The day started like any other day with the sun filtering through her windows and rousing her from her slumber. Her body had an internal time clock that woke her up each morning. She hated it and wished she could destroy it sometimes, but since she'd only end up hurting herself in the process she decided to let the vice go.
Sakura cracked open an eye and glanced out the window not really wanting to get up but knowing she didn't have a choice. She then disentangled herself from her blankets—she didn't know how they always managed to bunch up around her legs—and moved to the bathroom to start her morning routine.
She had just finished strapping on her ninja gear when a knock resounded on her door. Sakura's brow furrowed as she wondered who would be visiting her so early in the morning. With a sigh she moved toward the door expecting to be called in on some emergency surgery that would end with her missing practice—again. She found herself almost pleasantly surprised to open the door to see dark eyes and a pale face.
"Sai, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be on your way to the training grounds?"
Sai inclined his head slightly. "I have a mission and have been unable to locate Kakashi to inform him. Will you do so for me?" He then proceeded to smile at her and while that smile was not as creepily false as it was in her youth it was still enough to irritate her slightly.
"Sure." Sakura muttered. Sai nodded his head and was gone without a goodbye. Sakura just shook her head and went to grab her keys before she left her apartment as well.
The walk to the training grounds was an unusually quite one. She was used to seeing one or two people that she knew along the way but not this particular day. She didn't mind it. It gave her time to get lost in her thoughts, plan out the rest of her day, and simply enjoy being.
Before she knew it she had reached the training grounds only to have her heart stop suddenly. She blinked several times because she wasn't quite sure she was seeing what she thought she was seeing—and what she was seeing was Hatake Kakashi at the training grounds…early.
Her mouth fell open on its own accord and suddenly she knew why Sai couldn't find Kakashi. The last place he'd ever think to check for Kakashi was at the place he was actually supposed to be—because that would just be silly.
Sakura shook her head slowly and forced herself to move forward. She realized that Naruto wasn't around either. Sakura blinked in surprise once more. While Kakashi was perpetually late Naruto had taken to being perpetually early. Naruto had been working on some new jutsu that he wouldn't let anyone know about. It scared her that he was working alone on it because Naruto was unpredictable, and he might just accidentally kill himself. While she would never admit it out loud, a world without Naruto just wouldn't be nearly as bright.
As she drew closer to Kakashi, she realized that either he hadn't realized she was there or he was ignoring her presence. She decided to take a seat on the grass and study his movements. He was practicing something that looked similar to taijutsu. But there were minute differences Sakura picked out as Kakashi flowed through each motion. His movements were elegant, graceful, and deadly.
Sakura found that she couldn't quite tear her eyes off him.
He wasn't fighting a clone. His movements were precise and careful, beating off an enemy only he could see.
Kakashi had stripped down to his standard-issued black pants and a thin sheen of perspiration covered his chest. He glistened in the sunlight. His well defined arms darted out to strike the opponent that wasn't there with a speed that she could barely keep track of. His leg thereafter executed a perfect butterfly kick and Sakura briefly flirted with the idea of clapping. She was just about to bring her hands up when Kakashi's droll voice cut through the silence between them.
"Are you going to sit there all day, Sakura, or are you actually going to train?"
He didn't stop moving, and Sakura was flooded with infinite grateful for the Fates because he certainly would have seen the blush that stained her cheeks if he had.
Of course she had come to train. Why else would she be there?
Sakura slowly rose to her feet and dusted off her backside before mumbling that she was going to run some laps. Kakashi grunted a reply and Sakura dashed off without another word.
Three laps into her run, Sakura realized that Naruto still hadn't shown up yet and she had forgotten to tell Kakashi about Sai's mission. A glance in Kakashi's direction revealed that he still hadn't stopped his "taijutsu" routine. Sakura was suddenly struck with an idea. She wanted to join him. The way he was moving seemed almost like a dance—a deadly one and she wanted to learn it. She didn't know if her sudden lust for learning was born from simply her hunger to learn or just for a chance to be closer to the teacher of such a dance. Another three laps passed before Sakura's curiosity got the best of her, and she moved towards her former sensei.
As she walked over to him, she ran her fingers through her hair briefly pushing one side back behind her ear. She was seriously wishing she had thought to tie her hair in something before she left. She didn't dwell too heavily on the thought though, hindsight being what it was.
"What are you doing?" Sakura asked. She was surprised when Kakashi's movements stopped completely. He turned to face her. His single eye glanced at her briefly, surveying her calmly.
"Hm. It took you longer to ask than what I thought it would." He said with exaggerated thoughtfulness lacing his voice.
Sakura opened her mouth to let out some sarcastic comment but stopped herself. She knew Kakashi well enough to acknowledge his art of avoidance. The more sarcastic she got, the more cryptic he got. Instead, she just shrugged and looked at him expectantly.
"We're going on a mission in three weeks."
Sakura frowned at her question not being answered but nodded her head. "Where are we going?"
"Not exactly sure. The fact is that the Hokage was slightly considering giving this mission to another team. I convinced her to change her mind."
"Why?" Insecurity surged through Sakura as she worried that the Hokage might not think her or her team capable. "What type of mission is it?"
"Assassination mission." Sakura's lips pursed with indignation. Her team, better than any other, would be able to handle an assassination mission.
"And she'd pass us over because…?"
The words that left her mouth weren't even a question, but more of a questioning demand. Kakashi smiled at the irritation in Sakura's voice. . It spoke of a confidence that she had in their team that pleased Kakashi more than she would ever know. "Because of what else we have to do."
Sakura was seconds away from telling him to just spit it out already. But she knew he was probably getting some type of weird kick out of prolonging her torment.
She decided to change tactics.
