his face, he didn't want her to be quiet, wasn't going to let her hold back the sounds of her pleasure.
"Let me hear you. I want to hear you."
She nodded, cheeks stained pink.
"Good."
As if to test her agreement, Sasuke returned to the path he was tracing. Sucking and biting his way down her neck, across her collarbone, down the valley between her breasts.
And then he closed his lips over a nipple, and flicked it with his tongue.
"Sasuke-kun!" she gasped, arching her body towards his mouth, the fingers of one hand digging into his bicep, the fingers of the other burying into his hair to keep him where he was.
Sasuke hummed with approval. He continued licking and sucking at her, while a hand played with the other nipple, rolling and pinching it between thumb and forefinger, the bindings wound around his left hand creating a delicious friction against the sensitive bud. He switched his attentions, and she couldn't stop the sounds that tore from her even if she tried.
She gazed down just in time to catch him looking up at her, nipple between his teeth and a determined gleam in his eyes.
Sasuke's hands continued their possessive exploration of her body, cupping both breasts, kneading them, filling his hands with her flesh, splaying across her ribs, skating along her sides, rounding her hips. The feel of his hands – one calloused, one linen-bound – and their differing textures against her bare skin made her tingle and thrash, her fingers bunching the sheets in a white-knuckled grip.
Both of them were little more than graceless, but what they lacked in experience they made up for in passion and years of pent-up desire and frustration. They were nins, the nature of their profession making them well-versed in the language of the body, and both of them had always been preternaturally quick learners. Sasuke, in particular, had always been attuned to her — her presence, her movements, even her location in the battlefield.
And it was that awareness that he would put to wicked use now, cataloguing every sound she made, every reaction of her body to his ministrations. It seemed he had made it his mission to learn her body and the different ways to make her unravel and come undone.
Sakura barely had time to catch her breath when she felt a hand move lower. Down, down, until they reached the juncture of her thighs.
He palmed her between her legs, letting out a growl when he discovered how wet she was. A strangled cry escaped her when his fingers slid down the slick line of her slit, dipping lightly into the drenched folds. "So wet for me, Sakura," he hissed.
He pushed a finger past her entrance. "So tight."
Her breath was coming in gasps when he added a second finger inside her, then ragged cries when his mouth was back on her nipple to suck at her in tandem with the strokes of his fingers.
When he found her clit, she shuddered almost violently, curling into herself, clutching at his arm.
He kissed her again as if to soothe her, reclaiming her mouth, swallowing her moans.
She felt him pull back, and when she forced her eyes open to see why, she found that he was watching her, his jaw slack, pupils dilated, red irises burning. He watched the pleasure flit across her face, watched the instinctual rolling of her hips in time with the rhythm of his fingers. Sasuke was studying her like a particularly complicated jutsu, and the thought of that single-minded focus trained on her made her quiver.
He pumped his fingers in and out of her, slowing down, speeding up, letting her shyly guide him, and also trying different things, testing what worked. He soon found a rhythm, and his thumb rubbing her clit again and again and his fingers fucking her faster and faster sent her over the edge, his name spilling from her lips.
When she opened her eyes again, Sasuke was staring down at her with wonder, and want, and something that looked a lot like— like he might actually —
The thought was lost because Sasuke was on her again, determined to draw out a repeat. If earlier he wanted to learn how to make her come, this time he wanted to see if he could replicate his success.
He bit at her hip then soothed it with his tongue before sucking a bruise into the skin.
"Sakura," he murmured against the soft flesh just above her belly button. "I want to try something." Sakura twisted in his hold. She had to get him back up to her mouth, so she could kiss him again, because he was so embarrassingly close to down there —
Sasuke grasped the underside of her legs and lifted them, hooking them with his arms then draping them over his shoulders. Trapping her, keeping her right where he wanted. She felt so exposed like this, her most intimate place held open to his gaze.
Turning his head slightly, he slowly mouthed his way up the inside of her thigh, then along the crease.
"Sasuke-kun! What are you doi—" she broke off into a high-pitched wail as she felt Sasuke's tongue lick at her. He varied his speed and pressure, guided by her gasps and the writhing of her hips. His mouth teased her with sinful eagerness, sucking at her, tongue flicking and circling.
And when he somehow thought to combine the strokes of his tongue with the pumping of his fingers inside her, she didn't recognize the utterly wanton moan that ripped from her throat. She squirmed, almost trying to move away from the overstimulation, but he held her firmly, affording her no escape from the onslaught of his lips and tongue and fingers.
