Strange Dreams Next To A Pervert
"Sorry I was just thinking of that mission," he said.
I flinched.
"He never did anything then," I said quietly, my face into his chest hoping he didn't hear me, hoping he did.
"Oh," Kakashi released me, his hand going behind his head, awkward.
I forced a smile on my face.
"Stop being such a worry wart," I said brightly, bopping his nose with my fingertip as I ducked under his arm, past him and walked to the bathroom, keeping an eye on the time.
Hopping into the shower, I removed every last bit of DNA of Jiraiya from my body, and removed my mask from the night before.
I was not Jenny the Instigator. I was not Jenny the Reciprocator.
I was Jenny. Just Jenny.
…o0o…
I covered my wide mouth with my hand, trying to quell the urge to yawn again.
Shaking my head, I let the wave of exhaustion take over and let out a little squeak when the yawn finally finished. I rubbed my face tiredly, wondering if I should even put make up on if my eyes were going to water each time I gave a sign of opening my mouth again.
Looking in the mirror, the sleepless nights were beginning to show something awful. Blue shadows building up beneath my eyes, bloodshot whites where even my usual bright blue eyes were dulled from not sleeping. It truly was a horror to look at.
Just staring at my pyjama clad form, the thought that I needed to get ready for going out with everyone tonight, crossed my mind but glancing at my haggard face, it seemed insurmountable at that point.
I sighed, rubbing a little of the lingering condensation from the mirror from my shower before. Behind me, I could hear the water rattling against the cheap plastic of the shower cubicle signalling Kakashi was showering.
Taking as my chance to change in peace, I left the room as I quickly grabbed the first things to my hands: normal, lazy knickers and bra with a v neck black t shirt with my lace up seams shorts. I wasn't trying to impress anyone. Hell, my foggy mind could barely think of impressing anyone else with the sheer exhaustion that was laying down on me like a big ass Alsatian on Christmas day.
When tying up the bows at my hips, I went to the utilitarian mirror, the only thing occupying that side of the room for a perusal of my form.
Checking over my shoulder quickly for Kakashi and even to my dulled hearing, I could hear the shower still raining. Reassured, I bent over to check for pantie lines.
My head craned over, and I wiggled my hips from side to side to determine if my knickers were shown anywhere and much to my irritation I saw that no matter where I looked I could see the baggy whiteness even through the black fabric.
Straightening up, I rubbed my face wearily. Maybe I should just call it a night.
"What were you doing?" a mild voice said from the door.
I jumped, a little eep coming through, my feet instinctively positioning themselves in a way to defend or flee, I couldn't decide.
Probably flee. I knew from the scars on my body, I couldn't protect myself even if I had wanted to.
Covering my mouth which was now panting from the unused adrenaline, I gave a breathless laugh when I saw Kakashi propped against the door frame, his arms folded across his bare chest, a pair of baggy shorts hanging low, oh so low, on his hips, highlighting his v lines.
I tried to distract myself from the unconscious modelling from my roommate to try and focus on what he just said.
"I was just…uh," I stuttered, colouring. "I was just, um," I scratched the back of my neck awkwardly trying to find an excuse, my eyes looking to the ceiling again.
"Trying to see a way where you wouldn't see your knickers?" Kakashi asked knowingly, moving forward into the room where he opened the drawer closest to him and pulled out a long sleeved black top, despite the hot humidity that seemed to be a constant companion in this region.
Realising what Kakashi had just said, I scowled, blushing, refusing to look at him.
"And to achieve that, I propose you go without," he said calmly, his hand still figuring out the holes in which the various appendages were supposed to go through.
I stared at him in something akin to horror. Me, knickerless? I could already feel the chafing or the-the…uncleanliness of it all. I shuddered. No, there was only a few ways I go without underwear: under pyjamas where I know I'm not going to be greeting anyone and the shower because imagine how stupid that would be for getting clean?
"But that's barbaric!" I cried, my hands crossing over my chest to try and put another barrier of defence against him.
"What? Easy access?" his eyes never wavered from his mission of getting his shirt on.
"Well…" I stuttered, not sure why that was a bad thing before I reassumed my indignation. "It's still weird, you'll get fluff in places you never knew you had!"
Kakashi wrinkled his nose in distaste under his mask.
