almost there! another two chapters and we're set with princess Ino!
I have already changed the rating, please don't poke me XD haha
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
INO found Sai in a palace salon with a large group of security experts—Konoha's chief of police, the captain from the palace guard, plain-clothes detectives, secret service agents from a half dozen foreign countries.
Apparently all of Europe was showing up. Kings, queens, princes, princesses, dukes and duchesses. There were political leaders from every superpower, industry leaders from the business sector, fashion scions, celebrities with connections, even the Fire Country daimyo's wife had just flown in and was staying at the Konoha Palace Hotel. Konoha's revered five star hotel property.
Sakura had said that with the ceremony taking place at the palace, and the reception in the Hotel's grand ballroom, the Daimyo was taking no chance with security and she'd been right. Sai was taking no chances.
She listened as Sai conversed with the blond The Fire Country secret service agent, the Fire Country strong accent giving away his place of birth. It boggled Ino's mind—a Cathedral wedding with Cardinal Juneau presiding followed by a reception for five hundred at the Hotel...
It was enough to make her want to grab her jellaba and run for the desert. Instead Ino stepped from the shadows, caught Sai's eye and indicated she needed to speak with him.
He joined her in the hall a few minutes later. "What's happened?" he asked, immediately seeing the stress in her face.
Ino explained quickly. She left nothing out. Due to some archaic The Tea Country law, Hinata couldn't take Princess Kaori, heir to the throne, out of the country without the King and Queen's permission, and The Hamazakis weren't going to let Kaori come.
She also explained her grandfather's position on it, and how he—who had the power to challenge the Hamazakis—refused to do so. After she'd told him everything she felt the weight return, the heaviness of her heart that had been there for so long now.
She didn't want to hurt or humiliate Sai, but she also knew herself. She couldn't forget what had taken her to Baraka in the first place.
"I went to Baraka to free Kaori." Her heart felt so bruised she could barely look at him. "The only reason I pretended to be Hinata was to find a way to get Kaori out of The Tea Country. I can't marry you if she isn't here. I made her a promise."
He said nothing, his expression calm, unruffled as always.
"I'm asking you to help bring her home for the wedding." Her eyes were gritty and her throat felt raw. "I don't want to say I won't marry you. I don't want to humiliate you. But she has to be here. That was my goal. Sai, that was my objective all along."
"And I assured you that she would be."
"But that was before—"
"Nothing's changed. I gave you my word."
But the morning of the wedding arrival and Ino woke, heart sick. Hinata wasn't here. Kaori wasn't here. Sai was completely uncommunicative. Whenever she asked about Hinata and Kaori, he simply said. "I'm doing everything I can possibly do."
But what exactly did that entail? What had he done? What hadn't he done? And if he was working so hard on getting them here, why weren't they?
It made Ino crazy. She wanted to jump on a plane with the palace guard, fly into the Tea Country and scoop up Kaori and Hinata and bring them home.
A knock sounded on Ino's bedroom door and Sakura's dark head appeared around the corner. "I've got coffee."
"Then you can come in."
Sakura carried two cups of steaming cafe au lait to the bed. "You're not up yet?"
"Don't start." Ino groaned, pushing herself into a sitting position. "You sound just like Alea."
Sakura grinned. "I know." She handed Ino her coffee before taking a seat on the foot of the bed. "You've told me all about her. She sounds great."
Ino was going to say something sarcastic but inexplicably her eyes tilled with tears. Sakura's smile disappeared. "Hinata would be here if she could," she said softly, knowing exactly what Ino was thinking. "But you can't let Hinata's absence ruin your day. This is your wedding day—"
"No. It's not." Ino set her coffee down on the night stand. "I'm not getting married."
"Ino…"
"I can't."
"Ino, he's great. It may have been an arranged marriage, but he's... gorgeous, and sexy and—" her hand gestured as she struggled for words "—perfect for you."
