CHAPTER 25 – TO EACH WITH HIS OWN LOVE SONG

He run like a rippling shadow as his heels defied gravity, not caring in the bit if a cold breeze was spanning along his sweating forehead or if the silvery tinged tendrils of his spiky hair were sticking to his amethyst orbs, he continued to run like there was an electric impulse discharging through his spine, urging him to continue.

His calloused grunts of the exhaustion immixed into the inebriated state did nothing to stop him from bolting at the speed of sound along the deserted streets, while the penumbras and lights of the moon and the lightening poles enhanced his intoxicated dizzy state of mind.

But there was something transcendental that drove him to dash faster and run in the direction that he knew by heart, feeling that the constricting pang in his chest was clasping him like a cage entombing his very heart and preventing him to bask in that feeling of exhilarating liberty and eh was trapped.

Trapped by her broken pleading voice which lost the husky derisive resonance and for the first time in years, it was sweeter than the very ambrosia that Gods yenned for and it made something flip and churn in Suigetsu's belly in the form of a swarm of butterflies diffusing through his system when he heard her soft weeping caress imploring him to come to her and not relinquish the feelings that arouse between them.

Ones so electrical and natural that neither of them could ignore anymore and that sparkle was exactly what he needed to dash out of the bar, as drunk as he was, abandon his friends who probably would have understood him better than any other since they were transgressing the Gates of Paradise in search for angels willing to imbue their purity with the odor of their decadent Paradise and waltz along the chorus of madness, just to experience this kind of feelings percolating into their veins, once more.

Once more for someone like her–

His clumsy steps weren't able to keep up with the rapid pounding into his chest as Suigetsu`s disoriented orbs were fighting to keep open and be as lucid as possible, taking full advantage of the adrenaline rush that jarred through his spine and span along his toes and fingertips, being desperate to reach Karin as fast as he could because he knew –he so knew– that she needs him to be with her right now and there was nothing sexual nor lecherous in the way she supplicated him to come and help her.

She was in danger and this made his mind reel in dementia, he will go crazy if something happened to her while he was intoxicated and drinking his reprimanded feelings into oblivion –feelings for her.

He needed something tangible to moor him to reality before he lost his very self into the maze of feelings that Karin`s presence ignited inside him; those kind of sentiments that were always a hot topic of derisive jokes amidst their group were now bouncing up and down into his system and Suigetsu hasn't been prepared for them.

When he allowed himself to actually feel for a girl something that he deemed as useless as being pledged to someone and relinquish his supreme freedom just to form a bond now seemed more valuable than gold to him and damn right he was going to dive into the very pits of Hell in order to take a generous gulp of the savor of Paradise.

Because hearing Sasuke himself admit that something has changed into his approach when he met Haruno Sakura and confess that he had feelings for her and very profound ones, Suigetsu realized that he road to adulthood was very intricate and complicated, but the reward afterwards was worth the effort –she was worth it.

They weren't kids anymore even though they were barely kissed by the tinges of manhood, but it was truth.

They couldn't be foolish anymore, not when such feelings came in turbulent waves and hit them full force, showing them just how much of a bunch of imbeciles they have been to ignore it completely and succumb into the voluptuous temptations that the life of rich kids provided, but not anymore.

Uzumaki Karin was someone that has always been important to Suigetsu, even though it was his own imbecile self the one to never acquiesce to, but he couldn't delude himself anymore.

Sasuke wasn't the only one with a backbone who was man enough to admit that he was capable of falling for a girl, heck Suigetsu could too.

Even Neji Hyuga, whose standoffish attitude was only topped by Uchiha himself was so zealous in openly admitting it out loud that he loved Tenten with all his might and his sentiments were even more effervescent since she was basically on his mind before he almost lost his life.

Her name was ebbed on his lips when he woke up from his coma, seeking and yearning for her, for her touch, for her face.

Suigetsu found himself humorlessly laugh, as his heels tapped along the concrete, dashing on the crossing zebra on red light not caring if he was making cars stop violently and not to crush on his form, heading to the familiar building of the prestigious Ballet school 'Yugao' where he knew that she will be, rehearsing until midnight and striving to erase the past with the sponge and take back those years when she basically lived shrouded by a fake existence, surrounded by fake friends and wearing a fake mask that didn't reveal her own amazing inner more, because Karin was an excellent ballerina and an amazing person, no matter what anyone might say, he knew it, he knew HER.

And… he liked her more than he was willing to admit, in fact, Karin was the very first person who was able to form what could be considered a real bond with Suigetsu because their volcanic mannerism collided like two meteorites, but instead of crushing and pulverizing one another, they fused into an amalgamation of sparkles bursting out of their encounter and they found themselves learning from one another and connect, but when high school and teenage life has washed over their system and hit them like salty marine waves, engulfing and drowning them, they lost the sight of the shoreline.

In the absence of a lighthouse to illuminate and show the right road into the darkness, losing their ways has been imminent, Suigetsu remarked as his pants almost made him give up, and beads of perspiration seeped along longer bangs percolating from his temples to the cord of his neck and rolling into his T-Shirt, but he didn't stop even if his temples were pumping off too much of everything, driven by the alcohol that washed over him in that sweet chimerical oblivion, which he struggled to ward off. He needed to focus and be coherent in order to be of help.

When Suigetsu stopped from his mad speeding down the barely populated alleys that lead to the ballet studio, he found the lights to be shut down and the sign of 'Closed' hanging atop the schedule, glued to the front door but he knew better.

Karin has pleaded with him to come and get her from there, because she was 'cold, lonely, scared and she couldn't get out of that tiny place' so he feared for the worst when the first shimmering tears drown her soft voice that rung through his eardrums from the telephone.

God damn it!

He found a back door that was half open and the sharky looking boy quickly figured it out that it was the door that ballerinas who wished to train until later used in order not to attract attention or give the others the false impression that the studio was still open for the public, so he quickly marched in there, pressing the door open and letting himself inside, not caring if the place was thrown in a complete blackout; he was determined to find her.

"Karriin?" Oh how he despised the after effects of the strong alcohol of the way he slurred her name in a way that made him lose credibility and look like a complete clown instead of someone reliable, but he forced himself not to stumble and teeter and wobble his feet as the unfamiliar place was dotted with stairs popping up from nowhere, boxes, mirrors, wardrobes and a long row of lockers. "I amm hereee! Wheere are you?"

His amethyst orbs took in the silhouettes of the furniture and decorations around trying to pinpoint her location, but nothing came from the eerie silence and probably had it been someone else in his place, that person would have been quite anxious at the atmosphere around, but not Suigetsu, no he was starting to bubble with an unsettling feeling when she gave no response. "Kariiin?"

Was she mocking him? Was that a prank call just to laugh at him and his honest feelings? He knew that inwardly Karin was not a bad person, but then again judging from her conduct form high school he didn't know what to make from her attitude.

What if it was all a masquerade and she hasn't changed in the bit, only took Sakura`s example and decided to prove it that she too could outshine the emerald eyed dancer if she put her mind into it, but it was only a cheap veneering of how she truly was, namely a rotten apple?

No. Suigetsu shook his head vehemently and pressed his fingers down his temples, so as to cease away the pounding headache.

He couldn't possibly be misjudging her like this, no way. He knew Karin all too well, she was his childhood friend and a confident and even though she acted like a diva and a major slut just to fit in because she was sick of being mocked and made fun of, deep down inside, she was a kind soul and that couldn't have been altered by the society, no way.

A clamorous clatter of metal being pounded echoed along the long narrow hall and that made Suigetsu snap out of his idiotic thoughts, whipping his head backwards and trying to locate the source of the noise. His orbs narrowed so as to overlap the blurry images infused by the alcohol and trailed.

"Whoo is there?" That chilling situation and the rush of adrenaline gave him tad more coherence than before and the effects of the alcohol and his high tolerance made him a little but more conscious.

"S-Suigetsu? I am here!" At first, the Hozuki heir truly thought that he lost his goddamned mind because the voice was coming from one of the lockers, but then when he managed to put two and two together he wasted no more time.

He swiveled on his heel and stumbled right to the locker from where the all familiar feminine voice moaned, understanding the meaning of her incoherent blubbing from the phone: someone has trapped Karin into one of the lockers and he would have been intrigued if he didn't know that she used to be entrapped into such humiliating situations for so many times before when they were in kindergarten and elementary.

But the alarms in his bells rung for another reason that only Suigetsu knew as Karin fought to keep it as a mystery from everyone else: she was suffering from severe claustrophobia and this was the reason why her tone was weak and dizzy and she was hardly fluent –she was scared.

"Karin, hang on there! I am getting you out of there!" Suigetsu joggled to the end of the hall and saw that there was a big lock hanging on the door and this was the reason why it was fruitless to try and dropkick the door open because she would only hurt herself inside without being successful. "Fuck!"

Who was out of their goddamn mind to lock her in there and use such a lock, for it was impossible to escape from there?

Suigetsu knew it all too well that Karin had many enemies and since she decided to forgo her diva cheap behavior in lieu of doing something valuable in her life, but he realized that he only knew a tiny part of all the shit that she had to endure because Karin found herself suddenly alone and at the bottom of the chain, to struggle and fight with all her might to make it back to the top, this time, acquiring a real position among the really successful people, through sheer hardworking and determination.

"Karin," His voice took a soft resonance as he tapped his palm on the door seeing as the girl inside was silent and he was gentler than he ever was, even stunning him, addressing her and beckoning her to respond in a way that was so alien but he was afraid that she might have lost consciousness again, like it happened in the past. "Answer me, please."

Never in his life has Suigetsu mumbled the pleading word, because guys like him didn't need to beg for anything, nor plead, but he absolutely had to hear her voice.

His heart that was running million miles per hour almost burst out of his cage when a diaphanous voice echoed from the other side of the door.

"Suigetsu…" her voice sounded so strained and throaty like bathed in her own tears but Suigetsu don't blame Karin for it no, in fact he respected her.

Because Karin has literarily changed her life in the span of two weeks and never once has he seen her dejected or defeated even though she was being badmouthed, ridiculed, ambushed and bullied, but her determination and that Amazon attitude has never faded from her resolute visage, not even once.

She hasn't shed a single tear, on the contrary, the more they threw at her with stones, the more Karin strived to prove them that they couldn't take her down.

Just how much was someone capable of keep being strong all the times for the sake of the others?

"…get me… out of here, I can't… breathe…" Oh God, someone was lacerating his chest with a sharp sword cutting his very core in half and the agonizing pain was more than he could have endured.

Never in his life has a woman`s voice affected Suigetsu so much like Karin was doing now and the need to literarily tear the door in half and collect her form in his arms grew lupine.

But what could he do to help her? He couldn't break that lock in half with a simple jerk of his hands, damn it! No!

He mustn't give up so easily, even though every pore of his being was shrieking at him to lie down and take a deep nap because the alcohol was pumping into his veins in the form of a numbing feeling.

"I know," He breathed back to her, slamming his palms on the metal door, cursing louder than he attempted to and glued his forehead against the cool surface, squeezing his orbs shut and pressing his canine down his lip, "just hang on there, I am getting you out of there, `kay?"

They have been through this before and he could only imagine what was she going through in this moment and never as in never in his life has Suigetsu envisioned himself being concerned by a girl`s well-being as he was now, but the broken soft sobs that she tried her best to muffle because she hated to be weak and vulnerable in front of the others made something simmer inside his chest and that pang felt like a laceration of an electric sword surging down his entire system.

"Karin," he tapped his palm twice against the metallic door as he gently as gently and tiffany as he could beckon her to respond to him in a desperate plea to her voice and know that she was fine. "I am going to look for something to break the lock, `kay? Just hang on there, I will get ya` out of there in no time."

It took two agonizingly long moments for her to respond as the red headed ballerina had her knees huddled against her chest and she was rocking her body back and forth, shimmied like a leaf into the caress of the wind, being dead scared and teary because of the claustrophobia, but his voice and the mere notion that Suigetsu was there, answering her desperate call –it was his number the first that came to mind before the battery died on her- relieved her panic for a bit. But she answered back to him anyhow. "`Kay."

"Fuck this shit…" Suigetsu dragged his drunken ass along the dimly lighted hall of the ballet studio trying to locate an object that was sharp enough for him to break the lock or the door of the locker, praying for some sharp blade to come his way, illuminating the annoying place with his phone.

But of course that he couldn't find any single metallic object to be strong enough to break the locker and get Karin out of there and it was in moments like this when Suigetsu actually blame it on his mother for always nagging him not to have daggers in his possession because now a fine honed knife would have come in handy.

He was in the temple of arts –the ballet studio of a prodigious former ballerina– and not the boxing ring of a former virtuoso champion so what could he have expected to find there? Weapons? Guns?

"Ah damn my fucking head hurts–" His vicious complains were ringing all along the eerie dim lighted corridors as Suigetsu nearly missed his way back to where Karin was noticing that it was pretty easy to get lost through those labyrinthine paths.

Perhaps it was something symbolic in the way he had to return back to the girl with the most Pinot Noir orbs that he has ever seen and she was actually the cause of his current intoxication –he only accepted to accompany his retarded nutty friends for a drink simply because Karin has actually succeeded in vanquishing that indifference of his and make him actually care for her in ways that he couldn't even believe it himself.

The uneven ticks of his flaring heart was pumping blood and adrenaline through his system making the silvery haired boy`s temples burn as his head was reeling into a blissful oblivion immixed with worry.

In the back of his intoxicated mind Suigetsu knew it all too well that Karin suffered from a clinical claustrophobia and she was taking medicine to suppress her fears and keep her panic attacks at bay but he was ready to bet all his two months allowance that she didn't have those magic calming pills on her –not judging by the smothered tears in her quivering tone when she pleaded with him through the phone to come and help her.

That was also a low blow for Karin`s ego as –no matter how much of a lecherous and flamboyant easy girl she has been so far flirting with all the heartthrobs and living her shallow life coated in a glamorous vapid lie– the auburn haired girl was very self-reliant and strong; she was independent, tenacious and intelligent and it has probably been a ludicrous task for her to call someone for help but she chose him from all the people and not only because she didn't have real friends to surround her, but also because of trust.

Suigetsu`s earmark might have been his lackluster nonchalance and detached brusque conniption but just like in Sasuke`s case, that was also a honed façade because deep down inside, he knew when to be serious, responsible and vehement when in counted.

And that was one of those moments when he let his coquettish childish macho attitude to be overthrown by his steadfast side, running to Karin without looking back and acting remotely on pure instinct and those were not babbles –he was set on getting Naruto`s distant cousin out of that goddamned locker and then punish those punks who dared to torture her like that.

Like nothing has changed.

But of course that Karin herself was well alert of the fact that her road to redemption meant that she had to place all the cobblestones to her path and built something sturdy and real without any cheap tricks and trivial masquerades.

If she wanted to make it to the top then she had to fall back down, suffer the shame and oppression of being nullified, then return as reborn like a Phoenix Bird from her own ashes and burn brighter than she has ever been before.

It will not be easy just like Sakura was enduring the rigorous training and the pressure downcast against her shoulders to raise to the level of Ronja and her squad`s expectations so the rubicund haired dancer was having it even harder than Karin because unlike Sakura, the Uzumaki girl was only competing with herself and tried her best to ignore the opprobrium and cruelty of her enemies –which were basically all her supposed to be former friends– while Sakura was also competing with the avatar that the others have set to her forcing her to be something that she probably was not –the genius danger from the past.

Naruto was the catalyst for all of them to strive and work hard to get to the top and make their dreams come true because that blonde idiot had a moment of lucidity and wisdom when setting the motto in his life at living with no shortcuts.

Real dreams were built on a solid foundation because a fortress in the sky floating above the clouds were just a simple mirage of success; a Fata Morgana and they all got the bitter taste of what it meant to be superficial and live their life narcotized by their own moral values.

Shockingly Sasuke was the only one in their gang to be fully aware and responsible of his future already having a target set and was working to become someone important and thus he decided to stray away from his family and cling to the one who was worthy and gifted enough to polish a genius like him into a fine man –in his case his uncle Uchiha Madara.

Finally making his way back through the maze of twined halls after barely running into the side wall of the last corner he took sliding his sneakers along the polished floor, Suigetsu resisted the impulse to dropkick the locker with his leg to break it and instead he tapped his palm against the metallic door and tried to peep through the tiny asymmetric holes fighting to find a smidgen of coherence whispering softly. "Karin? I am back. Are you still with me?"

When he has been met with a prolonged moment of complete quietude which had a sinister and anxious resonance making the tiny tufts of hair behind his ears stand erect in apprehension Suigetsu feared for the worst. She couldn't have been fainting inside, could she? "Karin for fuck`s sake tell me you are ok–"

"–you`re late." Never ever in his life has Suigetsu heard Karin`s mezzo soprano tune sound so airy and listless like she was breathing the missives to him and that was enough for Suigetsu to realize that she was in a very dangerous predicament.

"I thought that… you have left… me here." Her light inflection hindered the quenched tears which smeared her light mascara running along the swell of her high cheek bones but he couldn't see her face through the fading light which pierced through her half opened entrance door.

He had to see her face, he had to make sure that she was fine, she had to be fine! His voice hindered the impulse to holler aloud in utmost frustration Suigetsu kept his tune steadfast but suave placing his palm flat against the locker room somehow feeling it into every staccato tickles of his frenetic heartbeats that Karin mirrored his movement and she did; their palms were separated by the metallic door of the locker but both of them felt the warmth, the soothing sentiment of protecting and support overflowing through their bodies and spanning into their fingertips, somehow melting the metal and the distance between them.

That gesture and the scene itself was heavily cliché but sheer symbolic for the progression of their tortuous kernel of romance and neither of them could negate those feelings coursing along their spines.

Out of all the guys that Karin has lusted for in vain, the only one who actually had the courage to be a man –not a pubescent teenager or a wannabe adult like the other guys his age– and act accordingly telling her exactly how he felt about her, looking deeply into her ruby orbs to let her depict his honesty through them and she did.

There was currently no even an iota of a figment of another boy burned into Karin`s mind, other than Suigetsu.

She was all that her panic stricken mind could think of, the only source of comfort and shelter and that was the reason why she allowed herself to be weak expose emotions that she kept suppressed in public just like Sakura was feeling it so natural to be herself in the presence of Sasuke –because he made her feel natural and did not judge her– and Suigetsu was granting Karin similar feelings of course, having their own earmark because their relationship was paralleled but never picture perfect of their friends` ones.

"You fool," To the others it might have sounded like Suigetsu was hissing the missives to Karin but she knew it that he was anything but sarcastic and for a thus she allowed her a fleetingly moment to focus on the sound of his voice as he gently scolded her. "how can I leave you alone like this? You know me better than this, ne `Rin?"

He used an endearing appellative from their merry childhood days and he could also see it virtually that Karin smiled that enchanting secret smile of hers that no one knew she possessed –that was his privilege.

And she did smile genuinely brushing the back of her palm under the outline of her almond orbs, trying to stop the violent trembling of her body and cling to consciousness, fighting against the need to fainéant because of the horrific sensation of being suffocated and strangled into that tiny space.

"…I am s–sorry Sui…" She reciprocated in the same intimate exchange of zephyr words and albeit they were not the type to well into poetic lines and lyrical fairytale romance like Naruto and Hinata or the tumultuous effervescence of headstrong stereotypes colliding with a secret sensibility to artistic traditional romance like Sasuke and Sakura, those were their ways to exchange their confession of what they felt.

In a way they came pretty close to the convoluted absurd tragic relationship that Tenten and Neji had, using short meaningful for them words to express what they wished for each other beyond the obvious acceptance of being each other`s lovers –Karin and Suigetsu were both brusque, straightforward and less sophisticated in expressing their feelings.

That was their way to communicate by letting each other feel it through their mannerism, shenanigans and attitude what they could be each other`s support in times of need.

Karin has called Suigetsu because he already expressed it that he had feelings for her and that he was willing to wait until she came in terms with what she felt –being a gentlemen who wasn't pressuring her like all the others and not forcing her into giving in to something she hasn't consented to– and she could always count on hm.

And in return, Karin has allowed him to take one step further into her bubble that was currently shaking and very fragile losing the veneering of supposed protection and superiority because she was associated to his gang of popular people, calling for his help.

In the moment when Suigetsu made up his mind and dashed from the club letting his friends in a daze jaws dropped to his uncanny attitude, he also closed the circle between tem responding to her calling –and to her feelings as well.

They didn't need to be vocal and express it because they could clearly feel it overflowing through their bodies and that new sensation –albeit timid in resonance– felt warm and pleasant.

"Hang on there sweetheart, I am getting `ya out of there, promise." Letting his drowsy brain ruminate for his current options while he played with the small metallic lock which kept the door shut and Karin a prisoner inside, Suigetsu pondered about what he could do to make it come loose and suddenly a victorious smirk blossomed on his thin lips.

Gotta hand it to his high school years as a notorious gangster hanging out with people like Uchiha Sasuke and Neji Hyuga for teaching him how to successfully and gracefully open up a lock so he sang to Karin in a hopeful tune which even took him by surprise. "Do you have a hairpin? Preferably a long thick one?"

His sharp ears have caught the sound of a sniffle and a fumbling sound of her hands working to the messy stylish up-do clearly searching for the object that he has requested.

Suigetsu was very attentive to details when it came to things that sparkled his interest –like her– and thus he knew that Karin fancied to use a lot of hairpins to tame the shorter rebel locks and give a persona imprint to her hairstyle and he has been right.

"Here," A golden metallic hairpin poked through one of the holes of the locker. "is this good enough?"

"Perfect." Expertly and being pretty dexterous and adroit and fine when inserting the hairpin into the locker after he bent it to give the peculiar shape to fit into the lock, vaguely having in mind Sasuke and Neji`s pieces of advice after their stupid contest from their freshman days when Neji beat the Uchiha into breaking a lock with a hairpin in twenty seconds flat, vaguely wondering how and why the heck did they have such skills, twisting it and working on the lock like a true burglar and the metallic clicks were giving Karin hope as she had her palms pressed onto the door listening to how Suigetsu was definitely struggling to force the lock open.

Sasuke came up with a macabre ridiculous explanation for his polished skill in breaking locks –he was doing it to steal Itachi`s favorite dango sweets from where he kept them hidden into his room and hide them from that sugar addicted freak– but they couldn't for the love of all that`s holy understand Neji`s explanation for it albeit it sounded like something really fascinating –he only remembered the words 'Hanabi', 'favorite video games' and 'a dead drunk donkey in the swimming pool', while the rest loomed in uncertainty.

Karin was uncertain of his success but even so she felt pleasurable tingles traversing her spin and making her chest warm pleasantly at the idea of him trying to get her out of there, nearly tittering at his occasional mumbled curses when he thought he unlocked it but instead he inserted it wrongly.

But miraculously –or was it Destiny`s romantic side manifesting in that moment– they both heard the unmistakable short click of the lock opening and quickly without even spending futile time in celebrating his bitter victory Suigetsu tossed the small broken lock into the back of his pocket –for revenge purposes gotta love Uchiha`s influence– and threw the door wide open in the exact moment when Karin leaned fully onto it pushing it with her trembling hands and she literarily fell into Suigetsu`s wide open arms, palms glued to his pectorals flying from the locker and making him stumble two steps backwards hitting his shoulder blades against the wall beside.

"Fuck— that was crazy Karin!"

"God— you really saved my ass this time Suigetsu, damn!" The mental image he had about her in preparation for what he would encounter in the moment when the door opened has been an understatement and Suigetsu thanked all the Heavens for being drunk and feeling like jelly while his muscles throbbed and he barely had any coordination left in his body because had he been fully awake and steady on his feet, he would have went in for the kill.

Karin looked ten times worse than he has anticipated. Her carmine locks were tangled into a disheveled ghost of a messy bun dangling atop her head while her asymmetric bangs were latched to her temples making her look like a tormented soul in the clutches of a demon.

Her hands that coiled around his chest holding him tight against her were trembling like she has seen the words nightmare came to life and had a purple pallor.

Her porcelain skin was abnormally pale and sweaty and translucent like she was a phantom without a soul, she was soaked in perspiration drenching her leotard that she hasn't had time to remove –and she normally didn't because she adored the sensation of being a ballerina again and it relaxed her and made her dream of chasing a steady rightful dream being one step closer to be fulfilled– from her gossamer frame but the worst of all was her eyes.

Smeared by running mascara which she applied around the curves of her eyelashes especially for the rehearsal of Swan`s Lake was leaking along her feline eyes colliding with the wine grapes vitreous orbs making it look like she has been sobbing for hours and she did; she wasn't even trying to deny it like she would normally would and they looked so lost, so vulnerable and scared and so listless that it made something lacerate though Suigetsu`s chest –but he was too damn drunk to realize what it was.

It has been such a long time since Suigetsu has witnessed this side of Karin since she was normally impeccable and meticulous about her looks but that only stood as a solid proof of how steadfast and honest has she been when she decided to stop being so pathetic and shallow and change for the better.

She was trying to smother the sobs burying her rubicund running hose into his pectorals crying upon his racing heart making it look like he was symbolically crying along with her and Suigetsu couldn't help himself but let his chin rest atop the crown of her messy silky hair –she was still so soft and more fragile than ever– placing a chaste kiss atop her head closing his heavy lids, while his hands snuck around her shoulders and lower back holding her tightly against him.

"Stupid," His muffled husky voice reverberated through her body and Karin nearly moaned in delight when his muscular arms veiled like a protective mantle sharing his body warmth with her quivering one. "what have you done this time Karin? You are always such a troublemaker, aren't you?"

He wasn't being reproachful or castigating with her nor was he twisting the knife into the wound, no far from it.

Suigetsu was on one of his rare moments when his inflection wasn't trenchant at all, on the contrary he seemed genuinely worried for her and that was his idiosyncratic way to ask her what happened to her and who decided to make such a puerile joke.

A fleetingly memento of their kindergarten days had Suigetsu smirk bitterly and humorlessly when he has been reminded that Karin was always getting herself into a brouhaha and despite her fragile health and seemingly breakable lissome frame, her character was strong and independent like wanting to compensate for her flaws.

And of course that since they were family friends sticking together pretty often, Suigetsu was always the one to rescue her.

God— he missed those eyes of hers –those amazingly big rounded orbs kindled like wine and fire and burning in determination– from those days and now after so many years of wearing such a vapid grotesque mask over her face, he was blessed to leer into those eyes again –shimmering orbs burning like ruby into the flames of a candle that he missed terribly.

This genuine side of her was absolutely beautiful. Even sobbing into his slim fit shirt leaving tinges of tears mixed with hints of mascara on his white shirt, holding him like she has never felt such a connectedness with someone else before refusing to let go, Karin was incredibly divine.

When she was not acting like someone who she was not, the intelligent, intuitive and strong hearted Uzumaki Karin was such an exquisite young lady.

"I am paying the price of how incredibly stupid I was and this is all right. It doesn't bother me and nor does it makes me less unswerving to fulfill my goals only–" She didn't want to go through that Hell alone and somehow the unspoken words fell prey to the quietude between them, but they both knew what she was about to say. "—I am so damn pathetic aren't I?"

There has been a fleeting diffidence in answering to her but instead of trying to say something lenitive and end up disconcerting her instead, he opted to inquire the source of her chafe. "Who did this to you?"

"It doesn't matter anymore. I will be all right." Smothered tear-jerking wine orbs eschew from his while Karin turned around to wipe the tears from under her eyelashes with the back of her palm, but Suigetsu`s hold on her only loosened not allowing her to turn away completely and babble alone and hide from him. "Let`s go. It`s so late and I still have homework to do for tomorrow." Now that would have sounded very trenchant if she would have still been the same superficial lecherous Karin, but now she was taking her studies seriously and thus she had so much to study in order to catch up and take better grades.

"Oi," Something in the way she rushed to bolt out of the Studio still fighting back the fresh burning tears –Karin hated herself for being so vulnerable and exposed to him– made Suigetsu wrap a hand around her forearm making her halt with a hand propelled against the door knob and an obsequious stance which was so very uncharacteristically to her. "you don`t have to be strong for me. I am not judging ya` for this. You know you can trust me right?"

Despite having her mien facing the door and his back on him, Suigetsu had enough intuition to gaze into the window like door and notice the sublime reflection of an enticing small smile coming from her –a curl of her lavish lips upwards which made her more splendiferous than she already was– one that she tried to hide from him and that made Suigetsu`s smirk turn into a full adolescent beam.

It was already way past midnight when Suigetsu and Karin existed Yugao`s Ballet Studio immediately being hit by a cool zephyr passing lackadaisically through the creamy fabric of their clothes and hairs making them flare with much effect.

The Cimmerian shade of the sleeping town felt soothing and comfortable.

"Sui-kun," Karin murmured softly to the sharky boy falling into pace with him while Suigetsu stiffened momentarily when she unfurled the endearing nickname reserved exclusively for him from their kittenish childhood days.

It has been so long since she last called him this and fleetingly there was a pleasant childhood memory trimming into his brain.

This was the real Uzumaki Karin –his Karin– the amazing girl who captivated him from the first time when he witnessed her gracious toe dancing.

The real crazy carefree libertine hippie girl with rubicund high cheeks and sinfully hyaline orbs now reflected the shade of chestnut and magenta into her irises –the buoyant ballerina who loved to live her life at its fullest.

"Remember when we were in Kindergarten, you used to climb on that apple tree and shout it out loud that you will cease away all the demons and goblins and save the world?"

For some outré reason Suigetsu tittered at her reminisces finding it funny that she was thinking about the same thing as him.

He was surprised that Karin actually remembered something so paltry but like always Karin's memory was implacable.

He though that she got rid of her past avatar but that was not the case anymore since she decided to cling to what was tangible and real in her life instead of chasing chimeras.

That she was vehement and adamant, but she was clearly not. "You used to climb after me and throw apples into my head, doubting that I could do it."

"This is because the demons were always there haunting and making me sad and lonely." He knew she wasn't talking about real demons but figuratively lonely and insecure girl with a problematic dysfunctional family.

She peeped at him through glazed wine eyes deciding whether it was alcohol talking from him –she found it funny how he nearly tripped on the stairs of a late night shop and stumbled on his own feet trying to maintain a decent standing position swaying along the starry dim illuminated streets and occasionally bumping into her shoulder.

"Can you really do it, Sui–kun?" Lustrous orbs shining like aquamarine diamonds skit to his gaze to the girl pleading with him. "Can you cease them away like you did in our childhood days?"

When they were kids, he used to piggyback her and run faster than demons saying that they cannot approach them because he will use his super-powers to ward them off.

And always offered her an apple because she shot him with the one she plucked. He smirked when those memory overflow through his mind and that effluence of pleasant childish reminisces made his entire chest flutter and tingle –just like hers.

"We are kids no longer, Karin-chan." He mocked her playfully adding the Japanese suffix for endearment and amity.

"I know," Karin coyly fisted her hands in his hair, fingertips racking through the maze of glossy-silvery tresses, haphazardly combed and exuding of a peculiar rebellious rumpled style, but nonetheless beautiful.

He was so very handsome, Karin noticed absentmindedly now allowing herself a moment of truly mapping his masculine features and… he had always been beautiful in his own distinctive way and now that a thick fog has seemingly been lifted from her blind orbs, Karin was discovering that she has been living into the acerbic illusion –that there were no other guys worthy to be praised besides the ones deemed as 'popular' by the society– but now her orbs, albeit glossy and gossamer and outflowing with unshed tears, were not in the crepuscule anymore.

"but they never actually left," the light inflection was sad and melancholic and tear–jerking because Suigetsu knew that figuratively Karin was referring to her problems, both past ones and those arising –Problems like her being bullied by the rest.

