Much thanks to reviews, particularly Caitiy. I can't help it--commas are my friends.
Sakura didn't cuff him, despite the very strong urge to do so. It wouldn't do to scare him away before she found out why he was here in the first place. She settled for gnashing her teeth together audibly and murmuring "Pervert" under her breath.
Said pervert pulled up a chair from another table and settled at the head of theirs, on Sakura's right.
While he was sitting, Sakura self-consciously glanced down at the shirt that had been the topic of so much interest recently. It might have been tight, but it wasn't bursting at the seams. And it had a pretty high collar, ending at the base of her neck. Hell, it even covered her flat stomach, unlike Ino's handkerchief of a shirt.
It split at the sides at hip level, making it comfortable and unrestrictive, great for combat. Besides, she liked the straps and buckles on the sides. It wasn't indecent Sakura decided, despite the fact that when she was a little cold everyone seemed to notice.
"So," Kakashi started casually. "Who's paying?"
Naruto and Sakura sweat-dropped simultaneously. All four gave him identically dirty looks.
"Ah, ha-ha, joking." He laughed nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand.
He reached for a menu with the other, scanning the pages briefly before closing it and putting it back on to the table. When he looked up all four where still staring at him silently.
"...what?" He asked, eyes shifting around in bemusement.
"Well, we were just, uh, wondering what brings you here tonight. To dinner. With us." Sakura blurted out.
"You invited me." Kakashi answered, as if that explained everything.
"But you've never come before. I mean, not that we're not happy to see you or anything, but uh..." Naruto trailed off.
"Why are you here?" Sai supplied helpfully.
"To eat." Kakashi replied in a tone that clearly implied "Duh!", as he motioned to the menus in front of them.
That aggravated tick was back in Sakura's eye, but she let it go. Experience had taught them that if Hatake Kakashi didn't want to do something, he didn't. Answering questions and appeasing their burning curiosity just didn't make it on to his to-do list. It was in the same category as getting up early to meet his team.
Naruto motioned to their waitress, who hurried over to take their order. Once she departed, the table fell into a momentary silence as their dinner time dynamic adjusted to this new shift in equilibrium.
"So, what were you discussing before I got here?" Kakashi asked in an attempt to break the ice.
"We were just talking about Sakura's –" Sai tried to answer, but couldn't because he was suddenly getting reacquainted with the table top, courtesy of Sasuke. The latter glanced quicky at Sakura and relaxed when he saw she wasn't blowing her top again.
Crisis averted, he thought to himself. Sai was really going to have to learn tact one of these days.
"So, Kakashi-sensei, what have you been up to lately?" Sakura asked in an attempt to make casual conversation.
"You know, this and that." He answered, but didn't.
She was about to make a disgruntled comment at his evasion, but was interrupted by the arrival of their drinks. It was a different waitress than the one who had taken their order. She was pretty average in appearance, if you didn't take into account her extremely large, partially exposed chest.
Sakura was both relieved and chagrined by the fact that the woman's presence was diverting the guys' attention from her. Sasuke, Naruto and Sai all seemed to be mesmerized when she leaned forward over Kakashi's side to pass out the half dozen bottles of Sake for the table. Her breasts came within inches of the Copy-nin's head, on the side of his exposed eye. From where she was sitting, Sakura couldn't tell if he looked or not, but she could guess. She rolled her eyes.
As the woman was leaving, Kakashi brought them all back to the present with a clearing of his throat.
"So Naruto, tell me about that new technique you were working on..." Kakashi prompted.
And suddenly the equilibrium of the table was restored. The blonde started raving excitedly and motioning sometimes violently with his hands as he went into proud detail about his new skill. It was a conversation that everyone could take part in, and the freely flowing alcohol being consumed helped the evening along. They didn't even notice that it was over half an hour before the food finally arrived.
When everyone's favorite waitress came back with a large tray supported by both her hands and her large chest the group paused their conversation. Sakura noted with disgust that Naruto's mouth actually hung open this time as his eyes followed her movements avidly.
