Chapter IV: The Handkerchief
Nothing extraordinary happened after the convoy reached its destination except that Sasuke almost choked on a fishbone during dinner. Offering to buy Kakashi a meal had proved unsuccessful in exposing his face again, much to Naruto and Sasuke's chagrin.
Sakura refused to speak to Kakashi the whole night. He should have know that she was fit to travel and her ire towards the all-knowing Kakashi-sensei was justified for he had failed to notice that Sakura's protests were unfeigned. This did not count the fact that her medical knowledge surpassed Kakashi's by a generous margin. Still, it was his fault.
The feudal lord had strongly Sakura to a formal party the day after their arrival, which she had attempted to decline as humbly as she could with a straight face. After a skirmish of profuse apologies and goading on the verge of orders, Sakura was pushed to accept the invitation after the man coaxed her with an extended invitation to Naruto, Kakashi, and with a slight hesitation, Sasuke.
Biting her lip and fidgeting with her teacup, Sakura waited for the right time to announce the team's sudden invitation. Naruto would be estatic for the free food, so that made one happy camper. Kakashi, she could care less about right now. Sasuke, however…
"Sakura? What's wrong? You've been really quiet today." Sasuke noted Sakura's lack of verve and had waited until there was a lull in the men's conversation to ask what ailed her.
"Eh… Well… I-I have some… news…" Sakura shrunk into her seat, realizing belatedly that it was a bad idea to agree to the rest of the team's invitation without their permission.
"We're going to a party tomorrow."
"Yay!" As expected, Naruto threw his hands up in the air in child-like joy by the word 'party'. And as expected, Sasuke and Kakashi was less enthused.
"When is it?"
"Sakura, why didn't you consult us?"
"Tomorrow night," Sakura answered Sasuke, ignoring Kakashi.
"He said that he would give us things to wear," she continued with a little more hesitation.
Sasuke shrugged. "You gave him your word. We can't let you tarnish our reputation as a team."
Sakura laughed weakly and jumped as Naruto slammed a generous amount of legal tender on the table, earning everyone's attention. "1,500 ryou says that he's gonna make Sasuke dress up in a chicken suit." While no one accepted his offer, Naruto was rewarded with a Vengeful Uchiha Punch on the back of his head and made his brow collide violently into the table.
"So, will this interfere with the real mission?" Sasuke, blithely observing the fruit of his previous feat before downing his tea. All eyes turned to the leader. Naruto also lifted his head to look at Kakashi while revealing a bruising forehead.
Kakashi paused to quickly mull over the facts once more.
"Nope."
—
They convened at midnight with Kakashi's promise of revealing the 'real mission'. Naruto's excitement of engaging in an important mission, however, was doused by the time Kakashi arrived. He was not hours late as usual, but late enough to cause discontentment on his teammate's behalf.
"I was having this dream of meeting you guys here and didn't realize it wasn't real until Naruto ate me."
"Liar" growled said ninja. Sakura smothered a giggle. Sasuke tried to picture Naruto eating Kakashi and stopped immediately as images of Naruto dining on an arm came to his mind a bit too clearly.
"So. Our mission?" The quicker the meeting ended the better.
"Ah yes… Well, it's espionage." Naruto's face fell. Espionage meant sneaking around and being stealthy. Espionage meant no Rasengan. Therefore, espionage meant boredom.
"The Cloud has been a bit secretive lately and Tsunade-sama wants us to figure out what's going on. There have been rumors that the Cloud is preparing for war, but we still need more information to know what we're dealing with." Another war. Naruto glanced at Sakura, whose eyes now mirrored the weariness back when she had first witnessed the aftermath of Orochimaru's invasion. It was barely five years since the last war against that psychopath and his minions. Even before a new generation of ninjas had been raised, there was already a possibility that the weakened Hidden Leaf Village would have to expend their dwindling forces again.
"Why were we not told of this during the briefing?" Sasuke was a bit irritated that Kakashi was the only one who knew what was going on.
"… Spies? In Konoha?" Sakura came to the conclusion first.
"Yup."
