Disclaimer: I noooot own Naruto
Hehehe. Hehehe. HEHEHEHEHE.
That is all.
Chapter 13:
Kakashi stood in the shower, his hands bracing his weight against the wall. The water beat down on his head. It had turned cold a while ago. He slowed his breathing. What the hell was he doing? Sakura was looking at him, but she didn't see anything. Kakashi was looking at her and he saw everything.
His hand reached down and turned off the water. He grabbed the towel and dried off his hair first and then wrapped the towel around his waist. Opening the door he froze to a presence in his apartment. Slowly reaching over, he turned on the lights, he saw an ANBU clad ninja perched in his window over his bed. Kakashi sighed and scratched his head.
"Sorry Kakashi-sensei. But Tsunade said not to return until I gave you a message."
"Yeah. It's fine. What's the message?"
The ninja came forward and handed him a scroll. "You will meet your team at five in the morning at the entrance to the village."
Kakashi nodded, opening the scroll. The ANBU ninja disappeared and Kakashi skimmed over the scroll. He rolled it up and with a hand sign, set it on fire. Sakura would have gotten a kick out of the contents. Apparently, the Earth Country tried, and failed, to reign in the rebels.
"Should have just agreed with Sakura and we wouldn't have to make the stupid trip again."
He sighed and threw on sweatpants. Once on the couch and he took Icha Icha Chaos off the table. Five in the morning was still a ways away.
It was six-thirty and Kakashi strolled up to the entrance. He was greeted by the excited face of Naruto who was bouncing up and down while talking adamantly to Sasuke who had a very bored expression on his face.
"Kakashi, good of you to show up." Sasuke welcomed him.
"Team Seven is back together!" Naruto punched the sky.
The confusion must have been readable on Kakashi's face. Sasuke moved to the side showing Sakura, head in her copy of Icha Icha Tactics. She didn't look happy though. Naruto was ecstatic. They walked through the entrance and Sakura joined them, never once putting her book down.
"Now we get to put some hurt on some rebels!"
"Should have done it to begin with." Sakura mumbled behind Kakashi.
Kakashi smiled and scratched his head, "At the time, we did what the mission required."
"And now we get to go back." Sakura huffed.
This time they were able take the faster route, a straight line for the rebel base since they didn't have to pretend to be civilians. The week trip turned into a couple days. Kakashi was thankful that they wouldn't need to climb the mountain as well. He looked over at Sakura who was keeping pace with him and he wondered if she thought the same. Her head turned to him and he looked away.
"Should be stop here for the night?" Sasuke was stopped a little further ahead in a little clearing.
Kakashi shrugged. "You're the leader."
"We should grab some firewood and see if we can't cook something up."
Sakura was about to go into the forest and Naruto ran in front of her.
"Don't worry Sakura! I got it! You know, since you're blind now." Naruto smiled his cheesy grin and raced off into the forest.
"Yes, because she needed to be reminded, baka." Sasuke followed Naruto but at a sauntering pace.
Kakashi expected Sakura to lash out but she just walked over to one of the bigger trees in the clearing and sat down against it, pulling out her book again. Naruto and Sasuke came back after a while and they started to build the fire. Kakashi took out the water for Naruto as soon as he took out the cups of ramen.
"Sakura, I have one for you too!" Naruto held one out to her.
"No thanks Naruto. I'm not hungry. But you're welcome to have my cup." Sakura still didn't look up.
Naruto looked at the cup he was holding out, shrugged and opened it as well. They poured the hot water into the cups and ate in silence for a few minutes. Naruto slurped up the rest of his second cup and threw the cup in the fire. He turned around and was watching Sakura and before Sasuke could put a hand over his mouth, Naruto asked;
"What was it like on that super long mission?"
Sakura's head rose slowly from her book. She seemed to think on her words. "What do you mean, Naruto?"
"I mean, what was it like? You were on that mission for five years. Did you meet any new friends? Did you learn any new jutu's? I mean it was five years."
Sasuke finally got a hand on Naruto and pulled him back. He covered his mouth and punched him in the head. Kakashi didn't move. As much as he thought Naruto was an idiot, he was also curious as to how she would answer. Kakashi guessed that Sasuke was too because while he had shut up Naruto, he was looking a Sakura.
"Well, after I lost my sight, it was like starting over again. As though I was going through the academy again."
"Why didn't you just come home after that?" Sasuke asked this time.
Sakura frowned. "I tried. I managed to send a bird to Tsunade. I told her what happened, in some horribly sloppy writing. Her reply only said 'Sorry'. From them on, I knew I was on my own."
"But now your super powerful. I mean, in the bingo books. You're up there with Kakashi-sensei."
Sakura smirked. "Naruto, I've surpassed Kakashi."
Both Sasuke and Naruto looked at Kakashi, who had chosen to take out his book. He was glad too. Sakura, saying she had surpassed him? Had there little spar not showed her that they were even? Or had she been holding back that much?
Kakashi shrugged for the boys and they scoffed. "It's late boys, and we need to get an early start. I'll take first watch. Sakura, you'll take second. You guys can fight it out for the other watch."