The woman was barely out of earshot when Naruto blurted out, "Holy crap, did you see the size of her tits?"
Even though she knew it was the alcohol that made him that much of a pig, Sakura scowled. But she didn't get a chance to berate him for his obnoxious comment because Kakashi stole the words right out of her mouth.
"Naruto, don't talk like that when there's a lady present." He chided disapprovingly.
Immediately Sakura felt herself smiling at him with affection. At least someone was still a gentleman after a few drinks. But just as she opened her mouth to thank him for his thoughtfulness, he started talking again.
"They prefer the word 'breasts'" Kakashi explained sagely.
Sakura slapped her hand on her forehead and tried to rub the annoyance away. It didn't work. She settled for taking another shot of her sake and dug into her dinner.
But now the conversation had taken a turn for the worst.
"I didn't like them." She heard Sai comment. "Too big. Sag a lot."
"You know who's got a great pair? Misaki! She was wearing that fishnet thing that..." Naruto rambled on about the virtues of the younger chunin.
Really, Sakura should be used to this by now. This topic seemed to come up frequently whenever they started drinking.
The only one who hadn't made a contribution yet was Kakashi, but he did seem to be following the conversation. She stole a glance in his direction stealthily, seeing nothing but his covered face and hair.
Although the food on his plate was diminishing steadily, she hadn't actually seen him lift anything to his mouth. She did see him chewing and swallowing. He moved way too fast for the naked eye to follow, and that was one of the reasons none of them had seen his face yet. Sakura and Naruto suspected that Sasuke had, but the boy wasn't owning up to anything. He claimed he never wasted his Sharingan on something as stupid and pointless as that.
Sakura was sitting in his blind spot, on the side of his covered eye. As she moved forward to grab a fresh bottle of sake from in front of Naruto, she came into his field of vision again. Her chest swayed slightly as she leaned over the table. Given the present topic of conversation, Kakashi wasn't surprised that his eye fixed itself unto that particular part of her body and he assessed it with interest.
That alone would have been fine if he was stealthy, but his head had instinctively followed her chest when she returned to her original position on his left. It was the noise of her feminine throat clearing that broke the spell.
Kakashi's eye met her narrowed ones as he half winced/ half smiled in apology. Briefly he wondered if her pink flush was due to the alcohol, anger or something else.
In any case, he was just glad she didn't make a big deal about it. He turned back to other occupants of the table, noting they were thankfully oblivious of the exchange. Kakashi pulled at the collar of his shirt, suddenly rather warm. Embarrassment was not something he was used to. Silently he berated himself for getting caught.
Naruto was just getting to the good part about his latest escapade of the sexual nature (did Sakura really need to hear this?) when he was rudely interrupted.
"Hatake, this is your super-important meeting?"
A sharp voice laced with suspicion caused 4 pairs of inquisitive eyes to turn to the newcomer with interest. Kakashi's shoulders seemed to slump even further down than usual. He took one last lightning quick shot of his sake before turning to the owner of the voice.
Sakura's eyes had widened slightly when they came to rest on the black-clad figure.
He's beautiful, was her first thought. It was quickly followed by Holy shit.
The man before them was only slightly taller than average, maybe an inch above Sakura's own height, but he held himself regally. He was wearing loose black pants that were bound tightly below the knees and a similar short sleeved shirt. The bindings on his upper arms brought attention to the slim yet extremely well defined arms.
But really, it was his face that had caught Sakura's attention. It was a perfect oval of pale cream, framed by an unruly mop of dark brown hair. A small, straight nose and almond-shaped, chocolate-brown eyes accentuated high, chiseled cheekbones. He had eyelashes Sakura could be jealous of. The chin was the only feature that kept the face from appearing too pretty, but just barely.
In a way he reminded Sakura of a young Sasuke, but not. Sakura tried not to stare but couldn't seem to help it.
His eyes met hers briefly, before running down the length of her body and back up again. Wide lips formed a small, knowing smile. She blushed, averting her eyes. He turning back to Kakashi.
Kakashi exhaled slowly as he stood up.
