Everyone's Got Secrets…
Chapter 13:
Kakashi inhaled the scent of his lover's hair, careful not to wake the sleeping Chuunin as he pressed his unmasked nose into the unruly ponytail.
He'd stayed more than an hour, he'd stayed two—it was just enough time for him to catch a quick nap before the mission required his skills once more, temporarily countering the slow but steady draining of his energy by the multiple clones out keeping surveillance.
The rain had finally stopped. Though it wasn't yet morning the air felt clean and refreshing, even with the lingering scent of ozone; the residual moisture had morphed from an annoyance into a comfort. In another hour, the darkness would begin to shift into a slow, clear dawn, which left just enough time for him to report to the Hokage and then get back to his duties.
Kakashi closed his eyes, enjoying the quiet moment with his lover while he could. He was glad he had never had any real reason for doubting Iruka. How could he even suspect that this man could be involved with scoundrels like the Feudal Lords, or even the Princess? It was a miracle that Iruka was even his. It had only taken the one question to know that Iruka had no idea anyone would be seeking him out the next day, and Kakashi felt relieved that he could hand over his name without any second thoughts.
Really, it had only taken him one second in Iruka's presence to know the truth; he'd asked the question merely to have something to say in the report.
Iruka wasn't exactly in danger… but he wasn't a person Kakashi was willing to risk. The Chuunin was as smart as he was strong, and would definitely not be swayed by any arguments the Princess tried to use, but Kakashi would never forgive himself if something happened that could have been prevented were he there to intervene. Whatever the Princess was up to, he would be watching–watching and waiting. Ready.
While Kakashi held him, Iruka was safe, and he would have gone on doing such an irrational thing if it weren't for Tsunade's mission. Kakashi reluctantly slipped out of bed.
It wasn't their habit to sneak out of bed from each other, although he'd always been able to, had he the need. Using stealth in such a way didn't feel right, exactly, but it would make sure the mission's requirements didn't interfere with Iruka's rest. Iruka obviously hadn't been sleeping so well on his own before Kakashi had entered through the window, so waking him now would only be cruel.
Kakashi slipped away into the kitchen and readjusted his mask, and then thought better of it. Knowing he wasn't likely to get a good meal for the rest of the day, he opened the refrigerator and perused the contents. He helped himself to the things he could eat without any preparation, since the contents of the fridge suggested that Iruka had been shopping recently.
Then he caught sight of the bottle of chocolate syrup in the refrigerator door, and on a whim, used it to leave Iruka a message, smiling to himself about his boyfriend's silly preference for chocolate ice-cream. Without further delay, Kakashi straightened his mask and radio equipment, and then exited from the window.
His three clones had been utterly silent, so he didn't have to make the detour to check up on them. It was still a bit too early for any disturbance on that end of town, but he thought it was likely that Tsunade was awake–she had lots of arrangements to make while the Feudal Lords and the Hunt competitors were asleep. Or most of them, anyhow.
Kakashi took his time while crossing the sleepy village, darting over rooftops and meeting no one along the way. He landed silently in front of the Hokage office doors, leaving a bit more space than he would have if Kotetsu and Izumo had been on guard as usual. Instead of his Jounin friends, Kakashi wasn't surprised to find the doors flanked by two of the newest ANBU, one with sandy hair and one with closely-cropped black hair and pale skin. It was the second who opened the door without saying a word; they must have been instructed to admit him.
Nodding his thanks–ANBU weren't much for conversation, which is why the Corps had been so perfect for him at the time–Kakashi stepped through the doorway and entered the Hokage office to see Tsunade at her desk, her face twisted into an angry and frustrated scowl.
Luckily, she wasn't looking at him.
"That's quite an expression you've got there, Tsunade," Jiraiya's laughing only made the kunoichi's face crease more deeply. "You're prettier with a smile, you know?"
Well aware of the bizarre tension in the room, Kakashi casually ambled across the open space, pretending to be fascinated by the tables that had been set up on one side while not trying to make a secret of his presence. Jiraiya was leaning over the side of the desk, grinning perversely and making Tsunade shake with the effort of restraint.
"Go be perverted somewhere else, Jiraiya!" She placed her palm in the center of his chest and shoved, sending him reeling backward more than a few steps to catch his balance, his shoes clacking on the hard floor. "I've got a lot of important things to take care of!"
"Hey, hey, hey! That's not the way to thank me for bringing you breakfast, Tsunade," he straightened his coat and smirked at her, glancing quickly over at Kakashi and winking. The Sannin stepped back towards the Hokage, though careful to make sure her desk was now squarely between them.
He lowered his voice in coy suggestion, "Of course… with all the things you have to take care of, I suppose we really couldn't be enjoying breakfast like we normally do…"
"JIRAIYA!" Tsunade jumped out of her chair and the Sannin moved back instinctually, although the evil grin never left his face. Kakashi had never wondered why the man had horns on his hitai-ate.
Jiraiya turned away from her then, probably sensing that he'd pushed his former teammate about as far as he could get while keeping his more important appendages intact. Kakashi was amused that his own presence aided the other man in teasing the Hokage, providing an audience to increase her embarrassment, although he felt much safer not knowing what their conversation had been like before he'd arrived. He kept moving towards their end of the room.
"Kakashi! Long time no see!" Jiraiya winked again, and Kakashi had to chuckle at the little joke–he had been invisible the last time.
"Indeed," Kakashi nodded and stopped near where the older man stood, a smile beneath his dark mask. "Glad to see you haven't changed; are you staying in Konoha long?"
"No, no," Jiraiya laughed, shaking his mass of white hair. "Just dropping by while finishing up my latest novel; Konoha is by far the best place to do research." He gave a mad, male snickering chuckle, but thankfully moved onto another topic before Tsunade's grumbling became more pronounced.
"Besides what I've heard about yesterday's registration," Jiraiya glanced briefly at Tsunade, "How's our hyperactive idiot doing these days?" Jiraiya's grin belied the insult in the question; it was clear that he adored Naruto nearly as much as Iruka did.
"Hmmm," Kakashi rubbed his neck, chuckling, "I guess you could say he's been learning some new things recently… Well, you know how he is. He'll be happy to learn you're in town, I'm sure."
"Heh," Jiraiya laughed, "That sounds like Naruto all right. Well, I'll let you report, Kakashi. And good luck in the Hunt." He clapped Kakashi on the shoulder, and then turned back to the Hokage.
"And I expect you to take my bets seriously, Princess Tsunade," Jiraiya smirked, though his tone was serious.
"Whatever you think you're doing, it won't work!" she called after him, crossing her arms and as he sauntered gleefully towards the door. Her golden eyes met Kakashi's as they both heard the Sannin call out "Bye bye!" before exiting the room.
The doors closed, and Tsunade slumped back into her seat, holding her forehead in her manicured hands. "It's a miracle he's still alive, that one."
Kakashi shook his head in sympathy, giving her a moment to collect herself after her unexpected visitor; he wasn't really in a rush to go back to the Inn. On her desk he could see the offering Jiraiya had left. The rice balls were so badly made only an experienced Chef could tell what they were. They probably tasted just as good as ones that were properly formed, but it was more than amusing to imagine the older man hard at work in a kitchen, and from the looks of it Kakashi hoped he'd been wearing an apron.
What really caught Kakashi's eye, however, was the bulging money pouch next to the food. Obviously Jiraiya had been permitted to bet on the Hunt, but this was the largest amount of gold that Kakashi had personally seen in a long while. Did Romance-novel authors really make that much from royalties? Very interesting.
"Should I be tailing him too, Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked, by way of introducing the real reason why he was in her office at 5:30 in the morning.
She waved her hand, looking trapped somewhere between exhausted and annoyed. "Don't bother," she replied, sipping some of the steaming tea in front of her. "He's a perverted bastard, but I think we can trust him to play fair. He's not even taking the gambling seriously, despite what he said, so don't give him another thought. He doesn't deserve it."
She stretched her arms over her head and then folded them across her body once more, sitting back in her seat. "Tell me something good, Kakashi. I could use an interesting story."
Kakashi half-sat on the edge of her desk, as he was wont to do when giving his oral reports. He tucked his gloved hands into his pockets, and began to relay the important information.
"No actual contact has been made since registration between any of the Lords and any of the competing shinobi. However there will be at least two meetings tomorrow. Lord Shimoda and Lord Osada seem to be in cahoots, and have a meeting set up at noon near the stadium. I don't know yet who their target is. Princess Tomoko and her guard–who are having an affair by the way–will be approaching Umino Iruka sometime in the afternoon, for an unknown purpose. It wasn't arranged in advance for a specific time or place."
"I see," Tsunade's eyes were calculating, and Kakashi paused while she matched up this information to whatever she already knew about the suspects. "Nothing regarding Lord Nishimoto?"
"Hmmm," Kakashi glanced down at the surface of the desk while he rapidly sifted through his memories until he found the image of the man who'd fanned himself throughout the banquet the previous night. "He made no mention of the ninja in the Hunt, although he asked the Daimyo if the Princess would be submitting a horse to you, and he claimed his horse, Tougarashi, was unbeaten in his province."
Tsunade elaborated for him. "Yes. He's got quite a magnificent racehorse, the exact color of dried blood. He hired protection from Konoha three years ago when he cross-bred Tougarashi's sire with a line from Rain Country, and it seems the results were quite successful. He's been very…" The Hokage sighed, "Well frankly, he's been an ass about everything regarding his horse, and so he's high on my list for suspicious behavior. Also, he and the Princess have an especially tense rivalry when it comes to their mutual sport."
"The princess doesn't seem all that interested in horses."
Tsunade gave a dry chuckle, "Considering her recent behavior, I'd agree with that. However she's got a champion racehorse with her that she's already arranged to submit to me. Beautiful horse, all black."
Kakashi's eye locked with the Hokage's, "You said she's submitting a horse to you? She's given the rest of the Lords the impression that she's not participating in that part of the competition. Or rather, the Daimyo and his head of security, Fujimiya, reported to the rest that she wouldn't be submitting a horse."
Tsunade raised a brow, "Seems she's got more than one thing up her sleeve."
Kakashi withdrew his hands from his pockets so that he could fold them across his chest. "How does Konoha profit from hosting a horse show, or a horse race?"
"Well," Tsunade sipped her tea, absently picking at one of Jiraiya's rice balls. She must be under a great deal of pressure to forget where they'd come from.
"Konoha keeps a percentage of every sale that occurs. And I've had Nara Shikaku develop a series of entry fees and so forth, to ensure a monetary gain not only from the Equestrian events, but from all the vendors that are in turn profiting from the Festival. As far as the Lords go, the fees involved are of course offset by the chances to gamble during the Hunt, which you know about."
"Hmmm," Kakashi took this into consideration. "It's not money that the Princess is after, then, but leverage." She'd need to rally support if she intended to make changes in policy after inheriting her father's position, and blackmail would play a big part.
"I think you're right," Tsunade agreed, nodding. "She's been overly friendly with me, asking questions and reminding me that one day she'll be the ruler of Fire Country in her father's place."
"Trying to get on your good side," Kakashi met her eyes.
The Hokage shrugged. "Yes and no. Feeling me out. Gauging my moves and my strengths and weaknesses. Maybe because I'm both Hokage and a woman. But what we really should be asking is, what does she want with Umino Iruka? That seems inconsistent."
Kakashi was now the one to shrug, "She didn't say. She had her guard Hisagi ask around at the Stadium for information, and the name he was given, unanimously from the sound of it, was that of Iruka."
"Make a guess, Kakashi. What would the Princess gain from one of our best Chuunin and one of our best instructors?" Tsunade looked at him with keen eyes, locking their gazes.
Kakashi looked at the floor after a moment, chuckling. If she only knew how much thought he'd already put into that exact question. The fact that his mission and his personal life were overlapping was something he'd never expected to happen, and it made him strongly consider whether or not the Hokage was someone who should be kept in the dark about his true relationship with Iruka.
They hadn't told anyone at all, for a multitude of reasons, so she hadn't been left out on purpose; Naruto and Sasuke were a different story altogether. In any case, no matter what happened today, it was something he probably should discuss with Iruka, and soon.
He cleared his throat, "Well, he's not the type to be picked for subterfuge, especially when it concerns his comrades in Konoha, though I'd bet she doesn't know that. If her aim is to try and use him to throw the Hunt, it most likely won't work."
"Then what does she want?"
"She could want information, either about the village, or about the competitors, or about something else entirely. But again, Iruka isn't the type to leak any of our village's secrets, either. So if that's what she's after, I still think it won't work." Kakashi met Tsunade's eyes briefly, before she looked down at the mess of rice balls in front of her.
"I guess you'll have to find out, right Kakashi?" She chuckled, pinching off a bit from what was supposed to be a corner and chewing thoughtfully.
"I'll be at the stadium later on; I can find out what Hisagi's questions were, and I'll tail Iruka as well if necessary. From what I gather, Iruka is a fairly consistent guy. He'll probably train today, or take Naruto out for Ramen, so it shouldn't be too hard to locate him and see what happens."
Tsunade was deep in her own thoughts, and Kakashi stood up from the desk. "One last thing. I found out that the Daimyo wants Sasuke to compete badly enough to station two samurai in the Uchiha district, both to keep Sasuke safe from any Lords who might try to get to him, and to keep him away from the Princess."
"Ah," Tsunade smirked, "Sounds like something Shijimi would do. He doesn't understand the difference in skills. Never has."
"Obviously not," Kakashi agreed. They didn't need to say out loud that Sasuke wouldn't try to visit the Princess. Even if the Hokage didn't know he was involved with someone, it would have been plain to her that he hadn't been too thrilled with Tomoko's little display.
"Sasuke…" Tsunade paused, her lips thinning. "He's going to have a lot of shinobi after him. I hope there's not trouble; I'd hate to disqualify him or anyone else."
"Don't worry about Sasuke," Kakashi made his voice calm and reassuring. "He's a true shinobi like the rest of my team, and acts only as a true shinobi should."
Her eyes narrowed, "I hope you're right, Kakashi."
There was a moment of silence. If Tsunade had picked up on his clue, she didn't say anything. He was confident she wouldn't act on the information, but at least he could claim later on that he'd informed her of absolutely everything.
Kakashi's head turned immediately when he sensed someone approaching, and he stepped to the side for the sake of strategic space. An ANBU arrived, the smoke from his teleportation jutsu swirling around his masked form.
"Ah," Tsunade said, rising from her desk as the ANBU bowed his greeting to her. "It must be that time."
