Hiiya! You know what guys, I was wondering if it's possible for me to make my feet type while I was dozin' off just to be able to give you my "token of appreciation". So if you're going to say, "Wow! That was a speedy update!" Nah, don't mention

The truth is, starting from next week; I'd be busy as hell. I'll surely update but it'll take me a while. I just wanted to atone for my sins, for always hanging up on you guys. So, drum roll please…

And let me present to you, the moment you've all been waiting for. *wink*

Read and Review.

Xoxo,

~Ino Ishii

"Anything?" Ino asked out when she heard Naruto end his phone conversation with the headquarters.

"Nope. No sign of Karin."

She groaned, but it was exactly the news she'd expected. After all, Karin had managed to elude the police most of the week, so it wasn't surprising that she'd been able to slip out of a bathroom window at the coffee shop and go on the run again.

Of course, it would have been nice if Naruto and she had anticipated that little maneuver so she could have posted herself out the window and stopped the woman.

Instead, they have to accept the fact that Karin had provided them with a lot more questions than answers and then lulled them into allowing her to escape.

Since hindsight wasn't doing much to improve her mood. Ino moved on to the second point of contention.

The wedding dress.

Or more specifically, her mother's wedding dress.

In the adjoining room, she heard Naruto open the fridge. Maybe an early dinner would keep him occupied while she tried on the dress.

It wasn't really modesty that made her want him to stay on the other side of the wall. She just didn't want him to get the idea that she had stars in her eyes and marriage – a genuine marriage – on her mind.

She didn't.

Really.

But she still found herself mumbling profanity under her breath when she held the dress in front of her and glanced at herself on the mirror.

Ino frowned.

What was it about lace and silk that managed to make a woman look great, even when that woman didn't want such cosmetic changes? She was practically glowing, to think that she wasn't the glowing sort.

Or was she?

After dwelling on it for couple of miserable seconds, she realized the idea was growing on her. Well, growing on her if the glowing part included the spiky-blonde hottie on the other side of the wall.

She was definitely in trouble.

Since it was making her depressed and since there was no chance she'd be able to do the dozen silk-covered back buttons by herself, Ino put the dress aside and moved on to an important logistics problem.

Her weapons.

Hiking up the satiny floor-length slip to her waist, she planted her bare foot on the bed and strapped on a leg holster. Then a second one on her other leg.

They'd make great back ups, but she still needed a primary position with better accessibility. It'd take her too long to work her way through the yards of silk to get to two semiautomatics. Those excess yards could get them killed – a thought she quickly pushed aside.

However, that thought didn't stay pushed aside.

It came back with a vengeance, and every worst case scenario started racing through her head.

The sniper opening fire. Naruto in the path of the bullets. Or Naruto protecting her by throwing himself in the path.

No matter which way it played out, he'd be right there. Directly in the path.

Of course, she'd certainly do the same, which meant they'd be so busy protecting each other that it would increase the risk a hundred times over.

With each image came the inevitable slam of adrenaline. An increase in her heart rate. A tightening of her muscles.

Her imagination was a little too good because her body was reacting as if the danger was right there in the room with her.

Which in a way, it was, she soon realized.

"Lara Croft has nothing on you," Naruto commented.

He was standing in the doorway, one hand bracketed on the frame, a bottle of beer on his other hand. With his shirt unbuttoned and his spiky blonde hair mussed he looked like the main player in her darkest fears. In her hottest fantasies.

And the source of her only sanctuary.

She wasn't sure though which one worried her most.

"Maybe you can put your primary in your bouquet?" he suggested.

She heard herself mumble 'it's not big enough' but the truth was his comment barely penetrated her consciousness.

Ino turned and went to him.

Not for sex.

It would have been so much easier if it'd been just for that. But she needed to melt into his arms. She needed to feel that all would be right with the world.

At the moment, she just wanted those frightening images of snipers and death to go away. And she knew that Naruto could do that for her. He could become her sanctuary.

And he cooperated.

Naruto put his beer on the dresser. As if he had all the time in the world, he circled his arm around her. He drew her to him and touched his mouth to hers. Slow and lingering. Tender. A touch that gave her a little too much time to consider exactly what was happening.

Her slip was cut low in the back, and Naruto skimmed a finger down her bare skin, tracing her spine all the way down.

The heat rolled through her.

