Happy Thanksgiving everyone - please enjoy the update! I of course do not own Naruto and am just playing with the characters.


Chapter 9

Someone pulled a collapsible pot from their pack and set about boiling the water. Each shinobi dutifully pulled their package of cup ramen from their stowed food and gathered around the fire to wait. Darkness was easing its way into the camp and Sakura was glad that their beds were all ready for them. Finally the water began to boil and they set into dinner with fervor.

Kakashi sat on the hard ground and leaned against a nearby tree. The bark dug into his back but not enough to be painful. The look in Sakura's eyes when he had touched her hair flashed before him. She had been surprised at his tenderness. Had he not always shown a tender spot for his only female student? He was concerned about her.

She had recovered quite a bit from the shivering, guilty mess she had been shortly after her mother's death, but Sakura had changed. Her usually optimistic spirit was gone, and all her hardened practically, gained from her long hours at the hospital and recent strenuous training, had taken over.

Kakashi's thoughts were brought abruptly back to the present when Genma burped loudly.

"Ahhhh. Nothing like cup ramen when you're on a mission!" he exclaimed.

"You're almost as bad as Naruto." Yamato spoke up.

"Hey! At least I'm not quite that immature."

Their banter continued for a few minutes while Kakashi watched quietly from the other side of the fire. He had his nose in his book as usual, but for once he wasn't paying a lot of attention to what he was reading.

It was nice to have the extra company of Genma and Yamato on this mission. Their scouting and reconnaissance skills would come in handy. He hoped that Sakura would be able to work her way into the medical community in addition to visiting with some of the women from around town while he frequented the known shinobi meeting areas. Someone had to know something about the kunai. Weapons of this caliber didn't appear out of nowhere.

He glanced up when he heard the puff of air indicating that someone was performing a jutsu. When it cleared he could see that Sakura no longer sat by the fire but instead a mousy, quiet looking girl with dark brown hair had taken her place.

Genma scrunched up his nose in distaste and the brown haired girl shook her fist at him in warning. Another puff of smoke and the girl this time was a beautiful blonde with shimmering hair that cascaded down her back. She blinked up at them from underneath long eyelashes and smiled.

Genma whistled, this time earning a face full of dirt for his impropriety.

The game continued for several more minutes and Sakura's henges got more and more outrageous. Yamato was even laughing, indulging in the simple happiness of the moment.

"So, what are you really going to do to yourself? We probably aught to know who to look for." Genma finally stated in between snorts of laughter.

Sakura looked thoughtful for a moment, and then she reached up and touched her hair. They watched in amazement as Sakura's image wavered in front of them, hazy. When it finally solidified the men saw streaks of black slowly moving through her hair, each strand turning darker and darker until her pink hair was completely masked.

Her facial features had all lengthened just a tiny bit, enough to make her look a little like Sakura, but not enough to be easily recognizable. With her newly darkened hair she would blend in easily as a civilian.

She smiled. "The best lies are the ones closest to the truth."

She looked hopefully at Kakashi.

"Looks good, Sakura. I think that will be fine." Kakashi commented.

As the fire began to die down later in the evening they rolled out their sleeping bags around the flames and settled in to rest.

There was no light from the moon that night and their camp slowly darkened as the embers in the fire pit burned themselves out.

Sakura was tucked into her warm bedroll with her eyes closed. She waited patiently for sleep to come, but half an hour later she was still wide awake. She tossed restlessly in her bag.

The medic resisted the urge to squint into the darkness and see if her comrades were all asleep, and instead she reached out with her chakra to sense the presences around her. She had half wondered if Genma would snore as loud as Naruto, but most shinobi who had that problem broke it early in their training. Snore and be killed or sleep silently and make it through the night? The choice was obvious.

With a huff of breath Sakura rolled over once again to try to sleep, this time running into a long hard object.

Her bokken.

She had hinted to Kakashi that if he was serious about continuing her swordsmanship training, she would need a real katana. But, he had simply blinked at her and changed the topic. Maybe she could scrounge up a practicing katana in the village where they would be staying.

As her thoughts began to wander towards what kind of katana she would like to have, sleep crept in slowly until Sakura faded away to a light slumber.

