Double Edged

Song reference: Stay Now
Artist: Jem
Lyrics: Daylight comes, daylight comes/And you’ve got to go/Breaks my heart, breaks my heart/To have to watch you go/Wish I knew, wish I knew/When you’ll be back again/However long, it’s just too long/Until we meet again/Stay now, stay now/Just a little more/Coz this love, this love/Is what living’s for/Stay now

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If there was one thing Shiranui Genma hated, it would be early morning. If there was one thing he hated even more than early morning, it was being awake early in the morning. He didn’t give a damn if he was a shinobi who should be used to keeping odd hours. That didn’t mean he had to like it. When the sky was still cold grey and only a few annoyingly happy birds were up and chirping, he preferred to be in a warm bed with an incredibly sexy thigh slung over his hips.

But, seeing as the last week or so had sucked something fierce, he figured it only made sense that it should continue right through to the very end of the mission. All he cared about at that point was getting the hell home and rolling into bed with Shizune for an hour or so before she had to leave for work. He sighed wistfully and glanced over his shoulder at the muttered cussing about ‘goddamned trees’ and groaned under his breath as the man behind him shook off a bramble bush that had clung to his legs. So much for his plan to get there before she left.

“You know, you don’t need to sprint, Shiranui,” Saito snapped irritably.

“Who’s sprinting?” Genma drawled back as he chewed on the end of his senbon and reminded himself that killing a teammate, however annoying they were, was a bad thing. There would be court marshals and paperwork, possible jail time with some burly guy named Miku who hadn’t had a cellmate since that incident… Not to mention Shizune wasn’t the type to get a kick out of conjugal visits. Over all, not worth the effort for five minutes of satisfaction.

“He’s just tryin’ to get home to his woman, that’s all,” Edorai joked, sending a knowing grin and wink in Genma’s direction. While the tone to his words was light and friendly, the look in his eyes said he understood very well what sort of violent thoughts were going through the senbon user’s head. Apparently, Genma wasn’t the only one who was fed up with Saito’s constant bitching, which was a little relieving. It really meant something if the usually laid back Shinto Edorai was reaching his breaking point. The guy had the patience of a first-year Academy instructor, after all.

“Yeah, but some of us don’t have a woman waiting for them. Some of us don’t- are you fucking kidding me?!”

Genma looked back at Saito in the hopes he’d found a nice steaming pile of dog crap to step in. He frowned when he noticed the other man was more preoccupied with sending a horrified look directly in front of them rather than at his sandals. Following his gaze, Genma snickered at the sight of the enormous hill in front of them. The entire side was a pit hole of land scars and trees that were just beginning to reclaim the slope once again. During the last ninja war, it had been the sight of a major battle that occurred when some invading nin got too close to the borders of the village. He hadn’t actually been there for fight, having been positioned with his teammates near the waterfall to thwart an ambush, but he’d heard it was one of the worst battles ever fought in Konoha’s history. It was nice, after so much violence, to see the forest was repairing itself.

“What’s the matter, Saito? Afraid of a little hike?” he taunted as he stepped out onto pond that was between them and the monster-sized hill. Saito was one of those shinobi that were not-so-affectionately called Wallet Nin. Meaning, they had a rich relative of some sort who basically bought, bribed and bullied the higher ups to make certain they made it through the jounin exams. He personally didn’t begrudge someone for having wealth. What rankled him was when that wealth was used for ignoble purposes.

Most Wallet Nin were damned near useless beyond doing the administration work or wasting money by sitting in an office with some made up title to make them feel important. A few of them, however, weren’t half bad in the field but they made it very clear they didn’t like it. Saito was one of those sorts. He wasn’t the worst of the Wallet Nin but because he didn’t like going on missions he never applied himself full force. And when a guy was in a fight where he needed to rely on his teammates being a hundred percent at his back… Yeah, not cool. There were other reasons, besides the bad attitude, that people usually passed on missions with Saito.

“Fuck you, Shiranui!” Saito spat back as he stomped out onto the small pond, water splashing under his feet with each heavy step. With the way his mouth was turned down into a sour pout, he looked like some snot-nosed kid who’d just been scolded for playing with his father’s shuriken. Genma sighed and rubbed a hand wearily across his eyes. Maybe he could get away with hurrying the rest of the way back, seeing as they were so close to… No, Raidou wouldn’t let him. He’d get the disapproving look on his face before saying that the mission wasn’t over until they all walked through the gates. Raidou was a good friend but he also followed the rules to a T. Even if they were within three miles from home, if he left now it would be written up in the mission report. So… he was stuck with listening to Saito bitch. Marvelous.

He could understand why Edorai and Raidou had been paired up on a team with Saito. The first was insanely patient and the other didn’t give a damn who was on his team so long as they pulled their weight. But as for himself… He couldn’t prove it, but he was pretty certain Tsunade was still punishing him for sweeping Shizune off her feet. He understood that the Hokage treated his lover like a daughter but wasn’t it just a little wrong to be using village business as a means of tormenting him?

“Why, I do believe that was sexual harassment. Sorry, Saito, but you’re just not woman enough for me. Keep trying though, you’re getting pretty close,” Genma remarked blandly, earning him a quickly cut off chuckle from Edorai and a stern frown from Raidou. His friend was warning him silently he should stop right there, but he wasn’t in the mood to listen. Yeah, it was generally a bad idea to mock someone who’d bought their way into being one of Konoha’s elite but he needed to vent somehow! Besides, if it meant loading Tsunade down with paperwork for the questionable conduct charges he was certain would be filed for his lip, it would serve her right. He didn’t like Saito, and she didn’t like paperwork. It seemed pretty fair in his book.

Saito’s response was an incoherent splutter of sound as his face turned a bright, angry red. Without another word, he finished storming across the pond and out of ear shot from the rest of them.

“Thank god!” Edorai muttered as Saito walked up the bank on the other side and came to a halt, apparently to wait for them. “I don’t know about you two but I’m gonna drink heavily to forget this mission ever happened!”

Chuckling, Genma twirled his senbon between his teeth and said, “When and where?”

“Kunai Kaede’s around nine?”

“Sounds good. Raidou, care to join us in drowning the emotional duress?”

Raidou shrugged, which meant a yes for him. It had taken Genma something close to a year before he could interpret what every shrug or frown meant, a talent only a few people had mastered. Most people found Raidou’s silence to be cold and uninviting. They just didn’t understand that, in reality, he was probably one of the most solid guys in all of Konoha. Genma had trusted him with his life on more than one occasion. Obviously, since he was still alive, his trust hadn’t been misplaced.

“Okay, looks like we’re all on board then!” Genma grinned and tucked his hands into his pockets. Nine was a good time. If he missed seeing Shizune before she left, he’d at least get some time with her before going out for a bit. Maybe he could talk her into…

“Is that a dog staring at Saito?” Raidou asked, his voice sounding only mildly interested in his own question.

Genma’s eyebrows rose curiously as he followed his friend’s narrow-eyed glance in the direction of the shore. Sure enough, what had to be the biggest freakin’ bulldog was standing in front of Saito with its ears perked and body in a tense, watchful stance that had the other man standing very, very still. Now it made sense why Saito hadn’t continued on without them. Looking beyond the stand-off between man and beast, Genma noticed the remains of a fire pit as well as a hammock strung between a couple of trees with a leg dangling over the side. He followed the curve of the hammock up until he caught just the barest hint of silver colored hair peeking up near the top. So… it was him. He thought he’d recognized the dog.

Rolling his eyes and muttering, “Aw, geeze,” Genma hurried the rest of the way across the pond to keep Saito from either pissing himself or attacking the dog that was studying him with wary curiosity. “Hey, Bull! That your human’s leg I see over there?” he called as he stepped onto solid ground once again, clapping a hand to Saito’s shoulder and causing the other man to jump. It also caused him to pull his hand away from the shuriken holster he’d been going for. Definitely not a good move to pull on a two hundred pound ninken, especially when the summoner of said ninken was a light sleeper and not even ten feet away. That was one sure way to piss off Hatake Kakashi. And, as much as he didn’t like Saito, he wouldn’t wish the hell that was a vengeful copy ninja on anyone.

Bull grunted and relaxed when he recognized Genma, obviously identifying him as a non-threat. Cocking his large head in the direction of the hammock, the dog rumbled, “Over there, but keep it down. The girl’s still sleepin’.”

That nearly made the senbon fall from his mouth. “Girl… what girl?” Genma asked sharply. He glanced over at the hammock again and could just make out a mop of pink hair on Kakashi’s chest. Wait a second… pink hair… Ooooh, yeah! Haruno Sakura. If she was there then that meant… Oh.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out that it was a little more than a camp they’d walked in on. They were crashing a date. A date… where they’d both obviously spent the night out in a secluded forest. Shit. He glanced again at the leg hanging over the side of the hammock and noted that it was very female… and bare. Rubbing the back of his neck and praying for a negative response, he ventured to ask, “Are they, ah… decent over there?”

A hand appeared from inside the hammock and gave a halfhearted wave. “Yo!”

Genma couldn’t help grinning at the drawled greeting. “Yo, yourself! Got clothing on?” he repeated, matching the same quiet tone Kakashi had used.

The arm appeared again, this time hanging over the side to better showcase the fact that it was still covered by a sleeve. “We’re good. Just getting back?”

Chuckling, he walked over to the hammock, leaving his companions to make friends with Bull and the other two dogs that had wandered over as well to check out who the newcomers were. “Yeah, long story about that. Up for drinks tonight at Kunai Kaede’s?” Genma’s grin widened as he got a good look at the occupants of the hammock.

Kakashi looked for all the world like he’d passed out drunk in there with the way he was sprawled out. Sakura, on the other hand, was curled up in a fetal position against his side with one hand clinging tightly to his shirt like it was a teddy bear and her leg flung across his knees and over the edge of the hammock. The reason her leg had appeared bare was because she had her pants rolled up to her knees. Tucked into the small curve made by her body and directly on top of Kakashi’s stomach was where Pakkun had made his bed. Over all… it looked freakin’ uncomfortable.

Kakashi didn’t bother cracking his eye open at the question. “Can’t. Got a mission in a couple hours,” he replied, covering his masked mouth to stifle a yawn.

Genma cringed, his gaze sweeping over the fabric sling dubiously. “And you slept in this thing?”

