Hello! Hope you all enjoyed the first chapter! This story is one I started a few months ago and then came back and decided I really liked it. I added a few new things to this chapter, please let me know if you have any comments/questions/suggestions/or spot any errors!
Chapter 2: Loss and Gain
Sunlight streamed into Sumi's bedroom. It peaked its bright fingers in-between the cracks in the blinds, poking Sumi and asking her to rise. Sumi all at once realized that something was different. Something was not the same as when she had gone to bed hours before. She immediately tensed for several seconds before she fully realized what that difference was. The difference came in a leanly muscled arm that was draped around her waist.
Slowly, she turned her head to the right and caught sight of the person who the arm belonged to. Once the person was identified, Sumi had to smile to herself. It was rare for Kakashi to spend the night, even rarer for him to use the spare key to her apartment. She had given it to him a year before and he had only used it a total of four times. Today was obviously the fifth as she had not heard him come in, nor had she awakened when he had joined her in the bed. She closed her eyed and snuggled up against his warm chest. As a reflex, his grip on her middle tightened and pulled her closer to him.
They lay like that for several more minutes, drifting peacefully between sleep and wakefulness. Finally, Sumi's bladder got the better of her and she began to slowly extract herself from his embrace. She succeeded in removing his arm from her waist without disturbing him, slipping out from underneath the covers, and just before her bare feet hit the floor, that same arm caught her round the waist once more and pulled her back into the depths of the bed.
"Kakashi!" she squealed in surprise.
"Where do you think you are going?" He asked voice scratchy from sleep.
"I have to pee, let me go."
"No. I don't think so." He yawned and pulled her to him once more, seemingly going back to sleep.
"Yes! I have to go."
No response.
"Kakashi."
Still nothing.
"Kakashi, if you don't let me go I'll pee on you."
"Mmmm, is that one of the ideas you were alluding to yesterday?" He asked, inflecting his voice in a way that suggested it wouldn't mind something so disgusting.
"No it isn't! Now let me go or I'll beat the crap out of you." She wiggled hard against him until he finally chuckled and let her go. She huffed in response and went to the bathroom to take care of her business.
As she washed her hands, she thought about what he said. Would Kakashi actually want to do something like that? Even the thought made her shiver. Of course not, he was just being perverted again. She shook her head and headed back into the bedroom to find the bed empty. Confused, she blinked around and found Kakashi suddenly in front of her.
"You know, have I told you how nice you look in your pajamas?" He asked, leaning towards her and forcing her to step back into the wall.
"Ha, well considering I am only wearing a t-shirt and underwear, it wouldn't surprise me if you thought that.
Kakashi let out a low hum in agreement. "You know, I haven't showered since yesterday."
"Oh? Well, me either."
"Ah, well how fortunate that you happen to have a fine shower just over there" he gestured with his right hand, the left pressing into the wall above her head. "Would you care to join me before I meet my little Genin for our first training session?"
Sumi smiled and batted her green eyes suggestively at the thought. "Why no, I don't believe I would mind doing that at all."
He smiled back at her in response before grabbing her around the middle and hauling her to the bathroom, making her squeal once more in surprise. He paused just long enough to turn on the water and get it to a reasonable temperature before tossing her in, clothes and all.
"Kakashi! I just washed these clothes you jerk!" She sputtered warm water at him.
"Sorry, but I thought that since they housed someone as filthy as you, they might need to be washed again." Sumi could almost see the fake heart appear over his still-masked face at this last comment and glowered at him.
Seeing her expression, Kakashi's masked smile grew in delight at her frustration and peeled off his clothes before getting into the shower after her.
"Oh I see, you can undress like a normal person, but I can't?"
"I don't have a change of clothes here, remember?" He stated gently.
"Well maybe you should start leaving at least a shirt here or something." She huffed and reached over her head to remove her now sodden t-shirt. Just as she placed the ruined cloth on the edge of the tub, she felt Kakashi's firm grasp on her breast. Knowing where he was going with this, but still determined to be upset with him, she shoved him away and busied herself with washing.
She heard Kakashi hum with a sound that was somewhere between mild irritation and amusement before he renewed his onslaught. He began by approaching her once more from behind and gently moving her long hair to place a kiss at the base of her skull.
A shiver that could only do with pleasure and not the least bit with cold, traveled down her body and hit the base of her spine. She could imagine Kakashi grinning from her response but didn't quite make it there as he continued to kiss her slightly flushed skin. His hands moved around her, pulling her gently into his tall frame. Sumi couldn't quite stifle a gasp at the attentions he was paying her.
That was the thing about Kakashi. He could play the fierce and unbridled lover, like the day before, or he could become the caring considerate romantic, which he had begun to play in that moment. Slowly, Sumi's irritation began to subside, washed down the drain with the last strains of soap that she had abandoned moments earlier.
Kakashi's fingers and mouth played with her body like a master pianist playing a well-tuned instrument. He knew exactly where to place what, and exactly how slowly—or hastily—she liked it there. His fingers massaged her breasts, playing and pulling at her sensitive nipples. This elicited gasps on her part, which quickly dissolved into moans as he sucked delicately on her neck.