"It doesn't matter." She slid from the bed, reached for her old while woven robe. It was a super soft cotton robe she'd had forever and simply loved. "And don't look at me like that. Sai knows."
"Does he?"
Ino nodded and swallowed, but on the inside, she wasn't so sure. Sai had to know she was serious. She wasn't going to get married without Kaori in Konoha. That had been the deal. That was the arrangement from the beginning.
"There are five hundred important people here." Sakura rose up on her knees. "Grandpapa and Grandmama would be shamed—"
"If Grandpapa can ignore Hinata's misery, then he can learn to ignore his own."
The phone rang, providing momentary distraction. Ino answered the phone, said a quiet yes, and hung up. Things were going to get ugly. Ino thought, taking a deep breath.
"The wedding dress is on its way up."
There was a quiet rap on the door. When Ino opened the door her heart fell. It was the designer from Baraka. She'd personally flown the gown in. A gown that Ino knew she wasn't going to wear today after all.
"S-salamu alikum. " Peace on you, the designer said, offering the traditional greeting with a deep bow and a smile.
The woman carried the garment bag to Ino's bed and laid it flat. "I think you'll like the gown." she said. "The Daimyo has been most anxious that you approve."
Ino could feel her stomach start to rise. It was like the Danube flooding. She should have talked to Sai this morning, told him she'd meant what she said, asked him to put a stop to the ceremony before it was too late.
But the designer was intent on the task at hand, and she unzipped the garment bag, and drew out a sleek white satin gown with the narrowest shoulder straps imaginable. The gown was cut almost straight across the collarbones, with a very sexy hour glass shape, then flared behind the knees in a long silk train. The train made the dress. The train was hopelessly romantic, a sleek white satin edged with a wide curling ruffle that curved in on itself like icing on a cake.
"Ino," Sakura whispered. "It's like the dress you drew... no sleeves, skinny straps, form lilting curves and not much else."
"No beads, no pearls, no lace, nothing sparkly." Ino recited numbly. The designer was wailing anxiously for a response. "You're unhappy?"
"No." But Sakura was right, this was the dress she'd sketched on the last night the Shinobi sisters were together, the night before Hinata married Daimyo Jiro. Sakura had been just a teenager, fifteen or sixteen. Hinata had been the mature one at twenty-four. They'd talked about their futures and Hinata had goaded them into drawing their future wedding gowns.
How long ago it seemed. How different things were now compared to then.
"I have to talk to Sai," she choked, queasy, dizzy, unable to let this continue another moment longer. "I have to make a phone call."
Sakura waited, chewing her thumb as Ino dialed Sai's room, but there was no answer. Yet Ino let it ring and ring and ring until the palace switchboard cut in, telling Ino what she already knew—Sai wasn't in his room.
Ino hung up. Stared at the phone, thinking. "Maybe he's already checked into the suite we're using tonight."
"No, he's not." Sakura snapped her fingers. "I completely forgot. He's at the airport meeting the King and Queen of Sweden. They were arriving with members of Spain's royal family and King Kazuri thought it'd be nice to welcome them in person."
"Four hours before the wedding?" Panicked. Ino hung the phone up. She had to reach him before this went any further. She couldn't possibly walk down the aisle like this. "Couldn't somebody else do that?"
"Grandpapa was going to go, but King Kazuri thought it would be too much for him considering everything that's happening today."
Sensitive of Sai, Ino thought, emotions swinging wildly yet again.
"Your Highness," the designer said, drawing Ino's attention, "and this is to hold your veil." Ino turned around and gaped as the designer presented her with the most magnificent diamond tiara Ino had ever seen.
The tiara was tall, with small fragile arches, and elegant curves and ripples so that the tiara itself seemed to undulate like the desert sands of the Sahara. Within each arch hung a perfect pink tear drop diamond—nine in all—with eight smaller teardrops nestled in the sea of white diamonds below. The arching headband was covered in what looked like a swirling ribbon of miniature pink and while diamonds.
