Rise and Fall

A/N: There's some, uh, rather un-samurai like dialogue, and some of Kakashi's thoughts are…futuristic;3 (call it me breaking some sort of wall, be it fourth, the brick-wall…etc.) but I couldn't help it XD it was too good to pass up guys!

~xxx~

"Captain…"

Kakashi groaned, throwing his arm over his face as he rolled to his side, still very much asleep.

"Captain…"

Kakashi reached down and pulled his blanket over his head, hoping that the thin sheet would be enough to ward off his attacker.

"Kakashi, if you don't wake up I will strip down naked and crawl under that blanket with you, and… We. Will. Cuddle."

Mentally, he weighed his options. Naked Genma crawling into his bed versus waking up and working… he really didn't want to work- naked Genma was by far the better choice. Wait…Genma?

Kakashi pulled the blanket down just far enough for him to look up at his rude awakening, he scowled. "Where's Sakura?"

The lieutenant only waved his hand in a gesture Kakashi could only interpret as: 'she's fine', "She's with Aiko, and I had Gai tag along for good measures."

Gai was a good choice. If Aiko even looked at Sakura wrong, he'd be all over them. Total cock block, he thought. A small part of him wished he was there to watch Aiko, grumbling and mortified, getting flustered because Gai could effectively block all come ons with just a simple thumbs up and a 'go power of youth'.

Kakashi sighed and tossed his blankets back as he sat up. He rubbed his face and threw his legs over the side, his bare feet touching the cold wooden floor. "What time is it?"

"Early evening, sun is setting. I slept some earlier too, so I'll take night watch with you but you need to reassign sentry duty, it's been a week." Genma told Kakashi as he sat on the bed next to him. "The men are annoyed, at best. Especially Naruto, Sai and Sasuke. They've been on Aiko duty."

Kakashi nodded and stood, slowly stripping his sleeping clothes off. He slipped his robe from his shoulders and he grabbed another shirt and pulled it over his head and repeated the action with his pants. He looked to Genma who sat, half-dressed in his armor. "Where are your shoulder and arm plates?"

He looked odd in half regalia, though he'd admit it looked much more comfortable.

"It's warm outside, and those things are heavy. It's not like anything is going to happen. Battlement guards are too plentiful to let anything slip through, so I'm lightening the load a little." Genma reached out and grabbed Kakashi's helmet from his nightstand and pulled it on over his head, "And these things are stupid."

"Not in a fight." Kakashi murmured as he started strapping his leg armor on. He glanced up at Genma and smiled as he watched the other man flop out on his bed, groaning obnoxiously.

"Oh, Kakashi…." Genma cooed jokingly, while indiscreetly rubbing his hands over his chest plate. "My, my Captain…"

Kakashi couldn't help the stupid grin that broke across his face as he stood and went to the bed, standing over Genma. His friend winked up at him. "Enjoying yourself?"

"Oh, yes, Kakashi…" With one good, loud groan Genma rolled off of the bed unceremoniously, making sure to make as much noise as humanly possible in the process. "Not so rough, Kakashi… I sit on that."

Kakashi pressed his hand to his face as he started to laugh, it was a poor attempt to stifle the noise and many footsteps could be heard walking, or rather, rushing down the hall. He shook his head, what was a little fun?

"If you'd sit still, we'd be done already…" Kakashi said mock-sternly, his hands falling to his hips.

Whispers could be heard from the other side of his door now, and he and Genma smirked at each other. There were many reasons Genma was his best friend, he thought, and his jests were just one of the many. Kakashi pointed to his window and walked across the room to it, slowly sliding it open. Genma nodded and crawled across the floor so that his boots didn't make noise. He stood quietly and slipped out it, helping Kakashi with his decent shortly after.

"Oh god Kakashi, it's too much…"

They ducked beneath the window frame, covering their mouths to stifle the giggles that wanted to come out as the off duty men filled his room, given away by the sound of wood grains sliding together, searching for them. After a few more moments and a only some left, going to search the rooms next to his.

"You'd think they'd learn." Genma said.

"Mmm, but they don't. Gets 'um every time." Kakashi laughed as he stood. He dusted his clean pants and waved at his men from the window. "Yo."

A few more of them grumbled and left the room, realizing they'd fallen yet again for the Kakashi and Genma sexing joke. Others looked on at Kakashi confused, then to his mussed bed and scattered clothes, and then back again at their captain.

"What just happened?" Asked Naruto as he scratched the back of his head. "Where's Genma?"

