Story: Making Arrangements

Rating: M

Author: CrownsofLaurels

Beta(s): CrystallineX (who catches all my typos, major plot holes, and mistakes due to sleep deprivation) and Ladywinterfic (who has been helping me with characterization and plot development).

Chapter Nine: Undesirable Discoveries

Summary: Kakashi has a flash of déjá-vu he could have done without.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, I write this for fun and am not paid for it.

A/N: Early update because I'm out of town this weekend. We'll go back to Thursday/Friday updates next week. Enjoy!

Chapter Nine: Undesirable Discoveries

Kakashi sat stiffly on Kurenai's couch, eyeing the babbling toddler being bounced on Kurenai's lap warily.

"It's been a while since you've seen Matsu-chan, hasn't it?" Kurenai peered curiously at her guest.

The copy ninja nodded uncomfortably, delicately holding the teacup and saucer that he'd been handed as if he wasn't quite sure what to do with them and mildly afraid he would break them.

In Kurenai's mind, it was to her advantage to have the upcoming conversation with Kakashi as off-balance as possible. She wanted to see Kakashi's honest reactions on his face, not the collected mask he presented to the world on a daily basis. Well, she wanted as honest an expression one could get from Kakashi, considering the man maintained a figurative mask on top of a literal mask.

This meant, of course, that all Kurenai had to do was be domestic.

It was amazing how awkward Kakashi could be when offered tea, asked to sit, and forced to endure the presence of a small child.

"I'll just put Matsu down to play with the blocks so we can talk," Kurenai said as she unwound the child's grabby fingers from her hair and tried to turn the child's attentions to an activity that would allow the grown-ups to converse.

Kakashi made a small noise in his throat, focus pulled away from the baby by Kurenai's comments.

"I imagine you'd like to talk about Naruto-san."

A single, steady gray eye locked onto the kunoichi.

"I don't know how much help I can be," Kurenai said with a shrug, "I'm afraid I can't tell you anything specific."

Kakashi huffed lightly. "You wouldn't have invited me in if all you had to say was that you couldn't talk."

"Is it so hard to believe that I'd just like to catch-up with a friend? You never come over to chat, you know." She cleared her throat, "My lifestyle has changed a bit and our schedules don't cross anymore, but I also know that Shikamaru-kun and Chouji-kun pass along my invitations to visit."

"Ahh," It was Kakashi's turn to shrug. "I'm not a very good conversationalist."

"No," Kurenai said softly, gazing at her hands. That had been Asuma. But she had fond memories of evenings spent visiting with Asuma and Gai and Kakashi, closing down the bar, as some might call it. She looked back at Kakashi calmly, "But even Gai finds time to visit Matsu-chan and I. I wouldn't say that I enjoy his visits for his excellent conversation skills either. I'm not looking for witty banter or deep philosophical dialogue, you know."

Kakashi shifted his weight a bit. "My apologies," he said, not sounding entirely certain as for what he was apologizing.

Kurenai truly didn't hold Kakashi's absences against him, but the man did worry her. Asuma and Gai were the closest things that Kakashi had to friends, and she hoped she wasn't being presumptuous if she counted herself in that small number. Gai came to visit every other week or so, the man loved children. And Gai had been mentioning Kakashi with an increased frequency as of late. With Gai, that generally meant that the spandex clad man was concerned about the subject but too afraid to come right out and ask for advice about it.

"Don't be a stranger Kakashi," Kurenai teased lightly, "my child needs to know that some remember Asuma fondly and not as the hot-headed black sheep of the family."

The visible portion of the man's face crinkled in mild amusement, a touch of nostalgia shading his expression.

"And if you come around more often," added Kurenai gently, "we can trade stories about our students."

Understanding sparked in Kakashi's eye and he leaned back, mirroring Kurenai's relaxed posture. "I suppose I could make a more conscious effort to visit."

"I'll hold you to that." Kurenai's dry tone was accompanied by a twitch of her lips. She did not feel one ounce of guilt that she was technically bribing Kakashi to visit her family. As far as she was concerned, she was killing two birds with one stone. She did want a way to check up on her old friend, and tricky as he was to track down, it was far easier if she could make him come to her. At the same time, she'd be able to work on resolving the whole Naruto-situation as well. Now that she'd laid out the rules of the game, though, it was time to lay the bait that would keep him coming back.

Kurenai turned to observe her distracted toddler. "It's funny how fast they grow isn't it?"

Kakashi hummed, his focus sharp enough to unnerve a lesser experienced ninja.

