Shotgun Wedding

This is a shorter chapter, but I think you'll still enjoy most of it. It's a transition chapter of sorts, so it'll start to show the characters separately. As the story continues, that will happen a bit more, so I hope you don't mind seeing the 'couple' apart. Bear with me and I think you'll get a kick out of this fic. :)


Chapter 4

“You’re Zuiken?” Kakashi asked, walking into the main room, pulling his headband on and sliding it down over his sharingan eye. He eyed the tall man between Naruto and Sasuke. He wasn’t any bigger than Kakashi, but something about the man made Kakashi nervous.

Zuiken regarded him with sinister dark eyes and smiled slowly. He was far too relaxed for Kakashi’s liking, his long frame loose and at ease. Didn’t it bother him that three high-classed shinobi surrounded him? “Yes I am. I apologize for my late intrusion,” he murmured in a silky voice. “I hope I may also convey my apologies to your lovely young wife.” His eyes flicked towards the back room, behind Kakashi.

“I’m sure she will be here shortly. You must understand we didn’t expect any visitors so soon,” Kakashi said, keeping his voice easy and nonchalant. He didn’t like this man one bit.

“You have been in my little town for weeks, so I hardly consider this ‘so soon’,” Zuiken said sinking carelessly onto the long couch behind him.

Kakashi leaned against another chair and crossed his arms. “I suppose that is true. So why are you here?”

“Simple,” Zuiken said with a small smile. “Your village has declared you missing. You and your students are outcasts, homeless.” He smirked and leaned back. “She must be a wildcat in bed if you’re willing to give up everything for her.”

Naruto snarled and lunged for the man, only stopping when Sasuke wrapped his arms around the young man’s waist and hauled him back. Zuiken laughed softly and ignored the boy completely.
“Naruto,” Kakashi said in a steely voice. “Rather than attack our guest, why don’t you go get Sakura. We’ll let my ‘wildcat’ speak for herself.”

Naruto snorted and glared at the tall, handsome intruder as he passed. “Yeah I’ll get her. Bastard,” he muttered. He reappeared with the young woman a few moments later. “That’s him Sakura.”

Sakura smiled slightly at the man and nodded. “Yes I see. Our first guest. May I get you something to drink?”

Zuiken smiled and stroked his bottom lip, studying her with open interest. He was probably really wondering what it was she could do that Kakashi would abandon his entire life just to have her. “No, no, I’m fine. I just came to speak with your husband and friends here. Perhaps you could find something to do while we chat?”

“She stays,” Kakashi insisted, drawing Sakura back and into the chair he leaned against.

“Very well,” Zuiken said with a shrug. He smiled at the tall Jounin and rubbed his chin. “As I was saying, word is out that you’re missing-nin now. What do four homeless ninjas plan to do?”

“We found a job with a farmer near here,” Sasuke murmured from his position behind the delightful visitor. “Sakura works in town at a vegetable stand. It will suffice. We will make enough to survive,” he said, his voice as smooth and emotionless as ever.

Zuiken turned his face slightly and listened to the young man, smiling in amusement. “Is that it? You’re going to let your skills wither away on some crappy little farm? Charming.”

“Shut up you bastard!” Naruto snarled. “It’s a good job. The farmer is really nice and we get paid enough to get by.”

“I’m sure you do, but what if I could offer you something better?” Zuiken murmured, turning back to Kakashi.

“We’re listening,” Kakashi said, acting as though he was interested. He knew this was the ‘in’ they’d been waiting for. Fortunately Naruto and Sasuke were acting like they always did. It was much less suspicious that way. After all who calls a target a bastard if you want to get on his good side? “Even Naruto,” he said glancing at the blond.

Naruto snorted and crossed his arms. “Yeah I’m listening. What is this ‘something better’ you have for us?”

Zuiken smirked. “He’s charming.” He shrugged and stood. “I’m looking for strong men to train my own men. My brother and I hire out mercenaries to villages that aren’t big enough to have a ninja academy. I need more teachers.”

“So you want us to become teachers? What’s the catch?” Kakashi murmured.

“You only have to prove your loyalty. I will personally supervise your training of the men to make sure you are doing your job. I will expect you to live at the compound of course and quit your job with this farmer you speak so highly of,” he said seriously.

“What about me?” Sakura asked softly.

“You may stay here love,” Zuiken purred. “I can’t have my men distracted by such a pretty young face.”

“So you don’t want me to teach your men?” she asked in open confusion.

“I’ve studied all of you. I have no use for your skills,” he said bluntly, wandering towards the door.

