A/N: Quick Rant to my readers at the bottom! Love you guys! ps, go on youtube and look up Travis + Tequila Excited Fangirls.. SO funny
I See, I Want, I Need
Chapter Ten: World's Best and Worst Liars
Kakashi didn't let his hand drop from her side until they were well away from the appartment, but that didn't stop him from taking adventage of such a sweet moment with his "Kaji-cha". On rare occasion, being ruefully sweet to the beautiful young blossom beside him triggered particularly desirable traits. Like her malice filled, glittering jaded eyes. He liked those, he decided. He did miss that distracting head of pink hair spilling over her shoulders, but at least this shade of dark chestnut brown was alright. At least it was only a henge. Oh, and the way those muscles in her back and side tensed when he brushed over them with his fingertips? Kakashi could have died and gone to heaven.
Of course, with the brewing storm in Sakura's body language, Kakashi knew he would have terminal reprecussions from this if he didn't play it smooth. He lightened his hold on the tight waist of his make-shift girlfriend to ease tension.
Thats right, Kakashi you old dog, play it smooth. He encouraged. Just some TLC for the lady at his side and she'd forgive him in no time. Then his mindframe shifted again, from perversion to something that he couldn't really describe. When he'd gone in after her that night, seen her lying on that table with eyes clenched like she was having a nightmare, those small beads of sweat trickling down her temple. Bloodlust was the only thing that could describe what had hazed Kakashi's mind. And when he could do nothing but wait out whatever they'd poisoned her with, he couldn't even sleep. He checked on her constantly through the night to make sure the rise and fall of her chest was in time.
It was only when he walked up to the glass doors of his hotel that he snapped out of his thoughts. The teller greeted him with a sly smile, a wave, and a welcome as he winked his only eye at her and escorted Sakura towards the appartment. Once behind the door of his room, Sakura quickly extracted herself from his embrace and landed a deft blow to the back of his head as she dropped the henge.
"THOSE BOOKS ARE GOING TO GET YOU INTO TROUBLE ONE DAY!" She roared. Kakashi gave an apologetic eye crinkle and shrugged.
"I was merely trying to set the idea that we were simply a pair that were going about their day." He explained.
Sakura tried to shake out the tingling in her side where Kakashi had seemingly absently been brushing his fingers back and forth over her waist as they walked. It still flustered her for some reason, and she didn't know why. Her heart was still beating eratically, her body felt like it was going to melt, and she couldn't determine what was pleasurable and what was angry. She shook an angry finger at him to flatten the feelings that were welling up.
"Do that again and I'll make sure you end up a missing nin, sensei." she hissed. Running a frustrated hand through her hair she went to the bathroom's door.
"So what about the appartment?" Kakashi asked, changing the subject to blow out the frenzy of undetermined emotion in the room. Unfortunately Sakura still needed a moment to calm down.
"After I shower and get this makeup off." She growled, referring to the plastered on shadows and liners. She quickly shut the door and locked it for good measure before turning on the shower and stepping out of her ridiculous clothing. At first she began to scrub quickly to get the dirt out of her pores, despite the storm of emotion that was tearing beneath her skin. She then mindlessly ground at her sides with purpose, just to erase any place that a certain sensei's hand had been. Then it began to come back to her.
That same heartbreak that she'd felt the moment she realized she'd been denied Sasuke. The moment she'd been denied Ren. And in that same time the hopelessness at even finding someone worth while hit her head on. Sakura didn't feel the tears rolling down her cheeks as a silent sob escaped her lips. She only knew that pain welled up as she thought about Ren, the swift gentle touches that he'd rained on Sayuri, the deep desire to have what Sayuri was experiencing.
Sakura sank to the floor and just let the warm water caress her loofa scuffed skin.
X
Kakashi had just flopped down onto the bed when the phone rang. He mentally groaned, fighting with himself whether or not he should pick the phone up. His mind said no, his body said yes, and guess who won out?
"Yo."
"Good Evening Kakashi. I hear you have a cleaning maid for your company tonight." Gaara's smooth, toneless voice filtered through the phone. Kakashi almost shuddered.
"Yes! If you want one, I can call up the Merry Maids and see if you can get one for the evening." He jested evenly.
"I'm afraid I only want to speak with the one in your room right now." Gaara didn't sound too amused. Kakashi frowned.
"Black hair, green eyes, lovely skin. You sure, you seemed more like a blonde-lover yourself."
"Hatake Kakashi, I have an itch to throw you in Suna's prison ward for disobeying my requests. I'm sure Konoha's Hokage will be particularly unhappy when I report your squad unable to follow commands given in places they have no jurisdiction as a ninja." Gaara answered coldly, the chill running down Kakashi's spine.