The silver haired man gave a vague shrug of his shoulders as he tucked the arm that Sakura was currently using as a pillow around her shoulders a little better. “There are worse things to sleep on than a hammock.”

“Right… She asked you to, huh?”

“Mm, something like that. I don’t think she’ll want to do it again.”

Genma snickered as he stuck his hands in his pockets. “Your back’s probably shot six ways to hell by now.”

“Just about. Hey, can you do me a favor?” Kakashi ruffled a hand through his hair and squinted his eye open enough to look at Genma.

“Depends on the favor, Hatake. I am kinda in a rush to get back,” Genma replied slowly.

“Sure, sure, I understand. But would you four mind hauling this stuff back with you. See, if I take it all back I’ll be late meeting up with my team-,”

“Gasp. Hatake Kakashi late? The world must be coming to an end.”

“So, is that a yes?” Kakashi asked, purposely ignoring Genma’s sarcastic interruption.

Sighing wearily, Genma surveyed the camp area critically. There wasn’t a whole lot, really. Mainly the small table, some campout cooking pots and… “Hey, is that a projector?”

“Ah… yes.”

Grinning, Genma shook his head and muttered, “You copying son of bitch… You used Asuma’s idea, didn’t you?”

“Mm-hm. Asuma’s a pretty clever guy.”

“Apparently, if even you’re copying off of him.”

“Can we get going now?” Saito snapped irritably, uncaring that his volume might wake someone up.

Both Kakashi and Genma shot the man annoyed glares as Sakura shifted sleepily in the hammock. Letting out an irritated huff, Kakashi muttered, “Now I get why you’re grumpy.” Well, well… it seemed the Copy Nin had worked with Saito in the past. It was a little gratifying that the bastard had even managed to get under Kakashi’s cool skin. That took some real hardcore talent.

Grinning, Genma moved around behind the hammock and began taking the projector apart to carry back. The Academy was on the way to his place, so it wasn’t too inconvenient. “Okay, guys, grab some stuff and start hauling!”

“What?!” Saito yelped indignantly while Edorai and Raidou exchanged glances before they both moved toward the small folding table. “Why the hell are we doing that?!”

“Because I’m pulling rank on your ass and telling you to,” Genma drawled back, smirking as the other man simply gaped at him. Technically speaking, they were both jounin so there wasn’t any real rank to pull. However… Genma had been a jounin since he was sixteen years old. Saito had just gotten his promotion six years ago. Even though rank didn’t really exist once a ninja reached jounin, there was such a thing as seniority… and he was gonna use it for all it was worth!

Despite the fact that Saito had to have known he could refuse orders from anyone other than an officially named team leader (which was Raidou, but he wasn’t saying anything about it), he shut his mouth with an audible snap and began moving the trash Edorai and Raidou had cleared from the table over to the fire pit.

Genma glanced back when he heard Kakashi chuckle and muttered, “What?”

“Nothing. It’s just so adorable to hear you pulling out the rank speech, that’s all,” Kakashi murmured.

“Oh, like you’re one to talk! Who was it who made his first genin team scrub his dogs off as ‘an exercise in teamwork’?”

“… That was a legitimate training technique, a prototype for the bell exercise. If they worked together, the dogs got cleaned faster.”

“Bullshit, you lazy bastard! You just didn’t wanna do it yourself!”

Kakashi shrugged but he didn’t negate the point at all. Genma flashed a triumphant grin at the silent man, knowing he’d called it correctly. If there was a way to get out of doing something, Hatake Kakashi would find it and exploit it for all it was worth.

And yes, he was aware that was exactly what the smug bastard was pulling by asking them to clean his mess up. The truly sad thing was that, even though he knew this, he was still gonna do what Kakashi had asked. There was just something about him that made people want to follow him. Hatake Kakashi was charismatic… and the asshole knew how to use it to his best advantage, too. Genma let a puff of air escape his lips, blowing a few stray pieces of hair out of his face as he muttered, “Saito started a trash fire, so make sure to put that out before you leave.”

“Of course. You’re the best, Genma.”

“You say that to everyone.”

“But I only mean it for you.” The line came complete with that happy, trust-me-I’m-harmless smile that usually always meant the exact opposite. Kakashi was talking utter crap now but he wasn’t going to call him on it. He was too tired and too eager to get back to bother arguing. Besides, what was the point in fighting anyway? Kakashi would either: a) irritate him so much that he’d storm off with the projector before he’d even realized it, or b) manage during the course of the argument to make Genma feel guilty for some imagined slight, ending with him taking the projector back as an apology. Either way, he was leaving there with the damn thing, so was it really worth it to fight over the inevitable? Not really.

Hefting the projector to one shoulder, Genma waved over his shoulder and said, “I’ll catch you when you get back, Kakashi. Later!”

“Later.”

Giving one last look at the leg still hanging over the edge of the hammock, Genma smirked and shook his head. Honestly, the guy had some unbelievable balls on him! Dating the Hokage’s apprentice was a serious thing. Dating her to teach a harsh lesson about seducing people was completely different. Wait until Tsunade found out… Genma cringed and felt a momentary stab of pity for the man sprawled out in the hammock.

Noting that his other teammates now had the camping table broken down enough to stuff into a pack, he jerked his head toward the hill and said, “Shall we, gentlemen? And, as a token of thanks for helping out with this, the first rounds tonight are on me!”

“Rounds? Where?” Saito asked quickly as a scowl turned his lips downward. “Hey, were you guys planning on going out without me? Oh, that’s real fucking cool! I mean, I slave away on this mission under the impression we’re all friends and then you all…”

Genma groaned and blocked out the tirade as best he could. He shrugged sheepishly when both Edorai and Raidou glared at him as he walked passed them to start climbing the hill. Hey, he hadn’t done it on purpose! Of course… try telling that to his pissed off comrades. Sighing and rubbing his eyes with one hand, Genma muttered, “This is just not my day.”


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Kakashi’s mouth stretched in a wide yawn as he slumped back as comfortably as he could into the hammock once again. He flinched when his stiff neck pinch tightly, sending the needle-like pain shooting down to the middle of his back. Damn it… He really shouldn’t have caved in to her request last night, even though it probably covered quite a bit of ground where dating her was concerned. Still… Not only was his back a lovely mess but he still needed to get his gear around for the mission.

Kakashi took a deep breath in, enjoying the smell of the forest first thing in the morning and making no effort to get up just yet. He was already going to be late, so what was the point in rushing things? It was already shaping up to be a lovely morning… for staying in bed, that is. Yeah, the client was the typical upper class sort; wealthy, powerful and with an attitude that hadn’t been properly beaten out of him as a child. Tsunade had called him in to specifically tell him not to be late… but he was certain he could come up with a reasonable excuse by the time he was ready to leave.

He closed his eye once again and relaxed back into the warmth of Sakura’s body curled up nearly on top of him. She mumbled something into his shoulder and snuggled more closely to him when he rubbed his knuckles along the back of her neck. Kakashi arched a brow at the damp spot on his shirt from where she’d drooled on him during the night before shaking his head and smiling. She was going to be such a wonderful shade of red when she saw what she’d done to his shirt!

He felt Pakkun shift on his stomach and cracked his eye open again when the little pug yawned and stretched. Pakkun blinked sleepily as he turned toward Kakashi and mumbled, “Mornin’.”

“Yes, it is.”

The dog snorted like the joke hadn’t been all that funny (Pakkun really had no sense of humor in the morning) and blinked his round eyes to where Sakura was draped over Kakashi’s chest. “She still out?”

“Mm… Looks that way.” As stealthily as he could, Kakashi pressed two fingers to her wrist and checked her breathing. Both were slow and steady, which gave every indication she was asleep. Then again… she was a medic, trained by the Hokage herself. She very well could be controlling her bodily responses to make it seem like she was asleep. Reaching down to rub Pakkun’s wrinkled neck affectionately, he said, “We can discuss it later, okay?”

Pakkun yawned once again, his mouth stretching wide as his eyes crinkled closed. “Sure, whatever you want. We’re gonna get going now, if that’s okay with you.”

Kakashi waved his hand to indicate he had no objections to the dogs leaving when his stomach started itching something fierce. Frowning as he took care of the problem with a hard scratch, he asked, “Pakkun… do you have fleas again?”

“Maybe.” He could hear the smugness in the dog’s gravelly voice and knew the ‘maybe’ was more of a ‘hell, yeah’. Fleas… How lovely.

“You do this to me on purpose, don’t you?”

Jumping out of the hammock, the pug called without looking back, “You better get yourself up. I can hear ‘em looking for you already.” Several soft poofing sounds followed that statement, signifying that the dogs had left the area.

Sucking in a deep breath and stifling back another yawn, Kakashi looked down at the disorganized mess of pink plopped on his chest. It was a good thing Sakura was such a petite thing, otherwise the sleeping situation would have been a lot worse off than it was. she actually fit pretty snugly next to him. And apparently she liked to imitate a barnacle when she slept; she was practically leeched to his side and front. Not that he was really complaining, though. Sakura was a very pretty girl, and he certainly never minded a pretty girl clinging to him in her sleep.

Sadly though… he was now going to have to brave the terror that was Haruno Sakura first thing in the morning. As nice as it would have been to just lounge around all morning, and possibly all afternoon, that wouldn’t happen if a search party had already been sent from the Hokage’s office. He’d rather avoid Tsunade finding out that he was dating her apprentice for as long as possible. Kakashi grimaced as he studied the sleeping girl once again, a thin sheen of sweat breaking across his brow as he tried to figure out a way to wake her up that wouldn’t result in screamed threats or a skipping of the threats and going right for the physical pain.

The last time he’d had to wake her up had been on one of the last missions Team Seven had gone on before the chuunin exam incident. He’d used a teeny, tiny lightning jutsu on her feet… and had promptly ducked to miss the foot that would have shattered his nose beyond conceivable repair. Poor Naruto had been planning some prank behind his back and, as a result of Kakashi ducking, had taken the savage kick directly to his chest. He remembered being impressed with the amount of air Naruto’s body was capable of achieving. The boy had remained sprawled on his back the entire twenty minutes Sakura screamed at him for waking her up like that while Kakashi very discreetly snuck away, leaving Sasuke blinking in sleepy irritation at his teammates.

Those had been some fun times. Had he known before then that torturing genin was actually more enjoyable than simply failing them perhaps he would have passed a few more teams. Oh, he wouldn’t have allowed them any missions of course, but he probably could have made their lives hellish enough that they would have quit within a week anyway. He’d have to remember that the next time he had to do a turn as an instructor. For now though… Shocking her awake was flat out. No matter, there were other ways to wake her up, ones that would suit his purposes much better.