This girl was asking for someone to lean on; she was asking for his support and Suigetsu was willing to offer her his shoulder –only to her and no one else.

He was acting very out of character, those lenient and tender kinesics, the warm gazes and the goofy smiles were not part of his earmarks, not in the bit but after all, they were all discovering the beauty of being in love –when being someone else for a very special person felt so natural and so right.

As much as sobriety faded in lieu of the sweet drowsy alcohol induced oblivion, Suigetsu wreathed a hand around her shoulders, rubbing her bare skin gently to provide warmth and the prickling shivers and goose bumps that prickled on her nacre skin were definitely not from the coldness around. She could smell the aroma of the drinks he had but she wasn't afraid of him.

A drunken Suigetsu was funny and totally harmless like a puppy it was funny to watch, to observe and plus, even if in his intoxicated state, he –just like the rest of his group– were still dependable.

"Then how about we face them together just like in our kindergarten days?" Without wasting any more moments Suigetsu stooped down on his knee wreathing his hands around a startled Karin`s knees fastening his hands securely around her gazelle legs and with an easy jerk, he hoisted her up, piggy backing her like two romantic couples in Asian dramas –reenacting that innocent teenage romance completely polarized to who they were– and albeit the gesture was exuding of triteness, it was meaningful for the two of them, evoking pleasant memories and they truly felt the sensuous taste of life now that they decided to coat into their own intimate bubble without anyone else intruding –it was an enfranchisement similar to taking a generous gulp of fresh air into their lungs.

"Suigetsu! Ah! Watch out–" Her hands reacted on autopilot as Karin immediately coiled her arms around Suigetsu`s neck, holding him tightly like he was her pier and she was the sailing boat threatened by the upcoming storm, letting out a short spooked cry, not actually believing herself that Suigetsu was trying his best to keep traipsing into a straight line as he swayed left and right, occasionally stopping to maintain his balance while offering her a piggy back ride just like when they were kids.

She felt so light headed and coltish all of sudden just like no problem was capable to encase around her living behind any unpleasant memories –like shadows trying to survive into the scintillating lights but faded into the back of her conscience– and soon enough, instead of being scathing and arrogant with him, Karin found herself chortling like a carefree schoolgirl –a side of her which was so fresh and buoyant and so very enchanting. "Haha— you are crazy crazy Sui-kun! Put me down, I am so heavy and you are so drunk! Drunk drunk drunk!"

Said boy was tittering mirthfully being titillated by her feminine heartedly glee and those melodious cute giggles and honestly... he didn`t care that he was being completely wasted because somehow, an invisible force sturdier than him, was pushing him into the right direction as something inside his chest slowly came unbind from its hinges –his heart was fluttering bouncy into his ribcage like he didn`t have a single soupcon of worry in the world.

"Don`t mistaken me for a pansy. I am a real man and you are weighing nothing at all. Damn I will never understand why all of you dancers and ballerinas love to starve yourselves."

He was babbling and he knew it but his trivia talk was revving Karin's heart –she felt it undeniably fleetingly picking up its pace at the sound of his voice and the poignant fragrance of his masculine cologne– as she buried her nose into the tufts of his silvery-blonde locks, snorting.

"I am not starving myself, idiot." She tantalized him jovially and for the first time in so long, her tone was not trenchant or rude on the contrary, she felt like a complete other person but at the same time, it was still her –the beautiful cousin of Naruto.n "It`s called dieting and this is one of the compromises one has to make to get to the top and snatch Odette`s role as a prime–ballerina in the upcoming show."

Yugao was very strict with their lifestyle and training mapping every single step they took, starting with their weight and flexibility and also energy, so Karin couldn`t actually indulge into alcohol, tobacco or unhealthy food anymore –not if she wished to surpass her previous self and become better than her shallow avatar, the Karin who was still laughing at her from her past mirrors.

The star-lights of the town at that hour felt nice and calming, Karin noticed. Or maybe it was her company the one to enhance her feelings and make her more sensitive to the simple beauties around –the ones that she has missed so far.

Suigetsu`s steps and their occasional cackles resonated with the mirthful reminiscences and the bustling energy echoing from the faraway sky–scrapers. "Ne Suigetsu, let`s take a short detour. I like this silent atmosphere of the city during nighttime."

"Do you want me to take the side alleys of the park? What if some monsters are lurking from the shadows again? Biiig and ugly monsters, with distorted claws, long fangs and neon green plasma leaking from their wounds?"

He taunted in a blithe husky tone tittering at the way she unconsciously tightened her embrace around his shoulders and he clumsily adjusted her on his back, making her heart race and soar when she thought that he will drop her on the pavements.

There were sprinkled autumn leaves decorating the alleys in all the rusty shades of gold, chestnut and maroon creating a very romantic atmosphere as their entwined shadows sunk further into the fading lights of the poles. "Aren`t you here to cease them away like a real… man?"

The unvoiced missives resonated in the space between them and they both heard them and acknowledged them; will you always be here to cease them away for me and protect me? "You are such a smooth liar Sui–kun. Be careful `cos I might believe you–"

"–oh shit!" Tripping on a fallen branch that his double vision didn`t perceived, Suigetsu stumbled two large unwieldy steps forward and, passing some exotic ornamental bushes around a water fountain which still had juicy leaves dotting them, he tried in vain to balance on his feet but a short twist of his right ankle made him writhe and literarily fall into the lush vegetation, taking Karin down with him, both rolling onto the grass. "Watch out Karin–"

"–look out! Gah!" Landing supine in a disarray manner with limbs tangled and hitting their backs onto the moist cold grass only took a moment of inattentiveness, but instead of bridling and protesting, Karin started to laugh heartedly – a full unleashed laughter which might have looked insane if not for the adrenaline rushing along her spine. "Ha... haha... hahaha— oh my God! You are so crazy! Hahaha–"

Soon enough seeing that she wasn`t injured nor seething, Suigetsu joined her into tittering along feeling his senses being completely narcotized and out of control and all that he was feeling in that moment was the warmth of their tangled thighs and her intoxicating oriental flowers perfume.

"Fuck, I`m sorry I am just..." He rubbed his blood shoot aquamarine orbs with the back of his palm mentally cursing his friends –mostly Sasuke and his melodrama– for dragging him into the club and serving him drinks –very strong drinks. "...I will kill those assholes tomorrow, I swear."

"Nah, you won`t because you love them too much. They are your best buddies." Karin knew it all too well that despite their bad reputation as delinquents, the boys had a solid bond and were true to one another unlike the way they seemed to be superficial, immature, stupid and uncommitted in relation to the others.

They have been best friends since forever and basically grew together and somehow, Karin has always been jealous on their liaison because she too wanted to encounter such good friends –or maybe they were her friends but she chose another path instead.

"That`s true unfortunately but for God`s sake don`t tell them `cos I don`t want their bitching on my head." Naruto especially.

He could even picture Sasuke`s apparently laconic visage creased by a sarcastic comeback or Naruto`s mocking and plus, real guys like them were not expressing their feelings of friendship towards each other like girls –minus Tenten– did.

"Ya` know… it`s not that I mind being with you like this Karin, but I truly think that we should head back home."

"...I don`t want to go home though Sui-kun…" Her voice was grim and full of sentimentalism while she gazed into the velvet twilight sky, taking in the million faraway galaxies twinkling like crystals sewed into the arcade and creating breathtaking constellations.

"…My father is having another flight to London and is due to be back in two weeks from now. I don`t want to be alone with the… maids and butlers."

Suigetsu knew it that albeit she was one of the coddled kids welling into a luxury life, she missed her mother very much but that woman divorced her father when Karin was only six and remarried moving to live in Switzerland and cutting all the connections.

Her father was a vivacious kind hearted man who loved his daughter and in respect for the memento of her mother and the love for her, he chose not to remarry, but his job as a Captain in Command on one of the biggest Airlines in the U.S demanded a lot of travelling abroad and thus he would often leave home and travel while Karin was mostly home alone and surrounded by cold indifferent butlers and chaperons.

Probably that was one of the deepest scars which made her retort to her libertine behavior –because inwardly she coveted for affection. For someone to notice her and how more affection than fugitive kisses on the cheek between job, Christmas callings and lush presents and more pictures than actual memories.

"Then… do you suggest we spend the night here? In the park? You are bluffing!" He smirked at the girl`s unforeseen nonchalance and of course that it was not a big deal for Suigetsu to sleep onto the lush green canopy of vegetation already feeling pretty comfortable here surrounded by so much silence, the soothing susurration of the fountain and Karin`s gossamer presence but he thought about her and the fact that she was so fragile and got easily sick.

And plus, he couldn`t have not remembered their first class from tomorrow morning –gym class with the flamboyant ridiculous character Maito Gai who would most likely make them run around the school at first hour in the cold fall autumn morning.

But damn, his lids felt so heavy and even risking looking like a drunk hobo and get caught by the Police patrols in the morning, he couldn`t care less –like that would be the first time.

"I am so tired Sui–kun." Karin started after a pleasant moment of serenity between them, shifting her position to roll over her shoulder not bothered that neither of them tried to untangle their mashed legs, whispering.

"Yugao has been fretting and bristling all the day. My feet and my hips are totally killing me. I have to hone my Arabesque to make my moves even more fluent and work on my frappe`. But you know, I so want Odette`s role Suigetsu."

Something made her move without control like a puppet maneuvered by invisible strings and Karin coiled a delicate almost timid hand around his chest , while Suigetsu slipped his hand around her shoulders and pulled her into a comfortable tight embrace.

"I might be selfish and preposterous but I don`t want to be one of the petits cygnes." The what?

He listened to the melodious way of spelling the French terminology so fluently and easily and albeit his mind was reeling into an inviting slumber barely hearing her, he couldn`t be more alert of her presence into his arms and frankly, it felt so new and so curious to just hold someone so closely and intimately against him without any concupiscent thought to traverse his mind.

Oh– her voice was delicate, creamy and soothing like a warm August rain pelting against his forearms, making his skin shiver. Since when did Karin poses such a kosher beautiful voice?

"I swear I have no idea what that means, but I bet that you can wipe out your competition if you put your mind into it. Just like when you bombarded me with green apples until they hit the target." Which was currently his nape.

Being mildly curious as in why she has stopped talking, Suigetsu shuffled his drowsy orbs to the girl beside him finding her soundly asleep.

The steady rises and falls of her chest, the serene expression welling over her face and the innocent aura of her glowing nacre skin were ethereal and beautiful.

"Heh... I have no idea what the heck is going on here Karin–chan." Smirking softly to the red haired Uzumaki, Suigetsu draped both his hands around her lissome form in a protective manner and let his tired orbs fall into slumber as his body and mind had a shutdown.

.

.

.

-the next morning-

"This is all your fault Suigetsu!" Spurting onwards to the mild morning streets that were starting to litter with rushed people was a bundle of auburn locks, disarray and silky soft swishing behind her back, was a vexed girl clipping at her joggling companion, bristling through every pore."Oh shit fucking shit, I think they are demented!"

Suigetsu has been wrong in his surmise; they have been lucky enough not to be found by the police in the morning, catnapping on the cool meadows of the park, no. They have been found by a throng of rabid stray dogs, big, furious that they have trespassed their territory, starved and adamant in showing their canines into their hands and ankles.

Thus Karin and Suigetsu literarily revved on their heels, half dozing and half painfully alert running for their lives along the streets towards… they had absolutely no idea of where they were heading, but the imminence of danger triggered the survival instinct. Saliva dripping from their fangs disgustingly, they barked menacingly chasing the two running teens. "They better not bite us!"

"Why are you whinning since it`s your fault! You were the one not wanting to go back home Karin!"

"Stop blaming the lady for this, you poor unfortunate clumsy drunken idiot!"

"Oi, I`m not drunk anymo—"

"—why does it matter now! Just run! Oh shit their mouths are foaming AHHHH!"

"Oi! Give me shoe back you stinkin` mutt!"

"Suigetsu…?"

"yes Karin?"

"The big furry dog that you have just hit with your phone… I think it`s Kiba`s dog Akamaru."

"…well shit!"

.

.

.

"H-Hello?"

"Hinata." He was barely coherent and his thoughts were an immixture of everything; he was a mess and so were those outlandish feelings that he nurtured inside, but the paramount of all those convoluted emotions was the jolly fluttering of his chest, which sizzled of the need to hear her voice, even for just one moment…

A brief of silence followed then Hinata felt a gust of newfound courage and determination jar inside her chest, her soprano voice jiggling like million bells and harps of a choir of angels playing in the Eden Gardens, with the strings of his heart. "I-Is something the matter?"

"I woke you up," He was so clumsy whenever he found himself conversing with this girl, Naruto decided. "I`m sorry."

She had the mysterious power to make him weak in the knees and clumsy with his words, losing his peculiar buoyant effervescence and obstreperous demeanor, in favor of a new version of him that lied dormant somewhere in the depths of his conscience… and heart.

A young woman like her was capable of cajoling a better version of himself; Naruto found himself yearning to be the boy that his father wanted for his Princess daughter and someone who she would be proud of introducing to her acquaintances. "I can be so selfish sometimes hehe." He found himself grinning sheepishly at the girl who could not see him now.

He could almost envision her cute perusal of those nymph cheeks and her lunar radiance warming his chest, but what he missed because of their impersonal meaning of communication -through the phone– was the exhilarated smile that sleek across her full lips.

A tiny palm curled in an emotional ball, resting above her chest on the soft silk chemise of her lavender girly night gown, while listening to his words.

She knew he was under the influence of alcohol because Naruto announced her beforehand that he was going to drag his friends` stuck up asses to some new hot local in town and get them shit faced in order to force some confessions out of their mouths – especially from Sasuke – but she also came to notice that alcohol made him braver with words that he normally wouldn't have the geniality to mumble. "N-No, you didn't wake m-me up, i-it is all r-right–"

"–I… just wanted to hear your voice, Hinata," He interjected because the dizziness of the alcohol almost consummated any fragment of the control he had but he had to tell her those missives coherence vanished from his mind; no matter what and no matter the late unholy hour of the night, Hinata needed –absolutely needed– to hear his honest thoughts about her, because unlike his imbecile juvenile friends, Naruto was far more mature and wiser when it came to depicting conniptions, attitudes, behavior and manner of thinking. "I need... you to know something..."

There was a brief pause at the end of the line and that heavy quiescence raised like a fire small ball against Hinata`s throat; she huddled her knees against her chest shyly, her heart ticking like a clock that run out of time, a hand firmly plastered against her frenetic heart barely controlling her overflowing emotions and breaking into a wide smile and shockingly it was her the one to break the silence between them. "...h-have you been d-drinking?"

"Yeah… yeah," Naruto confessed heartedly not being the type of guy to lie his way out of anything, always being praised for his honestly because it took a lot of courage and sturdiness to be genuine all the times and that was also his own peculiar form of showing respect and care about the ones that were dear to him; by never telling lies. "but this... is only because I cannot stop thinking... about you."

"N-naruto–" She felt it reverberating through her entire body like walking with her bare toes against burning charcoals and sizzling like a pyre engulfing her entirely, scorching her entirely and his words made Hinata soar and shoot right to those twinkling faraway galaxies that were twinkling into her window.

"–I want you to know this Hinata... that I have no idea of when and how did this happen but... I have fallen in… love with you."

Somehow, Hinata was capable to see his mien in the moment when those words have left his lips –his stammering lips– and calescent tears amassed into her trembling eyelids , while her luminous moony orbs filled with smothered emotions making her feel like the happiest and luckiest girl alive. "I love you, believe it! I love you Hinata –my Hinata."

She was positive that she was openly weeping and hiccupping into the phone but there was no way that such a depiction of a complete fairytale could have left her stoic and unswerving, no.

Hinata was a gracious girl with an immeasurable heart capable to love like no other and be devoted to a grandiose affection –one that Naruto has sensed and it also overwhelmed him just like it was submerging her into his ocean– and those words, albeit spilled between his fight to keep fluency and reason, they were helplessly sincere and coming straight from his heart.

There is nothing like the first rays of an adolescent love… so pristine, so pure, so suave, so selfless.

There were no words that came from Hinata`s quivering lips because everything that was encased into her chest now came unhinged and drenched her in that bliss; Naruto has confessed to her that he loved her after so many years of wanting, waiting and coveting from him, Naruto called her –even if it would have been ideally to say it face to face– to tell her that he was constantly thinking about her and he... she couldn`t even think about the word love without teetering and feeling fresh tears amass into the back of her eyes.

She felt so happy as those words rolling off his lips started to dissipate through her mind and body and wrap her virtually into his embrace and suddenly Hinata felt Naruto being closer than ever before, but she didn`t know what shall she say to him in response because, albeit it was crystal clear that she also had sentiments for him she was too demure to voice them out loud.

"Hinata–"

She hung on him out of her own accord, pressing a palm against her moist lips and, curling into a fetal position with her cool blanket trailing between her bare thighs, Hinata shed tears of emotion and joy being incredibly happy and at the same time, she felt so exposed, vulnerable and pressured because for once she knew that Hiashi will never consent her to meet a boy pertaining to a lower social status and not to mention that she didn`t know anything about romance since his declaration was taking their blooming relationship to a whole new level.

From that idyllic teenage romance where they were tasting and exploring each other taking it baby steps Naruto has pulverized all those barriers with a single confession by talking about love –the most powerful concept of commitment– and thus she didn`t know how to properly react because her first instinct was to shout it back that she has been loving him deeply for so many years.

"Heh... she doesn`t feel the same..." Naruto bitterly grinned into the now dark screen of his phone, lying supine on his tummy onto Jiraiya's favorite banana yellow couch, half naked and drowned into the gazillions of alcohol running haywire through his system.

"...but I cannot help it `ttebayou... I love her. Fuck I am in love with her..." He kept on muttering while rolling on his shoulder to face the peeling painting from the ceiling smiling bitterly.

"...with a girl that is completely out of my league." He knew it all too well that Hiashi Hyuga her father will never consent to a relationship between him – a no one– with an aristocrat –like Hinata–no matter how much he tried to fight back that acrimony at the social statuses separating souls that were united by love.

"Damn it..." He fell asleep with her blubbed epistles soaked in tears and her lustrous moonlit orbs welled into his conscious.

On the other side of the line she was shaking nervously blushing and froze when he hung up. "Naruto I-I— I too lov—"

Before she had the chance to whimper her door has been violently slammed against her walls she swiveled around and saw her father with a phone in his hand and bristling growling at her with a chaffed expression etched on his face, and the veins around his orbs were tense and protruding from the amassed tension.

"-—absolutely not! I will never allow my elder daughter, the heiress of the Hyuga clan have a trifling romance with a delinquent pertaining to the lowest social status! I completely forbid it and forbid you from ever talking to that person!"

Tears already welled into her glazed orbs. "B-But f-father I-I—"

"—do not want to hear any more excuses Hinata," he was bridling from every iota of his body, briskly pivoting on his heel like a wraith. "I am deeply disappointed in you. If you ever want to live into my house and be my daughter then you have to stop seeing or nurturing pejorative feelings for that boy and if you do want to confront me... then you are free to live this house forever and never appear in front of me again! Understood?"

"Y-Yes f-father..." Moonlit orbs rimmed by lush tears simmered along the curve of her cheeks, digits tucking onto the blanked and her knees sunk into her mattress dejected and dropping her phone onto the carpet.

Hiashi nodded courtly before slamming the door shut bypassing his worried wife and her curious younger offspring, Hanabi, both lingering into the threshold of their respective rooms, eavesdropping.

He told them nothing heading to his private library where his office was dropkicking the door shut, locking it as wanting to ward off all the problems that he was not in the mood to deal with now.

The two women exchanged glances and dashed to the door of Hinata, inelegantly barging inside.

.

.

.

"What was that noise?" Hushing the words to address him, Sakura dashed after the younger Uchiha who has latched his lissome form to the doors' fame, spiking his hearing to depict the muffled strange noises ringing from the living room, finding it bizarre that there was only a dim light illuminating the spacious room, but no Madara and Tsunade to be seen.

Tiptoeing to Sasuke barely maintaining her balance as her knees shimmied and her mind reeling into a cut–short state of complete beatitude and adrenaline rush cajoled by the sensuality of his touches, Sakura tapped her chin against Sasuke`s chiseled shoulder blade, trying to gaze past his imposing height and take a peek at whatever he was seeing, both moving inconspicuous like in a movie with private detectives and the scene turned from calescent irresistible sexy to pure comedy.

"Sasuke, what is going on downstairs? Has some burglar barged into the house?" Albeit her entire body was jittering in an effluence of pleasure and hormones overflowing along her spine and making her body fall prey to a lenient blissful lethargy, Sakura`s haywire senses turned more alert as she has swept those thrilling feelings in a nanosecond when apprehension of something bad underwent downstairs welled inside her. "Oh my Kami—"

There were incoherent mumbles resembling people screaming in vexation downstairs but she was fretting and felt not confident in her reflexes to exit the confinements of her room –not to mention the small space which became the mystique temple of pure passion as a thick veil of lust, chemistry and ardent touches brushing against her skin through the twilight of her room, has found the apogee of intimacy– so she opted to let Sasuke fit into the shoes of the young man that he was –a sturdy stupendous virile delicious Uchiha male– and check what was going on there.

Sensing a pair of slick wet lips brushing against his calescent skin soaked in perspiration from their intense make out session which sent bolting jolts of a tingling enrapture spanning along his body and abiding into the swells of his lower abdomen nearly making him forgo to his most primal impulses, Sasuke tilted his head on the side as e turned his sculpted profile to gaze at Sakura, as his lustrous stygian orbs twined with her equally hyaline green apple ones mentally trying to vanquish against the impulse to slap his own forehead.

Oh— for the love of…

The tableau of the two of them in that moment resembled a triteness portrait of a young teenage couple entrapped into a forbidden romance and considering the fact that Sasuke was hardly the type of guy to fancy such quixotic tokens of affection –at least not through his laconic missives which complemented his stoicism, but through his expressive conniption which made him a man of action and few words.

Instead, he praised her with a semi–frown albeit his obsidian orbs were fluid and coated in honey lust –and something else kindling the bonfire inside them hotly– and polarized to the vexed mannerism that his handsome visage was displaying at her choice of clothes that she was garbed with.

Breath stopping halfway into her airways at the enticing look that Uchiha Sasuke was praising her with made her innards squabble in pure delight and her ticking heart barely keep up to the pace of every passing moment from eternity and sensing an unexplainable bonfire being aroused from its latent slumber burning between them like million twinkling galaxies sprinkled across the twilight night sky, Sakura wetted her lustrous lips –making the Uchiha`s gaze shuffle to her sensuous cherry kissed mouth– and whispered in a rasped gutless tune. "Sasuke–"

"–If you were to ask me," The Uchiha stopped her from inquiring the obvious when she blew his name in such a light soprano way that nearly had him dropkick that damned door back shut, pin her against the wall beside and make ardent kisses explode between their lavish lips.

"I have a hunch that your aunt and my uncle are wrestling in the living room." Albeit his observation might have sounded trenchant and juvenile, Sasuke was helplessly sincere because one, he had experience in the fighting department and two, there were two grown up adults who have just discovered their unexplored latent teenage penchant for romance between them, both being headstrong, independent and polarized and yet so helplessly nourishing sentiments of affection and pure chemistry sparkling between them –which almost everytime ended up in a unhinged sexual frustration, but Sasuke didn`t want his thoughts to drift to the possibility of their relatives doing it downstairs to quench the anger and bitterness between their causing acerbic exchange of retorts.

Tsunade was obviously vexed by something that his uncle has done and Sasuke knew it as the sky was blue that his uncle –albeit a graceful gentleman with a noble refinement worthy of a true Uchiha aristocrat and exuding an imposing finesse like no other in relationship with the people that he treasured– was not the best when it came to expressing feelings that he most likely quelled inside him and from that point of view, Sasuke acquiesced with his standoffish attitude because that idiot was just like him.

But the furtive figment of his uncle being put into his place by Tsunade –who has more than proved how competent she was in the field of martial arts– made Sasuke inwardly fall prey to a rancorous tittering, smirking a crooked smile to himself when his effervescent imagination allowed him to envision a beaten to a bloody pulp manhandled whipped Uchiha Madara –the paramount of stoicism.

Being absolutely stupefied by the bluntness of his outrageous forward explanation, Sakura bridled and nearly shouted against his skin and unconsciously the warmth that her mint hit him like a summer orchard perfumed zephyr made his sweating alabastrine skin prickle with pleasurable tingles, responding to the fire that her embers were creating in a mesmerizing dance upon his senses.

"What?! My aunty is doing what? Sasuke, I have to stop her! You don`t know how much of a flaring temper my aunty has especially when she is seething like that and if you must know, it has been such a long time since I last saw her like this!"

Particularly, Tsunade stopped exuding any emotions of pure affection and sheer intimacy after her beloved Dan Kato died, looking like she has enclosed all her feelings and smothered anything remotely romantic dedicating her life to her medical career and fostering her niece –seemingly to keep her mind occupied from falling into the merciless clutches of sorrow, but when Tsunade was bristling, she was being very passionate about it.

"To be honest, I fear that she is going to kill Madara–san!" Out of pure politeness and gratitude towards Sasuke`s elegant uncle, Sakura unconsciously added the suffix of politeness to his name –albeit Madara made it clearly that he didn't like people who were close to him to address him with any form of respect– literarily feeling pity for the recherché raven haired surgeon because even though his forms of displaying affection publicly was elephantine and reminiscent to Sasuke`s reticence, she could see it in the way his beautiful onyx orbs shone with affection and tenderness that he cared fondly for Tsunade.

Considering the fact that Sasuke found the adults` behavior juvenile and completely obsequious as they were helplessly driven by the feelings that they had in antithesis to how meticulous, unswerving and professional their medic selves was, he frankly did not care about his uncle`s current condition rather that his senses and attention was drifting entirely to the erotic vista of the dancer behind him who was clumsily and involuntarily killing him with her rubicund ivory high cheeks, those purple grape kissed lips nipped and suckled by him and the nacre of her lustrous glowing skin.

Who cared about his uncle when his entire body was welling into that immeasurable fire burning and consummating him like a torch coveting for the taste of her delicious skin and the cadence of her lips playing passionately with his?

Madara could pretty much die –that relic of the past– for all he cared, because everything that was occupying Sasuke`s mid was Sakura and her intoxicating perfume of bliss, enfranchisement and captivation.

Warm images about her beauty were her were briskly swiveling under his eyelashes and her scent was driving him insane.

"Do you really want your uncle to be brutally disposed of?" A perfect strawberry blonde eyebrow fetched up in suspicion at Sasuke`s blunt confession.

She knew that he was playing –or was he not– because she was updated with the tight profound bond that Sasuke and Madara shared, but seriously Sasuke was always so serious and imposing that it was hard to imagine him to crack a joke –which was not sarcasm or fine irony.

"Who cares about that drunken loser?" While Sasuke was doing his best to focus his attention on Sakura`s effervescent jadeite jewels and not drift to her lips or lower more questionable indecipherable sounds resonated from downstairs and suddenly Tsunade murdering Madara didn`t sound like imbecile anymore.

"He already has his Will legally done. He left half of his fortune to me and half to that effeminate weasel that I call my elder brother. And my father is to take care of his funerals and write the speech. "

Sasuke has been laughing –a rare full hearted titter– his ass out loud for an entire week when Madera shown him the script of his Will before talking to his lawyer and of course that Fugaku was oblivious to it.

Slowly shaking her head at his response which resembled a line from a savory humor story Sakura nudged him on his ribs snarling between her teeth mindful not to cause a brouhaha and catch the attention of Madara and Tsunade since she had no idea of where they were –or what they were doing downstairs.

"You're such an inconsiderate little prick. What kind of devoted loving nephew talks like that about their uncles?"

Silently biting the inside of his cheek to prevent a throaty moan to tremble from his chest where a tempestuous pang jolted through his body ad whine like a weakling, Sasuke`s orbs flamed like charcoals sizzling from their abundant sapphire depths as he nearly glared at Sakura because the rosette –albeit involuntarily and playfully– elbowed him right under his badged tended bruised ribs and the pain seared him in violent waves, but he sucked in a rasping breath and refrained from expressing his pain.

But Sakura was more intuitive and keen that he has given her credit for because sensing his sculpted body stiffening shortly and seemingly bursting in flames, she quickly realized what she has done to him –hurting him when that was the last thing in her mind– and spontaneously and immediately her vitreous orbs churned with worry as her tone was latched with guilt and went softer and sweeter.

"Oh my God Sasuke I am so sorry, I nearly forgot about your injury!" Delicately with an affectionate touch that only a tender lover would poses, Sakura dabbed his sensitive bruised side above the professional badge like she was trying the water with the tips of her digits and slowly let her palm smooth along his ribs caressing him so as to prove that she didn't do it on purpose.

"Gosh— I am so clumsy. I will never hurt you on purpose so… gomen ne." Albeit he tensed under her touch it was definitely not because she might have been hurting him –her diaphanous touch nearly made his lackadaisical orbs fell prey to a blissful slumber– but because now captivating her touch was and that caress only made his temperature boil like the scorching torrid sun in California, urging him to lean in and respond.

Vaguely he came to realize just how much he enjoyed hearing those cute shenanigans that were her trademark like the occasional familiar Japanese expressions latched into her cursive English speech ones that made her even more unique and mesmerizing.

She was probably doing it involuntary out of reflex, but Sasuke did not mind since he too –as well as his entire family– had Japanese lineage so he was perfectly capable to have a fluent conversation in the language of the country where the Sun rise.

But at the same time, he came to adore every single smidgen of what made Sakura`s character so sublime and dazzling. Even her accent was adding to her charm, to her uniqueness.

Leering deeply into the glossy filigree pattern of aureate tinges sprinkled around her verdant irises Sasuke couldn`t help but inch closer to her while he tried to vanquish to cup her chin, drape her waist with a snake hand and kiss her passionately, but instead he simply placed his bigger hand atop of her own and halt her glissading touch, nearly hissing.

"Stop that." He didn't mean to snap at her so calloused and rigid, but she affected him and he had to pay attention not to lose control and indulge into the carnal explicit impulses of his body.

A tinge of hurt aligned with the sensual Egyptian cat curve of her almond shaped eyes which didn't go to waste by Sasuke as he was silently following every explicit emotion churning inside her through the mirrors of her eyes he missed the hurt look in her eyes thinking that he didn't like this sudden whirlpool of open affection from her and bit her lip whispering softly.

"Sorry." Sakura slid her hand from his own already missing the sensual feeling of his warm touch kindling the bonfire within her like no other , fine– combing her lustrous asymmetric bob tresses behind, eschewing her gossamer orbs from his stare –his intense unfathomable gaze which bore deeply into the depths of her core– peeping past his shoulder. "What are they doing downstairs?"

"I don't know. I can't see any of our relatives since the lights are turned on into the living room and the door is half shut."

"Let's get downstairs and see what is going on. My aunt was very upset because of your uncles behavior and… albeit I don`t find your uncle`s behavior offensive or wrong, my aunt won`t forgive him so easily."

"Why do you want to intervene in adults` problems for, Sakura?" He didn`t intend for his alto voice to rasp her name like that but there was a lingering pressure within his hips nearly bestowing him to pander into his still flaming desires to have her writhing and beautiful entrapped into his arms, one that Sasuke could barely control so to her, he made it sound like he was actually fretting and frustrating about their rather fleeting moment of intimacy. They are not children anymore."

