Chapter 24

It had been three months since the news of Itachi's passing hit Konoha. During that time, training had become more intense, and the town was placed on high alert. The hokage made more of an effort to keep the shinobi within the village or working on missions close to the village.

This meant that Shikamaru was home a lot more often, lessening his constant trips to Sunagakure. He and Naome were able to spend more time together and grow their relationship while he stayed in Konoha and performed his duties from there. Their "I love yous" did not go unfounded. They continued to mature in their relationship, showing love and appreciation in small ways, physically and emotionally.

For example, Naome would pick up Shikamaru every late afternoon when he would be done at the foreign affairs office so that they could walk home together. In the mornings, despite how tired he was, Shikamaru would wake up at the same time as Naome so that they could get ready together and spend some time cuddling in the warmth of the shower. Afterwards, he would walk her either to her mission, or to the training grounds on the way to work.

While things were going well with Shikamaru, Naome realized her relationship with Kakashi had come to a staggering halt. Things seemed to be going around in circles for them. At times, it seemed that their relationship was what the society had expected them to be: teammates, mentor-apprentice, and close friends at most. In other moments, they would share physically intimate moments which Kakashi would sometimes be emotionally available, and sometimes not.

As time went on, Naome realized that there were more and more things that she did not know about Kakashi. She figured memories of his past kept their relationship from progressing, but whenever she asked about his previous experiences, he wouldn't respond. She realized she knew nothing about his family, his peers, his journey growing up, and even whether or not he had a past love interest. Despite how close they were, Kakashi was also a blank slate to her.

With Kakashi, Naome's feelings were always a push and pull. At times, she felt so drained, rejected, and frustrated that she wanted to drop the entire relationship all together. She began to realize more and more that Kakashi didn't have feelings for her. Perhaps in the previous moments they spent together, she had merely wished upon the reciprocation of her emotions and had imagined it. But every time she was about to give up, her feelings wouldn't let her. She was constantly being drawn back to him.

For example, Naome had been exceptionally frustrated with Kakashi with their most recent mission. The two of them had been paired up with Izumo and Kotetsu to investigate a nearby village where young women were disappearing regularly.

On the first day, they weren't able to find many leads as to where the kidnapper had brought the women or why. They had decided to stay the night in an inn within the village. While planning in Izumo and Kotetsu's room for their course of action the next day, the two best friends suggested that they should lure the kidnapper out with Naome as bait.

Naome shrugged, "that could work."

With an angry scowl, Kakashi gave a firm and definite "no."

"And why not?" Naome protested, "I think it's a great way to get the kidnapper to show himself. We can set up a trap, lure him out, and then follow him into his hideout where he has the women."

"It's too dangerous." He interjected.

Naome rolled her eyes. "I'm strong enough to protect myself, Kakashi. This isn't a crazy S-Ranked mission, okay? Besides, you guys would be following right after me anyways."

"No means no."

"Why do you always treat me like a kid?!"

"Because you are-"

"Okayyy, there there you two." Kotetsu interrupted, holding up to pause the argument. The two shinobi were sitting there, awkwardly watching the whole conversation take place. "That was just one suggestion. There are other ways to find them."

"We'll use my ninja hounds tomorrow." Kakashi said with finality.

"We already tried that today," Naome replied. "The trail died cold. It's almost like they used something to mask the scent on purpose."

Kakashi got up and began walking towards the door. "Well, we'll try again tomorrow. Let's go Naome, it's late."

Naome was angry, furious even, that Kakashi had shot down all of her ideas as he often did just because he was the captain. She understood that Kakashi had years of experience ahead of her, but often, it wasn't that her ideas wouldn't work, it was that he was too overprotective of her to even try.

"I'm staying here for the night." She crossed her arms and stayed put at her spot on the bed. The last thing she wanted to do was return to a room alone with Kakashi so that he could shake her resolve in other ways.

