Hello again, my darlings! I was in the middle of typing up another chapter when my adored muse flew down from the heavens and graced me with this idea like a cinder-block thrown at my face from the back of an out of control eighteen wheeler on the highway.

So I typed it right up for you!

Hatake Kakashi never panicked. Ever. He was the great copy-ninja, he had fearlessly gone up against the Akatsuki and had fought side by side with the strongest nin of the ages in the fourth shinobi war. In their childhood, he had trained the man who would one day be Hokage and one of the strongest kunoichi of her time, both of whom had gone on to be apprentices to one of the Sannin, and even his strayed student had gone on to be so incredibly powerful. So he never, never panicked.

Except for, of course, when he came home to see that his copy of Icha Icha Violence was missing from the shelf it always stayed on unless he was reading it.

Swallowing hard and ignoring his furiously beating heart, Kakashi carefully made his way to the shelf to find that all of the traps he had set up—one of the more foolish and popular dares within the village for ninjas of all rank and age was to steal any of his books, an annoyance he had to put up with at least once a year—had all been skillfully disabled.

He breathed deeply through his nose as he tried desperately to calm down and figure out how this had happened. Very few should be able to get past the traps on his apartment, and only a handful would be able to even touch the ones he had on his shelves.

Making the necessary hand signs, Kakashi knew that no matter what he had to get to the bottom of this.

"Ah, Kakashi," The small pug who appeared with a puff of smoke sighed, "I do hope this is an emergency. I was in the middle of a very intriguing-"

"Then you'll need to be quick." Kakashi snapped. "I need you to sniff out who took my book."

Pakkun blinked and then turned to look up at the shelve where there was an obvious empty space where Kakashi's prized possessions always sat, and he could only grunt out a short and gruff laugh.

"Well, whoever did this is certainly going to be regretting this very soon." He said simply before quickly and thoroughly went over the apartment with his highly sensitive and dependable nose.

"Nothing and no one out of the ordinary." He said when he was done. "And the scents that are most concentrated around the bookshelf are yours and... that one who always has the stick in his mouth."

Kakashi narrowed his visible eye dangerously, the charcoal black burning before freezing dangerously. He could remember his "friend's" voiced interest in reading his collection, and the way he always seemed to gravitate to the shelf whenever he came by.

He nodded to the ninken and hurried out of his apartment, grabbing his pouch on the way out because he didn't know how hard his dear friend would fight him. After all, he had done the impossible and had stolen from Hatake Kakashi. There was no way he was going to give up without a fight.

"Have fun." Pakkun called out to him, the amusement heavy in his voice as the door quietly swung closed as the man disappeared.

Genma was having a pretty good day. His long time "lady friend" had asked him over to her apartment for dinner that night, hopefully a move forward in their relationship. He had won a free meal during lunch, and an old lady had given him a cake after he had helped her with her grocery bags. And, to top it all off, there was a lucky coin laying on the ground in front of him in the alley he was currently taking a short cut through.

Of course, all of that good was negated when, as he was straightening up with his happy little coin in his hand, he found a kunai at his throat and a familiar and surprisingly malicious presence behind him.

Deciding to stay calm for the moment until he figured out what was going on, Genma stood up—very conscious of the extremely deadly weapons at his throat and back—and relaxed.

"Why hello, Kakashi. I really didn't know that you were so stingy that you would attack your poor friend for a single coin, but you can have it if you want it. All you have to do is ask." He said easily.

"I'm not in the mood for jokes, Genma. I just want my book back." Kakashi said lowly, and had Genma been a weaker man he would have been shivering and whimpering from the tone. But he wasn't, so all he did was scrunch up his face in confusion.

"What are you talking about? What book?"

"Really, what sort of book do you think I would be doing this for?" Kakashi asked slowly, and with that Genma got it, and all he could do was laugh.

"Kakashi, do you think that I would really be so stupid as to take one of you Icha Icha books? I like a good joke every now and again, but not one where I would end up dead or seriously maimed."

