"A world without pain?"
"A world where no one is alone, no one goes hungry, no one is fearful. A world of no compromises."
"And how is such a world achieved?"
"Through a dream."
"Genjutsu? You dragged me away from Koto to cast a spell on humanity?"
"You came willingly at the thought of being reunited with the Kazekage."
"Reunited by his own desire, not the fabrication of a dream- A lotus reflected in water is only half as beautiful and utterly intangible!"
"You must think beyond the physical, Renai. Everything you ever wanted will be yours; Gaara, your father, a home, love, lust, friendship, I will give you everything! I know what is written in the crease of your furrowed brow; I know what heartache looks like. Wouldn't it feel better to let all that go? Think of Gaara; he could make peace with his parents, with his siblings, with you. Perfection is where the river breaks into the waterfall. Tumble with me into those deep and welcoming waters, Renai."
Three months later
Freedom is a luxury unaffordable to a courtesan; you are bound to someone always, whether that be a customer for less than an hour, or a House Mistress for the rest of your life. You are always shackled, always tethered too close to the Earth with your hand outstretched, beckoning the stars towards you. Older courtesans, from dynasties pre-dating the founding of the shinobi villages, write that freedom is gifted to them through performance and the writing of poetry.
There was one young courtesan who had always suspected that this was not true freedom and now sat in a palace built just for her, she scoffed at the archaic thoughts of long-forgotten courtesans. Of course, poetry and performance were undeniably invigorating, but to do as one wanted, to feel the water beneath your feet whenever you cared to walk in the ocean, to sing without being called upon- that is true freedom! No ribbons tying your wrists to the cliffs, preventing you from jumping off. You were free to jump and find that you can fly.
One thing was still denied to her; she was not free to love who she wanted to. To love in the way she wanted to. But who was that and how was it to love like she had never loved before? Was she destined to be with Gaara? Was he the one waiting in the promised 'dream world'? The girl did not know. But that in itself was a wonderful freedom; uncertainty about the future and being content with that notion, brought such peace to her soul. Who knew where the adventure would go when she finally stepped foot out of the Marble Palace?
It had been three months since Madara had escorted her to the Marble Palace; a gift for her, rumoured to be where Renai and Senso met on Earth in secret. It stood impressively between the trees of the Urin (rainforest) that divided Kawa no Kuni (the Land of Rivers). It was a country that bordered the Land of Wind and was closer to Suna than Koto had been; there was less rain here, hotter, more humid days gave birth to the rainforest. The Palace was, unsurprisingly, made of white marble; it glittered in the hot sun and cooled all those who sought sanctuary in its shade. The walls outside had never faded or crumbled; they stood strong against the vibrant green vines that grew up the side of the Palace, each plant stretching out to catch the sunbeams and raindrops. The garden was full life; plants, blossoms of every colour, birds serenading one another and koi fish danced between the lily pads the were floating atop the gentle waters of a steam.
Hidden between the rose bushes and low hanging branches of palm trees, eerily quiet and astoundingly beautiful, stood red-stone statues of gods. They towered in the tall grass, that red clay, famous in this part of the world, was burning to an orange in the tropical sun. Carved faces were hidden between low branches and the figures of curvaceous goddesses were draped with overgrown wisteria. The silent figures gave a hint of what the Palace was originally created for. With marble domes and large prayer rooms, the building was originally intended to be a shrine to smaller deities and Renai; lotus flowers, a sign of good luck, were carved into the marble alongside scripture.
Upon entering the grounds and hearing a peacock call out to the inhabitants of the garden, warning them that someone was trespassing, Ai had stood still in awe. The group had waited behind her as she inspected the Palace from a distance; her blue eyes glittered in the garden as they caught the sunlight and shone with delight. It was a strange feeling of homecoming and freedom that Ai had never felt before. She ran through the garden to the front doors of the palace and pushed them open with all her might. Love entered that place in a state of sheer liberation and had not looked back since.