At least he was positive about Tsunade, because his uncle Madara would forever remain young and his flamboyant teenage spirit was soaring in an effluence of energy, and albeit his merits as a surgeon were unswerving, he was still having the mentality of a twenty years old college student who was as libertine as his evergreen young conniption would allow.

"Sasuke— my aunty could literarily kill Madara when vexed, or even worse. You have no idea about how vindictive and vicious she is!"

Sakura`s light soprano nearly broke into a hushed half of a scream as she tried to reason with her orbs –which reversed back through those calescent fierce lioness sparkles that drove him berserk by just igniting the same incessant fire inside his mind and befogging his judgment– because the percolating shivers that her body felt by his magnetizing proximity and the disheveled extremely seductive striking lone beauty, were nearly betraying how much she coveted for him and how badly she desired for him to finish what he has started. "Don't you care in the bit if he gets killed?"

Instead of feeing any pang of sympathy or even try to dissimulate his lack of any interest, Sasuke simply shrugged with a lackluster jerk of his sculpted shoulders like it did not matter to him whatever happened to Madara, of course, knowing it all too well that Tsunade, albeit fuming and probably seething when outpouring every single acrimony into a full lecture, she will not hurt Madara for the sole reason that she had feelings for him.

"She can decapitate him for all I care. If that old man dies, then I can finally have more peace and space inside his house for my own joy."

Of course that Madara was hardly a talkative person but his conniption was far from Sasuke`s laconic mannerism and albeit he was very savvy and had an implacable intuition and spirit, Madara also s uncle had a dark sadistic sense of humor which was inspiring and uplifting especially when he used this masked sarcasm and cubism to deal with his brother in law.

Upon hearing his repose and considering the level of care and affection that Madara pampered his nephew with, fostering him by his father and being a lifesaver in Sasuke`s tumultuous life, basically catering him in everything he did and even covering for his misbehavior being all sweet, understanding and supportive with such a convoluted young adult guy like Sasuke, he came as a real insensitive jerk, so Sakura balled his digits to a heartedly punch and punched him in the chest hissing at him like in terrible shame of being seen in the presence of someone so unaffectionate. "Hey— won't you show some affection you bad bad nephew?"

Sakura couldn`t begin to decipher the fleeting tuck of his lavish lips up when he drew them into half of a breathtaking trenchant smirk but the coltish frizzy feeling flaring into the pits of her navel was back and whirling inside her like a hurricane. "I do in fact, but only in special circumstances."

The way he enunciated every single letter with that cognac infused baritone inflection caressed her gingerly but hotly along her spine and she resisted the need to moan out loud at the hearing of his divine voice alone, added to the infused innuendo in his double meaning line.

Letting those stygian-silvery sapphire orbs traipse along her violin curves in torpid strokes, Sasuke`s smirk only strengthened along his lips while breathing in the betraying response of her body as she shivered under his intense perusal like his blizzard eyes lighted a fire inside her and melted her skin, but instead of pandering into the desirous yenning that overflowing into her body, Sakura created an intense glare and pouted comically at the handsome Uchiha.

"Prick. You`re such a stuck up prick with no respect for such an amazing gentleman that is your uncle. I bet you are jealous that you will never be like him no matter how much you try to copy him."

Instead of being vexed by the obvious insult, Sasuke swerved from her train of wrong assumptions about him swiveling on his heel as his sable lustrous locks flared about his nape with much effect, his tone absent, flat and impersonal.

"Hn? Why would I ever aim to become like my idiot of an uncle? He is nothing but a drunken moron after all."

Even if he did not voice out how he felt, the incomplete sentence has resonated loud and clear as they both heard it coming from Sakura; 'Just like you'.

Yes, Uchiha Madara might just be the solstice of whatever one might aspire to become –intelligent, fulfilled, splendid and glorious with a bright successful career, confident, mellifluent and intangible– but at the same time, Sasuke did not want to volteface into anyone else`s clone on the contrary, he wanted to walk his own path, discover the world and see the truth and its wonders with his own eyes, but he will never be someone else`s avatar –like he suspected that Fugaku wanted him to become the shadow of his brother.

Albeit she was literarily dying to dig into all the enigma that Uchiha Sasuke was and unravel his personality as his disconcerting kinesics were puzzling her more and more, Sakura`s gutless personality and sharp intuition let her know that she should not open up subjects that would mostly make him bristle so instead, she diverted her attention to the fleeting quietude which came from the living from.

"We should sneak into the kitchen," she suggested while tip toeing and pressing her palm against Sasuke`s chiseled back –unconsciously leaning into him with less diffidence and becoming more familiar with his warmth and his skin under her palm– trying to see down the stairs. "we have a better vista not both the living room and the second floor from there without risking to be caught by aunty."

"Are you possibly implying that we should spy on two adults arguing?" Hopefully they were arguing instead of… Sasuke quirked an elegant raven eyebrow up at her juvenile remark giving her a look which made her look ten times younger and more childish and she hated that arrogance in his eyes like he was superior to anyone in every aspect.

"Then let`s slam this door shut and pretend they will not try to unleash their anger to each other and possibly trash the entire living room."

There was a fugitive moment of complete silence between them when both pondered about the option of returning back to what they were doing before they got rudely interrupted and the confirmation of the same figments churning inside their minds materialized into their flickering eyes then sliding to their lips like seeking for connection again.

The fire spanning across her ivory–rubicund cheeks when Sasuke wreathed a sturdy arm around her middle, pressing the door shut with a quiet thud and turned her into his arms with her back pressed against the now shut door; senses were overflowing and running in overdrive when his warm minty breath fanned hotly upon her face as he inched closer to her until the tip of his nose brushed against her own, and Sakura stammered as her vision got vitreous and soaked in lust. "Sas–Sasuke what are you–"

"–hmm? I am just considering your advice." He tossed the words back into her face when he interrupted her babble and without foreshadowing, his lavish lips slid between her own enclosing her upper lip with his mouth suckling greedily on it with the effervescence of a thirsty man wandering under the torpid sun of the desert searching for an exotic oasis to satiate from, drinking the life out of her when his slick tongue brushed against her mouth forcing her cherry tinted petals wide open and filling her mouth with his taste, both blinded by the same dispersing energy which now amassed between them in sparkles of electricity.

The lust, the need, the ravenous desire has always been dormant within their bodies and it has never ceased away –not even when both tried their best to deny it, to not cajole into those apparently sophistic dark desires– but in the end, they were both helplessly indulging into each other`s tastes, searching for the same fire to bring them in to the real of bliss, where everything and anyone became just a suspended fading memory being blurred by their presences and only they mattered.

Drowned into everything that Sasuke`s sizzling body was summoning, Sakura let her hands which landed automatically against his sculpted pectorals –like having the impulse to push him back but never having the resolution to do so– graze the swells of his alabastrine shoulders to drape around his neck and, taking a full fist of his tangled ebony hair, she forced him down to take more of him, more of his divine liquid chocolate and sumptuous wine taste, to nourish from the new world that he was sketching for them, relinquishing into the sensations coursing through her in rolls and waves of pleasure, kissing him back.

There was nothing that she could do to prevent the tremors of her hands when she sunk into his open arms, while Sasuke massaged her shoulder blades with one hand while the other was wreathed around her waist holding her tight and close to him, making her gasp when their heated bodies united their warmth together evoking sparkles of the same fire burning their minds.

Every lithe swell of Sasuke`s sinewy body, so beautiful and so sumptuous outlined with his splendid muscles and his model height was pressed intimately and so right onto hers, hips grazing together while calves brushed and rubbed in the same uneven dance, while their lips found a perfect rhythm together.

Heavens, it felt so incredibly natural to be with Sasuke, to kiss him with zeal and pleasure suckling on his tongue as he let her change positions and greedily almost desperately Sakura let her nails graze the cords of his sculpted neck rolling her tongue deep inside his mouth until she hit the back of his throat, suckling and savoring his amazingly aromatic lavish taste of leather, minty tobacco and cognac that unmistakable maddening bouquet, making a lupine rasped growl travel from his throat through her own system and she shivered and moaned in delight.

"Mmmnn—" Sasuke let her dominate their pace only massaging her lips with his own while she traced her tongue over his lower lip, suckling on it with undone frenzy while her digits were playing into his ebon locks then massaged his shoulders spanning along his shoulder blades to explore every swell, every peak and delineation of his sculpted back, pulling him closer to her. "S-Sasuke—"

The irony of the situation is that a fleeting moment of confusion, Sakura garbed herself into the firs article of clothing which she stumbled upon and that happened to be the shirt that Tsunade landed to him for the night.

And it would not have been such a triteness fetish, but seeing her dotted into an oversized cloth that had his smell all over it, which brushed just above her ankles and barely concealing her nudity from him with only such a petty fine cotton fabric coming as a barrier between their calescent bodies enhanced the quintessence of erotica and wanton lust that they both felt, making it the paramount of desire; he wanted her just as much as she coveted for him in unabashed passion.

Never in his life has Sasuke encountered someone to provoke such organic feelings of fitting so natural into his arms –into his bed– like she has always been destined to belong with him, to be his, to feel pleasure only because of him, and he found all that indescribable intimacy with Sakura –the new Japanese girl in town– but he could not help himself but fall limp down on his knees and into those threads of helpless narcotized passion that she conjured; his mind was blank and dizzy and his body felt like a rushing immixture o fire and electricity combined with the perfume of her fine–grained feminine body.

Caressed by lust and something deeper which welled inside his chest –poetic and profound– Sasuke`s palms skimmed under the hem of the shirt brushing along the filigree lace waistband of the lingerie she wore, stunning him that someone so coltish and apparently not interested in exquisite refined lingerie and such sensual elegance would have such a delightful taste– and grazed his burning fingertips along her navel and kneaded her waist and ribs like molding clay and creating a statue with the outline and curves of his dream woman –finding its epitome of beauty, recherché curves and delicacy into Sakura– making her writhe and sink further into his arms until her gossamer form molded perfectly into his herculean chest, becoming one single shadow spanning on the wall beside.

Sensing his expert strokes massaging and kneading her body with an expert finesse that only Sasuke –an Uchiha– would poses, Sakura strengthened her kiss, clasping Sasuke`s lips with newfound ferocity and pulled on his sensually shaped mouth like wanting to suck the very soul out of him, drinking and breathing in his taste in spirals of smoke, angling her chin so as to reach him better, lips slanting over his in perfect unison.

Her tongue was exploring the arcades of his mouth, making unexplored spots come undone and massaged his gums, rolling along his pearly teeth then tapping his tongue passionately, playfully fully tasting him in response to what his hands were designing invisible rhymes along her spine and waist, melting her body like a candle while she burned with need for him.

She felt everything while she kissed him with vigor; the sharp bones of his masculine jaw jarring while she forced his mouth wide open for her to invade him hotly, the fleeting moans when she sunk her nails into his scalp grazing on it or pulling on his hair, the muscles of his neck and shoulders tautening under her touch.

Short–winded because of that blistering kiss, Sakura was the first one to break their lip lock but she couldn`t give up on Sasuke`s amazing taste so she let her lips place another wet open kiss upon his mouth then nipped on his chin trailing her lips along the sculpted bones of his jawline, cupping his cheek almost tenderly, affectionately while placing butterfly kisses along his face.

"Sasuke–" She nearly moaned breathless to him silently pleading with him for something that she could voice out, shivering when he nearly cut her air supply when his left hand traipsed in a mesmerizing fainéant caress from her hip bone upwards to rest under the swell of her breast, cupping the pert supple mound with his palm –oh how delicious she fitted under his touches, under his caresses– feeling the rattling rhythm of her heartbeats pounding under his palm, having a fleeting moment of simply holding her without moving, just listening to their irregular breaths blowing against their faces; their cheeks were resting against each other, faces lingering gingerly in a romantic position, eyes half closed and lids heavy with lust and need.

"–as much as I would like to go much further with you," Sasuke`s voice was rasped and hushed whispering against her face but he was still breathtakingly addictive and so smooth; Sakura`s knees were wobbling and every iota of her body felt pyretic and shuddering.

"let`s go and check what happens downstairs. I know how much of an ungraceful my uncle can be sometimes when it comes to expressing his feelings."

There was no trace of scathing or mocking into his baritone inflection and those were the moments when Sakura absolutely adored Sasuke`s conniption –when he was so somber and austere, looking ten times wiser and more mature.

Albeit she was hardly depicting anything around her by how glazed her jadeite eyes were drown into pleasure, Sakura nodded half-heartedly to him –part of her wishing for them to stumble back on her bedchamber and caress each other with those burning touches capable of leading her one step closer to Paradise– and turned to look into those superb sable eyes, brushing their lips together in a gingerly chaste kiss.

Oh— it was incredible just how badly she wanted him.

A buoyant mesmerizing kiss coated her purple–dark cherries lips seeing the look in Sasuke`s eyes, so close and so expressive harboring the same need and passion for her as her own, assuring Sakura that he too felt the same –he felt something for her– as her, reluctantly letting his palm slide along her curves, already missing his warmth as she stepped aside to let him open the door, both tip toeing into the hall and gracefully down the stairs, like two original spies and both half naked and flushed by the perspiration and a heavy scent of sexual attraction trailing behind their sneaking forms.

"Can you hear something? Are they there?" When she has been met b silence and trying her very best to ignore the still heavy pressure into her inner muscles which begged for something creamy and soothing and the burning of her skin begging to be touched by him, Sakura grew very frustrated beckoning the handsome boy in front of her to respond, but she has been me by his silence to match the gravestone eerie atmosphere in the house. "Sasuke, what the heck is going on the–"

"–so what if you are a man and I am a woman? Do I strike like someone who needs to be pampered like a schoolgirl?! I am no weak woman, you idiot!"

Tsunade`s acerbic low soprano inflection thundered through the entire house seemingly to shake the walls from their foundation and Sakura immediately tripped on her feet missing a stair as her bare heel slipped on its edge, hands automatically darting to Sasuke, digging her nails into his shoulders for support, nearly taking him down with her in surprise, but a simple flexing of his lithe muscles was enough to steady them both, mumbling something intelligible through clenched teeth –most likely a frothing insult.

"Damn it, they are heading upstairs—"

"—Quickly, get inside. We can`t have them catching us here eavesdropping." Sakura literarily pressed her palms onto Sasuke`s sleek shoulder blades and pushed him roughly past the half crept open kitchen door, scurrying inside just in time when Tsunade nearly passed them by to head to her bedroom, not taking the stairs like her niece suspected, bridling and fuming through every pores while a listless indolent Madara was calmly trailing after her, not countering her rants instead trying to remain his peculiar composed self and not fight fire with more fire.

"Smart, really smart Sakura. Now you have successfully locked us in here." Sasuke told her flatly, his voice dripping with sarcasm while he tried to peep through the ajar opened door, hearing heavy footsteps padding into the distance like Tsunade and Madara were wearing military boots, but since he had no idea when will they come back or if they would return into the living room –or worse decide to raid the kitchen to vent frustration by filling their stomachs– they couldn`t return into Sakura`s room.

"And what was I supposed to do? Remain rooted halfway down the stairs and risk to be caught while trying to eavesdrop? Are you dumb?"

Sakura seethed right back to him and comparing her mannerism and shenanigans to Tsunade`s, he could notice the resemblance between the two relatives, of course each with their earmark personalities but he didn`t explore the depths of Sakura`s attitude because next thing he knew, he caught the obvious insult addressed to him.

There were barely a handful of people courageous –dumb– enough to call him stupid and Sakura was seemingly one of them, not only that but the blizzard in her glossy orbs sizzled like an unleashed hurricane while she crossed her arms upon her chest, pinning him with a pyretic stare to match.

He deadpanned at her resisting the impulse to roll his onyx orbs at her in exasperation. "Judge for yourself. We are trapped into your kitchen and it is almost dawn. So much for a quick nap to at least fake it that we are not walking zombies…"

"And whose fault is that? It`s definitely not me the one who drunk like a sailor, got myself shitfaced and ended up into a gang fight!" She clipped crossing her hands upon her curvy bust, jade orbs burning into his own.

"If memory serves me right –and fortunately it still does– you were just about to head to the club to drink. Don`t be hypocrite Sakura."

"Aish, you are driving me nut–" She nearly screamed into his handsome face with the last spurt of energy rushing along her spine at the way he was putting the blame of her when it was clearly his and his uncle`s fault for ending up in that predicament.

Before she had the chance to bridle at him and act like Tsunade –who was still shouting something intelligible at Madara from one of the rooms– Sasuke enclosed her wrist tucking on it firmly feeling her bony hand nearly pop into his grip and pulled her flush into his chest, silencing her and nearly forcing her to tip toe to reach his face; he on the other hand didn`t dipped down his regal chin for an inch, only flickered his onyx orbs to her pouting visage, nearly hissing.

"–stop screaming Sakura, you will give away our position and you make my damn head pound. My ears are bleeding and you are far too obstreperous."

Gulping once in vain to quench the constriction into her throat at their proximity, Sakura`s lips parted briefly but no words travelled past them because the same feu de joie flared within her belly and chest making her queasy, dizzy and listless as Sasuke was absorbing the light from her luminous emerald eyes and scorched her with his pyre.

It was in the moment when both of them went tight–lipped savoring the evanescent moment of quietude between them have they realized the naivety of Sasuke`s short tempered gesture; successfully bringing Sakura so close to him and touching her while drowning into her green apple eyes like relishing into the splendor of a Goddess, he ignited the same dormant passion between them sparkling in twinkles of chemical attraction between them.

The only hushed sound audible around them was the door cracking shut as Sasuke was not holding the knob to keep it open and peep outside and the pale light coming from the bulb into the hall has faded into a sober darkness, with only a crescent golden moon glowing through the window and creating a pool of light into the middle of the kitchen and spanning under their feet.

A demure princess like hand –moving completely out of her control like an invisible force was maneuvering her with invisible sateen ropes wrapped around her wrists– came to rest atop Sasuke`s pectoral and lackadaisically skimmed around the swell of the muscle traversing down to tickle his ribs and the lean long cords of his sculpted abdomen submerged into his breathtakingly lissome body, saying absolutely nothing.

It was only the intermittent exhales of their ragged breaths the only sound which slayed through that intimate quiescence between them, enhancing the level of arousal and attraction.

Loosening his hold around her wrist, Sasuke let his fingertips caress her hand gently, delicately feeling the lushness of her porcelain skin tremble under his touch while half shutting his obsidian orbs as she was making his innards throb and his muscles flinch under her touch; only Sakura could touch him with such a diaphanous caress and excite him to the point where he found himself hurdled into a vacuum unable to remain pinned to the ground –adoring every moment of that mindless euphoria.

Palms spanning along every delicious crest of his tauten physique pressing her fingertips against his abdomen to trace the contour of those sculpted fibers down to his navel where his waistband muscles formed a mouthwatering V shape, Sakura felt her throat go crisp and the air around her turn magnetic.

Her body was reeling in sizzling shivers enticed by his hands massaging their way from her shoulders to her waist and hips, encompassing her tummy –flat and elegantly defined by subtle muscles ripped by hours of training and dancing–and tickling her ribs, he cupped her pert breasts massaging them sensually with the back of his palms in circular motions.

"S–Sasuke–" Emerald pools flickered to his obsidian hues being met with the same drowsy look as her own and she slid her left hand along his muscular arm and wrapping his neck possessively, she lead him down to a needy kiss encountering no resistance from the raven haired Uchiha, kissing him thirstily with zest and gratification like she has coveted for him from the beginning of time –wanting him even before meeting him.

"Hn." His hands were soft and expertly stroking her breasts massaging her sensually, making her melt into his embrace and into everything that he represented –an unhinged bonfire of passion kindling her like a torch until raw enrapture turned her into a shooting star; her senses went haywire as she moaned hotly between his lips, mirroring the sensuous path that her palm along his body took with her mouth clasping around his own. "I like your kittenish tantrums but… I like it more when your lips touch mine instead of rambling."

Sleek tongues were entrapped into a calescent dance, exchanging saliva and liquid flames simmering along their glistening lips as they were savoring each other like never before, kissing like they were the last people standing on Earth with no one to infringe into their newfound intimacy; and they both enjoyed each other like never before.

Something was happening between them, Sakura noticed with a throaty silent moan when Sasuke rolled the hem of her shirt up her body and she held her hands up to allow him to take the cloth off her, tossing it aimlessly behind her landing atop the table and hanging on Tsunade`s favorite silver candlestick shamefully.

Immediately his lips stole her breath with a wet kiss upon her lips then trailed sensually along her jawline, latching to the shell of her ear nipping on the yielding skin of her earlobe and sprinkling moist kisses burning along her neck and digging his canines into her pulse suckling greedily on it.

"Ah– Sasuk–ke–" Trembling fingers took a full fist of his lustrous ebony locks clinging on him like holding onto an anchor to her sanity while she arched against him in the moment his lips traversed her collarbone showering her with the caresses of his lips and kissed his way down the valley between her breasts, coming to nip on the swell of her left mound then flicking his tongue against a tauten rutilant nipple blowing hotly against her skin, making her shudder in delight.

His name sung by her while trapped in bliss flamed his bubbling blood and an electric charge shot through the column of his spine and bolted into the pits of his naval where blood was amassing into a chemical explosion of hormones, adrenaline and excitement, making him feel so alive and inspirited albeit he couldn't have been anymore benumbed and tired –she was the catalyst for his liberation.

"Sweet..." Teasingly, Uchiha mumbled against her skin while his lips cupped her pert nipple lower against the sateen skin of the bundle and suckled on it generously with a lackadaisically pursing of his lips smirking when he felt her lungs constrict and refusing to let go of a burning inhale when pure pleasure shot through her in an effluence of madness and rapture; her legs jittered and her knees wobbled making her go lax into his arms, pressing her rounded chest into his mouth helplessly begging him for more.

Every iota of her skin was divine aphrodisiac; a subtle feminine fragrance of tangerines, peaches and pomegranates invaded his senses while his lips and tongue were rolling along her ivory–rubicund skin, hands massaging her sides and hips rolling behind her back when he strengthened his embrace around her possessively, like marking his claim on her; like she belonged to him and no one else.

There was not even a single smidgen of coherence or ration left in his mind; Sasuke was completely narcotized while savoring the taste of Sakura`s silk organza skin, exploring every curve and every swell and tracing his tongue along her bouncy well–endowed breasts slowly coating her into the same honey and fire energy and bliss that only he could give, then sliding up to suckle on her throat and trail moist kisses along her shoulders and neck.

Million singles and shivers were making Sakura feel similar to being tossed into the core of a whirlpool of bubbles and she barely felt the cold polished floor under her bare toes, letting her hands wrap about Sasuke`s limber form, exploring the ripped sinewy, muscles of his flexed back, both massaging and kneading each other affectionately, intimately and poetically memorizing the map of each other`s delectable bodies afraid not to get lost into the maze of sensations.

"K–Kiss me– Sasuke–" She wanted those lavish lips between her own –dancing with her own– more than anything and the guttural desperate voice of her sounded more erotic than everything he has head in his entire life; even pleading with him for something so apparently trivia was the archetype of passion.

"Hm? I am kissing you Sakura." Sliding her fingertips through the maze of his disarray ebony locks as they spilled against her knuckles, Sakura cupped Sasuke`s cheek and forced his head upwards from nipping on the junction of her neck and shoulder and the jaded look in his clouded stygian orbs told her that he was completely blind and out of it; her warm sweaty palm pressed affectionately against his cheek bone holding his face tenderly –like only a lover would do– made Sasuke even more addicted to her.

"I mean my lips stupid." Dazed, he followed the lead of her hand straightening his spine in time to welcome a hard kiss midways as she secured her coltish hands around his shoulder and nape, balancing on her toes to remain glued to him –refusing to part from the radiance of his chiseled body–responding to her kiss eagerly.

Leaning forward to deepen their kiss as their tongues met upon their lips licking each other`s mouths, they stumbled two steps backwards until Sakura`s back tapped the side wall pinning her against it.

The rough surface scraped her sensitive skin but Sasuke briskly wrapped his sturdy arms around her petite form and kept her against him deepening their kiss and the way she was trapped between his sinewy body and the wall allowed their bodies to grind in all the right places and she sighed upon his lips, trailing her nails along his chest.

He felt hot and firm through the soft fabric of the sweat pants he wore and the fire between them grew unbearable with every roll of their hips against one another; that friction made Sakura throw her head backwards completely breathless and narcotized by his taste, his smell and his body, moaning between harsh pants.

"Oh my dear Kami–sama–" She had no idea what language has she used or if she has been capable to voice out anything coherent but the pressure she felt in her lower regions and the tension in her hips was too much, too unbearable.

A bulb seemed to have lighted into his head when an agonizing moan travelled between their kiss coming from Sakura who was tapping her fingertips against the expanse of his carved abs fumbling along the waistband of the pants that hung dangerously lose around his narrow hips, realizing where that was heading and whispering between her nipping and suckling on his lips.

"This is not right," His mumblings apparently went to deaf ears because Sakura wasn`t hearing him and everything benumbed and hit him like a bolt when her hands boldly slide from his lower back down along the curve of his toned ass and he tore his lips from hers breathless and drown into the same intoxicated state stirred by her –by everything that she was, her perfume, her eyes, her skin, her hands on him. "not here."

Sasuke knew it in the back of his shutting down mind that this was not the right way to make her his; not with a delicate girl like Sakura who meant to him more than he would openly admit and definitely not when he was energy depleted and his mind was still drenched in the after effects of all the alcohol he had –he absolutely needed to kill Madara and his idiotic friends– intending to stop before things degenerated into something that they both might regret. "Tell me to stop then."

"Wha– What?" Staring into those emerald orbs Sasuke got the impression hat they were not shimmering green anymore, but somehow an amalgamation of light olive and golden trying to focus on his face, lulled by his enticing leathery voice breathing upon his lips tapping them like not understanding why weren`t kissing hers anymore.

"N–No... no." She started to register where the fire between them was leading and what was her sole salvation to quell the bonfire melting her into his arms, but sadly enough she also had zero control over the situation.

"I c–can`t–" She openly admitted through half lidded vitreous orbs and not only that but she also didn't want him to stop.

The amazingly delicious friction between them was palpable and resonated with their every pores and that unexplainable connectedness that she felt while kissing and touching Sasuke was something out of that world, extraterrestrial –like they met in another time and now were reenacting a n emotional encountering after so much time of thirsting for each other, searching, exploring and never finding anything similar.

"Sasuke... you–" She traced the tip of her tongue along her lips winking to him while her hands curled under his arms to wrap around his shoulders, a hurt expression welling into her orbs; one that tucked on Sasuke`s chest, aching with an unexplainable pathos. "–I thought you... wanted to... do… with me–"

He knew it all too well what she was trying to blabber between breathless gasps of air but before tears aligned under her eyelashes, he cupped her oval shaped face between his palms in a fleetingly affectionate gesture –that he never exposed to anyone else before– and cut her short gently, his voice one zephyr fanning across her own.

"–I do want you Sakura, but I will not sleep with you into your aunt`s kitchen with two adults in the house who might run into us and definitely not when I am drunk and barely standing on my own feet."

Oh dear Heavens, his mind seeped with figments about her skin, about the creaminess of her curves molding into the warmth of his palms, pleading to be touched, to be caressed… he was heading to a dangerous direction nurturing strong sentiments for Sakura that Sasuke never would have guessed that he could feel.

Something flared inside her chest upon hearing that blunt confession and the way he expressed it –so genuine and so elegant. He will not make love to her when he was drunk and barely conscious of the act.

She couldn`t believe that actually Sasuke cared so much about her feelings even when he was not in his best shape.

Of course that he was completely right; it would have not been wise to have her first time with him in the form of a quickie into her kitchen with a vexed Tsunade and an obsequious Madara trotted after her and trying his best not to look like a moron and fall into her good graces were somewhere close and wandering through the house.

"Naraba..." she mumbled dipping her head down to conceal a blush that spanned along her cheeks nipping on her lower lip.

"...would you –ahm– want to... this some other t–time when we are... not in a house full of other... people..."

She knew it that her voice was feeble and stammering like Hinata`s but it was not like she was used to talk so openly about sleeping with a guy, especially with someone who had definitely more experience than her and hearing the short rumble coming from his chest made her want to dig a hole into the floor and dive inside in embarrassment.

Didn`t she sound lecherous and desperate or what? Tenten would swell in pride seeing her cling to this hot guy in adamant despair and desire.

Sasuke was actually tittering heartedly at her but not for the reason while she suspected. Still having a graceful hold on her cheeks, Sasuke fine–combed her stylish virgin strawberry–blonde locks behind and made her arch her neck to look into his eyes finding an unusually softened warm look in his onyx eyes and something coltish welling into those silvery irises –an emotion that she could not place. He looked utterly amused.

"If you genuinely want me then just say when and where." Finishing his sensuous open invitation with an earmark smirk, Sakura couldn`t help but bit the inside of her cheek to prevent a dreamy goofy smile to bloom across her lips; her cheeks beamed a cute rubicund shade at his innuendo. "I will be at your disposal."

She would have liked to state that he probably used that line many times before with any other girls before her, but something in the way he was glancing to her – definitely not like he looked like anyone before– told her not to ruin the moment by being untactful.

He probably read her unspoken line into her eyes –eyes that she could not hide from him for Sasuke was always reading into her soul like through a pile of sheets easily depicting every single emotion.

Out of nowhere, she burst into a fit of light soprano melodious giggles and Sasuke couldn`t help but smirk wider at her while his belly felt queasy and whether it was from the amount of alcohol churning into his system or the sound of her voice and the smile on her angelic face, he had no idea. "What is it?"

"Nothing I just... I thought about what would Tenten do if she was in my place..." They both chuckled at the idea knowing that if they were to trade places with Neji and the chestnut haired friend of Sakura, then they would have probably ravaged the kitchen, then engage into a fight most likely breaking something then have animalistic angry sex to alleviate the pent up frustration but at the end of the day, the would have ended up in a similar prediction as Sasuke and Sakura –still denying their feelings for each other, but relinquishing to the calling of their hearts.

"Today has been a… weird day." Sakura whispered to the Uchiha while Sasuke –feeling his vision double and his feet nearly stumbling backwards– wrapped his hands around her arms, holding her possessively against his body and slowly sunk down against the wall, maneuvering them so that she glued her back into his chest, lying on his lap with their entwined fingers resting atop her tummy. "I am glad that you are safe, Sasuke. I have been so scared. Seeing you beaten up and vulnerable like that was… "

Quirking an eyebrow up at the girl`s unforeseen mood swing, Sasuke stood listless as Sakura turned around into is arms and resting her head into the crock of his neck, she wrapped her hands around his neck, placing soft kisses onto his Adam Apple reveling into his peculiar scent –calming, soothing, familiar and intoxicating– feeling the rush of adrenaline dispersing as a heavy tiredness overcome her. "Don`t scare me like that ever! I don`t want you to get hurt! I truly do not want it Sasuke!"

Because if you get hurt, then it hurts me too.

"Aa." He dipped down his head until their cheeks brushed gingerly against each other sending pleasant tingles along their limbs and chests and Sasuke found himself rasping something that hardly got past his lips –an apology.

"Sorry about that." Basking into the warmth and the tenderness of her opaline skin grazing his own, rubbing her face against his so as to amplify that lulling sensation of intimacy, Sakura smiled a shimmering smile to him nodding once in understanding; he was also thanking her for earlier knowing that not only she will not ratting him out tomorrow at school just to ridicule him, but she was also earnestly worried for him.