"Incredible," Ino breathed, utterly captivated by the gorgeous pink and white wonder, but with trembling hands she passed the tiara back. "Can't keep it. Far too expensive, obviously an heirloom—"
"It was his mother's. His cousin. Lady Hanako, hand-carried it here today."
"Lady Hanako's here?"
"Indeed. She flew in with her family for the wedding, and brought the crown for you. She'd been keeping it for the Daimyo's future bride since the Daimyo's mother died."
Ino turned away, covered her mouth, tried to keep it together. Hanako, who'd waited years for Sai, was here today to lend support. The designer added with a smile. "Lady Hanako said to remind you that the Daimyo's beloved must be draped in gold and precious jewels and carried on a table, but that you somehow have managed to miss out on the table."
Ino suddenly laughed, even as tears filled her eyes. Hanako was here. Sai's family was here. How could she not show up? How could she not tell him in advance... just leave him there, in front of five hundred, standing at the altar?
Ino tried to call him over and over during the next three hours but he couldn't be reached, and no one seemed to know anything. Finally it was time to dress and go, or do nothing at all. The moment had come to make a decision.
Sakura stood in Ino's room, wearing her pale pink maid of honor gown. She'd been pacing in the hallway until she couldn't bear it anymore and now she was on the verge of tears. "You have to get ready, Ino, or we'll be late. The ceremony begins in thirty minutes."
"I can't—"
"You can! You must." Sakura's eyes welled with tears. "Ino, I don't know what this is about. I don't know if you two had a fight, or you've just got cold feet, but he's been here for you, every step of the way. He cares about you, and I know you love him. It's obvious. It's all over your face."
"I do love him." There was no doubt in her mind about that. "But we weren't ever supposed to be married, we weren't ever supposed to be together. He wanted a different Shinobi—"
"No." Sakura grabbed Ino's wedding dress and shook it in front of her sister. "Maybe he did, maybe he wanted Hinata, but he fell in love with you, so get your dress on and put your tiara on your stubborn blond head and let's go. Because Ino, I know you. You'll never forgive yourself if you hurt him. You love him, and you can't bear to disappoint those that love you, too."
Ino felt an icy shiver rush through her, and goose bumps prickled her skin. That was exactly why she was so upset. Ino had promised Hinata she'd free Kaori. She'd given Hinata her word and it was killing her to let Hinata down. A promise was a promise.
But you also promised Sai. So it must mean it's better to disappoint Sai than Hinata.
"Oh my God." Ino's voice came out broken. "What have I done? What am I doing?" Her chest felt like it was burning up, all ice and heat, all uncontrollable fire. "I do love him. I do and I don't want him standing there, facing everyone, waiting for me." She blinked and tears fell. "Help me, Sakura. I can't be late."
The distance between the palace and cathedral was less than a mile but it felt like forever to Ino. She was crushed that Hinata and Kaori hadn't come, but she also knew that Sai Kazuri was the heart and soul of her future and there was no way she'd stand him up today.
In the back of the chauffeured limousine Sakura squeezed Ino's hand. "Are you okay?"
Ino nodded even though her heart felt like it might explode. Then the car rounded the corner and the Cathedral came into view. Thank God. They'd reached the church with five minutes to spare. The Cathedral had been built in the Baroque tradition, a lovely domed ceiling painted with a glorious blue and gold vision of heaven complete with angels and all the saints frolicking in eternal joy.
King Hiruzen was waiting for them in the back of the Cathedral. And Ino, who'd been battling for calm, nearly lost her composure when she spotted her grandfather resplendent in his coronation suit, the one he wore for only the most official state business with the purple ribbon and medals of Honor.
"Grandpapa," she whispered, leaning forward to kiss him. She smelled the brisk aftershave he'd worn his whole life, a scent old-fashioned and yet elegant, just like him. His dark eyes filmed with tears. "Tell me you're happy, darling."