Now, Ai sat on a swinging bench that was chained to the ceiling above the veranda. If she swung out far enough, her feet could skim the top of the water of the stream that flowed in the garden beside the palace. But for now she sat quietly in a peach dress, reading her father's work, idly curling a strand of her hair around her index finger. She breathed in deeply the scent of jasmine flowers that grew in thick bunches beside the stream. In the stillness of midday, Ai could hear the peacocks calling to one another, the distant chatter of her friends around her and the familiar sound of footsteps approaching.
"Renai," as a deep and commanding voice called out to her, Ai stood from her bench and looked over to the main path in the garden that led to the front doors of the palace. As she stood, Lena walked over to her and handed her a deep blue shawl which she took with a smile and wrapped it around herself, before walking to find who had called her. Lena followed, beckoning girls from behind her.
Ai had been allowed to bring six girls to this hideout and she had been grateful for it; Ai was a social creature, even when she wanted to be left alone she was happy to sit silently in the company of friends. The good thing about courtesans is that they were all orphans; these girls had ties to no one and so when Ai asked them to follow her, they did so without hesitation. The seven girls, all dressed in beautiful colours, blending in with the tropical rainforest flowers, approached the stairs to the palace and smiled as a man in a mask approached them.
"Sensei (teacher)," Ai said with a smile, "what work is there to do?" That eerily unreadable mask gave nothing away. Just a quick bow to her, the blink of an eye and his hand raising to hand her and envelope was the only indication he had heard her. There was no emotion, no heartbeat behind that mask. Behind him, Ai spied Taka, with Sasuke stood, looking way from her and Suigetsu eyeing up Lena unashamedly.
"Translate this so I can read it and then correct any mistakes," Madara informed her. Ai tore open the envelope delicately, handed the discarded paper to Lena and proceeded to read the kanji scribbled on the parchment.
"This is indecipherable," Ai tutted; it looked as though someone with a broken hand had written this, "I cannot read this."
"His hand was broken," Madara replied and when Ai opened her mouth to ask why he added: "I broke it. Think nothing of it, dear one." Realising she was going to get no answer as Madara entered the palace to take refuge in the hottest hours of the day, she sighed.
Her role in the Akatsuki was not fully disclosed to anyone, Ai herself had no idea how many members of the Akatsuki were still alive; all she knew was Madara and Taka. She was confined to the Marble Palace with Lena and the girls most days. Madara would often visit in the morning and discuss her task for that day. Taka would visit with him sometimes although Ai never discussed much with them. Her work involved the writing of scripture; old, outdated stuff she had to learn about. Her knowledge of the dead language was one of the best in the country but even she, when forced to read the scriptures Madara or Sasuke brought for her, had to re-consider her skills. The work they gave her was ancient! It was written with words and grammar the likes of which she had never seen. Even some kanji were unrecognisable. Nevertheless, it seemed a intriguing puzzle and there was not much else to do during the day so Ai took great care with her work.
For a few moments, Taka and the group of dancers stood, almost as though they were marking their territory; the girls were scattered on the veranda, protecting the palace, looking like rose petals that had wafted away from the rose bush. Taka stood, eerily silent as though weighing up the best way to get past the girls and storm the palace. Of course, they were all allies but there was a tension between their leaders that no one could quite comprehend. It seemed Ai and Sasuke were also at odds with how they were to address each other, who they were to one another, what they meant in the world of the Akatsuki.
"What country is this from?" Ai finally looked up from the note and addressed Sasuke, assuming he and Madara had discussed the note already. The Uchiha finally turned to her; it was funny, even though Sasuke did not wear a mask, his face was as unreadable as Madara's was. It was worse than that though; Sasuke had taken a disliking to Ai. He ignored her most of the time and if they ever did speak Sasuke would give one word answers or eventually stop responding. Of course, if one asked Karin she would say Sasuke acted like that with her, but even she had to admit there was a coldness in the way he appraised the courtesan. It seemed as though today the coin he tossed told him to ignore her, so he did just that and ascended the stairs to walk past her. "Sasuke, I asked you a question."
"And who are you to ask me a question?" Sasuke asked with his back turned to her. The girl's eyes widened, the other girls gasped in offence. "So you can read and write a dead language," Sasuke continued in a bored voice, "why should I be at your beck and call? Because you're a goddess?" He turned back to her and scowled, "I see no proof of that."
