Ooh, I was amazed at the response chapter 28 elicited – I'm please you all enjoyed it so much and took the time to review! ^-^
Lol, I was watching the Shippuden episode 55. "Wind" where Kakashi trains Naruto to develop his rasengan and it occurred to me, when he was explaining the kage bunshin bit, just how often Kakashi seemed to have to put up with people betting around him – lol somehow I get the feeling Kakashi isn't too impressed with Naruto sounding a lot like Gai in terms of enthusiasm, challenge and bets in that episode! XD
Hope you don't think this chapter is too ridiculous - I don't think its too off-the-wall, but, as usual for my stories, pinches of salt are considered as standard! XD
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Go No Further
Part 29: Imaginary Feelings
Kakashi resisted the urge to shift from one foot to the other as he stood with his fellow Leafs listening to the instructions for the tournament beginning tomorrow; Kakashi couldn't help but allow part of his mind to drift back to his rather awkward meeting with Sakura the evening before. He really had hoped to find a bit of time alone and the cool evening air was also welcomed, but as he found her there, her presence didn't bother him too much – her generally quiet and relaxing manner rarely failed to agree with him.
He was comfortable chatting lightly with her and stood next to her – the immediate lack of ceremony to stand on brought greater relief than he might have anticipated.
He hadn't the slightest clue what exactly happened then, he just found himself staring at her as she seemed to draw his entire attention, he'd felt as though he was searching for something in her expression, but he couldn't figure out what. In fact, it was only until she dragged her eyes away from his, that he noticed just how close he was and how that made him feel uneasy rather than irritated, as it would with anyone else.
For a moment he'd fooled himself into thinking that he was the only one who'd noticed it but the speed at which she'd left (and her last, cursory glance which easily gave away her own unease) had told him otherwise. Although he couldn't quite figure any of it out, he was thankful that, the circumstances being what they were, he wouldn't have to explain himself – and that would no doubt ease the tension considerably…assuming nothing else happened.
Even now he was highly aware of the fact she was stood just behind him and to his left, not that that was unusually in itself (his entire life revolved around knowing precisely who was in his vicinity, and where) but he was rather unusually aware of her. Mentally letting out a sharp breath he forcibly turned his attention back to the Suna ANBU who began to explain about the tournament itself,
"The first round tomorrow will be genjutsu. The round will be on a sudden-death basis, no lethal strikes will be allowed, nor will serious or irreparable injury; the nin who are able to escape the genjutsu and return with one of their own to incapacitate their enemy, within the time limit, will progress to the next rounds. Please be aware that there will be civilian spectators present and any jutsu cast must not leave the perimeter of the arena floor.
"There will be one round only for the first two challenges, they being genjutsu and taijutsu respectively – for the final round of ninjutsu, there will be subsequent rounds until a single winner is decided." The nin paused for a moment to allow all of the information to be taken in; Kakashi looked over the crowd, there were approximately forty or so competitors, bit less perhaps.
Even from just his cursory glance, Kakashi could see the arrogance written over the faces of the younger and non-village associated nin, how unexpected, he thought sarcastically, allowing himself a tiny spark of self-assuredness of his own, oft proven, skills.
"The genjutsu round will begin tomorrow – everyone participating will need to arrive back here at precisely 9am where we will begin, further instructions will be given at that time." A few murmurs of acknowledgement rippled through the crowd,
"For those of you disqualified at any time, you must leave the tournament immediately…are there any questions?" The silence wasn't compete but no queries were apparently urgent enough to warrant voicing and the entire company was dismissed until tomorrow – Kakashi noted that they hadn't been given any idea what to expect, not really – this, he hoped, would prove interesting.
Sakura was stretching her arms over her head as she stood on the edge of the vast expanse of rock which stretched out from the base of the mountains until it was swallowed by the dunes; the arena was sunken slightly down so that there were stepped sides to allow for spectators. Either side was fairly smooth, flat rock which she had trouble decided if it was artificially induced or not; nonetheless, it was the flat expanse which seemed to be the basis for the arena's location and, hence, the tournament – which was due to begin except for a few remaining stragglers yet to arrive (Kakashi, of course, being among the number).
