1- Identities

This is for Nakira for her birthday. Happy birthday Naki-chan~!

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It was a dark night and of all things he had to go into some rundown bar to find a lead on a hopeless investigation that the Hokage had sent him on. It didn't help matters that Kakashi was pretty obviously a ninja when he walked in with his mask up. But he didn't feel comfortable with showing his face. So he just went into the bar like it wasn't a big deal and sat at the farthest end of the bar—the only space without a mirror to reflect him if he decided to actually get a drink.

"What can I do you for?" The barmaid asked, flashing him a bright smile as she leaned on the bar and tapping her engagement ring clad fingers on the immaculate maple wood of the counter. He paused, examining her, quickly deciding that she was attractive—the ring on her finger forced him to make sure his brain didn't process that she was more than that.

"Just a glass of water." She smirked, her multi-colored blue eyes sparkling.

"You on the clock, Ninja man?" He paused, but remembered about his mask. He'd made sure to dress in something other than his usual outfit, with a civilian eye-patch over his Sharingan.

"You could say that." He sighed as she turned and expertly filled a glass with ice and grabbed a bottle labeled in clear kanji 'water'. She flipped the bottle into the air and caught it, filling the glass from a distance as though it was reflex to fill glasses that way. Kakashi stared at her in open shock—his mouth would have been hanging open from the shock of it. She laughed a little, depositing the bottle back on the counter and carrying the glass of water over to him.

"Part of my money comes from being able to 'perform' like that. You should see me with four bottles of alcohol and a shaker." She winked at him before turning to take care of a new customer. He paused, checking his reaction simply because of the ring glinting in the dim light of the bar on her finger. She was a barmaid—an either engaged or married barmaid at that—and it was part of her job to be nice to her customers for bigger tips.

Turning so no one could see his face as he took a long drink of the water, he tried to concentrate on his job. It was supposed to be a lead on Orochimaru. But he hadn't been able to dig anything up in almost eighteen hours of investigating. Finally, he gave up on the prospect of scanning the bar and listening for meaningful conversations in favor of having a few drinks to calm his nerves. So he flagged the barmaid down and she walked over with a bright smile. "You need a refill on that water?"

"What's your specialty?" He asked. She grinned.

"Decided to have a good strong drink after all?" He nodded once. "I'll fix it right up." She turned and grabbed a shaker from the shelf, dropping a couple of cubes of ice into the container before picking out about five bottles of multicolored liquids. She paused for a moment, crouching behind the counter. From his vantage point, Kakashi could clearly see her pulling something from the valley of her breasts—he checked himself before his mind wandered off in the wrong direction, reminding himself sharply about the ring. She straightened after pouring a few drops of a glowing liquid into the shaker from a vial in her hand and returning the vial to the inside of her shirt. She straightened and started juggling the five bottles she'd selected, alternately pouring precisely measured amounts of the liquids into the shaker before returning the bottles to their places.

With a glance at Kakashi, she screwed the lid onto the shaker and tossing it into the air in lieu of firmly shaking it. The shaker landed directly in front of him and he blinked in surprise. With a light laugh, the girl walked over with a margarita flute rimmed with salt. "Brace yourself. I've never had anyone order this drink without staring at it in shock." She opened the shaker and poured a glowing, multicolored drink that looked like a tie-dyed shirt that was dipped in a vat of glow-in-the-dark liquid.

With a long look at the drink, he picked up the drink and turned away to take a sip. "You're Hatake Kakashi, aren't you?" He nearly choked on the drink. "I thought so." He set the drink down, slowly turning to face her.

"What makes you ask?"

"I know my stuff about famous ninja. It was the mask that tipped me off." She tapped her nose and turned.

"You know my name, but what's yours?"

"Lao Kiren." She answered lightly, going back to her job.

"Did you hear? The Phantom is gonna hit the art gallery at midnight." A guy sitting a few seats away from Kakashi at the bar commented to his companion.

"Yea. I wonder if we go to watch, we'll see her." The man's companion said, almost eagerly. "I hear she's a real dish even with the mask." The mask comment piqued Kakashi's interest. Now that would be something worth investigating. Not some cold lead on Orochimaru.

"That's only a rumor. Not even the officials who are after her have seen even her shadow. They just know that she posted a note on what she'd be stealing and it disappeared right under their noses." Kakashi immediately knew how she did that. She obviously stole the item while posting her notice and left an illusion in its place to make them think it simply vanished when they had their back turned.

"You want something else to drink?" Kiren asked lightly, suddenly in front of him. He paused, staring at the glass he'd absently drained. His hand twitched and he almost reached to check his mask. "Don't worry. I'm the only one here who can see your face." She winked. "You liked it?"

