The Cats Eyes
Kakashi stared at the corpse.
He couldn´t speak, couldn´t move, the only thing he could do was stand and stare.
The womans body was lying on the autopsy table, the zipper of the black bag was slightly opened to reveal no more than her face an a part of her neck. Her expression was perfectly smooth. She might have looked peaceful with those dull brown eyes closed. But right now they were staring into space, seeing nothing, with no shine in them. Of course... The woman was dead.
The moment Kakashi saw those eyes he knew something was awfully wrong. He recognized the shape of her nose, the small lips and the high cheak bones as well as the delicate curve of her neck and the silky strands of short light brown hair falling into her forehead. Kakashi moved them aside to reveal the long pink scar beneath them.
But there was no way these were her eyes.
Her eyes have never been brown. They have been as black as a new moon night, the pupils nearly invisible. Only a ring of shimmering dark blue spots indicated where they should have been. Never had he seen eyes like that on anyone else.
The memories of those hypnotic eyes brought other pictures with them, so Kakashi had to leave the morgue before they could overwhelm him. He walked out of the village gates, ignoring Izumo and Kotetsu´s eager greetings and laughter, left the main road and followed a nearly invisible lane for about half a mile into the forest until he reached a small clearing with a brook. This was one of his favorite places.
He sat down on the branch of an old oak about ten feet off the ground, rested his head against the cool trunk of the tree and let the peaceful sound of the water wash away all of the turmoil inside his head.
Then he let the memories flood his mind...
It´s been only a B-ranked mission so he had gone alone. The task was to receive a scroll with secret information about Amegakure from an undercover man and deliver it at the Hokage Tower. On his way back he noticed three people following. He couldn´t see them and their chakra signature was hidden quite well, but not well enough for him. Kakashi smirked. They wouldn´t be a problem for him. Pakkun, who had helped finding and recognizing the undercover man by his scent, gave him a reassuring glance. As expected, the ninjas from the Hidden Rain started their attack about a mile away from the border line between the Land of Rain and the Land of Fire. Two of them had passed him, one was still behind. They used umbrellas to perform their famous Senbon Shower jutsu wich he easily dodged by using Kawarimi. There was nothing of a big fight, he didn´t even have to use his Raikiri and after routinely checking if the scroll was still in his pocket and making sure it was the right one (Kakashi´s never taking chances), he released Pakkuns summoning jutsu an continued his way home.
The sun was slowly moving towards the horizon when he finaly noticed something was wrong with him. He slumped against a tree only to jump at the sharp pain in his shoulder the next moment. There was a senbon sticking out of his flesh – one only senbon, but every student at the ninja academy knows: Amegakures senbons are poisoned.
Kakashi pulled it out and reachend for the antidote but his fingers were allready numb and soon he felt the grassy ground under his back, unable to move. When he saw the young woman leaning over him he thought he might be in heaven allready. Her lips were moving but he couldn´t decipher the words eventhough they were said in his language. To him it soundet like the soothing song of an angel.
This was the first time he caught sight of those magnificent eyes – only his mind was too clouded to realize what was so special about them.
Kakashi woke up with a soure taste in his mouth and a brain shattering headache. He kept his breathing low and didn´t open his eyes until he remembered what had happened and thought through all the possibilities of where he might be and what to do next – not that easy with a throbbing pain in you head. He moaned quietly and opened his eyes. The room was dim, the sun had not yet risen. There was a wet cloth on his forehead, his mask was still in place but his jonin vest and hitai-ate were neatly folded on a chair a few feet from where he was lying. He knew he had to check if the scroll was still in place, so he tried to ignore the pain as good as possible when he began to raise his numb body from the warm bed.
„You shouldn´t be doing that"
A voice, as cool and soft as crushed velvet, seemed to come out of nowhere.
Kakashi had checked twice while he pretended to be still asleep, but hadn´t found any presence in his surroundings. Eyes were opening in the dark corner of the room, reflecting the little light that was coming through the window – like a cat, only bigger... human size. Without making a sound a womans contures formed from the shades and silently crossed the room. Even with her beeing right beside him Kakashi could merely feel her presence. Surely she would have been a great kunoichi.
And maybe she was?
Before replacing the now warm cloth on his forehead by a new one, the woman placed two fingers between his silver eyebrows, raised two fingers of her other hand infront of her mouth an murmured some words with her calm, melodic voice. Kakashi felt himself dazing away, but he was too weak to fight it. Just before he fell asleep he heard something that sounded like: „ ...sleep... speed up your recovery..."