"Fair point," he said, threading his arms through his sleeves. "But that was extremely crass, even for you."
I flushed and toed the ground trying not to remember what I had just said moments before.
He never stopped in his movements of rolling his top down over his chest and abs. While I was not complaining as the sight of all that exposed flesh, I was beginning to get distracted from my argument of knickers or no knickers. Finally Kakashi moved and turned to leave again but I heard his voice that seemed a bit more chilled compared to the light hearted tone we had just the moment before.
"There is nothing wrong with staying in tonight," he pushed the sentence out between his teeth, his hands already in gloves from the top of the dresser.
"So why aren't you trying to stay in tonight?" I called after his retreating form. "I know that you are tired, have you been sleeping alright?"
Kakashi just waved a hand at me, a lazy hand to show his sign of hearing me but couldn't be bothered to answer.
After a moment of silence with me leaning to the side to ensure that he wasn't coming back anytime soon, I bit my lip, my thumbs already hooked in the waist band of my shorts.
Could I do it? It went against everything that I believed in.
But after seeing the matter of fact and smug look on the quarter of his visible face, I confirmed it was worth the risk. Seeing as he was gone, I took the opportunity to quickly remove my knickers and pulled on my shorts again with a haste that got my toes catching at every point, making my rush all for nothing when I heard the muffled steps of Kakashi.
Finally, after much wrangling, I managed to shove the not really used knickers back in their draw before doing up the laces again at the tops of my hips before Kakashi rounded the corner and went to his book shelf where he stood there, pondering.
Flipping out my hair, I turned to the mirror again and saw the knots accumulating in the bottom of the already growing hair again. I flicked my hand around one of the knots. I would have to get Kakashi to cut it. Again.
Huffing out a sigh, I turned to go to the bathroom, happening to bump into Kakashi at the same time, he reached out a hand to steady me. I ignored the feeling of wholeness that overcame me with his touch as I retracted a step to allow him to go first.
"Are you sure you should be going out tonight?" Kakashi asked, concerned, preceding me into the hallway.
I frowned.
"Ye-yeah," I stuttered through a larger yawn causing tears to well up. "Why do you keep asking?"
Kakashi gave me a dubious look. "You are yawning all the time, you look like shit," my brow furrowed harder at that. "All I'm saying is that maybe you should stay in tonight."
"Well maybe you should stay in tonight too," I snapped a little of unknown anger swelling like a tidal wave, "you look like shit generally."
Immediately, the wave dissipated and I felt bad when the pervert said nothing. All he did was just raise his eyebrow at me, his hands on his hips. His eyes were all like you just proved my point for me.
"Sorry," I muttered, wilting. "Maybe I am more than a bit tired."
But it wasn't like I was trying to be tired all the time. It was just the… dreams. Well, more like nightmares, where I was trapped with that beeping again, my limbs tied down, so much like when that man cut into m-
I shuddered. It was best not to think about it.
Kakashi moved forward, back into the space I had just departed and relaxed a hand on my forehead, feeling my temperature.
"You don't feel sick," he said mildly, his eye focusing on the wall behind me.
"Beca-because I'm not," I protested through another jawbreaker, my hand going to cover my mouth. "I just had a couple of rough nights."
Kakashi rolled his eyes as I pathetically tried to push past him with my weak shoves, before he finally let me by with a stumble.
Shooting him a glare, I went to the bathroom and pulled out a hair brush from my side of the sink and pulled it through the tiny snarls, the only sound in the bathroom.
He walked passed me once he had gotten his fill of looking at me like a stern parent. Settling himself on the closed lid of the toilet, his book was already out on his designated page. Looking at him from the corner of my eye, I tried for indifference as I asked a question that had always been on my mind since I had met him.
"Why do you read the same series over and over again?" I asked, my bloodshot eyes never once leaving my mirror me. "Doesn't it get boring?"
I could feel his stare boring into my profile and I tried to pretend it wasn't affecting me despite the fact I was shuffling on my toes, subconsciously trying to give him less to see.
"If you had read it, you wouldn't say something so blasphemous," Kakashi said plainly, his head tucking back down to continue to read his smut.
I sighed, rubbing my eyes gingerly.
"I would have if your girlfriend hadn't destroyed it in her misplaced anger at you," I muttered under my breath thinking he hadn't heard me.