She ground her teeth together, knowing she'd walk on fire if she thought it'd give her grandparents peace. They'd been through so much and she knew they were tired. Tired and Worried.
"I'm so happy." she whispered, heart aching, throat scaling closed. Unable to bear so much emotion. Ino impulsively hugged him again, wanting to cling to her childhood for just one more minute. Grandfather Hiruzen to her. King Shinobi to everyone else.
"And I'm sorry I spoke sharply to you the other day. I forget you're eighty-five and I'm twenty-seven sometimes."
"You were right." Ino felt her grandfather take a deep shuddering breath. "Your father would never forgive me if I let any of his girls marry, or live, unhappily."
"But I love Sai."
"You should." He drew back, and one of the chapel's dark doors squeaked. A little girl peeked out around the door in a pink silk dress embroidered with great rose hued flowers.
"Aunt Ino?" The soft brown curls, the uncertain smile, the high soft voice of a very young child, Kaori.
"Baby," Ino cried, running toward her niece and swinging her up into her arms.
"My little Kaori baby, you're here!" Kaori's uncertain smile turned positively elfin, the shyness turning into laughter.
"I'm not a baby, Aunt Ino. I'm four years old. I speak French and Italian and I know how to ski, too."
"You better stop crying," a feminine voice whispered in Ino's ear, even as an arm wrapped around her waist. "You don't want to walk down the aisle with a shiny face."
Hinata. Hinata and Kaori here. Ino couldn't believe it. "What... how...?"
"Grandpapa." Hinata hugged Ino again. "He came for us this morning. He told Phillipe and Shizuka they were welcome at the wedding, and he'd like them here, but even if they didn't come, he wanted Kaori and I there." Hinata shrugged. "So here we are."
"Grandpapa did that?"
Hinata nodded. "Well, Sai flew him there, of course. But you already knew that, didn't you?"
No, she didn't. Ino thought, fighting to keep the tears from spilling, but she should have known. Sai was a man of his word.
There was a moment when the organ's triumphant notes filled the glorious fairytale cathedral and the sunlight streamed through the stained-glass windows, and Ino stood at the back of the church, holding her dearest grandfather's arm, seeing her sisters and little Kaori at the front of the church on the left side, and
Sai standing on the right, and it was like the moment when she stepped off the yacht in Atiq. Time blurred, lives changed. Ino's senses swam as the past and future came together in a glorious glow of rose, cream and gold.
Ino could smell her flowers—a stunning bouquet of mango calla lilies, conga roses, the most elusive pastel pink tipped cymbidium orchids, and she remembered the way the flower petals had rained down on her head as she stepped off the gangway.
The sun was shining today, just as it had that day, and as the light poured through the high stained-glass window, patterning the guests and floor in bits of blue and gold it was like the domed ceiling of the palace in Baraka. The exotic beauty laden with mystery and promise.
And finally, she could see Sai, her Daimyo in a long black morning coat, his thick black hair combed back from his handsome face. And when he turned and looked at her from the front of the church it was like the very first moment their eyes met on the harbor wall in Atiq—magic. Just one look and her life would never be the same.
Ino didn't remember walking down the long aisle where each pew was marked with a spray of orchids and rose buds. She didn't remember the prayers, the words spoken, the periodic burst of music, or the cathedral choir. The ceremony was a blur, it was all a strange and haunting beauty, a dream world, she thought, and she didn't wake until Sai lifted her veil and kissed her on her lips.
"Hello. Blondie," he whispered, and he smiled at her, a gorgeous, wicked, sexy smile that melted her all over again. She, who'd never imagined herself marrying, had found true love by pretending to be someone else. Impossible. Incredible. It was an ending plucked straight from a child's storybook.
