Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or the characters contained therein, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto who is kind enough to let fans write fiction. I make no profit from this nor do I intend to.
A/N: For MultiSaku Month, KakaSaku day. I've no idea where this one came from. I blame the melatonin I sometimes take to help me sleep. Regardless it wouldn't let me alone until I put it to file. No idea what to do with it though. ^^;;;;;; Many thanks to my lovely betas, La Moonlight Lily and WitchesRayne, you guys know I'd never get anything posted without your help!
Eye of the Beholder
"Afternoon, Sakura. Your hair looks nice today," Kakashi greeted the younger woman with his usual trademarked smile and hand wave as he joined her on her way out of the hospital – to all appearances, she'd just finished her usual early shift and was likely on her way home for the day.
"What?" she responded with more irritation than the actual comment deserved as she continued on her way. He hadn't actually said anything wrong. Yet.
"Er, your hair – it looks… nice?" he tried again with a note of hesitancy in his voice as he kept pace with her. From the mood she was in, it looked as though if he wanted to continue the conversation he'd have to continue walking with her wherever she happened to be going.
"Really?" she asked with some amount of suspicion.
"Yes," he responded, feeling slightly puzzled, so he decided to elaborate. "Not many women wear their hair long these days. It looks nice."
"Seriously, Kakashi, my hair?" she asked, no longer able to keep the incredulity from her voice.
"What?" he asked, again unsure why she seemed so surprised with his compliment and beginning to wonder if he shouldn't have said anything to her at all. "What's wrong with appreciating a woman's hair when worn long? I've always admired long-haired women."
"What, really?" she asked, interested in spite of herself.
"Hmm, yes, really." He paused for a moment to ponder on what he guessed her likely next question would be before continuing. "Can't exactly explain it though, just like the way it looks I guess. Just something about it that always makes me take a second look." He shrugged, unconcerned for not having an exact reason to share for that particular aspect of his personality. Though, a small part of his mind continued to work on the possible reasoning for such an interesting personality quirk.
"Huh." She thought for a moment, entirely distracted from her earlier train of thought. "Ino has long hair."
He nodded. "Ah, yes. You're right, she does."
"Have you ever felt moved to make your observation about long hair to her?" she asked with a hint of something he couldn't quite pin down in her voice.
"Nope," he responded without any hesitation.
"Nope? Why not?" Sakura asked with some surprise. Ino was, after all, a very attractive woman.
He shrugged. "Never particularly thought that she needed telling."
"What, and I do?" the pink haired woman asked, unable to let this new and peculiar idea go. It seemed incredibly strange to her that of all the parts of the female form, her former sensei seemed to have a thing for long hair and that he felt it necessary to tell her as much.
Kakashi stopped, conveniently in front of a bookstore where they had the latest volume of Icha Icha on display in the storefront window, and turned to look her in the eye when she stopped to see what he wanted. "Seemed like a good idea at the time. I'm beginning to think that perhaps I should have kept the compliment to myself though." He kept his voice even but, his expression conveyed faint signs of exasperation that only tended to come out when he was nearing the end of his patience.
Sakura examined his face for sincerity and sighed upon finding nothing wrong with his expression. "Sorry, Kakashi. It's been a long day," she apologized, suddenly feeling guilty for putting all her aggravation on the undeserving silver-haired man.
He nodded and smiled in acceptance of her apology, letting his eye wander a little when she wasn't looking. He could only imagine how her day had been going but chose not to comment on it… which was probably what was irritating the pink haired medic to no end. He had not commented on the obvious. And, she probably figured that he was still thinking it anyway. Which, if he were to be honest, he was – but he'd never tell her that. Instead, he'd gone for the less dangerous option and complimented her hair. Though, it was a genuine compliment. He honestly did enjoy a woman with long hair and he had not seen one sporting hair like Sakura's in some time.
Shaking his head a little to refocus on the task at hand, he reached out for the door of the bookstore. Better that he go get the new orange masterpiece in the window rather than idle with the currently long-haired medic. Spending much more time with her in her current situation could possibly lead to unexpected… complications and he wasn't certain he was prepared for them should they arise.
The short-tempered medic inhaled and then exhaled slowly, letting a good deal of her irritation go before trying again. She was, after all, not irritated with him. "Let's start over," she suggested, wanting to just hit the reset button on their whole conversation.
He kept a chuckle to himself and decided to oblige, hoping that this time she would accept the compliment and let it go. "Sure. Afternoon, Sakura. Your hair looks nice today." Of its own accord, he found his hand closing and returning to his pocket, without opening the door to the bookstore.
