あなたは恋人です
You Are My Love

Three: Tsume and Arata
Genre: Romance (well, as romantic as one would think Tsume capable of), Angst
Word count: 540
Warning(s): Mentions of smex, OC, Tsume's potty-mouth, ignored timeline
Disclaimer: Kishimoto Masashi owns Naruto and related characters. I own Arata.

Arata looked to the woman in bed beside him. "Why do we always end up like this?"

Tsume grinned, and in that cocky smile, he already had his answer. "Because you can't resist me," she said cheekily.

He snorted, but they both knew the truth: she drove him insane in more ways than one.

"Arata," she called his name, rolling away from him and taking his blanket with her when she stood. "Promise me something, okay?"

He glanced at her as she moved about his apartment, collecting her clothing. "Hm?"

"No matter what happens, never ever tell me you love me."

Arata's gaze moved back to his paneled ceiling. "You have a high opinion of yourself," he said.

"I mean it," she snapped. "Promise me, dammit!"

He rolled his eyes. "I promise," he muttered.

She nodded to herself, "Good."

"We've got trouble."

As two shinobi, he supposed she could have meant village-related trouble, but he doubted she'd be so aloof about it if that were the case. Beside her, Kuromaru's tail thumped the ground, equally nonchalant.

"I'm assuming you mean us trouble," Arata guessed, keeping his eyes on the forest.

"Would I be telling you if it weren't?" she sneered.

Arata was used to this. Tsume had little patience for stupid questions.

"I thought it might have something to do with our jobs. We're in the middle of a war, in case you've forgotten."

"The war will have to wait a second. I'm pregnant."

"And I'm the father?"

She raised an eyebrow, and he averted his gaze in self-preservation.

"Well, you can't blame me," he muttered defensively. "One can never be sure."

Tsume would have been offended if she hadn't been notorious for (and perhaps even a little proud of) her promiscuity. As it was, she chuckled. "You're such a dumbass," she told him.

"But I'm your dumbass." He was only half-joking.

She snorted derisively, and Arata had to hide the sting it gave him. He wondered when he'd finally become numb to the fact that he loved about Tsume more than she would ever love him.

Arata looked to the woman in bed beside him. Her back was to him, but he could tell she wasn't sleeping. She was obviously ignoring him.

"It's not like I have a choice," he repeated for perhaps the tenth time that night. "A mission is a mission."

Tsume kept her eyes on the closet door on her side of the room. "I already told you I don't care," she repeated, also for perhaps the tenth time that night. "You can do what you want."

Arata didn't say anything - what was there left to say? If not for his breathing, she'd have thought he had fallen asleep.

"They'll miss you," she said at last, quietly.

"Hana maybe," Arata replied. "Kiba probably won't even notice I'm gone. But this isn't about them, is it?"

"Don't assume that I give a damn where you go or for how long."

"It's only a couple years," he insisted again.

Tsume growled in the back of her throat. "Spy missions are dangerous," she reminded him.

"Just being alive is dangerous for a shinobi. You expect me to stop being a ninja because of that?"

"I said I don't care, and you don't need my permission, anyway."

Arata sighed, "You're being childish, Tsume."

"Well, maybe if you weren't so damn collected all the time, there'd be enough maturity to go around."

"Please remind Hana and Kiba that they have a father while I'm gone. I'd hate to come home and be a stranger to them."

When Arata left the next morning, Tsume refused to say goodbye to him.

It would prove to be one of her biggest regrets, especially after the report came in that Arata had been declared MIA.

A/N: Enough of this happy fluff! Have some angst... Don't worry, I'm sure the fluff will be back in the next installment.

Arata was designed to be Tsume's opposite, which is why he's so calm and level-headed. I figured that Tsume wouldn't really talk about Arata much after he (presumably) dies, so Kiba would just assume that she had scared him off, seeing as how Kiba was a baby when Arata left for the mission. I implied this, but I didn't come right out and say it, so I wanted to make it clear for anyone who was confused.