Her nudity was –for the first time in her life– not making her uncomfortable in his presence on the contrary, Sakura did not felt the need to tap the floor after her discarded cloth to dot herself with it because the skin on skin contact with Sasuke`s alabaster bonfire body felt too engulfing, too delicious and overwhelming and she wanted to have that forever. "I am so tired Sasuke..."

She blew against his skin as his obsidian orbs were slowly fading into slumber and her jade pools were also lidded; by her blunt confession Uchiha understood that she meant everything that she has been through since she has moved from Japan –a short spanned tumultuous experience and it felt like she has known him from longer than nearly two months.

That was the beauty of their feelings for each other –of their blossoming romance– that time had no meaning for them; they were scribbling their own rules about eternity unaffected by the implacable flow of time.

When Sakura was near to Sasuke like that, without any selfish polarized ambitions and suppressed emotions, she found it hard to believe that time was still passing her by.

It felt like they were tossed out of time and out of all the problems and pressure from the others.

"I know. Sleep now." His usually unswerving inflection was calmer now, more lenitive than sateen brushing along her skin as he coated her with his muscular arms canoodling her into a loving embrace while she stole all his body warmth, basking into the feeling go his steady heartbeat tucking under her ear and she nuzzled her nose between his pectorals feeling the much needed sleep finally coming to her; how good it was to be in Sasuke`s arms like that, forgetting who he was in the society`s eyes. "I will be here, love…" I will always be here, my beloved Tsuna.

Soon enough they both fell asleep into the kitchen, trapped in each other`s arms and unaware of what was transpiring behind the closed door, reveling into the connectedness that the latest wild experience has swathed them with, bringing them closer now than ever before –baby steps were slow but steady leading them to the top of what was the plethora of romantic feelings.

.

.

.

"This does not look too promising Madara," Fine honey–chestnut eyebrows drew into a semi-frown as Tsunade was inspecting the level of the elder Uchiha`s injuries, threatening him with a hallmark incessant stare not to move from the sofa while her expert delicate hands were cleaning his wounds from dirt and dried blood.

"I think it`s infected. You will have this checked tomorrow morning at first hour, along with the other nasty injury." Noting that her heavily professional tone left no room for arguing, Madara swallowed lightly to smother a protest insisting that his wounds were nothing serious, refraining from angering her further.

Instead, quelling the throbbing pain burning from the multiple bruises and open cuts lacerating his alabaster skin, he focused on her hands working on him –meticulously, expertly and affectionately– adoring how attentive she was with him albeit they were not into the confinements of the hospital where she had to swap her caring motherly nature to the one of a reputed medic, following how her fingers worked on autopilot as she used iodine to clean a cut on his thigh that one of those gangsters landed on him while he tried to avoid a lethal blow on his nape.

"I might not be the most mellifluent gentleman in the world Tsunade and nor the most affectionate and loving man at least I am not expressing it as much as the others do,"

He started gingerly looking deep into Tsunade`s amazingly tinged orbs doing his best to choose his words carefully so as not to fall prey to his own inability to convey emotions, studying her mannerism and reaction like a hawk. "but know that every words that I have enunciated before are genuine and straight from my heart. This is my heart."

She stopped biting her lower lip like a schoolgirl not because she wanted to smother her tears, but because she willed herself to listen –to let him in and believe in him and in his love.

"It is very challenging for an… Uchiha to openly confess his feelings since it is part of our heritage of our blood not to reveal our emotions, but it does not mean that we do not have them on the contrary."

Of course that Tsunade knew it all too well that Uchihas were the solstice of stoicism by definition and albeit they were hardly the emotionally retarded people that the others taunted and criticized them for, having much more in-depth of human emotions than anyone else, they were having a difficult time openly expressing them and it was not because they didn`t mean every single missive.

But because they were hardly forced to do so; usually it was their actions conveying what their lips failed to do and the busty surgeon knew it all too well, but at the same time she was deeply touched that Madara was willing to open up for her instead of trying to hinder those overflowing emotions which were now haphazardly coming out of his silky lips.

Taking her wrists he brought her palms upon his pectorals and she let him silently do that and his gesture was heavily meaningful because it was the only option that Madara had to make her realize how fast his heart was thumping faster and as a medic and a woman she felt it percolating through her fingertips.

Suddenly Tsunade felt propelled twenty years into the past –into an alternate past with another possible outcome– by the inspirited way Madara made her feel; she felt younger and helplessly falling in love like she was a college student but at the same time her wisdom and experience which never faded helped her realize that what she was feeling now –in comparison to her former lover Dan Kato– was more mature and far stronger because now she was looking for something else from a man and Madara was exactly what she wished for –albeit she hasn`t imagined herself pandering to romance ever again only focusing on her niece and her career.

"I do not know when it happened or how, it must be your shenanigans, your strong willed conniption, your beautiful stubbornness and independency, your divine beauty, your amber eyes shining with confidence when you talk, when you treat your patience or your effervescent smile the one to make me unable to look away Tsunade, but I will not even try to hide myself from you. I... have fallen in love with you in a way that I have never felt for any other woman before. You are the only one to have captured my heart and I do not intend to let you go now that I found you and your niece."

He brushed a fallen lock of hair around her ear and she stared at him through half lidded vanilla–tea orbs lips trembled as her heart shattered in billion pieces watching him how fine he was and how loving; how sincere.

"You two have become two very important women in my life and I, Uchiha Madara, will always protect what I hold dearly. I will always fight with all I have got to foster what I believe in and right now Tsunade,"

A lean digit glissaded under the curve of her chin, cupping it and leading her down to him and she obediently followed.

"I believe in us. I want to know if you do too but I sure does" And pressed his lips against hers suavely, lazily and never possessively —granting her enough room to refuse and elude him.

Of course that his kiss was tremendously different from the one that Sasuke gave to Sakura since they were way past their adolescent avatars.

Sasuke and Sakura`s explosive kisses were the hallmark of a blooming wild young romance hitting them like a tornado and carrying them both to the sky as any teenager their age would feel strong enough to stay atop of the world, intangible, wild and passionate but not Madara and Tsunade.

His kiss felt so tempered, more poetic, deeper and more meaningful and instead of screaming hormones, lust, unhinged passion and incontrollable desire, that lip lock nourished protection, safety, stability and support –just the treasures that a grown up woman like Tsunade would cherish. "I will always be here…"

His lips –albeit slightly bruised and tinged by a fine line of dried blood because of a blow that he couldn't block in time– felt silkier than sateen to the touch and coated in honey, rich fine beverages, velvet coffee and a subtle tinge of chocolate and so warm, melting Tsunade's petrified core from inside out.

Her heart was caressing her chest gingerly while she sunk into his kiss –his amazingly enthralling and lenitive press against her lips– nearly moaning at his delectable touch.

Madara`s kiss was soothing, comforting, inviting and romantic and at the same time, it embodied and portrayed everything that his missives couldn`t compel; indeed, Uchihas were not mellifluent when it came to expressing their sentiments especially when their warrior nature, the title of royalties among the other Japanese clans as a wealthy family coming from a long lineage of prosperous people, and the penchant for branding the bonds of affection as feeble liaisons and weaknesses, but when it came to gestures, mimics and actions, they were the finest and their grace, nobility and hotness was unparalleled.

When Madara had a very mature discussion –between drunkards in love– with Sasuke about Tsunade and him, the famous Uchiha surgeon has been hundred percent genuine with his nephew.

He loved Tsunade Senju more than he could comprehend it himself, more than his words could comprise and he knew for a fact that he didn't want to lose this amazingly unique jewel because of his imbecility to let her know how he felt about her.

Madara was a fighter, a warrior and his spirit was ten times stronger than he let it see and deep inside, he nourished the attitude of a lone genius shinobi coming from a splendid family, with a superb intuition and the ability to foreshadow the course of events like no other, but it was feelings the ones who were his Achilles' heel –because as much as an inscrutable stoic and apathetic man he might have seemed, Madara was capable of harboring deep feelings.

It was exactly the reason why he was willing to compromise with Fugaku and tried not to be his open enemy and provoke him –albeit he couldn`t acquiesce to his ideologies and his way of not showing affection towards his children, blindly clinging to the traditional ancient Uchiha education– because he loved his family, his clan was part of his history, ebbed into his genetic code and his sister and nephews were the dearest thing to him in the world.

He would die in a heartbeat in order to protect what was important to him and currently, Tsunade Senju had a special part of his heart –the romantic side of him– one that has been dormant until she gave her first handshake with him, because it was in the exact moment when they first introduced to each other has Madara felt his chest ache with an unexplainable emotion which he now recognized as adoration.

It was when his lips lingered upon her moist ones refusing to put any sort of pressure upon her –both physically, spiritually and figuratively– has Tsunade realized that she was silently sobbing.

A lone tears spilled along her cheek while her hands brushed along his defined biceps to hold onto his shoulders kneading the sculpted muscles and leaning into him while Madara wrapped his hands about her waist, marveling at how coltish and fine her body was for a woman in her fifties; it was like she was an ageless vampire female who was beautified by the passing years, getting younger and younger every year, every moment.

She was phenomenal, a mystique creature with the wisdom of a Goddess and the beauty of a Queen, a splendid oxymoron and it was in that exact moment when her tea–vanilla orbs softened with blinding tears has Madara realized what his nephew`s problem was, being not polarized but ironically mirroring his own –Sakura, as a soupcon of her exotic aunt and her only living relative, was harboring the very same mystique multiple personalities like there were million other facades that she concealed inside, being always someone else but at the same time, preserving her dominant of character and that antagonistic conniption was impossible to decipher but at the same time, made her unique and irresistible.

For such a diligent man as an Uchiha who was accustomed to follow strict rules and abide to a strict pattern and archetypes, someone as coltish and multifaceted as Sakura or Tsunade were not only a real challenge, but also someone on par with their finesse, intellect and versatility; someone who was capable of an immeasurable love just like an Uchiha, but at the same time, someone who was not obsequious with them and indulge into everything that they said for the sake of being complacent, no.

Women like Tsunade and her niece were not pandering into their affection for the men they loved and forgo their own principles and morals just to fall into their good grace and that was exactly why Madara as well as Sasuke were unable to correspond to such new types of mannerism but it was exactly that archetypes of beauty, wisdom and recherché characters the ones they were looking for in a woman.

A woman was made from million lights and shadows, the enigma of their ineffable, of their beauty and the supreme femineity, and even if men like them will never be able to decipher every smidgen of their incredible character, they were helplessly attracted into their irresistible allure. Just like Sasuke was slowly but steadily falling for Sakura –he liked her but he couldn`t understand her.

Hands which remained as delicate as snow preserving that archetype of finesse required from a skilled surgeon latched through the ebony maze of lustrous locks as Tsunade brushed her digits through Madara`s amazingly soft hair, tapping her forehead against his own reveling into his peculiar smell –which grew so familiar on her– nearly whispering as her rasped voice grew softer and quieter almost like allowing her walls to lower for him and let him inside, exposing her vulnerable side to him albeit he was the one to have been accosted by a gang of hooligans.

"You are incredible," She tapped her lips against his forehead and albeit Madara didn`t know the representation and the symbolism of that gesture for Tsunade –a special form of displaying affection reminiscent to Itachi`s way of tapping his younger brother`s forehead whenever he wanted him to know that their bond went beyond family and blood– he could feel her unhinged feelings transpiring through her velvet lips.

"I don`t know how you do it Madara, but you always make me feel like drowning in salty waters but at the same time, I am in no need for oxygen. There is just something about your fire... that makes me want to get closer to you and stay there forever."

Had they been two young teenager the age of their nephews, Tsunade`s confession might have been corny and ooze of too much triteness, but since they were both experienced adults responsible on their behavior and aware of the implication of their epistles, she silently let Madara know that she was not pushing him back.

And that night`s experience, as ridiculous, outrageous and unthinkable as it was infused with adrenaline, hormones, suppressed emotions and trading their lives and safety for rescuing the people which were important to them, cherishing them and coming to their rescue, has been a solid token of the feelings that transpired between the two of them.

In the moment when Tsunade has caught the sight of Madara being tangled into a brouhaha with his life being in danger, the way she automatically responded without thinking first, jumping into the fray head first like she had her limbs wrapped with invisible velvet strings played by a master puppeteer as part of Destiny`s Grand Play, let her know that this was a man that she could literarily spend the rest of her days with, because as much as she has enclosed her heart from any potential romance when Dan Kato died, Uchiha Madara has managed to conquer that impenetrable fortress and be the healing energy that she needed in order to give love another chance.

But this time, as much as Tsunade was not an inexperience juvenile young maiden with no concept about family and security, she realized the difference between her former great love and Madara –the feelings she fostered for Uchiha were by far greater, more mature and profound– and no matter how much she threatened into slaying his throat for getting tangled into such a mess, Tsunade couldn`t have been more relieved that Madara was fine and the same went for his nephew.

Somehow, akin to his own confession to her, Tsunade too found herself thinking about Sasuke as her family; that boy was a mini replica of his uncle –of course having his own idiosyncratic feats that were peculiar to him and no one else had– and deep inside, Tsunade depicted the same vast ocean of darkness and loneliness submerging Sasuke deeper and deeper until their feelings got disconcerted by their own reticence to let the others form bonds with them and explore that indescribable feeling of connectedness with someone –until now.

Brushing the tips of his soft fingers along her milky bare forearms, Madara`s beautiful stygian orbs went warmer and a pyre lighted up those sapphire irises making them look like a soothing mixture of onyx and honey boring into Tsunade`s half lidded tea ones with so much love and affection welling inside that it made her light headed and her heart miss a tick. Has she just confessed her love to him.

"I might not have the proper words to express how guilty I feel Tsunade, but this is all that I have got. I am genuinely sorry about my inelegant behavior. I know that what you need is a dependable man to give you a strong sense of security and affection, because you are more than proficient to take care of yourself alone."

His hushed voice was mesmerizing like lace and leather infused with dark chocolate making Tsunade basket into pleasurable warm tingles that she only felt when she was adolescent, drowning her into him like a sunflower chasing the rays of the sun.

Placing a suave chaste kiss upon his lips, Tsunade`s voice mirrored his own somehow not wanting to shatter the lenitive quietude between them by exposing a disquieted demeanor.

"You are abnormally romantic for such a laconic man, Madara. Are you trying to be coquettish?"

She taunted slyly, albeit she was deeply moved by him honesty shimmering into his superb unique eyes –obsidian feats that he only passed to Sasuke like wanting him to see everything that he has seen in a connection which went beyond blood.

"I am trying to express how much you mean to me and how terror-stricken I feel at the prospect of losing you because of my own inability to say the right words. I am still willing to learn from my past mistakes Tsunade, do not doubt me but unlike my sister Mikoto, I am not a natural born romancer when it comes to intimacy and love albeit I wish that I was equally poetic."

She was listening through drowsy half lidded orbs at the marvelous things rolling so smoothly out of his sensually shaped mouth, not believing it that, for the first time in years, the ache and the hollow emptiness that conquered every feeling in her heart, came loose from the painful constriction and allowed her to open up and welcome the idealistic world that this man was summoning to her –like pulling her into a perfect illusion of an ideal life that they both could have.

His hands, so smooth and lulling were caressing her arms and shoulders while she was playing absentmindedly into his thick ebony locks feeling their finesse and bounciness ripple through her fingers like touching silk organza, breaths tangling in a comfortable warmth fanning over their miens.

"I do believe in you, Madara. And... I must apologize too. My flaring temper has probably given you a distorted impression about my real self but it has been so long since I..."

Nipping on her lower lip like trying to find the most proper words so that she won`t be equally elephantine and say the wrong thing, exhaling deeply while holding his intense gaze deciding to come clean in front of him –who has been nothing but honest to her.

"…I grew alien to the feeling of having someone to lecture me and worry for me and it is not that I am remotely upset or offended by your attitude, but because I feel overwhelmed about everything." She sighed.

It was the same feeling that Sakura was experiencing albeit Tsunade was not a high school student who tried to blend in anymore and Madara has not realized it how difficult it was for her to settle into a foreign country and probably those bottled up feelings, the suppressed incertitude of being a single woman who was raising a niece alone have exploded into a fit of anger, and his clumsy approach has been the perfect catalyst for her to detonate.

MAdara has been fooled by her independent personality and how skillfully Tsunade concealed her distress underneath multiple veneering of strength and confidence –she appeared to be strong when in reality she was just like fragile porcelain, suave and easily to break albeit regal and beautiful.

"If you want us to move to the next stage, then you must know that I am short-tempered and volcanic. I know I might be a difficult woman Madara, but I will never hide my feelings from you."

"No, you are not an intractable woman Tsunade, do not berate yourself." Madara shook his head slowly at her, bringing his knuckles to graze along her ivory cheeks feeling the creaminess of her skin burn under his touch and she haphazardly leaned into his gracious touch.

"The things that you consider to be flaws is exactly those singular feats that made me notice you and observe how unique you are and not to mention beautiful."

No, he was not trying to be flirtatious with her and charm her, not at all, on the contrary, Tsunade has seen nothing but honesty into Madara`s mannerism and that both scared her and made her heart skip a beat.

"I am the man and you are the most delicate woman that I have ever met in my entire life."

Haphazardly she slid off his lap tapping her toes on the fluffy carpet and fine coming a hand through her honey hair that she let loose from he two earmark low ponytails, Tsunade exhaled deeply and turned her back on him, wrapping her hands around her generous bust traipsing into the hall and her voice, albeit raising a little so as to smother her already overflowing convoluted feelings didn`t fool Madara.

"So what if you are a man and I am a woman? Do I strike like someone who needs to be pampered like a schoolgirl?! I am no weak woman, you idiot!"

Wordlessly and knowing that her acceptance overshadowed her fleetingly burst of rage and hurt pride, Madara trailed after the woman –both completely oblivious to the two pair of eyes peeping from the kitchen watching them intently and misunderstanding the purpose of their argument– and followed her along the dimly illuminated hall, not paying attention to the burning ache of his injuries and the fact that he was slightly limping on his feet because of the injury of his thigh and knee raking his digits through his disheveled long hair pulling it backwards off his handsome visage.

Following her shadow as Tsunade pressed the knob of her bedroom unlocking it and submerging into the overwhelming darkness, Madara quietly closed the door shut as their figures paled in comparison to the heavy silence around and she remained with her back on him, expecting, wanting and needing something from him.

"No of course not." Madara approached her and she still did not flinch away from him when his graceful steps barely made any ripples along the floor, gluing his chiseled chest against her back, curling his fingers around her forearms and pressing his lips atop the crown of her head as he was one head taller than her.

"But I still want to be here for you whenever you need me, even if it is a silent witnessed to your magnificent refinement and skills or someone to share the loneliness with."

Smothered teardrops aligned with the almond outline of her eyelids when Tsunade closed her eyes finally unleashing the tears that she bit back ferociously.

Yes, he was right, she was lonely and so very sick of it; she too wanted, wished and prayed for a man like him in her life and now that Heavens have blessed him with encountering such a man, Tsunade couldn`t help but feel a myriad of emotions burst out of her ribcage.

"Bakka... you are such an idiot Maddy-boy." Nonetheless, the endearing appellative that she secretly reserved solely for him fell from her lips with a short heartedly smile.

"I know and maybe this is the reason why I am trying to change it." Tsunade leaned backwards to fully reside into Madara`s embrace while he folded his sturdy hands around her frame, enjoying how she fitted into his arms like she was meant to be his and that thought alone brought a small smirk upon his thin lips. "To be the man that you need Tsuna; that is capable to make you happy protected and loved."

"Then let us both become better people... for us."

Maneuvering her into his arms –and she willingly went along not opposing him– Madara cupped Tsunade`s cheek with his left hand while the other one snuck around her violin waist pressing his digits against her lower back to bring her flush into his chest and dipped down to press his lips against hers in a sizzling kiss, pouring every single suppressed emotion into their lip lock; things that he was not eloquent enough to voice out came undone from that passionate kiss.

Tsunade immediately responded to him by encircling his hands around his muscled neck, pressing herself into his chest while his hands were caressing her shoulders and the small of her back, tongues rolling expertly and affectionately in a slow waltz, tasting, exploring each other`s trust and confidence on their mouths, and for a moment melted in warmth and love, Tsunade felt that amazing relief washing over her like she too had someone she could depend on when she needs –and that aspiring atmosphere of considering him a family has struck in in the moment when he only kissed her and held her gingerly and tenderly, refraining from touching her in any concupiscent or sexual way –proving it to her that Madara was not just thinking about coaxing her into giving in to him.

"Tsuna," He bad her lovingly using the shortened version of her name in a peculiar vestige of affection and intimacy, whispering between their kisses while she played with his lips massaging them and basking into his warmth and the sense of protection.

"I would like nothing more than to make love to you now and demonstrate you how much I love you, but I will refrain from such graphic behavior while there are children in the house and I am damnable and gullible for being in such a pathetic state. So gomen ne–"

She interjected softly tittering lightly while shaking her head and tapping his firm lips tenderly, running her hands into his rich incredibly leathery-silk ebony locks, looking deeply into those amazing onyx eyes –orbs which were filled with warmth and love for her– while Madara thumbed a shimmering tear which glissaded from the confinements of her tea–honey orb.

"–do not be afraid of that, you are nothing but so sweet and understanding, really there is no reason for you to plead for forgiveness. Just... stay with me. I need to know that you are safe and close to me so that I will not have to worry and be alone anymore."

Brushing his lips against the crown of Tsunade`s hair, Madara wrapped his hands around her shoulders while Tsunade slid her palms under his armpits and –mindful to all his injuries– she encompassed his shoulder blades and sunk into his embrace, inhaling deeply on his incredibly aromatic masculine smell, reveling into it –because that was a feeling that she was happily surrendered to and wished to have that forever.

She wanted Madara in her life and even though she hasn`t been looking for a new love, it has hit her like a perfume summer wind –unexpectedly but so uplifting, just like his conniption was.

"Do you think that the kids have fallen asleep already? I feel so sorry for having to perturb their slumber."

"They are probably exhausted and fast asleep," Madara assured her mentally praying that Sasuke has refrained from doing what he burned to do to Tsunade –taking into account that his nephew was in no better physical condition than him– trusting him that he will have enough common sense and abstinence not to try anything funny, because decency and dignity were pretty much not part of his vast vocabulary.

"How about we let them sleep until later on? I will personally call the Principal to notify him about their absence."

Slipping into the ivory magenta sateen blanket, Tsunade immediately wrapped a hand haphazardly around Madara`s chest as he slipped a hand under her shoulders, bringing her flush into his chest and locked his hands around her graceful form, enjoying the incredible feeling of having someone so tenderly close to her and entrapped into such mazing connectedness.

"I will do as you say, Maddy-boy." Tsunade moaned contently when her heavy eyelids were already drifting into a comfortable slumber, burying her chin into the crock of Madara`s neck and placing a chaste kiss against his Adam Apple feeling him gulp once under her touch. "Oyasumi."

Smirking down at her shenanigans and the tendency to slip one or two fugitive sentences in Japanese –betraying how incredibly comfortable and familiar she became with him– Madara kissed the top of her forehead breathing against her ivory skin.

"Oyasumi... my dear Tsuna." They both fell into the limbs of a deep slumber shortly after and for once, Madara felt like truly belonging to somewhere; right there in Tsunade`s arms, tangled in her bed and house, he felt like he had everything.

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.

.

Sasuke didn't have the concept of awkwardness ebbed in his vocabulary simply because he was an expert in genuinely enclosing his emotions and flat out ignore everyone and everything.

This is how he managed to keep his composure by bringing out his taciturn demeanor and this laconic approach exasperated everyone around him but it was extremely useful.

But holly damn, the tension lingering between them was so thick that one could easily lacerated it with a slid end a sword piercing through every layer of that absolutely ticklish situation and it even made him feel a little perplexed.

The next morning has found Sakura and him entwined in an intimate embrace sprawled on her… bed?! Sleeping with their limbs and folds morning pleasantly and warmly against each other like limbs of shadows chasing after the light and he couldn't be so hypocrite and deny how utterly good and pleasant it had been to have Sakura's unyielding skin fanning above his own and her curves and suave outlines pressed fluids against the planes of his body, nuzzling give to his chest like a content kitten.

But when a groggy female voice pounding on Sakura's bedroom door ticked on his conscience and making Sasuke realize that Tsunade has woken up from her slumber and tried to rose them up from sleep and haul their asses from the bed, every fragment of that mollifying position perished like the moon at dawn and he shot up from the floor in a nanosecond.

He could hear her tempestuous energetic temper from downstairs, damn it! Just imagining her marrying the austere Uchiha Madara was… God!

And it was then when Sasuke came to a horrifying realization of how exactly doomed the two of them were.

Sakura, who was pretty much reeling in a dizziness induced by the slumber that barely roughed her flat the ring eyelashes, has simply shuffled back to him and did the boldest thing that her rather shy and flustered persona has ever done to him.

While Tsunade was fussing on the other side of the door, Sakura shifted into his arms, pressing her petite form against his muscular back folding her hands around his hips, letting her fingers slide along the V-shaped muscles that tattered on his navel and that almost made him choke on air.

What the flying—

She just dabbed her succulent lips between his sculpted shoulder blades and mumbled sheepishly.

"What's the matter, Sasuke…? Why have you woken me up?" the Uchiha was so tensed and so concerned about an imminent doom in the form of a dead zombie looking beautiful Tsunade to realize how ridiculously intimate and familiar the scene was; the seemingly unimportant ritual intertwined with her words resembled the morning routine of a married couple consisting of a loving worried and perceptive wife and an always on guard paranoid and standoffs husband who refrained from openly exposing his affection.

"I hear muffled voices from the living room. Where is your aunt`s room?" He inquired with a rasped voice which was even huskier and less calculate and leathery smooth than always, and the dark circles around his obsidian orbs betrayed the level of tiredness that was frothing inside him albeit Sasuke was trying his best to remain implacable and unaffected by all the situation.

"Sasuke how—" Had the context been different, less convoluted and more platonic than sizzling of unshed romance and simmering with smothered lust and carnal desires, Sasuke would have taken a fleeting moment to study Sakura`s general atmosphere and the childish innocence shenanigans and the childish pouts blooming on her lips and the somnolent jade eyes would have been so cute and so incredibly angelic. "—why are we here?"

Taking a quick glance around her surroundings, Sakura`s emerald pools got two shades lighter as they widened in perplexity, and it was now when the traces of sleep –a very deep albeit warm and sweet slumber– have evaporated from her alert system, quirking her fine eyebrows up in confusion and anxiety.

"Sasuke— how is that we ended up back in my room? Weren`t we stuck into the kitchen?"

"To be completely honest with you Sakura," The Uchiha turned his masculine profile over the puzzled Sakura staring blankly into her jade lustrous orbs, resisting the need to submerge into her stare and ignore how the afterglow of the morning sun`s rays enhanced her diaphanous ivory rose skin and graced her with a gingerly purity and beauty, keeping his churning feelings off his baritone voice. "I have no fucking idea."

"What?! What do you mean you don`t have any idea about..." Ransacking her small digits through her messy strawberry blonde short tendrils, Sakura scraped on her scalp nearly bristling if not of the unexplainable thirst that she felt or the heaviness of her tensed muscles –deprived of rest, sleep, food and energy.

"...teleportation we did not that`s for sure. Then... could it be that we were kidnapped by aliens?"

"Sakura for the love of all that`s holy, try not to make me seethe so early in the morning with foolhardy assumptions, not when there is a mini hammer ramming inside my damn skull."

"Well— sorry to offend you Mr. I-have-a-constant-pole-stuck-up-my-ass but whose fault is it that you have been drinking so much last night? Don`t you even dare to put any single blame on me since as far as I remember, it was me,"

Stomping on her dominant leg, Sakura pressed her thumb down her chest bridling at the young man before her and now that she was not under the influence of her tortuous feelings for him or the rush of adrenaline washing her off because of the life threatening situation, she exposed her spitfire personality to him –one that was not obsequious to him no matter how much she felt for him. "the one to save your sorry ass by those delinquents."

Resisting the urge to respond to her fire with an even more scorching bonfire of his own pouring gasoline on her and making her dance along the embers of the pyre, Sasuke fine-combed a hand through his disheveled naughty locks as they spilled across his face and nape in a stylish mess similar to the concept of a sex hair, more in exasperation that for fashion purposes sighing heavily so as to suppress his escalading exasperation and nearly hissed through clenched teeth to the bubbling Sakura.

"So if your memory is so impeccable, then how about you enlighten me about how did we end up back into your room?"

Not arguing with her about the fact that she proved to be a kunoichi in the clothes of a sylph with angelic feats because there was no point in trying to come up with an elephantine excuse just to pamper his hurt pride and ego in vain, Sasuke focused on the main problem there and that was how in the world have they made it back into Sakura`s room? Because he couldn`t remember them walking back upstairs.

What did they do then?!

"I don`t know but don`t you dare to drift this conversation elegantly because it doesn`t work with me, you cheap prick!"

Sakura fluently insulted him with equally unswerving dominating blizzard orbs, pushing him roughly aside from the door, bristling further as Sasuke nearly bumped a shelf with her dancing trophies, rubbing his sore spot since Sakura landed an involuntary hit on one of his bruises which were even more visible and stingier than few hours ago.

In the spurt of the tense moment, both failed to take a peep at the clock clearly not bothered by the fact that they had classes. "Ah, what the heck Sasuke, where is my aunt and how is she coming upstairs? I can't see a thing."

"Of course you can't, it would have been weird if you could since I assume that you can't see through objects or walls."

She whacked his back then glued herself back to his naked back and this made him almost hiss, and it was in the moment when his distinctive smell void of any cologne or shower gel hit her nostrils, so clean and having a subtle hint of cinnamon, burned cedar and a fragment of all the five nature elements latched to his alabastrine skin, has everything that transpired between them –all the intimacy, the kisses, the caressing whispers– have ricocheted back to her full force, overcoming the morning moods.

"Don't be cynic, I am scared about what Aunty might have done to Madara. He's such a sweet man I don't want him to die so young."

"He`s nearly fifty one Sakura. He is far from young so… get off my back so that I can press this door open so that we can actually see what the fuck is going on downstairs."

He could flaunt that unfazed conniption of his for as much as he wanted, because Sakura will not be fooled.

The way Sasuke kept a mild tension in his sculpted shoulders along with those tauten muscles of his arm and back assured her that he too was cautious.

Truth to be told, there were indecipherable strange noises echoing through the walls from the living room and possibly the kitchen, but they could not limn what were they about.

"What was that noise? Sasuke?"

"I have no idea. Probably your aunt carrying Madara`s cadaver into the basement or into the back garden hiding it from the police."

"What?! You are absolutely crazy! Stop making me imagine something like that and... what is the time anyways?"

It was then when Sakura spun her head backwards and her horrified jade orbs landed on the clock on the wall which screamed in pure sarcasm at them that it was 11: 15 a.m. "Oh no..."

"—Yeah, so… we skipped the first two periods, so what? Don`t tell me that your attendance is one hundred percent." Sasuke crossed his arms upon his chest not capable to quench a trenchant curl of his lips upon seeing the ghostly face of Sakura nearly having a heart attack.

"Well— I might not be such a great deal for you, but it is very important to me! I don`t want to become a bad student who is seemingly not interested in school."

In all honesty, what she was horrified about was the fact that she had Math with Kakashi after the lunch break and she did not want to skip his class not because she wouldn`t be able to catch up with his lesson, but because she will never hear the end of his mockeries and sarcasm, as Kakashi was the type of teacher not to fume and throw a tantrum when his students misbehaved, but he was definitely a master in mentally torturing them with well-placed sarcastic comments having a similar approach as Sasuke`s only he was doing it publicly in front of the other students.

