Chapter 26

A dim light illuminating the room roused Naome from her sleep. She watched from the bed as the familiar figure rummaged his way around the room, changing from his daily outfit into much comfier clothes. Shikamaru entered the washroom for a few moments and she heard the water run. He emerged a few moments later, hair down and wet, and a towel around his neck. He heaved a large sigh and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Another long day?" She sat up behind the ninja and took the towel from him. She watched as his shoulders slumped and his head dropped forward in exhaustion. Gently, she massaged the plush towel through his locks, making sure the hair would be thoroughly dried before his head hit the pillow.

"Yeah. It's been two days already. We can't seem to figure out the code." His voice was strained with frustration, and defeat. Naome knew that he was often harder on himself than others, especially when he was in a strategic or logical pickle. She leaned forward and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek before continuing her ministrations.

"If anyone can do it, it's you." She knew the pressure on him must have been tremendous. Afterall, this was a matter of emergency for the entire village. "What about Naruto? Have you checked in on him? Maybe he could help."

Shikamaru sighed, "yeah, but he's a little messed up right now. I guess I'll try visiting him again tomorrow."

"You know...he's just like you right now. He's probably just as hurt that Jiraiya is gone. He was his mentor, just as Asuma was to you. A father almost." Naome gave him a small massage on the shoulders, just as he had always done for her. "I think deep inside you already know how to help him."

Shikamaru turned around, a faint smile painted on his face. One of his arms went around her waist naturally, enjoying the comfort of her presence, something he needed so desperately after days of working overtime trying to solve the puzzle. "Yeah. I'll go find him tomorrow again, and maybe bring him to see Kurenai-sensei. Do you think after your training tomorrow, you and Kakashi-sensei can come to the Cryptanalysis office? I'm wondering if the code could also be for him as well."

"Yeah of course." Naome never missed the pain in Shikamaru's eyes every time either one of them was forced to mention Kakashi's name in conversation. She knew what she was doing was wrong, and never in her life had she planned on leading on a guy like this, especially not someone she cherished so much.

They went to sleep that night, holding each other as they did every other night that both of them were home. No matter what happened in their day, and what was brewing for the future, they simply enjoyed being in each other's presence in the moment. Afterall to both of them, this was home.

After training and lunch the next day, Naome and Kakashi met Shikamaru and Naruto at the Cryptanalysis department. Upon arriving, Naome noticed that they had an unusually small team in the library-like space. Spotting her favourite chunin who was staring at a picture of the code intensely, Naome skipped up to him and greeted him with a back hug.

"You're here." She could hear the smile in Shikamaru's voice even from behind.

"Yup! Also, I knew you probably didn't eat lunch yet so Kakashi and I brought some for you." Naome stepped away from the teenager and pointed towards Kakashi. With a grin, the teacher held up a take out bag of food in one hand. A small, grateful smile grew on Shikamaru's face as he stepped forward and accepted the food from the man.

"So how's the decoding going?" Naome asked as she looked around the room. Her eyes fell onto a broken Naruto, who seemed like he could use many good nights of sleep. The only good news was that he seemed more up and about, and ready to move on.

"Well Naruto seems to be the key for this code. He figured out that master Jiraiya's writing pattern and that the 9 is actually the character for 'ta.' We also figured the numbers must correspond to one of the novels that he's written." Shiho, one of Shikamaru's assistants said. Naome noticed that she had been staring between her and Shikamaru the entire time but she didn't feel the need to address it as many people often made observations about their relationship. However, the faint blush on Shiho's cheeks every time she glanced at Shikamaru told another story.

Naome chuckled. The lazy genius seemed to be oblivious to it all which made her feel sorry for the girl, but at the same time, put her mind at ease.

"I think I know which book Jiraiya is referring to."

To everyone's surprise, Kakashi spoke up from his place in the room. The wonder was, how was it that Naruto wouldn't know which novel it was, and Kakashi did? Naome watched as Kakashi reached into his green vest and pulled out his Makeout Tactics book. She rolled her eyes and let out a dramatic sigh.

"You've got to be kidding me." All this time Naome had wanted to burn that novel in Kakashi's hand, usually because he was reading it at the most inopportune times. "That is the key to this whole mystery?!"

Kakashi gave his student a playful smile. "Well, can't hurt to try it out."

"Okay," the assistant said. "The first number is 31. We can try flipping to page 31 and reading the first line."

