Chapter 31: Kiss And Don't Tell

The trip to Konoha was as eventless as it could possibly be. The personal boundaries that had started to blur between the teammates slowly crept back, becoming more distinctive. The shinobi's personalities shifted closer to what they were during the first few days of the trip.

The shinobi passed the Konoha gates late in the evening. The hokage's office had reserved rooms in an inn for everyone in the mission group. Close to the hokage tower, of course, for convenience. They had to remain together until the ritual was complete and the mission was over. Then, the locals were free to go home, while the rest could stay for a few more days if they had the desire to do so.

Shizune had taken care of the formal attire for the mandatory dinner. She had notified the shinobi that they had to visit a certain tailor shop for last-minute adjustments the next day. After they finished the last part of the ritual, of course.

The whole inn was reserved for them only. The group members could freshen up and meet at the lobby on the ground floor to spend time together in private for the last time. There was no alcohol, though. It was a wild guess on Shee's side, but he suggested that the case with the bar in Kumo had reached Konoha. And the lack of a certain type of liquid might be a not-so-subtle warning: Raikage Ay didn't approve of drinking during missions, and he didn't shy away from giving free advice. Usually in a demanding tone. So whatever the reason, the Konoha hosts made sure there were only non-alcoholic beverages for the night.

While most of the shinobi were still in their rooms, Ino went through all of the unlocked drawers in the lobby and behind the counter.

"I can't believe it! There's only juices here," she whined.

"You don't need alcohol to have fun," Chouji said, patting her back reassuringly. There was a glint of amusement in his eyes.

"I'll go with Ino on that one. The games are not so fun when you are sober," Kurotsuchi agreed, lazily turning a piece of chalk from the inn's blackboard between her fingers. Her head was propped up on her other hand.

"Which games are not fun?" Kankuro asked.

"The drinking ones, for sure." Temari chuckled.

Her brother half-laughed and half-snorted at her words. "What do you even imagine we'd play? Spin the bottle?" he teased, looking straight at Kurotsuchi.

She waited for the wave of laughter to subside.

"Well, playing cards has worn off, I believe. We can't spar. And just talking for the very sake of it is absolutely no fun without wine." She tapped the chalk on the table. A hint of smirk crept on her lips. "The kages wanted us to play, right?"

Shikamaru frowned. "Yeah?"

"I'd suggest something daring for our last evening together. Like 'seven minutes in heaven,' if I must name a game." The hint slowly turned into a full-fledged smirk. Her eyes sparkled dangerously, causing shivers down Kankuro's spine and making him feel regretful for his joke.

"You can't be serious," Shikamaru mumbled from behind the counter. He was helping himself to a glass of cold lemonade, but his hand froze midway to his mouth.

"Why not?" Temari said, watching him carefully, her teal eyes overflowing with an outward challenge. "You afraid you can't kiss or touch anyone without being properly drunk?"

He stared at her in disbelief but quickly collected his resolve. "Sure, if that's what you wish to think." He clinked the glass down on the counter. "However, what I meant is that we all have passed the age for such childish games. All of us, or at least most of us, have felt up, kissed, and had sex with another person. It's not such a big deal anymore."

"You... are not wrong." Kurotsuchi tapped her cheek. "I agree with everything you said, except that we are too old for it. I actually think that now it can be even more fun. Exactly because we know what we are doing and it ain't new. Instead of being so fascinated that another human being allows you to touch, you can focus on... other things."

Shikamaru pinched the bridge of his nose. "It doesn't make sense. Why do you have to sexualize everything, Kurotsuchi?"

"Because it's fun to look at your red faces, that's why," she answered unphased. "I like to walk over the taboos. Plus, whoever you kiss here and now is just a kiss. You don't have to have any deep feelings, nor do you gotta sleep with anyone or get married."

"It still can be a violation of one's personal space and wants," he disagreed.

She dismissed his comment with a huff and leaned forward, boring her pink eyes into his. "Or maybe there is someone that you really don't want to kiss?"

"Oh, is there?" Temari joined Kurotsuchi's mocking.

Shikamaru looked at her. "Not really. But I can think of at least one person that you wouldn't kiss straight on the mouth."

"Oh, really? And who would that be?"

"Are you serious?" He choked the sentence out.

