Chapter 1

Sand Village jonin Akahana Hayashi was a tough bitch. Everyone knew that. She walked through the streets of her village with her head held up with pride, averting her gaze from the dickheads she worked with who would blatantly check her out. Not only was she a tough bitch, but she was a hot tough bitch.

She wasn't always this way. Growing up, she was the oldest child in her family, trained from the beginning of her life to be a trophy wife. Her mother, Aika Hayashi, had spent countless hours teaching her daughter the proper way to sit, to speak, and to behave, which Akahana rebelled against at every possible moment. One of her fondest memories is of beating a bunch of local boys in a race by ripping her dress off and racing them in her underwear. Yes, her mother wasn't happy about that.

But, there had always been another side to her. Akahana spent countless hours with their neighbor, Ayame, who had been a shinobi in the hidden leaf village. This mentor saw so much potential in Akahana that she began training her in secret, confiding every jutsu she knew in this young girl.

At sixteen, Akahana was betrothed to a local boy of high wealth and prominence in the community. The night their engagement was announced, Akahana told her mother that she wanted to become a shinobi, not a wife. Outraged, her mother told her that if she wanted to throw her life away, it was her choice, but to not expect to have a home if it didn't work out. She left that night, never to return again.

It's been two years since then and Akahana flourished. She went from being the "prim and polite" person that her mother wanted her to be to the outspoken powerful person she was. Because of that, she was considered a tough bitch.

"Good morning sunshines," Kazue said sarcastically as she rolled out of her bed and into the kitchen that the three kunoichi shared. Kazue was the powerhouse of their three man squad, always there with a sarcastic comment and to tell you things you didn't want to know. Her fire red hair and strong built body matched her personality perfectly, especially since she towered over most of the men in their village.

"You seem cheerful," the shy Miyuki said as she sipped at her tea. She was the brains of the team; a human encyclopedia of information. Black choppy hair framed her face while big round glasses hid her small black eyes.

"Oh why wouldn't I be? Aren't we due for a new mission?" Kazue asked Akahana, who was half awake and pouring herself some tea.

"Just because we're due for one doesn't mean we'll be getting one," she said with irritation floating through her voice. Her long honey blonde hair was wild from a night of restless sleep. Akahana always became restless after not having a mission for a long time.

"One of us needs to grow some testicles so we can finally get some good missions! I mean, seriously, Miyuki and I are chunin. Aka, you're a jonin! Why aren't we getting any good missions?" Kazue yelled as she slammed her fist against the table, making Miyuki's tea jump a little.

"Because ovaries make one incapable of handling anything above a C rank mission, didn't know you?" Akahana threw back as she started eating some toast. They weren't the only female shinobi facing the frustration of horrible missions. Ever since a mission involving a three man squad, one being a girl, ended horribly because the girl couldn't protect her teammates, the kunoichi of the sand village were being left out to dry.

"If that dumb bitch had done something to save her team instead of sitting there and crying, we would be on A missions right now," Kazue grumbled as Akahana threw her a piece of toast.

"Well, we will be doing something soon, no matter what. I got a message from the Kazekage today that he wants to speak to us," Akahana mentioned, making both of her teammates ears perk.

"Finally!"

"Are you sure this is the right team for this mission Kazekage?" The Kazekage's advisor asked as they stared at the mission description. Team Akahana was to escort the princess of the Land of Wind to the Land of Fire, as an offering for peace and an offer to become allies.

"Yes," he said sternly. "A female feels more comfortable around other females. I think it is the perfect match."

"But what if they get into a conflict? Do you think they'll be able to protect the princess?" he asked, unsure of their abilities.

"I've already considered this. They won't be travelling alone. The village hidden in the Leaf has offered to send one of their shinobi to aid them on this mission. If we are to gain this influential ally, this could mean that this powerful shinobi may become more useful to us later," Kazekage answered firmly.

"Who's this powerful shinobi?"

"Kakashi Hatake."

"Yo Kakashi!" Guy called as he saw his white haired rival strolling through Konoha. All the shinobi in the village knew he was leaving for Suna tomorrow morning, and Guy knew that this could be his last opportunity to challenge his friend before he left.

"Yo," he answered, waving to Guy as he continued walking. Kakashi was indifferent about this trip. To him, it was just another mission he had to accomplish, just with different people in a different setting. Ever since he lost his team, Kakashi had only done solo missions, which he didn't mind. He had to admit though; it would be nice to have a team again, even if it was temporary.

"Challenge, right now!" Guy said excitedly as he followed his friend.

"Fine," Kakashi said with mock dread. "What is it this time?" Guy pondered the question for a minute. He didn't want another game of rock paper scissors. No, he wanted an actual challenge. Preferably, something he could win. What could he beat Kakashi at though? Then, it clicked.

"Whoever gets the most girls' phone numbers by the end of the day wins," Guy said with a thumbs up. Kakashi snorted at the idea of Guy asking any girl for their phone number, but why not?

"Fine," he answered, shoving his hands in his pockets and scoping out the territory. "You know, as of now, we're tied."

"There's a lot on the line," Guy said back, anticipation filling his voice. Kakashi nodded, spotting three girls sitting at the ramen bar.

"How about we raise the difficulty?" Kakashi wagered. "Whoever gets one of those three girls' numbers right now has it counted as two numbers."

"Deal," Guy said, hurrying over to the girls. Kakashi walked behind him, interested in seeing his technique. "Hello ladies." The three civilian girls all looked at him as if he were something that came from a sci-fi book. His cheesy grin and huge wiggling eyebrows weren't helping his case either. "I was just wondering if I could get one of you pretty ladies to go on a date with me? Maybe exchange phone numbers?" he added a wink in to sweeten the deal.

