Clash Chpt 10…Enjoy!
Reunions
Kakashi stared at the page he was on. This book really wasn't doing anything for his thoughts lately and he didn't know how much longer he could fake it.
The first time she skipped out on them, she came in with same clothes she left in. She apologized, and then claimed that they were spending too much time with her, in which she kicked them all out. He hasn't seen her for two days. It wasn't even that he hasn't tried to find her, either.
Trying to get away from it was pointless. They were going to have to talk about it sooner or later, and he would rather her not bring it up. She had fists, and they packed a punch.
He sighed.
He kissed her once. It wasn't wrong, per say. It was…Maybe it was wrong. She was young. Though it never stopped him before, she had a heart. And he was jaded. She was full of spirit and he…he had a past. He meant to bring it up a long time ago…He could say he forgot. Yeah, that was good enough. Then they played extreme tag and he lost himself…again. But she's to blame too, right?
Another sigh.
He didn't like her. He wasn't even sure if it could be called an attraction. She had a pretty face, but not the type he liked. And her body…well, he's seen better. Her butt is really the only reward he gets for coming in behind her. They've played this game many times before. It's just that now, it's gotten dangerous.
He's acting like a girl. Thinking about feelings is not something men do, and look at him. He's breaking one of the forbidden rules…again.
But seriously, her personality is not one most men look for in a woman. Sakura's pretty…overbearing. And then she's rude, and she has a horrible attitude to boot. She likes to lead. And that's a pretty big turn-off to him.
Yeah. He's certainly not falling anytime soon.
He snapped his book shut and placed it on the table. "Sakura. We need to talk." He patted her head lightly and his eyes widened when a fist shot up and punched him in the nose. Hard.
"Calm down," Feeling a searing pain throbbing throughout his nose, he fell back onto the bed. It wasn't long before he felt a pillow smack him across the face. "Sakura, I said calm down." His voice was muffled by said pillow she tried to suffocate him with. It was a pretty big pillow.
"Shut-up! Why are you here? How'd you get in? How'd you even know I was here? Are you stalking me?" He gagged as she punched him in the gut.
"Sakura," She elbowed him in the knee.
"You have thirty seconds of air left so you better fess up!" It was these types of things that threw her off the 'Attractive' radar. Trying to suffocate him definitely wasn't a turn-on, nor was it appealing. It was actually another big turn-off, if anything. Okay, so maybe he did sneak into Ino's house at eight in the morning, and maybe he did get into bed beside her and start to, erm, "read". But that gave her no reason to try to murder him.
Unable to sigh, or breathe for that matter…actually he couldn't really do anything. He was getting dizzy, and that was pretty hard seeing that he was lying down.
"I'm…sorry…" She took the pillow off of his face, and it was in that second that he took a deep breath. It left him with a headache, but he wasn't dead…yet.
"Kakashi, why are you here? You know better than to sneak up on me when I'm sleeping."
"Uh, no I don't." His hand came to rest on his eyes. Willing the headache to go away, along with the throbbing pain in his nose, he placed the other hand over his eyes.
"Stop playing games, I'll hurt you." Opening an eye, he peered out between his fingers to look at her. He didn't really see what she was wearing yet, and that was something that he should've noticed hours ago. Not that he was watching her in her sleep; another forbidden rule. And it wasn't attraction that he had to know what she was wearing, it was just curiosity.
He looked her up and down. She was kneeling in between his bent legs looking at him. She was in a red lace bra, his favorite color, and floral lace boy shorts on. Also red, also his favorite. It was pretty nice, he guessed. The red was nice on her creamy skin. And if she just turned around, he could admire how the curve of her buttocks peeked out from just below the lace. Or, he could stare at her mussed up appearance; lips parted slightly and her hair a bit messy.
But the boy shorts pleased him more.
"Well?" Bringing his attention back to her face she leaned forward.
"You broke my nose." Her eyes widened and she leaned forward.
"Well, you shouldn't have…just, here…" Her elbows were digging into his gut and her breasts were right above his chin. She moved his hand from his nose and a green palm replaced it.
"Sakura—Oh God!"
"Well, this is…embarrassing." He chuckled.
And embarrassing it was. He forgot it was Ino's house. Also forgetting this was Ino's bedroom. So it was common for her to walk in. It's very hard for a bystander to believe that she was just trying to fix his nose when she was almost naked and had a very messy appearance. And their postion said one word: Sex.
"I knew it!" Scrambling off of the bed, Sakura went to follow a very red Ino. Never moving his hand from his eyes, he frowned in thought.
He still had a broken nose.
Taking a short jog through the hallway, Sakura found Ino in the kitchen.
"Pig. Pig wait." Sakura moved to stand behind her as Ino started to put plates away.
"I knew it! You lied to me, and what were you doing in my bed?" A hurt expression was plastered all over her face. She guided her to sit down at the kitchen table.
"Listen. He came into your room sometime while I was sleeping. He touched my head—I know. I'm still just a tad bit sensitive." She pinched her fingers in emphasis. "Then I woke up. I broke his nose, and I…heh…I, uh…heh…actually tried to suffocate him." She said with a chuckle. Ino started to frown. "Then he apologized, and I wanted answers, and I really wasn't paying attention to our positions." Sakura said sincerely. Ino huffed a sigh.