"Sasuke," Suigetsu, who was stood with Taka at the bottom of the stairs, called his name with a slight laugh, trying to ease the tension, "Karin herself said this girl's chakra-"
"What does that prove?" Sasuke demanded an answer. "Nothing," he concluded when no one could give a substantial reply. He went to walk into the Palace.
"I do not believe it either," Ai spoke suddenly and the whole garden fell silent as though even the trees wanted to hear her. Sasuke turned back once more to see her looking at the floor, "what proof has been offered to me? None. I only have what I have been told: I heard Gaara speak as he was dying, I spoke with Shukaku, I called to Naruto somehow when I was imprisoned, Itachi called me Renai, Jiraiya and Madara did so too," she shrugged to show all that was meaningless. "I have no proof so I cannot answer when you ask me who I am. We could at least help one another," Ai suggested kindly, "learn from one another-"
"And what could I possibly learn from a whore?" As the Uchiha spoke, an icy breeze rippled through the courtyard, freezing everyone in their place as they looked between Sasuke and Ai.
"You're right," Ai gave a small smile of apology and turned away. "What could I possibly learn from a virgin?" As she asked, her entourage of girls giggled, the group of shinobi tried to stop their eyes from widening in surprise, not knowing where to look. Sasuke was left, staring after her, unsure of what to make of the beautiful girl who defied him.
As Ai made her way back to her bench and sat down, she turned to catch a glimpse of Sasuke walking into the palace with a gleeful-looking Suigetsu at his heel. The blue eyed beauty sighed as she clutched not to he scripture Madara had handed her. The tropical breeze fluttered around her, butterflies the size of her hand were dancing above the flowers, but the girl felt restless.
In truth, Ai was lonely. The girls here gave her company in the day time, but in the night, when she was desperate to come alive, there was no one to share her time with. It was as though she were the remnants of a fire, burning embers flickering in the coal, dying to be fanned, to be doused in kerosene and ignite one more. She was aching to burn, restless without the challenge of flirtation, without a glance from another broken soul. The dark haired boy was lost, troublesome and handsome. He had that same lonely look in his eye that Ai had shared with one other person before. That look of longing and distrust. It was so familiar to her. it felt almost like home, when Sasuke looked at her.
"Do you think today we can finally rejoice as Sasuke proclaims to the world his undying love for you?" Ai jumped as Lena spoke sarcastically, elbowed her sharply in the ribs and gave her a wink. Rubbing her rib, Ai watched as Lena went to sit with the other girls, all giggling and teasing her about Sasuke. Ai turned back to watch a pink petal drift down to the garden and cause a small ripple in the stream as it landed gently onto of the water.
***
There are many ways for people to look at one another; with loathing, with passion, with distrust. Very rarely is it a complicated mix of emotions and it is more unlikely that someone could notice exactly what those emotions were. Could you tell, for example, if someone equally distrusted but admired you? Or if someone loathed but sympathised with you? Often, humans are capable of hiding one emotion and showing another so you can never tell, or they confuse the emotions and no one wins. Truly, the way you look at someone gives away a lot about how you feel.
There was an odd way in which Sasuke looked at Ai; it was a look that Karin could not understand. As an extension of this, Karin could not grasp how Sasuke felt about the courtesan. Karin had been thinking about this ever since they had met Love in her room in Koto. As a child, Karin was told countless stories about the goddess Renai; the enchantress, the lover, the stealer of hearts. Many suspected that, as a physical manifestation of love, Renai was a chameleon; whatever your ideas of love were, they impacted on your relationship with the goddess.
The red-haired kunoichi had thought about this a lot over the past few months as she had been researching Ai. The girl had been in a relationship with Sabaku no Gaara, a man who had a tortuous relationship with love all his life; he fought for it, killed for it, longed for it and so, according to legend, that is how he looked at her. Although this was a special case, supposedly, it was blood-love, the divine phenomenon. Therefore the Kazekage and Ai were caught in an eternally unchanging paradox, one that Karin could not begin to understand. Uzumaki Naruto, who Karin had never met but heard was responsible for Ai's rescue from imprisonment, always saw love as something worth protecting. According to the rumours she heard about the hero from Konoha, Naruto's actions would indicate that that is why he chose to protect Ai- because she is Love itself!