When he woke up in the afternoon the pain was gone. His chakra level was still extremely low, but at least his head didn´t feel like it could burst at any moment. Only now it was his stomach complaining. Kakashi raised himself from the bed and walked over to his vest. The scroll hadn´t been touched so he fished the small bag with soldier pills from his pocket and took out three of them.
„No need for that"
The delicious scent made his stomach rumble really loud.
The woman put a plate full of rice, meat and wok vegetables onto his bedside table and walked over to the window. Seeing that she turned her back on him, Kakashi lowered his mask and allready wanted to start eating, but then paused.
„Itadakimasu", he said.
He was a gentleman after all. There was a smile in her voice when she replied: „You´re welcome", and continued watching the birds on the grass outside the window. After a while he put down her plate and said „Thank you" once again. But the woman didn´t turn around.
„Don´t you want to put you mask back on?", she asked, the reflection of her eyes sparkeling in the windowpane.
So it haven´t been the birds she´s been watching after all, he thought.
Kakashi felt stupid when he pulled his mask back up after she had allready seen his face. She was the first one after about twenty years.
Sitting on the windowsill she hugged her knees, leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. Now, with her eyes no longer distracting him, Kakashi was able to really look at her. She was quite small and petite. He wondered how she had managed to get him here. Her light brown hair was short and shimmered golden infront of the sunlight. The pale skin reminded him of alabaster. Not that she showed too much of it: most of her body was hidden by wide black pants and a black poloneck sweater that hugged her like a second skin, pointing up the excellent shape of her breasts. An open, short-sleeved cloak was hanging from her sholders, the kind his sensei used to wear, only that hers was simply white.
„What´s your name?", Kakashi asked when he had finshed studying her appearance.
„Neko."
Neko is nothing but the japanese word for cat.
„Neko-san", he murmured, „... that´s your name?"
„It is."
„Suits you." Kakashi smirked.
She raised one eyebrow. „Shall I do a remark about your surname beeing ´scarecrow´?"
Kakashi noticed how he had allowed his guard to slip down. He had to be more cautious.
„I can´t remember telling you my name", he said in a calm voice.
„ Who doesn´t know the great copynin?" She rolled her eyes. Then, taking a deep breath she answered his question: „You´ve once been in my bingo book."
That was something he hadn´t expected. Of course he knew he had a place in the bingo books of several organizations, but why should someone who helped him know his face from one of them? And why did someone who knew him from a bingo book help him at all?
„I don´t understand? Ain´t I in your bingo book anymore?"
„I don´t have a bingo book anymore."
Her voice was a mere whisper. Maybe it was just his imagination, but Kakashi was sure he had heard a sad undertone in it.
It looked like a coincidence when she stroked through her bangs and revealed the long pink scar across her forehead. Kakashi knew that kind of scar. In the past they´ve been used to brand a shinobi that was banished from its village and gave everyone else the right to kill this person at will. He couldn´t imagine there were still villages that did this to their people.
She jumped off the windowsill, her movement breaking the silence without making a sound.
„You´ll have to stay here for another day or maybe two. Shall I contact your village?", she asked.
„No, thanks, but I guess that would only cause you trouble. I think I have enough chakra left for a summoning jutsu so I can contact them on my own."
„As you wish." Neko gave him a soft nod and headed for the door. „I´ll be back."
Kakashi didn´t summon Pakkun right away. He took his time to examine the cottage. It´s wasn´t as small as it seemed to be at the first sight. There was only one bedroom, no livingroom, but a big kitchen and a bathroom with both a tub and a shower. He wondered how they might work in the middel of nowhere. Outside there was a big clearing with an old lonely oak in the middle of it. A genjutsu barrier made it look like a normal part of the forest from the outside.
The man sat down in the shade of the big tree, bit his thumb and spread his palm on th ground, like he had done uncounted times before.
„Kuchiose no Jutsu!"
„ Hey,´Kashi! What´cha doing here? You know you should be home this evening, but instead of hurrying back you´re taking a nap in the middle of nowhere! What the hell are you thinking?", the ninkens accusing voice was heard even before it´s tiny body was revealed by the smoke cloud. „Is that what you call ´getting lost on the path of live´?" Pakkun sniffed and made a disgusted face: „Eww, what´s this sickening stench? Cats?" He shook his body as if he could shake the unpleasant scent away, but of course it didn´t work. So he sat down and locked his eyes to Kakashis face. The silver haired man was watching the clouds with an absolutely relaxed expression on it. He reached for the dog and pulled him onto his lap – something Kakashi hadn´t done since Pakkun had been a puppy.
