Something More

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you all enjoy this chapter.

Chapter 7

Suki couldn't believe that Suigetsu was kissing her! He was kissing her and it felt good. Really, really good.

That wasn't a word that she had used much lately. It was an accurate one in this case though. His lips were warm and rougher than hers, but she liked that. He also tasted like cinnamon candy for some reason. She wasn't sure why.

"Mmm." She sighs in pleasure at the kiss, but breaks it in favor of breathing.

It was a tough call. Oxygen or kissing. Which was more important?

Somewhere in the back of her mind, Suki knew that kissing him was a bad idea. It was too easy to form an attachment to someone that you were kissing and attachments were very dangerous right now. Much to her chagrin, Suki's hormones had decided to overrule her mind at least for a little while.

"You've never really been kissed before, have you?" Suigetsu asks as he changes their position.

Suki blinks as she was now underneath him. She might not be particularly experienced when it came to romantic affairs, but the Uchiha woman knew enough to realize that this was escalating quickly. Perhaps too quickly.

"Not really. Why? Did I do it wrong?" She asks, suddenly feeling rather self-conscious.

Naruto was the only boy that she had kissed and even that didn't really cont. It had been an accident and the two of them had broken apart as quickly as possible. Was she a bad kisser?

"No, Princess. You were doing it very right. It's just that you know you can breathe through your nose when you kiss. That way you don't have to stop as quickly." The other ninja informs her.

"Ohhh. Good to know." The raven haired woman replies.

She was blushing. Suki could feel her face burning with embarrassment. Her technique apparently fine, but Suki had made a Rookie Mistake. A mistake that had easily shown her to be as inexperienced as she was.

"Yeah. Figured that might be good to let you know." He tells her before kissing her again.

Suki feels herself smiling into the kiss, despite the situation. This was crazy. She really shouldn't be kissing him, but it just felt so good.

The fact that he was on top of her now, made it better somehow. Suki doubted that she could really articulate the reason why, but the feeling of body against hers made her feel safe. Safe and warm.

"Well I probably would have figured it out. Eventually." She whispers between kisses as she wraps her arms around his neck.

He was definitely bigger than her. Suki had shot up early on. When she left the Leaf, she was still taller than most of the boys her age. That edge she had on the Leaf boys originally, that was definitely gone by now.

Suigetsu was taller than her. He was just bigger than her physically. While he wasn't nearly as massive as Jugo, it was still fairly significant. Suki wasn't sure why, but she found that erotic.

"I'm sure that you would have." He breaks the kiss just long enough to tell her, before returning to it.

Suki feels herself moan into the affectionate gesture when she feels his tongue brush against hers. That was new. Hmm. This was even better with tongues, she decides and shyly brushes hers against his.

Suigetsu smirks and Suki knew why. The violet eyed ninja now knew that she was as into it as he was. That probably wasn't a good thing, but that knowledge didn't stop her body from responding to him all the same.

"Hate to do it, but Jugo and Karin are probably going to come barging in any minute. I doubt you really want to listen to her shrieking, if she sees us sucking face." He says as he reluctantly stops.

"Did you seriously just refer to kissing as sucking face?" Suki asks with a raised eyebrow.

"Well yeah. What else would you call it? Don't look all huffy. You're really good at it." Suigetsu says.

Suki didn't know whether to laugh, roll her eyes, or just gape at him. It was just such a Suigetsu thing to say. Well she supposed that there was another benefit to being on Taka. She was apparently never going to be bored.

"I don't get huffy, but you're right. Karin would never let either of us hear the end of it. That and I'm not feeling cruel enough to have Jugo get caught in the middle of our spats with her." The raven haired woman says with a sigh.

"That's true. Jugo is a good guy. Well he's a good guy, most of the time anyway. No need to have him get in the middle of her shrieking." Suigetsu says thoughtfully.

"Mhm." Suki agrees with the violet eyed ninja.

She wasn't really sure what to say. Suki had just had her first real kiss with someone. Well a lot of first kisses really and he definitely wasn't her boyfriend.

The last female Uchiha wasn't completely naïve. She knew that she'd eventually need to revive her Clan and she was more than familiar enough with the basics of what that would entail. Suki just hadn't given much thought to the actual revival process before.

"So you wanna do this again sometime? When they aren't breathing down our neck?" He asks.

She hadn't really thought about whether or not she would actually enjoy BEING with her lover. Suki wanted her family back desperately and it was her sacred duty to keep her family's name alive. Whether she liked it or not, hadn't factored into the equation much.

"Mmm I'll think about it. Now, get off of me before they see us." She whispers.

