The realization that I had to leave on a mission, tomorrow morning made my blood pressure spike a few points. Oh my God, I had to tell not only Midori that I would be taking a short leave from work (and that was already bad enough with her temper), but Sasuke too? He had specifically warned me not to go looking for trouble, and here I was, a soldier for the Kazekage. Damn, when I screwed up, I screwed up by gargantuan proportions.
Oh shit, I was going to get run through with the Chidori.
If he was going to get mad at me for telling him the truth, so be it. I wasn't going to lie to him. What other reason would I have to leave the village for so long anyway? Nothing plausible, that's for sure. He knew as well as I did that there was nothing and no one out there for me anymore.
I decided that I had to approach this as delicately and sensitively as possible. I had to butter him up before I told him anything so as to cushion the inevitably (hard) blow it was going to be.
As I walked the sandy roads of Suna, I thought up of all the ways I could tell Midori and Sasuke, and none of the them seemed good enough. Each and every outcome seemed to involve me getting chewed out. I sighed, I guess it couldn't be helped then.
Midori was busying herself in the back room of the tea shop when I got in, while Kenta was bussing tables with his kind demeanor, as per usual. I watched as he let a teacup slip from the table, and just before it shattered onto the wood floor, he caught it with a swiftness only unique to shinobi. I quirked a brow at that, just how much did I not know about him exactly?
Before I could make a comment he greeted me with his gorgeous smile when he saw me, "Going back to work already, huh?" He joked.
"Yeah, not a chance Kenta." I answered good naturedly, and just before I could ask him about the teacup an annoying voice managed to interject before I had the chance.
"Isaaru, if you're on the floor, you better put on an apron and get to work!"
My eye twitched as I saw Midori emerge from the back room. I walked over to her and gave her a nervous smile, "Uh yeah, about that, I was hoping I could talk to you."
There was a suspicious glint in her eye, "You better not be going on the run again." she lowered her voice, but I still guided her back into the back room and shut the curtain. You never knew who or what was listening in on you these days.
"Actually...no."
Midori breathed a large sigh of relief, "Oh, thank goodness. What would I do if I lost my waitress? You're a little dense sometimes, sure, but you're all I've got really."
I scowled at her gloomily then, my pride wounded, but she didn't seem to notice or care.
"Listen, I'm going on a mission tomorrow morning for an unspecified amount of time, and I just wanted you to know that."
She couldn't mask her shock then, "A mission? But why?" Something seemed to dawn on her in that moment and she looked as if she understood. "So the Kazekage visiting a few weeks back, I take it that wasn't mere coincidence?"
I was impressed by her astuteness, and nodded gravely. "No, it wasn't."
"I see," She gave me a solemn look then and took me by my shoulders, "then be careful. I don't need to know, just come back in one piece." I was surprised when she embraced me then, the type of hug that I used to get from my mother as a child. I supposed that's what she was to me though, for all her crassness and greed she was a maternal figure to me, in the absence of my own mother.
My eyes were glistening as she let go of me, "Thank you, and I will."
"I'll need my waitress back after all, no one else will work for me with the pay I give you!" She guffawed and threw her head back in laughter.
And just like that, the moment was gone.
Telling Midori went more smoothly than I had imagined, perhaps Sasuke would be the same.
I chuckled, yeah, I don't think so either.
When I entered our upstairs apartment I knew immediately that Sasuke was home. His sandals rested on the mat by the door, his clothes were tossed haphazardly over the bed and I could hear the sounds of the shower on in the bathroom.
Oh crap, I thought I'd have more time to think about how I was going to tell him, but it looked like it was going to happen sooner rather than later. I prayed that he hadn't woken up on the wrong side of the bed today. If the Sasuke I faced today was the Difficult Uchiha, then I'd surely be done for. Wait, who was I kidding? He was always difficult.
