SORRY ABOUT THE LONG TIME BETWEEN UPDATES! I've been busy.
So hope you like this chapter!
He felt uncomfortable. The feeling had seemed to become such a frequently used one that it didn't surprise him anymore. It would appear that this mission would be harder then he had first thought, but the situation he was in now gave new life to the emotion. Never in a million years had he seen so much cameras, and all in the same place...seeming to be centered on only one person. She was a "top model" after all, or so he's been told. And up until now he didn't know just to what extent that in tales, but everything came into view once he stepped out of that limo. When his foot first hit that carpet, he was both shocked and startled at what he saw.
Without a second to catch his breathe, a swamp of cameras and their operators pushed their way into his face. Through his momentarily blinded eyes caused by the content flashing of bright light, he saw the people dressed in suits thrashing and squirming their ways deeper into the pack to try to get a better shot of the jounin who didn't have any reason to have his picture taken next to the fact of who stepped from the car after him.
"Sakura! Sakura, look at me please!" Came one call from somewhere in the pack.
"Over here Sakura!" Came another, but not as nicely as the last.
"Mrs. Hoku!"
Many outbursts boomed from the crowd, trying to convince the pink haired women to look directly at their camera next to the other twenty she had to choose from. A smile graced her lips in reaction, but it was half hearted in nature. Kakashi noticed this immediately.
She raised her hand above her head to wave to the crying spectators who were too calling her name, saying they loved her.
Kakashi stepped in front of her and the camera people who pushed continually closer to her, and stood as a wall between those who would do anything to get their shot. Occasionally gave a push on a few people to keep them at bay, but still the screams and requests, no orders rang into all three parties ears, as Tezuka followed close behind her. Frowning curiously at the action made by the personal assistant. Sakura momentarily glanced at the silver haired mans back when he had put himself as a shield between herself and the paparazzi who, she knew very well, to have a driving nature. Making them do whatever is necessary to get their shot, and to get paid afterwards. She felt safe at that moment, even if it was him who was the cause of it.
Kakashi was opposed to this immediately, and if it was up to him he would have grabbed Sakura and gotten back into the car. But, as Sakura had made it perfectly clear, being her bodyguard doesn't mean that he makes the decisions. Even if that entails putting herself in danger. As his blue eyes cautiously scanned the crowd, high and low, the gut feeling that something bad was about to happen began to set in, as it had while on the many, many missions he had been sent on for Konoha in his day. He couldn't help thinking that there were far too many popularities for the enemy to get a clear shot at Sakura and the silver haired ninja knew that he couldn't protect her from all of them.
Seeing it as his only option right now, Kakashi moved forward closer to Sakura. She gasped when his hand came to rest on her small waist from behind, her cheeks burning hot with the blush that had crept onto her face, but he quickly ushered her inside the building without hearing nor caring to hear any objects which were no doubt streaming out her harlequin-painted mouth.
Once the large, the quite muscular bouncers had shut the door and sealed the three inside and the camera personal outside, it was then Kakashi's hand slipped off of her tiny waist. Ignoring the shiver of what he couldn't tell, that ran down her body as his hand left her touch; he set his attention to the new surroundings he had found himself in.
The large building was packed full of people, each dressed, as Kakashi noticed, in more unique and bizarre pieces of clothing then the last. His blue eyes scanned the sea of people, his senses being overwhelmed by the large array of bright colors of dresses and booming volume of conversations within groups scattered all over the large area of the waiting section. What they were talking about, he neither cared nor had any desire to find out.
His arm was brushed by another as a middle aged man with platinum blonde hair moved passed him and entered the crowd.
"Sakura, dear, you have to get ready!" Tezuka shouted over the talking people, gathering Kakashi's attention. His blue eyes shifted from surveying the room to focus on Tezuka who had slipped a strong arm around her waist and stroked the silkiness of her dress in a flirtatious way, which Kakashi found odd. Was it because only moments before it was his arm that had been around her? Was he...jealous? He shook the thoughts from his mind and watched Sakura, as a young woman dressed not in weird clothing but particular plain white blouse with brown dress paints, lead her away. His eyes met with his briefly, before she was lead around the crowd and disappeared into a black door. Kakashi had a mind to create a clone to act in his place while he followed her, but Tezuka motioned for them to move down to the lower level. He chose to follow the purple haired man down the three steps and into the crowd.
"Tell me, Tre." Kakashi's attention shifted to the man who had, for the first time that evening, addressed him.
Kakashi remained silence, giving Tezuka reason to continue
"What was your profession before this one?" He asked, glancing around the room.
