Chapter 4

Kakashi's Pakkun was able to get an odor off the box before he blew it up but it wasn't a scent any of his dogs knew. He set the eight dogs up as patrol and left to let a number of trusted special jounin know what was going on to be on the safe side. Now that he had had a long day he was ready to sleep off the stress. He wound his way through the tunnels, knowing right where to go and how far he had left. He kept thinking back through the day but instead of coming up with clues he kept seeing beautiful images of her and her face…maybe he was loosing his mind.

Never had a woman plagued him like this. Her with her brilliant green eyes, long blonde hair and ideal mouth…yep, he had lost his mind.

He opened the door expecting the couch to be free but she was there. Her hair was draped over the armrest, the right side of her face resting on her upper right arm and her legs tucked to the left.

'Could it be I'm falling in--?' he cut off the thought so it wouldn't manifest. 'No, for one thing, I can't …' he paused in thought as he gently moved some hairs off of her face and saw her lips. 'No, she wouldn't choose someone like me.'

Kakashi softly picked her up cradle-style and started for the bedroom. Seeing that her sister was asleep in the bed, he felt okay with entering, and only the cat looked to see who it was prior to laying his head back down. Kakashi had never had to deal with this kind of situation before, especially feeling weird things for a talented ninja.

After placing her down she stirred toward him and grabbed his collar. His wasn't sure what to do but she moaned softly and let go gradually. His heart was pounding as he got his hand out from underneath her shoulder. In the process of freeing his arm, some of the wrapping on her upper arm came undone and revealed the skin there. Seeing a scar, he had to look again.

'I wonder how she got that…' Kakashi then pulled the covers up to her collarbone to tuck her in.

Not able to resist it anymore, Kakashi swept her hair back from her face and cupped her jaw lightly. With his thumb he felt the softness of her face and he was surprised how it looked just like it felt. Suddenly he heard purring and wasn't sure where it was coming from. Within a moment, he understood when his pinky could feel the vibration under her jaw.

'Well, it seems she got a little bit of her mother in her after all,' he thought smiling. Ignoring the sensation it was giving him he started to walk out and then noticed two sets of eyes on him. Feeling his face go warm he nodded at Nyoko and Takahiro before shutting the door behind him. He sighed from getting caught and wasn't sure what they thought of him now.

'Better to get some rest than worry about it though…'

Kakashi laid out the blanket and settled into the couch not worrying about sleeping in his clothes but he took off the vest to make it more comfortable. Thinking he was going to fall asleep quickly was a mistake…disappointingly.

'The last thing I should be doing is losing sleep because of a woman.' But he couldn't do much about it considering everything he did the last two days had everything to do with her. Trying to think back to all the people he knew who would want revenge for things that he had prevented made him finally fall into a light slumber.

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Nyoko was the first to wake up, again with Takahiro licking her face roughly but in his own little way of showing her he loved her. She pushed him away as usual then got up groggily and padded to the kitchen to feed him. Passing the sofa made her remember that Kakashi had stayed there also.

'Oops, better not wake him up…' and shushed Takahiro with her finger. In the kitchen she made sure not to make much noise then flipped her omelet onto her plate. Nyoko peered into the living room again to check his status then whispered to her eating cat, "Do you think he's a match for Aya?"

Takahiro licked his whiskers in between bites and looked over at the sleeping jounin. Looking back at Nyoko he started purring loudly.

"Do you think they'll choose to love one another?" she whispered after he started eating again. This time the cat meowed softly his "I don't know."

"Hm," she buzzed softly before taking a thoughtful bite of egg. She soon forgot her contemplation of her sister and Kakashi and started pondering on Kiba. The interesting young man had been the first to challenge her in a weird way, and she was convinced that he was too charming for his own good. Unintentionally she shivered thinking about how he could read some of her thoughts and make her laugh and mad at the same time. Maybe they were too similar on the inside to match up well, but then, she didn't care much about opposites attracting. Her opposite would be way too boring for her to stand. She needed someone who was confident, but not arrogant; handsome, but not perfect; and wise, but not judgmental.

'It's not like I know that much about Kiba-kun…and I don't admit liking him like that…but he can be sweet when he wants to be. He also has the cutest grin'— she stopped herself before she got carried away.

"Takahiro, what do you think of Akamaru?" Takahiro puffed his fur up and growled menacingly. "That's what I thought…" she said heavily and gave him a reproachful eye.