Sasuke shook his head and grabbed Naruto's other hand about the wrist, his long pale fingers gripping him tightly. "Come on, dobe." Naruto pulled his hand away and glared at the younger Uchiha brother.

"Wait a second, teme. I got a bone to pick with Captain." Crystal blue eyes looked across the room to the window, pupils narrowing. "We've been on Aiko for a week. Reassign us… please?"

Kakashi leaned forward resting his forearms on the sill of the window. "How about garden patrol, then? Sasuke, the west gardens, Naruto east and Sai north. Genma and I will watch the south. I'll put Iruka, Izumo and Kotetsu on the brat."

Naruto's entire body relaxed and he punched a fist into the air. "Yeah! I love garden duty!"

Even Sasuke, who was dragging Naruto out by the collar of his shirt, seemed pleased with this choice, and as they left to find the third member of their platoon, Kakashi turned his head to Genma.

"Who'd I put on as sentries for supper?"

Genma shrugged, "I think it was Hayate and Itachi, but I'm not certain."

"Good enough." Kakashi nodded and straightened the rest of his uniform, "Come on. We've a princess to attend to."

~xxx: xxx :xxx~

"…my father… throne when he was just my age… royal prowess….elegant coloring….strong familial ties…a few kids… consummate our marriage… "

Sakura struggled to keep her eyes open as she listened to Aiko drone on about his family history, or at least, that's what she thought he was going on about. He'd mentioned his father a few times, and something about emperors in general. Oh, she couldn't forget the sex. He seemed fixated on the 'consummation of marriage'. She'd stopped paying attention the moment he'd opened his pompous mouth.

She was thankful for the awkward, green-clad guard who had been tailing them a good length of the morning and afternoon. Gai, she thought his name was. He was effective at reflecting Aiko's sexual advances, though pathetic tries they were. A kiss here, and a few gropes there.

She looked to Gai, who was also looking quite sleepy and smiled. He'd probably heard this stupid story a thousand times. If she married this stupid prick, was she going to have to hear it repeatedly too?

Oh god, she thought. She hoped not, she'd sooner willingly fall ill to the plague.

"Milady." She heard a voice softly say. Something within her stirred at the sound of the word. Her stranger.

Sakura turned, coming face to face with Kakashi and her expression lit. "Hatake-san." She murmured with a smile, and then she looked to Genma who stood at Kakashi's side. "Shiranui-san."

Genma simply nodded in respect and Kakashi smiled at her, giving her a cheesy two-finger salute. Aiko cleared his throat behind her, obviously annoyed that his monologue/rant had been disrupted by the change in guards.

Inwardly, it made her smile. Take that, prick.

"Hatake." Aiko mumbled stiffly, turning his nose up to the captain as he strode by him. "I regret to inform you that I must be off. I shall see you later, my Sakura," At this he lifted her hand to his lips and smeared a kiss over her knuckles. She shuddered. "My father and I have a meeting with diplomats from a neighboring country. Come, Maito."

Gai muttered something unintelligible under his breath, then bowed to Kakashi and Genma as he left. "Good day, may the power of youth aid you in your tasks…" and as he began strolling away, Sakura heard him mutter, "…Because it won't help mine."

As Aiko strode away, an air of arrogance in his inelegant gait, Genma couldn't help but to snicker and had to excuse himself for a few moments in an attempt to gather his composure once more.

"My apologies for Lieutenant Shiranui's behavior, Milady." Kakashi bowed to her as an act of contrition, dipping his upper body lower than her height.

"Stand up." She said firmly, "The formality isn't necessary."

Kakashi stood erect, but shifted uncomfortably to the left. "I believe it is, Haruno-sama."

"My name is Sakura, and I expect you to call me by such."

~xxx~

This woman was going to drive him nuts. It wasn't arrogance in her words, it was a plea; one backed by a natural self-assurance. She was going to have her way, one way or another in this matter.

He didn't feel comfortable calling her Sakura, yet, at least. A first name basis was considered disrespectful when their relationship was nothing more that…than that of a heiress and her guard. Platonic in the worst way, he thought.

God knew he wanted, genuinely wanted, to call her Sakura and make her feel more comfortable, but… he couldn't bring himself to cross that line. It was so…personal.

"Perhaps we may reach a compromise, milady. Would it be all right if I called you Lady Sakura?" Kakashi cleared his throat; "Forgive me if my being so formal bothers you."

Sakura pursed her lips with thought, "Why won't you call me just 'Sakura'? Would it be all right if I called you Kakashi? Just Kakashi?"

