*I do not own any of the characters, settings, or other misc details from Naruto, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto and this is written simply for pleasure. ^^
*I am taking some liberties with the character Kaguya Kimimaru with his story and age for the sake of my story. So no correcting, I know it's off. Lol
The mist kunoichi did not like out of country missions.
Her feet ached already and her mind was a-flutter with worries over her absence.
"Shikei No Hime," as her people knew her, traveled with her pack in the tree tops without hope of a break for camp.
This time she had been ordered to keep moving until she set her feet on her soon-to-be partner's door mat.
The upside was that she did love the forest; it just became a bit mind-numbing after the millionth tree at top speeds.
In times like this, when she could be alone in her own head space, she would let her mind wander a little outside of her mission and her purpose.
She was not particularly fond of leaving her Mizukage in the hands of others. She owed the woman too much to simply "trust that the Seven Swordsmen were as competent as advertised" as the Mizukage had put it before she began her usual lecture about how Shikei needed to loosen up and hit the bars.
Neither of which she would ever even consider.
Lechery and 'fun' had no place in her life.
She had to keep focus and direction.
Alcohol was weakening.
And men were an unnecessary inconvenience.
She had long since grown past silly things like crushes and boyfriends and they all seemed a bit... beneath her in their simplicity.
Seduction she could do. Though the pleasure she derived from it, she was sure had mostly to do with the thrill of the hunt, as she'd never had a mission where she'd had to follow through with a mark. The men who were best killed through those means were usually filthy of soul at the very least and just the thought that she would ever have laid with one of them made her want to sink her kunai into her own gut.
But this mission wasn't that simple: her partner was not a mark, but an accessory. Bait. A tool.
It was a little more comforting to think of it that way.
She was sure she could make this 'relationship' look convincing for the sake of her goal.
She was pretty sure at least.
Her stomach started knotting again.
She SO hated out of country missions. And it was going to be harder with partner that she didn't know to begin with. Harder to coordinate with some one that you knew so little about...
More stress flooded her stomach.
Thinking was not helping.
This mission sounded fairly simple though, she tried to reassure herself as she ran over the general plan again:
"Marry" and nin well-known enough to draw Itatchi and Kimimaru's attention, and then defeat them and bring them to justice. Go home and …
..And what?
Her foot almost missed its mark on that note.
This line of thought was not actually reassuring at all.
It was worse than fretting over working with a stranger.
The knot in her stomach doubled, but her brain refused to release the line of thought.
Her life's purpose had been to end those two men. And after years of un-sprung traps and inaccurate leads, the Mizukage and Hokage had devised this plan.
What would she do if this worked?
She had never counted that it would actually happen and her survive to question her purpose.
But with the two great nations involved, she had a weird nagging sensation in her stomach that this was going to go differently than she'd always assumed…
She refused to dwell on that thought any longer, she would worry about it later. For now she needed to work a little harder on not falling off her path. Soon would be the ferry and more foot travel.
^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^.^
He was really beginning to hate the Fifth Hokage.
Tsunade used to be fun.
She'd come to the bars and have drinking contests with the nin.
She'd throw elaborate parties with crazy twists and tons of free sake.
But lately all she'd wanted to do was play match-maker.
She made one pairing suggestion at a party, and a couple months down the road it ends in marriage, and all of a sudden she'd found her life passion.
Now, Kakashi had never been one to draw lines with his friends, but this was it if he'd ever wanted one.
Competing for bed-partners against his friends was usually the only conflict he had in the category of 'romance' But this was something else all-together. Tsunade was meddling. Digging up all his skeletons and poking old wounds…
He hadn't had a moment's peace since she set her sights on him.
He couldn't even imagine what horrors she had in store for him this time as he walked to her office trying not to slow down to a complete stop, but definitely dragging his feet.
She could have him 'executed for his tardiness' after all. As she had so enthusiastically pointed out, last time.
She had set him up on three dates now. Each worse than the last.
The first had been… awkward did not even begin to cover that experience. Sakura had been coerced by Tsunade into the surprise date. Which made it that much more uncomfortable when he showed up at the restaurant and Sakura had already begun drinking in anticipation for a fun night. If it hadn't been that they were the only two allowed in the restaurant, he would have been sure there was no way he was supposed to be there for her. Thankfully after about 15 minutes of awkward conversation, they flagged Sai down to join them and had a decent time swapping mission stories. It was clear to Kakashi that Sai was who Sakura had been hoping for, though he didn't really mind, the evening actually ended pleasantly enough: his 'date' happily going home with Sai.
