I claim no ownership of Naruto nor Hikari Aino. Just this story :)
Constructive criticism is warmly welcomed and appreciated. I'm an aspiring writer currently studying at University to write stories and other literary works and I need to know if I'm on the right track or if I need to improve on some aspects. So please, review if you can. Lately, I get the impression people are just reading my stories and completely ignoring my requests – very annoying!
WHAT'S UNDER KAKASHI-SENSEI'S MASK?
PT. ONE
"Behind this mask is … Another mask! Pretty cool, huh?"
- Kakashi Hatake
~HIKARI P.O.V~
The moment I saw the scheming expression on Naruto's face, I knew that this day was going to be a series of twists and turns. As Shikamaru might say, 'troublesome'.
"Hey, you wanna see it don't cha?"
Yep, definitely acting sneakier than usual. I glanced up at him from a book that I had my nose buried in and waited to see where he was going with that random statement. Sakura tore her 'gaze' away from Sasuke to look at Naruto - eyes narrowed, and looking less than amused – and Sasuke, er ... well, ever since leaving the Hospital, he'd been snipper than usual and the small amount of patience that he already had was dangerously thin. He narrowed his eyes at Naruto – daring our blonde teammate to piss him off.
"I'd say it's time ..." Naruto continued using that cryptic tone.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "For what?"
Naruto jumped around with excitement. I marked my spot in my book with my finger and stood up from my lean against the wall to see what would happen next. Please let it be something fun. I'm so bored ... Naruto smirked – he was definitely plotting something.
"C'mon, you know what I'm talking about ..."
Sakura, Sasuke and I exchanged glances. No. We don't, Naruto. Care to fill us in?
"Kakashi-sensei's face!"
Sakura shrieked with surprise then bashed Naruto over the head with her fist, sending him pinwheeling to the ground. Sasuke and I sighed in exasperation. Naruto had snuck up on her with a torch and was flashing it underneath his chin like one would when trying to tell ghost stories beside a campfire to get that omnious atmosphere.
"WHAT'S THE MATTER WITH YOU?!" She shrieked.
Naruto groaned in pain and rubbed at a lump that was growing on his head.
"Yeah, knock it off!" I muttered and disappeared behind my book once again. Sasuke rolled his eyes before straightening up from his slouch.
"Please." We glanced at him – Naruto; glaring a little, Sakura; with stars in her eyes (Ew...), and me; smiling a little before returning to a particularly funny page in my book – I had long gotten over what had happened at the Hospital, and had only recently began talking to Sasuke again – much to his delight.
"This is lame. You can count me out."
Naruto got to his feet and scowled at Sakura for hitting him hard over the head. Not that she was actually paying attention to him, she was more interested in what Sasuke had to say. Sakura had bounced back after the instant the fight was over at the Hospital and she could confirm that her beloved Sasuke-kun was alright. Now she was trying hard to valcro herself to Sasuke again.
Sasuke turned and started to walk away.
"We've finished today's mission. Now I'm outta here." And off he went, hands shoved in his pockets and head tilted downwards, as per usual.
Sakura sighed.
"Yeah, you're totally right ..." she said dreamily.
I pulled a revolted face as I continued reading, but only glanced up when I noticed something out of place on Sakura's chin. I smirked.
"Sakura ..."
She glanced at me with annoyance.
"You've got a little ..." I pointed towards my chin with my finger before looking down at the page. Sakura hastily reached to wipe away her drool and make herself more presentable. Naruto watched Sasuke retreating before he smirked once again.
"What if he has lips ..." Sasuke froze midstep. Sakura and I looked back at Naruto waiting for him to finish that sentence. "Like a blimp?" I snorted at the image and glanced out the corner of my eye to see Sasuke's reaction. He hadn't continued walking, so he was obviously contemplating the image too.
His shoulders shook slightly, but it still didn't look like he was likely to join our investigation. I'll admit it, Naruto's got me intrigued – so I decided to join in. I marked my place in the book and stored it in my weapon's pack.
"Or ..."
Sasuke looked over his shoulder at me as Naruto turned to me with a grin – interested in what I had to say, while Sakura frowned at me with jealousy.
"Maybe a nice set of buck teeth?"
Naruto grinned and turned to look at Sasuke who looked like he had just stopped himself from laughing out loud before sighing with resignation and sauntering back over to us, nodding slightly.