Smirking, Kakashi brushed his fingertips against the back of her neck lightly, tickling the fine hairs and making a shiver work down her spine. The hand locked securely on his shirt tightened and tugged as if trying to pull him more securely underneath her. He let his fingers wander further downward, trailing from her shoulder to where her sleeve was bunched up at her elbow. He waited until she had settled herself again before tracing a gentle zigzag pattern across her bare forearm, promptly withdrawing his hand when she worked her other arm free enough to swat at him.

Kakashi grinned and dropped his hand down to her waist, very carefully inching her shirt up enough to expose a thin strip of her stomach and lower back. This time when he ran a finger across her skin, she jerked and growled low in her throat before twisting around to escape the ticklish sensation. Twisting around in a hammock, however, meant draping herself even further on top of him. She now had her leg stretched across his lower stomach and her face buried against his collar bone while her arm hugged tightly over his chest. He could feel her warm breath through his shirt, and that combined with the squeeze of her thigh around his waist made him swallow lightly.

Okay… This wasn’t going exactly as planned. She wasn’t waking up like he’d thought she would and he was afraid that if he continued along this path he was going to have a very different sort of problem to deal with. A very hard problem. He didn’t think Sakura would appreciate being woken up by an erection poking her in the leg. Right… The old-fashioned approach would have to do.

Sighing, Kakashi took a deep breath and shook her shoulder gently. She groaned but didn’t budge. He repeated the gesture more firmly. It resulted in a louder groan and a mutter that sounded vaguely like ‘pig’. Wow, not even fully awake and she was already calling him names. That had to be a new record for him. Kakashi shook her once more, this time rolling her completely off of him. Sakura scowled and stubbornly rolled back over onto him without even cracking an eyelid.

Maybe that teeny, tiny lightning jutsu wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

No… It was. He’d leave there with a black eye at best and then have to tolerate Anko interrogating him over who got a drop on Copy Ninja Kakashi. He’d then be forced to come up with some elaborate story, which really was a hassle and would probably involve something about being kicked by an angry mule, which Anko wouldn’t buy anyway… Well, he knew of one other way to get her up. It wasn’t nearly as fun as tickling her awake but the results were guaranteed. And seeing as nothing short of dropping a chidori right on her head was working right then… This would have to do.

Kakashi carefully worked his way free from her and got out of the hammock. He waited until he could hear her breathing even out before grasping the edge of the fabric and pulling it toward him. She groaned loudly and tried to snuggle into the body that was no longer there. Grinning, Kakashi released the hammock and let it swing wildly. As expected, the sudden motion snapped her awake almost instantly. Sakura screeched and flopped about as she tried to steady herself in the pitching sling. “What the… Kakashi!”

Chuckling, he went over to the fire and kicked some loose dirt over it, stifling the flames and the smell of burning plastic while she continued to grumble and complain from the hammock. “It’s time to get up,” he called to her. It probably would have been quicker to use a water seal to douse the fire, but he was using the extra time involved in smothering it for her to orient herself and keep himself from possibly getting decked.

“Guh… What time is it?” Sakura muttered, her voice cracking a little as she spoke. Yawning, she shifted around until she was kneeling upright, but made no further move to leave the hammock. Apparently, she wasn’t going to get up and kick his ass.

“Early,” he replied as he walked back over to where she was still rubbing a hand across her eyes sleepily. “I tried shaking you but it didn’t work. So…”

“Why’re you waking me at all?”

“Because I have to get back now.”

She yawned again, blinking bleary eyes up at him. “Sucks to be you. Can’t you just lemme sleep?”

“Alone in the woods? Especially with perverts wandering around?”

She smirked as she curled up into a tight ball again. “Can’t be worse than the one already here,” she retorted.

Kakashi shrugged off the insult and said unmercifully, “Call me what you want so long as you’re up and moving while doing it.”

Growling low in her throat, Sakura pushed herself upright and swung her legs over the edge of the hammock, nearly taking out his knees in the process. He was going to assume that it was accidental on her part, though the satisfied smirk on her face suggested otherwise. Kakashi bit his lower lip to keep from laughing as she stretched her arms over her head. Her hair was sticking out at all sorts of interesting angles and her eyelids were puffy, forcing her to squint. Plus… she had some dried drool that had crusted on her chin during the night. She looked awful and rather cute at the same time. Sort of like Pakkun when he’d been a puppy, come to think of it.

Sakura’s scowl turned into a confused frown as she whirled around as if looking for something behind her. “Wuh…?” she muttered, obviously having noticed some of their gear was missing. “What the... Where’s the projector?” Her eyes widened in horror as she frantically struggled to get out of the hammock. “Oh, crap… Some thugs came through and stole our stuff, didn’t they? We’ve gotta go after them or Iruka-sensei is gonna be pissed!”

Nope, definitely not the sharpest kunai first thing in the morning. Kakashi dropped a hand on her shoulder to keep her from whirling around once more and explained, “A team was returning from a mission, Sakura. I knew one of the guys and asked him to take some of the stuff back for us so that we wouldn’t have to.”

“Oh… that makes sense. I was wondering why thieves would wanna take some crappy projector that belonged to the Academy anyway.” She wiped a hand across her mouth, frowning when she felt the remains of her saliva on her chin. As soon as she realized what it was, her face turned a marvelous magenta shade that made him break out into a wide grin before she turned away and tried wipe it off discreetly. That would make it shade number sixteen now. She was like a chameleon for the color red.

Grimacing as she wiped her hand hastily against her pants, Sakura fluffed out her hair and looked around their camp once again. “So… what do we do now?”

“Well, first thing we need to do is get the rest of our stuff together,” Kakashi answered as he began loosening the knots holding the hammock upright. “And then we walk back to the village where we’ll go our separate ways. You’ll go get a couple more hours of sleep in a real bed and I’ll go meet up with my team.”

“Ooooh… That sounds wonderful!” Sakura hugged herself, her eyes closing as a dreamy little smile crossed her lips. “Hammocks suck to sleep in!”

This was one of those I-told-you-so moments that regretfully would remain unvoiced. Instead, Kakashi began rolling the hammock up into a neat bundle while Sakura wandered down to the pond to splash cool water over her face. By the time she was done waking up with the aid of freezing pond water, he already had the hammock and cooking utensils packed away and was beginning work on the makeshift projector screen.

Sakura came over to join him on untying the knots, a happy little smile playing on her lips. “This really was a lot of fun, Kakashi,” she said, glancing at him as she picked at a particularly tricky loop.

“Glad to hear you liked it,” he answered sincerely. He finished untying his side and held the upper edge steady while she continued working on hers.

She laughed lightly and gave him a teasing glance as she threaded the final loop free from the knot. “You know, I’m gonna have a hard time topping this one.”

Kakashi beamed at her and picked up the lower corner of the cloth at the same time she gathered hers. “Well, you’ll have at least ten days to think about it. I didn’t know this was a competition though.”

Sakura brought her two corners together and stepped toward him to fold the cloth in half again. “It’s not. I just... I don’t want you getting bored or anything.”

Now that was something he doubted he’d ever be around Haruno Sakura. She was a constant source of entertainment, what with her feisty personality coupled with a disarmingly innocent charm. She could just as easily punch him out as she could blush, and it was the element of not knowing what sort of reaction he would get that was proving to be fun. “Trust me, Sakura, that’s not going to happen,” he assured her, his hands brushing against her purposely when they brought their two sides together.

She didn’t back away or become flustered like he was half expecting this time. Instead, curious green eyes watched him intently as her fingers toyed over his idly. “Really?” she asked softly.

Kakashi took the opportunity she presented and covered her hands with his, squeezing them warmly. “That is, unless you’re planning on an evening of filling out mission reports for our next date,” he teased as he drew back from her, a grin breaking out when she rolled her eyes and smiled in return.

“There goes that idea,” Sakura sighed with mock disappointment. Then, giving him a narrow-eyed, mischievous glance, she asked, “What if it involved filling out mission reports with random gibberish?”

“Ah, now that would be interesting! It would drive the code breaker units crazy trying to decipher it, and Tsunade would probably have our hides for creating unnecessary work… but it’d be worth it.”

Sakura giggled, her eyes sparking brightly with humor. Kakashi couldn’t help smiling back at her. Her eyes were her best feature, but they were also her downfall. They were far too honest and open with their expression, something that was infectious on a personal level and could prove dangerous on a professional. She’d seen and done quite a bit for someone as young as she was, but she was still incredibly innocent about some of the darker, harder aspects of her profession. It made him a little sad to think that in a couple years that would change. All it would take was one moment- a mission gone horribly wrong or the wrong call in treating a patient- to make those eyes turn cold and hard.

As if sensing his shift in mood, Sakura eyed him nervously, her lower lip caught between her teeth. “Kakashi,” she began slowly as he took the cloth from her and finished folding it. “Why did you say yes?”

She was changing the subject and he didn’t mind it in the least. “To…?”

“Me.”

Kakashi nodded slightly. He’d figured that was what she was asking. Shrugging his shoulders, he tucked the blanket under one arm and used the other to haul her in for a light hug. Sakura didn’t tense up this time, though it did take her a couple uncertain seconds before she actually returned the embrace. When it became apparent he wasn’t objecting, her arms tightened around him and her hands pressed into his back more surely.

“You want to know why I said yes to you asking me out?” he asked, speaking into her hair and keeping his tone low and intimate. She nodded against his chest. Smirking, Kakashi answered, “Because I had no reason to say no.”

Sakura snorted disdainfully and leaned back enough to glare up at him. “That’s such a lame answer, Kakashi-sensei!”

“I thought it sounded rather deep and meaningful,” Kakashi argued.

“Yeah, it was so deep and meaningful I think Gai-sensei’s gonna borrow it sometime.”

Kakashi sighed as his shoulder slumped dismally. “It wasn’t that bad.” He hoped like hell she was only kidding about that. If not… He’d have no choice but to flee Konoha in utter shame.

Sakura grinned wickedly as her fingers traced lightly between his shoulders. “Next thing you know, you’ll show up wearing green spandex.”

