Vivo Per Lei

Vivo per lei che spesso sa
Essere dolce e sensuale
A volte picchia in testa ma
E un puguo che non fa male

I live for her who often knows
How to be sweet and sensual
Sometimes she stuns you but
It is a blow that never hurts

Andrea Bottcelli

"Aren't we there yet?"

Kasumi hid her grin. She hardly felt the drizzle that had been falling all day, but Naruto was soaked, and grumpy because of it. "The rain is much worse in the Rain Country," she assured him. "You've never been there?"

"So?"

"Nah, don't take offense. I was just asking."

"Kasumi-san, how can it be so wet in the Rain Country? It's in between the Earth Country and the Wind Country, which are both really dry." Ah, so Sakura can overcome her anger at Naruto when she's curious enough. And for a girl whose head seems to be filled with fluff and boys, it's an intelligent question.

"I have no idea. But it is. Very wet," she added, ruffling Naruto's wet hair. "Perhaps we'll look for some coats for you three in the next village. You won't be of use to anyone if you all catch colds."

"Is that why all those Hidden Rain guys wore big coats and hats?"

"It's one reason, yes. It's generally much colder in the Rain Country than in the Water Country, although it never snows there, as it does in some regions of the Water Country. Whatever the reason, the rainforests of the Rain Country have plants that can grow nowhere else."

"Didn't you know that, Sakura-chan?" Naruto teased.

"Idiot!" Here we go again.

The coats, when they bought them in the next town, got mixed reactions. Saskue put his on as though he didn't care, but Kasumi noticed that he was a bit more relaxed now that he was, if not drier, at least a little bit warmer. Naruto wore his with obvious glee, pretending alternately to be a Rain-nin and a secret agent.

But Sakura… "I can't wear that! How will anyone know what I look like?"

To that, Sasuke made a face, Kakashi looked puzzled and, as expected, Naruto came out with an inane, "But Sakura-chan, why does that matter?"

Kasumi had to giggle. Sakura wouldn't have been completely out of place among the kunoichi that she had grown up with. "Sakura-chan, that's part of the point," she told the girl quietly. "Otherwise your dress will get even more soaked, and everyone will know exactly what you look like. Now put your coat on, there's a good girl."

She looked around. With the heavy coats, the genins could almost pass for local children, as long as they took care to hide their forehead protectors. That could be important, once they got to the rainforests: there would no doubt be ninjas there who had brought their country's feuds with them, and no few Rain-nin who weren't too fond of Konoha ninja at present. But Kakashi… "Kakashi, put your coat on."

"It seems like hiding."

"It is hiding." She took the coat out of his unresisting hands and put it on him, much the way she had helped the littlest children in the orphans' residences back in the Hidden Mist Village. "Besides, we can't have you getting sick either. And I'm sorry, but that forehead protector is just too obvious."

"And the sharingan isn't?"

Ah yes, the sharingan. Copy-ninja Kakashi. Like Itachi-kun, but not. Suddenly decisive, she dug in her bag for her scarf. It was light and wispy, as were so many of the things owned by the kunoichi of old, but for all that was surprisingly opaque. She'd never worn it: the point was to hide and suggest all at once, and she'd always thought that was a bit stupid. If she was going to hide, it was because she didn't want anyone to see her, not because she wanted to flirt. On the other hand, it served just as well as a bandage, or for tying someone up, so she'd kept it with her.

He didn't seem inclined to take the forehead protector off by himself, so with a small sigh she reached up to do it for him. In a way, it was annoying how he just stood there like a block of wood. On the other hand, it gave her the chance to touch him, and be close to him. I'm pathetic, she thought resignedly.

When the forehead protector was off, she found herself staring into a pair of eyes that at once scared her and comforted her. His right eye was the same cool grey it had always been, sweet and understanding and calm, just like Kakashi himself. But his left eye…how many times had she sat with Itachi-kun, and looked up into a pair of those strange red eyes with their swirling black dots? Itachi-kun… It was like seeing them both at once.

And yet, not quite. She couldn't have said what it was about Kakashi's sharingan, but it was somehow warmer, kinder than Itachi's had been. Not everyone's eyes are the same, even if they're the same color, she reminded herself.

She began to wrap his head in the scarf, making sure his eye was well covered. At the same time, she did her best to capture the stray strands of his hair and trap them under the scarf. It's like dandelion fluff, she thought, a bit distractedly. When she was finished she handed him one of the straw hats commonly worn in the Rain Country. When he'd put it on, the few grey strands that had escaped the scarf only served to make him look old, rather than like the Hidden Leaf's Copy Ninja.

"Hats on, everyone," she said, hoping her voice didn't give away how shaken up she was from being so close to Kakashi. "After tonight, it's all camping. And the inn we're headed to has hot springs."

"Hot springs!" Naruto cried excitedly, and with that excited, skipping-run of his, led them back out into the rain.