"Sister!" Kankuro came forward from the gates of Sunagakure to meet Temari and her escort as they approached. He embraced her briefly before taking her luggage from her. She hadn't seen her brother all winter and was filled with a sudden rush of affection at his greeting.

"So nice of you to come home, we thought you'd just about forgotten about us," he teased.

"Ha! Of course not, no one could forget a face like yours! Though most of us try."

He grinned through her insult and turned his attention to her escort.

"And Shikamaru, thank you for saving me the journey. We've got quarters set up for you for as long as you need, and of course you're welcome to join us for Temari's welcome home dinner tonight."

"A welcome home dinner?" Temari interrupted. "I hope you didn't go to any effort."

"Gaara has hired only the most reasonably priced chefs in the village!" He smiled to her with pride. "Our dear sister deserves nothing less than mediocrity."

"So kind."

They followed the long, dark chasm through the border cliffs into the village. The sound here echoed, their very footsteps loud enough to make Shikamaru aware that even a whisper here might be overheard by Kankuro who walked slightly ahead of the weary travellers. He waited until they passed into the bustling streets of the Sand Village to speak to her.

"Are you really going to let him take me to separate quarters?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"It just seemed like a good opportunity to let him know what's going on, that's all."

It was rare to see fear on Temari's face, but her expression now was pretty close to it. How much more time did she need?

"We will, we will tell him. Let's just rest first, OK? Besides," her tone changed, but he knew she was only distracting herself from the real issue, "it couldn't hurt to have somewhere to stay that's outside of the Kage building, where we don't have to worry about being overheard."

The three of them went to visit Gaara, Temari passing on regards and a few message scrolls from Konoha, before Kankuro offered to show Shikamaru to where he was going to stay. The Nara flashed his lover a frustrated look which was returned by a subtle shrug on her part, her eyes wide. She wasn't ready yet, he'd have to go along with it. But just as the boys were leaving…

"Oh, Shikamaru, are you still free to help me with that thing later?"

"Sure," he tried to sound as casual as she had. "Let me settle in first, then I'll be right up."

Shikamaru had unpacked and showered very quickly, and opted to take a walk around the village before heading back along to the Kage building. He was sure Temari wouldn't have wanted him to have appeared in too much of a hurry to return to her, although he was painfully aware that their time together was limited and at some point he would have to return to the Leaf.

The Sand Village was familiar to him from previous missions here, even nodding hello to a few Sand ninja he had worked with in the past. But the details were still new and interesting and he took a while to enjoy the different smell of the air here, the different colours of the buildings, the different attitudes of the villagers. He tried to imagine what it would be like to live here, away from all his friends and family in the Hidden Leaf village, to call Sunagakure "home", maybe one day to raise a family here, to grow old here. Just to think of it was to miss the greenery of the Land of Fire, to feel as though he was betraying his clan.

Surely, Temari must feel the same way, reversed. How could he be so selfish as to make her leave all of this behind? But was there any other option? For a moment, he dared to imagine them both running away, to start all over in a new land. But it wasn't realistic. So he opted to forget about the future, and just enjoy where they were today. It was time to go and catch up with Temari.

"Come in!" she was at her desk when he entered her private quarters, a pile of papers in front of her, her hair still wet from her shower. She rose to her feet when she saw him, making sure the door was closed before taking both of his hands in hers.

"Did my brother sort you out with everything you need?"

"Almost." He bent slightly to reach her lips with his own. "Now that's everything."

She laughed at his line and rolled her eyes dramatically. "You're not suave."

"I am so suave."

Temari turned from him and hopped up onto her bed, crossing her legs where she sat and patted the covers next to her, gesturing for him to join her there. He did.

"So how are we going to do this?" It felt as though she was asking him for help, which was strange but not unwelcome.

"It doesn't have to be a big deal."

"It's kind of a big deal for me," she admitted. "I've never done this before."

"Well, your brothers have brought partners home before, right?"

"Yes but it's different for them."

"Wow Temari, I wish you'd stop being so sexist all the time." He raised a forearm to protect his face from the playful fists that she landed on him. She swore at him warmly and got one more strike of her knuckles to his ribs before giving up.