"Alright, fine. But we're going to finish this later," Sakura rolled her eyes. "Mainly because the mission starts at 10, and it's 10:30." Then they widened. Pushing the chair back she ran back to Ino's room to find Kakashi was gone. She assured herself she wasn't disappointed. Grabbing the clothes she wore yesterday from the chair, she quickly slipped them on and ran to the door.
"Oh wait," She said with one foot in a sandal. Walking back over to the kitchen, she gave Ino a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Ino. But aren't you going on the mission, too?" She was grinning from ear to ear.
"My Squad's back-up. We're trailing you guys. I've got time!" She shouted from the kitchen as Sakura hopped back to the door and slipped on her other sandal.
She turned the knob and opened the door, closing it behind her. She stood there briefly, realizing what this three day mission meant.
That was the best sleep she was going to get for days.
"I don't understand why he's late; I just saw him like twenty minutes ago." Throwing another rock from her pile, she frowned.
"Someone has to go get him. Everyone's already here and we have to get going if we want to move some distance before the cold sets in." Naruto shifted his pack and threw his next rock.
"Well, I'm not doing it." Sasuke said as he glared up at them on top of the gates. A rock just hit his head, and he wasn't too happy about it. Sakura smiled back.
"Sakura, would you?" She patted his shoulder.
"I'd rather not, actually." Naruto sighed. Then there was a pop.
"Sorry everyone, I—"
"Save it, old man." She said with a glare. "Let's get moving. I want this mission done with as soon as possible." Hitching her pack on her shoulders, she jumped onto the dirt path. The rest of them soon followed.
When they transitioned to the trees, Kakashi caught up with her.
"Do you want to race?"
"I really don't."
"A bet to sweeten up the deal, then."
"Still not interested."
"Money's on the table,"
"Mhm-Mhm."
"A friendly competition?" He was pulling for straws, and he could see she wasn't taking the bait.
"I'm actually not in the mood for anything, Kakashi. I just want to get to Grass, and come back."
"Are you sure?"
"Are you done?" Falling back, he felt disappointed. That was pretty damn hard seeing he's a pessimist. Sakura never backs down from any of his bets or "Friendly competitions". To see that she's doing so now meant something was wrong. Maybe it was that they were going to Grass again. And if he remembered correctly, whenever Sakura and Kakashi were in Grass, nothing good ever happened. For example, there was the first time when he misplaced their mission scroll and got captured. Then there was their mission to capture Nao, and Sakura got captured instead. And then there was the mission when they tried to bring her back, and almost got her killed.
He can almost forgive her for the animosity she has with the Country.
A frown appeared on his face when he saw Nao catch up with Sakura and she smiled. And of course, seeing Katsumi in the air on Sasuke's hawk. He didn't know why he frowned at that, both of them, truth be told. First of all, Katsumi's a ninja. She can run just like the rest of them. But then again, it could be for that reason that they drugged her up to render her unconscious for the mission. Second of all, they should be making Nao out to be the enemy. Even though they're nowhere near Grass or the Kannabi Bridge, they could be watching.
Who is he kidding?
The Leaf has patrols set up all across the Border. Unless something is going on that they don't know about, ninja that have three strands of grass marked on their forehead protectors weren't getting anywhere near Konoha, or even Fire Country for that matter.
"They're going to be locking faces soon,"
"No they're not, Sakura's not like that."
"Says you, you barely kissed her."
"I kissed her plenty of times."
"Yeah right. Either way, she kissed him on the last mission. They like each other, they'll do it again."
"You wanna bet?"
"Hell yeah. Kakashi-sensei, you wanna bet too?" He frowned. He was never one to turn a bet down himself, but this had disaster written all over it.
"I think I'll pass."
"I insist."
"How much are we talking here?"
"Just because I didn't make a bet with your sorry ass, doesn't mean you go around making stupid ones with those idiots!" He sighed. Listening to his instincts, or even his gut, was his specialty. It was always right. But Sakura turned him down on the first bet, and Naruto did insist…what was there to lose?
A few teeth in the coming future, he'd bet.
In the end, Sasuke ended up paying them both two hundred ryo. It was all good, until Sakura turned and saw them passing money. He was ratted out in a second. Naruto better hope he doesn't run into him in a dark alley. There'll be hell to pay.
"That wasn't it." Her eyes shone with disbelief. She scoffed.
"Oh so, lemme guess. Naruto insisted you take on that bet." He looked down. She punched him in the arm.
"Can't you exhibit some self-control, you bastard!" And she stalked off. Back to Nao he'd bet…well no. Because that's what got him in this fix in the first place. So maybe he should lay off the unhealthy betting for a bit. At least with Sasuke and Naruto. Those bets get him in trouble. He took the canteen of water that was passed his way. He took a swig as he watched her retreating behind.
He really had to get a new hobby. This one was getting old fast.
"Are you sure you're okay, Sakura?" He touched her hand lightly. She blushed and bit her lip.
"Yeah. I've uh, been getting some help from a friend. I'm just…scared."
"The war's coming. I'm against you. What's not to be scared of?" Then she smiled that smile for him. The one that made her feel good again.
"No I mean…I'm going to tell you this, and you can't breathe a word." He nodded.
"I won't." She exhaled and closed her eyes.
"It's not that I'm scared, really. It's my subconscious. I've already been through one war, so I think I've passed the level of 'Rookie'." He laughed.
"Yeah well, I was in that invasion on the Leaf, a few years back. It may not be called war, but I'm sure it counts as some experience. But your subconscious…" Sighing, she explained.
"You know, your dreams and stuff. In captivity, they uh—"
"It's alright."