He couldn’t have kept the look of disgust from his face if he’d tried. “That’s a really horrible thing to say, Sakura. Of course… It’d make scoping out my ass from behind a lot easier for you.” His eye crinkled happily at the raging red shade that burned across her cheeks for having been called out on that. Or, rather, for her clone getting called out. His clone had been very aware of the fact that hers was watching his ass like a dog eying table scraps. Subtly was an art, and Haruno Sakura still had a bit to learn on the subject.

She shoved away from him hard and stomped over to the packs, hefting the larger one to her shoulders as easily as if it was stuffed with feathers. “Shouldn’t we be going now?” she called over to him, tapping her foot impatiently.

“Now you’re suddenly in a rush to leave?” he teased as he went over and picked up the other pack. He stuffed the cloth into the top of it and snapped it closed once again before slinging it to his shoulders. “You don’t have to be embarrassed, Sakura. It’s a nice compliment.”

“For the love of… You are such an arrogant, lazy, mentally unbalanced-,”

“Please, stop. I might actually blush.”

Sakura stuck her tongue out at him before turning on her heel to tackle the climb upward. “Wouldn’t matter if you did anyway, seeing as you wear that stupid mask all the time.”

“To hide the incredibly long nose hair, buck teeth and hare lip, remember?” Kakashi followed after her, silently admiring the same view she’d had of him yesterday. She wasn’t as curvy as some of her peers, but what she had was definitely easy on the eyes. Her legs were especially nice; long and slender looking even through the baggy pants. It felt a little wrong that he was checking out his ex-student’s legs… but it seemed only fair since she’d been openly ogling his ass.

“You really are no fun, Kakashi-sensei.”

“You keep telling me that, Cherry-chan. Any idea where you wanna go when I get back?”

The smile she flashed over her shoulder told him she was only pretending to be more upset with him than she actually was. “You’re not gonna ‘conveniently’ forget about that?” she joked.

Kakashi let his gaze drift downward over her slim figure once again without bothering to hide it from her. Sakura’s cheeks flared up as her bottle-green eyes rounded in shock. It was a completely genuine expression, which surprised him in turn. Was she really that unused to having men look her over, or was it just the fact that he was openly doing it? “Not likely, seeing as you did agree to wear that dress out,” he commented.

“Oh… So, you really liked that one, huh?” she asked, her voice a little hesitant.

“Even more than the one you wore our first night out.”

Sakura smiled at the compliment, tucking her mussed up hair behind one ear. “You should see what I have planned for our next date,” she called back brazenly before scrabbling up over a particularly knotted section of earth.

“I can’t wait,” he murmured, his blood pulsing just a little faster. A hundred different scenarios played out inside his head, everything from a demure number similar to what she normally wore to fetish-wear that made his throat tighten. Okaaaay… stopping there. He doubted he’d ever be able to talk her into wearing a fetish costume anyway, even if he’d been so inclined as to take their ‘relationship’ that far. It was a nice thought though.

“Well, you’re gonna have to. At least until you get back.” She giggled playfully as she glanced at him over her shoulder. It could have been completely innocent, but he could have sworn she straddled the tree trunk in her path just a little longer than was necessary.

“Not even a sneak preview description?” he questioned, playing along with her game.

Smirking, Sakura hopped over a fallen tree and wagged a finger at him. “Nope! Consider this a payback for keeping me in the dark about this date. You’ll just have to spend the next several days imagining it.”

Oooh… He probably would be, much to his chagrin. Kakashi would dare any man not to imagine her in whatever stage of dress they wanted. The only difference between those other guys and him was that he wasn’t going to be so easily distracted by the ploy. This was business, for the both of them. She was trying to get something from him and he was teaching her a lesson. Simple as that.

She really did have nice legs, though.

Shaking his head, Kakashi followed along behind her and pointedly looked anywhere but at her attractive physique. Sometimes, business really sucked. The next several days were going to be absolute hell.

“Kakashi-sensei, you’re being awfully quiet. Or are you too busy staring at me to say anything?”

Or perhaps he already was in hell.


________________________________________

It didn’t seem to take as long as she’d thought it would to get back to Konoha. Funny how the hike/sprint to their date spot felt like it’d taken forever and a day. Even funnier than that was the reluctant pang she felt when the gates to the village came into view once again. Sakura sighed wistfully, her pace slowing almost as if her legs had a will of their own. Weird… Yesterday, she’d wanted to kill Kakashi with a plastic spoon. But after last night’s incredibly sweet and surprisingly fun date… She was willing to put the Plastic Spoon of Death away for a bit.

They’d been talking and joking around at first, but then she’d accused him of staring at her and he’d clammed up. Now, neither of them said a thing, simply walking side-by-side down the wide business road leading into Konoha. Maybe she was being paranoid in thinking she’d said something wrong. No, that was silly considering he’d been teasing her about the same exact thing. Sakura glanced up at him from the corner of her eye, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully. Kakashi didn’t so much as glance her way, but that didn’t mean he was unaware of her watching him.

It was really unfair that the best date she’d ever had (out of the few that she had had) was with a guy whose pornographic novels she was trying to steal, without him finding out of course. Even without Tsunade’s stupid stipulations, she didn’t want Copy Ninja Kakashi knowing she was the one to have taken his beloved books. That would be very bad for her health, both mental and physical. Damn it… Why couldn’t dating him be as bad as she’d been expecting? Oh, sure, he was probably one of the most infuriating people she’d ever met, but he was also rather…

Cute? No, that was such a wrong word for Hatake Kakashi. Cute was for kittens and that dress she’d spotted in a shop when he’d walked her home. It didn’t fit a man who had more assassinations under his belt than any other ninja in the entire village.

Nice? Mm… That wasn’t right either. Nice was what she’d use to describe mochi. Or Jubei. And he wasn’t nice all the time. Sometimes, he was a complete asshole.

Sexy- Wait, where the hell did that come from? She flashed back to a nice view of Kakashi’s ass that she hadn’t experienced first hand yesterday. Argh… If she could kill her clone for gaping at his ass all afternoon, she would. And then to get caught doing it, too! That was just beyond embarrassing!

Well… whatever she thought of him, it wasn’t important. What did matter was the fact that he was being really quiet, which worried her a little bit. Maybe she’d been wrong to think he could take it as well as he dished it. No, that was absurd. He’d been bantering around with her just fine the day before. Perhaps it was the mission then? She’d honestly forgotten he was leaving today when she’d asked if they could stay out. Of course… he always could have said no, so he was partially to blame for it.

Either way, his silence wasn’t a good thing. The point of dating him was to get close enough to swipe those stupid books. If she just let him leave now with nothing more than a ‘take care, don’t get yourself killed’ then she’d be taking a step back from her goal. Besides… there was still the problem of kissing him. She had to get over that fluttery feeling, and she had to do it fast! If she kept getting dizzy and unable to breathe, he was going to catch on that she was up to something. Kissing him had to be natural, effortless, not faint-inducing.

Sakura’s gaze flickered from the swiftly approaching gates to the man walking quietly next to her with his hands stuffed his pockets and his eye studying the ground at his feet as if searching for land mines. Was he ignoring her on purpose, to see if she’d make a move? That seemed like something Kakashi would do. Alright, fine then! She’d take him up on the challenge and put him in his place for a change!

Grabbing his wrist in one hand, Sakura tugged him off the main road and over to a small stand of trees just to the side of the gate. “Sakura?” Kakashi asked curiously as he removed his hand from his pocket in order to take her hand better. “Sakura, what are you-“

He never had a chance to finish. No sooner were they out of sight from the main gate and the people roaming around just inside than Sakura looped her arms around his neck and brought him down into a kiss. Instantly that tingly feeling returned to her skin, like that one time he’d zapped her with a bit of lightning to wake her up. It hit her everywhere that they touched; her lips on his cloth covered ones, her hands as they massaged the back of his neck, her waist where his warm hands held her in place. Her stomach twisted sharply, but it wasn’t at all unpleasant like when she was about to be sick. This felt nice. It was warm and made her heart beat faster and…

Sakura pulled away with a small, surprised gasp, blinking dazedly at a spot near his collarbone as she tried to make sense of why this wasn’t working as she’d thought it would. It’d made sense that the more she kissed him the less it would affect her, so why were the feelings getting more intense? If she didn’t know any better, she’d almost say she was…

Her thoughts stopped right there when she felt Kakashi press a kiss to her forehead before moving to place another on her cheek and then further in on the corner of her mouth. What little control she’d managed to regain over her heart rate and breathing instantly went out the window as he pulled back slightly, just enough to meet her gaze. One hand moved up the outside of her arm, brushing across her shoulder until it cupped her cheek gently. Sakura’s lips parted when his thumb slid along her jaw line to rub across her lower lip in such a way that her stomach knotted and her mouth was suddenly very dry. The look in his eye was intense, the dark grey color becoming even darker with this new emotion.

For a moment, it looked like Kakashi was about to kiss her again… But then some raging idiots decided that was the perfect time to leave the village, laughing so freakin’ loudly that it made her jump and push away from him. She glared at the group as they passed by, all of them jounin apparently going on a mission. She hoped like hell they camped out in the middle of a giant, extra-itchy patch of poison ivy.

Kakashi’s sigh made her turn back to him, still pissed off that the moment had been ruined and still incredibly flustered by her failed experiment. Sakura flushed lightly as he rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes crinkling into a sheepish smile. “As annoying as that was, I suppose it was a good thing,” he said, his voice sounding like he was trying to convince himself of that fact as well as her.

Sakura folded her arms across her chest and muttered, “That’s a matter of opinion.”

“What?”

She shook her head and heaved a heavy breath. “Nothing.” He was right, she supposed. She’d been enjoying the kiss a little too much. Digging her sandal into a clump of dirt, Sakura stared at a point in the middle of his chest and asked, “So… I guess this is the part where we go our separate ways?”

“That’d be the part. Not that I wouldn’t have minded kissing you for the rest of the day… But eventually Anko would hunt me down, and that wouldn’t be a good thing.”

Sakura smiled at the joke as that warm sensation began to uncurl once again over the idea of him kissing her all day. Wait, no… That was a very wrong thought! Sighing, she nodded and began moving backward toward the gate. “That wouldn’t be,” she agreed begrudgingly.

Kakashi made her jump when he reached out and threaded his fingers through her hair, tucking the strands back behind her ear gently. “That was one helluva kiss though.”

She couldn’t help the grin that spread across her cheeks as she shrugged. “Yeah, well I did kinda promise you one, didn’t I?”

