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I Still Remember :

Chapter : [07] : Will This Drink Be As 'Quick' As The Last One? :


Kakashi had just about recovered and returned back to his own place earlier that day and Atsuko herself was definitely feeling better and ready to begin training again. She spent nearly the entirety of the day practicing all her techniques, taijutsu and some genjutsu, in preparation for her first mission in a few hours, later that night. Eventually, returning home exhausted and sweating profusely with her head down a little thinking about the mission and what would be demanded of her… she was looking forward to it, definitely but she couldn't help but feel a slight laziness. Rubbing a hand over her tired eyes as she instinctively knew she was at her front door, she failed to notice that someone was already stood there, crashing straight into them and essentially head-butting their chest, she stepped back a little confused but ready to fight,

"Hey, hey it's only me," Kakashi grinned raising his hands up to show he was no threat,

"Oh, sorry," she replied, a bit self-conscious of her state, but opened the door, "can I help you?"

"Well, I wondered if you wanted to borrow Icha Icha Paradise? Also, are you coming to the final Chuunin exam in a months time?" he queried, she looked over her shoulder at him, before slowly turning around,

"Uh…yea I would like to borrow it, and I'm not sure yet, I might be on a mission, attending as ANBU security or just as an observer… Can I let you know nearer the time?"

"Well, I'll be away for the month training one of my students, so I guess we'll just have to see on the day," he smiled, handing her over the book,

"I guess so, urgh…do you fancy some tea?" she asked, wanting to rest her feet to make sure that they'd be fine ready for her mission. Kakashi nodded, as they both removed their zori and leaving them by the front door.

"Please; you don't do anything by halves do you?"

"What do you mean?" she asked glancing her eyes over him as he stood leaning on the side in one corner of her kitchen, as she prepared the cups and tea pot, only waiting for the water to boil.

"You went back to training today after a few days and you look knackered… were you there all day?" he asked, the amusement clearly playing on his voice,

"Yea…" Atsuko replied slowly, "I have a mission tonight, so I can't slack off too much," she responded setting all of the tea related stuff onto a small tray and turned to away for a moment, during which Kakashi had already picked up the tray,

"Oh… thanks." she said, caught a little off guard by his actions.

As they sat in momentary silence while Kakashi poured the tea and handed a small cup to Atsuko, their peace was disturbed by a knock at the door, sighing a little she got up and opened the door to reveal Kurenai, great timing she though sarcastically.

"Yo, Atsuko, I thought I'd come and see you for a few minutes, not busy are you? Oh!" she spoke, as she walked through the door she then noticed Kakashi who looked up with a small smile, "Hi Kakashi, are you still recovering?" she asked politely, as Atsuko closed the door, nodded for Kurenai to take a seat and sat herself down, characteristically resting her heel on the table.

"No, I just came for tea." He responded,

"Hey! I'm not a tea house!" Atsuko suddenly responded, surprising herself slightly at the emotion she allowed into it,

"Too bad, you make good tea," Kakashi spoke with a grin evident in his closed, curved eye; Kurenai held a devious smile,

"Can I help you, Kurenai?" Atsuko asked, her voice returning to normal,

"Yea, I reckon we should go out for drinks again, it was pretty cool last time," she looked between Atsuko and Kakashi,

"I could do… I've got a mission later tonight so I'll be away for a few days… hopefully not too long." She responded, feeling lazy.

"Kakashi?"

"Well, Sasuke's still in the hospital but he should be up and about in a few days in the latest, when would you like to go? I'll see based on Sasuke as we'll need to head out of Konoha to prepare him for the third exam." He responded in a somewhat bored tone,

"Ok… Shall we say in about three days time, and I can come and see if you guys are around, if so you'll come?" she asked, with a glint of hope in her eye; getting a nod of approval from the both of them.

"Excellent, well, I guess I shouldn't keep you if you've got a mission, coming Kakashi?" she asked, curious to ask him something,

"Uh, yea I guess so," he set down the little cup, "Thanks for the tea – and don't worry, next time I'll provide the tea," he smiled rising to his feet and turning towards the door,

"No problem, thanks for the book," Atsuko smiled back, also rising to her feet to show them out,

"No problem," he responded, feeling a little silly for using the exact same response as Atsuko.