"Why do you want to know?" Kakashi asked calmly.
"Oh," he shrugged. "Just because." His eyes finally came to rest on the silver haired man. Kakashi remained silent as their eyes locked. It was a game, he figured. A challenge, for Tezuka, to prove that he was in control, that he was the boss. These questions were just foreplay. They were just used to mask his true nature. Kakashi didn't like this man.
"I was a bouncer." He lied, well. It wasn't quite a lie. Ninja can be used as bouncers at times. Ninja's can be used an almost anything. But if he already knew that Kakashi was indeed Ninja, then why is he asking? It was a game, you see.
"Ah." He replied. "A bouncer to a Personal assistant. Quite a change, yes?"
"I got board." He responded without a second to spare.
"So what will you do when you get board with this career, Tre?" His smirk didn't phase the calm natured jounin who had been put to the test on many occasions by many different people, and he proved it with a remark that didn't suit Tezuka the right way.
"I don't, maybe I'll be a manager." Kakashi shrugged, stuffed his hands into his pockets and descended down the stairs.
Tezuka, after giving the back of the man an angry glare, was quick to follow.
"To tell you the truth, Tre. And I do want to be honest. I can't for the life of me; figure out what it is that you do for Sakura and me. I mean, you are very good at finding trouble, but Sakura seems to do that fine on her own."
"I take all those useless and worrisome problems off of her shoulders, so that she can perform to the best of her abilities at what she does. And as for you," Kakashi turned to face the man who stood an inch below his nose, "I provide good conversation." He smiled and turned to walk into the crowd.
As time passed, Kakashi grew more and more anxious, the large double white doors still remained closed, and he hadn't been into contact with Sakura now for a half-an-hour and the thought in the back of his mind that something had happened in the time span moved him to excuse himself to the bathroom.
"The show is starting Tre. Can't have you missing it, can we?" Tezuka grinned. An action which Kakashi found fake and cowardly, yet smiled back without hesitation. And sure enough after that, the doors creaked open and the many people who and been gathering, calmly filed inside the opening.
Inside was dark, yet Kakashi's Sharigen shot through what the others around him were undoubtedly having difficulty seeing through. Which made him wonder why, due to that fact that his eye hadn't been in the best condition since arriving in Grass country? Why it was in such agonizing pain one minute then acting like nothing was different the next, he didn't know. But then again, he wasn't a doctor and next to normal talent of stitching cuts which every shinboi will come to know every well, he was pretty useless when it came to health care. Not that he was complaining about the relief of not having his eye feel like it's going to burst, in fact it came as a much welcomed feeling.
He saw the room was long and thin rather then large and wide, as the waiting area had been. Seats in lined rows circled the centre run way that ran from one side of the building to the half way to the next.
Tezuka lead himself and the silver haired and the stairs, passing many people who had already taken their seats, to the end of the walk way to a small gathering of reserved seats. Glancing briefly down the narrow runway, he saw nothing but a vibrant red wall and no sign of Sakura.
He took his seat next to the purple haired man who had chosen a seat front row, centre.
"When will the show start?" Kakashi whispered, leaning over slightly as to not disturb the quiet nature of the place where they sat.
"Briefly." He gave a curt reply, successfully without removing his eyes from the reading material in his lap which he had picked up just before entering the main room.
Kakashi sat back in his chair and fell silent as he took to watching the people around him trying to find their seats in the dark. The bright and brilliant colours of the clothing he had been repelled from due to the natural of the colours now faded into the lack of light and served to sooth his eye which had begun to act up again that morning.
"Well, look who it is!" Came a rather loud but cheerful voice that pieced the silence which had fallen over the two. Kakashi blinked and lifted his chin, as his eyes met with the face of none other than Mesi, as the small man looked down over him.
"Mesi." He nodded and let hi gaze once more fall to the stage.
"Nice of you to remember me, Tre." The small man moved to climb over the row of chairs and slide into the empty chair next to Kakashi. The silver haired man could only watch on in curiosity and amusement as the photographer leapt over chairs in the middle of a fashion show. Now he wasn't an expert at these kinds of gatherings but jumping over chairs seemed a little unorthodox. But then again, he couldn't be shocked when he wouldn't have expected anything else from the rather unusual yet strangely fascinating man.
"It's only been a week or so since we first met." Kakashi commented.
"Oh yes, I remember it like it was yesterday." Mesi smirked as the images of the photo shoot played in his mind as clean as when you've just witnessed it happen. Kakashi frowned slightly and quickly focused his gaze elsewhere. "Nice to see you again Tezuka." Mesi addressed the silent man for the first time. "How have you been?"