Sakura subtly looked around the group of nin participating as well as the gaggle of those spectating, one of two adding to their numbers; one, seemed to wander up looking purposeful in a way which didn't sit well with the kuniochi. He gave the outward impression of being a nobody, his clothes were demure, his posture slumped and his expression bored; it was possible, that he was a man used to ninja and didn't much approve of them.
But that couldn't be right, for a man appearing to be so bored by their presence, he was certainly observing closely – although subtly – his eyes spending a few minutes on each person before shifting onto the next; Sakura might almost have felt as though she were on display were it not for Kakashi finally deciding to turn up and inadvertently forcing the man to move on and blend back into the shadows.
One of the ANBU nin appeared in front of the group, just as Kakashi sidled up looking thoroughly relaxed, the porcelain masked one addressed the group, a few teams of other ANBU behind him;
"The genjutsu round will begin in just a few minutes, once we descend down into the arena, where you will all stand within the blue delineated circle, not too close to anyone else; once the round has started, at my signal, you will then have an hour in which to free yourself from the jutsu. There is a blue circle surrounding the inner section of the floor, to signify that you have escaped the jutsu, you must leave the circle and wait until that round is called to a halt – after the hour is up, there may be further genjutsu challenges,"
A few younger nin laughed and murmured that it would easy now they knew how to win – and whilst that was true for most defeating jutsus, genjutsu tended to be more pervasive and was not something one could simply 'dodge' as they could a ninjutsu – genjutsu must be counteracted and that was always the primary trial with illusions. Their comments spoke of gross inexperience to the kuniochi and she wondered just how long they would last.
Sakura's eyes focused on the sudden darkness, as all of the others around her faded out just as a nin with a haitai-ate she didn't recognise stood in front of her, crouched and ready to strike. She didn't bother to lower her stance, instead she raised her hands in the classic seal whilst muttering 'kai'; nothing happened – she had anticipated this but it was silly to ignore a method because it might seem to simple – overthinking, much like 'under-thinking' a situation, could be equally folly.
She had guessed, as soon as the hot desert sun appeared to be snuffed out of existence, that the skill of the genjutsu was abnormally high – and was reminiscent of the seal-based genjutsu Itachi had set in the hidden underground room in the Naka shrine – to break out of this one would take exceptional chakra control. Wherever the source was that was manipulation her chakra, it was intense enough that releasing it did nothing – or rather, the genjutsu was released, but since it wasn't 'broken off' so preventing the enemy's chakra from reaching out entirely, the release held for moments only before the manipulation started again.
Sakura slowed her breathing down to almost the point of meditation and ignored the enemy nin in front of her (who was currently tying a length of wire around the ring in the end of a kunai slowly and deliberately (a typical scare tactic)) and began to adapt her chakra flow, reversing its path through her head. Genjutsu worked on the basis of sense confusion – using a nin's own chakra against them to make them see, hear and feel (or perhaps smell and taste, if it were appropriate) things that weren't there or not recognise things that were.
Just as she tried to focus, her legs suddenly felt as though they had been turned to stone and forcibly bound to the floor, as much as she tired, she could not pick them up off the floor or move them below the knee. Sakura's eyes had since closed as she did her best to divert chakra away from her eyes, ears and brain – her concentration broke momentarily as she heard the swish of a thrown kunai and the feel of the razor sharp blade pierce her chest.
She grunted slightly in pain as the knife buried its way between her ribs and severed flesh as it went; having succumbed to such an injury in the past, it wasn't difficult for her mind to conjure up the image and painfulness of it again – which was probably why the genjutsu had her imagine such an injury.
Her arms twitched slightly, desperate to reach up to drag the blade from her and begin healing the near-fatal wound; she resisted however, and returned her attention to her chakra halting, reversing and redirecting its flow in a near constantly so that her enemy didn't stand a chance of reading and manipulating the stream.