“But she’s my wife,” Kakashi said, his voice edged with annoyance. He didn’t care for this man in the least. He was cocky and rude and clearly had issues with women in power.

“You may visit her twice a week or decline my offer,” Zuiken said with a shrug. He opened their door. “I will send a man at dawn for your answer.” He waved and shut the door behind him.

“He has no use for my skills? No use?” Sakura gasped. She stood and began to pace furiously. “I may not be as strong as all of you but I’m a fucking Jounin!” she yelled at the three startled men. “That means something you know!”

“Sakura,” Naruto gasped, shocked at her language and anger.

“I hate being the weakest in the group,” she whispered, her anger deflating as fast as it rose.

“Sakura, you know that’s not true,” Kakashi said softly. “You’re strong, just in a different way. You’re one of the smartest shinobi in the village and your genjutsu control is rivaled by very few. Zuiken just wants taijutsu. Don’t take it so hard,” he murmured, tugging her into his arms. “We know you’re strong. Zuiken doesn’t matter.” Sasuke and Naruto echoed his words with a soft ‘he’s right’ and patted the girl’s shoulder.

“I guess you’re right,” she said with a shuddering sigh. “I just hate being so unbalanced.”

“Tell you what,” Kakashi said drawing her away from him so he could look down at her. “When I come visit each week, we’ll work on your taijutsu. Just you and me.”

“Really?” she asked softly. It had been so long since he’d trained them on a regular basis.

“Sure,” he assured her. “Come on. Let’s get some sleep. Looks like Sasuke and Naruto and I have an early morning tomorrow.”

Sakura nodded and smiled sheepishly at the young men. She didn’t normally lose her temper and now felt a little silly. She followed Kakashi back into his room. They didn’t know if Zuiken was still watching after all. It was sad settling into his arms that night, knowing it might never happen again. Kakashi would live at the compound now and then they’d return home. She sighed and snuggled closer, waiting for sleep to claim her.

***

Tsunade leaned back in her chair and sighed. She read over the report once more before looking up at the ANBU waiting patiently for her orders. “You’re sure about this?”

“Yes,” Genma said firmly. “There is little doubt about it, we all saw the same behaviors.”

“Kakashi, what are you thinking?” she muttered half to herself. Of all the people to lose focus, she had never suspected Kakashi would be susceptible.

Gemna cleared his throat. “If I may Tsunade-sama, Sakura is a sweet, beautiful woman. They have known each other since she was a young girl. It isn’t inconceivable that their relationship change a bit as she ages. I know it’s unconventional…but not unheard of.”

Tsunade sighed and smiled a bit at that. “Yes, I know. I suppose Kakashi is still a young man…compared to me at least,” she finished with a snort. “Keep an eye on the situation. If it becomes a problem send a message to me and we’ll abort the mission. I won’t have a mission compromised by two ninja that can’t keep their pants on.” When Gemna flushed lightly and nodded she sighed and continued. “Have they made contact at least?”

“It would appear that they’ve met a man named Zuiken about a week ago. From what we can tell from prior investigations, he is a major player in the compound’s development. It would appear that he and his older brother are in charge of the mercenaries. Kakashi, Sasuke and Naruto made contact with him and were led to the compound the next morning. Sakura remained behind.”

“Pardon?” Tsunade asked with a frown. “She’s there for a reason.”

Gemna nodded and flushed, “Yes of course.” He hesitated for a moment and then spoke up. “We made brief contact with her in the forest five days ago while she was training. Apparently Zuiken and his brother have little use for powerful women.” Gemna flushed darker, hoping he wouldn’t offend his extremely strong Hokage. “It would seem that they…see women as weak.”

Tsunade’s eyebrow twitched. “Really? Charming. How did she take it?”

“Not well, but she is training hard as a result. She works with a vegetable merchant during the morning and afternoon and then trains until she is too tired to stand,” Gemna said with a smirk. “She would make you proud…as her sensei.”

Tsunade smirked back and stood up, wandering to the window. “I’m sure she is doing well. She is a smart young woman. She’ll go far in life if she can keep her self esteem intact.” She moved back to her desk and opened a deep drawer. After rustling around in it for a moment she drew out a small vial and tossed it to him. “When you see Sakura again, give this to her.”

He glanced at the symbols on the bottle and frowned. “Tsunade-sama…are you sure?”

“Absolutely,” she murmured. “Dismissed.”

***

Kakashi scowled at the gangly group of men before him. Fortunately the face he was making was covered by his mask and they weren’t the wiser. Zuiken’s men were little more than cutthroats and pickpockets. It irked him to teach these men even the simplest of his techniques, but if it was for the good of his village and others’, he’d do just about anything Zuiken asked.

