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chapter three//reconnaissance

Some distance into the forest, Sakura fumed. God, she hoped that her target wasn't that sick-minded.

Before she set up camp in a tree, though, she came to an abrupt realization.

That man had had only one eye.

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'You spent all that time, and you didn't notice who he was?' Inner Sakura made an appearance, berating Sakura for such a distinct lack of focus. 'You could have been killed!' Shaking her head, Sakura leaned her head back onto the large tree branch. She perched, listening intently to both her alter ego and her surroundings.

So maybe she had found her target already. He may not have been the most gentlemanly person, but he was definitely easy to spot in a crowd. Tall, fair, and…handsome? Before he had tried seducing her by the campfire, she had started thinking that he had a nonchalant sort of appeal. The way his hair had taken on a sort of sparkle from the fire, and the way his eye had held all sorts of emotion which she couldn't untangle.

The effect, of course, was quickly ruined after what he'd pulled.

'And you lost your temper.' True. As an ANBU agent, and a jounin at that, Sakura had been trained to keep her composure under pressure. She had once been attacked three-on-one, without weapons on hand. She had calmly high-kicked, low-sweeped and windmill-kicked her way out of that mess. She didn't even stop to wipe the sweat off of her forehead.

But here was this…this…Kakashi figure. Didn't even tell her his name before he put the moves on her. She could take on three full-grown men in an unfair fight, but she lost it completely when one idiot had…she couldn't even fathom her reaction. Maybe it was hormones. Yes, that was it. Her period must be coming up.

Except that, with all the physical activity agents went through, female agents rarely went through the menstruation cycle.

So what was it? Why so different, one time out of many?

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The next morning, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to kick the crap out of Kakashi, Sakura leapt from her tree and started traveling again. She walked quicker than normal, so as to minimize the time spent on such an annoying mission. Even with her heavy bag, Sakura reached Akatsuki before eleven in the morning. Deciding that her itinerary was more important than her emotions, she took a walk through the city before moving into her new apartment.

Analyzing the layout of the streets and alleys, Sakura mapped out all of the possible hotspots where her target could be found at various points during the day. Some thirty-odd clubs, bars, and…exotic dancer locales became imprinted in her mind. She even timed the travel time between all of the spots she had found.

That being said and done, Sakura made her way to her new home. 'Yokohama-san's Grand Deluxe.' She examined the gaudy sign, and then made her way inside. The place was clean, but definitely not as deluxe as it proclaimed itself to be. There was a gym for residents, and a small steam room, but no doormen waited to be of service.

At the desk, she rung the bell. A rather large woman came out from the office, and leaned heavily on chubby arms.

"Can I help you?"

"Hi, I'm Sakura…I'm renting an apartment here?"

The woman grunted, thumbing through several manila folders while her head rested on her hand. She pulled one out, opened it, and shoved several forms and papers at Sakura.

"Sign here, it's your rental agreement. And here's your liability form…here's a list of guidelines to living here: no pets, no smoking, no loud parties after 9 PM…"

Sakura did all that she was told, hoping to finally get out of this woman's bored clutches. Finally, the woman handed her a key.

"Room 214. Your roommate already checked in."

Sakura turned. Tsunade had never said anything about a roommate during her mission. Sakura would have a word with her when she could get her electronics together. Great, now she couldn't even do everything she needed to without some civilian asking questions. With her luck, she'd probably get someone who'd bring guys back to the room.

She could picture it now: she would walk into her new apartment, bags in hand, only to find some bimbo in skimpy clothes making out with some guy. When they'd hear the door open, the couple would break apart. Sakura would be on the receiving end of double death glares, as if she could help her timing.

Sakura was still thinking about this possibility when she stepped on and off the elevator. She found herself at the front door of room 214. The paint was yellowing, but it wasn't peeling off of the door just yet.

Sighing, she pulled the key out of her pocket, unlocked the door, and walked in to find a half-naked silver-haired man checking his senbon holster.

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Kakashi, once snubbed by Sakura, had hurried straight towards the city. He needed to work on his skills if he couldn't pick up a girl who wasn't completely soused. He also needed, as part of the same general mindset, to work on his mission plans. Kakashi wasn't normally one to put so much time into planning something—Neji normally did stuff like that, not him—but something about this mission bothered him. Something just hadn't seemed completely right about that girl he'd met in the forest, either. He hadn't even noticed her until she'd laughed at him for tripping on a stupid root. Pushing these worries aside, Kakashi set to finding his lodgings for the mission. He'd fix this mess later.

His building—Yokohama-san's Grand Deluxe—was a rather nondescript building towards the center of the city. Once he'd located it, he had immediately gone in to get his room. Normally late to everything, Kakashi surprised himself by showing up early to the apartment building office.