She opened her eyes to see the nin in front of her flicker slightly, the pain in her chest disappear and the darkness wane to reveal sand at her feet and the heat of the sun on her back in her peripheral vision, she caught sight of a wide, blue line a few feet to her left: there! As her concentration faltered for the split second it took for her mind to register the significance of what she saw, everything faded to black again and the nin grinned maliciously,
"Think you can escape?" Sakura ignored him and again focussed her chakra, immediately drew as smuch of it into her torso so as to redirect it from within her head; the per se 'real world' flickered and again disappeared as soon as it had faded into view, but she knew it was a fault of the illusion. She kept trying to focus, but each time she was close to disrupting the chakra flow enough, the 'nin' kept slashing at her with a kunai, slicing into her leg, causing it to shake with the depth of the injury - although she still couldn't move it) or he would loop an arm around her neck and hold the cool tip of the blade to her eyelid, working with her fear of losing such a vital organ to intimidate her.
She remained steady, however, well used to the psychological impact of genjutsu and kept her focus unwavering and just as she could feel the sharp, nearly ragged feeling edge of the blade seemed to cut into the delicate skin on her neck, she finally disrupted enough of her chakra to interfere with the flow more fully in such a way that the darkness again faded and Sakura bent her knees and sprang up, the weight on them mysteriously dissipating.
She leapt over to where she could see the thick blue runner delineating the edge of what she assumed to be the the jutsu field and crossed it whilst she could still see it, although it was becoming a hazy image. As soon as she landed outside of the circle, she immediately raised her hands and chanted 'kai', the world immediately sorting itself to rights and all of her 'injuries' fading to mere itches from the thought of the blade.
She looked around, seeing a vast majority of the other participants still within the circle, most lightly twitching or bending (as well as more than a few grunts or curses) unable to resist the instinct to dodge from a potential threat; the sight fairly amusing to an unaffected eye. Dotted around on the outside of the circle were approximately six or so other nin, two of whom were familiar: Kakashi – which was unsurprising, his sharingan allowing him to immediately see through any jutsu presented to him – and the other Kurenai.
Most of the others were shinobi she didn't recognise, from Lightening, Earth and Mist and another whom she couldn't see the haitai-ate. She stepped back a little, looking down at the ribbon of seals – what they were became clear upon closer inspection – and there were, at regular intervals, Suna ANBU were crouched over, pushing their chakra into the circle. A few more nin leapt out of the circle and released themselves from the jutsu, one of which was Ino and another haitai-ate-less shinobi.
The pink-haired kuniochi allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief at having passed the first challenge – she hadn't been certain how they'd approach the genjutsu, one-on-one seemed too predictable, but casting a mass-jutsu and the utilisation of seals was fairly novel – and the intensity of such a jutsu was certain to weed out those who were weak with illusions.
The time it took for the genjutsu round to finally be over was astounding; the numbers which passed the first round were considered to be too high (there being only eight to ten who didn't escape the jutsu within the allotted hour, thankfully none of which were the Leafs) hence the ANBU set up secondary traps and illusions. They were on a far smaller scale and much more subtle and therefore trickier to defeat – genjutsu detection took real skill (when it wasn't something glaringly obvious such as they sky falling in).
The ANBU kept changing tiny aspects of the environment – such as the diameter of the seal circle by a few inches – but Sakura's natural chakra control meant that she could easily detect when it was being messed with and hence, she didn't necessarily need to be able to see something as out of place to know it to be. Every now and then, she kept having to chant 'kai' and randomise her chakra flow to prevent herself being caught again; as the ANBU drifted around the occupants of the arena floor.
Sakura took the opportunity, whilst she was free, to cast a genjutsu around herself, making it appear as though she was stood still, trapped within an illusion; the real one leapt away over to where the primary examiner was stood - suffering no interference from other Suna ANBU, at one end of the arena and faced him. He looked at her for a few moments as she dispelled the jutsu around her and he commented that she had passed and was directed to a small seating area (she checked her chakra was un-manipulated and nodded in acknowledgment, thinking what a cruel trick that would otherwise have been) where a few nin were already resting.
Among them Yamato and Kurenai both of whom smiled as she took a seat next to them, they commented that they too had noticed the ANBU seemed to have picked out a few favourites to tease and that Kakashi was apparently among that number.