As she brought her hands up and began to crack her knuckles, as an ominous air surrounded her. Her ploy seemed to do the trick because as soon as ten loud pops punctuated the air, words began to spill from his mouth like coins from a slot machine.
"Our target is an arms dealer with a passion for theater and dance. Oftentimes, after a show, he likes to converse with the actors. Some say he likes to go over lines with them in private." Kakashi chuckled humorously. His face was solemn as he looked on at her. "And have a private play of his own."
Sakura paused for a moment, uncertain. "Was there some kind of innuendo in that statement?"
"Perhaps."
Sakura had the feeling that if she could see the full grin that was curling at the edges of his lip, she'd be itching to wipe it off. As it was, it took patience that she didn't even know she had to keep from knocking him clear across the training grounds. Sometimes, less was more. When you used your fists too much, people began to like it, so it was best to save them for special occasions.
"What did he do to warrant being taken out?"
"He profited a great deal off the war and his finances took a deep plummet once Madara was dealt with and peace was established. The fact that the Five Great Shinobi Nations have developed something of peace treaty and there's a generally trusting air between everyone doesn't seem to be improving his mood."
Sakura nodded her head. She figured someone like their target was bound to pop up once the peace between the Nations was established.
"Okay, so what does that have to do with why another team was being considered?"
"Well, we have a choice as to how we perform the mission. Tsunade thinks that we should take the most obvious, most direct route."
"Which is?"
"In a few weeks we know he'll be in the Waterfall at a play called Kanadehon Chushingura. We can knock out a few people replace them with ourselves and perform the play in their stead."
Sakura's brow furrowed as she thought about it. A lot of work would be required to learn the play. Work that she wasn't sure some of her teammates would be putting effort into. It wasn't that she didn't think they could pull it off; she just got the feeling that their execution would be…flawed.
"Why can't we just knock them out after the play and then pretend to be them?"
"Not an option. It's very well known in the theater world that he is often invited onstage directly after a performance. There wouldn't be enough time for such a switch. Well, there might be, but it would be too risky."
"But—wait did you just say Kanadehon Chushingura?"
"I did."
"Isn't that Kabuki?"
"It is." Kakashi confirmed.
Kakashi watched steadily as a myriad of expressions flickered through Sakura's face. It intrigued him why she would go through so many emotions at one time but before he could ask she said, "What's our other option?"
"That is what I was practicing—our other option."
"So you vetoed the Kabuki already."
Kakashi slightly nodded his head. "Yes. Naruto doesn't have the…finesse it would take to accomplish such a mission. Also since it will be Sasuke's first mission after his probation it didn't seem the wisest of options."
"Sasuke's first mission?" A cold hard knot of dread formed in her stomach. "What about Sai?"
"The Hokage said that this would probably be a good time to ease him in since she's sending Sai on another mission. He should be leaving today and I'm not sure he'll make it back in time. Besides, Sai and Sasuke don't seem to get along very well."
Sakura chose to ignore the statement about Sasuke and Sai's lack of relationship and focused on another statement he'd made. "Ah, so you knew about that already. Sai asked me to inform you of his whereabouts. He couldn't find you since you were where you were supposed to be for once." Kakashi smiled but didn't rely. "Okay then where's Naruto? Where's Sasuke?"
"I will be training you all separately for this first week and a half. Later I will bring you altogether."
Sakura nodded finding that acceptable for several reasons. "So what is it that we will be doing instead?"
"An ancient shinobi art that resembles dance but is not."
Sakura's mind went over the moves that she saw Kakashi doing when she first arrived at the training grounds. "What is it called?"
"It has no name but it is similar to Kenbu."
"Sword dancing? Kakashi…maybe we should let this mission pass."
"Sakura, do you trust me?"
Did she trust him? Did she trust this old, crazy, perverted man who she secretly suspected had suicidal tendencies? Well, that is, if you took into consideration how much he enjoyed annoying her knowing that his life was in her hands more often than not.
Sakura sighed before replying with a, "Yes."
"Then let's begin."
She wasn't used to 'in depth' training with Kakashi. It wasn't that he never taught her anything. That wasn't the case by any means. It was just that she wasn't used to having the man's undivided attention. It was disconcerting—especially now that she was older. There was something about the way that lone eye bored into hers when he was explaining something that set her on edge.
He talked to her explained to her every little detail—which in and of itself was unusual. She had always taken him for a 'figure it out yourself' type of guy and to a degree it he still was. It was just when she did something wrong….
"Your form is wrong Sakura. Like this." Kakashi moved behind her and adjusted her legs. His hands brushed against her bare calf. His hands didn't linger but still the feeling was odd. It was as if for some reason she expected something more but she had no idea what it could be she was expecting. He was training her—even if she was starting to think that it was an exercise in futility but something was missing. "Now extend your arms and let them sway to the left while quickly performing the modified version of ram, hare, and monkey sign." Sakura sighed. Perhaps it was the fact that he wasn't a sadistic trainer. Tsunade had shown no qualms about beating the hell out of her whenever she did the slightest thing wrong. Such was not the case with Kakashi. He did laugh when on the off occasion she fell flat on her ass, but even that did nothing but make her feel funny was well. The whole situation was doing nothing but frustrating her to a degree where she was ready to start breaking stuff—or people, whichever.
"Kakashi, what is this supposed to do?" Sakura ran her fingers through her hair in exasperation. "Give me something to work with so at least know what I'm aiming for."
"Um, success?"
Sakura's eyes narrowed and for a moment or two she suspected that he didn't know what the jutsu was supposed to do. Then he totally proved her wrong.
This is Part One of the story for the KakaSaku LJ Chunin Contest. Part II and III will be written by one of my teammates and as soon as I find out where they're going to post it I'll let you know.
