Chapter 12

Kakashi walked into their suite exhausted that night. He had spent the day in discussions about the Five Nations Defence Alliance or the FNDA as it was known after the last war. He noticed that Hinata was already in her pajamas dressed to go to sleep. She was sitting in front of the vanity brushing her hair. His heart leapt up in an absurd gesture as he realized that he was glad to see her. He had missed her today.

"Hey" he called, feeling as if he was getting used to coming home to her.

"Hi...long day?" she looked at him with a small smile.

"Yeah…".

"Did you eat?" she asked while continuing to brush her hair and walking up to him. He looked her once over briefly thinking how beautiful she was.

"Um... yes we went out for BBQ and drinks at the end of the night to celebrate" he smiled thinking back to the scene of all the military generals letting loose.

Hmmm she murmured and reached out to take his mask off. She had gotten into the habit of removing it when they were alone together. She then laid her cool palm on his cheek and he closed his eyes leaning into her touch. The coolness of her skin felt soothing against his tired face. She continued to stroke his stubble until Kakashi realized he was slipping into a light sleep standing up so he finally leaned away from her and opened his eyes to find her looking in on him gently.

"What?" he asked self consciously.

"You are so handsome, it's such a shame you hide it behind your mask". He moved out of her reach poking her in the ribs playfully for her comment.

"You should wash up um... I have something to tell you" she said with a troubled face.

He paused while taking off his vest and looked at her in concern, "No tell me first, whatever it is can't be good so I'd rather hear it now".

"Umm…. okay" she started twiddling her fingers, which is when he started to get nervous, "I ran into Ariko today and she wanted to talk".

Despite being a bit alarmed, he sat down calmly on one of the living room chairs and raised an eyebrow in question for her to continue.

"She asked why you would suddenly want to marry a woman like me... when I'm not your type…" she sighed nervously, "I thought I was helping you out but I think I probably should have just kept my mouth shut".

"What did you say?" he asked carefully.

"Um, I told her we care for each other and fell for each other quickly, but I also told her that you may have felt the need to marry me because we were intimate with one another and you wanted to protect my reputation".

"What" he said laughing in disbelief and then trailed off as he realized she was serious. "You said what?... oh no, she's not going to take that well Hinata, she's going to feel some misbegotten need to save me from this marriage now".

"Yes well… I'm sorry I wanted to try and help you salvage your relationship after…. after all this" she said lamely, "but I think I just made things more complicated. I'm sorry".

He sighed massaging his temple. "Who cares about my relationship with Ariko. I told you time and time again that the priority here is our mission. Hinata you should have known better… and you should have done what was necessary to convince her that we were in love" he said in the sternest tone she could remember hearing from him. He had effectively reverted back to the role of her captain now. She was rendered speechless so she remained staring at him until he got up in frustration and walked out into the terrace. Hinata stayed in the room rooted to her spot with frustration wanting to cry but she eventually followed him out. When she drew abreast of him he sighed.

"Well..." he raked his hand through his hair, "it's over and done with now, there is nothing we can do about it. I will try my best to stay out of her way. If we are lucky she is assigned a mission and will have to leave the city for a few weeks." He said brusquely and turned to go shower.

"Oh and one more thing" she continued cringing. Kakashi paused with his back tense. "Ryoko invited me… or I should say us to his ancestral home in the mountains over the weekend. It's a honor to be invited and there is a close relationship between our clans so I felt I had to accept. I understand if you don't want to come but I hope it's okay if I go?".

Kakashi turned again to look at Hinata trying to keep his face blank as possible but his lips were pressed into a thin line. He was missing his mask so very much at the moment. Clan relations my ass he thought as he felt outrage spreading through him until he remembered that their engagement was false. So all these emotions running through him were irrational. He took a deep breath wanting to make a sound decision. Kakashi quickly realized that there was no point in him going with Hinata. This was actually a good opportunity for her to do some reconnaissance work and he had to stay here and keep this work going. It was very likely that Ryoko himself knew that both of them couldn't excuse themselves from the trade talks over the weekend and had asked her strategically. What an ass, Kakashi thought uncharitably. But… this was a win-win scenario. Ryoko's family were one of the five most influential in this country, so they couldn't forego the chance to investigate where they could.

The only danger was if this turned out to be some kind of trap. Knowing the relationship between the two clans, it was unlikely... however they would have no way of helping Hinata or tracking her down once she got out deep into these mountains.

