Leather-bound
Kakashi let himself into Tenten's home with the key she had given him. Seals inscribed on the door remained inert, recognizing his chakra as among those she permitted to enter freely.
"Tenten?" he called out.
Her muffled voice sounded from behind the bathroom door. "Make yourself at home, just finishing up." He heard water swishing in a tub.
He settled into one of her chairs, sturdy but comfortable, and contemplated the weapons display up on her wall. She had very few pictures, mostly of Team Gai together, but weapons scrolls and a mini arsenal decorated the interior of her home like various art pieces. Each of the weapons on display was quite beautiful, in fact, usually having some cultural or historical trivia attached that would make a good conversation starter. None of them were mere showpieces, though. They looked to be in good working condition and useful in an actual fight.
Kakashi smiled to himself. Tenten's home reflected its owner.
Said owner suddenly burst out of the bathroom, hair still dripping wet as she fastened her towel around her torso. Distracted, she barely flicked a glance in his direction.
"Hey Kakashi, so it's just you? I just have to – " her words trailed off as she headed for her bedroom, clearly distracted.
The retired Sixth leader of the Leaf Village, Son of White Fang, the famed former Copy Nin, blinked at the offhand treatment, and followed her to find out the cause of her hurry.
Her home was deceptively tiny, if one didn't count the vast underground cavern beneath it where she kept her not insignificant inventory of weapons. A few steps led him to her bedroom where she knelt on the floor before a large, ancient leather-bound tome propped up diagonally against the wall. Tenten was muttering to herself, hands forming a series of seals and the characters on the page in front of her began to glow faintly.
"Uh, Tenten. This isn't… about that item again, is it?" he gingerly knelt beside her, keeping an eye on the glowing book and the other on Tenten. It was nice not needing to keep an eye closed to prevent chakra drain from a perpetually activated Sharingan anymore, but now he felt like a lizard trying to look at two things at the same time.
"Oh, no! Just a particularly tricky code book for an artifact I'm trying to track down. Every chapter has a cipher that you need in order to figure out the correct order of seals to unlock," her voice had its usual excited lilt when she was talking about something weapons-related, and Kakashi found he often felt both amused and slightly concerned at the same time whenever she got like this.
"While I was soaking in the tub, I thought of the solution to crack this latest cipher!" Her excitement bubbled over as the page glowed brighter and the seal dissolved, allowing access to the next chapter.
Tenten clapped her hands and then impulsively threw her arms around Kakashi, soaking his neck and shoulders in the process.
"Eheheh," she reared back, apologetic. "Forgot I'm still wet."
Kakashi pulled down his now-damp mask, trying not to let his mind go to how that line would have been framed by Jiraiya in an Icha Icha novel. He looked at Tenten, who looked back at him, and he knew she knew. She went pink but grinned at him impishly.
He cleared his throat and with great effort tore his eyes off a wet Tenten and to the book instead. "So, the next chapter is accessible now?" He rifled through the next pages containing lines and lines of text containing minutiae about an ancient weapon that would have bored anyone else but were of incredible fascination to his beloved. "And when you reach the end of the chapter-?" he came to a page that didn't easily lift under his fingers. There only appeared to be a slight resistance, however, so he placed a little more force in pulling the page away from where it seemed stuck , revealing –
"Don't!" she knocked him sideways as something clicked in the book and a projectile shot out. By shoving Kakashi with her shoulder, Tenten had placed herself in the direct line of the trap but shielded herself as best she could with her arms crossed in front of her face. The projectile turned out to be a cord with binding seals interspersed along it, which whipped around her forearms and continued its upward momentum, embedding one end of the cord into the ceiling, so her tied hands were yanked upwards above her head. Had she not blocked it, the cord would have been wrapped tight around her neck instead and likely snapped the bone in a hangman's noose.
Three more projectiles shot out of the pages, poisoned darts aimed to finish the job. Tenten was a member of Team Gai though, and their agility and reaction speed were second to none. Tenten had only honed those skills as time passed. In the split second the darts were deployed, she had swung her legs forward and up like a gymnast, pulling her body out of the way of the projectiles. They bounced off the wall behind her and fell to the floor. By this time, Kakashi had shut the book before anything else could come out.
Lowering her legs back to the floor, Tenten looked up and gave an experimental tug at her forearms. There was enough length of cord for her feet to touch the floor while standing, but she couldn't pull her hands down to study the seals. She sensed that there were chakra inhibitor seals along the twine, so she would need to exert a bit more energy and rely on simple upper body and core strength to pull herself up again and figure her way out of the bindings.
"Sorry, Kakashi, I should have warned you earlier that trying to open a chapter without the proper cipher will sometimes set off a trap. It's common in ancient weapon manuals," she looked around and found Kakashi gaping at her. "Are you ok?"
He looked very odd. He was as red as a lobster and his Adam's apple bobbed up and down a few times. Then, Kakashi suddenly stood up, grabbed the towel on the floor that Tenten noticed only now had come loose, and swiftly stepped forward and re-wrapped it around her. He mumbled an apology as his hands fumbled to tuck a corner of the towel snugly into the crevice between her breasts to fasten it, trying as much as possible not to touch any part of her skin.
Tenten's mouth formed an 'o' at the look he was giving her. Like he was just waiting for... something.
So," Tenten tilted her head, "Could you help me with..?" she tugged at the cord above her.
"Right," he dragged his eyes upwards and studied the seals. "It will take a little work, but nothing too difficult." He raised one hand to touch the black leather twisting around her wrists and forearms. "Hold still for a while."
Tenten felt a bit light-headed. Kakashi was tall but he still had to reach up as well to work on the cords, and he needed to stand closer to her to do so.
His proximity was making her stomach do somersaults. She hadn't seen disgust in his eyes while her towel had come off. Quite the opposite.
"Shame," she joked, to ease tension, "We're not yet at the stage in our relationship where we could have fun with this situation."
His movements stopped.
"Would you want," he paused, seeming to have difficulty getting the words out, "for us to be at that stage?"
She bit her lip. His arms were stretched up against hers, fingers rested lightly on her wrists, so she knew he could feel her pulse racing.
Tenten then realized that, although she was the one currently tied up, she was the one who held the power here.
Best to be direct, then. Rising on tiptoes, she brushed her lips against his own uncovered mouth. "Yes."
She felt, rather than heard, his sharp intake of breath. Then, his hands began to trail slowly down her arms, sending tingles through her skin.
"Right." He cupped her cheek in one hand, and sealed his mouth over hers in a firm kiss.
He pulled back. She blinked at his sudden withdrawal, and realized he was gauging her expression.
"Still yes," she confirmed her continued consent. She could play helpless damsel some other time. He needed clear permission. Her leg hooked around his calf, drawing him back to her. "You?"
He sighed, smiling at her. "I love you, you know that?"
"I do. And I love you too. But what's so funny?"
He nuzzled into her neck and began to do something with his hands that nearly distracted Tenten from his next words.
"Who knew your stuffy book on ancient weapons would be spicier than any Icha Icha novel?"
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A/N: Happy Halloween folks! I always enjoy dressing Tenten in a bit of leather on occasion.