I heard the sounds of the shower fizzling off, and it wasn't long before Sasuke emerged from the bathroom with just a blue towel loosely wrapped around his waist. If there was one thing I couldn't deny, it was that he must have had the best hip bones in all the Five Great Shinobi Nations. That deep "V" was definitely something to be coveted...and was he ever a sight to see.
Sometimes I forgot what sheer physical perfection he was, while at the same time wondering how I could ever forget. Everything from his sculpted bone structure to the way he walked was enough to put anyone in a vegetative state. Even men, I've seen it happen first hand.
I couldn't help but wear a smug look on my face when I thought about how he was all mine. I wasn't big on possessions, material or otherwise, but I'll admit that I was as greedy as Midori when it came to the Uchiha.
When I tore my eyes off of his body, I was met with a smile. Not a smirk (in true Sasuke fashion), but a genuine smile - and that, didn't happen often enough.
"What, you happy to see me, Uchiha?" I teased.
There was that smirk again, "Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing." In reference to my gawking only a moment ago. I mean, could you really blame me?
My cheeks reddened a little, though I honestly wasn't all that embarrassed to begin with. Sasuke grabbed another towel from the linen closet and wiped the beads of water off of his chest and ran it through his dark wet hair.
"Well if I can't look at you every once in a while, what, exactly, is the point of keeping you around?" I was only half joking as I sat on the bed, with my arms outstretched on either side.
He snorted at that, walked across the room and sat next to me on the bed as he dried his hair. The muscles in his arm flexing as he did so.
"So that's how it is, is it?" Questioning me with a raised eyebrow, "I'm just something to look at?" He feigned displeasure. I honestly would have believed him if I didn't already know how full of it he was.
"Duh."
Sasuke stopped towelling his hair and turned towards me then, inching closer and closer to me with the promise of a kiss. I closed my eyes in wait.
However, instead of a kiss...all I received was a wet towel thrown over my head. "Well, that's how I think of you too."
"Sasuke!" I yelled at him angrily as I pulled the towel off of my head, I could hear him snickering in the distance, no longer beside me. An attempt at escape, obviously. Well, I wasn't going to let him go that easily.
He was right in front of me when I pulled the towel off, a hand on his hip and an amused look on his face.
"I'm going to bury your body out in the desert," I spoke dangerously, "where no one will ever find you."
"That so?"
I nodded.
"Well before you do that," he looked at me steadily, he grabbed my arm and pulled me toward him slowly, "come here."
No way I was falling for that again.
I was two heartbeats away from giving him a taste of his own medicine, when the look he was giving me stopped me dead in my tracks. I couldn't tell what it was, part pride and amusement maybe, and little bit of something else I just couldn't quite figure out. Alas, the Uchiha tended to be unreadable at the best of times.
Suddenly, he pulled the colourful sash off of my head and tucked away my long fringe behind my ears with his thumb. His gaze never wavering from my own. I felt my face grow hot as I decided then that I wasn't going to wait for him. I was certain we both knew where this was headed and he was moving way too slow for me. It was early evening now, and if I had to leave at first light, I was going to spend as much time as possible with him before I left. For who knows how long.
I took his face in my hands and kissed him fervently. It took him almost no time at all to match my pace. His hands traveled down the length of my arms slowly, and eventually came to rest at my waist. His hands played at the hem of my blouse, while I tangled my hands in his damp dark hair. He had just got out of the shower and he was already smelling like fresh cinnamon. How does he always manage to smell so nice and...spicy? Yeah, I just thought that.
He pulled away a bit and began kissing my neck, sending shivers down my spine. I let out a sound of contentment when he bit my left ear lobe playfully.
Ugh, I am such a goner.
My hands ran down Sasuke's chest slowly before I rested my fingers at the towel at his waist, with the eventual intention of slipping it off. He caught my hand quickly, "No." was all he uttered in my ear before his lips covered mine again.
I pulled away slightly and looked at him indignantly, "Why not?"
"Not yet." he uttered slowly, smirking against my lips.