"Fine." Tezuka replied yet still his eyes remained on the fascinating reading material in his lap.
"Oh and I'm fabulous thanks for asking." Mesi chuckled, yet remained unbothered by the Purple haired man who suddenly became antisocial. "I'm simply dieing to see this show." The man switch topics like none other, Kakashi was beginning to realize. "Myris is one of the hottest designers around these days."
"Really?" Kakashi sighed, not really interested but doubting the talkative man would be silent if he was to know the copy ninja's true feelings.
"Of course, don't tell me that you've never heard of him?" Mesi expressed his shock by grabbing Kakashi's arm. The silver haired man, shifted uncomfortably.
"To tell you the truth," He yanked the small man's grip from his arm before continuing. "I'm don't really concern myself with fashion, the subject doesn't interest me." He replied, scratching the back of his head.
"But to have a client that high in fashion inner circles as Sakura Hoku is, there must be something about this subject that sparks an interest." Mesi grinned.
Kakashi turned to glare at the chuckling man to his right, opened his mouth to contradict what was said, when soft music filled the room with melody which he couldn't place yet drew his in anyway. Making his comeback fade from his mind for the moment, as his eyes shifted to the stage, seeing that a thin layer of fog swiftly snake across the runway, as if in dance, the fog swayed from one side to the other then floating back into the crowd seated in the front row.
The cloud smelt terrible as it entered Kakashi's nose, yet his hand couldn't resist twisting around the layer of fog that snaked its way into his lap. Playing with the way it drifted smoothly over his fingers, why he didn't know. This wasn't the first time he's seen fog, yet this didn't seem the same as a smoke bomb often used in combat. This was milky coloured and without beginning or end, without anger or made to hurt.
"Oooo it's starting." Mesi clapped with excitement.
Kakashi's gaze lifted from his hands to the stage as a single small figure appeared on the runway. She moved gracefully thought he clouds of fog at her feet, each step causing the cloud to drift away. She walked forcefully, fast yet without any hurry. Thin legs striding with confidence and poise, almost in a cocky nature, if her face wasn't so void of any emotions. It startled him how lifeless her expressions were, and as she neared the end to the runway his blue eyes realized that she was not looking at anything or anyone in general, yet had a far away look to her vibrant blue eyes.
To add to that, her body was so thin, he thought she would pass out at any moment. Sakura was thin, but not nearly as thin as this woman was. The strapless dress she showed off nearly fell from her chest from the lack of breasts, the long gracefully arms hung lazily at her sides and were let to swing whenever she took a step. Her light brown hair so frizzy it looked as if she had been hit by lightning, tied back in a very loose pony tail.
The model stopped right in front of Kakashi, and snapped her hip into a pose before turning around to head back.
Mesi leaned to Kakashi.
"Nyni Yosi. Isn't she wonderful?" Mesi whispered. Kakashi glanced over to him briefly before turning back.
"She's…uh..." His mind scanned for a word. "..She's something." He decided on.
His eyes caught another woman who was now occupying the spot light, this girl's walk was similar to the girl before, but her appearance was different. For example, her hair was not long like the others, but quite short which was also so frizzy that it seemed to turn into an afro. The heavy black eye liner around her eyes made her hazel eyes pop, yet the heavy baby blue eye shadow applied around her eyes gave her another earthly appearance.
The see through shirt she wore gave no cover to hide her breasts that was very visible with the convenient absence of a bra, making Kakashi hide the blush that threatened to appear and turn away briefly to regain his composure. Her straight legged brown pants clung to her body, yet the puffy bow attached to the ass of the pants made the pants look that much tighter.
Her hand reached loosely on her waist, but threatened to slide off with every stride she took.
And again she stopped at the end of the walkway, snapped her hips and turned to walk back.
"Don't they eat?" Kakashi found himself whispering before his mind had fully come to grips with what he was going to say. It had been a curse laid upon his since taking this mission. Mesi chuckled.
"They keep telling me they do, but it doesn't look like it, huh?" Kakashi glanced over at him briefly before shaking his head. "But that's what designers want now-a-days." He added with a sign.
"Why?" Kakashi questioned, turning his attention from the man to the show.
Mesi shrugged. "To tell you honestly, I don't really know. Healthy girls always take better pictures I find. But unfortunately, not everyone believes that." He replied.
"So they starve themselves?" Kakashi asked. Narrowing his eyes in pity at the model before him.
"Hai, many do. But that's what the secret appeal to Ms. Hoku is."
"What do you mean?" Kakashi asked.
"Well think about it. Most of the popular are of Sakura's body size, which means that the cloths she wears can fit them."