"Alright, count me in. Just don't expect me to come up with any ideas."
Naruto grinned with triumph.
We found Kakashi-sensei sitting in a tree, reading one of his pornos. He was so deeply immersed in that book that it looked like he was muttering to himself, and we were grossed out to see a faint blush forming on the face we were curious to see, since he constantly had that stupid mask on.
"Oi, sensei!" Naruto yelled up at him.
Kakashi tore his eyes away from that book and glanced down at us, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise?" He greeted us – but focused more particularly on Sasuke and Naruto. "Behaving yourselves, boys?"
Naruto scowled and Sasuke bristled but managed to hold his tongue. Kakashi put his book away and dropped down from the tree.
"Are you three going to explain why you're seeking out your old sensei?" He drawled. Old? If you're old ... Tsunade must be ancient ... I scoffed. We had already discussed one possiblity to get sensei to pull down his mask. And funnily enough, it was Naruto's idea.
"We just thought we could take you out for some Ramen!" Naruto announced.
Kakashi raised an eyebrow, especially when not one of us objected. He glanced at each of us suspiciously before 'smiling'. So off we went to Ichiraku's and immediately ordered a bowl for him. The eyebrow went up again, when not one of us ordered any for ourselves.
Kakashi hummed. "Well, this is out of the ordinary."
The owner re-emerged from the Kitchen with large steaming bowl of Ramen and placed it down in front of him. We had warned him and his daughter, Ayame ahead of time of our plan, and they were all too happy to help us with our 'mission'. In fact, even they were curious.
"Here! Thanks for waiting!" Kakashi paused for a moment, still looking suspicious. I gulped.
Were we busted already?
~KAKASHI P.O.V~
These kids were up to something. I just know it. I didn't miss the panicked expression on Hikari's face the moment my Ramen was placed down in front of me. I think I need to be cautious from this point onwards. I decided to challenge them ...
xXx
'SENARIO ONE - THOUGHTS'
"The four of you treating me to lunch?" I started looking around for any possible pranks. I'd be foolish if I didn't, considering one of my students was Naruto Uzumaki – Konoha's most unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja. It would be the perfect opportunity to pull off something.
"I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed on me ..." and just as I glanced up at the ceiling, a huge pile of powdery snow dropped onto my head. I heard Sasuke click and opened my eyes to see that he was holding a sign that read 'gotcha' in bright red letters.
"HE FELL FOR IT!" All four of them shouted with huge cheesy grins on their faces.
'END SENARIO ONE'
xXx
I blinked and found that I wasn't sitting in a pile of snow, but staring into four nervous faces.
"Know what I mean?" I asked aiming for casual.
I smirked when all four of my students gulped and looked like deer-caught in headlights. All of them started shaking their heads frantically at me. I tried again ...
xXx
'SENARIO TWO – THOUGHTS'
"Thanks for waiting!" The bowl of Ramen was placed down in front of me. I glanced at four focused faces and hummed underneath my breath.
"The four of you treating me to lunch? I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed on me ... TODAY!" I glanced up expecting to see a pile of snow to drop on my head. There was nothing.
Now what? I blinked in confusion and reached for the disposable chopsticks.
"Or something ..." The moment I pulled a pair of chopsticks from the holder, I was sprayed in the face with something brown and foul smelling. I coughed and gagged. Some of that had forced its way up my nose!
"HE FELL FOR IT!" I squinted through my stinging eyes to see Sasuke hold up that sign and wearing the same cheesy grins.
I groaned.
'END SENARIO TWO'
xXx
I narrowed my eyes in warning.
"Is that the idea?" Again the same shaking of their heads and denials of anything shifty. I was getting frustrated. I really wanted to know what these kids were up to ...
Right! Third time's the charm ...
xXx
'SENARIO THREE – THOUGHTS'
"Here! Thanks for waiting!"
This time I was sure I would catch them out.
"The four of you treating me to lunch? You're not going to drop a big pile of snow on me?" I flinched and put my hands over my head as I quickly look up, expecting to see snow. There was none – good. Next hazard.
"Or something like ... that!" I snatched some chopsticks and shielded my face with my hands – but nothing sprayed out. I sighed, there couldn't possibly be anything they could spring me now. I broke apart my chopsticks and plucked up some noodles from the broth.