"Don't get me wrong. I want revenge so much. But Shishou said Grass has to be on our side so this Peace Treaty is real important." He was listening intently. Another sigh. "I wanted to avoid doing this exchange as much as possible because I'm very impulsive. I've come to terms with that. But even I have no idea what I'm going to do." She leant on the tree.
"It doesn't matter. No one is going to punish you for mental problems, so…" She smiled. That was someone she needed. To lift her up when she was down. It was too bad he was going back to Grass; if he stayed in Konoha a bit longer, she's sure they could've worked. So she kissed him. Because it felt right to do so at that moment. And when he pushed her a little further against the tree, she figured it didn't feel like a topic they'd have to discuss later, either. That was always a plus.
"So…does Sasuke give us more money or what?" A scowl appeared on Kakashi's face this time.
"Do what you want, I'm not getting involved. You two are rats." He pushed off the tree he was leaning on and walked to the middle of the group.
"Listen up. We've got about two more hours of straight running before we make camp." He didn't like the pace they were on at all. It's supposed to take about four hours to get to grass, then three to get to the Kannabi Bridge. They've been on a slow jog for seven hours now, and it's going to get dark soon. They haven't even passed the border yet. But of course, they couldn't make camp in Grass; that was just asking for assassination. He wasn't even sure if they could make it near the border before night fell. Sighing, he picked his pack up from its place by the tree and started for the trees.
"So…are they together now, Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked as he jumped off a branch.
"I don't care." He growled.
"Are you okay?"
"Peachy." Frowning, Naruto fell back. He wasn't upset. Not because she was kissing Nao, who she barely knew, and especially not because he was attracted. No. Her personality is not something he's looking for. Actually, he was very un-attracted. He was upset, because he knew Sakura was going to go do something stupid for Nao.
"Here. We make camp here. Tenzou,"
"I hate this job." He replied as he made a hand seal. A medium-sized, one floor cabin was made.
"Everyone," Walking in, Kakashi took off his sandals and went straight for the bench in the main room.
"Where do I put her?" Dropping his pack on the floor, he turned to Sasuke.
"Right in that corner. We'll take turns on watch in groups of two," He said, put two fingers up in emphasis. "Sakura, I need you to sedate her again, just in case. Nao, you'll be with Katsumi." It was then that a horrible scowl appeared on Sakura's face. He wanted to smile in triumph, but he believed very adamantly he needed his limbs to continue being a Shinobi.
"Yamato-sensei, what's the big idea?" After the cat got out of the bag, it was only Naruto who continued to call him Yamato. It was also only Naruto who still kept the formalities on the ends of their names. Maybe it was respectful, or maybe change was too complicated. Though Naruto has grown tremendously, anyone and everyone who ever knew him would choose the latter.
"What?" Tenzou replied, also taking off his sandals and placing his pack against the wall.
"There's only one room!" Naruto frowned.
"So?" Annoyed, he tried to walk off to get out of the conversation. Provided there was only so much room in the cabin, he didn't get too far before Naruto followed him.
"Teme snores! I don't want to hear that all night!" A glare from said 'Bastard' did nothing to stop Naruto's rant.
"That's a lot of work, Naruto. You're lucky you even get this luxury! We could be roughing it in the cold tonight!" Naruto, the frown still on his face, stomped off to claim his corner in the room. Far away from Sasuke, was the objective. "I'm so unappreciated." Tenzou muttered as he followed him and claimed his spot.
Kakashi sighed. He had such drama queens with him. Speaking of drama queens, there was a matter he had to attend to before it got out of hand.
"Are you done, Sakura?" He said, leaning on the doorjamb facing the open space that came before the room. Sakura injected something into Katsumi's arm and then turned, scowl still on her face.
"Tell me something, Kakashi." She started while putting the syringe in her pack and then standing up.
"Here we go," He whispered as she started to walk towards him.
"Why can't Nao stay in the room with the rest of us? I mean, he's our ally, isn't he?" He briefly grasped the bridge of his noise before pushing himself off the wall to meet her halfway. He wouldn't like it if there was no escape from her wrath. Putting distance between the wall and Sakura was done at a means to save Tenzou chakra for repair. Not because he was scared, no.
"Because Sakura." Closing the steps between them, a menacing glare lit her eyes. Hopefully, no one would be around to see him get bullied by a woman. Bullying. Also very unattractive.
"Because what." She growled. He sighed. From the tone of her voice, he knew it was going to end badly.
"You're too caught up already Sakura. He's a spy. He has a job to do in Grass, and I have a feeling that if you spend the night in the same room as him, even if you're not remotely close, you're not going to want him to go back." Her eyebrows furrowed as she poked him in the chest.
"What do you think you're going to accomplish, Kakashi? Your motives are getting a little fuzzy to me, by the way. Sneaking into bed with me at odd hours in the morning—"
"Well, with the way you're saying it, you make it seem as if I was wrong…"
"You are wrong!" He quickly looked around. They were drawing attention. He lowered his voice to try to get her to do the same.
"Nobody has seen you for two days; I apologize if I was worried." He whispered.
"Apology not accepted!" She whispered back harshly. At least it worked. "That still doesn't explain why you got into bed with me, or why you bet on me, or even why you kissed me!" He winced. It was going to come to that sooner or later. But he hadn't thought this soon. Lightly grabbing her upper arm, he pulled her into a corner. She wasn't too happy about it, though.