The reception at the Konoha Palace Hotel defied description. Entering the grand ballroom was yet another step into a dream. The sixty three round tables were skirted in luminous pink and purple silk covered by square toppers each hand beaded so the crystals glittered and shone in the candlelight. The pink silk cushions on the chairs were tied with the palest green ribbon, and the flower centerpieces spilled over in a riot of fragrance and color.
Candles shone everywhere—on tables, on pedestals, in gold sconces on the wall— and the cake in the corner was nearly eight feet tall, each one of the nine delectable layers painted different shades of pink and apricot and gold.
She and Sai were inseparable. They ate. They danced. They kissed. They visited with guests. They cut the cake. They danced some more, and this time when dancing. Ino knew that she had to be alone with Sai, now. Right now.
"Let's go." she said, linking her fingers with his. "We've been here long enough. Surely we can sneak out?"
He reached up and gently touched her earlobe. "Sneak out?"
Just like that, the words she'd spoken to Hinata four weeks ago came rushing back. I'll sneak in, sneak out. He won't even know what's happened.
It didn't exactly work out that way, did it?
But she and Sai did manage to leave the reception at midnight, exiting quietly through a side door, slipping into one of the royal family's chauffeured cars. At the palace they practically ran up the stairs, and Ino was laughing so much by the time she reached the top of the second landing, that she had to lean against one tall marble column, struggling to catch her breath.
Sai reached out with his arms and trapped her against the column. "It's been forever since I've kissed you."
"We kissed yesterday."
"That wasn't a kiss." His lips brushed her cheek, his nose touched her ear and she shivered as his breath caressed her skin. "I want a kiss where I can taste you... everywhere."
The husky note in his voice sent a shot of adrenaline through her. "I think we need a room for that," she answered, grabbing his tie and giving it a tug, pulling him toward their bedroom suite.
Inside their room Sai took control. Despite his own impatience, he wouldn't let them race. He took his time unhooking her snug gown, and with each hook his mouth touched her neck, her back and sometimes he kissed her, and sometimes he licked her and sometimes he bit her, and the wait for the touch became harder to endure.
Her breathing slowed and her belly felt hot and tight with wanting. "It's okay to accelerate things a little," she urged, as his hands became more deliberate, and the wait between bites and licks even longer. She could feel the cool air against her heated skin, feel her breasts swell, aching, her nipples extended begging to be touched and yet he was content kissing a vertebra in the middle of her back.
But he didn't hurry. His fingers trailed across her skin, making her body burn. She fell feverish by the time her dress spilled open and he pulled her backwards against him, his arms moving around her waist, clasping her, holding her to him. She felt the rigid length of him against the white silk of her panties.
The quiver of her body against his, sent a shudder through him and Ino gulped air as his hands encircled her waist and slowly moved up, shaping her, letting the fullness of her breasts fill his palms and then finding her nipples through the silk of her corset. She whimpered as he pinched the distended nipple. Sensation exploded through her. Hunger, craving, every physical desire.
She was already dissolving against him when his hand slid down her tummy, to the edge of her silk parity, and then lower, finding the heat and moisture between her thighs. She leaned against him, legs disgustingly weak, and the teasing torment of his lingers sinking slowly, deliciously into her creamy heal made her clasp the back of his thighs and hold on lo him for dear life. "It's not fair." she choked, struggling to get sound through her throat. "You're still dressed."
"We've time."
"Not that much." she answered breaking away to look up at him through heavy lashes. "I've a wedding and thank you gift to give to you."
Dark color touched his cheekbones. "I don't want gifts."
"But you'll want this." She fought to get control, astonished at the way she responded to him. She felt utterly wild, completely without inhibition. "I want you to undress for me."
He stared at her a long moment and she felt his gaze rest on the full curves of her breast. Her finely boned corset pushed everything up, just barely obscuring the nipples. She could tell he liked her in the corset. He liked her wearing just thigh high stockings and high heels and looking like something from a pinup magazine.