"I wont have to think about this if it's fast," she whispered against his mouth.

"I know."

With that reassurance, he didn't speed up. In fact, that single stroking, sliding finger on her back slowed to a trickle. Hardly a touch at all. He handled her like a fragile, paper-thin crystal and fueled a lot of flames in the process.

Did he know what this was doing to her?

No doubt.

Ino tried to speed things up on her own. She French kissed him. Deep and hungry. And then took those kisses to his ear, and then his neck.

A major attention getter, she'd already learned, and his slight rattle of breath let her know she'd gotten his attention in exactly the way she wanted to get it.

She pushed down the slip, stepped out of it, and with his cooperation, she maneuvered them across the room.

The cooperation didn't continue.

Naruto stopped them just short of the bed. He leaned down. No hurried motion, either. He brushed a kiss on the top of her right breast. Then on the left. He kept on going down. Kissing her stomach. Her hip. The lower front of her underwear. Until he reached her ankle.

"Finally!" she thought.

This would lead to something wild, hot and fast. A bout of mind-boggling sex that would occupy her mind so she wouldn't worry.

But he slid his clever hand up, over her leg. Over her knee. And slowly, leisurely made his way to her thigh.

He was getting closer, but it definitely wasn't where she wanted his hand.

"Naruto?" Ino whispered, trying to convey the urgency. She got off his shirt, somehow, and had the pleasure of feeling his sculpted musculature jump beneath her fingers.

"Shh," he answered, his warm breath brushing against her skin. He unstrapped her holsters, one by one, and laid them on the nightstand. "It's all right," she heard him whisper.

But was it? Was it really?

The room seemed to be turning. Not quickly, either. Slowly, like his touch. Like some gentle spiral pulling her down into it. She couldn't catch her breath. And why was her heart pounding so hard? It wasn't the only thing pounding, too. Every inch of her, ached. Pulsed.

Burned.

This wasn't sex. It couldn't be. This was something leaps and bounds beyond that. Something so intimate, it frightened her almost as much as those other deadly images in her head.

Shaken, Ino tried again. She pulled Naruto onto the bed next to her. She succeeded and even managed to shove down his pants and anchor her leg over his so he wouldn't move away.

But it didn't stop his slow, methodical hands or mouth. He kissed her. Touched her.

Really touched her.

Those fingers moved over her. Exploring. Discovering. Pleasuring her.

He slipped his hand into her panties. He was definitely getting closer, but what she had in mind was having him inside her. Now.

"I have a condom," she said in between breaths. Just in case that was the issue here. She'd picked up some when Naruto had filled up the car at the convenience store and had gotten a strange look from the clerk.

"I have some, too." He informed her right back.

Okay…so if safe sex wasn't the issue, then what the heck was?

With those same slow strokes that matched his incredibly slow kiss, he eased his fingers inside her. Not especially deep. But then, deep wasn't necessary. He got the right spot.

Definitely.

The right pace, too.

And he even had the perfect pressure to make her forget all about the speed that she'd thought she wanted.

No. She wanted this instead.

And Ino suddenly didn't care if it took all night for him to get her there.

It occurred to her that she should be pleasuring him as well, but even that thought faded when he turned them until they were face-to-face, and he slid down her body.

His hair, his face, his mouth brushed against her skin. He kissed her along the way, not missing any available spot, before he rid her of her underwear.

In a move that had her wondering what she'd done to deserve this special treatment, or Naruto, he replaced those clever fingers with his mouth.

The room didn't just turn. It whirled around. Her breath vanished, and her heart slammed against her chest. She was lost. Willingly lost.

Ino moaned, arched into him and ran her own hand into his hair. Her body sought out everything he was giving her. His mouth and tongue took her higher. Higher. Until letting go was her only option.

So she did. Ino let go. And Naruto sent her world spinning out of control.

It didn't take long before Ino came back down to Earth. Mere seconds. Not that Naruto had expected her to languish in the aftermath, especially when she realized he'd pulled a fast one on her.

Or rather, a slow one.

That climax obviously had its intended effect – to take off the edge. To lessen some of that raw energy inside her so they could spend a little time – all right, a lot of time – just enjoying each other.

And it worked.

She moved lazily and smiled – the smile of a sated woman – who planned to do some sating off her own.

Ino tugged off his boxers while she reached over and took a condom from her purse on the nightstand. She did all the work of putting it on him and made his eyes cross in the process.