She smiled. "Why, thank you, Kakashi. It's kind of you to notice." The younger woman turned slightly to start walking again toward her destination, not wanting to linger outside the bookseller's where Kakashi had stopped them. She'd been sure that he was intending to go in to pick up the latest volume in his treasured Icha Icha series – the series was now being written by an anonymous ghostwriter. Apparently, from what she'd heard, the new titles had suffered no ill effects from the transition of authorship.
"Not many women wear their hair long these days." He continued their conversation, wondering how long it would last this time as he moved to resume walking by her side, leaving the bookstore where he'd intended on picking up that new volume of Icha Icha. He'd followed her without a second thought of getting the new orange prize.
"Yeah, probably because it can get really heavy and can be a lot of work," Sakura responded with a little disbelief. She didn't think he'd leave the bookseller behind without a new little orange treasure, never mind bypassing it to just continue his second try at a conversation with her.
His eye widened a little in surprise as she brought up a valid point – he hadn't really thought about the maintenance aspect of such long locks. "Oh, really?" He'd already known that long hair could get surprisingly heavy depending on how thick it was, thanks to a month-long undercover mission a year or two previously and the long-haired woman with whom he'd spent his evenings.
She grimaced a bit at the thought of the last time she had to wash and dry it all. "Yeah, it can take forever to wash and even longer to dry. And don't get me started on how often it can get in the way while you're trying to actually get stuff done."
"Huh, I see. I hadn't thought about it like that," he mused aloud, feeling sad that it was sounding unlikely that she'd be keeping the super long tresses – a shame in his, admittedly biased, opinion.
The discussion sputtered and died as they continued on in silence, the reboot of the conversation failing as the silence proceeded to stretch out between them. Sakura irrationally getting more and more irritated with both herself and her older friend.
Finally, unable to let things go on, Sakura decided to break the silence as they approached one of the lesser-used parks near her apartment building. She entered the small green space, bringing her silver-haired friend along with her.
"Seriously, Kakashi?" She stopped under a tree near a rarely used bench so she could gesture with her hands to indicate her full body in relative privacy. "I'm walking around the village looking like this, and you've been commenting on my hair?"
Kakashi sighed and turned to face Sakura's currently modified appearance, unable to keep his eye from following her gesture. Clearly, she'd been sent out of the village on some sort of undercover kunoichi assignment. Why else would she have what he figured must be nearly floor-length hair (currently wound up into some complicated arrangement that still let a good length of it hand down her back) and an almost impossibly enhanced bust? If he had to guess, he'd also imagine that other parts of her anatomy not usually visible in day-to-day clothing had probably also been altered to fit whatever her persona was supposed to be: high-end courtesan most likely, if he were to have to guess by her hair. However, he didn't have a death wish. Unlike apparently everyone else in the village, he knew well enough not to bring any of that up with her.
"Yes, I told you. I rather like long hair on women and you haven't let yours grow very long for some time. It's a nice change." He cocked his head to the side to show he was about to ask a genuine question. "Think you'll keep it?"
"What?" she asked as he once again managed to derail her irritation.
"The long hair, do you think you'll keep it?" he asked again patiently, sincerely interested in her answer.
"Eh, maybe." She sighed. "At least for a while. Once it starts really getting in the way it'll have to go though." Sakura paused for a moment. "Probably bit by bit, as it annoys me, so undoubtedly not all at once."
He nodded. His opinion hadn't been asked and he suspected wouldn't be welcomed. Though, he did feel that it would be nice for her to keep that beautiful long hair around for a while – it would be such a shame to cut it.
She shook her head. "But, really, Kakashi. That's all you want to talk about this fine afternoon?"
He sighed; she was going to force the issue. "Sakura, is there another facet of your appearance you'd rather discuss?" he asked flatly.
She flushed, but continued, not quite believing that he'd not want to bring up what every other person had that she'd spoken to since she returned to the village. "You don't want to ask about the other aspect of my appearance that had to be changed for my most recent mission?"
He raised his hand to the back of his heard. "Eh, heh. Didn't think it would be wise to bring up the elephants currently sharing the room with us… er, so to speak."
An eyebrow twitched. "Oh, really?"
He shrugged, hoping to play the situation off correctly. "Sure, doesn't seem like something that requires a discussion."
"What?" she asked too startled to put any other words to her question.
Kakashi suppressed a sigh. "Let me guess. You were sent out on an undercover mission that required some drastic changes to your appearance – applied via jutsu just before you left the village?"
She nodded, too surprised to speak.
He continued, "then, you either finished early and returned before the jutsu was due to wear off or the person who was meant to remove it upon your return is either out sick, on vacation or somehow otherwise incapacitated and can't remove it right now?"