"Nah ... I'm just being silly!"
I laughed to myself and glanced up ... only get a face full of an extending boxing glove. I found myself flying high into the air and landed in a heap a few metres away from the Ramen stand. I groaned with shock and in pain. I glanced up, feeling like crying as I saw not only my students – Sasuke holding that blasted sign – but also the shop owner and Ayame – who was holding the extending boxing glove - standing there with huge grins on their faces as they yelled out,
"HE FELL FOR IT!"
'END SENARIO THREE'
xXx
I was getting fed up trying to guess what these brats were up to so I glared sternly at them, waiting for one of them to finally fess up.
"Well?" Once again they cringed.
I drummed my fingers on the countertop – impatiently waiting. I didn't care if my Ramen was getting cold.
I wanted answers.
~SASUKE P.O.V~
Geez. Why did I agree to do this again?
I sat there being interrogated by Kakashi. I should never have agreed to participate in this pointless 'mission'. It was then that I saw Hikari who was looking guilty and I subtly reached over and placed my hand on hers. She glanced at me and relaxed slightly. The dobe on the other hand looked like he was about to wet himself.
"C'mon. You guys are up to something, right?" Kakashi demanded, not even attempting to touch his meal. I mentally rolled my eyes – but outwardly forced my face to remain netural. Naruto started stuttering. Shit, I hope he doesn't blow it – I didn't fork out the money to pay for that bowl of Ramen just to have that idiot sing like a canary.
"Wha-wha-wha-wha-what are you crazy?"
Okay? He came through. I can live with that – I glanced over to see Sakura trying to placate Kakashi.
"Kakashi-sensei, please you just got out of the Hospital." She reassured him, nervously.
Kakashi nodded.
"Now, uh, uh please. Why don't you go ahead and eat?"
Yeah, hurry up and eat so we can get this over with and I can go home ... I thought getting irritable by the minute. But the bastard still didn't look convinced.
"Please, sensei – no tricks. Just a simple random act of kindness. We swear." Hikari reassured him.
Kakashi thought for a moment longer before relenting.
"Well ... alright then. I suppose I should just dig in."
Thank fuck! I would kiss Hikari if it wasn't for the fact that there were people watching. I squeezed her hand and smiled slightly when she squeezed back. Kakashi gestured towards the shop owner for his Ramen and immediately it was placed in front of him.
"Thank you for waiting!" The old man greeted him.
Then his stupid daughter had to go and make things even more suspicious.
"The Roasted Pork is on us!"
That made Kakashi pause for a moment before he shrugged. Presumably, because he believed that there was nothing wrong with a free lunch. Now came the moment of truth ...
~HIKARI P.O.V~
None of us dared breathe as we watched Kakashi break apart his chopsticks, then reached up to pull down his mask. The downside? He did it excruciatingly slow. My fists were clenched so tightly my knuckles turned white and Sasuke winced a little.
"Boy, this looks good." Kakashi oozed – I narrowed my eyes.
He's doing that on purpose – the asshole! It was clear he still suspected that we were planning something. I could hear it in his voice. But then the worst thing possible happened ... It all happened quickly, but it was just as annoying and frustrating. Ino appeared from out of NOWHERE and shoved Sasuke headfirst into the counter.
"Hey Sasuke!" She beamed at him, pleasantly.
My eyes widened in horror. NO!
"What a coincidence!" She smirked at Sakura – clearly trying to piss her off and help me out. But at that moment, Ino was NOT helping. In fact, I could easily have throttled her because our view was blocked.
All hell broke loose.
Sakura and Naruto screamed in fury, and we desperately tried to push Ino (and Shikamaru and Choji) out of the way.
"GET OUT OF THE WAY, INO-PIG!" Sakura shrieked as she launched herself at Ino and bopped her over the head with a clenched fist.
THUD!
BANG!
"AW MAN! I CAN'T SEE SQUAT!" Naruto moaned.
I helped Sasuke up and inspected his face. He seemed alright physically, but emotionally – let's just say, I had to stop him from trying to rip off poor Choji's head.
"Sasuke! Stop that, he can't breathe!" I yelled, trying to pry away his arm.
Sasuke just glared at Choji. "Good. He just wasted my time."
Chopsticks clattering against porcelain caught our attention and we glanced over to see ...