Eventually, they were dismissed from the grounds as the Suna ANBU were satisfied that the numbers had been cut sufficiently and all qualifiers trudged off to rest for the spare few hours before dinner would be served – Suna being kind enough to provide meals since there wasn't enough in the way of restaurants in the tiny village in which they were situated.
Sakura returned to the tent she shared with her fellow Leaf competitors feeling quite fatigued, she had to admit, she was glad that she would be face the taijutsu only competition tomorrow, giving her time to store up as much chakra as possible before she had to use it to its fullest potential in the ninjutsu rounds.
She hadn't really used too much in the way of chakra, but she had been forced to manipulate it to a much higher degree than what she was used for her basic ninjutsu – Sakura also personally found that being under a genjutsu tended to make her feel quite chakra-fatigued. The interference of another and their chakra, she found, disrupted the natural flow of chakra through her body (aside from that being a key feature of genjutsu) and as a consequence, took quite a lot for her to return the flow to normal.
Before long, Yamato appeared outside their tent and they all went together to dinner, pleased that they all would progress to the next round of taijutsu – they laughed a little at what might happen if any of them had to face each other. They ambled slowly, surrounded by the other competitors a number of whom were fiercely grumbling at how they'd lost in the first round as they shouldered their packs and prepared to leave.
Sakura couldn't really blame them for being so grumpy – she too would be a foul mood had she come so far to do so badly – still there were a fair few left and most (especially the men) where riled up for the more tangible (and somehow, therefore more meaningful) hand-to-hand combat fights. They entered the mess tent and collected bowlfuls of meagre – although wholesome – food; rice and steamed vegetable were all of what was on offer, as well as tea, but it was swiftly devoured nonetheless.
They all sat together some talking more than others – Ino, Raiden and Yamato seemed to be the most talkative; Sakura kept her eyes open, but remained silent.
The pink-haired kuniochi drained the last of her cup of tea – signifying the end of her meal – and paused as she subtly looked around the room, a vast majority of nin were still sat around and chatting with each other; Sakura took her moment and rose to her feet picking up her tray or now empty plates.
"I think I'm going to take a walk, I'll see you guys later…" Her eyes shifted over to where the men were sat, "Or tomorrow," She smiled lightly, alerting the others to her levity; they returned with their own grins and a few nods, she turned and walked to place her tray on the side before wandering away, ducking out of the large mess tent.
She relished the cool night air as she slid her hands into her trouser pockets thinking back to whom she'd seen sat in the corner of the tent; again he appeared to surreptitiously observe the room - just as he had done before the start of the challenge. He shouldn't even have been in the room, considering his lack of participation in the competition, yet no one seemed to have noticed – or at least minded his presence.
Sakura wasn't sure what to make of it, her instincts told her to be wary, yet he hadn't made any move – she wondered if the ANBU had their eyes on him and if so, what they were waiting for – she rounded past by the ends of the tents and paused, uncertain of which direction to take.
"Do mind some company?" Sakura turned to face Kakashi as he stepped out from behind the end of the marquee, looking as casual as ever,
"Sure," He took a few steps closer, his posture guarded in the way Sakura wasn't used to when they were alone, "You ready for tomorrow?" He nodded and tugged a hand out of his pocket,
"Hai, it's been a while since I've fought with taijutsu only," He held a look which told Sakura he had something to say but felt unable to voice his concerns, Sakura gave no signal that she too noticed the presence close by, watching their interaction;
"Ah, that's right, you won't be allowed to use your sharingan, will you?" He shook his head, allowing his eye to obviously look her up and down, giving Sakura a clear signal as to how he was planning on proceeding; she lifted her hands out of her pockets and planted them on her hips, cocking her head to the side slightly as a silent invitation.
"You noticed him too?" Kakashi asked as soon as he was close enough for him to whisper in her ear and slid his hand around her waist to rest on the small of her back as he tugged her to his chest at the same time; both his hands moving to slide up her sides as she wound her arms around his shoulders, leaning up to whisper in his ear. Neither feeling particularly comfortable with play-acting that they were meeting for a…rendezvous rather than a discussion on whom they were finding suspicious, but their instincts tended not to lie and both were professional enough to pretend so as not to alert the one they found most suspicious to their real reason.