That poor man had no idea the ways he was already wrapped around the pink-haired kunoichi's finger.
The next date was a civilian. He didn't even remember her name the date had been so horrific. Tsunade had figured out he was more attracted to dark haired girls, (because apparently what had gone wrong with the first date was hair color…) and she 'found this girl just waiting to be plucked from the flower stand'. She HAD to be related to the Yamanakas, he had decided. She was fantastically attractive, but her shrill voice and gossipy talk made him want to bite an explosive scroll. That and she clearly misunderstood how status was earned among shinobi, she was transparently enamored by his apparent 'fame'. It was common for civilians so he could forgive her, but it would have been too painful to eventually be feared by his significant other for finally having understood all the atrocities he committed to gain that 'fame'. Relationships with civilians wouldn't work for him. He'd known that for a long time. He told Tsunade after that that if she insisted on putting him through this, to never pair him with another civilian.
That led to the next, and, by far, worst of the three dates.
He was still getting drunken visits from Anko, and having to take her back home, and then flag her down again in the morning to re-affirm that they were not seeing each other and would not be.
He was actually a little sad for her that she was so unlikely to find the family she wanted so desperately.
He wondered idly if the curse mark was eating her sanity.
She had shown up to their date drunk. Tsunade hadn't even told him who to expect. And just like his first date, she went home, quite happily, with another man.
Though he was told later, by Genma (who had been the lucky one to take her home), that she would not stop talking about Kakashi. Which had cheered the copy-nin minutely. Genma being a bit of a 'romantic' rival for him, it pleased him that Genma's evening had been ruined in such a way, even if Kakashi didn't actually want Anko.
He didn't want a woman at all.
He'd had occasional bed-warmers but nothing more permanent.
Had never even given it much consideration. He'd lost too many people close to him to want to make more emotional risks.
And his recently graduated students gave him fits enough for 3 wives with their close calls and late returns.
He had been happy with his messy little apartment and his "Romance" novels.
Now he noticed how empty it was to come home to his home void of life.
Now all he could think about was having someone waiting for him when he came home, to rub the ever- aching back he ignored. And maybe even run her fingers through her hair as she hummed something to him. Someone to warm his bed and his home every night…
And more importantly, maybe even his heart….
That brought all of his annoyance back to the surface like a rubber band snapping him in the eye.
That was the kind of thinking that was going to end him. He couldn't even focus while training any more.
He was glad Hokage had been keeping him around the village. He would probably be dead now for all the wandering his brain was doing if he'd had any more serious missions.
It was ALL that god-damned woman's fault.
Couldn't she understand that he was better for their nation this way? He had accepted it long ago.
His annoyance doubled as he reached the Hokage's office.
He nodded to the guards as he took the steps two at a time.
"Come in Kakashi" She said before he even reached the door.
She sounded perky and… sober.
Sober was rare for her, especially since she didn't sound hung-over either.
That was cause for concern. Something serious was up.
He tried to calm his irritation and suspicion as he entered and closed the door.
"Have a seat Kakashi-san" She said amiably.
She was NEVER amiable.
Okay sober was REALLY starting to concern him. It was eerie the way she grinned at him.
"You called for me? I'm sorry I was late." He said sardonically, trying to get some other emotion out of her. Angry would be less creepy than the smug grin on her face.
"Oh, no problem Kashi-san." She said with her grin growing more wicked as she pet-named him.
He was sure his concern was showing on his face, no longer able to completely keep his bluff. This was not good.
She picked up a folder and held it towards him.
"I have a mission that requires a shinobi of some renown. It's in and across a few foreign countries and includes an ally." She practically vibrated with triumph as the troublesome glint multiplied in her eyes.
Kakashi cautiously reached for the folder as if it were an animal that might bite him.
She snatched it back out of reach just before his hand latched on.
The smug grin returned ten-fold.
"I'm sorry but that's all the detail I can give to one who has not accepted the mission." She fished
That made it sound as intriguing as it was dangerous to accept this mission without further detail.
It was a dare.
Kakashi stood to pace and was amused as the Hokage's mood soured slightly at his hesitation.
He was hooked. It wouldn't kill her to have her gratification delayed a little.
Pacing back and forth a few times, his curiosity began to triumph over his concern.
He stopped mid-pace in front of her desk.
He looked at her thoughtfully.
There were very few reasons he could think of that she would be so vague.