"All done! That was tasty!" My mouth dropped open.
That wasn't possible.
"HUH! SO FAST!" We exclaimed. We didn't get a chance to see what Kakashi had been hiding behind that mask. Kakashi glanced over at us in confusion.
"Hm? Is something wrong?" We immediately regained our composure. Sakura laughed nervously.
"Ha ha. No. Of course not! What makes you say that?" Sakura said as she held onto Ino's throat with a tight grip.
Suddenly, Naruto gasped. I glanced up at him to see him staring at the shop owner and Ayame. I looked too and nudged Sasuke in the ribs.
"Ow! What?" He growled.
I pointed and his eyebrow rose. Ayame had hearts for eyes and the shop owner looked envious. Clearly, they had seen what we had failed to catch a glimpse of.
Now we were pissed.
"OKAY! NOW WE'RE CURIOUS!"
A few hours later, since Kakashi had errands to run (I think it was just an excuse to get away from us – since we apparently freaked him out) we decided to retreat and regroup.
Naruto was having a hissy fit.
"That's it! NOTHING'S gonna stop me from seeing that face!" He declared.
Sasuke smirked.
"Wow, dobe. Didn't realise you had those kinds of feelings for our sensei." He mocked him and Naruto bristled.
"Shut it, teme!" He growled.
I rolled my eyes.
"Anyway – it's time for plan B." Sakura sighed and pushed off the wall coming to rest beside Sasuke who shuffled away, getting irriated that Sakura hadn't taken a hint, yet again.
"Yeah, but how? Anyone got any ideas?" She glanced hopefully at Sasuke who ignored her.
Naruto grinned devilishly at Sakura who blushed before realising who was grinning at her and then bopped him over the head again. However, Naruto wasn't deterred.
"Don't you worry. We'll see it one way or another." He promised, at it again with the torch.
Sakura hit him again, only harder.
"I'M ASKING YOU HOW, YOU STUPID LITTLE TROLL!" she screamed at him again, breathing hard and looking like a hyperventilating hyena.
I grabbed her fist.
"Geez, Sakura. Enough with the violence." I snapped before turning and offering a hand to Naruto, who accepted my hand gratefully. Once on his feet I pinched his arm hard.
"Ow! What was that for?" He demanded, rubbing his arm and scowling at me with a hurt expression.
I scowled back.
"For being immature. Quit playing around and help us figure out a new plan." Naruto glared at Sakura, rubbing both his head and his arm.
"Alright then, smarty-pants. How do you propose we do it then?" Sakura was about to clout him again for the 'smarty-pants' comment when Sasuke, obviously getting annoyed with the constant bickering, piped up.
"We'll just have to tail him around for the day." We looked at him in surprise.
"Thought you said you didn't want to put in any ideas?" I pointed out, Sasuke scowled at me for a second, then shrugged like it wasn't a big deal.
"He'll take off the mask eventually." And he sauntered off.
Sakura beamed once again. "Oh, Sasuke. I swear you're so smart." she trilled, happily.
Shaking my head, I trotted after Sasuke.
"Oh whatever. Good plan, Captain Obvious!" Naruto yelled after him in a sarcastic voice. Sakura zeroed in on him.
I didn't bother trying to rescue him.
"I'm sorry ... what was that?" Sakura asked sweetly, grabbing the front of his jacket and promising pain for a wrong answer. Naruto gulped hard as he looked at Sakura's narrowed eyes and clenched fist.
"Uh, never mind ..." I struggled to contain myself when a bird flew past saying 'aho'. [1]
However, we decided very quickly that the bird was becoming a menace every time we failed in our every attempt to catch our sensei off guard, yank down that stupid mask and see why Kakashi felt that it was so important to hide his face.
Attempt number one: stalk him where ever he went. It went pretty much like this:
First, we found Kakashi wondering the streets with his nose buried deep in his book, as usual.
"The woman blushed crimson as she sat down on the bed and waited impatiently for her love to join her ..." We overheard him muttering to himself, and was disgusted to see a faint blush forming on his face. It didn't take a genius to figure out what he was about to read. I shuddered as we peeked around the corner watching our sensei walking down the sidestreet without a care in the world.
"Why is he even a teacher? He's not showing a good example for any of us." Sakura hissed sounding unimpressed.