When she finished, he caught the back of her neck and pulled her to him. He kissed her. Hot and deep. And did a necessary repositioning of their bodies so that she was on top of him and so that he didn't hurt her arm. He took a moment to savor the sight of her.

All that strength. All that beauty.

Leaning forward, she slid her hands slowly over his chest, her palms gliding through the sweat that already dampened his skin. "Ready for the ride of your life?" she purred like a challenge.

"Are you?" he fired back.

She laughed. And savored that as well, for a moment or two, before he moved just slightly beneath her. The tip of his erection grazed her. And judging from the way her eyelids fluttered and the shudder that went through her body, he'd grazed her in just the right place.

That sent her in search of him. Not that she had to search far, she shifted. Restlessly. Seeking. Naruto did some seeking of his own.

One thrust and he was inside her.

Fuck.

It was better than he'd anticipated. A hell of a lot better. And his anticipation had been pretty darn high.

She reared up, her platinum blonde mane cascading down her bare torso, making her look like a goddess. Bracketing her hands on his chest, she began to move. Naruto caught her hips, to guide her, to take them both where they needed to go.

Picking up the pace, she rocked and slid against him. Their bodies creating the friction. The deep intimate contact. The rhythm. Until she had him close. And this wasn't simply to take off the edge, either. She was obviously aiming for something he'd never forget – as if he ever could.

And then she stopped.

Just stopped.

Naruto fought through the haze and stared at her to see why she'd done that.

"What's wrong?" he managed to say.

She hovered above him, staring, and then she reached down and laced her fingers with his. "Are you okay with me being on top?"

It wasn't exactly a question he'd been expecting, and even though just about every inch of him was throbbing for release, he took the time to grasp what she was saying.

And what she was saying was a lot.

He nodded. It was the best he could manage. For some reason, his throat had clamped shut.

Ino returned the nod, and there was no apprehension, no hesitancy in her aqua eyes when she lowered her body and lay against him. Her bare bountiful breasts against his chest. Her face touching his.

Without fully breaking the intimate contact of their joined bodies, she slowly rolled over. Until their positions were reversed. Until he was looking down on her.

Naruto held his breath.

"It's good," she said, sounding not surprised but rather pleased with her decision.

He held his breath a little longer, until she moved. Not a move to get away from him, but closer. She moved up, with some not so gentle pressure. She dug her heels into the mattress, lifted her hips, then wrapped her legs around him.

That sent him sliding deep inside her.

Now he breathed. Long and rough. He fought to keep a restraint on everything that she'd unleashed inside him, but it was a fight he knew he'd soon lose.

"Am I too heavy for you?" Naruto asked. Not easily but he asked it anyway because it was important.

"No," she repeated it and kissed him. "It's a lot better than I ever thought it would be."

"I know the feeling," he mumbled.

And he was absolutely sure she knew he wasn't just talking about their present position.

He tested the waters and moved inside her. A short, quick, easy stroke. The test was a success.

Man, was it ever.

After a few more of those testing strokes, his body was already pleading with him to take this, and her, to the next level. But then, Ino's body was doing the same. Despite her climax only a minutes earlier, he felt the aftershocks gain new life before they'd even fully subsided.

Still careful not to make her feel trapped beneath him, Naruto gathered her into his arms. He took everything she offered. Everything. And he made sure he gave it right back to her. He moved high against her, hard inside her. Deep. Sliding through the slick, hot moisture of her body.

When she begged him for more, he gave it to her.

No longer wary of her response, he pinned her hands to the bed and was pleased when she jerked and twisted beneath him. Not to get away. No, the throaty moan, the half smile, the scorching look in her eyes was the best 'welcome home, Naruto' he could have ever gotten.

Her legs tightened around him. They matched each other. Move for move. Frantic stroke for frantic stroke. Until the pressure built to an unbearable level. And yet they continued. Somehow. Trying to hang on to every second, every sensation.

They climbed together.

Drawing on each other. Feeding each other. Pleasuring each other.

To get to the only place they wanted to go.

She came in a flash, whispering his name in rhythm to the shudders that ravaged through her. He heard her murmurs over his own heartbeat, over his heavy breath. Over hers.

It was her surrender. A sweet, sensual, complete surrender.

Naruto buried his face against her neck and surrendered right along with her.