"Pretty much."

"What about your brother?"

She smiled at his attempt to win her over — it was a poor one, and they both knew it. But she still turned to find Kankuro currently sitting on the stairs. With a raised eyebrow, she tilted her chin at him. "That one over there?"

Shikamaru eyed her. "You do have another brother, but that one is the only brother of yours here, right now." His exasperation became more evident. "Unless you have more brothers I don't know about."

Temari ignored his biting, choosing to smirk. "Maybe I do have more."

He shook his head. "No, you don't."

"How can you be so sure?" She still held back her laughter.

"Let me humour you." Shikamaru let out a huff. "Because your mother was a faithful wife and loving mother, and your father... was obsessed with producing a legitimate heir who could take over the one-tail."

Before she could say anything, Kankuro intervened. "He is not wrong. And it's not exactly a secret, Tem."

Whatever she intended to say never left her mouth. Instead, she huffed, waving off the matter of her hypothetically existing siblings. "And why do you think I wouldn't kiss him?" she asked. Suddenly, everyone collectively shifted their gazes towards her. The tension rose quickly, like a breath taken and held in; it was so thick that one could cut it with a knife. "Who do you think was the very first man I kissed? We taught each other how to kiss."

The faces of the shinobi were mostly frozen until Kankuro's laughter rang loud and clear, snapping them out of their trance. "Tem," he gasped when he succeeded in taking a proper breath. "You may want to tell the poor people you are joking. You may want to tell the poor people you are joking. I think they took your words to heart."

Sounds of relieved breaths filled the room.

"Come on, people," she half-exclaimed, her voice hinting at condescension. "I love my brother. I'd die for him. But I'm not that twisted... I can kiss him on the cheek and cuddle with him for seven minutes if I have to. Neither of us see cuddles as sexual, though." She caught her brother's gaze and hurried to add, "Not between each other, I mean."

He shook his head and raised his glass with suspicious contents. There was a wide grin on his face. "Cheers, sis."

Kankuro felt a presence behind him, like a cold shiver that shook his very core. It crept up his spine, causing goosebumps in its wake. He didn't have to turn to verify who was standing on the stairs. He trusted his sixth sense and attempted to get up and move out of there. His body, however, chose this moment to tense up and become unresponsive. His fingers stiffened around his glass.

Tenten descended the stairs, side-stepping lightly beside him. She didn't stop to nod at him or whatever; she didn't cast him even a glance.

"So… Are we playing? And by playing, I mean something fun." Kurotsuchi asked, observing the faces around her.

"Seven minutes in heaven or spin the bottle?" Temari specified. Her face was the embodiment of amusement.

"It sounds too troublesome," Tenten interjected with a frown. "And very childish. I'm not playin'." She headed straight to the fridge.

"But we can make some adjustments. Come on," Ino insisted. "It doesn't have to be the version for horny teenagers."

"I don't feel any desire to kiss or touch anyone, anywhere. Even less so when being in a confined place, making out with... some man." She stopped going through the contents of the fridge to shake her head. "Or a woman."

"You used to be more fun," Ino said, crossing her arms.

"I'm sorry." Tenten closed the door with a decanter in her hand. "Didn't you just get engaged yesterday?" she bit back. "Can't wait to cheat already?"

"FYI, I'm not going to cheat, because I won't sleep with anyone," she stated.

"The cheating doesn't limit itself to 'sleeping' only."

Ino ignored her. "But I won't say a peep if someone else chooses to do it."

"You kind of don't have the right to say a peep," Shikamaru countered. "But since I see that you will burst at the seams, let us all know what exactly you want to play."

Ino beamed and proudly looked around at the faces turned to her. "Let's make a hybrid game between spin the bottle, seven minutes in heaven, and—"

"No." Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

Ino pursed her lips, irritated. "Let me finish," she demanded.

A dangerous twinkle in her eye made him pause and hold back his words of protest. The promise that she would make him suffer rang in his mind. His adam's apple jumped as he swallowed down.

He gestured, careful of his tone. "By all means, please proceed."

She eyed him. "We pull two names from a jar. And we have fun activities written in a circle. To choose what the two people will do, we spin a bottle," she finished.