Naturally, she had always assumed that she would try to find someone who didn't annoy her. Someone who was good with kids. Someone who was strong and preferably at least reasonably intelligent.

Passion had been towards the bottom of her list of requirements in a husband. That's in the rare event she pondered the topic at all. Now, Suki was pretty sure that she was going to have to revaluate that.

"You might want to be careful how you phrase things. That could be taken the wrong way. You told me to stop and then told me to get off. Those are conflicting signals, Princess." He says with a smirk.

SMACK. In hindsight, he probably should have seen her coming. The dirty joke, had likely been a bridge too far. Suigetsu couldn't help it though. Suki was really hot when she got angry. He couldn't resist winding her up.

"You are SUCH a pervert!" Suki growls at him.

Oh yeah. That growling thing was sexy as Hell. He should probably get her to do that more. Though it was going to be a challenge to walk the line between Sexy Growls and Chidoris.

"Maybe, but you weren't complaining a few minutes ago." He retorts happily.

"Ahhh! You're impossible!" Suki practically snarls at him as she goes to find Karin and Jugo.

Suigetsu smirks as he watches her walk away. It had been awhile since he had a goal besides the swords, but now he had one. Well more accurately, now he had someone. Kinda.

Oh he was still going to get those swords. There was no way he was going to give up on that, but now he had something else to do besides that. This should be fun.

"Particularly finding out what else she normally wears besides red silk." He muses to himself.

Meanwhile Naruto and the rest of the Retrieval Team were planning their next move. Their encounter with Suki and Taka hadn't gone the way they hoped. Naruto had really thought that they would be on their way back to the Leaf by now.

"They fight like a team." Sakura says almost mournfully.

The blonde didn't need to guess why. Once again, he was forced to face the fact that Suki had CHOSEN this team. She wanted to be part of Taka.

That hadn't been the case with Team Seven though. Suki had just been assigned to be on the same squad as him and Sakura. Naruto knew that meant SOMETHING to the last Uchiha, but he didn't know how much and that was a scary thought.

"Yeah. They do. They have the big one to go berserk. The red head helps to heal them. Suki is a powerhouse and that white haired one is crazy." Kiba observes.

Naruto sighs and nods. He couldn't really argue with that assessment. Kiba was right. That did sum up Taka rather well. The only question that remained was what were they going to do about it?

"Do we have any idea where they might have gone?" Neji asks.

The Jinchuuriki shakes his head. As much as he hated to say to say it, she could be anywhere by now. Though the fact that Suki had been injured probably limited the possibilities.

"Not really. We need to start looking though. Even with Karin's help, Suki took a pretty hard hit." He mutters.

Naruto hadn't meant to hit HER, but Suki had jumped in front of Suigetsu. She had taken the hit for the other ninja. The last female Uchiha had protected him and Naruto wanted to know why.

Were they actually dating? He couldn't really imagine Suki dating anyone, but he supposed anything was possible. She sure seemed concerned about his safety.

"That's true. Let's fan out and see if we can't find her!" Sakura says.

There were murmurs of agreement and just like that, the large team takes off. They take off in search of Suki and Taka. They had to find her and bring her back somehow.

Maybe, she was just trying to protect her teammate out of principle though. He was her comrade now. Suki had saved him from Haku once. That might be what was going on in her mind.

"What a drag. Don't worry, we'll find them." Shikamaru says as he flits off next to Naruto.

He'd never forget her cry of pain though. Naruto would never be able to get that out of his head. He had hit a comrade. He had hit one of his friends. That was just wrong.

"Yeah. I know. We aren't going to leave her with those creeps. It's bad enough that she went with Orochimaru, but now she's traveling with his rejects?" Naruto demands.

That went against everything that he'd ever believed in. One day, he was going to be Hokage. Hokages protected Leaf Villagers, they didn't attack him.

On some level, the Jinchuuriki realized that he was being ridiculous. He hadn't intentionally harmed Suki, but he had. Naruto couldn't fully moved beyond that very simple and disturbing fact.

"Naruto, don't allow your personal feelings to cloud your judgment. Every one of those ninjas is formidable in their own right. These people are not to be underestimated." Shino says.

"Shino, you've started talking a lot more since you got assigned to this mission. I'm proud of you!" Naruto exclaims happily.

Truthfully, the blonde needed a distraction and he was grateful to Shino for unintentionally providing him with one. He didn't want to think about his mistake. He just needed something else to focus on as they looked for Taka.

Naruto couldn't help but laugh at Shino's annoyed expression. The other ninja did the whole looking annoyed thing really well. Naruto just wasn't nearly as good at it.

At that same time, Itachi was debating about what to do. He could confront them and that had been his original plan, but he wasn't entirely certain it was a good one. There was still the matter of Obito.

