A/N: To everyone who reviewed my first two fics, thank you so much! I really appreciate your reviews. It's great to see you guys enjoyed it. Well, here's another one. Can't promise this one to be as good though.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, the characters in it, or anything else. I do not hold anything against smokers and I do not mean to offend any.

'thoughts'

"conversation"

Must Be The Heat

"YAAHH!" The bellowing chakra-charged battle cry resounded in the large forest of Konoha, which was immediately followed by loud crash. A large tree felled by no other than Hyuuga Hinata caused the sound. That's right, the very same Hinata, the timid, shy Heiress of the powerful and prestigious Hyuuga clan.

Ever since the Chuunin exams, Hinata had never trained so hard before. She resolved never again will she be seen as weak and looked down on. Her teammates are beginning to see their demure Hinata turn into Hyuuga Neji in front of them, practicing harder than her teammates.

Kurenai sat up high on a tree branch supervising their training. She was impressed by her student's progress and resolve to train and improve. Shino and Kiba were training on their own as well nearby, but paid little heed to Hinata's abuse on the trees, used to this for weeks now.

Kurenai sat back and took a deep breath. The sun was unrelenting, raising the temperature even when under the refuge of the shade of the trees. The forest was quiet, save for the sounds of her team training and the cicadas buzzing out 'summer'.

Forgetting her students for awhile, she escaped the heat by plunging into the pool that is her mind, pondering and thinking about various thoughts all at once.

Her first thought was about her students. They were all dear to her. All were hardworking and good ninjas. She was pleased at Hinata's recent and strong comeback after recovering from the thrashing her brutal cousin had given her. Hinata wanted to be strong like her crush Naruto (except for the dense Naruto, her students and the other ninjas knew it to be a fact already).

Naruto...he is strong indeed. Nobody would have thought that he would make it this far, let alone beat Kiba and much to everyone's surprise, Neji, last year's "number one rookie", in the fight. He was an outcast, ostracized because of the demon inside him. The older villagers remember it all too well. Their beloved Hokage died sealing the demon inside Naruto.

Beloved...

She also thought of Asuma. She liked the man and all, but she really hated his bad habit. Yep, it's Asuma's smoking. The man smelled of tar and nicotine. Ugh, disgusting! It was a shame, really. He was a strong guy, handsome and rugged looking. He can kick everyone's ass in a fight. She could have given her heart to him, but she just hated his nasty habit of smoking. She can't live with a chain smoker for the rest of her life! She'd die early. Why can't he be like Kakashi? He's funny, strong, a good fighter, a good guy overall...

Her thoughts drifted to Kakashi himself, his strong, hard muscles that she wanted to caress, his funny hair she wanted to stroke, his strong arms that could surely make her melt if he held her close and most of all, his mysterious face she wanted to see. What lies beneath his mask? Disfigurement? A chiseled, handsome face? She wanted to know-

Kurenai kicked herself, startled by her own thoughts. Why was she thinking about Kakashi? There is no plausible reason at all. The thought just came out of nowhere...

Her heart was beating hard and her face, a blush. Where the hell did those thoughts come from? She didn't think much of him normally. There was only silent respect and admiration for him...for his strength, how he trained and handled his students well, his impressive skills, especially the Sharingan...that was all there is. No love or infatuation whatsoever.

'So why are you thinking about him then?'

Shut up, she rebuffed. But her conscience wouldn't give up so easily.

'Come now...you like him...love maybe? he's suitable dating/marriage material. His only flaw is his knack for being late...it's kinda cute actually...'

Kurenai then did her best to smother and drown out her irritating conscience. It took a while, but she emerged victorious.

Really now, she hardly knows a damn thing about him. How could she have such thoughts about him? Puhleeeze, as if it'd work out between them. Dismissing the inappropriate thoughts as the work of the summer heat, she let out a chuckle at the things heat can do to one's thinking.

"What are you laughing about?" a clearly male voice suddenly interrupting her reverie and startling her. In her surprise, she gave a yelp and jumped, losing her balance and falling from the tree branch. Before she could even emit another cry, an arm, which shared the same owner as the voice, shot out and caught her arm firmly. She was pulled up with ease back on the branch with nary a grunt from her savior. Sill giddy with the sudden adrenaline rush, she turned to see Kakashi, his exposed eye crinkled up in amusement and an arm, the same arm he used to save her, raised in greeting. "Yo."

