The Nara Oath

Chapter Eight

Her hand reached out and brushed along the surface of the pillow, feeling its cool linen and knowing that her lover was long gone. He had probably left sometime during the night after she had cried herself to sleep. A deep, cold feeling welled up inside of her and she curled into herself, hugging her knees tightly.

The fatalist in her—the realist, she was convinced—believed that Kiba wouldn’t come back to her. After a half an hour of dwelling in the sticky mire of her thoughts, Ino dragged herself out of bed and forced herself into the shower.

The water got in her eyes, making them feel gritty and so she closed them to let it pour unhindered down a face she was convinced was bruised and battered. Of course her face wasn’t battered, it looked just fine but Ino avoided looking at herself in the mirror just in case, as she stepped out of the shower stall and blindly reached out for a towel.

It was handed to her and she murmured her thanks before patting her face dry. She frowned into the warm fluffy towel as she realized that the towel had passed itself to her. She peered over the terrycloth and her frown deepened as she met Kiba’s face. “I thought you were gone.” The woman blurted, dumbfounded.

“Not yet.” He waved a scroll in his hand, “Got a mission. Gonna be gone for two days.”

“Lucky you,” She muttered, pushing passed him to get to her bedroom where she had left a clean change of clothes on the bed.

He followed her into the bedroom, strangely quiet and unsmiling. Akamaru was no where in sight, but she could hear the dog padding through her living room probably to make himself comfortable on the sofa. She wasn’t bothered with her nakedness although for some strange reason, she figured she should have been. Something had shifted in her mind last night, since Shikamaru had left them both before saying such things in front of everyone. Towelling her hair dry, Ino let the comfort of such a simple task consume her mind. She put out thoughts of Kiba, standing before her in his jounin regalia. She tried to keep from thinking about how great those pants look on him, how the hugged the curve of his well muscled legs and ass.

A hand pushed her down on the bed and immediately, she was comforted by a familiar weight on top of her. Her hands slid around his neck without a thought as her knees came up so that her thighs cradled his waist. “Are you thinking about Shikamaru?” He breathed into her collarbone.

“Are you?”

“Trying not to.” Kiba mumbled, his tongue darting out to catch a crystalline droplet that trailed down her neck.

If it were anyone else, she would have flown into a rage but that would have made her a hypocrite to round on Kiba. She found herself occupied with thoughts of her childhood friend as well. “Have you spoken to him since last night?”

His mouth clamped down on a nipple, his tongue working over the peak until it was hard and her breath was coming in soft panting noises. Pulling away from her breast and watching it settle back with a delicious quiver, he smiled and said, “Nope,” before attacking its twin.

She arched off the bed, cradling his head in her arms as his mouth worked over her breasts. She felt guilty that she was enjoying this as their lover occupied each of their minds—or at least, she could assumed Shikamaru occupied Kiba’s mind as it did hers. Her fingers nestled in his wild, messy hair as he moved down her body, pressing nipping kisses across skin she thought would burst into flames at any moment. “I hope he’s alright…” She whispered.

Kiba’s hands flipped the button on his fly. “I’m sure he is.” He muttered before entering her in one, swift movement that left them both gasping. Rolling onto his side and bringing Ino with him, she found herself on top of him. She sat up, arching back to let the cool air brush against her damp skin. With a soft moan and the flex of her thighs, she slid up Kiba’s pulsing length before riding it back down. Somewhere deep inside of her that familiar sparked to life and a small, growling mewl trickled from her lips.

Arching up to catch one breast in his mouth, he found his shirt pried off his back. She didn’t break her rhythm as he let himself drop back on the bed. His hands slid up her thighs to rest on her slowly gyrating hips to guide her. It was merely a force of habit, since the woman already knew what needed to be done. His fingertips bruised her pale flesh as her body flexed to receive his shaft over and over. Her head rolled back as she rode him in lazy strokes, small sounds slipping from her mouth as he rocked up to bury himself deeper. Her hands brushed up her ribs, squeezing her breasts before moving upwards to throw her hair back. Kiba’s mouth went dry as he watched her uninhibited actions. He gritted his teeth as he flipped her on her back, not breaking their delicate link. Hitching her legs over his shoulders, he smirked at her as he drove into her in a pace far from lazy. Her soft cries became louder and louder, in time with the rough smack of skin against skin filled the air. Her hands knotted themselves roughly in his hair, tugging and urging him on.

