Sorry this took so long... I was attempting another story...
"I'd think you would be over the clothes crisis by now, you've been dating the guy for what, three/four months" Haruka picked up a rainbow tie-dyed shirt eyeing it scornfully.
Hanare glared at her former team mate, "(1) It's been a month (2) Shut it (3) Give me that! I made it back when we were in the academy!" snatching the ragged shirt that was still five sizes too big to fit her slender body.
Sometimes she wondered how she had managed to put up with Haruka for all these years, she was vain and judgemental and for the life of her could never keep her mouth shut. She was also very lucky. She was one of those people that always came out on top of everything without breaking a sweat and people naturally gravitated towards her. Truly, she was not that bad, she was clever and essentially a good person. Years of being the centre of attention, always having women surrounding her or men grovelling at her feet had gotten to her. Hanare thought that everything about her was typical, the typical kind of girl raised in a respected clan, she had this typical sort of beauty, the kind you see on magazines everyday and eventually just bypass the front cover of to read the pages inside and Haruka was a typical, run of the mill jonin, the kind that would never be on the front lines but close enough for people to still worship her for.
Hanare on the other hand, would probably be behind enemy lines with one or two allies at her side, gathering information, leaking rumours and setting traps. Not as glamorous, but still a hell of alot more dangerous.
Hanare's brother chose that moment to pop his head though her bedroom door and announce that he was leaving for his mission in Suna, and seeing the piles of clothes on the bed continued, "Are you going out with Kakashi-san again? That's the third time this week"
"Will you SHUT UP, I'm not 'going out' with him. I am going to TRAIN with him" Hanare emphasized.
"Just saying, you must really like him if you give up all your free time to be with him." Daisuke droned his hands folded at the back of his head. A pillow slammed into that head with enough force to push him out of the room. "At least you're not using any pointy missiles these days" he rubbed his forehead and waved goodbye.
It was true though, after the tenth mark she had made throwing various weapons at her brothers head to chase him out of her room she decided the wall had suffered enough.
"So when is the wedding exactly?" Haruka raised a perfect eye brow at her.
"I wish I knew" Hanare answered exasperated; "I don't even think I can say we're dating, all we do on our training dates is actually train."
"Really?" Haruka retorted her voice laced with sarcasm, "All you do for HOURS, ALONE, TOGETHER, is train for HOURS, ALONE...TOGETHER?"
"Well yeah, we train and either he kicks my ass, or he lets me kick his ass and then we just talk about stuff, anything really." She felt a pang of guilt as she had conveniently forgotten to mention all the hand holding they had done during their mission.
"And nothing ever happened?" Haruka asked completely sure by now that something had happened. Ah, there is was, the reason she could stand her former team mate, Haruka could read her like a book. It was scary sometimes that Haruka understood what Hanare was thinking before she herself did. That and the fact that Haruka was extremely fun to hang out with, as long as they didn't have anything too serious to discuss.
Avoiding direct eye contact and making the excuse that she was late gave Hanare the chance to kick Haruka out without answering; this was probably counter productive in any case, avoiding eye contact and not answering a simple question was not the way to go about lieing to someone, and this came from a professional lier.
In addition, she was definitely not late, it seemed impossible to be late when Hatake Kakashi was involved and she, herself, wasn't exactly known for being on time for things so that was saying something. Their first training date he showed up an hour after the time they were supposed to meet, seriously denting Hanare's optimism as well as her ego. By the second day she had gone off wandering, assuming that he would be just as late, only to find him a short distance away at the memorial stone. He was sitting crossed leg on the ground before it deep in thought, occasionally shrugging or nodding or shaking his head at himself. Well, she talked to herself enough times to not find that too odd. But nevertheless she retreated and waited at training ground 8 where they had agreed to meet. Now, Hanare was experienced and knew to reach a half hour late and then she would only have to wait about 5 minutes before Kakashi would show up. Today, when Hanare would arrive though, she would be pleasantly be surprised that Kakashi would already be there, waiting on her.
Kakashi thought it was maddening waiting on his Hana to arrive. If this was how she felt everyday waiting on him, he would seriously have to reconsider his timing. "His Hana" God why did he have to have thoughts like that? In the past month he had changed his mind so many times he wasn't sure which course of action he was following today.