"But why? We don't have anything to hide. Couldn't we just throw them out?" Naruto was exasperated as soon as he learned that his Tsunade-baachan was allowing such activities take place. Since Tsunade was instilled as the new Hokage, Naruto, despite his knack of tacking 'baa-chan' in place of her title, had feelings toward the Godaime that were much like a little brother with a massive Sister Complex.
"It's a political maneuver," Sasuke explained, quickly catching onto Sakura's drift "if we had caught the spies, we would be asking for war. In the state our village is in right now, we have no way to support one.
"Unfortunately, that's why we can't afford to be caught. Whatever this jutsu or weapon is, I don't think it would be a good idea for Konoha to become a testing ground for it." The group fell silent for a moment.
"So where do we start?" Sakura asked.
"Tomorrow. At the party. Establish connections and collect information. We'll be on the run for most of the mission, so be sure to enjoy the next few days." The meeting was adjourned. Sakura swiftly returned to her room and replaced the shadow clone lying in her bed, now aware of the full burden on her and her party.
And she smiled in anticipation.
—
The team was busy that morning on receiving a list of guests, completing a thorough research on every member that was formally invited over a hearty bowl of ramen. Reviewing a full afternoon's worth of studious sweat continued well into the evening.
Everyone was piled into Kakashi's room when the coat rack arrived of formalities were delivered. Naruto tore through the dust jacket of an article addressed to Sasuke and expressed clear dissatisfaction when discovering that Sasuke's attire for that evening did not resemble poultry in the slightest bit.
The men were to wear classic formalities; black and white tuxedos. Each seized their assigned package and decided to designate a plot in the room where they could change. This was more efficient time-wise, which was more than they could say for their leader. Rather than changing, he seemed to have set himself to scrutinizing every stitch on his clothing.
"Alright," Sakura said, handing a piece of paper riddled with various arrows, characters and symbols to Naruto as she closed the door to the bathroom.
"Let's review the list of the Big Kahunas" Sakura's voice was heard quite clearly on the other side of the bathroom door "We have the owner of the second largest trading company in the Lightning Country…"
"Whom our client has a habit of helping in extremely generous ways," Kakashi added
"…Another feudal lord who happens to be our client's brother-in-law…"
"Women's rights advocates should look into this marriage," Sasuke quipped dully as he removed the cufflinks he had been holding in between his teeth.
"…And also the secretary of the current Raikage. Very important, top priority" Naruto did a double take at the rest Sakura's notes and found that the remaining names were crossed off accompanied with motives in red, miniscule kanji.
"…That's it?" he fastened his cuffs and stared at the bow tie. Now what was this?
"Yeah, but there've been rumors that he's a chronic womanizer and can't control his acts of perversion too well…" Sakura's voice trailed off. An image of Jiraiya immediately came to Naruto's mind. Perverts. They were everywhere.
A long silence had abruptly weighed down the room that had been so lively a few seconds ago.
"Sakura?" The prolonged silence had convinced Sasuke to knock on the door to assure Sakura that her team was still waiting for her. Naruto rattled the knob to find it locked. He looked at Sasuke, both exasperated and at the same time unsure of the next course of action. That was when Kakashi decided to step in.
"Sakura, I'll count to three before I come in or you say something." There was still no reply.
"One…two…three." Kakashi gripped the doorknob.
"I'm not going."
There was a general feeling of shock and the three men looked at each of their faces, confused at Sakura's declaration.
Not going? They needed Sakura to be at the party. Her presence was possibly the easiest and only way for them to establish good relations with their targets. Especially since they were all male.
"Ah ha ha ha! Sakura-chan, it's about the pervert, right? Don't worry; we'll protect you from him!" Naruto attempted to pinpoint and alleviate the kunoichi's apprehensions.
"It's not that. I'm not going."
"Then what's wrong? We're running out of time," Sasuke warned impatiently. Whatever happened in the lavatory, the event had rendered Sakura to be quite distraught. We don't have time for pre-party jitters, dammit.
Kakashi stared at the ceiling for a moment and thought upon this sudden turn of events.
"Should we talk about it?" Another silence. Kakashi released the doorknob as Sakura ultimately cracked open the door, allowing enough room for the men to see two bright green pupils. Looking at the trio's questioning countenances, Sakura considered Kakashi's proposal.