"They're not really children anymore, and while perhaps, they will always look to us with respect, they aren't really our students. At least," Kurenai amended, "not in the way they once were." Kurenai's tone was a bit wistful, but she could tell from her guest's flat expression that he wasn't following her train of thought.

"I'm still teaching mine. For a little while more, anyway."

"Yes," the kunoichi said, keeping half her attention on Matsu, who'd grown bored of blocks and was now pulling down the couch pillows. "Naru-chan told me about that." Kurenai switched to a more familiar form of address, letting Kakashi know just how closely she'd been working with the girl that he considered his student. "But it's not the same is it? In a way, every ninja is always learning." Kurenai gestured toward the copy-ninja's covered face. "You of all people should know that, after all, do you ever plan to stop looking for and studying new jutsu?"

The copy ninja inclined his head, acknowledging the truth in her words as Matsu crossed the room to tug on Kurenai's kimono.

Kurenai laid a gentle hand on top of her child's head, smoothing down dark, ruffled hair. "It's strange that our former students are beginning to learn new things without us, be given assignments that we can't help them with, which they must complete on their own without our supervision."

The kunoichi looked up to address her visitor. "It's especially strange now that they've grown enough to receive the kind of assignments we worked hard to protect them from as children."

"But you're training Naruto?" Kakashi asked, eyes glittering darkly, mind racing through the information he'd been given. Kurenai was well known for her expertise in genjutsu, but, saying that Naruto didn't have an aptitude for genjutsu was an understatement. His thoughts veered away from that possibility, cataloguing the various types of assignments that only adults would receive, that only a female ninja might be given and which said ninja would complete entirely on her own. Kakashi could think of only one other reason for which Kurenai would be 'training' Naruto without his own involvement or approval.

Kurenai's reply was disconcertingly casual, "All I can tell you is that I have experience which Naruto can benefit from, and it's a form of experience that you wouldn't be able to share with her."

Kakashi, who was normally still to begin with, seemed to be frozen in place. "I can't imagine that you are having much success teaching her genjutsu."

The female jōnin clasped her hands in her lap. "I can honestly say genjutsu hasn't come up in our conversations."

An awkward silence settled over the room, broken only by Matsu's occasional childish jabbering. Kurenai would swear that the temperature was dropping, even though she knew that Kakashi couldn't, and wouldn't, use a jutsu to such effect. It made the hair rise on the back of her neck and Matsu's babble took on a nervous edge.

"You can't be serious." Kakashi said flatly, leaning forward and setting down his cup, before he tightened his grip too much around the china and shattered it. "She's not," he pushed down a surge of anger, "she hasn't got the skillset for the type of mission you're implying."

There was no threat in the copy ninja's voice, just an intensity in his posture, a deadly stillness which accompanied his sharp, flat words.

Having known the man for years, Kurenai knew that he was uncharacteristically upset. Even more so than she would have predicted him to be upon learning of the situation.

Kurenai rose from her chair, scooping up her toddler who was beginning to fuss, sensing and responding to the strained atmosphere. "I'm not implying anything Kakashi, and watch your tone, you have no right to be upset with me."

"You think this is a good idea?" Kakashi looked at the woman blankly. "You're just going to go along with this?"

Kurenai frowned. "It's not my decision to make, Kakashi."

"But you're," Kakashi struggled for the right word, gesturing inarticulately, "involved, in all this?"

The way Kakashi said 'involved' came across as 'complicit,' and Kurenai allowed herself to convey an appropriate amount of justified indignation. "I'm not the one calling the shots here Kakashi, and forgive me if I'm doing my best to make sure that your student has all the skills she requires to get through any scenario successfully. This is happening whether you like it or not, the least I can do is make sure she is able to get through it in one piece."

"She's too young for this!" The copy ninja all but growled.

Kurenai raised an eyebrow. "She's the same age I was when I was first asked to do a mission which involved seducing an enemy." Kurenai conveniently left out the fact that the mission to which she was referring was easily accomplished without any physical contact due to Kurenai's talents with genjutsu.

Kurenai was fairly certain that if Kakashi hadn't been wearing that thrice-damned mask, he'd be gaping.

"She doesn't have the right mindset for that type of thing," Kakashi argued, keeping his voice low and even. "She takes everything personally; this mission has already been affecting her performance in training. She'll never be able to carry it out with the level of deception it requires."

"It's not our call to make, Kakashi," repeated Kurenai sternly.

Kakashi let out a frustrated noise. "Then whose is it, Tsunade's? The council's? Who is pulling the strings, Kurenai?"

Kurenai leaned back into her chair; pulling Matsu into her arms and watching her peer come undone as much as a man of his mettle came undone on the other side of the living room.