"Combination of all three, I came back early and the only people who can remove it are on long-term sick leave or on vacation."
He shrugged. "Doesn't seem to require a discussion, does it?" he asked with his eyebrow raised.
"But…" she started, not sure what else to say. For some reason, she was somewhat disappointed not to be having this conversation with Kakashi. If pressed, she'd have to put it down to the fact that she'd had it with everyone else, why not him too? Besides, a small part of her honestly wanted to know what his opinion on her 'enhanced' appearance might be.
Kakashi sighed and gave in. "Fine." He pasted a fake smile on his face and pointed at her chest. "Those are new. They look pretty nice. Do you think you'll keep them?" he asked in a falsely cheerful tone, emulating what he'd guessed she'd been hearing all day long.
Sakura's face slowly turned red, then purple then white as she went from surprised to irate in zero to sixty seconds.
Before she could explode and possibly cause him harm, Kakashi hastily continued, "there, now that that's done can we continue on with our conversation?"
Unable to articulate words from behind her anger, she continued to stare at the older man.
Kakashi sighed. "I didn't want to bring this up at all, if you'll remember. I only said the things I'm sure you've probably been hearing all day."
Sakura slowly exhaled, he was right. She'd goaded him into commenting. Though, as he'd said, he was only saying what he'd figured she'd been hearing all day. Not his own opinions on the matter. The pink haired woman couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. For some reason, and she couldn't quite guess why, she actually wanted to hear what he honestly thought of her new figure – even if it was only temporary. His lack of an opinion of his own irrationally irritated her all over again.
The elite jonin took a moment to study his former student, sensing her disappointment as it shaded quickly back to irritation. Kakashi realized that she may truly want his actual opinion on the matter. He shook his head to clear that troubling thought and decided to continue on a different track. "You know, Sakura, if all the extra attention is bothering you this much, why don't you try …" he paused for a moment to find a word or phrase that wouldn't get himself punched into the next week. "er, why don't you try covering yourself up a little more?" he suggested as delicately as possible – there was no way he could tell her that she should leave something to the imagination.
Getting a better handle on herself Sakura managed to calm down enough to respond. He had, after all not wanted to discuss it with her. She'd made him; she had no right to get angry at what she'd forced her former sensei to say.
Sakura gestured at her top. "This is the best of what I have to wear for day-to-day use from the mission," she admitted sheepishly. "Everything else…" she trailed off, feeling the telltale heat of an almost crimson blush rise to her cheeks.
He chuckled. "I'd gathered that you were probably out on special kunoichi business." He let his eye briefly take in her clothing. From the waist down, she was wearing her usual medic uniform. However, from the waist up she was wearing what was clearly a very high quality but also very revealing red top. The adjectives tight and low-cut didn't seem to do the garment justice, nor the fact that there was no way she could possibly be wearing any sort of an undergarment under that painted-on shirt. "Let me guess, everything else is not particularly suited for daily village wear?"
She nodded and huffed in frustration, though, taking a moment to enjoy having a somewhat normal conversation with someone for the first time since she'd returned to the village. Only twice had his eye dropped below hers and that was only when she'd gestured for him to do so. "Exactly. And I don't want to waste any more money buying clothing that's not going to fit in a week or so."
He nodded, it made sense. "Why don't you ask Ino if she has some things you can borrow?" he suggested hoping that she wouldn't take his unasked for advice too badly – after all, it seemed like an obvious move for her to make.
Sakura giggled. "I did." She grinned for a moment, enjoying that particular memory.
Surprised at her response he raised an eyebrow. "She said no?" he asked incredulously.
The pink haired woman laughed at his surprise. "Nothing fit," she said smugly.
"What?!" he exclaimed with some surprise, his usual strict sense of self-control starting to crack just a bit. "Just how-" he cut himself off as his eye tried to take another look at his former student's enlarged assets. He raised a hand to his forehead and shook his head. "Nope. Not going to ask. Don't need to know." Desperately, he tried to focus on her hair – a much safer outlet for his attention.
Startled at his reaction, Sakura laughed again. "Oh, so it is bothering you just as much as it's bothering everyone else, is it?" she couldn't help but tease, unable to prevent herself from bouncing up and down a little on her toes.
Hastily he averted his eyes from her entirely. "Sakura, please," he started, his voice only a little strained as the cracks in his self-control continued to grow. "I'm doing my best here to be…" he trailed off as he realized that as much as he wanted to say, 'supportive', he figured it would be a poor choice of words given Sakura's current lack of a supportive undergarment. "Can we just go back to talking about your hair?" he asked somewhat plaintively.