"Does it really matter, Sakura?" I muttered back, "We can plot to steal his books later on. Right now, we're dealing with seeing what's underneath his stupid mask."
"Shut up, he's on the move." Sasuke snapped and immediately took off after Kakashi, Sakura following swiftly.
Naruto and I exchanged looks before rushing to catch up. We found Kakashi eventually walking passed some closed stores. Cautiously, we peered over a sign advertising a brand new movie that was scheduled to come out soon. As Kakashi passed a bookstore something caught his attention and he turned to the display. Apparently, he was so overcome with excitement that he dropped his book and started dancing in front of the window. Naruto sneezed, grabbing Kakashi's attention.
Quickly, we ducked behind the advertisment, hoping that he hadn't spotted us.
"Oh great! Nice move, idiot!" Sakura growled.
Naruto whined. "Oh, c'mon! Why is it always my fault?"
"Shut up, you're going to give us away!" Sasuke snarled and I silently agreed.
Kakashi approached the ad and for a second we thought we were busted. I racked my brains for a believable excuse. However, we needn't have bothered, Kakashi was more interested in the ad.
"Oh My God! They're making a movie about my favourite Icha Icha Paradise!" I almost face-faulted.
"I better hurry before all the tickets have sold out!" and in saying that, Kakashi ran off – leaving all of us wandering what the hell just happened. We were so sure that Naruto's mistake would've made us have to answer a lot of difficult questions.
"Quickly, he's getting away!" Sakura announced and we sped off down the road Kakashi disappeared down. After about an hour, the situation seemed hopeless.
"Where did he go?" I commented out loud.
"How should I know!? What do you think, Sasuke-kun?"
"Hn."
"Oh c'mon, teme. That's what you always say!" Naruto complained.
"What are you four up to?"
We must have jumped fifty feet in the air.
Where'd the hell did he come from? Slowly, we turned and saw Kakashi staring down at us with a perplexed expression on his masked face. Naruto chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head; Sasuke looked resentful that he had been caught out – and from doing what he probably thought was the stupidest mission ever; - Sakura laughed nervously, and I gulped and gave Kakashi my best smile. Kakashi raised an eyebrow and zeroed in on me. Damn, I was never good at look sweet and innocent – and it was the first lesson we were taught as potential kunoichi.
"Well, Hikari-chan? I'm waiting ..."
Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto looked at me pleadingly, obviously hoping that I could think on the spot and get them off the hook.
Geez, no pressure.
"We were searching for you, sensei." I began.
Kakashi's eyebrow continued climbing.
"We've established this. This wouldn't have anything to do with lunchtime today, would it?" Kakashi asked sounding stern. I forced myself to remain calm.
"Of course not, sensei. We were trying to find you to find out if we have a mission tomorrow?" I improvised. I saw my teammates relax before looking back at Kakashi who frowned, deliberating if I was lying or not. Then suddenly, he smiled. We took a step back from our unpredictable sensei.
"Is that all? Well, lucky for you four – we have no mission tomorrow. You can sleep in." He confirmed.
"Phew. That's a relief, sensei. Thanks so much." said Sakura, laying on the charm.
"Hn."
Thanks for the input, Sasuke.
I jabbed him in the ribs, causing him to grunt a little from the pain.
"Have a good night, sensei!" added Naruto, grinning like a fox. Kakashi nodded, warily. You could tell he didn't entirely trust that weren't lying to him.
"Don't stay up too late, kids." He gave us a mock salute before disappearing in a puff of smoke. We all breathed out in unison. Sasuke glared at me for the jab, but I ignored him – choosing to sigh in relief instead.
"That was close. So what do we do now?" I asked around, hoping for a smart idea. Sakura shrugged as usual.
"We forget the idea entirely?" Sasuke drawled in a bored tone.
Naruto growled. "Geez, you're no fun, teme!"
"Neither is this 'mission'" Sasuke retorted. I jumped in between them before a fist fight could break out.
"Look, we've come too far to give up. Alright?" Naruto and Sasuke retreated, but still glared at each other while Sakura yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. I found myself mimicking her.
"Let's go home for the night and regroup, start fresh tomorrow?" I suggested.