"Kakashi! What are you doing here?" she half-asked, half-yelled, mad at him for catching her laughing at nothing and for being the responsible one who scared her and made her fall, and happy at the same time to see him and for saving her.

"My team's done training...so I thought I'd come here and hang with you..." came the reply, Kakashi's sleepy eye winking at her. Needless to say, it evoked surprise at his sudden behavior. She blushed and smiled at him while wondering why he wanted to stay with her. Meanwhile, her persistent conscience popped up again.

'Yes! Kakashi beside me- well, you can say 'us' .'

Unconsciously, Kurenai yelled, "JUST SHUT UP!" earning a bewildered look from her fellow Jounin sitting beside her. Kurenai turned a bright vermilion as she covered her mouth with both hands.

Kakashi's POV

Hoo boy, she's acting up again...(A/N: "again"!) I sure hope she's comfortable with me around...okay, gotta play this cool. Man, she's hot! I just wanna spend some time with her, since I don't talk to her often. I even dismissed the guys early...whoa, look at all these fallen trees. Did Hinata do that? It's good to see her training hard to be strong. Wait, dammit, I'm rambling! Hmm...she sure smells good today. Gotta get closer. Don't kill me, Asuma. She doesn't really like you anyway! Blame it on your smokes!

Kakashi shifted closer to Kurenai as he tried to start a conversation with the gorgeous Jounin. The conversation got pretty well under way, although the atmosphere was tense.

Kurenai's POV

He's talking to me! This is great! Ok, ok! So I do like him! Despite the fact that I haven't really seen his face before, I like him.

The conversation drifted and then stopped abruptly. As if silenced by a power from above, the two stopped talking, dead quiet while staring at one another. Kakashi stared at her. At her alluring crimson eyes, her soft, kissable lips, her beautiful white skin, her ebony hair covering her shoulders like a radiant glory. Kurenai gazed at Kakashi's angled face. His eye, now wider, penetrated into her mind, calling to her, seducing her...tempting her. They drew nearer...Kakashi started to peel off his mask, Kurenai pursing her lips ever so slightly for the impending kiss. Their eyes closed simultaneously and both waited for the meeting of their souls wi-

"OI, KAKASHI-SENSEI!"

The two pulled away at the same time, blushing and looking away, Kakashi pulling his mask back on and Kurenai covering her crimson cheeks with her hands. They looked around for the owner of the voice that interrupted them. Whoever it is, he's going to pay dearly!

Their irate glance fell on a blonde haired boy who was now grinning from ear to ear, blissfully ignorant of the fact that he had sealed fate when he yelled at them and interrupted the intimate moment of the odd couple.

"Tsk tsk! Kissing in broad daylight! Get a room , you two! As if anyone would like to see you two make out! Nyahahahaha!"

"Naruto..." they both growled. Kakashi then turned to his crush and, his eye smiling, said "Ja ne. I'll see ya." Then whispering closer, whispered "Sorry about this...I guess I'll have to get going." And with that, he hopped off the branch, gave her a farewell salute with two fingers to his brow, and carried off Naruto over his shoulder, ignoring his yells and protests about him being too old for that, and that he came to give something to Hinata. Obviously, that was a slip of the tongue, since he quickly shut up after that and turned beet red, silently enduring his embarrassing position. Hinata on the other hand, overheard the boy's yells and turned into an equal shade of red, her Byakkugan deactivating involuntarily as she turned shy and timid once again.

Kurenai stared at Kakashi's back as he carried Naruto off; she felt her heart flutter as she did. It is just infatuation? Her head told her that it is, since they only knew each other as colleagues, fellow ninja. Nothing more. They did not even know anything personal about each other. She then brushed it off, forcing herself to forget everything. But her heart asked her something she couldn't answer.

'Then what was that that happened just now?'

Her mind rebutted with it being just the heat and excitement. She then chose to believe that. However, her memory kept playing that moment when they were about to kiss over and over.

She heaved a heavy sigh and turned her head to the sky, at the infinite blue madness, trying to sort out her thoughts in vain. She shook her head and concentrated on her students' training instead.

Unbeknownst to her, a certain ninja stood in the shadows, admiring her, loving her.

If only she knew.

A/N: Sorry if this sucked compared to my other fics. I'm not sure if it's the odd pairing (I thought cool and hot goes together. I guess it's also the couple that plays an important factor), fatigue, or the light fic (I'm used to writing heavy stuff like angst or sap). This is a one-shot, but I left space to throw in a few more chapters. Let the people decide...