"The opportunity will come up," he continued. "We'll word it in whatever way feels best at the time, and your brothers will just be happy for us and that'll be the end of it."

Her silence meant that she knew he was right. To let her brothers know was to make it real, to make it official. But they both wanted that, didn't they? She visibly relaxed at his reassurance, her face losing that tense look she had held in her jaw and taking a deep, slow breath.

"Anyway," she ended the topic. "I do believe the reason you came up to my room was to help me out with something."

He remembered her excuse to Kankuro, instantly knowing where she was going with this.

"You know the rules – I'm only escort to you until we reach the gates," he leaned back on the bed and rested his hands behind his head. "Now that we're here, I don't have to do anything you say."

She leaned in towards him, propping herself up on her elbow so that she could use her other hand run a fingertip underneath his shirt, along the edge of his trousers.

"That's true. Except you forgot the part where I am the guard and the blood of the Kazekage, and you're just a Leaf ninja."

If she'd belittled his Village like that a few years ago, he would have hated her for it. Now it was all just part of their play.

"And how do you think the Kazekage would feel if he knew that a lowly Leaf ninja was fucking his own guard, his own blood?" The trace of a fingertip along his torso was now the scratch of a fingernail. She was looking up at him with those big green eyes, hating him for the torture of his words and begging him not to stop. "If he knew what his precious sister looked like when she's cumming on her knees with my cock down her throat?"

She silenced him with her lips. One hand grabbed his belt and pulled his hips towards her, the other settled to the back of his neck, forcing his face into hers. In the Leaf Village, he was the most brilliant Jounin ninja of his age while she was a stranger. But here in the Sand, she ruled and he was little more than an errand boy. She didn't know which dynamic she preferred, but was looking forward to exploring this one a little more. Of course, she had great respect for Shikamaru as a ninja, as a person, and now as her lover, but that didn't mean she couldn't enjoy the idea of him as a rogue foreigner, risking everything to sneak into her chambers.

She gripped the back of his neck, her fingertips against the edge of his hair, the lobe of his ear. The other hand drew briefly over the front of his trousers, feeling that he must be looking forward to this as much as she was, then gripped the edge of his shirt, pushing it upwards. He stopped her by pulling his face away from hers.

"How much time do we have?" His voice was barely above a whisper and gravelled enticingly at this volume. With his face close to hers like this she could pick out every freckle of his skin, the detail in the colour of his eyes, every contour of his lips. "Until your dinner, you know."

"As much as we need."

The Nara lifted his head again to meet her lips with his own. His hand went to hers where it gripped the edge of his shirt and they lifted the fabric together, pulling it over his head and casting it to the floor. He found himself wishing that this had been her childhood bedroom, once housing the young and innocent creature whose body he was now so accustomed to. But of course, she had earned this room. She was already a grown woman, with or without his influence.

He untied the sash at her waist and pushed her to stand next to the bed so that he could remove her robes slowly, unwrapping her like a gift, appreciating every extra inch of skin as it was revealed. She slipped her mesh armour off until she was naked bar her underwear. He put a hand between her legs, feeling her warmth though not yet venturing beneath her underwear. His hands never left her body as she climbed back onto the bed, straddling him initially before crawling under the sheets and beckoning him to join her. He did so, ducking his head under the covers. The Sand being so much warmer than the Leaf, her sheets were thin enough to let a little light through – just enough to see the outlines of her body tinted with a lilac glow through the fabric.

She kissed against the side of his face, smiling, and brushed her hands against his torso. Following his pace, she felt him slowly, only moving to the buckle of his trousers after appreciating what was already available to her. It was tight, pressed taught by the erection being held beneath it, resisting coming apart under her hands and then relaxing as soon as she had worked it free.

She was feeling his cock through the fabric of his underwear when there was a knock at the door.

The pair froze. Temari's eyes met his in an iron stare.

"Temari?" Kankuro called through the door.

Silence.

"You in?"