“And you certainly kept your word.” Her breath caught once again when he pulled his hand away, letting his fingers trace her lips lightly before dropping to his side, almost as if he were trying to memorize the feel of them. It took a lot of effort to keep her knees from buckling underneath her, but she somehow managed it. She could still feel the rough texture of his thumb on her lips long after he’d pulled away and crammed his hands into his pockets.

He walked by her, his side grazing hers in the process. “See you later, Sakura,” he called before reaching out and ruffling her hair. Sakura yelped and swung her fist around to punch him for that… But, naturally, he’d already disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Huffing and glaring at the last tendrils of smoke that were flitting away on the early morning breeze, Sakura entered Konoha and began making her way through the weaving streets back to her apartment. She needed to talk to Ino as soon as possible about all this.

_________________________________________________

“You’re freakin’ late, Hatake!”

Kakashi didn’t even glance up from his book at Anko’s sharp voice. “Yo!”

“Take your ‘yo’ and cram it up your ass! We’ve been waiting here for almost three hours!”

“Better late than early.” He finally looked over the top of Icha Icha to flash a happy smile at the scowling woman. Honestly… Anko was going to have an aneurism one of these days if she didn’t ease down a bit. And three hours wasn’t that bad considering he’d gone home, showered, fallen asleep in the shower, woken up when the water was ice cold, packed, gotten breakfast and was stopped by three different search teams on his way to the designated meeting spot. All in all, he’d made pretty good time if he did say so himself.

Kotetsu, who was leaning on the wall that surrounded the entire village, sighed and rubbed a hand across his face wearily. “Lord Tsuigetsu is extremely angry, Kakashi-san,” he said miserably. “You know he controls forty percent of all rice goods imported into Konoha, right? If this affects our trade practices in any way, Tsunade-sama will be furious.”

“Really? How fascinating.” He flipped to the next page in his book while making a mental note to switch from rice to noodles.

Anko growled irritably and stomped over to him, her hands firmly planted on her hips. She stuck her face directly in his, forcing him to lean back or risk having his nose within biting range. “Don’t you dare screw this mission up for me, Hatake! I don’t think I could take another week of desk duty,” she growled menacingly.

Letting out a low sigh, Kakashi made note of the page number and closed his book, stowing it away at his back again before tucking his hands into his pockets. “If you really want to know why I was late-,” he began calmly. This wasn’t the first time Mitarashi Anko had invaded his personal space, and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.

“I don’t particularly care,” the dark haired woman snapped. “You can tell it to Lord Tsuigetsu!”

“But it’s actually rather amusing. See, there was this cute little kitten and it-,”

“Shut up and move it!” Kakashi grunted as Anko gave his shoulders a hard shove forward toward the gate, her teeth grinding so loudly he could hear it. That really couldn’t be very good for her. Combine that with her love of sweets and her dentist must be making a fortune off of her mouthly woes.

“And I do hope you have a better story to tell than that, Kakashi-san,” Kotetsu added from behind him. “He won’t find anything amusing about a kitten, no matter how cute you claim it was.”

Damn. What sort of person didn’t care about a kitten? Kakashi hooked his thumbs behind the straps of his pack and ignored Anko’s muttered comments as he led the team out of the village to meet up with the traveling lord and his entourage.

As they left through the gates, Kakashi’s eyebrows rose slightly at the sight of organized chaos that met him. There were more than the twenty people Lord Tsuigetsu had said there would be. As in, twenty should have been doubled and they should have had a fourth teammate for the job. That would have made it ten people per ninja to guard, which was doable. Now, it was closer to fifteen and that made a difference in how they would operate. Not to mention the covered carts hauling the lord’s personal and business affects. There were at least twelve of those to consider since they were being paid to guard the luggage as well.

The majority of the extra people appeared to be servants running around and checking that the cloth coverings were secure over the carts, many of which had shiny, gold colored objects in them that didn’t look like they were necessary for traveling or were for trading purposes. He was pretty certain he spotted a very pretty vase with the Tsuigetsu emblem wrought across it in gold. A rather large, angry looking man was shouting orders left and right about where things were supposed to go, be careful with something-or-other it was priceless and where the hell were ‘those ninja’ at.

Sighing inwardly, Kakashi began weaving his way through the mass of rushing servants toward the red faced man. Just behind the overseer was a smaller group of people, none of whom looked as if they were additional retainers. Judging by the finely made clothing they wore, this was Lord Tsuigetsu and his immediate family. As if on cue, the taller man in the group turned to meet his gaze levelly, his dark eyes narrowed and lips pressed into a thin, unamused line.

He glanced over his shoulder when Kotetsu poked him in the back and muttered, “That’s Lord Tsuigetsu Asano. Please, Kakashi-san…”

Kakashi smiled reassuringly at the younger man and murmured, “Don’t worry so much, Kotetsu.” For some reason, that made the younger man’s face go a little paler than it already was. Honestly, it was as if Kotetsu had absolutely no faith him! Deciding he’d done his best to reassure the other man that he wasn’t going to do anything that would risk the village, Kakashi turned around to face the man walking briskly towards them.

Lord Tsuigetsu didn’t appear much older than he was. He was rather pale and it was obvious from how smooth his hands were that he hadn’t lifted much more than chopsticks his entire life. His yukata and outer coat were made of some material that was probably worth more than everything inside Kakashi’s apartment combined. Despite the typical upper class exterior, however, there was a shrewdness to his gaze as he looked Kakashi up and down that suggested he wasn’t someone to be taken lightly. This man was a thinker, a strategist, and sometimes they were the wrong people to piss off.

“You’re Hatake Kakashi,” Lord Tsuigetsu said, his voice surprisingly deep for such a lean man.

“And you’re Lord Tsuigetsu,” Kakashi answered, ignoring the hissed command to bow from behind him. This wasn’t a formal introduction in the least. It was two men sizing each other up and therefore didn’t require bowing.

The twinge of Tsuigetsu’s lips said he understood this as well. His shoulders relaxed marginally as he continued to hold Kakashi’s gaze. “You’re not what I expected the famous Copy Ninja to be.”

“Thank you. I’d hate to be predictable.”

Tsuigetsu’s eyes lighted briefly, hinting at laughter that probably hadn’t been let out in many years. Without turning, he held his hand out behind him. Instantly, a woman stepped forward and took it, allowing him to guide her to his side. She was very careful about keeping her eyes averted from either of them, content merely to be paraded around as a picture-perfect doll that listened to everything but never said a word. “This is my wife, Lady Tsuigetsu Hana. Your Hokage was kind enough to confirm that she’s carrying my heir.”

“Then we’ll be certain to take extra precautions with her care,” he replied to the unspoken order.

Satisfied that that was settled, Tsuigetsu released his wife and folded his hands behind his back. Lady Tsuigetsu instantly returned to her place just behind him. “You do realize that you are late by over three hours.”

At the soft snort from Anko, Kakashi glanced over his shoulder and shot a mild glare at the woman. “Yes, I do. However, I decided it wasn’t best to leave at the appointed time for safety reasons. In case anyone who means you harm may have heard what time we’re supposed to depart.” This time, Anko gave a light cough that sounded vaguely like ‘bullshit’. Oh… It was going to be a long trip, especially for her. He was going to see to that personally.

Fortunately, the lord didn’t seem to notice her, ah… coughing spell and nodded understandingly. “Of course. That’s the only logical reason you would keep a well-paying client waiting for so long. Now that you’re here though, shall we proceed? I’m very anxious to reach the borders of Grass Country as soon as possible.”

“Naturally, but I need a word with my team first. It seems you forgot to mention a few people when you requested an escort.”

Lord Tsuigetsu’s smirk was completely unapologetic. He didn’t give a damn that he’d not only ripped off the village but that he was putting all of his people in greater risk by hauling the extra treasure around. “My apologies, but they slipped my mind,” he replied insincerely.

Yes… Because it was just so easy to forget about twenty extra people and eight additional carts filled to overflowing with family heirlooms. If there weren’t the political implications involved, he would have called the nobleman out on this but going by the sharp elbow jab from Kotetsu, Tsunade was probably already aware of the extras and taking necessary measures. She was probably alerting the Grass Ninja right now to make sure they weren’t robbed and was more than likely making preparations to collect a little more out of the client. Nothing like an ANBU squad standing on the doorstep to make someone pay their bill.

Kakashi nodded as if he totally understood how it was possible to ‘accidentally’ forget the size of his entourage and said, “We’ll make a few necessary changes and be on our way within the next ten minutes. That should be enough time for your party to finish any last minute preparations of their own.”

Lord Tsuigetsu nodded slightly and walked away with his wife and immediate retainers in tow. Once he was out of ear shot and content to watch the overseer continue screeching at the servants, Kakashi turned to his team and let out a long, low breath. “Well… That was pleasant, wasn’t it?”

Anko snorted and shook her head, casting a hard look at the client’s back. “You know, I’m really glad I’m not rich or anything. He’s acting like these people don’t matter.”

“They don’t, Anko. But that’s why we’ll do our best to protect them, because no one else will.” Kakashi beamed at her as he patted her head once again, earning him a reluctantly drawn out smile. “There we go! No bad moods before the start of the mission, okay? I’m sure we’ll all be at our wits end by the time we reach Grass anyway.”

“The Hokage will definitely hear about this,” Kotetsu muttered darkly. “I’ve never had to escort this many people before, Kakashi-san. Perhaps it’d be best-,”

“Why, Kotetsu, I never would have pegged you for being a quitter,” Kakashi replied while scraping some dirt off his sandal with the underside of its twin. His tone was light and conversational but he made damned certain there was enough disappointment in it to get the point across.

Kotetsu’s back snapped straight as his jaw opened in shock. “I-I wasn’t quitting!” he stammered quickly. “I was only suggesting perhaps we should send a message to the Hokage for more back up, that’s all!”

Kakashi reached into the pouch at his back and pulled out a scroll that was only a little bigger than his hand and gave it a little wave. “Already have our back up here.”

Anko wrinkled her nose and crossed her arms under her breasts irritably. “Your mutts,” she sneered.

“What about them?”

“I hate dogs, Hatake. My cat’s gonna go ape-shit crazy when she smells them all over me!”

And that was why he wasn’t a cat person. If he came home smelling like another dog, he didn’t need to worry about Pakkun getting jealous. If anything, the pug would be curious about memorizing the other dog’s scent. And if it weren’t for the fact that he’d seen some of the gouges Anko’s cat had left in the past he would have thought she was lying.

