Ren woke up with a small groan, blinking the drowsiness from his eyes a few times before he dragged his body into a sitting position. Hearing a quietly protesting, "Mhmmm," coming from the spot on the bed next to him, he sleepily turned toward the noise and dryly chuckled, only for his chuckle to become a yawn halfway through.
With one hand covering his mouth, Ren's other hand reached out toward the mostly asleep Temari, hiding her head in a pillow she was hugging to her chest while lying half on and half under her bedsheet. Ren's fingers gently landed on her thigh, trailing a path upward and reaching her lower back, where Ren's whole palm pressed on her warm skin.
A content smile appeared on Ren's lips as a small, needy moan came from the girl, even as she willfully refused to wake up and only put the pillow more over her head.
Ren's hand continued on its path, caressing her skin and pressing into the muscles of her upper back, causing her to straighten up, maybe even slightly bend her back backward on instinct. Then his fingers gently curled around the back of her neck, and his arm shook alongside the pleasant shiver that rocked her body.
Ren felt his lower part respond, and he had to resist the rising urge to push her into the bed and continue their yesternight's activities. Something the sleepy girl subconsciously desired, if the way she slightly jutted out her posterior in invitation was a sign.
It had been a month since their first time, and Ren learned that Temari enjoyed being more of a passive kind of girl in the bedroom. That probably surprised both of them, given her outgoing, very proactive personality outside of it.
Honestly, he attributed it to her daddy issues.
Not that he would be dumb enough to tell her that to her face. She would never accept it, and it would spark an argument. But she definitely had repressed issues. All three of the Sabaku siblings had them.
Sadly, Ren didn't know the first thing about proper psychology, and there was no therapy in this world. So, they would all simply have to learn to live with it.
Easing up the pressure on the back of Temari's neck, Ren's hand trailed back down the middle of her back, across her spine. From below the pillow, the side of Temari's mouth was peeking out, and Ren could see how she was biting her lower lip. Her thighs pressed together, entrapping the bedsheet in between them in a strong grip. And a small whimper came out of her nose as her entire body sensually shook in anticipation with every pulse of Ren's chakra coming out of his fingers and prodding at her spine in the most pleasant ways.
Ren's smile slowly widened into a grin, and he pressed his palm deeper into Temari's back, forcing a loud gasp out of he-
The pillow that covered her head suddenly impacted Ren's face out of nowhere, making him slightly rock back in his spot.
"ALRIGHT. I AM UP!" Temari loudly cried as she abruptly turned around and sat up, her hair tussled up and messy, while she was panting, her bare chest heaving, and her face was flushed from neck to cheeks to the tips of her ears in embarrassment.
The pillow fell off Ren's face and landed in his lap, unveiling his surprised but amused expression as a startled laugh came out of his mouth.
They played this game almost every morning after they slept together. It was becoming somewhat of a routine for them. But this was the first time Temari reacted by throwing a pillow in his face. He didn't expect that.
Temari reached out and grabbed her pillow from Ren's lap before she hugged it against her chest, covering her breasts, and her expression turned into a miffed one. "Did you have to use chakra? I am still quivering." She asked in a slightly annoyed, shaky tone.
"After how you let me rub your back for an hour the last time we did this?" Ren raised his eyebrow at her and noticed how she hid a smirk. If he wasn't paying attention, he would have missed the small twitch of her lips.
He rolled his eyes at her. Temari could be devious, and if he didn't get inventive, she would no doubt enjoy his ministrations for as long as he was willing to provide them. Oh, she would writhe and moan, quiver and whimper, anything to prolong her enjoyment. But she would not get up. Experience showed Ren that.
"No, I don't think so." Ren snorted, "Not today. I have a meeting at ten a.m." He turned his head toward the clock hanging on the wall and noted that he had an hour to get ready. "And you will probably be required there, too."
Temari blinked and then let out an aggrieved sigh before she hopped out of the bed and onto her feet, stretching up and blatantly showing off her body to Ren, who mirthfully shook his head.
She had grown quite bold in the short month.
Their morning turned into a whirlwind of activity as they both started preparing for the day. They dressed up, had a small argument while bumping their hips as they fought for the use of the sink and mirror in the bathroom, completely ignoring the fact that there were several of them in the house, and after all of that, Ren dragged the protesting kunoichi to the kitchen, where his clones were done with preparing breakfast.
The fact that she was still in the middle of doing the last touches on her hair was ignored by him.
Her simmering anger was extinguished when Ren's clone praised her hair, making her pleased because clones were a reflection of the original for the most part, so if the clone found her pretty... Temari glanced at Ren, who had seated himself opposite her at the table.
Noticing, Ren smirked at her and purposefully did not praise her appearance, earning himself an exasperated but fond huff and a soft kick to his shin under the table.
Yes, yes. She looked adorable with her sandy-blonde hair free and slightly curling into ringlets at the tips. But she already knew that from his clone. He preferred to bring her mood up with a bit of silent teasing instead.
