Memo

Next one!!

Chapter 12: Recovery...

When they got back to the village, Sasuke was the first to experience Tsunade's healing hands. Kianna (Pakkun still on her shoulder), Naruto and the new Hokage walked into the hospital room where the young boy was situated and they also found a daydreaming Sakura by the side of his bed.
"Sakura-chan! It's alright now; I've brought a really good person!" Naruto enthused, running up to his friend.
"Naruto..." She simply replied, as if a trance, she quickly snapped out of it and turned to Tsunade. "I heard about you from Gai. Please, try your best..."
"Sure, leave it to me!" Tsunade sternly replied. Tsunade walked towards the head of the bed and placed her hand on the young Uchiha's forehead. Her hand began to glow green, as she started to heal him. Finally, she finished and Sasuke slowly opened his eyes, sitting up in his bed.
"Sasuke!" Naruto and Kianna yelled together happily. Sakura couldn't contain herself and drew Sasuke into a bear hug, which he did not react to at all, crying her eyes out. Kianna noticed Naruto's isolation and gave Naruto his own bear hug, causing him to blush,
"You alright Naruto?"
He didn't answer, but managed to release himself and walk away.
"C'mon, c'mon...Kakashi's turn."

"How Pathetic" Tsunade scolded the now awake Kakashi. Kianna sat in a chair by his bed, Pakkun in her lap, and had the crazy urge to do a Sakura on him and give him the biggest bear hug ever!
"You were beaten by just two enemies?" She continued "I thought you were a genius!"
"Sorry..." he replied weakly. He looked terrible, with large bags around his eyes and a gaunt expression.
"Alright, Kakashi-sensei is fixed. Now for fuzzy-brows!" Naruto shouted
"Hurry up! Please look at my student, Lee!" An apprehensive Gai appeared from behind the curtain with a look of pure fustration. Everyone exited the room except Kianna.
"Kianna, aren't you coming?" asked Naruto
"Nah, I'm going to stay here and keep Kakashi company" She said, not moving out of her seat.
"You look awful, Kakashi." She bluntly stated to him, after Naruto had left.
"I could say the same thing about you!" He replied, poking her in the arm playfully. She giggled, poking him back, he was probably right. Tsunade had done a great job healing her after the battle. However, Kianna was still heavily fatigued and was given strict orders not to exert herself too much.
"So, what have I missed?" He asked her, staring her in the eye. "And why have you got Pakkun on your lap?"

Kianna explained everything that happened to her and Naruto ever since Itachi had come to the village. Everything! He was a quiet listener and his face remained expressionless throughout the whole story.
"As for your dog," she added. "Well after the incident with Itachi, he stayed by my side and wouldn't budge, not that I'm ungrateful." She gave the dog a stroke in thanks, which he greatly appreciated.
"Talking about gratitude, thanks for staying with me." Kakashi smiled at her and clasped the hand not stroking Pakkun, bringing it back to his side. Kianna was slightly shocked by this sudden action, but squeezed it in response, smiling back at him. They sat there, mostly in silence, enjoying the others company. Finally, Kakashi drifted off to sleep in his bed and Kianna was soon starting to follow his lead. As the sun began to set, she slowly got up, peeling Kakashi's fingers from hers. He stirred slightly in his sleep, mumbling something completely inaudible. She stood there for a while looking at his face, tempted to rip off his mask and see the enigma underneath. She signed with resentment and left the room. As soon as she was at her apartment she ripped off her clothes and got changed into her night clothes. She was asleep before her head touched the pillow.

Kianna had a strange wakening the next day. A lump landed on her chest and winded her somewhat. Keen on getting more sleep, she kept her eyes firmly shut and rolled onto her side, pushing the lump off. There was an angry growl and next she felt a cold and wet substance on her face.
"Ew...Gross!" She opened her eyes and was greeted with another lick from the animal in front of her, "Pakkun...Cut it out." She groggily sat up in her bed and rubbed the saliva off her face. "What do you want?"
"I have been told to fetch you by Kakashi?" She sat up a little more listening intently. "Tsunade-sama wants to speak to you both."
"Oh" Kianna managed to clumsily get out of bed. "Then tell them, I'll be there soon. Where are we meeting?"
"At the hospital, you know where, be quick!" Pakkun rushed out of the window quickly. Kianna quickly got washed and changed. She rushed out the door in a flash.

"You took your time!" A disgruntled Tsunade acknowledged Kianna's arrival as she entered Kakashi's room at the hospital.
"I got here as fast as I could!" Kianna answered back slightly annoyed, "Errr, Hokage-sama"
"Yo." Kakashi lazily greeted still in his bed.
"Hey Kakashi."
"Anyway, you're probably both wondering why I asked to see you both," started the new Hokage, "It's about your ability to complete missions. Both of you still need time to heal and are unable to do S, A or B ranks missions yet. However, because of these hards times, I still need your assistance. Kakashi-kun, you will continue to work with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura until you are healed, then you will commence harder missions. Kianna-chan, you will assist Kakashi and Team 7 with their missions until you are well. You will then have harder missions, like Kakashi."
Expressions of surprise were on the other two faces. Kianna wasn't keen on doing C and D missions, but Tsunade-sama was right, she wasn't strong enough to do harder missions. She was quite happy with the thought of doing them with Kakashi and his team though, instead of on her own. She looked at Kakashi's surprised face and wondered what he was thinking.
"Is this alright with you two?" Tsunade asked
"Alright with me!" Kianna replied back.
"It's fine!" Said Kakashi with a somewhat confused look. Why did Kianna have to do the missions with them, she was perfectly capable of doing the missions on her own. Well, he wasn't going to argue anyway, it would be nice having some other company to distract him from his team's bickering.
"Okay, you're first mission will start tomorrow morning, I will inform your team Kakashi. Here are the details." Tsunade gave him a piece of paper with the mission's details and started to walk out the door. "I notify when you will have to start the harder missions." Tsunade gave them a knowing wink, "Have fun!" She smirked as she waved goodbye. Both looked quizzically at the other...

