The Bargain

IMPORTANT A/N

As you are aware, I don’t normally include A/N because I know that you are here to be entertained, not to read me warble on. However, that being said, yes things will work out between these two. This is a temporary set back in their relationship. So have a happy weekend. I’ll update as I can or as much as my poor, long suffering husband will allow, he needs my attention just as much as you once in a while, ha ha. Happy Dead Turkey Day to your fellow Canucks and to my American neighbours, Happy Ship Day.

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Nabiki was packing for her trip. “Honestly Daddy, I told you that I’m just going with my girlfriends to a hot spring hotel in Osaka. I’ll be back in two weeks and I’ll bring you a nice souvenir” Nabiki said, irritated about her father’s loud, quavering sobs decrying that his little girl was leaving him. She’d been listening to the same song and dance since she first started traveling by herself when she was fifteen.

“But a young, impressionable virginal girl like yourself shouldn’t travel alone. Men are beasts and will take advantage of you” he quavered at her, tears flowing freely down his face.

“Stop being so dramatic Daddy” she ordered. If anything, the men had to worry about Nabiki. She was more a sexual predator when she traveled than they could ever hope to be. She had her first kiss with and lost her virginity to a drunken sailor the first time she travelled alone at fifteen. She could easily make herself look older with an expensively cut business suit and silver wire framed fake glasses. His kiss had tasted of whisky and cigarettes, she shivered with fear and excitement when he lifted her skirt in his cheap hotel room and took her up against the wall. He hadn’t even realized at any point that she was a virgin that night, as drunk as he was. Even the first time she was careful. She liked her men rough and utter strangers to her. She always insisted on a condom being used and took the pill as back up. Tatewaki was the first man she had ever had sex with skin on skin before. She had allowed herself this luxury because he was a clean slate, a virgin she could trust not to have any sexually transmitted diseases. ‘It feels so wonderful to have sex with him’ she thought, imagining how their vacation was going to be. It was her first time traveling with a man.

“I’ll be fine Daddy, my friends will keep me out of mischief” she said with a secret smile. Actually, her female friends were going to Osaka; she just wasn’t going with them. She was going to a semi-private resort in the Caribbean Islands that catered to the rich and famous. It was going to take almost three days to get there so, she had told people she was going to be gone for two weeks

The taxi pulled in front of the Kuno Mansion and the door was answered by Sasuke.

“Hi Sasuke, I got something for you” she said handing the diminutive man the haw flakes she had found for him. She liked the cheerful little man and liked doing small things for him.

“Haw flakes! Wherever did you find them Miss Tendo?” he cried joyfully.

“Simple, you said you became addicted to them when you lived in China; so I went to the Nekohanten and asked a Chinese person. Shampoo directed me to a small shop that sells import items and there they were” she said. “I’ll give you the address”

“Thank you Miss Tendo” he said his eyes shining. “Also thank you for making Master Kuno so happy”

“I haven’t done anything” she protested. “I just brought him his homework and hung out with him a bit” she said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously.

“You made him feel cared about and wanted for who he is, not for the size of his bank account. That’s more then any other girl ever has done” he replied. Nabiki was about to respond when Tatewaki walked into the room.

“Ah you’re here, Sasuke summon the limousine and call the airfield, to let the jet know to stand by” he said, kissing her cheek.

“How’re we getting there?” she asked, hugging him.

“I chartered a private jet” he said.

The plane ride was long, but they kept each other entertained. Nabiki didn’t even want to know where he’d managed to find a plane with a private bed chamber.

Nabiki gasped when they were shown to their room. She had been impressed by the beautiful grounds with their exotically perfumed flowers and multiple fountains. The lobby itself had been modern, expensive and furnished with expert taste. But the room was beyond her wildest dreams. Everything was done in dark wood, mixed with flawless white, expensive white curtains, white silk sheets, white carpeting etc. The room was bigger then her whole house she thought. It had a fire place, full entertainment unit, a small kitchenette, if people wished to cook and a hot tube. It was the most elegant room that she’d ever been in and there were flowers everywhere. “Kuno Baby, everything it so beautiful!” she said flinging herself in a juvenile manner across the huge, soft canopy bed.