"Greetings, Kakashi-sempai," Yamato greeted him sincerely, the tilt of his cat mask indicating a distinct bow of respect.
Kakashi returned it. Then he turned to Tsunade, "I'll leave you to your next appointment, Tsunade-sama."
She smiled warmly, "And I'll be expecting your full report. Should be entertaining."
"Of course," Kakashi smirked, and in the spirit of the company, teleported himself up to the roof of the tower, to see the first stirrings of morning peeking through the Eastern edge of the forest.
From there he made his way across the skyline back to the Inn, to see what new things he could reveal from the vipers nest inside it.
--
The ghost of dawn stretched her long fingers through the bedroom window, and Iruka blinked against the haze of light. Slowly the sands of his subconscious reburied his dreams, and he soon became aware that he was in his own room, in his own bed, awake.
If he didn't move, he could still sense the spot where Kakashi had been next to him, but just barely. Only a slight dip in the blankets told him the Jounin really had come over, despite the odd sensation that it had been his imagination. Iruka sighed, and closed his eyes again. It hadn't been a dream. Strange… but not a dream.
It was strange that Kakashi hadn't woken him to say goodbye before he left. Just as it was strange for Kakashi to have visited him at all in the middle of his mission.
Instead of staying on his side the way he usually ended up when Kakashi was in his bed, Iruka shifted and grimaced as he stretched his sore muscles and laid himself flat on the mattress. If he'd doubted before that Kakashi had been there, the tell-tale soreness in a very intimate location would have brought all the previous night's memories back in a rush. Iruka chuckled, cheeks growing warm at knowing that Kakashi couldn't help it–even when he was gentle, he was just too big.
Iruka knew Kakashi had the same soreness at times, but the man insisted that he actually liked it–saying it amused him to have secret evidence of their activities to carry with him throughout the day. Iruka flushed. How did he end up with such a pervert?
Yawning, Iruka stretched again, and then got out of bed and made his way to the kitchen, rubbing the last bit of sleep from his eyes. At least he'd finally been able to sleep, even if it had taken a damp Jounin's presence to induce it. And it was nice to have the sense that Kakashi would be with him, even if he was on a mission somewhere in the village and away for the rest of the day.
Breakfast was the rest of the cold rice and a fresh, steaming mug of Jasmine tea; Iruka ate it standing up, leaning against the counter much as his lover had the night before and felt strength return to his body with every bite. He avoided looking at the table with its embarrassing invisible evidence; it would have to be thoroughly cleaned.
But he didn't want to clean anything right now. With the impending Hunt, he felt restless energy coursing through him, and it needed a bigger outlet than housework.
He placed the dishes in the sink with the others, and shook his head on the way back to take a quick shower. The dishes could also wait. Clean and refreshed, he took the few minutes to shave, but hastily tied up his damp brown hair and put on the first loose, comfortable shorts and shirt that he found in his dresser. It was much too early to go see Naruto, but since he was wide awake, he decided to make use of the time to go for a jog, which would help ease some of his tight muscles from yesterday's extra training.
Tying on his hitai-ate, Iruka left his apartment and headed for his favorite place to enjoy a long run. The village was quiet, still shadowy in the early morning light, but the air held the promise of a beautiful day. A few of the restaurants had sleepy-eyed employees accepting deliveries, but the streets were empty except for the litter that naturally accompanied an ongoing major festival. He could guess that his current students would probably be part of the clean-up crew when school started again.
Iruka took deep breaths, jogging at a light pace for a warm-up as he made his way towards the forest. He ran away from the center of town, curving past several beautiful, mist-filled parks and soon wound his way to the beginning of the trail. He took off running once his sandals touched the well-worn path into the verdant forest.
This trail had been one of his refuges as a teenager, a place he could go and train without being interrupted by many others when the memories of his parents got to be too much, or the memorial stone was too crowded. There were newer, more challenging trails all over Konoha, but this one was just… there was a peace here that he didn't find when he used the others, a peace that had lingered since the time of the Shodai Hokage.
Iruka bit his lip, wondering if Kakashi ever came here to run. Or did he run? How did he train, and where?
Iruka sighed and picked up the pace. They knew each other so well and yet there were still questions he couldn't answer, even though they'd been friends for so long before their romance began. It seemed more and more obvious that there were significant things they both were missing out on, and Iruka was starting to think hard about some of the decisions they'd made in the beginning.
The trail sloped upward, the hard packed earth showing more and more rock within it when Iruka caught the first inkling of someone's chakra. When he rounded the bend and nearly choked from the abrupt thickness of the air, he immediately jumped into a sheltered area of foliage and held himself still, drawing a kunai out of his sandal and wishing he'd thought to arm himself more fully.
He could breathe better once he'd stopped running so hard, but it was still difficult–the challenge was alarming. What the hell was going on? He held two fingers to his lips and closed his eyes, willing his body to relax, and concentrating on keeping his chakra presence as low as possible. While he could sense that the amount of chakra gathering was tremendous, he could now tell it was far enough away to not pose an immediate threat, which gave an indication of the size of the jutsu that was about to be used. Something like that could be very dangerous for the village, and his stomach knotted with worry.
Once his lungs were inflating normally again, Iruka moved as calmly and silently as he could through the undergrowth of the forest, closing the space between his original hiding place and the source of the disturbance to scope out the situation. He didn't have to go far; at the crest of a small hill he flattened his body down into the leafy undergrowth and peered over the edge, making out the forms of two people much further down the other side.
The first was unmistakable–only one Kunoichi in the village had that kind of commanding presence, even just after sunrise, with her golden hair and green jacket billowing in the wind. Iruka relaxed, knowing the Hokage was already there.
But the person with her could have been anyone.
He had brown hair, and was in ANBU, that much was certain. But being in ANBU meant his true identity was top secret, and nobody would guess who he was from the standard uniform and porcelain mask. Those details aside, there were two things Iruka did know:
This was one of the ANBU that had been at registration with the Hokage, and this ANBU had an incredibly powerful ability, one that Iruka was sure had to be completely unique.
Tsunade held a small satchel in one hand, and a pair of scrolls in another. Unlike her companion, she was facing away, looking out over the expanse of forest in front of her, while the ANBU knelt in the grass, centering his vast amount of Chakra for a jutsu Iruka was sure he'd never seen before, and would probably never see again.
Keeping himself small, Iruka held his breath as the assassin was covered by a visible, light-blue haze of chakra, the force of it making his short hair flap wild around his head. He'd made hand seals already with a dizzying speed, and Iruka could only watch his cat's face mask in fascination as the man suddenly thrust his hands into the earth and let out a bellow.
Whatever incantation he'd said got lost in the force and sudden noise of his technique. The ground shook, and thousands of birds launched into the air from the disturbance as a massive wall of trees sprouted from the area in front of the ANBU's hands, the growth accelerated to the point that within moments both he and Tsunade were completely hidden behind thick, rough trunks. The line of trees spread out in a faintly perceptible curve, and Iruka could only gape while the branches and limbs intertwined to make a solid barrier of living wood.
Even once the trees in front of him had reached gargantuan proportions, Iruka could still hear the creaking and thundering sounds of more trees growing beyond where he could see. If he was right, the curving line would eventually meet end to end, far on the other side of the forest. Based on what he could see from here, the resulting enclosure would completely dwarf the Stadium grounds.
It took more than a minute; it took at least three before the sounds died down. Iruka stayed where he was, silently observing the smaller creatures and birds settle back into their routines despite the intrusion of the massive, wooden wall. He took a deep breath, and let it out in a rush. There was no doubt in his mind what the trees were for.
One word echoed in his mind: Hunt.
Iruka was debating on moving closer, knowing that he hadn't been discovered from so far away, when he felt another prickling of chakra on his skin. He waited, watching intently as the vision of trees in front of him warped in a way that made his stomach queasy, and then vanished altogether.
"Aha," Iruka chuckled softly, appreciating the genjutsu. He guessed it was Tsunade's doing, since the ANBU had probably used up a great deal–if not all–of his chakra in the creation of the wall. Iruka shifted his hands up closer to his head, about to make a seal and dispel the illusion, when he thought better of it. He already knew what was there, and how to find it again. There was no reason to do something that might give away his location.
Tsunade had said there were no rules, but he knew his limits. Breaking the genjutsu was one thing–crossing a wooden barrier, the likes of which he'd never seen before, and trying to snoop on the Hokage while she was hiding the spheres was something else altogether. Plus, he'd only brought one kunai. That was hardly enough to try and lay siege to a massive territory guarded by the fiercest warrior in the land and her trusty guardian assassin.
Lying low for a few minutes more, Iruka kept his senses alert for any other signs of activity, whether from the area below him, or the trail behind him. When nothing more occurred, he stood up from the ground, brushing off the bits of dirt that had clung to his skin and clothing, and then picked his way back to the running path. He'd learned some very important information just now, but it made him wonder about Morino Ibiki. What was the purpose of finding him? How was he the key to getting inside? Iruka looked back over his shoulder. Maybe those weren't just trees…
Iruka tucked his kunai back in its spot, and stretched his hamstrings, doing some jumping jacks to get his body warmed up again before continuing where he'd left off. The sun was higher in the sky now, shining more brightly and casting longer shadows through the trees' canopy. He increased his speed, determined to run as far as he could towards the Hokage monument before he had to turn back–he didn't have enough time to run the full course if he wanted to have breakfast with his favorite former student.
Iruka pondered many things while he was running, not all of them relating to the Hunt. He wondered what Kakashi was doing right then, and what the mysterious comment his lover had made before he'd fallen asleep portended. He thought about Naruto, wondering where he'd been all of yesterday, not answering his door even when Iruka had offered to treat him to Ramen for dinner. Eventually he'd given up, making it back to his own apartment before the thunder had announced the rain's arrival by rattling all the windows.
Iruka wondered what he would do if Kakashi had publicly humiliated him and then kissed a Princess on top of it. Although he really couldn't take the second part seriously because of the mask–you just couldn't surprise that man when it was up. Iruka snickered at the absurd mental image of Tomoko trying to yank down Kakashi's mask for a kiss—
Iruka's sandal slipped in some gravel, but he caught himself and kept running, surprised that he hadn't realized the truth sooner: Sasuke hadn't kissed the princess, she had kissed him! Somehow it helped to look at it that way, even if it would still be painful to see your boyfriend kissing someone else. Iruka wondered if Naruto had thought of that yet, though it was only a small ray of light in a very dark situation; he hadn't forgotten the look on Naruto's face as he'd left him on the steps.
The sun climbed higher and higher, and Iruka felt his lungs and muscles burning in a satisfying kind of way by the time he turned and retraced his steps back towards the village. It was just 9:00 when Iruka reached the park at the base of the trail, and slowed his pace to catch his breath. In an easy jog, Iruka watched the Festival vendors begin to open their stands, zig-zagging through the bustle towards his favorite Ramen establishment.
Teuchi had opened his door, but Iruka could tell that there were no customers yet. He paused to peek underneath the door hangings to be sure, and then darted away before either the owner or his daughter Ayame could stop him for chit-chat. If Naruto wasn't already there, Iruka wanted to be sure to catch him at his apartment.
Iruka jogged all the way to his student's building, choosing to sprint up the flights of stairs in the spirit of his cardio training instead of leaping up via the balconies. He was worried about Naruto, but the endorphins from the run had done him a lot of good, and he knocked on the blonde's door energetically, prepared for whatever state his student might be in.
"Naruto?" He called, breathing hard and waiting for Naruto to come open the door. His eyebrows narrowed when no one came.
"Hey, Naruto? Are you in there?" Iruka knocked again, pressing his ear against the door and listening intently for movement within. Still nothing. Iruka bit his lip, considering. Was he asleep? Had he already gone training? Was he in there ignoring him?
Iruka replaced his ear with his palm, holding it against the wood as if feeling for Naruto's heartbeat, hoping that the younger man wasn't in there and deliberately not coming to the door. Surely he'd open it for his sensei… wouldn't he?
Another set of Naruto's words came back to him: "You shouldn't worry about me so much."
Iruka sighed, and turned around to lean against the door, folding his arms across his body. Maybe Naruto was right. Naruto wasn't a child, and Iruka was hardly his father. But he was Naruto's friend, and his former mentor, and he couldn't help but be concerned. Yesterday had been so ugly; Iruka wanted badly to help, to be there and lend his support, and it hurt to think of his student shutting himself inside his apartment not letting him in. What would Kakashi do?
Iruka moved to the hall's railing and looked out over the street. Kakashi would tell him he was being ridiculous, and then Kakashi would ask him when he'd ever known Naruto to hide in his apartment and sulk. Iruka chuckled, thinking wryly that Kakashi really was the best choice for Team Seven, even if he'd argued with Sandaime over it at the time.
He turned once more and looked at Naruto's door, deciding to trust in Naruto's courage and strength to get him through the day and coming night of combat. Naruto was quick to bounce back from challenges, and he was probably off training somewhere right then–Iruka could imagine him getting up early for it.
As for Sasuke… there would be time after the competition for that situation to be resolved, and Iruka would make sure he was available for whatever Naruto might need. He'd learned the hard way that sometimes people just weren't as honest or caring as you were, and if it turned out that Sasuke had used Naruto like he'd been used…
Well. Sasuke had better not cross his path anytime soon, because he'd have one very angry teacher to deal with if he did.
Iruka left Naruto's building and sprinted over the skyline to his own side of town. He could always check again at dinnertime. Naruto should probably be back by then. Once inside his apartment, he changed and armed himself thoroughly for his planned training session at the Restricted Grounds, and hopped down to the street. The smells of the vendors at the edge of the Festival wafted into his nostrils, and he decided to make a slight detour, having ignored his stomach's urgings thus far.
Near where he'd been mobbed by the mothers of his students on First Night, Iruka found a stand offering grilled squid. Mouth watering in hunger from the intense run that he'd had that morning, Iruka didn't hesitate to buy one of the largest ones, smiling cheerfully and conversing briefly with the stand's owner before taking a delicious bite.
It was wonderful, and he sighed as he chewed, reminding himself that being in training meant changing his eating habits. Ninjutsu burned many more calories than teaching, although it was often a close call.
Walking briskly as he ate, Iruka focused his attention on the upcoming Hunt, and quickly devised a plan to make sure he wasn't as rusty as a certain Uchiha seemed to believe. Tossing the cleaned skewer in the closest trashcan, Iruka darted off over the bustling village, eager to practice some of his signature techniques.
--
Sasuke stood in the back courtyard, his eyes closed against the glare of the early morning sunshine, but his hands reaching high above his head as if to touch it.
