Underneath the Underneath

Chapter 3-Fight for Domination

“I’m sorry, sir! I tried to tell them you were busy, but they insisted on barging through the door anyway. I tried to stop them, sir, I really did.”

“It’s okay, Mei. They can stay and you’re free to go.” Taka said with a wave of his hand to his young maid.

“Hai, sir.” Mei said and obediently left.

“So, Kakashi, for what fine reason do I have the honor of your presence so early in the morning?” Taka asked with a raised eyebrow. Next to him, Sakura similarly sat with her head turned and an eyebrow raised, taking in the image of Kakashi and Pakkun standing before them.

“I woke up this morning to find my cousin missing, so I got worried and tracked her down here with my dog.”

Said dog looked up innocently at Taka and Sakura, but Pakkun’s gaze lingered on Sakura’s. Sakura looked a little shocked to see him, not only because Kakashi had obviously summoned him to track her down, but because Pakkun now stood before her without his hitai-ate and blue sleeveless shirt. Without these articles of clothing to designate him as a nin-dog, Pakkun looked like a regular pet dog.

Pakkun waddled over to Sakura and let her scratch him behind the ears.

“Well, now that you’ve seen she’s safe and sound, perhaps you can leave us alone so that we can continue enjoying our breakfast?” Taka asked, not so subtly telling Kakashi to go and take a hike.

“Sorry, I can’t do that.” Kakashi said with a determinedly set look on his face. “I actually came here to take my cousin back home.”

At this, Sakura immediately spoke up.

“Kakashi, dear,” Sakura said through gritted teeth, “Didn’t I tell you in my note to you this morning that I can take care of myself and not to come looking for me? Taka and I are having a perfectly pleasant breakfast, and although I really appreciate your concern for me, I have to tell you that I have every intention of staying here to finish my breakfast with him.” Sakura said with finality in her voice, looking hard at Kakashi with her green eyes. Kakashi glared back at her.

“Sakura, dear,” Kakashi said, grinding his own teeth, “I didn’t come all this way just so that I could come home without you.”

“Kakashi, can’t you see that I have business to attend to here?” Sakura grounded out, hoping that Kakashi would catch onto her double meaning and remember their mission which he seemed to be forgetting about more and more each day.

“Can’t you do it later?”

“No, I can’t!”

“Well, I’m still not leaving without you.”

“And I’m still not going with you.”

“Sakura, why are you being so stubborn?”

“Why are you being so stubborn, Kakashi?”

Through all this, Taka and Pakkun watched in silence, their heads turning from Kakashi to Sakura every time they spoke, as if watching a tennis match.

Finally, Taka stood up. “Listen, Kakashi, can’t you see she doesn’t want to go?”

“I didn’t ask you.”

“Maybe not, but now I’m asking for you to go.”

“Not without Sakura.”

Sakura looked between the two males now glaring at each other in their little standoff and stood up herself. “Stop it you two, right now!”

“Fine, but you’re coming with me.” Kakashi said, grabbing her wrist.

“Let her go, Kakashi!” Taka fumed and grabbed Kakashi by the shoulder.

Kakashi turned his head to look at Taka’s hand on his shoulder, then met Taka’s eyes with a fiery glare. “You seriously don’t want to do that.” Kakashi said.

Something in Kakashi’s tone made Taka immediately drop his hand. “C’mon man. Can’t you see she wants to stay?”

"And can't you see I want her to go?"

"I said stop it already!" Sakura shouted while pulling her wrist out of Kakashi's grasp with one swift move. "What is wrong with you lately, Kakashi?! Why can't you just leave me and Taka alone?!"

Kakashi stood before Sakura speechless. He knew why he couldn't leave them the hell alone. It was because she was his whether she knew it or not, and mission or no mission he wasn't going to let anyone, especially a young, rich, handsome man who could quite possibly snatch her right out from under him, to touch her. But Kakashi couldn't tell her all this with current company present, so Kakashi did the only thing he could think of and grabbed Sakura's hand into his again.

"Sakura, please..." Kakashi quietly pleaded.

"I'm sorry, Kakashi, but my answer's still no." And with that Sakura pulled away from him again and stepped to Taka's side. A part of Kakashi died.

"Fine." Kakashi said and before Sakura knew what was happening, she found herself dangling over Kakashi's shoulder.

"Kakashi, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Sakura screamed.

"Taking you home." Kakashi said and had barely taken two steps forward when he felt something slightly hard hit the back of his head. Kakashi turned around and looked at the offending object down by his feet. It was a croissant.

