A/N, Well hello again everyone, Thanks to my beta reader Againstnormal and my proof readers Pazzesca and Bryan for helping me out with this weeks chapter. you guys are all awesome!

Thank you as well my readers, I hope you are enjoying the way the story is developing. I can now tell you this WILL be 17 chapters long with a Prologue and an Epilogue (or 19 Chapters :P) I am being beaten into submission by a nasty writers block gremlin that doesn't want to see ch 17 done and dusted but I can promise you guys it WILL be done before it needs to be posted here

~Disclaimer~ I'm not good enough to own anything good apart from my own twisted little mind and my own sordid world.... Oh and I own Migato Amaya's ass and I plan on making her work hard for the clothes ive given her ;)

Chapter 9, Gymnastics and Jutsus

Kakashi and Amaya went to one of Kakashi's favourite teahouses to celebrate. As they walked to Tsunade's offices they discussed the new jutsu. It was definitely an offensive, short to long range jutsu, probably an A-rank. They talked about how to make it more powerful, what they could do to test out different theories, the possibilities of different forms - such as hounds, or even just pure element style jutsu, with no definable form.

After they reported their find to Tsunade, she instructed them to investigate as much as they required. She also informed them that they would be back on active duty; Tsunade wanted Kakashi to test Amaya's tracking skills, then train, enhance and guide her where he could. She already knew that Amaya's nose was very powerful – she'd even wondered if she was related to the Inuzuka clan - maybe she should go and ask Tsume if there were any offshoot clan branches near the Land of Grass border. It would be best to investigate; if Amaya had family still alive then they could offer refuge to them as well.

Amaya and Kakashi had left the Hokage tower, Amaya heading towards Konoha library to pick up some scrolls on elementary chakra forms and control, Kakashi going to pick up some scrolls from his apartment and to grab some groceries, as they were running out of food.

A month passed quickly, a routine had formed. Kakashi would wake early and leave the house for a couple of hours, though Amaya still didn't know where he went every day. She would wake and shower after he left, then she would cook something for their lunch later. He would return and they would head off to spar. They'd have lunch then either spend the evening reading books and scrolls, or doing other mundane activities. They had both been given one day solo missions, nothing too serious, normally they were reconnaissance missions. Kakashi or Amaya would be asked to track something in particular, and then observe - or occasionally kill - the target; nothing too difficult for the two seasoned shinobi.

"Kashi-kun? Can you teach me some new taijutsu moves today?" Amaya whined playfully while making her eyes as big as possible. Kakashi chuckled at her antics.

"Hai, Maya-chan, but only if you teach me some more gymnastics?"

She had given him a demonstration of the skills she had built up using gymnastics only. She had asked him to chase her through the forest. The end was simple; he had to either grab both of her upper arms, or both ankles. He had thought it would be too easy - after all, he was a Konoha nin, they trained in the forest - until the chase actually began and she ran straight for the densest part.

The trees grew so close here that he had to turn and shuffle sideways to get past them. Amaya would jump at the gaps and twist herself side-on to slip between the trees at full speed. Sometimes she would perform one handed flips or she would run partway up the trees to flip over branches. Kakashi marvelled, it was like watching a cat: lithe, twisting, turning her slender body through the smallest of spaces. He finally said he'd had enough, and dragged himself out into the clearing. He was covered in small scratches and cuts. Amaya, on the other hand, was basically untouched. She began that day improving his basic gymnastic skills that all ninja learn from an early age.

Amaya critically eyed Kakashi. "Well you have learnt nearly everything I know already. Your training means that you learn this stuff very easily; the only thing left now is for you to learn all the stretches. You need to be able to do things like the splits, and then you can learn how to combine them, for instance a back flip landing in the splits" Kakashi winced at the thought "then from the splits into a hand stand with a split kick. You can even learn to throw kunai from every position too."
She flipped back and threw some kunai whilst upside-down and they 'thunked' solidly into a tree on the other side of the clearing.

Kakashi pretended to think deeply. "OK Maya-chan. I will teach you some taijutsu tricks that Guy and Lee showed me." He knew she would hate their training methods; standing and kicking a tree stump until her leg bled was not her style.

Amaya's eyes nearly glowed with excitement; she could learn some tricks to make her stronger. She knew that even though she was faster than Kakashi she was much weaker physically. They had sparred so many times now that she knew almost every one of his moves, and he hers. He knew if she planted her foot in a certain way she was going to flip back, kick off a tree and propel herself at him. The first time she did that she caught him off guard and broke his nose. She knew from the way his index finger moved she had better move quickly or find herself pinned by kunai against a tree. He was so fast when he did that move, all she saw the first time was a blur before she felt her back connect with the tree and all the air crushed out of her lungs.

