Chapter 6

The next morning she was alone in the tent again.

She quickly got ready and buried last night's events into the back of her mind. Her hair was pulled from her face into a ponytail as she exited the tent after some hesitation. Kakashi expected her to be professional and that is what she would be.

Kakashi's meditation last night had ebbed away the worst of the lust. As he returned to a normal state his worries about their chemistry had also been pushed to the back of his mind.

He was on his way to get Hinata when the tent flap opened and she stepped out. She froze as she noticed him and blushed, but then straightened her shoulders in a determined way that he found adorable.

"Good morning Kakashi," she said in a normal tone despite her face being red as a tomato. He noticed that she looked fresh this morning. Her hair was in a ponytail emphasizing her large eyes, luminous skin and soft lips. All this would be a lot easier if she wasn't so nice and attractive he thought sighing to himself.

He nodded at her in the way of a reply and asked "ready to go?".

She nodded and gathered their supplies. That is when he noticed that her neck had a few hickeys. Should he pretend he didn't see them, or should he offer her a scarf he wondered. The likelihood they will heal in the next two days was unlikely without some medical jutsu.

"Hinata… you have some bruises on your neck" he pointed out and she looked up at him guiltily. Why she looked guilty, he had no idea. "I think I can do some basic medical jutsu to heal you. Do you mind?"

Shaking her head she stood up and moved towards him. He held her face tilting her neck for better access. His touch was very impersonal today, he was not trying to throw off her equilibrium. He isolated the bruise and applied some green energy to it. The bruise quickly disappeared. He did the same to the other ones that were visible.

"D-do you have any?" she asked. The night was a blur to her but she remembers her behaviour had been a bit unusual of her.

"Nothing that anyone would be able to see" he said with a wink. He had a turtleneck on today so that was true enough. She smiled gratefully at him for putting her at ease. He went on matter of factly.

"After last night I don't think we need more training of that nature. I think we have a sense of what it is like to see each other uninhabited and I don't think you will be shocked if I hold your hand or kiss you unexpectedly. Am I right?" he asked, peering into her face praying that she agreed.

Hinata looked back at him in relief but also… something else?

She couldn't name what the heavy feeling in her heart was but disappointment washed over her along with something else. She couldn't help but feel she was to blame for this turn of events. Maybe her behaviour last night had shocked or disgusted him that he didn't even want to be close to her anymore, she thought in a panic. Were women supposed to do whatever had happened to her at the end there? Her basic medical training covered anatomy, sacral chakra systems, fertility and procreation but it had been solely lacking in other elements.

Kakashi observed her face growing paler and her eyes widening. For the life of him he couldn't figure out what caused this reaction.

"Hai… Kakashi… yes that is fine" she finally said.

"Fine?" he probed. He had assumed she would be relieved.

"You don't think my lack of sexual experience could work against me in this mission?" she asked finally.

He thought about this. "Let's get going" he said looking up at the sun, "we can chat on the way". As they were flying through the trees Kakashi finally replied to Hinata.

"On diplomatic missions, sometimes shinobi has to seduce people for information, distraction purposes, and even for assassinations. You are both quite young and also posing as my fiance, so even if you tried to seduce someone it would be seen as out of character for you to do that while we are engaged. So you should be okay unless… you are comfortable with it and want to leverage those skills of course." He gave her a side glance but she was looking ahead concentrating on what he was saying. "You may have to distract people from time to time but I think by now you must have picked up some stuff you can draw on for these purposes?" At least he hoped to god she has. "The bigger issue would be us convincing everyone that we are in love." he finished.

Hinata looked at him surprised, "I see... well I have a fair bit of experience being in love" she smirked. "I think I can pretend for a while that I love you." and he couldn't help but smile back at that.

"What about you, have you ever been in love?" she asked.

He had expected this question of course. He thought about lying to her but then figured why bother. He had already told her more than he had to anyone else. Might as well continue the trend. There was just something about her that was trustworthy and kind.

"Once" he replied. "At least... I think it was love. She didn't really live long enough for me to find out."

She gasped looking at him with sadness.

"It was a long time ago… she ended up getting sealed with a Jinchuriki - long story - and she asked me to kill her. I refused of course, but on our way back to Konoha we got ambushed by nin from...Kirigakure actually. While I was attacking the enemy she jumped in front of one of my attacks and died." he finished emotionlessly.

Hinata was speechless. The way he had described it had been chilling but also... how could he have experienced this much loss? The only person she knew who might be able to trump this was Sasuke but the two situations were different. Sasuke's had been an instantly devastating blow, coupled with a single handed need for vengeance. While Kakashi's had been losses compounding on each other over time. She now understood his aversion to relationships. Everyone he cared about seemed to die, so he probably didn't feel safe opening up.