Temari inhaled sharply and flashed her head out from under the covers. "Just a second!" She was still swearing under her breath when Shikamaru left the bed, rolling his eyes. He hitched up his pants and refastened them as he crossed the room to the door, and now she was swearing at him, realising what he was about to do. In the time it took for him to reach up for the door handle, she had swept herself from the bed, taking the sheets with her to cover herself, and buried herself underneath them on a corner of floor between the bed and the bookcase.

"Hello, Kankuro." Shikamaru was very aware of being shirtless as he opened the door. But there was none of the shame or anxiety that he had felt when answering the door to Choji all those months ago. This time his nakedness was power. His nakedness was pride. He remembered Temari calling him a smug, sexy bastard, her words echoing in his head while he enjoyed the sight of her brother's dropped jaw. "What can I do for you?"

Kankuro's eyes widened and then narrowed, his lips parting as if he was about to speak and then deciding against it. He took in the sight of Shikamaru's bare flesh and the clothes on the floor behind him, the disturbed bed.

"I'll just…" Shikamaru watched the cogs turning in the Sand ninja's mind. "I'll…" he pointed back down the hallway, nodding to avert his eyes. "Yeah."

"See you later, Kankuro!" He called down the corridor after him before shutting the door, and making sure it was locked. Turning back around into the room, he couldn't keep the smirk from his face. A frustrated growl came from under the pile of sheets on the floor.

"I told you the opportunity would come up." He sank to his knees on the floor beside the bed with her, the duvet between them, pinning her down underneath it until she wrestled her head and arms free. "Now, where were we?"

"I can not believe you just did that," she spat at him, though the corners of her mouth were curled upwards in an adrenalin-fuelled smile. He didn't know how much of her expression was borne from anxiety and how much from relief. "What is he going to think? What is he going to tell Gaara?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "The truth."

Temari looked away from him towards the floor, her eyes flicking as her mind was busy in thought. "What are the townsfolk going to think?"

"What does it matter what the townsfolk think?"

She glanced down at herself, her mostly naked body under her bedsheets on the floor, and used one hand to gesture to the state of herself. He moved to release her from the confines of the covers and she pulled it up tight against her collar bones, covering as much skin as possible. "I have a reputation to uphold, I'm supposed to be an example."

"And how is being with a Leaf ninja going to stop you being a good example?" he tried to sound supportive but couldn't help but let his frustration be known. "I don't want to have to sneak around all the time. I just want you to be my fucking girlfriend and not have it be a secret anymore."

It was the first time that he had used that word. She met his eye contact then and he paused as though he had only just realised the landmark himself. "You are…" he faltered. "I mean, you do want…?"

"…to be your girlfriend?" her smile was her answer. She let the covers drop to reach her hands out to him and he met her in the middle, leaning over her to reach her face to kiss her.

"Just to clarify-" he interrupted.

"Yes! Idiot."

He searched in the ruffles until he found a corner of the covers and lifted it to crawl underneath with her. There wasn't entirely enough space in the gap for the two of them to fit side by side, so rather than sit directly next to her, they were awkwardly piled together, hips angled against the corners. His rough trousers rubbed against her bare legs as she was still only in her underwear, but skin touched skin across their torsos. She still couldn't keep her hands off him, and grazed her finger tips along the skin over his abs, which folded against itself as he was slumped against the wall.

"So we're all official and stuff," Temari concluded. "That's weird."

"Yep," he agreed. "Didn't see that coming."

She rested her head on his shoulder, his skin warm against her temple, her free hand finding his to curl into his fingers. "I did kinda like the sneaking around part though."

He snorted a derogatory laugh. "Bored of me already? That's it, been going out for twelve seconds and the passion is gone."

"Idiot. You know what I'm getting at, you loved it too."

"I see exactly what you mean," he sighed. "You never liked me, you just liked having a dirty little secret, the danger and excitement of it." It was a safe accusation to tease about now that he was certain it wasn't true.

"We're still dangerous and exciting. Just because people know we're together doesn't mean that we can't still have secrets."

"Damned right," he agreed, pecking a kiss onto her forehead. "Maybe we could sneak away from your dinner tonight to do it in the Kage's office. You know, just to keep things interesting."

"You're such a dirty boy."

"You wouldn't be with me if I wasn't."