"Ah" Kakashi replied in understanding. "But she has gotten much thinner since I last-"He stopped himself before he said to much. Mesi smiled as if winning the battle to get the man to open up about the girl. But thankfully, he left it alone. At least for the moment, anyway.
"More to the fact, I believe that it's a welcomed change to have someone in the business without an eating disorder. It's been far too long since someone has eaten the food at parties anyway." Mesi smiled, Kakashi couldn't help but dot he same, before turning back to his hands once again.
A loud applause startled the jounin from his thought and as he lifted his gaze to see why, his eyes caught something that made him immediately sit up in his seat with mild interest.
Pink hair that darken with the lack of light, yet shined with the small spot light that followed her down the runway. As if she was the centre of attention, as if everyone in that room was looking at her and nothing else. Well, Kakashi couldn't speak for the rest of the many people around him, but his gaze remained on her from the moment she had appeared on that platform.
Her arms hung loosely at her sides and swung to the rhythm in which she walked her feet invisible underneath the cloud of fog that continuously floated from nowhere, to cover the stage completely. His eyes moved on their own accord, as he slowly looked her over, from head to ankles. First thing he noticed was her hair, being the brightest color she had on at that moment; his eyes were drawn to it to begin with. It was, just like the other models that came before her, frizzy and tied up loosely as if her hair had been cut up to her ears. Her eyes were completely blue, all around her cheeks up to her eyebrows, yet she wore heavy black eye liner that mad her eyes pop. But because of that, Kakashi was able to see the expression on her face from where he sat.
She looked sad. His brows frowned slightly when he first saw it; a lump formed in his throat making him swallow in an attempt to make it go away. She looked distant, as if her body was here but her mind was elsewhere. Yet, even with the apparent absence of her thoughts, she still managed to strut down that runway with such passion and forcefulness that Kakashi actually thought that she was in a hurry to get to the end so she could hurt something.
He allowed his thoughts to drift as far as to say that she was beautiful, absolutely stunning. It wasn't as if he was betraying his vow to hate her and despise her, he thought it because it was true. She had always been a very beautiful woman, yet he couldn't help but pity her for some reason. She may have everything in the bag in the looks department, but look at her now. She's not even there, everyone in the room is applauding her yet she doesn't even know it. He made up his mind right then…she wasn't happy.
Before he knew it, she was right before him. His gaze lifted in order to see her; she had paused at the end and posed as many cameras snapped pictures of her, as all the girls before her had.
Her green eyes slowly shifted to his, he didn't know why at that moment his heart flustered as if had when he and she were….. But to have that feeling felt strongly….No.
He cut eye contact and quickly turned his head elsewhere, shutting his eyes for good measure. Even though he laughed her, for everything she had done in the past, to see her like this mad his heart ache. Made him wish that things could have turned out differently for her and him as well.
Sakura's gaze soon too fluttered away after his. She felt her heart break once again as she watched him turn his back on her, even when she was up on this stage right now. Camera's madly flashing just to get a picture of her, people clapping just to see her. And yet, no of this mattered. She wanted to hate him so badly at that moment, but all she thought about was how much she hated herself.
The camera's snapping madly as a single tear ran down her cheek; bring the eye make up with it. She quickly turned away and started back, the applause still ringing in her ears yet leaving her unmoved and cold.
Mesi's gaze sharply turned to Kakashi's as he, and everyone else witnessed the small interaction between the model on stage and the man who sat next to him, with slight confusment. He knew quite well that something was between them, something that happened a while ago that caused their drifting apart, but to witness first hand at the conflicted emotions coming to life was something he found quite interesting and sad at the same time. Of course neither of them would admit it, but actions speak louder then words after all. One thing that still haunted his mind was why Sakura had called him Kakashi while at the photo shoot that day? He'd just have to find out wouldn't he?
He grinned with ideas.
The fashion show had ended soon after Sakura had walked back behind the red brick wall that divided back stage and where the cameras were. And at last the house lights flicked on and the lights chased the dark back underneath the seats. But the sudden light after no many hours in darkness set his already irritated eye in a sharp pain that made him hunch forward in his seat.
"Tre?" Mesi asked in concern as he heard the man grunt and quickly press his knuckles into his left eye. "Are you alright?" Losing the battle to keep the urge to cry out, his pain filled cry only served to worry Mesi more as he soon yelled for a doctor, over the shuffling feet.
By this time the people from the rows behind Kakashi were gathering around to get a better look at what was going on.