He walked in through the doors, only to find a heavy woman leaning on the counter waiting for him. He was a bit surprised—these places were never known for their fantastic service.

"You were supposed to be here yesterday." On the other hand, maybe he wasn't early to this thing after all.

"Yesterday? I was told by my…friend that this apartment would only be ready today."

"Your 'friend' was wrong. Because you weren't here on time, you've been placed with a roommate. Another renter was on time to his appointment with me, so he got your room. Lucky for you, your roommate didn't show up on time either. So it's tough luck for both of you."

This was great. Just peachy. Now he couldn't research this Ino person without having someone else breathing down his neck. He grabbed the key from the woman's hand, and found his new apartment. He listened at the door, but didn't hear anyone inside so he walked in and put his stuff down. It was now sometime in the early afternoon, and Kakashi had to start locating his target quickly. Putting the moves on a woman, he had recently learned, took much longer than he'd expected. After all, he'd never had to deal with long-term relationships before. This was new to him.

Kakashi took advantage of a warm shower before drying his hair and walking out into the main room. There was only one bedroom, with one bed—this would go well. He pushed this aside. He had places to go tonight. He strapped on his kunai holster to his upper arm, where it could be covered by civilian clothes yet still accessible. Then he took his senbon holster, unsure where to place it. In his thought, he didn't hear the key in the door. Just as he decided that he would put the senbon holster, Sakura walked in.

He turned. Her? Well, at least his roommate was pretty if not warm and friendly.

"Ah, Sakura was it?"

She ignored him, went into the bedroom, and started unpacking. He walked in behind her, and decided to poke a little fun.

"What, no hello for an old friend?"

That had gone a bit too far for Sakura's taste. She straightened, turned around, and looked him in the eye.

"An old friend? Is that what you are? Funny, I didn't know that perverts were starting to create new monikers for themselves. I didn't think that an 'old friend' would be so single-minded."

"Ah, so that's what this is. Well, unluckily for you, you've just walked into the only bedroom in this whole apartment. And you've got me as a roommate. We will make this work, and you will start by being nice."

"Nice? Fine. You'll start by sleeping on the couch and keeping your hands to yourself."

Kakashi backed away, and pulled some clothes out of his bag. He started getting dressed, and Sakura (behind a closed door) started doing the same. They both needed to get to the clubs—Sakura to drink off this unpleasant surprise, Kakashi to find Ino.

Sakura headed out the door of the apartment. She didn't care which clubs she frequented at this point. Now that Kakashi was her roommate, she only had to drug his food and drink before lugging him back home. The only real work left to do was to find out why he, in turn, was in Akatsuki in the first place.

Obviously, from the rooming accommodations, he wasn't planning on moving permanently or he'd have found a better place. Agents made money, Kakashi just wasn't spending it. So then, he was on a mission. But why? He was a killing agent. Could he be here to kill someone in the city? If so, there weren't many targets left because Sakura had killed them herself. So maybe he was on a similar mission as hers? After all, if Sharingan knew Tsunade was sending out agents, they would only do the same in kind.

Maybe she'd have to be nice after all. She no longer had to seduce men at clubs to get what she needed, but she did have to work out some information about him.

Whatever her new plans, she wouldn't start tonight. Now she just needed a welcome drink.

Sakura made her way to the bar furthest from her apartment. Maybe, she figured, Kakashi would slowly work his way out from the building. He wouldn't even reach this bar until a few weeks went by.

Once at the bar, Sakura ordered a Bloody Mary and sipped it solemnly. She felt a good buzz coming on with just one drink, and she was about to switch to soda when she heard a voice in her ear.

"Well, well. Look who I've found again? Miss me, Sakura?"

"Go away. Please, just for tonight, leave me alone."

"Fine. But I'll stay long enough to let you know that if you drink any more of that cocktail, you'll find men much more forward than I was. And you'll be unable to do anything to stop them."

Sakura reluctantly put down her drink, swiveled in the bar stool, and looked Kakashi in the eye.

"Whatever your name is…fine, see? It's down. Now I'm going home." She stood to go, and felt him looking at her. "Don't follow me…just stay here or something."

"Damn, you're bossy. Just…be careful. And the name's Kakashi."

As Sakura stepped through the door of the bar, a swift elbow drove its way into a pressure point in her neck. Her limp body was carried away, and nobody in the bar she'd left behind would know where she was being taken.

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A/N: Two chapters in one day? Wow…Look, I know that it's tough to write reviews. Just let me know that you read it, please? You can say simply "I hated it." Fine. I need feedback, though, to know how people feel about this story.