Her mouth opened and closed without any words exiting it. She hadn't realized how much trouble he was having with her appearance. He'd been doing too well of a job covering it up for her to see until just now.
Seeing her flounder, he managed to gather himself once again. He exhaled and then reached out for one of her hands. "C'mon Sakura." He gently pulled her hand to get the surprised woman moving.
"Kakashi?" she asked as they started briskly walking in the opposite direction of her apartment.
"Hmm?" he asked, as he pulled them into a seldom used back alley, keeping up the brisk pace without looking back to make sure she was keeping up – the last thing he wanted was to see the effects of a brisk, likely hopping walk as she tried to keep up with him on her temporarily modified anatomy.
"Where are we going?" she asked with some confusion – she trusted him completely so wasn't particularly concerned, just curious.
He kept them moving. "You'll see when we get there."
"Kakashi!" she exclaimed in exasperation.
"Shh, you'll only draw attention to us." He tried to hush her as they continued along.
"Oh, right… sorry."
They continued traveling through back alleys for another few minutes. Sakura starting to feel lost as they'd made more turns than she could keep track of – just when she felt that she was thoroughly turned around they emerged in the from the alley across from his apartment building.
She felt her cheeks heat. "KAKASHI!"
He stopped dead in his tracks and turned to look at the woman behind him. "What?"
"You're taking me to your place?" she asked, her cheeks almost painfully flushed. She'd known that she'd managed to get a favorable reaction out of him but didn't think it merited such an extreme response from the older man.
"Yes," he nodded, not seeing why she could possibly be reacting as she was. "Now c'mon before someone sees us."
He dragged the unresisting kunoichi into his building and up the two flights to his apartment.
"Kakashi…" she started, unsure what she should say once they arrived in his living area.
"Stay right there Sakura, I'll be right back."
Quickly Kakashi disappeared down the hall to, she presumed, his bedroom.
Before she had time to develop her nervous uncertainty into a full-blown panic, Kakashi returned holding a bundle of dark blue cloth and a bag. He held it out for her with a smile.
Confused, Sakura raised her eyes to meet his. "What's this?" she asked before reaching for the bag and bundle.
He chuckled at her puzzled expression. "Mine'll fit."
Her eyes widened in surprise, her semi-panicked brain couldn't figure what he meant. "What?"
He raised the bundle of cloth with the bag again a little, trying to get her to take it. "These'll fit," he nodded his chin at her chest, "those."
Wordlessly, she accepted the bundle and bag. She found that it contained four of his old jonin shirts. She could tell that they were definitely older, as both the color and style were different from what was currently in use. Curiously, she unfolded one and held it up. Upon closer inspection, she could see why he'd no longer wear it even if it wasn't outdated. From what she could guess, it was too small – had probably shrunk in the wash or perhaps he'd filled out some since he'd last worn it. Regardless, he was right. It would definitely fit her temporarily altered state.
Quickly, she looked up and smiled at him. "Thank you, you're right. The shirts will still be too big but should fit well enough where it counts." To prove her point, she pulled the one in her hands on over her head, deftly minding her complicated hairdo. As the fabric of the shirt passed by her nose, she inhaled and smiled, murmuring mostly to herself, "hmm, still smells like you, too."
He had to quickly control a slight blush that rose to his cheeks at seeing her don one of his shirts. The cracks in his sense of self-control started expanding again. He hadn't thought all that much about it, or rather, he'd not thought beyond covering up Sakura's 'improved' bust. The idea of her wearing something of his was far more pleasant than he'd expected. Never mind her comment just then about the shirt sill smelling like him. He was unaware that he had a particular scent. Or, rather, he was unaware that she could so easily recognize it, never mind apparently be happy to do so, and he was uncertain what he should do with that information.
Not noticing Kakashi's moment of awkwardness, Sakura happily pulled at the hem of the shirt – it fell to just above her knees – she found if she pulled it all to one side she could knot it at her waist. That just left the collar of the shirt and the sleeves. The sleeves could easily be rolled up and the collar she could just leave for the time being as is for now draping over one of her shoulders. Since she had a second shirt on underneath, she wasn't concerned about the collar slipping too far in either direction.
Feeling pleased with the outcome Sakura turned her attention back to the older silver-haired man and smiled. "Thank you, Kakashi!" She quickly closed the short distance between them to throw her arms around him in an enthusiastic hug. "This is perfect!"
Not fast enough to dodge the physical contact with his former student, Kakashi felt himself freeze. Sakura, it seemed, was unaware of how the dynamics of hugging had changed with her temporarily modified figure. There was no way she could recognize just what she was doing to him. The cracks were growing by leaps and bounds now.