They ate breakfast, a generous serving of eggs and bacon with bread, and then were on their merry way toward the Kazekage Tower with twenty minutes to spare before the agreed-upon meeting time. They could afford to take a leisurely walk instead of having to hop through the rooftops, and so, Ren found himself with Temari hugging his arm to her side as they strolled through the village.
He inwardly snorted. Her tight proximity had an added benefit that he knew she was aiming for. He stretched his protective jutsu over her and earned himself a thankful smile from the girl as the hot and dry air no longer affected her.
She was perfectly capable of doing a similar thing to a smaller effect by now. But according to her, keeping up the focus was hard, and the technique oftentimes just broke for her whenever she got distracted. It was apparently highly annoying, having to recast it all the time.
Ren wouldn't know. He could keep the techniques going just fine. He mirthfully glanced at Temari, and when she noticed, from his expression, she realized what he was thinking and returned a mirthless look in return.
Arriving at the Kazekage Tower, they greeted Kankuro, who passed them in the hallway and scowled to cover his small blush, and murmured a greeting back while averting his gaze as he hurried away.
Ren and Temari snickered and giggled. The poor boy was embarrassed ever since he came home earlier than usual one evening and caught them having sex on the couch in the living room. He talked big and was usually brash, but it was so easy to fluster him. Ren understood why Temari loved to tease him.
Speaking of Kankuro, the first rounds of protection detail missions with ninjas capable of using the Wind Release: Dome Technique finished around two weeks ago. Since then, word got out about how pleasant it made the trip through the desert, and it was slowly spreading among the merchants in the Land of Wind. The mission commissions picked up like crazy, and the snowball got rolling down the cliff.
The merchants asked for ninjas with that technique, even offering bonus pay once it became apparent that there simply were not enough ninjas with that capability in the village for all the interested clients. The richer merchants tried to commission a higher-ranked mission in hopes of getting preferential treatment, and the poor paper-pusher ninjas had to explain to them that the system did not work like that.
It turned out that having a pleasant journey through one of the most inhospitable places in the world was kind of a big deal to these constantly traveling merchants. Funnily enough, they did not give a shit about protection from bandits. They just wanted somebody to save them from the heat, sweat, and stink.
Sunagakure rank-and-file ninjas realized this, and many started commissioning training missions on their own, asking for somebody to teach them the technique. Those who had friends who knew it begged them to be taught, and from what the excited Ebizo told Temari, who had then told Ren, the village had not been this lively in a long time.
It was far, very far from solving the economic crisis, but the village was now on the right track to recovery.
Ren and Temari reached Ebizo's office and entered, nodding at Gaara, who was impassively leaning on a wall inside with his arms crossed over his chest.
The boy still did not sleep several nights a week, even if Shukaku was no longer keeping him awake. Ren found out that it was an ingrained habit for him by now. Usually, that meant they did not really meet him in the morning because he was already up and doing something at an ungodly hour.
It was usually in the afternoon, evening, or on the weekends that Ren saw Gaara. The boy had been burdened with and pressured to become stronger for the village's sake. He had to train near-constantly.
Ren felt a bit bad about it, but he didn't have the free time to meddle in his situation right now, either.
Temari separated from Ren and walked toward her brother, while Ren turned to the other side of the room, where Ebizo was talking with a tall, busty, fair-skinned blonde woman.
Smiling, Ren approached them as they turned toward him.
"Hello." He cheerfully greeted them, getting a bland smile from Ebizo. The old man still did not like him all that much, but that was fine. As long as they could work together, it didn't matter.
The woman looked at him with a stoic, aloof expression and cold blue eyes. She took a step toward him, and her lips twitched into a barely noticeable smile. She leaned forward, and Ren expected her to kiss his cheeks in a greeting, but she suddenly moved her face at the last moment, causing her lips to land on his in a kiss.
Everybody in the room suddenly froze, and Ren could swear he heard an angry, feminine screech coming from behind him, but he was a little bit too preoccupied with the soft tongue that invaded his mouth.
His brain finally rebooted, and he managed to pull away with a very strained, awkward smile as the blonde woman brushed her lips with her thumb with seductive ease while sporting an aloof, self-satisfied expression and a small smirk.
"Greetings, Ren-sama. Nice to meet you again." She coolly said and slightly bowed, unintentionally showing off her very generous cleavage.
Ren took a deep breath and let out a long sigh as he resisted the urge to rub his forehead. Somehow, this was Ino's fault. He just knew it. She had no doubt put her up to it.
"... Yes. Nice to meet you, too, Samira." He awkwardly replied, trying not to look at Temari, who was held back by Gaara while giving the aloof blonde a death glare to end all death glares. If looks could burn, Samira would have been a steaming corpse thrice over.
Samira, however, ignored Temari with the cold disregard that fit her perfectly. Ren helplessly stood between her and the angry Temari, not knowing what to do.
He couldn't tell Samira off. He still felt guilty about what Ino had done to her when she was more known as Samui.
...
AN:
Sorry, guys. I know that some of you probably wanted a full-blown smut after the last chapter, but I just don't feel like writing that.