He'd slept deeply. Even though he'd awoken at sunrise and showered, and then cleaned up all the shuriken and kunai from the dewy grass, his mind still felt like it was in a dreamlike fog. He twisted his body from side to side, breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, moving through motions as familiar to him as the feel of his hitai-ate knotted snugly at the back of his head. He slowly bent backwards until his hands touched the grass, and felt a distinct tightness in the muscles of his lower back.
That was why he was taking some time with his morning stretching; he had to know exactly which muscles were still sore from yesterday's running and the fight with Naruto, and find out exactly what his body's limits were and where to expect a little extra pain. He opened his eyes and looked at his back porch upside-down, grateful that not even a hint of yesterday's headache hampered his vision.
He kicked his feet up into the air, stretching his limbs in an inverted line, and he had an unbidden flashback to when he was four, with Itachi there showing him exactly what to do. The formation of his brother's image in his mind caused his body to tingle in two separate locations–at the center of his forehead, and at the hollow of his throat.
If he tried hard enough, he thought he could also remember the feel of his brother's hands holding onto his ankles and helping him find his balance, exactly the way he'd done when first teaching this routine.
"Don't worry, Sasuke, I'll protect you."
Sasuke quirked the edge of his mouth. Yes, Itachi had protected him. More than once, and with more than just a steadying hand, or a special barrier. He was still doing it even after all this time, all the time together that they'd missed out on. But Sasuke was beginning to think he understood Itachi's reasons, even as it chafed to think of himself as needing protection. He was beginning to understand, because he felt the same way about Naruto.
"Nii-san," Sasuke sighed, shifting slowly onto his left hand, and raising his right arm to the side, palm up. A breeze sifted through his bangs and tickled his nose, but he disregarded it, his balance never wavering.
Naruto didn't need his protection; Naruto was stronger than most people suspected, fooling them because he was often so clueless. But Naruto was reckless, reactionary, and didn't think things through before charging into the enemy–and that made the urge to protect him anyhow nearly irresistible. Sasuke wanted to be there every time Naruto needed him, even if it wasn't as often as when they'd first been put on Team Seven.
He wanted to protect Naruto's dream to become Hokage, and protect him from the kind of pain and loss that he knew was possible, and knowing this made him think that maybe he understood some of his brother's actions a little better: Itachi had thought he was protecting him, but he might have given Sasuke the hardest task of all–to restore what the Uchiha name really represented, and be sure it endured beyond the tragedy that had nearly eliminated all of them.
Itachi, for all his genius, could not have anticipated how his own legacy would sabotage his last instructions.
Sasuke slowly returned his hand to the grass, shifting his weight onto it and repeating the movement on the other side, grimacing at the ache in his right fingers and the burning in his shoulder. He had a darkening shadow of a bruise there that he'd have to be careful of. He remembered the thrilling power that Naruto had unleashed, and he had to admit that Kakashi was right, although perhaps only in part.
When Naruto felt threatened, the power he could command was astounding. But it was an even more astounding power that Naruto released when it was someone precious to him being threatened. That was the Naruto that made him nervous, since it was that Naruto that ignited a desire within him so profound it almost hurt to think about it.
Sasuke immediately shut those thoughts so tightly away that he didn't sway at the prickling of desire that flowed through his senses at the memory of Naruto holding him down in the grass. He had the strangest sense that Naruto had really been fighting for him, and not against him. It was disconcerting.
When he'd finished his diagnostic, stretching out all the places that hurt and limbering himself up, Sasuke retreated inside to make some tea and do something important before he lost the nerve. The mindless task of tea preparation helped him to ignore the anxiety that bubbled in his belly. But it couldn't be helped–without the necklace he had to find something else to make him look significantly more like his brother than he did already.
The cloak wouldn't work. It would be too cumbersome in a forest environment at night, and in any case he'd left it at Kakashi's. A mesh shirt, or any shirt rather, would be covered by his flak-jacket. That only left one option, since he'd decided long ago that he wouldn't wear any of Itachi's ANBU gear until he'd made the Corps himself. He clenched his teeth and went to the drawer where he kept the flashlight.
Gripping his tea mug tightly, Sasuke clicked on the flashlight and descended the steps for the second time in as many days, telling himself that there couldn't be snakes down there so soon after his last excursion. He was right–nothing moved as he switched on the light. Not that anything ever did. He took a sip of tea and set his mug down carefully before turning around to face what he told himself was making his palms sweat–the Armoire.
"You're being foolish," Sasuke chided the part of him that was hesitant, forcing his legs to carry him over to the imposing piece of furniture. He opened the doors and gazed as emotionlessly as possible at the contents, the soft lamplight reflecting off the edges and creases of leather.
Would it be better, or worse, if nothing inside fit?
He pushed the garments apart and looked at them critically, trying to estimate which might be the best choice. Some of the pants looked significantly smaller than the others, and out of curiosity he lifted a pair from the hanger and held them up against his legs. They didn't go past his knees. Sasuke swallowed, telling himself that these had to be ones his brother wore before graduating to ANBU. There's no way Sasuke, at almost eighteen, would fit in the pants that Itachi wore at twelve or thirteen–even if his brother seemed like a giant in his mind.
Thankfully–thankfully?–there were many others to choose from.
Sasuke took out all the pants, even the deep red ones, that looked to be the right size and set them on his brother's futon. He quickly took off his shorts and one by one tried each of them on, concentrating on the lingering odor of bats as a way to keep his mind occupied. There were three that fit him acceptably, including the red ones, and he relaxed somewhat.
Sasuke kept on a black pair that was mostly comfortable and returned the rest to their hangers, frowning at the thought that he might have to skip wearing underwear in the Hunt. Boxer-briefs were snug, but they were still… well… bunching in places that he thought would be a considerable distraction, and the pants themselves were cut too low on his hips for any kind of underwear not to show. It wouldn't look right, which would defeat the purpose.
The lining of the leather would probably be comfortable enough for one night of combat, but Sasuke still thought it was a bit weird. He didn't let himself wonder how often Itachi might have worn this particular pair.
Sasuke returned the rest of the pants to their original places, and went through the other contents of the Armoire with little of his previous apprehension. Many of the items were similar to the ones up in the Uchiha Armory, but there were a pair of knee-high boots that caught his eye, and he inspected them closely.
They had leather straps that would hold a variety of weapons, and the gunmetal buckles reminded him of Naruto's blue boots from First Night, only there were far less straps to fasten. Sasuke fingered the clasps, calculating all the things he could stash, and also how the extra weight might affect his speed. He knelt and tried them on, buckling them over the leather pants without challenge, and took a few steps around the room.
They weren't as heavy as he'd thought, and when he tried walking up the wall he found no difference in the amount of chakra he had to use to get the soles to stick. He made the circuit up to the ceiling and then down the opposite wall back to the floor, evaluating his mobility. The only curious part was that the heels seemed to be heavier than the toes, though both ends were evenly reinforced with a thin layer of steel.
Sasuke figured it out after a minute of searching–there was a small trigger hidden in the tread on each boot that released a sharp blade from the back, a lethal parody of a cowboy's spurs. Sasuke had to wonder again just how good an assassin Itachi had been while in ANBU… though his brother had never been normal, anyways.
He clicked the blades back into their slots, and straightened up. He probably wouldn't use the secret weapons, although if he was ever hog-tied, they'd be a big help. He smirked at the idea anyone would have the guts to try, and then thought about Kakashi, and decided he'd borrow the boots as well. Anything else he might want for the Hunt he could get from the second floor.
Picking up his discarded shorts from the floor and his tea from beside the lamp, Sasuke went back upstairs, getting used to the feel of the boots and the tight leather molding around his hips and thighs. He'd told Naruto to bring whatever he was most used to fighting in, which made him a sort of hypocrite–he didn't have much time to adjust to going commando in leather pants. He prayed Naruto wouldn't notice.
Sasuke had saved some time before he needed to leave for his one errand, which he hoped was enough to solve the last mystery before slipping into the village and back before Naruto came over. He decided to keep the pants on until he left the house, and quickly devised a means to break them in so that he'd be able to fight comfortably in them later on.
With this resolution, Sasuke returned the flashlight to the drawer, and picked up the jar with it's ABURAME label. He scowled at it, and then went back outside to test his inspiration; if he was right, then one of their strategies would become much, much easier.
Sasuke blinked in the sunlight, glancing up into the cloudless blue sky, and pointed his black boots in the direction of the Lake.
Maybe Itachi could protect him one more time. Or more specifically, him and Naruto.
--
Naruto woke up early, slightly disoriented from the deepness of the previous night's sleep but very well rested because of it. He stretched his limbs, stiff only from the inactivity of slumber rather than the intensity of yesterday's events, and then he sat up quickly, remembering everything at once and reaching for the bandages wrapped around his knee.
He untwisted them in a hurry, running his dirty hand over the skin to make sure his eyes weren't fooling him. His knee was healed, not a trace of the ugly wound showing on his skin. His arm was also unblemished, and he rested a palm reverently against his stomach, mentally thanking the fox even though he was pretty sure the fox didn't heal him because he wanted to.
He wouldn't put it past the Kyuubi to refuse, if he could, but it was probably a good thing for both of them that rapid healing capabilities were just part of the deal.
Peeking out the window to see the streets starting to come alive, Naruto hopped out of bed and ran his fingers through his hair, wrinkling his nose at the heap of dirty, rain-damp clothes he'd left on his floor. His skin wasn't much cleaner, and with a mighty yawn he bounded into his cramped bathroom and set to work with soap, shampoo, and toothpaste until every inch of him was cleaner than his kitchen table. Refreshed, Naruto scrubbed his blond locks with a towel and dressed enough to do some push-ups and crunches, happy to have a chance to complete his morning exercise routine.
Pulling on some fresh training gear, Naruto tucked his crystal necklace snugly under his shirt before zipping his spare jacket over it. He creased his brows, remembering Sasuke's fury when his necklace had been broken. Naruto had only been trying to get his rival's attention, he hadn't expected such a violent reaction–could the necklace have had a special meaning, like his did? Sasuke hadn't worn it before…
Naruto mulled over the thought as he got out his largest duffel bag, and set to work packing things for the Hunt. Maybe he'd ask Sasuke about it, once this was all over. He didn't need to look at his calendar to see the big red circle around the twenty-third; thankfully it was far enough away that he still had some time to figure out what to get him. Maybe he could get the necklace fixed… or maybe he should leave it alone. Sometimes Sasuke was weird about these kinds of things.
After arming himself with his usual assortment, and scowling at the amount of weapons he'd left at Sasuke's, he filled the duffel with his night-mission gear. His flak-jacket still looked new; he only ever wore it when sent on higher class missions. Considering the upcoming event, it would be imperative that he have the extra compartments.
Finding and packing the last of his weapons, scrolls, and exploding tags, Naruto heaved the bag over to the door, and went to retrieve his sack of explosives from First Night. Next to it was the smaller backpack that he'd packed yesterday, when the only plan he and Sasuke had devised had been their sleepover. He knelt down and unzipped it, rifling through the pajamas and change of clothing he'd put inside, his fingers brushing against the cool aluminum of his pencil case.
Chuckling, Naruto closed his eyes, and pictured Sasuke just the way he'd left him at the door, smirking faintly from the shadows and looking like he badly needed to be kissed.
Maybe he should have just kissed him.
Naruto hadn't, because of how intense things had been between them earlier. The raging ardor that had nearly consumed him during their battle had still been lurking on the sidelines, circling and waiting for a moment of weakness, and Naruto hadn't wanted to give it any fuel. He didn't want it to ever be like that again, and with all that had happened yesterday he didn't trust that he'd be able to stop a second time without doing even more damage.
But today was different, and Naruto opened his eyes and tugged on the zipper of the backpack, closing the contents inside. Today was a fresh start, and Naruto expected that this time, given the opportunity to kiss Sasuke, he'd take it. He opened the duffel bag, and tucked the backpack into it, then set the sack of explosives along with the duffel next to the door. He'd have some Ramen, come back to pick up his gear, and then go to Sasuke's like they'd discussed.
He stepped outside into the bright morning sunlight, and inhaled the scents of the village, grinning with renewed vigor at the idea of competing tonight. He paused to lock his door, more on habit than because he thought he was really keeping anyone out, and turned to sprint over to the stairs when something shiny caught his eye.
Naruto bent down and retrieved a long, slender senbon needle from the floor, nestled in the crook of the wall between his door and his neighbor's. He ran his finger over the bent tip, puzzling over how and why a senbon would be made useless in that way, and why in the hall? The hall was mostly concrete. Well, except for the two doors—
Wait! Naruto went back to his doorknob and slipped the tiny hook right into his lock, then pulled it out and held the needle tightly in his fist, knowing instinctively who it had belonged to. Sasuke.
He really had been looking for him, if he'd gone to the trouble to pick the lock on his door. Naruto had believed it, but finding the needle erased all doubt. Now Naruto was even more eager to hurry over there so they could train, and the snare-drum sounds of someone quickly running up the steps of his building urged him forward.
Pocketing the needle, Naruto leapt over the side of the railing and made his way swiftly over to his favorite Ramen stand, pleased to arrive not five minutes after it had opened for business. The stools were all empty, but Teuchi-san and his daughter Ayame were both cheerfully involved with getting things ready to serve their regular morning customers.
"Mornin'!" Naruto greeted them loudly from just inside the curtains, grinning. He returned Ayame's friendly wave as he made himself comfortable in his usual spot.
"Ah! Naruto-kun!" Teuchi wiped his wet hands on a towel, coming over to lean his big hands against the counter. "You're here early; you must be getting ready to train for the Hunt, right?"
"You got it!" Naruto laughed, grinning excitedly, "And I'm going to win too! Don't you forget!"
"Yes, yes!" Teuchi agreed, his smile genuine. "I'll make my specialty for you then, Naruto, and the extras are on me!"
Naruto's face lit up into a beaming grin, "Wow–thanks!"
Teuchi moved back to his cooking station, and Naruto watched while a heaping bowl of Ramen was prepared and then handed to him. He beamed as he took hold of it, setting the feast down carefully, and breaking apart his chopsticks.
Teuchi chuckled and turned to dry his hands, but then abruptly snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah!"
Naruto watched him curiously while Ayame set a mug of steaming tea in front of him. He took a sip while the proprietor came back over, his face concerned.
"Your teammate was looking for you yesterday, seemed he was in an awful rush. Did he find you?"
"Heh," Naruto rubbed his neck, embarrassed at the evidence piling up that Sasuke was much more thoughtful than he'd given him credit for. "Er, yeah… yeah he did."