"Come now Gaara, lets be friends and share information. I'm sure we've both got something since both of us did a thorough scan of the room." He suggested in an overused friendly tone. Gaara didn't speak for a moment.
"I'm not making requests, I'm demanding that you share with me whatever information you are witholding from this case. If I don't hear something, I will have you tossed in that god-forsaken prison. And if you know the Kage, you know we prefer not to go back on our words, is that clear?" Gaara bit.
"Crystal." Kakashi answered tightly before loosening his tone. "Of course, I never said we found anything."
"That prison bit goes for Sakura too, Hatake."
There was a loud click before Kakashi sighed and put the phone back on it's cradle. He was relatively sure the Hokage would problably kill him for his inocompetence as a ninja now. Oh well, there was always that random chance of having Sakura go in for the report. Surely as her teacher, Tsunade-sama would show some mercy. The bathroom door opened up a few minutes later and steam rolled out as Sakura stepped into the room in a terry-cloth towel. Kakashi's eyes were alarmed at her reddened skin. She looked like she'd boiled water and poured it over her skin, then tried to scrub it off! Sakura kept her head down as she went to her bag and picked out a pair of undergarments and clean clothes before heading back into the bathroom. Kakashi followed and leaned up against the door.
"Hey kiddo," a well aimed glare found it's mark, "we just got a call from the Kazekage. It seems he's in need of a certain maid tonight. You up for going?" Sakura's face fell back to her garments.
He kept trying to swallow the lump in his throat as she slid the pair of boxer-like panties up under the towel along those smooth, pale legs, followed swiftly by the black shorts she wore beneath her medic-skirt. If he shook his head now, she'd know something was up.
"Kakashi, stop staring and get out of the bathroom." She growled in a warning tone as she clutched the towle to her chest a bit tighter, her wet pink hair hiding her jade eyes.
"Sorry, sorry." He said, two hands up in surrender as he backed away from the room.
"It's our duty to explain ourselves, and since we both screwed up, I guess we should both take the fall..." She mumbled. "...though it was your idea."
"You might as well tell me what you found before we share our treasures with Gaara." He said. Sakura finally came out of the bathroom, roughly drying her short hair with the towel she'd just been wearing. This time he could see her face. Her eyes were red. Kakashi didn't show his concern, but quickly realized she'd been crying.
"Yeah. Sora Tori lived in that appartment with his little brother. I didn't really catch the kid's name but they must've been pretty close if a ninja would let a civilian live with him."
"That kid was a civilian?"
Sakura nodded.
"Yeah, I didn't feel any unusually strong chakra in him, so I assumed he was a civilian. Tori's room was a mess, like he left in a hurry the last time he was there. And I can only assume that whoever it was posing as those guys you kicked the crap out of came to the room after they killed Sora. Sora's brother talked about him like he was still alive."
"So the fake Sora is still be alive. And he's been visiting the real Sora's room." Kakashi stroked his chin.
"Thats something else. Some of the documents laying on his desk looked like relatively high-ranking material. I think the kid was about a jonnnin, and I think he was involved in a pretty serious mission before he was killed. There's that, and his journal is gone."
Kakashi looked up from his ponderings with his only visible brow raised.
"What kind of ninja keeps a journal?"
Sakura shrugged, throwing the towel asside and running her hands through her short rosette locks. Kakashi licked his lips beneath his mask. Stay focused, Kakashi, stay focused.
"Apparently he does. And what is stranger is what his brother said. His brother suggested he kept one 'in case things got weird'. Since it's missing, I either assume he hid it really well, or the fake Sora stole it to keep it a secret."
Kakashi leaned back on the bed, his hands craddling his head as it lolled up to stare at the ceiling.
"So Tori Sora assumed something was going to happen to him and kept a record of something in a journal that is currently missing." Kakashi frowned. "And somehow I very highly doubt the imposters would be able to get their hands on it easily. Especially if he was involved in a series of complicated missions. Its still in that room somewhere, Sakura. And the fake Sora is trying to get it before someone else does."
They needed to find that journal, before the wrong someone got their hands on it. No doubt it was filled with evidence that would be vital to the case. Now, it didn't seem so much like Akatsuki anymore. This was much more rooted, much darker than Akatsuki's bold intentions, and that's what worried him.
X
Kakashi and Sakura had taken it upon themselves to transform after leaving their room again, strolling at a leisurely pace despite the urgency of the situation.
