And I'm back! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I think I made some definite progress (hehe)…
Disclaimer: This all legally belongs to Kishimoto-sensei.
Chapter 10: Hakadoru (To Make Progress)
The morning had seemed like it would be perfect for Sakura, that was until they had breakfast. All she did was avoid looking at Kakashi, which was difficult since he was across the table from her. She bemoaned not just sitting next to him. However she was saved from further awkwardness when he took his meal to the other side of the room and turned around, lest they see his face. He did the same thing last night at dinner making her anxious to get even a minute glimpse of his face. But her internal battles kept her from even glancing.
The worst part about her nervousness was that she did not know why she was nervous. Before she went to sleep she thought she had resolved everything, but it seemed there was a big difference between thinking and acting.
She wondered what she wanted, was she really that bothered by how he had avoided complimenting her looks? She figured he might just be in "mission mode". When he was like that he would frequently be impersonal. However another question would haunt her, if they weren't on a mission, would he have said anything about how she looked? Granted, the last time he had commented on her physique, she nearly pounded him one, despite the fact that he was simply being concerned. Maybe he just figured he would irritate her again if he complimented her.
After much thought, she had resolved to look up at him, but by then he had finished his meal and had gone to his room to take a dip in the private hot spring.
Sakura now was beating herself down for her lack of resolve as she changed into her outfit, the black skirt and shirt with white sleeves. She looked in the mirror. I really do look plain. she thought.
She sighed, pulled her hair up into a ponytail with her green ribbon. She looked closer at herself, particularly her eyes and teeth, they looked really nice. And her mouth and jaw were seemly.
She smiled a little. I'm pretty, just not enough to comment about. In some weird way that half compliment/half insult thought made her feel a little better. As she headed to the door she kicked her pack accidentally and her grandmother's scrolled rolled out.
She had a short staring contest with it, then decided to pick it up. She was about to read it when she remembered that she had promised Kakashi that she would not unless he was watching.
"That's right," she muttered, "Didn't he say that he would help me with Raiken?"
She smiled and hurried over to the jounin's room.
She hit the door lightly.
"Come in," Kakashi answered.
Sakura took a determined breath, I've faced Sasori of the Red Sand, looked Itachi in the eye, my own sensei won't be a problem! As she opened the door she had one more side thought, Besides, if I don't learn Raiken, grandmother is going to skin me.
Kakashi looked up in surprise from his book, somewhat peeved that someone would come when he just when he started to read the only sensual scene, and only barely sensual, of the entire book. He had thought it would have been room service. "Oh, Haruno-san…" he muttered in surprise.
He saw her bite her lip nervously as she shut the door quietly. Then she hesitantly walked towards where he was sitting on the bed. He noted how odd it was that she hadn't said anything.
Now she was standing right in front of him, still silent. He felt distinctly awkward with the situation. He knew he should not, but he did. As she bent down to bring her face level with his, a small smile appeared on her lips.
Kakashi resisted the overwhelming urge to back up further on the bed. Just as his neck tingled uncomfortably Sakura's mouth opened.
"Kakashi-sensei," she whispered.
"Y-yesh," he answered huskily. W-was that me? he thought inwardly horrified by his breathy and potentially sensual reply. It really was a bad time for reading.
"You promised," she continued in a quiet, almost coy voice, her hand moving to his arm.
"What?" he asked, his heartbeat racing in his chest as he wondered what on earth was behind the green eyes in front of him.
"You were going to teach me…" she answered, tugging at his sleeve, her voice so quiet he had to strain to hear it over the beating noise in his ears.
"Teach you-?" he asked, again in that terrible husky voice that he came to hate a few seconds before. Oh wait! Teach! I'm a teacher! She's talking about- "Raiken?" he asked.
She stood straight up and looked at him incredulously. "Of course Raiken, what were you thinking?" she asked, her gaze focusing on the skin just below his eyes. "You look a little flushed, did you stay in the hot spring to long?"
Sakura brought her fair and flawless hand and placed in on his forehead. Kakashi inwardly scolded himself for taking note of her hand's skin quality of all things.
"Hmm" she muttered, then bent forward.
Kakashi knew she was about to put her cheek on his forehead. What scared him the most was that part of him was looking forward to it. And that is when he decided to call in quits. He slid back and stood up on the other side of the bed in one slick motion. "I'm fine, really." he assured her. "Let's go find a place to train."
Sakura gave a bright smile that made his heart melt inside. He was once again thankful for his mask, which allowed him to appear emotionless despite his swirling mind.
