*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.

Thanks to everyone who has been favoriting and following this story. And a special thanks to those of you who have reviewed and let me know what you think. I'm so sorry it's been forever since I've updated. I've been stuck. :( But, here is the next chapter. I wonder if it'll be up to standards. I hope so. Anyway, I really can't describe how much I appreciate you guys. Please continue to support me and I'll do the best I can to keep providing you with an awesome story. :) –Nira

Chapter 11

"Kakashi! You're out early. What's the occasion?" came the familiar voice of Genma from not too far ahead of the duo and Yuriko blushed and crossed her arms in a huff.

Kakashi had noticed Yuriko's restlessness of sitting in the house while she waited for her door to be restored to its former functional state and convinced her that they should get out and get some fresh air and relative quiet from the construction sounds. With that being said, since she was unable to enter her house, she had had no choice but to not only shower at Kakashi's, but to borrow a temporary outfit until she could get her own while they were out on the town as well and she was mortified that someone they both knew had seen her in such a deplorable state.

"Something came up," Kakashi stated as he gestured toward Yuriko.

Genma's gaze perked up upon seeing the young kunoichi dressed in a pair of Kakashi's black sleeping pants, an under armor shirt of his that was a couple sizes too big on her, and one of his masks. Even with the mask covering the majority of her face, the blush of her cheeks could be seen just above it, and her lavender eyes were defiant. The senbon-wielding shinobi couldn't help but to take note of how childish she seemed in the too-big clothes she was wearing and the rebellious pout, her hip cocked to the side, arms crossed across her chest, and eyes narrowed into a glare at nobody and nothing in particular. His mind instantly jumped to conclusions of what could have happened between the two silver-haired shinobi for the kunoichi to be dressed in her senpai's clothing, knowing Kakashi's reputation with the ladies.

"Oh, I get it." Genma exaggerated the "oh" by drawing it out and followed it with a chuckle. "You'll have to spill the details sometime, buddy."

"It's not like that, Genma," Kakashi defended with a sigh, instantly catching on to Genma's thought of what had happened between him and Yuriko by the way he'd said it. She hated him. There was no way in Hell she'd even think about sleeping with him, not that he'd want to anyway. It was confirmed when her glare hardened and was pointed directly at him before she scoffed and stomped away, rolling her eyes.

"Men are so gross…" she muttered loud enough for the two of them to hear as she pushed her way past them leaving them both rubbing their shoulders where she'd collided with them.

"Jeeze… Who shat in her coffee this morning?" Genma winced.

Kakashi simply sighed and followed her, shoving his hands into his pockets and leaving his friend behind in a confused stupor.

When they'd reached the clothing store, Yuriko perused the racks and seeing the price tags on some of the items she liked, she grumbled in defeat, knowing that she didn't have the money but tried to play it off by casually making her way to the clearance racks. Kakashi noticed and thought back to the other day, remembering his conversation with the old shopkeep lady and how she'd said that Yuriko looked upset that she couldn't afford the fan. To test his theory, he fingered through the clothes and picked a top that he thought might be cute on her—a lavender colored baby-doll sleeved tunic with flowers and butterflies embroidered along the pleated skirt. She'd been looking at it but put it back with that bitter look on her face, probably because of the price, a pretty penny of 4453 yen.

"What do you think about this one?" he inquired.

"Too expensive," she refuted immediately.

"Why not at least try it on? I think it would look nice on you."

She sighed and rolled her eyes as she snatched the fabric from his outstretched hand, continuing to peruse through the clearance racks for another, cheaper shirt and a pair of bottoms. Kakashi took it upon his self to look throughout the store to find a good outfit to suit her, keeping his cool, nonchalant demeanor as he lazily meandered through the racks and shelves, leafing through the myriad of fabrics with apparent boredom. When he saw Yuriko walking toward the dressing rooms with a small armful of clothing, he handed her his own small collection.

"What is this?" she demanded, eying him suspiciously.

"Just try them on. You don't have to buy them if you don't like them."

