Chapter 5: The Club

Well lads I've been on vacation for a week and that vacation just happened to be out in the middle of nowhere in Louisiana where the batteries all died and I had no service so this is WAY late. There's another one coming shortly after this. Yes, the perspective will change. I'm ngl I got tired of the slow pace already so boom, here's some spice. This is a LONG-ish chapter. Cheers.

This chapter is spicy. Be warned.

The liquor shot down Kairi's throat. She had never been a heavy drinker, never understood why some people fell into it, but now she was seriously considering it. It had been six days. Six excruciating days since her dreams had stopped and somehow that stupid Hyuga had touched her. It had almost felt real, excluding the fact that he looked perfectly fine this time. Stupid man. There was a deep ache somewhere in her chest again. Maybe she was the stupid one. Dreaming about a man who was dead. The shot glass creaked under her grip, a protest to the constriction. She let it go, setting it haphazardly on the bar, adding to the stack that was quickly growing next to her.

Her finger flapped against her leg restlessly, absolutely ridiculous. It wasn't like she was dead yet, she was very much alive. The raging sounds of happier people around her confirmed that. She had a job, a house, a ninken that loved her, and… That therapist was a quack. Talking hadn't fixed shit. She had screwed herself into therapy and a dead-end job teaching brats to catch prey that would probably end up killing them. Kairi felt the skin under her eyes grow hot. Fuck, stop thinking. Crying wouldn't help. It never helped. Another shot might help.

She eyed Hana's shot glass. Eh, how would she know? Hana was already trashed. She probably wouldn't notice if it was gone. Kairi folded her hands quickly, and with a flash of chakra had swapped the glasses. An adjusted kawarimi jutsu, it wasn't theft if Hana had offered to pay for the drinks already, right? Hana was distracted anyway. Friend #3, the nice one with the black hair, was animatedly talking and drawing the attention away from Kairi. Good job, comrade. Kairi saluted her efforts in distracting the enemy while she extracted the goods, a proper kunoichi after all.

The liquid slid down her throat like gasoline. Good. She thought. Let it burn everything until it's the only thing left. Why had she ever thought this was a good idea? Her cousin had invited her out, it was so stupid. Her black dress inched up her legs as she crossed them. Fuck this was uncomfortable.

The music here drowned her senses out, overwhelmed her until there was nothing but normality and oblivion left. Kairi drank. Drank until she felt like she was swimming instead of breathing. The bumbling music of the club rolled through her chest like an eclectic heartbeat connecting her to the ground. Her fingers gripped another shot like a lifeline. If she couldn't feel anything, it would disappear eventually, right? Another.

Her cousin and cousin's accessories, the squabble of women that hung around her, were laughing and chatting like birds on a wire. Kunoichi, beautiful and deadly one way. Yet as soon as they were introduced to the same circumstances as the rest of the civilians they took to it like dogs on a duck chase. And here she was, on the outskirts of the group trying to yank down a borrowed dress listening to shitty music while watching civilians dance around like circus monkeys. Ridiculous indeed. But they looked so free.

Goddamnit, maybe they were on to something. Kairi felt the world tilt as she rose to the occasion. Her black heels almost slid out from under her in a very un-ninja like way. Hana and the other girls stilled beside her. Her back felt stiff as she straightened, she could feel their eyes following her. She felt crazy again. Kairi cleared her throat.

"Well? Are we just going to sit around all night?" And suddenly all five women were up on their feet, heels clacking in haste.

"Hell yeah!" A chorus of female cheers rode around the troupe, and they set off. And if some of them stubbled and bumped into some civilian men, dragging them along toward the crowded dance floor, all the better.

Sweat. Attraction. Liquor. The scents mingled like their bodies, following the waves of sound crashing across the room. She could smell them all, the map in her mind a hazy cloud filled with new people and utterly overwhelmed with them. Soon the group of women were swept across the floor into the center of the room, the air becoming a heated mist above them. Hanna's accessories, friend #1 & #2, had made short work of the civilians they'd kidnapped, or rather had latched onto them like octopi suckers with a grudge. Those four had disappeared into the crowd, suckers doing the sucking and faces bright red.

Now their team was down to three, and Kairi would be damned if she broke formation first. Hana and her black-haired friend, May, were moving against one another pulling Kairi along. Both of their hands gripped tightly to hers. Even over the booming of the music, the warmth of their smiles dragged her into the mix. They were utterly infectious these two. Her cheeks were sore. Her nose felt numb. Her feet felt like someone had snuck kunais into them. But she was smiling and the breathless laughter bubbling from insider her refused to stop.

The crowd exhaled around them forcing new bodies against the three women. Elbows and backs and a stray hand brushed across her back, but Kairi didn't care. For the first time in a long time, she felt free. Her body moved the way she wanted it to. She could feel the frantic beating of her heart in her chest. Everything felt right. The blood in her veins sang once more and somewhere between her heart and the rhythm she lost herself.

