Hey, guys! It's S/I this time, R&R!

P.S.: Don't let the title mislead you, it's not that kind of first night!

Ken18: Thanks. About Harumi, I'll try insert her again on a chapter to describe her properly ;)

Hektols: I don't know if it's necessary, since chapter 19 is set after chap 15 and Ino already knows about Harumi's crush.

madeyemoody95: Haha, you crazy ;) Here it goes the new chapter! No sunscreen tasting on this, lol.

chemistrykim: ShikaTema is a very special pairing for me too, and I also think it's a pretty big deal for international relations. Thanks for reading.

Hokori-Hori-Chan: Thank you! I love making Shikamaru embarassed, haha. I have to come up with more situations like that...

ifup: Thank you so so so much XD, here goes another chapter, I hope you like it as well.

"So this is it, then." Stated Sai.

"This is it." Ino agreed.

They were standing before their new house front door, ready to walk inside the house where they would start their lives as a married couple. The very first day - well, first night, since it was already seven PM - of their domestic live.

Sai grabbed all the luggage if their honeymoon with one arm to take Ino's hand in his as she opened the door. They stepped in.

"We're home!" Sai whispered, then added with a smile: "I'm happy. I never had someone to say 'I'm home' to."

Ino also smiled. "Well, now you have." She hugged him. "Welcome home."

They kissed slowly, both feeling the gentle warmth that always struck them when they kissed. The thought of experience that same feeling again and again on the years to come made Ino chuckle.

"What?" Sai asked, breaking the kiss but not the hug.

"Nothing. I was just thinking I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you." She nuzzled her head against him for a while but then pushed away gently. "Now, unpack and take a bath; I will make us something to eat."

"Roger."

The blond watched her husband's back as he walked to their room then went to her brand new kitchen. The thing was: she was too tired to cook. They had just arrived from their honeymoon trip on a cruise, in which Sai had dragged her around, trying to do every activity available. In the end, their trip almost ended up being as exhausting as a long mission.

Deciding that anything she would cook would taste bad, Ino went out to buy some ramen at Ichiraku's. There she saw Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto and Kakashi - on that order. The Sixth seemed ready to eat the bowl before him, the other three were watching their former sensei's mask-covered face closely. Understanding what was going on, Ino runners to them and leaned on the space between Kakashi and Naruto, blocking the view.

"Hi, ol'Teuchi! Two bowls of shio ramen, extra seaweed, to go!" She said.

"No!" Exclaimed the trio.

"Get out, Ino-pig!" Sakura added.

"My, my." Said Kakashi behind Ino's back. "No need to be so crabby, aye?"

Ino pushed herself off the counter. Kakashi had already placed his mask in place, the bowl of ramen finished.

The three teammates sighed, defeated.

"It's okay. Sakura have always been a brute." Ino teased.

"Shut up, Ino! Why are you back already?"

"We've just arrived, actually." The blond informed.

"That's good to know." The Hokage said. "I have a job offer I wanted to discuss with Sai as soon as possible... Ino, can you tell him to meet me at my office tomorrow morning?"

"Yeah. What kind of...?"

"Two bowls of shio ramen to go!" Teuchi announced.

"Here!" She paid him the price for the ramen and waved them goodbye. She was still curious about the job offer, but Sai would tell her tomorrow.

Seeing that scene made her heart ache a bit. Her old team couldn't have a nice meal with their sensei anymore.

Back home, she could hear Sai happy singing. Oh, he's already dressing up. She figured.

It was a thing about him Ino found out after they got married: Sai would always sing as he got dressed after a bath. And that, like everything else about him was both cute and weird.

She smiled to herself and set the table, serving the ramen in actual bowls, not the plastic ones of the takeout package. Before she was finished, she felt Sai's arms around her.
"Ino" He said, leaning his head on her shoulder.
"Yeah?" She answered expecting to hear anything back, from 'I love you' to something like 'you have a zit'.
"Is this night any similar to the wedding night or can't we just sleep tonight without me being considered a poor excuse for a husband?"
Ino laughed. "It's okay. I'm also super tired."
"Good." Sai was visibly relieved. "Let me take care of the washing-up after the dinner and you can go bathe."

"Thanks. Now, let's eat before the food gets cold."

They talked over small matters during dinner, Ino passed the Hokage's message and Sai looked as clueless as her about the matter. Then, as she chilled on the bathtub while Sai was doing the dishes, the reality struck her: Man, I really am a married woman now. Exactly like I've dreamed all my life.

Well, that wasn't quite true: from age 10 to 16, her dream husband had been Sasuke. Then he started to share that role more and more with Sai to the point Sasuke was completely replaced by the artist. Ino couldn't specify when that occurred and even now she couldn't tell if she had fallen in love or if she had just realized that she loved him when they started their relationship, but the thing was she was now the wife of a man exactly like she had wanted all her life.

Well, that also wasn't quite true.

Yes, she loved Sai. Yes, he loved her. Yes, he was handsome. Sure, she felt safe around him... But their relationship weren't exact like she had dreamed of.

The man of her dreams would always get her back, agree with everything she said, be a gentleman, treat her like a princess and bend over backwards to do anything she'd ask. Sai was more like... a naughty, yet sweet, child. It was true that he worked hard - harder than she deserved, Ino was forced to confess - to make her happy and he was never ashamed with public display of affection. But Sai did lacked finesse and even though he had stopped asking people about their genitals he was still quite tactless. Just like a naughty boy capable of calling saying something like 'I love you, you old hag' to someone.