"R-reading the first line?" Naome burst out laughing at Kakashi's stutter as he stared at his book, his face turning red. Everyone else started at him, waiting patiently in expectation, but Naome couldn't help but continue laughing.

"Go on, sensei, read out the first line!" She urged him to continue, knowing exactly what the book entailed.

Kakashi sent a glare to Naome before looking around at the younger ones around him. Very slowly and hesitantly, he turned to the page. "'The way they kissed made the world seem as if it were burning - in passion.'"

Everyone in the room narrowed their eyes at the cheesiness of the words. Naruto mumbled a quick jab under his breath, "I told you I got bored of reading his novels. They're no good."

As Shiho diligently wrote down all the words of the sentence, Naome sent Kakashi a smirk. It was only the beginning of the book and she was sure the true nature of the novel would expose her sensei soon enough.

"Alright. Page 8?" A moment of silence ensued as Kakashi flipped to the page number. For a minute, Naome wondered how the novel hadn't been torn to pieces yet with the amount of time the ninja kept it with him, either in his hands, or in his pocket even during missions.

"'Real emotions came out.'"

"Page 106."

This time, Kakashi's breath hitched when he reached the page and read the first line in front of him. "'One hour later, they finally came on top of one another.'"

Shikamaru sent Naome a questioning look, quirking an eyebrow even in silence. Naome only broke down in giggles even more, seeing the way the lazy genius was judging Kakashi. Shikamaru then shook his head, a small smile playing on his lips.

"Page 7."

"'Not holding back any longer..'"

"Page 207."

"'Among the three of them...she cried out the loudest," Kakashi mumbled the last part, just loud enough that he wouldn't have to repeat himself.

"I'm sorry, what was that sensei?" Naome purposely egged him on, but Kakashi only replied with a sharp look in her direction. A part of him wondered if he was actually being set up by the lazy genius and his girlfriend, especially after Naome had intentionally asked him to come here after training. He swore to himself that after this, if he even got out of it without dying of embarrassment, he wouldn't carry the book around the evil kunoichi again.

"And...page 15." Shiho said as she scribed each word without even flinching.

"'Them.'" He breathed a sigh of relief on the last one. "The first word on the page was the last word of the sentence. It just says them."

At this point the Naruto and Shikamaru were staring at their sensei in awe. Of course, one could have always imagined what was written in that book, but until they cracked it opened and read it in detail, no one would have anticipated the type of dirty and kinky topics the pervy sage wrote.

"The real one's not among them." Shiho murmured, causing the entire room to turn and refocus on the situation at hand. "The real one's not among them…? What does that even mean?"

"I'm not sure." Shikamaru replied, "but let's bring it to Lady Tsunade and Lord Fukasaku and see if they have any idea."

The decoding had been a success, though the exact meaning of Jiraiya's words remained ambiguous even to Lord Fukasaku himself. That day, Naruto decided to head off to Mount Myoboku to train in sage mode with the toads. With a state of emergency declared across the Land of Fire, Tsunade put a greater importance in reinforcing the village's barriers, training shinobi, and investigating the bodies left behind by Jiraiya.

Naome had become more wary as each day passed, mainly because the men around her seemed to be more on edge. She almost wanted to scream at the two of them because the way they acted made her feel as if she was an incompetant human being which was most definitely not the case.

Everywhere she went, at least one of them followed. The day always started off with Shikamaru dropping her off at the training grounds to meet Kakashi, even if that meant he would be late to his own duties due to Kakashi's usual tardiness.

Training with Kakashi was more hardcore than usual, often times with the jonin pushing her way past her limits. He seemed to be in a rush, cramming in the formation of her ice release along with intensive taijutsu sparring. He never held back during their fights, forcing Naome to react quicker and stronger than she ever did before. For the most part, it worked. She was almost becoming as quick as the copycat ninja himself, but every training session had her losing in the end. Kakashi made sure of it.

After training and lunch, Kakashi would spend time with her, constantly keeping her in his line of sight (or practically babysitting her, in her mind), until they were ready to pick up Shikamaru in the evening. This meant that supervision had been passed off, and Kakashi could return home with a peaceful mind.

On one hand, Naome was glad that this situation forced the two of them to cooperate fully, the animosity between them seemed to be put on hold. On the other hand, she had become so agitated with being watched and supervised that she just wanted to run away from both of them.

When confronting each of them, Kakashi played it off with a shrug. "I don't know what you're talking about. We always spend all day together!"

