Ricochet
Neji tried to make his last night home count. He knew the espionage mission he and Ino were currently assigned to was not only important, but lengthy, and the longer a mission lasted, the lower predicted survival rate because of the bigger of chances being discovered. And in the world of spies, being discovered meant being eliminated. Especially where he and Ino were going.
Not that he could tell Tenten any of that.
So he tried to make the night memorable, or at the very least, cozy. He helped with dinner, put away the laundry on the shelves she couldn't reach, and planned to spend some 'quality time' with his wife but things didn't quite go as expected. Tenten was acting distant, often staring off into blank space and he swore she looked a bit lackluster. Considering Ino's comment for her to Get Well Soon he figured she must have been a little sick; he knew Ino well enough to trust any clues she'd drop. He backed off, giving Tenten only a kiss on the forehead before retiring to bed.
Tenten did not feel well.
And maybe Neji sensed it, or maybe it was their anniversary because he spent the entire night focusing on her, but she simply didn't have it in her to return the attention. She felt...off. She couldn't describe it exactly, but her thoughts were hazy and she felt slightly detached from reality. She'd nearly cut herself five different times just chopping mushrooms for dinner, and though her husband said nothing she knew he'd noticed. By the time they'd finished their meal the feeling had finally passed - only to be replaced by an aggressive bout of nausea. Neji gave her some space with a parting kiss goodnight and Tenten set a tea kettle on the stove to brew. She had some of the herbal tea her grandmother gave her months ago leftover in a cabinet and prepared herself a cup. The flavor was strong and astoundingly bitter but ultimately did the trick in settling her stomach.
Tenten drew a bath for herself with fragrant, soothing bathsalts and sank into the steaming water. She laid there a few minutes, just relaxing when she felt a sharp stabbing pain in her abdomen so great she gasped for breath for several moments with her eyes tightly shut. As the pain gradually lessened, her panic subsided with the memory of Shizune telling her these random incidents of pain might occur. It's part of the risk, the kind medic had told her with sympathetic eyes. She'd have to learn to live with it for the next six months. Ten minutes later there was no trace of the sudden pain and Tenten dozed off in the comforting suds and the scent of patchouli. When she came to almost an hour later she drained the tub, slipped into bed with her hair in still-damp pigtails, and fell asleep.
Neji was long gone when Tenten awoke, not that she noticed beyond the symphony of pain radiating from her stomach. The razor-sharp ache was back sevenfold and Tenten instinctively curled up in the fetal position, desperately wishing it to leave and never return. Her wish went unheard. She'd have counted the minutes if she could muster enough concentration to count. Tears leaked from her eyes and she tried to at least control her breathing and steel through it. Nothing could last forever, even if it felt like forever. Two hours passed before Tenten felt strong enough to move, the pain just beginning to ebb away when Tenten discovered she was bleeding.
Heavily.
If she hadn't let herself panic before, she was in full panic-mode now. It took her well over an hour to get cleaned up and nearly another hour just to walk to the hospital. There weren't words for the relief she felt once she got close enough to the hospital and the medical ninjas on break helped her indoors and fetched Shizune for her. She may have passed out at that point, for the next thing she knew Tenten was laid on an examination table and Shizune stood over her. The older woman held a cool cloth to her forehead and pressed her back down when she tried to sit up.
"Not yet. Lay back down and get some rest."
"My stomach..."
Shizune nodded, face carefully blank. "You experienced some severe pain, Kanno and Hasegawa told me you came in on the verge of collapse."
"...is it always going to hurt that bad?"
There was a heavy pause as Shizune composed herself and tried to find the kindest words. "No, it's not going to hurt anymore, Hyuuga-san. The massive pain you felt was the egg rupturing in your fallopian tube. You've had a miscarriage."
Less than half a day's travel from their destination and in need of food and rest, Ino and Neji stopped to make camp under the midday sun. Ino pulled out travel rations of dehydrated vegetables and onigiri while Neji searched for water to replenish their canteens.
When he returned Neji was silent as he ate, glaring into the distance ahead. To the north, the tainted mountains hiding Kumogakure beckoned and taunted him. He wasn't sure he was ready.