As they sparred together they strengthened their own perceived weaknesses, Amaya was stronger and Kakashi was faster, Kakashi had picked up a couple of new genjutsus and Amaya had learnt that her secondary chakra nature was wind, so she had learnt a couple of basic wind jutsus. Kakashi remembered the day he teased her about her chakra natures. It started out as a normal day, but he had begun to realize just how close his partnership with Amaya was becoming…

"You know that your chakra element tends to affect your personality Maya-chan?"

"Really?" Her eyes widened "So what does my natures say about me?"

"Well." He drawled slowly "Your water nature makes you appear calm and peaceful, intuitive and able to handle anything with dignity."

"Huh? OK, that sounds about right." she smiled smugly. Kakashi struggled to stop the snort of laughter that threatened to surface.

"And what about the wind nature? I suppose it means I'm graceful? A silent killer, able to come and go like the wind and a free spirit?" Kakashi knew he was going to be hit for this.

"Hnnn? Oh no, wind types are psychos, they are brute force, aggressive, hot headed and emotional."

Amaya's eye darkened with anger but Kakashi continued looking, for all the world, like he was totally ignorant of the rage in his diminutive partner face, though he was dying inside from laughing so hard. He continued blithely.

"Wind natures are best suited as front line material. They have a hair trigger temper, and don't have the brains to…"

He never finished his sentence because Amaya had launched herself at him. She had pinned him to the floor, pummelling him with her tiny fists.

"I'm not aggressive and stupid. I'm not a psycho, nor do I have a temper." She shouted. Kakashi couldn't help himself and began laughing; this was more entertaining than Icha Icha sometimes. Her eyes narrowing, realizing he was teasing her again, she pushed herself off him and stalked through to the kitchen, growling about "fucking men who think they are fucking funny." He followed her trying to stop the unmanly giggling. She was bent over looking in the bottom of the fridge. He stood and admired her for a couple of seconds.

"Kakashi!" She called loudly, assuming he was still through in the other room.

"Hai, Maya-chan?" Kakashi answered quietly. She jumped banging her head on the top of the fridge. Growling, she rubbed the sore spot and glared at him.

"Do you have to sneak up on me all the time?" She pouted "Did you finish all the dashi stock this afternoon?"

He nodded in confirmation. She sighed deeply. They would need to go and buy some more supplies from town. She turned her pout on him then.

"Kashi-kuuuuun." Big green eyes widened and glistened.

Kakashi took a step back, he knew where this was heading and that was straight to his wallet. Hands up in defence Kakashi tried to think of an excuse to not go.

"Um Maya-chan… you know someone should really stay here in case Tsunade decides to visit."

"You know as well as I do that she is not going to be dropping in any time soon" She advanced another step; her pout disappearing as a small frown appeared instead.

"Well what about if…" He thought hard "…someone has had their daughter kidnapped and they need one of the best tracker nins this village has. If we're both out then no one will be able to find us. Can you really shrug off your responsibilities this easily?" He shook his head severely at her. She growled as she took another step closer, grabbing him by his collar and pulled him down to her height.

"Kashi-kun" She simpered with fake sweetness, "you will either come willingly or I will drag you there by your collar like a bad dog." She flashed him her most innocent looking smile. "And don't think for one minute I wouldn't enjoy having you chained and dragging at my heels."

Kakashi nearly choked at the extremely suggestive, in his mind, comment. He peered at Amaya, trying to see through the sickeningly innocent face she had on right now. Searching for even the smallest glimpse that she knew exactly what she had just suggested. Maybe it was all in his head. He really needed to let loose. Being cooped up all the time with his partner, who was most assuredly female, wasn't going to be good for their working relationship.

He was finding it hard not to flirt outrageously, especially when she made little comments like that one; ones that were full of innuendo. He wasn't sure, but he thought she maybe didn't realize the effect she had on him at times. In all the time he had known the woman, she had avoided anything other than a working relationship to a casual friendship, never anything more intimate. He needed something to distract him. He certainly didn't want his partner castrating him at some point because he had misread the situation. He sighed, head dropping in submission to the petite jounin.

