[CLOSED Backlog] - Reacquaintances... pt3

[aztec_ai]

Character(s): Gaara [Red] and Tenten [Light Blue]
Date: Gaara at age 16, Tenten at age 18; Late Summer 1658
Setting: 愛 Tavern, Trinidad
Summary: Coming into port for the night, old acquaintances meet again after three years.
Warning(s): R, maybe NC-17 for death, blood, and limey sex scenes

It reminded her so much of her place up in the crow's nest, high above the deck on the main sail with the world below her feet as if she were some powerful goddess looking over her children from above. Initially meant to keep an eye on the horizon and allow the men to spot any approaching enemy that would think to do them harm. But she had used it as more of a sanctuary, a place for her to be at peace without the rabble and mischief of the men to disturb her thoughts. It was a place where she could simply be herself and not the captain's daughter, the lookout, the distraction, the woman, the girl, the nuisance, the savior. Just simply Tenten. All sounds, all pretenses, and all expectations of the earthly place below drifted away with the current while she was up there, leaving nothing but the core of herself to remain. And only with him had she been allowed to be so, long ago when Tenten was still searching for who she was and who she would become. He had helped her as much as her own resolve had, though she would be daft to tell him that bit of information. But she could not help but wonder why he of all the people most dear to her was the only one to see the young woman for her true self.

And she could not manage to grasp a reason why, of all the men that she had met in her lifetime did he remain the most memorable, why his close proximity was cause enough for her to pause a moment and simply note the details of his jacket, breathe in every scent that lingered on his skin (how the sea breeze was just not quite the same now without a faint touch of him), the specks of color that gave his eyes its unique hue. It was frustrating and yet exhilarating all the same, wandering in the dark of this new feeling that he brought, wondering what it was and where it would lead her. And she being the adventurous vixen that she was, held on to the reigns and rode out the wave that Gaara would no doubt sweep her in.

Pressed to the rail as she was, her hands bent back to grip at the metal for added support and to allow her to keep from actually touching him just yet. It was difficult though with her all her body's curious want to simply take that extra step forward and find out how it felt to have him pressed against her like she had been with those faceless men she had seduced before. But for pride and self-respect, she would not allow herself to give in so easily. This game was hers to play and she would stand her ground, utilize every moment. Earthy brown eyes never broke contact while they searched the contours of his face for some possible answers, only tilting her head just so to indicate her respective attentiveness to his words, leaning in to whisper in his ear. "Everyone has fears and weaknesses. It's what you do with them that makes all the difference..."

Alternatively, as if in answer to her statement, she flashed him a knowing smirk at the inquiry aimed towards Tenten's behavior towards her father's orders, looking down only breifly to glide her fingers along his forearm, brushing over his hand to loosen his grip on the rail of the balcony. Taking his fingers within her own, feeling the roughness of his skin with the pad of her thumb, she continued on in a soft and almost raspy voice. "My father has lived in Singapore and explored the waters of the East all his life. He should know better than to keep a tigress from her prey."

And with that, she stepped around his body to enter back into Gaara's office, managing to secure her one escape after baiting the hook once more. "Deep down I know my father trusts me to tend to my own affairs. He did not spend all this time teaching me so for nothing." A few solid steps further and she was standing idly in front of his bookcase, scanning through the titles with no set agenda in mind to linger and see what he would do next, letting her words spill out without restriction. "But the heart must always be protected, after all. It is a most fragile component, but essential. Without it, nothing could endure...is that not right?"

Gaara could have sworn he felt the the black heart in his chest skip once or twice to the gentle slide of her womanly touch. He had half expected her hands to be as rough and jaded as his own from the long travels and hard work on a ship such as her fathers. But the soft skin told him otherwise, that she had not need to work as the other sailors had, perhaps a simpler job that her father would know where she was at all times, even though she believed she was free, the crows nest was the place where she had perched when the ship had pulled to port, though Gaara not taking much notice his only concern was his meet and greet of this man to be known well thought their world. His eyes closing over to the brief moment where they had connected and then felt to cool breeze replace her warmth, he was already beginning to miss.

"Tigress, you say.... you're more like a mere kitten, nothing more." He snorted letting the pale moon light pierce through the arrow crack to where he had opened his eyes once again, taking a swift glance to the overcast skies over head as they crept along the darkened sky of the Caribbean night. The stars, shone as bright as the moon itself, but soon be covered by a blanket of thick shrouds of the on coming storm system moving like a snail across the sky. Taking a calming breath, his fingers griped around the metal rail in attempt to fight off he building annoyance to the pathetic chase, a chase that he himself had never had to do, not as a boy for his mind was far from such things, and now where woman had given themselves freely. This is possibly what sparked that need of interest, he goal to turn her to him and want him as he her.

Releasing the bar roughly causing the metal to ring like a turning fork through his ears, and he turned to continue this ridiculous pursue ans finally claim those lips she was so desperate to keep from him for as long as possible to watch the young pirate captain loose his control and snap. Seductress, that was what she was there was no doubt and Gaara could not but help to trail behind her in to her trap, a cat playing with it's ball of yarn pawing at the string like some play toy to be had. Closer still he stalked at her backside until he had come up on her again, eyeing her delicate finger, the one whom was suppose to be explaining him as he pleased, along the spines of the many books of his past.

