Chapter 2

"Just put it on, Leiji!" Tamako begged as she trailed behind her friend, holding out a tube of shiny red lip gloss. "It'll look good, I promise."

"I said no!" Leiji retorted as she stormed her way through the streets of Konoha, heading towards the coffee shop. "I already agreed to change my shirt and put shorts on, but this is too far. I'm not doing it."

"Oh, come on," Tamako begged. "A black t-shirt and a pair of shorts is hardly an outfit change! You need something to make yourself stand out for your date."

"It's not a date!" Leiji cried out in exasperation, and as she whirled around to face the blonde and really release her Uchiha fury, she found her lips being assaulted with the application brush and a layer of sticky gloss spread over her mouth. Curling her lip back in disgust, she took a step back and tried to wipe the substance off with the palm of her hand.

"There," Tamako declared proudly. "This stuff is designed to last twenty-four hours, so it's no use trying to take it off."

"This is cruel," she scowled.

"Trust me, I'm helping you," Tamako informed her. She took the hem of Leiji's shirt and tugged it down slightly, revealing a small amount of cleavage. "You really need to show off the goods more. I mean, they may be on the smaller side, but they look really nice."

Quickly pulling her shirt back into its proper place, Leiji gave her a deadly glare. "You are really testing my patience today."

"Oh, one more thing," Tamako continued as if she hadn't heard the Uchiha. She reached into purse and fished around for a moment before pulling out a small, square object and jamming it into Leiji's pocket. "You can't forget a condom for good luck!"

Rolling her eyes, Leiji removed the offending object from her pocket and dropped it back into Tamako's purse. "Would you give it up already? It's not like that. And even if it was, I have my own."

"You know, it's been so long they're all probably expired," Tamako teased, and when Leiji only crossed her arms and glared, she continued. "Besides, when was the last time you went on a date, let alone got laid?"

Leiji only scoffed at this. She had dated a few guys over the past three years and had only gotten intimate with a couple of them, unlike Tamako who, instead of dating, tended to sleep around with whoever she pleased. The relationships were all right, but she had never truly clicked with any of them. She also had a feeling that, deep down, a fear of her father had been the true end to all of her relationships.

Finally, she sighed and shook her head slowly. "I've been busy. Being ANBU is draining."

"Well now that you have some time off -."

"Enough," Leiji interrupted. "You're going to make me late. It's almost two."

"Fine," Tamako said with a grin. "Enjoy your date!" She bounced off before Leiji had another chance to protest.

Crossing her arms defiantly and rubbing her lips together in an attempt to get the sticky gloss off, Leiji walked to the coffee shop and leaned against the wall outside as she waited for Hachi. Tamako had good intentions. Leiji knew that. She also knew that she had a tendency to overwork herself and focus only on training when she wanted to build up a new technique. She was never one to focus much on dating. Even in her previous relationships, Leiji admitted she was a little checked out. She had liked the guys well enough, but she felt she had far more important things to think about.

When Hachi approached the shop, Leiji looked up and gave him a smirk. Tamako was good at reading too much into things. She and Hachi were once teammates, and they had always been friends. The two of them having coffee together was not an unusual event.

"Hey," he greeted. Glancing her over, he raised a brow and informed her, "You've got something on your face."

"It's Tamako's lip gloss," Leiji explained, fruitlessly attempting to wipe it off again. "She insisted. You know how she gets."

"She insisted on what? Making out with you?"

Narrowing her eyes, Leiji pulled back and slugged him in the arm. "You know what I meant."

"Sorry," he snickered and rubbed his arm lightly. "But you left me wide open there. I had to."

"You could be mature," Leiji said as she turned and walked into the shop. The smooth scent of freshly roasted coffee beans mixed with the aroma of homemade baked goods created a welcoming atmosphere and largely contributed to the popularity of the shop. It was often crowded with people, but during mid-afternoon, the shop was usually fairly empty, dotted with a few people here and there chatting the day away. With Hachi by her side, she walked up to the counter and examined the menu.

"I can be mature," Hachi informed her as he stepped up beside her. "And to prove it, I'm buying your coffee to celebrate your first mission as ANBU."

Leiji paused and reminded herself that this was not a date. "Fine. But I'm getting something expensive."

"Fine," Hachi agreed, unfazed. "It's not like us jounin are making genin wages. Throw a couple of scones in the order too, why don't you?"

"I hate sweets," Leiji reminded him and turned to the barista to place her order.

"I meant for me," Hachi countered before ordering his own drink. He made a show of ordering the most expensive scone on the menu and sat down in one of the overstuffed armchairs in a quiet corner of the café. He smirked as Leiji sat down across from him with her drink. "All right, I was promised a story about your mission."

"I already warned you, it's not very interesting." She took a small of sip of her coffee and found it still too hot to drink. "It was just to gather information on foreign relations. I spent some time in the Sand Village, Stone Village, Lightning Village…you get the picture. We talked about the recent amended peace treaties and advancements in shinobi technology, and then I brought all the information back to Naruto. That was it. For two months."

"You're right, that is boring," Hachi agreed. "Hope the next one has at least one run-in with an enemy."

"In these times of peace and alliances, it's unlikely," Leiji commented.

"Things can't remain peaceful forever," Hachi reminded her. "Not that I would want another war or anything, but ninja these days don't seem to be getting much real-world experience."

"It's true," Leiji agreed. "I've been hearing how lucky we are to grow up in times like these my whole life. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we don't have to go through what our parents did, but I haven't been doing all this training for nothing."

"Amen to that," Hachi said and tapped his coffee cup against hers in a cheers motion. "When's your next big important mission start?"

"Two weeks," Leiji sighed. "Naruto insisted I take a break."

"Two weeks?" Hachi cried in disbelief. "How come I never get time like that off?"