"Good, I'm glad," Teuchi smiled. "Say, is it true?"
Naruto frowned, "Is what true?"
"That Sasuke is involved with the Princess? I heard she might be in the market for a husband…" Teuchi rubbed his cheek absently, waiting for an answer.
Husband! Naruto started with surprise, and then scowled, remembering the irritating way the Princess had laughed while sparring with Sasuke in the Hokage Tower. He'd almost forgotten that he still owed the bitch for trying to kiss his teammate. He swallowed, attempting to be nonchalant.
"Er, well," he hedged, "How would I know anything about Princesses?"
"Oh," Teuchi laughed, "I just figured you might know more than a rumor, is all. There's been lots of them circling since yesterday, but Sasuke's almost always with you." Teuchi shrugged.
"Ah," Naruto tried to sound less uncomfortable by chuckling, wondering if other people noticed how much time they spent together, and if they thought it was weird. "Well… what Ninja would want to marry a Princess, anyways? That would be so boring."
"They do say opposites attract," the older man laughed good naturedly, "Though I guess we'll all find out soon enough." Teuchi smiled warmly, turning away to check on his noodles.
Naruto sighed, glad the Chef hadn't asked any further questions about Sasuke. Actually, it was the Princess that he didn't want to hear about. The very idea of her made him want to wring her little neck with those stupid leg-warmers so she could never laugh again.
It was also hard to keep in mind that since yesterday, anyone who knew him or Sasuke and had been at registration believed they were bitter rivals bent on beating each other, and he had to keep up that appearance at all costs. There was no longer a question of whether Sasuke was on his side, of course, but he saw that it was important for people to think that they had had a real falling out.
And even though Sasuke had insisted he and the Princess hadn't kissed, it still hurt to remember the sight, no matter how briefly it flashed across his mind.
Naruto took a comfortingly large bite of delicious Ramen, glad that Iruka-sensei wasn't there with him that morning like he so often was when school was out. Iruka was cunning about these things; he would be the hardest person for Naruto to convince that he was still angry with Sasuke, since he really wasn't angry anymore. If he was lucky at all, he wouldn't even see Iruka until the—
"Oi, Naruto!"
Naruto jumped in his seat, whipping his head around anxiously at the sound of his name. The man who entered was such a surprise, he could only gape with shock, his chopsticks falling through his fingers to the floor though he managed not to choke on the noodles in his mouth.
"Jeez, kid, didn't I teach you to be less predictable? Always pigging out at Ichiraku's!" Jiraiya entered through the curtains, his presence filling every inch of space in the small Ramen stand. He folded his arms and grinned, while Naruto tried not to choke on his breakfast.
Naruto swallowed the mouthful of noodles whole, and jumped up off his seat, pointing a disbelieving finger at his sensei's face. "Aaaaaaaaah! Ero-sennin!"
Jiraiya frowned, smacking his pointing finger aside, "Ero-sennin? ERO-SENNIN? Address me properly you ungrateful kid!"
"Don't go sneaking up on people, Ero-sennin!" Naruto insisted, pointing with his other finger.
"That wasn't sneaking! What kind of ninja are you?" Jiraiya shot back.
"I could have choked, Ero-Sennin!" Naruto dodged the hand that tried to swat his pointing finger.
"Gah! Would you just die already?" Jiraiya replied, shaking a fist.
"You'd miss me too much, Ero-Sennin! And I have to become Hokage!"
Naruto grinned, and then they both started laughing, Teuchi and Ayame rolling their eyes in the background. Jiraiya ruffled Naruto's blond hair as he took the seat next to him, and Naruto allowed it, since he hadn't seen this sensei in a few months.
"So what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, taking a new pair of chopsticks and returning to his bowl.
"Ohhhhh, prestigious and important things. Data gathering, of course. And playing with the Hokage," he chuckled, and Naruto grimaced at the implied image even though he always hoped the two of them would make things official one day.
"Hey, hey, you mean you're not here to teach me a new jutsu, then?" Naruto changed the topic, grinning at the older man with his best, most innocently eager expression.
Jiraiya laughed, pausing to order his own bowl of noodles, "That depends on you, Naruto."
"How so?" Naruto asked, stirring his noodles and preparing a bite.
"Well you see," Jiraiya got very serious, and Naruto slurped up the noodles, excited to find out what new technique he'd get to learn this time. "I'll teach you a new jutsu–"
Naruto held his breath for whatever bargain his sensei was about to make. Jiraiya grinned at him. "–but only if you win the Golden Kunai."
Naruto thumped his left fist on the counter, "OI! Of course I'm going to win! But why not teach me now so that I'll win even quicker?"
Jiraiya laughed, "This is called motivation!"
"Aaaah," Naruto shook his chopsticks at him to show his frustration, "That's not fair! Why are you here bothering me if you're not going to teach me anything helpful? I have a lot of training to do today!"
"Listen, you," Jiraiya glared down his nose, "I've just wagered a huge amount of money that you are going win this competition. If I teach you anything beforehand Tsunade will cancel my bet, you can be sure! So all you have to do is win, and then I'll teach you one of my very best, most powerful, and longest-kept secret jutsus as a reward."
"How powerful is powerful?" Naruto faced him with gleaming eyes, honing in on what he thought was most important. "Better than Chidori? Better than Rasengan?" He held his clenched hands up to his face with excitement.
"Ku-ku-ku…" Jiraiya snickered, looking off into space as if remembering something Naruto couldn't even begin to guess. "You'll see, Naruto. This is one I've been saving up for you. But! If I lose the bet, the deal's off."
Naruto slumped back on the stool, annoyed. He looked at the Sennin skeptically, "I thought only Feudal Lords could bet. And you weren't even at registration!" Then Naruto brightened, "Oh! Oh! Does this mean you've finally recognized my true potential!"
"Oh jeez," Jiraiya, rolled his eyes, but Naruto could hear the affection behind the sarcasm. "Someone at my level obviously wouldn't waste their time on riff-raff. Besides," he chuckled softly, "You should have seen Tsunade's face, Naruto. It's got her worried, since I've never lost a bet on you yet!"
"You sure this isn't some way for you to get into Tsunade's pants?" Naruto taunted, quickly taking a bite of Ramen.
Jiraiya shook his fist defensively at this accusation, "You think I need to gamble a fortune on a scrap of a ninja in order to spend a night with Tsunade-hime?" Naruto could see the guilt all over him.
"How would she even know if you taught me a new jutsu?" Naruto demanded, trying a different tactic. "You could teach me now if you really wanted to!"
Jiraiya rolled his eyes, sighing. "You don't know her like I do, Naruto. She'd know, and then she'd beat us both up."
Naruto slurped some more noodles, "Are you at least treating me to Ramen then?"
Jiraiya pointed, "Buy your own Ramen!" Naruto glared, and the older man sighed dramatically before he continued.
"But, I'll treat you to the best Onsen in Konoha the day after the Hunt, as well as teach you a new jutsu, if you successfully win the Golden Kunai. How's that for motivation?"
Naruto grinned, enjoying how easy it was to be around his sensei, even with the large gaps in-between visits. But he couldn't help but wonder something else, since Jiraiya had brought it up.
"Oi, Ero-Sennin! How much did you bet?" Naruto's eyes sparkled in anticipation.
"Tch," Jiraiya looked at him askance, turning away to fawn over Ayame as she brought him his order. When Naruto thought he couldn't wait anymore, Jiraiya took some chopsticks and stirred the noodles before answering, turning up his nose.
"I'm not telling."
"Ehhhhh!" Naruto exclaimed, "Why not? If you really want me to win, you're not being very helpful."
Jiraiya reached into the fold of his shirt, producing an envelope. "Here, help yourself to this then. Tsunade asked me to deliver it since she's so busy, and she doesn't want you trying to sneak into her office again."
Naruto slurped more noodles, taking the envelope and squinting at the tiny printing. He swallowed quickly, "Ah! Sakura-chan!"
Jiraiya chuckled, "She's a smart girl. You never check your mailbox, do you, Naruto?"
"Shut up," Naruto said with a smile, setting his chopsticks down and reading the letter immediately.
Naruto:
I hope this letter finds you before I'm already back in Konoha–I figure you'd be hanging around the Hokage tower more than you'd check your mailbox. It's been busy here in Suna, but I'm learning a lot of things that will help with Tsunade-sama's research, and in turn I'm helping to teach some beginner medic-nins the basics. The greenhouse here is amazing; I'm stunned every time I see it since there's so much sand. It's wonderful to be absorbed in such intensive studying, but I really miss home, and I miss you guys. And I miss Dango–can you believe they don't eat it here?
You'll have to tell me all about the Festival, I can't believe I'm not there to compete in the Scavenger Hunt. If Ino wins, I'm going to kill her! But she won't win, I know, since I'm sure you and Sasuke-kun are competing on the Chuunin side. Sasuke-kun's even worse than you at checking his mailbox, so would you pass on a message? I won't be back in time to tell him myself, so please wish him Happy Birthday, and that I'll be bringing him a present from Suna. And if you see Shikamaru, Temari is going to be making the return trip with me to Konoha. He should be pleased to hear that she's able to travel sooner than she thought. Gaara-sama sends his best, and adds that he expects to hear of your victory, or else he claims a rematch. (I don't think he's serious…)
Anyhow, before this gets too long for you to read at one time, I'll say good luck in the Hunt, and as soon as I get back I want to hear about everything that's happened since I left. Take care of yourself, and don't you and Sasuke-kun kill each other while I'm not there to do surgery.
Love, Sakura.
Naruto smiled, holding the letter for a moment after he finished reading. "Sakura-chan," he murmured, all at once dreadfully missing his teammate, while also dreading the moment she came back. What was she going to say when she found out that he and Sasuke were…?
He sighed; maybe that all depended on what happened between now and then.
Naruto's mind flashed on the morning Sasuke had woken up next to him in a lazy, peaceful naked tangle, and then flashed to the afternoon they'd tangled in the grass, sweaty with furious lust-crazed anger. Who could say what the evening would bring, with both possibilities still grappling in the background? Naruto knew which side he wanted to win.
No, he knew exactly which side would win.
Naruto folded the letter and put it into his pocket. He couldn't wait to flaunt his Golden Kunai when Gaara visited the village next.
"Thanks for delivering this," he grinned at his white-haired sensei. "Sakura-chan always writes good letters!"
"Such a sweet girl," Jiraiya sighed the way he did when he was busy peeping, and Naruto was the one to roll his eyes.
"Don't forget who her sensei is," Naruto chided him, and they both rubbed the back of their heads to ease the phantom pains of parallel memories.
After a moment, Jiraiya pushed his empty bowl back from the counter so he could lean on his elbows. "Naruto."
"Yeah?" Naruto slurped up his last bite, and also pushed his bowl to the side, rubbing his full tummy in bliss.
"It's not easy to compete against your rival, especially when there's so much hype. Just don't forget that he's a comrade too–I don't want to see something like a Festival competition turning best friends against each other."
Naruto was surprised at the intensity he saw in the older man's eyes, wondering what had prompted the seriousness of Jiraiya's voice. The Frog Hermit must have heard about how he and Sasuke had shouted at each other yesterday, but there had to be more to it than just that, and he could guess it was probably something that dated back far before he had been born.
Naruto kept his eyes where they were, his fingers curling into a fist under his elbow. He gave a chuckle before answering. "Oh don't worry. We wouldn't be best friends if we weren't rivals, Ero-sennin." Jiraiya looked at him shrewdly, and Naruto grinned.
"But you know–you better be ready to teach me a new jutsu like you promised, because there's no way in hell I'm going to lose!"
The both of them laughed, and Jiraiya clapped his big hand on Naruto's shoulder as they rose to pay their bills. They stepped out into the sunny street, and Naruto folded his hands contentedly behind his head, excited about the things ahead.
"Good luck, Naruto!" Jiraiya called out as he sauntered on his way.
"Yessir!" Naruto called back, waving at his sensei's retreating form and then sprinting for his apartment.
--
It was either the discovery he'd made as to the nature of Itachi's ointment, or the relief and comfort of his regular Ninja clothing that made Sasuke's mood rather light as he set out on his errand.
Even when he'd sensed the presence of the two Samurai still lurking in his district, Sasuke didn't let it bother him; he climbed to the top of the huge pole that enabled his house to have electricity, and squatted on its tip to survey his domain. Two Samurai were at the front entrance, one on either side of the open archway, looking quite bedraggled after a night out in the rain. If he were the Daimyo, he'd have sent a change of guard by now, but even if the men had been fresh Sasuke would have had no trouble evading them. He shook his head before descending and proving it.
He made his way across the village, timing it so that he'd arrive at his destination just when the vendors would be opening for business. He didn't want to linger, for more than one reason, the main one being his blond teammate, however he hadn't thought to ask Naruto to run this errand before he came over. So he'd decided to just take care of it himself and hopefully beat his rival back to the house.
At exactly 9:00, Sasuke was standing in front of the stand in question, the vivid banner with the black boars at either end waving gently in the breeze. Unlike the neighboring stands, however, this one had no sign of it's owner and no sign of any employees. Sasuke scowled.
He knocked on the wooden side panel of the stand, "Hello? Is anyone there?"
Getting only a silent response for his efforts and sensing nobody behind the canvas curtain that protected the front display areas, Sasuke leaned back against a wooden post and put his hands in his pockets. He should have known that that idiot salesman wouldn't be punctual.
Sasuke waited patiently for nearly ten minutes, watching the traffic of local shinobi and keeping to himself. At one point he thought he saw Iruka-sensei run by in a sweaty rush, but it had been too brief a glimpse to be sure. This area was close to the teacher's apartment building, so it was logical that he'd be somewhere nearby, and Sasuke grimaced at the thought of running into him.
He'd had to say some harsh things at registration yesterday and he didn't want to have to do it again. A second confrontation would only make things worse–Sasuke still had to play the role from yesterday for anyone related to the Hunt. With any luck, that would be the only glimpse of the teacher he got until the Hunt had begun.
After the sixteenth minute of waiting, impatience sank in and pulled Sasuke's mouth down in irritation accordingly. Sasuke watched as more and more people came milling about, the smells of the food stands calling them by their noses in droves. He watched younger kids begging for Dango, and older kids rushing to get Okonomiyaki, and wondered if Naruto was eating Ramen right then. His mind shifted to memories of the blond juggling in his amazing Yukata on this very street…
And then he saw Iruka.