"Let's go, just let me get my purse." she said, hurrying to her room.
Kakashi sighed in relief as he walked into the hall, relieved of all of the pent up pressure, well most of the pressure at least. When Sakura re-emerged the two of them made their way out of the onsen.
"Why did you need the purse?" he asked curious.
"Because I've never been here before and there might be something want to buy as a memento." she replied.
"Oh, makes sense," he muttered.
The marketplace was abuzz with activity and Sakura was overwhelmed with a sense of awe. Kakashi enjoyed seeing her face. She looked so alive, like a child at a festival.
At last she did settle on buying something, a stone carving of a red panda. She gazed and cooed at it almost as if it was alive. "It's so cute!" she exclaimed, raising it to Kakashi's face.
He crinkled his visible eye happily and nodded in agreement, even though in the back of his mind he was guiltily confessing that he did not even notice the panda and was focusing on her smile when he nodded.
She put the carving gently in her purse and they walked toward the edge of the village.
As they faced the vast forest Kakashi glanced over at his subordinate. He was relieved to see her quiet smile, and he was glad that this time, he had kept her in that cheerful mood. He was worried after yesterday that she would be too nervous around him, but somehow today, they were like they always were, no, better than they were. He wondered how this had come about, especially how they had left it off last night.
Then the truth hit him, Sakura, she's the one that didn't like the situation most, but she was the one to bridge the gap. He looked at her proudly but with a little shame. She's much more mature than I am. I would have just let time lessen the wounds. Here I am, a man well familiar with women, but I couldn't have the tact to say she looked nice in her undercover cloths and made this whole situation get out of hand. She must have felt hurt, no girl wants to be seen as disinteresting, doesn't matter what relationship she has with the person. He raised his hand towards her shoulder, not certain what he was going to say, just as long as it was a way to get through to her.
Sakura turned just in time to see Kakashi's raised hand retreat back to his side. "So, ready to go?" she asked, momentarily glancing at his hand.
He nodded in agreement and the two of them vanished into the treetops. As Sakura leapt and flipped from trunk to limb entirely through instinct, following Kakashi's lead. See Sakura, everything is back to normal. She reassured herself. She was disappointed for being unable to figure it out earlier. I was selfish to think that I was the only one who felt weird.
Suddenly she realised she was alone in the canopy. Oh no! Kakashi must have found a spot and I didn't notice! She came to a halt and looked around for any sign of wild silver hair. Unbeknownst to her Kakashi appeared on the branch behind her.
"Sakura, down this way."
She shrieked in surprise and lost her footing. She felt two gloved hands grab her elbows.
"Tsk tsk, and here I thought we covered detection skills." Kakashi scolded humorously.
Sakura nodded, "Yeah, I would be dead now wouldn't I?"
"Yes you would." Kakashi agreed, "Now, can you follow me without further distractions?"
"I'm not an idiot," Sakura snapped.
She kept close attention on her sensei this time and followed him when he dropped. They ran down steep, almost vertical slope and into thick underbrush of ferns. A distant rumbling sound echoed around them. When the two finally emerged from the undergrowth they were confronted by a flat mossy platform and when Sakura raised her eyes, her breath was taken away by a cascading waterfall.
"Wow!" she breathed.
"Nice place isn't it?" Kakashi muttered, "also be careful the water is a bit on the hot side, there are lava tubes right beneath us."
The hot water gave the whole area a cosy warmth, and flowers bloomed everywhere despite the season. The two gazed in silence, Sakura staring in wonder at the beauty before her, and Kakashi gazing at her look of wonder.
He could have stayed like this for several minutes longer but Kakashi forced himself to bring her back to reality, "Have you progressed further on Raiken?"
Sakura blushed in embarrassment. "I haven't practiced actually." she admitted.
"Ok, it's not like you have had a lot of free time recently." Kakashi excused her with a shrug. "Try it."
"Alright," Sakura wove the signs and gripped her wrist while cupping her hand in front of her. She winced in pain as the small orb of lightning wavered above her palm. Then, in a quick attempt to fire it off she pointed her hand to the opposite slope of the ravine. In a flash the thin lighting bolt fired veering in an arc and striking a rock in the middle of the sloping stream.
"Drats," she hissed, instantly weaving the signs to try again.
"Wait!" Kakashi ordered, "don't get ahead of yourself."
Sakura lower her hands and patiently waited for an explanation.
"First, just relax." he ordered. "You are too tense, you're letting electricity travel wildly through your body. We are at a hot spring, I figured you would be loose and ready for this."