"Listen, Sakura. The kiss was pretty much about the heat of the moment. Nothing more. The bet was an accident and the bed…I'm not exactly sure why I did it either." Sakura blew the bangs out of her face and extended a hand to Kakashi.
"Look. We've been a little hostile towards each other—"
"You've been hostile to me." Kakashi pointed out.
"Either way, I'm calling a cease-fire. I still dislike you, but at least we're friends again. Besides, we have to share watch. Killing each other would do no good, would it?" A dumbfounded look was frozen on Kakashi's face as he briefly shook the hand and she walked away. He can't remember what brought on her hostility towards him, or if it was just 'That Time of the Month'. Her mood-swings were abnormal today. Luckily, she called a cease-fire. It wouldn't do him good to be on Sakura's bad side, and be on watch with her in the middle of the night. With no witnesses. Nope. Wouldn't do him good at all.
"I'm sorry, Nao. Maybe I've been moving a bit too fast." She walked over to his seat against the wall.
"What do you mean?" She bit her lip.
"I'll never see you again." He smiled.
"You thought the same last time, and here you are." Last time. The night she was captured. When she was so terrified because she thought she was going to die and actually got captured instead. The night she kissed Nao. The night...she kissed Kakashi…Despite her inner turmoil, she smiled back.
"You know what I mean?" He nodded.
"One last kiss, then." She moved in, and placed a kiss on his cheek. Kakashi was right. She was getting too caught up with a guy she barely knew. Nao, was his name. And he was earth, just like her. He didn't like Tempura and he was a couple of years older than her. Sadly, that's all she knew. Getting up, she gave him a brief smile and went into the room.
And a relationship, even a short one, could not live on just that.
"Got any three's?"
"No, Go Fish."
"…I think you're cheating."
"How could I be?"
"Well, you've got about five sets of four in front of you, and I basically have the rest of the ocean in my hands."
"I'm a good player, Sakura-chan."
"This is a game of chance, not strategy. Let me see your hand."
"N-no! That's cheating!" Sighing, she placed her hand of forty-three cards in front of her. She was almost positive that Naruto hasn't been giving her the cards she's asked for. They've been playing for about an hour now, and this was a game of chance. She's pretty sure she would've gotten at least one set of four by now. Especially since they were well on their way into the second deck.
"Well, anyways. Your watch is over. Go wake up Sasuke." Naruto frowned.
"Haruno, this is the third watch you've had. Get some sleep already." She frowned right back.
"Quit bugging me, Uzumaki." He rolled his eyes, but still walked back to the room. It was two short minutes later that an unkempt Sasuke walked out. Taking a seat across from her, he yawned.
"Naruto cheated again?" He said, observing the cards that were laid out.
"Yeah. He still thinks you don't have to give away any cards that were asked for, so…" Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her.
"Are you going to tell him the rules?" Sighing, she figured it was best Naruto play by his handbook rather than go on a rampage upon finding out about the real rules. Like the last time they played a game, they had to beat the real rules into him. Playing red light green light was never the same again.
"What do you want to do, then?" She turned her body so she could lean on the wall. She secured her bedroll around her shoulders and started to scrape little bits and pieces of the wood floor off with her nails.
"Can you…check my eyes?" She scoffed.
"I thought you said you'll never go blind," He shrugged.
"Madara told me about the 'Eternal Mangekyo', but it was a load of bullshit. I'm going blind." She let out a soft chuckle. Reaching her hands to his face, he activated his Sharingan as her chakra poured through his eyes.
"I don't know. I think I should just let you go blind for all the shit you put us through." He frowned. "But, I would like to know more about the bloodline from the original family, so you're in luck." Her hands went back to the floor.
"You can't do it now?" Her lip snarled.
"This is not the proper environment. I don't have any idea what I'm doing or how to stop the process. Hopefully, you don't go blind in the next few days." He rolled his eyes. She didn't know that was possible with the Sharingan activated.
"What else are we going to do then?" She raised a finger.
"First off, can you deactivate that?" He frowned.
"Why?"
"I feel like you have x-ray glasses."
"My brother did it all the time, no one batted an eyelash."
"Did I date your brother?" He was taken aback by the question.
"I don't know, did you? You told me about your vivid fantasies with a dead man, Sakura. That was pretty creepy." She rolled her eyes.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Sasuke. Your brother was really gorgeous. If he was alive right now, I would jump—"
"Sakura, that's just…stop. Anyways, what does x-ray vision have to do with us dating?" She sighed.
"You can look under my clothes, you perv. I wouldn't have to worry about that with him." He frowned. "Besides, dating each other is the only reason why you have the balls to do it. No one else sure as hell does." He snorted.
"If only," Her head whipped around to face his.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"When you grew breasts, no matter how small they were, and they're small," She glared. "You decided you weren't going to take off your clothes. Ever. You weren't naked, not once, when you were with me." He pointed out. Another roll of her eyes.
"Yeah, I was." He narrowed his eyes. "That one time…when uh, well we…Maybe I wasn't completely naked. But I was half naked, if that counts."
"Well it doesn't. It's not fair when a man can't see his own girlfriend's "assets"." He said while putting his fingers up in quotes.
"It's not like you were on show and tell either," She muttered. His eyes widened.
"You saw me naked, almost every day! I even slept naked, yet you insisted on keeping your clothes on. You've touched my penis more times than I can count on my hands and toes!" He whispered. She held on to her bedroll tighter.
"I was your girlfriend! What else am I supposed to do?" He frowned.
