Chapter 1: A Lie Can Be a Convenient Means to an End

Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes to memorize the sounds. Birds singing to one another in romantic tunes, calling to end their loneliness. Insects rustling in the tall grasses, shaking the dew from their legs. Wind rustling through the trees, tossing her hair around her shoulders. Sun beating down on her face, glinting off her headband. She remembered it. His voice rasping as he cried out her name. His body hitching as her blade pierced his shoulder. His lips twitching a sad smile as she screamed at him.

And she ran. As long, as hard as she could. Until Konoha was a distant memory.

But it did feel good to be back.

The men at the front gates gave her a once over with leering eyes, either recognizing her name or admiring her abdomen beneath her cropped mesh shirt. She gave them a wink when they assured her 'all was together', leaving them blushing as they checked her team's passports. Stepping into the village, the sights and sounds bombarded her. Things she thought she had escaped. The candied chestnuts' smell from Amaguriama tickled her nose. Beautiful floret arrangements from Yamanaka Flowers tucked behind the ears of passing girls. And glaring down at her the Hokages carved into the mountainside.

She smiled, red lips stretching at the smell coming from her favorite ramen shop – Ramen Ichiraku. Stomach growling, she glanced over her shoulder to see her three genin hesitantly walking into Konohagakure.

"Tanak-sensei!" Taika ran up beside her, "I'm hungry!"

Tanak gestured to the restaurant in front of them, "I promise this will be your favorite place in the entire village."

"That's not saying much." Tanak glanced to her left as another of her genin walked up, hiding her pale face beneath a parasol that cast a purple shadow on the ground. She wore a dissatisfied expression as she looked at where her sensei suggested they eat, "Is there nowhere else?"

"You're just spoiled, Lyoko," Taika retorted.

Lyoko rolled her eyes, "I have a more refined taste in food."

"Round up Tauro and we can grab lunch."

Tanak looked around, laughing with a shake of her head when she saw her last genin using his effortless charm to send passing kunoichi off with a giggle and a blush. Hands on her hips, she shook her head while he continued chasing after any pretty girl that noticed him. When he saw his sensei glaring at him, he apologetically smiled and ran over to them.

"Tanak- sensei, you failed to mention that Konoha littered the streets with beautiful women," he mused.

"I didn't realize a thirteen year old boy would concern himself with girls." She flicked him behind the ear, "But we aren't here for you to find a date."

"I figured it would help pass the time before this chūnin exam."

"You're clearly not meant to rise above the genin rank…" Lyoko drawled.

"What did you say?!"

Tanak tuned out their little spat, closing her eyes. She smelled it, that heady musk that used to suffocate her in their fits of passion. A chill rippled down her spine. His hands tangled in her hair. His hips crushed hers. His breath burned her cheeks. They flooded back. Those restless nights she sought in the arms of other men in hopes to leave him behind. Seems like you're hard to forget. Hands clenching into fists, she opened her eyes.

"Tanak?"

Seven years hadn't changed him much, if at all. He hardly seemed a day older, though dressed in looser clothing beneath his flak jacket. She couldn't help wondering if he was as sculpted as he used to be, but shook away the thought of seeing him naked. Doubt he's let himself go. And he still insisted on covering his face. Not that she minded. She used to have such pride in being the only one who knew what was underneath.

The look he gave her, dumbfounded and livid, made her heart sink, as if he needed to touch her to know she was real, though punching her would have sufficed.

Just like old times.

"Well, well, well…" Lips parting in a cheeky smile as if she could taunt him with the gesture, she set her hands on her hips, "…if it isn't Hatake Kakashi." She twirled a strand of long, ivory white hair around her fingers, "Did you miss me?"

His hands clenched and unclenched in fists. He breathed deeply. His lips pursed. His brows knitted. He gave her a once over, taking in the accentuated curve of her figure hidden beneath tight black pants and a mesh top. He forced a smile, "You look good."

She wrinkled her nose. Subtle as usual. Not that she expected him to fall to his knees and worship her. But hadn't he missed her? Or had her words sunk in after all this time? She stepped a little closer to him, a smirk slinking across her lips, "You've hardly changed." She pretended to study him as she circled around, tapping her chin in thought, "Though admittedly your uniform is a bit drab."

"Some of us choose more practical attire." She caught his lingering eye on her bosom, which made her scowl, "Though I suppose your reputation precedes you."

Laughing to brush off the insult, she shrugged while walking over to where her genin stood whispering to each other, "My body is a weapon regardless of how I choose to dress it."

"A weapon in more than one way…" She wasn't sure she heard him correctly. Trying to hide the blush in her cheeks, she watched him jam his hands into his pockets while staring at the ninja band she wore across her forehead, "When did you become a sensei in Amegakure?"

