Consciousness

(noun)

1. The state of being aware of and responsive to one's surroundings.

2. A person's awareness or perception of something.

XXX

Kakashi quietly sat at the dinner table, silently sipping some tea as he watched the pink haired woman move about the kitchenette, cleaning dirty dishes and preparing breakfast. Pakkun had taken a liking to the android quite quickly to Kakashi's amazement, tagging after her as if she would disappear the moment the small dog took his sight off her form.

The silver haired man found it quite amusing, watching the small pug running around. He can't remember the last time he saw Pakkun this active; that is, if you didn't count feeding time. The poor dog was restless!

Sakura finished preparing an omelette for Kakashi, filling it with bacon, tomatoes and cheese. Just like Kakashi had requested of the female android. Placing the plate in front of Kakashi, the pink haired woman turned to walk out of the kitchen to complete the rest of the house chores. Kakashi could soon hear a vacuum going off inside of his room. He had to admit, it was quite nice having someone do his chores for him. He was certain that if he had to ask, the android would most certainly brush his teeth for him as well.

If the silver haired man's mother was still alive, she would scold him thoroughly, no doubt. Kakashi could bet one hundred dollars that his mother was busy turning in her grave, wanting to climb right out of the ground and come slap him upside the head.

Good thing he didn't believe in zombies, or ghosts.

He quickly set to finish his omelette before standing to go to his office just next to the study upstairs. He had quite a lot of work to get done before his deadline at the end of the week. His desk was stacked with paperwork and he was most certainly not in the mood for it. If there was one thing he hated most about his job, it was filling out reports.

Kakashi was an organized man, but he made an exception this week. He was supposed to be on leave, taking a nice vacation, sitting on the beach in nothing but swimming trunks; but being a detective required him to be available at all times. He had worked very hard to get where he was, even if it took him almost 15 years. He was often praised as a master mind, joining the services at the tender age of 19. Working his way up from there, solving the unsolvable and bringing long lasting case files to a close with a large stamp reading "SUCCESS" across the pages.

Now at the age of 35, he thought about settling down, maybe get a wife and have some kids. But as quickly as the thought crossed his mind, he mentally swatted it away like one would an annoying fly.

He didn't have the time for such luxuries, and besides, he had a reputation of the cities number one bachelor to uphold. Kakashi wasn't an unattractive man. For someone his age, he wore his life numbers quite well, save for his hair colour. Hey, he wasn't the only guy in town with strange coloured hair. You can't change something you were born with. The scar running from his left brow, all the way over his eyes, stopping down in the middle of his cheek could have been scary to look at. When he received the wound years ago on his then young face, he feared the woman would look upon him disgustedly. But it had quite the opposite effect. They swooned if more, if possible, whenever he passed by.

He had adorned an eye patch for a while when the scar was still fresh, but after a few years he just decided one day that he would wear his battle scar proudly. Baring it for the world to see, he did, after all, receive it during work hours when a bank robbing got out of hand and a thug got a lucky shot in with his knife, almost taking Kakashi's eye with him. Doctors feared that he would lose his sight in his left eye, but it was both a surprise and a miracle that he still had 87% of eye sight. He didn't need two eyes to spot clues from cases, after all.

Kakashi let out a deep sigh when he finally plopped himself down in his office chair, moving his gaze along the stack of paperwork sitting expectantly upon his desk.

He really wasn't in the mood for this.

XXX

"Android 119, you're up."

A buzzer went off loudly in the room, the red light above the glass door flickering twice, interrupting the romantic hue of dimmed lights. A large bed was placed in the middle of the small square room, adorning dark purple coverings, bedside tables a dark wooden colour, held small, vanilla scented candles that were alight. The room screamed sex appeal with dark coloured walls, a black rug carefully placed on the floor.

Posters ranging from almost naked to completely nude women were placed randomly across the walls, a small stereo standing on a shelf just above the bed. Soft night core could be heard playing from the speakers, a decent paced beat. A small table was moved against the wall right next to the door, its drawers containing multiple sex toys.