She nodded and everyone took out the sleeping bags. Sakura jumped up into a tree and let one leg hang off as she leaned up against the tree. Naruto and Sasuke slept under the tree Kakashi was perched on for the first watch. Another flip of the page and Kakashi looked up at the cloudless sky between the leaves.
Kakashi's eyes opened and he looked around. He had fallen asleep. Looking up at the sky, he measured about an hour. His back cracked as he rolled his shoulders. Naruto was snoring loudly, his arms and legs flung in different directions. Sasuke was huffing in his coffin-like sleeping position. But looking over to the branch where Sakura was, it was empty.
"Sakura?" Kakashi whispered into the night.
No answer. He jumped down out of the tree and sniffed the air. She masked her scent and her sounds. Otherwise he would have woken up. Lifting up his hitai, Kakashi looked through the forest. There was a spike in chakra just east of them. He put his hitai back down and headed towards it.
Kakashi walked through the forest until he hit a river. It was calm and the moonlight reflected off the surface beautifully. The clear night made it a perfect night to be sleeping under the stars. Suddenly, the water's surface began to ripple, then exploding into thousands of droplets. Kakashi jumped from where he was to behind a tree, masking his presence.
It was only her silhouette in the night as the moon reflected off the water. Her curves were defined but the shadows clung to her making it impossible to see any details. However, she was completely naked as she continued to bathe in the river. Kakashi looked around and found her clothes lying out on a rock further away. He really should just turn around and go. As though he never woke up from his tree. Another glance at Sakura, she was coming out of the river, every step closer, Kakashi could see more defining details of her body. The water rolled off her and defined her curves even more. Fully out of the water, she rung out her hair and pulled it back up into a high ponytail.
As Sakura put on her clothes, Kakashi tore his eyes away. He had been staring at her for far too long. This is was Sakura. He should have left as soon as he saw she was safe.
"Kakashi, do you mind helping me with my bandages?" He froze. She cocked her head to the side. "You really think I didn't know you were there? The least you could do would be to help me put them on."
She turned to him, looking at him with her milky gray eyes. They seemed to glow against the shadows on her face. Coming out from behind the tree, Kakashi walked over to her. He could see her fighting a smirk but the way her eyes looked at him, her eyes were smiling. Sakura turned her back to him and held out the bandage up to her eyes. He leaned forward, his chest brushing against her back to grab the edges of the bandages. Kakashi helped her wrap the bandage around four times before he tied the bandages in the back and tucked the ends behind the layers.
"Thank you. It's easy to get them off but sometimes it's hard to get them back on when my hair is wet." She turned around. "But what are we going to do about you peeping that whole time."
"I'm sorry. You weren't at camp and I wanted to make sure you weren't…" Kakashi didn't finish his thought.
"Weren't running away?" There was a hint of anger in her voice. "You fell asleep on your watch."
She started the trek back to camp and Kakashi followed behind her with his hands in his pocket. Both Naruto and Sasuke were still asleep.
"It's my turn for watch. So go ahead and sleep. Apparently you need it." Sakura jumped up into the branch she was on and sat with her legs hanging off. She pulled out her book.
"Sakura…"
"Good night Kakashi. I'll talk to you in the morning."
"Kakashi?"
"Hm?"
Naruto leaned forward to look at him as they were walking. "Why are you carrying your backpack and Sakura's things?"
"Well, you see..." Kakashi gave Naruto an eye crinkle but Sakura interrupted from behind him. She was walking next to Sasuke.
"He lost a bet last night. So he gets to carry my things for the rest of the trip." To emphasis, Sakura stretched and rolled her shoulders. "He is, after all, stronger than all of us." Her words dripped in sarcasm.
Naruto looked back at Sakura. "Sasuke and I still haven't been able to defeat him in sparing. We get close but then he pulls out Sharingan and he usually sneaks up on us."
Sasuke shrugged and Kakashi pulled out his book. They continued to walk along the road and the mountains started to come into view. Kakashi was glad they weren't going over but as they made their way to the base of the mountain, the tunnels that they had seen and used has been blasted.
"Do you think the Earth actually did this or this was the rebels doing?" Sakura mused.
"It doesn't matter. We need to find a way in."
Naruto punched his palm. "We should just break through."
"Baka, we are getting through the mountain but there is a large area behind, its not like the rebels are right on the other side. We would lose the element of surprise."
"I found one." Sakura had her hand on the ground.
"Where?"
She made a face. "It's about a mile from here, back the way we came. It's small though. It will also take us out further away from the forest then we originally planned."
"Sakura-chan, how can you tell? You're blind!"
Both Kakashi and Sasuke hit Naruto. She stood and started to walk towards where she had said. It was hidden behind some bushes and if they weren't looking for it they would have never noticed it. They had to walk single file down the small tunnel, ducking every so often to not get hit by the low ceilings. Sakura just walked behind them, short enough that she didn't have to duck.
It took about an hour to get through the pass but when they came out on the other end, Kakashi knew where they were. It was the field that they originally dropped down into. They were further west though.
"We are just going to follow the mountain around to the forest. We will take a night in the forest before attacking their base." Kakashi readjusted his pack and Sakura's little bag. "Let's go."