No wonder. He liked hot sex, too. "Your shirt," she commanded.
He watched her face as he started to undress. The shirt came off and she drank him in. His dark hair gleamed, his upper body, beautifully bare, the muscles sinewy, arms chiseled like stone.
"Now your belt," she directed coolly. "Then your socks, and trousers." Silently he unbuckled his belt, slowly drawing it from the loops in his slacks. Her heart began to thud harder, faster as he tossed his belt onto the down-filled chaise. With a lift of his eyebrow, he unzipped his black trousers, letting the material fall open, exposing his taut, flat abdomen with the fine trail of dark hair that disappeared into the low waistband of his silk boxers.
Her mouth went dry. Very dry. Her heart did the craziest somersault. He was hers. Hers. As in forever. As he stepped from his trousers, she told him to sit down on the bed. He gave her a sardonic look, but he obeyed, taking a seat on the edge of the mattress, the muscles in his thighs hard, smooth, like the small knots of muscle in his abdomen.
She moved toward him. and pulling a hand on each of his knees, she parted his legs to make room for her. Kneeling between his legs, she felt primal, powerful, female.
Ino caressed his thighs, fell the muscles bunch beneath her hands. He reached for her, slid a hand through her long loose hair, turning the blonde strands over, savoring the glossy corn silk color. "You don't have to do anything for me."
"I know. You've made that abundantly clear from the beginning." She caressed the length of his quadriceps again, feeling the warm smooth plane of muscle, and as her light touch slid inward, along the taut muscle of his thigh, she heard him groan.
Caressing his thigh again, she explored the width of his chiseled muscle, the shape, the length, the way one muscle wrapped another.
She fell him shudder, saw his erection press against the silk of his boxers, the fabric barely containing him.
Good. He was getting a taste of his own medicine.
Ino caressed him again, this time stroking his belly, his buttocks, the skin beneath his scrotum — anything but his rigid shaft. And when she knew he was reaching the edge of his control. Ino lugged his boxers down and wrapped her hand around the length of him.
"What was that about a kiss isn't a kiss if you can't taste everything...?" she murmured, lowering her head until her long hair fell forward, brushing his naked lap.
She heard him swallow yet another groan. Ino brushed her lips across the smooth warm lip of him, and followed the soft kiss with a lick, and she was just about to kiss him again when he slid his fingers through her hair.
"So you've forgiven me then, laeela?" His voice came out hoarse. "No hard feelings about getting you here?"
Her hands stroked him. loved him. "Hard feelings about what?"
"Going to Hinata, asking for her help."
Her hands stilled. "I don't understand."
"You love me?"
"Yes."
He titled her chin, looked into her eyes. "I love you. You made me complete today. I feel whole again."
He was saying the right words but there was an undercurrent here that was wrong, and Ino was tired enough, worn down from the wedding and all the stress and nerves that she couldn't put two and two together to make four.
What had Hinata done?
What had Sai done?
Why would Ino need to forgive anyone?
Sai adjusted his boxers, covering himself, and pulled her onto his lap. "Hinata introduced us," he said calmly. "I asked her, too."
"No. You'd proposed to her. You sent her the formal offer—" Ino broke off, a flutter of fear winging through her. She tried to stand. Sai wouldn't let her go.
"Stay here," he said, holding her securely. "We have to talk."
But she'd gone cold, icy cold everywhere. Her arms and legs felt like polished marble. "That letter you sent her," she was struggling to gel the words out. Her lips were stiff. Numb . But she managed to stagger to her feet. "You never intended to marry her?"
"No. The letter was essentially my bait."
Bait?
She was beginning to understand how it'd worked. It'd been a con. The letter had been a con. Ino took a step away, not knowing where to go, what to think. Hinata hadn't truly set her up, had she?
Hinata and Sai couldn't have set this whole charade up, could they?
"You never wanted my sister."
"You're the one—and the only one—I've ever wanted."