"This is very unusual." Kakashi commented as a bowl of food was placed in front of him. As soon as he had left the hospital with Kianna, his students had bombarded him, insisting to buy him a meal. Now all of them were gathered at the Ramen place, Kianna sitting next to him, then Sasuke, then Sakura, then Naruto. "For the three of you to treat me like this."
The three genins faces became panicked at Kakashi's suspicion. "Maybe it's going to snow." He said, visualing the scene. The genin became more panicked. "Or are you scheming?" He picked up his chopsticks cautiously, "Or something like that..." The genins faces became extremely panicked and they looked as if about to explode.
"What are you talking about?" Yelled Naruto,
"It's just to celebrate you getting out the hospital," Explained Sakura, "N-Now, now, eat up!" She stumbled on her last words. Kianna giggled at their nervousness. They were obviously trying to discover what was underneath his mask, like she had when she was younger. She sighed though, and knew their efforts were futile.
"I see. Then I'll eat it." Kakashi happily replied, what did he have up his sleeve? "Itadakimasu" He said as he started to pull down his mask. Kianna watched with intent, not letting anything distract her from his face. However, the next thing she saw wasn't Kakashi's mysterious face, but a close up of the ramen place's counter. She heard a loud "Sasuke-kun" and then was slumped forward as somebody pushed her. She was so mad that she struggled to keep a straight face as she managed to raise her head back up. She immediately looked at Kakashi, only to find that he had finished and she swore silently under her breath. She noticed Ino, Shikamaru and Chojiu, so they were to blame. Ino had jumped onto Sasuke and knocked her foward. She really wanted to yell at them for preventing her from seeing his face, but was distracted by the ramen place owner's expressions. The women (and man) were both seriously blushing and looked at Kakashi intently. Why, Kianna wondered.

"Hey Kianna," Kakashi was now at her apartment door. After the 'meal' incident, the group had split up and Kianna had gone back home to try and get some more rest. Kianna hadn't known what Kakashi had been up to, but she noticed Icha Icha Violence clasped in his hands. "Can I come in for a moment."
"'Course Kakashi!"
He quickly moved through the entrance and made himself comfortable on her couch. "By the way," He began, "My genin have decided to try and track me so keep your senses keen. I left Sakura behind at the KIA stone, but you never know!"
"Hehe, okay!" Kianna said sitting on the couch next to him. They were obviously trying to see underneath the mask again. Kakashi reached into his trouser pocket and took out two slips of paper.
"Two tickets to the premiere of Icha Icha Violence: the movie," He remarked lazily, "Wanna come with me."
"You want me to go and see...That film?" Kianna had never really approved of the Icha Icha series Jiyaira had started, she remembered accidently introducing the novel to Kakashi when he was 18 and Kakashi had, annoyingly, become a great, dedicated fan. Her barriers collapsed, however, when she saw the earnest look in his eye.
"Fine, fine, I'll go, happy!"
"Yep!"
His eye curled into a smile, but the look was lost for suddenly he became quite anxious.
"Kianna?" He started, "There is something else I wanted to talk to you about..."

"When you left..." He started "Where did you go?"
"Wha'?" Kianna was surpirsed by his question, "Well..I-I went travelling with Jiraiya-sama, who got me to control my anger and hate. I turned into a monster, but he managed to calm it down. It took ages though, that's why I was away for so long...I-I missed you when I was away." She smiled meekly at him. Kakashi looked slightly perplexed. He had talked to Jiraiya before Kianna had returned and he had mentioned none of this.
"I met Jiraiya before you returned and he never said anything."
"He was probably trying to protect me. I had to decide when I would go back and face everything, not him." Kakashi didn't answer just stared at the opposite wall, "Kakashi?" Kianna was slightly worried by his quiet demeanor.
"You know, being attacked by Itachi has gotten me thinking..." Kakashi finally said, "...about my life and how I can't take things for granted..." He looked at Kianna, "...About how I need to take chances because I may be dead tomorrow."
"Kakashi, what are you trying to say?" Kianna wondered where this new topic was going.
"I'm trying to say that, ever since your return, I have been feeling happier than I have been in a long time. However, I have started to just take your presence for granted. What if Orochimaru had killed you? You would be gone and I wouldn't be able to tell you how you make me feel. Regretting how I held back my feelings for you because of some stupid past event" His arms began to snake around Kianna's waist and he pulled her close. Their faces were so close that Kianna could feel Kakashi's breath from under the mask. Her heart quickened and a knot tied in her stomach. She placed a hand on the left side of his chest and felt his pounding heart.
"Kakashi..." Kianna mumbled, losing her trail of speech as she looked into his eye.
"Kianna, close your eyes." She heart seemed to jump into her throat and all she could do was nod in acknowledgement as she closed her eyes. The breath on her face intensified as she felt Kakashi pull down his mask, soft lips touched hers and she felt Kakashi's hand on her neck, in her hair. It wasn't long before both stopped and felt a pang of annoyance. Kianna opened her eyes and glared at her drawn curtains at the window.
"Looks like one of your little genin caught up with you." Kianna growled.
"Yeh..." Kakashi looked just as frustrated. He got up from the sofa and headed for the door.
" I'll be right back after I have a little fun with Sasuke."
"Hehe, I'll be waiting."