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Reading Underneath the Underneath
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When she came to training one morning with a heady smile and bruised lips, he knew it was over.
Naruto was oblivious as expected, only slightly suspicious but readily delighted that his Sakura-chan hadn't greeted him with the customary whack on the head but instead, a cheery greeting and a radiance that lasted throughout the day. His protege's reaction was more puzzling, the dark haired boy only flickering his eyes from Sakura's flushed cheeks to the distinctly red marks on her neck before turning away, albeit stiffer than usual. Kakashi grinned knowingly behind his mask and wondered at the lack of reaction. Perhaps his previous suspicions on Sasuke's true feelings towards his pink haired admirer had been placed too much hope on- he'd always thought the Uchiha avenger had been the jealous type. Public possessiveness over his cherry blossom would be taboo for him of course, but Kakashi had at least half expected him to quietly seek out the trespasser and teach him a painful lesson or two.
The next day was the same- her secret smiles, Naruto's blissful bafflement, and Sasuke's too-blank face and careful indifference of Sakura's glowing eyes. His lone eye saw more than most thought, but that day he made special efforts to keep a closer watch on his trio. Beneath his mask, he pretended not to hear Naruto's innocent questions about the "big red bruises" on his teammate's neck, and Sakura's embarrassed stammers of an excuse that well no, no one had hurt her and it was urm, a... mosquito bite. However, while he pretended not to see her former crush's ill-masked irritation, he couldn't resist baiting the boy by mentioning, almost offhandedly, that that was one big mosquito. The day ended with him pocketing the famous Uchiha Glare ™ and almost regrettably, no word of any beaten up male found.
It was amusing, and slightly intriguing, to watch his team's interactions throughout the following week. While he was vaguely curious to know which lucky genin had managed to snare his female student, he satisfied himself with hoping it wasn't Gai's favorite- oh kami, the horrors if Gai found they shared something in common- and aggravating Sasuke with sly remarks. The Konoha heartthrob was hilarious nowadays; he made a careful note of the fluctuating moods, mostly confused resentment, that Sakura evoked. Still, while one member of the team was irritably distracted most of the time, he was pleased to find the kunochi finally catching up. After the first week of giddy delight, she'd finally settled down and started to seriously work her limits instead of working for the Uchiha's attention.
Strangely, she really did seem happier these days with her secret catch. He'd assumed she was playing the jealousy game since all the signs were there- the warmth still in her eyes when upon lighting up on Sasuke, the careful efforts not to shower too much affection, the half-impatient, half-quizzical looks she sent his way when he wasn't looking. But when she kept coming back practically glowing with happiness and the sporadic poorly-hidden hickey, he'd wondered whether she was playing for both sides. Somehow, that thought was disturbing. Sakura had always struck him as the loyal type- sometimes, almost too loyal for her own good.
Something still wasn't adding up, though, Kakashi mused as he stretched out on a tree branch with his trusty book in hand, half an eye on Naruto creeping up behind him. One month since that fateful morning, and still Sasuke hadn't made his move. He hadn't believed there was that much patience in the boy, but Uchihas always did have a knack for being stubborn to the point of idiocy at times. Hopefully the lecture he gave his raven-haired protege yesterday on him being unfocused -with a subtle nudge to solve the problem by confronting it- would finally push the boy into action before it was too late. His silence had been encouraging, Kakashi thought distantly as he grabbed a triumphantly charging Naruto by the scruff and held him at arm's length. It showed he was actually listening for once.
"-ack! Legoo of me! You didn't even see me!"
Kakashi dropped the struggling boy unceremoniously on the ground below. "Aa... you're too noisy. Don't snicker when you're trying to attack your enemy," he added absently.
Naruto's loud indignation became part of the background and Kakashi read a little more of his book while waiting for silence to settle again. He looked down to see the blond scuffing the ground with his foot and muttering furiously under his breath.
"Oi, Kakashi-sensei? Did you hear about Sasuke-basta... Sasuke and Sakura-chan?"
Kakashi hid his diamond bright interest under a well-faked yawn. "Hmm? What about them?"
Naruto looked mournful. "You didn't know either? They're going out now, in public. And th-"
"What about the other boy?"
The blue eyes looked blank. "What other boy?"
Kakashi hesitated. Something was tugging at the back of his mind, insistently and disturbingly. But of course, it couldn't be possible; this was Sasuke they were talking about...
Naruto was still talking. "-told me to tell you thank you. Or at least Sakura-chan made him tell you because of course Mr high and mig-"
"What?"
Th ramen obsessed boy gave a long-suffering sigh and glared at him accusingly. The older man tried to look as apologetic as a man in a mask could.
"Sasuke said, "said Naruto slowly, enunciating every word, "thank you. About the talk yes. ter. day. Sakura-chan said if it weren't for you, he still wouldn't want to come out in public." The voice changed to a wail. "But why didn't you tell me, sensei? For one whole month you didn't even give a tinny winny hint they were going out in secret! Whyy not? I'm a team member, remember?"
Well, Kakashi had thought he was a team member too, but right now all he could do was keep his jaw from dropping.
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i'm a closet romantic
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Well, here's the fluffy one I promised. Many thanks to those who reviewed, though due to problems with ffnet (damn fic wouldn't be shown on the listing when I uploaded the second one) there weren't many reviews for the previous chapt.
::evil cackle:: Couldn't resist the title for this one, I tell ya.
Concrit, requests, andreviews all very welcomed and appreciated.