The first day had been easy enough; he was just not going to show up. Getting involved with anyone was just too troublesome and could become complicated. He knew he had a great amount of affection for her but that was as far as he would let it develop and seeing her again might rekindle some of those feelings he had successfully smothered. Looking at the names of his friends who were no longer alive reminded him that he was not the kind of person who was able to find love and keep that for the entirety of his life. It was a nice thought but the statistics that 50% of shinobi didn't live to reach middle age wasn't all that reassuring that the entirety of his life would be much longer. Hanare herself fell into that category and if either of them became too attached and that happened, it would be too painful and he admitted that he cared for her enough not to dare put her in that situation. So there it was, he would just not show up and if she ever saw him and asked he would make up and excuse and then excuse himself, simple.
Now he had the whole day to do whatever he wanted, getting back to ANBU Headquarters and doing some work there would be the ideal thing to do. But. Hanare was also an ANBU operative, one that was getting promoted in a few months time. He wondered if she knew about her promotion and then realised that this would put the two of them in very close proximity and very often at that. He then thought of their conversation a few weeks ago about the ANBU organisation and its secrets, she would know he was Head of Operations now, Head of Black Opps. He then thought of their time together, their animated conversations and the accidental night they had shared a bed. How hopeful and content he felt when he dozed off next to her and woke up to find her still there. He didn't know how wonderful it was to have someone there that he deeply cared for, for an entire blissful night together and wake up holding her soft warm hand.
He remembered the serene feeling she gave him, then the strange anger that boiled inside him at the thought of losing her. Then again, denial was calling his name.
"It's better this way" he told himself, but the hollow feeling inside him persisted. He didn't want to hurt her after all, maybe he would just go and tell her he was busy and that she was a good friend and then forget all this had ever happened and move on. She certainly didn't have any shortage of men pinning after her. His stomach sunk further and he found himself on his feet to go look for Hanare, just Hanare, not 'HIS Hana' to tell her what he just decided. Then he realised his stroll down memory lane had taken longer than expected and he was probably over an hour late, she would have left by now, no way would she still be waiting. But there she was, on training ground 8, waiting for him. Just one look at her and those feelings he had been suppressing blazed up and he heard himself apologise, saw himself fence with her and then invite her back in 2 day's time.
The next day was the hardest. At sunrise he arrived at the training ground, did a few hundred laps in the crisp dewy air to clear his head and settled in his usual spot at the memorial stone. The hole in his chest had miraculously disappeared for those few hours he had spent with Hanare and in the two days they were apart, he had never expected to feel his chest so heavy. Now that he was mere hours from seeing her again his entire body buzzed with anticipation, against the orders of his mind he might add. Just not showing up was obviously out of the question. Right, time to start acting like the genius everyone told him he was. He had already listed all the reasons not to pursue the Tigress of the Hidden Leaf, now he started to list the reasons why he should.
She was beautiful. (but beauty fades)
She was beautiful on the inside as well. (nothing to combat that one)
She was easy to talk to and he loved talking to her. (there were other people to talk to...but he wouldn't talk to other people the way he talked to her)
He would die a virgin. (nothing his first one night stand couldn't fix... no he wouldn't do that, he was, by far, more self disciplined than his sensei and had some standards which was more than his sensei's sensei did, plus he was fully content handling his 'business' himself and with Icha Icha Paradise and Icha Icha Tactics and hopefully some more sequels on the way what more could he ask for?) (Maybe some actual fulfilment instead of contentment would be nice and he could just imagine Hanare under him on his bed, her slim waist and round backside with those full breasts, doing the position on page 64...OkNextPoint...) he shook his head of that image when he realised the tingling between his legs was significantly increasing)
He was now in the middle of his twenties and the same age as his sensei when he had gotten married... and had his son exactly nine months later (Kakashi never really saw himself as a father anyway) (ok maybe on that one to, the thought of some little kakashi-s and Hana-s did something strange to his heart)
She had this soothing effect on him that also made him want to be on his toes whenever she was around. (he had no idea what that was about)
She was a strong, powerful kunoichi. Her chances of survival were double that of a normal shinobi with those man eating tigers she called her "darlings" alone. Plus, with her new position as head of the ANBU intelligence she would rarely have to do any field work... wait double back to number 3... ofcourse she was easy to talk to, her job requires her to weasel information out of people by any means necessary. Need to think about that point more.)