"I absolutely agree.... si j'avais une coeur." He chuckled lightly again breath felt against the bareness of her pale neck, licking his dry lips a light rumble in the cage of his chest in reaction to the intoxicating scent radiating like a potent sweet perfume.

Slender fingers brushed along the spines of the books, feeling the engraved titles in gold and silver while she checked them off in her mind. Gaara's collection was impressive, composed with some of the most famous works of literature in the known world, and others of reference that she assumed were just as important. After all, he had valued his books greatly when he was younger. She doubt that would change despite what the years had turned him into. Her own love of the written word had only grown with time, her interest peaked a fraction when her eyes came across a complete volume of Dante's The Divine Comedy, still in good condition with only a bit of yellowing color around the edge of the pages. Nimbly, she plucked the book from the shelf and began flipping through the pages, scanning over random verses that described the journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise while letting his comment about her character roll easily off her back. "Even a tigress knows when to stalk, wait them out, and when to...pounce." She snapped the cover of the book shut to place emphasis on that singular word, earthy eyes lifting to cast their enchantments on him once more. The gentle slant of her eyes that had been part of her birthright as a child of the East only increased their intensity while she slid the book back into place and paced around the other side of the desk. "Perhaps one day you'll get a chance to see just how…ferocious I can be."

Another pause and a well timed turn on her heels had her facing him once more with nothing but a few chairs and a mass of empty space between them. It was a bold move, and one she was more than willing to make. On the island kingdom where all were fearful of challenging his wrath, she was making a point to provoke it in a manner, though not without some level of caution and planning beforehand. If he had wanted to hurt her, he would have done so already. His conduct concerning the bartender earlier in the night had shown the short patience Gaara possessed so it was safe to assume that he would not put up with crap without reason. "In the mean time, perhaps you can try to impress me with more of your broken languages."

And reason, she would give him, if only to test his limits, and perhaps hers as well, the scent of his skin still lingering in the air around her. Understandable. This was his place of business and rest, what little of it he got from what Tenten could make of the dark rings around his eyes. And perhaps even...pleasure? "They're starting to get amusing in your choice of their usage."

"And your vast knowledge of other foreign languages gives you the right to judge if my tongue had butchered them or not?" He chuckled, making his way closer to her with each stalking step, she had annoyed him far beyond comprehension and she must have known she was treading on dangerous grounds. "Quizá Español en vez de? Vel Latin sis?Je pouvais tenir à Français mais vous sembler à croire I'm pas sage suffisamment." A smirk poised his features, coming up directly in front of her, an evil demented smile, one to which she had only seen once since meeting the young boy at the simple pleasure of taking a creatures life and watching it scream in pain for it's own life. She speaks of Tigress and pray, the only pray in this room is the thin framed pirate princess he had noted not changed much at all. "I had picked up some of that filth you call Mandarin, but I didn't have a taste for dribble that did not deserve to be spoken. Developed by just another man in power trying to change the world in a pointless means of uniting the people, instead dividing them. Ming dynasty, just in case you did not know."

A snap as a hand lashed out pinning her once again between his short but broad frame and the casing of the shelf that held his books. A loud shudder had knocked a few to the the floor indicating his rising frustrations. "Don't blame my 'broken' languages because of your lack of knowledge, failing to expand yourself and then insult others because you are an ignorant pirate princess who still, and always will need the protection of her father." Taking a step closer, he had entered into her personal space the smell invading his senses was sweeter than the morning sun piercing trough the window of his room at day break. Was it wrong of him to feel this excited for a woman who had irritated him so much? To want to feel her beneath him, to want to enjoy her company in other ways than having the continues bickering and fighting that does not seem to drop for her constant strive to prove her worth in the world.

It had been true, Gaara had broke free from his chains long ago and has changed drastically from the boy he once was to the man he could be for her now. But the tight grind in his jaw, the steady light growl in his chest hummed in the very core of his being at his rising fiery to her stupidity. He had spent countless hours at sea, and on land reading and studying through books of many languages including one of ancient text dating back to the time of Christ, his own language from his desert home in Egypt to the far reaches of the East. A language to which is father believed was something demonic and made up as the captain had one day heard his son practicing it below decks. I knew you were a devil was the last thing he had heard from him that day, this was the last straw for Gaara before his decision was made to end his torment and be free of this hold this man had over him. To study such things would give a better knowledge and understanding to maps and huts do different parts of this globe, to understand is to have the power to live in this world and to live like a king as Gaara had done.

His nose tipping into her cheek in hopes of savoring the intoxicating smell that mixed with the fading scent of the rum that lingered on her breath, this time she will be tasted. His cheek finding the warm softness of hers against his for a brief second before pulling away coming face to face with this pussy cat now trapped by something greater and more powerful than herself. A tongue lapped out wetting dry lips,following with a light brushed against hers before letting his words spill from him. "Cut this bullshit, ask what you have come here to ask and satisfy that curiosity that I am sure you had running through your  simple mind since the moment you found that man to be dead."