We agreed and went our separate ways – Sakura for the Northern part of Konoha where all the tasteful, modest homes were that had families and the elderly accomodating there; Naruto – for the bad end of town where all the hobos, prostitutes, drug dealers and other shifty people lived (I invited him to stay with Sasuke and I, but Naruto declined – claiming that he was likely to rip Sasuke a new asshole if he stayed around him for too long); and Sasuke and I for the Uchiha compound. I was more than ready to return to my own home, but for some reason Sasuke wasn't ready for me to leave just yet.
So yeah, the first attempt bombed out. The second attempt didn't fare much either.
This was how it went:
The four of us met up at the Bridge at about 7:00am so we could discuss other possiblities to de-mask Kakashi-sensei. Unfortunately, most of the discussion was taken up by Naruto and Sasuke arguing as per usual. With Sakura 'backing up' Sasuke by bashing Naruto over the head with her fist.
"While you three are standing around bickering like children-" Sasuke glared at me for the insult, I ignored him.
"We are wasting precious seconds that could be used for searching for Kakashi-sensei, NOT getting caught and having to explain ourselves, and finally finding out what is so special about his face."
Naruto and Sakura had the decency to look guilty, whereas Sasuke looked like he cared less, as usual. However, he was the one yet again to come up with a feasible idea.
"Why don't we split up this time?" We blinked back at him. "Clearly, tailing him doesn't work. Shadowing him one at a time should do the trick." He explained, already sounding bored.
I giggled.
"What?" He drawled, narrowing his eyes at me questioningly.
"Nothing. You just sounded like Shikamaru just then." I explained. Sasuke rolled his eyes, turned and sauntered off. But I noticed that he did smile a little at my comment.
"Who's going first?" piped up Naruto. Sakura, Sasuke and I just gave him a look. It took him several minutes before he figured it out.
"Oh, c'mon! Why me?!" He yelled, pouting.
"Because you were stupid enough to ask, idiot." Sakura pointed out before she hurried to catch up to her beloved Sasuke-kun.
I watched as she immediately latched onto his arm and shook my head in amusement when he removed his arm from her grasp, leaving her looking rejected. Naruto caught me staring.
"If you don't like Sakura-chan doing that. Why don't you do something about it?" He questioned me.
"Because Sasuke already knows how I feel about him." I answered, sighing sadly. "It's up to him to make the next move." Naruto considered this before getting up and draping his arm around my shoulders and nuzzling my cheek with his.
"It's his loss." He grinned and I shoved him slightly, feeling embarrassed.
"C'mon. We better hurry so we don't lose 'em." Naruto suggested, grabbing my hand and dragging me after him.
~NARUTO P.O.V~
So I got stuck shadowing after our pervert of a sensei. Don't know why I had to take the first shift – they know I can't stay quiet long enough for Kakashi-sensei not to notice me.
Aw, this sucks!
I eventually found Kakashi-sensei strolling along as usual, reading his porn book and muttering to himself. I leapt from building to building, trying to keep him within my sights. Sometimes I ran into a few villagers whom hated my guts and started chasing after me, throwing me insults and the occasional rock or trying to bash me over the head with brooms.
If I was lucky enough to stumble on a few villagers whom tolerated me enough to give me 'minimal – usually useless' information, they told me which direction they thought they saw Kakashi-sensei heading down. I suddenly lost track of him when he turned 'round a corner. I jumped down from my hiding place and landed in the middle of the street he turned down, looking around for a glimpse of him.
"Oh c'mon! We'd he go?" I grumbled impatiently.
"Looking for me?" I screamed bloody murder – causing Kakashi-sensei to look at me weirdly before retreating.
"Alright then. Guess, I'll see you later. Much later." I heard him mutter the last part before he disappeared in a whirl of leaves.
I groaned – I'm so gonna get clobbered by Sakura-chan for this ...
I wondered back to where Sasuke-teme, Sakura-chan and Hikari-chan were hanging out at, and found them sipping from teacups. They all looked up at me, expectantly. I scratched the back of my head feeling guilty.
"Uh ... heh, heh. I kinda ... lost him?" I admitted and flinched waiting for the pain. When nothing happened I glanced at my teammates and saw that they were staring at the ground in a weird mixture of disappointment and annoyance.
I felt like a tool myself.
All well, Sakura-chan's turn ...
