Chapter 21

Ran reclined in her beach chair, enjoying the evening breeze and took another sip from her sake. Beside her Kakashi was reading one of his dirty books, clad only in swimming trunks and that ridiculous face mask. His naked feet loosely stretched out in front of him and buried in the slowly cooling sand while they watched the sun sink into the ocean.

Kami-sama, moments like this she really understood the appeal of being a missing nin.

As long as they weren't being hunted they could go wherever they wanted.

She let out a sigh and let her head roll back, life was good. They had just returned from a short mission not far from their island. They had taken care of some renegade pirates that had been hijacking ships of the local fisher men and merchants. The money was used to stock up on more supplies and increase Ran's medical kit before they returned to their island. Sasuke had immediately walked off to do some more training but the two adults just relaxed at the beach after a quick and leisurely swim.

"Kakashi…"

"Hhm?"

"Why did you become a missing nin?"

There was a long pause before he answered and Ran already thought she had fucked up when he said, "I actually don't know."

And there was such a frank honesty in his words that Ran was actually thinking about believing him.

"How do you mean that?"

"I… well I woke up one day with a killer headache, none of my usual things and a scratched out headband… I have the vague sense that something concerning an ANBU mission went belly up and it was finally too much… to be honest I still am not sure if what I am is even approaching sane but well… I'm doing okay and missing nin life isn't so bad."

And then he grinned at her, "And fucking with shinobi, especially from Konoha is actually really therapeutic."

Ran stared at the slightly older shinobi beside her.

Really?

Fucking hell, the worst part is that she was actually beginning to believe him.

What T&I would think about this?

Hell she really did want to be a fly on the wall when Inoichi-taicho and Ibiki-taicho get the report. That had some serious entertainment potential.

Fuck.

Hatake Kakashi was already rubbing off on her wasn't he?