They were in. With their chicken scratch permits bearing the Lightning Country Daimyo's signature and their henge no jutsu in order, the pair had no trouble gaining access to the village. They merged seamlessly into the crowd of people for a time, learning the layout, until Neji singled out a building and they broke away to investigate. A large desk sat just beyond the entrance of the administrative building doors, and behind it sat a small tanned girl barely visable around the intimidating stacks of paperwork. Noticing them enter, she sighed exaggeratedly and leaned her head on one of her hands.
"Name, rank, status."
Ino put a hand on her hip and pretended to be annoyed.
"Kannazuki, Jiro and Sumire. Jounins. Returning from surveillance in Shimogakure."
The girl grunted. "Give your mission report to Yoyogi-san in 319. If he's busy, find Amano-san or freakin' wait. For Kami's sake, don't interrupt his lunch. If I have to replace his office equipment one more time, I'm gonna scream."
"Got it."
They filtered deeper into the building, passing few people as they went up to the fifth and final floor, and took cover in a narrow hallway. Neji confirmed sixteen other chakra signatures on their floor, the closest one being just a few meters away, hidden somewhere among the countless file cabinets and bookshelves. They dropped their transformations and Ino used her Shintenshin.
Ino stirred and Neji watched as she first sat up, then stood up. With her eyes closed. Her hand ghosted over her weapons pouch before landing on her tanto and she unsheathed it in one quick swipe. Before Neji could ask what intel she'd gathered, the blonde lunged at him. He glided out of the way, alarmed, and stood in a loosely defensive stance.
"Yamanaka?"
She moved again, the action reckless and unbalanced as the weapon swung towards his neck and Neji dodged yet again, confusion painting his face. Ino's eyes remained closed. He tried again, snatching her wrist when she attacked, effectively stopping the assualt.
"Yamanaka?"
Her left hook met his cheekbone and Neji released her, evading another slice from the blade. His eyes found her face as his brain confirmed the ugly truth : Ino was not back; someone else was using her body.
He almost laughed at the situation; how could the enemy plan it more perfectly? He was stuck defending himself from the one person in this hellhole he wouldn't kill. He could sense the rapid approach of another, speeding towards them from his right, and sneered. Just this small amount of resistance was nothing, but it was enough to distract him from listening for Ino and that presented a problem. He needed to eliminate whoever was pupeteering Ino's body and quickly. He dodged a blow from her tanto, eyes searching wildly as he noted the intruder was nearing striking distance. There! In the rafters some yards away he detected a body lying flat atop one of the metal support beams. His gaze followed the line of the beam down to where a pipe split off from it and swiftly blocked a kick meant for his throat. The pipe ended less than a foot away, right within grasp. So was the intruder. In a fraction of a second things almost seemed to slow down dramatically as his mind processed what his eyes saw. As his hand made contact with the pipe and directed a lethal flow of chakra into it, the third body managed to slip in between he and Ino's body, the taller man's back obscuring his partner completely. On reflex Neji's free hand jetted out to make contact with the man's back, just as something sharp pierced straight through the man's side and into Neji's. Three bodies hit the floor: one from the rafters, and two right in front of him as Neji slumped against the wall behind him. And then, as his mind tried to make sense of the last few seconds of battle, it registered to him that something had gone very, very wrong. He went over the facts.
He and Ino were fighting. No, he and Ino's body were fighting. A Kumogakure ninja, someone who should have logically been trying to kill the both of them, had jumped between them. Why? An enemy would never come to the aid of foreign shinobi. The notion went against everything Neji knew of the shinobi world and the way it worked. He could only reason that it was Ino who had tried to end the fight.
And he'd used Jyuuken on her right as her body ran her through with her own tanto.
And now both bodies lay on the floor, unmoving.
Neji couldn't breathe.
He dropped to his knees, injury forgotten, hastily checking for a pulse on his partner. He found one and exhaled shakily as some of the tension in his body melted away but relief remained out of reach. Her heartbeat was almost nonexistant, slowed to almost four beats per minute, and her body breathed so shallowly that her chest didn't seem to move. It was the same condition her body was always in when her spirit was gone, a fact that aggravated him now that he couldn't tell if she were dying or merely absent from her physical form. What if he had just screwed everything up by Jyuukening her while she was in the Kumo-nin's body, what if she never woke up? What if that one decision -just one wrong decision- meant he'd never hear her voice again? Even if nobody held him to blame for it, it would surely haunt him. He stared at her unconscious form, his hand still tracking the minimal movements of her heart, and decided that all he could do now was wait.