The one thing he hated doing the most was leaving Sakura behind. He knew it had hurt both her feelings and pride to be left out once again; left in the three men’s wake as usual. Just her rank proved that she was more than capable as a ninja, but clearly that didn’t phase Zuiken in the least. At least the bright side to it all was he could get away from this hole on occasion and Sakura wouldn’t be leered at by his current ‘students’.

“My name is Kakashi. You will address me as Sensei or Master. Anything else will earn you a nasty punishment,” he growled to the group. They frowned and shifted. None of them were likely used to taking orders. Too bad for them. “Your first lesson is to run around the compound behind Sasuke and Naruto here,” he said, pointing to his two frowning students. They smirked at the group and then at each other. They had this particular lesson once a week, sometimes more. They could run all day. “This is a test of endurance. When they stop, you stop. If you fall short the punishment will be far worse.”

“What’s the punishment?” one brave man asked nervously.

Naruto laughed, since he’d suffered through the punishment on numerous occasions. “Sit-ups, push-ups and pull-ups…three to five hundred each, depending on how pissed he is.”

Sasuke smirked. “Usually he gets pretty pissed. Kakashi Sensei doesn’t appreciate being disobeyed and neither do we.”

Kakashi snorted and waved the boys away. “I’ll see you later Sasuke and Naruto. Don’t kill them today.” Naruto gave his typical childish laugh of delight and Sasuke chuckled softly as they trotted off with the ‘students’ reluctantly in tow.

“This is your idea of a lesson?” Zuiken asked softly, moving up from behind.

Kakashi turned. “Hmm? Of course. Endurance is vital to a good military. If your men get tired, you lose,” he murmured. “Naruto and Sasuke have more endurance than most of our village’s veterans. They compete against each other, so they’ll likely go until they drop or throw up.”

“So I’ve heard. How long?” Zuiken asked curiously.

“Kakashi looked at the sky. “It’s about 6:00 a.m. now…noon? The heat will probably get to them after all. You might want to send water out to them every hour or so,” he suggested, pulling out his treasured book.

“So you make your students run my men into the ground while you sit here and read?” Zuiken mused softly.

“You’ve studied Sasuke and Naruto’s abilities, correct?” he asked smoothly. Everything about Zuiken’s attitude made him bristle.

“Ah yes, so why am I standing here questioning your abilities as a teacher?” Zuiken asked with a small laugh. “Very well. I’ll leave you to your methods. I’ll arrange for the water and check back here around noon then.” He wandered smoothly back into the main building of the compound.

Kakashi watched him, his face expressionless, just in case he was being watched. He needed to get into that building. He was sure that’s where the brothers kept their plans. Kakashi frowned softly and realized, vaguely, that he hadn’t met this mysterious brother yet. Deciding he would eventually, he shrugged and leapt up onto the wall and settled in to watch the progress of his students and their band of stragglers.

***

At noon Naruto and Sasuke trotted back into the compound, breathing heavily, but grinning at each other foolishly. Behind them the men who’d kept up were collapsing or vomiting in the dirt of the training grounds. It was a truly ugly thing to witness. Those that hadn’t made it were either packing their bags or gasping as they tried to complete their ‘punishment’ sit-ups.

Naruto laughed and tackled Sasuke, jumping on his back. “Ha! I didn’t throw up once today! I win you bastard!”

Sasuke flipped Naruto over his head and into the dirt, and pinned him down with a knee in his chest. “How do you win? We didn’t make a wager this time.”

Naruto grinned and shrugged. “Doesn’t matter.” He grabbed Sasuke and twisted and rolled with the dark haired man until both were standing again and throwing furious kicks and punches.

Zuiken appeared next to Kakashi and hummed curiously. “How can they still have so much energy?”

“I don’t know,” Kakashi murmured honestly. “They’ve always been like this. They run each other into the ground and then proceed to beat the crap out of each other. It is just something they do.”

“Do they hate each other so much?” Zuiken asked with a short laugh.

“Not at all,” Kakashi said with a shrug. “They’re best friends, closer than brothers.” He strode forward and waved the two young men apart. “Enough. You’ve humiliated Zuiken’s men enough for the day. Go get something to eat and get some water. We’ll let them rest for the remainder of the day.”

The men groaned and dragged themselves towards the mess hall, following Naruto and Sasuke painfully. Kakashi decided maybe this could be a bit entertaining if he got to torment a few murderers and thieves in the process.