Kakashi tensely rose to his feet. "We're not done…" he trailed off, shaking his head at his loss for words and his increasing aggravation with his peer. He knew that Kurenai didn't have the answers he sought or the ability to change Naruto's orders, but it didn't stop him from being angry that the woman had failed to protect his student, or absent that, come to Kakashi and given him the professional courtesy of apprising him of the situation.

He exited through Kurenai's balcony to find someone who could provide more adequate answers.

Tsunade was never so grateful that Kurenai was intelligent enough to keep the Hokage in the loop regarding certain plans than she was the evening that Hatake Kakashi melted into her office with alarming poise, placed both palms on her desk, leaned forward, and, smooth as a blade, whispered, "I'd like to know who the hell had the audacity to send my student on a seduction mission without consulting me."

Tsunade spared a moment to appreciate, objectively, what a capable Hokage that Kakashi would have made, and then scowled and rose to her feet, slamming her hands down on her desk and meeting Kakashi's angry glare with a fearsome one of her own.

"Back down, Hatake," she bit out with authority, leaking a bit of killing intent to emphasize her words.

Kakashi held his ground, battling the projected chakra with a bit of his own, locked in a non-verbal battle of dominance with the Hokage.

Tsunade's eyes narrowed as she slowly enunciated her words "Are you challenging me?"

Kakashi kept her gaze for a tense few minutes, before slowly relaxing his shoulders and standing to his full height, "Your position, no."

The jōnin crossed his arms rather than return his hands to their customary positions in his pockets, eye still intent on the Hokage and posture radiating aggression, "Your decision, yes."

"Careful, Hatake," Tsunade said seriously, standing to her full height as well, folding her arms over her ample chest. "You are dangerously close to insubordination."

"Yes," Kakashi acknowledged in a calm, bored, and, for Kakashi, deadly tone, "But there are things worth living dangerously for."

Tsunade snorted. "And there are things that aren't." Tsunade motioned to the chair in front of her desk. "Take a seat. This is one of those occasions where you won't be helping anyone if you're tossed into a holding cell to cool down for throwing a temper tantrum."

Kakashi hesitated, looking like he was mulling over remaining standing just to make a point.

"You're thirty, not three," snarled Tsunade, pointing at the chair, "Sit down like an adult before I tie you down like a child."

Kakashi sat, mulishly, "Thirty-two."

Tsunade gave him a look, "I imagine you've been talking to Kurenai."

Kakashi didn't respond, and the Hokage took his silence to be an affirmation of her statement.

She leaned back in her own chair, making herself comfortable. "I also imagine you're not a fan of the arrangement," she said dryly.

Kakashi twitched so subtly that Tsunade would have missed it, had she not been concentrating on noting the man's signs of discomfort.

"I'm trying to decide why you are so upset by this," Tsunade chose her words carefully. "The girl is fully grown. She is more than capable of accepting or declining any mission offered to her without your veto. She was out of your hands the moment she took that green vest."

Kakashi's good eye narrowed. In pain or anger, Tsunade wasn't familiar enough with the man to tell.

The Hokage ignored him and continued. "You should be proud. You've trained her well. She is a formidable ninja capable of holding her own against formidable opponents and odds. Well done."

The office was quiet this time of night, and Tsunade wasn't afraid to out wait her companion until he aired his grievances.

Eventually, Kakashi caved to her tactic, bitterly pointing out, "She would never say no to you if you asked her to do something."

Tsunade remained unmoved by the man's words. "I made her perfectly aware that this assignment was optional and that she could turn it down without any negative effect on her career. She chose to accept it, and she has full control over its execution. She is the one who decided it would be best completed by this avenue of action."

Tsunade allowed her words to soak through the stubborn jōnin's skull as he crafted his anger into articulate speech.

"I can't believe" Kakashi let the words slip out slowly, "that you think this is an intelligent endeavor."

Tsunade ignored the dig at her decision making capabilities. "I trust Naruto, Hatake. I trust her to be able to evaluate her own skillset, to know whether or not she is capable of taking on a mission, to complete it successfully, and to act accordingly. I trust her to let me know, or to ask for help, when she can not."

The Hokage paused, voice gentle, "Can you not do the same?"

Kakashi looked absolutely miserable. "She's too young, she's not ready for this."

Tsunade sighed, steepling her fingers and gazing at the ceiling for a few moments. "I seem to recall," she trailed off, "Well, I wasn't here for this personally, but I have heard the story repeated every so often—you know how aides love to gossip," she waved her hand absently.

"There's a story about how, once upon a time, a new jōnin sensei, who had barely had his students for a month, nominated his three green, wet-behind-the-ears genin for a chūnin exam. Are you following, Hatake?"