After a minute or so of silence he replied, "Yes that should be fine. I think you should go without me but take an Anbu with you. You can assess things with his clans, see if you can dig out any information and work on your clan relations. I will do the same here".

"Yes Kakashi" Hinata nodded sharply after the briefest moment of disappointment that he wouldn't be coming with her. But she tried her best to keep that out of her face. With a final nod he turned and walked inside and she stood there watching his back.

After having to break these news to him she decided not to bring up her meeting with Zima just yet. She wanted Kakashi's advice on what to do about it… but today was not the day to broach that topic.

Things between them remained cold for the rest of the night as Kakashi seemed to have retreated into himself. For the first time since they got here they slept on opposite sides of the bed without each other's body heat to keep them warm. She drifted off to sleep unsure how she would make this situation better with him.

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~Friday

The next day passed by incredibly quickly as they finalized the drafts of the agreements that would need to be ratified over the weekend. Kakashi would be taking care of that while she was gone. After that long day, they had a gala in the evening to wrap up the summit. It was in honor of all of the visiting dignitaries, so they had to attend.

They dressed for the event in separate spaces of the suite as this new cold front between them hadn't really been addressed yet. As she was putting a pair of diamond stud earrings on she felt that enough was enough… she needed to bring this up so they could resolve things before the gala. It was affecting their communication and trust.

Hinata took one last look at her reflection in the mirror and smoothed her hands over her dress. After hearing that she hadn't brought any evening gowns with her, Mei had been kind enough to send this to her. The dress was a long emerald gown with tight sleeves and a bare back. It had stunning beadwork and the fabric of the skirt clung to her hips and then fell in a straight line. She completed the look with silver heels, wavy hair, and a dark burgundy lip.

By the time she went to the living room Kakashi was dressed and waiting. Her steps stuttered and stopped as she observed him dressed in a sleek black tuxedo. It was immaculately tailored and her heartbeat picked up with sudden awareness of him as a man. Sure the attraction between them had simmered all this time, and she had buried it deep not wanting to give it much thought. But she felt her stomach flutter and knees go weak as all those emotions and feelings came rushing back.

"You… um you look nice" she said lamely, for the lack of a better word. And his lips quirked in amusement.

"You look nice too" he complimented looking her over briefly but his eyes were heated. She could tell he meant that compliment.

"Kakashi-s" she suppressed the honorific and sighed. "Kakashi… I am sorry about my conversation with Ariko. I wasn't thinking and I didn't mean to let you down like that. I know this mission should be both of our priority and I should have acted accordingly".

He didn't reply back to her immediately. Instead he walked over to the bar and poured himself what looked to be a splash of scotch. It was a few seconds before he sipped his drink and replied "I'm the one who should be apologizing. Ariko… is a headstrong woman, I am sure she didn't present the conversation as an option, so I am glad you used wherever means you could to get her off your back. She is very good at interrogations, so the scenario you presented is probably more believable to her than the one I presented about falling in love suddenly. Anyway she is off on a mission so we don't need to worry about her at the moment. We only have a few more days of this left before shit could hit the fan… so let's focus shall we?"

She smiled extremely relieved and he nodded at her warmly. She felt the stress that had been clinging to her all day melt away. Thank god they were okay again.

Kakashi finished his drink and without further delay they headed to the Mizukage's compound.

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Unlike last time, this party had a western theme to it and the whole atmosphere was more mysterious. The lighting was soft but dim and everyone was in black tie attire. The music was elegant and the house had transformed into a different place. There were entertainers stationed throughout the house and the guests had the freedom to wander through the compound as they pleased. As they walked in Kakashi noted a strange mistiness to the air but he couldn't tell if it was the natural mist of the country or if this was enhanced by a smoke machine.

"Stay close to me" he whispered into Hinata's ear and she nodded nervously. He doubted she had ever been to an event like this before.

They sipped on wine and enjoyed the hour d'oeuvres as they networked and made small talk with people. There wasn't a set dinner time tonight and the dining room was open for people buffet style. Guests could go and eat as they pleased.

"Have you ever been to a party like this before?" Hinata whispered in his ear.

"Um… not at a gathering for delegates that's for sure" he said cryptically. Usually events like this he had been to in the past had been nights of debauchery. He didn't want to expand on that too much for Hinata.

"Why are people spread out throughout the house?"