Slowly, so slowly, his hands dipped lower towards her toned stomach. One arm wrapped around her waist, holding her and supporting her, while the other dipped still further. Kakashi's fingers teased around her sensitive areas for several moments, always getting closer and closer to the best part, but darting away at the last minute.
Finally, Sumi couldn't take it anymore and leaned fully back into him, groaning as his hand finally struck the sweet spot. His fingers, by this time wetter with more than water, dipped in and out of Sumi with speed and knowledge. They swirled around and around until she was so close she couldn't stand it anymore. Finally, at the last moment, he stopped.
Gasping heavily, she turned her head to give him the most pitiful expression. "…w-why did you…stop?"
"Because I wanted to see your face when you finish." He grabbed her waist just above her belly button, turned her to face him, and then kneeled at the bottom of the tub. Sumi actually had to muffle a scream for what came next.
"K-kakashi…mmmm!" she wined as she was brought closer and closer towards her end by his tongue. Finally, he brought her to the end, and was rewarded by an actual scream, needing to hold her steady as waves of pleasure wracked through her body.
Rising to his full height from his kneeled position, he grabbed the raven-haired woman and pulled her tightly to himself, allowing her to finish shaking and catch her breath.
"Good?" He asked in his obnoxious way, the way that said he already knew the answer.
In response, Sumi shot him a wicked grin and paid him back in kind. She grabbed onto his erection, already well past interested, and began to run her hand softly over its length. Kakashi's eye opened wide at her actions, the other still covered by his hita-aki. He moaned softly as she made her way down to the floor of the tub. Sumi continued her actions and ministrations, alternating between her hands and her mouth until it was Kakashi's turn to groan and shake from his climax.
Then breathing hard, he kneeled down to join Sumi in the bottom of the tub. "See? I told you…absolutely filthy."
Sumi was toweling herself off from their shower excursion when she took a look for the first time at the clock on the wall. Hmm, 10:30, she thought. "Kakashi what time were you going to meet your team, do you have time for some breakfast?"
"Ohh, well I think we said 10:00am sharp." He mused while rubbing his masked chin in thought.
"10:00! Kakashi, you are already late!" Sumi chided him. "Why did you suggest taking a shower if you knew what time it was?"
"Do you regret it?" He fixed her with such a mournful expression that she had to laugh.
"Of course not, but I think you should get going, you don't want to keep them waiting longer than you already have."
"Sigh, yes mother." He finished dressing, pulled down his mask enough to give her a long, lingering kiss, and then trotted out the door.
"What a weird man" Sumi said to herself.
Kakashi walked at a leisurely pace towards the agreed-upon meeting place of his young teammates. He whistled softly to himself, knowing that he would have to make his usual detour to the monument that he made every morning. He chuckled to himself as he relived the memories of the last fifteen hours or so.
Sumi was one of the only people he felt truly comfortable with. In fact, when he wasn't at the monument, he often found himself adrift and distracted, except when he was with her. He smiled as he remembered that there was a time when it was nothing like that between them.
The first time that Kakashi had shown any interest in Kurama Masumi was when they had been assigned the same mission that they were required to complete as partners. They were to guard Lord Fourth's wife, Uzumaki Kushina.
Kakashi paused in his thoughts as he always did when he thought about sensei and Kushina. Even now, twelve years after their deaths, he still missed them both terribly. Kushina, though never his teacher, was almost like his adopted mother. Therefore, when Lord Fourth had shared this new mission, he had taken it very seriously.
Which was why he had been very resentful to share the responsibility with another Shinobi. Especially her.
Masumi, it had taken him years to use the shortened version of her name, was someone who made him uncomfortable at that time. Not just because she obviously hated him, but because she reminded him of Rin. It wasn't that she looked like her or anything, actually, with Masumi's black hair and striking eyes, she didn't look to be related to Rin at all. It was simply that she and Rin were always together, even at the academy.
The cousins who were also best friends were inseparable. He had known that most of the girls at school liked him when he was younger and to be honest, he found it to be annoying. Didn't they know a war was being waged and that thinking of love or romance or whatever would only get them killed? Either way, a sad twist of fate made it so that Nohara Rin was on his team, and as a result, he often had Masumi glaring after him.
Now Rin was a nice person, but also skilled as a kunoichi. But Kakashi noticed her cousin, was not only more skilled, but seemed to have no romantic interest in him at all. He remembered several times wishing that Rin was on Masumi's team and vice-versa. It wasn't that he hadn't liked Rin as a person, but their awkward love triangle along with Obito who had obviously loved Rin, caused them multiple issues when on missions. In fact, he had asked Minato-sensei as he was called at the time, to switch. Minato-sensei had of course refused and encouraged Kakashi to work it out.
Even so, it had all changed once his teammates, his friends, were gone. So deep was he in his depression that he hadn't noticed that Masumi was avoiding him. It wasn't until he had seen her, two years after Rin's death in Lord Fourth's office that he realized he hadn't seen her even once. And after that first meeting, it was clear that Masumi blamed Kakashi for Rin's death.