Tenten had been fine when the young man's arrogance had only extended as far as insulting what was, to her, only on the surface of what mattered. It was always her belief that the opinion of others were unimportant compared to her own views, and so the young woman could easily maintain control over her emotions. But even so, his words cut her deeply if only for the fact that he was speaking of her mother's heritage, something that had always been a sore subject for her ever since that night long ago. The woman had been her salvation in a society that would have sooner left her to die a slave to marriage than to seek out the freedom that all men were entitled to. Her childhood had been sculpted around the understanding that Mei had for her daughter's struggle to escape such bonds. There were no signs or clues to suggest that the woman had survived that encounter with the EITC soldiers. But a small spark of hope still remained, a child's dream to see the mother she had always loved. To have him disrespect it so casually...

In one simple snap of a thread, the last shred of patience Tenten had managed to hold on to after withstanding every snide comment and off-handed insult he had thrown her all night, her mood changed drastically. Her back pressed against the shelves of Gaara's bookcase, her jaw clenched tight with the very last of her restraints, she kept her eyes staring straight ahead, over his shoulder. No doubt he expected her to crumble under his intimidation like all the other women who fell at his feet daily, weak women who could not find it in themselves to break out from the roles their world had given them. But she was not like those women, and instead stood stronger for it, straightening her back as best she could and meeting his gaze with a hard glare. And despite feeling some of that anger she held for his disrespect disappearing at the gentle brush of his lips, Tenten would hold on to the venom that seemed to be flowing through her blood.

With a slow blink, her eyes returned back to staring at nothing in particular over his shoulder, her knitted brows and evened lips the only indication of her mood. She could feel her knuckles turning white from the pressure of her fists, coiled tightly with fury just waiting to be unleashed. "True, my grasp of language is only limited to five dialects of Chinese and a little of French from the colonies that have been settled there in the East." Quick as lightning, she slid her dagger-like eyes to lock with his once more, managing somehow to keep the anger from slipping into her voice while still keeping the sharpness on point. "But at least I've no need to borrow and steal from a culture that is not my own to fill in the void left behind from a wasted and and pathetically deprived childhood just so that I can feel a sense of belonging beyond the boundaries of my ship."

A hard shove to his shoulder with all the force she could muster, maneuvering around him once more to at least regain some composure. The conflicts between her anger for him and all the other things she was feeling was starting to make everything confusing, muddling up her thoughts until there was nothing more than the jaded green of his eyes as they watched her intently, almost mockingly. And Tenten could only curse herself for being so weak against them. "However, you are right,  I did have a point in coming here, though I'm beginning to wonder why it even matters anymore. What's done is done. The man was vile and disgusting, and the world is better off without him no matter how he managed to leave it. Whether I had a hand in it or not should not make a difference."

"Your grasp of five dialects of Mandarin holds no importance in this world my dear lady." He spoke low and amused, against her cheek. "To know accents in the same language is not something to praise; for a monkey from your home land could accomplish the very same thing." He had ground his teeth harsh, pressing his cheek against hers roughly to make sure she could feel and hear every word of his insults. the exhilarating feeling was welling far too great, and now as she harshly shoving him aside with her lame attempts at insulting his childhood held no meaning for it was a life far forgotten and would never return to again.

"Stolen? You think learning is stealing?.... you are far more ignorant than I could hardly imagine. I know why you are up in that crows nest, so they don't have to hear your constant babbling about nothing." With a harsh snap of his hand grasping in a tight hold around her thin wrist he had found himself locked in a narrow stare down with the elder maiden. His expression remained as it was, with a mall smirk of victory to his venomous rebuttals that she had honestly believed that she would win. He had railed his gaze to the slender fingers of her hand, to the perfectly shaped wrist bound in his grasp up the thin arm until finally reaching those enchaining eyes of hers, at leas one good thing had come from the Orient. Taking a braved step forward in her mitts once again, only this time pressing his body flush against hers, the free hand he had left unoccupied coiled around her waist like a snake curling in around it's meal.

"Amazing stuff, you had given me that day." He whispered. " The bungarus are interesting beasts if I do say so myself. I was lucky enough to steal a book on exotic creatures when my fathers vessel had intercepted a cargo ship from the east. Amazing what one simple ship rat can find when expected to do his regular duties. Interesting book." He smiled one again finding himself even more drawn to her beauty, and that hateful look in her eyes that wicked tongue, he had enjoyed every last bit of her and will continue to do so. " ..neurotoxin  from this brand of snake are commonly used, as you put it, to ease pain in muscles when properly diluted. but an excessive amount can cause havoc on the users immune system shutting down the nervous system in a very painful manner, as I have come to find out when I spilled half(or perhaps a little more) into the masters soup of the evening."

A release of her wrist slowly making his way up the length of her arm to find a bed of complete comfort from her soft cheek in the palm of his hand, where many things in the young mans life now lay. With a small caress of his thumb against her bottom lip, thoroughly enjoying every warm sensation tingling through his body at a simple touch of her flesh, or perhaps it was in the story he was telling as his lips pressed heated against her ear. " I watch that man die, he watched me watch him die. I stood over his failing life as the crimson mess painted the floor from the knife I had used to cut his neck open from ear to ear." His whisper became an almost exciting quiver of excitement similar to the feeling swelling in his chest long before his story even began, the feelings for her. "I had never felt so alive, not before I had done it, not after.... but seeing his face in knowing his caged animal was no more. He will watch my success where he had failed from his place in hell."

