Hey people!

I'm immensely sorry about not updating my story for such a long time!

I would like to thank Animelover07 for sending me the review that woke me up and told me that I still needed to finish this story! As for your review: I can't promise a thing, but I'll hope you'll like the story whatever the outcome will be (I can't promise anything because I haven't thought of an ending yet... I'm thinking it up as I go along...)

Anyways, here's the fourth chapter of my story, I hope you enjoy! Leave a review if you can please!!

The scheme

Lies! All lies! Sakura is back at home and throws her pillow against the wall. For the last hour she had been throwing out anything Kakashi had given her so far, the only thing that is still reminding her if him at this point is the flower that had lost one leaf. The premonition. Kunoichi class had once again been correct.

There is a knock on her door and even though Sakura is not in the mood to talk to anyone, she knows she can't hide from her mother. "Enter..." she says with a sigh and she sits down on the bed.

Her mother enters the room, carrying a tray with a teapot and two cups, apparently she wishes to talk to her. She puts the tray on the small table beside her bed and sits down next to her daughter.

Sakura wishes she would just leave and merely stares at the opposite wall.

"Are you alright, Sakura?" her mother asks, she sounds sincerely frightened for the wellbeing of her daughter.

Sakura looks around her half demolished room, that would be enough indication that everything is not alright, but she decides that lying is better in any way because that might make her leave sooner. "I'm fine mom." she says in a monotone voice, she tries to put up a smile, but she can't get further than a shaky grin and that doesn't seem to convince her mother.

"Come on girl, you know that if there's one person you can't lie to, it'd be me. I've known you your whole life!" her mother says, making a very valid point.

"I don't mean to lie..." Sakura says, her heart pounding, there have been enough lies already. Without warning, her tears flow from her eyes and she can't stop her mouth from telling her mother the whole story. Her mother pours her tea and listens intently.

Kakashi lies on his bed, he had sent Iruka away after that kiss, saying he really needed time to think. Yes, that made Iruka sad, yes, that made Iruka angry, but what else could he do? He wasn't about to cheat on Sakura any longer, he just needs to find a way to tell Iruka this news. How can he? Especially after what happened today, there is no way he could possibly tell the Chuunin that he does not want to continue this... whatever it is that is going on between them. Yet he knows he wants to continue being with Sakura, he loves her and she loves him. Also, she has been hurt more than enough, she shouldn't be hurt any more, she is too special for that, too precious for him.

Yet another knock on his door startles him from his strange thoughts and he stands up, walking towards the door. If it's Iruka again, what should he do? He shakes his head, he'll just make it up as he goes along. He opens the door and for a moment it looks as if there's no one there, but then he looks down and notices a small boy with a guilty grin on his face, he looks as if he's expecting a beating. "Yes, Konohamaru, what can I do for you?" Kakashi asks. Konohamaru stress at his feet and doesn't know what to say exactly. "I found out a secret today..." he manages to say after a while. Kakashi cocks an eyebrow and says: "Really? What did you find out, Konohamaru?"

Konohamaru looks up at the Jounin and swallows nervously. "I... there was a letter... in the classroom... from Iruka-sensei... for you..." he murmurs. "It said something about being in love with you and... k-kissing you... and stuff..." he tries to look everywhere except for at the towering Jounin and he can feel tension building up.

Kakashi sighs. "I see." he merely says. "What about that letter?"

Konohamaru looks at him. "So it's true then?" he wonders, but after a quick glance at the Jounin's warning eye, he shakes his head and continues. "I secretly read that letter... and got caught by Iruka-sensei..." he takes a deep breath. "Iruka-sensei became really angry at me and started yelling... I tried to apologies, but he just kept yelling at me... and then I got angry..." he tries to justify his own actions, he doesn't want Kakashi to get angry at him. "Naruto had let me in on yet another secret... about you and Sakura... and ehm... I sort of told Iruka-sensei about that..."