"So you will be perfectly fine to make out with either me or Chouji, for instance?" He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Where did I say they have to be sexual, Shikamaru?" she chided him. "Kiss on the cheek, a written message, or a question are more than fine, don't you think?"

"But where's the fun in that?" Kurotsuchi protested.

"Ok, hold on. We can have a soft option and a dirty option," Temari interjected. "So the dirty version of a hug would be... well, a more inappropriate hug."

"I wouldn't use the soft option even once," the Iwa kunoichi said under her breath.

"Let's look at all of this on the practical side." Karui spoke from the corner. "By no means will all of us want to treat everyone else the same way. I'm sure that's valid even for you, Kurotsuchi, even if you won't admit it."

"That's the first sensible thing I've heard since I came down," Tenten intervened, and hopped on the counter, crossing her legs one over the other.

"However, it would become too uncomfortable for many of us," Karui continued. "So either we set rules for the soft and dirty versions taking turns somehow, no matter which people are paired, or maybe the previous pair picks for the next one... Or I don't know, really."

"Oh, I'd love it if we came up with some kind of rotation."

"I'm still not playing." Tenten tapped her heel on the planks.

Ino smiled. "Everyone's playing, Ten."

She shook her head. "Nope. There are just things I can't stomach, and you can't make me take part in such a grotesque show."

"But—"

"Ok, Ino, I will have to draw the line here," Shikamaru intervened, cutting her off. "No one should be forced to play. This is not a mandatory activity and can't be treated like an order."

"Alright, alright…" Ino rolled her eyes. "But I can try to convince the rest to play. You know: the more, the merrier."

Tenten jumped down from the counter and silently headed to the fridge again. "I'll be upstairs. When you finish this nonsense, you can call me down… If I'm still awake, that is." She poured some mint tea into her glass and turned towards the stairs.

"Good night," Temari waved at her with an empathetic smile.

"Yeah… Yeah…" She dismissed her teammate's words with a flick of her hand.

"There is yet another flaw," Kankuro said, standing up. He dreaded the thought of Tenten passing so close to him again. He could still feel the hatred rolling off of her, and if he could help it, he was going to stay away. So he quickly moved towards his sister and took the chair right beside her.

Ino followed him with her eyes, and once he settled down, she asked, "What's the flaw?"

Kankuro glanced at her. "Isn't it obvious? If you rely on the draws only, you can have the same people pairing over and over again. You will need a better system to eliminate the endless repetitions."

"Why are you encouraging her?" Shikamaru hissed. "Do you actually like the idea?" he added sarcastically.

The sand shinobi raised his eyebrows at him, keeping a cool appearance. "Honestly, Shikamaru?" He waited for a nod. "I just can't get past the opportunity" — Kankuro sighed dramatically and kept his face serious, his tone low — "to pin you to the wall and give you the wettest, sloppiest, and dirtiest kiss I can muster." He finished with laughter, enjoying Shikamaru's genuinely shocked face.

On the top of the stairs, already hidden from sight, Tenten held herself in place. Her eyes were wide; she couldn't believe her ears. A treacherous, playful smile bloomed on her face. In an attempt to contain her chuckle, she pressed her hand to her lips. The image of Kankuro forcing a kiss on the red-faced Shikamaru flooded her mind.

"Hello."

She was distracted and flinched, snapping herself out of her thoughts at the sound of a voice coming from the 'wrong' direction.

"Oh, hello," she greeted Ameno and Amai, who were heading to the first floor. Both of them had curious expressions.

"What's going on?" the man asked, peering downstairs.

"They intend to play a childish game. I'll skip it," Tenten revised curtly. "So… Good night from me. Hope you have a good time, though," she added as an afterthought.

"See you in the morning," Ameno said.

Tenten hurriedly passed by them, heading upstairs.

Temari burst into a laughing fit at her brother's words. It took her quite some time to calm down enough to actually speak. "Oh, I'd pay to see this." As Shikamaru's face remained contorted in apprehension and disgust, she managed to cut herself off with a single deep breath. "You can't possibly be such a museum piece," she chided him with a frown.

The hair over Shikamaru's nape pricked up. How weak-willed was he? A dare from her, and his doom was already in sight, making him back down. And her eyes — teal eyes that expressed such defiance, challenge, and... disappointment. There was no way he could just ignore them. She wanted to see him play, see him embarrassed. She wanted to be allowed into his very personal, intimate world — the one he wouldn't show just to anyone.