He smiled at her reaction, he was used to living this way and receiving the preferential treatment that his position demanding, so it was fun for him to see it through her eyes. He loved when she let her mask slip and she acted like the excited teenage girl she should be. He sat down beside her and stroked her soft bob. “”They have activities planned for the whole time we’re here; we can just pick the ones we want to attend and join the others. “What would you like to do first? Learn to ballroom dance? Go snorkeling? They have glass bottom boat tours and a disco that is open every night” he said.

“Can you dance?” she asked him, quirking her brow at him. She was rewarded with him blushing. “You can! Tell me” she commanded, sitting up.

“I can’t tell you that” he said, then started laughing uncontrollably when she started tickling his ribs.

“Tell me and I’ll stop” she said, pinning him down.

“Okay, okay, I’ll talk. It was stupid of me to tell you about how ticklish I am. My sister and I used to dance professionally when we were about five and six. My mother made our matching outfits herself” he said, blushing at the memory.

Nabiki cracked up and rolled on the bed beside him “Oh man, the idea of you being part of one of those kiddie dancing team is hilarious!”

“Stop laughing at me, dancing that young taught me coordination that I later applied to my martial arts” he said and tickled her.

“So do I get to see the video tapes?” she asked.

“You’ll have to convince me somehow” he said lacing his hands behind his head. With a mischievous grin Nabiki undid his pants. “What’re you doing?” he asked.

“Convincing you. Besides, I haven’t eaten for hours and I’m hungry” she said ducking her head. ‘She’s not going to?’ he thought, until her warm, silky mouth enveloped him and a satin tongue began teasing his sensitive glands. Then all he could do was lie back and moan, while he allowed himself to be convinced.

Their week was a blur, they swam together, splashing each other and admiring each other’s taunt body in their bathing suits, taking them off was fun too. They ate lots of delicious food, while they sampled freely from each other’s plates. They won the sand castle building contest. Tatewaki taught her how to surf. They were totally relaxed and happy in each other’s company. So much so, that they were often mistaken for honeymooners, this caused the pair of them to blush. And they made love; they made love every night to the sound of the tropical waves lapping on the shore, and then slept in each other’s arms; a first for both people. Tatewaki had never shared a bed with anyone in his life and Nabiki had always left when her lovers fell asleep.

On his birthday itself; they had booked a private room to have dinner in. “So you’re a man today?” Nabiki asked, admiring how nice he looked in his Armani suit with a white mock turtleneck shirt underneath. His hair had just reached the collar of his jacket and it framed his face beautifully.

“Technically” he replied. “So what’re you wearing?” he asked. She had been alluding to the fact that she had something special planned.

“You’ll see, now you go ahead and meet me there like a good boy” she ordered.

He waited impatiently for her to appear in the velvet draped room. When she did glide in, she took his breath. She wore a red silk dress that draped across the bust in soft folds, which was held up by thin straps. The same folds were echoed at the base of the backless gown and only two criss crossed spider silk thin strings, at the top of the back kept the whole dress from sliding off her. The vibrant colour made her pale skin seemed to glow and brought out the darkness of her hair and eyes. She wore just a pair of silver hoop earrings and some red lip gloss for adornment. “You look beautiful” he breathed. “What’re you wearing under that?” he inquired, noticing no panty line and certainly no bra was present

“Nothing, I’m part of the present you have to unwrap later” she whispered into his ear and then sucked his tender lobe briefly into her mouth, eliciting a moan from him and a shudder of desire.

“Now you have to wait until after dinner” she chided, his pulse quickened, when her sitting down revealed the slit over her left thigh as he pushed her chair in.

“You don’t play fair Nabiki Tendo” he said taking a sip of his champagne. The resort didn’t encourage underage people to drink, but would provide alcohol in limited quantity in the private rooms on special occasions. As it was Tatewaki’s birthday, they had provided two bottles of champagne, as he was a preferred customer.

“Dinner, dessert and then you get your present” she said with a smirk.

He ordered pate for appetizer and pear stuffed Cornish game hen for entrée, while she ordered six oysters on a half shell and lobster in raspberry sauce. She teased him further by sitting on his lap while she had a bite of his pate on toast and feeding him one of her oysters. Each move she made was meant to entice and excite him, she would sit forward so that the soft folds of her dress would shift forward to show the swell of her unbound breasts. Or move her leg to the side of her chair to reveal a glimpse of sheer, black thigh highs. By the time they were through with dinner, he could have knocked a hole in the wall with his hardon. After they had dessert, he looked at her questioningly.