What was Sasuke's relationship with love like? He hated his brother but, after recent events, had returned to loving him, she suspected. His family, his clan, were all taken from him so he went without love for years and put him in misery, making him swear revenge. Therefore it seems logical that the boy should long for love, just as Gaara did! Then why did he take such a disliking to Ai?
The first time they had met at the Palace, Ai asked Sasuke to respect the sanctity of the place and not let the blood on his footsteps darken the marble of the temple. Quick to anger with her metaphors and poetry, Sasuke walked into the palace, entirely oblivious to the fact that Ai had not been speaking in metaphor; he tracked blood in on the soles of his shoes. It was at that moment, when Ai gasped in indignation and the Uchiha regarded her with no remorse, that the two were on either end of a silent war.
Madara insisted Sasuke train Ai in shinobi skills; taijutsu, ninjutsu and the like. It turned out the courtesan was hopeless, utterly useless at anything that was not dance, poetry, singing or literature. She had no apt for battle, no desire to kill, no interest in weapons and absolutely no talent in any of it. It frustrated the both of them; Sasuke was not going to teach a girl who could barely hold a kunai and Ai was not going to learn from a boy who had no patience.
There battle was spoken through skilful looks, teasing comments by the courtesan and the cold, unnerving silences Sasuke would greet her with….was that Sasuke's relationship with love in a nutshell? Love didn't want to know him and he didn't want to know her? It couldn't be!
Maybe it wasn't true at all, this theory about treating Renai like love itself….or maybe, Karin just did not know Sasuke well enough to answer the question. There was one way to find out.
Taka were sat in a room of the Marble Palace that evening, waiting out here before heading to make arrangements for the Kage summit. They were lounging in a room of sandy marble, a creamy-beige coloured stone that seemed to warm up when hit with candlelight. Sasuke was leaning against a wall, flicking through a notebook Madara had given him.
Suddenly, Karin stood and stared directly at the wall behind Sasuke, pushing her glasses up her nose as though she needed to sniff something out.
"Karin?" Suigetsu asked, sitting up straighter and staring at her. "What is it?" Raising a shaking hand to the wall behind Sasuke, Karin breathed in fear:
"There's someone in Ai's bathroom," the girl had barely finished her sentence when Sasuke began running.
"Sasuke!" Suigetsu called after him.
"Stay here!" They heard him shout back.
Even Jugo noticed the way Karin's hand fell limp by his side, the way she bowed her head as Sasuke left the room.
"Karin…" Jugo began but the girl simply turned away from him in silence. Suigetsu looked between the two of them, trying to figure out what had upset Karin this time.
***
The girl called Love was stood in her bathroom, a large rectangular room with an oval pool in it. She had just bathed and bid her friends goodnight as they retired to their rooms after helping her into her night robe. She stood before a wall of hanging mirrors; various shapes, sizes, frames and angles, they all hung from chains shaped like vines with flowers. They gave the girl reflections of herself from every angle and reflected the dim candlelight, giving the room a golden glow. Steam was still rising up through the room, catching onto the scent from the oil Ai had been burning. It had a soft, floral fragrance like frangipani.
In her white robe which pinned between her breasts and falling off her shoulders, Ai stood brushing her hair. Her hair fell in soft, wet waves on her left shoulder and a small tapping sound accompanied the girl's movements as water dripped from her comb and onto the marble floor.
