Disclaimer ;; Naruto and everything to do with this piece of fiction belongs to Masashi Kishimoto and to whoever else credit is due to.
Author's notes ;; Yeah, constructive crit is very welcome. Just please be nice about it. Keeping people in character has been an ongoing struggle for me, even if this is only the second piece of work I've published. Rest of my notes are at the end of the chapter, so you won't have to sit here reading through a bunch of crap. Assuming that you don't skip it entirely.
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Chapter One ++ The Mission
He breathed out quietly in what may have passed as a sigh, his favorite copy of Make Out resting open across his face as he lay in his bed, pondering. It wasn't unusual for Hatake Kakashi to be awake at three in the morning, but it was strange for him to be kept up because of nerves.
Tomorrow -- well, rather today, would be Sakura Haruno's sixteenth birthday. Pretty much every adult in the village knew about and understood the necessarily of this task, and that didn't exclude him. But as he'd never passed a single student before Team Seven, he'd never had to deal with this part of a kunoichi's training.
He removed the book covering his face and sat up from the bed, knowing very well that he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. He padded silently over to the door, exiting his apartment without a sound and slipping off through the village. He didn't think standing at the memorial where Obito's name was engraved would provide any clarity, but it was always a nice place for him to stand and think.
It took Kakashi only minutes to tread the well worn path to his destination, and he stood in silence, his eyes fixed on the black stone before him. The moonlight glinted off of its smooth surface tonight and the winds were calm. He relaxed a bit, organizing his thoughts before clearing his mind.
She sighed happily against his firm chest, short pink hair fanning out behind her as they laid together. Finally. He was finally back. She lifted bright, happy green eyes to meet coal black, warm as they returned her gaze.
"I love you, Sasuke." She whispered into his neck.
She saw his mouth open to reply, happiness bubbling up inside of her at the sight, knowing what was to come.
A harsh, high pitched ringing exploded from his throat.
She flinched away from him, hands flying up to cover her ears. That had /not/ been what she'd wanted.
Her vision blurred into blackness even as the obnoxious ringing continued, and as she pulled herself from the realm of dreams, she realized that her alarm clock was going crazy trying to get her attention. She refused to open her eyes, turning over and stuffing her ears full of pillow, hoping to drown out the noise and go back to Sauske's arms.
But that was just as impossible as Sauske returning from Orochimaru of his own free will.
She groaned as a familiar combination of unpleasant feelings washed over her, but it wasn't the tidal wave that it used to be. She shoved down the guilt and sadness and betrayal into a hard ball in her chest, pushing it away with practiced ease.
They would get him back. She knew they would. They had too….
She crawled out from under her pillow and dragged herself across the room, simply shutting off her alarm clock instead of chunking it through the wall like she wanted to. Really, she should be used to getting up at all hours of the night by now, with her recent shifts at the hospital. She stretched in her night robe, yawning for good measure as she shoved contentment into the void that Sasuke had left in her heart.
…
She needed a bath.
The sun, as it peaked over the horizon, found Sakura standing alone next to a tree at the place Kakashi had specified . She hadn't actually expected him to show up on time, but it would have been nice. She leaned against the rough bark, waiting patiently and thinking back on the days of team seven when she had someone to pass the time with. Not really wanting her decent mood to be spoiled, she avoided thoughts of Sasuke, instead focusing on Naruto.
The number one knuckle-headed ninja had left to go study under Jiraiya personally. He'd be gone for at least another year, and she found herself missing him. Sure, he was still an annoying little pest, but she'd come to understand him more and more over time, and admired the dedication he had to, well, anything that he put his mind to. That, and one was better then none.
"Good morning, Sakura."
She looked up to her old sensei where he was crouched on a nearby tree branch, speechless for a good three seconds.
He was only thirty minutes late.
"Happy birthday." He said cheerfully, his one visible eye crinkling in a smile.
"Huh? It isn't my birthday……" Then she remembered the date. "Oh wow it really is my birthday."
The skeptical look he gave her had Sakura chuckling into an explanation.
"Lady Tsunade's been running me into the ground."
"Ahh. Well, at any rate, you're legally an adult in Konoha. Congratulations."
"Thanks." Sakura said with a smile. "So why did you want to meet me sensei?" She asked curiously. "And why are you so early? Well, early for you."