"Did you just throw a croissant at me?!" Kakashi asked looking at Taka bewildered.

"Yes, I did." Taka said trying to sound brave, but his body shook a little.

"I told you you don't want to do this." Kakashi said with a threatening tone in his voice.

"Yes, I do. If defending Sakura's honor means getting pummeled to the ground, then I'll do it. I don't care!" Taka said defiantly.

Kakashi looked at Taka surprised by his own compassion and understanding for the young man. In his position, Kakashi would've done the same thing. Kakashi didn't want to be the bad guy, but with Taka being so close to stealing his precious Sakura away from him, it couldn't be helped. Kakashi was determined to keep Sakura his and his alone, even if it meant waging an all out war with the perfectly decent young man.

"Fine then. Let's do this shall we?" Kakashi said as he gently put Sakura down on her feet once more.

"Kakashi...Kakashi...What are you going to do?" Sakura asked the fright clear in her voice.

"Don't worry, Sakura. I'm not going to hurt him...too much." Kakashi said evenly, and before Sakura could stop him, she watched horrified as Kakashi walked purposely towards a shaking Taka, grabbed a bowl of oatmeal from the breakfast table, and dumped it all over Taka's head. Then Kakashi stepped back and admired his work.

Beneath the rim of the bowl that Taka now wore as a hat, the young man fumed. "That's it! I've had enough!" Taka yelled. He pulled the bowl off of his head, grabbed a plate stacked with pancakes, and threw it at Kakashi's direction.

Kakashi smirked and easily dodged the plate of flying pancakes that flew towards him, then grabbed a basket of croissants from the table and began throwing them at Taka like an arsenal of shurikens and kunais.

"What the fuck?!" Taka shouted as he was pummeled by one croissant after another. Taka grabbed a silver platter to use as a shield and then used a basket full of fruit for his own ammunition.

Through all this, Sakura stood at the sidelines screaming for the two men to stop. Pakkun could only stand by her side amused by the fight occurring between Kakashi and Taka. It was always the same, no matter what the species...A textbook example of two males fighting for domination in order to win a female to be his mate.

"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Sakura continued to scream while food came flying in all directions. Even Pakkun had to duck every now and then as a piece of toast or a hard-boiled egg came zooming his way.

And then, as if in slow motion, Kakashi and Taka watched horrified as a fluffy pancake, topped ridiculously high with whipped cream and strawberries, flew towards Sakura and hit her squarely on the face. The piece of flattened cake slid slowly down Sakura's whip cream smeared face and then fell to the floor. Kakashi and Taka watched in fright as Sakura's face burned bright, bright red in anger and they could only stand frozen as she stomped towards them.

"What. The. Hell. Is. Wrong. With. You. TWO?!!!" Sakura screamed at the top of her lungs and began punching both of them at the same time. It was all she could do to keep from channeling her chakra into her fists, but she knew that if she did, then she would blow their cover. Kakashi and Taka could only raise their arms over their heads and take her blows in humiliation. "Idiots! Idiots! The both of you! I don't even know why I put up with you two!" Sakura screamed.

Feeling that this wasn't going to end any time soon if he didn't do something, Pakkun waddled over to Sakura, took a bit of fabric from the bottom of her long skirt, and began to gently pull her away from the completely beaten and bruised pair of males.

"IDIOTS!" Sakura screamed one last time and Pakkun released her as Sakura stormed away from them all, made her way through the mansion, and slammed the front door with an ear-splitting crash behind her.

Mei, the maid, ran out to the patio to see what the commotion was all about and had to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from bursting out laughing. Before her stood Kakashi and Taka covered in everything from scrambled eggs, to whipped cream, to toast that stuck to their clothes from all the stickiness that covered them, and the patio itself looked no better with food strewn everywhere from the all out food fight.

"I'll clean this up." Mei said quietly and hurriedly ran back into the mansion not only to get cleaning supplies, but to laugh her head off in the broom closet.

Alone, the reason for their fight having ran out the front door, Kakashi and Taka slowly turned to look at each other sheepishly.

"So sorry about all this." Kakashi mumbled. "I'll help clean up."

"Thanks." Taka said solemnly and also began to start picking up the various pieces of fruit, bread, and meats off the patio floor.

About an hour later, Pakkun waddled by a completely disheveled Kakashi.

"You know, you really should just tell her, Kakashi." Pakkun said quietly.

"What's there to tell?" Kakashi said stubbornly as he continued to walk staring blindly into the distance without missing a step.

Pakkun could only shake his head at his master and continue to walk silently by his side, not understanding why humans had to be so damn hard-headed.

To be continued...