Smiling and wearing training gear, the teacher came over to a stand serving grilled squid and ordered, a katana poking out of a back sheath. Sasuke went completely still, letting his Sharingan surface as he watched and waited for Iruka to turn and look at him. Iruka reached into the stand and came out with an enormous squid in his hand, flashing a beaming grin at the Chef. He rubbed his neck and exchanged some pleasantries before moving away again, taking a bite and closing his eyes in rapture as he left the premises.
With the relief of Iruka's departure came the oddest epiphany; Sasuke knew he and Kakashi were more similar than different, but he'd never before remarked on how alike Iruka and Naruto were. Naruto wore that exact same smile when buying food, and Sasuke had to wonder if Iruka made friends everywhere just like his teammate did. It was uncanny.
It was also extremely uncomfortable, if he were to think further on what he knew about Kakashi and Iruka's relationship.
He shoved away the thought, focusing instead on the many ways he'd torture that idiot fireworks salesman when he finally showed up to open his stand–this was getting absurd. It didn't take a genius to know that everything in Konoha opened at 9:00, Festival or no Festival, and there were signs everywhere. What kind of businessman didn't open his doors on time?
Sasuke contemplated severe punishments for the inconvenience while he bought his own squid, having realized that at this point he wouldn't have time to cook when he got home. He ate silently and hoped the food would help quell his ire; they'd better not be sold out of what he needed to buy–he couldn't be held responsible for what might happen if they were.
By the time the fireworks seller arrived, Sasuke had been waiting nearly forty-five minutes. Efficient by nature, this long period of inaction did nothing for his mood, despite the tasty squid he'd eaten in the meantime, and he stood rigid in annoyance.
If it had been worth his brainpower, he might have guessed that when the man finally arrived to open his shop, it would be with an explosive entrance.
"Yeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"
The man's bellowing voice announced his arrival in a crescendo up the cobbled street, a cloud of dust swirling in his wake as he clung to the collar of his wild boar. Sasuke arched one eyebrow as the duo approached with bomb-like speed, and then the man was launched over the front of the animal he'd been riding on in a perfect demonstration of the laws of physics. The force was enough that he somersaulted several times, scattering small children in all directions like pigeons.
Why the boar had stopped so suddenly, Sasuke couldn't say, and didn't want to guess. Maybe it only had two speeds. In any case, it was with much disdain that the Uchiha watched the beefy businessman clamber to his feet and brush the dust off of his green and black clothing with a grin that, unfortunately, also reminded him of Naruto.
"Ah! Bonnie-chan!" the man said affectionately, turning to gaze at the monstrous boar as if it were a proud and mighty stallion. He moved closer to pet its hairy head. "That was a good ride!"
Sasuke interrupted the touching scene. "You're late."
The man's head snapped up and he met Sasuke's scowl with one of his own. Sasuke merely tilted his head towards the sign behind him which stated the hours of operation that had been set for all the vendors on Festival property in bold print. The man glared, and then laughed, coming a bit closer but looking completely unapologetic.
"Ah, yes; I forgot this is Konoha. Well it's not your fault you didn't know. My alarm only goes off at nine o'clock–so how could I be here before now?"
Sasuke gritted his teeth as the man came over and clapped him on the shoulder with thunderous laughter. He shrugged off the offending hand as the man continued.
"Kukaku's doesn't open until ten, but–" He grinned conspiratorially, glancing around like he was making a tempting, secret offer. "Since you're already here I'll cut you a break and open a bit early!"
Sasuke opened his mouth to respond with a scathing remark when the man turned away from him and whistled sharply through his teeth, the giant boar trotting over obediently to sit in the shade of the stand's empty display rack. The man busied himself tethering the animal to a wooden stake that Sasuke thought was woefully inadequate for the task, and then he began to untie a knotted cord off to the side.
"Now! What are you in the mood for? Bombs? Grenades? Sparklers? If you didn't know, we are the self-proclaimed, number one manufacturer of explosives in all of Fire Country!" The man spread his arms wide and pulled the string that opened the canvas curtain with dramatic flair, revealing only more empty display racks inside. Sasuke raised an eyebrow, and the man smacked his own forehead loudly.
"Ah, sorry! I forgot I sent Yamada-kun to the Hokage Tower roof with the others to get set up for tonight," the man rubbed his neck with a beefy hand. He tucked his thumbs proudly into his armpits, "Kukaku's is in charge of the official starting signal for the Scavenger Hunt!"
Sasuke shifted his pose, feeling as bored as he looked. He watched the man fish in his pockets for some keys and then go to several locked trunks and open them, revealing a disorganized assortment of his wares. He didn't miss the tidbit buried in the salesman's bragging however, and made a mental note, filing it away in his database for the Hunt.
When the man had opened the trunks, Sasuke cleared his throat impatiently, giving his order. "Three specialty double-ended torches and two forearm-guards."
"Oh!" the man regarded him with a different calculation, "You've heard of our special products then!" He grinned, overly pleased. "I have those right over here!"
After a moment of digging, the salesman produced exactly what Sasuke had asked for, and laid the items out on the counter. He added a couple of bombs and a large box of sparklers as well, and was just launching into a sales pitch when Sasuke took a step forward and flashed his Sharingan, speaking through clenched teeth.
"No thank you." He'd really had enough of this man, and his stupid boar.
"Ah, ha, ha," the man backed away, "Of course! Er… would you like a bag for those?"
Sasuke sighed and left the stand as quickly as possible, his bag of loot considerably smaller than the one Naruto had lugged around on First Night. However he was sure he'd spent his money more wisely than his teammate, and shook his head thinking of Naruto's empty and ridiculous frog wallet.
Now that he had the tools he wanted to try out in their training, all that was left was to get home before Naruto showed up. If he hurried he'd make it there before 10:00.
--
Naruto heaved his overstuffed duffel onto his shoulder, staggering a bit before balancing with the bulging sack of explosives. He locked his door once more and then descended the several flights of stairs to street level–rooftop traveling was not going to happen with this amount of luggage.
The rain had ended just like Sasuke had predicted, and Naruto enjoyed the bright sun and the summer breeze that blew his hair in all directions as he made his way across the village. Naruto was anxious to finish up their planning so that they could train as much as possible before it was time to search for Ibiki. Hopefully Sasuke was awake and fed and ready to train as well–they had no time to lose.
The village was getting busier and busier, and Naruto smiled at the children who were leading their parents towards the Festival's specialty stands, clearly not through with exploring all the new sights that had sprouted due to the celebration. He was making good time. The sun and the weight of his baggage cooperated in an effort to make him sweat, but his mood stayed high nearly all the way to Sasuke's.
It was only as he approached the towering, whitewashed archway at the outer limit of the Uchiha compound that his brows dropped into the beginning of a scowl, his mood sinking along with them. He couldn't be sure from the distance exactly who was causing the trouble, but the fact that there were at least thirty agitated people all gathered at the entrance–and making a lot of noise while they were at it–did not exactly thrill him.
Naruto ducked into the sparse trees that lined the avenue stretching in front of the Uchiha district, knowing he couldn't be seen near his teammate's house. He set down his bags, and watched from the shade for a moment, trying to figure out what was going on. Evading them wasn't the issue, he was sure he could do it and get to Sasuke's house without anyone spotting him. But the fact that there were people gathered for some strange purpose posed a serious difficulty–he and Sasuke needed to train, and they couldn't do it properly with random weirdoes interrupting them!
Whatever was going on, he had to find a way to get rid of the intruders so that their Plan didn't get messed up, and as it was quarter to ten already he couldn't afford to wait around for them to leave on their own. If Sasuke was inside his house getting things ready for the Hunt, he probably didn't even know about these people. So it was up to Naruto to investigate and somehow get these people to go far, far away. The thing was, he couldn't just walk over there himself…
Naruto grinned. This was exactly why Rasengan wasn't the only jutsu he'd been working to improve over the past months.
Naruto made the seals and effortlessly transformed himself into a version of Sexy-no-Jutsu, the version he'd modified for doing undercover work. He snickered and tossed his long, blonde ponytails, feeling them swish along his bare arms. His outfit showed a lot of leg, modeled after Sakura's miniskirt style, but he thought it suited him since he'd changed the color of the sleeveless top to match his eyes. He scrunched his toes experimentally in the knee-high boots, remembering how he'd nearly broken his ankle learning to walk in them.
So far, the two times he'd used this appearance on a mission he'd been 100% successful at finding out the required information, and even when he'd still been testing it Konohamaru hadn't recognized him for a good five minutes. It was possible that being almost eighteen made the jutsu that much more effective–nobody would connect his current body with the buxom vision he could impersonate.
It was a tad on the perverted side, but Naruto couldn't help but rub his hands together in anticipation of the mischief he could cause with this jutsu; he had both Jiraiya's and Kakashi's influence to blame. Giggling with his now-girlish voice, Naruto made his way down the street to investigate the commotion under the archway, swishing his arms and accentuating his hips to be "in character."
His first clue was the disproportionate number of females he could see at the edge of the group. The closer he got, the faster his steps became, until he was right beside what he discovered to be a cluster of teenage girls all yelling and holding heart-shaped boxes in the air. He shouldn't have been surprised to hear the repeated syllables of his rival's name, but the din of it was unbelievable! This was by far the largest group of Sasuke's fangirls that he'd ever come across, and his usual reaction to them was delayed from the shock.
"What the…?" he managed to get out, once his voice had caught up with his eyesight.
Scowling in extreme irritation, Naruto shoved and elbowed his way through the group until he came to the front. There, he found the two Samurai from the night before, holding their sheathed katana out in front of them in a mini-barrier, keeping the girls at bay and looking thoroughly confused.
The girls for the most part were each holding some kind of gift-wrapped chocolate offering, and Naruto could feel the angry rumbling in his throat even if the sound of his growling was drowned by the cacophony of "Sasuke-kuuuuuun!"
"You have no right to stop me!" One girl shouted on Naruto's left and he turned his head in her direction. "I won't leave until I see Sasuke-kun!"
Naruto glared at her intently, and then felt his skin break out in goose-bumps of loathing from the surging choir of fan-girl voices:
"I want to see my Sasuke-kuuuuun!"
"I won't let him be with the Princess!"
"Sasuke-kuuuuun! Where are you? Come out!"
"Don't do it Sasuke-kuuuuun!"
"I love you Sasuke-kuuuuun!"
"You get away from here, he's going to marry me!"
"Sasuke-kuuuuuun! I'm here!"
"Get out of my way, he's mine!"
"You can come out now!"
"Let me pass!"
"Sasuke-kuuuuun!"
"SASUKE-KUUUUUN!"
Naruto bared his teeth. He hated Sasuke's fangirls. All of them. With extreme passion. And they smelled so gross–they must use gallons of perfume!
One girl tried to duck underneath the left-hand Samurai's katana, but he grabbed her arm before she could get past. Frowning and looking mildly desperate, he turned to his comrade.
"Sentarou! What should we do?"
The second man shook his head, "I don't know Kotsubaki! The boss didn't say anything about a mob of girls, but we can't let anyone go in there!"
"We're supposed to make sure he competes," Kotsubaki looked even more desperate, "But…?" He was clinging tight to the fangirl he'd caught and seemed oblivious to the sweat that was dripping down his nose from the stress.
Sentarou simply grunted, watching the fangirls in front of him with both eyes. "At least the Uchiha can't get out of here while these girls are blocking the way, so we're okay on that part of the job. He won't be visiting the Princess today."
While being jostled by angry fangirls, Naruto's attention was drawn to the struggling girl, trying in vain to twist her arm out of the Samurai's grip. Tears of frustration made her exorbitant amount of rouge run down her face in strange, pink trails.
"Let me go! I'm the one who's really with Sasuke-kun! He hugged me! I'll prove it!"
"Ahhhhhh!" Naruto gasped, pointing at the girl once he'd gotten a good look. "MOEGI?" he asked incredulously, "What in the hell are you doing here!"
He was shocked! Since when was she one of Sasuke's fangirls? She turned her orange, bristly pigtails in his direction, her eyes squinting with immediate dislike.
"And who the hell are you?" she shouted back, glaring and then squaring her shoulders. "Stay away you blonde hoochie! Sasuke-kun is mine, and that's it!"
Naruto's jaw dropped, "Why you…!" He stepped forward, only to have several fangirls clutching at him.
"Oh no you don't!" a slimy, girlish voice hissed into his ear, "If anyone's getting through here it's me!"
Naruto shook off their grabby hands, turning and barreling his way back out of the group in a very un-ladylike fashion. He'd seen enough–and he thought he really might hit one of them if he heard "Sasuke-kuuuuuun" one more time. He marched angrily all the way back to his things, forgetting to sway his hips in character. He kicked the closest tree trunk in aggravation.
Obviously the rumors of Sasuke and the Princess had spread like wildfire, and his teammate's fangirls had come running to try and undo what they probably thought was the end of the world. If he didn't have to be incognito, Naruto could get rid of them in his usual way, but since he couldn't do that, he'd have to think of something else. Something that would get them all to leave… something that would draw them away…
Naruto planted his fist into his palm–that's it!
He grinned, covering his lips while he chuckled at the brilliance of his plan, all his anger instantly vanishing. He released his henge and cracked his knuckles, his smile so big it nearly hurt his face. And the best part was that Sasuke was safely inside his house, and would have no idea!
It had been a while since he'd had the chance to do something that merited his reputation for being a prankster. The fact that Sasuke would definitely kill him for it only made him more excited. Yosh!
Naruto conjured a clone, and then whispered in its ear. The clone was grinning by the time he was done, and the two of them laughed in wicked conspiracy, covering their mouths to hide the noise. Once it had recovered from the fit, Naruto's clone stood with arms out at its sides, as if ready to be fitted by a professional tailor. Naruto scrubbed a tear from his eye, and then did the seals, changing his clone into an exact replica of his teammate, dressing him in a tight, sleeveless shirt since he could.
And why not? It was perfect!
The Sasuke-clone shifted its weight onto one foot, slipping its hands into its pockets and looking bored, and Naruto felt a thrill at the accuracy–even he might believe it was the real thing. But then the Sasuke-clone grinned, pleased with itself, and Naruto jumped back from the incongruity.
"No, no, no, no," Naruto waved his hands. "Not like that. Be more… er… sinister. Or something."
The Sasuke-clone's face fell, then it took a step forward, and glared. Naruto swallowed, nodding and giving a thumb's up. Then the Sasuke-clone smirked, and turned its head up into the sunlight, passing strong fingers through its jet-black hair and letting the locks fall back into place, shifting the pose just enough to be wildly sensual.
