Tobirama worked the lock open and held it for Chikako before slipping in behind her and shutting it. It was dark and eerily quiet as he led her the women's locker room for the larger towels they stocked.
"I thought you said the Konoha hot spring was separated?" Chikako whispered behind him.
"If we're the only ones in here, then that doesn't matter, does it?" He grinned at her in the dim light. "I'll get you a towel, don't worry."
The locker room, with windows set high in the walls, had better lighting than the entryway. A nervous smile twitched on Chikako's lips. "Tobirama, if my father knew you were a rule-breaker he might not have offered me in marriage."
"Then I'm glad he didn't find out." The thought sobered him though. "Would you rather wash up at Hashirama's?"
She took the towel he offered, waiting until he turned his back. "I like your adventurous side."
The rustling of her clothes as she shed them made his pulse pound. He shucked off his armor and clothes to distract himself, donning his own towel and waiting for her okay to turn back.
"I'm ready, Tobirama."
When he turned, the last rays of sunshine, red and amber, were shining through the window. They reflected in her eyes as she stared at him and licked her lips. Even in the dim light he could see the blush painting her cheeks.
"If it embarrasses you to see me undressed you should have looked away."
"Well, you should have waited until I turned my back!" She shot back at him with a playful grin that told him she wasn't upset at all.
He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him as he led her to the spring. "I like this new Chikako."
"What new Chikako?" She pushed away to look up at him.
"The one who talks back and tells me what she thinks. The one who teases me even though she's blushing."
She snorted and tossed her hair over her shoulder. "You should have asked Takao, he'd tell you this is the real me."
At the side of the pool he held her hand as she stepped in and then joined her, pulling her onto his lap. "What upset you, when you met Madara?"
"I thought he was going to suggest I should have been married to an Uchiha."
"Do you not like the Uchiha's?"
"I'm tired of being passed around like a prize. And I like you, I don't want to be married to anyone else."
He chuckled and nuzzled her ear. "I don't want you married to anyone else either. Even if Madara had suggested it, I'd never have allowed it."
He was quiet a moment. She'd revealed a secret he'd only suspected in her outburst. "Did you mean what you said, about your father?"
Chikako sighed and rested her head on his shoulder. "It's only a suspicion. I think Takao is my half-brother."
Tobirama digested this information wishing he'd seen it himself when he'd been in Iwa. It irked him that he'd missed a key detail in Hata's life.
"Tobirama?" His name was a whisper on her lips, her face flushed dark enough that even in the dimming light he could see it. Her forehead was furrowed as if she was considering the best way to express her thoughts.
Tobirama watched her mouth as she first licked her lips and then worried the lower one with her teeth. He was tense with need for her, and sure she could feel that desire pressing against her thigh. Should he shift her away, or wait and see what she did?
He didn't want to pressure her into something she wasn't ready for, but neither did he want to send the message he wasn't interested. Fortunately, she solved his dilemma by leaning forward until her breath brushed against his face.
"Do you mind if we kiss again?" The words whispered over his mouth as her lips feathered against his sending chills up and down his spine.
He answered her by cupping the back of her head and pulling her against him. The sweet lavender scent that seemed to always cling to her skin surrounded him, her soft sigh made his eyes drift shut with the ecstasy of the moment as she wrapped her arms around his neck and clung to him, melting into him as they fed the passion growing between them.
She shifted on his lap and his erection ground against her thigh. She gasped and pulled back, eyes wide and unsure. Nervous again she bit her lip hard enough he thought she'd draw blood.
He hadn't asked what she'd been taught about sex, and now he wished he had. This was an awkward time to face that conversation. He stroked a finger down the side of her face and then over the soft skin of her shoulder.
"You're very beautiful." He leaned back to give her space while she found her balance in this new situation. Because he had no doubt she'd figure out what she wanted, and ask if she couldn't. Hata may have tried to raise a sweet, innocent girl, but she'd found her own independence and identity despite her father's attempts to shelter her.