The difference was that the kid might know he's being rude, but Sai was just... Well, emotionally stupid.

I'm totally exaggerating. He's not that brute anymore. Ino told herself. Besides, isn't honesty a must for a gentleman? I do have a husband exactly like I dreamed of.

Nodding to herself, she got up from the bathtub and got ready quickly for bed.

Sai was already sitting on the left side of the bed, frowning and seemingly focused on a drawing.

"Don't work too hard or it will fly." Ino warned playfully. "Like Hinata and Naruto's wedding gift."

He looked up with a smile. "Don't remind me of that! Hey, I took the left side of the bed. I hope you don't mind."

"Not really." She shrugged, sitting on the right corner of the bed. "And if we don't like it we can always trade places, right?"

Sai put the drawing away. "Of course not! This night will define our personality as a couple. Is the very first night we will sleep on double bed together. It's just like picking your seat on first day of school."

"Oh, that's right. Our bedroom on our honeymoon had two single beds... I guess that's what happens when you let your mother plan your honeymoon trip." Ino commented, yawning. "Besides, how do you know how a first day of school is?"

Sai tilted his head. "I read a lot about it. Lay down, I will turn off the lights."

Ino pulled the blanket over herself, smiling. See? He's perfect. She thought. Sai did turn of the lights and then lied beside her under the blankets. Ino got closer and nuzzled her head in his chest. Sai growled.

"Something wrong?" She asked, lifting her head to look at him.

"It seems my chest is still aching from the sunburns, so..." He sucked his teeth and pointed at her.

"Oh, sorry." She moved back to her pillow.

Sai now moved closer and spooned her. Ino barely had the time to close her eyes and feel safe before he called her name.

"Yes?"

"This position is also no good. Your hair smells like avocado." He stated.

"Huh? Yeah, probably from the spa treatment at the cruise, what about it?"

"I'm allergic to avocado."

"Really? You should have told me before! I bought a whole set of products for hair essence of avocado! Now I'll have to give them to Sakura!" Ino sighed. "Turn around and I'll be the big spoon. You won't have to sniff my hair that way."

They did so. It didn't take long before Ino started to feel troubled.

"Ugh! That way seems like I'm a desperate stalker! I don't like it!" She complained, pushing Sai away.

He turned around to face her.

"There. Like this we'll sleep facing each other and the very first thing I'll see tomorrow morning is your face." Sai said, stroking her cheek.

Ino blushed and rolled her eyes. Her husband laughed.

"What?" She asked, chuckling a bit.

"Nothing." He answered, still laughing.

"Tell me!" The blonde insisted, poking his sunburned chest.

"Ouch!" He complained playfully. "I was just remembering the time we met."

"Oh, right. You called me 'pretty'." Ino remembered proudly. "I've got you from the very start, didn't I?"

"Well.. Not really. That's why I was laughing. I was wondering how could I marry the girl I thought was ugly when we were teenagers."

Ino sat up. "Huh? But you called me…"

"You see, I was trying to create nicknames to bring me closer to people and I'd read that physical features were a good inspiration for that. But, just before we met, I had tried nickname Sakura by called her 'ugly'... For some reason it didn't work and she got really mad… That's why I thought it would be better call you the opposite what I thought." He explained.

"You know, Sai, I haven't changed much since then." Ino added, frowning.

"I know… I still wouldn't call you 'pretty-san' like I did, actually..." He answered.

Ino snorted and lay down again, now turning her back to Sai. "I'm going to sleep." She announced angrily.

"You're mad?" He realized.

"No! What woman would be mad about something so silly like her husband calling her ugly on her face on their first night after the honeymoon?" She said, with an acid sarcasm.

"Are you being sarcastic?" He asked.

Ino closed her eyes. She really didn't want to deal with Sai's tactlessness right now. 'Perfect' my foot.

"Ino." He called, touching her shoulder. She shrugged his hand away.

"I'm fine, Sai. Just sleep." She whispered.

Sai sighed. "Can I at least finish my sentence?" He took her silence as a 'go ahead'. "Actually,I still wouldn't call you 'pretty-san', something like 'beautiful-san' would be way more accurate."

Ino looked over her shoulder. "Pretty good. Just made that up?"

"I wonder why I thought like that back then… But then again I used to talk openly about people's intimate parts not long before we met, of course I still had a long way to go to be worthy of you." He spoke, nodding to himself. "Besides, you did not have my favorite thing about you at that time."

Ino gave in and turned back to him. "Which is...?"

Sai took her left hand and kissed her wedding ring. "This."

She chuckled, feeling her chest get filled with warmth. "That's my new favorite thing about me too."

"Ino," he stroke her cheek again "won't you lie on my chest again? I really don't wanna sleep apart on our first night on our house."

She rose an eyebrow. "Are you sure? Won't it hurt because of the sunburns?"

"A little, maybe. It hurts a lot more not to have you in my arms when you're so close."

Ino chuckled again. That darn smoothtalker.

The blonde placed her head on his chest and he put his arm around her. Ino let the sleep take her, feeling safe. Maybe she hadn't gotten a relationship exactly as she wanted. But surely she had exactly what she needed.