Muscles strained in her jaw as it clenched tightly, the hard ache of her teeth feeling the tension that was building inside of her from all the words being thrown about. He was a challenge, an obstacle in the somewhat easy flow of her life that had never stood a witness to a problem that could not be solved...until now. Gaara had faced every insult she threw at him, matching them with his own, cutting deeper than any man had ever been able, doing what solid steel could not with a few mere words from his rough lips so warm to the touch. But then again, no other could hold her attention like he had, giving her respect when it was due instead of handing it over to her instantly because of her connections to the Dragon of the East while at the same time calling her bluff when she was merely spouting out a load of nonsense. He was, in all essence, a match for her like no other could be, unafraid and uncaring of her father's reputation yet with enough sense to give him some level of respect and caution. Because even the purest of pirate hearts were still pirates by nature in the end. Trusting in the honor among thieves and cutthroats would leave a man with a spot in Davy Jones' Locker.

Standing her ground, Tenten never turned away or flinched at his blatant words meant to slice and pick slowly at her pride and self respect, even as he approached her. Instead she sent back a retort of her own, her voice calm while it dripped with deadly intent. "At least I had the courage to speak out on my own. If not for the poison in that vial, who knows where you would be... I gave you what you needed, if only just a little push down the road you would more than likely have taken yourself. Through my actions did you realize your opportunity."

Tenten paused a moment when she felt his hand pressed against the small of her back and did not move or make any attempt to escape from his grasp like before, unable to move away from him like she had before, so overwhelmed was she with his close proximity, his hands heated and burning against her body. Because if ever she held any weaknesses at all...at this moment in time it would be him. And it frightened her. "You knew me for two weeks. You've no right to judge me. You know nothing about me, nor I you for that matter, obviously. If I had known in saving the boy from the falls he would turn into a pompous, arrogant bastard of a man just like his father...I would have left him to die at the hands of that same man." Dark eyes dropped to regard all of him in one smooth sweep, the clothes he wore, his stance, his attitude and overall presence. "But I suppose this punishment is more fitting."

And then they were back to those intense green eyes, answering his challenge the only way she knew how while her body seemed to mold perfectly against him in one of life's greatest ironies. Ever since the moment they met, she had been captivated with his story, his life and the tragedies that had been far worse than her own hardships. And despite all the frustration and anger she felt for the young man now, for his harsh words about her heritage, her knowledge, her education, insulting everything she had worked for all her life that he had been able to gain in a simple three years...she could not deny a force pulling her to him, beyond a curiosity of what had happened to his father, beyond ever discovering that he still lived after their three years of separation. What is this constant game we play? "If I am so foolishly ignorant, why even bother with me?"

"Yes," He found himself in a deep airy chuckle to her words of the vile and what had contained inside it. "You are right, I would not be who I am today without your help. So, this is calls for praise." with one dip and a slight pucker his lips grasped the lobe of her ear in a tender nibble against softness of her flesh. Tasting all the more wonderful than he had ever dreamed, the lemon flavor from her would be harsh debate made it all the more satisfying to his tongue. Her salty feminine husk lingered against his buds in hopes of savoring every last drop of this delicious Eastern feast. His breath panted heavily, collecting a thin layer of his constant building lust for this one and only woman who dared step to him in such a way...

"....hum...left me to die? Freedom to speak? you say such things in unknowing, you say I do not know you? Fair enough..." Lips nibbling hungrily to the desirable tasted that flooded his senses, ensnared his soul and enslaved his mind all from just one touch, and as his hand to her cheek held strong against any struggle she may have in the future it had still deemed far gentler from his usual activities with sexual partners. "But do not make reference to a childhood you had seen in plain view and tell me I did not have the courage." For it was true, back then he had dealt with his life the best way he knew how, she had a man to call father, to love, care and protect her even now, where as Gaara had to relay on none other than himself.

"I bother with you because you interest me, you are smart in your own right I suppose, I will not deny." His heated lips dragged slowly over her pale cheek as his nose came brushing past hers in a light sweep, his lips hovering before his next assault. The warmth of his skin rising to the surface, the stead thumb of his heart accelerating at an abnormal pace, the feeling he had never felt before and a single woman to be the cause and effect of it all. "You, with eyes enchanting as the Eastern skies, voice of a siren and determination of a damn bull." He smirked with a stiffened deep chuckle taking a forced step forward pausing her against the barricade of his desk, keeping her in this blissful submission he was rather enjoying. The commotion causing the blood to rush in other areas to satisfy the growing need to have her in a more intimate way, to want to feel every part of her being, have her use those amazingly beautiful vocals to form the syllables of his name.

The back of her thighs pressed against the edge of the desk, she kept a steady breath and kept her composure despite the tingling jolt she felt from the touch of his lips on her ear, feeling his breath sweep over the curve of her jaw and slope of her neck. So close to the smell of him, of the salty sea air that she had loved so much, how it surrounded him, and now her, so wrapped in his personal space that their scents began to mingle and wrap around each other to create something new. The conversation had definitely shifted, though to what Tenten did not exactly know yet. But her heart had adjusted accordingly, the beats coming quicker than normal while her body tried to catch up with his movements, the thud of it coming loud in her ears as if calling out to him in the same way he had to her earlier at the docks. And for a moment the young piratess was at a loss of what to do, wondering just why it felt so good to have his lips touch here, there, anywhere when every other time she had been with a man, she had felt nothing but this contempt and emptiness for what they were about to do.