"Come on to me, Tempest," Ai sang absent-mindedly as she gazed at her reflection in the mirror. "Rain over me, stain me with your colour," she smirked at herself as she watched a water droplet cling to her bottom lip, "if cruelty be your skill then teach me, I am your undoubting follower…" Ai picked up a perfume bottle; glass vial which looked as though it were twisted and painted with pearl. Opening the bottle, she tipped a little perfume onto her index finger and wiped it across her collarbone. "Teach me, you heartless storm, how it is to- ah!" Ai gasped as a gust of wind entered the room; she dropped the bottle out of surprise and wrapped her arms around herself in order to shield herself from the cold. The mirrors in front of her swung and clattered against each other and the wall as the wicked breeze pushed them, echoing the sound of the glass vial shattering on the marble floor. Eventually all was still and the mirrors fell back into place. Ai looked up into the mirrors, waited a moment for them to be still before she spied, standing behind her, his figure shaking in the mirrors as they rattled, was "Sasuke?" The girl with blue eyes caught a glimpse of the man with a look she would never forget; breathing heavy, alert, frustrated and confused, he stood at the entrance to her bathroom. Slowly she turned to him. What was that look on his face? He was practically panting, trying to catch his breath! His skin was glowing pink, his mouth dry for he had to swallow hard. Why had he run into her bathroom so late in the night? "Sasuke, what's the matter?"
The man took in the sight of her; those diamond-like, shimmering eyes, the dark hair, fair skin and dangerously-thin white robe. Her hair was wet, her skin dewy like the morning. How could he answer her question when he was unsure himself.
"I-" What was there to say? How could he articulate what was going on in his head? The Uchiha took a breath and tried to control the swirling hurricane of emotions that was overwhelming his head.
When Karin had said there was an intruder, it alerted something inside of him. Something that did not want to see Ai hurt. The thought of being in a world without her was unbearable to him. It felt as though someone wanted to suffocate him; he had to break free of their control and swallow the air just to be able to breathe again. He glanced up at Ai once more and, seeing that look of concern, the heartbreaking way she hurt because he looked troubled, suddenly put all emotion into perspective; could not lose Love again.
That very girl walked to meet him and stopped in front of him. He could barely look at her; his eyes were darting from her figure, to the floor, to her lips, to the floor again. Ai tilted her head, her nightdress falling off her shoulder as she did so, spying him under her eyelashes. He was shaking! His skin was paler yet somehow flushed pink. Was Sasuke…scared? Was he anxious?
"Hey," Ai said soothingly, catching his attention, finally making him look at her. She made a point of showing him her hands, bringing them up between them, her slender fingers wiggled a little in front of his face. "I'm here," Ai whispered and put her hands on either side of his face. "Don't be scared," she reassured him, "I'm here." The two stared at each other for a few moments and Ai shuddered with remembrance; that feeling of looking at someone as seeing they were just as lonely and lost and as desperate for love as you were.
It is a rare thing, to look at someone and understand everything about them in a moment. To know why they ache, why they are fearful, why they want so desperately for you to feel the same way. In this moment, the two of them did feel the same way; utterly perplexed and in awe of each other. Amazed by their beauty, confused by their attraction and torn by their desire. But all who know Love well, know she is reckless. Ai went up on her tiptoes and kissed Sasuke gently.
The courtesan could feel his inhibitions trembling in his kiss; he was dying to give in, dying to see what she tasted like, but the pucker in his lips showed his nervous and the firm way in which they remained closed indicated his inexperience. She retreated a little to see his reaction but Sasuke had closed his eyes, a weird mix of lust and apprehension played on his face.
"You do not fear making love to me because I am a whore," Sasuke's eyes opened as Ai said something he was not expecting to hear. She was looking up at him, her big blue eyes heavy-lidded with lust. "What you fear is that you'll like it," the girl giggled, shot him a well-rehearsed come-hither glance and walked away from him.
For a few moments Sasuke stood, staring after her, dumbstruck that one moment she was twisting her way around him and the next she was gone. "Wait, Ai!" He called after her and followed her into her bedroom.
"Yes?" Sasuke stopped short as he entered her bedroom, feeling his fingertips going numb, his heart beating hard in his chest at just the sight of her. Ai's room was made of glass and cream-coloured cotton; beige marble floors with specks of gold and bedsheets of white silk and gold embellishments all glittered in the room, giving the impression that you were walking inside a diamond. Her bed was placed on top of a platform, you had to walk up a few shallow steps to get to it. She stood impressively tall for a petite girl, curvaceous as her white robe clung to her, delicate with her soft waves of hair and terribly, sinfully alluring with her red lips. The white drapes of her bed fell in lustrous waves behind her, the glow of the candlelight shimmered on her cheekbones.