"Naruto…Sasuke-kun…I'm sorry, but can you guys go outside? Just for awhile," She pleaded. Sakura felt that she needed someone who had nerves of steel at this time. Someone who had the emotional stability to keep calm in every kind of situation. Especially when on issues involving women. And that was where Naruto and Sasuke fell short.
"We'll wait for you at the party." Someone had to be on time.
The door closed and two were alone. Kakashi crossed his arms and asked, "So what's the problem?"
"It's…um…" Sakura picked at the doorknob for a few minutes. She was stalling and Kakashi knew that. Yet he was more than willing to wait, mostly out of curiosity.
Sakura sighed in resignation and swung the door open.
—
Naruto pressed his ear to the door, hoping to make out anything coherent that would give information on Sakura's current plight. Beside him, Sasuke pulled on his cloak and handed Naruto an extra.
"You idiot, not even a ninja can hear through those doors." Sasuke was exasperated the blond's lack of knowledge and courtesy. Naruto only pressed his ear harder against the door and replied, "Sakura's out of the bathroom."
"If Sakura wanted us outside, she obviously doesn't trust us to help her with her problem. So stop eavesdropping and let's go."
"…I think Kakashi-sensei just asked her what's wrong."
"…" Sasuke stared at the hotel carpet in contemplation.
"I installed a bug in the ceiling."
—
The scarlet dress Sakura had received exposed her shoulders and a liberal amount of cleavage. Her legs fared a bit better. Though the skirt barely stretched mid-thigh, a long, translucent square of lace succeeded in veiling her lower limbs. To a certain extent.
Several minutes passed. The feeling of uneasiness grew stronger as the clock had become unbearably raucous.
"What's wrong?" he asked. The poor man's knowledge on women and their clothing was limited to their worries of looking fat. Sakura did not look and was not fat in all possible definitions, which served as leverage to further his confusion.
"I can't go out wearing this!" Sakura exploded, instantly crossing her arms to cover her bosom.
"You'd think that with all his money, the toad would be able to afford a full dress! Have you even seen the back! It's not even there! This," she spat vehemently, pointing to the offending article on her skin, "Is a glorified handkerchief!"
Finished with her brief outburst, Sakura sighed once more and turned her back to Kakashi. True to her word, there was nothing that censored her bare back from her neck to her waist.
Kakashi cleared his throat and waited awhile before speaking.
"Sakura, all four of us have to be present at this party. There's a good possibility that we will be able to finish this mission quicker if we establish connections."
"No."
"Sakura, we're a team, remember?" His eye was insinuating that irritating smile. She was losing this argument again
Sakura's shoulders slumped and she whined, "But couldn't I just stay behind? Aren't you?"
"Nope. I'll be there as soon as I do some last minute preparations."
She stared at the floor for a moment. "Is there anything else I can wear?" she asked dejectedly. Sitting was going to be problematic.
"Some jewelry, a pair of gloves and a fan," he replied, handing to Sakura a box. Now would not be a good time to remind the implications of her lascivious dress nor the extravagant accessories. As lewd as their client had been, he had good tastes in women apparel. Maybe that was what made him perverted.
Kakashi watched Sakura slip on the gloves as she made her way past him to the exit. She touched the knob in slight hesitation before gripping it tightly to turn it.
"Sakura." She stopped. Both had their backs turned toward each other's, yet neither of them turned around.
"You look beautiful."
A heat crept up her neck and spread wildly into her cheeks and across her face. Her heart seemed to have bloated which explained the increased pressure on her lungs, causing difficulty in breathing. Sakura fumbled for words and spit out the first ones that came to mind.
"Shut up, sensei."
He laughed in reply.
—
Author's Notes:
Whee! It's another long (talky) chapter with an OOC Kakashi!
...Or is he? I dunno, he's such a strange/mysterious person, and Mr. Kishimoto doesn't really go in depth with him (Like Sakura).
I finally decided that I need a beta! But not now...
Do I make weird titles? I know that my summery is a bit misleading when it comes to tone... Oh well. I'll just change it.
Demeter1: You were the one who convinced me to get a beta! Yay for influence!
yukari youkai My knowledge of Gundam Wing is limited to my previously GW obsessed friends who didn't like Relena (Just saying I don't know much about her .;)
"Fanartist"