The next morning the sun was bright when they split up. Sakura and Kakashi moved towards the village at a steady walking pace. Their movements were unhurried and Sakura allowed herself to relax for a few moments as the sun beat down onto their backs. The light reflected off her long dark hair and she tossed it over her shoulder in frustration.

She knew the man walking next to her was Kakashi, but with the henge in place it was awfully hard to tell. His hair was now dark and shaggy, some of it hanging in his brown eyes. His face was mostly visible, though she knew the shape and features were different from those of her sensei. His chin was obscured by the ratty scarf wound around his neck.

"Taichou, what do you think we're going to find?" she asked.

"Well, best case scenario we'll find that the kunai coming through Rice are just that – kunai with no poison…but, if Tsunade really thought that were the case she wouldn't have called it an A-rank mission. Worst-case scenario we find that Sound has been behind the poisoned kunai. If that's what's happening then we'll do our best to pin down what the main source is in Rice, and how deep Sound's involvement really is."

"I see. So, where do we start?"

"Well, you and I will be long-term visitors to the village, and we'll see what we can learn. We'll report back to Tsunade every few days so she can keep up with our progress."

"And we're brother and sister? What are our names?"

He pointed to himself. "Toshi Hisoka, and you're Toshi Kiku. Our parents died about three years ago and you are I are the last of our clan. We're looking for a new place to settle. I'm looking for a job, and you want to help out at the local clinic."

Sakura stretched her arms over her head. "Sounds good, taichou." She remembered from previous trips that the journey to Rice usually wasn't very long, but since they were limited to a walk, this particular journey seemed to be dragging on longer than what she would have preferred. The trees had thinned out as they moved out of fire country and the day was much hotter with less shade. She could feel the sweat trickling down her neck and running down her back under the simple cotton yukata she wore.

Despite the fact that Kakashi was, as usual, covered from head to toe, he seemed completely oblivious to the warm, humid heat shifting around them. Does the man ever sweat? Sakura wondered crossly.

"We should reach our destination within the next couple hours. Once we're there we have to find the housing Tsunade arranged for us. It doesn't sound like it will be much, but that's all right."

"Do we at least get furniture?" she grumbled.

Kakashi chuckled next to her. "I think we might at least get a couple beds."

Half an hour later the road broadened into a wide meadow and the small village was nestled at the lowest point. Rice paddies abounded and several people in straw hats could be seen wading in the shallow water.

Sakura studiously kept her gaze to herself as they passed and soon enough she and Kakashi were entering the village. The commercial section was smaller than in Konoha, but it bustled with daily activity. Overhead women were hanging laundry in the sun, and children ran gleefully through the streets. Delicious smells from the nearby food stands wafted on the breeze and Sakura's stomach growled hungrily after only the cup ramen the evening before.

Kakashi seemed to know where he was headed and before long he was speaking with a kind-looking old woman. He bowed respectfully and then she showed them up the tight set of stairs next to her small shop. A green door at the top of the steps opened into a small apartment.

"Two keys, one for each of you. Two bedrooms down that hall, kitchen there." The landlady pointed out the different areas of the apartment, handed them the keys, and then left.

Sakura stretched luxuriously and piled the long dark hair onto the top of her head to let some air find her sweaty neck.

"Nice." Was all she said. There was a low table with a few cushions and a small futon in the room they had entered. She followed the indicated hallway to the bedrooms and opened the doors into two identical tiny bedrooms. Each room had a futon already laid out on the tatami floor.

"Can I have this room?" she asked Kakashi, indicating the one with a large window that looked down on the street. It was filled with the bright daylight and despite having dingy, worn paint it seemed cheerful. "I'd like to be able to see who's coming and going."

Kakashi nodded in agreement. "Fine."

Sakura moved into the room and set her pack down in one corner. She looked over her shoulder at Kakashi. "I need to clean up a little, then do you want to do some scouting or figure out what there is to eat around here?"

"Let's do some scouting and get a feel for the town. We'll eat later."

Sakura huffed and turned to pull a scroll from her pack. Figures, Kakashi never functions like a normal human.

"Alright, I'll be quick." She squeezed past him into the bathroom which had a postage stamp sized bathtub and showering area. At least she didn't have to go down the hall.