"Well?" She urged him and Sasuke, who had only ever felt this way a few times before, cleared his throat.
"Teach me." They looked at one another for a few moments longer; they were caught up in the floral scent, the room was heady with heat, the two were just desperate to be tangled up together. Ai had a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach; a nervous sense of guilt was squirming in her insides. But, at the same time, her skin was beginning to burn, she was beginning to feel the way she used to feel- she was coming alive again! Sasuke watched as though he were waiting to be attacked; with one foot slightly in front of the other, he watched her and waited.
The courtesan unclipped her robe and let it fall to the floor. The white silk slipped off her curves like water leaving the shore; it clung to her shape for less than a second before being pulled away from her by gravity. Ai stood, naked in the candlelight, watching with a slight smile, for the changes Sasuke's body was going to go through.
His skin flushed pink, he swallowed hard, barely daring to breathe. It was as though the girl was a delicate dove that had fluttered to stand next to him and any small movement would scare her away. He found himself immovable by the sight of her.
Ai beckoned him with a finger and went to pick up a wide, red silk ribbon that was lying abandoned by Lena on her bedside table. The girls had been deciding on which colour ribbon to tie to one of Ai's dresses but the courtesan decided on a better use for the material. She turned to find Sasuke stood next to her and she watched him for a moment as he as he took in the sight of her. The man could feel his member harden at the sight of her soft, pink skin, the curve of her lips, the smell of he perfume.
"If you really want to learn you must disable your most powerful weapon-" Before Ai could explain, Sasuke freed his katana from its holder and threw it across the room. The two did not break eye contact as the weapon clattered on the marble floor by Ai's door. "You and I both know that is not your most powerful weapon, Uchiha." It was the slight emphasis on his name, the manner in which Ai twirled the red ribbon around her fingers that gave Sasuke the clue. "Your vision," Ai confirmed, "you must go without it-"
"Why?"
"Trust me." Sasuke did not like this answer, and he did not want to tie the ribbon in front of his eyes. But the promise of what Ai had to offer was too enticing so he bent a little and let Ai tie the ribbon around his eyes. "Lay down next to me," Ai guided him onto the bed until he was lying, comically stiff, beside her. "Face me," Ai ordered and Sasuke moved to lie on his side so they were face to face. The girl took his hand and put it on the side of her face.
"What is the point of this?" The man asked impatiently causing Ai to turn her face and bite his wrist. "Ah!" Sasuke gasped in surprise as a pain shot through his wrist; had she bitten him? Ai leant in close, his hair falling onto her face, her nipples gliding over the fabric of his shirt.
"I want you to listen closely to what you do to me. Learn from the noises I make and force me to make more." She kissed the corner of his lips and smiled as she could see a frown of incomprehension crease his brow. So, to help him, Ai lay down, took his hand and placed it on her breast.
"Ah!" Feeling the soft flesh in his palms, instinct made Sasuke cup and squeeze and pinch suddenly. Ai could feel her toes curling up against her bedsheets as Sasuke got up onto his knees and used both hands to feel the outline of her curves. He bent down to find her face and Ai, smiling a little at the fact that she had to move to catch his lips, obliged him with a kiss. She opened her mouth and gasped into his as Sasuke's primal nature kicked in and he owned her mouth by placing one hand behind her head, the other on her neck and forcing his tongue deep into her. The moan that issued from Ai was enough to tell Sasuke that he was a fast leaner.
So his exploration of the courtesan continued; his hands roughly grabbed and tugged at her and moved her body to feel different parts of her. He moved between the girl's legs and began to kiss her neck. Ai began to writhe and gasp in a way she never though she would again; suddenly she was desperate for the feel of his skin. She could feel how heavy, how strong his physique was and wanted, so badly, to watch his body as it flexed and worked above her. So Ai sat up and helped Sasuke remove his clothes which, while difficult given the fact that Sasuke was blind, he was also eager to do.
"Enough," Sasuke removed his blindfold and pushed Ai to lie down, "I want to see you," he demanded, earning a small smile from the girl. As Sasuke was sat up and went back to enjoying Ai's neck, the girl caught sight of his dick and licked her lips; she knew it was coming, that sense of liberty, of feeling truly human.