She felt herself driven into the mattress. She had never felt this amount of intensity in him before and she couldn’t say that she liked it, but it was doing strange things to her body. Her hipbones felt like they were being grinded into dust beneath his relentless assault, her innards turning into a hot mush while warm honey slid down her skin. One of his own hands left the bed where it had been fisting the sheets to keep from toppling over and crushing her, it caught her own on his chest and held it there. He grit his teeth, refusing to relent his punishing pace as Ino writhed beneath him.

Her ears were ringing, the blood was singing in her veins as the loud moans soared to soft screams. Her fingers turned into claws, raising welts across his tanned chest. She moaned his name between her yells while her fingernails dug deeper into his skin. He threw back his head as his hips worked. She arched upwards, clamping her mouth on his throat as her fingernails raked down his back. Her orgasm came upon her like a wave crashing against the rocks, each time he pushed into her, she clenched down on him hard enough to make her entire body shake. He moaned softly, partially collapsing as he came with one last thrust of his hips.

She hugged him tightly against him as they both recovered. Swimming in post orgasm bliss, Kiba rolled over and dragged her with him. She nestled into his chest with a contented sigh. “You know I love you, right Ino?” The youngest Inuzuka mumbled sleepily as the arm around her shoulders tightened.

Pressing her smiling lips against a cut that was beginning to bleed, she smiled, “Of course. Do you know I love you?”

“I assumed that you did.” He gave a lazy chuckle before kissing the top of her head.

In a renewed bout of energy, she swung a leg around and straddled his waist as she sat on top of him. “So what about Shika? Are we really going to let this slide?”

“Don’t think there’s much we can do, Ino. This has something to do with his clan, I can feel it.” His hand cupped her waist.

She drew herself down flush against him, her ear pressed against his chest, “Somehow I figured that.” Ino muttered as she chewed against her thumbnail while she mulled it over.

“Come on, seriously. You are going to think about him when we just professed love for one another.” He said jokingly but Ino sensed a serious note in his voice that made her pause. Her eyes rolled upwards to look at his face as she listened to his heartbeat speed up. She went still, deadly still in a way that only rabbits did when caught in the gaze of a viper.

She rolled off of him and sat on the end of the bed with her towel in hand. “Kiba, you know that I love him too… I can’t just stop thinking about him just because I have you here.”

Sitting up, Kiba drew his knees to his chest. He set his chin on his knee and for the first time since their fight with Shikamaru, he looked depressed. “Me too,” He said softly.

A long pregnant pause followed his words. In that time, Ino tried frantically to think of some way to get a hold of a situation that was quickly spiralling out of her control. She rested her head in her hands and sighed sadly. Who am I kidding, the woman thought grimly, I was never in control of this to begin with. She stood up slowly, slinging the towel over her shoulder as she turned to face her lover. “Well, I’ll think of something and it’ll be fixed by the time you get back.” She resolved with a simple nod of her head.

“And how do you expect to do that? Kill the old bitch?”

“If it came down to it,” She said, grinning wolfishly at him. “No one takes what is mine.” It was a childish statement but there was no other way she could word it. Sakura had been the last to steal what she thought was hers…and it turned out that neither of them had gotten the prize at all. The matter of Uchiha Sasuke was neither here nor there as that had been when both girls were young and dumb and didn’t know any better---namely, that said prize had been lusting after a certain blond haired young man.

“So you’d do anything for him?” Kiba asked, getting to his knees on the bed.

She turned and smiled at him, reaching out to run a hand across the curve of his jaw. The pads of her thumb brushed across his tattooed cheeks. She laid a kiss on his mouth, feeling his fang like eyeteeth press against her bottom lip. “Our family has had a special relationship with his for a while…”

Tugging up his fly and reaching for his shirt, Kiba didn’t say anything but he couldn’t help feeling a spark of jealousy at Ino’s unwavering loyalty to Shikamaru. He squashed those thoughts with a smirk and a rough kiss before jaunting to the door. “Alright, well… I guess I better be off.” Akamaru joined him in the hallway and from where Ino stood she could watch him as he walked to the front door. “I’ll see you when I see you.” He said, picking up his chuunin vest and slinging it over his shoulder.

“Later, then.” She said and then headed the shower, feeling panic and worry wash over her as the door clicked closed.

**

She hadn’t been in anything as formal as a yukata in a long time. It felt odd to have her legs bared and bereft of the familiar weight of her weapon holster. She had slipped a few kunai about her person, wherever the folds of the dress would allow but there wasn’t much room.

With a sigh she smoothed down her flaxen hair as she studied herself in the mirror. Her stomach was quivering with a nervous energy she wasn’t able to shake since getting the idea in her head to go visit the Nara Dowager some days ago. She hadn’t seen Shikamaru in days, figuring that he was probably away on a mission, possibly the same one as Kiba… she shook that thought from her head. Kiba would have told her if he was assigned to the same team as Shikamaru.