If he knew he had her to stand by and quite possibly some children of his own he would always make it to go back home to them.
He groaned and thought, "maybe children are a bit rushing into things, I'm not sure she likes me that much anyhow, let alone her feelings of wanting to reproduce with me"
He allowed his mind to wonder and pick up where he left off with his previous vision of Hanare pressed into his mattress under him.
After that he was called away on business to escort the Hokage to a meeting with the fire lord and didn't see his Hanare for two weeks. Ok twelve days and eight hours, but who was counting? All he was concerned about when he made it back to the village was seeing her. He ached to see her and once he did he could not seem to quench his desire to be near her. Maybe three days in a row were a bit obvious but he didn't care. Yesterday he had been pleasantly surprised when he reached over to place his hand under the first instalment of the Icha Icha series to explain what a 'switch hitter' meant when both his hands fell onto her's supporting the underside of the book. He played it off and didn't react but Hanare visibly flinched and glanced sideways at him for an instant. Whether due to his explanation or their contact he wasn't sure. But he sure as hell didn't move his hands away until long after his explanation was over.
When Hanare finally arrived hours later she couldn't believe what she was seeing, kakashi propped up against a shady tree, his book in his lap, completely dozed off. She had to wipe her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Firstly, kakashi was there before her, secondly he was probably there a long while seeing that he was asleep and thirdly kakashi was asleep out in the open, his guard completely down. A famed ninja did not let his guard down even in his own village so Hanare put all her ninja skills to work in approaching him. She missed sleeping at arms reach from him and took this opportunity to take his gorgeous form in. He stirred, she smiled warmly thinking that putting aside the fact that this man was a trained assassin and probably the most powerful jonin in konohagakure, he was actually extraordinarily cute. She pictured the 12 year old kakashi she had never forgotten in this situation and her smile grew larger.
Kakashi opened his eyes to see Hanare leaning over him with the most heart warming, emotion twisting, butterflies in his stomach releasing, expression on her face. Yup, today was going to be one of the days he tried to get in her pants...figuratively speaking of course.
"Morning" she chirped not moving from her position over him.
"Judging from the light, it's about mid evening actually" he said nonchalantly, he was rather impressed she had gotten this close and he didn't sense her enough to wake up.
She scrunched up her nose at him and put her hand out, he accepted it all to readily and allowed her to help him up.
"That's new" Hanare craned her head sideways to look at the tanto sheath strapped around his waist.
"I needed some extra weaponry for show on my last assignment; I didn't use one in such a long time I had almost forgotten I knew how to wield a sword."
"That's really cool, I never learnt how to fight with one, though I know how to take out an enemy with quite possibly any item in a room, including the room itself, you know average espionage skills" she tried not to sound like a toddler who was overly proud of accomplishing an everyday activity.
"I can teach you if you still want to learn, this was the first tool I learnt how to use, even before kunai and shuriken so I'm pretty qualified, and I only ever broke a blade once in my life." He boasted.
"How did you manage to do something so imperfect, oh great one" Hanare said dryly, rolling her eyes.
Kakashi paused for a moment and responded with his voice audibly softer than before, "It was a long time ago during the war, it was my clan's white chakra blade, such a shame it's lost now, anyway I got a good replacement tanto so no worries" His eye crinkled with the forced smile that was on his lips.
Hanare returned the smile though it did not reach her eyes, "I would like if you taught me" then hoping it would be of some comfort to change the subject, "But kunai are probably the best weapon anyway, I don't see how a few extra inches could make much difference"
She could tell kakashi, the pervert that he was, was smirking under that goddamned mask when she realised what had just slipped out of her mouth. She felt the blood starting to pool in her cheeks and uttered an undignified "shut up" with a pout.
What kakashi would give to be able to meet that pout with his own lips seemed endless. She was pretty adorable sometimes, and sometimes that turned him on. But to be fair and to prevent him from feeling like a paedophile, she was also incredibly sexy in an alluring sort of way that only a woman could be.