Temari lifted her head again to look him in the eye, asking herself if that was true and then deciding that it was irrelevant. "It is a bonus."

She had to rearrange herself on the floor to shift herself up high enough to kiss him, and in doing so one of her thighs crossed over his body, bringing them a little closer. He put the hand above the covers to the side of her face and the hand below the covers around her waist. Her skin was soft and warm and writhing gently under his touch as she tried to get comfortable. Temari wondered if this counted as the first time she was kissing her boyfriend but dismissed the thought. She would probably look back on this moment at some point as though it was more of a special occasion, but she could feel him beginning to press into her thigh through his trousers and now was clearly not the time for reflection of that nature. He was just her Shikamaru, regardless of the labels they used.

She felt him push the covers down to expose her shoulders, her back, her bottom. She didn't mind; it gave her a better view of his chest as well, and she loved to feel like he admired her, the moments of catching him looking at her bare flesh doing nothing but kindle her fires. They were kissing deeply, urgently now and her hand gripped around his belt and pulled his hips up against her.

"Tell me about doing it on the Kage's desk," she said to him, her voice not above a whisper.

He thought for a few moments, keeping his tongue busy to pass the time. "We wouldn't lock the door. And they'd be due back from a meeting any minute."

"We'd have to be quick then."

"And quiet. You're not very good at being quiet." He gripped his nails into the skin of her back to illustrate his point. One hand drew upwards to cover her mouth but she pushed it away.

"I don't think we should do it on the desk straight away."

"No?"

"No." She was slowly tracing the edges of the bulge in his pants. "I think we should go by the window first."

He played along. "Won't people see?

"They might see you. Your top half anyway."

"I don't know what you mean."

"Yes you do."

"Of course I do, I'm just trying to get you should show me."

She raised herself up on to her knees first, the covers bundling on the floor behind her and he followed, standing to his feet. As she was gathering her hair back from her face, he said, "lovely view from up here."

She asked him if he meant the view from the Kage's office window, or seeing her on her knees.

"Yes."

She undid his belt, and trousers, and loosened them downwards, before reaching into his underwear to release his erection. She played with him here a few moments before deciding that his clothing only got in the way of the practice and pushed everything to the floor. He stepped out of it, kicking it to the side, and raised his hands above his head to grip the edge of the bookcase behind him. She began by teasing him, getting him wet with her tongue before taking his full cock into her mouth. She thought about what he had said earlier about cumming on her knees and moved her own hand to touch herself as she worked, glancing up every so often to see how her partner's muscles bulged and tensed in this position as he pleasured him. He seemed so much larger from down here. Now who can't keep quiet…

She felt his shadows touching her, curling around her hair initially while he watched, and then finding their way lower around her body. She wondered how delicate a sensation he could feel through them, but her wonderings were cut short when one of them penetrated her and he threw his head back to let out a groan. She rode it rhythmically and looked up again to see him watching her, his teeth gritted.

"If you don't keep a straight face all the villagers will suspect you're up to something," Temari continued to play their game, her eyes wide and bright in play.

His grip on the bookcase behind him released and he let a hand down to pick her face up away from him. When she obeyed, he bent to put an arm under her knees and picked her up. It was her turn to gasp, feeling momentarily helpless off the ground, and gave him a thump on the chest just in time for him to swing her around and land her on the bed. The scene came together in her mind: in their heads, it was the Kage's desk.

Temari flipped herself over onto her hands and knees, facing away from him and pretended to fling paperwork from the surface to give them enough space. She was still wearing her underwear and Shikamaru – still stood on the floor at the edge of the bed - reached to pull it down a little way, but only to the tops of her thighs. He was stood at the edge of the bed, with her body in front of him, and took a moment to appreciate the curvature of her hips. He dug his thumbs into the flesh of her bottom and along the top edge of her underwear where it ever so slightly dug in to her skin as it pinned her legs together. His naked erection, still wet from her mouth, touched against her thigh. She dropped from her hands to her elbows, gripping her own hair behind her head and resting one cheek on the mattress. He saw her cheeks plump into a smile and followed her line of sight. She was facing her dressing table mirror. She was watching everything he was doing. So he took his time.