Ino awoke with a start, gasping as if she'd been drowning and clawing at the ground underneath her for reassurance. Neji put a hand on her shoulder, and when her eyes locked on his she felt herself calming down. His eyes dropped to her mouth, betraying his impulses before a fleeting thought haulted him from acting on it. Even in the drowsiness of just waking up this did not escape Ino's attention, and she was unprepared for the wave of disappointment that overtook her. She recovered quickly, if not genuinely, masking her sentiments and deflecting attention all at once.
"Where are we?"
It was a legitimate question regardless of her motivation for asking. They were no longer in a hallway, but in a room now. Large boxes stacked against the furthest wall, shelves consuming the remaining walls full of varied objects; some identifiable, some not. A storage room. Neji showed the slightest hint of uncertainty.
"This was the only secure room I could find."
No, not uncertainty. It was pain that tinged his features, Ino realized that now as she took notice of the wet maroon stain marring Neji's white shirt. He'd been injured. Damnit. Ino grit her teeth, moving to sit up and finding herself perplexed at the amount of energy that small action took. Maybe it was just the surrealness of the situation, but she felt inexplicably weak. She frowned at the thought before pushing it away and covering Neji's wound with a palm. The flow of chakra she pushed into him was thinner, harder to direct than usual, causing Ino to bite her lip in irritation. Neji covered her hand with his own, his expression pensive.
"Something's wrong."
"What?"
He didn't answer, instead peeling her hand off of his stomach and turning it palm side up. The veins around his eyes enlarged as she watched him stare first at her hand, then at the room around him. His free hand moved to touch the hardwood floor they sat on. His brows knotted.
"Ganymede Timber." he all but growled, anger creeping into his voice. The Ganymede tree was of the same species as the trees chakra-absorbant paper was made from, and it was slowly draining them both. He abruptly stood, pulling her up with him. "We can't stay here."
"Well we can't leave. You're injured and I don't exactly have the chakra capacity to pose much of a threat to anyone right now. I don't even think I can henge." She checked her thigh as she spoke. Even her mass chakra storage point was depleted.
"Our defenses are compromised here."
"We'd be nothing but moving targets out there." she countered.
"I can fight."
"Negative. If you fight, you'll increase your bloodloss. I don't know if you noticed, but my healing jutsu? I kinda need my chakra for that, and I'm running dry at the moment."
Neji looked adamant, his gaze fixated on the door while his brain calculated, looking for an advantage to exploit. Ino huffed and sat back down, looking up at the ceiling to see if the paneling was removable and concluding that it wasn't. Secure indeed. She was considering pulling the objects off of the shelves to check for secret passageways -far fetched as the notion was- when Neji sat down beside her. Without a word he took her hand in his, earning a quizzical glance from Ino until she began to feel the sensation of a gently rocking tide coursing through her palm. She immediately tried to retract her hand, but he held strong.
"What are you doing? How are you supposed to Jyuuken without your chakra?"
"How do you expect to heal without yours? My chakra reserve is larger than yours, I can afford to lend you this and fight when the time comes."
Ino said no more, her concerned eyes clearly conveying her hesitance to accept his plan of action, but she no longer resisted. It was somewhat of a novelty, being on the receiving end of a chakra transfer while conscious. A complete reversal of their usual situation. Was this how he felt every time she healed his injuries? Was it always this warm? Always this...intimate and inviting? Heavens. She mourned the loss of sensation when he unjoined their hands.
With a renewed sense of synchronicity they made their run for suitable shelter, expertly evading human contact. Finding no place in the building safe enough, they successfully slipped out of the administration tower and into the heart of the village. After scoping out the area and making some mental blueprints of escape routes, Neji and Ino settled on registering at an inn for the night under assumed names. Tomorrow, they would inspect the village further and infiltrate whatever social gatherings they could.
The opulence amazed her.