They started one of their arguments that was so far reserved for differing opinions about characters in their novels. They compared weight, balance, power, practicality, possible attack styles, and uses of the kunai versus a tanto, one of which may have been as a very abrasive back scratcher until they ran out of things to say and breath to say them with. At this point they were sitting across each other with barely any space inbetween. As their debate heated up they inched closer to each other with each point, somehow this made their arguments seem more convincing.
"This proves nothing," Hanare said realising she was on the losing side of the conversation, "how about we really prove things" she slid out a gleaming kunai from her hip pouch.
"Really?" Kakashi enquired, his head being supported by his fist, not wanting to move from his comfortable position so close to her he was forced to stare at her supple skin and bottomless brown eyes rimmed with impossibly long lashes and where every time Hanare leaned forward he got a little peek at her cleavage. That wasn't all bad either.
"Yes, Hatake, REALLY" she began spinning the kunai on her index finger before letting it fly directly at his nose. He caught it with his hand that wasn't supporting his head without moving any other part of his body.
"I'm forced to now take that as a threat on my life, can we make things a bit more interesting?" the deviousness creeping into his voice. Hanare was asking for it, whenever she addressed him as 'Hatake' she probably already had some bit of a wicked thought.
"mmm" she shrugged.
"When I win, you have to treat me to dinner" Kakashi said already tasting the food, and the somewhat date it would suggest made the corners of his mouth quirk up. Thankful for the mask to cover his expression he continued, "Maybe some curry, It's my favourite, or soba if you want to pretend to be healthy but it just doesn't taste the same without a mountain of tempura shrimp on top, I haven't had onomiyaki in a while, maybe sushi?"
"Woah... ok I like BBQ" she stated holing her finger up in the air to shush him "and that's what we will be eating if I'm forced to pay and I won't be, so WHEN I WIN, what do I get?" much to Kakashi's disappointment or maybe relief she didn't catch on to the suggested date.
"I'll buy you dinner, all the BBQ you could eat." He answered blandly.
Hanare considered for a minute and then said, "Tempting, but I WILL be defeating the Copy Ninja Kakashi here, notice I didn't say Sharingan Kakashi because you will NOT be using that today. I think I deserve a better trophy than just putting on a few pounds in one night." Ignoring him mumble something about a man-eating-tiger.
Honestly, she wasn't worried about putting on a little weight, as far as she could tell, she didn't change all that much since she was 12. She got taller, but was still relatively short compared to other girls her age, and while her body did acquire feminine curves, they were no match for Haruka's. Only after she had turned 18 did her chest bother to really full out, and while she was an average 34B on her bra size, it was her slim body that made her breast appear to be bigger in comparison. But she needed an excuse to see what else Kakashi might cough up for their little bet.
Kakashi dragged his eyes away from said body that he couldn't imagine would look bad in any form and contemplated with his index finger supporting his chin, then it struck him, "You really like your kunai huh. How do you feel about jewellery?"
Well that caught her off guard. She fished the thin black cord necklace out of the collar of her shirt and held it up to the fading light, "I'm more of an earring person, but I dont really get a chance to wear my shiny dangly collection that often. I wear this constantly though. Its like a friendship necklace, the two other girls on my original team has them too"
Kakashi reached out and passed his thumb on the little golden pendent. It was oval with a border of filigree swirls and a smooth flat stone that shone a purple-green sunk into the middle the same shape as the pendent. Hanare unconsciously held her breath as her eyes darted back and forth between Kakashi's face and his hand.
"Perfect! Ok wait right here, I'll be back in 10 minutes" he started to move passed her but she reached out and grabbed the material of his sleeve between her thumb and index finger.
"No you won't, I'll probably end up waiting here all night"
"But I was early today" Kakashi pointed out.
"and now I believe in miracles, even so, lightening doesn't strike the same place twice"
"actually..." he began but never got to finish.
"No you don't, you are not getting out of buying me my never ending BBQ bowl"
He sighed loudly, "Fine, just follow me"
They took off into the trees, Kakashi leading them to who knows where, but this provided Hanare with a good view of his broad shoulders and toned behind. About a mile away from the training ground, Kakashi dropped from the trees, followed by Hanare, she looked around wondering what the hell they were doing in this part of the village. It wasn't quite the snobbish part of town where everyone had their own compound with up to ten elaborately decorated buildings but every house here was atleast twice the size of her own. They walked side by side until they reached the opposite end of the street and Kakashi turned into one of the houses to the left, easily opening the gate and letting himself in. Hanare was about to ask him what he could possibly be doing when she saw the name plate on the wall.