She waved her hand dismissively, "I do believe we're being quite rude!" Her team gave her uneasy stares, "We can reminisce later." She pushed her genin in front of herself, "Meet Oshiro Tauro, Miyata Taika, and Saito Lyoko. Team 14 from Amegakure."

He seemed less than impressed with her subject change but chose to follow suit, "Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke. Team 7 from Konohagakure."

Tanak stared at the black haired boy, a brooding, but handsome genin that reminded her of Kakashi. His eyes were most interesting, shrouded by loneliness and grief, but burning with hatred. There was no mistaking his lineage, "I'm sure they're a formidable team having been trained by you."

"You're not one for genuine flattery."

She rolled her eyes, "I said formidable. That doesn't mean they stack up against my team."

Taika sprinted forward, intercepting the punch aimed for her sensei. Taking the blonde's arm, she flipped him over her back. Tanak tried to hide her laughter, but bellowed at Kakashi's wide eyed gaze.

"Who do you think you are?!" Naruto shouted while picking himself off the ground and pointing at Tanak.

She grinned, eyes flickering gleefully, "It's a long list…"

"Team 7. Meet Kōsetsu Tanak." Kakashi paused, contemplating how to describe her in a few words other than slut, traitor, and bitch, "Ex-ANBU squad member, ex-Konoha jōnin, ex-"

"Girlfriend?" Sakura squeaked.

Tanak's cheeks flushed red and she quickly turned her back in hopes no one noticed. Kakashi cleared his throat several times, his cool demeanor washed from his face. They caught each other's gaze, and for a moment she saw a flicker of that hunger he used to have for her. That ravenous appetite that had them tearing at each other's closed and tumbling against the wall.

He shook his head to regain his composure, "Ex-confidant to the Hokage."

"That's one way to describe me." Tanak rolled her eyes with a dramatic flourish, huffing, "Suppose I should just tell him myself." She held her hand out as a truce, "I am Kōsetsu Tanak. Sensei to Amegakure's Team 14."

Naruto just stared at her hand, crossing his arms over his chest, "You don't look like much."

Tanak smirked, winking at him, "Tits and an ass can be misleading." She patted him on the head before gesturing with her chin for her team to follow her, "Loved catching up, Kakashi!"

Once out of earshot, Tanak breathed a sigh of relief and slumped into the nearest seat at the ramen shop. She was midway through ordering food when her team surrounded her.

"Could there have been any more sexual tension between you two?" Tauro chirped, bursting from the seams with amusement.

"You weren't just comrades were you?" Taika giggled.

Tanak continued to ignore them, ordering her ramen and shoving as many noodles into her mouth at once. She nearly choked trying to swallow all of it, but it was better than admitting anything.

"Come on, Tanak-sensei!" Tauro grew impatient, "It's obvious you two had a thing."

Lyoko rolled her eyes, stealing the bowl of ramen that Tauro had just ordered, "Calling it a 'thing' sounds juvenile."

Tauro growled in agitation, but became distracted as another bowl of ramen was placed in front of him, "Well, she's not going to tell us what it actually was."

Tanak slammed her hand on the table, silencing them with an icy glare that made them shiver, "It was a childhood infatuation that turned into nothing. Happy now?"

Lyoko stared at her, not buying her sensei's remark, but deciding not to press her about it. Pressing her palms together, she said a quiet prayer before picking up her chopsticks and venturing to take a bite from her ramen. She glanced to her left to watch Tauro slurp every noodle with a smile that could split his cheeks. Swallowing slowly, she admitted to herself that it wasn't as bad as she expected. As she reduced her meal to the chicken broth, she lifted the bowl to her lips and slowly drank the warm liquid, casting glances at Tanak, who kept tapping her chopsticks on the edge of the table while staring off to the left.

. . . .

Konohagakure was the last place he expected to see her. He'd finally convinced himself that she was gone from his life. He had stopped thinking about her! Well, that wasn't entirely true…but he busied himself with his team once he had been dismissed as an ANBU squad leader. That kept the memories at bay. It irritated him to know she was still beautiful and much more aware of that, and he could only imagine how often she used that to her advantage. He used to have pride in being the one she came home to, but just the thought of her brought his blood to boil.

And all she could say was "Did you miss me"? What did she think he had been doing when she turned her back on him? When she disappeared for seven years? She made it hard to forget her. Showing up in Konoha with a different headband and a team of genin, he began to question if it was even the same woman.

"Who'd have known Kakashi-sensei was a babe-magnet?" Naruto said, nudging Sakura, "That lady was a fox-"

"There's got to be more to it than that." Sakura made sure Kakashi was out of earshot, "There was so much tension between them, but Kakashi-sensei looked a little sad…"

"What do you mean?"

"It was when he first saw her." Sasuke kept his voice lowered, interrupting their conversation, "Almost like he didn't believe it."