"If you so wish to."

"Give it up, Haruno-sama." Genma drawled lightly as he came back from behind Kakashi. "Kakashi here is a perfect gentleman." He slapped his hand onto one of Kakashi's shoulders and gave it a light squeeze. "Isn't that right, Captain Kakashi?"

Perfect gentleman? It sounded to Kakashi like Genma was sucking up for something.

"It's odd having so many people speak so…highly of and to me, especially when just yesterday I was barely earning enough money to feed myself." She admitted with a light blush spreading across her nose. "I don't like having so many people at my beck and call."

"Would you like to take a walk through the gardens, Mil- Lady Sakura?" Kakashi asked hesitantly. "Genma and I are good for more things than just sitting about making you look pretty."

And she did look pretty, beautiful even, though he doubted it had anything to do with Genma or himself. She wore a wonderfully dark blue kimono, with embroidered silver birds and white clouds. The obi that wrapped around her waist was a sinful red, and the clash of contrasting colors just seemed to bring out her own natural beauty, accenting her alabaster skin.

Kakashi wondered if this was how the emperor that lost title had felt when he'd first met Hideko. Had his heart ached like this, or had it beat like his was beating now? Surely it had to have. Kakashi had never experienced such a raw feeling.

Was this…lust? Or was it something more? He wondered.

~xxx: xxx :xxx~

The gardens were beautiful. Even with the sun setting, he found the colors of the various flowers to be exquisitely beautiful. Did she?

He hoped she did. Of all the places he went to escape from it all, his duties, Aiko…occasionally Genma and the other guards, the gardens were favorite. She needn't look very far to find them from her private quarters either, the south garden was but a few feet away.

He'd love to wake to the elegant view every morning, and who knew, perhaps as her guard, he could. Night patrol could grow on him.

But there was that little voice in the back of his head telling him it wasn't just the flowers he wanted to see every morning. Not the cherry blossoms, but Sakura herself. It was preposterous and he immediately pushed away the thought…sort of. He more or less tucked it away for later ponderings with Genma.

"Do you like them?" He asked softly watching as Sakura stood gazing at vividly orange and white lilies.

She nodded, her pink hair falling loose from the high bun on top of her head. "Yes. They're lovely. This whole place is lovely, like a fairytale really. Which are your favorites?" She asked, turning to him with a wide grin that seemed to light her face.

He cleared his throats, "I like the roses and tulips, but, honestly, the cherry and peach blossoms are my favorite."

"Cherry blossoms haven't bloomed yet." She told him with the same grin still on her face. "Not for a few more weeks, at least."

He felt his heart beat a little faster. "Yes, I know. As I also know when they're out I won't be able to look away from them. What beautiful things they are."

Her cheeks seemed to color slightly at this, and he wondered if she didn't pick up at his not so subtle come ons even though he knew they could be nothing more than just words. She was engaged to the prince. He wasn't to fall in love with her, or even hint that he thought her beautiful.

Her viridian eyes met his, and as they caught the light of the setting sun he felt his heart nearly stop. Aiko didn't deserve someone as beautiful as she, and he scolded himself. Where were these thoughts coming from? She wasn't his. He didn't deserve her either, and he was no better than the men he followed for thinking so low of them.

"You're thinking too hard, Kakashi." She said sweetly, strolling to a newly blossomed blue hydrangea. "I much prefer pink ones." Her bright eyes were half-lidded and focused on him. It sent chills racing up his spine.

Was it bad that he liked this feeling? Did Genma notice?

Kakashi nodded, "Yes. I as well." He looked to his lieutenant and spoke, hoping to draw the attention away from himself, "Genma, what about you?"

"Blue. Pink's not my color." Genma answer gruffly, poking at the stems of the newly planted white roses. "These things have thorns the size of my thumb. Do you think they're sharp- Ouch!" Genma yelped, jerking his hand backwards away from the flowers. He shook it a few times before putting his finger in his mouth.

Kakashi stared disbelievingly; questioning Genma's intelligence while Sakura watched him with an amused smile tilting up the corners of her mouth. He wasn't sure to laugh at his friend, or scold him for being so…so…

"You're so stupid!" Sakura laughed.

Yeah, that worked.

"Whaa?" the lieutenant whined. "You're nice. When some stranger comes to steal you away, I'm just going to watch and let him and then I'll call out 'you're so stupid'. See how you like that." He turned and crossed his arms over his chest, sticking his chin up with a childish pout.