Couldn't be an assassination. He could do those in his sleep so the partner would be a burden. Unless there were some interesting circumstances... but that was pretty unlikely considering the multiple locations.
And with moderate peace between the nations it could be an opportune time for a power strike... but even two of the best nin couldn't pull off a conquest alone..
And there were no recent missing nin of consequence that he knew of…
And the one's at large had proven impossible to seek out. They just turned up occasionally and eventually they'd pop up at the wrong place and wrong time and be caught. It would be difficult for even two competent shinobi to resolve that alone…
He would take this mission, he decided. It was better than another date. And some time away from his own thoughts could be life saving at this point.
But it was odd she didn't just order him to take this job.
"Why would you give me a choice?" He asked, becoming more than impatient to understand what was going on.
Her face contorted, as she likely formed a lie, "I want you to feel… like you had a choice." She said cryptically.
Maybe that meant it had to look like he had done this without her consent…
What was with this mission?
"Okay Hokage-sama, I'll bite, I'm in." He said defiantly.
She snorted as she handed him the folder. She clearly thought she had won somehow…
He flipped through the folder, resigned to whatever this nonsense turned out to be and found the information to be upsettingly stark.
It was like they had a coy woman put together the folder, which he found quite irritating.
She stared at him expectantly as if she were waiting for a question.
Again he felt baited.
There was a logistics page for packing, a bingo page mock-up, and basic mission timeline with lots of "appearances" listed, whatever that meant. And not many less were in front of daimyo and kages' families.
He was clearly missing some punch line here. Tsunade's face was twisting, as if his growing confusion was filling her with glee.
He turned to the bingo book page. On it was a small woman. Though, notably, clearly well into adulthood. Her body was built for seduction, he decided, all vicious curves topped with just the right amount of femininity. She had long, loosely-curled mahogany hair, and an expensive-looking, formal, deep blue kimono. And a mask, covering the lower half of her face, that still left a small tattoo on the right side of her face: two bars indicating rank and nobility. There was little to the description. She was about 150 cm tall with golden-hazel eyes and had apparently caused some major massacres. Suspiciously there was no mention of how she did it, and she didn't seem armed in the picture…
Maybe a Kekkei Genkai?
Most kunoichi were either seductive or powerful, they rarely needed both. And she was obviously, abundantly graced in both… So she must have been bad news for plenty of people.
So this was an… assassination mission then. He traced his figure over her curves and thought of the waste it would be to take the life out of that body. Maybe he could work her for a while. Hell, she looked like she'd be fun to work into a submissive death.
He would probably have to request that his partner be female so that he would have an abundance of angles to work if necessary.
"So this is my mark." He stated confidently.
Tsunade spit the tea she'd been drinking everywhere as she began laughing hysterically.
Kakashi waited for her to finish, his annoyance snapping back into place.
"No no no," She waved her hands as she spoke breathlessly "Did you read the top of the page? You should know a little better than that. Mei is like a little sister to me." She scolded half seriously.
Kakashi tore the staple out to get to the top of the page, it read: "Spring Breeze of the Hidden Mist"
She'd hidden the name intentionally. Tsunade wanted him good and confused.
He looked at her suspiciously, raising an eyebrow in askance. This 'Hime' he'd heard a little about served Mei the Mizukage.
"Why is this page in here then?" He finally asked out of frustration. Tsunade, once again looked like she couldn't wait to answer.
He hadn't even considered that his partner would already be set, much less that it would be someone as infamous as he was. Tsunade had played down that detail to lull him into focusing on other elements of the mission.
Fuck! He had not come ready for a mental chess match.
So "Shikei no Hime" was to be his partner then.
This was going to be something he'd hate. He just knew it.
Though admittedly, he knew little about the actual woman, kunoichi of the mist were known to be tempestuous like the waters surrounding their country.
As if he needed more tempestuous people in his life.
Tsunade watched him with Naruto-like enthusiasm, bouncing around in her chair.
Kakashi rubbed the bridge of his nose as he waited for Tsunade to out this little bit of information he already saw coming.
"You could be a bit more enthusiastic, Kashi-san, this woman is going to be your partner and... your new wife!" She began cackling again.
*Not much of a cliff hanger, but had to break it somewhere, story is going to be a slower build, good foundation and all that noise. Hoping to post new chapter every Thursday or so. We'll see if my muse stays with me. Let me know what you think of this versus the old one if you've read it, may take it down soon.
*Also "Shikei no Hime" means Death's princess.