Kakashi stared her down with a disapproving look. Naome could tell he was fuming inside from her rebellious behaviour. Was she being childish? Maybe. But she had a point to prove tonight, and it was that she was a capable shinobi, and that Kakashi needed to begin thinking with the mission in mind first.

Noticing the tension building, Izumo stepped in between the two. He grabbed his bag from the floor and followed Kakashi towards the door. "It's fine! I'll just go with Kakashi then. No worries!" He turned the copycat ninja around and began pushing him out of the room. "It's getting late. Let's go, let's go!"

Naome caught Kakashi sending another new look her way before the door clicked closed behind him. She knew that look, and it wasn't anger. He was directing it at both Kotetsu and her. She sighed. That jealous and possessive idiot.

After the two left, both Naome and Kotetsu got ready for bed. She changed in the bathroom first, into her cotton t-shirt and shorts duo, and removed her headband, letting her hair flow down her back. By the time Kotetsu had gotten out of the bathroom after her, she had already turned off the room light and was fast asleep.

He took a quick look at the girl who he was always slightly attracted to. She was only a few years younger than him, but he knew better than to make a move on her because it was clear to the whole village that her and Shikamaru were an item. What he hadn't realized before, was what a temper and strong resolve the girl had. He shook his head, wondering how on Earth Team Kakashi ever got things done with the way the two were bickering. Stretching his arms out, he climbed into his own bed and resigned himself for the night.

The next day, they set off to the nearby woods again to search with the ninja hounds. Kakashi had them split into pairs in order to search the area more widely. Naome knew Kakashi intended for the two of them to be on the same team, but she was tired of being babied by him, so she quickly departed with Kotetsu at her side.

Izumo turned to look at the pissed off Kakashi and sighed. He couldn't wait until the mission was over.

As Naome dashed off with Bisuke, the big bull and Kotetsu followed behind. After a few minutes, the dogs stopped, causing the two shinobi to come to stand still as well.

"What is it?" Naome asked the brown pup.

"I can smell a scent of one of the girls we were tracking yesterday. The thing is though….it seems a bit distorted."

"What is that supposed to mean? Can you tell which way they went?" Kotetsu chimed in.

"Imagine it this way, it's kind of like a fog that hasn't lifted. It's present, it's everywhere, but it's so weak that it's barely there."

"That's weird." Naome said. "It's like they're purposely trying to mislead people and ninja hounds with the scents. I mean, it's well known that the hidden leaf ninjas use ninja hounds to track so maybe, they've found a way to avoid getting caught."

There was a sudden girl's scream from a large distance ahead of them. Acting upon instinct, Naome took off in the direction of the sound. She could hear Kotetsu call from behind her to wait, but she didn't want to waste any time. Instead she called back to the ninja, "go get Kakashi-sensei and Izumo!"

Without hearing his answer, Naome continued running towards the sound of the voice. As she ran, she made sure to leave a trail behind her. Knowing that scent was going to be difficult to track, she used visual hints instead. Pointing one finger at the ground, she used her water gun jutsu to draw X's in the dirt to mark her path.

After a couple of minutes, she suddenly came upon a wall of fog so dense that she could barely see through it. She realized then that the voice she heard was most likely a genjutsu. It surrounded her, rather than coming from one exact direction. The entire environment screamed trouble. She pulled out her swords, and prepared for an ambush.

Sure enough, a couple of silhouettes began to surround her. She tried to keep them at bay, using her sword combined with her wind jutsu to slice in the direction each figure was coming in. While it did seem to deter some of the enemies from approaching as quickly, the wind actually made it worse. The mist that was surrounding her became more agitated. It was then that she realized there was a pungent smell in the air.

Cursing under her breath, she realized the mist must have been laced with some kind of anesthetic that caused her to become drowsy. She began to lose focus of her surroundings despite how hard she tried to stay conscious as she knew the enemies were still lurking in the coverage.