Eventually, Ai's heartbeat slowed, her blood cooled and Ai found she was staring at the ceiling, a horrible sense of guilt and remorse was coming over her. There was only one person she should allow this close to her, wasn't there? But he wanted nothing to do with her, didn't he?
Gaara. What have we done to each other?
The shinobi on top of Ai seemed to notice her lack of response after a while and, as he was tasting her inner thigh which was wet with her warm juices, he stopped and looked up to her. He could not see Ai's face for she was facing the ceiling. With almost, out-of-character tenderness, Sasuke lifted himself up so he could surround her.
"Ah!" Ai jumped as a shadow fell across her vision and it turned out to be Sasuke positioning himself on top of her.
"Are you alright?" The man asked in a tired voice; he was ready to be inside of her, he could feel his dick was rigid, pulsing, dying to feel what was waiting for him. Ai looked him in the eye; suddenly the tables had turned and she was the one fearful. What was there to be fearful of? She wondered as she looked into his dark eyes. This is the life she had chosen, she should commit to every decision and not look back. She nodded vigorously.
"Yes," she said convincingly. "Come," Ai whispered softly and parted her legs properly, beckoning him into her. Sasuke adjusted slightly, his dark hair falling into her eyes as he lowered himself on top of her.
"Ah!" Their bodies moved as one, Ai's figure arched as Sasuke pushed up inside of her. The Uchiha opened his eyes to take in the sight of Love, her face showing ecstasy because of him, her figure trembling with pleasure. He went slow, savouring every second of it; pulling out, he saw Ai relax a little before he pushed back inside of her.
"Ah!" The noises she made was unlike anything Sasuke had dreamt of; they were delicate and full of sinful lust and sounded as though she was begging him to go a little deeper, to go a little faster. "More," Ai spoke as though she had read his mind. Ai wanted to feel him all at once, to make his abs tense up as he clenched his stomach, to scrape her nails against his rear as it tightened when he moved his hips. She wanted him to fuck her after months of dying to be fucked. "More!" Ai demanded.
Both were panting, both were grabbing on to any part of each other they could find. One moment their tongues were in each other's throats, the next they were licking the sweat from each other's necks. Ai was swearing under her breath, giving him such delicious, sultry moans and encouragement to own her, to defile her, that Sasuke found it hard to control himself. She felt like everything he ever wanted, sex felt like everything he had thought he was missing. He grabbed her hair with one hand and her waist with the other and fucked her hard until he reached climax.
***
The next morning Ai awoke to the sound of birds singing in the gardens; she was unsurprised to find that Sasuke had already left her bed. At what point had he left? The girl was sure that had fallen asleep in embrace. She sat up, wrapped her bedsheets around her, bit her lip and looked up to the mosaic ceiling. She felt slightly odd. A strange mix of the glow after sex, the rush of endorphins, with extreme guilt and betrayal were all wrestling around inside of her stomach. She half wanted to punch the air and tell the world she had finally gotten over the immature, egotistical Kazekage…and she half wanted to cry in his arms. She needed to talk to Lena.
Half an hour later, Ai was fully dressed, her hair and face immaculate, as she walked to breakfast. There was, oddly, no signs of life within the palace; Taka seemed to have gone with Madara and the girls were nowhere to be found. Perhaps they had gone to the market? Ai frowned as she thought about it; why would they go without telling her? She had not woken late at all! The courtesan pushed open the doors to the dinging area with a feeling of dread.
The girl stopped dead. Perhaps it had been the sound, the spark of electricity, the chatter of excited birds. Or perhaps it was the way the cold light came out of the darkness unexpectedly that had given Ai that anguish yet to come.
The courtesan fell to her knees, trying her hardest to breathe and hold on but her vision was blurring. Out of the darkness, came the vision Sasuke stood above her, his hand through her chest as small silver sparks illuminated his handsome face. Her blood was splatted across his chest and she watched, as she slipped away into unconsciousness, her hand against his skin, dragging the blood down his body as she fell to the floor.