Konohamaru looks ready to flee at any time, but Kakashi seems to stay calm. That seems to set Konohamaru a little more at ease. "So... I came here to warn you about that..." he says softly. "Iruka-sensei wasn't really all too happy with the news..."

Kakashi sniggers a little. "You're a bit late, Konohamaru, Iruka-sensei has already visited me about that. But I appreciate your honesty." he says. Konohamaru breaths a sigh of relief. "I'm glad you're not angry with me, Kakashi-sensei." he says. "I should go home now... I'm not allowed to leave the house at this hour." he tells him and he runs away.

Kakashi shakes his head in disbelief and closes the door. Well, at least now he knows how Iruka found out about all this.

That night, Sakura lies in her bed, not ready to go to sleep just yet.

Her mother had given her a very strange option that she would never have dared to hear from her.

Plot a scheme to find out about Kakashi's true intentions. She could do that, of course, she could try to do something that would throw Kakashi off guard, that would make him reconsider his feelings. She could also just confront him with the truth, but for some reason, she thinks that would just scare him off, or else make him choose her while his real feelings are still all jumbled up.

The problem is: she can't really think of a scheme that would make him think about what he's doing. Maybe she should ask help from some friends. Ino, Naruto and Sasuke are all friends that know about her and Kakashi, maybe she could ask for their help. Yes, she'll ask them tomorrow.

Content with her scheming so far, her eyes finally close and she drifts off into a wild night of sleep filled with kisses and guys touching guys and anger and deceit.

The next morning, she wakes up, feeling just as tired as the night before and possibly even more fixed on revenge. She eats a quick breakfast, gets dressed, does her hair and make-up and then runs up to Naruto's house. After knocking ten times, which is usually enough to wake him up, she is quite assured that he's not home. With a frown on her forehead, she decides to go over to Ino.

The Yamanaka flower shop is opened already and Sakura hopes that Ino doesn't have to work today so that they can talk quietly.

For once, her hopes are realised when she sees Ino's mother standing behind the counter.

"Sakura-chan! How lovely to see you again!" she says. Sakura manages to smile at her and then asks: "Is Ino home? I'd like to talk to her." Ino's mother nods. "Yes dear, she's probably still in her bedroom getting dressed or something."

Sakura nods and thanks the woman before running into the house and up to what she knows to be Ino's bedroom. She knows a few times and hears: "Enter!" Sakura storms into the room and nearly bumps into Ino in the process. Ino starts to laugh for a moment. "Take it easy, Sakura, the last time I saw you this hyperactive was when you had just found out about Naruto and Sasuke." she says, but then her smile leaves her face. "What's wrong?"

Sakura starts pacing up and down the room, telling Ino everything she had heard and seen last evening. Ino listens intently, feeling quite sorry for the girl she had so often seen as her biggest rival. When Sakura gets to the part where she tells about the scheme she is trying to plan, Ino starts to grin broadly. "That's my Sakura! I finally start to recognise you again!" she says appreciatively. Sakura smiles a little as well. "So you'll help me?" she asks and Ino nods. "Count on it, wouldn't miss it for the world. So you said that you wanted Naruto and Sasuke to be in on it as well?" she asks, now starting to pace as well as she tries to think of a scheme of some sort.

Sakura nods back. "Yes, I have to work with them a lot, they'll notice if something is wrong, so I might just as well tell them... plus they have ehm... firsthand experience with the gay stuff and all. Naruto isn't home though, I've already checked." she keeps pacing in Ino's opposite direction.

"Of course he isn't..." Ino immediately says. "He spends almost every night over at the Uchiha residence, seeing as it's bigger than his own house." Sakura chuckles, of course, she could've known. "Let's go over there then." she decides.

They make a quick stop at Sakura's house, informing her mother that they are going ahead with the scheme and that Kakashi can't know that anything's wrong, but that he should, instead be overwhelmed with compliments about how good he is to Sakura and how glad her mother is that he is her boyfriend. Sakura's mother winces a moment, but then nods and winks at the two of them. "Count on it to be done."