Instead, he took the hem of my shirt and pulled it over my head before he tossed it on to the ground carelessly. My bra was off so fast after that, that I barely had time to process it. It was there one moment, the next it wasn't. What was it, some sort of sexual genjutsu? Hell, who knows. Sasuke could do a lot of things.
The Uchiha looked down at me then, another satisfied smirk on his face, "Now, we're even." Referring to our state of undress.
I rolled my eyes, "Shut up." and pulled off the towel at his waist - too quick for him this time - and threw it aside. I pulled him over to the bed and let him take it from there.
I woke up a few hours later, and saw that the night sky had fully settled in now. I could hear Sasuke breathing softly behind me, his arm wrapped casually around my midsection. The night was hot, and his warm body plastered against my bare back wasn't doing well to cool me down any. Slowly I wiggled out of his iron grip and glanced around the room. The bed sheets were all on the floor and the bra that had mysteriously disappeared was barely hanging on the dresser on the other side of the room.
Oh god, how did that get there? I thought, a little mortified.
I turned around to face Sasuke. He looked so peaceful and carefree sleeping like that - like a child. I almost didn't want to wake him - no wait scratch that, I didn't want to wake him.
I sighed quietly knowing that the peace couldn't last long. I was going to have to tell him soon and it would be dawn in only a matter of hours.
"Spit it out."
His voice nearly made me jump in the darkness. He slowly opened his eyes and regarded me, a little too alert for just having woken up. It made me wonder just how long he'd been awake for. Or if if he was even sleeping at all.
"How did you…?"
"So you do have something to tell me."
I looked at him lamely, annoyed that I even fell for his little trap.
Hesitating for a couple seconds I relented, "Promise you won't get mad."
He sighed and closed his eyes again, "Why is it that whenever you seem to have something terrible to tell me you always begin with 'promise you won't get mad'?" He opened his eyes and gave me a hard questioning look, "Could you promise that? With the way it sounds?"
No, I suppose I couldn't. But it was worth a shot, right?
"Fine, fine, but hold off judgement until I get it all out, alright?" Sasuke nodded an unwilling 'yes'. I took a deep breath, and began to tell him everything. From being followed out in the sandstorm by the Kazekage, to him knowing our identities, to trading our residency here for service, to the mission I was leaving on in the morning. Everything. I hadn't realized the weight of all the baggage I was carrying until I managed to get it all out. It felt good, regardless of the consequence.
Though I could tell Sasuke wanted to interrupt and share words with me, I held him to his promise that he wouldn't say a thing until I had finished.
We were both upright now, sitting across from each other, knees just touching. I had to admit it was a little odd having a serious conversation while we were both stark naked. I took it upon myself to grab the sheets off of the floor and have the decency to at least cover myself part way. Whereas I felt like Sasuke wouldn't have cared either way.
"That's it." I concluded.
He had closed his eyes part way through my story, arms crossed, trying to take in all the information, I assumed. I didn't take offence to it, I realized that what I was telling him was a lot to handle, and most of all unexpected. I had been carrying on the pretence that everything was fine and in order, when it reality, it was not.
Several seconds had gone by and he still hadn't said anything, even though he was so eager to respond to me early on in my story.
"Well?" I prompted, annoyed that maybe he had actually fallen asleep on me. "If you're going to yell at me, do it now please. I'd like to get back to bed?"
He was still as a statue, and hadn't moved for some time now. As if I wasn't nervous enough, now I thought that he was a bomb that was just seconds away from detonation.
Sasuke let out a large sigh at that, like he had been holding it in these past fifteen minutes, and opened his eyes slowly.
He narrowed his eyes at me, "I just wish you told me sooner."
My shoulders slumped in defeat, "I didn't want to involve you."
"Involve me? Gaara mentioned me by name, I'm involved Isaaru."
I huffed in irritation, "You know what I mean, I didn't want to worry you."
"Keeping it to yourself wasn't going to help us either." He closed his eyes again in contemplation, a solemn look on his face. "Sometimes I wonder if coming to Suna was a mistake."
