*Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in it. I simply borrow them for my own musings and fantasies and do not get paid for their use in said musings or fantasies.

Chapter 6

Yuriko and Kurenai walked into a dimly lit bar and proceeded to make their way through the bar to a patio area in the back that had a large circular fireplace. It was a Friday night and it was busy, but Yuriko could tell that more people would show up throughout the night and it would get crowded. There was music playing low from somewhere so guests could still have a decent conversation without having to scream to hear each other and there was a full-service bar only a few feet from their spot at the fireplace.

Around the fireplace, there were already a few people seated with drinks and Yuriko recognized two of them as the other two jounin from Kurenai's team and one of them as the shinobi who had escorted her to the Hokage's office when she'd first arrived in the village, Genma. There was also a woman with shaggy purple hair in a fanned out ponytail and pale brown eyes dressed in a little black dress that ended just above her knees, and two male shinobi still in their uniforms. One had long spiked black hair, a bandage across his nose and cheeks, and his headband across his forehead, and the second that she didn't recognize had long brown hair with his bangs covering his right eye and a bandana style forehead protector. As they approached, Kurenai smiled wide and greeted everyone and they all greeted her back.

"Sorry I'm late. I brought a friend of mine with," she stated. "Everyone, this is Yuriko. She's new to the village and has become an official Konoha shinobi recently, but she's very talented. Yuriko, you've kind of met my teammates Guy and Asuma."

Yuriko averted her eyes, feeling bad for having knocked the wind out of and pointed a kunai at Guy but she courteously bowed anyway. "It's nice to actually meet you."

"And then we have Anko, Kotetsu, Izumo, and Genma. Anko is my best friend, Kotetsu and Izumo are best friends and practically joined at the hip, even at work, and watch out for Genma. He's a bit of a lady's man," Kurenai continued loud enough for everyone to hear to obviously poke fun as she gestured to each in turn.

Yuriko forced a smile and bowed in greeting, already uncomfortable with the situation that she'd found herself in. There were too many people, even in just this small group, and to make it even worse, the majority of them were men. She took a seat beside Asuma, praying that he was the safest bet between him and Genma after Kurenai's warning that Genma was a ladies' man and kept her eyes downcast, being the outsider of the group as the others struck up a conversation. Yuriko tuned them out, watching the bar goers outside of their group and coming to conclusions about each person she observed.

That guy with the scruffy facial hair in a yukata was a womanizer. He was offering to buy drinks for pretty women left and right, and when someone turned him down, he just shrugged and moved on to the next one. That girl with a pound of make-up on and the dyed-blonde hair was easy. She was taking drinks from anyone who offered and flirting with any guy who gave her attention. She'd probably leave with the guy who flattered her the most by the end of the night. The two girls dancing in the corner were very pretty, but they were obviously there for the music and the constant compliments and attempted grinding on from behind they were getting from men of various levels of drunkenness were annoying and ruining their mood. The guy in a suit sitting alone at the bar had had a rough day at work and was drinking his problems away. The five tumblers in front of him all still had ice cubes rather than water in them, so he'd downed them all within a ten-minute span, Yuriko guessed. When Yuriko heard her name called, she reeled back to focus her attention back on the group.

"Sorry?" Yuriko inquired.

"Do you drink?" Anko repeated and Yuriko stared at her for a brief moment, processing what it was that Anko was asking her before she responded.

"I've never had alcohol before."

"What?! Why not?!" Anko, Genma, and Kotetsu gasped in shock.

"I've traveled by myself a lot so I didn't want to risk inhibition. The world is dangerous enough without it when you're alone."

"I suppose that's understandable… Well, you're not alone or traveling, so would you care for a drink?"

Yuriko smiled beneath her mask without feeling and politely declined having had only just met everyone and not feeling comfortable enough to let herself go around them quite yet. She also wasn't sure how she'd react to the alcohol and didn't want to risk making a fool of herself in public. The evening was really relaxed for the most part, with light conversation between the group that Yuriko would tune out to observe her surroundings and people watch until someone asked her a question directly. About an hour later Yuriko found that she'd grown bored, not knowing how to interact with more than a couple people at once. She'd almost given up and decided to leave but when she looked toward the door, mapping her escape, she saw a familiar gravity-defying silver hairstyle and scoffed. If he'd been invited and had agreed to come to this gathering as well, he was definitely far from on time.

"Kakashi!" Guy smiled, waving him over and as the platinum-haired shinobi made his way over, he was shocked to see his newest teammate there as well.

"Yuriko? What are you doing here? I didn't expect you to be the party type," he inquired, half-heartedly waving to everyone else as the slightest acknowledgment of their existence while his attention was obviously focused on Yuriko.

"Kurenai invited me. She thought it'd be good for me to get out and meet people."

Kakashi simply nodded and without asking or waiting to be invited, he took it upon himself to have a seat beside Yuriko, completing the circle of people around the fireplace. Yuriko cringed a bit internally about being surrounded by men, but she suppressed the urge to just get up and leave with the hopes that this might actually turn into an interesting night now that her mysterious captain had joined the group. Perhaps she could learn more about him and get insight into his notorious and oh-so-irritating tardiness.

"I'm surprised you came, Kakashi," Asuma stated with a smile as he lit his cigarette. "Are you drinking with us this evening?"

"Maybe I'll have a couple. It was a rough mission and might help take the edge off…" Kakashi sighed, rubbing the back of his neck.

Yuriko noticed that he looked more tired than he had throughout the mission. There were visible bags under his uncovered eye and his body seemed deflated though his muscles were still clearly defined. Kakashi glanced over at Yuriko, feeling her eyes set on him and found himself staring into her pale purple eyes before she averted her gaze and called for a waiter to come over. She ordered a mixed drink, figuring that would be the best way to ease herself into the drinking scene and Kakashi ordered a double whiskey on the rocks. When their drinks had come out, the questions started up again.