He shoved the clothes into her arms and gently pushed her toward the dressing room with a tense, awkward smile on his face that was meant to be supportive and encouraging but failed miserably. When she'd closed and locked the door, he let out a sigh and waited, leaning against the wall just outside of the dressing rooms, well aware of the fact that the female staff were having whispered conversations about him and decided to eavesdrop.

"Isn't that Kakashi Hatake? What's he doing in here?" the young woman with short, brown hair and big green eyes whispered to her taller, black-haired friend.

"He's as cute as everyone says, but who's that lady he's with? I've never seen her before."

"Maybe she's his sister or something. They're both wearing masks and their hair is practically identical."

"Maybe she's his girlfriend?"

"Or maybe they have that kind of relationship."

The girls blushed and gasped, giggling to themselves at the scandal of it and before he could roll his eyes and ignore them as he'd been doing up to that point, he heard Yuriko open the door and turned to look, thinking that she hadn't been in there long enough to try everything on.

"Is this some kind of joke?" she demanded, glaring at him with her hip cocked to the side and her fist rested against it.

No matter how much she looked at it, the fact remained—she was hardly clothed at all. The dark blue jean shorts were very short and high-waisted, accentuating the curves of her waist, hips, and rear end, and the top was a chiffon pink ruffled off-the-shoulder crop top that ended just below her supple breasts and she definitely hadn't been the one to pick them out.

"Yes, it's a joke. I didn't think you'd actually try them on or show me anything you tried on at all. I honestly expected you to throw them at me once you'd found them."

"Do you pull this kind of prank on every woman you spend any kind of time with? And how did you even know my size? You haven't been snooping through my things, have you, senpai?"

"I'm offended. If you must know, you're the first woman I've ever actively gone shopping with. And as far as knowing your size, let's just say that I've had plenty of practice in guessing."

"You're fucking disgusting," she scoffed, whipping around and returning to the confines of the dressing room.

"I swear that was the only scanty outfit in the pile that I handed to you. It really was meant to be a joke but you saw them and tried them on anyway… why is that?"

A slight blush crept to her cheeks. Why had she tried them on? She wasn't a huge fan of the color pink and she'd always thought that high waist pants and shorts were for people with a better coke-bottle shape than hers, not that she was without curves at all. Not saying another word she quickly stripped, putting on the next outfit of a pair of faded dark blue destroyed jeans and a gray short-sleeved tunic with a plunging back and draped neckline that revealed a bit of her chest, but not too much that it made her uncomfortable. It was another outfit that Kakashi had picked and she cocked an eyebrow, thinking that this one actually looked really good on her and was in good taste. It was casual but still slightly dressy and with the right accessories, she knew she could make the outfit stand out if she ever wanted to go out with Kurenai again, hopefully not in such a large group next time.

Kakashi had assumed that he wasn't getting an answer to his question and heard that she'd taken the outfit off and was changing into another. When the sound of cloth rustling had stopped and Yuriko had gone quiet, he noticed that she wasn't grumbling or opening the door to scold him again so he guessed that she liked what she was trying on, whatever it was. He then heard a bit more rustling followed by a sneer that he'd learned to equate with her disappointed bitterness before the shuffling started up again, indicating that she was changing yet again. This happened a few more times before she finally came out of the changing room, the dissatisfaction plastered on her face.

"Did you find something you liked?" he inquired.

She shoved a pile of clothes into his chest, keeping only one outfit and walking toward the register. Upon further inspection, he noted that the only items she'd kept had had clearance tags on them confirming his suspicion that she was out of money. One of the employees, the brunette, came over and asked if there was anything she could take from Kakashi, so he handed her the pile of clothes that Yuriko wasn't buying with a smile.

"Sorry about you having to put all of this back," he apologized for Yuriko.

"Oh, don't worry about it. It's a part of the job," she smiled back pleasantly before walking off to return the items to their proper places on the racks.