Naruto could almost hear a saxophone playing in the back of his mind while his eyes traveled down the front of the Sasuke-clone's body, suggestive and sultry notes to match what his clone was doing. He swallowed again, not wanting to drool over one of his own clones, because that really would be absurd. He shook himself.
"Now go!" He pointed, and the clone quickly zigzagged around the block, so that it could approach the fangirls from behind, as if it were the real Sasuke returning from morning errands, or something feasible like that.
Naruto moved a bit closer and crouched down by the tree, straining his ears to hear as much as he could. He covered his mouth to contain his excitement when he saw the clone coming up behind the group in a deliberately lazy pace. The Sasuke-clone stood there for a moment, to see if anyone noticed its presence, and then it spoke, its voice low and sensual.
"Good morning, ladies."
The hush was immediate, and Naruto watched the fangirls turn in unison towards the sound of their obsession's greeting. Just as he thought, they were struck dumb–Sasuke had never spoken to any of them that he knew of. Naruto did hear startled gasps from the two Samurai, and chuckled into his palm at what he imagined their faces looked like, horrified to discover that Sasuke had somehow given them the slip.
"I was just about to visit my Princess," the Sasuke-clone began, touching its hair like they'd just practiced. Only it didn't stop there…
Naruto could hear saxophones again as the Sasuke-clone continued, captivating everyone by stroking its fingers down the side of its neck, and then flattening its palm to slide down over the well-muscled front of its body, shifting its balance to make a pose infinitely more sexy than bored. It was the closest to pandering that Naruto was sure he'd ever see from his rival.
"However," the Sasuke-clone turned slowly on its heel, until it was smirking coyly over its shoulder. "If any of you catch me first, I might give you a kiss instead."
The clone kept eye-contact for a tense three seconds, a nonverbal promise that made some of the fangirls shiver, and then it turned and darted off through the small side-street that led further into the heart of the village.
Naruto could hardly contain his laughter at the stampede that followed, the fangirls shrieking and running madly after the clone, all waving their pink and red heart-shaped boxes in the air. Even the Samurai gave chase, trying to maneuver through the mass of girls that were squeezing themselves into the small lane that the clone had easily disappeared through. Naruto laughed until he was crying for a second time, knowing that they'd never catch the clone, and even if they did, it would just disappear, leaving them unsatisfied.
It was too bad nobody else was there to appreciate his genius. The entire arched opening into the Uchiha district was now wonderfully empty and beautifully silent, and Naruto considered it a job well done. He sighed, standing up and wiping his mirth away. A few giggles started to come back, and Naruto was about to give into them when he heard it:
"Oi."
Naruto froze, hoping he'd mistaken the word for one last imaginary note from a saxophone, when he felt a distinct and familiar bonk on the back of his head.
"Ow!" Naruto clutched at his skull and whipped around, his eyes going wide in panic as he recognized the owner of both the voice and the fist.
Standing behind him was the person he'd most wanted to see that day, but the person he least wanted to see right that minute. He pointed in horror:
"Ss-Ssss-SASUKE?"
--
Kakashi swallowed back a yawn while he tracked the procession of Lords leaving the Inn and heading towards the makeshift stables that were set up around the back of Konoha's Stadium.
The morning had been uneventful in terms of his mission; Hisagi had been relieved just after dawn to get some sleep, and Tomoko had behaved abominably to both the replacement samurai and to the Lords during breakfast. He couldn't exactly blame her, they'd almost to a man decided to try and prick her verbally, but she'd had years of practice evading and countering such attacks from living with her father, and there were many male Egos that bled from her sharp tongue.
The only one completely unscathed was Tomoko's shy, silent handmaiden, pouring tea with a delicate hand, her head covered modestly in a scarf. It was amazing how she could be so close to the center of trouble, and yet remain outside it.
Since everyone was in a rather sour mood, the Daimyo suggested they all go visit their horses an hour earlier than scheduled. They left on horseback and Kakashi watched from a distance and regarded the group as a whole, musing about their personal ambitions and piecing together the clues that were floating in his mind. The show wouldn't be until later in the afternoon, but Kakashi hoped the respite from group formality would loosen some tongues and show him what was really going on.
Immediately behind the Stadium the Lords passed their mounts over to the handlers that monitored the horses they used for common transportation. This area took up most of the open space, with at least twenty men devoted to the animal's needs and a fenced area where dozens of horses were grazing peacefully. From there stretched a kind of causeway, leading to the eleven temporary stables that housed the more important stock.
The Lords all headed to their own designated areas, and Kakashi noticed a freshly groomed Hisagi taking long strides to catch up with the Princess and relieve his replacement. Kakashi slowed and tried to take in the scene as a whole.
There were people moving everywhere, Samurai and trainers and also inquisitive citizens of the village. On one side of the causeway a beautiful, chocolate colored horse was getting a bath and Lord Iwase moved excitedly in that direction to view the process with his blue-clad attendants close behind. Kyoran; Kakashi matched the name with the Lord and the horse.
On the other side of the causeway were two circular corrals, each guarded by a pair of Samurai. Disguised in a henge, Kakashi wasn't the only Konoha native to choose to stand at the first curving fence and watch the fancy racehorses that had been set loose for some exercise. They clipped the grass with white teeth, and swished their tails, and some trotted in random loops to stretch their legs, acting restless. At the second corral Kakashi recognized a fellow Jounin watching a particularly spirited black horse, and he was instantly more alert, though it was unlikely that this Jounin was a suspect.
Inuzuka Hana was in her white medical smock, though he was amused to see the sleeves rolled up nearly to her shoulders, revealing her strong graceful arms and her red tattoo. She had a smile on her face as she leaned her elbows atop the wooden fence. He didn't have to guess what she was doing there; the large Veterinarian's satchel at her feet explained it all.
Ever cautious, he moved a bit further downwind–all the Inuzuka had keen senses of smell, and he knew his scent probably revealed that his clothes had been rained on twice and then air dried, with a hint of Pakkun and probably eau d'Iruka as well.
As soon as this was over, he was taking a long, hot shower. Maybe even with company.
They weren't close friends by any means, but Kakashi respected Hana, and liked to hear her bawdy laughter and sly jokes when they crossed paths–she made everything she did fun. Hana would probably guess that he was on a mission, but she'd be professional about it and keep it to herself. Still, he didn't want to reveal more of his personal life than she needed or wanted to know about.
Kakashi moved along the corral's fence for a chance to see more of the surrounding area. The lone black horse in the next corral was indeed highly spirited, and his movements and whinnying kept drawing Kakashi's attention away from everything else. He found himself wondering if this was the horse Tsunade had mentioned. The description fit.
"Hina! You came!" Hana called out, and Kakashi followed her gaze and her waving hand to see Hyuuga Hinata crossing the grass shyly, with her hands snug in her coat pockets. She joined Hana at the side of the corral, and smiled, stuttering a polite greeting.
"I'm glad you were able to come, Hina; there's a lot of work left today, and I can use your help." Hana beamed at the younger girl, and squeezed her shoulder, then turned her gaze back to the interior of the corral. "But I was able to arrange for a riding lesson like we discussed, so it won't be all boring."
"Are… are they all so…so…" Hinata watched the black horse with a look of terror on her face, and Hana gave her signature laugh.
"No silly, you won't be riding that one," Hana teased. Hinata seemed relieved to hear she wouldn't have to go any closer to the black horse. Resting her arms like before, Hana's intelligent eyes followed the horse's moves in a way that reminded Kakashi of a wolf.
"I hear there's only one jockey that can ride Konjou," Hana explained, then rolled her eyes. "Though I personally think it's something Princess Tomoko invented to scare people, for the added mystery."
She shook her head, and Kakashi wondered what a confrontation between Hana and Tomoko might be like. Probably something Genma would kill to watch–Hana was a surprising powerhouse. Not to mention tall, good-looking, and feisty.
"Well… he looks scary," Hinata murmured with big eyes, and Hana laughed again.
"He does," she agreed, eyeing the horse wistfully. "But he sure is beautiful."
Kakashi moved further around the less interesting corral as Hana and Hinata watched Konjou. He had to agree that the horse was gorgeous–all velvety black from head to toe, with a boldness that shone in the gloss of his coat. It was no wonder that Lord Nishimoto and the others were worried about how their own steeds compared. Whether or not Konjou would win the race was anyone's guess, but it didn't take a tensai's brain to see that the black horse was trouble for any opposition.
Tomoko was at her stable speaking with her groomsman, as were most of the Lords, though the snippets of conversation he could hear didn't set off any bells. Kakashi changed location to get a better look at the Princess' horse as Hana and Hinata moved back to the causeway to head towards the Stadium.
From his new vantage point, he could see there was yet another Jounin who had entered the scene. He blinked once in surprise. Shizune, accompanied by her pig, looked completely different out in the sun and away from the Hokage office, surrounded by open fields and nearly a hundred horses.
There was a spring in her step as she came down the path, and she smiled and stopped to exchange pleasantries with Hana. She didn't pay much attention to Hinata, but Kakashi didn't think the Chuunin minded being overlooked. Hana and Shizune spoke at length, Hana's laugh ringing across the fields before the Veterinarian moved on with her shy friend in tow.
Shizune and Ton-Ton continued amiably down the causeway and Kakashi was only partly surprised to see her approach Lord Nishimoto, who made loud exclamations to herald her arrival. Shizune flushed and bowed politely, and he quickly ushered her inside the stable to see his horse.
Ton-Ton paused to sniff the air, and started to move further down the line of stables until Shizune gave a sharp command. The pig returned to her side. If Kakashi hadn't had animals of his own, he might have overlooked the pig's reluctance to give up the trail it had found, but instead he watched intently. Ton-Ton sat down at Shizune's feet, but faced the long line of stables, obviously wanting to check on something.
Kakashi could see Shizune's back as she spoke to Lord Nishimoto and his groomsman, both of them recounting how helpful she'd been in their efforts to breed a horse like Tougarashi. She blushed at the attention and flattery, and Kakashi even heard her giggle–he was sure it was the first time he'd heard it.
If only Gai were here instead, so he could moon over it.
Shizune had to have friends, but it had never been important enough for Kakashi to wonder who they might be. Hana made sense; they were both trained in medicine of one sort or another, and Hana was not part of the party-crowd of which Shizune so adamantly disapproved. The Vet could hold her own when it came to alcohol, Kakashi knew, but Hana was one of the few Jounin who declined Genma's regular invitations.
It was clear to him now that Shizune and Hana had been assigned to the mission Tsunade had mentioned, that had resulted in Tougarashi. Presently, Lord Nishimoto had Tougarashi brought outside, and Shizune clasped her hands and Oooooo-ed at the beauty of his coat shimmering in the sunlight. Tsunade was right; he was the exact color of dried blood, although somehow the majesty and poise of the horse itself made the color gorgeous, rather than suggesting the spill from slit throat.
Or maybe only a former assassin would think that.
Kakashi watched as the horse was led over to the bathing station, and Shizune and Lord Nishimoto looked on while Tougarashi was lathered and rinsed. Lord Nishimoto fanned himself and grinned with pride. Shizune hadn't made any indication that she might be there for anything other than reacquainting herself with Lord Nishimoto, but Kakashi kept an eye on her anyhow. Someone, an upper-class Ninja, was coming to this very location today for a subversive purpose, and it was his job to find out who.
Kakashi blended in with his surroundings and kept himself alert, with Shizune, Tomoko and Lords Shimoda and Osada in his line of sight. The latter were standing in the shade of their neighboring stables, ignoring their own horses and eyeing Tougarashi and Konjou with dislike. Tomoko and her head groomsman moved to Konjou's corral, and with a glare in the direction of Lord Nishimoto's back she ordered that Konjou be brought in for brushing and combing.
Her servants quickly obeyed, and after much effort the black horse was coaxed into his stall and subjected to extravagant pre-Show primping. Hisagi watched it all with his same expression of tense disapproval, although Kakashi knew not to believe it–there was a smart and ambitious man thinking and calculating behind the stoic mask.
What in the hell did they want with Iruka?
Kakashi frowned, wondering if he should have asked his lover if he knew anything about horses, even though he thought it unlikely that Iruka was a secret jockey as well as an archer. He shook his head, and the idea with it–Iruka would be a terrible jockey. There was nothing about him that was small, except his tolerance for injustice.
Kakashi observed the rest of the people that were milling about the fields, wondering how many of them might be disguised just as he was. He flicked his eyes over the closest faces, and noticed a group of men either seated or sprawled in the shade of a tree not too far off from the Lord's stables. They all looked rather short, and if that wasn't enough of a clue, the colorful silks filled in the blanks.
Speaking of jockeys, he thought dryly, watching them pass the time by telling rude jokes and sharing a portable bottle of Sake. One or two had settled themselves on the grass to take a nap, but the others were nearly as restless as some of the racehorses, waiting for something to do since they were stuck within this area of the village for the time being, dressed up in their fancy racing colors.
Ton-ton was still at Shizune's feet, but was not happy about having to stay put. Kakashi couldn't be sure from the distance which of the stables was suspicious to the pig, but he kept his ears open for the pig's cries. If anything unusual were to alarm it, everyone would know. He turned his head automatically when he heard Hana's ringing laugh from closer to the Stadium.
She had her bare arms braced on her hips, and was flirting shamelessly with one of the young men taking care of the transport horses. He was blushing and looking at the ground, handing her the reins of a gentle looking brown horse. Hana put her arm around Hinata and took the horse's reins in her free hand, leaning in to give the boy a quick kiss on the cheek. She led both the horse and her friend over to an open area of grass, and began to give Hinata instructions.
Kakashi crouched casually in the grass, making himself invisible while he observed everything, waiting and wondering when he'd see something important. He passed the time by keeping all the players in his vision. The sun crept higher and higher overhead, and Kakashi sighed. It was only 11:00. There was still an hour to go before the "appointment" was to take place. And who only knew when Tomoko would set off to find his lover for some nefarious plot. He clenched his teeth to think on it.
"FUJIMIYA-SAMA! FUJIMIYA-SAMA!"
The shouts cut across the open grounds like a lash, stunning everyone in the vicinity with the sudden noise. Kakashi's head snapped around to see who was shouting so urgently across the encampment, all the Samurai in the area reaching for their katana and readying themselves for action. Fujimiya came rushing out of the Daimyo's Stable, leaving the other two Samurai to guard their boss.