"Hatake"
She was pretty sure Kakashi was the only Hatake in the village and she was absolutely sure he lived in one of those claustrophobic apartments on the east side of Konoha. She moved her head back to the house and froze seeing kakashi regarding her deeply, half turned towards her with a gloved hand on his hip. She found at that moment a rather interesting spot on her knee high shinobi boots to stare at while her face glowed red. Something about being here with him made her more jumpy than she already was around him. Hanare passed through the gate and by the time she reached the porch kakashi had already slipped through the front door.
Judging by the dust and overgrown lawn, not to mention the bushes and trees spreading out over the low wall it was safe to say no one lived here. The paint on the house was slightly faded but no chipped areas so it was in pretty good condition. She concluded that this place must have belonged some relative of kakashi's and peeked inside the door. Aside from the layer of dust on everything and the underlying scent of dog, the place was lovely. The furniture was a bit up-scale but in that antique way that made the place homey and comfortable. She was just thinking that she could make good use of the front lawn and possibly the back, maybe some rose bushes there, and a hibiscus tree at the stairs, and a few lilies would be perfect, when kakashi appeared from the door. Instead of asking the question that she answered herself before, she peeked at him over her shoulder and stated,
"You don't live here"
Busy dusting cobwebs out of his pale hair he responded absently, "I used to"
"Used to?" Hanare echoed.
"I grew up here until I was eight... you were welcome to come inside if you wanted"
"and why only up to eight" Hanare asked.
Kakashi shifted uncomfortably, "ah, I went to live with my sensei for a while and I just never came back, Anyway, this should suffice as a trophy if you do manage to beat me" he obviously changed the subject but his voice made Hanare not want to question him further. That and the gleaming silver pendent which was now displayed in his hand. The piece of jewellery in question was about an inch in length and was the exact replica of a kunai. She picked it up slowly and examined it, it was in perfect condition with every minute detail accounted for, it was even a bit sharp and pointy at the tip. She turned it over in her hands to see that along the hilt, in delicate calligraphy the name Hatake was inscribed.
Hanare's mind filled with questions, why did he have women's jewellery? Who did this belong to? How could he leave his house and all his expensive contents alone and open for any random thief to take? How expensive was this really? Would he really give it to her?
In the silence Kakashi answered one of her questions, "I believe it belonged to my mother, or maybe my father's mother, the Hatake have been shinobi for a long time, this is one of those things they just passed on from generation to generation."
"And you're willing to just bet it away?" Hanare asked him incrediculously.
"It's not really my style," he said looking up at the now completely dark sky, "besides this house is full of family junk no one has touched in years."
"I can't just take something like this, it must be worth alot, and it is you family's" Hanare defended pointing at the engraved name.
"Then don't take it, earn it." Kakashi retorted cheekily. "You have to beat me in a fair fight, your kunai against my tanto" he snatched the charm from her hand and placed in a small white jewellery box.
Hanare rolled her eyes, maybe it wasn't too late to request a katana to fight with. They stepped down the front porch and down the walk way to the gate. Hanare couldn't help looking around and imagining a little kakashi in diapers waddling around in grass, or learning how to walk or more likely how to back flip or jump 20 feet in the air. This man did graduate the academy at 7 after all. Leaving the compound she noticed something she hadn't before, the gate was locked with a seal, not a key. Well, that would certainly keep out any unwanted persons.
They hadn't taken five steps away from the gate when an ANBU messenger appeared in front of them. Hanare almost jerked back slightly, but thankfully she contained herself. The masked figure presented a scroll and kakashi and Hanare both turned to each other at the same time. Surely, they didn't have a mission together again... so who was it for?
"Hanare-san" the man muttered shifting it to her direction.
"great..." she muttered under her breath accepting the scroll.