After that, Sakura and Ino leave for the Uchiha residence. Once they've arrived, they knock on the door, there is a quick rustle and a hastily yelled 'just a minute!' and after a few seconds a half dressed Sasuke opens the door. "Sakura, Ino, quite the surprise, I wasn't aware that we had a mission today?" he asks, sounding disturbed.

Sakura and Ino look at each other for a moment and grin, they don't even wish to know in what way the boys were disturbed. "It might be called a private mission." Ino simply says and after a quick explanation the two girls are invited in. Naruto just exits the bedroom, looking at the two girls and greeting them with a casual wave of his hand. After Naruto is also informed on the situation, they sit down at the table to discuss their options.

Kakashi wakes up, feeling quite lonely. Maybe Sakura would be available for some leisure time. It would certainly distract his guilty mind and it would help him fortify his decision. With a quick nod he puts on some casual clothing and he leaves for Sakura's place, stopping on his way to pick up a box of her favourite chocolate.

With a quick knock on the door and a deep breath, he waits to be allowed entrance. When the door opens, however, it is Sakura's mother who answers. "Kakashi-san! What a nice surprise!" she says, sounding sincerely surprised at him being there. Kakashi chuckles a little. "I know, Sakura and I didn't plan on meeting today, but I was hoping she would be available for a little date or something." He says, rubbing the back of his head.

Sakura's mother looks a bit saddened. "I'm very sorry, Kakashi, I'm afraid she's not home right now, she's out with Ino." She tells him, not sure whether or not she is feeling sorry for this man, in all sincerity, she feels somewhat close to strangling this man for hurting her only daughter.

Kakashi nods, sighing a heavy sigh. "Well, in that case, would you care for a box of chocolate? It's Sakura's favourite, but I hope you'll enjoy it as well." He says with a slight smile, from which he knows it will not be seen. Sakura's mother looks at the box of chocolate and smiles back at him. "Kakashi-san, I'm flattered!" she says, taking the box out of his hand. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were hitting on me!" it was not meant as a joke, even though she did put it as one, it was meant to sincerely hurt the man with his own incompetence to keep his hormones in check.

"It was not meant as an attempt to hit on you, Haruno-san." Kakashi says with a slight chuckle, one seduction a day is more than enough.

"I know, I know. You would never do that to my little girl, I trust you to be a fine boyfriend, else I would never have allowed you near my daughter." Sakura's mother says to make matters worse. It seems to have worked, Kakashi grows rigid for a moment before turning away. "Will you tell Sakura I've stopped by?" he asks with his back turned on the woman. "Of course dear, I'll tell her as soon as she gets home!" she says with a happy voice.

Kakashi nods and walks away. That visit did not help his feelings much. Apparently, Sakura's mother has such a high standard of him that just being around her hurts him more than he'd expected. She trusts him near her daughter, thinks that he's a trustworthy boyfriend, while all he believes himself to be right now is a downright failure as one. He should neither be trusted or allowed to come near Sakura.

He makes up his mind and walks over to the academy. Iruka is no doubt teaching there right now, but it's almost time for recess so he'll just wait out his time before telling him to stay out of his love life.

When he reaches the gates of the school, he notices Sasuke and Naruto standing there, they're having his back to him and are whispering about something. He sneaks closer, curiosity taking over from his common sense to walk up to them and greet them.