“Then it’s a good thing I wasn’t going to station them near you,” he answered. “Our positions stay the same; Anko as rear guard, Kotetsu near the immediate family and me taking the front. Two dogs will remain behind the group to check for possible attacks while staying as hidden as they can. Three more will circulate through the middle of the group openly to help keep an eye on the extra people. The last three will scout ahead for potential ambushes and traps. Agreed?”

When both of his teammates nodded, Kotetsu looking relieved he wasn’t being asked to bite off more than he could chew (which proved the man knew his limits), Kakashi whipped out a kunai and pressed the blade against his thumb, drawing up a thin line of blood that he then ran along the scroll. As the crimson faded into the parchment and disappeared as if it had never existed, Kakashi returned the scroll to his pouch and said, “Then let’s get moving.”

_________________________________________________


“Sakura? Sakura-chan, are you alright?”

Sakura jumped when Shizune placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a light shake, tearing her attention away from the large window in the waiting area that looked out over the entire village. Blinking rapidly and shrugging off the hand Shizune was now attempting to place on her forehead, she said, “Sorry, what?” She hadn’t heard a word of what the older woman had said.

Shizune frowned as she pulled her hand away. “I just said Tsunade-sama is ready for you now… for the third time. Are you feeling well?”

“Umm… yes. I’m fine. Sorry, just kinda… zoned out for a bit.” The instant the words left her mouth she cringed, knowing that a lecture was going to come about focus being mandatory for all medic nin. As much as she hated getting lectured by Shizune (the woman just went on and on…), she knew she deserved it this time.

She’d gotten distracted by the almost imperceptible sight of a large group of people leaving the village, one of whom had very distinctive silver colored hair. From this height, Kakashi was about the size of her pinky finger, but for some reason she felt as if she couldn’t stop watching until he disappeared from view entirely. She also couldn’t explain why this seemed to make her feel… sad. Stupid, really, seeing as he was always coming and going on missions. He’d be home before she knew it and back to pissing her off the very next day. Why she would miss that was anybody’s guess.

Sakura sucked in a sharp breath as Shizune followed the direction she’d been looking in and caught sight of the very tale end of the departing group. A soft little smile touched the older woman’s lips as she glanced at Sakura from the corner of her eye. That look made Sakura swallow heavily with nerves. Why did she look so… understanding? Shouldn’t she be getting into her lecture right now.

When Shizune instead pulled her into a gentle hug, Sakura’s eyes widened in shock. “It’s okay, Sakura,” the dark haired woman said softly. “I know you’re worried, but you really shouldn’t be. This is Kakashi-san, after all. He’ll be fine.”

“I-I’m not worried,” she stammered quickly as she tried to extricate herself from the hug. Now she knew why Shizune had given her such a sympathetic look. She’d obviously thought that Sakura was worried about Kakashi for more personal reasons. The very thought made her cheeks wanna combust into flames. “Really, Shizune-san, it’s not-,”

Shizune pulled back and patted her shoulder affectionately, a friendly smile spreading across her cheeks. “I understand, Sakura. I probably shouldn’t have said anything, seeing as your relationship is still very new, but I do know how you feel watching someone you care about leave. It’s how I get whenever Genma is gone. So, please, if you ever feel you need to talk… you can come to me.”

Swallowing hard at the misplaced act of kindness, Sakura smiled weakly at her and gave a faint nod. “Sure. Thanks, Shizune-san,” she managed to squeeze out as she hurried toward Tsunade’s office door. This was so completely humiliating! She felt very bad that Shizune thought she was pining away for Kakashi but there wasn’t much she could do to change that. After all, no one was supposed to know the real reason she was dating him. Although, if Shizune found out maybe she’d keep Tsunade from giving her those midnight shifts… No, it would be best not to involve Shizune in something like this.

Sakura knocked on the door quickly, hoping Tsunade wasn’t asleep on her desk or anything. That would just make her morning complete; being the first to wake up a hung over Tsunade. She yelped and jumped back when the door opened so swiftly that it banged against the wall and made a dusting of plaster rattle down from the ceiling. “About damn time, girl,” Tsunade snapped as she marched out of her office. “You’ve kept me waiting now for almost ten minutes!”

“Sorry, shishou, Shizune-san and I-,”

“This is not gossip hour, ladies! When you’re here, I expect you both to be working!”

“Of course, Hokage. Forgive me,” Shizune murmured, giving Sakura a reassuring wink as the girl hurried after her quickly moving teacher.

“Yeah, sorry, shishou. It won’t happen again,” Sakura added immediately, her mind reeling as she tried to keep pace with the much older woman. Honestly… Where did Tsunade find this kind of energy so early in the morning? She was still trying to wake herself up after she’d gone home and found Ino had duct taped her entire bed the night before in retaliation for the shaving cream prank. Stupid Pig… If she didn’t need advice so badly, she’d put something much worse in her roommate’s bed for that! Instead of getting more sleep, she’d spent the next couple hours picking duct tape off her sheets and pillows.

“It better not, Sakura. If there’s one thing I despise it’s tardiness. Now, you better pay close attention today, girl, because what I’m about to teach you is one of the most complicated techniques a medic can hope to learn; poison extraction and the making of antidotes. Stay with me, take notes and do not touch a single thing unless I tell you that it’s safe. Understood?”

“Yes, shishou!”

“Good! Shizune, I’ll be with Sakura for the next four hours so you’re to man the office until I return,” Tsunade continued as she entered the elevator at the opposite end of the room. “Hold any messages, have Izumo track down that good-for-nothing Buntaro to get the latest on his team’s border surveillance and if Danzo comes looking for me, tell him he will make an appointment like everyone else or he will be banned from my office until I say otherwise. Oh, and move my appointment with the trade representative from Suna back until six tomorrow evening. I have to have a talk with your lover about sexually harassing his teammates first thing tomorrow morning.”

Shizune bowed sharply and replied, “Yes, Hokage-sama! I’ll- What?! Tsunade-sama, what do you mean by-,”

Unfortunately, the elevator doors slid shut then, cutting off a horribly shocked Shizune in mid question. Sakura took one look at her mentor’s tight jaw and narrowed eyes and knew better than to try and start a conversation right then. She wasn’t angry yet but she was definitely in a passionate mood that wouldn’t tolerate questions outside of work and training. Sakura sighed under her breath and checked the clock on the elevator wall as subtly as she could. It was only nine-thirty in the morning. This was gonna be such a long day.


___________________________________________


“Faster! And watch the back draft from your fingers, Lee. If you want to be successful with this, you must work harder!”

Tenten rolled her eyes as she poked irritably at the fire with a stick. Gai and Lee had been at it for hours! When their leader had first announced they’d be camping early, she hadn’t questioned his generosity and had simply gone about getting the fire going and their food rations around. Neji had disappeared to fill their canteens and Lee… was busy trying to pickpocket Gai. This had been going on now for the last three days, so she was sort of getting used to it. She didn’t like it… but it was better than Gai-sensei making them march until even Neji voiced a complaint about the strain. Every time they had stopped to make camp during their mission, Gai would pull Lee aside, put an all too familiar orange covered book at his back and order his young worshipper to steal it from him.

It didn’t take a genius to figure out what they were planning, though she and Neji had both almost fainted the first time their enthusiastic team leader had whipped out a book of porn and told Lee to steal it. Well… okay, she’d nearly dropped to the ground. Neji’d only lifted his brows a little, which for him was like Oh-my-god-what-the-hell shock. After that, he’d shaken his head and muttered something before announcing he was going to get some water.

And that was their new routine for the evenings; Tenten got the fire and dinner going, Neji organized their camp and refilled their water and Gai trained Lee to steal Icha Icha Paradise. Tenten shook her head as she opened the packages of dried seaweed and dumped them into a pot for soup. She wondered vaguely what Lee would say if he learned Sakura really wasn’t into her former teacher. Obviously, Gai-sensei knew something was up, otherwise why would he be training Lee to target the books specifically?

Sakura was gonna freak out when she found out what Lee was up to. No one was supposed to know anyway. Tenten had no idea how Gai had even found out, but she wasn’t gonna say anything just in case this was him getting lucky with a guess. And Lee was trying so hard, too. He always worked hard, but it was obvious he was pouring his very heart into this training, however misguided it happened to be. It was actually kinda sweet, she had to admit to herself. Lee cared for Sakura so much he would risk Hatake Kakashi tracking him down to kill him for stealing those books.

Of course… she also had to admit that she could understand why Kakashi would kill for them. While Gai and Lee weren’t busy using the book for practice, she’d been exercising her long unused pickpocket skills to steal it for reading purposes. Hey, she couldn’t help it! Ever since she’d first caught sight of Kakashi roaming around with his nose buried in the latest edition, she’d been curious about them. And she could have just gone out and purchased one for herself… except there were certain people she didn’t want seeing her buy porn.

Like Yamanaka Ino.

Or, more importantly… Hyuuga Neji.

Tenten snuck a glance over her shoulder in the direction of the river and felt her cheeks grow warm when she caught sight of Neji crouched at the river’s edge. She really hoped he wasn’t doing a parameter sweep with the byakugen at that time. There wasn’t any way he’d miss her watching him, and that would be beyond embarrassing. When he stood up and slung the canteens to his shoulders, she quickly turned back to opening the rest of the dried ingredients. There was no way she wanted him to catch her peeking at him. He’d think she was one of those crazy, stalking fan girls or something!

Her heart froze for the space of a couple beats when he came right up next to her and handed her one of the canteens before setting the rest safely away from the fire. “What are you making?” he questioned, his tone implying he really couldn’t have cared less.

Nodding as she tried to control the trembling in her hands, Tenten took the canteen and dumped enough water into the pot to make a proper broth. Damn it all… why could she have the steadiest hand with a kunai but the minute Neji came around she started shaking like a kitten caught in the rain? It was so not cool! “Soup. All we’ve got are dried goods,” she said, speaking a little too quickly and unable to stop herself from doing it. “You know, mushrooms and carrots and… stuff.” She ducked her head to hide her wince. Mushrooms and carrots and stuff? Ugh! Why was she talking about soup when it was obvious he didn’t give a damn?