Then the ANBU bowed his head to kakashi, nodded once to Hanare before disappearing as quickly as he had come. Hanare pressed her index and middle finger together at her lips and broke the seal on the scroll and began reading. Kakashi strained his eye to look over at her orders, he definitely had not commissioned this. Leave it to Yoshi to send his replacement on one last solo mission before he retired. He wondered if he had time to give the mission to someone else, or put himself on it.
"I have to leave tonighttttttt" Hanare whined.
Damn, that didn't give him much time to change the orders.
"Where are you going?" He asked as Hanare pulled the scroll away from his line of vision seeing him peeking.
"Tanigakure in the river country, they need some help locating a comrade and since I'm part sensory type, wahooo for me" Hanare drawled out.
Kakashi raked his memory; the only Konoha team in Tanigakure was trailing a lead on Kisame of the Akatsuki. No way was he letting her go now.
Putting on a smile he said, "So, I'm guessing no match now?"
"Mmm Mmm" she shook her head, "When I get back we can, this'll take about a week or so"
"We can still have dinner, you can spare an hour before you leave."
Hanare finally snapping out of her self pitying mood moved her eyes up at him, "I don't know..."
"Sure you can, so you meet me at the BBQ place in town, I have some business to attend to first" attempting to escape to headquarters to put himself on the mission before she left, he was grabbed by the sleeve as before and had no choice but to be pulled after a woman less than half his size into town.
They got a booth without much waiting and Hanare still grasping his sleeve, dumped him in the seat across the table from her. As she put the first cuts of beef onto the grill she caught sight of kakashi nursing his own pieces. So, he intended to eat. Now she intended not to take her eyes off his face. He had to eat and had to pull his mask down and she would see him up close this time. But just for safe measure...
"Can I see your book for a second?"
Kakashi cocked an eyebrow at her but still dug into his kunai pouch and handed over Icha Icha Tactics. Hanare flipped through the pages watching him under her eyelashes.
"I thought you said you didn't want to read the sequel?" Kakashi asked flipping over his meat.
Hanare shrugged, "You don't happen to have any more books on you?" (that you could cover your face with) she added silently.
"Nope, just that one" he picked up a strip of cooked meat from the grill with his chopsticks and dipped it into his sauce for the second time. He moved it to Hanare's mouth, "Try it"
"And if I die?" she asked flushed, was he really going to feed her?
"I promise to cover your grave with those noxious white flowers you liked so much" he said lazily.
She gave him 'a look' and then not bothering to suppress the smile on her lips, took a bite off his chopsticks. It tasted as good as she had ever had. She was about to tell him so when she saw the four other pieces of BBQ that was on his side of the grill had disappeared.
"WHA"
"So, your genin team was with Sora Beniko and that Matsuro girl right?" he took over the conversation.
The fact that someone addressed Haruka as 'that Matsuro girl' was something new. She gave up for the while on the unmasking thing.
"Yip, Sora and Haruka, Sora is over at the logistics division"
"I know, she's the one with the chibi teddy bear-ish looking mask" Kakashi mused.
Hanare laughed, "She's an interesting one, the only person who understands my weirdness sometimes."
Kakashi smiled at her as she told the story of how her best friend, Sora had chosen what her ANBU mask would be, occasionally taking a break to chew on the food Kakashi was feeding her, then how they had found their matching necklaces right after all three of them passed the chunin exam.
"It's uncommon to have three girls on one team." the first thing kakashi said when Hanare had finished.
"I guess, but we became genin right at the end of the war, the number of students in the academy was at an all time low so they basically slumped who they could together."
"Slumping seemed to have worked with two of you in ANBU and I've seen Sora in action, almost as good as you" he pointed with one chopstick.
"Well she does have an interesting Imagination her genjutsu is one of the best."
"Actually I was talking about the flying" Kakashi said as though it was painfully obvious.
"That to, its more of earth style pushing her up and when she concentrates chakra at the bottom of her feet she pushes up and off she goes" Hanare acted out the movements with her hand.
"In theory it sounds easy but even I had trouble copying it" he admitted.
"I know, I tried, I failed, maybe one day I'll try again" she laughed, "water is more my thing anyway"
"I thought cats were afraid of water?" Kakashi said wickedly.