He had my attention then, my eyes widened and it felt like my heart was beating in my ears. What exactly was he trying to say, that us being together was a mistake? "What?"
His eyes opened immediately as if sensing my upset tone, "No," he clarified coolly, as if he had read my mind, "I mean ever since I got here it's as if I've been making life difficult for you."
I looked away from him, irked that he would even suggest that he was the problem, "Don't be stupid. We're in this together now."
Sasuke peered at me carefully then, his dark eyes sweeping over my face as if my statement was something so obvious but yet he hadn't realized before.
"I'm going to follow you."
"Did you hit your head? No way." Gaara had told me explicitly not to let Sasuke interfere or else he would have to take action himself. Allowing Sasuke to take such actions would be dangerous, and I didn't want to tempt Gaara's patience. Or power.
"Did you ever consider this could be a trap? Or an elaborate plan to hand you over to Iwagakure?" He was getting angry now, "You said yourself that their ties with your village were weak. Maybe you're the peace offering."
I hadn't considered that.
In my dread of starting the mission and having to tell Midori and Sasuke the news, I hadn't allowed myself to truly think. Sasuke was right, it was totally plausible, and a fair assessment at that. Especially when Gaara was explicit in his duty in providing for the village. There was a sizeable bounty for my head - dead or alive - I was certain.
For all my paranoia and caution deriving from the past, I didn't consider this. At the same time though, I just didn't see the young Kazekage going down that road. For all his pragmatism and firmness, he didn't seem the double-crossing type. Then again, I wasn't always the best judge of character, my past proved that. I trusted Shin with my life all those years ago, and look where that got me.
"I don't see him doing that."
"Then you're naive."
Anger flashed in my eyes, "Well maybe I am, but I can certainly take care of myself." I clenched my fist, "I wasn't kidnapped by that Snake Orochimaru for no reason."
That calmed him down a little, and his eyes softened. He knew it was true, I was more than capable and had been carrying on just fine without him for the past several years. The circumstances now may be different but I don't think he doubted my ability to fend for myself.
"Fine," he relented unwillingly, "leave Gaara to me then."
"Didn't I just tell you not to be stupid? He's the Kazekage - and he's allied with the Hidden Leaf." I spoke cautiously, "I don't think that's a nest you want to shake."
"And I'm an Uchiha." He stated matter-of-factly. As if that gave him license to do anything and everything he wanted. Like an enchanted lineage that made him indestructible, and as much as I wished that he was, he wasn't. He was flesh and bone just like the rest of us, and he could die.
I rolled my eyes at his arrogance, "You may be an Uchiha but if you try anything and they decide to involve the Hidden Leaf - well, let's just say I'm not interested in having seconds of that Copy-Ninja ever again." I shuddered just thinking about how strong that Jounin was all those years ago and he probably wasn't any weaker now.
Sasuke scoffed, "How fragile do you think I am?"
"You really want me to answer that?" I answered teasingly. I knew Sasuke was strong, the power he possessed was even unfathomable. I may have had friendly (and not so friendly) battles with him once upon a time and won, but that Sasuke I faced all those years ago had long surpassed me. As well as surpassed countless others in just a few short years.
However, provoking the wrath of the Kazekage and his powerful allies was a fools endeavor. Even the mighty Uchiha Sasuke couldn't possibly be a match for Gaara & Friends. And boy did he have friends, I knew the Hidden Leaf was host to the Nine Tails Jinchuuriki, and that was most definitely an entity I didn't want to mess with.
Sasuke remained unprovoked, which seemed unlike him. He looked like he was struggling with something - a thought - a look of hesitation wrinkled his brow, "There's something I never told you."
Well this piqued my interest. I had always known that Sasuke hadn't been totally upfront with me about his past but I accepted it regardless. He's never lied to me (that I know of) so I respected his right to privacy if that's what he truly wanted. I had always made it clear to him that if he wanted to talk, I would be here. I wasn't going to force him.
"What is it?"
A/N: Ouuuu and the plot thickens. Until next week guys (I actually mean it this time).