She looked like the very epitome of a meek, delicate woman as she passed the gates of the Nara ranch. The road was towards the house was hedged with large trees that drooped over, their massive canopies sheltering her from the sweltering sun. By this time, her stomach had twisted itself into a tight knot and it was making her feel queasy. Somehow, her imagination had built up the visit to something with the equivalent of a march to death row. It wasn’t that bad, she reasoned, honestly Shikao was a sweet old lady that was just set in her ways.

A thought passed her brain as she was ushered into a spacious reception room by a silent servant. She should have told her father her intentions before coming and perhaps he would have given her some advice. She shook her head and then settled herself on a cushion to wait for the impending arrival of the head of the Nara family.

While waiting a servant walked softly across the tatami mats, carrying what seemed to be a large tray of sweets and cool drinks. She didn’t bother to look up as a cup was set on the low table in front of her. “I think you might like these.” A familiar voice whispered close to her ear.

She looked up, startled to meet Shikamaru’s dark eyes. “Shika.” Then she realized the reason why she hadn’t recognized him when she walked in the door. His hair was pulled back, as per usual but not in the odd bushy way he kept it. A simple ornament carved from what Ino was sure was an antler pierced through the mound of hair pinned atop his head. To disguise the long hours of toil (Or rather, lazing) in the sun, he had a fine coat of rice powder across his face. Kohl, blush and lipstick had been applied in modest amounts, just enough to bring out the smoky colour of his eyes. He was dressed in a yukata different colours of pinks ranging from a dusky rose to a deep shade of pink that boarder lined on crimson.

Ino gaped a moment realizing that he had been speaking to her. He rolled his eyes as if he had experienced this reaction many times before repeating his original question. “What are you doing here, Ino?” He whispered, his eyes darting to the door where they both knew Lady would enter.

“I want to tell her the truth about… it all. That you didn’t sleep with me.”

He pinched the bridge of is nose as he muttered, “God, you are so troublesome.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, shocked with the lack of gratitude he was showing.

“Do you honestly think she’ll give a shit about what you have to say, Ino?”

The woman in question blinked in shock, “But… if she cared she’d… want to know the truth…”

“She knows the truth, Ino.”

“Then what is she punishing you for?” She asked, sounding frustrated.

“For exactly the same thing you intend on confessing.” Ino gave him a blank look, prompting him to continue his explanation, “She knows that I had a relationship with Kiba. That’s the reason why she has me dressed like this.”

The door slid open before Ino was able to say anything. Shikamaru straightened, jerking the yukata straight and then moving gracefully to the other side of the room to stand behind the head of his clan. The old woman settled her willowy frame on pillows at the opposite end of the table as Ino. She took her time rearranging the intricate folds of her kimono and then after much fussing, looked up to fix the blond with a piercing glare.

“What are you doing here, girl.” Shikao asked in a voice just as sharp as her gaze.

All the courage she had coming in to meet the lady had long since drained away during her discussion with Nara. She sat, staring at the woman, wide eyed and unable to think of anything to say. She wanted to crawl under the table or sink beneath the tatami mats. Her eyes darted from Shikao to Shikamaru, who stood silently behind the old woman’s left shoulder.

An eyebrow lifted in the woman’s hoary face, prompting Ino to blurt, “I want to marry Shikamaru!” As soon as she said it, she heard her stomach and Shikamaru’s jaw hit the floor.

A fan snapped shut, bringing Ino back to reality. Shikao clenched the delicate trinket in her hands until the wood cracked. Her startled eyes went to her face, where a dark and evil look had distorted what was once the husk of a simple beauty. “Stupid little girl.” Shikao spat.

Seeing red, Ino slammed her fist on the table. The demure, sweet woman was gone and in its place, an enraged Kunoichi of superb skill. “Listen, I might be stupid but being bitter about something that happened between his father and mine is no reason to punish him. Sure, he might have screwed a guy but don’t think for a moment that you didn’t drive him to it.”

“How dare you speak to me like that!?” The old woman cried, outraged to the point of tears.

Ino curled her lip at that pathetic display of spinelessness, “It was your fault, you know,” She persisted over wheezing cries of protest, “There are very few shinobi and kunoichi that do not use sex as a stress relief. Any ninja who decide to suppress the urge aren’t good ones, at any rate. Trust me lady putting a stupid oath on the Nara men is only restricting their abilities to function properly.”

“And what do you think this has to do with you marrying my great nephew?”