"Stop it" Kakashi barked, "I can see your eyes getting misty thinking about poor Kakashi. And how he can't love anymore and that's why he is a recluse. But that's not the case, I like my life. Many women have tried to fix me, but I am not interested in being fixed."

Hinata turned red as he accurately guessed her thoughts. She looked back ahead at the path they were traveling ashamed of her line of thinking.

"What you should be worried about is Ariko" Kakashi continued.

"Who is that?".

With a deep sigh he continued, "She is… or I guess was... my lover. She is from Kirigakure".

Hinata felt her stomach drop to the bottom of her feet as he said this. Completely irrationally she felt jealousy crawling on her skin and up her throat as she thought about Kakashi with this faceless other woman.

"Oh?" she said hoping he would continue on without prompts from her and wouldn't look over to see her face which was twisted in an emotion that was foreign to her.

"She knows me fairly well, so if we have to fool anyone in Kirigakure, it would be her".

"Is she going to be upset with you?" Hinata asked quietly.

Kakashi sighed again at that "I am not sure to be honest. We did not have any formal agreement to date" he paused sneaking a look at her "We mainly had a sexual relationship. I saw her about four months ago. I didn't think sending a letter her way after getting assigned to this mission would have been an appropriate way to break things off. So I guess it's something I'll have to handle when I am there in person".

"Ah" she said simply. He had seen her four months ago! Her stomach twisted and she had a million questions buzzing about in her head but she had no business asking any of them.

"Is there anything else I should know about her or your relationship?"

Kakashi thought about this for a bit. "She is an exceptional and experienced Ninja, she was widowed a while back. We both wanted a simple relationship with no strings attached and we have been seeing each other for about 5 years".

"5 years?!" she gasped and stumbled to a stop with a hand over her heart. He had been seeing this woman since she was 15. Kakashi was slightly ahead when he noticed her stopping and he also paused up on a tree branch ahead.

"Kakashi... I don't know how you are able to separate your emotions from your relationships, but 5 years is a long time to be together. You have more shared history with her than I can possibly even wrap my head around. I think it would be best If I stay out of her way as much as possible".

Even as she said this, mounds of jealous thoughts were rushing through her head trying to understand what 5 years of sexual escapades would look like.

He looked at her steadily, seeming undecided whether to close the gap between them or not.

"I am sorry," she settled on saying, finally looking him in the eyes. "To be with her for that long, you really must have cared about her. If we can break up towards the end of the mission, perhaps you can still salvage a relationship with her?"

Kakashi looked at her strangely. Yes he liked Ariko quite a bit and enjoyed spending time with her. But she didn't come before his responsibilities as a shinobi.

"Let's not worry about that. My main priority is to execute this mission successfully at any cost. Ariko and I may be able to salvage our relationship in the future but it is not my priority at the moment" he finished.

Hinata marveled at how he could be so cold. Or perhaps she just understood nothing about relationships. Who was she to judge? She had never even been in one.

She nodded shakily at him and swallowed as they took off again heading to their next destination.

.

.

Their trek for the next few days was fairly uneventful. They got into a routine. They would travel at breakneck speeds during the day and then set up camp unwinding in the evening. During their travels Hinata got to appreciate the copy ninja's endurance. He probably could have kept on traveling through the night without breaking a sweat but for her sake they set up camp at least for 7 hours every night.

They were both quiet individuals so they usually cooked a simple meal together nightly and then went about their separate ways for the evening burying their heads in literature.

Finally towards the end of the fourth day they reached the next stop. A tiny village called Surenam in Wave country. From here they just needed to take a boat over to Kiri.

One of the Daimyo from the Kirigakure council was located in this village, hence why they were stopping here for a day.

They had been travelling since 4 AM and it was night now, Hinata's body was extremely sore and she was exhausted. She was ready to sleep the night away in a proper bed after a wash.

Kakashi and Hinata stumbled into the bed and breakfast they would be staying the night in. The rest of the Anbu seemed to have already checked in under their covers. They had reserved a room for them. Kakashi thanked the man who was running the property and politely asked him for some dinner and where to find the hot springs.

Kakashi turned and assessed the woman standing next to him realizing she looked ready to collapse. So he quickly wrapped an arm around her and supported her weight as they went to their room.

"Hinata, we have to have a quick wash at least before we sleep" he said trying to keep her awake.