Chikako's eyes drifted over the arm draped on the edge of the pool in front of her and then down his chest. The shadows were deep enough now that he was reasonably certain she couldn't see how his towel was tented, and he didn't care if she did. He wasn't embarrassed, his only concern was her comfort.
"You're..." she traced a scar on his chest with the tip of her finger raising chill bumps despite the heat that coursed through him, "very..." she swallowed heavily and met his eyes, "sexy." The last word was choked out in a hoarse whisper.
He waited, letting her take her time. This intimacy was new to her, given the relationship between her parents she'd likely never been exposed to even a chaste kiss.
"Will you kiss me again, Chikako?" He whispered the words gently, not wanting to scare or pressure her. "Only if you want to."
"Oh yes." Her reply was an exhale of pure happiness as she leaned forward and met his mouth again. She'd only just brushed her lips against his when she pulled away. "I..." she ducked her head and then looked up at him, fisting her hand in her lap. "I don't know what I'm doing."
"Shh, you're doing just fine." He stroked the side her head and laced his fingers into her hair.
"But..." she glanced down at his lap and closed her eyes.
"I can't stop my body's reaction to you but I won't pressure you either."
She leaned into his shoulder and nuzzled his neck and then lifted her head to kiss him again, dipping her tongue into his mouth as she carded her fingers through his hair.
When she pulled away again she was panting, clinging to him as if she might float off if he didn't hold her down. She ran one hand over his arm, caressing his bicep before making her way to his hand and tracing his fingers and palm with her own fingers. Finally, she entwined her hand with his and glanced up at him shyly.
"I can't stop my body's reaction to you either." She leaned forward for another kiss and then backed up. "Tobirama..."
Her towel fell open and he tightened his grip when she started to pull her hand from his. He cupped her waist with his other hand and stared into her eyes.
"Don't be shy, Chikako." He waited until her breathing settled and she nodded her head before he let his gaze drift down her shoulders and chest to the swell of her breast, just a shadow in the twilight that was sinking into the spring.
He released her hand and traced his fingers over her collar bone, watching her for a sign she wanted him to stop. When she planted her hands on his chest and leaned forward to kiss him again he accepted her invitation and slid his hands lower to cup her breasts, flicking his thumbs against her nipples and smiling at the gasp he elicited.
"Oh!" She pulled away with a shaky breath.
"Do you want me to stop?" He didn't want to stop, he wanted to taste her, every inch of her, but he didn't want her to feel obligated either. "You are the one making the decisions here."
"Please don't stop." She thrust her chest forward with her breathy reply. "That feels so... good!"
Tobirama grinned, wondering at the karma that had brought her into his life and dipped his head to savor his first taste of her.
Her whine as he pulled her nipple into his mouth echoed through the empty hot spring, his entire body twitching with the thought of what she'd sound like as they explored more together.
"Hello?"
The strange voice froze him more thoroughly than a bucket of ice water over his head. In his arms Chikako gasped and buried herself against him.
"Is someone there?" The voice was confident and deep.
"Tobirama. Who are you?"
"Kenta. I have patrol duty tonight and I'd noticed the door was open. We've had problems with break-ins."
"I just needed a good wash and Hashirama has no running water yet."
"Of course sir." Kenta hesitated. "Do- do you know you're on the women's side?"
"Am I?" Tobirama wasn't sorry Kenta was a good ninja, he was just sorry he was good at it tonight. "I should have been more careful."
"Ah well. I understand. I did hear other voices, did you want me to check around for you?" Kenta shuffled closer to where they sat.
Tobirama pulled Chikako closer, hoping she'd blend into the shadows that now filled the room. "I think I can handle anyone who decided to sneak in behind me."
"Uh, sensei, I need to ask you to leave. It's the rule."
"Of course. I'll just be another moment and I'll lock up on the way out. "
"Of course sensei."
"Kenta, we don't need to say anything about this to anyone, right?"
"Of course not sensei."
When Kenta had left and the tension had bled from Chikako's body Tobirama pulled her towel up, letting her anchor it and then led her back into the now very dark locker room where they dressed in silence and snuck out the door.