“So now what Kakashi?” Zuiken asked, hands behind his back.

“I’d like to go see my wife. Tomorrow I’ll start them on a few basic fighting exercises so I can gauge what they’re capable of and then Naruto and Sasuke will take them for another little run. Once they can keep up at least a bit, we’ll change their routine,” Kakashi said firmly.

“Very well,” Zuiken murmured with a small smile. “I look forward to the results. Go see your wildcat if you must,” he said with a dismissing wave and turned to go back into the main building. “Be here by dawn.”

***

Sakura waved goodbye to Mr. Okabe. He only needed her until early afternoon now, since his grandson had agreed to help him during the evenings. It had been a stroke of luck, since she’d now have more time to train and eventually show that Zuiken bastard that she was a damn fine Konoha Jounin.

Sakura was a bit surprised and concerned when she saw Kakashi leaning against the outside of the vegetable stand when she came out. “Kakashi, is everything okay?” she asked, worried.

“Perfect, except for that bastard didn’t ask you to join us,” Kakashi said straightening up. “At least you don’t have to deal with a bunch of murderers and pickpockets leering all day though,” he amended.

“Are they really that bad?” she asked with a small smile. He nodded. With a laugh she asked, “What did you make them do?”

“Jog behind Naruto and Sasuke,” he said leading her down the main street and towards the outlying forest to train in.

Sakura grimaced, lacing her arm around his as they walked, “Even I have a hard time keeping up with them.” It was true too. No matter how hard she had trained, Naruto and Sasuke’s rivalry drove them further than most humans could withstand. They’d literally run until one of them passed out. She couldn’t even count the number of times she and Kakashi had dragged one or both of them to the hospital.

“They can be…trying at times,” he said with a small laugh. “You were always much easier Sakura.”

Her smiled faded and she sighed. She glanced around the clearing she used to train in and shrugged. “I guess that’s part of the problem I’m currently having. I haven’t pushed hard enough. Though I wonder if I were a man, if Zuiken would have invited me into his circle too.”

“I think that’s the problem really. It’s not your strength or abilities, just your gender,” Kakashi said honestly. “If it’s all the same to you though, I like you much better as a woman.”

She smiled and blushed a little at that. There was no denying that there was a definite attraction between them. They’d gone about ‘faking’ their marriage all wrong and it was having a lasting affect. Both of them had openly admitted to it, and confessed they wished it was all for real. Tsunade would be furious with them if she knew what was happening. A ninja was meant to focus on their mission above all else. Sometimes that meant giving up the life of a friend or living a life without love. It was the way of the ninja; discipline, focus and…loneliness.

“Kakashi,” she murmured, pulling away from him and wandering into the clearing. “Have you been very lonely all these years? I’ve never seen you with anyone.”

Kakashi shrugged and put his hands in his pockets, wandering after her. “There wasn’t time for anyone.” Sakura winced a little, knowing that training the three of them had taken up the last ten years of his life. He continued on. “Most of the time I’m not lonely though, since I have you three to keep me occupied. I’ve enjoyed being your teacher. You three have brought a lot into my life. I can’t say I didn’t miss the companionship of adult women though. I have spent many lonely nights at home, if that’s what you’re really asking.”

“Didn’t you date anyone at all?” she asked shyly, studying the grass.

“Not seriously. I saw a few women on occasion, but not enough to develop any real attachment to them.” He reached out and tilted her chin up. “Why the sudden interest?” he asked looking down into her bright green eyes.

She blushed and tried to pull away. “Can we train now?”

“Answer the question first and then I will train you,” Kakashi said firmly.

She hesitated and her blush deepened. “I-I just want to know what it is that is between us. I may not be very experienced with men, but even I know that last night would have gone much further if Zuiken hadn’t shown up. Am I just another woman you will see on occasion or more?”

He hesitated and then responded in a soft, honest tone. “I don’t know. I would like to believe it’s something more…but I don’t know Sakura.”

“Fair enough,” she murmured, gently tugging away from him and moving further away. She sank into her customary fighting stance. “Shall we begin then?”

“If you wish,” he replied, deciding to let her run from the serious moment for the time being. He dug into one of his vest pockets and pulled out a small, familiar bell. He smiled under his mask and jiggled the hated training tool. “Try to take the bell.”

“My reward?” she asked curiously, with a small smirk.

“I’ll be generous and let you choose, if you get the bell,” he said with a trace of humor in his voice.

Sakura grinned inwardly and began to formulate her plan. The cocky bastard didn’t think she’d get the bell then? She’d have to show him that she was a Jounin for a reason.

***