The beach blonde female android sprawled herself suggestively on the large bed, wearing a tight school girl uniform, he waist long hair tied up in a high ponytail, only leaving a thick strand of hair to hang over her right eye, acting as a fringe. The candle light glinted off bright, baby blue eyes, giving the illusion of a sharp gaze. Plump lips painted a light pink; high cheekbones sporting a soft blush. Her eyelids were coloured in a glittery pink, matching her lipstick. Long legs were covered by fishnet stockings coming up to mid-thigh, black stripper heels fitting on her small feet. The girl oozed sex, and that was exactly what a brothel needed.

She waited patiently for her client, sitting on the edge of the bed with one leg crossed over the other, her hand placed behind her on the soft mattress to balance her pose. Bringing her free hand up to her mouth, she chewed on her index finger suggestively as she finally saw the man walk up to her door, punching in the correct code before he entered the room.

"Hey there, handsome. Did you drive all the way up here just to come and see me?"

The man laughed shyly, his middle aged face decorated with wrinkles around his mouth and eyes. He wore black rimmed glassed, his face cleanly shaven. Mouse brown hair was combed neatly in a comb-over, his rather thin form clothed in a dark brown suit with a deep red tie around his neck.

The man seamed clean and professional, but appearances could be quite deceiving.

The blonde female android gestured the man over, patting the spot beside her on the bed. He wasted no time in taking her up on the offer, allowing her to throw her arms around his neck the moment he sat down. She started kissing his jawline, down to the crook of his neck before licking her way back up to his ear, taking the lobe between her teeth, pulling softly.

The man chuckled nervously as he squirmed out of her grasp, only to stand up in front of the blonde android, looking down at her.

"Are you nervous, baby? I can help you loosen up a bit."

Before she could grab throw her arms around his neck again, also having stood up whilst she talked, the man stepped backwards out of her reach, opening his mouth to stutter out his reply.

"N-no, I'm not nervous. I just," his pause made the android tilt her head to the side, watching her client with what he guessed was curiosity.

"Then how may I help you, honey? Have you paid for the wrong android's services?"

The man quickly shook his head, mortification clear on his face, "No, oh god, no. you're perfect. It's just,"

The blonde android slowly moved closer to the man to whisper in his ear, "'Just' what, handsome?"

The man looked sheepish, bringing a hand up to scratch the back of his head. He seemed to be having trouble voicing his problem, making the android girl step behind the man, beginning to lightly massage his stiff shoulders.

"C-could you act a l-little more, er, y-younger?"

When there was no reply and the movements of the androids hand stopped, the male turned questioningly around, glancing at the scantily clad blonde in front of him. He was temper to take a step back at the fierce glare she was directing at him, thoroughly confusing the man.

"No."

The androids answer threw the man off guard, his eyebrows knitting together, "Excuse me?"

"No." This time, she had repeated herself in a louder tone, speaking the one word in a clearer voice.

The man laughed out loud, his facial expression reading that of disbelief. "I paid for your services, quite handsomely, I might add. So give me what I want, Android, you are not allowed to reject my request. You aren't programmed to. So do as I say, already, or I'll have to make you."

The blonde threw the man a feral grin, challenging him with her eyes. "Oh, I dare you to try."

Having had enough of this nonsense, the man moved to grab the blonde by her hair, fully intending to drag her down on the bed and having his way with her. But the quick jab to his nose threw the man off balance, blinding pain shot down his nose and cheekbones. The bitch had hit him! Last time he checked, androids weren't supposed to be able to hurt a human, their programming simply went against it, and they were computers. They weren't supposed to make decisions like that on their own!

The blonde woman swiftly grabbed a black trench coat hanging from the coat hanger, walking in a fast pace down the halls of the brother to the exit. She held her gaze down, in fear of someone noticing her bright, almost shining orbs, as she speed walked out of the building before taking a right to disappear into the crowded street.