„Are you done with your tirade?"
„I guess... I´m done...", the dogs voice was shaking from the pleasure the hand ruffling his ear brought him.
This place was so full of peace and everyone who entered it suddenly became very relaxed and peaceful as well. Kakashi thought about this possibly beeing a genjutsu, too, but then decided it was due to the nature and the idyllic atmosphere.
„Listen, Pakkun. I was hit by a poisoned senbon yesterday, I only realized after I allready sent you home. I probably would be dead if Neko-san hadn´t found me and brought me here". Only someone who knew him very well might have noticed his voice trembling just the slightes bit. Someone like Pakkun.
„Neko? You mean you were rescued by a cat? Well, that explaines the horrible scent", he determined.
„No. That´s just her name." Kakashi was slowly gettig irritated by Pakkuns constant complaint about the scent.
„Hers, huh? Are you like... you know..." The ninken held up one paw, intending to show his pinkie finger.
„Oh, c´mon, Pakkun, I don´t know anything about her..." - Nothing but her beeing a Nukenin, hiding far away from her home village, he added in his mind. „Anyways, I´ll have to stay here a few more days until my chakra level is steady again. I want you to go back and hand this to the Sandaime." Kakashi scribbled some words on a piece of paper and sealed it with a simple jutsu.
Before releasing the sommoning, Pakkun gave his master a worried look and asked to summon him the next morning so he could be sure everything was allright and escort him back when he decided to leave.
„Sure...", Kakashi replied, slowly taking of to pick some flowers he had spotted at the edge of the genjutsu barrier.
Neko entered the cottage with a whispered „Hi". She wasn´t used to welcome someone when she´s coming home. Kakashi was sitting on the bed and polished a kunai. His thoughts were far away and his head jerked up when he noticed the woman. Once again he hadn´t felt her presence appearing.
He raised one hand an replied her greeting. Actually his thought hadn´t been that far away. Pakkuns straightforeward question whether he liked her as a woman has been ghostig around in his head for the whole time. He wasn´t able to stop those thought from filling his mind with pictures of them – together – at the oak, beneath the starlit sky. Her lips, her hands, her skin. Kakashi felt like he was going insane, he wanted her to be with him and now there she was – turning her back on him once again. Suddenly he felt like a pervert intruder and cursed the bulge in his pants.
„Thank you", she said.
He turned his head to see what she was refering to and she nodded towards the wild flowers in the vase on the vase on the wondowsill.
„They are beautiful."
„Just like you." Kakashis voice cracked on the last word. He didn´t know what had driven him to say that but now it was said. And this was nothing but the truth. In his entire life Kakashi had never seen a woman as beautiful as Neko. There have been a lot of cute andreally pretty girls he met in Konoha and on missions. But none of them could compete with this woman full of dignity, calmness, her peaceful aura and her shiny black eyes with those diamond rings shimmering in them.
She folded her cloak on the chair and slowly walked over to the man sitting on her bed, locking her hypnotic eyes to his.
„As you migt have noticed there is only one bed in this cottage."
Now that she mentioned it Kakashi noticed he hadn´t thought about the at all. He wanted to reply something, but Neko was allready behind of him, taking the kunai out of his hand and putting it onto the bedside table. He breathed in harshly when he felt her soft hands wandering from his neck to his shoulder and all the way back.
„Relax..."
Her breath tickled his ear, the vibration of her voice caused goose bumps all over his body. She leaned her back against the wall, pulling Kakashi closer who willingly leanded in to the warmth that was radiating from her body, one leg at each side of him. The hand that wandered down his chest to draw little patterns on his firm, muscular stomach washed away his concern whether she might be running a temperature. His errection was slightly becoming uncomfortable when she finaly pushed his pants down to the middle of his thigh. He released a deep moan from the bottom of his throat when her soft, warm hand formed a circle around his manhood. He arced his hips up but her other hand gently pushed him back against her chest as she started sliding her hand up and down his member, accompanied by his harsh breathing and throaty moans.
It didn´t take long until he felt how close to the edge he was.
„Wait...", he said, his voice a low whisper, so full of lust he could merely speak.