But the stirring she felt from him (a benefit to their closely pressed bodies and shared heat) snapped her out of the daze and back into the reality of the situation. His interest was clear, as was her own (at least to herself). But Tenten would be damned if she would let him know that, at least not yet. So with a hard swallow of the lump that had began to form in her throat with the first brush of his lips, she was reminded of the life she had lived as the crew's secret charm, and once again the huntress was on the prowl. Things were getting very interesting to say the least, and they would only get more so if she had it her way. And what was previously a look of confusion slowly melted into curiosity and perhaps a hint of mischief. "And that is cause enough to draw your interest? Hmph..." With a blink, she gazed into his cool eyes, giving no indication of her thoughts (though she suspected he could read them easily if he had the want to try), simply letting the smirk slide onto her lips as she continued the comment. "I'll be sure to tell the whores you bed with every night that so they can better satisfy you..."

"....and what makes you think I have had anyone before?" The smile turning wider at the hint of obvious jealousy in her tone of voice. A sort of up lift in his spirit that she would exert some forms that would suggest her feelings, if even in the smallest fraction had only succeeded in stroking that already growing ego. Admitting to himself that yes, he was in fact guilty of taking to bed more woman than he could count, enjoying the fruits that his Island had to offer and continue to offer, what man wouldn't. They had more often than not given themselves to the young Captain for a many good reasons, reasons to which Gaara had not cared much for as long as he had gotten what he had desired. The lust for riches, to have a boy that held so much power in hopes of swooning his heart to save their own skin, but in the end they had been turned away like the rest for there is no room in this pirate life for love, is there? But she, of course, did not have to know of these things, what business was it of hers after all?

"Do you show signs of jealousy to all men you have come across? Or is it just me?" He spoke, his whisper gentle against the couture of her delicious neck grasping a mouthful of her skin between his teeth with a hungry growl. As he spoke his hands had found other means of entertainment other than the light brush of her cheek to tracing the careful dips of her neck hooking a single finger around the collar of that white shirt tugging it from his way exposing a perfect curve of her shoulder. Pale eyes flashed down to take in the glorious sight of the wonderful fruit from the east that had foolishly stumbled into his grasp, taking in the soft length that extended her darker flesh curving  over the bone of her shoulder. Without further hesitation, he lunged foreword digging ravaging teeth as if to tear her flesh right from the bone, to keep and savor for times to come.

It was a wonder to him, if he had irritated her so, how she had allowed this to go as far as it had. Had she really wanted him to move forward? Or was she waiting for the perfect time to finally use those daggers she had hidden under her garments. She should have known that she would have to use them soon, or risk the chance of him physically finding them one by one. Or was Gaara the one truly at risk for as a killer as he was, found himself far to wrapped up in the essences of her that she could have plunged the blade to his flesh and not even know it until it was too late. But still he pressed on, wanting to savor and enjoy the salty taste that tickled every inch of his tongue.

"Do you always try to seduce every woman you come across? Or am I simply the only one who does not throw themselves at your precious feet, hoping to gain your favor?" She kept her tone casual and light while she spoke, seeming laxed and yet still harsh in her rebuttal, thought Tenten was finding it hard to concentrate much on her words when his lips seemed intent on finding out the secrets that laid hidden in her neck, teeth digging into flesh, electing a flinch of nerve and a tight clench of her jaw at his weighted bite. All the while, the young woman was unsure what unnerved her more, his hard advances or the fact that she was enjoying them all the same, gripping tightly to the edge of his desk with her fingers.

An easy tilt of her head added to the curious and patronizing glance she gave him, while at the same time giving him more room to work should he find the need to push further (give a little to gain more, that was her game), while wondering just how stupid he believed her to be, to think that he could manage to become this powerful pirate captain without receiving an offer or two from the local women of the streets, hoping to raise their stations to something with a bit more respect, the paramour of a powerful man who could give them anything they could ever want if only he would turn his attentions to them. "Tch, as if I would stoop so low."

Shifting her stance against the edge of his desk, Tenten gave a quiet scoff and soft chuckle in response to his first statement, feeling the muscles in her shoulder straining and her skin vibrating under his lips. "Please, don't insult my intelligence. I may have a limited grasp of language, but I'm no fool. I've seen the women who offer themselves to my father in hopes of gaining the attention of a Pirate Lord." Though he could not see it, she shifted her gaze to him as well, his red locks of hair always on the edge of her vision while she felt his attentiveness gliding along the curve of her shoulder. "And I've seen the women in the tavern eyeing your door with lustful and ambitious eyes." He was completely unaware of her, slender and nimble fingers shifting to place the tip of the dagger under his chin, lifting it up from her shoulder so that she could look deep into his jaded green eye with an even smirk. "If you think me one among them you are sadly mistaken."