"Hai Maya-chan. Let me go and get my wallet"

Amaya waited until he left the kitchen before slamming her face into her hands, slapping herself firmly across the forehead, saying "stupid, stupid, stupid." Couldn't she control her hormones anymore? Why did she have to go and say something like that? She had noticed the intense look her gave her after her comment on chaining and dragging him. Had she offended him? Oh Kami, She hoped she hadn't upset him, he did look rather hang dog when he left to get his money. She had probably just destroyed the easy atmosphere the two had finally managed to achieve, and she did not want it back to the way it was at the start; that had been a living nightmare.

The way he had looked at her though, what was that look? He was probably disgusted. After all, a man like the famous Copy Ninja could have any woman he wanted, and if the rumours were true he was quite picky as well: only bedding women with truly unique traits - they might have an extremely unusual hair and eye colour, or have particular kunoichi skills - one thing she knew, he never went for weak women. Every one had been amazingly powerful in her own right. Powerful, and stunningly beautiful. He would never even look at someone like her, she was so weak that she couldn't stop someone attacking her family and friends without having to sacrifice her virtue, and even then she still didn't know if anyone had been saved. Then, instead of being strong and surviving for revenge or to search for the villagers, she hid, like a coward. Her mind, instead of facing the truth, hid her memories.

She dropped her eyes down to her feet. No, Kakashi would never be interested in someone like her. He was too far out of her league, yet she had never even noticed another in that context before. She decided she would speak to one of her friends about this problem and see what advice they had for getting over a crush. Kurenai or Sakura most likely could help best. She heard him coming back and walked out of the kitchen to meet him halfway, her resolve steeled.

Kakashi draped his arm amicably around her shoulders. "Come on then Kashi-kun. Lets get something to eat, and if you're a good boy I may even buy you a treat." Mentally slapping herself again as his arm twitched at the comment, she decided to speak to the two women sooner rather than later, for both their sanities…

They had sparred for several hours. Panting, the sweat causing her skin to glisten, Amaya bent with her hands on her knees trying to catch her breath. He had pushed her hard today, but she wouldn't give in. Neither had officially 'lost' yet, and she wasn't about to just yield to him. Kakashi struggled to hide the deep breathes he was taking. He could feel the sweat begin to trickle down his spine and chest and wished he could take off the constricting jounin vest and top and let the late summer breeze cool him down. He laughed to himself at what would probably happen if he did do that, Amaya would likely kill him.

He eyed his opponent, watching as she brought her body under control again and stood up, eyes blazing with decision. He really enjoyed these sparring sessions; Amaya was full of fire and passion. The same could be said of his green clad rival-come-friend and his student, but at least she didn't run about dancing and screaming about youth and nonsense. No, Amaya had a lot more grace and social understanding to act like those two. He nearly laughed out loud after picturing her, Guy, and Lee all dressed in green leotards and posing. Well, he would have laughed - if she hadn't looked so damn good in his mind.

He caught a quick movement out the corner of his eye and dodged back to avoid the drop kick she had aimed for his blind side. The rule was, no charka during their taijutsu training, so that meant no sharingan. He chuckled darkly as, instead of retreating completely like most people would, he sprang forward trying to catch her unaware and she squeaked as he nearly caught her. Back-flipping out of his reach, she tried to pull together a plan to get him off guard.

Kakashi kept advancing on her so she would need to get away from him before she could turn the tables and put him on the defensive again. Her eyes searching the dark forest, she pushed a little more chakra to her senses - she knew this was cheating but she really wanted to win now. Plus, she could show him what she'd been working on. Amaya grinned widely at him before performing a kawarimi and replaced her body with a squirrel.

Kakashi knew she was cheating, her eyes had changed colour slightly when she opened her kekkei genkai, and then she performed a kawarimi. Well, two could play that game. He pretended to look blindly about and scratched his head, but as he did so he pushed his hitae-ate up so his sharingan was peeking through the shadow of his hair and forehead protector. His gifted eye picked up her chakra trail about 20 metres north-east of his current position, and his sharp ears picked up her giggling.

Flipping some hands seals he 'poofed' directly behind her. Amaya squealed again, dropped to the ground, and used chakra at her feet to take off - almost flying towards the trees - then she threw two kunai, quite casually, towards him. He deflected them easily but felt a little chilled by the almost evil grin she gave him.

She suddenly stopped and threw a kunai into the soft leaf mulch between them. He skidded to a halt, watching her warily.

His eyes widened as her body seemed to shimmer and then faded from sight. He felt something cold land on his cheek. Glancing up, he saw that it was snow, but only where he was standing. There were jasmine blossoms floating around in the snow, their subtle perfume filling the air. He realized, almost too late, that the smell was so heady it was having a sedentary effect on him. At the same time, he realised he had somehow gotten caught in a genjutsu. He was impressed; it had been seamless. He didn't notice, until it was nearly too late, what had happened.