~SAKURA P.O.V~
God, Naruto is such a idiot! How hard can it be to shadow our sensei? He's as lazy as they come! Not as lazy as Shikamaru, if what Ino-pig tells me is true – apparently, Shikamaru likes to lie down in one of Konoha's meadows and watch the clouds going by. Sometimes he even takes naps.
Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah! Naruto's such a moron!
There, venting over. Moving on.
I knew that the most logical place that you would find Kakashi-sensei would have to be the Memorial Stone. So that's where I went to find him. I found him standing in front of the Memorial Stone just staring at it. It was sort of sad when you thought about it. He must have really been heartbroken when he lost his teammates and his sensei. I know I would be absolutely devastated if Sasuke-kun died – I don't think I would be able to stand it; I guess I'd be upset if Hikari-chan or Kakashi-sensei died, but I think i'd get over it in a couple of weeks, but if Naruto died?
... well, let's just say, I wouldn't be heartbroken.
A couple of hours passed, and Kakashi-sensei still hadn't budged from his position. Sheesh, wouldn't he be tired standing in the same position-
... wait a minute.
I dashed forward from my hiding spot and went to investigate.
"AHHH!"
It was a dummy!
Kakashi must have sensed my chakra and left a dummy as a subsitute to trick me. God, what a rookie mistake! Sasuke-kun will never forgive me for this. I sighed and went back to where Sasuke-kun, Naruto and Hikari were waiting for me to make my report.
I sweatdropped.
"Uh, sorry guys." I apologised.
We all sighed. At least, I know Sasuke-kun will find out what Kakashi-sensei is hiding ...
~HIKARI P.O.V~
So much for Sasuke's idea.
Maybe, he's not that big of a genius as we all thought he was. After Sakura also showed up empty handed, it was Sasuke turn to get the dirt on what was going on with Kakashi-sensei's face. I could sense that Naruto was secretly rapt that even Sakura had failed miserably. I shot him a warning glare, which immediately stopped him radiating smug vibes. I hadn't even had MY shot yet.
"Don't get cocky, Naruto. Nobody's perfect. Not even, dare I say it – Sasuke." Sakura looked like she wanted to correct me on that fact, but wisely stopped herself. It was impossible for somebody to be so accomplished that they could do nothing wrong. If it were possible, that person must one very sad, very lonely person – with no friends because they would always be feeling incredibly awkward around said person.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Naruto relented, sitting back and sipping at his tea – wrinkling his nose at the taste. I sat back and stared at the clouds, trying to see what Shikamaru found so fascinating about them. I was about to doze off on Naruto's shoulder when Sakura's delighted squeal caused me to stand to attention, looking around for the source of Sakura's excitement. It turned out to be Sasuke whom had shown up at that moment. He was standing there as usual with his perfect posture, and staring broodingly at the ground with his hands buried in his pockets.
He seemed annoyed by Sakura's reaction.
"Well? Did you see anything?" I asked trying to avoid sounding hopeful. It usually gets me into trouble. Sasuke grunted and turned his head away.
"I got bored and gave up." He replied. All four of us sighed in frustration before Naruto's head shot up and he glared at Sasuke.
"You probably didn't try hard enough." He accused. Sasuke glared at him with annoyance.
"It wasn't from a lack of trying, dobe. He's too slippery." Sasuke retorted.
"Besides, he is a jounin. He's much more experienced than us." I tried to placate him, not wanting a fight to start up. "If he didn't want to be found unnecersarily, then he would make sure that he couldn't."
Naruto still looked resentful, but dropped the subject. Sakura stood up and stretched.
"Maybe we just weren't meant to find out what was underneath his mask." She suggested, before yawning.
"I'll see you later, I'm gonna see what Ino's up to." Sakura started to wonder off, before she paused and looked over at Sasuke with a hopeful look on her face.
"Sasuke-kun, would you like to-"
"No." Sakura sighed before continuing on her way. Or at least attempted to, before Naruto stopped her.
"I'll come with you, Sakura-chan." He suggested, hopefully.
Sakura looked at him with distaste.
"In your dreams, Naruto." She spat before hurrying away, leaving behind a rejected looking Naruto. I hummed with sympathy before getting to my feet also.
"I think, I'm gonna go home too. Since we don't have a mission, I'm gonna have a lazy day at home. See ya Naruto. See you at home, Sasuke." I said before waving and walking away.
I was almost home, when I turned a corner and saw Kakashi perched in a tree, and reading his book as usual.