Sakura's eyes rolled back as he feasted on her, licking the letters of his name into her folds, pumping his fingers into her, and when his lips found her clit and sucked, her mind blanked and she came again with a scream, head thrown back and thighs shaking around his ears and fingers buried in his hair.
When she came back to herself, breathing hard like she had run through the Five Villages, he was on his side, wearing a smug, self-satisfied smirk.
Intending to wipe it off his stupidly perfect face, she propped herself up and lay on top of him, breasts pressed against his chest. His bound arm automatically circled her waist. She brushed her lips against his jaw, kissed slowly down the side of his neck, licked him just below his ear. His hands flew to her hips, holding her in place as he bucked up against her. A low moan vibrated from him when she trailed a path southward with her lips and tongue to return the favor, but he took a deep, restraining breath and hauled her up.
"You don't have to," he said.
She ran a finger down a lean, muscled arm. "But I want to make you feel good, too."
"You already have."
The serious, unguarded look made her heart stutter.
And then —
"Next time."
Sakura blinked down at him. That next time had her nearly hyperventilating, both at the idea that there would be a next time, and that he was already thinking of a next time.
Sasuke looked mildly amused at the wide-eyed expression she knew she had on her face.
"You have no idea," he said darkly, eyes tracing the drag of his thumb across her lips, "how often I've thought of your mouth on my cock."
Her breath hitched, heat flaring through her as if he had set her alight with Katon.
"Then let me touch you, at least."
She straddled him, hands sliding to his belt. His breathing grew heavy when she unbuckled it, cursing softly when her hand brushed against his clothed erection before unzipping him and helping him shuck off his trousers.
Both naked now, both knowing that they had well and truly crossed over into new yet somehow inevitable territory, he stared into her eyes, his jagged black hair falling over his forehead. She rolled her hips, her soaked folds rubbing against his cock, and their moans mingled into a single sound.
She ran her hands all over the pale, firm expanse of his chest. Sasuke held still under her, staring at her breasts, fingers digging roughly into her hips, panting softly while her fingers explored his torso, tracing each raised scar and each ripple of muscle.
Tentatively, she reached down between them, and wrapped her hand around his cock.
"Fuck." Sasuke sucked in a breath, eyes falling shut with a deep, guttural groan that sent something hot and swirling low in her body.
Encouraged by his reaction, she played with him, twisting her wrist, pumping the shaft, sliding her thumb over the head, listening to the sounds that each movement of her hand elicited from him. He showed her how he touched himself, guiding her hand then letting her experiment with her touches. She studied him as he had studied her.
His cock was so hard, so hot in her hand, and he was bucking into the circle of her fingers, obviously holding back but unable to keep completely still. She watched his eyes glaze over from pleasure, his jaw tightly clenched, his arms tense from self-control.
And when she gripped him tighter, twisted her wrist just so, he made such a raw, desperate sound that she felt another rush of arousal wash through her, liquid heat pooling at her center.
She started stroking him faster when Sasuke seized her wrist in an iron grip.
He rolled her onto her back, and sat up on his knees, looming over her.
Her eyes widened a little in alarm, searching his face. "Did I do something wrong?"
"No. Nothing wrong." A harsh exhale. "I'm… not going to last long if you keep doing that."
He had already made her feel so good, the pleasure almost too much, but somehow it was still not enough. She needed him closer. She needed all of him. Wanted all of him.
And he seemed to want all of her.
"Sakura—" he started, voice rough with want. He looked down at her, red eyes full of need and asking for permission. "Do you want to—"
"Yes, yes, inside me, please—"
His eyes were hot and hungry when he slid his knee between her thighs. She parted them for him immediately, then he slotted himself between them, spreading her open.
She saw him pause, taking in how she must have looked – splayed on the bed, wet and wanting him. The tomoe of the Sharingan spun, and Sasuke's gaze raked over her, leaving her skin burning in its wake and flushed under his scrutiny.
She felt the head of his cock rubbing her clit, nudging her entrance, working his way into her body. "Oh god, Sasuke-kun—"
Choked curses fell across her skin from above her as Sasuke pressed forward, pushing into her slowly inch by inch until he sheathed himself to the hilt.
Her mouth fell open, taking in little lungfuls of air as she adjusted to the feel of him fully inside her, stretching her, filling her completely.