He chuckled at her last comment, reaching into his shrunken holster to retrieve a copy of Make Out. He began to read, pondering the best way to go about this situation. Not many knew this, but he read smut for more than one reason. Most of the time it was simply because these books were so artful in their performance and he enjoyed reading them whenever he could. But on occasion, as it was now, it was a nervous gesture. Though that was the only indication she'd get from him that he was worried about this, and he doubted she'd pick up on it.
Still, he'd have to tread carefully if he wanted his head to stay above the water, because the seas were about to get choppy.
"I wanted to meet you because you've been assigned a new mission."
"Oh?"
"Yep. Your next mission is to seduce me."
Well…so much for treading carefully. But it was better to get it out instead of dancing around the topic, he'd always felt. Kakashi sighed internally, mentally preparing for the onslaught and ready to dodge any attacks if necessary.
"Uhh…."
It took a split second for Sakura's quick mind to process what he'd just said. She skipped shock and went straight for anger.
"WHAT?! YOU PERVERT! YOU'VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!!"
He didn't need to evaluate the rest of her reaction, but he did so anyway as he waited for the ringing in his ears to subside. Her entire body had tensed up, her hands balled into fists. Fists that he'd herd were getting to be quite dangerous under Tsunade's tender care. She was red, and she looked pissed. With good reason too, he supposed, considering what he'd just asked of her. He shut Make Out and returned the little book to his shuriken holster, deciding to at least look as serious as he was, now that the hard part was over.
"Unfortunately no, I'm not kidding."
"Then why the hell didn't Master Tsunade warn me about it. She's the one that briefs all the missions. Does she even know about this?!"
"She implied that certain parts of my anatomy would be painfully removed if I wasn't the one to explain the mission to you." He stated calmly, looking at her with a tired expression, hands in his pockets.
"How the hell could she even assign a mission like this! She's not a pervert like you, so what's the point?!"
He chuckled to himself internally. Even while pissed she had enough sense to realize that there was a point in the mission and he wasn't just being a pervert.
"Excellent question. Will you calm down and allow me to explain?"
Sakura studied him for a moment before pushing the tide of anger and humiliation back down to a controllable level. Her body and fists relaxed, but she didn't loose her glare.
"Men are weak, when it comes to being faced with a woman's body. Seduction has proven, on multiple occasions, to be a more effective weapon then anything else when retrieving information in delicate situations."
Sakura listened quietly as he talked, shifting only once to cross her arms over her chest. To dumb it down, she didn't like the situation. She was angry, she felt humiliated, and at that moment the only thing she could see was an image of Sasuke, facing away from her as he walked out of Konoha, and her life, forever. She didn't hang her head in defeat or resignation. Instead, she continued to glare at him, to conflicted to do much else. Sakura was sure of one thing though, she wasn't ready for this.
"Kakashi-sensei?" she bit out.
"Hmm?"
"May I have time to prepare?"
The look in her eyes boded murder if he refused, but he'd been planning on doing that from the beginning. No need to rush this.
"Of course."
She only nodded, turning away from him as her emotions began to get the better of her again.
"Your objective is to get me to remove my mask. You have two months once you're ready to start. Taa."
And with that he was gone, leaving Sakura to her thoughts. The pink-haired ninja stood where she was, short nails digging into her palms painfully as she attempted to get her temper back under control.
It wasn't working.
She fell to her knees, punching the ground in frustration and leaving several cracks spidering out from the impact. To many, it may have looked like she was overreacting. But fuck! Sasuke's cool smirk floated to the front of her mind and a few tears leaked out as Orochimaru's soft chuckling followed the memory, tainting it.
Even though he'd never officially been hers, it still felt like she was now planning to cheat on him. Looking at any other man in that way just felt -- wrong. And seduction, sex, was supposed to happen with someone you cared about romantically, someone you wanted to spend the rest of your life with! It was supposed to be fun and exciting and new, and she felt like she was being robbed of something sacred. She had wanted to save that for Sasuke, or at the very least whoever she may have ended up with in the future.
Seduction wasn't supposed to be a gods damned tool.
She drove her fist into the ground again.
And why did it have to be Kakashi? Didn't she even get to choose who she seduced?!
Some part of her still hoped desperately that this was still a joke.
She needed to see Tsunade.
This was really turning out to be a shitty birthday.
So yeah, as you may have noticed, I'm tweaking their ages away from cannon. New chapters, whether this story gains interest or not, will be at the whims of my writing moods. And for all of you looking for sex -- I like to explore the growth of a relationship before I do anything like that. And sorry, but the lemons probably won't be in this story when it gets to it. Though I will add citrus.