Disclaimer: i dont own naruto

Chapter 1- Conversations with Kakashi

Round and round the conversation, always ends where it began…

It was a beautiful day in the village of Konoha, the sun was shining, the sky was a wonderful blue, and the children were playing happily and over all the future was bright… Yeah right!

Sasuke Uchiha wondered down the street agitated at the whole scene, why is it when the world is happy, he isn't? He kept his head down and stuffed his clenching fists in his pocket so he didn't punch the next thing that came his way. Today was your average day in the life of the Uchiha, he wondered down the same path and always had the urge to hit something as he did, he did it every day, it had become kind of comforting that he knew he would do it again tomorrow.

He was making his way to the bridge, not just any bridge, the bridge that he made his way early to every morning, even the days he didn't have practice, it had become just as much as a daily ritual as walking down that street had. Most of the time he went to the bridge for practise but lately he had found himself going there for comfort, to ease whatever it was inside of him that was agitating him so badly.

He turned the corner of the street and sighed, thinking about it, he really shouldn't be comforted by the fact he does things exactly the same way, every single day. He should have been cursing himself for his predictability because if someone had been watching him they would know exactly when and where to attack.

He waved at the man on the other side of street, another thing he did every day, the man was Gai, a teacher, in fact he was supposedly Sasuke's own teacher's 'rival' he sometimes found that hard to believe as Kakashi barely ever got angry or annoyed with Gai. Or at least, he didn't show he did. The man with a pudding bowl hair cut and giant eyebrows waved back and smiled. It was all part of the ritual.

Sasuke crossed the street and didn't stop to talk to Gai and his student Lee, a boy who idolised Gai and had adapted his appearance to be like his teachers, it was scary how Lee sometimes became to close with Gai and they would both break down in tears and hug each other. Although Sasuke and Kakashi had many similar qualities he could never imagine him idolising that perverted slacker and he definitely couldn't picture himself bursting into tears and leaping into Kakashi's arms. He shuddered at the thought.

He crossed the grass at the park ignoring the sign the said 'please don't walk on the grass' and came to the nearest tree, which he jumped into. He sat on the lowest branch and watched the children playing in the park for a while. He knew, soon they would come and he would have to keep moving, but for now sitting on the branch was calming.

He watched as they made there way across the field, also ignoring the 'don't walk on the grass' sign as he did. One of them pointed up at him and he got ready for the chase, he hated those deadly creatures with a passion. Stupid fan girls.

Two in particular stood out in front of the rest, a blonde girl with her hair tied back in a pony tail and a pink haired girl who let it fall loose down her back. They both had a look of determination in their eyes, one that told Sasuke that both wanted to beat the other.

The blonde girl was Ino, he didn't know her last name as he hadn't talked to her very much, at all; her family ran a flower shop in the main streets of the village and she had gone to the same school he had, the school all ninja went to, Konoha Ninja Academy.

The other girl, the pink haired one, was Sakura Haruno; he didn't know much about her family, she didn't talk much about her family and friends, not to say she didn't talk, she just preferred to talk about him. Something he hated as he didn't like to talk about his past, present or future with anyone. She was on team 7 with him, and Naruto Uzamaki and of course Kakashi Hatake, their teacher.

The group of girls advanced and were almost under his tree when he jumped to the next and began to flee, anyone would flee from that group of female ninja. They didn't scare him; well maybe they did, but just a little bit. Any one would be scared.

He jumped from tree to tree and found himself on the other side of the wood quickly, a short foot path would take him to the bridge where he would meet with the rest of his team, today he had practise, and he wished he didn't.

Sasuke wondered along the path, pretty certain he had lost the girls, and kicked stones as he did. All of this; the tree, the park, the girls, the path and the kicking of poor innocent stones was part of the ritual. He realised if he was to brake away from that ritual maybe the girls wouldn't know where to find him. Or they would and he would have no plan and he would quite possibly be maimed by them as they attempted to get to know him at the same time as fighting off all their competition. He shuddered again.

He came to the bridge where he found a blonde, spiky haired boy in an orange jump suit. It was unusual for Naruto to be there that early and it threw Sasuke for a moment, usually Sasuke would lean against the edge of the bridge and when Naruto came an argument would be started, but if Naruto was already there then it wasn't possible for that to happen. Was he supposed to say something? He thought he should at least say hi, it wasn't a big change in the ritual; life wouldn't possibly go off track because Naruto got there early for once.

"Hey" he said leaning against the railing as he always did, Naruto turned to look at him and grinned.

"I got here before you, I beat you at that!" he said childishly, Sasuke smirked and wondered how such an immature brat could live on his own and get all the shopping done and act responsible and then come here and be little Naruto who can barely climb a tree with no hands.