"Kiss me, maybe? Because you barely did that. Actually, now that I think about it, basically all you ever did always had something to do with my stuff." Her eye twitched.
"You asked me to! And you act like you had a problem with it! Now that I think about it, I remember always coming home to a blue balled Sasuke! What am I supposed to do with that?" He sighed.
"You still never kissed me." She pouted.
"Liar," He raised an eyebrow.
"Just because I kissed you, doesn't mean that you kissed me. But whatever. The relationship was a bust, anyways." He tilted his head back against the wall. Her eyes widened and she pointed a finger at him.
"Only because you made it that way, you bastard!" Placing his hand on his eyes, he shook his head.
"I remember you kissing me a lot of times now, thanks for clearing that up." She smacked his arm.
"Don't try to get out of this now. TenTen? Really? Of all people. I would've expected Ino, but her? The bit—"
"She came to me, Sakura." She narrowed her eyes as her lips squeezed shut.
"So, you're saying, if some whore just comes to you off of the street, you'll just give them sex. It makes sense to me now. I mean, why wouldn't it? Your name is Uchiha Sasuke: the "Ladies" man." She said with quotes. He frowned.
"No, Sakura. I was just upset—"
"You were upset…twice." Raising the number two as both her eyebrows lifted. He sighed.
"It's a long story. And its history right? I know you don't want to hear it, and I'd rather not say it." He shrugged.
"I'm listening." Leaning against the wall, she turned her head to his with narrowed eyes. Another sigh.
"She came to me that morning, earlier than you did. I told her what happened, and she said that she could make me feel better, and I said 'I'm fine', and then…you know. Sex happened." Her lips were fashioned in a straight line.
"So, even though you denied her, you still had sex. Before you broke up with me." He frowned.
"Technically, we didn't break up."
"What?" She said with narrowed eyes.
"We never broke up. Yes, I had sex with her, but you never broke up with me. And I see you're kissing other guys, so…I think we're pretty even." Her eyes widened.
"I'm positive you knew that what you did justified the means for a break-up." He just shrugged.
"Yeah, but you never did it."
"Just shut-up." That was the end of the conversation she supposed. He wasn't saying anything and she didn't want him to. It was nice to have clarity after she's gotten over the emotional part of it, but it didn't feel as good as it should've. Sasuke knew how she felt about TenTen. So why…Maybe that's just something she'll never know. And she's happy with keeping that a mystery. If it got out that Sasuke betrayed her purposely, then, well…
She was left with her thoughts for a while, and she never did like that these days. It was only when she saw Sasuke turn and look at her was she snapped out of them.
"What now?"
"It's just…have you ever thought about it? About us, I mean." She bit her lip.
"Plenty of times, Sasuke. I thought about where I would've been if it all had ended differently. Not like this. Not stronger." He rubbed a hand down his face. Then, he lowered himself into her lap.
"W-what are you doing?" She said with her eyes searching his.
"Let me pretend tonight, okay?" She relaxed. Smiling, she started to stroke her fingers through his dark blue hair.
"You're human, Sasuke."
"I know."
"Wake up."
"Hm?"
"Get up."
"Hm."
"Up!"
"Damn it, Sakura!"
"You wouldn't get up…"
"Did you have to slap me?"
"Well, what did you want me to do? Tickle you?" Rolling his eyes, he raised himself from her lap. He stretched, then stood.
"Who's next?" She wrapped her bedroll tighter around herself, then leaned against the wall.
"Kakashi," He looked at her with concerned eyes.
"Sakura, are you alright?" She nodded.
"It's just gotten a bit colder. I'm okay." She waved him off and he walked back to the room. If it had just gotten a bit colder, she would've been alright. But the temperatures basically dropped and she didn't know how he wasn't affected by it. She saw Kakashi come out. "Hey, uh…Could you get my jacket from my pack?" Turning back around, he did as told. It was only a few seconds later that he returned with her black overcoat. Quickly taking off her bedroll, she put her arms through her jacket, then put it back around her shoulders.
Kakashi took a seat beside her with his hands propped up behind his head and his eyes closed.
"What, no book?"
"You'd only get annoyed." He was right. Then she looked to what he was wearing. Not that she had to know what he was wearing, it was just that he was in his sleeveless Anbu top, and it was freezing.
"You're not cold?" He opened his eyes then.
"You are?" She nodded.
"Pretty much." She was surprised when he reached an arm around her and pulled her closer. Her outfit choice was not built for the cold. Yet here he was, sleeveless and not even shivering.
"Thanks to you, I had to go to the Hospital...for a broken nose." She narrowed her eyes.
"Well, you left." She saw him smile.
"I was embarrassed. I couldn't stay."
"Ha, Ha. You weren't the one to get chewed out by a Pig." He turned to face her.
"What was that about, anyways?" She shrugged.
"She thinks we have something going on, since we're always spending time with each other." He snorted.
"You? I have something going on with…you?" She glared.
"It should be the other way around, Baka-sensei. No one can really like you." His eyes narrowed.
"Me? Sakura, I'm very respected." She rolled her eyes.
"Respect doesn't equal friendship," She said in a sing-song voice.
"Well make sure Ino knows I'm not into you. Wouldn't want her to get the wrong idea." Her head jerked back.
"I'll make sure she knows I'm not into you first. You are so unattractive." His eyebrows were furrowed.
"You're not doing so hot in the 'Attractive' column, yourself." She gasped.
"What's that supposed to mean?" He shrugged.