The change of angle in her crouching made her labia visible to him just above her underwear, and he ran his fingers along her edges, feeling her wetness. When he couldn't wait, his fingers pushed inside her, then slipped out to play against her clitoris, and swapped back and forth as though he couldn't decide which he preferred. When his fingers dripped, he leaned over her and pushed him into her mouth, partially so that she could taste it and had to watch herself tasting it, and partially to feel the warmth of her tongue licking against his skin as he knew she would.

A little wriggle of his hips and the tip of his penis found its place. He pushed inside her, still leaning over her back, still with his fingers in her mouth. When her tongue on his skin was too much, he withdrew his hand in favour of resting it against the back of her shoulders, pushing her down into the bed for a few moments before standing upright tagain o get into a better rhythm.

He glanced across at the mirror and saw her loosely clothed breasts swinging underneath her tight body as he pressed into her. Slowing down briefly, Shikamaru leaned back and looked at what was happening, watching her lips stretch around him as he moved. He wrapped a hand under her hip and rubbed her clitoris while he thrust into her. When he slowed down, her groans lowered an octave as her pleasure was deeper. When he sped back up, her voice became higher, until he caught an angle a little too deep and she gasped an "Ow!", and reached back to push a thumb into his thigh, pushing him away.

"Sorry," he pecked a kiss against her back, tasting her sweat. She wriggled, and he took the implication to remove himself from her.

Temari turned over onto her bottom slipped off her underwear. She reached for his hand, pulling him on to the bed. He crawled across to her obligingly, glad to see that that filthy mouth of hers was still smiling, and she pushed him to sit against the wall, and straddled him. She lowered herself down on to his cock and rode him slowly, kissing him, studying his face. His hands ran all over her torso, one hand focusing on the fastening of her bra. "Can we take this off?"

She nodded.

Her breasts free, he ran his thumbs over her nipples and played with their weight in his hands. His hands busy, his shadows touched against her lower back, feeling her moving with him inside her. Movement in the room caught his attention and he realised that they were now directly opposite the dressing table mirror. Without worrying about it looking obvious, he tipped his head to one side to look past her and watch, seeing the delicious shape of her hips and waist rise and fall over him. The office fantasy forgotten now, he was just there with his Temari, on her own bed, and she was his and his alone. Her warmth was immeasurable. She was powerful, and she was his. And her slippery pussy was clenching against his cock as she rode him, faster now.

"I can't hold out." He told her.

Her reply was whispered directly into his ear: "just come in me."

His hands moved from her body to the sheets on either side of him, so that he could clench fists into them harder than he would be able to on her skin. As soon as he stopped trying to slow himself down, he fell quickly into the edge of an orgasm, his abs clenching and his hips thrusting up to meet hers. He was looking down at where their bodies met, ready to release, until his gaze was interrupted by her hand lifting his chin and forcing her tongue into his mouth. His orgasm erupted through his bones. He wasn't very good at being quiet.

She wouldn't let his mouth go until his seemingly endless groans had softened and the heavy breaths he made through his nose began to slow. Only then did she pry her lips from his to whisper, "Good?"

She was so smug, he almost hated to indulge her, but there was no disagreeing with it. "So good." Her hips were still rocking on him, her forearms resting on his shoulders to let her hands play through his hair. He tried to rally his energy back, knowing that she wasn't finished. "Just give me a minute."

"Don't worry," she laughed that low, intoxicating laugh of hers. "I got this." She rolled her hips forwards, still keeping him inside her, and pushed herself against the skin just above his remaining erection. Proof of her stimulation was more obvious to him from the noise of her than from the feeling of it, as she sank down to rest her head at the side of his, her sounds coming to him slightly muffled through their hair at close range. Her vocalisations became sharper and her body stiffened as he knew it did when she was close, and he took the liberty of putting his teeth to her ear and moving his hips where they were needed as her own body was too tense to do so. A fragment of silence, and she was there. Her body relaxed in waves, though she was only partially in control of it, and she quietened herself by biting against his shoulder. She continued to ride him until her body was shaking, and he stretched to pick the covers up from the floor and swept them over her shoulders like a cloak.