"Well… there's probably a lot of small events going on. I would guess that people are playing poker and cards in some of these rooms, billiards in others and various games and shenanigans throughout the house." he said deliberately vaguely. He knew Mei had a wild side but this was a surprise. "These types of events are typically put on for secret societies so stay sharp" he said seriously.

"I can use my Byakugan to investigate a bit," Hinata said, moving closer to him.

He nodded understanding that she needed a cover, and put his arm around her waist moving them into a corner of the room. He pulled her close to him tightly so that she could bury her face into his neck. To any passerby they looked to be in an intimate embrace. Now that she was out of plain sight Hinata activated her Byakugan and Kakashi simply enjoyed having her in his arms.

She looked stunning tonight, it had taken everything he'd had earlier in the day not to kiss her when he had seen her in this dress. Even now as he breathed in her soft guava scent he had to tell his body to calm down at her nearness. It wasn't so easy when her creamy shoulders and neck was so easily accessible.

He was snapped back to reality as she deactivated her Byakugan and gripped his shoulders with a gasp.

"What did you see?" he asked with a bit of amusement.

"Nothing… illegal...I think" she whispered, turning red as a tomato making Kakashi smirk.

"Let's go check out the library, we have the perfect excuse" he said moving his eyebrow up suggestively and led her away. Hinata shivered and nodded, probably still trying to forget everything she saw. Soon they were in front of two large mahogany doors. Kakashi had been in Mei's library before, it was an impressive room filled with a lot of great literature.

Upon entering the room they split up as usual and scanned the room for clues. Just when they were about to wrap up finding nothing, Hinata tensed and signalled that people were approaching this room.

Kakashi nodded sharply and grabbed her wrist as they exited into the small balcony of the library. Luckily it was shrouded in darkness.

"Suppress your chakra" he whispered and she nodded looking nervous. Thankfully she was able to suppress her chakra and he sighed in relief. He had Hinata pushed against the outside wall of the balcony and both were out of plain sight. They stood still waiting as they heard footsteps shuffle in to the room. With her Byakugan, Hinta could see the people and she tapped on his neck with morse code. He nodded understanding, there were five people in the room and they were representatives from the five noble families of Kirigakure.

"So… is everything ready for Monday?" A deep voice asked.

"Yes… after the dignitaries leave we are set to attack the council" said a second voice. He knew that voice, It was Hirohito.

"What about the dignitaries that remain behind?" asked a third person.

"Well that can't be helped. They will get dragged into this mess. They can figure out for themselves how to get out of it. If they don't… then too bad" said the same deep voice that had spoken first.

"So we are good to go?" came a fourth voice.

"Yes, on my command Monday night" repeated the first person that had spoken.

They agreed to the plan and seemed to not want to linger in the room. They didn't all leave at once. They left in pairs broken up at various intervals. Finally when only one more person was left in the room, Hinata pulled her sweaty forehead from his shoulder and looked up at him.

Thankfully a few minutes later the last man left.

"Oh my god" she whispered. Kakashi set her apart from him but she almost collapsed and grabbed on to him. Her knees were probably weak, he understood. It took a while to get used to being in situations like this.

"You alright?" he asked, concerned.

"Y-yeah? What are they planning Monday?".

"Whatever it is can't be good, but at least we have a date and a rough time now. Based on the communications we found I would guess it's probably the attack we already know about. This makes things a lot easier to monitor... I just can't decide if the Mizukage is in on this or not."

"What do you mean?" she asked, alarmed.

"One of the men in there was from the Shiimu family. That is the same family that the Mizukage comes from. But in that case why would she have requested help form the Hokage… it doesn't make sense" he muttered with his mind racing.

"... I can't leave you tomorrow, not like this. There is still too much to be figured out and to do. I will stay behind, there is no point in going to Ryoko's village now. His father was in that room, clearly his family is in on this too. How can I act normal around him now?" she whispered.

"No Hinata… you have to go. Like you said his father was in the room just now. It would be suspicious if you cancelled now. While you are gone I will find a way to get some one on one time with the Mizukage to investigate how she is connected to all this. That might put some light on things". She narrowed her eyes at him wondering what one on one time with the Mizukage meant.

"Let's get out of here" he said, nodding towards the door. But just as they were about to enter the library another couple barged into the room and locked the door... This pair had much different intentions than the previous five inhabitants. Kakashi rolled his eyes in exasperation, and Hianta closed her eyes desperately trying not to watch the two lovers inside and to escape the increasingly heated sounds coming from the room.

