Hello, all! I promised you a better summary and so here it is:
Kakashi and Sable have a past. A complicated one, because there is no such thing as a simple anything in the world of Naruto. They were once everything to each other, but an assignment involving the Akatsuki changed all of that. Now, four years after the estrangement, Tsunade is sending them both on a mission. will it bring them together? What exactly happened four years ago? And will either of them own up to their feelings? Read on to find out!
Chapter One: The Assignment
"Tsunade-sama, you cant be serious?" Kakashi began to argue, handing her back the mission file she had just placed in front of him. There was no way he was going on a mission with her. No way she was going to agree to it.
"Kakashi, you are the best man for the job," Tsunade insisted calmly, though her eyes warned him she was growing annoyed quickly.
"What about Gai? His skills are more than adequate to play bodyguard," Kakashi continued, undeterred by her warning.
" Gai volunteered but covert missions were never his specialty. You and Sable are the only two suited for this mission." Tsunade wasnt budging.
"Sable's part I understand. But the part where I am the only man able to play her bodyguard is the one that has me confused," Kakashi argued, not willing to give up so easily.
"Sable is not just going to be acting as assassin. She will be infiltrating Takaede's organization – as a personal connection. Takaede is intelligent, he'll be suspicious and this mission will take time. Sable will have to gain his trust. Given what happened last time she attempted an infiltration of an Akatsuki connection," Kakashi's eye narrowed at the reminder, "- she needs someone she can trust there to have her back. If she doesn't have that, we cannot expect her to play her role accurately," Tsunade explained with forced patience. She'd to adjust to a few things as Hokage, not beating the crap out of whining shinobi was one of them.
Squabbles between jonin were dangerous, especially when they were of a romantic nature. The Village should come first, but even the most experience ninja had his weaknesses. When there was a falling out between ninja, it created complications- such as refusing to work missions together. Missions like this that required both of their respective skills.
"She doesn't trust me. Not anymore," Kakashi told her, voice tinted the slightest with sadness at the verity of his statement. It hadn't always been that way.
"For someone who reads so many of Jiraiya's books you know very little about women, Hatake," Tsunade sighed with a shake of her head.
When Kakashi opened his clothed mouth to argue Tsunade held her hand up- "I understand that the two of you have a past but your personal problems are not Konoha's problems. I suggest you get over it. Quickly. You leave in two days' time." The Hokage handed him the file once more and looked back down at the other papers on her desk, effectively dismissing the jonin.
Kakashi stared down at the manila folder a moment before sighing and standing. He stopped at the door, however, and asked "Does Sable know?"
"No. You will just have to stop by her house and fill her in," Tsunade replied without looking up from her papers.
Kakashi sighed and left the office, shutting the door behind him. This was going to be the longest mission of his life.
...
"Kakashi?" Sable asked in surprise as she opened her door. She had sensed his chakra the moment he turned the corner and been shocked when she felt him heading towards her. They hadn't spoken, save for the usual formalities of "hello" and "goodbye", in years. Not since…well, not since the Itachi mission. Now here he was at her door, interrupting her dinner with that grey eye of his. It had always amazed her how much emotion was betrayed in that one eye, If you knew where to look, that was.
"Sable," he greeted. "We need to talk." Straight to the point. It was easiest that way.
"We do? About what?' the kunoichi asked, suspicious. Why would he be here after so long? They hadnt talked in four years and all of a sudden they had something to talk about? Sable was instantly wary.
"You and I, working together," he replied after a hesitant moment. He watched as her eyes widened and narrowed. Yeah, he had expected as much.
"You and I have nothing to talk about," she moved back to close the door but Kakashi jammed his foot between the door and its frame.
"It's about a mission, Sable. Tsunade sent me," he added, careful to avoid eye contact any longer than a moment. Her icy blue eyes always demanded his full attention if he allowed it. The lilac tint around her pupils was something he could get lost in any day. Well, he could have. If this was then. Back when he didn't have to rely on memories to know just how soft her ink black hair was, or how it looked pooled around her head like a halo against the white of his pillowcase.
"What mission? I told Tsunade I wasn't available for missions this week," Sable asked breaking into his reverie and opening the door in her moment of confusion. Kakashi took the opportunity to sidestep her and enter the living room. He stopped just a few feet into the room, looking around the intimate space she had occupied since she had moved out of his apartment.