Kakashi slammed his hands together into the rat seal with a harsh cry "KAI!" The image of snow and white petals didn't disappear; this was a strong genjutsu. He heard Amaya's laughter gently signing on the breeze.

"This isn't a simple genjutsu. In fact, you're the very first person it's even been used on. I've spent quite a while reading up and I developed a new technique that you should find interesting."

Kakashi turned full circle trying to seek her chakra with his eye. It was useless, her chakra was everywhere. He realized it was infused in the petals, which would explain the drugging effect of the scent.

He chuckled "Come on Amaya, it's not like you to hide behind illusions."

He tried to prick her pride; he really didn't want to resort to stabbing himself to get out of this vision.

Her laughter rang out again, the wind swirled faster around him.

"Ne Kashi-kun? You don't really expect me to fall for that taunt do you? I'm not Naruto."

The wind got faster still, snow and white petals whipping through his hair, when he felt a flash of pain across his cheek.

"What the hell...?" His hand came away from his cheek with blood in it. Pain flared in his upper arm, turning he saw it had been slashed through and his arm was bleeding. The back of his leg was next. He started being assaulted from all angles - always light cuts, never enough to cause serious damage, but as Kakashi realised, enough to eventually cause blood loss, and weakness from pain. This really was an impressive jutsu but it was time to stop her now. He grabbed a kunai from his pouch and stabbed it into his thigh. Grunting with pain he cracked his eyes only to feel another flash of pain across the bridge of his nose.

"I'm sorry Kakashi this isn't a normal genjutsu. You can't break it with pain, nor with chakra interruption."

Kakashi ground his teeth. He didn't like being played with. It was very rare for anyone to ever get one over the Great Copy Ninja. He would have to learn this jutsu, but not before he learnt how to break it.

He swung his kunai around, blindly hoping against hope to connect with something; maybe breaking her concentration would break the jutsu. Nothing happened. The almost constant pain from the numerous cuts, coupled with the blood loss, was making his mind go a bit fuzzy. "Damn, definitely learning this one." The smell was overpowering now, he felt his eyes start to slide shut and he almost missed the whispered "Do you yield?" Squeezing his eyes shut and opened again, he tried to search where her voice came from. It was no use. He sighed and nodded dropping to his haunches, "I yield Maya-chan."

Amaya grabbed the kunai she had thrown into the ground before her; she ran, and caught Kakashi before he hit the ground.

"Kashi-kun? Are you OK?" She filled her hands with green healing chakra, and used the small amount of medic knowledge she had to try and heal some of the small wounds. This would have to do, at least until she tracked Sakura down and got her to look at him. "Kakashi?" His eyes flickered open. She could see his eyes sharpen as the drug in the jutsu started to wear off.

He tried to sit up but she pushed him back down into her lap, keeping pressure on his shoulder. "Hold still while I try to stem some of this blood flow."

"What the fuck kind of jutsu was that? I couldn't break it, I thought only sharingan jutsu's were unbreakable except for other sharingan users?"

"Can you stand? Let's get you home before I explain how it all works." He stood, refusing her offer to assist him. She went and collected the kunai that had been thrown and deflected before nodding at him to head off back home.

"OK, first of all it's not a normal genjutsu. I remember you saying you didn't use them because you weren't a natural. It was something you had to work really hard at and found hard to maintain? Well I took it upon myself to research genjutsus. I also read your scrolls about other jutsus as well"

Kakashi eyed her, just how much had she learnt by herself? The fact she had bested him had shaken him badly.

"Well," she continued "I read about the Fourth's Thunder God technique,"

Kakashi's eye widened and his eyebrow shot up at this information.

"It said his technique relied on kunai with special seals and kanji written on them."

She pulled out the three kunai from her pouch and laid them out on the table in front of the elder jounin. Kakashi picked one up, remembering the kunai his sensei had gifted him when he first became a jounin all those years ago. He inspected the kunai more closely. When he angled it in the light he saw a flash and when he tilted it just right the flash became an iridescent purple kanji. It said 'sight'. Checking the other two revealed kanji in the same unusual ink, one said 'sound' and the last 'scent'. It started to click, the two kunai he had deflected.

As she saw the comprehension dawn on his face she continued.

"That's right; when you knocked those kunai away you had already set yourself up. The victim needs to be positioned between all three kunai before you activate it was the right seal. Of course, you have to make the genjutsu and impregnate that into the kunai beforehand."