The girls screamed, shouting choruses of 'creep', 'weirdo', and 'loser' at him, when Kakashi stepped in.

"I'm sorry, is he bothering you?" Kakashi asked the girls, whose eyes were instantly filled with hearts. "I'm sorry; he can be a bit of an idiot. Come on Guy, we'd better get going…"

"Wait," the oldest of the three girls said, grabbing a napkin from the table and scrawling down her name and phone number. "What did you say your name was?"

"Kakashi," he said with a smile that crinkled his one visible eye.

"Call me Kakashi," she said, handing him her phone number while Guy fumed.

"Thanks," he said with a smile as they turned away. "That's two for me and zero for you," he said after they were a safe distance away.

"You may have won this battle, but you haven't won the war!" Guy yelled as he ran off in the other direction. Kakashi just laughed and looked around for the next girl.

"You wanted to speak with us Kazekage?" Akahana said as she came into the room with her team, all of them antsy with anticipation.

"Mm, yes, I have a mission for you three," he said, making all of their faces light up with excitement. "It's an A rank body guard mission." Now they were practically exploding with excitement.

"Oh thank you so much Kazekage. We'll make sure to do really well," Akahana started, feeling elated.

"I know you will, but this mission won't happen for another month or so," he said, dropping their mood from excited to slightly disappointed. "I wanted to give you all time to adjust to the newest member of your team."

"We're getting a new teammate?" Miyuki asked, confused by why they needed another team member.

"Yes," he said sternly. "I can't have you three going by yourself on that mission, and all of our other jonin will be or are busy on very important missions, so the leaf village has graciously allowed us to borrow one of their shinobi."

"Who?" Kazue asked, not liking this more and more every second.

"Kakashi Hatake," he answered. "He'll be a good person to have around and keep you three level headed. We can't have another mistake caused by female emotions."

"Kazekage," Akahana said angrily, trying as hard as she could to cover it, "I don't mean any disrespect, but I am a jonin of this village and highly capable of leading this mission without his help."

"The anger that you're trying so hard to hide just strengthens my argument," he said, almost with a smirk. "Kakashi Hatake will be here within a week or so. I trust you three can make living arrangements for him and that you will welcome him as a member of your team. I haven't decided yet, but I may make him the commander of this team for this mission."

That sent Akahana off edge. No way in hell was some Konoha brat going to come in and take over her team. She had worked her ass off for two years, jumping through the ranks to finally become a jonin and have her own team. Now it seemed like in a matter of minutes, that was all going to be taken from her.

"You three are dismissed," he said firmly. The three shinobi turned and left his office in silence, once they were a good distance away, they erupted.

"THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL THAT SOME DICK FROM KONOHA IS TAKING YOUR PLACE!" Kazue screamed once they got into their house. "Where does the Kazekage get off even suggesting that?"

"Don't worry about it," Akahana said, her tone showing her cold rage. "I will be the commander of this team, even if he claims this Hatake guy is. Trust me."

Kakashi bought a bottle of sake from the store and walked back to his apartment, whistling to himself the entire time. Guy and he decided to meet there to count up their phone numbers. Kakashi had a pretty decent amount, but he thought he may get a few more on the way home, just to be safe. There was Kurenai, a girl he kind of knew from the academy. If he recalled correctly, she use to have a pretty decent sized crush on him.

"Hey Kurenai," Kakashi said with a smile as he approached her. She smiled as she pushed her black hair behind her ear. Oh yeah, this is a shoe in.

"Hey Kakashi," she said, her smile giving herself away. "How have you been? We haven't talked in a while."

"Yeah, I know. I've been pretty good. I don't really have time to talk now though… Listen, could I get your number? Then I could call you and we could catch up," Kakashi said smoothly, but in a way that didn't sound like he was trying to be smooth. Kurenai blushed as she pulled a piece of paper from a notebook in her pack, scribbled her number and handed it to him. "Cool, thanks. See ya Kurenai."

Now he had to hurry. Guy was probably waiting in front of his door, seeing how many times he can pace or how long he can do a hand stand. Sure enough, Kakashi was right.

"Hello arch rival!" Guy called as he stood on his head in front of Kakashi's door, his face turning red from the blood all rushing into his head.

"Yo," Kakashi said with a smile. "I got sake for this special occasion."

"One of us will be celebrating, and the other drinking their sorrows," Guy said happily as he took the sake from Kakashi and the copy nin unlocked his apartment door. Comfortable with Kakashi's house, Guy ran over to his coffee table and put the sake down. Then he hurried over to the cabinets and pulled out cups, slamming them down on the table as he slid in front of it.

"Shall we begin counting?" Kakashi asked as he unhitched his pack from his pants and put it on the table. Guy did the same while Kakashi poured them both some sake. "Don't forget, the first number I got counted as two."

"I won't," Guy said as he pulled out a few pieces of paper and counted them. "I have six."

Six was more than Kakashi had expected him to get. After receiving his first number that counted as two, Kakashi almost hadn't even tried asking any other girls, figuring two would be enough. Unluckily for Guy, he decided to ask a few more girls anyways.

"I have," Kakashi started as he pulled the wad of paper out of his pouch. "Two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen."

"No!" Guy yelled angrily, throwing back his sake and pouring himself another cup. "Drinking contest! Right now!"

This turned out to be a bad idea. Both shinobi had high alcohol tolerance and downed at least two bottles of sake on their own. By the time they were through their fifth shared bottle, they were so drunk that they couldn't even walk, let alone remember that this was a challenge, so they passed out on the floor of Kakashi's apartment, not even considering that Kakashi had to be up bright and early for his mission tomorrow.