“How about now?” he suggested urgently.”

“In a few minutes” she said sliding a velvet covered box towards him.

Tatewaki looked at the box and said “I thought it was the guy that was supposed to give the girl one of these things?”

This caused Nabiki to blush “it’s not a ring, open it” she commanded. Inside he found a simple elegant gold chain. “I know you don’t wear much jewelry, but I saw this and thought of you” she said, moving behind his chair to put it on him.

He examined it against his shirt and said “thank you, I love it.” She kissed his cheek. A slow number was piped into the room and she pulled him towards the tiny dance floor.

“Dance with me” she requested.

“I haven’t dance with a girl for a long time” he admitted.

“It’s just a slow dance, come on, just one” she coaxed, he agreed and pulled her close to him, reveling the way that their bodies swayed in time together. The girl in his arms felt phenomenal between the softness of her skin and hair and silk of her dress. He could feel her body heat and reacted to it. His hand rested on the smooth skin of her naked back, intoxicating him. Her lips met his and she fed his starving heart. “Let’s go back to our room now” she said in a seductive voice.

In blur they were there, she stood back and pushed the straps down on her dress, held them up for a second and then released them. With a rush her dress slid to the ground and she stood naked, except for her thigh highs and her high heeled shoes. Tatewaki sucked his breath in when she did this and scooped her up and placed her on the bed. His own clothing was gone in record time.

Then he leaned over her and finished the kiss that began in his backyard after the coquet match. Lips and tongues met lazily while hands teased flesh. “Kuno Baby” she moaned, her words taking on a whole new meaning than usual. Tatewaki stopped fighting his feeling of love for her and surrendered his heart to her completely. He lovingly stoked the fire slowly building inside her, tasting her everywhere, wanting to drown in her scent. Bringing her to desires edge many times and watching her plunge over the edge, only to draw her back again. When he finally slid inside her with one, long deep thrust she mewled with need for him. They moved like the waves themselves this time, slowly undulating together. He held her against him like she was the most precious thing in all of Japan while she reached her crest many times, threatening to sweep him away with her. Until he couldn’t hold back anymore and rode the swell into her tight cove. “I love you” he gasped as he came, drunk on champagne, emotions and love. “I love you too” panted Nabiki, who unfortunately didn’t remember saying this the next day, even though she meant it. His sperm found her now fertile egg and a seed was planted. The would-be parents curled up and fell asleep, unaware of this fact.

Tatewaki woke up the next day holding the woman he loved in his arms. It was very early but he couldn’t stop gazing at her, she was so beautiful, and she loved him too. The night before was exactly how he had imagined his first time as being, they hadn’t just had sex; they’d made love. Feeling too happy to sleep, he pulled on some shorts and a t-shirt and went jogging on the beach with just the sea gulls for companionship. Every long powerful stride just seemed to cause his heart to swell; this place was so beautiful and so was she. He stopped about a mile down the beach and went through his cool down routine, then sat on a drift wood log and watched the sunrise. It was beautiful too.

He then walked back, only stopping to pick a beautiful fuchsia flower from a tree. He carried it back with him carefully and set it on the pillow beside his still sleeping love. He admired how her short hair curved against her neck in sleep and how silk sheets draped her lithe form. He couldn’t wait to get home so they could finally announce to people that they were a couple.

Nabiki wasn’t sure why Tatewaki had been so sappy since they left the resort, but thought it was sweet. Tatewaki however was wondering why Nabiki didn’t want to talk about their new feelings for each other. He waited until they were in the limousine and asked “so does this mean that you’re finally going to be my girlfriend?”

“Does what mean?” she asked confused.

“That you love me and I love you” he replied confused too now. “You said so on my birthday” he pointed out

“Kuno Baby, I was drunk at the time” she said with a nervous laugh.

“So then you don’t love me? You don’t want me?” he said in a shattered voice.