It was he had felt the light scrape of the tip of a sharp blade run the length of his neck, the harsher dip over his Adams apple to under his chin causing him to lift jaded eyes to a set of extremely amused brown ones. Her words went in one ear and out the other in seconds, his love life was no concern to anyone, especially her. One so smug and arrogance to match his own, rising herself on a higher pedestal because of whom her father was. But she was wrong in the fact that he had placed her in the same category as the woman who had offered themselves just for a chance to enjoy the company of the young boy, in hopes of winning something greater than themselves, in hopes of having riches and the luxury of being pampered by a successful pirate was a commodity in a sense.

"I was wondering when you were going to start using them." He spoke calmly his breath grazing against her perfect pink lips as the ghostly whisper of his words lingered heavy in the nightly breeze through the open door of the balcony. His tongue lapped out wetting the soft length of his dry bottom lip, a small smile painted his boyish features. "....and of course you're not in the same class, none would dare place a blade in my direction without knowing of the death tat would follow." He stated in a usual flat monotone voice before almost soundlessly moving swiftly over to grasp her smaller wrist in his hand. A harsh twist tugging her upper half making her thin, weightless frame spin to face the opposite way. A heavy forearm pressing down having her bend over his desk with the force of her cheek plastered against the hard wood  struggling movements.

"If you are not like them, I would only have one question for you to satisfy my  own curiosity." He found himself towering over her backside, snatching the dagger from her hand only to return it to her in eyes view impaling it in the desk through the course paper of the map to where she could see her obvious weakness. "Why do you come here, knowing this and trapping yourself in your own little game of cat and mouse. Not that I do not thoroughly enjoy myself, but really." His chest leaning flush against her back, his now free hand from the dagger brushing her long dark strands from her face for a better view of the milky pale flesh glowing in the moon light. Delicious, the way she looked beneath him was something he had longed for since laying eyes on sch an exotic creatures, to hear her moan in lust just for him, even as she spoke like venom seeping from every letter of her words he had still wanted her and only her, for now, she was all that mattered. At first it was a game, he would wave her goodbye when all said and done, but now It was like the wheels of fate had brought her to him this evening, and be damned to let her slip away without imprinting yet another memory of himself in her mind.

With a loud thump, her torso hit hard against the desktop, knocking the wind from her lungs for a moment and leaving her panting for more as the edge of the knife he had managed to wrangle from her came deadly close to her face. An arm pinned behind her back while the other one was left pressed against the top of the desk, all she could do was stare at her reflection on the surface of the blade, catching a glimpse of his blazing hair just out the corner of her eye while he played his little taunting game. Parchments and maps sprawled across the desk crumpled under her, compasses and other little knick-knacks rolled across the table and ultimately off the edge with their sudden movements while she took a moment to grasp what had happened. He was quick, she would give him that little of praise, though Tenten refused to voice that opinion out loud for fear of feeding his already too large ego. She could only assume that the fear that others had for him was the reason he was like this, allowed to do as he pleased like a spoiled brat because others were more frightened of their quick deaths if they tried to stop him.

Gritting her teeth to the building pressure and pain in her straining limbs, the piratess tried to ignore the warmth of his body against her back, the fluttering in her chest that she felt when she thought of him being so close, leaning over her like that and sneered as best as she could against the cool surface of the wood and managed to ground out evenly. "You can try to kill me if you wish, but know that many have tried and still none have completed the task. Do not think you will succeed where others have failed..."

Strangely enough, she had been in situations like this before, when her targets were just a bit too sober to simply hand over their control to her, wanting to hear Tenten scream in pain before they would try and have their way and leave her with nothing but a wasted night and a bruised pride. If she had learned anything during those circumstances, it was that she had the capability of getting out of most if not all predicaments just as long as she kept a clear mind opened to the possibilities before her. And so dark eyes darted around for a better grasp of her surroundings, a plan formulating as quick as it could be thought up.

"Believe what you will, but I told you once before..." In one quick motion, swept her leg back under him while at the same time pushed her torso up off of the desk with her free arm in order to try and move him off balance. When he was trying to right himself, she risked further injury to her captured arm and twisted around to further tangle their legs together and pushed forward so that he would fall on his back, hitting against the floorboards with a hard smack. Wasting little time, Tenten whipped out another knife and positioned herself over him, the sharp edge of the knife poised at the vital artery in his neck. "...I am not one to be underestimated."

"Hum, my dear Tenten, if I wished to kill you your body would be in a bloody mess on my floor, with your blood seeping through the floorboard cracks of this Tavern, I am not much for taking a woman of pirate blood a habit, but I will not lie... it would be a rather sweet iron scent that would just tickle the taste buds." He chuckled, letting his hard heated chest rock against her back, his lips brushing lightly against the shell of her ear, grazing a wet tongue against the tender lobe. His body shifted and swayed against her backside, catching his balance after she had found her way in entangling her slender leg around his in a weave in an attempt to turn the tables.

