Prompt: Of course I've seen Kakashi's face
Ita/Saku Week 2021 🌸🍡
~*~Cross-posted on A03
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She remembered the exact moment she finally glimpsed her sensei's face… he had been downed by one of the many Pein's invading the village during the Akatsuki insurrection, Tsunade gave her the okay to go after Choji reported in, she rushed to her sensei's side hoping he was still alive but unfortunately Choji's heaving sobs and his urgency told her it was grave.
She hastily approached and saw his still tranquil form. Tears falling down her face she willed herself to laugh thinking this was one of his sick jokes, pretending to be dead to fool the enemy?
"Kakashi-sensei… it's ok now… reinforcements are here… you can wake up now…." Sakura weakly begged.
He didn't move and she shakily hovered her hand over his wrist and waited for a pulse that never occurred.
Letting herself cry now, she caressed his perplexing mask and slid it down, she had always wondered what was behind it and finally observed her deceased sensei's face, he had kept hidden from the world and he was quite handsome it made her weep more.
When comrades and friends occasionally prompted her to reveal the true story of if she had ever seen Kakashi's face behind the mask, she always told the same story for consistency's sake.
Naruto, Sasuke and her decision to tell a fake version which was when they were promoted to Chunin, they agreed to take the bell test again to see how much they improved after being taught by 2 of the three Sannin, Orochimaru was an enemy of the village and Sasuke while waiting for the other two decided to take on some personal training from his father and brother to learn some exclusive Uchiha techniques.
"Naruto and Sasuke ket sensei distracted by double-teaming him with their new techniques while I set up the trap before joining them in cornering sensei, we finally stole the bells from his waistline belt hoop and tied him to the stump from our first test before taking off the mask and basking in our glorious victory" Sakura finished telling the epic tale to her audience of Uchiha Itachi, Shisui and Sai.
Sai laughed before clapping Shisui in the shoulder and Itachi stared hard into her eyes, analyzing her expressions.
"What….? Don't believe me?" she snubbed playfully.
"Haruno, do you think we seriously believe you? No one knows what is under that mask, not even the most elite ANBU black ops…" Shisui responded finally, knocking Sai off of him, who was still laughing uncontrollably.
"I have" Itachi admitted softly, finally looking at his food they were ignoring to listen to her epic story.
Sai and Shisui abruptly looked at Itachi in shock.
"Of course you did, you both were in the ANBU together" Sai pointed out blankly, not amused.
"Yeah seeing him in the buff isn't a very good story Ita-chan…" Shisui pouted, hoping for something more fun than some past ANBU post-mission.
"Hmph that wasn't the way I first saw Kakashi-san without his mask, Izumi talked me into helping her get an exclusive picture for her group of friends and bribed me with an all-exclusive dango shop offer I couldn't refuse" he explained tight-lipped and embarrassed.
When he opened his eyes, he gasped and crawled back because the three of them were almost in his lap in anticipation.
"You must tell us this story!" they demanded cheerfully together.
One evening after a difficult mission to secure hidden secrets out of Kumogakure, Itachi returned tired, hungry and praying for some rest. He underestimated teenage females, though, for when he entered the Uchiha clan compound he was kidnapped against his will and taken to one of the more obscure training grounds where they weaselled+ him into their plans. Capture an exclusive picture of Kakashi's full face… and they would reward him with his favourite sweets and an offer he couldn't refuse given how rare it was…
Itachi woefully agreed to their terms and he knew just the way.
Kakashi wasn't particularly fond of gorgeous women and some even suggested that maybe he had a slight preference towards men but he suspected that maybe Kakashi loved a girl in his past and she was now gone, for he did reveal the truth of his Sharingan and visited the stone memorial often. He liked women but didn't have a special interest anymore after perhaps a first love unrealized?
Itachi believed that appearance had no place in undertaking a mission, and he was wrong. Intel gathering was all about the perfect and believable disguises that no one would recognize.
As a child, Itachi was not interested in his personal appearance unless it interfered with his mobility. He allowed his hair to grow long and tied it back with a simple tie behind his back.
He often heard whispers that he took after his mother and if he had been born a daughter instead of the first son, he would have been quite the beauty.
He used it to his advantage and sought out his mother for some help. If that failed he may have to call in a favour to Yugao...
Arriving home, he bumped into Sasuke in the hallway who only nodded at him before entering his room across from his own. Itachi smiled, Sasuke used to be cute as a kid and as he got older he was trying his best to interpret their father's personality.
Mikoto was intrigued when Itachi explained the mission he needed to go on, typically they left this sort of thing to the kunoichis as it was easy to fool men and fools but occasionally a male could pull off a believable disguise and get in and out without a single battle occurring.
"You want my help in passing as a female?" she asked him again for clarification.
"Yes," he replied curtly, no emotion showing on his face.
"Itachi, unless you can change your voice and particular facial features such as the under bangs of your eyes, it will be quite difficult in making it realistic, especially since you work so closely with Hatake-san" she countered, not wanting to disappoint.
"If anyone could help I thought it would be you Kaa-san" Itachi admonished her getting up to leave, thinking of the next person that could help.