"Raidon. How nice to see you again." He said with light sarcasm.
Raidon crossed his arms in front of his chest, his eyes moving over the faces of the other 3 shinobi before returning to Sakura's still pink face.
"Aren't you going to introduce me?" Raidon asked, smirking. His eyes left Sakura when Kakashi answered him.
"Wasn't planning on it, no." He retorted, just continuing to stand there and stare back for a long minute.
Too long for Naruto. He had been sitting rather patiently waiting for an explanation, but his curiosity was killing him. He couldn't take it anymore.
"Neh, Kakashi-sensei who the hell is this guy!" He exclaimed loudly, jumping out of his own chair.
It was Raidon's turn to look surprised.
"Kakashi-sensei? Well that's new. What else have I missed?" A perfect eyebrow was arched in inquiry.
Kakashi didn't answer.
"Who are you?" Sasuke asked , not even trying to hide his curiosity.
Kakashi sighed painfully, but dutifully introduced the stranger in a bored monotone.
"Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Sai, meet Fushino Raidon. We were in ANBU together."
He just gets better and better, Sakura thought to herself. Her interest had been piqued again at the mention of ANBU. Apparently so was Sasuke's.
"Fushino...I've heard of you. You were a legend." He said with a hint of respect in his voice.
Raidon smiled widely at him. "Yes, well, that was a long time ago. I was no more a legend that Hatake himself here. The kind of shit we used to–"
"Yes, very interesting Raidon. Good times. Now, if you don't mind..." Kakashi drawled in a blatantly uninterested, uninviting voice.
Raidon's smile widened, but it lost all sincerity.
"I'm sorry, I forgot about your super important, super top-secret appointment that you couldn't be late to." The sarcasm dripped from Raidon's voice and fell in heavy, metaphorical drops on the floor. His mocking glance surveyed the myriad of empty sake bottles littering the table.
"We'll catch up later, pal." He quipped as he turned and made his way out of the restaurant. Sakura's eyes followed him out.
Kakashi sat back down and poured himself another drink. It was when he was placing the cup back on the table that he noticed the other four staring at him blankly for the second time that evening.
"...what?"
"What the hell was all that about?" Naruto asked, finally voicing what was on all of their minds.
"All of what?" Kakashi asked blankly.
"The thing with that Raidon guy." Naruto clarified, feeling his frustration grow.
"Like I said, we were in ANBU together." Kakashi reiterated.
Naruto growled, irked. Really, it was like pulling teeth trying to get information out of this guy. He couldn't understand Kakashi's strange behavior at all today.
Fortunately, Sakura was much brighter than him.
"Super top-secret meeting, huh?" She asked rhetorically.
Sasuke was just as sharp. "So now we know why you're here."
"But not why you're here." Sai added.
"Huh? What?" Naruto's alcohol soaked brain was spinning trying to follow what they were talking about. "I don't get it. Wait, why..."
Suddenly, understanding dawned on the blond boy.
"You don't like him, is that it?" He concluded proudly, smiling himself.
"Good job, Naruto." Sakura complimented him tolerantly.
Kakashi didn't answer, just stared thoughtfully at Naruto and then briefly at Sakura, causing them both to squirm in their seats.
"I'm off." He said, rising from the table. He left without another word.
A few seconds passed in silence before Sakura blurted out in belated bewilderment, "That was pretty weird."
"Yeah," Naruto agreed. "What do you think happened between them?"
"Hn." Sasuke grunted in thought. "Not sure. I do know Fushino was on a mission for the last 9 years."
Naruto whistled softly in wonder. "Shit."
They contemplated for a few minutes on the kind of history the two could have had, but it was nothing but pure speculation. It was just so long ago for them to know anything about it.
"We're gonna get to the bottom of this." Naruto vowed drunkenly as he stood from the table, throwing money down to pay for his meal. "First thing tomorrow." The others nodded in agreement as they did the same.
It was then that Sasuke noticed something aggravating.
"Kakashi skipped out on the bill again." He informed the others.
No one was particularly surprised.
More soon. Feedback?