~~/********/~~

Once outside it was just a little too dark to read his book, Kakashi was about to say goodbye to Kurenai when she beat him to the first words,

"Hey, you seem to have gotten pretty close to Atsuko,"

"We were friends as children, but I hadn't seen her for more than ten years for varying reasons," he trailed off not really making much of a point,
"Really?" Kurenai did not expect that answer,

"Yea, her mother and my father were once team mates," he responded with his usual demeanor, not entirely sure why he was telling this to Kurenai,

"Ah, right," The Kuniochi responded a little cryptically, but Kakashi couldn't be bothered to push it any further, "I think you're a good influence on Atsuko… she seems to leave the house a little more," Kakashi looked over to her for a moment wondering what exactly she was implying by that… but he couldn't find one that seemed accurate enough so he remained silent.

"Well, I've got to head this way, hopefully see you in a few days, Kakashi," she said last, turning down an adjacent road waving a little, Kakashi responded with another small wave,

"Goodbye," he said as he darted off to return home as quickly as possible, beginning to feel a little fatigued his thoughts focused on Atsuko partly blaming Kurenai for her questions – although he wasn't entirely sure how true that was.


Some days later, Kakashi was preparing the items he needed to begin training Sasuke the next day, glad that he decided they'd meet in the early afternoon, much to Sasuke's chagrin. Just as he'd finished, a knock at the door, grabbed his attention, upon opening it, there stood Kurenai, smiling a little,

"Good, you're here still, ready to join us? Don't worry, Atsuko's back and will be there too, they're at the bar,"

"Ok, I'll meet you there, I'll just grab my vest," he replied lazily, as Kurenai disappeared in puff of smoke, a kage bunshin? He wondered, but guessed it'd save time a little. Turning around, he grabbed his vest and Hiatai-ate managed to get them securely on before he'd locked the door behind him. He reached the bar pretty quickly, considering how long it took last time, just as he stepped into the bar, it occurred to him that he wasn't acting anything like his usual self,
"Yo," he greeted, approaching the small table, with Kurenai, Asuma and Atsuko, with his two fellow Jounin sat with their backs to the bar, and his ANBU friend with her back to the wall; her face – or what he could see of it looked completely passive. He'd gotten used to her mask being off for the time he was at her place.

"Kakashi! I was expecting another hour or so before you turned up," Asuma said with a grin,

"Well, I had finished what I was supposed to be doing by the time Kurenai showed up, and I won't be seeing you guys for some time, so…" he took a seat in the free space next to Atsuko, who was staring at the empty cup of Sake. In the time it took Kakashi to get settled in his seat, a man appeared at the table, with a familiar grin.

"Well, I haven't seen you guys in quite a while," Daisuke said, looking at Atsuko, "Can I get you guys a drink?" he asked in his usual smooth voice,

"Yea another bottle of sake, please," Asuma asked

"Same here," Kakashi responded noticing Daisuke flicked his eye to Kakashi as he said this, along with a funny sort of look he couldn't read.

"Atsuko?" Daisuke asked, "Would you like anything?" but before he could get an answer from the person he was asking, Kakashi interrupted,

"Hey, I agreed to get the next drink, remember?" He directed his attention to Atsuko, who stared back with a slightly blank look, before eventually answering;

"Oh yea… uh… if you're happy too."

"Sure," then turning his attention back to Daisuke, "Two cups with that, please," Kakashi smiled at the bar tend but all he got was a curt nod (and no smile) in return. Kurenai eyed them both for a moment, but remained silent.

"Where are you taking Sasuke to train him?" Asuma asked, leaning on the table a little,

"Just outside of Konoha, I have a feeling we'll need a lot of space as I'll need to teach him a new Jutsu." Kakashi responded lazily, looking comfortably relaxed,

"I see, that's probably a wise decision…What about Naruto? I imagine you won't be training them both as I was impressed at how well all three of yours did at the pre-lims," he said, taking a small, innocent dig at the other male Jounin,

"Nah, he'll have Ebisu-san, which he wasn't happy about… I can't believe they've previously met." Kakashi shook his head a little at the memory and ignoring Asuma's last comment, as Daisuke returned carrying a tray of drinks,

"Here you are, Asuma-san, Kurenai-san," As he handed their bottle over and turned to the other half of the company, he passed out the two small cups and the second bottle of Sake.

