Chapter 210: I Am Willing
In Uchiha Akira's room, only a dim oil lamp was lit, casting long, flickering shadows.
He sat by a low table near the open window, pouring himself a small cup of sake.
The sake was clear and shimmered in the cup, reflecting the moonlight.
Outside the window, the moon was like water, covering the entire courtyard in a serene, silver light.
Suddenly, Akira's hand, holding the sake cup, paused in mid-air for a fraction of an instant.
His ear twitched, almost imperceptibly.
A sound.
A very faint, shuffling sound of footsteps echoed in the corridor. Bare feet on polished wood.
The footsteps were hesitant. But they were approaching.
Finally, they stopped, right in front of his shōji (paper sliding door).
Akira put down his sake cup, his brows furrowing slightly.
It's so late. What is Kurenai doing here?
Could something have happened to Hinata?
As soon as this thought arose, Akira immediately dismissed it.
Under his powerful, expanded perception, both Hinata and Naruto's breathing was steady, long, and even.
They were clearly, and deeply, asleep.
Then...
"Creak—"
A soft, hesitant sound.
The paper sliding door was pulled open from the outside, just a tiny gap.
A head, framed by a cascade of dark, silken hair, peeked in. Her red eyes, wide with extreme shyness and nervousness, tried to pierce the darkness.
Moonlight streamed in through the door crack, instantly outlining Yūhi Kurenai's soft and beautiful profile.
Her long hair, usually tied up, cascaded over her shoulders.
And she was wearing only a thin, silk nightgown.
Their eyes met.
Kurenai's heart pounded so hard, it felt like a physical blow.
It's over.
He sees me.
I must look so disheveled... so shameless...
What am I doing?!
Thoughts of retreating flashed frantically through her mind.
Go back! Go back right now! Slide the door shut! Pretend nothing happened!
But her feet seemed to be rooted to the spot, unable to move.
Kurenai bit her lower lip so hard with her pearly teeth that it almost bled.
Finally, as if she had made some kind of monumental, life-altering decision, she pulled the door fully open in one go.
And she walked in.
Then, she reached back and gently, silently, closed the door.
Click.
Throughout the entire process, Kurenai tried her best not to make any unnecessary sound.
She was in.
Afterward, Kurenai walked, step by silent step, to the low table where Akira sat.
Then, she slowly, gracefully, knelt down.
Her head was bowed very low. Her dark hair fell forward like a curtain, covering most of her face, making it impossible to see her expression.
"Akira..."
Kurenai's voice sounded. It was soft as water, yet it held an undeniable, electric tremor.
Akira's gaze fell on her. He said nothing. He simply... watched.
Moonlight poured through the wide-open window, unreservedly spilling onto Kurenai's thin, silk nightgown.
The light was cruel, and beautiful. It perfectly outlined her graceful, mature curves, enough to drive any man wild.
Her fair skin seemed to glow with a moist, pearlescent luster under the moonlight.
Akira admitted, internally, that he was no saint.
Faced with this scene, this offering, no normal man could remain indifferent.
His Adam's apple bobbed, once, uncontrollably.
Akira picked up his sake cup and drained the clear, pungent sake, trying to use the sharp taste of alcohol to suppress the sudden, primal heat rising in his heart.
He was, for a rare moment, caught off guard.
Inviting Kurenai to stay overnight was purely out of concern. And, perhaps, to let her and Hinata bond a bit.
He had never imagined things would develop to this point, this quickly.
He had also never expected this Jōnin—a woman who was always calm, collected, capable, and decisive in front of others—to make such a bold, vulnerable, and terrifyingly silent move.
Kurenai's head was buried even lower. She could feel his eyes on her.
Her hands, in her lap, were tightly clutching the hem of her nightgown.
"Akira... I..."
"No... nothing." Kurenai's voice was as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"It's just... I can't sleep."
Even Kurenai herself, the second she said it, found the excuse ridiculously, painfully clumsy.
Silence fell in the room. A heavy, charged, suffocating silence.
Only the chirping of insects outside the window... and their own, slightly hurried breathing... could be heard.
Every second became incredibly, agonizingly long.
Kurenai's skin, her neck, her shoulders... it had all turned a shy, burning pink, spreading from her neck all the way to her earlobes.
A long time passed.
A very, very long time.
Then, Kurenai seemed to gather all the strength she possessed.
She didn't speak. She moved.
She surged forward from her kneeling position and suddenly, desperately, threw herself into Uchiha Akira's arms.
