Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, I probably never will…though you shouldn't say never. Anyway! I do own Junko.
A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews! I am feeling pretty drained though, very indecisive…the images I am getting are confusing ones. Long story short, if you didn't know already, I see my stories in images, and I turn the images into words, which get turned into the fic. Confusing, I know lol. Anyway, here is another chapter, the relationship…well, relationships should be heating up soon, which is good, but I don't like it when relationships are too rushed lol. Enjoy, and please review! Also, going to be a couple of flashbacks in this one, hope they are ok.
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Chapter 11: Did I Even Bother With A Title for Chapter 10? Adiji can't remember.
It had seemed like such a simple plan when she was at home, getting ready. However, now it was time to execute the plan, she was not feeling so confident. The butterflies multiplied every second, and all she wanted to do was run.
Will you forgive me for what I did to you? Please just understand that I was trying to protect you. Will you understand that, will you be annoyed? I want you to be safe, that is my reasoning, will you let me explain? I don't see why you should though, I am not worthy enough to explain. All I ask of you is that you are honest when you speak with me, and don't just say the words you think I want to hear.
She snapped out of her trance to find Naruto begging Kakashi for more ramen, who reluctantly agreed to buy the hyper ninja another bowl, and Hinata laughing at the scene playing out in front of them. She would not appear to be blushing to the two males, but Kurenai was standing close enough to her to notice.
She still likes you, Naruto. I pray you do not make the mistakes I did with Kakashi…though you are not the type of person that I am. I should accept the fact that I have killed all hopes of a relationship.
"Kurenai-sensei, come sit with us!" Naruto called out, snapping the woman out of her thoughts. Well, there was no turning back now. An idea sprung to her, maybe this would not be so bad after all. She could sit between Kakashi and Naruto, and she could say that she was saving him from having to buy more ramen!
Kurenai, you are a genius!
Trying to keep the butterflies at bay, she made her way over to the empty stool and sat down. Was she in the mood for ramen? Kurenai was not sure. It was not a special night, by any means, her and Hinata dressed like they always did. She felt better, the fresh air was doing her good, and it gave her a chance to forget the events which had mentally shattered her.
"You're looking well tonight." Came a voice and she turned to see Kakashi looking at her. He did not sound annoyed, but you never could tell, as the Copy Nin was good at masking his emotions. The butterflies were slowly creeping their way back, and she didn't like it.
"T-thank you." She said, and looked away. She felt like a child when they first met someone knew, shy and vulnerable. She was not ready for this, she was not confident enough, she felt like she just couldn't do it. Kurenai looked over at Hinata, who now had her own bowl of ramen, and watched as the young Hyuuga gave her an encouraging look.
With a sigh, she turned to look back at Kakashi. Now was the time to prove that she had strength. Kurenai had felt so weak for a long time, and now she would be able to prove to herself that she was slowly becoming the woman she once was again.
"Shall we…take a walk later? I have many things I need to say…" she said sheepishly, trying to avoid eye contact. Her eyes widened in shock when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Sure thing, though let's go now…or else I'll be broke by the end of the evening." Kakashi said with a small laugh. The nin stood up and placed enough money on the counter to pay for Naruto's tab, and then turned to the blonde.
"There is enough money there for the ramen, Naruto. I'll see you later, have fun you two!" He said, gave a small wave, and began to walk away. Kurenai smiled before turning to Hinata.
"Thank you, Hinata. Enjoy your evening." She said with a cheeky wink, and followed in Kakashi's footsteps.
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Hinata was left to watch her sensei walk away with a fierce blush on her face. As she watched Naruto finish off another bowl of ramen, she thought back to the conversation that her and Kurenai had earlier that day.
FLASHBACK
They would be taking the long way to Ichiraku's, she knew that as soon as she knocked on the door. Kurenai would need to get her confidence up before they departed, this situation was not to be rushed. Snapping out of her thoughts, she found herself walking through the training grounds with Kurenai. Soon enough, her former sensei had broken the silence.
"You still love Naruto, don't you, Hinata?"
That had caught the Hyuuga heiress by surprise. Was she still that obvious? Hinata had grown a lot, and she had moved up from fainting whenever the blonde spoke to her, to being able to speak to him with nothing more than a slight blush on her face. Well, the cat was out of the bag, she may as well talk to Kurenai about it, as it would break the silence.
"I do, but I am not so sure if he likes me the same way. I have finally found the confidence to speak with him without fainting…I do not have the confidence to tell him how I feel. To be honest, Kurenai-sensei, I don't think I ever will." She said softly and continued to walk through the grounds. It hurt her that she could not confess her love for the Kyuubi container, but she did not want to mess up the friendship. Kurenai sighed and looked over at Hinata.
"I am sure you will be fine, I bet Naruto likes you back! I think he has pretty much given up on Sakura now, and to be honest, they look better as friends, and she seems to have gotten over Sasuke. Anyway, we are going off track, talk to him tonight. I bet you he will be eating ramen tonight, so let's go to Ichiraku's!" the woman suggested, and surprisingly enough, Hinata liked the idea.