"...." He found himself in seconds, caught off guard and to his back with the girl he had just over powered was now straddling him with a the coolness of the metal against his soft flesh again. "Did I say I underestimated you?" He groaned against the blade, his pale eyes staring up at this beautiful piratess that had finally given him a challenge, one that he was thoroughly enjoying knowing in the end they would get what the both crave, and he will end on top as usual. His thicker hand finding a most comfortable spot to her thighs, giving a light stroke feeling the radiating heat rising from her skin against his open palms. He allowed his head to fall back, keeping his eyes to hers to let her know of his lack of fear, he and seen more than she could ever imagine, his life flashing before his very eyes thinking that the his father would bestow the finial beating making it the boys last. But he lived, as he had always, waiting for his wounds to heal and within days looking as though he had never been touched, giving that beast of a man all the more reason to justify the next and the next figuring the one before was not harsh enough if the wounds had not stayed long enough to remained the boy of his disobedience? "If anything you do me, thinking that your daggers scare me, I do not fear what you threaten Tenten.. I've seen it may times, and you know better than you let on of my threshold for pain is higher that one might think by just looking at me."

With a forceful shift his weight, he had responded to her attack as his hands gripped hard to her sides leaving her dagger as she wished, for now. Her lighter frame now pinned between the hard floor and the solid muscular body of her aggressor. "Tenten, we can play his game all night." He said, fingers coiling around her wrist with the dagger at hand, slowly cementing it to the floor and sliding her arm up over her head. His hair falling forward, the crimson strands close enough allowing them to caress her cheek. "...and if you wanted to kill me, you would have done it already, or tried." He spoke as his lips grasped her bottom lip with every word, not deepening for an official kiss, a tease against the thing pink lines. As lovely as he had ever imagined and needed more.

She tried not to think of his hand caressing along her thigh, feeling the heat of his palm through the fabric of her pants, eliciting a chilling tickle through her limbs at the mere touch. It was a thousand times amplified from when their hands had joined together for a brief moment out in the balcony when Tenten had made her escape from being pressed against the rail, her heart beating loudly against the cage of her ribs. All the while their eyes locked in a wordless battle, unspoken but understood while her hand stayed steady and poised at his neck, never intending to make a cut, though it was tempting to see a small trickle of blood bead against the paleness of his neck. Would it be the same shade of his hair, she wondered, or would it be a darker shade to match his darkened heart. Tenten resolved to find that out at a later time. His death would come eventually as everyone else's would, but it would not be by her hand. At the same time, he was welcomed to try and kill her as well if he wished, but she would not be dying by his hand either. "I'm not that easy to kill..."

And for a moment in time, the world was lost in a bout of confusion as she only had time to register the wind rushing around her before the young woman found herself staring up at her opponent. With a grunt, she felt her back hit the hard wood with a thud, her leverage gone as Gaara rolled their positions and Tenten was left to staring up at his fiery locks glowing in the candlelight, the tables once again turning in their little game. It was exhilarating, a complete rush of adrenaline that the pirate wench had never experienced before with any of her other encounters, the men either too drunk or too foolish to give pose any challenge against her. And for a split second, as his lips touched hers ever so lightly, she considered simply giving in to whatever urge had been calling out to the young woman ever since she had seen his aqua green eyes at the peer several hours earlier. But Tenten was a fighter to the end, and this was no different. So she remained still and unresponsive, only letting a smirk slip in while she leaned her head back against the floorboards, away from his lips, teasing, keeping him from his prize as she spoke softly in that way she knew touched on the nerve of every man she had ever come across. "And I never said I wanted you dead..."

She shifted her head again, just slightly to the side, letting her breath breeze out against his lips before leaning to give him a temptatious brush, whispering against them while she continued. "Besides, if I had wanted to gut you, I would have put up a better effort that that...and you'd already be on the ground, bleeding to death while I licked off the copper crimson stain of your blood off the edge of my knife..."

"Not easy to kill, you say?" He responded in a deep whisper, his voice clinging to the husky air swirling the room in a musky haze. The damn smell creeping past the open door of the balcony, the scent of an on coming system drawing near, the clouds hovering in a thick blanket ready to mask the pale moon from the open clear night sky. The stars hiding behind, their jealousy of the sparkle in deep pools of dark honey causing them to bow out and allow this night to be one of hers, an enchantress from the East one in successful unlike many others in stealing away something Gaara thought to have never possessed. His heart had turned cold black long ago, through trials and sadness that plagued his life since a small boy from the time in learning to walk.

"Your own dagger  nearly went through  that pretty little head of yours, of do I need to remained you further?" He moaned against her brush, his fingers grasping harshly to the dagger she held in hand and once again impaled it into the floorboards close enough to feel cool rush of the cold blade whistle by her ear, cutting loose her half done hair allowing it to flow freely. Wood chips breaking free from the impact as the splinters sprayed over her pale cheek. "....and don't think you give me an opening to do so, blame your tardiness as you are not fast enough. I have spent years perfecting my speed an agility, you should know that."

Her fine strands of silky black hair found weaving between his fingers in examination, lifting to his eyes view as the pale aquamarine orbs lost at the thoughts of this wondrous being had come to be whom she was. He had remembered her years ago, beautiful back than, even more so now as he lay his body wedged between her legs to keep her pinned, the heat radiating from her parted legs could not be hidden for how she was truly feeling about the advanced made one her. Her voice had be hypnotizing, even greater now as all he wanted or needed to hear was that sweet song of her vocals wanting him above all others. To fell the nakedness of her flesh brush against one another in a sweaty, lustful dance of need and simple want to be with one anther.