"I saw him before, just as the genjutsu tournament was beginning, he seemed to spend quite a while looking around – and again in the mess tent," Kakashi had since fitted his masked lips to her neck and she allowed her hands to wander restlessly over his back and up into his hair,
"Hmm, I saw him too, he knows the town well, but I'm certain he doesn't live here," He shifted to nip her jaw and down her neck as his hand drifted up to tangle in her hair so that he could urge her head to the side and expose her neck. She shifted her hands down between them to tug down his flak jacket zip, splitting the heavy jacket open, sliding her hands up his chest, secretly revelling in the feel of his taught muscles,
"I can't tell if he's shinobi or not and I haven't yet seen him talk to anyone…I'm not sure what to anticipate – and attack seems unlikely, but that's probably a part of it, to divert attention," Her lips brushed over the shell of his ear as she spoke, she didn't quite intend to but couldn't help it; his wandering hands were proving unnervingly distracting.
He shifted to begin kissing the other side of her neck as she swapped arms around her waist, his hand massaging her hip; he didn't need to fake the groans of pleasure at having Sakura fitted to so well to him and at having free reign to run his hands over the agreeable curves of her waist and hips. He made his way back up to her ear in preparation to say something else but the voice of a thoroughly scandalised Raiden cut across-
"Captain!" Sakura and Kakashi parted just enough to turn their heads in the direction of the voice, to see Raiden with his mouth open slightly, looking as though he'd just seen the biggest outrage he could imagine;
"Beat it," Kakashi growled as he tightened his grip on Sakura, who's hands has slid down to rest on his chest, as he'd stood up straighter, greatening their height difference;
"-But…Sakura-taichou…" Raiden looked almost terrified, as though he hadn't a clue what to do, but knew he couldn't well leave his captain and her once-teacher and current friend in such a compromising position; Kakashi involuntarily tightened his grip on Sakura as she buried her face in the crook of his neck, pretending to continue attending to him, and could feel the manic grin on her lips even through the material of his mask-tank top, betraying her amusement at Raiden's reaction,
"I said get out of here, kid," Kakashi didn't quite intend his voice to come out so low or threatening but the younger shinobi was only adding to his frustration – he'd been desperately trying to keep his grip on himself so as not to get aroused, even though he really wanted to let go and enjoy whatever Sakura was offering. His sense of reality was stronger – the trust, teamwork and friendship between them was something he hadn't had in a long time and that was infinitely more important than one night of sin with her – even if it was really, really tempting – and he hadn't even had any direct skin to skin contact.
Raiden gulped and turned before beating a hasty retreat, disappearing as soon as he'd appeared and Kakashi returned his attention to the kuniochi resting against his chest, currently doing her best to resist bursting into laughter;
"You shouldn't be so mean to him," She playfully chastised, for the benefit of their third-party voyeur, Kakashi merely made a dismissive grunting noise, signifying that he didn't care,
"He shouldn't interrupt two obviously busy people," Sakura grinned again in amusement of his response, her glee easily visible this time; she pulled back slightly, definitely able to feel the chill of night air previously negated by the warmth of his body,
"Hmm…but he has got a big mouth and he's probably back at the tent telling everyone – and you know what a busybody Yamato-taichou is," She made to step well out of his grasp – both of them knowing that the elder shinobi would understand what they were doing by their actions, but Sakura was now uncomfortably aware of just what position they were in and worried slightly for her ability to keep up the act of turning on the Copy Nin,
"Hmm," He didn't look too pleased at her decision to end it – but Sakura really couldn't decide if that was his acting or whether they still needed to talk, or… She found herself involuntarily licking over her dry lips an action carefully observed by him,
"Maybe we could continue this somewhere a bit more private, sometime? Unfortunately now, I have to go and prepare for tomorrow...thanks for the bit of respite," She turned on her heel, desperately trying not to blush at her own words; Kakashi suddenly gripped her hips and pulled her back, flush to his body, fitting his lips to her ear and whispering as lowly as possible;
"Keep up the act of what might be happening between us to those two, but have them keep their eyes open – Kurenai will understand but Ino might not, don't give anything away and I'll have Yamato on the lookout…I see no harm in keeping Raiden in the dark for now, it'll make it more convincing," Sakura couldn't quite resist a sly smile, her voice full of carnal mischief,
"You're so demanding! Are you planning on making me work this hard for you in bed?" She suddenly jerked her hips back slightly into his before walking away – pulling out of his grasp before he could tighten it – Kakashi powerless to stop her as that damn final action finally broke the tiny thread on his control and was forced to slouch down and stuff his hands into his pockets to hide what would otherwise be an embarrassingly obvious trouser-tent - even though it would have been...in keeping with the turn of events.