He had a reputation to uphold. But was it worth it to remain a big stick in the mud when he could grant Temari's unspoken wish? Could he brave through and let her peek into his soul, deeper than before? To show her himself when he didn't have a plan and control over everything? Was he really ready to do that?

Shikamaru let out a sigh. "Ok, Ino… How are you going to fix that flaw?"

The grin on Ino's face was the definition of smugness. She started to explain how the pieces of paper with names on them wouldn't be individual but only paired. So once two people had been picked and executed the activity shown by the spinning bottle, that pair would be removed from the pile.

Shikamaru crossed his arms. There was an unhappy grimace on his face, which he didn't even try to mask. But it did nothing to deter his childhood friend in any way. Ino knew him and knew him well. She was going to take full advantage of that knowledge, placing him in a situation he would hate. The worst part: with Temari and Kankuro supporting her wicked idea, he wouldn't be able to oppose and say no. Ino was well aware of that, too. In the end, he was going to play along.

Despite everything, Shikamaru considered refusing to play. He thought about how maybe all the teasing that was going to follow would still be less trouble than what he would go through otherwise. But before he made up his mind, his gaze drifted to the woman whom he craved. The playful glint in her eyes stung him right in the heart. She was taunting him… challenging him. With an irritated sigh, he reconsidered and jumped into the deep.

"Fine."


Kurotsuchi smiled to herself while she climbed up the stairs to the next floor. There were a few of her teammates who still hadn't come to the lobby, so she had volunteered to call them down. A smirk pulled at her lips.

She went through the rooms from the top, leaving a particular one for last. And before attending to it, she entered her own room near the stairs. She leaned on the door, listening intently to the pairs of feet that passed by, and when they reached the number she expected, she exited into the hallway.

Curiosity was scraping in the back of her mind. She had noticed him during the war, when he was a bodyguard like she was. Since then, Kurotsuchi has been watching all of them. She already knew what the matter with Kankuro was. Darui had also stopped being an enigma some time ago.

She came to a halt in front of the door she needed and knocked on it. In a few moments, Shee showed up in the frame, wearing a loose white t-shirt and grey sweatpants. His hair was still damp, and it was evident that he hadn't tried to fix it… or even brush it.

He looked at her with a passive expression and moderate — closer to low — interest. "What do you want, Kurotsuchi?"

She smiled. "I want a lot of things, Shee. But let's settle for why I am here, shall we?"

The man snorted. He leaned on the frame, crossing his arms over his chest. "Why are you here?"

"Well, I came on behalf of the rest of the group. We are playing a game as a team, and we would like you to join."

"What kind of game?" Shee asked after assessing her face carefully.

Kurotsuchi smirked and explained to him what they had come up with in regards to the evening's entertainment.

"No," he said. "I'm not coming down."

"You can't refuse, Shee. Don't be more boring than what you appear to be."

He shook his head. "You can't provoke me by calling me boring."

"Why not?"

"Simple. Because I don't care if you think I'm boring." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with a silent sigh. "I want to sleep. I haven't gotten a good sleep for a few days, and it is starting to get to me."

"Is that so?" Kurotsuchi tilted her head.

"Yes."

"But you are the only one who won't participate. Do you really want to go against the kages' wishes for us to play together?"

Shee snorted. "I'm sure that all of those instructions we received were just to incite us to make efforts. We did. It'll be all over pretty soon. Even if I really am the only one skipping it, I will take the risk." He paused, narrowing his eyes at her. "And why do you care if I play or not? It isn't affecting you in any way."

She hummed, taking a small step towards him, causing his body to tense up. But he didn't back away. "You are not exactly correct."

At first, he couldn't understand her words and looked lost. His expression quickly passed through a suspicious one, then changed in favour of scepticism. "How exactly is my absence affecting you, Kurotsuchi?"

"You see" — she lifted her chin — "you've been on my 'to do' list since I saw you a year ago."

Shee's eyes widened briefly, but his face twisted in disbelief. His lips, however, were so tightly pressed together that they looked white.

"So if you decided not to come down, I'd lose my chance to try you out. I'm very inclined to figure out how you kiss," she confided; mischief peered from her pink eyes.