But when a hand grabbed her by the upper arm, dragging her into a narrow alleyway, she let out a surprised shriek, balling her fists and readied herself to fight her way to freedom.

"Ino, relax! It's me, Naruto."

The blonde girl, Ino; immediately halted all movement as she locked gazes with blue eyes a shade darker than her own. And she knew only one man with that shade of eye colour. A relieved sob escaped her lips as she jumped into Naruto's arms, hugging him to her so tightly, the boy struggled to breathe. Letting go of him a second later, she took a minute to regain her wits and moved to look around the sunny blonde boy, confusion showing in her eyes, "Where's Sasuke?"

Naruto gave her a goofy grin as he pointed his thumb over his shoulder to some other direction, "Keeping watch. It wasn't easy sneaking into this part of town, y'know."

Ino nodded her head quickly, agreeing with the blonde boy in front of her, "Yeah, I know."

Naruto heard a sharp whisle, knowing Sasuke had signalled for them to get a move on. Knowing they couldn't stay in one place for too long, Naruto grabbed Ino by the hand before jogging off down the street, "C'mon, let's go."

XXX

By the time Kakashi finished with his last report, it was already well past 9. If he wanted to go to Head Quarters the following morning, he had better get ready for bed and have some shut eye.

Sakura had brought him dinner at around 6 that evening , only returning an hour later to collect the dirty dishes that he had discarded on the edge of his desk. His stomach was full and his work was done, he figured he could skip his shower and leave the scrubbing for tomorrow morning.

Rubbing his eyes furiously in a failed attempt to get his vision to focus better on his surroundings, he stood from his office chair to go seek out Sakura, curious to see what the android was up to. He figured she would be sitting in her charging chair by now, eyes closed, oblivious to the world around her. So he decided against his little hunt and rerouted his steps to the kitchen to grab himself a bottle of water from the fridge.

But when he passed Sakura's charging chair, with no pink haired android there to occupy the seat, the slightly ajar front door pulled his curiosity strings as he slowly moved to investigate. Moving as silently on the wooden floors allowed him with designer boots clad feet, he peeked outside only to find the missing droid standing on the porch deathly still, her gaze cast upon the full moon, the light glinting on her hair making it look like a halo of violet in the soft glow.

"What are you doing?"

If he remembered correctly, she wasn't allowed to leave the house without his permission. All of it was explained to him on the day he had purchased her, and her programming was set up so carefully that she was supposed to follow order whether they were directly spoken or not.

When Kakashi received no reply from her, he stepped forward slowly, "Sakura, what are you doing? Look at me when I speak to you and answer my question, right now."

When Sakura turned to look at Kakashi, he was shocked to see her glare at him. Or maybe it was just the moonlight playing tricks on his mind, casting shadows on her features, creating illusions. When he blinked she was standing straight again, the ever present friendly smile on her face.

"Forgive me, Kakashi. I was just looking at the moon."

Kakashi eyed her sceptically, her monotone voice sounded eerily fake. Maybe because she was fake. "Just, go into the house. And don't you dare step outside of that door without my permission ever again."

"I understand, Kakashi." Sakura moved to walk by the silver haired man, stepping inside of the house.

Kakashi followed her every movement and continued to stare at the open door for some time before he turned to look down the street. It was pitch black, the street lamps only doing so much for lighting. He looked up at the sky after deeming the street clear of any movement, staring at the big ball of white known as the moon to human kind.

It was supposed to be a human thing, staring at the moon that is. Maybe Kakashi just had to do a little more research on the latest models of androids. Perhaps then, he would understand Sakura a little bit better.

Kakashi brought up his right hand, holding it up in the sky, forming his hand into a fist with his thumb sticking out. He closed his bad eye, moving the tip of his thumb to cover the ball of white, staring at it through his good eye.

Yeah, he just needed to do a little more research on androids. Then he would certainly know a lot more and then he would also know how to appropriately deal with situations like these.