"You know, maybe Kakashi-sensei will be there. You can talk to him then!" Hinata said, but her suggestion was not met with a smile.
"I don't know…he probably won't want to see me now. I attacked him, I screamed at him, if he loved me before, he sure as hell doesn't now." She said, the tears threatening to spill. Kurenai stopped them though, she was getting through too much makeup because of her tears. The Hyuuga sighed and lay a hand on her friend's arm.
"You don't know that, talk to him. You tell me to talk to Naruto and swallow my fear of not having enough confidence, now I am telling you to swallow your fear and talk to Kakashi. I am sure he will listen, at least if he truly loves you then he will." She said softly, and the genjutsu expert had to concede that the Hyuuga had a point. All she did was nod, and Hinata knew the message had got through. They continued to the ramen stand in a comfortable silence.
END FLASHBACK
That had been some time, and the confidence had made itself known for a while…but now it was all gone. With a gulp, she ordered two more bowls, one for herself and one for Naruto. She wanted to tell him how she felt, but the words would not come. She waited for the ramen in silence, thinking of one sentence after another, but none of them leaving her mouth. Naruto, even though he could be an idiot, could tell that something was up.
"Are you ok, Hinata?" he asked, not completely distracted from the new bowl of ramen he was diving into rapidly. The girl sighed and placed her chopsticks in the bowl, she would not be able to enjoy her meal until she had got a few things off of her chest.
"I just have some conflicting romantic feelings right now." She said, wanting to keep Naruto in the dark for now. She had only just gathered the nerve to say that, she had nowhere near enough confidence to say who she was in love with. It was cutting the Hyuuga up inside, but there was nothing she could do about that.
Maybe I could stick a picture of Naruto to my mirror, and practice that way. Who knows, it might work…
It did not take her long to realise that Naruto had placed his own chopsticks down, and listened as the blonde let out sigh.
"You're not the only one, believe me…I am having trouble too…I suppose, and between you and me, so is Kakashi-sensei. He's having a bit of a…dilemma, shall we say." Naruto said, slowly reminiscing on the events he had witnessed in the ramen stand earlier.
FLASHBACK
Naruto was onto his fourth bowl of ramen, but no matter how distracted he was, the Kyuubi container could not help noticing that something was not quite right. Kakashi not only had any ramen, and the Copy Nin usually ate with Naruto if he ended up paying for the boy's dinner anyway, but the nin was not even reading. Now even Naruto could see that something was wrong with his sensei.
"Kakashi-sensei, is something wrong? Usually you are reading your perverted book by now. Want to talk about it? After all, I'm going to be Hokage one day, I need to get used to solving problems!" Naruto said loudly. Back when he was a genin, he would not have dreamed of asking Kakashi something like that, but they knew each other well now, so the blonde felt ok asking those kinds of questions. The Copy Nin let out a sigh and turned his eye to his student.
"It doesn't matter, just concentrate on your ramen." The jounin said, but Naruto was not going to give up. Something was not right with Kakashi, and he wanted to know what.
"Please tell me, Kakashi-sensei! Friends help each other, after all, they are scum if they don't…right?" Naruto said, and Kakashi knew he was not getting out of this one. The blonde was using his own words against him, which did not help matters.
"Fine…you PROMISE you will keep this quiet?" Kakashi said, using the sternest tone he had ever used with Naruto. The blonde seemed to get it, and nodded. Kakashi took this as a suitable signal to start the story.
"Well, something bad happened to this woman…so I helped her, and well, she's fragile right now, and…she flipped out, and things have become complicated. Thank you for the offer of help Naruto, but it is something that I need to figure out alone."Kakashi said softly, and Naruto got back to eating his ramen.
The silence was a comfortable one, but a short one. It took only a few minutes for Naruto to put his chopsticks down again and turn back to Kakashi.
"Do you…well…LIKE this woman?" Naruto asked, a cheeky grin on his face. However, it was not enough to get answers out of Kakashi, who merely turned to Naruto, a smirk hidden under his mask.
"Isn't it funny that you ask me if I 'LIKE' a woman, as you so subtly put it, when you yourself are having problems with women yourself, Naruto?" Kakashi said, and watched as Naruto began to turn the shade of a strawberry. It was no secret that Naruto felt the same way about Hinata as the Hyuuga did about the blonde. Naruto may have been able to hide the facts from the general public, but those close to the hyper ninja could see he was obviously in love with her.
"H-how do you…I-I don't know what you mean!" Naruto said, trying to fight the blush and failing miserably, and a laugh escaped the jounin next to him.
"She seems to be growing in confidence, no longer the scared and shy girl she used to be when she was a genin. Talk to her, I am sure she feels the same way about you, especially seeing as she used to go the colour of a tomato and faint whenever you spoke to her." Kakashi told the boy next to him, who now had the smirk back on his face.
"You should take your own advice, Kakashi-sensei." Was all Naruto said as he continued to eat his ramen.
The comfortable silence fell once again.