She placed the scroll on the counter, made a few hands signs, and slammed her hand down on the piece of paper. With a poof of smoke her bag of toiletries appeared, complete with everything that would last her for up to a month.

She quickly stripped off the sweaty civilian clothes that clung to her body and climbed gratefully into the warm cascade of water. After a few moments of scrubbing she was toweling off and throwing on a clean set of clothes so her captain's irritation at having to wait wouldn't be out of hand. Despite his near constant lateness, his patience with anyone else that didn't run on his schedule was limited.

Once she was clean she entered the living room where Kakashi was sprawled on the futon, reading Itcha Itcha.

He glanced up when she walked into the room. "Ready?" he asked.

"Yes, I think so."

"Let's get moving then."

The town was still filled with people and Sakura's stomach grumbled again as they passed the food booths. Kakashi had seemingly forgotten about food and was making a beeline for the section of vendors where weapons were sold. The only bright spot about visiting weapons vendors instead of the food stands was that perhaps she could scout out a nice katana and sneak back and buy it, supposedly as a present for her brother, when Kakashi wasn't around.

When they arrived he made a show of asking pointed, knowledgeable questions about the array of kunai and shuriken available. After having befriended the man Kakashi subtly inquired about placing larger orders. When the man blanched and became somewhat withdrawn, the ninja knew he had hit a nerve. Clearly the vendor was nervous about something.

He quickly changed the subject back to more pleasant topics and the man slowly relaxed. After another moment of conversation he waved Sakura over.

"Turima-san, this is my sister, Kiku-chan. She is my ward since our parents have passed away."

Sakura smiled shyly at the older man from under her dark hair. "Hello Turima-san. I'm pleased to meet you."

"Hello Kiku-san. I hope I can introduce you to my son. He's only a little older than you."

Sakura gritted her teeth but maintained her smile.

"That would be lovely. We know so few people here."

"Well, it was very nice to meet you. Kiku-chan and I are going to find some dinner and then start settling in." Kakashi finally piped up.

"Of course, I wish you the best during your stay here." Turima replied.

With a brotherly hand on her shoulder, Kakashi turned Sakura the other direction and they moved on down the street. At the next weapons dealer they met the performance was repeated, and than again a third time even farther down the street. By the time they finished speaking with the fourth dealer, Kakashi had an appointment for the man to introduce him to his supplier the next day. To put the man at ease Kakashi promptly purchased several kunai from him and slapped him heartily on the back when he offered to introduce his son to Kiku.

Sakura dutifully batted her eyelashes at the man and smiled prettily. How did I get myself into this one?

When Kakashi turned from the booth this time Sakura cornered him.

"Hisoka," she growled, "Can you please stop forcing me to flirt with gross old men and take me to find some food?"

"Kiku, I thought you were better able to withstand the urges of the human body." He replied nonchalantly.

He glanced at his teammate and happened to notice how she carefully clenched and unclenched the fist she held at her side, and reconsidered his humor.

"I know I promised to feed you. What do you want?"

She glanced up at him in surprise. "Are you really going to let me pick?"

"No tempura."

She sighed. "Fine, let's go find some broiled fish."


The next morning was another bright, sunny, and sweltering day. Kakashi had gotten up early to meet the merchant and his mysterious supplier, so Sakura temporarily had the apartment to herself. She dressed and then wandered the town in search of breakfast. She felt as if she had been cooped up in the apartment for over week when in reality it had only been a day. Her muscles were tight, longing for a run or a good spar that would stretch them.

She had grown accustomed to the soreness again. The simple fact that her muscles would always grow stiff, and that they would grumble and complain, was all too familiar to her.

She was glad to see that the village was busy. More people meant more cover for her. Women out buying their groceries for the day moved in and out of the stalls with assurance and efficiency. Some had their little ones along and Sakura smiled to herself as she watched one little boy tug at his mother's yukata. Clearly he was headed for the dango stand two stalls down, but his mother was engrossed in conversation with the shopkeeper, another lady who appeared to be about her age.

Many wonderful smells filled the air and her stomach grumbled. She stopped and bought a small container of soup and some rice, and then she moved easily between the people filling the street until finally she reached a quieter spot. Bright sun shone on the grassy meadow that led down to the river. A stone path meandered through the grass and benches were placed along side it.