But had I been trying to see his reaction, I would have seen Kakashi start before covering it up as a shift for comfort.
Turning away from my fatigued form in the mirror to get my foundation brush, I spread the second skin to try and sweep some life and vitality in what looked to be the corpse bride's face. I made sure to get plenty under my shadowed eyes while rolling black over my lids to give the impression of mystery.
However, I cut my regime short of the usual eye curling and eye shadow. Frankly, I was too tired.
Washing my hands of any product that survived, I pulled my black v neck to re fit tightly over my body and I turned myself this way and that, to ensure I looked at least less dead at every angle.
"When is Sakura meant to be arriving?" I asked, turning to grab my perfume to layer that on where I smelled slightly stale from the night sweats, or the technically the nap sweats that I had tried to take earlier.
"Whose Neil?" Kakashi asked abruptly changing the subject, the snapping of his book closed an even bigger surprise.
Startled, I turned my stare to him, not sure on what to say, my mouth garbling for some kind of response.
"You haven't been sleeping well, you are restless in bed and you keep muttering his name the most along with your parents and a girl called Susie. So who is he?" Kakashi demanded, his shoulders were still slouched in his lazy grace, yet his eye was sharp enough that I knew I couldn't lie.
I felt my reluctance come out and I turned admire my reflection again.
"My brother. I think," I said quietly, remembering to pretend for my amnesia.
My eyes became shadowed, despite the thick layer of foundation covering them just at the thought of my lost brother.
"I've just been having these, these nightmares. Where I feel trapped in my body, I can't move, I can't seem to breathe unless someone is forcing me to just do it!" the outburst finally came out after days of no sleep where I was only going to tell him that it was nightmares.
"And then people come in all the time, some sound like doctors, other times it sounds like Neil and my mum and dad and and-" I cut off with a blub of the lump in my throat cutting my voice off.
Kakashi stood, alarmed as I basically collapsed with the force of my sobs and animalistic cries. I was never a pretty crier.
My chest hurt so much from the loss of my family, the fear that I wouldn't see them again. Just all the tension of being lost and no one to ever find me was scary enough.
Kakashi crouched with me, a hand extended awkwardly, unsure what to do.
So there we were positioned, my sitting on my heels, my hands limply lying on my thighs, clenched into harmless fists and Kakashi, trying to reach me through my emotional breakdown, but not sure how to breach the wall.
Finally, when I had cried myself out, I leant back on the cabinets under the sink, my head tilting to rest on the cheap wood too, my chest heaving.
Kakashi mimicked me but instead of his feet trailing to the side, his were both out stretched in front of him, almost kicking the bath tub.
"Sorry," Kakashi offered, almost helplessly.
I couldn't contain the hysteric laughter as my hand crept up to rub against my chest where my heart pumped in its vigour to keep me alive. It hurt too.
"You didn't even do anything," I finally croaked out, my throat dry from the wails that had screeched out, a dry chuckle still managed its way out.
Kakashi shrugged weakly. "I felt like I had to say something," he said, his right hand itching a scratch on the back of his neck.
I just shook my head, finding the energy to push myself to my feet again, and look at my face where you could see the tear tracks down my face. I scrunched my face up in distaste.
"Why didn't you tell me I looked like this sooner?" I asked, almost teasingly, also kind of serious.
Kakashi smoothly stood up and walked so he was at the door before her turned his head over his shoulder. "A little firefly told me that it was bad to make a woman feel bad about herself with her appearance," Kakashi paused before continuing. "Then again, we are talking about you so I guess I have no excuse."
He barely rounded the door frame before the hair brush hit where he was previously standing, the hair brush denting the chipped white painted frame.
I huffed, shaking my head slightly amused. What was I going to do with him?
Reapplying my make up in the most needed places, I finally made my way out of the bathroom where I saw Kakashi trying to lie comfortably on the crumbled sofa that was in two pieces, where the cushions were haphazardly re-stuffed with its foam, uncaring of comfort.
"You should probably replace that?" I said, walking through the door to the kitchen to get my glass of water so I completely missed Kakashi's agreeing, pitiful face.
"Why should I bother to replace something when it doesn't need to be replaced?" Kakashi called through the door.