"Yeah, now let's see you put that kind of motivation into your training" he said.

Naruto frowned and Sasuke new he had said something that had the same affect as hitting him in the gut. He wanted an argument with Naruto, he wanted a fight, he wanted to be hit and to hit back and he wanted Kakashi to have to come along and pull them apart so they didn't kill each other. He wanted to, and that scared him a little bit. He wasn't a blood thirsty demon but he didn't want to hurt Naruto as a personal thing, at that moment he just wanted to hurt someone or something.

A pink haired girl ran up the bridge and flicked her hair, trying to get Sasuke's attention, he ignored her and kept watching Naruto, he was watching him for a reaction, he was watching his face to see the hurt and anger and the annoyance. He was watching him so he could dodge if Naruto decided to attack.

Naruto suddenly turned towards Sakura, completely forgetting about Sasuke and what the Uchiha had said that had made him feel even the slightest bit angry. Who he was looking at was looking back and forward between the two boys with a look of deep concern on her face.

"Are you two fighting again? Why? Please don't, there really is no point, we're meant to be a team! Kakashi sensei says it is important for us to fight as one, and if you two are fighting each other than the entire team falls apart! Remember!" she blurted out, Sasuke was tempted to tune her out but was half interested in what she was saying.

She was right, they were supposed to fight as if they made one person, they were supposed to be so in tune with each other they could make a plan and see it out with out discussing it; like they had done in the land of the waves. It was like they were all one person, and if that person was fighting with it self it couldn't possibly be concentrating. It made some sort of sense he ventured.

"Thank you for saying that for me Sakura, I would have, but frankly, this could have got interesting and turned into a fight" said a voice from a near by tree. A grey, or silver, Sasuke had never really decided on which, haired man jumped down and smiled at them all through a mask. Two things Sasuke wondered about every time he saw Kakashi was what was his hair colour? And what was behind his mask?

"Kakashi sensei!" Sakura seemed happy to see Kakashi, maybe she was, and maybe she was hiding something from the rest of her team. Sasuke shook his head to clear the mental images that pushed their way through into his mind. It was surprising how off track he could go, and he couldn't believe he was thinking about his teacher and his team mate having a secret affair. Ewwww!

"You're late" said Naruto and Sasuke realised that Kakashi was, indeed, late. Though not to late considering how late he had been time and time before.

"I wasn't that late Naruto, and it wouldn't have been so long if you weren't as dedicated to trying to beat Sasuke you actually got here early" replied Kakashi.

Sasuke had to smirk, still trying hard to rid the images of Kakashi and Sakura sneaking off for a quick kiss in the next room. In his fantasy that left him and Naruto alone and so, being Sasuke, he turned around and punched Naruto in the nose; he came out of the day dream and felt guilty he almost turned round and apologised but caught himself just in time.

"Sasuke let us know when you've stopped day dreaming so I can explain the mission"

Sasuke turned to face Kakashi and cursed himself inwardly on being caught, he was sort of embarrassed. "Erm, sorry" he said and motioned for him to carry on with his arm.

Kakashi rolled his eyes and muttered something about Naruto and Sasuke being a lot like each other, at which point Sasuke growled. "We have been assigned a retrieving mission; all we have to do is escort Miss Hyuuga to the village hidden in the ice so she may pick up something for her farther. She is very shy as I am sure you all know, having her as a class mate and we want to make her feel welcomed, yes?"

Everyone nodded and Kakashi seemed satisfied, he motioned for them to walk forward and asked Sakura to lead them to the Hyuuga house hold, he knew Sakura and Hinata had been friends for a bit and Sakura knew the way, she would keep Naruto busy as he always walked with her (or at least tried to) and he could talk to Sasuke.

Sakura led them down the path again and Naruto walked next to her talking about something, probably Ramen. Sasuke realised Kakashi coming up behind him and instantly shook his head to rid it of day dreams of Sakura and his perverted teacher.

"What are you thinking about?" asked the grey/silver haired Jounin, Sasuke really wished he hadn't asked that, he supposed he could always ask some other questions that had been bothering him, the ones he had wondering about earlier, but if he said nothing he knew Kakashi wouldn't buy it.

"Is your hair silver or grey?"

"That's a weird thing to be thinking about" Sasuke shrugged and kept walking, Kakashi by his side, he looked a head so as not to make eye contact with Kakashi's normal eye. "Just so you know if I was old enough to be grey haired I would have retired by now, you kids are way too much for me as it is"

"Were not kids, were teens. And how old are you anyway?"