Well his original name was Obito. These days he normally went by Madara or Tobi. Half the time he played the part of a simpleton. The other half of the time he had taken on the name of their infamous ancestor. It was all quite clever, if one stopped to think about it long enough.

"I wonder if he even knows who he is anymore." Itachi whispers to himself as he watches Taka from that window once more.

Itachi wasn't entirely certain, what Obito knew anymore. Could the man distinguish reality from his sly moves? It was possible that he was slipping into madness. That was the only logical explanation for what he was planning.

He wanted to create his own reality. That was surely the very definition of insanity. Not that Itachi could entirely blame him. The man's current reality was far from pleasant and neither was his own.

"That doesn't mean that he should get to decide everyone's fate though." He murmurs as he has his crow glance more into the window.

What he saw was even more irritating in some ways than Obito's plotting. The sword lover definitely was not keeping his hands to himself. Apparently, Suki must have decided to make him her boyfriend or the violet eyed ninja was seducing his sister.

His baby sister. His ONLY sister. The girl who he used to give piggyback rides to when she was a child. The sweet child who had followed him everywhere with her huge bubble eyes. That was who Suigetsu had the gall to seduce!

"She's far too young for such things." He growls in annoyance.

Perhaps he should confront them. He could die before Obito spilled the beans. Suki would take his eyes and then his eyes would protect her from their relative.

It was the perfect plan. Perhaps it was time to set it in motion. To Itachi, the decision seemed like an absolutely logical one. There was just one problem. He had to get them away from civilians first in order to minimize causalities.

Itachi watches with some amusement when he sees Suki smack Suigetsu and head off. The eldest Uchiha Sibling could only assume that she was going to find their other teammates. Good.

The sword lover needed to learn to keep his hands to himself. That was his baby sister. She should be treated with respect! With that thought in mind, he has the crow leave a note on the ledge and instruct it to sneak off. Once that was accomplished the crow caws and flies off.

"What the?" The snowy haired ninja asks in confusion when he hears the sound of a bird.

Curios, he quickly looks around. That's when he saw something on the window. Upon further inspection, it was a note.

Foolish Little Sister,

You really shouldn't let your guard down like that. Just because you have found yourself a boyfriend, doesn't make you safe. Unless it is your desire to restore our Clan before our final battle, you can find me at the Valley of the End. I thought that it was most fitting.

Itachi Uchiha

"That pervert was watching us!" Suigetsu hisses under his breath.

On the other side of their suite, Suki was completely unaware of a certain sword lover's frustration. She was currently chatting with Karin about where they would go next. After all, they did have to decide sooner or later.

That and speaking with the other woman gave her a chance to collect her thoughts. Suki didn't know what she was going to do about the Suigetsu Situation. She had kissed him. A lot. Did that mean they were dating?

Did them kissing mean anything to him? He was a Criminal Ninja. Maybe, it had just been fun for him. Maybe, Suigetsu was just messing with her head. Who could really say?

"Suki, are you alright? Your lip is all puffy." Karin observes.

That was the moment when Suki begins to blush. The last female Uchiha knew when it happened because she could feel it. Her face was burning with embarrassment.

She bites her lower lip and curses her luck. Damn it. She was blushing now and Karin knew it. How was she supposed to come up with a suitable excuse to justify her blushing and slightly swollen lip on the spot? It seemed like such an impossible task.

"Yes, Karin. I'm fine." She mumbles.

Whatever she was going to do or not do with Suigetsu was really none of her business. She felt bad for what Karin had gone through, but the red head didn't have anything to do with them. That and she'd never hear the end of it, if the other girl realized what they had just been doing.

Suigetsu was right about one thing. Karin was loud. Very loud. He had nicknamed her Banshee for a good reason. She certainly was fully capable of living up to it, whenever the mood struck her.

"You sure? You're turning pretty red. Do you have a favor?" Karin asks in concern.

"Yeah I'm sure and maybe." Suki semi lies with ease.

The raven haired woman was certain that she would be fine. The fever part though, well that had been a lie or something very close to it. A maybe wasn't telling the full truth. At best, it was leaving Karin to draw her own and likely incorrect conclusions.

"Karin, I don't think Suki wants to talk about it. There's no point in forcing the issue." Jugo says with a smile.

Ah thank goodness. Thank goodness for Jugo. He really was her Shield. That was excellent shielding. She really should do something nice for him later.

Suki wasn't really sure what she could do for the gentle giant though. Maybe, she could find him some clothes that fit? It'd be better than having him walk around wearing curtains all day. Yeah. That sounded like a good idea.