I stopped filling my glass to walk to the door where all I did was poke my head out and raise my brow showing the disbelief in the one movement.
"It's perfectly usable," Kakashi defended just as he repositioned himself and gave an almost imperceptible wince and picked up a kunai from the cushion that hadn't been removed.
I rolled my eyes walking back into the kitchen to guzzle my drink in peace without the crazy talking of a mad man to ruin it for me.
There was a thumping on the door signifying our escort and with a bristling the only sign of my discomfort, I gave Sakura a smile as I opened the door for her before backing away.
"Should we go?" I said, grabbing my bag that was by the door and slid on my open toed heels.
Sakura gave me a brief nod of acknowledgment before turning her attention to the broken sofa and Kakashi.
"You need to replace that soon," she said matter of fact.
Kakashi gave her a brief wave to say that she had heard her before reabsorbing himself in the orange layered novel. "Soon," he promised.
A little crush of anger simmered under my skin before I heaved it out in a sigh through my nose.
"Are we going or what?" I asked a little snippy and I wished someone would just beat me with a rounders bat to put me out of my jealous misery.
Sakura gave me a look and shrugged. "Whenever we decide to go, maybe you should go without us, so I can get 'Kashi ready," Sakura said, her eyes now looking lewdly down at her boyfriend from the door.
Internally I snorted. Yeah, I'm sure that was what you were planning on doing when I had left rather than fuck his brains out you bloody nymphomaniac.
I wanted to do something to get that look off her face but instead I placed a mask of niceness to clasp my face in every single crevice knowing that the lack of sleep was making me more grumpy than usual.
"Oh, I would but I don't know where we are drinking tonight," I said sweetly, the mental image of me stomping on Sakura's face the only reason why my smile was still there. Horrified at myself, I tried to actual smile more but I think it came out a bit manic.
Sakura's face twisted unpleasantly in displeasure before calling to Kakashi to "hurry his ass up!"
I frowned. Where was my hatred coming from? I could just imagine my mother's face already disapproving, her hands busy with a tea towel as she was almost on the verge of hitting me with it.
"What had this poor soul deserved of your hatred? You should be ashamed of yourself, Jennifer. Go talk to your father, right now."
Then I knew that my dad would just give me a look of disappointment which was worse than if he had shouted at me. I smiled at myself wistfully but resigned myself to walking with both Kakashi and Sakura.
The steps towards the pub was awkward and tiring as I was listening to their talks about anything and everything, Sakura's giggles and Kakashi's measured murmurs. It was just like at the hospital again. I was third wheeling to a great extent and I was wishing myself an alcoholic beverage to greet me in my hand by the time I had reached the pub.
When walking through the door, there must have been a God because who else would have heard my prayer?
Naruto and Hinata, Shikamaru and Ino, then finally in the corner was Sasuke nursing his own beer were sitting in a brighter corner of the dingy pub with a spare glass which I assumed was for me. After blindingly grabbing hold of the sweating glass offered by the beaming blond, I downed it in one and smacked my lips in appreciation before sliding into a chair between Naruto and Ino. Ready to get comfortable.
Poor choice indeed.
I chose to sit between not one couple, but two couples. Sigh, why did I do this to myself?
And it wasn't even any better than Kakashi and Sakura.
Naruto was suffering from a very serious disease called young love and I could already see the symptoms.
Example symptom: called for awkward displays of public affection where they would kiss, one would blush. It was repetitive and boring. Guess who would try and put his arm around his girlfriend only for her to jump and faint? Oh yeah that would still be Naruto and Hinata. It was alarming the first few times until Ino batted my concern away saying this was a record for the least amount of times that she had fainted in the past hour. The after the fifteenth time, I was willing to tug my hair out in frustration.
This just aggravated me beyond belief. If you like someone and you know they like you back what was the point in getting all nervous?
Well, I thought that, but as soon as I did, my eyes unknowingly were drawn to Sakura and Kakashi who opted to stay by the bar and drink their drinks for the time being. It wasn't like that I thought that Kakashi liked me back and it wasn't like that I liked liked him that way, yet I still got nervous in his presence anyway. But it was more of a…lust kind of thing.
Hopefully.
Then, there was Shikamaru and Ino, where they never learned to stop this phase. It's a very serious condition they had. But thankfully, they had outgrown the awkwardness.