"Yea." She grinned.

"Then you want something else or another one? I don't recommend more than one of those drinks though. Even some of the ones that come in and can hold their liquor really well have trouble with the second one."

"Then I know a few people who shouldn't even have one. Though it doesn't seem to be that strong…" She laughed, leaning across the bar and very suggestively pressing her breasts out—the things were large enough that it was very hard for Kakashi to ignore them as he mentally beat the crap out of himself for even starting to think about a woman wearing a ring that was so obviously either a wedding band or an engagement ring.

"That's what they all say." A clock chimed and she shot upright. "Almost eleven thirty…"

"Have somewhere you need to be?" She shook her head a little.

"Not at all. It's just that we're pretty close to the art gallery that's supposed to be robbed tonight. I'm expecting all six of the customers in the building to leave to watch for a glimpse of the thief and to see if the officials will actually catch her. That's how it is every time she announces a robbery." She sighed. "What did you want to drink?"

"I guess Sake will do."

XX

The next day, the news of the Phantom's accomplishment the night before had the town buzzing. And not a soul had seen her coming or going. In fact, not a soul in the town suspected who she was. And that was how she liked it. No one knew who she was and she could keep searching for it.

The problem was the ninja that had recently arrived. He'd probably recognize her tactics and help the authorities. She didn't want any sort of interference with her mission. She had to find the item that had been stolen from her family—even though she had no idea what it looked like—and she'd be damned if she let some ninja stop her.

She had to come up with some plan to stop him before he got started. So she had to do research on the man to find his weakness. And the best way to do that was to have a look at his things. She already had an idea of where he was staying, so it wouldn't be that difficult to track down his belongings and investigate.

XX

Kakashi was agitated. Not only was the investigation he was supposed to be doing a bust, but he'd just gotten a message from Tsunade to investigate the Phantom. And there was no information on the criminal! Just the information he'd heard initially. She posted a note on the item she'd be stealing and then it disappeared. No one saw her come or go, and the authorities knew next to nothing else.

His agitation also had a lot to do with the fact that he was undercover and had had to remove his mask because of it. He didn't like the idea of anyone seeing his face. It just didn't sit well with him.

Back at the hotel after a failed investigation, he was about to go into his room and take a well-deserved nap before going to the bar to see if he could glean any more information from conversations. But as he rested his hand on the doorknob, he heard movement inside.

Shit. And my weapons are in there. He thought crossly. Oh well. I've got other ways to stop whoever's in there.

So he opened the door silently and slipped into the room. He scanned the room and saw a black-clad woman rifling through his bag. A fall of long hair was concealing her face, though she was at an angle where he could see her curves. The woman didn't really care about revealing herself he assumed.

Considering the black outfit she was wearing was very revealing. He looked her over, checking for weapons. She seemed unarmed, but anything could be hidden between her large breasts. And with her outfit unzipped to the point that her breasts could fall out with even the slightest movement, she could easily have pulled out a weapon.

Abruptly, her nose twitched and she jerked her head up, locking multi-colored blue eyes on Kakashi. He didn't need to remove her mask to recognize her from there. even though the mask covered from her forehead to the end of her nose. She stood and bolted to the window, long legs carrying her stronger and faster than he'd expected. The window opened before she got to it, and he saw her hands moving rapidly in a series of hand-signs.

She'd used Ninjutsu to open the window, just as she was about to use a complex transformation technique to escape. He gave chase, reaching to catch her. His hand brushed her butt just as her form quivered and a powerful looking jackal buzzard flew out the window. She caught him by surprise. That didn't sit well with him.

It also didn't sit well with him that the woman—who had obviously been the Phantom—had got into his stuff. She'd probably assumed that he'd get in her way and she was looking for some way to catch him off guard. She'd certainly succeeded in that.

To his advantage though, he knew who she was now. And if he was lucky, she didn't realize that. He'd find out the next time he saw her. For now though, he'd just check to make sure she hadn't managed to slip off with any of his things and then he'd take a nap. He closed the window and started checking his things.

XX

That had been close. And she had no idea if he'd recognized her or not. She'd find out if he showed up that night. She knew from experience that ninjas didn't like their privacy invaded, and he'd take her up on the challenge. She counted it as a challenge. Especially since she'd found what could very well have been his weakness.

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Yes, it is the end of a chapter. I did say this was a four-shot in the info. But now you have something to look forward to. I'll be trying to post a chapter every few days until the last chapter's date. As I said, this is for Nakira's birthday, which is on the thirty-first. Drop me a review and tell me what you think!