Ino Blink of the Eye

14: Turn of the coin – How to fall in love.


Genma crashed through the door and looked around. Ino sat on the couch of the hotel room, and watched him come in. He was different, and she could see it immediately. She rose as he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.
“Where are . . ?” he began, and she looked toward the closed bedroom door.
“I put them to bed. They were beat. Are you all right?” she asked as his face dropped.
“I couldn’t find you. I looked all around the town. I thought you had . . . . I was scared.” He finally admitted.
“We are fine. We ran here. I don’t think he followed.”
“He won’t. He’s dead.” And Genma grabbed her and held her in a tight and possessive hug. “He won’t ever threaten you again.”
“Now, I know you’re not all right. What happened?” she asked not pushing him away, but not returning the embrace.
“It was you I was afraid for. I don’t know when it happened.” Genma held her at arms length and looked down into her eyes, he was blinking rapidly and he didn’t seem to be focusing quite right. “Remember when you asked me if I felt anything?” he asked.
Ino nodded, her mind racing over the past to find the actual occurrence. She remembered a camp under a falls and him seated by a log. She looked up again and this time caught his eyes. Those same expressionless voids that she had seen so many times, but they were transformed.
In those eyes Ino saw such depth of emotion that it scared her at first. Genma’s eyes were filled with fear, hatred, remorse, envy, loneliness, and agony. And deeper still she found the most frightening and demanding of all emotions. Genma was overflowing with more love than she could imagine. It was a deep and still pool, that told of hidden undercurrents that could sweep you away. It called to her and she gasped at the surge inside herself. Genma shook her lightly and she gasped again.
“Tell me.” She whispered. “What do you feel?” And he pulled her close and pressed his lips to hers in a deep and needy kiss. This time Ino responded, wrapping her arms around him and pulling herself into his chest with all her might. Her lips parting for him and when he reached out with his tongue she met him with her own.
Reluctantly, he pulled away. He stared long into her eyes and a smile began to tug at the corners of his mouth. He touched her face and shook his head. “Everything I feel?” he asked.
She nodded and he drew her to the couch again. Ino followed and when they had gotten comfortable he began.
He told her of his youth, and the loss of his family when the Kyuubi attacked. He told her of his first love and how that had ended in agony so he had vowed never to fall again, she had smirked at that.
He told her of his anguish at the loss of his best friend Hayate, in the Sound/Sand attack. He shared everything; from as far back as he could remember to his apparent driving need to torment her since they had met in the Hokage’s office the year before.
Genma poured out his memories and every emotion that came with each. Then, he told her of the feeling of humongous loss that had accompanied his failure to find them even after he had defeated Iyashi. It was the first time he had been so overcome and he had become driven by the need to find her, and tell her the truth. The truth that she had worked her way into a heart that was sworn to remain closed and empty. And the truth that he liked the feeling even though it scared him, and hoped she could share it even if it scared her.
Ino smiled and shook her head. She gently whacked him across the side of his head.
“Idiot.” She said. “Some times I am amazed at how stupid the smartest people in our village are. You come in here and ask me if I am willing to feel something I have trying to get you to see for almost a year now.” And he stared at her in shock as she continued. “Shiranui Genma I have been in love with you since the moment you winked at me. But, you are too stupid to figure that out until you almost get us all killed. Now, you are a man of action. What are you going to do about it?” she challenged him.
Genma was a man of few words and already he had more than used up his weekly quota in the last hour of telling her about his life and his love. He had nothing left, so if she wanted action, well that was all he had left anyway.
He swooped down on her and took her in his arms, capturing her willing lips in a kiss that conveyed every bit of his love and desire for her.
The girl was tired of talking and she responded in a way that told him this very fact.
They held each other tightly and by morning were pleasantly sore from the closeness of some of that holding.
Genma hurried his team home, to report to the Hokage of his mission’s success and clean his apartment before he invited the object of his affection to come and spend time with him there.
He felt like a teenager and when Ino arrived, she laughed at his haphazard attempt to make his small apartment presentable for a visitor.
The girl moved to the table where he had arranged a bouquet of flowers hastily purchased from her families shop and set out two mismatched place settings.
“Genma, you need someone to take care of you.” She told him. “How have you managed for this long?”
“I think you’re right. So, will you take the job? I need caring for and I won’t accept anyone else in the position.”
She turned and stared as the awkward Jounin dropped to his knee and took hold of her hand.
“Yamanaka Ino. Marry me. Be my wife, my protector and my best friend. Live with me in this village till we both grow old or die trying to. I want to give you everything I have and I would spare nothing to make you happy. I love you and want you so very much. What is your answer?” he had so much hope filling his face and she couldn’t look away. How could she turn down someone so pathetic and so honest?
“Genma.” She breathed out, and her hands slid into his hair as he pulled her close and pressed his head to her belly and closed his eyes. “Yes, Genma. I want you and I love you, too.” And she felt the convulsive jerks that could only signify sobs coming from the body attached to her.