Everyone in the vicinity was watching with curiosity as the two shouting Samurai ran down the causeway as fast as their legs could carry them, which wasn't actually all that fast. Kakashi looked them over, taking in their rumpled clothing and their flushed, sweaty faces contorted in twin expressions of panic. They slowed as they intercepted their commanding officer, and Kakashi could sense the rest of the Samurai relaxing as they recognized two of their comrades, though they were all still on alert.
"Fujimiya-sama!" The first Samurai gasped, completely out of breath. "It's… it's…" He couldn't continue, coughing from the dust.
"Kotsubaki, report!" Fujimiya commanded the second man, watching both subordinates wheezing and spluttering. Kakashi had a guess what this meeting was about, and he snickered to himself beneath his mask.
"It's the Uchiha, sir!" Kotsubaki managed to say, and Kakashi could only imagine what on earth Sasuke had done to have them run pell-mell across the entire village in such a state. Fujimiya glanced over his shoulder at the Princess's stable, and lowered his voice.
"What about him?" Fujimiya put his hands on his hips ominously, and the Samurai instantly straightened up.
"He escaped, and is on his way to see the Princess, Sir!" The first Samurai took up the report, making an effort to keep his voice even.
"And how the hell did that happen?" Fujimiya glared at them, "You were supposed to keep him away!"
The Samurai both knelt on one knee in the grass submissively, still breathing hard. "We followed him as far as we could, Fujimiya-sama, and then came here immediately to protect the Princess!"
"Are we too late, Sir?" Kotsubaki sounded hopeful, and Fujimiya scowled, looking around the area until he caught sight of Tomoko. He smoothed the hair back from his temples while he contemplated his next orders.
"Go fetch Ito and Arakawa; send them to me here. You are dismissed for now."
The two guards nodded and set off at a run to carry out their orders, both cringing at being in disgrace. Kakashi watched Fujimiya walk briskly to Tomoko's stable, and snap his fingers at Hisagi. They stepped to the side and spoke in low tones.
"Hisagi, there's a situation. The Uchiha is on the loose and is reported to be seeking out the Princess. I'm increasing her guard by two; she is not to have contact with that Ninja."
Hisagi listened to this with no change in expression, "Understood. But with all due respect, Fujimiya-sama, the Princess is already guarded closely, and her handmaiden Shizuka is also here as escort. A larger guard will only make for a bigger target."
Fujimiya waved this aside, "He got past both Kotsubaki and Sentarou, I won't take any more chances. You understand how Shijimi-dono feels about this, I'm sure."
Hisagi nodded respectfully, "However, there is little chance of that boy causing trouble in broad daylight. One Samurai is enough to protect one woman; three will only get in each other's way."
"Hmm," Fujimiya looked thoughtful, taking heed of his words. "Very well, Hisagi. But keep Ito nearby. He's familiar with your strategies, and I don't want any more mishaps while we have to stay in this god-forsaken village."
Hisagi bowed, "Got it." Kakashi wasn't sure if his furrowed brows were because of Sasuke, or because he hadn't managed to talk his commanding officer down to zero. It made him wonder about Hisagi's real reasons.
Fujimiya waved the two newly arrived Samurai over, and Kakashi watched as instructions were given. The one with short black hair stayed with Hisagi; that must be Ito. They moved to the side and spoke quickly. Oddly, they were almost the same height and coloring. Fujimiya sent the other away, clapping his shoulder in apology before he left. The head of security returned to report to the Daimyo.
Kakashi sighed. Sasuke was certainly capable of getting past the Samurai, but he hadn't counted on his student coming to attack the Princess–what was he thinking? Yes, she had used him to pull her father's strings, and had contributed to the situation with Naruto, but that was hardly reason to try and enact revenge while she was a guest in Konoha. If Sasuke really was on his way, Kakashi had to assume it was for something other than assassination–Sasuke just wasn't that stupid. And it wouldn't be for what the Daimyo thought, either. My, my.
"Aaah!" Kakashi heard the breathy, terrified squeal of Hyuuga Hinata not too far away. She was now up in the horse's saddle, and her hands were white where they held the reins. Hana was on the ground holding tight to the bridle while the horse tossed its head.
"It's okay, it's okay," Hana patted the neck of the horse, but was watching her friend. Kakashi wondered which of them she was trying to console. The horse sidled away, and Hana danced easily along with it, keeping it fairly still.
"Hina, relax, I'm right here." Hana instructed, "The horse can sense your fear. You have to calm down."
Hinata didn't relax at all hearing this. "I… I… I'm…"
Hana laughed, though Kakashi could see the tension in her arm muscles where she was struggling to keep the horse under control.
"Hina, think of something else. Remember the time you won sparring with Neji? Or when you caught more fish than anyone else to grill at the Inuzuka cook-off? Something that inspires you, makes you feel courageous. Think about that, Hina."
"Aah!" Hinata gasped again, and Hana touched her on the knee, squeezing briefly.
"If you're scared, the horse will be scared. You have to pretend you're not scared, so that he'll calm down. And you're not, Hina. You're not scared of this. You're not scared of anything. You're strong." Hana's words were sure and confident, and Kakashi saw Hinata close her mouth.
"Y-yes," the Chuunin answered, and her back seemed to stiffen. Her face took on a look of determination, and the horse slowly seemed to quiet down. Within a couple of minutes, he stood still, Hinata sitting significantly more at ease up in the saddle. Hana clucked and rubbed the horse's neck.
"Yes, good," Hana stroked the supple fur, smiling up at her friend. "Good, Hina. Ready to walk? We'll go slowly."
"Okay," Hinata blushed, and Hana grinned wolfishly at her, then turned and led the horse towards the causeway with a slow and gentle gait.
By this time, Tougarashi was through with his bath and was grazing peacefully off to the side. Shizune had offered to help with the drying and combing, and Lord Nishimoto and his attendants fawned over her as she lent her aid. It was strange how someone so haughty around her fellow Ninja could be so open and friendly with a Feudal Lord and his horse. Maybe it helped that the one was royalty, and the other was blue blooded horseflesh–Shizune seemed overly aware of these kinds of things.
So why couldn't she see the champion in Naruto? Or Gai? Gai was a Jounin, and one of Konoha's best. Kakashi shook his head, watching her.
Ito had taken position outside the Princess' stable, while Hisagi and the rest were inside dealing with Konjou. Everyone else in the surrounding area seemed to be behaving normally, seeing to their duties, or checking out the sights. It seemed peaceful. But Kakashi was edgy.
"Narita-san," one of the horse trainers called as he approached the group of jockeys, moving towards one who was sound asleep. The small man was flat on his back in purple dress silks.
"Don't bother," a jockey in blue and white chuckled, taking a swig of Sake, "He's been sleeping like a log all day. Must've found himself a Konoha filly last night!"
Kakashi rolled his eyes inwardly as the rest of the lazy jockeys cackled. The trainer shook him by the shoulder, and the blue jockey kicked impatiently at the foot of his sleeping comrade when he didn't respond. "Oi! Narita!"
"Wha…?" Narita stuttered, lifting his sunglasses to rub his eyes. The glasses fell back into place as he sat up, and Kakashi felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. He'd definitely seen those glasses before, even if the face was completely different.
"Your boss needs you," the blue jockey kicked him again, and Narita moved his feet deftly out of the way. Kakashi tensed his muscles, ready to follow. His mouth was dry; in masking his own chakra, he couldn't scan for another's as effectively and had overlooked the Jounin because of it.
Narita stood and stretched, and Kakashi was impressed at the henge–nobody would guess that the real man was a Ninja nearly a foot taller than all the rest; you had to be small if you wanted to race competitively. Most jockeys only weighed a hundred pounds, and there were penalties if you were overweight on race day.
The trainer led "Narita" to the line of stables, and Kakashi didn't even blink when they entered the one belonging to Lord Osada.
Silently, Kakashi slipped behind the stables and approached them from the back, crouching underneath a window of Lord Osada's and peering up at the underside of a tan horse's throat. The horse whinnied at his presence, but nobody inside the stable took notice. His chakra presence was hidden, but just to make sure the horse didn't overreact, he went completely invisible as well. The jockey was the first to speak.
"I really wish you'd waited until noon like we planned; everyone would be heading out of the area then," Yamashiro Aoba began, and Kakashi pressed his lips at the aural confirmation of his supposition. There was a startled gasp.
"You…! What did you do with Narita? That wasn't part of the deal!" Lord Shimoda didn't sound happy. Kakashi heard the henge being released.
"Tch, he's fine," Aoba answered smugly. "I only borrowed his identity for a couple of hours. He's safe in the Stadium and I'll send him out once we're done, so there's no need to fuss." His voice lowered, "And no need to be hasty. We have an agreement."
"Yes," Lord Osada found his voice, "We do. And your part is only to keep the Uchiha from winning the Hunt, not to sabotage my jockey!"
"Hn," Aoba replied. Kakashi could hear footsteps; someone was pacing. Not Aoba. "Believe me. Uchiha Sasuke won't be advancing to the final round."
The three of them were quiet. This was an uneasy alliance, and Kakashi sifted through his memories to see if he could recall any personal reason Aoba would agree to go up against Sasuke. He could find none.
"Did you bring what I requested?" Aoba broke the silence.
Lord Shimoda answered, "Yes, though I'm a bit confused why–"
"–It's not important for you to understand," Aoba cut him off. Kakashi risked rising enough to peek over the window sill, careful not to bump into the horse. "I'm not fool enough to go up against an Uchiha without an advantage. It'll help during the Hunt, trust me."
"Now look here," Lord Osada started to interfere, bristling at Aoba's impertinence, but his cohort stopped him.
"Just get it," Shimoda pleaded, "So we can be done with this." Osada glared at him, but moved to a trunk and lifted the lid, withdrawing a deep, plastic case with a handle. It was covered with a tied cloth, almost like a Bento. He handed it over to Aoba, who peeked underneath the covering and gave a humorless smirk.
"Everyone's got their secrets," he commented to himself, straightening the cover. "Good. I'll send Narita back in time for the show, don't worry. Just be ready to pay me tomorrow when Uchiha Sasuke is out of the Hunt like you wanted."
Kakashi scooted away from the window as Aoba approached it, climbing past the tan horse to stand at the rear of the stable. Aoba made the seals, and teleported instantly, the case gripped tightly in his hand. He reappeared at the distant line of trees, and then leaped into them and out of sight.
Kakashi waited a tense two minutes for Shimoda and Osada to leave their stable to wait in the shade while their staff tended to their horses. The noises of grooming and so forth covered up his voice when he summoned Pakkun.
"Yo," the dog looked up at him quizzically. "Miss me already?"
"There's no time." Kakashi said quickly, then more gently, "Follow Aoba's trail." He pointed to the spot where the Jounin had stood right before he'd escaped, and then further into the distance. "He teleported to the far trees, over that way. Find out what he's got in the case; it's about this big." He gestured to indicate the size, and Pakkun nodded once.
He set his nose to the ground, and then took off, disappearing nearly as fast as if he'd teleported himself. Kakashi slumped back against the stable's wall. He didn't tell the Pug that this too was about Sasuke; he didn't think it would go over well.
The heat, the horses, the deceptions, and the players–he felt filthy with intrigue. He was definitely going to borrow more than just Iruka's soap when he finally got to shower.
Thank God Iruka never seemed to run out of clean, wholesome goodness.
--
Sasuke started to relax the closer he got to his part of town.
His simple errand had taken nearly an hour longer than it should have, but he thought he had a good chance of making it back before Naruto arrived. Although… the thought of seeing Naruto made him anxious in a different kind of way, a way that caused his brow to crease as he sought to comprehend how one person could make you so eager and so nervous at the same time.
Only a total idiot had that kind of talent.
He did his best to shake off the anxiety as he closed the distance to his house, comforted by the dwindling signs of habitation and Festival celebration the further he went. His brow creased again, however, when he sensed a large mass of people in an area that was supposed to be empty, and he descended to street level to investigate more effectively. He'd expected to find the two samurai, and could still sense them where he'd left them. But there was also something different.
Sasuke slipped through one of the many narrow alleyways that led to the main street stretching in front of his Clan's district. The high archway was a hundred yards away, but he could see a disturbance at the gates, and started to make his way closer when he caught sight of something distinctly orange at the base of a tree in front of him. Frowning, Sasuke moved silently and invisibly to see if he was right.
From four trees back, Sasuke could see Naruto facing towards the group ahead of them in a crouch, his broad shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter. Curious, Sasuke glanced up ahead to see what he was looking at, and then raised both his eyebrows at the sight of… himself?
What the hell…? And what the hell was "he" wearing?
Naruto had covered his mouth with his hands, but Sasuke could still hear trickles of his laughter as the clone–it couldn't be anything else–wearing his appearance approached the group from behind. Sasuke watched the scene analytically until the clone started behaving like a character out of one of Kakashi's Icha-Icha novels, and then he moved towards his teammate, making a fist against the urge to smack him for such cheesy dialogue.
What really stopped him from doing it was the sudden spark of inspiration; Sasuke grudgingly admitted to himself that it was a clever way of clearing the area. He'd have handled things differently, of course, but seeing his own image darting off like that made him consider a new and very interesting strategy for later that night. They'd have to practice it, but it might actually work.
The clone vanished into the maze of streets and Sasuke recognized the universal fangirl squeals, shivering in disgust as they took off after it. God he hated them. And now the clone made sense. He saw the last of them disappear, amused to see the two Samurai caught up in the fray, and then stood looming over the form of his teammate, who was giggling madly and completely unaware that he wasn't alone.
He looked down at Naruto, still laughing at his own genius. He waited for Naruto to notice him, but when it was clear the blond was stuck in his own instant-replay of the previous scene even after rising from the crouch, Sasuke decided he'd had enough of wasting time.
"Oi," he said, announcing his presence. Naruto's laughter stopped immediately, but he still stood there, frozen, afraid to turn around. Sasuke tried something else, raising his fist and bonking him like he hadn't had to do since they were Genin. At least… not nearly as often.
"Ow!" Naruto yelped and turned, rubbing his skull.
Sasuke smirked to see his eyes go very wide. Gotcha, he thought, seeing the guilt and panic on his rival's face. Naruto obviously hadn't intended his little charade to be witnessed.
"Ss-Ssss-SASUKE?"
Sasuke shook his head, seeing Naruto point at him and then burst into floundering gestures of explanation. "I… you see… the fangirls… it was… I mean… I didn't… so I… it just–"
"I see you still haven't learned how to pack," Sasuke cut off the babbling and nodded towards Naruto's enormous duffel bag, wondering what in God's name he'd stashed in there.