"Volo vos." Again, lost in the mindless game of cat and mouse the young captain had found her soft pale flesh of her cheek hard to resist. Wanting now to brush a gentle thumb over her in a caress not meant for feuding egos, for conflicting personalities but a man and a woman coming together for the simple reason they wished to be in the company of the other. But even this was not enough to calm the lack of patience of the swell building in the red heads..... chest pants, the want to kiss her taking over his mental state into a foggy mess of Tenten, the spell she cast was a dangerous one, it was then he had seen how her game worked in her favor. She always ending on top, men falling at her feet with a simple smile, touch or look only to rid the world of yet another urchin under her foot.

So close were they that she could feel the edges of her lashes caress his skin when she blinked, wisps of her own breath coiling back around her after sweeping over his cheek, his jaw. And in her eyes she could only see the faint edges of crimson red wavering with the breeze that came in from the opened door of the balcony, the dim light of the moon reaching in and fading out with the passing of the clouds until finally there was nothing but the flickering light of the candle to see by. Soon there would not be even that, Tenten supposed, believing that the wind would blow it out any minute now. But oh how she could feel him, the weight of his body on her, his heat radiating out to engulf her in its warmth. She was almost sure Gaara could feel her heart pounding, reverberating through her rib cage to send the vibrations to him, a beacon in answer to the call his own heart seemed to send out. It was an odd concept to believe either one of them possessed a heart, so entranced in their work as they were. True, she cared for her father as much as any daughter could and possessed the respect that she had earned from his men. But nothing explained this strange emptiness she still felt nonetheless.

She neither flinched nor turned away from the hard thrust of the blade into the wood, only blinking and closing her eyes to the flying debris as she felt her hair slide free from its bonds, a few swaying unhindered now in the breeze. Evenly, her fists balled up into loose fists, feeling the muscle and bone of her wrist press slightly against his palm while he held her in place, stretched out along the floor like a toy on display. And for a moment, Tenten simply allowed her dark eyes to take in the view before her, the lean slope of his neck, the strong curve of his jaw, the way the muscles in his throat moved when he spoke so quietly and gently... "And...what makes you believe this was not my intention from the beginning?" Her tone was even, though she felt anything but with the way he seemed to drip with tactful lust, further perpetuating this game the two seemed to have started the moment she stepped into the room. "You're exploits are well known in this part of the world. Did you really think I would not hear of it and anticipate every move you would make?"

Shifting as best as she could, the young woman leaned in to speak softly into the shell of his ear, her voice raspy in a way that she knew would reach into the very core of his being, testing his own self control. "In fact, I might have hoped for it..."

A slight hitch in his breath, the gentle graze of her lips barely against his ear in a low seducing whisper he listened with great intensity with swelling need to take her as she was. Sprawled out as she had allowed herself to be from their game of cunning holds and swift maneuvers to get one more up on the other. Something the young Sabaku had not expected from any woman, although he should have half expected from Tenten being that whom she was. Her words taking what seemed like hours to sink into his being, to give his mind and soul time to hang on to every last breath taken in and out with the rise and fall of her chest beneath him. Her quickened pants impossible to mask as her sweet plump mounds making it that much more difficult to hide her rising excitement, as was the his swelling in the crotch of his pants.

He had let her comment slide for this time, for his mind was too far gone with this enchanting spell she had casted, the potent scent of feminine musk filling the room feel some what more of a distraction than the actual meaning of the words spilling from those gorgeous lips. "I am going to let you up now," He followed in a lower whisper than before, his lips pressing harshly against her side making sure his words could not be missed and disobeyed. "Are you going to be a good girl?"

It was a question that did not need answering, for Gaara had just expected orders to be followed when he was giving them out, no one had ever dared do so for their fate would have been sinking into the shadowy blue depths of Davy Jones' locker. They had known better than to question their cynical young captain, his order was final, his order was law as expected from a boy of only 16 to achieve so much in such a short period of time. Creating a name for himself not only in the vast aqua waters of the Caribbean, but also Seas farther than he had ever imagined, the Pirate Lord of the south pacific had seen to stroking that part of his every growing ego.

With a swift shift in his body weight, he lifted himself from the rather comfortable heat between her thighs wither her wrist still tightly in his own grip tugging her to her feet with the greatest of ease. He smirked as he allowed her light body to hit against his own in a gentle thud. "Still not eating enough." He stated hastily maneuvering her around pinning her back against the nearest wall with a crash with his to follow directly after. Lips finally making that contact in a coaxing need he so longed for since seeing her sweet curious eyes study him on the dock hours before. His rough movements causing her to lift from the floor slightly as a wondering hand took to exploring the unknown of her dips and curves of her waist and backside hiding under those unfitting cloths fit for a man. His lips grasping with an intense hunger for the foreign taste of an exotic wonder that had graced him this night, to enjoy every last sweet taste as he pushed past her lips, tongue exploring every inch of the caverns of her mouth. A hand stroking along an elevated leg, forcing her to wrap around his waist in an attempt to feel that heat between her legs a little more. He growled a heavy purr, the rumble deep within the core of his chest, passing the knowing rising lust from one to the other with passing vibrations.