The copy ninja nodded, stiff and cautious.

"Good." Tsunade continued, "Of course, as the genin were so recently graduated from the Academy, their Academy sensei, who was present, vehemently objected to their nominations with the same words that just came out of your mouth, protesting that they were too young, too inexperienced, that this exam, this assignment, was dangerous and could only hurt them."

Tsunade grew silent, leveling her gaze at her companion. "Can you remember what you told that man, Kakashi-kun," Tsunade softened her tone, "when he gave you those words?"

The jōnin closed his eye, shoulders tense, voice soft. "Yes."

"What did you tell him Kakashi-kun?" prodded the Hokage.

Tsunade let an uncomfortable silence fill the room.

"I believe I told him that it was none of his business," Kakashi finally said.

"Oh, no," replied Tsunade, "I was hoping you could recall the exact words, Kakashi-kun."

Kakashi opened his eye, anger drained and replaced with a stubborn, achy sort of sorrow, which almost made Tsunade regret just how much fun she was having breaking down the man.

"The words, Hatake," Tsunade said, voice calm but authoritative.

"They are no longer your students." Kakashi's voice was quiet and dull. "They are my soldiers."

"Ahh, that's right," Tsunade nodded. "And if I gave you those words in response to your earlier protests?"

Kakashi sat, silent, for a good thirty seconds, before straightening, "Then I would say that I still have things to teach her Hokage-sama, she is still my student."

Tsunade rose, walking around her desk and patting him on his shoulder as she left the room. "Then do your job, Hatake. Make sure she succeeds."

She left the boy to dwell on his own demons in her office and to interpret her words as he saw fit.

She would check in on him later, to make sure he wasn't beating himself up too much. She might go out of her way to break her jōnin occasionally, but it was only so that they could be built up stronger afterward. They were no good to her if they stayed broken, after all.

Hinata giggled, a pretty blush to her cheeks visibly in the lamplight as she sat across from Naruto and Kiba in their booth at the Shushuya. Akamaru whined and butted his head under her arm for a scratch behind the ears, warming Sai's empty seat and watching the proceedings intently.

Naruto's brow was furrowed in concentration and Kiba watched her skeptically.

"I'm telling you, Blondie," drawled Kiba loudly, interrupting himself with an ill-timed hiccup. "Chakra just don't work that way."

"Shut up, ya' flea-bitten mutt," Naruto insulted her fellow chūnin absently as she concentrated on the task at hand.

Somewhere in between Kiba's third and fifth drinks, a well-worn deck of cards had been produced. Originally, they'd all been playing a game, but it had dissolved into laughter after they'd figured out how everyone was cheating in the fourth round. Sai had abandoned them for another table, painting something to the delight of Ino and the horrified squeals of Sakura. Akamaru had taken over his seat and made a go for some of Sai's left-overs, a few cards becoming casualties of war in the process. By the time Kiba finished reprimanding the dog and lecturing him about how sick he was going to be that night and how there was no way Kiba was going to clean up that shit, Naruto had found a new way to distract herself.

Naruto confiscated the remaining cards and began to work on the chakra exercise that Kakashi had started her on the other day. She couldn't quite pick up the cards with her chakra, but once she placed them on top of one another, she shakily extended her chakra to hold them together.

It seemed to be working so far, in that Naruto had built a card tower three stories high which seemed to defy several of the known laws of physics. She was starting on the fourth level and, despite the odd structure's precarious design, it seemed stable and solid.

Until Kiba sneezed, that is.

"Arrggh!" Naruto wailed and punched her booth-mate in the arm. Hard. "I had it, you Dumbass, what did you go and do that for."

"Sorry, sorry!" Kiba held up his hands defensively. He was in the unfortunate position of being between Naruto and the wall, with no easy route of escape. "You can't have had it together that well if one sneeze tore it apart, you're just structurally challenged."

Akamaru barked. Whether in agreement or disapproval, Kiba wasn't sober enough to interpret.

"It wasn't supposed to be structural!" Naruto yelled, continuing to pound the boy. "I'll give you structurally challenged!"

"That doesn't even make sen—Oww, stop that!" Kiba attempted to unsuccessfully defend himself as Naruto screeched and Hinata laughed, and for one evening, all was right in the world.

Next Week: Chapter 10 – Miscommunications

(AKA: Kiba will never owe Naruto a favor again. Ever.)

Naruto's jaw opened and shut. Then it did so again-two, three times.

Kiba refused to look up from the floor.

"This never happened," he said eventually.

"Agreed," Naruto wheezed, standing up on shaky feet and stumbling to the door.