The walls were a bright red, surrounded with intricately carved white moldings. The focal point of the room was a long white couch in the shape of a U in the middle of the room, placed in front of a large stone fireplace. There was a sidewall converted into an expansive bookcase with countless shelves full of book spines of all colors. He remembered the rainy days he had come home and found her curled up in bed with numerous books spread around her sleeping form. Shaking his head he dismissed the memories and glanced around the room again where he saw dolls, puzzles, and other toddler toys littering the otherwise pristine room. Sable had always been a cleaner, but the toys were what caught his attention. For a moment he had almost forgotten about the child. Her child.
"Damnit, Hatake. I did not invite you in," she growled, but she shut the door behind him anyway. "What mission are you talking about?" she asked again, making him spin slightly to face her.
"Our mission," he replied simply, handing her the folder. He could think of no way to voice the fact that it mirrored very closely the mission that had changed everything for them four years ago. He watched her face as she took the file suspiciously before eyeing the contents. He noted the way all color drained from her cheeks, guessing she reached the detail about who Takaede's Akatsuki's contact was. Suddenly her eyes hardened and she thrust the file back into his hand.
"No. I told Tsunade I was unavailable for missions this week and I meant it. Especially this mission. Im busy, you've interrupted my dinner. Now leave." She opened the door quickly and held it. "Now."
"Mommy? Whose that?" a small voice asked from behind Kakashi.
"Kasume, go back inside. Mommy will be there in a moment," Sable instructed gently, reigning in her anger at Kakashi's visit so that her voice was soft when she spoke to her daughter.
Kakashi turned to face the young girl, just over three years old. Her hair was the same dark raven color as Sable's, curly and long. However, her eyes were dark pools of black, eerily similar to those of Sasuke- and Itachi. The similarity made Kakashi's stomach knot. She was Sable in every way except for those eyes. She wore a light pink dress, her hair adorned with a headband of the same bright hue. She smiled a toothy greeting grin at Kakashi, revealing a missing front tooth.
"Im Kasume," she offered before pointing to her mouth. "The tooth fairy gave me two lollipops when my tooth fell out. I didn't cry at all. I was a big girl," she informed him proudly, clearly as outgoing and social as her mother had been.
"I believe it," Kakashi assured her seriously, as if she had accomplished a great feat.
" Your hair is funny," she observed with childish innocence.
"Good funny or bad funny?" he asked, amused by her change of topic, his initial uneasiness at her resemblance of Itachi subsiding.
"Good funny," Kasume giggled. "Can I touch it?" she asked, reaching up before she even finished voicing the question.
"Kasume, honey. Why don't you go inside and clean up the table? Then Mommy will come in and we'll have dessert okay?" Sable interrupted, kneeling down so they were eye level. "I bought chocolate ice cream," she added as incentive.
"Okay, Mommy! Bye, mister!" Kasume waved before running into the kitchen.
Sable just stared after her, refusing to look at Kakashi. Finally, she glanced up at him, her eyes guarded. "Tell Tsunade I refuse. I'm not leaving Kasume to seduce one of Itachi's contacts," she told him bluntly. "She'll have to send someone else. Send Anko. She can torture someone just as well as I can."
"Tsunade isn't taking no for an answer, Sable. Believe me, I tried. And Anko doesn't have the covert experience you do. You know if she went it would be a bloody mess," he reasoned, listening to the sounds of clanking dishes and running water from the kitchen.
"How long?"
"As long as it takes you to get the information. Tsunade would rather us not let Takaede know why we're there- hence the clandestine nature of the mission. Torturing him is a last resort."
"That's too long. Kasume can't be left alone."
"I don't like it either, Sable. But we don't have a choice here. We finally have a lead on Itachi and we need to move fast," Kakashi said, repeating what Tsunade had said to him when he first refused the mission.
Sable was silent for what felt like days to Kakashi before finally asking, "When do we leave?"
A wave of relief washed over the jonin. He hated the idea of the mission as much as she did but her going somewhat willingly would make the whole thing easier. "Two days." He laid the folder down on the coffee table beside the couch before taking one last look at her and leaving. Kakashi knew it was going to be a long night of remembering for him, and an even longer one of that grinning toddler.
Sable sighed and plopped down on the couch, placing the folder on her lap. "This is going to be one of the longest missions of my life," she told the room aloud before cracking the manila open once more.
...
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