Yuriko finished paying for her things and asked if she could change into them right away while Kakashi waited, leaning against the check-out counter, removing his favorite book from his pocket and flipping it open to the page he'd been reading before. It wasn't long before Yuriko returned and asked for a bag to put the clothes she had been wearing in and Kakashi glanced up to see her in a simple outfit of light blue destroyed jeans and a simple violet camisole and still wearing his mask. The two walked out of the store, Kakashi still absorbed in his book and Yuriko wanting to get rid of him as quickly as possible.

"Thank you for your hospitality, senpai, but I'll be okay on my own now. I'll wash your clothes and bring them back to you as soon as possible."

"Well, since I'm out, is there anything else you'd like to do?"

"Nothing that I want company for."

"Do you really dislike me that much that you don't even want to be anywhere near me?"

"Yes."

"Why? Have I done anything in specific to upset or offend you, aside from the outfit?"

"Do you really want to know?" she snapped, reeling around to face him, her expression vicious and promising words of venom. "I hate you because you're a vile, perverted womanizing pig of a human being who has no sense of urgency. At first, you just irritated me with your tardiness but now I think it's intentional with all the bullshit excuses you give whenever you are late. And the fact that you read that repulsive book in public without even a glimmer of a sense of decency and that you have a reputation for sleeping around makes you all the more revolting. I've seen too many men like you and they were all scum who got what they deserved in the end.

"I don't like you. I don't trust you. We are not friends. We have no relationship of any sort outside of work or as neighbors. I want nothing to do with you, so you can stop this friendly buddy-buddy act that you've got going on right now. You don't know anything about me and I know more than enough about you to despise you. Like I said, I appreciate your hospitality from last night, but that's as far as it goes between us, got it?"

Kakashi slowly closed his book and returned it to its place in his pants pocket before he leaned in closer to Yuriko until he was at her eye level with his arms lax and hands in his pockets. His expression was stoic, but his mind was seething. He slowly lifted his headband and both of his eyes penetrated into Yuriko's soul and spilled out darkness both entirely different from and similar to her own. Her eyes widened, a terror running down her spine and paling her complexion as a wave of nausea swept through her. She wasn't caught in a genjutsu, she knew for sure of that, but the dread of being caught in one was very real.

"Be careful what you assume, Yuriko. Just as I know nothing about you, you know nothing about me. I have been trying to be courteous and welcoming toward you since you got here but you test my patience. You think you know so much but you are truly a fool."

He stood back up and took a step around her, casually replacing his headband over his Sharingan while she stood frozen to the spot staring where his eyes had been. It wasn't until she couldn't feel his presence anymore that she finally broke free of the trepidation that his gaze had caused and collapsed, gasping for the breath that she hadn't realized she'd been holding as she clutched at her heart.

Kurenai and Asuma had been out and happened to be passing by when they'd seen the conversation between Kakashi and Yuriko. They hadn't heard anything, but they'd seen Yuriko's expression when Kakashi had moved in closer and it was enough to worry the two when he casually walked away and she collapsed. The two made eye contact and made their way over to where Yuriko was.

"Yuriko?" Kurenai called and Yuriko's eyes were wide as they darted up to look at the source of the sound that had startled her out of her thoughts. "Is everything okay?"

Yuriko's head swiveled around to see if Kakashi was still nearby, but when he wasn't anywhere to be seen, she sighed in relief, though she couldn't shake the dreadful feeling their conversation had left.

"Yeah… I'm fine…" she stated, standing and dusting herself off, holding the bag tighter in her grasp.

"What happened?"

"It's nothing. I, uh… I have to go…"

Yuriko bowed briefly before hurrying away, shaking her head and running a hand through her hair as she made her way through the village. She needed to let off steam, but she was hardly dressed for training and it was broad daylight so it wouldn't be wise of her to go for a swim, else she might be seen in her nudity. She was anxious and didn't know how to relieve her anxiety if she couldn't physically work it out due to her wardrobe restrictions. It was going to be a very long day and it had only just begun.