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact that you tried to kill me. Twice!" She tilted her head into the air.
"You brought both times upon yourself. Besides, what type of freak sneaks into someone else's house and just watches them sleep?"
"I'm a freak? Sakura, you wear glasses. What type of ninja doesn't have perfect vision?" Turning away from him, she frowned.
"That's not the point. Anyways, if I'm so 'Unattractive', why'd you kiss me?" Now that was catching him off guard.
"It was the only thing to keep you from bawling like a baby." He muttered.
"The second time?" His eye narrowed.
"Once, Sakura. I only kissed you once. It wasn't that good either," He was lying to himself. But he couldn't help it. The look on her face was too rewarding.
"Oh really? You're not doing so well in that department either, Kakashi." She frowned. That was a lie. That kiss was perfect.
"Sakura, I've kissed women plenty of times. That was probably the best kiss you'll ever get in a lifetime." Very true. But she wouldn't let him know that.
"Nao and Sasuke seem to believe I kiss pretty damn good. And Ren seems to like them all the—"
"Wait, what? Ren? You kissed Ren?" When did she have the time to do that?
"And I seem to remember a certain someone claiming my lips to be enticing!" He still couldn't wrap his mind around the whole 'Ren' thing. He shook his head.
"Yeah well, they're not that great."
"You sure?"
"Yes, I'm s—" From her sitting position wrapped around his arms, she turned and pressed her lips to his masked ones. It was a few seconds later that she released him.
"They're still not that great?" Shaking his head quickly, he composed himself.
"Nope."
"Yeah, whatever." He couldn't lie. She was pretty damn good. And he felt that even through the mask. But he had to get more.
"Try this on for size," Quickly pulling his mask down, he tilted her chin upwards and pressed his mouths to hers. He started to nip at her lower lip before she opened her mouth. She placed a hand on his chest and the other around his neck. Turning her body to get better access, his fingers started to trail up her skirt. A warm feeling grew in the pit of her belly when he hooked his thumb into her underwear. She slid her hand under his shirt and he froze while kissing her neck. Slowly backing away, he didn't remove the arm from around her shoulders.
She blinked once, then snapped out of it. When he looked back to her, she shook her head.
"You're still unattractive." She nodded.
"Yeah, you too." They fell into an awkward silence. What the hell just happened? Her eyes kept turning towards his, only to find they were closed.
"Are you warm now?" She had goosebumps, but they weren't from the chill of the night.
"Why would I be?" He shrugged.
"I'm sure I just turned the heat up." Then he smirked and she punched his arm. Fiddling with the edges of her skirt, she once more turned to him.
"You're still unattractive." He nodded.
"Yeah, you too." Turning back to her skirt, she bit her lip.
"So…one more kiss?"
"Just one more…"
"Do you know what's going on with them?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like, every time their eyes meet, Sakura flicks him off."
"Probably a bet that she lost." Sasuke offered.
"Probably." Naruto jogged ahead to catch up to Sakura. Maybe it was a bad idea, seeing she's been in a bitchy mood all day. It couldn't have been something he did; he didn't talk to her all morning. And she wasn't mad about losing Go Fish last night. So it had to be the person on the last watch with her. And that was…Kakashi.
Of course it was.
"Sakura-chan, are you alright?" He saw her place a hand over her eyes and sigh.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It was just a rough night." Then she gave him a smile. Sincere enough. He stopped and let her continue to walk. He waited for Kakashi to walk up to where he was, and when he did, he gave him an odd stare.
"What?" He said, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"What'd you do?" Kakashi not knowing what he was talking about narrowed his eyes.
"What do you mean, what did I do?" Naruto pursed his lips.
"Sakura said she had a 'Rough Night'. You were the last person on watch with her. So what'd you do?" Tilting his head upwards in remembrance, he walked a bit faster. "Sensei, this isn't over!" He then waited for Sasuke to catch up with him.
"What did you find out?" Naruto folded his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.
"Sakura-chan said she had a rough night. So I asked Kakashi what he did. He didn't know at first, then I told him what Sakura said, and he walked faster and ignored me." Sasuke's eyes widened. "Are they together or something? Sakura's been confusing me lately. I thought you guys were going to get married, then it was Kakashi she was spending nights with, then it was Nao, and now it's Kakashi again." Sasuke's eye twitched as he watched Kakashi catch up with Sakura. He tried to put a hand on her shoulder put she smacked it off and punched him in the gut. Then she walked off.
"If they were, it would explain a lot of things, Dobe." Naruto nodded.
He ran a hand through his hair.
"Sakura, you kissed me first, how could you possibly be the one who's mad?" Jogging a bit to catch up with her, she glared.
"You could've stopped me!" He narrowed his eyes.
"If I would've pushed you off me, we would've been in the same position we're in now." She stopped and turned to face him.
"I don't like you. You don't like me. So tell me how we ended up all over each other this morning?" He opened his mouth, then closed it. He really didn't have an explanation to that. Or to the make-out session they had. He just had to prove that they had no feelings after kissing each other. She continued to walk. He didn't know why she was so upset. If she was any other woman, she would be happy that he kissed her.
But that's the point isn't it. Sakura isn't any other woman.
"Look, Sakura. I'm sorry for whatever I did to offend you. Remember, last night? We were just proving a point. So here," He extended a hand out to her that she stared at. "Truce." He frowned when she didn't shake it, but crossed her arms.