"So how are we going to get back into the appartment? I'm not wearing that disgusting maid outfit again so Sora's brother and Black-Ops nin can grope me." She growled lightly. Kakashi loosed a light chuckle.
"C'mon, you looked adorable! Who wouldn't want to grab that cute little bottom of yours in a maid outfit?" He teased. Sakura seethed beside him, throwing death glare after death glare like an endless supply of kunai. "Actually, since Gaara is onto us, we'll just walk through the front door." It was then Sakura's turn to raise her brow.
"And if they deny us permission?"
"Tell them Gaara knows we're there."
Sakura sighed and fell silent, continuing her slow strides. Kakashi stuffed his hands into makeshift pant-pockets and glanced at her from the corner of his masked periff. He hated the way her shoulder drooped after her anger had faded. Somehow, lately all she'd been was angry or sad. Angry was a pain to deal with, but she was just so... Sakura when she was angry, and he loved it. But when she was upset, he hated to watch the waves of depression pour off her, the hurt dulling her seafoam green eyes. Right now she was nothing but depressed, and the tear-stained eyes he'd seen when she'd come out of the bathroom to collect her clothes were the proof. So he continued his lazy stride beside her before speaking up.
"So, why the cry today?" He asked quietly. Kakashi kept his gaze on the road as he noted her irritated side-glance at him.
"What are you talking about?" She asked with a look of genuine puzzlement on her face. She had improved her lying since he'd last seen her.
"When you came out of the bathroom. You looked upset, your eyes were red." He commented softly. Her face was beginning to turn the slightest shade of pink.
"I.. I got shampoo in my eyes. It happens all the time." She dismissed.
"Your skin was unaturally pink too, like you'd been scrubbing really hard... Or boiling yourself." he retorted gently. Her eyes suddenly blazed.
"Whats it to you, Sensei?" She snapped. "It was shampoo, and I was in the shower. I scrub my skin in the shower. I wash my hair in the shower. No brainer."
"Then why are you so angry, Sakura?" He questioned, their pace slowing to a crawl. Sakura's face had gone another shade of red.
"I'm not angry, I just wasn't crying. There is nothing that could possibly make me cry on a mission. And you know the Shinobi's Code of Conduct! I've memorized every statute!" She snarled, eyes beginning to glimmer with a fresh sheen of tears.
"Sakura, you're lying. I don't even need to tell you how I can tell." Kakashi pulled her to a stop and out of the stream of evening traffic onto an emptier street before placing a hand on her shoulder.
"You can talk to me, Sakura." He said simply. Her eyes turned almost pleading, but then hardened as she turned her face away. While Kakashi believed more in actions speaking louder than words, he also realized after many-a-one-night-stand that women in general, needed to talk. He'd had more than one woman open up to him before or after a date. Not that he'd really cared about what had been wrong with them... But now it felt different. Now there was more at stake than just the routine "hello, goodbye" that he'd had before.
"Sakura."
X
She didn't want to talk to him. If anything, right now she just wanted to walk away and deal with it later. She turned and glowered at Kakashi, fighting the emotions flooding her.
"Kakashi, leave it. We're on a mission, and we don't have the time for this." She insisted through gritted teeth. Kakashi took a step toward her.
"Was it Sasuke?" She stiffened.
"Or was it Ren?"
A loud smack resounded through the empty streets. Even Sakura was stunned as she bit her lip. Her trembling hand fell listlessly back to her side and Kakashi hadn't moved an inch when she'd slapped him.
"They aren't any of your business." Her voice wavered. One lone tear carved a burning path into her cheek. Kakashi's eye had drifted to the ground as he pushed his hand back into his pocket. His body had completely stiffened the moment her hand had met his cheek, and it hadn't relaxed in the slightest. Suddenly that lone eye crinkled into it's smile.
"You're right Sakura." He said cheerily. "I had no right to intrude on a shinobi's personal matters. Sorry."
He quickly turned and went back onto the street. For the millionth time in her life, she immeadiately regretted what she had done as more tears spilled from her eyes. He had only been trying to help, she rationalized.
But it wasn't his place to assume. Inner Sakura snorted, her arms crossed. Sakura watched Kakashi's back retreat to the swarming crowd as she tried to swipe the tears out of her eyes.
But he was right every time... She answered the quietly smirking inner-demon.
X
A/N: Hmm. I'm not sure if that qualifies as fluff, but I do know interaction when I see it... ..smirks.. Don't kill me yet, I already have another chapter in the works. Inspiration is a fleeting muse, lol. In the meantime, I would LOVE to thank all the watchers, favers, and reviewrs in this chapter! Here you guys, cookies go to you guys!
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