Sakura considered informing him that it was his attitude for the past few days that had made her so tense, but she stopped herself.
"And secondly…" he paused thinking about how to explain it, "You need to…"
Sakura's looks of confusion was further enhanced, completely oblivious to how the sun was shining into the misty ravine, flooding her in almost divine light.
Kakashi looked like he wanted to speak, to continue his explanation, but instead he just stood there, looking right back at her. Sakura shifted nervously, wondering what had elicited such an unusual gaze.
Just before she was about to squirm he walked forward and said, "Turn around."
Sakura obliged, turning towards the steamy waterfalls, still confused because of the unnaturally long pause. She almost jumped when his hands touched her arms just above her elbows and then they slowly trailed down her white sleeves towards her wrists that she held in front of her. She was sure that she was going to blush at the unusual close contact when she finally detected it. The whole time Kakashi had been sending chakra into her arms and was now sending it towards her hands. She felt relief, though she was not really sure why.
Kakashi had wanted to speak, to continue his explanation, but he just couldn't as he noticed how her hair shined, eyes seemed to sparkle, and her skin glow in the magical rays of sunlight. When he saw the slightly impatient eyes squint questioningly at him, the spell caused by their strange setting broke. He shook his head and went directly in front of her.
That was when he ordered her to turn around. He placed his hands on her elbows and started pressing chakra into her own chakra system, being certain to align the two wavelengths. He thought how it would have probably been better to tell her what he was doing before just ordering her to turn around and then giving her a strange embrace. He really hoped she could detect the chakra. He looked down to her cheek and noticed how it was unusually pink and he could feel her racing pulse. He could feel a blush of his own threaten its presence.
I better explain this! he thought almost panicking. He thought of whispering in her dangerously close ear but decided against it. Instead he thought of something a little more discrete and less… compromising. He sent a slightly higher jolt of chakra.
He felt a breath of realisation escape her, or was it a sigh of relief. He wasn't too fond of the latter possibility.
It's twisting! Sakura noticed, very slowly, but the chakra is twisting. Finally she got it. She peeked over at the masked face resting just above her shoulder. Kakashi noticed her glance and nodded.
She wove the signs for Raiken and aimed towards the opposite bank, maintaining the exact same rotation speed that Kakashi showed her. The lightning released in a nearly straight line and caused the rock in the rapids to form a slight crack. Sakura, thrown into medic mode thought what the attack would have done to a human, the picture wasn't pretty, but rather satisfactory for her self defence.
She felt Kakashi nod, because his face brushed by her cheek and she became quite aware of his chest against her back. She ducked from his embrace and retreated a few steps.
"You could have just told me to slowly rotate it." she stated flatly.
"Yes, I could," he admitted with a shrugg. "However, 'slowly' is a very relative word, now you know exactly how slowly to rotate it and you won't go through trial and error."
"So you did this with Naruto too?"
"Nope!" he replied cheerfully. "I hadn't thought of doing it this way until just a little while ago."
"Uh huh," she nodded suspiciously. "You could still at least tell me, it was awkward, what if someone showed up at the wrong time, it would look weird."
"Why do you think we are in such a secluded location?" Kakashi asked rhetorically, he instantly regretted his wording.
Sakura looked at him suspiciously. "Yeah…"
…
…
…
…
A bird's chirping was the only sound in the overly long and awkward silence.
Kakashi coughed, "Well, I brought targets…"
"That sounds great!" Sakura exclaimed, wincing at sounding all too excited for the change of topic.
Reaching in his pocket, he retrieved a scroll. Then he rolled it out displaying the summoning circles. He made a sign and in a puff of smoke a pile of frisbee-like objects appeared atop of it.
"Alright, stand on that rock," he directed her to a wide and flattish spot amid the rapids. "I will throw these across the ravine, you are to attempt to hit as many of them as you can. Also, I'll give you a hint, lightning naturally never moves in a straight line, focus instead on where you are and what your target is. Do not worry about the angle, trajectory, force, or speed, just ground yourself and imagine what is the easiest way for the electricity to travel between you and the target."
Sakura nodded and leapt to the stone. She placed her feet firmly apart to maintain good footing and kept a keen eye and ear out from the underbrush around her where her sensei had disappeared into. Through the rumbling of the falls she heard a faint whistling noise behind her. Her hands were a blur as she made the signs then she took aim.
"Raiken!"
There was a flash of light as a narrow string of electricity shot through the air.
The untouched target glided into the cliff face.