Sakura sat to eat on one of these benches and let the sun warm her body. It felt like each ray that touched her picked a muscle to loosen until the tightness in her body began to fade away.

She needed this. This mission. She needed some assurance that she was still good. That she was worthy of her jounin title.

Sakura had felt stripped of all her strength when Nariko died. No amount of chakra, or chakra control for that matter, could have kept Nariko alive. She knew that. She was forcing herself to know that. But, as she often told her patients, grief was a slow and agonizing process.

She ate her food and then moved on to the other market stalls to purchase basic supplies for their tiny apartment. She kept an eye out for Kakashi as she moved from stall to stall, but saw nothing of him the entire time she was in town. Once her arms were loaded with bags, to the point that it might seem suspicious if she carried any more, she returned to their living quarters.

She organized their things, put their groceries away, and managed to kill one more hour before realizing how incredibly bored she was.

Sakura laughed ruefully to herself at the idea of her ever being a regular wife. How could the women stand it? She'd had to keep house on other missions before when undercover, but she found boredom set in after about twelve hours. If a woman's choices for her life were between being a housewife and being a shinobi – with the potential for an early death – she'd take the more life threatening of the two options any day.

When the clock finally read four in the afternoon, Sakura decided she had better put her meager domestic skills to use. The least she could do was have dinner waiting when Kakashi arrived.

She dug through the items she had recently purchased, debating about what to cook. Her mental recipe database was a little limited. After wrinkling her nose in distaste at the several different options that crossed her mind, she had almost resolved to tell Kakashi that he was on his own for food if he wanted more than rice and tea. Sakura heaved a sigh and decided that she could had least bake the fish she had purchased earlier and through it in with some egg and noodles for a decent soup. With new purpose, she set to work.

Her captain barged through the door a few minutes after five. Kakashi was feeling fairly relaxed. So far this mission was nothing to get too excited over. A little undercover, a few questions asked of the appropriate people, and they would be on their way. The apartment was quiet but he had sensed Sakura's presence before he ever walked through the door.

A further look revealed the medic standing over a pot on their small stove and staring suspiciously into it.

"Kiku…?" Kakashi questioned carefully. He was hoping, based on the smell, that she was brewing some kind of poison antidote.

She turned to face him and looked a little sheepish. "Um, I cooked?"

Kakashi thought carefully about his reply for a moment, and then asked, "Is that code for we should get take out?"

He was worried for a moment that she would say no and that he might actually have to choke down a few bites of the awful smelling stuff, but he was saved when the pot came hurtling towards him, soup, spoon, and all. Kakashi had just enough time to realize that super human strength made all the difference when one was up against projectile weapons before the heated pot flew through the spot where his head had been a moment ago.

Steam was practically shooting out Sakura's ears.

"Tempura?" Kakashi questioned, hoping to avoid any further violence.

The steam abruptly tapered off. "Fine." The kunoichi muttered before stalking out of the tiny apartment.


Kakashi hid his frown at the prospect of eating tempura behind the menu he was now holding up and scrutinized the available options. There had to be something else to eat here besides that awful breaded stuff.

Across from him, Sakura had already chosen her dinner and was waiting patiently for him to do the same. After finally spotting some sort of fish stew, Kakashi placed his menu on the table as well.

"So, brother, what did you do today?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi's eyes slid to the right and to the left, gauging how much he could say in their current surroundings. "Well, I met with one of the suppliers. I was not able to ask for the exact item that I was hoping to acquire, but we have another business meeting scheduled in a couple days."

Sakura regarded Kakashi carefully for a moment. She could see a hint of a smirk peering out from the top of his scarf. Unease slithered through her gut for just a moment.

"What kind of business meeting exactly?"

"Well, ahem, he asked if you and I would like to meet him for dinner tomorrow evening."

Sakura frowned now. "Both of us?"

"Yes. Apparently he keeps a home near here and he's invited us to eat there."

Her scowl deepened. "Well, that certainly seems like a bad situation waiting to happen. We can't have been found out after being here such a short time, have we?"

Kakashi sighed. "I doubt it. I got the impression today that he was a little short on help. Something about a recently increased volume of sales? Maybe he's hoping to hire on extra personnel."