She agreed and started to strip in front of him. He raised his eyebrow and realized she was beyond the point of caring. She took off her vest and just as she started to pull her shirt exposing the flat white skin of her lower stomach he turned his back to her.

Shaking his head, he also quickly stripped down and hung a towel around his hips. It wasn't a good sign that Hinata had neither noticed his attire or comprehended his actions enough to say something. When he turned she was sitting in the bed with a towel secured around her and her head was drooping. He went and picked her in his arms bridal style which woke her up.

She finally blushed as she realized how little they were both wearing. Kakashi stepped outside their room and was grateful to find there was a common bathing area that men and women could use at this facility. There was no one else there presently so he reached down and turned the tap on to fill the tub with hot water. This was typically used to wash up before going into the natural hot spring but he had a feeling they were going to be too tired for that. After the tub was full he stepped in and lowered Hinata carefully to sit in the water.

"Mmmmm" she murmured, feeling the warm water caccooning her. She sat up a bit more securely and rested her head against the lip of the tub.

Noticing that she seemed to be okay he moved across from her to sit on the other side of the tub maintaining a proper distance from her. This also gave him a great view of her which was a bonus. He couldn't lie, the sight of Hinata in a towel was probably going to be ingrained into his brain forever. The skin on her neck and collarbone glistened from the heat and mist, and the water was lapping at the top of her breasts.

The water seemed to have finally revived her energy so she sat up. He hadn't noticed that she had brought a separate towel with her that was full of toiletries. She looked to him and paused when she noticed his mask was off again. The last time it had been off was when they were intimate.

After a few seconds of hesitation and a slight blush, she picked a bar from her toiletries and passed it to him. He was surprised to see that it was his sandalwood soap. How like a girlfriend to bring his toiletries along with her.

Hinata was about to reach out to grab a small pot but paused in her actions looking at him with sudden attention, seemingly enthralled by his face. That was when Kakashi realized that he had smiled and it was the first time she had seen that unguarded gesture from him. This was the problem with wearing masks. When you don't have one on you forget to school your expressions.

"Arigatou Hinata" he said softly.

She nodded happily and went on to grab a small clay pot. Opening it she took out some of the balm and applied it to her body. Afterwards she grabbed a washcloth and proceeded to scrub herself. The salve smelt like honey and tea, It was very fresh smelling.

He paused while washing his hair and watched her scrubbing herself. He could get used to this he thought, it would be even better if her towel was off.

Then she untied her hair and wet it in the water. She applied a separate balm to her hair that smelt like guava. Ah, so this is where that scent comes from. He couldn't remember being around a woman who had a more pleasing scent than Hinata. It was fresh, soothing and exotic at the same time.

After about 5 more minutes he had already completed washing himself so he waited for her. She finished with her hair and looked at him. Thinking that she was done he slowly stood up giving her enough time to avert her gaze from the towel that was now clinging to his body.

She turned a bright red, but snuck in a slight peak at his abs. He wanted to laugh when he caught that.

"Why d-don't you go ahead of me. I will follow in a second" she muttered shyly not making eye contact anymore.

He agreed and asked her to empty the tub when done and went ahead back to their room. He was dry and clothed by the time she followed behind about 10 minutes later. He gave her privacy to get dressed and went on to talk to the Anbu and to grab them some dinner.

About a half hour later they were both cozily seated at the small dining table in their room eating. They dug into the food with enthusiasm as this was the first decent meal they've had in a few days. For Kakashi it was even longer because what he cooked for himself back at home was very spartan.

As he was eating he realized that Hinata was observing him curiously. He looked up at her in question.

"I didn't realize you liked Onigiri so much".

He smiled guiltily as he realized he ate all of the onigiri. "Sorry Hinata, I didn't realize I ate them all," Kakashi said in a panic. "I'll go get some more". He stood up to leave when she quickly waved him down.

"No no, I am full," she smiled "I was just happy you like them, it is one of my specialties. I will have to cook you some myself when we are back in Konoha" she said unguardedly.

He looked up at her strangely and gave her a small smile. That was when she realized how silly what she had commented was. She wasn't his actual girlfriend. She wouldn't be cooking him food and staying over at his apartment when they were back in their village. He will most likely have responsibilities with the Hokage right away and she will be pulled back into clan matters. She doubted she would see him often after this mission, similar to what the last four years had been like.

"I would like that," he replied, shocking her. She looked up to find him giving her a more genuine smile now. When she gets the chance she will make him Onigiri someday, she vowed to herself.

Hinata went straight to bed afterwards but she left the cover beside her slightly turned down so Kakashi could retire when he was ready. And before she knew it she was out like a light.