He ambled slowly back in the vague direction of his marquee desperately trying to will his arousal to fade, but the feel of Sakura beneath his hands wasn't quite so easy to forget…maybe it was just the fact he hadn't sought out female companionship for so long that was getting to him. When he finally arrived back to where his bed was, he found Yamato still up and looking quite unimpressed – Raiden was already in his bed and no doubt pretending to be asleep out of embarrassment,
"Kakashi-sampai, Raiden told me what happened," Apparently Sakura wasn't kidding in saying Raiden has a big mouth, "It will only cause trouble to get involved with her," Kakashi sighed, knowing the subordinate well enough to know that most of it was probably for show – although there was a touch of genuine concern in his voice, he always was such a good teammate;
"They were just a few kisses, Yamato, nothing's going to come of it,"
"That's not how Raiden described it; it's a bad distraction,"
"We're not thirteen, we know when to call it quits – why do you think I'm back so early…or alone?" He shrugged nonchalantly, but inside he wanted to laugh, arriving back on his own should have been the biggest signal of all that little had come of it, Kakashi pulled off his vest and over shirt, shoes, pouches and haitai-ate, dropping them beside his bed before slumping down onto to it.
Little images of a naked and naughty Sakura were flitting around his preparing-for-sleep brain, his powerful imagination already able to feel her hands drifting over him, to far more arousing places than where she'd ventured earlier – his recently faded arousal jerking back to attention.
Squeezing his eyes shut for a few minutes, hoping to erase the images, although knowing it impossible – not only was Yamato right, the distraction was dangerous, but that he really did not want to screw up his (newly-restored) friendship with the kuniochi; real friends were hard to come by and even harder to keep with their dangerous lifestyles.
Not only that, but romantic entanglements of any sort tended to end disastrously – and something the Copy Nin made a personal mission to avoid as best he could. Sighing, he slipped under the covers and did his best not to think about how it would feel to kiss Sakura without his mask on, or how her skin might feel under his fingertips – and for the pleasure of it, rather than for a show to deflect suspicion.
He awoke just after dawn, his dreams had been vivid, as usual, feeling strangely well rested he resisted the urge to sigh in contentment whilst he stared at the tent wall he was facing. As he rolled onto his back in preparation to get up, he realised exactly why he not only felt so relaxed, but also just why it was a good thing he was facing away from the rest of the tent. He hadn't woken up in such a sticky mess for a long time, Kami, what door had he opened which should have been kept closed?
He closed his eye again and took a moment to calm himself, before rising to his feet swiftly and turning to divest himself of all lower garments before replacing them with fresh ones in seconds, silently cursing himself for being so weak as he re-bandaged his shins and clipped his pouches back to his belt. Yamato and Raiden were nowhere in sight which was another good thing – he prayed that he hadn't made any noises or done anything to make it obvious what the topic of his dreams were about, but he had no way to know and would just play it cool.
Pretending he hadn't just woken up in a cooled pool of his own climax as a result of dreams induced by having his hands all over his once student and current friend as a display to hide their conversation, he slipped from the tent to prepare for the second day of the tournament. Damn, if this were in an Icha Icha novel, he would still be laughing at the scenario – he just hoped that things with Sakura wouldn't be so awkward when they next faced each other – at least he could be thankful she hadn't felt his arousal when they were so close.
He hoped too, that their little display hadn't been for nothing and that if their...voyeur really was suspicious, then they had genuinely deflected mistrustful attention from themselves, allowing them to be dismissed as no one to particularly guard against.