Maybe that's why she didn't stop it when a chest met her back. Everything was clicking, everything was finally right again. As she collided with him, something else clicked. It was a bump at first, he caught her by the elbows before they could topple into the crowd. The contact sent goosebumps across her exposed skin; he was impossibly warm. Like a furnace with its door open. She wanted to turn around, to see who this was but something about the way he smelled, the way he felt around her, felt familiar. She let him position her, let his left hand trail down to her hip, pulling her against him.

As the music changed, they moved as one unit against the churning tide. His scent rolled across her, an intoxicating cloud she couldn't get enough of. The smooth of his cheek pressed against hers as she turned to look at him. She caught a flash of long brown hair and pale skin in the murky black of the ceiling, but everything was blurry now. The alcohol had done a wonderful job of keeping her brain quiet and now the contents of her drinks were reflected in the abilities of her eyes to discern details. His fingertips trailed down her right arm, clasping her hand and pulling it against her own hip as they rocked back and forth. She could his breath catch at the contact. The silken texture of his pants on the back of her thighs bunching under her as they ground together. Kairi grinned, an entirely evil plot forming in her admirably drunken mind.

Oh, he's mine now.

She grasped his hand, intertwining their fingers together as she turned the tables on him without warning. Motherfucker won't know what hit him. The crowd was only growing thicker, pressing people closer and closer to them as she swirled around on the tips of her toes. Pressing her chest to his.

Oh. Oh god he was quite pretty wasn't he? Did she know him from somewhere? Bah, whatever.

She released his hands to do their own bidding, finding her fingers to be much more effective at doing her own. They crawled along his chest, the tank top beneath her fingers rough but tight against his skin. One wound itself into the hair at the bottom of his neck, loving the way she felt the muscles underneath her hand relax as she massaged the spot. Ohohoo. Her grin turned into a smirk. Kairi's other hand sat deceptively languid atop his shoulder, her pointer and middle finger finding their way under the strap of his tank top.

Maybe I can get him to take it off– she shut that thought down quickly. Patience, patience was key. He smelt so familiar. She was looking at his face, or at least what blurrily looked like his face. Bah details shmeetails. Their faces were so close now. She licked her lips in anticipation, the hand on his shoulder going to cup his jaw. Wouldn't do if she were to kiss a stranger sloppily now would it, manners were everything. But his hand came to hold hers on his face.

His hands are so big, how'd he get all those callouses? Kairi's mind started to wander, her eyes trying to focus enough to figure out who the hell this was but not really caring in the least. He was attracted to her, the scent markers around him were giving off pheromones like crazy. That's all she needed for right now, all she needed was to continue this unthinking tangential course into oblivion.

"Are ya gonna kiss me or not?" she heard herself say before she could catch the words in her mouth. They tasted like success either way but she hadn't wanted to actually say that! Her thumb caressed his cheek bone as she felt him tense beneath her.

Maybe he won't kiss me the–– his lips were on her. Sweet and achingly slow like melting caramel. His other hand met the small of her back and suddenly there wasn't enough of him to be in contact with. Closer! She clung to him, her hands moving from his face instead winding around his neck and shoulders. Kairi felt something hot, a burning sensation deep in her stomach. She nibbled his lip before he pulled away, whining as the contact lessened between them.

More. There had to be more! She pulled him back down. This kiss was different, something had shifted between them. The heat. She realized. His tongue rolled over her bottom lip and Kairi let him in. Fuck he was good at this. Their tongues melded together, he tasted like matcha and mochhi and she couldn't stop. Something inside her brain told her to stop, told her that this was bad. But how could something this good be bad? How was he doing that with his tongue?

His right hand was suddenly in her hair, the perfectly curled twist falling apart into a writhing mess under his ministrations. But she loved it. She didn't resist when he tilted her head back, even felt him groan as she arched into him.

Oh shit.

His other hand was lower than she thought it was. She belatedly wondered if she was flashing anyone as one of his legs pressed between her thighs. She bit him. She hadn't meant to but his lip was in her territory and it had to be punished. The flinch she received had her hoping that it hadn't been too hard. Kairi tried to sooth the bite with a quick kiss and a swipe of her tongue, an apology she hoped he'd get as she looked up into what blurrily should've been his eyes. The reaction sent pleasant shivers down her spine as he seemed to almost growl at her. How odd… She yelped as he picked her up, heels and all, and hauled her off the dance floor. He was panting. She distractedly watched the way his shoulders tensed as he moved, mmm back muscles. He was talking then, words tumbling around her like mismatched jigsaw puzzles but she only caught a couple of them.

"Woman, you infuriate me" He pulled them into a dark booth and had her placed in his lap her legs straddling him as her dress barely stayed over her.

"That's good right?" He grunted in response. A man of little words huh? That was fine, his body seemed to be doing all the talking either of them needed. His hands had found her ass again and his lips were showering her with attention, her lips, her cheek, her chin, her ear, her exposed collar bone. He was blazing a trail across her body. She kept her hands on his shoulders, loving the way he flexed as he kissed her collarbone. His lips stayed there for a beat too long, almost lovingly caressing the exposed skin. Kairi giggled as he let those same lips glide up and into her neck. A primal part of her screamed that this was wrong, a male at her neck was dangerous. But it feels so nice. He licked her and Kairi couldn't help the twinge that traveled from her neck to somewhere deeper.