Her soft, warm body, carrying a woman's unique, delicate fragrance, collided fully into his hard chest.
Uchiha Akira's body instantly stiffened.
"Akira... do your words from before... do they still count?"
Kurenai's face was buried in his chest, her voice muffled but very serious.
"Which words?" Akira asked. He subconsciously, instinctively, reached out and gently wrapped one arm around her back. His voice had unconsciously softened.
"You said... you said I am... your woman."
"Of course they count."
Akira's answer came without the slightest hesitation.
Having received the answer she so desperately needed, Kurenai's conviction in her heart grew even stronger.
She took a deep, shuddering breath against his chest.
"Since... since I am your woman..."
Kurenai's voice became as small as a mosquito's buzz, yet in the silent room, it reached Akira's ears as clearly as a shout.
"Then... I want to become your true woman."
These words...
...made Uchiha Akira momentarily stunned.
He looked down at the woman in his arms. She was flushed with shyness, yet feigning a composure she did not feel, expressing her feelings with the most direct, earth-shattering words.
At this moment, Uchiha Akira's heart was in turmoil.
Reason told him he should refuse. He should be a gentleman.
He should tell her to wait.
They could be like a normal couple. Getting to know each other slowly. Courting. Developing gradually, until the time was ripe.
But... he was a man.
A young, vigorous man with immense, god-like power... but a man, nonetheless.
And the woman he loved... the woman he desired...
...at this moment, was offering her everything to him. Without reservation.
To refuse, he knew, would not only deeply, mortally hurt her...
It would also make Uchiha Akira himself look down on himself.
He was not a saint. He was a conqueror. And she... she was not a prize. She was a choice. His choice.
"Kurenai."
Akira spoke, his voice now a low, deep rumble.
"Do you know... exactly what you are doing right in this moment?"
"I know," Kurenai nodded heavily, but she was too shy, too afraid, to meet his gaze. She only buried her face deeper into his embrace.
"Have you... thought it through? There is no going back from this."
"Mm."
Kurenai softly hummed in response, a tiny, affirmative sound.
No longer hesitating in the slightest, she got up, and left his embrace.
The sudden loss of contact startled him.
But then, she began to untie the sash of her nightgown.
It was a very simple bow.
But at this moment, Kurenai's fingers... they trembled violently.
She couldn't untie it. The simple knot, to her fumbling, shaking hands, was an impossible fūinjutsu.
The more anxious she became, the more mistakes she made, her fingers fumbling.
Uchiha Akira watched Kurenai's clumsy, yet persistent and heart-stoppingly brave, movements.
He reached out and took Kurenai's cold, trembling hand in his.
"Let me."
Kurenai's body trembled slightly, but she nodded, her eyes still downcast.
She allowed Akira's strong, steady fingers to gently, and easily, unfasten the silk sash.
The silk nightgown... slowly... slipped down Kurenai's rounded, pale shoulders.
Fair. Perfect.
Like the most perfect, living work of art.
Uchiha Akira's breathing became heavy.
He could no longer hold back.
He extended his arms...
...and pulled the incredibly alluring woman in front of him, tightly, into his embrace.
"Tonight's moonlight is beautiful," Akira whispered, his voice rough, in Kurenai's ear.
"But... you are even more beautiful."
Before he finished speaking, he lifted her off her feet, into his arms.
"Ah!"
Amidst the woman's short, surprised gasp, he strode towards the bed that was already made.
The moonlight outside the window, as if it, too, was shy, quietly hid behind a passing cloud.
Warm fragrance and soft jade, filling his arms.
This was the feeling.
Kurenai's cheek was pressed tightly against Akira's chest, where she could hear his strong, powerful, and rapid heartbeat.
She was nervous. She was scared.
But even more, there was an indescribable, tingling sensation that spread through her entire body. A sense of... rightness.
"Are you scared?" he asked, his voice low.
Kurenai shook her head vigorously in his arms.
"Do you regret it?"
Kurenai still shook her head.
Then, Kurenai gathered all her courage. She tilted her head back, looked him in the eyes, and replied in a voice that was almost inaudible, but completely firm.
"No regrets."
"I... I'm willing."
Uchiha Akira no longer suppressed himself.
He lowered his head.
And he kissed her.
"Mm..."
Kurenai's eyes, her beautiful red eyes, instantly widened.
Her mind went blank.
Her tense, nervous, trembling body, under Akira's gentle, yet demanding, assault...
...slowly, little by little...
...began to relax.
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