"Hey! We're teammates. We're supposed to help each other. Besides, Suki said that she'll take me back to the Leaf later. Once Itachi is dead, we're going to live in the Uchiha District together. That kinda makes us like sisters!" Karin says.

This causes the Uchiha woman to raise an eyebrow. That was a big of a stretch. They might be friends, but sisters was something else entirely. She and Karin didn't share the same mother. That bond just wasn't there.

It was difficult to truly create that sort of bond with someone who wasn't related to you. Well it was for Suki anyway. She really didn't know whether to be flattered or mildly concerned that the red head was seeking such a deep bond with her. So she settles on a combination of both.

"You don't look like sisters." Jugo observes innocently and Suki winces.

Oh boy. Poor Jugo was about to get an earful. That was the wrong thing to say. Actually, Suki wasn't sure if there was a worse thing than he could have said at that moment.

"OF COURSE NOT! WE AREN'T ACTUALLY BIOLOGICAL SISTERS! IT'S THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING!" Karin thunders in outrage!

Jugo blinks and takes several steps back. Suki could tell that Karin's rather vocal response had shocked him. Hell, it might have even terrified him a bit. The woman could be quite loud when she wanted to be.

"Karin, quit your yelling at Jugo. He's just stating a fact. That and we have far more important things to worry about." Suigetsu says as he comes striding over to them.

That announcement causes Suki to frown. They had far more important things to worry about? Like what? Was violet eyed ninja trying to say that the Leaf had found them?

"What do you mean?" The Uchiha woman demands.

"Well I found this on the window sill. Suki, you might want to read this one to yourself first. It's kinda private." He says as he hands her the letter in question.

Suki raises an eyebrow. That didn't sound promising. What could be so bad that Suigetsu was worried about her reading it in front of their teammates.

That didn't make any sense. He didn't strike her as the type to be worried about other people's sense of embarrassment. Sighing, she quickly reads the letter.

"He was spying on us." Suki hisses, a few moments later.

She couldn't believe it. Itachi had been spying on them. He had seen her first real kiss and she hadn't even realized that he was there!

If Itachi had wanted, he could have killed them both. They both would have been dead before either of them knew what was going on. That was a sobering thought. How could she have ever allowed herself to be so careless?!

"We're going to the Valley of the End. Itachi is going to meet us there." She mutters.

There was no way that she was going to tell Karin and Jugo about the rest of Itachi's note. For now, the most important thing was getting at the agreed upon location. Once Itachi was dead, she could worry about other stuff.

She could worry about other stuff like what was she going to do about Suigetsu. His kiss was sufficiently distracting that she hadn't even noticed that a cold-blooded killer was watching them. That was dangerous. Very dangerous.

"What?!" Karin and Jugo demand in shock.

Suki couldn't blame them. The odds of Itachi getting in contact with them and organizing a meeting were ridiculously low. Hell, she had the note in her hands and even she didn't believe it. So how could she possibly expect her teammates to understand?

"She said we're going to the Valley of the End. We need to be careful. There's no telling what sort of traps he might have already laid there. I expect Kisame will be with him. This guy won't want to face us alone. Well he won't want to face us alone unless he's stupid, anyway." The former Mist Ninja says with a cruel smirk.

"Are we sure this is a good idea? It seems to have trap written all over it." Jugo asks.

"I know that it sounds crazy, but I have to go. If you don't want to go, I won't force you." Suki says.

Suigetsu gives Jugo a dirty look. He was right, of course. It did have trap written all over it. That wasn't going to stop him from going with Suki though.

This was the chance he had been waiting for. If Itachi was there, that meant that Kisame was likely going to be there. Where there was Kisame, there was also Samehada. This was his big chance.

"Well I don't know about you or Karin, but I'm going." He states firmly.

That and he wanted to help Suki. Suigetsu might not be exactly sure what they were, but he knew one thing. She was a damn good kisser. He'd like to keep her alive for more of the aforementioned kissing to occur.

"I'm going, if Suki is. I'm her Shield. I just wanted to ensure that everyone understood that this might not be the wisest course of action." Jugo says as if it was obvious.

Suigetsu feels himself twitch. He knew that the other ninja probably didn't mean it the way it sounded. That didn't stop the fact that this Shield nonsense was really annoying.

Suki was HIS girlfriend. Well she kinda was. They might not have officially said so, but she kissed him. That had to mean something, right?

"Whatever. What about you, Karin?" He asks.

"I'm going as well. If any of you get hurt, it's my job to patch you up." She reasons.

"Good then lets get going. We have no way of knowing how long Itachi will wait for us." Suki says and with that, Taka prepares to embark on their journey to the Valley of the End.