This terrible fact still ate at Kakashi, even after their relationship had evolved to the point it was now. He still sometimes worried that Sumi still hated him deep down. Overall though, he could say that it was a ridiculous thought to have.
He rounded the corner and the monument came into full-view. He had stopped at the Yaminaka flower shop as he did every morning to get flowers for Obito and Rin. Sometimes Sumi would come with him, always a "surprise" meeting, and sometimes she would come before, already having laid fresh flowers to honor her best friend. Today there were no fresh flowers but Kakashi suspected that she would come to visit after she settled in from being away for her two-week mission.
He remembered the first time he had ever seen her at this spot. It had been a few days after their joint mission had been assigned and outlined. He was sitting next to the stone, for all intents and purposes invisible unless you rounded the corner and specifically looked at the ground. Like usual, he had been unable to sleep, plagued with nightmares of Rin's death and his broken promise to Obito. He was zoning off into space when he heard the grass crunch beneath sandaled feet.
He had been about to stand up when he heard the sound of someone crying. He froze, unsure of revealing himself less he make the crying person cry more or startle them. He peaked slowly around the stone to see none other than Masumi, crying softly and laying pink lilies on the ground. Kakashi, sure that he was intruding at this point, turned the opposite way and made to leave as silently as possible when her voice stopped him in his tracks.
"Hey there girl." She had said, her voice wracked with heavy emotion. Such sorrow that she poured out in those three words nearly broke the little pieces of Kakashi's already shattered heart.
"I wanted to share some news with you," she continued, her voice stronger as the words flowed, "You will be so jealous and you won't believe it, but I have a mission with that jerk of yours Kakashi."
Kakashi winced, did she have to say jerk?
"I know, I promise I won't fall in love with him, you saw him first. I just wanted to let you know so you didn't have to hear it from anyone else." Kakashi heard a rustling sound and then a plump that must have been Masumi lowering herself to sit in front of the monument.
"It's been a long time since I've visited, but to tell you the truth I haven't felt much like talking to anyone. I spoke with Lord Fourth, you know, Minato-sensei? I asked him if he could assign someone else, even though he made it clear I was perfect for the mission. He asked me why and I t-told him…", at this point her tears had renewed and she had to pause and blow her nose, "I told him that I wouldn't be able to work with the man who killed you."
At those words, all the blood in Kakashi's body had turned to ice. Yes, he had been the one who had punched a hole in Rin's chest with his Chidori, but, she had been the one who had put herself there. He rose to his feet once more and turned to go only to have her words stop him again.
"But Lord Fourth, he set me straight. You see, I never had the whole story. Rin-chan, I had no idea these last two years what had happened that night. I had no idea what the Hidden Mist had done to you. What they had placed inside of you. I know that you begged Kakashi to kill you, in order to protect the village, our families, and me. I know that Kakashi had refused, after coming all the way to rescue you. He thought that if he got you back to the Village that we could have saved you. But you knew better. As a result, you tricked Kakashi into….into what he did." Kakashi could see that Masumi couldn't say what he had done.
"So Rin, after all this time, ever since we were little, I think I finally understand why you loved Kakashi. I can't say that I will ever like him. He might be handsome if anyone could get a look at his face. But I promise that I will respect him, for what he did for you, even though it was the last thing he would have wanted to do."
Following this, Kakashi wasn't sure long he had sat there, unable to move, unable to think, barely able to breathe thanks to the tears that ran, unstoppable, down his face. He assumed that Masumi must have left at some point, but Kakashi had remained in his spot for hours. He, for the first time since Rin's death, felt that some, very small, part of his actions had been forgiven. And for him, it had been the first step to forgiving himself as much as he ever could.
From that point on, the two had fulfilled their mission for Lord Fourth flawlessly and even cordially. Though, in order for their relationship to progress past the point of tolerance, they both had to lose something more.
Masumi had finished her errands for the day which included going to the market, paying her rent and several other bills, checking her mail, along with a various assortment of other tasks. Overall, she was feeling quite satisfied concerning her progress and was looking forward to a quiet night at home. She rounded the last corner before she came to her street when she suddenly crossed paths with Kurenai.
"Oh Sumi-san, fancy meeting you here!" Kurenai greeted as her red eyes flashed with pleasure.
"Ah, yes, it's good to see you too, how is your day going?"
"Pretty well, say we never had the chance to completely catch-up last night, are you free?"
"Oh well I'm just finishing up some errands I neglected over the past few weeks, but I should be pretty free in about another hour or two."
"Perfect! Me and Anko-chan were going to go out for drinks, interested?"
"Sure, what time?"
"Seven at the usual spot?"
"Sounds great, see you there."
Well, so much for a quiet night at home, Sumi thought ironically to herself. She continued on her way after waving good-bye to Kurenai, completing her journey by bounding up the last few steps to her apartment. She took out her key, mentally steeling herself for engaging in social interaction for a few hours. Why can't I ever get a break?