“Hn,” was all Neji said as he wandered away back to the river again. Tenten let out the breath that had gotten stuck in her chest as a flood of warmth spread downward into her stomach. On the one hand, it was awesome that Neji even spoke to her. He usually wasn’t one to seek out conversation, so it made her feel a little special whenever he did. On the other hand… when the conversation consisted of him asking a question and her giving a totally stupid answer, it wasn’t so awesome anymore.

Sighing, Tenten shook her head and dumped in the dried soup packets to mix with the seaweed. She glanced over her shoulder again to make certain Gai and Lee weren’t watching before she reached into her bag and pulled out a small container of diced, dried garlic. Those two hated garlic, but she knew for a fact Neji liked it. Besides, the soup would be completely bland without the garlic to give it a kick. If she’d had red pepper flakes, she would have added those as well. But… she didn’t. She’d been in a rush to meet up with her teammates and had literally just grabbed whatever was quick and handy to pack. She was sort of mad at herself for forgetting to pack them. The heat always made Lee’s eyes well up, which was pretty amusing.

She fixed the pot over the fire so that it was just close enough to simmer and stood up, stretching her arms over her head and arching her back. The movement caused her shirt to ride up and expose her stomach, but she didn’t care. Her mom had always said she acted more like a son than a daughter. Where most of the girls she knew had played with dolls, she’d played with shuriken and wrestled with the boys in the mud. It annoyed her mom that every formal kimono she’d ever had ultimately ended up with dirt all over it, but she couldn’t help it. Boys were more fun than girls.

Tenten kicked her legs up one at a time and grabbed her ankles, stretching out the muscles in her thighs and calves while watching her two teammates train out of the corner of her eye. The one good thing about this whole crazy scheme was that if anyone could succeed in pickpocketing Copy Ninja Kakashi’s beloved books it would be Lee. Once he got it in his head he could do something, it would take beating him unconscious to convince him otherwise. That was one thing she really liked about her eccentric teammate; Lee never gave up. He didn’t know it, but his example was why she wasn’t giving up on Neji just yet. She wasn’t going to give up until she was knocked out… or until he showed interest in another person. Then she’d go and knock that other person flat on their ass. Hey, it wasn’t the most mature plan but it’d sure make her feel better in the end!

Smiling as Gai spun around almost faster than she could follow and landed a sharp slap to Lee’s hand, Tenten began to wander down to the river as well in hopes of maybe trying that conversation with Neji again. She chuckled as Lee let out a sharp yelp that was drowned out by Gai lecturing him to get faster and stop being careless with his fingers. Wow… If Lee got careless with his fingers on Kakashi’s ass while stealing Icha Icha, he’d be lucky to find himself in the hospital. And not necessarily due to Kakashi himself. She knew plenty of kunoichi who were crazy enough for the masked man to put someone in a hospital for touching his ass.

Tenten winced as another loud crack came from the training duo, followed by the order to get faster and the response of, “Yes, sensei!” As she got down to the edge of the wide, shallow river she began to scan the area for where Neji had disappeared to. Oh… what if he was taking a bath? Just thinking about him soaking wet was enough to make her mouth water. Fortunately for her, her over active imagination didn’t have a chance to finish the little fantasy it had started. She spotted him sitting on a portion of the bank that jutted out into the water and quickly made her way over to him with a smile. He was fully clothed and watching her with almost detached interest as she approached him. Damn.

“Just wanted to let you know dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes,” she called cheerfully, her breath catching as she met his gaze steadily. A lot of people thought the pale eyes of the Hyuuga clan were creepy, but she rather liked them herself. Maybe it was because she worked closely with one that made her see them as pretty. Or maybe it was just the fact that she thought everything about Neji was pretty. Either way, whenever that pale, opalescent gaze landed on her, it made that tingly feeling start in the pit of her stomach. It also made her mouth go insanely dry, which wasn’t a reaction she was too fond of.

All she got in response was a little hum of affirmation but he didn’t back away or question her as she took a seat on the grass next to him. A tree growing just at their backs provided shade from the setting sun, which was tinting the river a bright pinkish-orange color. Tenten sighed and leaned back on her arms, stretching her legs out and crossing them at the ankles. Neither of them said a word, but it definitely wasn’t an awkward silence. Neji was one of those people who didn’t say a lot but whatever he said was pure gold. His quiet presence was extremely appreciated, especially when the other two members of their team had a tendency to get pretty loud.

Still… She wanted to say something to him. After all, wasn’t Ino always saying that in order to get a guy it was necessary to talk to them? She knew she could talk. She could almost talk as fast as Ino when she was in the mood. But this was Neji she was trying to talk to and the words just wouldn’t come out with him sitting next to her. At least not without some major effort and concentration on her part, that is.

It was a weird feeling to be tongue-tied. Usually, she said what she wanted to say, regardless of what other people might think. Her mom always complained she was too direct. She liked to think of it as being honest, but direct wasn’t bad either. Neji robbed her of the ability to be direct. It was a combination of that and the fact that he detested girls who flung themselves at him that had kept her from telling him she liked him in the more than friendly sense a long time ago. She glanced over her shoulder at Lee and Gai again, sucking her lower lip between her teeth thoughtfully.

Why not just do it? Neji appreciated it when someone got straight to the point anyway. Besides, if Lee was willing to gank porn off of Konoha’s number one ninja, the least she could do is let Neji know she liked him. Right? She glanced at Neji’s profile out of the corner of her eye, watching him as he studied the river flowing by. Clearing her throat and swallowing past the nervous lump, she said quietly, “Neji, I like you.”

Neji blinked slowly before turning to look at her with a confused expression on his face. “Pardon me?” he asked, using the same dispassionate tone he would have if he’d been inquiring about the zit on her cheek.

Tenten swallowed hard again and continued a little louder and with more certainty, “I like you, Neji. As in, I’d like to go out with you sometime. That type of like.”

His response was both typical Hyuuga and frustrating at the same time. “Oh.”

Rolling her eyes and shaking her head, Tenten grinned and nudged him lightly with her elbow. It wasn’t hard to force herself to be cheerful about it. She’d sort of known before hand Neji would react the way he had, and honestly… she was okay with it. Or, at least she’d tell herself she was until it was actually true. “I’ll take that as a ‘Thanks, that’s really nice but I’m not interested’ then. Don’t worry, this won’t get in the way of our sparring or anything.” Acting on impulse, she moved in to kiss his cheek.

Except that, intentionally or not, he turned to her at the exact same time. Their lips met and Tenten’s eyes flew open to meet his own surprised gaze. It only lasted for maybe a second before she quickly pulled away, her cheeks practically on fire. “S-Sorry,” she mumbled as she pushed swiftly to her feet. “I was aiming for your cheek and you, ah… Yeah, sorry.”

Whatever Neji would have said never even left his mouth as she hurried back to check on her soup. She didn’t even look over her shoulder to see if he was watching her and silently called herself every name she could think of for being so stupid. Damn it, she should have just left it alone! And what the hell had she been thinking, kissing him with Gai less than fifty feet away? The Green Beast would have had a field day with that one, spouting off about love and youth and beauty and… Yeah, she was stupid. She was stupid and she liked Hyuuga Neji.

Dinner came and went pretty much as usual. Gai and Lee were boisterous and complimentary of her cooking (except for the garlic), Neji sat quietly to himself and only spoke up to ask for seconds (which happened shortly after the complaints of the garlic) while Tenten teased and joked with her friends about them taking up cooking if they didn’t like the meal. After the soup was gone and the sleeping bags broken out, Neji and Lee gathered the dishes to wash down at the river. Tenten was just digging out her toothbrush to take care of her garlic breath when Neji came over to collect the bowl on the ground next to her.

“I like you, too,” he muttered, grabbing the bowl and moving away before the words could fully sink in. Tenten’s jaw dropped as she slowly turned to follow the genius on his way to the river. No way… She shook her head, convinced she’d been hearing things. He didn’t just say… he liked her, too?! When Neji sent a subtle glance over his shoulder at her, she knew she’d heard him correctly. Hyuuga Neji had just said he liked her, too.

Tenten broke out into a wide, happy grin as she silently thanked Lee for kicking her ass into gear.


_______________________________________


“Okay, so tell me about this date,” Ino demanded as she brought two bowls of steaming noodles and vegetables out from the kitchen. She took a seat on the couch, being mindful of where Sakura’s legs were, and swung her own feet up to rest near her roommate’s hip. “All I know is that it must have been fun because you weren’t here when I left this morning, and that you didn’t stay all night digging his grave because I saw him leaving. So… fill me in! What happened?”

Grinning as she slurped in a mouthful of noodles, Sakura chewed the hot food as quickly as she could, reaching immediately for her glass of water on the table to quell some of the burning in her mouth. “Wow, that’s hot!”

“Duh, Forehead, I just took it off the freakin’ stove! Now… date! Details! You two were gone since yesterday afternoon!” Ino dug her toes into Sakura’s side, causing the other girl to squirm away from them sharply.

“Stop it, Ino! I don’t wanna wear this stuff,” Sakura laughed, grabbing Ino’s foot with one hand while carefully balancing her dinner with the other.

Ino relented, grinning as she resettled herself on the couch and snatched a vegetable up with her chopsticks. “Then stop stalling and tell me! It’s been so damn long since I’ve had a date that I’ve almost forgotten what they are!”

Snickering at her friend’s lack of love life, Sakura tugged a pillow out from behind her back and placed it over her stomach. She settled her bowl on top of the pillow and twirled her chopsticks around to gather some more noodles. “Well… he was late. He didn’t show up until almost one, which was really annoying, but he came with tea and a chocolate pastry.”

“Smart man,” Ino interrupted with an approving nod.

“And then he acted all irritating and stuff, which reminds me… Don’t go leaving your laundry out in the open, Pig. You know Kakashi-sensei can spot a pair of panties from a mile away.”

Ino’s blue eyes twinkled mischievously as she bit into a piece of mushroom. “Not my problem your boyfriend likes my underwear more than yours.”

“First of all, he’s not my boyfriend. Second of all, how could he not notice those things when you leave them out in the freakin’ open?”

“Fine, fine! I’ll double check that laundry isn’t left out, now will you please get back to the date?”

Pinning her roommate with one final scowl, Sakura huffed and continued recounting the events of yesterday. “So, he shows up, brings chocolate and then decides to drop it on me that I need to change out of the dress because what we’re doing involves getting dirty.”