Sakura snorted. "And that involves me how?"

"I doubt it will be anything you'll like. We'll just have to be careful."

Sakura spent the rest of the meal glaring at her plate.

When the next morning arrived Sakura immediately immersed herself in preparing for dinner that evening. She hadn't brought much in the way of dinner-appropriate attire. Not that she owned much to begin with of course.

She headed out into the village to search for appropriate clothing that would allow ample hiding places for weapons. She and Kakashi planned to meet up again late in the afternoon to plan out their basic strategy for the dinner meeting.

Luckily, the kunoichi had spied a couple different dress shops the day before. She wouldn't require anything too fancy – a slightly dressed up yukata aught to do her just fine. She scurried into the one closest to their apartment and emerged an hour later with a carefully wrapped package clutched to her side.

She may not have had the appropriate dress for the evening meal, but she certainly had all the weapons she would need.

Sakura looked carefully up at the sky, judging the time based on the position of the sun. Her body was quickly beginning to fill with anxiety at the prospect of the evening's activities, and she desperately wanted to sneak out of the village and go on a nice run to dispel the tension, but it appeared that she didn't have time. A nice bath at the apartment would have to do instead. Sakura was certain it would take her at least three hours to get into all this restrictive clothing plus the extra time required to stash weapons on every available place on her body.

By the time Kakashi arrived back at the apartment she had managed to hitch herself into two of her three layers. Her new dress was a lovely gray satin with pink edging and matching pink embroidered flowers strewn artistically across the fabric. Luckily, the slip that went under it had pockets in strategic locations and all she had to do was slit the dress in couple spot to access the pockets.

She was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom with the dress half wrapped around herself, kunai gripped in her teeth, struggling with the obi when Kakashi walked in.

His visible eye grew wide when he came around the corned and he halted abruptly in front of the bathroom door.

Sakura glared at him in the mirror when she noticed him standing behind her.

"When was the last time you tried hiding weapons in your dress, brother?" she growled.

"Oh, only a couple weeks ago, you know." He smiled nonchalantly. "Shall I help you tie that?"

She sighed. "Yes please."

Kakashi came closer and took the long ends of the belt in his hands. "Don't they teach this kind of thing at the academy?"

Sakura sighed again. "Too bad I insisted on reading my medical texts during class, isn't it?"

Her captain laughed. "That sounds just like you. Here, turn around and face the mirror."

She obediently turned and faced the mirror so Kakashi could tie the bow. His rough hands grasped the middle of the long strip of fabric and centered the middle of it over her naval.

Sakura could feel his warm breath on the back of her neck and at the exposed skin around her collar when he stepped near her. She suppressed a shudder as his rough hands slipped over her body, neatly wrapping the obi around her. It seemed so long since anyone had touched her.

It had felt silly to let him tie it for her at first, but now it was all Sakura could do not to jerk at his touch. She willed herself to hold perfectly still as he let the fabric slide through his fingers with practiced hands as he placed it snugly around her waist.

For a moment she let herself smell his masculine scent of pine and musk.

Kakashi neatly finished off her dress by tying the obi in a pretty bow at the small of her back. As he prepared to draw away to a polite distance, his fingers flexed at his side, longing to run over the satin one more time.

He smiled at her in the mirror. "All done." He said quietly. The dress was an excellent choice for her – the gray accented her newly darkened hair and the embroidery brought out the delicate pink of her blushing cheeks.

"You look lovely." He complimented.

Sakura gulped down the lump that had formed in her throat.

"Thank you." She replied quietly.

"Are you all ready to go?" Kakashi asked.

"Almost." The medic changed her grip on the kunai she'd been using and began patting down her outer thigh until she found the spot she'd been looking for. With a mental grin of glee, she slashed through the satin to create a small opening for her hand to reach the kunai strapped under the dress.

Total, she had managed to hide about 15 different bladed weapons on herself. Her favorites were the delicate, cherry blossom senbon that pierced the bun on the back of her head. What kunoichi left the house without her trusty hair piece weapons?

Sakura glanced at herself in the mirror one more time. She could handle this. She was back in shape, she was well trained, and above all, she was with Kakashi. The mission would go just fine.

She turned back to her captain. "Let's go."