"I wonder if she broke his heart…?" Sakura muttered.

Naruto shook his head, "There's no way! Kakashi-sensei isn't soft!"

Sakura smacked him upside the head, "Men fall in love too, you idiot!"

"There's probably more to it than just heartbreak…" Sasuke mumbled, though his teammates weren't listening.

"There's one way to find out." Sakura yelled, "Kakashi-sensei!" She skipped up alongside him, sheepishly smiling, "That woman we met. She's not just an old comrade is she?"

He mused to himself for a moment, thinking through his response, "Not exactly…"

"That's so romantic!" Sakura held her hands against her heart, "A forbidden love between shinobi from different villages, reunited after once fighting beside each other in their youth-"

"You're getting ahead of yourself." Kakashi cut her off with a laugh, "It wasn't anything that dramatic. She once lived here and then she left."

"That's all you're going to tell us?" Naruto hung his head in disappointment, "But there was so much tension!"

"But not for the reason you think."

Kakashi decided against telling her anything else. He still needed more information on how she managed to gain residency in Amegakure. Though he had a hunch about it, he found that thought only made him angrier at her. Wonder who you had to sleep with…? Waving a goodbye to his team with instructions to make their decision about the Chūnin Exam, he ascended to the roofs of Konoha, perching so he could overlook the village. He needed to find the Hokage and ask about a course of action. Tanak remained an A-Rank shinobi and by all technicalities a nukenin, but he had made the mistake of not finding her when she left.

Sitting back on his legs, he tried ignoring his throbbing ribcage. His shoulder's oozing wound. His exhausted chakra stores. What energy remained was focused on trying to stay upright before the Hokage's desk. But every muscle shook, every bone rattled. His head pounded as he tried to piece together what had happened. Disbelief ate at him like vultures on a rotting corpse. Nothing he said to her, no confession, no apology convinced her to stay.

She had taken so much from him. Head bowed before the Hokage, he couldn't even find the energy to cry. He just stared absently at the floor, awaiting instruction. Or question. Or comfort.

"Where is she headed?"

He clenched his hands into fists, resting them on his thighs in an effort to hold himself together as his shaking body threatened to send him face first into the floor, "I don't know."

"Why did she leave?"

He breathed in deeply, trying to control his erratic heartbeat, "I don't know."

"What does she intend to do-?"

"I don't know!" His voice broke. He pursed his lips, shaking his head, "She wouldn't tell me anything."

The Sandaime Hokage shook his head, sighing heavily while peering at him from his desk, "She's a dangerous shinobi. With her intentions unclear, we will need to track her down-"

"Please, no!" Kakashi struggled to his feet, swaying unsteadily while clutching his shoulder. Blood, wet and warm, seeped between his fingers, "I know Tanak, she doesn't have any designs against Konoha."

"How can you be certain of that?" Hiruzen stared at him, knowing full well the degree in which Kakashi knew Tanak. He could feel the pain in the young man radiate through the room, the anger in his eyes begging for an answer that didn't mean killing her, "She left Konoha. She left you. What makes you think anything she's said up to this point is the truth?"

Kakashi could feel them burning in his eyes, tears pushing at the corners until he forced himself to turn around. Wiping them away furiously, he sniffled a couple times. He didn't want to believe what she said hours ago, her denouncement of any form of affection between them. It was only an act to make leaving easier, but it all came crashing down on his shoulders. Maybe she did mean it, maybe that was her way of telling him she was about to do something she would regret? He glanced over his shoulder, "If you want to track her down, then I request you let me do it. There's no one in Konoha who knows her better."

"But the order I give may not be one you are willing to carry out." Hiruzen folded his fingers together in thought, "If she won't return willingly to Konoha to face trial, then she must be eliminated."

Kakashi nodded his head, "Give me the chance to speak to her."

"What closure would that give you?"

Starting to walk towards the door, a faint smile crept onto his lips, "I'll just know if she meant it all."

"And if she did?"

"Then I will be the one to kill her."

He thought he had searched for her with every skill he possessed. But maybe somewhere in his youth, he didn't want to carry out his promise to kill her? He just wanted to believe she left with no malicious plans against Konoha. To see her again, affiliated with another village… He worried that he had overlooked something.

Grimacing, he decided to visit the Hokage and ask for a course of action. She had never made a move against Konoha, and he wondered if she was even listed in the Bingo Books. But as he started moving across the rooftops, he saw something below. Stopping, he stifled a laugh at the woman with long, ivory hair that glimmered like a polished pearl sitting on a cloth of silk. He had to admit, he liked the color pink on her, but only the soft pink that reminded him of cherry blossoms in the winter. As she drew a parasol above her head, he figured the Hokage could wait while he followed her.