Fuck.

His tongue lashed out again but this time he caught her flesh between his teeth, nipping it and then lapping away the pain. It tickled at first but when his teeth met her skin, Kairi saw stars as a gasp escaped her. She couldn't help it, she exposed more to him. Something about that spot. In the back of her mind a voice repeated the warning, a male at her neck. Her hand buried itself in his hair, shakily pulling him off of her neck watching as he leaned back almost like he was admiring a painting rather than a hickey.

Smug bastard.

"My turn" she grumbled before she leaned in again, tugging his hair as she pressed him into the seat of the booth. He moaned into her mouth, but he kept his hands planted on her ass. Good boy. As she pulled back, Kairi kissed along his jaw leading to his ear gently nibbling the lobe before moving down his neck. She'd get him back for whatever the fuck that was, marking her or whatever.

Kairi let her lips travel along his neck, waiting for that certain aroma and the tensing she knew would come when she hit that spot. She planted solid kisses as she went, like footprints to a crime scene.

Ah. X marks the spot. She felt goosebumps form and his chest shutter under her touch. This is where she'd build her empire. Right. Here. She bit him again. This time intentionally, not hard enough to draw blood but he'd be explaining to whoever he knew later why he had such a nasty bruise. She smiled as she felt him tense, his hands digging into the sensitive flesh of her ass. Take that you smug bastard, hah!

But the sound that escaped him sent her into overdrive. She could barely hear it over the music, over everything else going on around them but he moaned. The sound made her knees feel weak and made her doubt what she was doing here, trying to taunt him. That sound. That sound was so sweet.

Goddamnit. She licked the site of her crime against him, the crime he apparently had liked. Feeling the bruised skin pucker beneath her lips. She whispered apologizes to him kissing around it like a holy ring to bless the healing of it. When she pulled herself back, leaning onto her heels, she felt something hard between her legs. She knew by now that her skin had turned a bright red, the flush leaving her ears and neck a glowing pink. Apparently he had liked that a lot. Kairi suddenly felt awkward and tried to extract herself from his grip.

But he wouldn't let go. He held her there, both of them panting and flushed.

"God you're so beautiful" he murmured. Kairi felt like her hair was everywhere, her makeup was probably smudged, which was his goddamn fault, and her dress was a millimeter away from showing the world what panties she had chosen that day. She didn't feel beautiful. She felt like a harlot. It was so dark that she couldn't make out the details of his face, but the way he reached out to her and cupper her own, and just continued to look, told her that he believed what he said. Just for tonight, just this one time, she'd take his word for it. He seemed like the type of man to know what that meant anyway with his impeccably clean outfit and manicured nails and… and his calloused big hands, and his firm chest, and Oh God she had to stop.

Suddenly May's voice rang through her head.

"Hey umm Kairi. Hana is throwing up. I can't carry her back to the compound without you…" FUCK. God FUCKING fuckity Fucking damnit Hana!

Kairi growled, the intense haze of attraction swirling itself into mild fury as she registered what was just said. Her nails almost dug into his shoulders as her head snapped to look at May.

"Give me a minute." She didn't want a fucking minute she wanted at least seven minutes in heaven with whoever the fuck this was. She was going to kill Hana tomorrow.

She felt him sigh under her as she returned to their world, that space where their eyes held only each other. Something like disappointment and relief flooded from his pores. Kairi wasn't even going to try to figure out what the hell that meant.

"Can I have a raincheck on whatever this is?" She said after a moment.

"Always" he said firmly before giving her one last, sweet, kiss. I think I could love you. She wanted to say, the way he held her was so tender but so needy, like he wanted her but didn't want to break her. Kairi cupped his face in both of her hands and kissed his forehead.

"Meet me at Yakiniku Q on Thursday at 6:00 pm, and if I forget tonight… come find me at the Inuzuka Compound. Lane 3, it's the blue house." Before she could regret her decision, her invitation to more than what they had just shared, she stood and righted herself. The borrowed dress she wore had risen quite a bit closer to her panties than she realized, and it took a second. She felt him behind her, holding a hand out in assistance as they stepped down from the booth. She took it.

"I think I'd like that" He pressed a gentle kiss on the inside of her wrist before stepping away, letting the words fall between them. Kairi couldn't place her finger on it. Where have I heard that before… She must've been staring, confused, because he said, "I'll be there Kairi-san."

That was too familiar, where had she heard that phrase before, who was he…

His face was better defined now, the alcohol was leaving her system, but she still couldn't quite place him. The thought was cut off by the sound and smell of an over drunk Hana puking her guts out on a gentleman's shoes behind her. The urge to slap the woman rolled through her like a freight train. She smiled apologetically before turning and rushing to her cousin. Her cousin who she would murder. Her stupid, wonderful cousin who had invited her here today and would die for it later. Oh there would be slapping later, much slapping, she promised herself.

May looked out of her depth, and also incredibly drunk. The woman was having a hard go at walking. So as Kairi pulled Hana up, she grabbed May by the elbow and began dragging them towards the blinking exit sign.

"Alright drunkards, let's go home."