Unluckily for me however as I sat there being the fifth wheel or seventh wheel, as it may be interpreted, with no one to talk to and I wasn't exactly in the right frame of mind to even consider going home with someone else that night.
Huffing out a pump of air from my mouth, my fringe that was framing my face flipped up in a pathetic wag of their tails.
Finally losing my patience, my fingers were itching to be brought to my mouth for something other than to yawn. Leaning around Ino who was cooing sexy nothings in an almost oblivious Shikamaru, who wasn't as nonchalant as he thought as my eyes in coming up to meet his, I saw the way his hand was sitting, not so innocently on Ino's thigh.
"Do you have a fag I could borrow?" I whispered to him.
Ino just glared at me like I was the biggest cock block in this entire fucked up country ('scuse my language) and I just returned it right back yet with less vigour as the tired irritation could also be seen as jealousy for the fact that I had no one to hold like that.
Shikamaru on the other hand, just gave me a sigh but accepted that I was just going to go asking everyone around until finally reverting back to him as I knew that he was a strong smoker of four years who never went without at least one cigarette from his house.
Accepting his bag and rolling paper, I quickly rolled one surreptitiously under the table until I excused myself from the other company present, trying to avoid making eye contact with the couples around. It was one of the ways this disease caught. It was soon to be an epidemic.
Sliding out into the beer garden, my hand already brought out my smut filled book for times such as these.
Yet it was just as I was revelling in the almost sunset and as I stuck the cigarette in my mouth that I realised I didn't have a light to let me get some of the smoke recovery. I sighed, aggravated, snapping my book angrily closed again.
Maybe it was a sign from God that I didn't need to begin a bad habit again as I rocked my head against the wall behind me disappointed. There wasn't even anyone out there to offer me a light.
I got the strangest urge to stomp my foot in frustration, as I thought of what to do.
I considered going back inside to where everyone was refusing to get drunk because they had "missions" or "hospital" or "a clan meeting" the next day so couldn't afford to be hung over. Then I thought of those who could get drunk but didn't want to annoy their other half with getting so blind drunk. Ludicrous.
I rubbed my face irritably, I really needed to get some sleep. I was getting extremely grumpy and curse-y over little things. But that was when my saviour occurred. As my cancer stick still hanging out of my mouth morosely, I saw feet walking towards me and the tell-tale click of a lighter.
"You need a light?" the toneless voice asked and I barely nodded before they brought the flame to my cigarette and I was inhaling the toxic fumes.
I breathed the smoke out through my nose.
I leant my head back against the stone wall, my eyes shut, allowing the sunlight to warm the column of my throat.
"Why is it the bad stuff always feels so good?" I moaned to myself a little smile brightening on my face, bringing up my stick to draw in again.
"I don't know but I hate it," the other voice settled beside me and heard the telling sign of them also smoking through the exaggerated huff of breath out.
I snorted but instead of answering, I opted for another drag. Opening my eyes to inspect my neighbour and instead of some random stranger, there, stood next to me, was Uchiha Sasuke.
My eyes popped wide open, my tired grumpiness forgotten as I just took in his blue and black clad form.
Sasuke was taking another inhalation of the smoke when he caught me staring at him and he returned the gaze, no glares, no bitterness. Nothing.
It made me suspicious.
"What?" he finally asked, turning to lean forward to grab his pint that was sitting on the table in front of us.
Taking advantage of his distraction, I went to sit on the bench in front of him to hide the fact that, in my shock, my legs couldn't hold me.
This was the jackass that Sakura had been cheating on Kakashi with?
But while Sasuke gave an awful, awful, first impression, this vulnerable version, the one that didn't glare at you, was actually someone who I could think of sleeping with. The black floppy hair that I could just grab, dark eyes that seem almost fiery in their need to conquer-
I coughed a little as the smoke caught in the back of my throat and I realised that I still hadn't answered his question.
"Just," I faltered, taking another smoke before saying, "never took you for a smoker."
Sasuke smirked, deliberately taking a particularly long drag, as if to prove me wrong.
"It is a bad habit, but when you are bored out of your mind you can be a little more lenient," he said, while toneless, there was some dry humour in it that made me chuckle.
"So, so true," I muttered, eyeing his drink enviously. "It just doesn't help that everyone in there was a couple," I groaned, lowering my face into my arms.