“I’m saving his life, as far as I see it. One of these days, he’s gonna get too stressed out to cope with no outlet to vent from. And what do you think’ll happen to him? He’s human, that’s a fact. So either give him to me or you can watch him go insane with the traumatic stress his path will most undoubtedly give him.”

She tore her violet gaze from the woman’s shocked face to stare up at Shikamaru, who gave her an exasperated look. Ino felt a twinge of guilt. The old woman was apparently holding an internal debate from the grimaces crossing her face and the twitching in her eyebrows and thin lips. She wanted to pat her shoulder and say she was sorry but she couldn’t… especially not with her pride and Shikamaru on the line. She’d deal with her conscience later but at that moment, she had to find a way of subtly toppling Shikao’s indecisiveness to her favour.

Before Ino had a chance to move in for the proverbial kill, the old woman picked up her fan and snapped it open. As if a decision had been made, she smiled darkly as she looked up at Ino. Guards appeared as if by some mental link to their mistress. Hands moved threateningly over their hips where the hilts of their swords sat jutting out of the neat belt of their hakama. Slowly, Ino stood up and let her mind retreat into a deadly quiet place she liked just before she killed. Her hands wavered over her own weapons, her body tensing as if waiting for a mere hair trigger to catapult her into action.

“Escort Miss Yamanaka off the property, gentlemen. I have no use for such a manipulative bitch.” Shikao said in a sweet elderly lady-like voice as she rose in a graceful way that didn’t match her fragile looking limbs.

She incapacitated the first man with a fist to the cleft of his chin. He went down like a bag of bricks, his eyes rolling in the back of his head. The other guard had just a moment before the petite blonde was barrelling down on him. He had his sword out and had even managed to get a swing in before she laid a full armed slap to the side of his face, puncturing his eardrum. He screamed, dropped the weapon and clutched at his ear, which had begun to bleed. She aimed a knee to his crotch to keep him occupied. She watched the man slide to his knees, one hand on the side of his head and the other between his legs.

“That’s alright, I’ll show myself out.” The kunoichi muttered, pushing her hair out of her face.

Just before the gates of the Nara residence, Shikamaru caught up with her. He had been walking behind her for some distance but wouldn’t quicken his pace. She stopped and turned, watching him as he finally slowed and stopped. “Laid it on a bit thick there, Ino?”

She grinned and shrugged, “Why not? I figured the battle was lost the moment she made her decision.”

“If you think you fooled her for a moment, you didn’t.” He crossed his arms across his chest, “You can’t pull the wool over her eyes that easily.”

“Can I kill her?” Her grin turned predatory.
He rolled his eyes, “If I thought she could be killed, you think I would let you do it? Hell, there’d be a line up out the door.” It was as if his eyes couldn’t resist the sight of thick fluffy clouds that peaked through the softly swaying canopies of trees. “Man, this is all so troublesome.”

“Are you saying you wished you’d just kept your pecker in your pants?”

He shrugged and there was a moment of silence as if he was debating the answer. He turned on his heel and began walking slowly back to the house with his head tilted back to look at the sky. “Gonna be a storm tonight,” She heard him say as he turned the bend in the road and was out of sight.

--

Shikamaru’s predictions were correct. Ino sat on her porch, sheltered from the driving rain by the patio floor above her. She had a six pack of beer on one side of her and a bag of chips on the other. The entire village was dark, as if it was a ghost town. Sometime during the beginning of the storm, the power had been knocked out and it seemed the entire grid had been knocked out. She didn’t really mind, it wasn’t like she needed tv, a stereo or lights. Her habit was to unplug everything during a storm and sit at a window or on the veranda to watch the spectacular element at its worst.

People called her crazy for sitting out in the rain, watching the lightning storm. They asked her if she was scared and almost always she’d reply with a grin and say that she was absolutely terrified. They would laugh, think that she was joking or give her a lecture about getting too cocky and getting struck by lightning. In fact, she was absolutely terrified to the point that it caused minor tremors in her hands and a cold sweat to break out across her forehead. She liked the feel of the fear almost as much as she liked the look of the jagged bolts of lightning, shredding the sky and heralding a loud, teeth clattering crack of thunder. The prospect of being fried like a bug by a stray bolt of lightning crossed her mind a million times and the possibility of her appliances blowing up, spraying bits of plastic and glass around like shrapnel were constant factors in her mind.

She took a drink of her first beer while the other hand dived into the bag of chips. Ino squeaked in alarm as a bolt of lightning tore through the air and hit the building in front of her. She stilled and shivered, fighting off the animalistic fear that wanted to drive her into the house and under her bed. She took a deep breath, calming herself before going back to eating and drinking.