"Kakashi, I told you I wanted to get through this mission without anything to remember it by. And now look." She waved a clenched fist at him. "And if I ever find your hands on my ass again, it'll be the last thing you ever touch."
"It was for…warmth." He chuckled. She rolled her eyes and left him standing there.
He didn't mean to…Well, it was more subconscious…All lying aside, he purposely slid her skirt up and positioned his hands on her ass sometime before they fell asleep. And it felt as good as he imagined. Firm, but not stiff. The curve of her buttocks—
"So sensei, what did she threaten you with?" Shaking his head, he turned to look at Naruto.
"She wants to cut off my hands." Stuffing a hand in his pockets, he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"What'd you do to get on her bad side?" Kakashi shrugged.
"I don't know. Since that meeting, we've never really been the same. It's probably just one of her moods." Sasuke nodded. Naruto started to look around. "What?"
"Someone's here, Grass. Fifty feet."
"Stop it! Get away from me you jerk!"
"I couldn't hear you, Leaf ninja,"
"Get the fuck off of me!"
"Now!"
"What the hell?"
There was a pop. When the smoke cleared, she saw eight dogs standing in a circle around her. Naruto had a kunai at the neck of her perpetrator, Sasuke had a kunai at his back, and Kakashi stood in front with his sword. Her eyes widened. She started to fidget.
"Haruno, we got this, just stay still. Why the hell are you here?" Sakura shook her head.
"Naruto—"
"Sakura." Kakashi moved the sword closer to his neck. "I'll slit your throat. But first, why are you here?"
"Slit my throat? Why would you—"
"Kakashi! What the fuck are you doing? Naruto, Sasuke, move!" Kakashi furrowed his eyebrows.
"We're trying to save you Sakura, can you cool it?" Her eye twitched.
"You're going to save me."
"Yes."
"From tickling."
"Ye—what?"
"Ren, can you put me down?" Setting her down on the ground, she stomped over to Kakashi and pushed his chest.
"Sakura, what's going on?" Punching him in the arm, she continued.
"He was tickling me, you idiots!"
"Tickling you? What kind of ninja tickles?" His dogs signaled their departure with a 'pop'.
"An ally. Kakashi." She placed a hand on her forehead. "I knew you were an idiot, but I didn't know you were this fucking stupid." He sighed.
"Don't worry about it, Sakura."
"So…does Sasuke give us money for this kiss too?"
"No, you loser. Shut-up."
"What the hell is going on here?"
"Oh…Nao. Hello," Sakura took one hand from around Ren's neck and waved awkwardly.
"Nao, how's it been?" His eyes narrowed.
"What are you doing?" Ren put one hand on his hip and the other around Sakura's waist.
"What am I doing?" He smiled. Nao's eyes narrowed further.
"Get your hands off." He growled. Ren was taken aback.
"You have a problem with that…Nao?" Sakura, trying to back up, was pulled into Ren's arms. Against her will, he crushed his mouth against hers. She shrieked. Nao glowered. "Was that good, Nao? Did you like that?" Naruto turned to Kakashi.
"What the hell is happening?" He whispered. Kakashi turned back to the scene at hand.
"Well, Sakura kissed Nao before she got captured. In captivity, I'm guessing she hooked up with Ren. And now, it's a battle of territory." He whispered back. Naruto nodded.
"So…Sakura's a who—"
"Don't say that word, Naruto." Sasuke scolded. "She'll kill you if she hears it." Naruto gulped.
"What is up with you and women?" Ren shrugged.
"They just like me, Nao. I apologize if you're jealous, but then again, that's really not my problem." Nao scoffed.
"You wanna go through this again, lover boy?" Ren crossed his arms.
"Doesn't really make a difference to me. Fact of the matter is, I'm going to Konoha, and you're going back to Kusa." Kakashi chose this time to speak up.
"You're going where?" Ren turned his attention from an angry Nao to Kakashi.
"They've assigned me as a Liaison between the two Hidden Villages. Say your goodbyes, Tadashi." Walking behind Ren, Kakashi grabbed Sakura by her arm and pulled her away from the commotion.
"Sakura, you need to explain." Covering her eyes with her knuckles she groaned.
"I-I don't know what happened. I wasn't really with Nao. It was only a kiss before I got captured, right? Ohhhh," She moaned and shook her head. "Then Ren helped me get to a shower and got me food sometimes…one thing led to another—"
"You had sex with Ren?" She looked up.
"No! Are you crazy?" She sighed. "Then I told Ren sometime before you guys came that we were only fooling ourselves. I didn't really break it off with him, but I never saw him again. Then I saw Nao, and I guess he thought we were together. And then you! Ugh. You and your womanizing ways!" He smirked. She glared. "And look at them! They're fighting. Because of me, Kakashi." He sighed and rubbed his forehead.
"Sakura, you need to go tell both of them that it's over, and you're sorry." Squeezing her eyes shut, she put her hands on her hips and walked over to the two exchanging blows.
Putting a hand on both of their shoulders and almost getting punched herself, they stopped. He watched her hug Nao first, then she turned to Ren and he watched with fury as he got away with patting her bottom. She walked back over to him.
"Well, Nao thinks I ended it because of you." His eyes widened.
"Because of me? Sakura, what did you tell them?" She sighed.
"Oh, I…told them I was, uh...seeing someone else…" He took a step back.
"Sakura, why?"
"I didn't tell them who! Ohhhh," She sniffed. "I really need a hug right now. I'm going to go find Naruto." He frowned.
"Why?" She sniffed again.
