Envy is an Ugly Colour

Present day...

It had been a perfect day, the sun out in full force, the brilliant azure sky broken up by pillows of clouds. Tsunade was dressed casually, as was Kakashi, mindful of the heat simmering off concrete and brick. Despite the crowd there was a relief to finally be inside where the climate was carefully controlled, not for their benefit, but for the priceless works of art housed within.

They were in the Sallu Plaunge, which housed a collection of ancient artefacts and antiquities from the Ninja Era, when Kakashi caught a glimpse of golden floating amongst the remnants of ancient civilization, so out of place, and yet, fittingly housed amongst some of the western world's most revered art.

Hopefully inconspicuous, he tracked the invisible aura of sensuality that clung to her like perfume, subtle yet drawing him in. He followed her, at first with his eyes, and then with his feet, stumbling past a stranger whom he didn't take notice off. She was just as he remembered, stealing away his breath, despite standing before a masterpiece painstakingly carved from a block of marble two hundred years before she'd been born. Gold cascaded over her shoulder, framing her sculpted face. It was the face of a goddess. Aphrodite brought to life, looking at ease before the larger than life mythical figures of Cupid and Psyche.

She wore a quietly amused smile, the corners of perfectly painted cherry red lips turned upwards, her complexion appearing carved from marble in contrast. She wore a simple white sundress, a hint of lace at the hem and capped sleeves, the scoop neck teasingly promising, while retaining a feel of innocence, at odds with the crimson pumps she wore, showing off a perfect pair of legs from ankle to mid-thigh.

"What do you think of this artwork?" She finally asked, oblivious to his attention.

"Breathtaking," he said simply, not taking his eyes off of her.

"You little-"

"Kakashi~!"

A chirpy voice sang through the silent museum. Kakashi turned around and was engulfed by a curvaceous woman who wasn't afraid of showing off her skin. She grinned, pulling him down into a cheeky kiss on the cheek. "Hello there, handsome!"

"Mei," he smiled, keeping his hands firmly in his pockets. "Fancy seeing you here."

"I wanted to see you. This was the only opportunity I had." Hidden behind smoky dark lenses, her blood red smile burnt itself into his retinas. He watched her go, helpless to do otherwise, hypnotized by the gentle sway of her lips, undone by the sultry smile she cast over her shoulder before abandoning him to his mundane surroundings. "If you want, we can meet up later. There's a banquet tonight at the Corrosere. Be there by nine." she said before she vanished in the room.

Tsunade snorted derisively. "Honestly? Are you going to pounce?"

"What?" Kakashi asked.

"She's poison."

"It's only a banquet."

"So they say," she rolled her eyes.

"Are you jealous?" he teased.

"I am not jealous!" She adamantly protested, puffing red. "Why should I be?"

"Don't worry," he stroked her cheek. "You can be my plus one. That way, you won't have to pout all night, while I have fun."

"Shut up," she bit back harshly, "go have fun with miss narcissist."

"Is that jealousy I sense, Tsunade-chan?." He mussed up her hair before he dodged her wrath.

Kakashi was not sure what he'd anticipated, but she'd defied even his most outrageous expectations in her choice of adornment. She wore what could only be described as an indigo chiffon strapless dress with a draped bodice, that matched the dark honey of her eyes. A slender chain of gold links wrapped twice around her narrow waist, emphasizing her perfectly formed breasts, her cleavage displayed by the deep cut of her gown. What she wore beneath, he could only guess at. As she moved, luring him deeper into the room, her hem swept the floor, giving the illusion that her feet never touched ground.

"Are you ready?" He asked, adjusting his personalized gold cufflinks.

Tsunade pinned her hair up messily, grabbing small portions of hair out, to make it even messier. She bent over to the mirror and applied her makeup on. First, she applied a coverup of foundation - a thin layer. Before she brushed it up with a bronzer and blush. She outlined her brow line, making it more prominent, and prepped her eyelashes for mascara.

As she did her own bidding, Kakashi was grimacing beside her. He took the eyelash curler from her and snorted. "What on earth? Do you want to take your eyeballs out with this?!"

"It's to curl my lashes. So when I apply mascara, my eyes will look bigger."

"My god, I don't get women like you."

"Well, you're male. So what do you know?" Tsunade jokingly shot, applying her mascara. "All you do is slap on some clothes, cologne, and you're ready."

"Actually," Kakashi corrected, "I styled my hair back tonight. Just to have a bit of appeal."

"Alright, let's go." Tsunade finally said after she applied a light tinge of lipstick. She rushed out, grabbing her shawl, and purse. She staggered back when she saw Kakashi scrutinizing his reflection. His tie was lobsided and messily done. She sighed with exasperation before she sauntered back.