"Instead of picking up your hysteric demented friend`s foul language, maybe you should follow her nonchalant example and loosen up a bit, otherwise you will die at a young age from cardiovascular problems and stress, or maybe..."

Here is when his stygian orbs took a dangerous elfin gleam as Sakura took two shaky steps back from his approaching lithe form until he easily caught up with her in the middle of the room, capturing her violin waist with a sneaky hand around her middle and brought her flush into his bare chest whispering seductively upon her pursed lips.

"...would you like me to help you enliven all that tension in your body, Sakura?"

Her heart followed an unruly cadence of the rhythm thump-thump-thump thudding frenetically into her eardrums as a lump rose up into her throat and her orbs flickered from his amused visage to his smirking lips and then skipped a glance to his chest, quickly glimmering to alleviate the picture of him burning into her mind and fight by those shivers overflowing along her spine and limbs, traipsing along her legs as she curled her toes into the carpet.

There were million shivers prickling and tingling her skin when Sasuke`s calescent body pressed more onto her own, bare and deliciously sculpted and she came to marvel for the millionth time at how Godly he was, how lissome and finely sculpted with all the muscles tauten, defined and polished protruding from his marble skin and Sakura could not help herself.

Her nails were sunk into his carved biceps like holding onto a lifesaver so as his stormy orbs would not pull her into a bottomless abyss as she traced her tongue along her lower lip feeling her mouth going more brittle than the sand in the desert at the sight of him and their closeness.

Putting aside the ridiculous circumstance of the previous night`s disturbing events and all the absurdity of her engaging into a gang fight to save Sasuke and then ending up hiding from the local authorities into a dumpster and then ending up into her room trapped into a steaming heavy petting session when she lost all the control of her mind and all the ration has been vanquished by her desire for him and how amazingly incandescent he made her with his touches, Sakura came to realize exactly what the situation looked like.

She and Sasuke –the guy she was rapidly falling helplessly in love with– have taken whatever Daedelean relationship they had to another level but she was unsure of where they stood now because it was pretty clear that those perplexing reminisces of the game between them has metamorphosed into something deeper, more poetic and stronger.

Last night, even in his precarious condition, Sasuke never once stopped being delicate with her, mindful almost caring with her and mindful not to offend her or make her feel cornered and pressured by his experience and magnetizing presence, touching her passionately but never aggressively, touching her in ways that blown away the concept of carnal lust and mindless bodily desires.

Those effervescent vivid images of her writhing under his kisses and desperately trying to quench the latent fire in her body when he touched her like a lover would do –never suspecting that she was the first and the only girl that Sasuke has taken his time to pleasure her and consider her own feelings putting himself on the second place– and her confusion has been overwhelmed by how terrible the ache into her chest was when a fugitive figment of all those touches and kisses being only a honey coated expert chimera or an illusion of an ideal romance created by Sasuke himself traversed her mind and bolted into her glossy orbs.

But that apprehensive possibility which she was inwardly praying to be only a chimera and never how he actually felt about her has not passed as unnoticed by Sasuke`s intuitive orbs, no. Sakura`s emotions were jarring as a sudden fright took the place of the veil of emotion and desire for him, replacing he beautiful shimmering of her unique eyes and that nearly made him frown in equal confusion.

Then realization struck him full force when her knees wobbled and she nearly choked on crisp air because of the smothered tears that aligned with her emerald orbs at the possibility of him simply playing with her in the similar fashion as he was doing with the other girls and Sasuke resisted the urge to pull all his hair out of his scalp at how foolish that girl was. "S-Sasuke... what are... what happens between us–"

Briefly noticing that Sakura used the present tense referring to their current situation rewinding the past events, Sasuke interrupted her gently but firmly with a reply that nearly knocked the wind out of her lungs and made the ball inside her belly bobble up and down as she felt her mind losing the touch to the outside world. "–everything that you want to happen… then it will happen."

She had no idea about what was going on between them –or around them– anymore, but hearing Sasuke expressing something like that made her feel warm inside her chest and not just the typical I–have–a–huge–crush type but more into the falling helplessly in love with someone type and Sasuke also depicted those emotions sweeping through her emerald eyes; eyes that kept on tempting and tantalizing him until today.

She was hypnotizing him and coaxing him into declaring things that normally wouldn`t have left his mouth but then again, not even he could have literarily comprehend what was going on inside his heart or why has he leaned forward again, inch by inch connecting their heartbeats and breaths in one single symphony and brushed his lips tenderly –too softly and almost lovingly– against Sakura`s, while she immediately tangled her digits into his scalp and took a fist of his lustrous lush mane, pulling him closer to her.

His lips cupped her lower one massaging and suckling on the silk organza moist of her delicious fruity lips with pleasure while she immediately fell into a lulling rhythm with him, lapping on his upper lip with the tip of her tongue, sensually and expertly getting him intoxicated by her aphrodisiac taste.

Tilting his head on his right side while giving them a better angle to explore each other, Sasuke gladly parted his lips more to let her skim her tongue into his cavern and Sakura lost any tinge of diffidence, deepening their torrid French Kiss.

"–Sakura honey, Sasuke are you kids awake?"

"Shit– aunty!" A muscular arm tapping against the door stopped her from revving outside the bedchamber just in time.

"Wait Sakura don`t be so rash. You cannot open up dressed like this." she stopped looking at his shirt hanging loose on her form she was basically reeling of sexual desire and lust. "think about it."

"You are right ehm— Aunty!" She shrieked to the woman from the other side of the door. "We are awake and Sasuke is in the… s-shower!" Said male quirked an eyebrow up amused by her lie; she didn't sound too convincing nearly stammering like Hinata. "We will be downstairs in ten!"

"Ok dear. Do you need anything else? I will leave fresh clothes for Sasuke at the door. Madara is making us breakfast!"

Sakura turned to stifle a laughter whispering to Sasuke. "This proves that she didn't kill him." Sasuke`s lips tucked upwards in a crooked thin smile. "Ok! Sounds great! Arigatou!"

"Your uncle knows how to cook?" Pivoting on her leg, she beamed at the austere Uchiha behind.

"Aa." he responded in his laconic self which grew very familiar to her. "It is one of his secret hobbies among… other equally ridiculous tendencies." Like singing in the shower and playing his rock guitar.

"Awesome!" Sakura smirked widely at him, frenetically leaping from one foot to another like enjoying a field full of red poppies. "I cannot picture something sexier than a guy knowing his way into the kitchen." Lightly frowning at her remark, Sasuke twined his arms upon his nude chest, diverting her attention momentarily to his muscled physique. "do you know how to cook too?"

"No. You will not catch me death with a pan in my hands. This is disgraceful to any real man." In fact he lied because he knew how to cook from Madara since he was basically living with him. Not as good but he was decent enough.

"Hmpf, arrogant asshole–"

Briskly, Sasuke wrapped a hand around her midsection bringing her flush to him and kissed her hard against the lips but pulled back when she wanted to slide her tongue past his lips and into his mouth whispering hotly. "–I can think of other equally attractive things that a man can do... Sakura."

"I am sure you do but," she smirked and inched closer to him passing his cheek as the swept along each other`s tingling skin and latched her lips to his ear, teasing him in return and playing his game. "I don`t want to inflate your already big ego Sasuke."

Sakura nipped on his earlobe with passion enjoying how elastic and soft it was and he winced and dug his nails into her skin. She giggled wholeheartedly like a sylph –a wicked one. "C`mon, let`s take a shower and head downstairs."

She removed from his arms as he tapped his digits to his nearly bleeding skin hissing in pain. "I can`t wait to see what Madara-san cooked for us. I cannot live another day with aunty`s horrible crispy omelete."

"Bitch…" Sasuke groaned seemingly vexed, but there was a kittenish amusement churning into the depths of those sable orbs that teased her seductively.

She smirked to him and with a swift motion of her coltish digits, Sakura pulled the shirt off her head and she remained nude in only her lattice panties with her back on him –smirking all the while. "Hardly." she stepped into the shower grasping a pink plush bath towel.

When she closed the door Sasuke dropped on the edge of the bed, ransacked a hand though his hair murmuring and exhaling hutting his eyes.

"She will be the end of me." he was incredibly aroused and in deep need of a cold shower and... every injury hurt him twice as bad as the previous night. Well damn… he got himself into one big mess but… this mas was so so incredibly beautiful!

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.

.

"Wow, this is amazing! I feel like I am in a fancy five stars restaurant!" Glossy emerald orbs were drowning into the steaming plate as the most exquisite breakfast she has ever eaten was mesmerizing her nostrils with its delicious aroma and her grumbling stomach wanted nothing more than to be filled of the tempting food as she more than shouted in complete amazement like watching a work of art of a renewed artist, anime tears shimmering into her orbs.

"It is not a big deal, just something I have managed to prepare quickly from the available ingredients."

Modesty was not something that was characteristic to Madara –rich people were almost never humble because there was a dosage of arrogance coming along the way into the beau monde– but Sakura`s blithe was flattering him more than it should have fad and the fact that she was genuinely impressed by something so unimportant was making the surgeon nearly blush, but instead he chose to caught once awkwardly concealing a smirk at her starry orbs and the way she was studying the food in her plate from every angle resembling Ariel the Little Mermaid when she came in contact with the humans` world for the first time.

But the reason why Madara abstained from being a smartass and impolite with the girl or sprinkle an idiotic remark was the fact that he fully understood Sakura`s fascination; since the girl was an orphan and never had a father figure in her life, that gesture was cute and symbolic to her just like teaching her how to drive his vehicle captivated her more than the materialistic part of a woman`s appeal to luxury vehicles –because Sakura was not a pretentious girl, albeit she could be coquettish with style and elegance when she wanted to.

Of course that the same grace that veiled Uchiha Madara the adult was not applying to his standoffish nephew Sasuke who couldn`t stop himself and refrain from teasing the beautiful girl, taking her back from the stunt she has put earlier while having him reel in sexual frustration and decided to show up her claws –very sexy and sensual claws– and play the masked cat hiding behind the face of an angel, casually commenting while deciding whether he would like to take his plate and toss that food down Madara`s neatly combed still damp raven locks, being fed up with his cooking and definitely not that impressed.

"Hn. The finest restaurants are the ones awarded with Michelin stars and definitely nowhere near the level of uncle`s mediocre cooking skills."

Pouting comically and extremely cutely seemingly vexed by his acid remark, Sakura pursed her lips at the younger Uchiha who was staying –on purpose of course– across of her so that the bastard could steal glances at her and make her fidgety and nervous in his presence, resisting the urge to throw him a Tenten earmark insult, pointing the fork in his face and waiving it like she was holding a ninja weapon mumbling.

"Well that`s your personal biased opinion because Madara-san is completely skilled and unlike you he is a total gentleman."

Finishing with one of her most genuine glossy smiles that were capable of brightening anyone`s gloomy day in an instant, Sakura turned to her aunt`s lover grinning from ear to ear at him while she shoved her fork down the succulent food, munching on it like a content five years old kid getting candies from Santa Claus and exuding of the same innocent felicity.

"You are welcome my dear," Shuffling closer to the table and taking a seat beside his nephew –so as to make sure that his sarcasm will not offend the ladies and nudge him when he considered that Sasuke was crossing the line– Madara replied smoothly while smirking at the angelic girl.

"such a young lady needs a lot of nutrients especially when she strives to become a famous dancer."

While Madara and Sakura looked so casual together trapping into a trivia conversation that resembled a cliché morning between a daughter and a father, Sasuke resisted the impulse to cringe at the overflowing effluence of sweetness, not helping himself and muttering low and with a choice edginess in his voice which made it sound like he was jealous or sheer disgusted. "That`s called kissing assess uncle and no one is better than you at it..."

"Sasuke–"Before Madara had the chance to elegantly scold his nephew for being such an asshole –knowing the reason why he was doing it just to tease Sakura who also had a crush on him making it look like they were trying to cover their secret affair and failing miserably– Tsunade revealed her morning glory garbed in a rumpling silk kimono, her long honey tresses flaring behind her back as she obviously blew dried it after taking a shower, smelling of her favorite Estee Lauder perfume and being on a very upbeat mood –unlike all the other times when she barely dragged her ass into the kitchen to improvise an excuse of a breakfast for her niece, drooling and being half asleep while making herself a coffee. "This is definitely not the time for you to be so sarcast—"

But not this morning when her entire atmosphere trickled of zeal and energy and shockingly, she went straight for her green tea instead of indulging into her coffee, grinning proudly from ear to year –like a mother starting a perfect morning in a picturesque context of her family being gathered together at breakfast– and being more obstreperous and energetic than Naruto. "—Ohayo, minna! Oh— this smells delicious!"

Emerald orbs shuffled from Sasuke`s amused obsidian orbs to the honey-tea ones of her aunt, quirking her eyebrows up in question as she took her time to study the general aura of her aunt resisting the urge to giggle at her, knowing it all too well that the only reason why she was so buoyant was because Madara was there lighting up her gloomy mood.

Tsunade rarely spoke Japanese if she wasn`t in a very bright mood out of respect –even though she knew that the Uchiha clan was traditionally Japanese.

"Ohayo aunty! My— aren`t you so happy this morning?" That comment made Sasuke –who turned his head briefly to nod courtly at the woman out of courtesy to respond to her salute– flicker his gaze to Sakura finding her comment surprisingly sarcastic coming from Sakura, who was acting more effervescent and upbeat than usual for the very same reason –because Sasuke was there– deciding to taunt her aunt.

"Usually I am the one who has to wake you up and prepare you coffee."

She refrained from pointing it out at Madara`s presence in the house simply because she respected Sasuke`s eccentric but so elegant uncle who has been nothing but a gentleman with her, never offending them not even with an indecent glance or a subtle sarcastic remark like his nephew always did but judging from Tsunade`s rubicund cheeks tinged in pure embarrassment clearly not expecting such a low blow coming from her niece, Sakura barely abstaining from tittering at her doomed expression.

Tsunade coughed awkwardly once –betraying the same gesture like Madara did out of reflex acting just like a married couple who picked the same kinesics from one another– while pouring herself some tea and Madara immediately held her cup while she expertly angled the kettle so as to make the tea ritual very symbolic, meaningful for them and extremely... romantic.

Sasuke was clinging to his impulse to nudge his uncle in the ribs so as his hand would shake the cup and make Tsuna pour it all over the tablecloth and scold him for being so imbecile, but in respect for Tsunade –and he rarely displayed genuine politeness and reverence to someone– he kept his temper into the leash and continued to munch on his breakfast–

Obsidian orbs stealing the rays of the morning sun as they were unfathomable and nebulous flickered up as his dripping silky bangs flared with a sexy effect around his temples fixing Sakura with a very expressive half glare but the drowsy glossy look in his orbs was polarized to what he would have fancied to portray with that pointed glare.

Not capable to voice out exactly what was bothering him terribly about her mischievous kinesics since their relatives were right beside them and engaged into what would be considered traditionally romantic and very cliché and stale and older than time itself coquettish attitude, Sasuke let his body language convey what his tensed lips could not and for the first time in forever, he has been struck to realize that Sakura could also be very versatile while speaking through her studied gestures and holly damn... what happened to the rose bud which was yet supposed to bloom into a mesmerizing rose flower?

That vixen garbed in the clothes of an angel was smoothly running her gazelle leg up and down his calves and tickling the back of his knee with her bare toes running along every muscle of his lithe muscles and having a more than risqué implication into her gesture and her facial expressions were similar to a seductive demon sneaking into the paradise without being able to conceal her inner dark and desirous inner self, smirking at him without the layers of a honey bright smile , which was anything but dripping of innocence.

Had it been anyone else instead of Uchiha Sasuke, he would have fretted while glimmering twice to make sure that he was not hallucinating from Madara`s food, because that was a side of Sakura that he was not aware of, at least he always envisioned her as the prosopopeia of a smart sensuality without being vulgar and replying more on her subtlety and preserving her innocence rather than be seductive through displaying a fluid sensuality in gestures, but she surprised –shock strike– him for the millionth time.

The look in his eyes those implacable onyx eyes belonging to an unleashed feline pinning its prey with a stare alone in anticipation to him unleashing its predatory thirst to the poor lamb was more than suggestive as he was inquiring through his growing desire and lust 'What are you doing'.

But instead of shying away from her brushes along his long leg, Sakura gave him an fleeting apathetic stare, then decided to toy with his mind and turn his ration into melting embers of fire when she let her leg –her uncovered leg that was exposed from under the night robe in a similar fashion and style as Tsunade`s sculpted and model long– knead his inner thigh with so much precision that he could have sworn that it was her hand tantalizing him there placing her fork between her lips taking a small chop of food.

Only, instead of proceeding in eating her breakfast, Sakura let it slide from her mouth slowly, suggestively like wanting to imply something by that lascivious gesture all the while touching him closer and closer to places where she should not –especially not when they were having a decent innocent breakfast with their relatives, damn it!

But no matter how much Sasuke tried to be vexed and feel insulted by her indecent attitude, his body betrayed his salacious thirst for her; his throat went rasped and dry in need to feel those succulent lips playing between his own and those legs wrapped around his waist while he arched against her hard and deep, but he couldn`t do anything in that moment, fumbling to subtly get her off him before she aroused him even more and turn that experience into something more embarrassing.

Feeling his nape burn with perspiration and his muscles tense by the rush of adrenaline giving him a good wake up call, Sasuke curled his fingers around the knife holding it like gripping a ninja tool ready to strike and slide a hand under the table, onto his lap gripping Sakura`s bare ankle just in time when she nearly brushed her toes against the bulge in his pants, holding her firmly on place and using more force than intended, but that only betrayed how much she affected him staring deeply into those elfin emerald orbs; eyes which were caging shades as they were stealing or reflecting the light and mirrored her heart`s spellbind.

In all honestly, Sakura had absolutely zero idea of what was currently churning inside her mind because that was definitely not her conscience making her behave in such immodest ways but she couldn`t help herself anymore; not after what has transpired between Sasuke and her and somehow she knew it as the sky was blue that nothing will be the same as before between Sasuke and her.

She wouldn`t be able to fake her bubbling emotions for her, ignore the fever in her body whenever he was close to her, the moistening of her orbs when he purposely ignored her, the shimming of her knees when he got intimate with her or the sizzling feelings that erupted inside her when he kissed her passionately; denial was not an option for her in the moment when she nearly gave in to his temptation and slept with him –something that she would have done if not for Madara and Tsunade to be in the same house.

It felt as like every single smidgen of control evanesced from her body in the moment when he touched her or when his breathtaking presence was in her vicinity, just like now.

Last night she has come to encounter faces of Sasuke that she didn`t know they existed; seeing someone so splendid being hurt like a lion whose throne has been claimed by someone else, vulnerable, exposed and not foolishly and arrogantly prideful to deny her help or his condition, made Sakura truly and genuinely fall for his maturity and his flaws.

Uchiha Sasuke seemed someone who was meant to be perfect in every aspect by definition; he was a complete package and a formidable balance between striking gorgeous looks, social status, intellect and skill almost like an intangible God whose perfection could only be topped by his nobility, and that was the reason why his implied perfection made him almost too good to be true and thus less appealing as triteness placed him among those unapproachable high school campfire tragedies –good for juicy gossip but never someone who she might want to have beside her more than one night, until yesterday.

She has found so much tonic energy in his flaws, in what Sasuke was trying to hide –the fact that he was still human and not someone who was meant to embody Roman Deities epitome carved in marble without emotions– or didn`t let anyone see; Sakura was capable to see amenableness and weakness in him, in perfect discordance with his eyes.

His onyx orbs were the only part of him that couldn`t be conquered, they were strong, merciless and laughing in the danger`s face with the same brazen nonchalance as always and that was fascinating.

It looked like Sasuke`s beauty came from exactly those conflicting thoughts, some of them even mirroring her own as he was still a highs school student who was slowly but ravenously sublime falling into the grace of manhood, and the more Sakura came to discover that he was not the tableau of perfection, the more she desired him and that was probably because she too was hesitant, diffident and had so many demons and so many flaws and being able to relate with Sasuke up to a certain degree, made the level of connectedness between them raise to its solstice.

An exposed Sasuke who was yet to discover and experience instead of someone who looked so mature and so precise in everything he did like he was ten years older than his current version, was someone who was even more beautiful and irresistible than his normal self and thaw was probably the most eloquent explanation for Sakura`s haphazardly gestures.

She wanted to discover a clumsier Sasuke, the one who was not his incredibly elegant and precise self, deciding to test limits that she probably transgressed at her own risk but she did not care.

When she was with Sasuke, the others, the outside world and even her own frights were fading off into the back of Sakura`s mind stocked in a forgotten dusty shelf and everything that matter was him to be by her side and make her forget herself in that maze of pleasure and feelings, just like now and maybe a deeper part of her couldn`t resist this gorgeous Uchiha guy anymore, wanting him and coveting to feel him, his skin, his body under her touch more than anything.

And the comical suppressed disgruntled expression on his face as he was trying to quench the fire ignited in his body –the same latent fire of passion kindled into his fibers and heart– was worthy of nearly being caught in such a shameful act by Madara or Tsunade.

But a quick peep beside her to the two surgeons assured her that they were far too immersed into their own bubble to be bothered by the fact that their nephews were nurturing similar feelings for each other, but unlike the adults, the rebel adolescent sparkles inside them sizzled brighter as their fire was untamed and scorching them, unlike Madara and Tsunade were more temperate and looking for stability and comfort rather than wild passion.

Glimmering once to Sakura and giving him a ghost of a seductive look that came as natural as the low of the wind in a cool morning, Sasuke decided to fall into steps with her and have that dance that she has engaged him into, but instead of reacting in ways that she would expect, he decided to show her that he was the one always in control even when Sasuke let the others foolishly believe that he fell prey to their manipulation.

That was an ingenious trick that he pulled off with so much versatility and skill that not even a reputed actor would achieve such a level of deception responding to her.

Letting his face light up by the smiles smirk –one which was making his magnetic allure skyrocket to irresistible hotness– Sasuke loosened the hard grip he had on her slim ankle so as not to crush the girl`s fine bones and, instead of removing her leg from his lap, he pulled her even more along his thigh and, brushing off the option to tickle her and make her burst in a fit of laughter and bump her knee against the table –he did not want her to be hurt– Sasuke let his digits graze the skin of her ankle going up and down her thigh just like she did earlier, but the finesse in his hands war far superior.

This almost feels like a déjà vu…

She reacted instantaneously combusting like a mini explosive supernova. A rutilant shade mixed in the ivory of her skin tone in the moment when she comprehended what he was trying to do, but at the same time Sakura couldn't fight against those sensations that his touch evoked inside her, he was tot skilled.

Dingers traipsing along her nacre skin sliding along her thigh and kneading her slowly in torpid strokes, then thumbing her toes massage her legs in all the right pressure points and she nearly choked on her food when a moan rippled from her throat.

Her cheeks combusted in embarrassment and she had to actually unwrap her asymmetric locks from around her earl shell to let it flutter into her face so as to conceal her expressions –ones that made Sasuke suppress a smirk, enjoying how she responded to him so easily and so naturally.

He understood her game; she wanted to test him and make him react but she forgot who he was and the fact that she came to see a sweeter side of him didn't mean that he lost his touch, on the contrary now she felt more adamant in proving it to her the fact that all her silk strings were on him and he was the one controlling her like a marionette and not the other way around.

Immediately, her peculiar demure and innocent side –that he came to adore– made her react in all the funniest ways while conflicting feelings made her both stretch her leg into his lap asking for more of his touches but then some sort of forgotten dignity and woman pride had her try to tear her leg from his grasp but mentally she was trapped; completely submersed into his abyss deep onyx eyes.

"Sakura honey would you like some yogurt?"

"Ah! Oh— I mean... huh?" It was in the moment when Tsunade`s husky voice broke her out of her maze has Sakura expressed how was Sasuke making her feel even with the most butterfly delicate touch and instead of expressing confusion she let go of a smothered half of a moan censoring herself just in time.

Tsunade threw her a funny glance fine combing her hand backwards in a motherly caring gesture, fetching an eyebrow up at her niece`s flaming cheeks and slightly sweaty skin, not knowing that she was drowned into pleasure and frustration because she couldn't be even closer to Sasuke than his digits dancing on her calf and ankle. "Are you all right honey? Do you have a fever?"

"Wha– no no hehe— I am fine it`s just that... is it hot in here or it`s just my impression?" Her totally random remark was as funny as it was ridiculous because the temperature in the house was considerably low and Madara, Tsunade and Sasuke were all suppressing their shivers waiting for the heating to warm that icicle air so naturally Sakura wouldn`t possibly be hot... that if she didn`t have a reason to be like that.

"If you say so honey… Anyway, you should finish your breakfast so that we can drop you guys by and then Madara and I can go to the hospital. My schedule if full today honey. I am taking the next two night shift courtesy to a colleague of mine who got pneumonia. I hope it doesn`t bother you,"

Tsunade combed Sakura`s stylish soft hair tenderly while her niece was struck by a completely boosted expressing fighting off the shivers that Sasuke was eliciting thanks to his knowledge about pressure points and relaxing massage as he was pampering her leg and toes with an expert touch that only he would be able to pull off, nodding and trying to smile at her out.

"if you feel alone then you can call your friends over or sleep over." Knowing exactly that Sakura feared darkness and loneliness but job was job and Tsunade couldn`t neglect her duties.

"Yeah... well not a problem at all, I can call Ten and she will be more than happy to come over. I should give Hinata a call too. It`s funny that they didn`t call me so far..."

Indeed there was something outré about the fact that neither Hinata nor Tenten chose to call Sakura and inquiry for the reason to be late for the first two periods, because usually they would have been the first ones to notice since they had classes together, but she only had a missed call from Choji and a message from Lee asking her about the reason why she missed the first period, but no messages from the girls –which was giving her an anxious feeling.

She hoped that he friend didn't run into some problems especially when Tenten opted to change her look using such an avant garde shade one that the teachers would probably find too impertinent and knowing her latte eyed friend, she wouldn`t compromise.

"Well honey you can meet during your last three periods. I am sure that they just got absorbed by the interesting lessons that the teachers taught."

Both Sasuke and Sakura had a facial expression going between the lines of 'not my teachers' because there was Tenten the ones they were talking about and never in her life has that girl been remotely fascinated by any lessons, let alone the ones taught by teachers she despised with sizzling passion. "What about my absences? Aunty, can you write an Absence Note for me?"

"Oh, no worries about that. Madara is going to talk to the Principal on behalf for both you and Sasuke."

Madara, who was busy taking fugitive glances at his nephew –or rather what his dear angelic nephew was doing under the table– trying to catch his attention and discreetly warn him to stop what he was doing because not only was it perturbing to witness as his uncle, but he was clearly making the girl embarrassed, now knowing that Sakura has been the first one to start that chasing game between them.

"Yes... that is correct. The Principal is a very dear friend of mine. There will be no problems." He smiled heartedly to Sakura who had to bit her lower lip rather hard in order to prevent more shameful sounds to travel past her lips at the way Sasuke was tickling her leg, making her envision all the indecent things that she would have loved to do to him; Sakura inwardly blame it on Tenten for that and her horror-sexual stories and life experience.

Sasuke on the other hand did not give a single damn about modesty, decency, where he was and what he was doing and the fact that Madara was trying to play the responsible adult while he was throwing subtle embarrassing glances to Tsunade`s generous bust –yes his keen eye has totally caught the way Madara was looking at– was giving him no credibility, snorting rudely upon hearing the solemn declaration of the 'adult' Madara mumbling sarcastically. "Now I feel relieved..." Pointing it to the fact that Madara was incompetent and childish.

Sakura burst out laughing because of the stoic Sasuke cracking one of his trenchant jokes while Madara looked like he was abstaining from throwing an indecent insult at him but he had to prove teetotalism and not embarrass himself and tarnish his reputation so he only coughed once again, this time probably chocking on his food.

Seriously, seeing two Uchihas mocking each other was pure fun.

"Anyway," Thankfully Tsunade had enough common sense to realizing what all that brimming sexual atmosphere and frustration would only lead to chagrin and affronts so she stood up –that her stumbling and clumsily bumping her elbow against the edge of the table– and took her and Sakura`s now empty plates dropping them into the dish washing machine.

"We shall hurry. I don`t want you kids to get there late and definitely the other nurses are going to badmouth me for getting late today when there are so many patients to see and I also have one surgery..."

She kept on moaning into the background while Madara followed her suit –not before throwing his nephew a pointing knowing look– heading into the living room with a tea cup in his left hand and his phone in the other one checking oh his phone calls, responding to the few of them.

"Stop that you asshole!" The moment when Sakura found herself lonely in the presence of Sasuke she pouted and bridled at him, while struggling to maintain an impassive facade but failing miserably since she was more absorbed into the fascination that his touches aroused inside her, while he continued to smirk widely at her. "Are you stupid or what? What if my mother or Madara realized what you were trying to do?"

"Why are you putting the blame on me Sakura? Weren`t you the one trying to seduce me first, hmm?"

"I did not do such a thing; you were like totally imagining it. Maybe you have a head concussion. You should see a neurologist."

The fact that Sakura was also a professional actress was another thing that added to the enigma that the dancer was, because for a moment she sounded so convincing that Sasuke himself had a feeling moment while questioning his own mental state, but when he caught the sight of her quivering lips as Sakura was striving to keep herself not to smile widely at him he realized that she was trying to be appealing to him –something that she didn't have to do because he was already attracted by her.

"Am I now…?" Blocking her path with a sturdy arm pressed against the edge of the sink and a glossy side smirk playing along his lips, flipping attitude in a nanosecond not bothered to conceal how much he enjoyed her babble or the coltish small flirt and she latched to his arm like a butterfly caught in a spider`s web, half tempted to slab his hand away and half tempted to fist his hair and pull him down for a kiss.

"You know Sakura," He murmured her name in such a velvet vibrato that sent electric jolts from her pine down her heels and she suppressed a visible shiver, but he knew the effect he had on her carefully taking in her reaction.

"I start to enjoy this hidden side of you. In fact, I don`t mind you to be more audacious from time to time." Because he first fell prey to her innocent but independent side and not because she could show claws and fangs and act like the nutty Tenten.

Sakura still couldn't fathom what has churned inside her to attempt to seduce Sasuke like that because such an indecent lecherous was not typical but somehow... after yesterday`s occurrences Sakura felt like having multiple personalities inside and each one of them were reacting to Sasuke in different ways and that was not because she felt physically attracted to his finely sculpted physique, but also because she was having feelings –real feelings– for him and those kinesics were rolling so natural to her, like she was not afraid to make mistakes in front of Sasuke and not only because he will not judge her, but because she knew that someone so pragmatic like him will not chase mirages and seek for perfection in a girl when he knew that something like that was idealistic.

"Wha— S-Sasuke what are you—" He was helping her unravel infinitesimal parts of her that she did not know they exist, making her feel more confident than before and albeit, but what she did not knew was the fact that Sasuke found her personality and conniption barely refreshing because she was not falling in any cliché category of the ones melting at his feet and do whatever he demanded simply because they enjoyed everything materialistic that they had to offer –starting with his looks and money– and Sasuke definitely loathed that, but not Sakura.

She was not superficial and materialistic like all the others no matter how wealthy and prominent his reputation was or how much his surname valued no, she was lulled by him in those rare moments when he –voluntarily portrayed human emotions such as weakness and vulnerability– and that was the reason why being with Sakura was a double edge sword; she fell for who he was and not what society made him be, but she also demanded him to be real in front of her and not be his usual phlegmatic, emotionless arrogant bastard with his laconic apathetic responses and bored conniption and seemingly superficial tendencies.