Kakashi stared.

"How long have you been working on this?"

"I started as soon as we finished the Ranton: Arashiryuu."

His eyebrow disappeared again. A month, that was all, yet she had developed a genjutsu that could revolutionize a lot of things. His mind started racing ahead.

"Do you have to use kunai?"

"Um no, you can use anything as long as you use the right jutsu to impregnate the chakra and genjutsu to the object and use the correct kanji and inks."

"How many people can be caught in this?"

"I don't know I haven't tested it, just this one time really, but I imagine that as long as the seals aren't too far apart then anyone caught between them could be put under."

He grinned. "So we could in theory place these seals on all the paths leading to the village. And then if anyone tries to invade us again we can release the genjutsu and trap them all."

He was very impressed with her, and she had done it all alone as well.

"Hang on, why did you do this alone? Why didn't you ask for me to help you as well?"

"Um well, it was supposed to be kind of, like, a gift for you. As I said, I know you're not proficient with genjutsus, this way you don't even need to hold the jutsu, to dispel it you just need to remove one of the seals. Unfortunately for anyone caught in it they can't move, so they can't wander away from them either."

Kakashi was stunned by the gesture. "Why would you get me any kind of gift?"

"Um well." She blushed. "I had wanted to apologise for the way I acted when you first became my partner. I was a total bitch and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Gomen Kakashi-san" She bowed to Kakashi.

She looked up in shock when she felt two strong hands grip her upper arms.

"Maya-chan, you don't need to apologise. I know things were tough for you back then. You had a trauma and were suddenly thrown together with me. And I never want you to bow to me again either, I'm your friend and friends overlook silly things like that first week."

He then did something that shocked them both.

He smiled gently down at the dark haired woman he was holding, and leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. Her scent filled his nostrils as he realized belatedly what he had done, and just how dangerous it was, She had offered him a gift, a wonderful gift, and here he was about to ruin it. He needed to back off before he tried to do more than kiss her cheek.

He stepped back sharply. "It's a wonderful gift, domo arigatou gozaimasu Amaya-chan. We should also tell Tsunade-sama about this new jutsu as well. Oh. Do you want to eat in or out tonight?"

"Huh?" Amaya looked a little confused.

"It's nearly dinner time, do you want to eat here or go out tonight? We can report to the Hokage then go eat if you like?"

"Oh, OK. Can we go out tonight? In fact, I need to call on Sakura for a bit as well, so maybe make it a group thing? You haven't seen much of your team for a month now."

"Hai. That's a good idea." He gave her a happy eye crinkle before heading off to get changed and washed.
Amaya sat in the kitchen, her thoughts wandering, while she waited for the bathroom as she needed a shower after their training. He'd kissed her. He had actually placed his lips on her. Well not on her, per se, as she had her bandages on and he his mask. But he had been close enough for her to smell him properly, that heady musk with a hint of mint on his breath. She needed to find some way to speak with Sakura discreetly tonight. He might have held her and kissed her, but the look of horror on his face when he realised where he was and what he was doing spoke a million words to her. She needed to get rid of this crush and she needed to get rid of it now.

They had managed to find Sakura and Naruto easily enough. They asked them both to find Sai and Yamato and to meet them both at Ichiraku Ramen in an hour, after they'd reported to the Hokage.

Tsunade was absolutely delighted at the newest development of her personal pet project. She felt very smug when they presented her with Amaya's newest accomplishment. She was even more impressed when Kakashi admitted ruefully that he had failed to break it. She sent them off with a firm "And Kakashi go and get your cuts healed please, it wouldn't do for one of my most prominent shinobi to be walking around looking like a domestic abuse poster boy."

They left the Hokage tower feeling very pleased, and headed off for a good meal with their comrades. Amaya was feeling a lot happier, knowing that she would finally get the chance to speak to Sakura. Maybe she could convince the boys to go to somewhere else, somewhere that actually boasted toilets so she could speak to Sakura in private properly, with no chance of being overheard.

~Glossary~

San/Sama/Sempei ~ Terms of respect

Kun/Chan ~ Terms of affection

Hime ~ Princess

Ano ~ A questioning sound like 'Um'

Gomen ~ Sorry

Arigatou ~ Thank you

domo arigatou gozaimasu ~ A very polite way of saying, Thank you very much

Kekkei Genkai ~ blood line limit or a special justu that is passed down by genetics and cant be learned or copied.

Hai ~ Yes

Iie ~ No

Kunouchi ~ Female ninja