"Come here," she turned him around and undid his tie. As she knotted it back, she felt him linger his gaze at her openly but pretended to not notice it. She patted his tie done, before she moved onto his hair. Gently, she swiped it further back to tuck in place the locks of hair that was mussed out. "There. Don't you look handsome?"

"Thank you,"

"But you really need to learn how to do your tie neatly, you know."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?" She inquired, looking back as she twisted her door open.

"Because that'll mean you won't have to do it for me."

"I'm not your personal slave, Kakashi." Tsunade sneered jokingly. "...Go hire someone else."

"Your humour never ceases to amaze me." Kakashi chuckled.

Tsunade gave a dry smile, as she walked into the elevator.

"You look beautiful," Kakashi whispered. "I'm a lucky man to have you as my plus one."

"I'm not your arm candy." Tsunade clarified.

"No, you're not," he agreed passively. "You're my assistant editor."

Fake smiles, faker laughter. The clink of champagne flutes, the low buzz of conversation. Men in suits, women in party dresses. The smell of overpriced perfume and superiority. It was the same as always. He felt so out of place there but nobody else seemed to realise it. He could act like them but he'd never be one of them. Secretly, he hated them. He hated them all. He only smiled for Tsunade. He couldn't stay away from her. Everything seemed brighter when he was in her company.

He'd been watching her for god knows how long. He wanted to describe her as something more than beautiful, because one overused word didn't seem like enough of a compliment. She was more than all that. More than beautiful movie stars and beautiful sunsets. She was more.

It seemed to him at first, that he was glorifying her in his mind only because he was so desperate for someone real to connect with. But the more he asked about her and the more he found out, the more obsessed he became. She was everything he'd ever wanted.

At the party, men around him talked about money and politics and education. Women talked about designer shoes and jewellery and each other. Nothing felt comfortable. It was stiff and formal and no matter how many times he played this game, it never got any easier. He wasn't losing, but he wasn't winning either. He was just there; existing, but not achieving a single damn thing.

Champagne and caviar and Cuban cigars. All of it extortionate, all of it unnecessary.

Social climbers, fat cats, and trophy wives. They were people, just like all the other people in the world and when the end came, everyone would be lying six feet under. The mansions and cars would be no good then. The sprawling estates would be gone and everyone would have the same equal rectangular space in the ground. Why couldn't they see that? He knew they should have feelings but they all acted like clones with only superficial differences in taste and wealth.

Maseratis and Lamborghinis in the underground parking lot. Cartier on their wrists and Chanel on their necks.

The ugliness of concealed greed. The want behind the gleaming white smiles, the irrepressible desire for more and more until more became too much and a lifetime of regret awaited them in old age. He saw them make the same mistakes and he couldn't warn them because then they would be offended and he'd be cast out of the circles. And he needed the circles. He needed to go round and round with the same people only to keep the gnawing loneliness at bay. Even if they didn't understand, even if they were blinded by their egos, they were still company. And company meant sanity.

But there was no originality, nothing new, nothing that excited him.

Except tsunade. He'd tried to put her down into words but they were so flimsy and mediocre. He couldn't write her onto a page; she was human, not a figment of his imagination. He'd always taken inspiration from strangers on the street, people who he wouldn't see again and who could easily be written in a few sentences. Not people he knew well. Not her. No, he knew too much about her. Every last word in the world wouldn't be enough for him to write an accurate description of her.

He tried. But the words stared back at him contemptuously like they themselves believed they weren't adequate.

He talked to her. Put on a front of cheerfulness and geniality and made her laugh. Every time he saw her, he tried a little harder, tried to get more out of her until she told him her secrets and made him swear to keep them. And all this time, he felt the tangible connection between them; something light and golden, hovering below the surface of his consciousness and making him believe she was the only one...

She caught his eye across the room at that precise moment and smiled fleetingly before the crowd of glitterati swallowed her up again. He couldn't blame them. She was bubbly and sparkly to be around and she emanated a certain unique warmth that made all people feel important. She was one of those rare people whom everybody loved and everybody wanted to be around, and none of them wanted her more than him.

"Kakashi, you actually came!" Another voice caught his attention.

Mei appeared from the shroud of crowd with a small number dress which complimented her already generous curves. Her dark hair swayed effortlessly on her hips, as she made her way towards him with a foxy grin. She was also irresistible, that he could not deny.

"Mei," he replied plainly, drinking his scotch. "You look wonderful tonight."

"Well, thank you." She said, straightening out her dress. "So, what is a hot and single guy like you doing in this bar all alone?"

"...Can't a man enjoy a his beverage alone?" Kakashi joked with a matching grin.

"Good point," she drank her champagne. "But no. A man as exuberant like you can't be alone. Especially when a woman like me wants to dance with you." She took him by the hand, took his drink and placed it on the bar. "...What do you say?"

"I don't think I'll be able to keep my hands off of you."

"You are fucking charming," She purred. "Just to let you know: if you do let your hands wander, I won't stop them."