There was a shifting of clothes that indicated that Sasuke had decided to join me sitting at the table.
He agreed by taking another puff. There was no need to answer such a blatant statement.
"And I was hopefully going to get drunk tonight as well," I mumbled into my arms, just so I can get a decent night's sleep without the nightmares, I continued to myself darkly in my mind, my cigarette almost entirely forgotten in between my fingers.
"Same," Sasuke's voice came out as a wistful sigh and I curiously peeked through my arms where I propped my face up with a fist.
"What reasons require you to get drunk?"
Instead of answering, he gave me a look that said why would I tell you?
But then said:
"I don't do back stories," his voice was cold and unapproachable.
Instead, I rolled my eyes. These dark and silent types sure got annoying after a while. But I held my cigarette in place as I took another lungful of the breathable cancer.
"Whatever, I was just making conversation," I gave the dark haired man a speculative glance out of the corner of my eye. "But maybe since everyone is so preoccupied, do you want to go hit up another place?"
While seemingly random and my earlier dislike for him had dissipated under days of lack of sleep, where they were taking their toll. Reason has no place in a tired brain.
Sasuke just examined me, taking a gulp of his pint.
"Where did you have in mind?" he asked, crushing his cigarette out in the ash tray.
I beamed as I also put my finished cigarette in the bowl.
"Where ever the booze is cheap," I said, bending to pick my bag from the floor.
Sasuke shrugged, not planning on arguing with me, but as I turned, I ran into a familiar chest, where his touch invigorated my recently worn out system. I gasped as I stumbled back into Sasuke, who steadied me with his hands on my shoulders, gently pushing me forward back towards the person who hadn't moved.
Apology on my lips, I looked up into Kakashi's face.
"Hey!" I grinned, sliding the strap of my bag over my shoulder. "I was just coming to look for you to tell you that I'm leaving."
"With him?" while the question was phrased nonchalantly, there was a certain bite to his tone when he said 'him'.
My brow furrowed at the tone. Yeah, Sasuke wasn't his favourite person, but that didn't mean that Kakashi could just judge me for going out with him. After all, if I wanted to throw stones, I had plenty of ammunition.
Not that I was petty. Not at all.
"Yeah," I said, I tried to smooth my frown but both men weren't making it easy with their harsh glares and almost death emanating auras from both of them.
"Maybe that's not a good idea tonight Jenny," Kakashi said, trying to talk louder than Sasuke behind me who had decided to join in with the conversation.
"What's wrong Kakashi? Dipping the fingers in two pies?" Sasuke's cutting remark, dissolving any form of polite exchange.
I winced, both at the uncouth way that Sasuke phrased it, the way Kakashi's face never changed, as if he didn't care about what he said. As if it was like yeah, we could be cheating on Sakura, we might not.
I wanted to smack my face at the situation but then Sasuke had to go and make it worse.
"You aren't her minder Kakashi, just butt, out," Sasuke enunciated each word perfectly, meaning that I couldn't save the situation by saying that Kakashi, despite his hearing being the most supreme that I had met, heard Sasuke wrong.
This time I really did hit my forehead with a hand. This was getting into more trouble than it was worth. I didn't really need to get drunk now did I?
I could probably just go home with a hot mug of milk and cinnamon and I would lie down in Kakashi's surprisingly comfy mattress and fall asleep.
I let the men continue to fight over my head, increasing a pounding I had beginning in my forehead. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more tempting the thought of going to bed sounded.
When it appeared the men had reached their crescendo as loud as the mild mannered Kakashi could get, I decided to intervene.
"You know what, Sasuke? I'm just really tired now, I might do some other time, if you wanted?" I offered him a smile when he nodded yet not without his face suddenly closing off, aloof.
As I turned back to face my roommate I felt an almost smug aura radiating out of his very pores while he remained expressionless his hand went to guide me back into the pub on my lower back.
An irate emotion overcame me and I smacked away his outstretched hand. I don't know what happened, but one moment I was siding with Kakashi the next I was completely against him.
When I really thought about it, I realised, that while Kakashi may be happy with me being alone amongst the couples, I didn't like it, especially if I had to sit there while all the others around me were so happy. It wasn't exactly fair.