"Thank you," she said keeping her self under control until Daisuke had smiled warmly at her, then wandered off,

"About damn time!" she muttered to herself as she pulled down her mask, grabbed the bottle, ripped the cork out and poured a cup of sake which she downed in one, pouring another cup and downing that in seconds, she then looked at Kakashi to see if he wanted a cup, only to find him staring weirdly at her, just as Asuma and Kurenai were.

"What?" she asked, feeling a little uneasy at so many pairs (and a half) of eyes on her;

"What the hell's up with you?" Asuma asked, sounding a little concerned but quite amused.

"I'm… err… thirsty," she responded, tipping some of the bottle's contents into Kakashi's cup and then more into her own, leaving the cork discarded on the table,

"Difficult mission?" Kurenai asked, as Asuma poured a little sake into both their cup and bothering to replace the cork.

"Sort of, seemed to be so much more effort than I remember…" looking at Kakashi she jabbed an unthreatening finger at him, "Your damn laziness is rubbing off on me!" to which Kakashi merely smiled happily in response,

"Hey, I told you to be careful," Asuma smiled in a cheeky fashion as Kurenai laughed, Atsuko opened her mouth to responded but settled for a playfully disgruntled smile and a roll of the eyes; to which Asuma joined Kurenai's laughter. Kakashi joined in after that too, having realized he was just staring at Atsuko.

~~/********/~~

It was getting very late, and the entire company was definitely heading for a bad hangover tomorrow, but it had been a better night – for a number of reasons – than Atsuko had expected. Firstly Daisuke had mostly left them alone and she was free to feel like she wasn't being watched by somebody weird, mostly. Kurenai had been looking at her occasionally like she had a question on the tip of her tongue but couldn't ask; and Kakashi hadn't disappeared into his book once. But then, Atsuko hadn't been this drunk for a while, so maybe her mind was playing tricks on her; as they all placed quite a few notes on the table, they all stood up. As Atsuko was second to last to the door, Kakashi following close behind, she was nearly stopped by Daisuke, but Kakashi slung an arm over her shoulder, and whispered quietly in her ear,

"I guessing you can't be bothered to deal with him right now?" It was a little presumptuous,

"Nah, I just want to go home and sleep," she remarked leaning her head on his shoulder a little – alcohol never failed to make Atsuko feel extremely tired, even if she had just gotten home from a mission. Daisuke watched them walk past, looking a little annoyed, but remained silent; as they got outside to face Asuma's and Kurenai's questioning faces,

"Don't look so weird, I'm saving her from Daisuke," Kakashi sounded a little proud of himself as he steered Atsuko who was rubbing her eyes, and not paying much attention to the surroundings in the direction of where she lived.

"Bye, guys." He called out, putting his hand up in a form of backwards wave as Asuma looked like he wanted to question what exactly was going on, but figured he'd find out soon enough.

"You didn't… have to walk me home, ya know." Atsuko said quietly as she tried, a little unsuccessfully to find her key and open the door,
"Well, it's not honorable to let you get drunk and not walk you back through the dark streets, would it?" he replied, apparently forgetting that she was technically a higher rank than he was. Too tired to really care, Atsuko pulled off her zori, a little awkwardly as Kakashi refused to let her out from under his arm.

"Uh… can I stay here? Too tired to walk back." He muttered,

"Yea, that's fine." She said, wandering towards her bedroom, Kakashi following right next to her. He sat on the bed, pulling off his Chuunin vest, shirt, headband and gloves, swinging his feet up and making some space by his side for Atsuko, as said Kuniochi just watched him not sure what to do. He grabbed her arm and pulled her down next to him, as she leaned on the side of his chest, feeling one his arms coil around her waist as she allowed the arm she wasn't leaning on cross his chest. She fell asleep before she really registered what she was doing although grateful for the body warmth he was providing.