Nabiki thought about it, she saw how he would look as a mature man and she as a mature woman. He would go to university and take over his father’s business holdings, expanding on them. Not as an idle rich man, but as someone who knows where money comes from and knows that someone has to work it, so that it will always be there. His sister would be a liability to him until she married. Nabiki saw herself as a rich man’s wife, sleek, pamper, useless; her world reduced to planning parties for his associates and recommending everyone try the naughty little Chianti that she discovered in a tiny village in Tuscany. Tatewaki was a keeper and a marrying man, if she let him close now, she would never get him out of her system. Gone would be her dreams of attending Harvard University, she’d been taking English lessons for years and could speak it flawlessly. She wanted to try being a stock broker for a while, before running for office. There were so many things she wanted to do with her life and she never imagined doing them with a man. A rich man wouldn’t allow his wife to work. She was Nabiki, the Lone Wolf, never needed a man before, and never would. All of this she considered, before she turned back to him, tampered down all the emotions she felt for him and shattered his dream. “Kuno Baby, we have an arrangement, nothing more then that” she lied in a voice that sounded cold and preachy even to her ears.

Tatewaki was dumbstruck, had she insulted his manhood, had she taunted him for being a fool to believe her; could not have hurt him more, than having her rip the heart right out of him, as she was doing right now. “So none of it meant a thing to you, all those times we made love, you taking care of me when I was sick? It was all a lie” he said.

“I’m fond of you” she said, reaching out to hold him. He was hurting so bad and it was killing her.

“Fond of me?” he said bitterly, shrinking from her touch. “Four months of my life to find out that I’m still nothing more then a fuck toy to you. I changed in every way; but I guess you haven’t. I guess you really do think I’m a joke; Tatewaki Kuno, the Fool of Furinkan High School. You’re ashamed of me” he stated in sad voice.

“Kuno.....” she said, trying to touch him again. Feeling like her heart was breaking.

“Don’t touch me!” he screamed, “you’ve taken enough from me, at least leave me with a shred of dignity”

Nabiki snatched back her hand; she could tell even in the dim light that he was dangerously close to tears. So she kept silent throughout the ride home, wanting so badly to comfort the man at her side. The only thing that he said to her before she got of the car was “next time you have an itch to scratch, don’t call me. We’re done”

Nabiki let the chauffer put her bags on front porch. She watched as the limousine slipped into the night; taking the only man she had ever cared about with it. For a few minutes she stood on the porch, struggling to get her emotions under control. “I’m doing the right thing” she said as she wiped the tears from her face and assumed her usual bored smirk. She didn’t know that someone had seen her tears as he looked at her worriedly from behind the curtain. “Hi everybody, I’m all clean from the hot springs and I bought souvenirs for you all” she said in a bored sounding tone. Nabiki was nothing, if not a consummate actress.

Tatewaki meanwhile was in way worse shape, only his pride kept him from shrieking his grief from the rooftops. He had his arms wrapped around himself, as if holding himself together, while he enumerated in his head all the things he would miss about her. ‘She lied to me’ he thought again, causing him to tremble. He let himself silently into the mansion, wanting nothing more then to escape to his room to lick his wounds.

“Hi Master Kuno, did you have a nice time? Where’s Miss Tendo?” asked Sasuke brightly.

“Nabiki won’t be visiting anymore” Tatewaki replied in a voice full of rage. “Sasuke, get me a bottle of sake from the kitchen” he ordered.

Sasuke looked into those pain fill dark eyes and remembered how they looked up at him mirror bright. While Sasuke used to pace the infant back and forth, trying to get him to sleep, to help out Tatewaki’s exhausted parent. Sasuke was an ugly man, with no money and few prospects, so he had never married. Looking into those dark eyes, he fell in love with the tiny baby, embracing him as the child the gods never blessed him with. He loved both beautiful Kuno children, but Tatewaki was his favourite. Sasuke wasn’t a drinker, even now that he could afford to he didn’t. However, seeing Tatewaki look so shattered and emotionally fragile, caused Sasuke to say “You shouldn’t drink alone Tachi”

For a second, Tatewaki gave him a ghost of a smile “no one has called me that since father left” Sasuke put his hand on his shoulder briefly and then noiselessly slipped into the kitchen, to retrieve the bottle and two glasses.

The boy-child and his servant drank in silence, each wrapped up in their own thoughts, until the depressive nature of alcohol hit Tatewaki. The tears he’d been repressing sprung forth and he found himself sobbing almost violently, all his pain and disappointment shattering free at the same moment. Sasuke completely forgot about the social dynamics of their relationship and just bent forward and drew the larger, heaving body against his own slighter one. Whether Tatewaki was two and needed a bandage and a kiss for a skimmed knee or help dealing with a broken heart, Sasuke was always there. Sasuke would always be there for him.