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26. The Mission – Let the Games begin
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According to the side's statistics some of you missed quite a few chapters(or maybe you read them on AO3?). Please be careful and watch out where you continue reading, 'cause I update pretty often and I know by experience the app shows you the latest chapter only, not where you've stopped reading. Just in case you don't want to miss a thing ;)
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome on board. We're finally heading off to Suna! Disturbances are likely, so please take a comfortable position. Fasten your seatbelts! We're taking off.
Enjoy the journey!
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SquaMata
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PS: Sorry for the unusual long wait, but I'm currently dealing with the worst cold I've ever had. So in between fever rushes, shivering attacks and infusions I tried to distract myself with writing down ideas and now I'm finally able to finish this chapter.
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26. The Mission – Let the Games begin
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The young kunoichi took a last look inside of her apartment. All seemed ok, the stuff she won't take with her to Suna was packed away into boxes, the electric devices were unplugged, her furniture was covered with sheets, her fridge was empty and turned off, she had cleaned everything up and had closed the windows. Good!
With a last deep breath she closed the door and locked it. This time she didn't have to seal it herself, just in case she wouldn't return and they would clear the premises.
It felt weird and dragged on her heart.
She had made many memories there, some were good like when she had moved in and decorated the apartment both with Ino's help or when Naruto had bought her two especially hand-painted cups for their first breakfast together. And others were more of the bad kind, like when she had woken up in an empty bed as the last Uchiha had disappeared or when she had finally dumped Naruto and had thrown him out of her apartment after he had told her as an incidental remark he would ask Hinata to marry him while he had been putting on his clothes again.
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I guess we could really need a restart!
Yep! Let's go! Don't look back.
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Smiling with mixed feelings Sakura took her backpack full of item scrolls and dashed over the rooftops to the gate.
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"You're late!" A slouched figure in the shadows on the wall next to the gate said and approached her tardily. He put away his precious book and greeted her with a nod.
"Good morning, Sensei!" Sakura tried to sound happy and motivated, no one should recognise that inwardly she was afraid as hell, afraid of the unknown.
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"Sakura, please take good care!" Before the young kunoichi could even react, a very unhappy looking hokage embraced her full-heartedly and nearly choked her. "Send me a note when you have arrived as soon as possible!" She whispered to her former apprentice as the worried stepmother she had become for her over the years.
They let go and the pinkette straightened her clothes and adjusted her backpack. "I will!"
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The blonde sannin pointed at Kakashi "And you Hatake, keep an eye on her. We'll stay in contact. Have a good trip, you two!"
"Bye Shishou!" Sakura smiled sadly at Tsunade, who fought back tears.
"Hokage-sama." He nodded approvingly and they headed off walking on the road.
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After a few kilometres she asked him "Don't you want to run through the treetops?"
"Later. The woods around here are secure. We have a long way to go and cross half of a desert, therefore we need to save energy and water whenever we can." His voice was different, like ice-cold and solely technical.
Great. Much time to talk… Sakura thought sarcastically.
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Kakashi seemed to be deep in thoughts and in a very bad mood, she didn't know why. He had been like a different person since their shower incident back in the spa hotel.
They reached the border of the safe area, the copy-nin waved the ANBU goodbye which she hadn't even noticed and signalled for her to follow him through the branches.
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In the late afternoon they found a nice clearing to set camp. After they had finished their food, Sakura decided to talk with the peculiar silent jounin. She sat down next to him.
"Kakashi, what's bitten you?"
"Nothing." He didn't even dare to look at her, she knew something was bothering him.
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"Come on, don't be so stubborn! I know you for years now. Tell me who rattled your cage?" She tried to smile at him and lighten up the mood.
"Sakura, could you please stop talking!" His lone eye showed frustration, maybe even bitter disappointment while his body language spoke of pure anger.
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"Why are you so fucking angry?" Sakura's patience snapped.
"That's the right word and the answer to your question." The silverhead murmured and shrugged.
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"What?" She spat back.
He cocked his head to the side and raised a brow.
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A few moments of contemplating passed, before she understood what he had implied. Did I really hurt him? No, it can't be!
"You know I had to do it!" The young kunoichi yelled, then her voice became softer. "You said it yourself, I needed practise."
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"Sure. With my friend." He spat back and stood up to lean on a tree nearby, facing away from her. The copy-nin had never experienced such rage for a woman before. It was a fact he had planned the whole thing with Genma, but dealing with it was quite another cup of tea.
Sakura bawled at him. "Who do you think you are? It's nothing like that dumb bitch you screwed in the spa hotel."
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Kakashi went quiet.
After a while he mumbled "I don't know what you mean."
The pinkette crossed her arms over her chest and grumbled sourly "Oh come on! Don't play dumb."
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He remained quiet and stared into the distance.
"Do you really think I wouldn't notice? How silly do you think I am?" She sounded a bit offended.
"You are NOT silly, ok!" He exclaimed looking at her over his shoulder, he was leaning at the tree with his arms crossed over his chest.
"So I am right, you banged our teacher." Sakura stated bitterly.