Nyoko then heard the door to the bedroom open and saw Aya pad across the floor, stop at Kakashi's sleeping form, and keep walking toward the kitchen.

"Did you find everything alright?"

"Hai," Nyoko answered as she took another bite.

"This place is nicely stocked with food. I wonder who keeps it so freshly supplied," her older sister replied looking through the refrigerator. Making her own omelet, Ayaka wasn't as careful with being quiet.

Not surprising to Nyoko, Kakashi walked into the kitchen a little after Aya sat a plate down on the table. Ayaka smiled brightly and motioned for him to sit at the plate she set down.

'Did she plan that?' Nyoko thought as he obediently sat.

"Ohayou," he said to the two women and the cat. Ayaka answered accordingly and he made eye contact with Nyoko.

She smiled at him sweetly and they both looked down at Takahiro who meowed before purring loudly.

Nyoko did realize he had eaten by the time she looked back after putting her plate in the sink and washing it off. Her sister didn't seem to mind because she sat down, noticed the plate, and proceeded to salt her omelet. It was still strange to her that he covered his face from everyone all the time.

"You like?" Aya questioned Kakashi but when he looked up at her he didn't answer. "Ne?" He seemed to snap out of his thoughtful state soon after her question and answered with a couple "hai's" as he nodded and got up to wash his plate in the sink.

Nyoko tipped her head at Takahiro and they left the room closing the door to the bedroom behind them.

Ayaka lifted her brow in confusion before asking, "What's the matter, Kakashi?"

He had his back to her and was still rinsing his plate, "Aa…iie."

"Are you sure?"

"Hai…"

"Are we going to work from here now that someone is trying to hurt one of us or do we go work in the mansion under heavy guard?" she inquired getting away from the conversation topic that was going nowhere.

"At the mansion, it'll be easier to be on site for the job instead of transporting all the documents here."

"I see. How many people know we're being targeted?"

"Tsunade and twenty trusted special jounin, one including Kiba so that he could get his family's dogs on the hunt for whoever is trying to do this."

"Excellent, when do we leave for the mansion?"

"As soon as we're ready."

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"We found them and they put up a nice fight. We had to defeat them otherwise they would have gotten away," the four were told when they came for their report from Tsunade.

"Who were they?" Kakashi asked trying to find out who was being targeted.

"The most information we got from them was that they wanted something the girls have. They didn't specify. Also, they had no markings from any country or criminal records."

"They couldn't have been that good, or that determined, if they didn't face us in person," Aya thought out loud.

"Good point," Shizune said from the right side of the desk.

"I'm just glad they're taken care of so I don't have to be looking over my shoulder all the time…" Nyoko whispered.

"You're sure they were all captured?" Kakashi questioned.

"Yes, one said how they should have had more men than just the two but his partner was too mad to make a reply," Tsunade said reading the report.

"Does that mean they will send more men in place of those we caught?"

"It could mean that, but we have doubled the men around Konoha and set up those who can dispel through techniques of concealment to check everyone who enters the gates. We are not taking any chances."

"We appreciate that Tsunade Hime," Ayaka stated from the right side of Kakashi.

"Does that mean I can go train while you work?" Nyoko inquired happily from her spot on Kakashi's left.

"Yes, but make sure you never leave Kiba's side in case something happens," Aya responded.

"Fine, oi, Kakashi, where could I find Kiba about now?"

Nyoko was feeling better about how the day looked now that things were safe, for the moment. Kakashi claimed he wasn't sure where he'd be by now but his sister would know. Getting the directions from Shizune, Nyoko and Takahiro bolted down the stairs and headed for Kiba's house.

Arriving within twenty minutes, they both approached the front door and Nyoko knocked politely. Takahiro sniffed the air and meowed to Nyoko.

"I know there are more than just dogs around here, silly, I'm told his sister is a vet."

Promptly the door opened and a tall young woman was wiping her hands on her apron. She had the same red fangs on her cheeks as Kiba so Nyoko guessed she was related.

"Can I help you?" the woman asked and spied Takahiro.

"My name is Nyoko and this is my cat Takahiro. I'm looking for Kiba, is he around by chance?"

"Pleased to meet you, I'm Hana. My little brother left early this morning and I'm not sure when he will return. Is there a message you would like to leave him?"

"Hm…" Nyoko remembered that Ino and Sakura were going to be at the flower shop this morning so she told Hana that if he came here to let him know she would be with Ino and Sakura.