Tsunade, by the time she managed to escape from the hoard of men, sat down in the bar and watched Kakashi dance with Mei for the fifth time. Their eyes never broke contact as they danced. Mei, being on five inched heels, was able to pressed her forehead against his affectionately. She smiled, as she tickled her nose against his. Kakashi's hands stayed as low as her waist, whilst hers wandered wherever she saw fit to grope.

At the end of the slow tempo song, the gap between their lips closed. Tsunade watched as they exchanged coatings of saliva from their tongues. Kakashi's hand, for the first time, dipped downwards and grabbed a handful of her firm bottom. Mei yelped and pushed herself against him, granting him access to her neck. He bit at her neck softly, before he pulled back, smirking.

Her phone rang in her purse, and she hurriedly rushed out to the balcony to answer it. She pressed her phone against her ear, relieved to hear a familiar voice: "How are you, Tsunade?"

"God, I've missed your voice." She murmured.

"I'm sorry if it took too long to get back to you, but I just recently got back to work." He huffed through the phone. "Construction isn't easy. The materials that were ordered were not of the right measurement, and now we're facing a little bit of crisis."

"I'm sorry to hear that,"

"I can hear music. Where are you?"

"At a banquet."

"Ah," he simply replied without being articulate about it. "Are you with Kakashi-san?"

"I'm his supposed plus one, but I haven't really talked to him since the beginning of the event."

"You sound disappointed."

"Relieved, you mean." She laughed. "He's a handful at times."

"All bosses are."

"Dan," she looked over her shoulder and saw that he was still entertaining Mei. "...I love you."

"Are you okay?" His tone lowered. "You don't sound fine."

"No, I just have to hang up." Tsunade lied. "I'm being called in."

"Alright."

"Goodnight,"

"...Yeah,"

The line went dead almost instantly. Tsunade placed her phone back into her purse and strode into the room with confidence. Almost instantly, new male comers saw her from the other side of the room, and walked up to her, asking her to dance after lavishing her with compliments.

It was the same mundane shit she put up with... all for him.

Kakashi dismissed himself from Mei after their heated dancing, settling back to his original position in the bar. Again, his eyes fixated on Tsunade with obsession. She looked good. She looked even better when she excused herself from the crowd and appeared at his side to murmur a soft greeting into his ear.

"Hey," he replied. "How'd you like the party?"

"Same as usual. Ostentatious and exorbitant, though better now I have someone to divulge that to."

He laughed. "I've missed your superfluous vocabulary, you know."

"And I've missed you."

He raised an eyebrow. "Since the last forty-five minutes?"

"Yes." she said, with a smirk. "You should be flattered."

"Deeply,"

"Everyone here is too narrow minded for my liking. God, can't we just head home?"

"Do you want to go-"

"Kakashi, honey, come over here." Mei called from a distance.

"Honey?" Tsunade repeated sharply through her teeth. It stung. "That's what you two call each other?!"

"We'll talk later." He whispered, getting up from his seat.

Spitefully, Tsunade drank the left over of his drink and left the banquet. As she walked down on the cobbled streets, with vague sense of direction, it began to precipitate heavily. The darkened clouds began to profusely pigment the ground. She quickened her pace to evade further wetness, but she found it difficult as she was still at a distance from the hotel. With no money to pay for public transport, Tsunade had no other choice but to soldier on.

She cursed at herself sourly. Why did she even care that even the likes of Mei had the same connection she had with Kakashi?

Why did she even care that they branded each other honey? She didn't own the word.

...Why does she even still care for Kakashi?

By the time she arrived at the hotel, she was damp, ruined, and just plain tired. Before she could open her door, she heard giggling and chuckling down in the corridor. She turned and looked over her shoulder. She watched Mei push Kakashi against his door, kissing him with fervour. He clasped a handful of her hair, and tugged it back, murmuring incoherent words.

"Are you ready? You won't be able to sleep tonight."

"I'd rather be with you than sleep," Mei purred, twisted the key in the door.

"Good," he untied his tie and followed her in, but stopped mid-way to look out of the room. Finally, their gazes locked together. His darker toned eyes gave an apologetic look, whilst hers burned with ferocity. He retraced his movements back, and attempted to mend fences.

"Tsunade, I-"

"What the hell are you doing out there?" Mei grabbed Kakashi in, before she closed the door behind them.

Tsunade pushed her own door open, and slammed it shut.

"Fucking bitch." she finally vented out loud.

A/N: There will obviously be a follow up on this scenario. But, yeah, the flashbacks are finished (as you could see), because nothing happened past that last scene. Kakashi and Tsunade continued to re-establish their platonic relationship, and it is what it is today, because of that.

The title should have given it all away. This was just about jealousy on both sides. And oh! This story is nearing its end now, you know. ;)

xox