"You cowards! Get your asses out here!" She yelled. A few did. They jumped out at her, and she easily took them down with her blades despite the haziness in her mind. She had killed about 3 or 4 before she realized there were many more in the shadows.

Naome continued to fight until the drowsiness became overwhelming. The enemy didn't seem to strike hard though, it seemed that they were merely waiting for the fog to take its effect. They seemed to take special care not to harm her, physically at least.

Naome wasn't sure how long she had been in the stand off until finally, her limbs went weak and gave in. At the last minute, she sliced her palm, wincing in pain at the sting. She could smell the concentrated scent of blood and iron as the blood poured out of her hand. Once she had dropped her swords, the enemy came and tossed her over their shoulder. Knowing she was about to be taken away, she just barely lifted Kakashi's whistle to her lips and let out a soft blow, hoping she had left enough hints for her team to find her.

The next time she awoke, she found herself surprisingly clean, stripped of her own clothes, and placed in a dark room. She was wearing a black lacy bra under a cropped, netted, long sleeve top, and a leather skirt that barely made it past her buttocks. Her hair had been pulled up in an uncomfortable tight updo. She cursed under her breath, knowing just exactly what type of establishment she had been brought to. Reaching for her necklace, her heart dropped when she realized it was gone. The dreadful feeling was replaced by anger because someone had taken her piece of Kakashi away from her.

The door to the room swung open. She flinched at the bright light that streamed into the room. "You're up."

"Where the hell did you take me?" She growled. Her vision was blurry and she was still drowsy from the earlier encounter. The stranger laughed darkly as he made his way to the kunoichi. He caressed her face, making her pull away from him in disgust, before he grabbed her arm and hoisted her up, dragging her out of the room.

Naome could see a long line of rooms in the hallway. She could hear the moans and sometimes pained cries of some of the girls in those rooms. Some of the doors hadn't even been closed fully and she cringed when she saw what was happening inside. Girls, all around her age, being forced to service men.

The stranger dragged her to an open door before pulling her head back with his free hand. He leaned forward and gave her a whisper into her ear. "Be a good girl," he warned. With that, she was thrown into the room, and the door slammed shut behind her and the lock clicked from the outside.

In the dimly lit room, there was a large bed in the center, and a much older looking man sitting on it, looking at her with hungry eyes. She narrowed her eyes at his judgemental gaze, the wrinkles of his skin, and the scars that littered his face. He must have been a shinobi.

She knew she had to get out of here, her team was probably on the way. It was well within her reach to break out, probably even without her weapons, but she needed to investigate first, and help free the other girls. Looking up at the hungry male again, she approached, knowing exactly how to play her cards right.

"You're new here." He commented as she walked up to him. He watched as she swayed her hips in a tantalizing way.

"And you're a regular, I assume." She slowly climbed onto the bed and crawled towards the man.

He chuckled. "Indeed. Come here baby doll." She followed his orders. Slowly she approached, making sure to give him a good view of her breasts as she made her way over.

"There, there, you gotta be patient." He was sitting upright, leaning against the pillows, when she sat on his lap, giving a slow grind into his already hard member. He let out a loud grunt in appreciation. She almost rolled her eyes at how perverted this guy was. He easily gave Kakashi a run for his money.

When he tried to reach out to touch her, she grabbed the bed sheet and ripped off a strip before promptly tying his hands together behind him. "Allow me."

She slowly stripped the male of his shirt, noticing that he had a layer or protective mesh underneath that was typical of a shinobi. "So...what brings a handsome man like you around here?"

"Oh you really don't know, huh darling? We men are here all the time. Shinobi from different villages passing by, just looking for a good time." Naome could tell he was already smitten by the way he stared at her body as he spoke. She made sure to continue teasing him as she continued her interrogation.

"Really? Wow the boss must be quite popular then if everyone knows to come here."

"Popular?" He scoffed. "He's the richest man in all the neighbouring small villages. How else do you think he can afford to pay all those rogue ninjas to keep this place running for him?"