"Then they're going to think you're that other guy, and I don't want them to think that." She pouted and went to find Naruto. When she did, she put her hands on her face and leaned into his chest. He awkwardly patted her back as the sniffing continued.
What's so bad with him being the other guy?
"I…don't want to do this anymore." She stopped short at the bridge with Nao and Katsumi on either side of her, Grass on the other side of the bridge.
"Don't be scared, Sakura. Sasuke and I are going to be right in the middle of the bridge. Naruto's going to be right behind you. We've got back-up on each side. Nothing can go wrong." She frowned.
"Yeah right." She took a deep breath and slowly started to walk.
If she believes that nothing will go wrong, then nothing will go wrong. Ahead of her, she saw Kakashi and Sasuke take their positions on the ropes in the middle of the bridge. If they were there, then she was safe. But it's not like she can't take care of herself, because she can. It's just that they give her a nice sense of security.
"I don't care about the Peace Treaty, bitch. I'll kill you and your friends. That Uchiha looks delectable, by the way." Don't talk to her Sakura. And she wasn't going to. She's the one in bonds now; she tried to keep reminding herself that. So she continued to walk.
"Sakura," Keeping her eyes forward, she leaned a bit in his direction.
"Yes?"
"Don't let yourself get seduced by Ren. He has a pretty face, but he's no good." She bit her lip. She wouldn't believe it. He's caring and she witnessed it. Yes, he may have women falling over his feet, but the fact that he chose her out of the many busty types out there must mean he's not shallow.
"Nao, I won't believe it. He's not who you think he is." Nao shook his head.
"I would hate for you to find out the hard way. But for the record, you were excellent company." Trying to avoid eye contact, she subtly nudged him.
"I'll miss you," She whispered. Then they reached the middle of the bridge, and she knew that was the last conversation they were going to have. She stopped and let Nao and Katsumi walk on.
"You look well, Leaf ninja." Supposing they were addressing her, she nodded.
"I am, Kusakage-sama." She waited for one of the ninja from Grass to come meet her halfway, give them the scroll, then they could go back home.
"But three months? I'm sure that can do damage to anyone's brain, yet you look…stable." She put her hands into the pockets of her overcoat. Why wasn't anyone coming to give her the scroll?
"I am, Kusakage-sama." He crossed his arms.
"You had many opportunities to escape," Not knowing where the conversation was going, she shifted on our feet and looked at Kakashi. He was still perched upon the rope beside her, Sasuke on her other side.
"Just give us our Treaty, Kusakage-sama." He narrowed his eyes.
"Yet you were overpowered in all of them, and some you just didn't try." She shook her head.
"Please, stop."
"Why did you give up?"
"Stop it."
"Did you want to die there?"
"Stop, Kusakage-sama. Give us our scroll." Her fingers were itching at her sides. To do something. But they needed that scroll desperately. She saw her previous warden, Hayate, step forward.
"Why, Pinkie, it's a wonder you didn't go insane. You begged us to kill you. End the pathetic thing you called your life." Her eyes narrowed and her hands fisted in her pockets.
"Shut-up." He just smiled. Anger built up inside of her.
"How's your mother doing, by the way?" Her breathing grew rapidly as she pivoted on her heel.
"Kakashi, forget the scroll." She started to walk back down the bridge as fast as she could.
"Stop, Sakura." Surprisingly, she did. Not by her own power though. "Turn around, and walk back." Whatever they did, she was doing whatever asked of her.
"What did you do?" He laughed.
"Grass has many tricks up their sleeves. Anyway, how would you like to feel it all again? All that hate and revenge?"
"Kakashi!" But he was no longer there. Or Sasuke.
"Here, try these." A flash of pain hit her as she fell to her knees. Grabbing her head, she squeezed her eyes shut as familiar images passed behind her eyes.
"Stop them!" All she heard was bitter laughter ringing behind her ears. When she opened her eyes, those images became real. Her teammates lying in bloody piles all around her. All she could see was their deaths over and over again. When she shut her eyes, they were there too. Tears leaked from her eyes and painful sobs racked her body.
"Kill us, Sakura. Get up, and kill us."
It's sad when your mind can control your body. It's even sadder when you willingly let it. Sakura would never admit to her mental problems, but she had them. Wanting to kill those ninja so bad it hurt. The Treaty was long forgotten. But she didn't care about that. She cared about vengeance, and the pain she wanted them to suffer through. Because Sakura was a creature of impulse. And she's come to terms with that. The things they were doing with her mind, making her relive those horrible three months, there was nothing she could do but react. It was because she was like this, with her mental problems added into the equation, that she was very dangerous when angered.
So like Nagato, she felt this was her second great pain. This is when she'll snap. This is when she'll kill those bastards in Grass and end her pain. She couldn't tell what reality was at the moment, though. Whether Kakashi was really getting his head sliced off, or Naruto was really letting the Kyuubi take full control of him. Or if Sasuke was letting Kabuto merge with his body and Orochimaru's. If her poor civilian mother was getting sliced to bits or her father was being stabbed in the chest. No, she couldn't tell whether it was real or not. That's why she's going to kill them.
The great part about that is, she now has the label 'Insanity' to back her up.
Sorry if Chpt 10 was a bit lackluster. I didn't have a lot of ideas on how I wanted her to go insane, So I got this as the best choice. Also, I changed the rating to M for language. I don't think I'm going to have a lot of smutty scenes later , but I'll alert you If I will.
Anyways! Review please!
-Keoo19