Music drifted through the air in a slow, soulful melody, twisting and curving along the room until it seeped through the walls and into the night. Small orbs of light floated high, just below the ceiling, seemingly pulsating as they brightened and dimmed in harmonized patterns. The gilded walls, the lush fabrics, the elaborate table ornaments - Ino took them all in with greedy eyes, savoring the moment before ignoring them completely in favor of something far more interesting. Across the room, standing casually a few feet from the open bar was a man sipping a drink and subtley surveying the room. She made a mental catalogue of his features: the coal black eyes, the slicked back auburn hair, the almond brown complexion of his skin. He hadn't noticed her, she realized with a smile, and if she was inconspicuous enough he wouldn't until it was much too late to escape.
He tensed automatically before relaxing just as easily, fixing the leggy female standing far too close to him with a warning glance. Amethyst eyes twinkled at him mischieviously under a mess of tiny corkscrew blonde curls. She was bold. His eyes cut away from her, ignoring her jilted expression and fixed stare. She stepped closer, daring, and his concentration wavered. She leaned into his chest, coils of hair tickling his neck while she wrapped her arms around his back as if greeting an old lover. Disgruntled, he reached to set down his half-empty glass, the movement restricted as he stepped sideways and she followed.
"Loosen up, you're too stiff."
She smiled against his chest, shameless. She turned them left and Neji followed, awkwardly letting her lead. His hands rested lightly just below her ribcage, the smooth expanse of skin under his fingertips telling him the dress was backless. Trust in Yamanaka Ino to wear the most alluring thing available for maximal effect. They'd shown up to the gala -in full henge for discretion's sake- seperately to avoid association with each other and yet here she was. Distracting him. Taking optimal advantage of the situation.
Associating herself with him.
At that thought, his brain sobered up from Ino's 'surprise attack'. Clearly it was time for a scolding.
"I thought we agreed to do this individually and compare notes later. Do you realize that you're currently compromi-Are we dancing?" he asked almost rhetorically, well aware of the answer.
"Aren't we always?" she shot back without missing a beat, humming in the background of her mind.
"This isn't the time for this."
There it was, the inevitable rejection she'd been bracing herself for. A part of her had wanted to believe he wouldn't deny her here, so far away from everything they knew. She tried again, not yet willing to let this small chance slip by. In his mind, her projected voice was light and playful.
"Don't be a prude. The target isn't even here yet, there's no way anyone could recognize either of us, and there are plenty of strangers dancing. You can spare one dance."
He took a moment to think it over, wanting to object but finding no fault with her logic. She was right, dancing with him wouldn't add any risk to their mission. Would it really do any harm to indulge her? Acquiescing, Neji held Ino a little more comfortably, molding her body against his.
"Just one."
"That's all I'm asking for."
The tempo changed and she surrendered the lead, her tawny skin luminous in the soft glow of the light as he spun them around. They drifted into the crowd, free in the anonymity among the other dancing couples, the world around them a mere blur of colors and distortion of sounds. For an hour it was just the two of them in another place, another life. No Konoha, no mission, no clans. And then the man they'd been waiting for arrived and even with his eyes closed and even with Ino in his arms, Neji could not ignore the pull of duty.
"The target is here."
"I know." She sighed and pressed further into him like a stubborn child being told to go to bed, but the song wound down and the two came to a stop, sharing a brief glance before letting releasing each other.
"Thanks for the dance, mister." she smirked at him as she backed away, eyes bright with satisfaction, and blended into the crowd without waiting for a reply.
Split up they worked opposite sides of the room, laying on the charm with each person they encountered and drawing out information. The targeted person was carefully kept between the both of of them for easy tracking, but inevitably their eyes drew one another from across the room. Hours passed this way, with lasting glances across a full room, looks full of messages they could never relay verbally but understood in a way that was far more...primal. And tons more agitating with the persistence of memory. There were times Neji swore that he could still taste the flavor of her skin on his lips, taunting him. Moments when Ino could still sense the feel of his hands gliding across her skin.
The night crawled by as if not wanting to end. The two of them weren't sure they wanted it to.