"Kakashi-senpai, how do you know Yuriko?" Izumo inquired, taking another sip of his beer.

"She's my newest teammate," Kakashi stated and Izumo, Kotetsu, and Genma all almost choked on their drinks.

"What?!"

"Is that a bad thing?" Yuriko asked, their reactions a bit unusual.

"Kurenai, why didn't you tell us she was ANBU?!" Genma harshly whispered across the low flames.

Yuriko glared, not liking that they were talking about here when she was obviously right there and had asked a question that went unanswered. "I'm still here, you know. You could have just asked."

"Sorry, sorry. It's just… you don't look… I mean, the mask, yeah, but I thought it was just a fashion statement or something."

"Why do you wear a mask, Yuriko? If I remember correctly, you didn't have one when you first got here and I don't remember seeing any scars or anything like that that you might want to cover up," Kurenai chimed in her own curiosity.

Yuriko remained silent and looked down into the drink in her hands that she still had yet to take a sip from. She shrank into herself, her thoughts going dark. 'Who says a scar has to be visible for someone to want to hide it?'

"You're so pretty. It's a shame that you cover it up." Kurenai had seen her friend's discomfort and attempted to help lighten the mood with the compliment to steer the conversation in a different direction.

Yuriko blushed and glanced at Kurenai who smiled at her in return. Yuriko had heard before that she was pretty, but it had always been said by a male who was only trying to flatter her so he could get her in bed with him. It had grown to have little meaning to her, but hearing someone she would consider her first friend since childhood say it made her feel like it might actually be true.

"Let's play a game," Kotetsu suggested, trying to lighten the mood some more and piquing Yuriko's interest.

"What kind of game?" she chirped.

"It's been a while since we've played 'I Never,'" Genma suggested and the others seemed to agree but Yuriko tilted her head slightly.

"What's that?" she asked.

Anko explained the rules and Kurenai smiled, chiming in that it'd be a fun way to learn about the other players without the awkwardness of 21 questions directed at a single person. The group agreed, and the game began with Yuriko stating that she'd never played before. The game continued with the friends making jabs at each other with inside or obvious knowledge or jokes. It was indeed a good way for Yuriko to learn about each of the members of the group, but she was particularly interested in what Kakashi had done. She would never have guessed that he'd ever been in a romantic relationship of any sort, but it made her wonder who the lucky lady had been to see his face or if she'd seen his face at all.

Yuriko's turn came around again and she mentioned that she'd never been to an academy and the whole game seemed to come to a screeching halt as everyone looked at her, unbelieving.

"What do you mean you've never been to an academy?" Kotetsu asked, baffled that it was even possible for her to be ANBU without ever having attended school.

"We didn't have one where I come from and I never stayed anywhere for long enough to ever attend."

"Wow… you must have had an amazing teacher at some point, then," Genma smirked, after having had curled under his finger and taken his drink.

Yuriko couldn't help but cringe, realizing that that had been Genma's attempt at a compliment toward her. It seemed the more he drank, the flirtier he got and apparently his eyes were set on her for the evening. She was not looking forward to whatever else might come up throughout the game if that's where his mind was headed.

Instead, she turned her thoughts to her first teacher after the invasion of her village but she quickly brushed the thought away and glanced around the circle, counting everyone's fingers. She realized that Anko seemed to be winning with only four fingers down and Kurenai only had two fingers remaining. Kakashi and Asuma weren't too far behind with three fingers remaining each. The game continued, and Yuriko was beginning to grow bored again. Soon it was down to just Yuriko and Anko, the apparent reigning victor of the game since the group had first begun playing together. Each only had two fingers remaining up and it had become a battle for the title in Anko's eyes, despite Yuriko's disinterest.

"I've never had sex," Anko stated and Yuriko twitched.

Anko had hit a very touchy topic for Yuriko in her drunkenness over her self-proclaimed title as the queen of I Never. Yuriko grimaced as she took her drink and put a finger down, consciously recomposing and squashing her emotions so they wouldn't show and betray to Anko that it was a touchy subject. Though Anko was too drunk to notice Yuriko's emotional slip-up, Kakashi had.

"I've never masturbated," Yuriko stated and Anko blushed as she curled under a finger and took her drink, evening up the score once again.

"I've never slept in the same bed as someone of the opposite gender," Anko said and Yuriko remained stoic, though her mood slightly darkened and her finger remained up.

"I've never taken a promotion test," Yuriko stated, decidedly finishing the game.

She hadn't liked where Anko's train of thought and prodding were headed and put a stop to it before it could progress any further. Anko huffed before she downed the rest of her drink. Her cheeks were flushed and her expression was pouty and Yuriko had seen enough people belligerently drunk before to know that Anko was at least a little bit drunk and sighed, deciding to let Anko's probing slide just this once.

"We have a new champion!" Guy yelled a little too excitedly, his cheeks also flushed and a huge, face-splitting grin exposing every single one of his gleaming white teeth as he let out a raucous laugh. "A round of drinks for everyone!"

"I think I'll pass, thanks," Yuriko stated after finishing her drink and firmly replacing her mask over her nose and mouth. "It's been fun, but I think I've had enough social interaction for today."

Without another word, she left money for her drink and a tip and made her way through the crowd to the door, ignoring the protests of the group, asking her to stay. She'd reached her limit of how much time she could spend interacting with a group of almost complete strangers or in a crowded area. The topic of the game hadn't made her want to stay any longer, either. It was time for her to make her exit.