"Teens then and I am not stupid enough to tell you my age"

Sasuke didn't mind, one thing he was good at was guessing ages, he didn't put Kakashi down as a day over twenty-five, probably younger, maybe twenty-two, twenty-three.

"Twenty-three" he said after awhile and Kakashi turned to face him, amusement clear in his visible eye.

"I'm insulted, Twenty-three is OLD!" he said smirking "I am twenty-two! And I only turned it last month, so that means I am almost a whole year away from twenty-three!" he said as if he were a kid, Sasuke thought it was a pretty good guess but kept quiet. Kakashi could sometimes be very scary when he was acting childishly.

"Whatever, so there's another thing that bothers me" said Sasuke, he knew Kakashi wouldn't tell him what was behind his mask so decided to completely throw him off track with his crazy ideas about Kakashi and Sakura.

"That would be?"

"Are you and Sakura having a secret love affair no one in the village knows about, not even me and Naruto, in fact especially not Naruto?" he blurted out, smirking at Kakashi's dumb-founded expression which Sasuke didn't have to see because he could feel the dumb-founded air coming off his teacher.

"What the-? You have one hell of an imagination" he said ruffling Sasuke's hair, he dodged most of the hair ruffling and gave Kakashi a look that said he was looking for a straight answer, even though he couldn't care less if Sakura and Kakashi were in a secret relationship. Kakashi stared at him as if to say, 'your not serious!?' and then opened his mouth "No, we are not!"

"But that's what you would say if you were having a secret relationship with Sakura!" Sasuke teased, he was actually having fun taking the joke out of Kakashi, he was so easy to irritate!

"Trust me Sasuke, I have no interest in Sakura, I have my eyes on someone else"

Sasuke stopped in his tracks, Kakashi liked someone! He knew Kakashi was a perverted, womanising, other than that perfectly normal human being, and he was the one who had weird day dreams of Kakashi and Sakura being together, but he had never actually thought of Kakashi liking someone!

"Who is it?" he asked out of boredom, he had to pass the time some how, or was it he was truly curious.

"None of business"

"Fine, I don't actually care anyway" replied Sasuke to Kakashi's snappy remark. Kakashi felt badly about snapping at Sasuke, and truth be told he was always happy to share anything with Sasuke, he knew the Uchiha wouldn't tell anyone. But this was deeply personal and he wanted to keep it to himself for once. His secret was kind of embarrassing and sort of annoying, his mind kept nagging at him, and telling him it was wrong, but he ignored it. He couldn't help but like who he liked.

Sakura reached the door and Kakashi crossed past her to ring the doorbell. DING DONG

The door swung open and a man with long brown hair and white eyes appeared, Kakashi smiled under his mask and waved. "We're here to collect Miss Hinata Hyuuga" said Kakashi as if he had practised what he had to say to Mr. Hyuuga, Hinata's farther.

"Right, hold on" he said stepping back inside and closing the door on Kakashi, he turned round to his team mates and gave them all a warning look, his eyes rested on Naruto a fraction longer as he knew Hinata had a slight (or pretty huge) crush on him. She congratulated the girl inwardly for being different and not liking Sasuke, once Naruto realised she was shy because she liked him he would be happy. He just hoped Naruto didn't mess up.

The door swung open again and instead of Mr. Hyuuga, Hinata stood there, she was dressed in a black jumper and black jeans, she wasn't like all the other girls in the village who had there hair long and wore skirts, her hair was short and black and ruffled on one side where she had been resting her head against a pillow.

"Miss. Hyuuga" said Kakashi respectfully bowing his head, he knew Hinata's family was one to be respected and had briefed team 7 on it earlier. Sakura and Naruto waved and Sakura said 'at your service' in a giggly way. Sasuke couldn't be bothered to bow to a girl he had been best friends with before his family died. Oh yes, he and Hinata had once been best friends, but he followed Kakashi's lead and bowed his head respectfully, keeping a half eye on her farther who was watching from inside the house.

The door closed and Kakashi lead the team away, Hinata would stay with him for a bit while the rest of the team got there stuff ready, they would set out later that night.

Sasuke watched Hinata and Sakura talk girly for awhile and then watched Naruto walk on his own, he wanted to go up and walk with him, so he wouldn't be on his own, but decided if he would he would most likely get punched and stayed where he was. He was at the back of the group, steadily watching Kakashi's hips flow from side to side as he walked. He blushed as he realised what he doing and looked at the pavement to distract himself.

He went back to his house soon after he split from the rest of them and packed clothes and stuff into his backpack, ready for that night when he would set out with team 7 and Hinata to the village hidden in the ice, it would take them days to get there, but he didn't mind. He would be away from the clichéd atmosphere of the village he was in at the moment, at least.