The acrid stench of burning human flesh permeated the smoke-filled air and Ino tried not to taste the ash as she gasped for more air, sprinting wildly ahead with no heed to the events at her flanks. None of it mattered - maybe later it would. Later, when she had safely escaped and could afford to cry and tremble and grieve, but not now - and the whole of her world consisted only of what lie ahead and lay behind her. Run, run, run. Faster. She would run until her feet bled and then some as long as she made it out of here. She pushed harder, the muscles in her thighs burning hotter than coals, feet sinking into Neji's footsteps almost before his own lifted away. She nearly broke her nose slamming into his back when he stopped suddenly, face turned and Byakugan in full effect as he stared at something she couldn't see through the black haze. Raising an arm, he pointed in the direction his eyes watched.
"Aren't you going to help your friend?"
Ino stared, trying her best to make out what she could, and gradually she spied a group of bodies fighting. No, a group of bodies surrounding one body, fighting. One huge body...disproprtionately lage fists...a mass of hair like a lion's mane...Chouji.
Her feet moved of their accord, stepping on bodies and blood-slicked grass and whatever else happened to be in the way. A chain swung through the air in a short arc above Chouji's shoulder to his lower ribcage. Three more chains followed and she could hear Chouji grunting against the strain of them, struggling as another attacker positioned his hands in front of his face Ino recognized as a precursor to fire-based techniques. Her own hands flew through the seals to the Shinranshin, holding at the final handsign, her heart growing heavier with devastation as she realized it wasn't working. Of course not. Now that she was closer, she could tell his attackers weren't shinobi, but summoned creatures the size of humans. She'd need help saving Chouji. Ino whirled around, squinting to see her partner and horrified when she spotted him. There was a small army encircling him, easily five times the amount on Chouji, and Ino was torn between aiding him or rescuing Chouji. Thinking fast, she turned back to save her childhood friend. He was closer, and if she could just get things under control with him, he could help her backup Neji. As she cut down the first of the summons, the sound of thunder booming shook the ground, the white-hot flash of lightning blinding her temporarily. She called to Chouji, trying to blink away the distortion, and felt for his chakra when she failed to hear a response.
Chouji was okay. Or alive, at least. She could feel him still fighting somewhere near her.
She called to Neji. Nothing. She called again, turning and searching as her eyes readjusted. Nothing. It took her half a minute to identify the giant scorchmark on the ground some meters off as the place where she'd seen him last.
Ino sat straight up, heart racing and eyes wide as she caught her breath. Instinctively her sensory abilities activated, checking for the low resonance of brain waves nearby, feeling for his brain activity. She found him immediately, no more than a foot away from her, the rise and fall of his chest telling her he was fine and not burnt to a crisp on a battlefield somewhere. Her adrenaline rush receded, the flush of pink remaining on her cheeks while her heart worked to control itself. Beside her, Neji's eyes slipped open.
"What is it?"
She shook her head, the haunted look on her face subsiding before she gracefully laid back down. When ten minutes passed and she still laid awake recovering from the nightmare, Ino was surprised to feel Neji's arm curling around her waist and pulling her back to his chest. She froze, unsure of quite what to do with the close proximity.
"Sleep." he mumbled from behind her ear.
Little by little she relaxed, the feel of his breath fanning on the back of her neck calming her unexpectedly. And she slept.
Six days. They'd been in this wretched country for six days now and Neji's tolerance was running empty. Day after day, hour after hour surrounded on all sides by the vile people he despised the most. He didn't care about their politics, looks, or culture. All he cared about was the fact that if not for these (and he used the term lightly) people, his father would still be alive. It had taken him years to recognize it, placing blame on everyone but Kumogakure. He'd blamed his clan for their idiotic and self-serving traditions. He'd blamed Hinata for being a defenseless little girl because Hyuuga women were supposed to be as indomitable as they were graceful. He'd even blamed the Sandaime Hokage for not reaching a better negotiation with the Raikage, but all roads eventually lead back to Kumogakure. It was their abduction of Hinata that lead to Hizashi's death. Their lust for the power of the Byakugan that took the most important person in the world from him. Their fault. And though he was not ignorant to the knowledge that his was not the only clan they'd made an attempt on, though he vaguely understood why they would want to do such a thing, that didn't mean he forgave them for it. Nobody could bear a grudge like a Hyuuga, and Hyuuga Neji had a vendetta.