Although, that could just be me being mean again. Man, I hated being exhausted.
"Don't look so smug pervert," I snarled, my hand still outstretched in its frenzy to keep some distance between me and him.
Kakashi just looked down on me, his eye blank yet from the stern holding of his shoulders, I could tell he wasn't pleased.
Seeing this, I tried to measure my tone, soften it.
"I'm sorry, I'm just feeling a little tired, I think I'm just going to go back to the flat," I said while walking past him, trying not to make any contact.
"Jenny," Kakashi said behind me and I don't know why it made me stop.
It wasn't loud or surprising, it wasn't a plea or an order, but I stopped anyway. It was my name from his lips. I had to stop much alike the Earth had to orbit the Sun. Maybe he really did want me to stay?
"We've only just arrived, maybe a couple more minutes," Kakashi said casually, like he couldn't care less about my answer, a comment on the weather, a filler in the silence.
A slump settled on my shoulders, a slight depression hitting me. He was asking out of obligation, nothing more. Nothing less. How stupid am I?
I waved him away weakly. "Right now, I think I should just go to sleep," I gave him a wan smile as if that would show him physically how tired I was.
Kakashi's visible eyebrow lowered.
"I'll walk you-" he began to say but I cut him off bluntly.
"No, that's fine," I said, "I don't want to cause any inconvenience, I can walk home. Alone," I added meaningfully at the end to try and make it obvious that he shouldn't spend any more time with me. That he didn't need to waste anymore false concern for me.
I rubbed my forehead, continuing to walk through the door straight back into the darkened pub to say my goodbyes but finally his gloved hand grabbed my forearm, awakening the cells of the skin that he touched, rushing away any thought of being tired.
I was awake.
"Just because he said that comment earlier, doesn't change anything that we've done before," He said lowly to not alert the black haired ninja behind us. "Don't let him make you think you're wrong."
Startled, I gave him a more real smile this time but at the same time uncurling his fingers from their grip on my arm and place it back at his side. My body dulled so I couldn't smell the harsh cigarettes on my breath, that I couldn't smell the sweet spearmint and tea tree on the person in front of me.
I was already yearning for his touch again.
Mentally, I smacked myself silly for such a love sick thought. I knew I was going to catch these couples' disease. It was only a matter of time. But it was okay, I reassured myself, it was only lust right? I nodded indistinctly. Right.
"It's not because of that," I said, despite that it really was the reason why I wanted to go back. "You were the one to tell me that I needed to get some sleep."
"You can sleep later," he said firmer, now realising that I was avoiding something, but unknown to what.
"I-" I hesitated. How far was I going to go just to get out of the situation?
Looking up at his determined face, I knew that he was going to resort to any means possible to get me to stay unless it sounded reasonable.
"It's just, I'm still a little angry with Sakura for not replacing my stuff, so I really don't think I can be around her right now," I lied in a whisper, looking to the side, as if in shame but my little tell was my knuckle going to rub my nose earnestly.
I wasn't really angry enough with the pink haired kunoichi, but I was a bit miffed that she still hadn't replaced my stuff and I thought that there could be enough there to get away with that answer.
Kakashi looked at me shrewdly but his shoulders loosened as unknown tension had left him.
"At least let me walk you-" Kakashi said helplessly while his tone sounded uncaring, I thought maybe, I had actually hurt his feelings or maybe tugged the rug out from under his feet.
I shook my head, before he had finished speaking.
"I-I want the time alone," I said, my hands reaching for long sleeves that weren't by my wrists for me to tug them down.
I winced. Why didn't I think of some other phrase? Stupid, stupid, stupid! I was the one who told him not to leave me alone again so of course he was going to realise something is up.
Kakashi's eyes sharpened as he realised this fact too.
Pulling my hair to curl around my finger I avoided his eyes as I rapidly walked back through the pub and out of the door to walk home in the humid heat where the pressure of the last few minutes had beaded in sweat at the nape of my neck.
I sighed in relief as I walked slowly, scuffing my shoes every now and then.
I glanced around me just looking at the buildings and hearing the trees on the other side of the village rustle, calling to me to go for a run. My feet began to patter on the pavement delicately with my heels before I remembered that I was bone tired.
Slowing down again in disappointment, I vowed I would go the next day.