Ino rolled her eyes and shook her head as she stabbed a piece of broccoli with unnecessary violence. “You know, I don’t care how nice his ass looks. I couldn’t put up with that and frankly I think you should seriously consider what I’d said before about getting more out of this from Tsunade. First of all, this is making it look like you’re off the market, which is killing any chances of a real love life for you for the next six months. Second, just putting up with him alone sounds like it’s worth at least an extra week’s worth of vacation time!”

Sakura smiled and waved her chopsticks at the blonde sitting across from her. “That’s not a bad idea, Ino. An extra week of vacation during the summer… That’d be nice. Okay, so anyway the reason he told me to change is because we were hiking.”

“… For your date?”

“Uh-uh. To our date. Three miles. Oh, and the bastard let me think I was racing his dogs for the date.”

“… He brought the dogs?”

Sakura nodded and finished swallowing her noodles. “Yup,” she confirmed. “He brought along four of the dogs for training purposes during the hike.”

“I know you’re not really dating him or anything… but I seriously wanna cause some bodily harm right now. What the hell was he thinking?”

“Wait, wait! Lemme finish telling you what happened before you rush off to pulverize him,” Sakura giggled as she placed her now empty bowl on the table next to her. “So, he brought four of the dogs along, which really wasn’t bad. The white one, Jubei, he was actually really sweet and cute. Anyway, during our supposed hike up the biggest damn hill in all of Fire Country, he tells me, ‘oh, this isn’t a race. I can’t believe you actually fell for that.’”

“And then… you kicked his ass and had to take him to the hospital for severe internal bleeding?”

“No… I didn’t. It was tempting, but I didn’t. He did say he’d never stoop that low.”

“Did he apologize?”

“Um… no, not that I recall.” Sakura paused, her lips twisting thoughtfully as she replayed the events. “Come to think of it… I don’t know why I didn’t kick his ass. And I don’t really know why I didn’t stay angry with him after that. Maybe it’s because he gives really nice hugs…”

Ino groaned and slapped a hand over her eyes irritably. “You got distracted by a stupid hug?! Sakura…”

Blushing deep red, Sakura purposely dug her toes into Ino’s hip and muttered, “Well, he does. I can’t help it if he’s insanely talented at hugging people.”

Flinching as she squirmed away from Sakura’s feet, Ino stretched out and set her now empty bowl aside as well before grabbing a pillow to hug across her stomach. “Alright, ignoring the fact that you let him slide on being an asshole, what else happened?”

Scowling at the blonde across from her, Sakura curled her knees around the pillow she was holding and shrugged. “After that, we got to the date spot and… it was actually really amazing. See, it was a sort of dinner and movie date, except it was at this really gorgeous location right next to a pond. And he made dinner while I got to relax and we watched a movie on the projector from the Academy, which his friend better have returned or I’m gonna tell Iruka-sensei exactly who stole it to begin with. After that, we just… fell asleep in the hammock.”

Judging by the little wistful sound and bright eyes Ino gave her, her roommate thought it’d been pretty romantic, too. Sighing heavily, Ino said in a soft voice, “That is just… Wow. Who knew Kakashi-sensei had it in him? I mean… Can I please have a go at him when you’re done?”

Snorting and landing a kick to Ino’s thigh, Sakura growled, “Hell, no! I already told you, you’re not allowed to do anything with my teacher! No flirting, no talking, no undressing him with your beady pig eyes… nothing!”

“Well, well, look who’s suddenly the jealous girlfriend,” Ino fired back as she jumped up from the couch and lobbed her pillow directly into Sakura’s face. Ignoring the surprised squawk from her roommate, she scooped up their empty bowls and stomped off for the kitchen. “If I didn’t know any better, Forehead, I’d say you’re the one falling here.”

“Shut up, I am not! And didn’t you say it’s okay to enjoy myself a little?!” Sakura shouted back.

“Yeah, a little! I never said anything about turning into a raging, territorial bitch!”

“There’s no way in hell I’d ever turn into you, Pig!”

Ino laughed harshly as she rinsed out their bowls and left them in the sink for the next morning. “Did you at least see his face this time? I mean, you had dinner with him, right? He didn’t make you sit behind a curtain or anything, did he?” she demanded mockingly as she entered the living room once again.

Letting out a frustrated growl, Sakura stood up and stormed off toward her bedroom. “I don’t know why I even bother talking to you, Yamanaka Ino!”

“Probably because you don’t have any other friends but me who’d listen to you complain,” Ino called out just as her door slammed shut. Grinning, Ino shook her head and made for her own bed. Sakura was such a freakin’ mess! Still… It wouldn’t be fun if Sakura remained mad at her. She knocked softly on Sakura’s door before opening it just enough to poke her head in and say, “I was gonna say, prior to your temper tantrum, that I’m really shocked how far you’ve come with this, Forehead. If Hatake Kakashi, Konoha’s laziest ninja, is going so far to impress you… I’d say you’ve got him in the bag.”

Sakura rolled over in her bed and glares suspiciously at Ino. “You really mean that?” she mumbled. “You’re not just saying that so I don’t take your name off the lease?”

Ino shook her head and smiled at her friend. “Nope. Never thought you had it in you… but apparently you do. G’night!”

“’Night, Pig. You’re still an awful friend though.”

“Whatever.”

____________________________________________


Kakashi sighed wearily as he dropped gratefully to the ground underneath one of the enormous oak trees that was serving as shelter for the evening. After traveling all day and making very slow progress due to the size of the group, Kakashi had finally called for a halt. All of the servants for Lord Tsuigetsu had looked exhausted beyond belief and all too eager to break out the necessary items to make camp.

This was the first real chance he’d had to take a break all day himself. Lord Tsuigetsu hadn’t been happy to learn that he and his immediate following were not going to be personally guarded by the Copy Ninja of Konoha. After insulting Kotetsu to the point where the very diplomatic man was getting frustrated, Kakashi had explained to him it was better to have the strongest toward the front to stem off a possible attack before it could get toward the people of importance. The client had bought it without much of a fuss and had thankfully laid off of Kotetsu for the rest of the day.

After that, Lord Tsuigetsu had stated that having the ninken mingle around was making his wife unduly nervous. If she was, it didn’t show on her down turned face. It had taken nearly twenty minutes to convince him it was necessary for the dogs to be present. A compromise had been reached in which Kakashi shuffled the dogs around so that Jubei, Pakkun and Yaku, the three smallest and least intimidating dogs he had, were assigned to helping Kotetsu guard the noble family.

All in all, he was marking down the days when they could hand Lord Tsuigetsu over to the Grass Nin and head home. He knew the value in patience but even he had his limits. Anko, who had been lucky enough to be so far back from the group that she was left in relative peace, was now taking first watch to allow himself and Kotetsu some small measure of peace. Kotetsu had volunteered to take the second watch, which meant Kakashi had the longest to sleep. Not that more time to sleep meant he would relax at all. To relax on a mission was to invite for trouble.

Rubbing his stiff neck to ease the cramping, Kakashi glanced at the small, furry lump that made its way over to him. Pakkun looked completely worn out, which was really saying something since the dog always looked ready to fall asleep at any minute. Grunting, the dog lay down and plopped his small head on Kakashi’s thigh. “I got stepped on sixteen times today,” he complained gruffly. “And if one more person says I’m a ‘kyoot widdle dawgy’, I’m markin’ their legs.”

Kakashi made a pitying sound and scratched the pug’s wrinkled neck sympathetically. “Bite them next time. Not only will they keep an eye out for you but it’ll kill any rumors about you being cute as well.”

“Even though they’ll yell at you for it?”

“The least I can do to make up for you being stepped on and talked to like a baby.”

Pakkun grunted, which for him meant he was laughing. Blowing out a long breath and snuggling up closer to Kakashi’s hip, the small dog mumbled, “So, wanna know the outcome of last night?”

“Only if you’re in the mood to share,” Kakashi murmured back as he closed his eye and tilted his head back against the tree. To be honest, the anticipation as to what the ninken had uncovered about Sakura’s motives had been in the back of his mind all day. He was curious to see what they thought of the situation, but he wasn’t going to press Pakkun for the information if the little guy was tired. There was nothing worse than having to deal with a cranky pug.

After several moments where neither of them said anything and during which Kakashi continued to rub the dog’s neck and shoulders soothingly, Pakkun finally said, “It’s a mixed bag.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning… we don’t have a definite answer. Bull says she’s after the book, I’m leaning toward the mask. Yaku says he was asleep and doesn’t care either way. And all Jubei’ll say is that Sakura-chan’s a really nice person and he wants to see her again.”

If his eyes weren’t closed, he would have rolled them at the last. Kakashi shook his head slightly and muttered, “Well, those last two opinions were next to useless. Why do I get the feeling the four of you are conspiring against me?”

“Because you’re paranoid delusional,” Pakkun snorted sarcastically.

“Are you certain that’s all of it? Because if I find out you kept something from me…” Kakashi jerked his hand back when Pakkun gave him a less-than-gentle nip on the wrist. “Hey!”

“I’m gonna be straight with you,” the unrepentant pug said sharply. “Personally, I think that girl’s good for you. The only reason I was even lookin’ for something in the first place is ‘cause you asked me to. Otherwise… I’d say just forget whatever it is and enjoy what ya’ve got with her. ‘Cause she’s a good thing and you’d be stupid to pass it up.”

Frowning as he rubbed his bruised hand, Kakashi gave Pakkun a hard look and replied, “Sakura is a good thing… for someone else. Don’t get any ideas this means anything for either of us, Pakkun. She’s using me and I’m teaching her a lesson that’s normally learned the hard way. That’s it.”

Pakkun’s eyes narrowed as he held Kakashi’s gaze unwavering for several seconds. Then, with a snort that sounded oddly disbelieving, he settled his head on Kakashi’s thigh once more and mumbled, “Sure thing, Kakashi. So, what’s the next step?”

“The next step… is a mystery. It’s her move, so we’ll see what comes of it,” he answered as he resumed petting the drowsy dog on his lap. It was disappointing that the ninken hadn’t turned up anything more concrete, but he had a sneaky suspicion that something wasn’t entirely right about Pakkun’s report. He knew that dog better than he knew most people, so it wasn’t hard to tell when something was up. Why Pakkun would lie about Sakura’s motives though… That was the odd part.

Oh, well. There wasn’t much he could do about it at the moment. Pakkun wasn’t changing his story and he knew without asking that the other three would have exactly the same story. So… He simply had to survive the next ten days or so and see what Sakura had in store for him.