"Tch," Sakura winced. The next target flew out directly in front of her. This time she had the jutsu ready so she hurriedly ran over mentally what he had said. She felt a light click on in her brain as her eyes followed the target's trajectory.
"Raiken!" A far less timid bolt of electricity escaped from her hands, after which it curved in an arc, just grazing the target. If I get the hang of this, it will be nearly impossible to miss.
"So you noticed it, Sakura?" Kakashi said, leaping to the bank of the hot, tumbling, creek.
"Yes!" She replied seriously, silently noting how he finally said her name with a casual, relaxed tone like he always did. Operation Make-things-between-me-and-Kakashi-sensei-not-awkward, success! her inner self cheered.
"Ok, just keep along that mindset. Let's continue, I'm not going to be easy on you anymore." Kakashi warned cheerfully.
Sakura shot a fake glare then became serious, she was ready for anything now.
Her heart skipped a beat when she heard a sudden rustling of leaves. Three discs flew into the air from two directions. The ball of electricity in her hand seemed to waver with her stumped resolve. How am I supposed to hit them all? She aimed towards one of them, she mentally formed the bond between her and the target. Suddenly all three targets swerved, diving her directed, she ducked to avoid the one that came too close.
He attached wires, that jerk! she fumed, firing off the Raiken angrily.
Kakashi grinned almost guiltily as he pulled the wires, directing the targets right at Sakura. He felt like laughing as he could see her face twist in anger. She skilfully twisted around and fired. His humorous demeanour changed when he saw the lighting branch in two directions like a trellised vine, destroying two of the three targets. He stared blankly a moment, stunned by her sudden change in chakra form.
Finally he huffed proudly at her accomplishment and threw another target. After the disc had barely gone a foot from his hand it exploded in a flash of electricity. He fell back in surprise, bringing his hand to his chest in an attempt to calm himself. He looked at the pink haired kunoichi down in the ravine. With the Sharingan he could clearly see an almost impudent grin on her face, daring him to try something new.
He raised an eyebrow accepting the challenge but out of the corner of his red eye he noticed something. He looked up to the head of the waterfall, sniffing the air. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end.
Sakura widened her stance, staying alert for the next hint that a disk would come flying out of the underbrush. Instead she saw Kakashi himself burst out of the ferns towards her.
Taijutsu practice? she thought, however the somewhat urgent expression on her sensei's masked face told her otherwise. Does he want me to run?
However she didn't have much time to make any move when Kakashi was already beside her. He grabbed her by the waist and hurried with her to the other side of the ravine. Her legs just dangled a few inches above the ground until he placed her against the steep slope inside an small cave concealed by vines and ferns.
"What's-?" she began in a hushed voice.
Kakashi surprised her by leaning even closer in the tiny space, practically placing his body around hers, his masked lips were barely an inch from her ear as he whispered in a low breathy voice "Quiet."
Sakura's mouth snapped shut as she once again found Kakashi-sensei a little too close for her comfort, she could even feel his jacket brushing her abdomen.
… This is uncomfortable… Is there an enemy nearby? Did we get found out? Oh dear… now he's breathing on my neck. Calm down Sakura, there has to be a logical explanation… WHAT IS GOING ON?
Ok wait for it, I admit I am being a total jerk about ending it here, but it was the only possible cliff hanger for at least another thousand words (I am so evil), and I feverously wanted to update.
Oh, and I'm sure you noticed there was no hot spring exploits, *sigh* I'll try to get it in the NEXT chapter. Also I did some interesting research on how Kakashi addresses people by going through several Shippuden episodes on Hulu. I discovered that Kakashi addresses all of the chuunin in Konoha, and just about anyone younger/equal to him with no suffix. Kind of shows that he is a really informal guy.
I never paid much attention before, but now that I'm writing fanfic, that is an important detail! He always addresses Sakura without any suffix, so when he uses a suffix it would be seen as abnormal, must remember that, and so should the rest of y'all! Unless you are doing Gakuen or other AU storylines, then you might.
Listened to the Shippuden OST while writing this, you should seriously find a soundtrack of your own somehow, it is fantastic.
And my question for those who review, is Kakashi coming a little too strong on the perv side? I don't want to make him seem horribly creepy or anything, most of his "dilemma" is way in the back of his mind, so he's not actively thinking about how cute she every moment of the day, it's just at random, infrequent moments.
And also, anything else you can suggest/criticise would be delightful.
Wow, my post notes are getting really long… This might not be a good thing, it's going to start to give a misrepresentation of the story length lol.