The wedding was a quiet affair and only half of the village attended.
Her father proudly stood near the Hokage and Jiraiya as the announcement was made that she and Genma were now official.
They were congratulated by the assemblage and had been gifted with so many wonderful things.
Genma had found a perfect little house, not far from her family and yet not so close that the newlyweds couldn’t have a little privacy.
The gifts filled the cupboards and they had very few needs.
They arrived home late this day and when they were finally alone Genma pulled her by the hand and they found their way to their bedroom.
They had already spent many nights together, but this was important and the only surviving member of the Shiranui family had prepared for it well.
With the help of his friends, married or at least involved he had obtained everything he felt he needed. Ino was staring at the room filled with candles that the man was lighting as quickly as he could.
He stopped just inside of the door and looked down at the beautiful bride in her elaborate kimono.
“Shiranui-san. May I be so bold?” he asked.
“Bold, hmm. I think I can allow that.” She said, as he gently unwrapped her obi, once done he slid his hands into the folds of the bright red patterned uchikake, and pushed it away, revealing the pure white shiro-maku underneath.
Ino breathed deeply as she tossed her small silk hakoseko purse and the traditional fan and kaiken onto the end table near the head of the bed.
Genma slid out of the beautifully patterned black dragon haori he had worn and draped it over a chair near the wall leaving him in the simple black kimono and his Hakama pants. He smiled as he loosened these and allowed them to drop to the floor.
Ino waited as he undressed to only his shorts before allowing him to remove her formal white wedding robe. Under this she had opted for the complete Nagajugan and wore the Juban slip as well as the eri-sugata around her neck due to the cold of the October weather.
Once these were gone, she was bare for her new husband to see, and she blushed as he viewed her from a mere three steps away.
“My wife is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” He said, reaching out and pulling her to his body.
Ino gasped as she felt his need from within his deep green silk shorts.
“My husband is a very lustful man. I have been waiting all day for him.” She responded keeping to the feel of the scene. “And I hope I am not kept waiting much longer.”
“Mmmm, I think I can do something about that.” He said. Ino noted how different he looked without his ever-present senbon or the toothpick that often took its place when in non-combat situations. His hair hung loose with the loss of the reverse Hitae-ate.
Genma took her lips in his as he gently caressed her body with his knowing hands and practiced fingers. Ino responded by moving closer, fitting her body into the curves of his.
He was a lustful man, as she had said, and knew well how to please a woman and Ino had a great appreciation for his skills.
He worked his way down her neck and across a soft pale shoulder, kissing licking and biting gently on her sensitive skin.
Ino raked her fingers down his back and dug into him whenever he reached an overly erotic spot on her body.
His lips fell to her breast and he nipped gently on the tiny rise of flesh. Ino gasped and pulled him to her, falling back on the bed and bringing him down on top of her as he tried to cushion their fall with his arm.
“Hey, don’t play rough.” He chided her.
“I like it rough, Jounin. Or have you forgotten that?” she growled at him.
“Oh, is that so? Well, I believe I can handle this mission.” He said, as he slid off the boxers and lifted her legs around his waist.
Ino watched his eyes as he entered her and gloried in the love that she found reflected there once more. The intensity always surprised her but she had grown used to the shock and was now able to return that love with equal vehemence.
Genma moved forward and brushed across her body in a firm and complete move that made her react and she cried out as she arched into him and felt him respond.
It was fast and furious and not like their normal tender touches. It was like they had to affirm their needs quickly and then they moved together and cuddled for the remainder of the night.
Ino found that she was never disappointed in the man’s techniques, be they in the field or in the bedroom. Genma was a very talented Shinobi.
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