A quixotic side small made him glimmer once returning from where his mind was drifting when she let her fingertips slide along the length of his rich hair pressing against his nape enough to make him dip down his head and, keeping that enthralling luminous glimmer in her lustrous crystalline eyes, she cupped his upper lip between her own kissing him passionately. "Hmmm—"

That was Sakura`s magic, her enthralling bewitchment the spellbinding power of her allurement –she was making his entire world drift into a blurred sweet oblivion while everything has been reduced to her.

Nothing seemed to make sense when he kissed Sakura, not even his own name or his own aura, nothing but her taste –the unique mixture of passion fruit and spring flowers combined with a mountain breeze– her marvelous hued orbs, the opaline sateen skin, her soft succulent lips, the Pinot Noir taste of her exquisite kiss, everything about her made Sasuke lose the touch to the ground –and he was one of the most pragmatic guys with his empirical way of thinking, but she conjured a fairytale like world, one worth depicting into colors on a canvas.

She forgot that they were in her kitchen with two adults wandering around and they might stumble upon them by chance if they decided to return into the kitchen, he forgot that his injuries stung worse than the previous night and Sakura pressed herself against him equally forgetting about his current state and he forgot that he was famous for his emotionless and no reacting attitude, responding to her kiss with the same fever and abandonment as her; suckling on her succulent lips like savoring a ripen juicy peach and God... she felt even more divine with each passing second.

Sakura had no idea of what has went through her to initiate such a steamy kiss between them but somehow, seeing his playful attitude without the usual sarcasm and mockery in his attitude and those beautiful sapphire orbs kindled by an unusual fire that he rarely displayed, she could not help herself but kiss him and that was absurd since they were not even a couple and yet they were acting like they were trapped in a tortuous romance, but then again... they did not have to mirror the triteness of the others` love stories.

So that was the reason why she decided to pander into the flavor of his allurement, of his incredibly sketched beauty, of his character when he dropped the walls down and turned into someone so easy to talk to, so delicious and seductive, so mysterious and yet someone dependable that was definitely man enough to admit when he was being vanquished or outsmarted and definitely but being afraid to canoodle her, albeit he was definitely very subtle, refined and more mature than his age, but also very mellifluent and elegant.

She felt a fainéant hand envelop her violin waist in a loose embrace keeping her into that chiseled chest which exuded a calescent virility through the soft fabric of his clothes submerging her into him and a coltish moan vibrated through their sealed lips.

Sakura literarily melted into his kiss netted into his warm embrace, senses running like a shooting star million miles per hour and a cute rutilant hue tinged the ivory of her cheeks and neck, while her fingers interlaced into his lush hair playing with his rebellious gravity defying locks massaging his scalp in a way that lulled Sasuke into her touch getting dizzy, both moaning and growling in pleasure.

What were those scattered thoughts and feelings about? They both thought in unison while their faces were molding together in that torrid kiss, tongues smoothing along their lips glistening with saliva as they rolled and tapped against each other, then sliding into their mouths.

That was one of the uncharacteristic moments when Sasuke allowed a girl to control their kiss, to somehow, as long as Sakura was clasping her lips against his own, as much as he was able to taste her, he did not care that she was the one who flickered her tongue past his lips and glissaded into his mouth tickling the back of his throat and surprisingly a warm tingle started to build up inside him, enjoying her way of kissing him –deep, passionate and very intimate.

His lips softly squeezing her own while their tongues tapped and designing swift torpid circular motions around one another was building up that familiar anticipation in the form of a mild pressure in her hips, one that was turning her into liquid embers of fire from inside out and involuntarily she smiled softly through their enticing kiss, massaging Sasuke`s delicious lips between her own, suckling him and nipping sexily on them while flipping positions tilting her head for a better access and he reciprocated parting his mouth more in merry invitation to explore him fully.

Only Sasuke could turn a simple act of kissing with no other indecent touches involved in something so sensual and erotic; he had a relaxed palm pressed against her lower back sliding up and down softly but stopping right above the curve of her lower spine not descending downwards to her curvy derriere, while his other one was latched to her cheek, cupping her face with a tender touch. "Hmmm… Sasu—"

But nonetheless, it was his body language and how delectable divine his taste, his smell, his cashmere skin felt against her on and that incomparable feeling of a man that only an Uchiha could poses made her innards rattle and her knees to jitter weakly in delight.

Sakura had no idea how much time has passed since she pressed Sasuke against the door frame and kissed him like the world was coming to an end and she was avid for one last moment of unequaled passion, pleasure searing her like a pyre slowly but incredibly hot and delightful, but when the need for oxygen nearly made her wobble in his arms –does Sasuke ever run out of oxygen– she gave one last flicker of her sweet tongue against the tip of his own signalizing that they should stop –for now– regrettably and he understood suckling on her lower lip one last time sexily letting it go with a pop as he held the yielding tissue softly between his teeth nibbling on it, both gasping for air, breathless and fanning against each other`s faces not making more distance then a glimmer of their orbs.

And shocking them both, Sasuke did a very novel like gesture namely he leaned forward and tapped his forehead against Sakura`s, while his obsidian orbs were half lidded and befogged by desire like pandering to prolong the ecstasy of the moment; if that was not intimacy at its finest then the way Sakura`s chest constricted and her lungs hyperventilated were proof enough that her heart perceived it sound and clear; his body language was more expressive than his laconic epistles.

"Let's go until aunty starts to question why aren`t we outside yet." Sakura whispered upon his face, breaths mixing together, but instead of pulling back from Sasuke, she pressed herself more onto his chest like silently letting him know that she would rather continue with what she has started, smiling sheepishly while her rubicund cheeks betrayed her embarrassment.

"Why? Are you afraid to be caught kissing me?" Sasuke teased with a sexy side smirk and albeit he was kittenish and provocative, there was something about his more easygoing attitude that confused Sakura, albeit she liked this frolicsome side of Sasuke more than his usual impenetrable stoic self.

He knew that in a fit of a turbulence, distraction and in lack of experience in the department of romance, Sasuke confessed everything about how he felt about Sakura to Madara albeit it would be pretty disturbing for him to be caught in the middle of a heavy make out session –or even more– by his uncle and Tsunade, but he was not sure whether Sakura was talking to her aunt about him or not.

Like Shikamaru cleverly stated and turned it into a statement, women were troublesome and impossible to comprehend.

They spoke an alien language that no male, no matter how open minded, experienced or mature would ever decipher and he would better not start to dig into the problem.

"Maybe..." She mumbled clumsily while trying to regulate her breaths and tame her erratic heart that was pounding madly into her chest like a drum sending vibrations to Sasuke who felt it on his own skin, averting her emerald orbs in embarrassment, not quite accustomed to such awkward situations between her and a guy.

"...I don`t know..." And she truly did not because Sasuke was a first experience in basically everything; he had such a nonchalant way in making her lose her mind around him without doing anything else than being himself –not even trying to be chivalrously or coquettish.

In fact, that tension lingering between them and the way she felt so enlivened in his presence was not even considered perplexing or ticklish. "I honestly don`t… n-no I don`t think that I am…" She blubbed weakly, confused by her own incertitude.

It was something undefined transpiring between them, but the feeling that overcome everything was the warmth fluttering of her chest whenever she gazed deeply into his onyx eyes.

It took a lot of courage and boldness to hold Uchiha Sasuke's gaze but when she did it, then everything about him suddenly seemed more beautiful, warmer and more solar and honestly... she was not afraid to fall in love with this Sasuke –one that he was only lowering his guard for her and her only, because Sakura knew it all too well who he was in the school.

"Then try to figure it out." Keeping a ghost of a smirk slanted on his lips, Sasuke dipped down and kissed her softly haphazardly before she had the chance to even hold in her breath but his chaste kiss lingered upon her puckered lips long enough for her to briefly shut her orbs and enjoy the softness of his warm kiss, like the embrace of a solar zephyr blowing through her hair; warm and tender and sophisticated, just like him.

"Sasuke, what is going on between u–"

"—Sakura honey, Sasuke! We are leaving! Are you guys still in the kitchen?" Upon hearing Tsunade`s coltish boisterous voice, the magic between them has shattered like crystal mirrors and Sakura`s unfinished inquiry has remained without an answer and it was not because Sasuke decided to rudely turn his back on her, pulling back from her embrace and pressing the knob to exit the kitchen, no.

It was because he knew what she wanted to as –a very legitimate question– but he found himself unable to respond; he had no answer to her question because he was equally in the shadows not knowing what they were.

There was a moment when Sakura found herself staring at the half shut door, alone inside her airy kitchen and with million miles churning into her fuliginous mind, a hand placed atop her heart and leaning towards the wall to tap her forehead against the cool side wall, muttering as she squeezed her orbs shut.

"Kami... I had no idea about what is going on here..." Padding outside the kitchen, she already found the group assembled on the front alley waiting for her as she quickly threw her schoolbag hastily into the backseat, sliding beside Sasuke who was gazing through the tinted window not sparing her any other glances and that confused Sakura even more.

"My temples hurt from the previous night and I have two rather difficult surgeries today— aish!"

Tsunade moaned as she lamented massaging her temples on the passenger`s seat while Madara was driving his sleek luxurious vehicle towards the traffic jam on the fast line like an expert, looking very rejuvenated and surprisingly in a good shape considering the amount of punches that landed on his handsome physique last night but oh well... that man was sturdy and had endurance and stamina and probably got a good sleep so it wasn't a shocker that he didn't feel as exhausted and burnout as her aunty, but Tsunade...

"You can take this day off Tsunade," Madara spoke casually, soothingly. "There is no need for you to exhaust yourself. And I can always ask two surgeons to cover for your surgeries or I can personally take your place and—"

"—no no it is fine really, Shizune will be assisting me and it shall be no problem. I think that I can manage it myself." she smirked teasingly, completely not vexing like the day before. "but thank you anyways Madara. If I need your help then I promise that I won't hesitate to ask."

The change into their attitude made Sasuke and Sakura frown. "What`s happening to them?" Sakura leaned to whisper to Sasuke, inconspicuously so that they won`t hear their murmurs above the soft music humming on the radion. "I thought that they were still arguing about this considering how headstrong and fierce my aunty is."

Sasuke nodded and smirked teasing her hotly whispering back. "It is just amazing what a steamy round of fucking each other`s brains can do to alleviate some tensed nerves... darling."

Haphazardly, Sasuke placed a small kiss behind her hears as she shivered and nipped her lower lip not to squeak as he tittered darkly to her, peeping at her from his cocky high raised chin shimmering with a dangerous glint in his obsidian orbs; she nearly blushed.

That morning he was... he was even more handsome in a peculiar way that she could decipher and not necessarily sexier because he was always irresistible, but in a way that had more sex appeal to her that she couldn't explain.

"You don't ever change do you?" She faked offense. "How can you think of such things about our relatives ? It is just... weird and wrong."

Yeah he definitely agreed to her, but shrugged indifferently. "If you don't like the idea of two people sleeping to each other and feel outraged about the carnal pleasures of a body then go become a nun Sakura."

"Asshole." She clipped adamantly, briskly elbowing his ribs, but when she aimed to punch his shoulder he caught her hand easily and instead he pulled her into a semi embrace to her while Madara and Tsunade were having a sugary coated sickening conversation of two newly engaged people.

Sasuke had an inkling that thy have just unofficially got engaged last night when they were... strengthening the bond together in a rough make up sex round.

They couldn't hide it from him who was an expert that caught such fine details Sakura was the pristine angel there albeit he did corrupted her for a bit and if those imbeciles wouldn't disturb them he would have probably have her that night and that left him frustrated and irritated, but also desiring this girl more for her intangible ineffable, for her purity and the idea that no other guy has touched her like that and she hasn't been that intimate with anyone before him and that privilege made his chest swell in pride and delight in the honor of her rather iconic maiden state.

"You are such a creep. You only think of... oh well— what else can I expect from the school`s number one playboy..."

"Many things considering how you have literarily begged me to take you last night Sakura..." he teased as she got a frisky feeling frothed into her lower abdomen and she involuntarily crisscrossed her legs as her thighs alleviated the knot that sunk lower into her inner walls.

They throbbed and ached painfully delicious, rhythmically and a thirst for something to quench that pressure became painful; but in such a pleasurable was and involuntarily the fact that she was half lying in his embrace on his chest and his hand sunk from her wrist about her lower back pulling her discreetly to wars him, his irresistible expensive perfume and his masculine scent of fresh skin a mountain breeze and his mints throng breath combined with his devious dark and strong striking beauty was unbearable.

"Are you thinking about how good it would have been for us to have been alone in this car, hm? And preferably driving towards somewhere more private together and possibly ditch school together to do something… sinfully naughty?"

He was making sin and danger looking so tempting right and blissful that a state of euphoria draped her reeling sense; he was making her sense go in overdrive with his rich wine epistles knowing exactly where to strike to reach to her mental arousing, cajoling her body.

Sakura involuntarily responded to him in such an organic way, she felt a primal instinct to be intimate with him in ways that she didn't felt with anyone; last night Sasuke made her feel good and very comfortable and not in the bit mentally caged, cornered or pressured.

Au contraire, Sasuke made it feel like he still didn't give her enough of it; she was left thirsting for more of hi mind that was the secret of Sasuke's skill delicacy and intuition; he knew what she wanted and what to give in slow buts until the addict was left begging him for more.

That was the passion of an Uchiha unfurling and coming like an overwhelming hurricane, a perfumed gust of wind breeze hitting her with fresh flowers mountain in April, overwhelming her senses in a numbing euphoria.

Sasuke made her have dark desires and explicit wishes with him and truthfully while her orbs caught into a furtive embrace... Sakura couldn't deny it that while looking into his amazingly hued sapphire eyes, she truly did wish that she could give herself to him for the first time, with ho hinges or boundaries.

She wanted to make love to this guy desperately because she trusted him that he will make it a beautiful unforgettable experience; and she nearly smiled while the apparently sophistic look in Sasuke's eyes assured her that Sasuke knew exactly what she was ruminating about right not thus the devious smirk blooming on the corner of his tempting mouth and the yenning to kiss his lips with abandonment was lupine but she had to abstain from tasting the forbidden fruit in front of her aunt and uncle Madara.

Also there was something sub rosa that was nipping to her conscious but Sakura was not sure how to approach that fleeting figment that was churning into her mind —what would it be of Sasuke and her from onwards because friends they could definitely not be since amity definitely had different colors than the fulgurating passion and chemistry simmering between them every time from the very first day when they met and for that thing alone, Sakura grew haphazardly scared and anxious about the future. "What?"

In her apprehensive state, Sakura has not realized that her emerald orbs were burning into Sasuke`s smoldering obsidian staring deeply into his orbs like trying to depict something inside, searching for a lost emotion that has never been there, a flyspeck of something to moor onto, finding nothing but an impervious deception that made her virtually backpedalled from him, trapped into a lush silence.

Sasuke`s voice made her glimmer twice as she realized that the familiar oak trees aligned with the fence of the school was already revving backwards as Madara`s vehicle purred along the road.

"I-I— what— s-stop the car Madara-san please…" She murmured hastily while she quickly shrieked away from Sasuke, scurrying briskly on other side of the back seats fussing with the door with a look in her drowsy eyes that made Sasuke frown lightly in confusion and stupor.

"What are you doing?" he nearly growled as his tone was definitely not concerned or conversational, somehow understanding what was brimming through her mind.

Madara`s genuinely worried tone has overshadowed Sasuke`s low impolite snarl as he smoothly pulled on the side of the road, the car coming to a halt nearby the Main Gates of the school that were shining with fresh paint —courtesy to Tenten's completely careless driving through the bars before they even opened entirely— and she already had the strap of her backpack clutched tightly nervously around her left shoulder, stammering in completely shame with a subtle note of roses tingling her cheeks; she was completely mortified and fidgety about something that neither Madara nor Tsunade could figure it out. "Is something the matter Sakura?"

"Y-yes ehm— I-I will walk to the entrance myself y-you— it isn`t necessary for you to pull your car into that traffic jam in front of the school where everyone is dropping everyone or tries to land a good parking lot..."

She giggled awkwardly with a turbulent expression in her jade orbs as she held the door open attempting to slamming it back shut and escape his castigating stare, feeling completely sorry for having to serve Uchiha Madara such an innocent lie.

"Thank you for the ride Madara-san, I wish you a great day! Bye aunty, good luck today, ganbate ne! Fighting!"

"Wha— Sakura honey what are yo—"

"—Ja ne!" She waved to them already traipsing and nearly bypassing the uber expensive car, excusing herself like she was in a hurry and did not want to detain the two extremely busy surgeons from their work since she wasn't a child who needed a caretaker to walk to the school and nor was it her first day there, but she was not in time to stop Sasuke`s sarcastic trifling note lingering behind her shadow and looming above her head like a thunder cloud.

"Hn. Coward." Of course that Sasuke knew exactly what she was fretting out about; the possibility of being seen accompanied by him and parading together the first hours in the morning in front of the Main Entrance of the school and have her name latched on everyone`s gossiping and jabbing lips, especially her enemies who were Sasuke`s most lecherous fan-girls.

Some names have fortuitously dropped into her memory that she would rather not think about while her heels were burning along the concrete and her slightly disheveled strawberry blonde locks were shadowing her dropped down face; she kept her pose tensed and crunched slipping inconspicuously through the throngs of overflowing students, fidgeting with her phone as she texted the only person who could help her get past that extremely new and awkward situation; Tenten.

"Coward," Sasuke surmised about her unexpected tenue, his epistles both chaffing and enhancing the feeling of culpability as she managed to sneak into the school swimming into the maze of rushed students unnoticed.

"that is what he said but... how am I supposed to—" Her train of thoughts has stopped abruptly when she realized that her mind was reeling with the events and what transpire between Sasuke and her.

After the night prior to that morning, Sakura knew as the sky was blue that everything between Sasuke and her has changed and not only in terms of feelings, but in terms of connectedness because in as much as self-denial about what she was experienced —so new and so astoundingly splendiferous, delicious, amazing— as Sakura was, she felt an indescribable intimacy spiraling into the depths of her chest as those feelings about his touches, the memory of his kisses and his caresses along her skin danced and swiveled like a wonderful carousel into her mind, overwhelming her to the point where she nearly poked her shoulder against one of the lockers while she frenetically revved towards her best friend, not spotting her anywhere.

But she didn't know how she was supposed to act around Sasuke after that night, because never in her life has Sakura been in such an imbroglio.

Sasuke Uchiha was not just any normal high school girl and nor was he resembling the cusp of anyone`s first unforgettable crush; and it was exactly those sophistic feelings coated into an unfathomable enigma that made Sakura so fearful and thus her behavior has been so infantile.

He felt something for Fugaku`s youngest son that she hasn`t ever experienced for anyone and this much she knew that it was definitely more and deeper than a mere high school crush; Sakura wasn't just liking him, it was something on a whole other level.

Because by simply being smitten for someone and liking that person in all the plenitude of a pure chaste teenage romance was only capable of making her feel airheaded, reeling above the clouds and make her thrilled to meet that person and quench the fire that burned into her belly because of the hormones that were working in overdrive at her age.

But all that repertoire of childish pristine emotions couldn't compel what she was feeling for Sasuke because that long transcended the butterflies in her stomach in a way that even left Sakura breathless and anxious. It was like whenever he was nor around her, she didn't feel that indescribable comprising feeling of being complete in all the plenitude of being into he warmth embrace of someone and completely surrender to him, like she did last night —in both mind and body and not only.

Sakura found herself completely trusting Sasuke -as much as his atmosphere exuded an unreliable affiliation that wouldn`t make any compromises- discovering a grace and delicacy in his caresses and touches that she didn't think it was possible for someone at his age.

He had so much control, so much maturity and that was astounding considering the fact that Sasuke sometimes acted childish with all his tangling with various girls and gang fights, but not last night.

Sasuke made her feel like touching the first buds of womanhood with the tip of her fingertips and it felt beyond divine.

She preserved that feeling ebbed into her chest, vividly, flamboyant and jovial like a gift from heaven to her, like a call from the future.

Her right hand was tucking on the pampering fabric of the hoodie that draped the grudge T-Shirt with an old school rock band that she garbed herself with in her haste to get ready for school, enclosing upon her heart while the poor organ ticked frenetically inside her chest like two swings of a broken clock which competed with time for eternity, suffocating her and making her vision reel and her palms to perspire, albeit the gust of a late November breeze was chilly and bore the lingering damp feeling of an upcoming cold rain in it; she was burning inside kindled like a blazing volcano because of Sasuke.

'What exactly am I feeling for him?!' That question diffused over her mind encompassing it like a fuliginous veil upon her ration sending her into a mist of questions without response. 'What exactly do I want from him?'

Did she really wanted a relationship with Sasuke or simply to enjoy and… experience?

Every iota of her screamed at her to swivel on her heel and joggle back to Madara's car and wait for Sasuke as the magnetic force that his astounding presence was virtually pulling her to him, but she couldn't because she was terrified at the thought of not knowing how to act about him and that was already idiotic in her mind because when she was with Sasuke, everything was simple, organic, natural and visceral like it was always meant to be.

He never made her feel uncomfortable around him like needing to always keep that exquisite mask of sophistication and be feminine and cultivated around him because Sasuke wanted her just the way she was, without any filigree ornamentations, but still... something made her act on an impulse.

Sakura just hoped that when she saw him that day traipsing into the classroom, his accusing stare will not judge her too harshly and understand that she needed space; already having a thin smile grazing her luscious lips as a tousled figure popped up into her field of view stretched over her locker and doing something questionably there while she literarily dived inside without acknowledging anyone else, Sakura hasn't realize that the very same intriguing thoughts were frothing into her friend`s heart too. "Ten, finally found you! You have to help me!"

They both had no idea of what type of relationship did they expect from Sasuke and Neji or rather... if they did want a relationship with the ones they loved at all.

.

.

.

'This is fucking stupid and awkward and I shouldn`t be here damn it what`s wrong with my damn head', was everything that was traversing Tenten`s pretty head at the moment when her boyish neon Reebok sneakers were thudding nervously and hard against the cold halls of the hospital and for the millionth time, she couldn`t impede her impulse to come back –to always end up trapped into that evergreen loophole that Neji was– albeit he has hurt her numerous time in the past but Tenten was trapped into that toxic romance and she could not for dear life break out of it; she had genuine feelings for a bastard who had a complete volteface of attitude after his accident.

An accident that, albeit it was not her fault, Tenten felt like virtually being the slippery road under his screeching tires; a catalyst for his rage pushing him towards the embrace of death barely surviving and scarred for life.

But Tenten was not feeling sympathetic, remorseful, guilty or pitying him because those were states of mind that were not typically to someone so pragmatic like her, no.

She knew it as the sky was blue that no one blamed her for Neji`s accident, not even him who loved to put the blame on everything and anyone, including Destiny for all the things and failed be controlled by him, constantly fretting out about every single trivia, but not this time.

Tenten has seen it in his lunar lavender orbs –eyes that no one knew how to read and how much expressive emotions they conveyed– that Neji was taking that situation seriously with much tact, self-discipline, composure and acted like a responsible adult, not even trying to justify his actions or imply it that she was sharing the blame for it, no and that was the reason why her heart was yenning to canoodle him, to do something to lessen his pain and the more he kept that equanimity in his stoic atmosphere, the more she knew that he was trying his best to stay strong –still stay strong– albeit he was completely lonely and in pain.

But his pain had nothing to do with the prospect of scars, of mental disrupt of his ration, the possibility of having an emotional breakdown or the aftershock of his accident and the fact that he has managed to cheat on the Grim Reaper this one time, no.

The first thing that came to his crisp burned lips –his own confession– was something that made Tenten`s heart stop for a nanosecond like he has pulled her in the same benumbed state of mind and comatose as him, was her name.

Even with his life on the line, Neji has asked for it like the possibility of losing her was far worse than losing his life and Tenten was hardly someone romantic but that was something poetic and profound, even for someone like her because underneath all those layers and stalwart veneering, the unswerving Tenten was also someone very lonely, fragile and scarred waiting and pandering to someone who understood her the best; and that was Neji Hyuga –always was and always be someone who had her heart.

She was not even afraid to admit it in her mind because the heart never lied and it did pounded faster as her clumsy steps were carrying her like in a dream to his familiar room.

In fact, she side smiled bitterly to herself as her legs were skimming though the familiar route as she realized that the poignant stench of disinfectant and hospital was starting to make her feel more at home than anything and it did not came as intrusive and unpleasant, because there, amidst all the stench death and illnesses, was Neji...

And that was a solid reason for her to skip the first two periods, shut down her phone because she couldn`t face her friends with such a weak resolve and shaken heart and make heads turn and tae a double look after her lithe silhouette, proudly exuding her confident steps with her new look; a bright green hue mixed with her caramel chestnut hair shade was blazing through the blank walls and Tenten has never el more prideful at her looks than now.

Of course that the semi-permanent dye she used was not looking like the one on the picture and it was lighter and brighter but what the hell, she looked amazing, unique, different and that green hairstyle collided perfectly with her glitter and leather purple and black glam rock outfit that she garbed herself with, and she will never admit it out loud that she spent extra time to work on her makeup because she was visiting a certain someone... so she kept on deluded herself that it was all because she felt in a more feminine mood.

Politely saluting the nurse that has just left Neji`s room probably administrating some painkillers or a revolutionary treatment that Tsunade and Madara recommended, Tenten dragged enough oxygen into her lungs to calm her erratic heart –why in the world was she rattling for– and pressed a hand on the door; since his treatment was working, Neji has been moved into a single normal hospital room and since he was not surrounded by special plastic walls to prevent any infections and contamination, he felt more relaxed now.

She found himself readying a book about something that she could not see from that distance and, clearly her throat with an atypical ungainliness to attract is attention and not startle the poor guy, she stepped inside and slide the door shut. "Ahm... I see that you miss school quite a lot for someone who is notorious for his absences Hyuga."

"And I see that you don`t skip any day to visit Tenten like you are my wife or my mother." Tenten nearly teetered on her legs after hearing his now velvety husky voice taking so casually about something like that not expecting him to be so... he looked a lot better than few days ago and she couldn`t help but inwardly praise his medics for their skills and expertize. "Or my lover." His tease trimmed into her heart deeply, suffocating her but Tenten held it in and shrouded her shock pretty well.

Of course that the bastard as barely smothering a side smirk seeing her dumbfounded expression and how her mocha orbs, those orbs full of passion and strength, going wide as she was being blinded by the lights of a trunk and that was exactly the game he was playing with her.

However, his next remark had her knees wobble and nearly give away under the pressure barely taking unruly steps towards his bed, approaching him and studying him as the morning sun rays were falling on his side of the bed, not touching his still fragile skin but just enough to peep through the half shut curtains and provide enough light for him to read without weakening his eye sight, seeing how he managed to still be so tempting and handsome despite the fact that he had a simple bandage wrapped around his muscular arm and his half of his high cheek..

Dark long chocolate tresses now surprisingly trimmed shorter brushed past his shoulders brushing along his pectorals let loose from the peculiar low traditional Japanese style giving him a more rebellious –and libertine– more calloused appearance, but dotted with a simple light blue hospital pajama enhancing the pallor of his skin –the one which was not affected by the fire– made him look almost angelic.

Tenten mentally whacked herself back and forth for even thinking about something so domestic and docile instead of simply lusting for him –still wanting him despite his precarious condition– not falling into the superficial category of only desiring his good looks, because never in her life has she considered a man to be angelic; not even him but she could don't help herself when he looked so serene as he was calmly letting his beautiful pearl white orbs skim through the lines.

Little did she know that he did not even bothered to follow any of those words, having all his senses enhanced to perceive her and everything about her presence, a much expected presence got him fired up and kindled those old feelings that he had for her, as much as he –just like her– has tried his best to fight them back but they vanquished his stubbornness and denial in the end.

Her distinctive sharp spicy perfume which was fire and dark magnolia combined in a very feminine and sensual fierce fragrance has penetrated his nostrils enhancing the desire for her to its solstice; Tenten had such an electric tonic presence that was the lonely one capable to make the hair at the back of his nape stand erected and she herself was unaware of how stunning she really was, albeit her apparently tomboyish ghetto attitude, no.

Tenten was being a fierce lioness capable of so much sensuality and she did it easily with so much talent, not being vulgar, sultry or exaggerated in any way, on the contrary everything she put on her looked so natural and fitting, but her conniption was out of the charts. she was the only girl that he knew capable of exploring the depths of womanhood so easily like it was in her second nature and albeit she was not revealing it like all the others, Tenten was mature and very feminine in her own avant garde way; it was her confidence that was a guy's magnet oozing and shining in all its splendor with every sway of her hips and every bold step that she took.

"And her you are trying to admit it that you have missed me, Hyuga. So you can stop trying to pretend that you are reading when both know that your mind is far from that stupid book."

She teased with equal zeal turning the tables in her favor like always not falling prey to its mind games and that challenge between them spiced up their tortuous romance.

Lowering the book on his lap in a torpid motion of his hands like wanting to enhance the aura of maturity that he projected in polarization to Tenten`s barbarous unpolished behavior, Neji ransacked a hand though his cocoa rich hair exhaling deeply just like a philosopher and turned his head in the direction of her light steps as she approached his hospital bed want preparing a smartass remark when words froze midway his throat upon seeing the specimen in front of him and, for two good seconds they locked gazes staring at each other with different emotions in their orbs.

"Don't you think that I am being tortured enough already Tenten?" A contemptuous smirk was dancing along the curve of his thin lips as he watched the outré looking woman with the funkiest hair color ever clench her maxillaries in suppressed anger and bitterness and the more her temper seemed to flare as she was pandering into her peculiar rude self, the more beautiful he found her; yes, Neji was positive that his taste in women might signalize some mental problems but he did not care.

There was something absolutely bewitching about Tenten`s originality something that he did not find in any other woman before, since they did not fall into the stereotypical category.

She was unique, unhinged from all the morals and dogmas of the society, but at the same time her rebel spirit made his own soar and find enfranchisement and that was the reason why Tenten was even more addictive that the morphine flowing through his IV, but unlike the benumbing drug, Tenten was much more sweeter and inevitably he ended up thinking about the succulent taste of her lips; silky full lips which were currently pressed firmly together as her teeth clattered in pure vexation by his sarcastic retort and he knew that her mind was bubbling a nasty comeback for him.

And she died her hair… green… GREEN! From all the colors! She was definitely something else.

"Why are you complaining? At least they don't force you into participating to Halloween dumb preparations."

It being one of the reasons why she obviously skipped the first periods simply because the premise of waking up so early in the morning after taking two hours of sleep last night was horrendous. And Neji knew that, mentally chortling in amusement at her predictable tenue.

She will not be caught dead carving pumpkins or crafting bizarre Halloween decorations for the stupid school party like a kindergarten student. She was merely looking forward to the after party.

"Although... I would admit that you are missing a good opportunity to get high, shit faced and laid, without your boogieman of an uncle skin you like a fish."

Things that she knew that Neji fancied doing albeit they have done all of the aforementioned together and her babble has successfully triggered recurrent memories for both of them.

"I always got there without uncle Hiashi to scold me and besides," A completely platonic chaste half of a smile made Tenten`s knees jitter and her innards to clasp painfully not expecting this playful side of a patient with burn marks over almost half of his body, throwing her off completely by entrapping her into his amazingly delicious charming presence and keeping her invisibly attached to sateen strings with his opaline orbs alone.