"Try me out?" He exhaled the words. Exasperation and disbelief fought in his voice. "What do you think I am?! A hat?" Shee leaned towards her. His eyes resembled tiny slits full of resentment bordering on open hostility.

Kurotsuchi remained unphased. "Hat? No, you are definitely not an accessory." She had the audacity to keep smirking.

He took a sharp breath, jerking back a little. "I want to be left alone," he stated. "Would you mind just heading downstairs?"

"You are so often calm, but when you get agitated, you seem like you're boiling from the inside," she whispered. "Leaning on my own experience, this trait influences all aspects of one's life. Kissing and sex, included. It will be a shame to miss such an opportunity tonight."

Shee closed his eyes for a moment. "What do you want me to say so you will be on your way?" he asked, looking back at her amused face.

"Nothing you say will deter me since I've made up my mind. But... let me kiss you," she simply suggested. "I'll have my curiosity satisfied, and you will be left alone. We both get what we want."

Shee realised a kiss would be a low price for restoring his serenity. If he were being honest with himself, it might even do him good. He needed a distraction — to give his brain something else to deal with. Something more superficial. Otherwise, his brain would continue to be so helpful and focus on offering him unwanted explanations of the feelings that tugged at his chest.

Just a kiss seemed like a fine idea from where he was standing. If she had asked for more, he wouldn't have agreed, but simple making out with her was practically nothing. So why not go with the flow on this one? "Alright."

"Oh? I kind of expected a little stronger resistance." She chuckled.

He snorted. "Disappointed?"

Kurotsuchi shook her head. "I can't say I am, no."

"Afterwards, you'll be on your way. And no one else will be coming to look for me." He laid down his conditions before pushing away from the door frame.

"You have my word." She grinned and stepped forward.

"Go on, then. You have my cooperation."

Kurotsuchi didn't wait for him to repeat his consent. Her fingers reached out to fondle his chest. Reflexively, his muscles tensed under her touch. She didn't stop there but slid her way up to his face in a very self-assured way. She wasn't hesitant at all; she knew what she was doing. Next, she grabbed his t-shirt with both hands and pulled him to her, rotating him slightly towards the stairs. One of his hands shot up to brace on the wall for support, while the other one landed on her waist.

Her lips pressed to his confidently, demanding, fully taking over the lead. He let her, mostly because he didn't exactly care about it. He didn't exactly relish the sensation, even if it was pleasant.

Kurotsuchi parted her lips and slithered her tongue into his mouth. And while he was trying to figure out what she tasted like from an objective standpoint, a tingling sensation in the back of his head forced his eyes open. A female figure was frozen at the end of the hall.

He recognised her in less than a second — it was Ruka. Her eyes were wide with shock, and her jaw was slack. It looked, even from a distance, like she had sucked in her breath. When she met his gaze, she flinched as if she had been in a trance and snapped out of it. He saw her mouthing "sorry" before she dashed upstairs.

Shee felt as if someone had kicked him in the chest, forcing the air out of his lungs. What he was doing suddenly seemed so wrong, even though logically it wasn't. His reaction was both rational and irrational: rational because, as much as he hated to admit it, he did develop some warm feelings towards the Kiri kunoichi; and irrational because neither of them had made any commitments, so no ties applied.

He screwed his eyes and tried to focus on the woman who was still invading his mouth. It wasn't easy. His only urge was to remove himself from her. And as if she sensed it, she stopped.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing's wrong," he replied.

Kurotsuchi loosened her grip on him, letting him step away from her.

"I thought that you would be the overly passionate type," she admitted. "But right now, you look like the type that does something only when necessary. Hm. I rarely judge wrong."

Shee ignored the first impulse to deny. She was right in a way, and he couldn't see the point of dismissing her words. He surely wasn't dispassionate about his work. In his personal affairs, he was mostly efficient because he aimed for the bare minimum. That was one of the reasons he didn't maintain close friendships, along with not having romantic relationships. They required too much effort and opening up in front of other people. It wasn't worth the time and emotional investment. At least that had been his reasoning until now.

"Don't take offence, but it felt like you weren't exactly… here from one point on."

Shee forced himself to shrug as nonchalantly as he could. "Sorry to disappoint." He turned to enter his room but halted half-inside, peering at her over his shoulder. "We never set terms for the quality of the kiss. I did my end of the deal."