"Can you scale down the building?" he whispered into her ear. She nodded looking back at him. She was probably eager to escape this situation he thought with amusement.

She took off her shoes and he carefully lowered her onto the ledge of the balcony. This wasn't going to be easy since she was wearing a tight dress. She looked at the ground nervously, It was only one floor down. Kakashi jumped down first and held out his hands to her, she would be able to make this jump no problem if she didn't have this dress on. But right now she needed his help. With a final nod to him she jumped with her eyes squeezed shut. When he caught her easily she looked at him in awe. That was a nice boost for his ego. He set her down lightly and handed over her shoes. The only problem seemed to be that they had alerted the security of the Mizukage complex.

Kakashi signalled her not to use chakra just as a swarm of Kunai came towards them. The two of them used their own weapons to deftly deflect the incoming weapons out of the way and then sprinted into the nearby woods.

Shit… they were being chased. It was imperative that they were not caught sneaking around like this. So they split up, hoping to draw the guards in two separate directions. Hinata had to grab her dress and hold it above her knees as she picked up her pace and ran barefoot through the trees. She had activated her Byakugan so it was easy for her to monitor where the guards were and to lose them.

She prayed Kakashi had also been successful as she finally got to their compound. She didn't risk entering the building through the front in case she encountered any other guests. Instead she waited in the back of the building for Kakashi. She could spot him nearby drawing closer but he still had two guards he needed to lose. It seemed like in the end he had to use a surprise attack maneuver to knock out the men before he was able to join her.

"Are you able to climb?" he asked panting. His suit was a bit dirty and scratched up but he looked okay otherwise.

She shook her head negative. This damn dress!

"Okay I will boost you up this tree, when we get close to the terrace you have to jump okay?" With that he put her on to the branch of a nearby tree and climbed it himself bringing her up with him. They were lucky that trees here were enormous. She jumped on to their terrace after they got up to a manageable height. Kakashi followed her seconds behind.

It was only then they both released a sigh of relief. They walked into their bedroom exhausted and sore. Hinata's feet were bruised but thankfully not bleeding.

"Oh…" he said after seeing her in the light for the first time in hours, "your hair… is a mess" he laughed.

"Well… you should see yourself" she said putting her hands on her hips, trying to find any fault with his appearance. But other than a few patches of dirt on his suit and a sheen of sweat on his face he looked perfect… "I bet you are... really sweaty" she said lamely after floundering for a bit.

"Umm… I got nicked actually" he said as he gently moved his tuxedo jacket to the side showing a crimson patch on his ribs. It was absurd how her stomach dropped to her feet when she saw the blood but she immediately flew into action.

"Why didn't you tell me sooner" she scolded him while helping him take off his jacket, tie, mask and shirt. "Here lie down" she advised while she went to grab some of her first aid gear.

Within a minute she was seated next to him inspecting his wound. Luckily he had only been nicked by a kunai so it was a surface wound, he was not seriously hurt. Calming down, she properly disinfected his wound and then administered green chakra onto the cut healing him.

She couldn't help but check out his abs from time to time now that he had his shirt off. She thought she was being discrete until he said, "You know you could just ask me to sleep shirtless".

Her cheeks turned red with guilt so it wasn't as impressive when she said in a dry tone "Don't flatter yourself".

Pretty soon the wound was fully closed.

"Here let me return the favour" he said nodding at her feet.

"I should wash first… I don't want to track dirt onto the bed".

He nodded at her so she gathered his bloody clothes and put them in a bag so that the Anbu could dispose of the evidence later.

It was about 30 minutes later after she had a proper wash and slid into the bed next to him.

"I should go wash up too, but show me your feet first" he whispered sleepily. He had been reading a book while waiting for her.

She settled herself against her pillow and put her feet out above the covers. Kakashi knelt next to her and examined her feet. He was quite gentle about it and now that the dirt was washed off they didn't look so bad. Without any words he applied some green chakra on to her feet and she felt her insides warming up at the sensation. It felt really nice to be cared for like this. Hinata could think of a bazillion times she had been injured worse than this when training and she had just gone to bed without bothering to heal herself.

After he was satisfied that both of her feet were healed, he turned and gave her a quirky smile that went straight to her heart. She resisted the urge to put her hands over her chest trying to calm her beating heart but she found herself smiling goofily back at him anyway.

"Goodnight Hinata" he whispered as he got out of the bed and dropped a kiss on her forehead.