"I am not a kid anymore Tenten. Though I don't feel like I need to remind you of that. "

Then just like the most skilled actor, Neji volteface his personality in a blink of an eye shifting from angelic to demonic in an instant and, without removing that seemingly pure smile off his handsome face, he let his glossy orbs skim all along every sinuous curve of her body, mentally applauding her for the good taste in enhancing those blissful feminine feats in black leather colliding with the pallor of her porcelain skin and striking shade of his orbs and hair, studying her intently like observing a fine work of art or the painting of a prodigious painter, trying to capture every single detail with his keen orbs.

Tenten fought the urge to shiver and blush like an imbecile at his explicit implication and that bizarre look in his predatory lustrous orbs, eyes that bore so much enigma and gleaming of a labyrinthine emotion that she couldn't decipher, but she let herself be encased by their intensity –so magnetizing, masculine and calculated– looking at her in ways that no other guys did; an imbroglio of lust, desire, adulation, desperation, plea and domination all portrayed in those captivating hues.

"Why aren't you in a playful mood today? Do they give you narcotics? "

"Why... would you like to join me?" He threw a devilish smirk in a way that melted her knees live she walked on liquid lava burning her heels and making her go crazy with other pain and pleasure.

Suddenly the floor seemed to slip from under her tip toes making her reel into a sweet attraction and confusion like losing the touch with anything palpable, but him.

She didn't understand why was he in such an inspiriting mood today –especially this morning– but she absolutely refused to fathom that Neji might have felt so upbeat because of her presence; at most she a probably driving him completely nuts and that was one of the reasons why she kept coming back on Neji, despite the obvious that she simply could not go on another day without seeing his face of hearing his voice.

Tenten nurtured a sadistic pleasure to torture him slowly with her presence, with choice sarcastic remarks, to bicker with him and making his equanimity combust like a supernova then explode into that fierceness that he kept concealed, one that would make the woman in her howl like a contented beast, wet and dripping fire from its claws in anticipation and desire for him.

That was the kernel of their distorted relationship; they were being netted into a masochistic relationship where the more the hurt each other, then the most blood-tingling and exiting their makeup was and the pent up chemistry has always been there, explosive and so damn perfect sizzling between them in sheer anticipation.

There were fire tingles running and whirling along her limbs while she barely kept herself from stuttering like Hinata in front of those judging intense orbs as Tenten moistened her lips with the tip of one`s tongue furrowing her eyebrows in a sore frown, rasping at him angling her chin so as to appear like she was mocking him when in reality she was dying to slide her lips along his –still smirking– ones, hating him for seeming to always read her mind and loving him for everything else, even for his standoffish and conceited attitude. "In your dreams maybe. "

"I don't dream remember? I'm being given sedatives, morphine… and other strong drugs." which was good because he didn't like to dream of her of her skin of her lips of her taste of her smell of her odd heat, sweltering like flaming charcoal and melting in a fusion of passion against him, withering his name with ever role of bliss that coursed along her hips when she was his, when he had her so poetic, so iconic and animalistic, having her scream his name in blinded desperation and passion all through the night, being his and only his.

Just the mere thought of anyone else having Tenten in ways so forbidden and impure made Neji`s blood boil worse than his skin and he had to suppress all those accumulated frustrations in order not to pour his anger on her because she was not at fault for this –as much as he too hurt her and acted just as imbecile by tangling with Amy and the other sluts.

But he wanted to see the brisk flicker of rumors washing her face but she did sapling him; she was good in quenching her emotions being just as much of a genius psychologist anticipating and calculating every step and every single haphazardly thrown word, not letting anything slip past her vigilance; he knew that Tenten was very savvy and perceptive, albeit she couldn`t be bothered to take good grades or motivated enough to focus on school homework or pay attention during classes, being a mini version of Shikamaru from that point of view.

"Hmpf— They are making waste of good drugs. I would have let you suffer a good deal, you prick."

She crossed her arms upon her chest that was perfectly rounded under the flaring fabric of her electric neon pink T-shirt which was ripped on her shoulder in it the messy rebellious look but at the same time, making her look even more of a badass independent feminist and naturally more tempting.

A short silence during which Tenten reflect to whether she hasn't crossed the line truth was she was still feeling a ghost of a guilt trailing like fine tobacco above her head.

It briskly left her mind when he beckoned her to get close by gesturing with his fingers for her to approach him and she did.

She shuffled closer trying her best and succeeding to appear composed like he was not the reason why her feet moved one falter another steadily and almost mechanically like someone else –he–was controlling it like a magician and she was the object of his magic; his work of art and a mere tool.

She joined her hands above her chest and gave him an inquisitive look, urging him to continue and explain himself.

Something was just wrong about his silence and how his side curl of his lips fell into a straight line a look that he had whenever there was something that was not convenient to him.

Stretching his hand to her face in slow motion like deliberately asking for permission to approach her and anticipating a reaction which did not come because Tenten was too stunned and mild curious o his attitude to slab his hand, Neji`s lean digits coiled around a longer burning green apple lock and rubbed it between his forefinger.

She froze at the gesture which was almost to tender and gingerly that he used her to; Neji was hardly a delicate male, albeit he was very educated and mellifluent when in the high society, but his colloquial self was just as stiff and calloused as Sasuke`s.

Neji on the other hand fell prey to the simple curiosity of what must have crossed that girls mind –God might help the sinner who might want to venture there– in order to dye her hair in that color, from all the shades that she could have picked and did his best to suppress a titter upon thinking that she came there for the sole reason of expecting someone to tell her that she looked awful just because it would work as reverse psychology and make her feel good about herself that she –once again– tried to become a renegade and fight against the current system and the morals.

That or probably Tenten did not read the directions carefully like she never did, simply skimming through them and dying her hair alone and failing miserably it resulting into the shade of Sakura`s vibrant green eyes only lighter and even more incandescent.

Albeit, there was just something in the way the color was not strong enough to cover her already dark coffee locks entirely, simply resulting in an interesting mixture between the two, dying the length of her hair and only reflecting the light shade into the light on the thicker locks of her hair, while in the shadows it looked a dark shade of green, subtle enough to pass the vigilance of her teachers but visible enough to make her stand out in the crowd.

Just thinking about her pink haired friend in combination with her grow green dyed hair had Neji mentally roll out of his bed cackling when he realized that they resembled two reindeers of Santa in the emblematic colors of Christmas; an elf and his assistant.

He was looking at the green mingling with her natural cold chestnut brown in mild wonder and amusement. "I wondered how much time will it pass for you to go completely nuts, Tenten. But I guess that I got my answer. There is a psychiatric room the second door from the elevator Tenten. You shall stumble inside someday."

She slapped his hand away and puckered her lush lips in a way that she wouldn't know of how cute she really was making such a grimace and acting so immature but Neji stifled his smirk so as not to even the spitfire spunky girl and chase her out of his arms.

"You're such a major idiot without any sense of arts." She blabbered to him in a funny resonance while her rubicund cheeks and the furious tomato red tinge of her earlobes betrayed what was brimming inside her because as much as an arrogant blunt and rude girl that she was, Tenten did have a heart and the most recent events were too much for her bucket to carry; even for someone as savvy and unwavering like her, feelings started to knock on the doors where all her happiest memories were locked and beg for entrance. "And… don't call me crazy you moron! Aish— stupid Hyuga bastard!"

"Actually I do have a knack for art." His voice betrayed jest and amusement and thus he angered Tenten even more, adding to the already imbroglio of sentiments that she fostered for him, trying his best to maintain a stoic facade, but truth to be told, Neji felt mirthful, truly happy to see her there and especially in his arms.

"My uncle owns two famous paintings in his value and we often visit museums and private collections of his acquaintances so here is where you are being derisive and dare I say... green of jealousy?"

He subtly pointed to the shade of electric punk-ish shade of hair and the anticipated reaction as worth his trenchant epistles.

"Yeah right." Tenten snorted once fretting at his cocky attitude and, hadn`t he been bedridden and wrapped in badges like a mummy suffering and been injured, she would have punched him for trying to taunt her.

"The day when I get envious on you Hyuga is the day when pigs will start to fly and meteors will fall from the moon."

"Keep talking and I might believe you."

"Keep insulting me and I might punch you in the face." She hissed like a venomous cobra into his face unconsciously –and stupidly– leaned forward to him feeling herself more and more at ease around his presence and not in the bit uncomfortable or embarrassed to be there, flirting and bickering with him, and when the tip of their noses nearly bumped each other and their orbs crisscrossed has she realized just how much she missed being close to him but of course, her cocoa tinged orbs did their best to hinder his moony ones to penetrate her soul and read everything that was written inside.

"Your pretty lips are moving but they are not delivering what you are truly thinking about, Tenten."

That contemptuous smirk was something that chimed into her conscience that she shall slay the distance between them and kiss him already because the way she could feel the pace of his heart ticking like a Swiss clock rhythmically and rapidly had her realize that their feelings were reciprocate and connected and she was not trying to pander to an illusion created by someone else; this was real, they were feeling for each other and she was here on her own accord because she did have sentiments –strong ones– for this Hyuga boy.

"Then how about, " Swiftly like a cobra, he spanned his left hand to her and coiled his fingers around her right wrist, tucking her down to him and she leaned forwards forced by the sudden haul, losing balance and half fell on his lap, with her breath hitched halfway he rungs. "I use my lips for other things than talking."

His challenge bore no semblance to diplomacy and nor was he tempting her to get tricked by a nuance of his sophistic words, no, he was openly responding to what was sizzling into her mocha orbs –hues which boiled like steaming Arabian coffee in such a rich delicious saturation.

Tenten`s first instinct was to scurried away from him mindful that her body alighted on top of him would cause him pain and injure him but there wasn't any flicker or flinch of pain on his face, meaning that once again, he maneuvered her so that he won't hurt himself but his abnormal delicacy startled her and the way that he did no care in the bit about his condition while taking such risks stunned Tenten because it betrayed his genuine feelings for her; the desperation in his gestures, in his befogged eyes, in his touches and murmured on his tempting lips.

The soft porcelain skin around her collarbones and neck prickled with a cute rosy color as the fire in his body was kindling a flame in her own, literarily making it hard to inhale fresh oxygen.

"What are y-you doing," She blubbed rather weakly, shyly lowering her voice. It wasn't like she didn't like to be obstreperous but somehow she felt like perturbed the chemical atmosphere e between them. So she breathed leaning onwards, her orbs getting lost into the labyrinths of shimmering pearl harbored in his eyes. "Let go, you blockhead."

He did and not to let her go, instead he did something ever more out of character. She didn't have time to remove the hand that he held moments ago to linger on her chest between them, when Neji brushed his fingers on her temple and let his fingertips slide into her electric dyed hair, feeling the softness of her long hair that she luckily kept loose today and gazed at her in a way that made her heart stop it's pace to catch up to her broths.

Doe mocha orbs flied wide but she couldn't evade his incessant, determined stare. He tucked a tuff of hair around her earlobe and his tiffany touch send shivers pricking along the pillar of her spine because she couldn't even remember him acting so tenderly and delicate with her.

"Hn. Looks like you did learn something from my timid girl cousin Hinata's, Tenten." Neji kept on stroking her like touching bell flowers and she resisted the urge to careen into his touch, close her orbs and delight. "You stutter almost as expertly as she does when you are excited."

"Wha— I am not excited, you i-idiot…" Oh— how she mentally slapped herself to the moon and back for granting him the pleasure to snort at her proving him right. "Stop being so damn strang—"

"–It suits you… in an outlandish way that is only peculiar to you." She froze before cursing him aloud when the implication of his words sunk in –that was indeed genuinely complimenting her hair shade and thus giving her a boost of confidence to show it to the world, not albeit they might like it as well but because a person who mattered to her enjoyed it and did not find it grotesque and unoriginal.

"It is outreach and fussed and pretty much eccentric just like you but… at the same time," Gingerly like a pamper of daffodils floating over a spring breeze, his knuckles skimmed long her cheek and his first gerbils brushed her jawline and that made her shudder and stiffen her shoulders.

She was kind of uncomfortable supporting her body weight with her unoccupied hand that was gripping the edge of his hospital bed a little too tight and her back was arched and tense so she wouldn't straddle his lap and injure him.

His delicacy was something no so uncommon to him but not in welcomed. She had no idea that need was able to summon so much elegance in his kinetics and honestly, it surprised her the way he looked like a complete changed guy.

Unbeknownst to her, it was a guy who admitted that he loved her. "…Unique, undeniably distinctive," She got tickles all along her forearms by his touch. He cupped her cheek and rushed his thumb across her chin and jaw, tickling her temples and the locks that fell from her long bangs with his fingertips.

Gingerly, sensually his digit traipsed to her lower lip, whispered hotly. "Beautiful." Margarite orbs gleaming with an explosion of feelings that overwhelmed her like a magnetic storm, collided with her chestnut golden ones and she found it impossible to hide those cold shivers running along her arms and spine especially when her skin filled with goose bumps all stirred by his grace, by his touch and his masculine mature approach.

This was a whole new Neji that was definitely polarized to how his normal prickly stuck up and arrogant self was acting like a total spineless macho and tying to compete with Sasuke for the title of the bastard of the year.

"Why do you play with me like this?" She found herself murmuring before she could ponder over her stupid question and Tenten found it bizarre that she could not even recognize her own voice; why was she conversing to him about something so sugary romantic when it was totally not her or their style?

His touch how how she antsy those hands traipsing all over her body. A carnal craving to feel his hard body, hot and naked under her, to compel everything she locked for him and resurfacing sentiments unfurled when he tapped her mouth.

"Because you like to annoy the heck out of me…?" Her quest came a little oafish, childish and rather innocent in an amusing way, Neji inwardly concluded visibly entertained by this demure atmosphere that Tenten exuded through every pore.

Seeing the gleam into his lustrous pearl orbs and drowning into his fire as he wrapped those strings around her hands –invisible ropes which pulled her back to him like a charm whenever she tried to escape him– she leaned into his touch and pressed her knees on the sides of his waist, mindful to avoid all the tubes and the IVs and completely unfazed by the alien looking medical tool around her or the strange liquids flowing through them, only focusing on the guy before her.

"Because I like to see you suffer or should I say... Beg for it." She tilted her head slowly leaned forward to breath into his ear warm air making the tiny tufts of hair behind his hear shell stand erect. A place she knew he was over-sensitive.

Tenten was not Hinata or Sakura. She wished for romance and intimacy yes, but not in their completely fairytale like type.

She and Neji were gasoline and fire meeting in a sparkling fusion of pure rapture and vice combined with amazingly simmering lust.

They were both excessively stubborn to dance on the stage of innocent and idyllic pastoral stages of teenage romance and thus the sparkles between them could only be kindled to a pyre instead of soothing embers humming softly.

"Shall I refresh your memory then Tenten?" A smirk grew tempting and glossy on his lush lips –which were still incredibly sensual and satin looking despite his traces of burn marks– while he traces his tongue along his lower lip on purpose and her mocha orbs fell prey to the captivating move, while he teasingly tucked a strand of hair around her ear shell in a diaphanous gesture.

"It is usually you the one who pleads with me to give her more, my dear."

And without waiting for an acerbic remark from her hurt pride, Neji fine-combed his fingers through the maze of cocoa–electric green tresses, pressed his digits behind her nap and cupped her lips with his own in a feverous clasp, suckling on them with much zeal and athirst, coveting for her rich taste like a remedy to quench the calescent fire inside him.

Sparkles froth up between them in the moment when their mouths met in such a rapacious embrace, lips nipping and massaging each other in a unfurled rhythm, while Neji snuck a hand around her waist, glissading his fingertips under the help of her favorite shit, feeling the yielding porcelain skin of her back so cool and smooth like silk organza, grazing along her spin ad he brought her closer to him leaning down to the pillow and she hovered above him, hands not sure where to touch him mindful for his bandages.

Too lost in pleasure and pure rapture to even think straight, Neji realized it that she genuinely cared –Tenten only revealed her soft side when she was in the presence of the ones she loved– for him more than she would ever admit it to herself and thus he cupped her left palm with his own and gilded it around his nape and she silently followed his lead like engaged into an sensual waltz, sighing upon his mouth when a slick tongue glissaded over her upper lip begging for entrance and she complied.

Angling her chin for a better access, Tenten parted her lips more indulging into his savory taste, lids squeezed shut tight and immediately a sweet tongue brushed past her teeth flicking upon her own, filling her mouth and inviting her to play this game with him –one that they both missed like crazy.

She did not protest or… did she just struggle to appear unswerving and in control before him –she didn`t need to– because Neji always read her like an open papyrus, so clear and so flawless and that was the reason why it was so easy for him to tease her and make her go crazy; because he knew what buttons to press, he pandered to his personality and he reeled at the scent of her fury bubbling inside her and making all that pent up passion come alive.

God— he smelled and tasted just as divine as he always was and considering the fact that he was hospitalized and suffered serious burn marks, that was a miracle but then again, he was a Hyuga; noble by blood, educated, polished and refined and meticulous about his studies ,manners and image so she would expect nothing else from him.

Albeit there was not any trace of his perfume sprayed along his pulse, his unique masculine scent with a tinge of earth and rainforest, fresh and clean, was making Tenten shiver and relax into his kiss albeit their tongues glissaded over one another with pleasure and unhinged passion and their lips nipped and chewed on each other in ways that both adored so much.

There was a deliquescent flames bubbling with the apex between her thighs and a hot tension in her hips sent alerting bells inside Tenten`s mind that they should stop French kissing each other, but she lost all the sense of ration in her brain when his hand skimmed past her toned belly and slid up sensually smoothed along her round breast rubbing his thumb over he pert nipple immediately making her sensitive skin cripple and tauten into his touch; because she were a sports bra underneath her garments and not a normal lace one, she felt his touch more intense.

And it was not like her tomboyish style was a turn off for him –or any other guy for the matter– on the contrary, albeit she was not flaunting her femineity or highlighted her alluring charms like the other girls so often, opting for a style which was according to her forward and spitfire spunky personality, Tenten was still very sensual; it was a peculiar style that only she had.

"Hmm..." A throaty bemoan trailed past her lips while Neji glissaded his tongue over the swell of her lower lip, enjoying the taste of her rich sateen tissue, lush and elastic and incredibly savory, tracing the contour of her full mouth, licking the corners of her lips with pleasure while the velvety tips of their tongues met halfway rolling and dabbing against each other sharing saliva and passion transcribed into liquescent embers of fire.

"Neji..." She whispered breathlessly when they swept the angles of their profiles molding their faces together in perfect harmony.

"We should s–stop..." It has been such a long time since Tenten last stammered but the again finding coherence was hindered by how incredibly calescent and buoyant he was making her feel and an effervescent vigor traversed her entire body, mirroring the same electric bonfire shivering along Neji`s limbs.

She argued with a volatile mind and he vaguely acquiesced to it in regards that they should not carry on like that especially to after the tortuous feelings lingering between them and the convoluted situation that they found themselves into, but for the love of all that`s holly... he could not stop.

Not when his lips were molding with her own caressing and nipping on her aphrodisiac taste, luscious and delicate, sumptuous and rich like honey and aromatic aphrodisiac, vanilla and hot chocolate spicing the maddening aroma, refusing to her go of her.

"You stop first Tenten." Was he provoking her? Because judging from the way his fingertips were drumming from her curved hipbone rounding her creamy cheeks, squeezing her firm skin through the leather slim fit pants.

The shivers running along her spine when he touched her so intimately in unhinged passion kindling the pyre which welled inside her body –latent and ready to burst– she realized it that he has been honest with her regarding his feelings; when he admitted that he loved her, he was sincere.

Albeit he was stirring her knowing that her spunky tempestuous personality will backfire, Tenten found it impossible to let go of his lips while her palm was timidly skimming along his chest, to the part of his body which was not been affected but he flames and, albeit she should have been concerned by his well–being, the pressure within her lips and the deliquesce feeling bubbling hotly between the apex of her thighs made her ration slip like stand between her fingertips.

"Do not concern yourself with something so trivial," He breathed into her ear as he nipped on her yielding skin of her ear shell making while she was pressing soft kisses along his angular jaw, enjoying his sateen skin.

"Madara–san and his psychotic bipolar nurse always knock on the door prior to getting inside my room."

Her lavish lips puckered into a comical snort while she heart is statement, but then again Tenten knew that Uchiha Madara was a real gentleman; just like Hyuga, the Uchiha clan had a strict refined education, and their noble background implied finesse, elegance and cultivated conniption –albeit it seems to be manifesting to the heirs seeing that Sasuke was sarcastic with the others and rebellious.

"My— aren`t you courtly privileged, your Royal Highness? Your personal surgeon is humbly asking for permission to knock on the hospital room of his patients. He must be very honored to treat your pretentious ass."

Neji could not help but smirk softly, barely there a smile, at her vulgar choice of words in the end because everything she did was peculiar and unique.

Tenten could be refined and elegant and cultivated if she set her mind to it, but she was still her ghetto flamboyant feminist self and that was making her so charming and sarcastic.

"How are... you by the way?" It took him a moment for Neji to process her haphazardly inquiry because her tone dropped to a calm whisper as she let her finger traipse along his muscular bicep, glimmering twice to focus on her question finding it as a good moment to vanquish the athirst for her, as the fire within him pleaded to be quenched, but it was a challenging task since two things were distracting him and they were the rutilant–lilac bruised shade of her lips swollen by his kisses and the peculiar feminine perfume enveloping her, a spicy fragrance with high notes of tangerines and white lilies.

"Much better, actually. The experimental procedure that I am currently undergoing is fruitions and in fact it even stunned me at the great results it delivered."

"Wow that`s great news!" Haphazardly her lips bloomed with a solar grin which was radiating and coming from the bottom of her heart. "I am so glad for you. Heck I was hella worried for you!"

Her blunt confession took them by surprise but her the fleeting quietude which fell between them was not an awkward or at ease one on the contrary it was very lenitive.

"What about the… scars?" She found herself mumbling genuinely worried about the cosmetic aspect, letting her mocha orbs gaze to his bandages. "I mean— there have to be scars left after… after the–"

Realizing that her blunt mistake might cause him an emotional mental breakdown Tenten stopped herself and stammered worried. "–shit, I`m sorry, what I wanted to say is that... oh fuck... I didn`t want to–"

Neji would have loved to see her stammer and ramble further because seeing Tenten so vulnerable and out of her element while she made a mistake, with her face flushed by her clumsy mistake, but he depicted panic simmering inside the depths of her suddenly shy orbs and that tucked at the hollow of his chest, painfully. "–Tenten,"

He intervened when she eschew her gaze in shame mumbling something under her breath –probably cursing herself for the stupidity, speaking softly soothingly.

"Relax, there is nothing you should fret out about. I am not a preschooler kid who would sink into the misery nor be offended by something that you sputtered involuntarily. I know that you do not genuinely wish me misfortune, do not worry.

Now that she was starting to moor onto her sanity, Tenten let her cocoa orbs traipse fleetingly along his injured side and she was surprised to find a simple bandage wrapped neatly around his arm revealing his digits, one pressed onto his cheek and the other wrapped around his ribs and up to his ankle and except for the obvious lighter shade of the transplanted reconstructed skin, there was no obvious evidence of burn marks –it looked like a wrong tan on his porcelain skin.

"Neji… I…"And she was actually surprised because Tenten has seen him at his worse when he was unconscious and still linked to different alien tubes in the sterile room and she was no medical expert or fan of biology but even she could comprehend the serious state of his burn degrees; indeed, Uchiha Madara lived up to his renewed reputation, there was no doubt about it.

Twining his digits upon her lower back as he kept her pressed into his chest, Neji carried on with his scientific explanation.

"—Tenten, Uchiha Madara is a natural genius and this is not me trying to applaud him because I idolatrize him but he said that his revolutionary intervention was successful. Now I am still confused about the depths of the complex procedure, but it seems like that skin transplant with cells cultivated from my own skin which reduces the chances for my body to reject the transplant to zero has worked better than he has anticipated, in fact it was a laudable success. And yes, there will be scars left after the treatment but Madara–san has shown me the copy of the 3D scan of the X–Ray when I had a checkup in the morning and they were barely visible. He also added that they will fade away in time and if there will still be visible traces which will make me feel uncomfortable, and then they will be easily removed with basic intervention; nothing that cosmetic surgery cannot remove."

Halting a fraction to moisten his parched lips, he continued with the same adamant nonchalance in his serene air that even stunned Tenten.

"In fact, he is very optimistic and based on the result to the multiple tests that I took right before you came, he said that the possibility of me being discharged earlier in few days is pretty high."

"No shit! Is this true? Will you be discharged soon?" There was a coltish happiness churning inside her cocoa orbs making them boil into hot chocolate and that exotic aroma even surrounded her making Neji smirk softly whole tilting his head to her playfully taunting her in a kittenish tone that was totally uncharacteristic to him.

Hope.

"Why? Are you that excited to spend even more time with me after I leave this horrible temple of disinfectants and hospital gowns?"

"You jerk!" She drew her eyebrows in a villainous frown bumping him in the shoulder making him cackle low only his chest at her feeble attempt to hinder her feelings to overflow but the rutilant shade of her ivory cheeks was conveying enough of her inner tumult for him to get amused by her attitude.

"I am just glad to see a… suffering patient being discharged, you inconsiderate chauvinistic asshole..." She babbled under her breath spilling all sorts of energetic insults to him making him titter further by her attitude.

"Well… I might be just in time for the Halloween party." Which was in the upcoming week and the look of pure amazement and somehow relief dancing along her widened rich coffee Arrabiatta orbs and her parted lips was pure comedy relief.

Sliding his index finger under her chin, Neji made her close her parted lips as he maneuvered her invisible strings with much psychological dexterity not actually minding to see her so contradicting and troubled because it brought an immeasurable sense of dominance and possession over her. "Which I presume is good news seeing you react in such a perplexed way, Tenten."

"Aish— you are driving me nuts!" She shook her head shrieking away off his touch but he caught her in a moment of confusion with a fluid rapid motion of his head daring forward to cup her lips in a butterfly kiss which nearly sent the girl rolling over him and fall off the bad, but he had a firm hold around her waist keeping her secure into his sturdy arms –where she naturally belonged.

"I know darling, I know… but I think that I might just have the proper remedy for that." He teased her with a frolicsome tempting smirk, patting the crown of her head where her jaunty locks were growing in a spiral tuft descending along her temples while she parted her hair more on the right side so as to enrich the picture of her rascal attitude.

"N–Neji..." Damn she was stammering just like her friend and his younger cousin, what was wrong with her seriously?

If there was something that Tenten despised and also loved at Neji was that he was the only one capable to make her act like someone else and bring it to the light the side of her that she kept hidden from anyone else; a part that was vulnerable and exposed because it was the most expressive, without all the layers of seemingly fortitude wrapped around her heart. His name trembled from her lips like a lotus creating ripples along the peaceful surface of the water. "I–"

Metallica`s 'Until it sleeps' hit blasted through the speakers of her phone as it vibrated into the back pocket of her pants just when she was about to moan aloud in delight when Neji`s smirking lips latched to her pulse trimming the throbbing vein and tasting the emotion and excitement on her ivory margarite skin, interrupting them.

"Damn..." she cursed viciously as she slid a hand into the pocket tapping her phone and eying the inbox message.

Fine chocolate eyebrows knotted into a frown when she saw the familiar ID of the sender, while Neji exhaled inconspicuously leaning backwards onto his pure white pillow leering at her while she chirruped. "Sakura?" Neji god mild curious at Tenten`s suggestive facial grimaces upon reading the short message aloud. "Where are you?"

"Did something happen?"

Tenten shrugged once because she herself could not explain those sudden shivers at Sakura`s simple and yet quixotic message for there was something sophistic between them way she made them look so urged that she could not explain, but woman intuition could never be deceived and thus Tenten deduced that something bad might have indeed happened and she kind of had a hunch that it might be either about Sasuke or the dancing auditions.

"Wish I knew..." her orbs quickly shuffled to the clock seeing that it was already 11:00 a.m. and so she should hurry up to be on time for the third period after the lunch break, but more than being concerned about getting another absence, she figured that her friend needed her for a chat, probably being during a class and unable to call her.

"I bet you that this is about your stupid chicken ass, socially retarded counterpart of a friend."

"Uchiha?" Neji fetched an eyebrow up slightly amused about how she insulted Sasuke but then he realized that she had no problem in referring to him as also another person without any social skills, scowling at her… "Tsk, I am not resembling his social awkward tendencies Tenten, what an insult."

The look of pure sarcasm that he got from Tenten smartly had him shut his babbling mouth before he ended up in a jive embarrassing himself and instead, he focused on her inkling already being informed about a possible tortuous romance between Sakura and Sasuke and, albeit Neji was hardly a pervert or a digger for gossip, it was pretty impossible to hinder those rumors to reach his ears when school was a large community of people who were being forced to socialize, blend in and compromise and thus anyone ended up having Intel on basically everyone, especially if they were part of his entourage. "What has he done this time in order to upset your dancing friend?"

"I have no idea but if I find out that he hurt her in any ways, then I will make sure that he gets a punch well planted down his throat from me. No one messes with my friends and lives another day to brag about it."

He barely quelled a victorious smirk in pure admiration for the girl`s commitment for her friends, albeit she was such a barbarian, Tenten fostered her dearest people like they were part of her family.

She was very dedicated, kind hearted and always the call in the middle of the night whenever someone had troubles and Tenten never rasped or snapped at anyone for waking her up or disturbing her with their problems; she was not the shoulder to cry on but a source of strength and care.

Tenten was pabulum for every broken soul because her admirable force, dedication, trustworthiness and empirical way of thinking made her a valuable friend and ally. "I pity the poor unfortunate souls who fall prey to your unleashed temper Tenten."

"Shut up before I bite your ass your nitwit..." She mumbled while texting back to Sakura as her fingertips brushed over the screen smoothly. 'Something the matter? Who will I be killing? Prepare a large coffin or better we shall burn him alive.'

Understanding that she shall take her leave and stop bothering Neji, Tenten waded into her own stupidity accepting it along with her pride which has washed away off her system and has been gone with the wind ever since she murmured his name beyond a whisper in delight at his touch responding to her earnestly and wholeheartedly, she threw a side smirk in pure arrogance to him, leaned forward to capture his succulent lips once again gumming them like enjoying a delicious peach but before he had the chance to sneak his tongue past her teeth, she bit it down until he growled like a ferocious lion and pulled back, leaving him nearly breathless.

"I can get used to this kind of treatment." He ruefully breathed to the girl while marveling at the innocence that Tenten was exuding in that moment, with her pearly skin powdered with rubicund tinges of virgin roses, panting for air as her vitreous cocoa orbs were glazed with lust and feelings that brimmed along her spine; ones that she had troubles containing and hiding from him.

"I shall get hospitalized more often if it means that I can get you worry for me and affectionate."

Fine eyebrows slant into a light frown as she tapped his chest with her palm playfully and mindful for his injuries, gulping lightly at the way his pectorals tautened briefly tittering at her in that velvety deep masculine voice as she eschew her orbs from his incessant stare. "Don't say such things jeez… and I am not lovingly. I am just teasing you that's all."

"Uh—uh, sure you do darling but you know what?" Cupping her pointed chin as the girl shifted awkwardly above him and coiling a muscular arm around his waist preventing her from tossing above him or slid from the bed, he brushed his lips along her gasping ones gliding them sensually, erotically and gingerly over her mouth without using his tongue as he pinned her there with his gestures alone; his tenue was a plethora of convoluted feelings that Tenten refused, but she could never fool this guy for Neji always read every single epistle written on her heart and mind.

"I absolutely love this feminine and tender side of you Tenten. It suits you in a way that you don't even realize it."