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He sighed in annoyance and pinched the bridge of his nose before he continued in a calm business voice "At that time I didn't know we would have to attend a massage course, nor she would be teaching us, nor that I'll ever have to see her again."
"Charming!" Sakura grumbled moping and crawled into her bedroll, facing the campfire rather than the man a few meters next to her.
"Always!"
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Kakashi put another log into the fire, in her anger she turned to not have to face him so soon again. He took the first watch as the grumpy kunoichi drifted off to sleep.
The strong jounin stared into the dancing flames. I've failed miserably. This whole mission has been a mess already before it had really begun.
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The next morning was ice-cold even the heat of the camp fire couldn't warm up the air between the two shinobi.
Wordlessly they dashed through the trees, but in a quite normal pace.
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After a while she tried to have another conversation with the silverhead.
"And by the way we did not sleep together."
He looked at her questioningly.
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"We just had oral sex." The pinkette stated in a friendly tone.
Kakashi raised an unbelieving brow. "You're kidding me."
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"Nope, really!" She smiled at him, both didn't notice they had stopped.
Kakashi couldn't hold back a smile, his mood seemed to lighten up.
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"And with the Inuzuka?" The copy-nin knew what had happened with her and Kiba, but he wanted to test her honesty, even if he did't know how to deal with the truth nor why it was so hard for him.
Sakura hesitated for a moment. "Ehrm… There was more."
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"Good for you! We should speed up a little, it's getting late." And off he went with the mood. The kunoichi had to struggle to keep up with him.
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Sakura was still angry. Why is she always the bad one and what he had done didn't count? It reminded her a bit of the love triangle dilemma with Naruto and Hinata, where she had always been the scapegoat and for Hinata she still was.
Furious she approached the sleeping copy-nin on their assumed last night on their way to Suna. It was time for him to take his watch shift after all.
She poked his chest once as he caught her hand in a harsh grip.
"Don't." He sounded almost pained, then he let go and sat up yawning.
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"So I got it, it happened during our second night after you met her at the restaurant! You didn't come back for a few hours. I knew there was a reason for her behaviour! Btw what happened on our fourth night, huh?"
Why couldn't she leave it like that? It doesn't matter. "I went for a late night run. What do you think?"
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"Sure. A late night run. Uh-huh."
"It's the truth." His voice sounded sincere, then he cocked his tired head and looked at her. "Why do you even care?"
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Sakura stood there with her arms akimbo. "Because you hurt another person willingly, you know!" And I'm not speaking about Yoko…
"Bullshit! As she persuaded me to follow her into the grotto, she had known already that I'm not looking for more." Kakashi stated in his business tone.
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Sakura had tasted blood. "The grotto?"
Over his back he responded "Yes?"
"The very same grotto?" Her voice was filled of anger and disappointment.
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Kakashi just shrugged. "It seemed quite appealing to women, yes."
"You're an ass." She murmured and lay down in her bedroll.
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Kakashi shrugged again. So the low blow helps to focus her back on the mission and the kazekage.
Of course there was no other reason for his low blow like anger or jealousy, that's what he told himself at least. Also he would never admit why he had taken that opportunity so easily to ease his mind with such an obtrusive woman he would have never touched under normal circumstances.
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They travelled quietly and entered the desert. Sakura was really sad, Kakashi was kind of too. She decided to quit lunch and run as fast as possible in the hot sand, they only stopped for some cooling breaks.
Before they came into eye-sight with the village he stopped her.
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"Sakura, one more thing. We're on a mission, we need to act professional. Could we please forget what happened? We need to focus on our target and cover." It was cold and stern business Kakashi again, the man she had begun to hate so much, except on the battlefield and during emergencies.
"Sure." She didn't look at him and shrugged.
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"Sakura, I'm in charge of that mission, the situation is serious, this requires a proper answer." The jounin acted like he had back then in her genin days.
She sighed and looked at him resigned. "Affirmative. We will forget what happened and act normal."
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"Let's head to Suna and get you into that kazekage's bedroom." Business Kakashi-sensei gave her a reassuring eye-crinkle.
Sakura had completely forgotten about her task for the last days, she had been so caught by rage and trapped in her own thoughts, now her stomach twisted into a knot and she suddenly forgot how to breathe.
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"Hey Sakura! Everything ok?" He noticed her stiff body and she went deadly pale.
He helped her to sit down. "Do you want some water?"
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Sakura nodded and took the bottle he offered her kindly to down half of it in one go.
"Better now?" The silverhead looked a bit worried.
"Yes." She stood up and handed him his bottle back. "Let's go."
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"Are you sure? You seem quite wobbly on your feet. Let's sit down for a moment, we have time."
"No, thanks. We're almost there." He slowed her down a little, but didn't stop her.
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As they reached the huge brown gates of Suna, four ANBU approached them. "Who are you?"
"My name is Hatake Kakashi and this is Haruno Sakura. We are sent directly from to hokage, due to an inquiry of the sand siblings." The copy-nin showed them a scroll signed by Tsunade and Temari.