There was a pause where the depth of their friendship and Genma's intelligence were both critically looked over by Kakashi, and then Genma found himself free. Deciding that it would be best just to move on and leave instead of making a big deal about the whole thing—after all, Kakashi was a man on a mission and he preferred all of his body parts in their current and proper order—Genma continued on his way, lifting his hand to his old friend in goodbye.

"Good luck then. Remember to keep the guy alive!"

Kakashi blew out his breath as the other man turned the corner to get onto the street, and could only wonder who it could have been. Pakkun hadn't smelled anyone else, and being able to hide their scent from his ninken was not something any ninja he had ever met could do.

"Well now, is that how you treat all of your friends?" Kakashi jerked slightly at the question and the questioner, but could only breathe deeply as he reminded himself that he was not in the best of moods right now, so he didn't even bother to turn and look at her.

"Not now, Sakura." Maybe later, after he had calmed down a bit and had found his book and the idiot that had taken it.

"Hmm... You know, I've always liked the first and third better, but Violence has some good parts too." She mused, flipping though the pages.

Kakashi's head snapped up to where the pink haired girl sat perched on the edge of the roof of the two story building that the alley ran by, and then he found himself riveted to the sight of the book in her hands.

His book.

His book that she had stolen.

His book that she had stolen and was now laughing about.

That little witch.

"How did you get Pakkun to lie to me about your scent around the bookshelf?" He asked as he leaned back against the wall as he looked up to her, hands in his pockets as he started to relax, his anger fleeing in the presence of pride. She had managed to get past all of his traps, bribe his most faithful ninken, and then mask her presence from him and even Genma up there on her little perch. He had to hold back his smile, because letting her know that he thought she was the most amazing thing he'd ever seen most definitely wouldn't help with her attitude.

"Oh, I promised to make him a couple of steaks. I think he's eating one right now." She said easily, her lips twitching up into a grin as she looked down at her lover. "You may be their master, Kakashi, but I cook for them. As long as it isn't any harm to you I could get them to do just about anything I wanted."

Kakashi couldn't stop his chuckle, he really couldn't. It was just that every thing about him—him, his dogs, his entire life—was wrapped securely around her little finger.

"Alright then. But what's this about? Why steal my book, and your least favorite of the series at that?"

"Well, you see," She said as she folded the book over her finger to hold her place, "What with missions, Naruto becoming the new Hokage and just general life, we haven't seen each other for about two months now. I got a bit tired of it, so I made up a little plan."

"Stealing my book to get me to spend time with you was your plan?" He asked her, thinking that, other than the danger she had put others and his book into, this was one of the cutest things she had ever done.

Sakura nodded, and her grin grew even wider.

"Oh yes. And did I ever tell you that chapter twenty in this particular book is one of my favorites?" She asked him deceptively innocently. "Do you happen to remember that chapter?"

Oh, he most certainly did.

He moved to push off of the wall and go up to her and take her somewhere for some much needed privacy—what he wanted to do to her would certainly need it—but Sakura held up a finger to stop him, waving it at him slowly. Tauntingly.

"Wait just a minute there. I caught you," She said as she slowly stood on the thin little ledge she had been sitting on, "So now it's your turn to catch me."

And she disappeared.

Kakashi grinned as he waited for just a handful of seconds—no reason for this to be over with too soon—and then he was off and running, racing over the rooftops of Konoha quicker than the ordinary eye could see.

The chase was on.

Tada!

A hello to my newest baby fallenfromlighttodark (thank you for the compliments, my darling, and also for the tears (is it bad that I smile when I read that I have made people cry?)) and then a WOOHOO! for getting over fifty thousand views.

Now to my other sweeties-

JacksonKid- *GASP!* Not the puppy dog eyes!

sylversmith- No, Kathy wasn't at fault for the milkshake spillage, that was just my natural clumsiness. And yeah, I guess Lee does go on more missions in my mind. Everyone else eases up a bit because of their families (though they still go on missions) and also because they get other jobs (like Hokage), but Lee only has Misaki, and he also still probably wants to challenge himself as a ninja and get even stronger.

Bye-bye, my lovelies!