„No." Her voice was as soft and warm as her hands. Kakashi Felt the white handkerchief in his hand and understood.
With a lustful moan he came and slumped back, satisfied but quiet remorseful. Panting heavily he rested his head against her shoulder while she pulled his pants back onto his hips and threw the moist handkerchief off the bed and into the dustbin. She blew a kiss as light as a feather onto his temple, tangled her clean hand in the thick silvern spikes and leaned her cheak against his head. Abscentmindedly she started stroking his hair.
After a while when his breathing had calmed down he turned his head to look into her mesmerizing eyes. His voice was still hoars but absolutely gentle and maybe even tender when he asked: „Shouldn´t I return the pleasure?"
He wasn´t surprised when she said she was tired out, after all it was his fault she hadn´t slept the night before.
Covering them both with the blanket he spooned her and burried his face in her silky hair, listening to her even breathing and kissing her neck before falling asleep himself.
When he woke up with the sunrise, Kakashi found Nekos petite body hurled up against his side – just like a kitten – with her head resting on his chest. He hoped he wouldn´t waken her when he got out of bed an carefully replaced his body by a pillow. She didn´t even stir. Tracing down her arm with his fingers caused his pants to get even tighter than they allready were. After sleeping with a beauty like Neko at his side, waking up with an errection was nearly unavoidable. But he wasn´t the kind of man who didn´t take no as an answer and asking her to repeat her favour from last night felt rude. So he went into the bathroom an turned on the cold shower.
He didnßt even make a face as the icy water touched his skin, he just took it as a man, waited until the cold had done its job and the turned on the hot water. The shower cubicals transparent walls were steamed up soon and Kakashi turned his back on the door, enjoying the warmth streaming down his naked body. That reminded him of Neko. Her unusually high body temperature puzzled and bothered him at the same time. But what bothered him even more was how he shoul face her now. He didn´t want things to get awkword, but his longing for her was impossible to ignore.
Then he heard the doors behind him opening. Closing. Again. He hadn´t noticed her again.
Kakashi froze in place. He tried to think but hit brain seemed to be frozen as well.
Her fingers were slowly tracing down his spine.
That was all what was needed to bring his member back up, this time even harder than before. A soft kiss between his shoulder blades, her lips whispering „Good Morning" right at his ear. She leaned her forehead against his back and wrapped her arms around his chest, enjoying the steaming water as well. The time passed and Kakashi hadn´t moved yet. He wished this moment could last for ever.
Neko took one step backwords.
„I´ll keep my eyes closed if that´s what you wish", she said in a patient voice.
He lifted his head. „No." Finaly he was turning around. „I just... got carried away", he replied in his gentle, husky voice.
A small smile was tugging at the corner of her lips and reaching her eyes it made them shine even more. Sparkeling like black diamonds. For a moment Kakashi thought he´d seen twoo tiny rainbows in them.
He lifted her chin with one hand, placing the other one on the small of her back to pull her closer. Closing his eyes he gentely tasted her lips, his tongue cautiously pleading for enterance. She left out a tiny gasp when she slowly opened her lips for him. Their tongues didn´t fight. It was more like dancing... a slow blues. Everything was so easy with her, even without talking. The hot water felt like sunshine on their skins. Weightlessness seemed to be so close.
Kakashi let the hand on her chin slide down between them, down her throat, caressing her breasts, down her stomach and reaching its destination he stated with his foreplay.
An ecstatic sound left her lips when she finaly broke their long and passionate kiss.
„Now!", she gasped.
Her head lulled back and a light groan – like the purring of a cat – left her throat when he lifted her up onto him. He pushed her up against the wall, one hand protecting her head from beeing banged against the cool tiles, he slightly sped up and intensified his thrusts. Everything around them began to blur. The world consisted only of warmth, sparkeling colours, their heavy panting and her lustful moans. Kakashi avoided making too much noise on his own so he wouldn´t miss even one of the delightful sounds coming from the ecstatic beauty in his arms.
He trembled when she tumbled against his shoulder and came, breathing his name at his collarbone.
„Kakashi..."
That was more than enough to send shivers down his spine and make him fall over the edge in an instant.
It felt like the y had been holding each other for milennia instead of just a few minutes when Neko gently broke their embrace and left the shower cubical. Kakashi watche the water pearling down her smooth alabaster body until she wrapped it up with a towel and headed for the door. With her hand on the door handle she turned her head to look over her sholder. Her usually pale face was slightly flushed when she looked his perfectly shaped, muscular body up and down.