It was quickly done the walk home as I finally reached the steps leading up to the flat.
I looked up at the craggy steps and I couldn't help but heave a sigh. I wish I didn't have to deal with this as I crawled up the steps on my hands and knees. It was undignified but I was so tired. Until I finally reached the top, I collapsed down with my breasts heaving. The exhaustion had finally hit me and it hit me hard.
I forced myself to get to my arms under me which shook from the strain but in the end I fell back down again.
I knew I had to get up. I knew it.
But then I was thinking of how comfy and how tired I was and could use the sleep.
So I felt my limbs go limp as I finally slipped under the suffocating wave of REM.
…o0o…
Kakashi sighed, his hands on his hips as he stood over Jenny's prone body. He knew something was wrong when Jenny wanted to leave early, and said she wanted to be alone. He frowned. He would ask why later.
He sighed, running his hand down his face in resignation. But for now, he had to take the girl back into the flat.
Pushing a hand under her resistant knee caps and shoulders, Kakashi pulled her up to be cradled against his chest. When he felt her mumble out a complaint, he hushed her.
"Come on firefly, there is a bed with your name on it," Kakashi murmured to the basically comatose girl.
Balancing her weight on one knee while he rummaged in his pocket for a key, Jenny started to squirm, little whimpers coming out, her face pinching in distress like the majority of the nightmares of that entire week.
Kakashi tried to withhold his concern as Jenny started to whimper louder. It had been like that for the past few days and even began to affect him when one time she actually screamed her brother's name, Neil, but it didn't sound happy. It sounded despaired, lonely.
Kakashi withheld the need to sigh again as he quickly went through to his bedroom, well their bedroom now and lay Jenny out on the bed, her blue hair fanning out in her twin ponytails, shimming in the dusk light, one from the glow of her skin increasing once under his touch, the other from the decreasing natural light.
Kakashi had to rush because he had said to Sakura that he was in the toilet when actually he was making sure that Jenny got home okay. He just didn't take into account how far the actual distance was when Jenny was dead tired and stumbling drunkenly like she had drunk more than the half pint of watered down beer.
Slipping off her flats, Kakashi then rearranged Jenny's floppy limbs into the comfortable ball she seemed to roll into when she slept and pulled the covers over her shoulders and tucked her in.
Kakashi looked down at his handy work, considering her body in its almost comfortable clothes.
What was she doing with the Uchiha? Why was she smoking with him?
Or better yet, when did she start smoking?
Kakashi shook his head; he needed to get her to quit, extremely bad for the health. How troublesome.
He also knew what Sasuke was up to. Now that Kakashi had Sakura, he wanted to take Jenny away from Kakashi too.
The grey haired man's brow furrowed as he thought that over again. Take Jenny away from him? She didn't belong to him. She had no obligation to go where ever he asked her to.
But the world seemed to narrow when he saw Jenny laughing, her hand supporting her face as she looked alive for once. Something she hadn't for that entire week. Not even around Kakashi.
That was an ugly thought, but then Kakashi got distracted by a blue strand of her hair that had caught on Jenny's pouty lip, barely moving with her soft breaths.
Did that mean that Jenny was prowling for new meat and it just so happened to be Sasuke? Or did she really like him now that he had done something different to change her opinion?
That strand of hair was still there.
Telling himself that the only reason he was combing it away from her face was because it was annoying him. As he did so, he stroked the soft mango smelling hair away from her face to expose the fluttering light that was emanating from her skin and like a moth to a flame, he was caught leaning in.
Just for reassurance sake, he placed his face extra close so he felt each breath being drawn in and exhaled. He smelled the trace of bitter smoke yet it didn't detract from her appeal right then.
His mouth was ever so close to hers and if he just leant in-
Jerking back, Kakashi shook his head to try and rid himself of those thoughts. He had Sakura now. He wouldn't mess that up. In theory.
Looking back down at the Kingfisher feather hair below him, Kakashi felt himself being drawn in again and satisfied his curiosity by pressing his lips to her forehead.
Little did he know that there was a dark body outside the window that had direct line of sight to the bed and to Jenny.
…o0o…
This is probably going to be the last update until the 23rd of January because of my mocks. However, we never know when procrastination might hit and result in an unsuspecting chapter.
Hope you all had a good Christmas and a happy new year!