END FLASHBACK
"Naruto…are you ok?"
The blonde snapped out of his thoughts and turned to see Hinata looking at him, a worried expression on her face. Naruto did not realise he had spaced out, but he covered the fact up with one of his cheeky grins.
"I'm ok…though I think something is up with Kakashi-sensei…he's distracted by a girl…says I have romance problems, HA!" Naruto said with a laugh as he continued with his ramen. Hinata immediately knew who the woman was, but she said nothing as she continued to eat her ramen.
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Kurenai and Kakashi were making their way to the lake, but the walk had been wrapped in silence, neither one of them sure what to say. It was not a comfortable silence either, it was full of tension. Kurenai could take it no longer, and went to lean against a large tree. She was pleased to see that Kakashi followed, and she made her way up to sit on a thick branch.
"Let's talk up here, less risk of people listening. I am sick of all the gossip about Asuma as well." She sighed sadly, and watched as Kakashi walked up to join her.
More silence followed, but it was not Kurenai who broke it this time, it was the Copy Nin.
"Kurenai…did you really mean those words you said?" was all the jounin said, and looked out at the lake, distracting himself by looking at the moon's reflection in the water. The silence fell again while Kurenai thought about her answer, but after what seemed like ages, she had finally thought of a reply.
"No…I didn't…I'm sorry Kakashi, I just don't want you to get hurt." She said, looking up at the man, eyes shimmering with unshed tears. The silver haired nin wanted to hold her there and then, but that would be too sudden, he did not want her to react badly.
"Kurenai, I would not get involved if I did not want to. What do you take me for, huh? I want to protect you Kurenai, I couldn't care less if I get hurt, as long as you are safe. If anything hurt me, it was what you said earlier." Kakashi said, and wiped away a lone tear that had fallen from one of Kurenai's crimson eyes. He knew that more would come, but he was not bothered by that, there was a lot of emotion inside the woman that was just waiting to come out.
"All those hurtful things I said…you shouldn't forgive me…just—"
"Kurenai! Stop pushing me away ok? You cannot go through this alone, I am not going to leave you in this state. I love you, Kurenai, don't turn me away again." He said, and watched as the crimson pools widened. Before he had time to say anything else, Kakashi felt Kurenai wrap her arms around his neck and draw him into a hug. That was not what he had been expecting.
Well, at least she didn't react badly… Kakashi thought as he wrapped his arms around the hurting woman.
"Come on, Kurenai…let's take you home." He said, smiling at her through the mask. Kurenai nodded and wiped away a few stray tears, before jumping down from the tree.
Things finally started to be looking up.
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It did not take the pair long to reach Kurenai's home, they ran most of the way. It had clouded over and the heavens were threatening to open, so they both agreed it would be best to move quickly. Once they arrived, Kurenai opened the door and leant on the frame.
"Thanks Kakashi, for everything…see you tomorrow." She asked, and Kakashi smiled again. A comfortable silence fell between the two, before Kurenai held her arms out towards the man.
"One last hug to get me through the night?" she asked, a soft, yet sad smile on her face. Kakashi nodded and walked over to her, wrapping his arms around the woman.
"I love you, Kakashi." She said, and then pulled away. A silence passed between them again, almost as if they were hormonal teenagers again. Neither one was sure what to do, but Kurenai made the first move. There was not a lot of light around, so she thought she would experiment. Slowly, she raised her hand up and slipped two fingers under Kakashi's mask.
Will he stop me?
She held her fingers there for a few seconds, before starting to pull it down.
Maybe it's because there is not a lot of light around? Either that…or he really does love me.
Kakashi was more than content to let her lead, he was going to make no move to stop her. The Copy Nin had nothing to hide, this was the woman he loved, and he was not going to stop her from seeing what was hidden under the mask.
Before long, the mask had been pulled down and it was scrunched around his neck. Before the silver haired nin could react, Kurenai's hand was at the back of his neck. They held onto each other once again, and a few seconds later their lips had locked into a sweet but gentle kiss.
After what seemed like forever, they let each other go, and Kurenai had a genuinely happy smile on her face.
"I love you too, Kurenai." Kakashi said, and pulled his mask back up. Kurenai's smile grew, but she knew she had to get to bed, she had training in the morning.
"See you tomorrow, Kakashi."
"See you tomorrow, Kurenai." Kakashi said, and all the female jounin could see outside her door was a puff of smoke.
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The new couple had no idea that Naruto and Hinata had been hiding and spying on the couple. They had known something was up, and as soon as they had finished their ramen, made their way to Kurenai's house. They had chosen the right location, and got there just in time. The Hyuuga and the Kyuubi container looked at each other with smiles on their faces, pleased that things were heading in the right direction.
Little did they know that they were both thinking the same as the other.
It's our turn next…
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A/N: Wow, that was a longer chapter. Anyway, a word of warning, college is starting in a week, so the updates may not be as frequent. However, in an attempt to make up for that, I am going to try and make the chapters longer. Anyway, thanks for reading and please review!