"Rogue ninjas?" She realized a good amount of the ones that she fought must have hailed from the hidden mist village. It made sense to her now how shinobi were even involved in this whole mess of a situation to begin with. Naome had encountered many rogue shinobi during her time traveling alone. Without a place to go, they often turned to any form of income possible so that they could continue keeping themselves alive. Whoever the owner was probably provided them some good money, and likely a place to reside as well.

"Anyways enough talking." He said as he broke his restraints and grabbed Naome by the hips. "I'm ready for some action."

Rolling her eyes for real this time, she grabbed one of his hands and flipped him, throwing him across the room. His body hit the wall before rebounding onto the floor. Before he was able to get up again and cause a commotion, she jumped on top of him and hit him on the back of the head, knocking him out.

Standing up, she pulled out one of the bobby pins that were holding her tight updo up. She let out a sigh of relief as the hair was loosened a bit, clearing her of her mild headache. Reaching the door, she quickly made do of the lock with the small piece of metal and escaped the room.

In the hallway, there were about five shinobi patrolling the rooms. Naome was sure it was so there weren't any female escapees or defectors. Almost immediately, she was spotted leaving her room, and she knew she would have to attack before more reinforcements arrived. Pulling a couple more pins from her hair, she stuck them between her knuckles. It seemed mediocre, but it was her only option for a weapon.

Luckily, she had always focused on hand to hand combat even before arriving in Konoha, and working with Kakashi had only augmented her abilities. She had learned to be fast and nimble when sparring with the copycat ninja, which easily allowed her to evade attacks from multiple enemies and knock out all of the guards that were in the hall.

Working quickly, she went room by room to rescue each of the girls, even having to fight past many of their "clients" to free them. Once they were out, one of the girls that had been trapped there for a longer period of time, directed Naome and the rest of the group to a back door which led to the outside. Many of the guards took smoke breaks out there, she had said.

Acting in a hurry, she made sure the coast was clear behind the door before directing the girls to escape, making sure to stay back so that she could fight the shinobi who were bound to be on the way. Sure enough, they were charging full speed down the hallway at her.

Fighting off the onslaught of enemies was becoming difficult, afterall, she was not dressed the part, had no proper weapons, and had to keep an eye out for the girls behind her. She knew the fight was over when for the slightest moment, she lost her concentration. One of the younger girls who looked absolutely famished had been dragged back by a rogue ninja, a blade held to her throat as hostage.

Naome dropped her fight, and within seconds, she was surrounded in a large circle by shinobi with face masks on. They had drawn their weapons and begun enclosing her step by step. Just as one of them pulled her arm back and held a kunai to her throat, and another ninja had a kunai pointed at her chest, the ground shattered right next to her, forcing the enemies to scatter backwards. A bright flash of lightning filled the hallway, stunning and taking out the majority of the men there.

"Kakashi…" She stared in awe at the silver-haired ninja who had arrived just in time. Without a word, he shrugged off his ninja vest and threw it at her. She slipped it on, just in time to catch her swords which he had tossed in her direction as well.

"I didn't know you would come-"

"Shut up." He said. The coldness in his voice made Naome stagger back. "I'm not in the mood to talk right now. Izumo and I will stay to take down the rest of the enemies. You and Kotetsu will follow Pakkun and get the girls out of here. We'll meet you back at the inn."

Naome took a quick glance at the situation around them. Kotetsu stood at the backdoor, having single handedly taken down the rogue ninja that had held the girl hostage. Izumo stood in front of Kakashi and Naome, fending off some of the enemies that had begun piling in again. She turned back to the jonin in front of her.

"But there's-" She tried to explain her intel about the owner of the establishment and rogue ninjas they were fighting but Kakashi cut her off.

"I swear to God Naome. If you speak one more word against my orders…"

Sensing the true anger in his voice, Naome decided to bite her tongue and drop the conversation. She mumbled a quiet and defeated "stay safe" before turning around and meeting Kotetsu outside.