Kurotsuchi clicked her tongue, then laughed. "Sadly, you are right... See you tomorrow, Shee."

"Good night, Kurotsuchi."

She didn't bother to feign more courtesy than a slight nod before heading towards the stairs. Shee was only happy about that.

He closed the door and remained unmoving for a minute. He had already washed himself and prepared for sleep, but he reasoned that one more shower couldn't hurt. And one more brushing his teeth would be more than welcomed. He hoped that keeping himself busy with mundane tasks was going to help him clear his mind of Ruka's shocked face. The memory of her wide eyes made his heart clench, and he didn't like it.


Ruka leaned her back on the inner side of the door. That… wasn't something that she expected to see. Scratch that: That wasn't something she had thought was possible to see at all. At first, her body just paused out of curiosity. A fraction of a second later, when she recognised the people, a cold wave had overwhelmed all of her senses. It left her breathless. She felt as if her heart had forgotten its functions. But right then, it pounded so quickly that it was going to burst out of her chest. It hit her ribcage so hard that it hurt. Why did she feel a volcano growing inside of her? A volcano that threatened to erupt, pouring lava all over her core and burning it down to ashes.

She stared at her hand — the one that she had laid on his face. The same hand he had pressed his forehead into, even if in a moment of weakness. Ruka remembered painfully well the sensation of his skin: soft but sticky from the sweat. She could easily recall the barely-there prickling of his stubble when she had braved to move away a strand of hair. Her fingers had caressed his cheek. And the way his eyes had bored into hers — he was staring right into her soul. Ruka could see herself reflected in the depths of his enlarged pupils. All of that might have been a side effect of the fever, of course. Judging by what she had witnessed in the hallway, it most certainly had been that. Maybe he didn't even remember that shared moment of intimacy.

Kurotsuchi, on the other hand, wouldn't want any kind of commitment. She was after the call of flesh, and she was never hiding it. Maybe it was the moment? They could have found a mutual desire and decided to take advantage of it. Not that it was Ruka's business who either of them kissed or… with whom either of them slept. The rational part of her brain was telling her that she shouldn't be affected. But her stomach was slowly twisting into a tight knot. Her hand started to slightly tremble.

Taking a deep breath, she felt for the door knob with her fingers. They brushed the key and turned it locked.

Ruka came to the conclusion that she didn't want to play any games. She couldn't face either Kurotsuchi or Shee right now, and actually, she didn't have to. Whoever came to look for her would have to be satisfied with her excuse. She didn't have anything in particular right now, but she could come up with something.

Letting out a breath, she pushed away from the door and started to prepare herself for going to bed. She had a book that she hadn't had the opportunity to open until now. Maybe it was a good idea to take a look at its content.


When Ruka didn't appear in the lobby, Ameno went upstairs to check on her. Surprisingly, the Kiri kunoichi had been adamant about staying in her room, so Ameno just let her be.

The paper pieces with written pairs slowly melted away. Shikamaru and Temari shared questions, unfortunately for both Kankuro and Ino, who hoped for something more… fun.

Shikamaru, on the other hand, watched with a heavy heart the pile of papers, flinching every time a new one was taken and turned up. That was until the piece he dreaded was drawn. He instantly looked at Kankuro's face and couldn't miss the smirk that spread over the other man's lips, all in purple. Threatening like a cat, readying itself to pounce on the poor mouse that he was.

And that was exactly what Kankuro did.

He jumped on his feet and strode towards Shikamaru. Swiping him up like he didn't weigh more than a child, he threw him over one broad shoulder. Before the leaf shinobi could come up with something, anything, to get away, he was pinned to the wall, just like Kankuro had promised he would.

He had expected it, but the background laughter and cheering that rose from their teammates made him feel extremely anxious. Shikamaru even recognised Temari's voice calling, "Get him, brother!" but he didn't dare to search for her. He couldn't let the man's face go out of his sight.

Kankuro's tongue darted out to lick his own purple lips, eliciting a shiver of terror from his prey.

"Come on, now," he teased. "Show some enthusiasm." His smile didn't falter when Shikamaru snorted in derision. "Ok, then. Pretend, if you must."