"Nope, not tigers, they love it. Tigers are very apt swimmers" she told him matter of factly "And anyway, what about you? You had an Uchiha and that pretty medical kunoichi"
OH GOD. Hanare clapped her hand over her mouth. Why did she bring that up? She knew both of them had died years ago in battle and now only kakashi remained, she knew how kakashi had gotten his Sharingan, a heroic tale of the war spread like wildfire and even though she was not yet a genin when it had occurred, it had struck her hearing about her kakashi and his team mates. Something like that would not be easy to get over and Hanare had the suspicion that the fact that Kakashi always a wall up was due to the deaths of those so close to him. She never found out what had happened to his clan, by the time she had arrived in the village, kakashi was already the last Hatake. That must have been life changing for a boy so young, no matter how skilled his rank said he was, a boy is still a boy.
Kakashi did not respond for what seemed like a small eternity, the smile that crinkled his dark eyes smoothed over slightly but did not leave his face. Then finally he broke the silence.
"You can talk about my team with me Hana, don't look so mortified" he said cooly, reaching over and placing a hand on her stiff shoulder. "We promised we could confide in each other, right? What kind of ninja goes back on their promises?"
She sent a warm smile to him as Kakashi slid his hand off her shoulder. "OK." She said just above a whisper and then swallowing back some of her embarrassment, "What was her name, the kunoichi on your team?"
"Rin, and he Uchiha's name was Obito" his voice sounded weary but his expression unchanged.
"She healed me in the hospital when I was a kid once." Hanare bent her head to meet kakashi's lowered gaze. "A broken leg"
"The way you kicked me yesterday, she did a good job healing it" Kakashi meeting her eyes.
"Yup, usually they wouldn't bother healing something trivial as that on a little kid but Rin was really nice to me, she said she just mastered mending bones and didn't mind fixing me up"
"She was always a sucker for cute little kids" kakashi said the humour reaching his voice.
"She saved me from five months of wearing a cast, I'm forever thankful for my cute little kid self"
"You were more chubby than cute, actually" he stated teasingly.
Hanare felt as if all the breath had been sucked out of her. He had remembered this first time they met. He remembered seeing her as little girl and saving her. That had been the only time they were together for him to make such a reference about her childhood.
"Well...you weren't all that cute either" she stuttered out, "you were all skinny and your hair was bigger than your head!"
"I was 12! I wasn't supposed to be cute, with all my pre-hormonal manliness and what not." Kakashi burst out in a fit of laughter which Hanare couldn't help joining him on. They laughed until their hearts were warmed with the joy of the moment and their sides were in stitches, not caring that the entire restaurant was now blatantly staring at them. Hanare wiped her eyes which were starting to fill with laughter induced tears and she caught sight of the clock mounted on the wall above their heads.
"That's the time! I'm late, I still need to get home and suit up" she told kakashi nervously.
"Relax, I'm always late and I get away with it" Kakashi assured.
"Because half the village is afraid of you" she informed him.
"I thought it was more due to my charisma or excellent lexicon" He replied wryly.
"Like anyone really falls for your false innocence and horrible excuses" (actually most people bought into it but she wasn't about to tell him that)
"You'd be surprised"
Hanare rolled her brown eyes at him for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day and getting up said, "I'll see you when I get back, and then we can have our match" she added with a smile.
Then kakashi was infront of her. Damn he was fast. He was so close she smelt that exhilarating scent that was uniquely kakashi and felt the warmth of his body through his clothes. It was as perfect as she remembered. He towered over her so that her head only came up to kakashi's chin and she was still staring at his chest when she heard him say into her hair,
"Hold onto this until you can really earn it" He slipped the little white box into her hands.
"But-"
"No butts, I fully intent to win it back during our match, just keep it as...collateral till then"
A smile broke out across Hanare's face and she shook her head from side to side, "Alright kakashi"
"You better get going, there's only two operatives on that team, I'm sure they're anxious to get their partner back"
"I'll see you soon" Hanare beamed up at him, slightly pink, before running out of the shop and then to her house to leave for Tanigakure.
As he watched Hanare leave kakashi thought, "I hope it's sooner than you think"
So as a side note:
Hanare means little flower
Daisuke(Hana'a brother) means helper
Ami and Suki(Hana's tigresses) mean love and friendship
Sora Beniko means blue sky, vermillion child ( I like the paradox)