Ino gaze hovered over her partner's white-knuckle fists as he stood at their tiny hotel room's window, peering out at the villagers milling around below. Though his killing intent was carefully kept in check, his body language screamed rage and the blonde found she could not take her eyes off of him; fearful that he might vanish into the darkness and find the fight he was so strongly craving. He was going to think himself into a heart attack if he didn't relax and let go of that pent up aggression.
"Sorry for accepting this mission, I know this must be hard for you."
Her voice cut through the silence like a megaphone despite speaking no louder than usual, and Ino cringed a little. Neji continued to stare out of the window, still as a statue. Hard? Hard didn't even begin to describe it. This wasn't a place he'd ever wanted to set foot in, didn't want to come within ten miles of. He'd thought he could handle it when Ino showed up at his home with the mission scroll, that it might even be therapeutic and exorcise the last of his resentment, but he'd been wrong. With each passing day it grew harder just to maintain his outward neutrality. When he spoke his voice was hushed and full of jagged edges.
"I don't belong here."
And he meant it. He almost felt sacrilegious, living and breathing in a place that hunted Hyuugas like animals. Allowing such people to soundly sleep in their beds at night and wake up safe and happy in the morning.
Ino moved to perch on the edge of the bed behind him and tried to find some words of comfort, but what came out was
"I killed a monk once."
His face turned toward her ever so slightly, not understanding why she mentioned such a thing now. Encouraged by this, Ino continued.
"Accidentally. I had just made chuunin, Chouji and Shikamaru were hanging back and I was going in to create a diversion. These Wave ninja -two of them- jumped me. The monk was just passing by, going up the road to his temple near town, and I pitched a shuriken into his neck. I still can't look at prayer beads without remembering him. I haven't set foot in a temple since then."
She looked at him, flashes of shame and regret in her eyes, and Neji appreciated the distraction. Turning more fully to her, he reclined against the wall - still rigid, but less murderous than before. Ino watched as he crossed his arms and shifted his gaze off of her when he replied.
"When I was small, before I was branded, I knew I would spend my life protecting Hinata-sama. I'd never met someone who tried so hard to make others happy; she never complained and always tried her best. My mother passed away when I was two - I have no memories of her, but I've always thought she might have been something like Hinata-sama."
Ino was touched by the admission, not expecting him to share something so deeply personal. She decided to keep the openness of the moment going. A light smile graced her lips.
"It took me forever to perfect my chakra control for the water-walking skill. Sakura mastered it so quickly, for days I was dying of jealousy! But I'm one hell of a better swimmer than her because of that." She paused, thinking. "Have you ever let Lee win in a fight?"
It was his turn for a small, pleased smile to work it's way across his lips. "Never."
The conversation lulled into silence and Ino muffled a yawn with one hand as she rose to her feet.
"Promise me you won't go on a killing spree while I sleep."
At that, Neji looked dubious and Ino smiled for him softly as she stood by the lightswitch beside the bathroom door.
"I'll understand if you do. I'd want revenge if my...I get it, okay? But don't go massacring folks without me, that kind of thing goes along a lot smoother when you've got someone to watch your back."
The corners of his mouth tipped upward in a way that Ino decided that counted as a smile before it slipped away.
"That's not in mission parameters. There would be consequences; consequences not worth facing under the guise of 'teamwork'."
Even if he had seriously entertained the thought of retribution once or twice, he'd never accounted for her backup in actuality. He could never expect that of her, never ask that of her. Could never risk her being punished for his own personal agenda. Even more so if she did it out of a misplaced sense of duty.
Ino looked solemn. "You think this is still about teamwork?"
She sighed, exasperation creeping into her voice. Growing more and more disillusioned with their starcrossed fate with every second.
"I'll be in the shower."
"Wait."
Her hand turned the doorknob and pried it open, only for it to be slammed shut nanoseconds later.
"Wait."
She wanted to be surprised at the sight of his palm flat against the door, she really did, but nothing surprised her anymore. She turned around with a guarded expression, her back against the door as she looked into the face of her commanding officer.
"What do you want from me?"
It wasn't something he thought of often, what he wanted, but around her it was all he could think about. In her eyes he saw possibilities, saw security, saw hope. He saw so many things, things he suddenly realized he couldn't do without. His father had lead a life of devotion and purpose, but more often than not that purpose seemed to be denial. He was never free to shape the outline of his life, the clan elders and his own brother always making the decisions for him. His first real choice for himself had been to die for his brother, but surely one moment of control did not compensate for a lifetime of servitude. From what Hizashi had written, he had died in peace, but Neji strongly doubted the man had died happy. When he honestly thought about it, that was the one thing he wanted more than anything: to die in satisfaction.