Quickly, Sakura let go as she realized that he wasn't hugging her back and the likely reason. "Er, sorry." She felt her cheeks heat. "Got a little over enthusiastic there."
"Eh, heh. No worries Sakura," he responded, proud that his voice only came out a little strained. Clearing his throat, he continued. "You can keep those if you like – adjust them or whatever to make them more comfortable. I won't be needing them again."
She beamed up at him again, clearly very pleased with his solution to her problem. "Thank you, I will."
He found it hard to remove his eye from her now that she was wearing his shirt.
Sakura noticed a slightly glazed look pass over his lone visible eye. "Kakashi?"
He shook his head, trying to dispel a suddenly very inappropriate thought from his mind – he blamed the cracks. "Yes?"
She narrowed her eyes in suspicion. "What were you just thinking?"
"What?"
"You were staring."
"I was?"
"Yes, and I'd like to know why."
"Er… do you really want to know?"
"Yes."
"I really don't think you do."
"Kakashi," she growled, just a hint of warning in her voice.
He sighed. "I was wondering just how long it was."
"What?" she asked with some surprise.
"Your hair." He nodded at her complicated hairdo, "I was wondering just how long it was when it wasn't up like that."
"What?"
"You did ask."
"Yes, I did ask…"
He shrugged.
"Why… no, how are you back on to my hair?"
"I believe I told you, I appreciate a woman with long hair."
"Yes, yes. But, why?"
"Lots of reasons I guess."
"Which would be?"
"I like the way it looks." He paused in thought for a moment, wondering if he could give her a second reason. Deciding to throw caution to the wind he figured he might as well. "I also like the feeling of it running through my fingers."
She blushed.
He smiled to himself with some relief. She wouldn't press for additional reasons.
"So you were wondering how long it was?" she asked with more than a little uncertainty. She thought it an incredibly strange thing for him to zone out about.
He nodded. "Yes, I'd guess it must be nearly to the floor. I was trying to imagine it." And, what it would feel like to run his fingers through it, what it would look like splayed across his pillow or what she'd look like clothed only in it. Though, those were thoughts he'd never put voice to, certainly not in front of her anyway.
He cleared his throat again. "Anyway, now that you're more…" he paused looking for a phrase that wouldn't set the prickly woman off again, "comfortably dressed, how about a late lunch?"
"Oooh! There's this little noodle shop somewhere around your neighborhood that I've heard some really good things about. I've been meaning to try it for ages!"
He smiled, he knew exactly the one she was speaking about and had not yet had the chance to try it either. "Sounds good. Shall we?" he asked, offering her his arm.
Sakura grabbed the bag with the other jonin shirts and took Kakashi's arm.
Just as they were heading out the door, Sakura held on tight to his arm to ask the question she hadn't had the confidence to ask before. "So, Kakashi. You haven't said one way or the other and I've been wondering. What do you think about my temporarily enhanced assets?"
Panicked, he tried to slip away from her and found that her grip on his arm was too strong. "Eh, heh, Sakura, I don't think that's…" he trailed off realizing something. "Do you actually want to know?"
She felt her cheeks heat again and only managed to nod, her courage suddenly deserting her.
He chuckled and figured she'd asked for it so he'd give her his honest opinion and see what happened. "Well, as I said earlier, they're very nice. I can see why so many people have been kicking up such a fuss over them." He glanced at her sideways and decided it would be safe to push it just a little. "But, if you were to give me a choice, I think I'd rather play with your hair than your modified anatomy – or, if no playing was involved, I'd still rather you kept the hair."
She felt her jaw drop. "What?"
He continued on as if he hadn't heard her. "Though, of course, I wouldn't turn down the opportunity to play with either if it were in the offering." He raised a suggestive eyebrow at her, only just barely able to keep his own amusement to himself. "Sakura, I know there are rumors about me circulating around the bathhouses, and I'm certainly not made of stone, you know."
She pulled her hand from his arm and quickly smacked him upside the head with one of her petite fists. "KAKASHI!"
Unable to hold it in any longer, he laughed. "You did ask for my opinion."
She hated to admit that he was right, "well, you are right about that." She decked him again. "But what the hell am I supposed to do with that information?"
Unable to resist, he couldn't help himself. "Consider your options carefully?"
A/N: I remember now - I fell down a rabbit hole on the Naruto Wiki and read that Tsunade had more than likely modified her appearance at some point as she was teased for being flat chested when she was young. I remember thinking that Sakura would never hear the end of it if she decided to do something similar. Then I wondered what would happen if her appearance had been changed for some reason or other - not really by her choice - and she was temporarily stuck with her 'improved' anatomy. Ridiculous, I know. ::facepalm::