"Oh, welcome to Sunagakure! I'm sorry, we expected you not until tomorrow. Please follow us to the tower."
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The ANBU ordered to open the gates and led them through the village. The two Konoha nin hadn't been in Suna for a long time, but it still looked the same. The sand was everywhere and began to creep between Sakura's toes. Great! Of course I didn't think to bring a pair of closed shoes with me.
Kakashi seemed to notice her struggle and chuckled with an amused eye-crinkle in her direction and pointed at his sandal boots. At least he really was back to normal, even when that damn sand got deeply on her nerves, she had to smile too and their former tension vanished.
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Soon they reached the tower in which the kazekage office and Suna council were sat. The family quarters were in an annex. It was an impressive building and showed the traditional sand architecture of Suna, but was quite larger than most buildings.
"Sakura! You're here!" The blonde sand sibling approached and embraced her heartedly.
"Temari, good to see you again!" The pinkette was happy to see her again. As she was dating Naruto, they often met up with Shikamaru and Temari, when they had been both in town. They had always great fun together and got along well.
Temari approached tha copy-nin and shook his hand. "Kakashi! Good you're here too! The hokage can really keep her word, huh!"
"Temari." He nodded with his trademark eye-crinkle.
"Let's go inside. You two must be tired. Do you want anything, before I'll show you your rooms? You'll find drinks and some snacks there, but if you want something special don't hesitate to ask!"
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Servants handed them all a bottle of ice-cold water and a towel.
They walked to the annex and Temari told them where to find the family dining room. "We'll meet there at 7 p.m. to eat and talk about your roles in the game, okay?"
"What about the kazekage?" Sakura asked a bit nervously.
Temari patted her shoulder and led them upstairs. "Gaara won't come back home until late at night. You'll meet him tomorrow after a nice breakfast and a wonderful tour through our wonderful village and the kazekage tower."
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"So, here we are. These two rooms are yours. They are similar and freshly renovated. I've designed them all by myself. Please enjoy your stay. See you later!" She handed them the keys.
Sakura took the one on the right side, Kakashi's was directly next to hers.
"See you later." He nodded and each entered their own room.
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There was a small entre painted white with a walnut coatrack and matching floor and closet and two with doors. The one on the side led to an elegant bathroom with an oval sink in the middle of a midheight partition with a shower and a bathtub behind, separated through the partition. There was a transom window and a huge plant, also a comfy chair and a separated toilet. The whole bathroom was built like a modern spa with dark grey slate floor and partition, white fixtures and white tiled walls with turquoise towels and decoration accents.
The other white door in the entre led to a sand coloured room with a light grey floor. There were a white counter with an electric kettle and some teacups and a little hidden fridge, also a light grey desk and a beige modern lounger. A large white shelf randomly filled with decoration, books and cacti formed a room-devider, behind it was a big bed, decorated with beige sheets and grey and white pillows. On the wall of the bed was a huge window overviewing the village, but mirrored from the outside. Another window was in the view-sight of the lounger and one behind the desk. There was also a balcony with a small bench and a pot palm. A wonderful aircon kept the room from the desert heat. Their lodging was impressive and very stylish.
They both took a long shower and a snack from the fridge, which turned out to be rich filled with fruit, eggs, yoghurt, some Suna specialities and different beverages. Sakura decided to take a small nap, Kakashi found the lounger to be his new favourite reading place.
When it was time for dinner they went downstairs one after the other.
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"Kankuro, hi! I haven't seen you like forever!"
"Hey Sakura-chan! Wow, Temari's right, you've grown up very well." He winked at her.
"Ignore him." Said blonde waved him off. "Take a seat! You two must be starving!"
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The servants brought them a delicious salad with rucola, goat cheese, pine nuts and fresh figs, then a fine medium rare steak with beans and a special sort of potato that only grows around Sunagakure, and ice cream of the regional cuisine with almonds, pieces of date, honey and a typical Suna cactus flower. Sakura relished the treat for her taste buds. She began to like the idea of living in Suna.
After their incredible meal they talked about their official cover.
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"Kakashi, you'll be here as an ambassador for Konoha. You'll help with common business between Suna and Konoha and negotiate with Gaara, also you're here to observe to gain experience in politics. As Tsunade-sama wished you'll escort Sakura and keep an eye on her and you should officially unwind a bit before your awaiting duty in Konoha, whatever that may be." Besides being her support, seduction teacher and back up, it was all true.
"Affirmative."
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"Sakura, you're officially here to help to establish a med school and help in basic- and advanced medical training. You know your real mission already, but we'll talk between ourselves in the next days. We have time, no need to rush. Get to know the village, the conventions and the people, have some fun, okay?"
"Great!" Sakura smiled at the siblings. Of course she would bring the Suna medics up to speed, but her real mission was to help Gaara with the shukaku remains and seduce him to decrease his temper.
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"So tell me, what is your awaiting duty?" Kankuro asked the copy-nin curiously.
"I'm going into retirement! What do you think?" Kakashi chuckled full-heartedly and all began to laugh.