There were no guarantees being a shinobi. He could die any mission, any day, with no warning and a laundry list of regrets. And it would be the biggest lie in the world to say he was happy with his life right now.
Everything.
The single thought was so clear, so absolute that Ino heard it without effort and was speechless. They'd reached the equivalent of a stalemate with neither of them able to move beyond their feelings and neither one of them content with things the way they were. No ground gained, none lost.
...Then, didn't they have nothing to lose?
Their lips brushed against each other, tentatively at first before giving way to the fervor that had been steadily building for longer than either of them cared to admit. Less of a war of tongues, more of a dance -a salsa- everything moving in heated harmony and hitting every mark with perfect choreography. Ino listened for the voice in her head to say stop! Hey, bimbo, don't do this! but her brain was blissfully silent and she doubted her lips would cooperate with commands to stop anyway. She didn't care about the million and one reasons that they should not be doing this; for once, she allowed herself to enjoy the perfection of the moment. Her hand rose to cradle his cheek just as she felt Neji's hands settling at the small of her waist.
It was only a minute later when she was on her tiptoes, wantonly trying to get more as his thumbs rubbed slow, sensual circles around the peaks of her hipbones. She repositioned her hands, finding a decent grip on his shoulders. Though she thought her enthusiastic fingers might have been digging in a bit too violently, he seemed to like it - if the way his hands had repositioned themselves to cup her butt were any indication, he did. He lifted her up, pinning her against the door and alleviating them of the odd angles their height difference had made their necks crane. Ino made a sound of approval and locked her legs around him.
The feeling of Ino's lips on his and Ino's fingers clawing his collar and Ino's legs wrapped around him was far more than Neji had anticipated. Everything was magnified, multiplied, enhanced just by the pure freedom of the moment. It had been forever since...no, it hadn't. It hadn't been forever since he'd had this feeling because he was near certain he'd never felt like this before. An emotion this extreme - a combination of this many strong sensations - was something a person didn't simply forget. Ever.
His mouth was at the crook of her neck, hands sliding up her thighs and bunching her skirt when he paused to catch her gaze, and though he said nothing Ino understood him clear as day: This was it, this was all he could offer, and there would never be more than this. Except this alone would never be enough, not really. Words they could only express through touch. Nights they could only spend together in the lands of strangers. A life they could only live when outside of Konoha. It would never fully sate what she wanted from him.
...but if this was all that he could give, she would accept it.
She captured his lips with her own and they went tumbling down to the carpet.
After that night, the floodgates had been wrenched open and all manner of resistance had been abandoned. To be young and head-over-heels in love was an exhilirating thing, and as the strain of being apart in Konoha began to build, they started to live for their mission assignments. Living for the days when they didn't have to pretend. Their days continued to stretch onward bathed in the blood of duty, but their nights burned bright with desire, spreading and consuming like wildfire until being doused by the morning light. Neji allowed Ino to sleep on his chest at night and in return she allowed him to possessively curl his arm around her waist when men gawked at her, dominance blazing in his pale eyes.
The threat of exposure loomed, ever-present and never forgotten. And though their denial had died and long tortured death, neither of them completely accepted their forbidden relationship. Every time their control slipped and every time they touched in places mere partners shouldn't be touching, the both of them wondered in the backs of their minds just how long it would last.
They spoke of many, many things in their quiet moments together: of childhood memories, old victories, and bitter regrets. All things of the past. They never spoke of love or the future, for they knew a future of them together would never come to pass. One day their relationship would have to come to a close.
Until then, they had each other.
A/N : Suddenly I feel like this chapter could have been a thousand times better but I'm too full of fail to improve it. I apologize to those of you who thought this would all be resolved in a wholesome, honorable manner but kind of the whole point I've been making all along is that yes, they're ninjas but they're also terribly human and people don't always do what is necessarily the "right thing". Especially when emotions are involved. This isn't the last chapter, btw. There's at least 3 more. New fanart linked on my profile, check it out!