"Don't leave yet, I didn't say I couldn't do it but these things are going to hinder you and I'm just pointing out the obvious."
"I believe in you," he replied with a smile.
Calling in a small favour to Gai, Itachi arranged for him and some of his buddies to "force" Kakashi into going out and enjoying some of the village festivities, particularly all the traditional type.
Mikoto had given him a crash course in dance and traditional arts that all Uchiha women were taught, especially those who were trying to marry into the main family. Itachi had decided to invest in a blonde wig which he styled into a beautiful hair updo that he could place trinkets into.
He got green-coloured contacts to hide the plainness of his onyx-coloured eyes. Attire, he borrowed a sleek black kimono with cicadas and little triangles over it in blue and white.
He created the illusion of a curvy waist and an average bust and crept out of his shy and stoic personality into one that he knew well… confidence, slightly haughty but alluring enough to capture men's interest.
If backup material was needed, he reluctantly read and memorized lines from Kakashi's favourite book series… Icha Icha Paradise…
Joining the cast of the next show, Itachi showed off his newly acquired talents as a fake female and dancing along with the other woman.
Catching his one eye, Itachi held onto his target and almost tried casting genjutsu on him but held back at the last minute, he couldn't know he was a ninja or he would know who he was…
Biting his lip, Itachi spun around with the others and took center stage, he was given the task of performing a fan twirling dance for the final act and he even chose the song, one of his personal favourites. Sakura Yoru …
Kakashi followed him as he moved gracefully from one side to the other and Gai suddenly hit him in the back excited seeing Kakashi showing interest in something other than his books, eye contact was broken, Itachi waved the fan in front of his face and disappeared off stage.
Post-show, the dancers were allowed to mingle with the audience and Itachi looked for the loud and rowdy Gai, sitting in between the men, Itachi turned his attention to Kakashi and smiled lovingly at him before whispering a famous line from icha icha.
Kakashi whispered the response on instant and Itachi faked a blush, plus maybe even a little real blush in there as well for this whole thing was really embarrassing.
Keeping the drinks and conversation going, Itachi managed to get Kakashi drunk enough to convince him he wanted to kiss "her", Lowering his mask finally and moving in for the move.
Itachi pulled out his camera and took the picture.
Switching places with one of the other dancers, Kakashi got the kiss and Itachi retreated, feeling exhausted but smug that he managed to pull off the impossible.
Summoning Izumi to the training grounds in the middle of the night, he made the exchange.
"Here is what you requested, now please hand over the voucher…. Might I also add that I will never agree to such a request again Ask Shisui next time" He asked dully.
Izumi glanced over the merchandise before agreeing it was good quality before handing over two tickets to his favourite traditional cafe.
"You say no now Ita-chan but I may be able to convince you in the future" she smirked lightly before jumping back into the darkness.
Ending his tale, Shisui and Sai started laughing again and Sakura's mouth hangs open in true disbelief, Itachi actually cross-dressed as a woman to see Kakashi Hatake's face…
"What is enough to ask you to do that?" she dared to question.
Itachi reached inside one of his vest pockets before pulling out a brochure to one of the most famous hot spring resorts in tea country with a street full of the best traditional cafes.
"She gave me an exclusive pass of discounts and special offers that only the feudal lords are privy to…" he explained as the trio read over the fancy brochure.
Sakura was convinced that she would have to prompt her boys to create a better story about their sensei's face in the future, for Uchiha Itachi topped her story to hell and back.
As they started to leave, Sakura pulled Itachi into a nearby alleyway.
She admitted only to him that her story was fake as it sounded and she questioned if his story was true, or he was just a better storyteller than her?
He told her it was true...
"Sakura-san, for starters' if you wanted your tale to be more realistic then I would watch your facial expression's closer for they give you away… hm use the word epic only in a detailed description, otherwise just don't," Itachi told her his advice, looking thoughtful.
She blushed red.
"If I may ask? What's the real story?" he asked her softly.
"Pein's attack on the village… Choji reported in letting us know that Kakashi-sensei had sacrificed himself to save him… and the way he was crying and not holding his emotions together told me it was bad… when I got there he has passed and I looked at his face. Wanting to remember him as him and not as an elite ninja" she admitted.
Itachi sighed respecting her explanation.
"I can understand that. Well, that isn't the greatest story so I can see why you made3 up one that sounded better, have you told Naruto and Sasuke?"
"No, they think I haven't seen it yet, they haven't….".
Itachi thought for a moment before he offered her an idea for an alternate story she should propose to the boys.
She smiled, even though his tale was real, Uchiha Itachi was actually a great storyteller.
A/N: Happy Monday, I totally went back and re-watched Naruto episode 101 just to refresh my memory if team 7 had actually seen Kakashi's face and at that point, they had failed. I am also aware of Kakashi's alternate self among the village. Itachi would make a stunning woman and I think he could totally pull off a stunt I wrote but yeah. I hope you enjoyed this short story as it was inspired by the posted prompt at the top. I'll be posting all week, separate entries for this year's Ita/Saku Week 2021. As always feel free to leave me comments, likes, favourites, kudos, follows and bookmarks, on with platform.