"Good?" He asked.

"I'm going to have to shower again."

"He's ready for you," Kankurou opened the door to the Kazekage's office, smirking childlishly and avoiding Shikamaru's eye contact. It was the first time that they had seen each other since over Temari's doorway, and the Leaf ninja could still taste the other man's sister's flesh on his tongue. The situation shouldn't have been entirely new to him. He knew more Kankuro and Gaara relatively well, and he had met with Ayame and Shiho's family before. It felt different this time though. This time it felt as though it mattered.

He stood from his chair in the hallway and followed Kankuro to enter the Kazekage's office where Gaara was waiting for him. When he walked in, it was just the three of them in the large room, for which he was very glad… but had the Sand boys always been so intimidating? Gaara was stood in his robes in front of his desk, his arms folded. This office and this building and this village belonged to Gaara, and Shikamaru was his guest and, as such, must be respectful. But Temari was no one's property, and she was free to give herself to whomever she pleased. And she had given herself willingly to him. There was confidence in the thought.

"I believe you have some news for us, Nara," The Kazekage's voice was theatrically husky.

"I do. There was a reason why I was so keen to escort your sister home to the Sand Village." He looked from Gaara to Kankuro, making it clear that he was addressing them both. He rejected his usual slouch to fold his hands behind him and raise his chest. "I wanted to meet with you in person to request your blessings."

There was a pause before Konkuro laughed aloud. Shikamaru had expected as much and felt a little smile trying to creep across his own face, but Gaara scowled at his brother and calmed the mood again.

"That's very traditional of you, Shikamaru," he said. "I appreciate the consideration, truly."

The older brother was less reserved. "Do you really think she'd stop seeing you if we didn't give you our blessings?"

"Well, if you put it that way," he grew confident from their reactions, "I suppose this little formality is less about asking for your permission and more about informing you that we're together. If you disapprove, well… we don't really care."

"That's the spirit!"

Gaara stepped forward, his facial expression still giving little away until he stood directly in front of their visitor and broke into a broad grin. "Welcome to the family, my friend." His arms fell outwards and he took another step forward, taking the Leaf ninja in a firm embrace. "She's chosen well."

Shikamaru returned the embrace, and released in time to see Kankuro approaching him for a similar hug, with a slightly more jovial sentiment.

"I suppose I'm traditionally obliged to warn you that if you ever hurt her…" He shook his fist in Shikamaru's direction in what might have been a threat. "…she'll hunt you down herself so her brothers are irrelevant."

He nodded slowly, more aware of her wrath than anyone and not ever wanting to get on the wrong side of her in future for any reason. "I know that. It's a good think I don't intend to."

The pressure off, Gaara dismissed the other boys, who were required to get on with the more pressing task of getting dressed for Temari's welcome home dinner.

"I guess it's now your welcome home dinner, too," the puppet master considered.

"Thank you Kankuro." He still had no idea if he could ever call the Sand Village "home", or if Temari would want to spend her life in the Leaf. It would not be plain sailing, and there were certain to be many forks in the road, but they would face them together. And the thought of it was terrifying and comforting at the same time.

"We can set you up with a seat on the Kage table with us this evening if you like," Kankuro offered.

"Thanks, but no. Not yet." For tonight, he would be here as her escort and her guest. Maybe one day he would sit by her side as her life partner, but there was no point rushing it. He wanted to enjoy the ride. "We've got a long way to go. It's just the beginning, really."

Gaara took a long moment to stare out of the window of the Sand Village, over the world. How things had changed since they had been children here, and how things would change from now. He shook the thoughts from his head, and busied himself with a few items of paperwork. There wasn't long before he would be expected to host the dinner and there was a never ending list of things to be getting done as the Kazekage.

He sat at his desk, the only sounds reaching him were of children in the streets far below and the constant hum of the hot breeze against the building. He took one of the scrolls from his pile. It was one of the ones that Temari had brought back from the Leaf Village with her.

"Kazekage Gaara of the Sand," it read. It was Tsunade's handwriting. "I hope this message finds you and your family well. By the time this scroll reaches you, I believe you will have won our little bet."

Love, always.

Cosmic xx