„I´ll make breakfast."
When Kakashi walked into the kitchen the air was full of delicious scents: freshly pressed orange juice, fried eggs and bacon, toast and lots of other mouthwatering things. Nekos still damp hair stood up in little spikes.
„Copied the copynin, huh?", he murmured, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck.
Her tiny laughter sounded like a song whenshe tilted her head to the side to give hin more access to the sensetive skin. Kakashi leaned against the wall in his casual posture and waited for her to finish the prapartion. The he remembered.
„Is it okay if I summon my ninken?"
„Go ahead", she said. Then she suddenly looked up form the cherry tomatoes she´d been washing: „Does it bark at cats?" Kakashi considered it a joke and chuckled.
„No." A hint of pride glittered in his eyes: „He´s very well educated."
Something told him she was serious about her question though there was no sign of a pet in this cottage. Pakkun had said the place smelled of cats when he had summond him the day before. Kakashi shook his head. Probably just stray cats that visit her now and then – he thought.
A little smoke cloud appeared. He took a tissue and wiped away the droplet of blood he had left on the floor.
„Neko, this is Pakkun", he introduced when the smoke cloud had dissolved.
„ Good Morning, Miss Cat. So this is the Lady that rescued my master, huh?" He gave her a knowing glance.
„Good Morning, Pakkun-san", she replied, ignoring the last comment and held up a plate with juicy ham. „Did you allready have breakfast?"
Unconciously the small dog sat down and his tail started drumming against the floor, his mouth was allready watering. When she put the plate down in front of him he wrinkled his nose but didn´t say anything, just began to eat. Neko and Kakashi sat down as well and ate in silence. There were lots of things he was curious about, but that kind of questions would only have ruinded the atmosphere.
„Listen, ´Kashi...", Pakkun mumbled with his mouth full of meat: „I won´t have anything against it if you´d kidnap that girl and take her to our home. It really lacks a womans caring hand." A wide, dreamy grin appeared on the dogs face.
„Allready thought about that...", Kakashi said seriously, locking his eyes to hers.
„You know that´s impossible", she replied, one hand fluttering to her forehead abscentmindedly. She got up and put her plate into the sink. „But I guess I won´t have anything about some company now and then... I get a bit lonely at times." Her voice was absolutely smooth with no undertone in it, but Pakkun still raised one eyebrow at that remark. An there was something else that was odd: even infront of his ninken Kakashi nearly never took off his mask. Noe he was openly showing his face, even after he had finished his meal.
„I think no one would miss me too much if I stayed one more day." Kakashi hugged her from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder.
„No."
Her voice was calm but determined. Kakashi stumbled one step forewards when the woman in his arms vanished into thin air. How could anyone banish such an exelent ninja from their village? She didn´t even have to weave a sing. But didn´t she want him to stay? Did he do something wrong? He turned around to face her.
„You never know what can happen if the right information reaches the right place one minute too late..."
The grief in her eyes was tearing his soul apart. He caressed her cheak and brushed his lips across her scar before he started packing the little things he had with him.
At the treshold they shared a long, affestionate kiss.
„And don´t forget to drop by when you´re in the area", she reminded him.
„How could I?"
When he left, Kakashi wasn´t remorseful at all. He was sure he would see her again and some how he would find away to manage the situation so they wouldn´t have to meet secretly all the time. Maybe she could even live in the village.
A year has passed since then. Kakashi had found the clearing after one of his missions, but there was no genjutsu barrier anymore and the cottage had vanished as well as the peaceful atmosphere. There was nothing special about it anymore, it could have been any clearing in any forest of the world. Only the letters „K. Sorry. Had to leave. N." assured him this was the right place.
Kakashi was exhausted when he entered the morgue. He had delivered the corpse of dangerous Nukenin with a rare kekkei genkai to the pathology and signed off when hiss eyes accidently fell on the young womans face. The realization stroke him like a lightning.
But these weren´t her eyes!
And now he was sitting on the branch of an old oak, just like the one on Nekos clearing and shed one lonely tear over the loss of a woman who had captured his heart by storm with out even trying it. He was shocked to find someone sitting in front of him when he opened his normal eye again. It was a snow white cat. A female. His breath caught when she turned her head to look him over. Black. Blue shimmer. A voice came from nowhere and brushed through the leafs like a summer breeze.
„Noone ever told you cats have nine lives?"