Kakashi shifted a little, turning onto his side, pulling whoever it was keeping him warm a little closer, coiling his free arm around their upper back and resting his chin on the top of their head. It struck him as odd, but he couldn't be bothered to find out what was going on; he'd probably have to get up soon anyway. He tensed his arms again slightly, liking the feeling but it wasn't until he heard a feminine 'mmmh' that his eyes snapped open, it suddenly occurring that this definitely wasn't usual – or something he could ignore. He stared at her for a few moments, half in shock that he hadn't remembered at all going to sleep next to Atsuko and half observing how peaceful and beautiful she looked without a 'put-on' expression that he usually saw. Knowing that they couldn't stay like this, he forced himself to try and wake her up, at least we're still dressed- sort of he thought a little grimly,

"A-Atsuko?" he spoke, much more softly than he expected his voice sound, maybe I'm just that hung-over he reasoned, "Atsuko, wake up." He said a little louder, shaking her very gently trying to wake her up.

"Yea?" she asked gently back, frowning a little without opening her eyes, presumably irritated at having to be woken up,

"It time to get up," he whispered back, worrying how she might react to the situation; Atsuko blinked her eyes open, staring intently, but also in a rather confused fashion,

"Kakashi?" she asked the confusion evident, "Why are you here?" she asked, in a strangely innocent and confused voice, he did his best to hide the smile on his face even though he still had his mask on as he noticed the smallest blush evident on her cheeks;

'Well, I guess I must have come back here and fallen asleep…uhh… I'm really sorry for…uhh… barging in – again," he removed an arm from around her and scratched the back of his head somewhat nervously allowing a smile to show through his eye, trying to lighten the mood and hoped that there wouldn't be any awkward tension. Though he knew that would be impossible – no matter what the outcome.

"Uh… well, don't worry about it," She smiled back lightly looking extremely nervous.

~~~~/*****/~~~~

She leaned on to her back closing her eyes momentarily, trying to regain composure as her heart was definitely not steady, his attractiveness wasn't lost on her, but there was definitely some difference from when he was a few feet away and when his face was barely a few inches away from hers. And that completely ignoring the fact he was currently shirtless, I mean, damn she couldn't resist thinking. Eventually she sat up, and rubbed over her eyes and forehead, groaning a little at how bad she felt; before she's realized it, she looked over her shoulder as Kakashi was also on his back, his one open eye holding and expression she could read.

"Well, I…uhh…I'll get dressed and make some tea," Atsuko feeling conscious that she was saying something which was implying something else. She stood up, fetching a change of clothes and scurrying off to the bathroom, cursing herself for such stupid actions. Taking a minute before she did anything once the bathroom door was closed, she tried to regain composure by taking a few deep breaths; she got dressed in usual shinobi attire, but without a Chuunin vest and brushed her teeth. Feeling a little better, she wandered into the living room seeing that the water in the kitchen was boiling and a tea pot and cups set out. Kakashi was stood leaning against the side having donned his shirt, vest, hitai-ate and gloves, with his head bowed a little, arms folded and his eye closed, looking very relaxed – or tired.

Atsuko walked over to where the water was boiling, she poured it into the tea pot, and allowed it to settle for a moment before picking up the tray it was sat on and walked over to the settee, feeling bad for not saying a word.

"What time do you have to meet Sasuke?" she asked politely, pouring out two cups of tea, and handing him one, which he took from her, as they accidentally brushed fingers,

"In the early afternoon," he responded easily, not looking at her directly as he sat back, Atsuko poured her own cup and stared at it intently, as though it was responsible for her feeling uncomfortable.
"Well… I should really be heading off, as it'll take me a while to get to where I need to meet Sasuke and I'll need to stop off at mine first," she looked up at him, surprised at having finished his tea so quickly while it was still so hot,

"Ah, sure, I hope the training goes well, and that you're genin will do you proud," she said politely, still feeling uneasy, but not showing it,

"Ahahah… yea, they have done me proud, but I hope they do themselves justice," he said, again scratching the back of his head in slight nervousness as he rose to his feet and walked over to where his zori were, pulling them onto his feet. Atsuko followed him over to the door and showed him out as they exchanged one last glance neither could fully read.