Shikamaru was suddenly in front of her, he’d dropped down from the balcony above. He hung there like a monkey, with one hand gripping the ledge as the other dangled at his side. “Yo.” He grunted as he dropped to his feet and leaned against the rail. The rain splattered across his face and he tilted further back, letting the rain splash against his head and shoulders.

“Get away from there. Don’t you know that handrail is metal and the lightning is attracted to it?”

He lifted his head, regarding her with one lifted eyebrow above eyes shining faintly with derision. “The lightning is attracted to your handrail?”

“No! It’s attracted to the metal. Now get away from there.” She insisted, pulling a beer from the plastic rings that held the six pack together and offering it to him as a bribe.

After lingering a moment longer, he moved away and took up a spot beside her. His hand went into the bag of chips, pulling out a handful while his other pulled the tab to the beer he had braced between his feet. “You are such a weird woman, Ino.” He said, popping a chip in his mouth, “Just like you were a weird girl before you grew up.”

She snorted, “Look who’s talking.” But her cool demeanour was momentarily shattered by a bright flash and a crack of thunder. She squeaked, closed her eyes and waited for it to pass.

“Still scared of lightning, huh?”

“What if I am?” Ino growled before taking a deep gulp of her beer.

He shrugged, “Just an observation.”

“What are you doing here, anyways? I thought you weren’t allowed to be around the evil Yamanaka bitch.” She taunted in a voice that sounded strikingly like Shikao’s.

“I’m supposed to be at home, reflecting on why it’s bad to be in love with a man.” He leaned back against the wall, resting the beer can against his lip.

Her breath caught in her throat and suddenly getting struck by lightning seemed irrelevant. It took her a moment to recover her senses but when she did, she didn’t bother looking at him. She knew what she’d find; a thoughtful expression on his face as his mind directed itself towards said man-- A man that she loved just as much. She wanted to tell him that she loved him… but she didn’t think that mattered. She wanted to tell him that she loved him, too, but that wasn’t bloody likely. She figured she’d get hit by lightning before that happened.

“So how’s that going?” She blurted, trying to tamper her thoughts by engaging herself in frivolous conversation.

“How’s what going?”

She slapped him on the back of the head, “For someone who’s supposed to be so damn smart, you can be pretty clueless at times.”

Rubbing the spot where her palm had connected, he grunted, “I have my moments.”

They lapsed into silence, watching the rain and the lightning clash with the sky. A shudder ran through her as lightning struck a building in the distance. She was shocked when a strong arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her closer. She snuggled against his chest although her hands refused to dislodge themselves from their tight grip on her knees. Ino closed her eyes while she waited for the obligatory crack of thunder. She buried her face in his neck and squeaked as the sound seemed to make the air shudder when it finally roared across the pewter sky.

“You never make anything easy for yourself, do you?” Shikamaru exasperated.

She smiled against his neck, “Never.”

The wind picked up, sending the rain splattering across the veranda. “Let’s go inside. The rain is gonna start coming in sideways in a minute.” He said but before she could protest, she found herself hoisted up into his arms.

“This is the closest I’ve ever been to you.” She blurted, immediately regretting it. Ino struggled until finally he set her gently on the ground. “Sorry. That was uncalled for. I should respect your oath.”

“To hell with my oath,” The Nara growled before lips crashed down on hers. He tasted faintly of barbeque chips and beer he had just had. His tongue pushed against her mouth, taunting her lips until she opened up and allowed him in. She moaned softly, feeling lower things clench up.

Suddenly she shoved him away, breathing hard. Her body, her skin seemed like it wanted to crawl off her body and join Shikamaru. She was thankful for the lightning that proved as a distraction. She jumped away from the window on pure instinct, a cry ringing from her kiss bruised lips. Shikamaru stood silently in the dark, at ease with the shadows that settled back on his face as the lights blinked and died away. Ino turned and stared at him, her fingertips touching her lips as she recalled the kiss she had shared with him only moments ago. “No, Shikamaru. You can’t break your oath. It’s important to your family.”

“No, the oath is important to my great aunt. Not me.”

“Your great aunt is your family.” She pointed out, “No matter how much of a bitch she is, she’s the head of your clan and you’ve gotta respect that.”

His hand came up, smoothing his hair to his skull in one fluid movement. “I thought you were serious about your proposition of marriage.”

She blanched. Finally after a few moments of gaping at the man, she said cautiously, “I was being serious… “

“Well then, marry me.” He said simply.

TBC