Ugh ... someday we really need to take that off him.
I was about to continue walking when I saw something very unusual. Kakashi-sensei mustn't have seen or sensed me, but at that second he must have had his guard down, and I saw my chance. He came to a specific part in his book and suddenly he went all red in the face and all this blood came shooting out of his nose, completely soiling his mask in the process.
"Damn."
I heard him curse and put down his book for a second. I froze where I stood as I saw him reach up for his mask. I didn't breathe for a split second as he slipped his fingers around the hem of his mask ... and then Naruto had to go and ruin everything!
"Hey, Hikari-chan!"
I jumped and spun around to see him jogging up to me with a massive grin on his face. Trailing behind him was a very bored looking Sasuke.
"We just realised that you hadn't had your turn in finding out what was behind Kakashi-sensei's mask." I nodded hurriedly before turning back to see if Kakashi was still there.
He wasn't.
God dammit!
I turned back, feeling resentful and feeling my cheeks burning. A hand touched my forehead and I flinched in fright.
"Are you alright, Hikari-chan?" Naruto was frowning at me with concern. It was his hand touching my forehead.
"Hope you're not sick."
That seemed to catch Sasuke's attention. I impatiently brushed Naruto's hand away.
"I'm fine, just tired." I lied.
Then things went from bad to worse.
"What you kids doing here?"
We glanced up to see Kakashi standing there looking bemused to see us standing around discussing my health. I spied his soiled mask poking out from one of his pockets. I don't know why we started acting all guilty now, we weren't doing anything suspicious.
But it seemed Kakashi was in a hurry.
"Whatever, I don't think I wanna know. Just stay out of trouble." Kakashi interrupted us before we could explain. Just before he left, I saw Kakashi giving me a knowing look.
I paled. Shit! He must have saw me.
Now, I definitely must look suspicious. I felt eyes digging into me and I turned to see both Sasuke and Naruto glaring at me suspiciously.
"What did you see?" Sasuke demanded.
"Yeah, Hikari-chan. Fess up!" Naruto insisted.
I grinned sheepishly. Time to make a hasty exit.
"Later."
And sped off as fast as I could. I could hear Naruto and Sasuke yelling at me as I went.
xXx
I managed to avoid Sasuke and his likely interrogation by the time he got home, by barricading myself in the room Sasuke was lending me and pretending that I was asleep. He seemed to buy that until around about midnight, when he snuck into my room. My guard was down and I was just about drifting off to sleep, when I felt my futon dipping slightly – indicating that somebody was kneeling down behind me. I froze, trying to appear to still be asleep. However this time, Sasuke didn't buy it. I heard him chuckling evilly and that sent shivers down my spine. I was definitely in for it.
"I know you're not asleep, Hikari." He whispered into my ear. His warm breath tickling my cheeks and making it hard not to flinch.
"However, I'm gonna let you off. THIS TIME. But next time, you're going to spill what you saw tomorrow, or I'm going to tickle you until you throw up."
Damn.
He's threatening me with my weakness.
A few weeks back after Sasuke and I started talking again since that fight on the Hospital room; he, Naruto and I started playfully wrestling during one of our sparring sessions. At one point, I had gotten the upper hand when Sasuke accidentally grazed the sides of my waist with his fingers and I flinched away. Naruto and Sasuke noticed this and both of them smirked mischieviously.
Next thing I knew, I was at their mercy – and they've been holding that over my head ever since. I knew I had to tell them, so I silently agreed to explain what happened. I relaxed my body, thinking that Sasuke had gone already. But was completely shocked when I felt Sasuke softly kiss my temple – totally out of the blue.
"Goodnight, Hikari. Sleep well." He whispered before retreating and closing the door behind him. That was so sweet of him – I went to sleep with a huge smile on my face. But that smile was wiped off when Sasuke practically broke down my door the next morning to wake me up.
"Hikari! Get up, we've got a mission!" He bellowed before I heard his footsteps fading away down the corridor.
"What? You've gotta be kidding me ..." I groaned before I got up and did my morning routine. I wasn't going to reject the possiblity that this was some sort of revenge of Kakashi's for shadowing the entire day yesterday.
I just hoped that the mission didn't suck.
[1] - 'Aho' means 'Idiot' in Japanese :D
PLEASE REVIEW ^^