"I… need to get going. I have gym classes with Maito Gai and God only knows that I don't want that man on my head so early in the morning for being late… again and ironically enough, because of you."

She immediately detangled from his strong arms —because he allowed her to shy away from him— running a hand through her disheveled chocolate locks, blushing lightly when she realized just how fast her heart was stammering as it leaped into her throat and that rush of adrenaline overflowing through her veins got her lightheaded and slightly reeling.

"Tenten," He beckoned her with so much dulcet into his tender voice infusing a dosage of grace into his low silent tone that made Tenten`s knees wobble and nearly shake as she kept her back on him, orbs squeezed shut as she fought to regulate her inhales and not let Neji hear that she was gasping for air, stopping into the doorway with her hands tucking on the strap of her bag that she always carried messily on one shoulder enhancing that rebellious tomboyish attitude that defied rules and loved to coquette with danger. "thank you… for visiting me daily. For caring about me."

"Neji I—"

"—Madara-san told me that you have come here every day albeit numerous times you have been hesitant and reticent into entering this room, but I can feel your internal imbroglio, because it mirrors my own sentiments for you."

By this time, his endearing words of affection exuding of an overwhelming sincerity, so lush and rich as it trimmed to her already frail conscience enhanced that feeling of guilt and thus lustrous orbs aligned under her eyelids but she nipped on her lower lip preventing them to spill from her orbs; she will definitely not cry in public places or even worse, in his presence because it will give Neji the savory taste of feeling victorious for confirming the truth in his epistles.

At least, she tried to vanquish the impulse to swivel on her heel and leap into his embrace because Tenten will not allow herself to surrender to such womanly vulnerability, as much as her heart flittered like a cage butterfly trapped into a golden jar pleading to be set free, racking a nervous hand through her glossy hair and trying to sound as disimpassioned as ever —but feelings were also imbued into every syllable and Neji was so astute and savvy in addition to being intuitive and perceptive about the woman he loved.

"It was not in my intention to disturb you and you couldn't receive visits… so I kept my presence as discreet as possible. Plus I didn't want to risk a direct confrontation with your uncle Hiashi who probably hates me for being culpable of your distress. And by that, I don't refer to solely your… accident."

He now had the confirmation that Tenten was not feeling remorseful about his accident she too comprehending that she was not the core of it, but because she felt miserable by betraying his trust and not having faith in him that his words that he said to her when trying to approach her were honest; she was guilty because she has rejected him and thus refusing to accept her own feelings for him and that bittersweet romance has caused so much suffering for both of them.

A violent pang coursed through his chest upon hearing such serious words unrolling from Tenten`s mouth as her tenue was so tempered in contrast to her usual flamboyant and flaring attitude, but she too knew when to be serious and tranquil —but he could also see just how she tried to withhold her feelings for him and that caused him so much suffering.

"Since when are you preoccupied about what the others think about you Tenten? Your attitude worries me lately."

He decided to tease her and see if he could push this girl`s buttons further enough for her to snarl and snap and let her temper flare and kindle and the way she tucked on the strap of her bag stiffening and crunching her shoulders in a gesture that betrayed that she was chaffed and probably mentally cursed him to Hell and back, he understood that Tenten was trying to convey something else to him and Neji playing the stupid guy that he was not was not helping —and they both knew it.

But what she nearly shrieked to him when she whirled her head over her shoulder and let her conniption flourish into that peculiar unhinged temper that was so familiar and so distinct on her, his heart leaped into his chest and stopped pounding for a nanosecond before it revved million miles per hour hearing her confession.

"Aish— I am trying to stay that I HAVE MISSED YOU TERRIBLY AND WAS DEAD WORRIED FOR YOU BLOODY MASOCHISTIC POMPOUS IDIOT!"

And dashed from the hospital room at the speed of lightning, heels nearly sliding over the slippery floor when she pushed the door open and let it hit the wall with a thud before it shut down leaving a baffled Hyuga Neji behind to glimmer slowly so as to make sure that he hasn't seen aliens before her confession sunk in and started to churn inside his mind on repeat.

"D—Did she just admit out loud that she has missed me and was worried about me?!" Then a chauvinistic smirk in pure masculine ego creased along his firm lips as he sunk into his pillow, hands crossed under his nape as he glanced to the door where her shadow and the face overflowing with a plethora of so many feelings that he rarely seen on her still lingered suspended in the minutes that the clock on the wall ticked like in slow motion; feeling his heart still fluttering with that warm pleasant sensation and mirroring the same swarm of butterflies dancing in spirals into his belly.

Oh God— he was so helplessly in love with Tenten that it was almost ridiculous but he wouldn't be an immature foolish prick to deny it and not acknowledge and accept his own feelings like his idiotic friend Uchiha Sasuke, but will act like a guy in the cups of manhood who is not ashamed to confess that he had sentiments of affection for a woman.

"You love me too Tenten… and I will be damned to Hell and back if I don't make you admit it that you do."

.

.

.

Taking the public transport was definitely not a fortunate decision for Tenten because she felt more claustrophobic than ever into that encased space, her lungs burning for oxygen albeit she could still breathe; it was her mind that felt entombed into a cave with no light, no shimmering hope and no escaping from here.

Mindlessly she was blowing hotly on the window designing aimless patterns with her fingertips that started to resemble these overused cliché drawings that her school mates with a tiny crush scribbled at the last page of their notebooks, not paying attention into classes and she loathed herself for this; it was only her fault everything that was transpiring between Neji and her.

"Aish!" She threw her hands into the air in exasperation gaining multiple weird stares from the other teens who weren't busy listening to their players or play Nintendo while she messed her already disheveled locks angrily in pure frustration.

"Falling in love is so stupid! I am the biggest idiots of all and yet I call that Hyuga fucker an idiot! This has no fucking logic, damn it!"

As much as the elders shook their heads at her exacerbated behavior, it was one of those rare moments when Tenten`s attitude drew feelings of pity and compassion from the others because as much as she willed herself to be sturdy and negate all those feelings that were crawling to her heart and latched to her following her steps like a shadow, the lone tear that skimmed along her cheek dampening her eyelashes.

Briskly she whipped it with the back of her palm in shame for her moment of weakness, sobbing once and cursing lividly under her breath, was a vestige of how badly she loved the guy who has admittedly shouted it in her face that he loved her back; but something about their tortuous romance stood as a curse between them preventing them to be happy.

It`s so hard to be weak in front of the ones we love the most… because it is in their presence that we seek to be perfect.

"Fucking shit… I look like a gothic doll in a circus for demented clowns… Shit…" She quickly fingered the small pocket on the side of her bag pack, cursing again when a pen pocked her fingertips grazing her sensitive skin as she searched for her black kohl pencil and a mirror that she got as a gift from Hinata –the only one that she had for Tenten was no coquettish woman and nor was she enthusiastic about being in fashion.

"Yup," She mumbled for herself getting bizarre looks from a preschooler funny looking kid who kept on staring openly at her, mouth agape and his eyes widened as she tried her best not to fumble while she drew the contour of cat smokey eyes around her red orbs rimmed by dried tears and save appearances.

"I am definitely turning into Sakura and Hinata. Those two chicks with their crappy cheesy fairytales got me sentimental…"

"…Miss, why do you look like Chucky the killing Doll with that makeup on?! Yuuu— creepy!" The preschooler kid that occupied the place beside her sneezed once, widened doe orbs shimmering with utmost confusion aligned with Tenten`s mocha ones accusingly, hollering at her with a comical high pitched tune.

She hasn't even noticed the presence of this mignon when she propelled into the back of the bus.

Involuntarily and never aiming to frighten a scared child, Tenten shot him a searing glare that was a good match for the mention of the horror movie but the kid seemed so fascinated with the girl, the entire scene gaining some snorts from the voyeurs in the bus; why did that traffic had to be so heavy that morning? "Whoa! You look like you are crying with inky tears! Uuuuuu… spooky—"

Oh God she was crying! In a public place! It couldn't get any worse than that!

"—shut up you little radish boy," She snarled quietly at the red haired boy with big round glasses, freckles and a porcelain complexion and an oversized schoolbag, but he only cackled at her wholeheartedly staring to chan stupid childish nursery rhymes and taunt her about her gothic makeup. "or I`ll show you that Chucky is real!"

He stopped shrieking with a horrified expression on his small cute face and Tenten barely felt pity for him before the kittenish smartass boy chanted once again.

"No it`s not and you are ugly! Your hair is a mess and your eyes are black like panda`s! You are a witch Miss! Miss Chucky the Witch!"

Mumbling to herself, chin sunk into her chest she groaned chaffed to no end. "Tenten… you will definitely stop even lower than Amy, Mei and Karin combined if you punch a kid into a bus for being stupid and annoying, c`mon you have dealt with stupid Hyuga and his throngs of retarded idiotic friends so you can definitely handle thi—"

"—Miss, who is stupid Hyuga?"

"The biggest idiots of all that he is... It`s not even worth mentioning it really."

"Miss, if you say he is not worth mentioning then why do you keep on whispering it why you paint your eyes like a witch? Do you think of him now?"

Childish quests kept on unrolling from the child`s coltish chubby mouth, his genuine confusion as he wore his heart on his sleeve now brimmed like a pang of melancholia jarring into Tenten`s spine; she smirked softly, playfully indulging into that mindless trifling conversation with a naïve child.

"You know what, you little smartass? Shut up before I paint your eyes too and you won't like it." She chanted repeatedly, mumbling comically albeit the need to smother a smirk was immediately covered by a nonchalant hand resting under her chin.

"Damn computers and video games brainwash this punks… fucking loathe small children…" She did not, because children were angels with hindered wings only speaking the truth —whether she wanted to accept it or not.

"Hey Miss, my mom says that when a girl gives pet names to a boy it means that she likes him very very much! Do you like stupid Hyuga very veryyyyy much? If you do then why don't you tell him?"

"Who are you, a talking radish and a counselor? Now I'm getting love advice from a kid who is probably thrice younger than me what the fuck?! Just… how much more pathetic can I get?"

"No no you are not pathetic Miss Chucky," he placated her with a reassuring small hand resting atop her left shoulder, barley cupping it with his small appendages, straightening his shoulders so to appear taller and more imposing coming out as comical and Tenten`s stare softened as seeing this kid.

He was utmost adorable and suddenly her pain has withheld and subsided seeing this innocent child and the purity and naivety in his words.

"you are a good witch like Cinderella`s Good Mother. I`m sure that stupid Hyūga likes you too… but not with that ugly black pencil on your eyes. You look prettier without painting your face Miss."

She giggled, just like a school girl in a way that she hasn't done in a while but it felt good. She rufled her digits through the red orange locks fierce into that kid`s head as he frowned and shoved her hand away trying to fix his hairstyle. "Hehehe— you are a small evil reddish kiddo."

But deep inside of her another foreign sentiment was churning inside her chest trimming to her conscience and making her heart rev in ardent fervor as she tapped her temple on the cool window glass peeping on the outside at the furtive images that swiveled before her orbs all heading into the same familiar direction.

Neji… Neji. God, I love you Neji Hyuga, but I don't want a relationship with you. She felt like savoring that exuberance that was coming with her young age as that was the period in her life when she was choosing her path, as baby steps were leading her to the cusp of womanhood and thus Tenten wished to savor every single challenge and like her life at her fullest without dwelling too much on the responsibilities that would soon be coming when she graduates high school.

And getting enthralled into a potential romance with Neji Hyuga and make their relationship public, not only will deepen the fissure between them, but her and his fangirls who chased him throughout the day and night that were prone to harass her more and perturb her smooth days in high school but they will also targeting him.

And Tenten feared that she won't be capable to protect him from all he harms just like she hasn't been capable of construing his conniption and thus realizing that his feelings were flourishing sub rosa into something deeper than the lust and electrifying attraction that she felt for him.

She felt million times better as her phone vibrated flipping it and reading the incoming message from a strawberry blonde locked friend who kept on doing the silliest mistakes, tittering mischievously as Tenten realized that those inopportune feelings were far from what her friends were struggling with as that pabulum of sentiments were gyrating through all their fragile and inexperienced hearts discovering the buds of that unparalleled teenage romance, so pristine and void of malice, mindless where they all loved each other with abandonment and without trying to depict the quintessence of what would make their feelings impossible to twine and evolve into a relationship or concern over the trifling impediments like adults did.

'Ten, I am the stupidest STUPIDEST woman on the entire universe! I want to fly to Mars and never come back on Earth. Care to accompany me? Where are you?! I need someone to confirm it to me that I am an idiot otherwise I will lose it! P.S. I'm hungry! Hungry hungry hungry and not entirely for food— aish, gomen ne girl, forget that I have said that ,`kay? I luv you Ten really, hugs, kisses and cookies! Text me asap pls! Sakura.'

"Aish girl … what did Uchiha do this time? Yup… these two are definitely like Neji and I only..." This is where a thin smile in pathos and melancholy creased her glossy lips as her chest panged and ached sending electric jolts brimming along her limbs and making her heels burn with the desire to pivot, dash out of the bus and return to the hospital to be with the guy that she -oh God- she loved with desperate abandonment.

"they don`t have any pardon in hiding their feelings..." She then realized the subtle nuance between her and Sakura, because unlike she and Neji would were like two sons of the fire kindling each other as the flyspecks of passion have never been tamed, Sakura was an artist and thus she was more expressive and her feelings more flamboyant; she expressed herself through her arts, feelings, they were overflowing and exuding thorough every iota of her body, in her grace, in her peculiar finesse, in her jovial and infinitely innocence that has never been lost and not being afraid to wreathe around that sinful dark love with someone as dangerous and fallacious as Uchiha Sasuke.

On the contrary, she jumped right into the embers of fire letting them burn her and consume her like a candle until she melted into his arms, burning of his fire and basking in every moment of it.

From that point of view Sakura was much braver than her because she wasn't afraid to confront those feelings and admit it that she nurtured feelings of affect towards a guy who as not only intangible and unreachable for her because of his social status, noble family background and social circle, but also because he wasn't the type of guy to publicly manifest his feelings towards her and from the way she viewed it, Sakura was a delicate butterfly who craved for affection and romance pretty much like Hinata.

She needed a guy that could garb her into that feeling of protection, warmth and comfort and hold her hand through all the hardship and not just a dangerous bad boy who was hardly someone innocent and pure to bring home and introduce to her parents, albeit Tsunade was jolly accepting him because of his uncle.

At the same time, Tenten also knew that unlike Hinata, Sakura had a secret crave for a rather darker and rougher appetite when it came to men; she enjoyed the type of deceiving standoffish guys who preserved the right dosage of enigmatic surrounding them, always having her guess what was simmering into his mind, always exuding that impenetrable and unconquerable aura of arrogance with an iota of sin and danger.

They always made her heels burn and her earlobes rutilant, the type who had an obscure side but at the same time who also had a more vulnerable spot that was the quintessence of all the explosive feelings of love that they were capable to feel and a guy like Uchiha Sasuke who had the element of fire running through his frothing veins, being capable to unfurl a passion that could only be found it those lush erotic novels that any woman would savor with zeal and dream of and that was exactly the type what Sakura was looking for.

Someone capable to stir both that motherly instinct to protect him and have him rely on her from time to time, while balancing her fulminant expressive personality with his laconic tenue and together reach the pinnacle of intimacy between them by blending the moments of secret passion and love deriving from danger and sin with the ones of calmness and restraint.

And that was the reason why expertly and swiftly joggling and leaping on the stairs of the bus as it arrived in the station that was across the school`s main gates, Tenten briskly texted her friend back, popping her favoring bubble gum from her back pocket carelessly pulling her hair into a loose spiral tucking it over her right shoulder, paddling towards the entrance and tittering mischievously already scheming.

'Just make sure that you won`t withdraw from the cat and mouse game before you trap him into your web Sak, otherwise you will only be a sore loser.'

And by that she was advising her friend using her forward epistles without trying to make her message sound more dulcet, that she should not try to back off that potential relationship after she took so many steps moving onwards with that romance with Uchiha Sasuke, because it would leave both of them in a very complicated and rather regrettable situation.

Tenten was the most appropriate to advise her over something like that since she and Neji have abruptly caused an aperture between them when their hearts were exploding with such a pabulum of feelings —beautiful pure feelings— and thus they ended up hurting each other and fissuring those bundles that never got the chance to bloom into roses of love, nearly costing Neji his very life.

It was too late to turn back down once she started opening up to Sasuke and trapped him into her beguiling charm and unlike Neji whose conniption was rather tempered and slightly easier to read and more expressive than Sasuke`s impervious gestures, because once an Uchiha would reveal smidgens of his inner soul, the chances for her to pin his wings with needles and break him irrecoverably were raising to an alarming level; pretty much like Ronja and Itachi involuntarily did and Tenten knew that was the last thing in Sakura`s mind.

Not only that, but as she was trotting through the littered halls with a seemingly coltish attitude towards her locker as she managed to be fifteen minutes earlier before her first period and eluding the reproachful or smug stares of her enemies sprinkled along the long bridling throngs of students, Tenten realized it that Sakura will have a hard time openly having a relationship with Uchiha Sasuke.

His venomous fans will make her remaining high school days a living inferno and what Mei and Karin did to her in her first days here will be nothing to what they were really capable of doing, Mei especially…

And that trivia stirred a fervor into Tenten`s blood, melting lava bubbling, ready to explode as she gnashed her teeth together bypassing the same viperous clique of delinquents and whores bumping her shoulder with one of Mei`s most faithful lapdogs. "Hey! Watch it you bimbo! You wrinkled my new Tommy Hilfiger blous—"

"—Fuck. off!" Tenten injected sternly and bridling seething venom through every pore as she pinned the suddenly gulping gang that were -regrettably enough- loitering near her locker conversing and gossiping and spreading their poison over the others with their jabber, nearly shoving the said girl brutally into her wide open locker, an ominous cloud looming over her.

She didn't have enough energy creasing through her veins to twine into a brouhaha with those pathetic leeches now and not even all the coffee in the world would replenish her energy caused by the loss of sleep and thus her general atmosphere was smeared by a vexed frown etched onto her fuming face.

There were moments like this when absolutely no one dared to mess with Tenten if they knew what was better for them and shockingly, not even girls like Mei who had a lot of dangerous connections that no one wanted to have problems with.

"Fucking whores... I swear that this school is similar to a freaking Zoo or a night club rather than a normal high school..."

She kept on jabbering while leaning onwards to tap the back of her locker in search for... she didn't even knew what the heck she was looking for, but she suspected that a random pencil and a scribbled notebook would suffice —she hardly scribbled her notebook`s blank pages with notes anyway.

Like hell she had any iota of drive to focus on her classes when she didn't know how to solve her problem with Neji.

Her mind was drifting towards far away horizons shutting everything and everyone down as the whispers and chortles about her son dissipated into an alternate universe and she enclosed her mind into her own secluded and convoluted bubble, ruminating for an answer that would alleviate the knot in her chest and the belly flittering in a swarm into her belly.

"That idiot will drive me insane... well fuck that— oh. em. gee chocolate!" She knew it all to well that she has 'borrowed' it from Hinata because it was dark orange Lindt chocolate which was Hyūga Hinata`s favorite exquisite assortment but she didn`t care.

That was her salvation for the morning as she jolly munched on the bar, still leaning half into her locker so as she won't have to face the majority of the school`s population that she despised with burning passion, waiting for Sakura`s message or for the damn bell to ring and signalize the start of... whatever classes she had so as to have an excuse and let her nearly benumbed legs to slide over the hall and towards her classroom.

Oh yea… she had gym classes with Maito Gai and thus ended up in the wrong section of the school— bah who the heck cared?!

God she so so denied to be there but at the same time, if she went home with a weak pretense of feeling sick -which wasn't far from the truth- then she would only think about Neji and thus torment herself more, so instead, she wanted to focus on the matter as less as possible.

But that was not the case since when in the next instant something warm, slender but surprisingly strong has literarily landed on her back like wanting to pin her down and shrieked into her ear as a pair of obstreperous lips latched to her ear and made her eardrums ring like two strings vibrating and sending the ripples all through her reeling mind. "Ten! You have to help me!"

That was definitely the same hair with rubicund hair and matching cheeks that she was precisely thinking about sounding desperate. "What the-!"

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.

.

A man in a suit with a suitcase ringed at Jiraiya's doorstep first hour in the morning. The man was groggy and drunk a pen was stuck in his hair as he popped into the door, languidly opening it, his half lidded orbs glazed by tiredness.

"Wha…" He yawned and stretched his muscular limbs above his head, lazily scraping the front of his chest, pectorals barely swathed into a fishnet net sleeveless blouse. "What can I do for you, son?" He addressed the man who was younger than him in a kittenish tone, hardly courteous but friendly and warm nonetheless.

The man coughed awkwardly not expecting such a flamboyant and unpolished character to welcome him. "I am sorry to disturb you at such an early hou—"

Jiraiya's whole-hearted laughter interrupted his forced polite speech, elegancy being clipped by his stern austere cold orbs. "—Bahahah," The man was uncivilized and totally carefree in his conniption —a fallacious mirage to how incredibly strong he was.

"Nonsense! Don't be so stiff son, this is not a Kindergarten! And you are definitely too young to have your forehead be creased by… wrinkles," He hummed with exacerbated merriment, albeit there was a subtle venomous hint into his wise words that the man in branded suit didn't catch. "The Great Jirayia-sama is not a kid!" But he looked like one.

"Well then, I should ahm… introduce myself then." He outstretched his hand out of courtesy because he so did not want to shake hands with that man. "I am Ebisu and I am a lawyer." He said solemnly and pushed the glasses back on his nose, much to Jiraiya's amusement at how professional he was —or aimed to be, grinning at the man with a weaker than his handshake.

Jirayia was way stronger and wiser than he appeared, his real tenue shrouded by the tousled appearance. "And I am here to talk about the case of young Mr. Uzumaki Naruto. Are you his legal guardian Jirayia?" At that, Jirayia stopped grinning and his lips pressed into a stretched fine line.

He stepped aside to make place for the man to twiddle into his modest home. "That would be me, yeah." He said with a smirk but straightened his pose and was as serious as Jirayia could get. "I am the one and only Jiyraia… that idiot`s legal guardian." Briskly he sidestepped half-heartedly feeling something prick into the cool morning air —that usually brought bad omen— that he did not like.

"Come in, son." the lawyer bowed courtly and traipsed inside nonchalantly scrunching his nose at the messy cramped house. Jirayia shut the door behind briefly peeping outside to see if anyone else was with him.

He thought he saw another sleek expensive car pulled on the other side of the road that was not the one of his neighbors and a head of a woman with a scarf on it and a pair of retro glasses and gloved hands looking at him but he wasn't sure.

He swiftly shut the door following the layer in the house, mentally wondering the reason for a lawyer`s visit in regards to an orphan child that has been under his tutelage from the beginning. "Well? How can I be of your help?"

"Mr. Jirayia, I have been sent here by the Court to talk to you about… Mr. Uzumaki Naruto`s real parents."

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A/N: I know it has been almost an year since my last update, but without blabbering too much about it, life happened and I have been really busy. I will be graduating soon and thus didn't have time to dedicate entirely to my stories.

Plus, I fell behind with my old stories in lieu of my newest ones. There are multiple reasons for not updating this story, but I will not waste time in enlisting them; I do not want to fill in endless rows of lamenting and fretting about it so… here is my latest update.

No, by any means this story will not be discontinued; I will finish it and try to update more frequently. So do not be worry that it will be unfinished, because I willdefinitely complete it —same goes to my other stories.

Thank you for your understanding and for still showing interest in this story. And I apologize if this was not the chapter that you have been expected and rather… one pretty cliché and uneventful one.

For every grammar mistake, typos and spelling errors I apologize in advance. It is so late here and I am still spell-checking everything, plus this is not the only story that I will soon update so… yeah. Hope that the chapter is still decent and comprehensible…

And for everything that does not make sense, for the frustrations compelled into the development of the characters, for 'dragging' this story to such an extent, to not make it more eventful –for the moment— and for every pent up vexation in regards to this story I apologize… well I apologize for not being a better author and sketch the conniptions of my characters, the transitions of the scenes and a capturer of their emotions with more skill. But… there can only be a bunch of selected brilliant authors, right? I know I know, I follow them too. And no by any means I am definitely not on their league, not in the bit. I have stated it before but I will reiterate it now: if you do not like this story, my type of writing then it is completely ok, you do not have to read this story if it so taxing. I will happily and with all the blithe and thrill recommend you authors and stories that I consider exceptional to read if you want to. Just let me know and I will be more than glad to share it with you guys. You can start with checking the stories of ElevatedJewel –I promise that she is on a whole other level.

If this chapter was a major disappointment please feel free to completely overlook it.

Briskly I would like to thank you for the reviews and your opinions, especially the encouraging words. I definitely read every single review I get on all my stories and thus know exactly what your pleas are as well as your objections regarding them.

Thank you Love it for your review, hope that you enjoyed this new chapter of mine.

I particularly promised it to youThe Blaze of Hestiathat my update will be earlier, but I feel like I have failed you terribly, thus I apologize to you especially since you are a dear fan of this story. Thank you for still gracing me with such beautiful words about how much you enjoy this story –still enjoy it, so yeah… sorry again for keeping you wait. Hope that you did not find this chapter unworthy of all the wait. This story will not be discontinued, of this I promise. Thank you for your review and dedication!

Thank you Guest for telling me this, it means a lot. Hope you found this chapter likable.

rekhavenkatesh7596 definitely I did not forget about this story of mine, thank you for your kind words and for this review. It means a lot to have such support. I just hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as you did to the others. Thanks a lot!

IheartSasuSakuItaI am sorry for this late update and for keeping you wait so long. Thank you for your review and for stating that you follow some of my other stories too.

I am glad to know that you think like that Daisuke, thank you for your review and I am terribly sorry for this late update. Hope that this chapter was equally interesting.

Guest –the one with the 'grammatical errors', do not apologize for your opinion, I am not chaffed or rancorous. Do not worry. What I have stated, I meant it generally and not in reference to your review particularly. Thank you for stating it that you still like this story, as well as Everything in my life.

Thank you Guest, Guest, Guest and Guest for your reviews. I am doing my best to sprinkle this story with humorous, hot and symbolic scenes. I hope that I have succeeded to at least bring a smile on your faces.

I will definitely continue writing this story XxX, thanks a lot! I promise more hot scenes in the future.

You are very supporting and understanding naelyn, I am honored to have such readers following this story. I am terribly regretful for this late update though. I don't want to disappoint my readers and I definitely know what is it like to follow a discontinued story or one with rare updates. Thanks for not losing your interest in my story. You are amazing!

Thankslovesasusakuforever, you know that as a die-hard SasuSaku fan I try to bring up their feelings the best I can. I am glad that you enjoy it. Thanks for all the support. Take care!

Your amusing confession brought a smile on my face Guest and… sorry for making you laugh so hard and disturb your mom –tell her I am very sorry. Thank you for your words and for reading my story, what you said about it made me extremely mirthful, knowing that I could bring you some joy by this plot alone. Hope that you have enjoyed this chapter as well.

I always try my hardest to work on the characters` development Elixiria thus I am glad that you have noticed it. Wow you are definitely a savvy and a fast reader! Thank you for your review!

Sorry for the late update Guest, hope that it was worth the wait. Thanks for the review!

You know how much I enjoy to keep my readers and my characters on the edge of their seats and make them froth in frustration, chichivivas but do not be worry, this are definitely going to spicy up in this story. You know that I love a slower pace… before the 'storm' of course! Thank you for your review, hun!

Guest, spending too much time depicting a certain scene is part of my 'annoying' writing characteristics so… yeah, sorry about that. I have a particular idea of how I want their relationship to develop because I don't want this story to fall into the typically cliché high school stories littering the community. My characters will be effervescent, conflicted, dramatic and less predictable.

Thank you victoriaamosa, you are so kind! Sorry for this late update!

Namiroku it is so heart-warming to be showered with such pampering words of praise and, albeit I now that I do not deserve all this love, my deepest gratitude to you! Thank you so much for your amazing support! I am glad to having found you!

I would have definitely never made it so far without your supportElevatedJewel-sama, there is no way that I can repay you back for reading my stories. I know how particularly absorbed you are with this story and thus I apologize if this chapter didn't rise to your expectations considering the fact that I have been slacking with this update. Gomen ne? You fine attention to details, for the subtlest of nuances and the symbolism that I am trying to portray through my words is genuinely profound and cultivated. You have this earmark ability to depict parallels that makes my story better than it is, really. Thank you so much for everything, for your review, for being such a critic and my friend! You are my inspiration!

Guest, this is my take on characters and sorry if they are so frustrating. Maybe we do not share similar vision over Naruto characters and their overlapping into real world characters.

You are definitely among the readers with the sharpest insight itsbritneybitch, thank you for pinpointing the headlights of the previous chapter! When receiving such feedback is definitely soothing, encouraging and inspiring cos I know what I do right and what to focus on, what needs to be honed, it is definitely extremely helpful not to mention pampering. Thank you so much for the review and for being so on point, so inspiriting and vivacious in your reviews, definitely something that keeps me carrying on writing. Thank you for your review and all the support, hope that this chapter was not soaked in complete boredom and for saying such beautiful things about the previous one.

I just love it love it how sincere and energetic your reviews are RaveMeHard , you always bring a bright smile upon my face, hun! Thank you so much for the review, for all your support –on this story and the others too! Greetings!

I always appreciate it when my readers point out my hot moments UchihaMononoke, because those are the ones that I insist the most, so I am glad that you like the mood I create for all those moments. Thank you for the review!

ukiko'li, really? Hehe, thanks, I am glad to hear. NejiTen is one of my favorite pairs and this story is one of my homages to them since they did not happen in Gaiden, sadly. And Madara and Tsunade would definitely make a great pair in my opinion; glad that the humor between them was appreciated, thanks for the review!

Thank you guest.

This is your opinion Guest and I respect it. No, she did not do that with Sasori at least… not till the end, they did not 'consummate' the act.

Yes, they should have Guest, but I did not want them to be underage –at least by the legal age in my country. Good one hehe yeah in a sense you are right, though they didn't go as far as to sleep with each other. Yes that would be an interesting idea indeed.

Uadaya, thanks for being honest and elegant in your review, of course, I did not take it the wrong way. Of course, you are perfectly entitled to have your own opinion.

Guest¸ you know how much I like to play with this tension hehe also… I will take my time to build their intimacy as well. I don't want to rush things up.

Well, I don't know about the others Guest, but definitely when I was in high school girls did compare their lovers to their exes like a lot! This is not unusual especially for someone who wants to learn from the past mistakes and also does not have so much experience. I find this pretty normal albeit many of the readers find it vexing that she kept on comparing Sasori to Sasuke. Guess that he was not a 'rival' worthy of paralleling to Sasuke… but then again, who is then hehe. Sasu is too perfect for his own good. We`ll see how their relationship will progress from here on out. You really have a vivacious imagination! I love writing Tsunade and Madara in this story, is my guilty pleasure. Definitely will do that since both Sasuke and Sakura have medics in their families. Thanks for your review!

Like always, thank you for your review, hifi!

Always on spot and having so many great things to say about my story Yumi Ayumu, thank you so much! I hope that this was worth the wait and there is progress in the characters` relationships.

Maram, I am glad that you are also eager for more Saskura Mikoto moments, I do too in fact it is just a regret that they cannot have interactions in the Manga at all. Thank you for the review, like always your words are encouraging and mood lifting. All the best!

For everyone who follows and reviews this story, thank you so much guys!

Till next time…