"Because you have genin to take care of," Leiji reminded him. "How are they, by the way?"

"They're fine. I mean, they're nothing like we were when we were genin, Yuki included," he said, referring to their third former teammate, "but they're passable. I won't be recommending them for the chuunin exams any time soon, though."

"Sounds like you're a pretty shitty sensei," Leiji said, casually sipping at her coffee.

"Ouch." Hachi clutched his chest as if he'd been struck. "That went deep."

"It's called constructive criticism."

"Actually, that's called being flat-out mean," Hachi corrected. "But that's okay, I can take it."

He leaned forward to set his empty cup on the small table between them, and Leiji caught herself admiring the way his shaggy brown hair fell into his lavender eyes. His arms were strong, and she could see his muscle tone even through his shirt sleeves. She always knew he was attractive, he had had his fair share of girlfriends in the past, but she realized she had never really taken the time to observe his handsome features herself.

As he sat back up, Leiji cursed herself for letting Tamako put ideas in her head. After all, this was positively not a date, and she and Hachi were just friends.

"What?" Hachi asked and Leiji realized she had been staring at him in silence for a little too long.

"Nothing," she said quickly. "I guess I'm still a little tired from the mission."

"That boring mission tired you out that much?" he asked with a smirk. "Maybe you're not ready for a tougher mission after all."

"Hey, I did a lot of travelling," Leiji said defensively. "My feet are tired."

"Aw, you poor thing," Hachi mocked. He patted his knee playfully. "Put them up here. I'll make them all better."

"That's gross. You're not touching my feet." She crossed her ankles together and leaned forward, moving her feet to rest beneath the chair.

"Fine, continue to be in pain then," Hachi said, unfazed. "But I'll have you know, I have magic fingers."

She faltered at the comment. Hachi was a joker, and he prided himself on making off-the-wall comments, and Leiji would normally just dismiss them as typical Hachi behavior. But, thanks to Tamako, she began to wonder if he was actually flirting with her. She also began to wonder how long he had been flirting, and how many times it had just gone right over her head. Suddenly, she felt like an idiot, and to make matters worse, she was struggling to respond with a snarky comeback, a skill she normally excelled at.

"Wow, you really are tired," Hachi finally said after giving her a few moments to respond. He stood and held a hand out to her. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

Rather than admit what she was really thinking, Leiji decided to play up the tired act and allowed him to help her up from the chair while faking a yawn. "I can walk myself home, you know."

"I never said you couldn't," Hachi pointed out, but he walked beside her regardless.

Looking down at her feet as they walked, Leiji made a mental note to absolutely destroy Tamako when she got home. Thanks to her, what would have been a normal, casual talk with a friend had turned into something that could have possibly, maybe, in a small way, been a date. Leiji also began to wonder just how many 'dates' she had been on with Hachi. She mentally kicked herself for even thinking such a thing.

"Are you okay?" Hachi asked slowly, ripping Leiji from her thoughts.

She looked up at him surprise. "Huh?"

"I said you better take it easy for the rest of the day," he repeated. "You really are out of it." He paused a block away from the Uchiha house and poked her lips lightly with his finger. "You should really take this stuff off. It looks ridiculous on you."

An unfamiliar fluttering took over Leiji's chest, and she briefly wondered if she might be dying. In an attempt to regain her composure, she batted his finger away gently and crossed her arms. "I'd love to, but Tamako said it'll last twenty-four hours."

"Huh. That's a shame."

Before Leiji had a chance to ask him just what he meant by that, he gave her a wave and one of his usual cocky smirks. "See you later," he said as he walked off.

With a huff, Leiji walked the rest of the way back to her house. It was still early, and she was hoping she might have the house to herself for a little while, but when she stepped inside there was a scuffling sound from the second floor and her hopes were shattered.

"I'm home," she sighed.

"No one cares," came Hideki's obnoxious voice followed by gales of laughter from his even more obnoxious friends.

"Great," Leiji muttered under her breath. She headed for the stairs and paused when that same earthy scent from the night before hit her again. She sniffed, unable to place the smell, and went up the stairs. She could hear Hideki and his friends talking from behind the closed door of his room. The smell had faded once again, but Leiji's curiosity was spiked. She opened the door without knocking and before Hideki could yell at her, asked, "What are you doing?"

"Nothing," Hideki said defensively. He sat on the floor with his guitar on his lap. Three of his friends sat around the room with him. Leiji recognized them but couldn't recall any of their names. She did, however, remember that she never really liked Hideki's taste in friends. They all looked shaggy and unkempt, which was the current trend in young teenage boys, and they all enjoyed making crude jokes, sometimes even at her expense.

"You know you're not supposed to have friends over when no one's home," Leiji reminded him.

"You're home," Hideki pointed out.

Leiji rolled her eyes and jerked her thumb towards the door. "Get out. All of you."

"What's up with your sister, dude?" one of his friends asked, and some inside joke sent the group into snickers.

"She's just being a bitch," Hideki stood and caught Leiji's eye, "as usual."

"That's right," Leiji agreed. "And the bitch wants to you all to leave. Go hang out at someone else's house for once."

"Fine," another friend piped up. "We can go to my place. My parents won't be home until later."

Leiji stood outside the doorway as the boys filed out of the room, and having caught scent of the strange smell again, she grabbed Hideki by the collar, holding him in place. "What's that smell?"

"What smell?" Hideki asked, trying to jerk out of her grip.

Leiji paused to sniff the air again, but it was gone. "Never mind," she said and released her grip on him. "Be home in time for dinner, okay? Mom gets mad when you come home late and whine about being hungry."

"Fine," he said grudgingly. "And will you stop embarrassing me in front of my friends?"

"No," Leiji said simply and retreated to her own room. She had a thing or two to yell at Tamako about.