His eyes fluttered shut, and she took that moment to steal a glance at him. Aristocratic features drawn tight, seemingly gathering his self-restraint. Sweat beading at his brow. Lips parted in pleasure.
He looked to her and she nodded, the initial discomfort having faded somewhat.
He withdrew, then eased himself back in gently with a groan. She saw his jaw clench, gritting his teeth as he moved and pushed into her, repeatedly but carefully, the string of curses from the back of his throat making her even wetter.
"So fucking tight," he rasped.
She shifted her hips upward the next time he rocked into her, and her eyes widened, a jolt of pleasure shooting through her. "More," she gasped.
They started moving together, slow at first then increasing in pace.
It was feeling better and better for her, the ache almost gone, replaced mostly by pleasure now.
She knew he was trying not to hurt her, but she didn't want him to hold back. She wanted everything he could give her.
She reached up to cup his cheek. "You can go faster. If you want. I won't break."
His hips pistoned faster, fiery eyes watching her mouth fall open and her hands scrabble at the sheets.
"Like this?" he growled.
"Yes," she said breathlessly. "And harder."
A whine left her lips when he pulled almost completely, cock dragging against her inner walls, keeping only the tip inside her, then a loud cry when he sharply yanked her hips to him just as he thrust forward.
She dazedly hoped that the neighboring room was empty, because their headboard had just banged against the wall.
Sasuke's hand hitched her thigh up for leverage, and he began fucking her in earnest.
He trailed his other hand upward to squeeze her breasts and strum her nipples, then moved from her breast to grip her neck, fingers curling gently around it. Her throat bobbed and pulse fluttered under his palm, his thumb brushing against the soft skin just below her jaw while he pounded into her.
She didn't think it was possible to come again. She simply wanted all of him, to have him as close to her as possible, to let Sasuke find his pleasure in her body, to make him feel as good as he made her feel.
But the pressure low in her body was building up again, overwhelming heat and pleasure spiraling throughout her body.
"Sasuke-kun, I think I-I'm—"
"One more, Sakura. Together."
He leaned forward, body covering hers, the hand on her thigh gripping so hard she was sure it would leave a bruise. The other hand left her neck to pin her hand to the sheets, fingers entwining with hers as he sped up his thrusts, fucking her harder.
She clung to him desperately, long legs wrapping around his waist and her free hand clawing at his back, anchoring herself to him even as he dragged them under a current of ecstasy.
Completely lost to the sensations, her entire awareness narrowed to Sasuke, nothing existing beyond their connection, and the feel of him, and—.
And the way he looked at her, like she had just granted him absolution.
She had been moaning, sounds pulled from deep in her belly, but as Sasuke drove into her relentlessly, harder and faster, she was reduced to incoherent sounds and staccato, gasping breaths.
He was rasping broken words of adoration in her ear with each thrust, his mouth brushing against her skin with every snap of his hips.
"—beautiful—so good—fucking perfect—don't deserve you—I love you—"
At those last words, at that particularly deep thrust that accompanied them, Sakura shattered, crying out his name as her walls tightened and clenched around him.
Her climax undid him, his movements growing sharper and erratic, panting and tensing until his body seized and stilled. Sasuke came inside her with a savage, guttural shout, and when he finished he rolled Sakura on top of him to drape her body over his.
Sated and content, languorous from sex — love — , they slept better than they had in years.
Xxxxxxx
Morning light streamed through the small window of their room, reminding them that they had to head back to Konoha.
"Maybe we could stay an extra day?" Sakura murmured sleepily. She stretched, snuggled further back into Sasuke's embrace, then felt something poking at her backside. "Sasuke-kun!" she gasped, scandalized. She was sticky between her thighs, pleasantly sore, aching in places she didn't know could ache.
Sasuke chuckled, a low, rumbling sound that made her feel warm all over. "You're lucky I'm not ravishing you right now. I'm being considerate."
"I created a monster." She elbowed him, giggling. She liked seeing this side of him – lighter, more expressive, less burdened by the weight of his sins.
"Don't go on a mission like that again."
Sakura turned her head back to pout at him in protest. "Hey! I think I did a pretty good job."
"Aa," he acknowledged. "You did. But that's not what I meant and you know it." He tightened the arm slung around her waist, pulling her even closer to him, and buried his nose in her hair.
He seemed to reconsider. "Hn. Fine."
Sakura felt his lips curve into a smirk against her nape.
"As long as I get to watch."