Sakura quickly looked up from her makeup stand upon hearing an agonizing cry from behind the red brick wall in where the runway was. Instantly remembering the night she was attacked, vivid pictures of Kakashi crying out like the one she had just heard, made her leap to her feet.
"Kakashi..." She whispered to herself, turning on her heals to rush past the girls who had too heard to noise from the main room and had stopped in their business to see what is was about. Still wearing the same clothing she had on the runway, she quickly pushed aside the occasional girl who blocked her way, until she stood in front of the red wall on the runway which she had only moments before walked down.
There was a large crowd at the end of the runway, and without hesitation took off in a run down to where, with no doubt in her mind, Kakashi was. She didn't think about why, when she first heard that yell, her heart sank to her chest. She didn't think why she was in such a hurry to get to him, as if everything depended on her being on time. She didn't know why when she finally pushed her way through the crowd and saw him resting with his head in his hands and chest rising and falling deeply, a sense of relief ran through her. But it happened just the same.
"Tre?" Mesi whispered questionly, as he felt the back muscles of the silver haired man relax and smooth out.
"Y-yes." His voice was rasp and low, just as it had been in her room. "I'm fine, thank you, it just happens from time to time..." He assured, lifting his head, and opening his eyes slowly. Letting the light once again enter.
She was the first thing he saw.
She looked as if she had run the desert to get to him, her hair half out of its tie, and makeup half washed off. But there was fear, and relief in her eyes. Kakashi wondered why.
He rose to his feet, thanked those around him for their concern, assured them he was ok, and slipped through the crowd.
Sakura's breathing steadied as she watched him walk away as if nothing had happened; remaining where she stood even after the large crowd had dissolved to only Tezuka, Mesi and herself.
"You need to get ready for tonight." Tezuka replied. Mesi cast him a glance.
"Yes." She whispered, with a nod and turned to watch back onto the runway and back behind the red wall.
"What do you suppose that was about?" Tezuka asked. Mesi shrugged in response.
"I'm not a doctor." He replied.
"No, you're not." He sighed and calmly walked away.
Sakura lifted her strapless, floor long stripped, white and black dress as Tezuka helped her to climb into the limo. She moved to the furthest possible seat to make room for the two men who would be entering the vehicle right behind her.
Tezuka was next, and stepped into the limo after Sakura had taken her seat, moving down the line so that he could sit right next to her.
Kakashi was last and after he had got into the vehicle shut the door behind him with a slam. Taking his seat right next to the door, the car was in motion mere moments later.
As if the fashion show hadn't been bad enough, now apparently they were headed to an after party somewhere in the town next to this one. Shimari, was its name. Kakashi had never been there, yet the thought of leaving the city left him with an uneasy feeling.
Silence had fallen over the three and the sound of the wind brushing against the car was all to be heard.
Kakashi took to gently stroking his sharigen, glancing in the window to see if the contact had broken again, grateful that it hadn't. The eye still irritated as if waiting to explode into pain again yet teasing him until it did. He had to get it check out soon before it began to seriously affect the mission. Unfortunately, the identity he had taken on for this mission didn't have a sharigen to affect his health, so he would need a doctor from Konoha who knew of his mission already.
Glancing over at Sakura as the thought hit him, he was surprised to have those green eyes already watching him. Quickly, he turned away again.
'Damnit, why do I keep looking at him?' She cursed herself. 'It's over between us! Nothing good can come out of re-living the past. You can't look back, never look back." She repeated it over and over in her head, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to burn it into her thoughts.
A warm hand touch hers, making her lift her head and forget those words she had been thinking about.
"Are you alright?" Tezuka asked, his head resting on the nape of her neck and gently stroking her skin, a tickling sensation filled her and she reach to place a hand over hers to make him stop.
With a smile she replied, "I'm fine."
He nodded, and withdrew contact completely as his hands folded neatly in his lap. Turning his gaze to the silver haired man in the corner, who had remained silent up until this point.
"How did you like the show Tre?" Tezuka asked, seeming generally interested.
"My first and hopefully not my last." He glanced at the man addressing him. Tre raised his eyebrows.
"Really? So you like it, did you?"
"It was a new experience." He nodded and turned, once again, to watch the passing cars.
Sakura's eye shifted from Kakashi to Tezuka during their conversation. They were acting almost as if they actually liked each other, when she knew all too well that , for whatever reason, they hated each other. Tezuka was like this most of the time when another man entered their lives, it made her sick how protective he was of her, yet he did worse with many other girls all of the time. Kakashi on the other hand, she couldn't figure out. Was he protective, as well? Or was it because he suspected Tezuka of betraying her?
Whatever it was, she knew that the problems between them will only get worse as time passes.