"You can't be serious though..." Sasuke says, sounding astounded and close to laughter. Naruto shakes his head vigorously. "Yes, I've seen it with my own eyes!" he says. Sasuke shakes his head and folds his arms. "Well, if you're right, we should really tell Kakashi-sensei." He says softly, sounding a lot more serious. Kakashi edges a little closer, what's going on? What would be happening? Naruto makes some sort of disagreeing noise. "I don't know... he fell in love with Sakura, he told her he'd never leave her, didn't he? Well, what he actually said was that he would never become gay..." this makes both Sasuke and Naruto laugh for a moment. "That's not something you can promise, either you are or you aren't." Sasuke admits, knowing firsthand how true it is. Naruto nods. "Well anyway, he has made that promise and yet..." he falls silent once more. Kakashi would love to disconnect his ears from his body in order to edge even closer without being spotted. What's the matter with Sakura? Does she know anything? Do Naruto and Sasuke know about what has happened between him and Iruka? Maybe Konohamaru had come to apologise to Naruto as well. But what is it that he should know then? That Sakura knows about him and Iruka? He shakes his head and decides to listen to the rest of the story. "And yet it appears that Sakura has reverted to the other side?" Sasuke finishes Naruto's sentence.

Naruto folds his arms. "Well, it sure looked like that from where I was standing, they were being very... familiar with each other, like they were just... beginning something... remember how that was with us? I'm telling you, it was the same with them!" he's nearly shouting now.

Kakashi feels his vision spinning for a moment. He was being terrified for something that might not even be necessary? If Sakura turns out as a lesbian, she would want to stay with Ino, so in that case, he wouldn't have to hurt anyone and he could safely choose Iruka.

He turns away from the academy gates and walks back over to his house, deep in thoughts.

From the window of a certain classroom, Iruka looks down upon the thoughtful Jounin and smiles. Maybe some time soon, he will come back for him.

Naruto and Sasuke watch their sensei walk away, slight grins on their faces. "Step one of our private mission is complete. You'd better go and tell Sakura, I'll follow Kakashi and monitor his movements. If anything changes I'll let you know. Be ready for the unexpected." Sasuke says, immediately sneaking after Kakashi in a very stealthy way. Naruto nods and runs over to Sakura's house where she hopefully informed her mother of what they are planning to do.

Sakura's mother looks really doubtful "Are you sure about this? I mean, it's a really big thing to do?" she asks her daughter. Sakura and Ino nod. "Yes, it is, but what better way is there to make Kakashi think about what he has done, or is doing, than by making him experience the same thing?" Ino tells Sakura's mother. Sakura's mother nods. "So basically, you want to pretend like you're having a starting relationship with Ino, you're still quite insecure about those feelings and you don't wish to inform Kakashi until you're sure about your feelings for Ino." Sakura's mother sums up. Sakura nods. "Do I know about all this?" Sakura's mother now asks. Both Sakura and Ino shake their heads. "You don't have a clue, you continue liking Kakashi and try to act as ignorant as possible." Sakura says with a chuckle. Sakura's mother grins widely. "I might just enjoy my part in this." She admits. "Care for a chocolate?" she offers the two girls the box of chocolates Kakashi had dropped off earlier. A quick knock on the door draws their attention and Sakura goes over to answer it. "Naruto." She says happily. "Come on in. I just finished informing my mother of our plan." Naruto nods and walks inside. "I hope you can agree on it." He says with a slight smile. Sakura's mother replies with a devious grin of her own. "Oh yes, I think I'll enjoy my part in this play quite a lot." She says, rubbing her hands together as if she's getting ready for battle.

Naruto nods and turns towards Sakura and Ino. "The bait has been placed, Kakashi heard everything we were saying and left, seemingly quite in thought about what he had just heard. Sasuke is following him, we should probably get ready for the next step." He says, sounding somewhat like a military officer. Ino and Sakura look at each other. "Well, in that case, I'll be going home, I'll see you once the time has come." Ino says, patting Sakura casually on her shoulder. Sakura grins, getting hold of Ino's arm and turning her around. "You can count on that, lover." She says in a played fashion, pulling Ino into her arms.

"Now you're getting the hang of it!" Naruto says, laughing out loud.

Ino breaks loose of the embrace and runs out of the house, narrowly avoiding the doorpost as she goes. "I don't believe she was expecting that." Sakura's mother says and from the tone of her voice, she didn't really expect this either.