"I'm sorry, but I can't help it," Shikamaru hissed. "You're not exactly my type."

"Oh, I'm sorry." Kankuro laughed. "What's your type? Blondes?" He snickered.

"Females to start with," he grunted.

"I don't care," the other man informed him. "Prepare for my kiss. Here it comes."

Shikamaru tried to back away, however useless an effort it might be, considering there was the wall pressing on his back. "Can't stop thinking that you may turn into a frog if you kiss me," he said, desperate to change Kankuro's mind or just to procrastinate and delay the impact.

"Nah, don't worry. I'll remain a prince." He winked and pursed his lips to plant a kiss on his teammate's mouth. To make it worse, he was leaning slowly, as if to give Shikamaru time to fully freak out.

Shikamaru couldn't help it: his eyes shut on their own, his lips pressed together as a reflex. He barely held himself still, forcing his head not to turn aside. It was inevitable, so he better just take it and be done with it.

The wave of laughter preceded the touch of Kankuro's lips. He could distinguish Ino's hysterical snicker, interrupted only by a few snorts. So at least this would pay out his debt to her.

Kankuro's breath brushed Shikamaru's face. He was coming closer and closer, until it was gone from the skin of his mouth. Shikamaru felt the other men's lips pressing lightly on his forehead, and his eyes snapped open. Their gazes met, and the leaf shinobi couldn't miss the genuine amusement on the face right in front of his.

"Welcome to the family," Kankuro mouthed, and even with no sound, the words rang in Shikamaru's brain louder than the roar of laughter around them.

A small smile tugged at his lips. "Thank you," he mouthed back.

Kankuro grinned and nodded before stepping back. He released the other man, whose knees were just about to give way but didn't. The leaf shinobi succeeded in gathering himself up.

He had to endure Ino's smirk, but after that, he was free. He could look for the teal eyes that he already longed to see. He found them, and they greeted him with an amused twinkle. Although, when he looked more carefully and deeper, he found that warm flame that burned brighter than it had before. A soft smile crept over her pink lips. Her whole face carried an expression of gratitude and excitement. Suddenly, it dawned on Shikamaru — Temari had understood Kankuro's gesture, and that meant the world to her. Her brother had really accepted her heart choice. Shikamaru had officially, even though still in secret, become family.


Tenten opened the window and stared at the street below. The thought of jumping down and running to her home whirled in her mind, and she put quite the effort into reasoning with herself not to do it. She was not allowed to walk around freely on her own before tomorrow. She was still on a mission.

After the ritual was over, she would have to go to that tailor shop. Then she could do whatever she pleased and be wherever her heart desired until the formal dinner took place.

The first thing she was going to do was visit the graveyard and rant aloud about her disappointment in Neji's decision to not show up. She was still mad at him. If he had just talked with her, she wouldn't have lost her temper with that kid, and mostly not with Kankuro. She was furious with the sand shinobi, too. Tenten was still convinced that he didn't have any right to meddle, whether it be to just try her boundaries or out of some personal, twisted concept of help. She knew one thing: she didn't want to see his painted face for a long time. Or maybe even never.

Tenten closed the window.

She rummaged through her bag until her fingers touched a leather cylinder. Her face was unreadable while she was turning it in her hands. The little stitches scraped gently at her fingertips. Tenten had done this so many times that she was able to draw the patterns on paper without looking at them even once.

After a few minutes of fumbling with it, she finally removed the small lid and pulled out a piece of rolled paper. A picture of her team. Lee had insisted they take a new picture before they left for the battlefield. It was rushed; they were all tense, dressed in their uniforms, and with their bags strapped to their shoulders. She was really reluctant at the time, but now she was glad. This turned out to be the last picture of Neji before he died. Truth be told, she found it increasingly difficult to remember what he looked like, how pale his skin was, and how long his hair was. Tenten dreaded the moment when she wouldn't be able to call his image into her head.

A drop fell on the paper's smooth surface. She was quick to wipe it; she didn't want the picture to be ruined. Then she wiped her eyes.

Tenten kept staring at the image of Neji until he became dizzy. Trembling, her fingers caressed the pale face. She lifted the picture to her lips and gently laid down a kiss — just a butterfly touch of her lips. Then she rolled up the paper again and put it back into the cylinder.