Kakashi knew Genma hadn't noticed it but when he said that, the bit about the stranger, Sakura's eyes had shot to him. He'd seen it, that subtle movement of green. What did that mean?

~xxx~

\

Oh, Genma…she thought inwardly. If only you knew! I wish my stranger would scoop me up and take me away, but he seems rather…oblivious. Though his comments about cherry blossoms earlier had managed to make her smile, and flush even. She remembered long ago when her father had told her why he'd named her Sakura, and while when he told the story is was sweet and was created by a father's love, when Kakashi said they were beautiful it was oddly intimate.

Did he find her just as beautiful as the flowers in the trees? More so; or less?

Did her stranger want to steal her away?

She was hoping for far too much, she told herself. They barely knew each other and he was simply her guard. Why was she pulled to him so? She'd never felt like this. Never had anyone managed to catch her attention with just a look. A single look.

She sighed inwardly and glanced up at Kakashi and Genma, the both of them climbing a large magnolia tree, seeing who could scale the tree quickest.

She laughed as she watched.

"Come on, Captain!" Genma taunted, "Keep up."

She heard Kakashi growl something that sounded like, "Sentry Duty" but she wasn't quite sure what that meant. What ever it was, it was enough to have Genma falter in his climb and yell a quick, "you deranged bastard!".

"Can we hurry this up?" Sakura asked with a smile as she sat on one of the stone benches beneath the tree. "I should like to go to bed before sunrise."

"They do that all the time." A soft feminine voice said in Sakura's ear. She turned her head to meet a crystalline blue gaze and long blonde hair.

"Hello." Sakura said slowly.

"Hello." The woman cheered, "I'm Ino." Ino took a seat next to Sakura and looked up the tree at Genma and Kakashi. "Who's winning?"

"They're about even now, I think." Sakura said before holding her hand out to the woman, "I'm Sakura."

She was beautiful, this Ino woman, Sakura thought. Young and pretty…and well endowed, though not as much so as the young attendant to the empress she'd met earlier with Gai and Aiko. Hinata she thought her name was, something like that. Everyone around here seemed much more elegant in their features than she did. She was small chested, had a large forehead…and her body certainly didn't curve and slope the way Ino's did, despite the bulky kimono the woman wore.

Sakura envied her.

"It's nice to meet you, Sakura-sama. I'm you're attendant." She smiled.

"I really don't need one…"

"Nonsense." Ino scoffed, holding her hand up, "You need an attendant. A confident. Someone to keep an eye out for you! That's my job now."

Sakura was slightly puzzled. "Keep an eye out for me? Kakashi and Genma are doing a fine job."

Ino huffed heavily, "Which one of those freaks do you think wanted me to be your attendant?"

"Kakashi?"

"Bulls-eye, girlie. He requested I offer to work under you, you know, for girl things. There's only so much dumb and dumber up there can do. Pay is good, very good and it gets me out of the gardens for a while."

Sakura liked Ino. She didn't seem intimidated that she was now 'heiress', but she certainly liked to talk and it made her smile. She could see them becoming friends, and it made Sakura just a bit more comfortable in the role. "You work in the gardens?"

"Who do you think plants most of these?" She laughed, "My father and I! When the Empress is well rested, she helps out here too. She's a sweet lady and I don't know how she ever got married to that…that animal of a man…. I feel bad for you having to marry that cocky ass of an heir. I mean, who does he think he is strutting around like he owns everyone, ya' know?"

"What exactly do you do as an attendant?"

"I'm kind of like your own personal servant, but don't you think for one second I'm going to do everything for you! You aren't helpless."

Sakura pulled the girl into a hug, "Finally, someone treating me like a human."

~xxx~

Genma and Kakashi peered down at the girls, watching as they conversed. Kakashi felt a twinge of guilt after hearing Sakura's loudly declared statement.

"Good to see they hit it off." Genma muttered, tapping Kakashi's side with his foot. The captain sighed and lightly pushed back, paying no real mind to his lieutenant. "What's wrong with you?"

Kakashi shrugged. "I don't know."

"Bullshit." Genma hissed. "What's wrong, Kakashi?"

"She was the girl I was watching in the Land of Waves." He admitted softly. "There's just something about her that makes me feel…I don't know…different. Lost, if I need to title it."

Both fell silent for a few long moments. "I'm going to give you a bit of advice, Kakashi, because I care greatly for you."

Blue eyes met brown in the dark, silently willing him to go onward with his words.

"Never let her out of your sight. Never let your guard down. Never fall in love."

Words to live by, Kakashi thought. Those were words to live by.