"Do you always walk me to Shikamaru's office every evening?" Naome shot back with a deadpan expression.

"No, but I just want to spend more time with you." Kakashi insisted with a wide, oblivious grin on his face. Naome groaned in frustration, but let the conversation die there. Afterall, she knew she wouldn't win this one because Kakashi had always been overprotective of her.

Shikamaru on the other hand, never used to baby her, which made her all the more irritated at his new behaviour. She questioned him one day as they were waiting for Kakashi at the training grounds. "You know, you can head to your office now. You're already half an hour late. Kakashi is bound to be even more tardy."

His eyes remained closed as he leaned laid on the grass nonchalantly. "I don't have that much to do," A total lie, Naome thought. "Besides, work is a drag. I'd rather spend some time with you here."

With the way he worded it, Naome could only huff a defeated breath of air. In the end, she decided to appreciate the fact that she could see Shikamaru more, and enjoy the time that they were able to spend together.

This continued for about a week until one day, it came to an abrupt end. Naome had been out, walking around town with Kakashi after their lunch break when suddenly, Kakashi stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing as he scanned the space around them. It only took an extra second for Naome to realize something was wrong, and the ground had begun to rumble underneath her feet.

"You don't think…"

Kakashi didn't think twice. "Get to the evacuation shelter."

"What? Now?" Naome replied. "You don't even know what's going on yet. For all you know, it's just a small earthquake."

"For the love of-" Kakashi's anger was cut off when the village's emergency siren suddenly blared throughout the streets. Orders to evacuate were immediate, with shinobi lining the streets to help the civilians head towards the shelter.

The roads were littered with people, scrambling in all directions. There was commotion everywhere, especially with small children and elderly wandering the roads.

"You go find lady hokage and figure out what to do." Naome said as she threw her hair up into a high ponytail. "I'm going to help evacuate the civilians."

"But-"

"Kakashi," Naome continued, as she looked him in the eye. She grasped his hand in hers, despite the fact that they were in broad daylight. "Listen to me. I'll be fine. Let me do my duty as a shinobi. If this is what we think it is, then you can't afford to keep protecting me any longer. Not over all these people's lives."

Kakashi scanned her eyes for what felt like the longest moment, blind to the world around them. He knew he would kick himself in the gut if anything were to happen to her, that is, if Shikamaru didn't get to him first. But she was right. He couldn't keep babying her forever, especially now that the village needed as many shinobi on the front lines as possible.

There was another large rumble less than a kilometer away, causing the chaos to heighten around them. Buildings were beginning to crumble, and they could see blasts of energy and flying debris everywhere. Kakashi stepped closer to the kunoichi, holding her face between his hands as he leaned forward so that their headbands were touching.

"Okay," he caved. He let out a couple of shaky breaths before continuing. His heart raced anxiously at the thought of letting her go. "But you promise me, stay safe. Once you have as many people out of the way as possible, you will stay with them. Consider it protecting them from the enemies."

"Okay." Naome raised her hands too, feeling the tenderness of his skin under her fingertips. One would be delusional to not be afraid of the enemy that was upon them. She was not just afraid, she was terrified, but for some reason, the world seemed okay in his arms as they stared in each other's eyes.

"Promise me." He pleaded. With one hand, he reached up to pull his mask down before returning to caress her cheek.

"I promise you I will stay safe." Despite her answer, he continued to watch her deeply.

"What is it?" Her eyes scanned his, and watched as it wavered between fear, longing, and indecision.

"...Nothing." He whispered. Leaning in, he gave a lingering kiss to the girl he had fallen for. In that moment, nothing else mattered. He knew he would be damned if someone saw them like this. He knew that the village was falling apart around them, but right now, nothing but her mattered.

Their lips parted. Kakashi looked forward and caught a stray tear that had just fallen from her eyes. She was shaking a bit, and he knew that despite the strong persona that she often posed, she was panicking on the inside.

"Don't be afraid," he whispered. "You do you. You're strong. You're my student afterall. Remember that."

Giving her one last kiss on the top of her head, he stepped back, his fingers slowly drifting from her face. He took another step back and pulled his mask up. Another boom resounded in the background, and Kakashi turned toward the action, forcing his gaze off of the girl in front of him.

"Promise me you'll stay safe too," he heard Naome call out to him. He merely turned to her and gave her one last grin under his mask before he dashed off.