Kakashi has reached his house and steps inside. The walk home has changed his feelings considerably. He can't quite believe that Sakura would fall in love with a woman, especially not after what happened to her with Naruto and Sasuke. Maybe what is happening is because of all that has happened to her before. She did really love Sasuke after all and she had always been under the impression that Naruto loved her. Maybe her feelings of insecurity towards men had prompted her to make this decision. Then again, her insecurity wouldn't grow if she knew what was going on between him and Iruka of course.

Besides that, there is also the possibility that Naruto misread Sakura and Ino's intentions, but from what he knows about Naruto's judge of character, it seems unlikely that Naruto had misread the signals.

He sits down on a kitchen chair ruffling his hair and groaning loudly. This could simplify matters immensely, he could allow Sakura to choose for Ino and he wouldn't have to hurt anyone, but does he really want to end up with Iruka? Even worse, could he really leave Sakura? The thought of saying goodbye to her really hurts him a lot. He shakes his head, not knowing exactly what to make of this entire situation. He stands up and walks towards the door, but then changes his mind and he walks back to the living room. Thinking for just one moment, he decides to do something he probably shouldn't do. He's going to ask Sakura to join her on a date downtown. Dinner in a fancy restaurant, maybe a movie in a real cinema. He leaves the house and walks down the street, not in a hurry, his messed up brains might well be throwing some sense at him somewhere halfway on route to Sakura's house. In his busy thinking state he misses Sasuke running past him on the roof of a city block.

Sasuke reaches Sakura's house and knocks three times. Sakura opens the door and merely nods. It's time to act, she now knows. She sends Sasuke and Naruto away and runs up to her bedroom, changing her clothes and re-doing her hair, she'll have to look as if she's planning on having a nice night with someone.

She's finished in record time, but she doesn't go downstairs just yet, instead she paces up and down the room, feeling more and more insecure about this plan with every single second that passes.

Finally she sums up the courage to go downstairs, just on time to hear yet another knock on the door. Seeing as both Naruto and Sasuke have been here already, it can only mean that it will be Kakashi this time. She runs down the stairs and opens the door, her heart immediately jumping towards her chest when she sees Kakashi in his very casual outfit of tight jeans, t-shirt and short sleeved jacket. Instead of commenting about it, however, she acts shocked. "Kakashi...! What are you doing here?" she asks, pretending to feel just a little bit guilty.

Kakashi cocks an eyebrow. "I was planning to ask you out on a date, but it appears that I have startled you somehow." He has a bad feeling about this. Sakura looks gorgeous, too nice for a casual night out with friends.

Sakura stares at the floor. "I'm so sorry, Kakashi, I've made other plans for tonight." She says, sounding apologetic. Kakashi stares intently at her. "I see, what kind of plans?" he wishes to know.

Sakura looks up at Kakashi, smiling a little. "I've been invited over for dinner at Ino's place. Her parents aren't home tonight and she hates to eat alone. Since Sasuke is no longer available to either of us, we've become quite better friends than we used to be." Sakura stares openly into Kakashi's eyes for one moment and can see the doubt and fear in them, she can't hold the glare much longer, feeling a bit too guilty for deceiving him like this.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, maybe tomorrow evening?" she asks, being careful to put a hopeful tone in her voice. Kakashi nods. "Sure, then I'll pick you up at seven?" he asks, trying not to think the worst of this situation. Sakura nods and skip walks passed the man. "I'll see you tomorrow, Kakashi!" she says happily, kissing him on his mask-concealed face. After that the runs down the street and knocks on Ino's door. Ino is quick to open and this time, she freely hugs the girl in front of her.

Kakashi feels fear downing in his guts as he walks passed them, the two seem a bit too comfortable around each other just to be friends.

Sakura looks around as Kakashi leaves, taking a deep breath as he goes.

The game has started, now there is no turning back.

~to be continued