"What?" Naruto looked around his feet to see his luggage. "Well you said bring all my gear," he crossed his arms, defensive.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow and then shook his head, moving past him and towards the Arch.
"Are you going to stand there all day?" he asked casually when he didn't hear Naruto's feet behind him. He glanced and saw Naruto break into smile; Sasuke turned away from it, focusing instead on the empty, quiet street.
Naruto caught up to him before long, carrying both the enormous duffel bag as well as the sack of explosives. Just the sight of the familiar bundle Naruto had lugged all over the village on First Night made his stomach tingle with remembered longing. Sasuke tightened his hand on his own bundle from Kukaku's and firmly pushed the feeling away.
"Hey, Sasuke," Naruto began as they passed underneath the towering Arch.
Sasuke spared him a glance in response, leading them to his house. Naruto's grin was as bright and devilish as the midmorning sunshine as he pointed with his elbow towards Sasuke's parcel.
"Whatcha got in there? Strawberries?"
"Tch, moron." Sasuke turned his head to grace him with a heavy glare, and instantly regretted it.
Naruto's sassy smirk and blue eyes did funny, uninvited things with his imagination. Sasuke had a sudden image of both of them naked, naked and covered with strawberry pulp and seeds, Naruto grinding it into him and then licking it all off, sticky, sweaty… Impossibly, Sasuke thought he could taste it on the roof of his mouth then and there, and quickened his pace–it was alarming. He didn't even like sweets.
Naruto kept up with him, carrying such heavy bags without getting winded at all. Sasuke was thankful when they made it to his house. He was more than ready to focus on the important things; Naruto could be very distracting. He opened his front door.
"You had breakfast, I hope," he said, toeing off his sandals in the entryway.
Naruto chuckled behind him, "I had Ramen with Ero-Sennin. Did you know he's betting on me to win the Kunai?"
"Hmm," Sasuke replied, not terribly surprised that the Frog Hermit was in town since there was a Festival. He always showed up when there would be a lot of ladies around, and he usually sought Naruto out as well. It was interesting he was part of the gambling, Sasuke hadn't seen him at registration.
Naruto set his bags down with a thump and kicked his sandals off. "So what do you want to do first, Sasuke?"
He led the way up the stairs. "Bring that stuff with you. I want to go through all your weapons and make sure we have everything we need."
Naruto followed his lead up to the second floor, and Sasuke opened the door to the strategy room. Their notes from the previous evening were still strewn on the low table where they'd left them, but Sasuke walked neatly around the table to the doorway on the opposite side instead.
"This is the Weapons room," he told his rival, sliding the door open and crossing the threshold.
The Weapons room was much larger than the living room, though it was on the same side of the house. It had racks of everything along the perimeter; flak-jackets, holsters, sandals for all terrain, spinning fixtures loaded with shuriken or other projectiles, wall mounts with larger and more exotic weapons at the far end. There were two benches that ran along the narrow ends of a waist-high table, right in the center of it all. Sasuke had set out his own choices of gear on one half of this.
"Whoa–awesome!" Naruto said, dropping his bags where he stood in the doorway.
His eyes were wide and gleaming as they took in the sight of so many weapons in one place, and Sasuke watched him with concealed amusement, comparing the hunger he saw now with the hunger he'd seen last night when Naruto was eyeing all the books and scrolls in the cramped Strategy room.
Naruto slowly moved around, examining things with a careful touch, "Where did you get all these?"
Sasuke shrugged, frowning at the question. He moved to the table and set his Kukaku's bag down. "My family used to head the Police Department," he answered.
Naruto met his eyes across the room, serious, knowing. But he moved along and didn't ask any more questions. Sasuke reminded himself that Naruto could be sensitive when he wanted to be.
"You know what this reminds me of?" The blond said, smirking and moving to the wall with several Naginata. Sasuke folded his arms and waited.
Naruto turned to him and grinned, "This is kinda like the Hokage closet!" Sasuke rifled through his memories until he retrieved the one where Naruto had told him where his Yukata had come from.
"It was huge! And mostly full of clothes," Naruto rubbed a hand through his hair sheepishly, "But there was this one room in the back. It had armor and weapons, and all the special things belonging to the previous Hokage. Even the Fourth had stuff in there."
Sasuke watched Naruto's face grow determined as he remembered what he'd seen there, his hand reaching up to press against the necklace Sasuke knew was under his orange and black jacket. It made Sasuke's own throat tingle, right before the rest of him remembered how the Fourth's Yukata had shielded them while they thrust against each other on Naruto's floor. He swallowed down an echo of the cry he remembered making as their first shared passion had burst its slickness onto their bellies.
"You know," Naruto continued, totally unaware of the thoughts that had just been on Sasuke's mind, "I'm going to have stuff in there one day too. That's going to be my closet, right Sasuke?" He grinned, his chest puffed out, and Sasuke's heart blocked his voice box for a moment. He swallowed again, taking a deep breath. He had to get a hold of himself–it wasn't normal for Naruto to affect him like this.
"Well you can start by setting your things out here," Sasuke indicated the empty half of the table in front of him, trying to get them back on track.
Naruto nodded and brought his bags over. While he was setting things out by type, Sasuke moved over to his end and retrieved Itachi's jar. "By the way, I know what this is."
"Oh yeah?" Naruto asked, his eyes curious and interested.
"Or at least part of it," Sasuke amended, unscrewing the lid. He'd never assume that he'd figured out all there was to know about something that had once belonged to his brother.
Naruto paused so they both could look at it, and Sasuke dipped his finger into the yellowish grease and spread it between fingers and thumb. "It's a type of bug repellant."
"Aaaaah!" Naruto said excitedly, "Then it's really Shino's? Why'd Itachi have it then?"
Sasuke shrugged, using his dry fingers to twist the lid back in place. "It might not be Shino's; Itachi could have made it himself. He might have put ABURAME on the label because it's related to their Clan's abilities; it obviously wouldn't work against any other Clan."
"Hmm," Naruto leaned his hands on the table, considering. "But why would Itachi make something to use against the Aburame clan?"
Sasuke shrugged. How could he explain his brother if Naruto had never met him?
Naruto continued, "I think it probably came from them instead. I forgot about this one mission I had to go on, I think you were away, but Shino had this stuff that no bugs would go near, and we used it to hide something important for the mission, so that these other creepy people with bees and stuff couldn't get it, and Hinata was kidnapped by them at one point–"
Sasuke held up a hand before Naruto got going on one of his stories that made no sense. "The important thing is that we've got it, and Shino's bugs won't be able to attack us if we put it on before the Hunt."
"Oh, right," Naruto chuckled, his voice intense from imagining the upcoming battles. "It'll be interesting to fight him without his bugs."
Sasuke nodded, rubbing the excess ointment onto his other hand. "We'll wait until we're getting ready to leave before putting it on; I'm not sure how long the effect will last."
"Okay," Naruto agreed, continuing to unpack his weapons onto the table. Sasuke was pleased to see the flak-jacket; Naruto hardly ever wore it even though they were common sense and standard issue. The fact that he'd brought it was a good sign that he was taking things seriously.
Sasuke relaxed into the comfort of tactical analysis, and in no time they'd gone through the weapons, the explosives, and all the combatants to finalize the details. They'd decided to use their regular code-phrase for the times they'd be separated, to make sure nobody tricked them. After so many years, he hoped Naruto finally had it memorized, since the only other person who knew about it was Sakura, and she was out of the country.
It felt good to focus on something they were both suited for, and aside from Naruto's irritating insistence that he'd definitely be able to take out Ebisu, and his refusal to elaborate on exactly why he was so confident, Sasuke was pleased with their final plans. He was just about ready to suggest they head outside for their intensive practice session, when Naruto finally noticed what had been next to him for over half an hour.
"Oh wow…" Naruto's interjection was way off topic, and so Sasuke didn't even bother to look right away, since he was busy re-reading the notes he'd retrieved from the other room. Naruto's next words definitely caught his attention.
"Where on earth did you get these, Sasuke?"
He frowned, and looked up to see what Naruto was talking about. Naruto had unfolded the leather pants from where he'd set them in a neat pile just that morning and was laying them across the surface of the table. His rival brushed his palm down the gleaming surface of one of the legs, and Sasuke could almost feel that same hand on his thigh. His skin grew warm, and he couldn't make himself look away; he was grateful Naruto wasn't looking at him while he did it.
Sasuke's pulse sped up at Naruto's curious investigations of the various buckles and straps, none of it overtly suggestive, but his gut clenched tight. He felt all of it as if he were wearing the pants himself, stretched out on the pile of shuriken while Naruto touched him through the leather. He wondered if Naruto would take the time to undo all the buckles, or if he'd simply tear through whatever he had to, to get them off and—
The idea was horribly arousing, and Sasuke was shocked by it. Why did he keep imagining these things? He was attracted to Naruto, but that wasn't the shocking part. What shocked him was that somehow his fantasies had taken a turn, a turn he was pretty sure he didn't like.
It was one thing for Naruto to show him that he had a sensitive neck, finding out by accident when they were fooling around. It was something else for Naruto to show him how powerful he was, and how good his power tasted, even coupled with the aches and bruises of fighting each other full out before ending up in the grass.
Sasuke salivated at the memory, and then got angry–the whole situation was ridiculous. "None of your business," he answered with a glare.
Naruto looked over at him, confused, "Hey, I was just asking."
Sasuke scowled, and set their notes in a neat pile with the rest of their things. "Just put them back where you found them. We've got a lot to practice, in case you forgot." He opened his bag from Kukaku's.
Naruto's eyes darkened, "What's your problem, all of a sudden?" He folded them like he'd been asked and put them almost in the same spot. Sasuke fixated on the error; it made him feel better.
"Here," he tossed Naruto a torch and an arm-guard that he'd bought that morning. "We're going to see if you can learn how to use these before dark. You'll need the torch you bought as well." Naruto caught them easily, but was still scowling. It helped Sasuke relax a bit more, and he took his own torches and led the way out of the room.
"You have to learn stuff too you know," Naruto insisted from behind him on the stairs.
Sasuke smirked, even though Naruto couldn't see it. He made sure his voice was condescending to make up for it. "Anyone can use Kage-Bunshin."
"But not like me," Naruto was quick to defend, serious.
Sasuke sighed as they went through the door. "You're right. I bet you're the only Ninja who's ever used one against fangirls." His sarcasm didn't go unnoticed.
"Oi!" Naruto protested, scowling as they circled the house to the back courtyard. "At least it got rid of them so we can train. And nobody knows I'm here. So don't forget all the things I can do, Sasuke."
Sasuke didn't respond, walking with purpose towards the lake. Naruto sounded worked up in exactly the way Sasuke wanted, and he smiled on the inside. Now they could train properly, like the teammates they'd always been. Like teammates should. No distractions. Only combat and strategy. Weapons, open space, and hard, demanding taijutsu moves. It would keep them nice and busy.
"Come on, Moron," he jerked his chin towards the water's surface. "We've got work to do."
--
When the sun hovered directly over the village, everyone began to move towards the Stadium for the big Show. Kakashi kept his eye on the key people, but his mind played ping-pong between Pakkun and Iruka.
He was worried. His boyfriend was somewhere in the village while the Viper's daughter was biding her time until she struck. Pakkun hadn't reported back to him yet. Narita the jockey had returned in time to get ready for the Show, like Aoba had promised, even rubbing his eyes sleepily just like Aoba had mimicked. But there was still no sign of his dog.
Shizune had left exactly when her personal rules of etiquette decreed, and Hinata and Hana had finished their mini-lesson and were now busy tending to the various horses that had minor injuries. Kakashi was reasonably sure that there was nothing further to be gained from any of them.
That, of course, left only the Princess.
To further distract him from the mission, Kakashi was hungry again. He changed his henge as he entered the Stadium, going immediately to the first food stand near the stairs and buying whatever they served, which happened to be Dango. He thanked the proprietor and moved further into the enclosure, holding the five skewers like a fistful of Senbon out of long habit.
The center of the Stadium had been rearranged with a square corral in the center, the inside landscaped to an even plane. There were stands for spectators on the ground level, with special boxes for the Lords, and Kakashi stood in the shade of an interior passage and watched them get settled while he ate.
Then he approached the nearest Stadium employee, "Excuse me, did you happen to work last night?"
The man smiled, "No sir, I'm only a daytime worker. The evening crew doesn't come on until 5:00pm. Something I can help you with?"
Kakashi smiled, and waved it off, "Not really, thanks." He sighed, and finished up the Dango. So much for questioning the employees.
The horse show began like most, with much parading and pomp, and Kakashi watched it halfheartedly from the cool shadows where he could observe Tomoko and Hisagi. The princess was fanning herself, as were several of the Lords, but nobody seemed to be making any moves.
Kakashi was frustrated at all the inaction–he couldn't even read any of his Icha-Icha novels. The real ones even. He was sick of only watching and waiting behind the scenes, deducing that he'd probably be much more patient if it wasn't someone he was in love with that was the next target. He gnawed on the last of his Dango skewers and thought of Genma for the second time that day, rolling the thin wood over his teeth. Tomoko stood up, and Kakashi straightened, watching.
"The sun is really too much, father," she fanned herself dramatically. "I'm going to sit up there in the shade for a bit."
She gestured up into the empty stands where Kakashi had sat with the others for the Opening Ceremony, and the Daimyo scowled at her. Fujimiya exchanged a glance with Hisagi, who nodded sagely. Fujimiya then nodded to the Daimyo, who waved his fat hand dismissively, and then requested a drink from his closest servant.
Tomoko bowed deferentially to her father, and excused herself, with Hisagi and the shy maid following her out of the box and onto the grassy pathway, and finally into the interior of the Stadium complex. Kakashi held his position, letting the three walk past him while he kept his face turned to the horse who had just been led into the square corral to prance around. Tomoko's smirk was a bit more mischievous than usual, and once they'd turned the corner he fell in behind them, grinding his teeth in anticipation.
"I thought we might have to do this," a woman commented, and Kakashi was startled to realize that it was the maid who had spoken.
"Yep," Tomoko grinned, hurrying down the fluorescent-lit hallway to a janitor's closet. She tried the knob, and when it twisted open she smiled over her shoulder at the other two.
"We'll be quick," she winked at Hisagi, and turned her body to let the maid, Shizuka, slip past her through the doorway, already tugging at her head scarf. Kakashi caught sight of long dark hair before the door closed, Hisagi taking up position outside the room.
Kakashi, in the henge, casually moved down the hall flipping through a program for the Show and making himself inconspicuous. When Hisagi wasn't looking, he ducked behind a trash receptacle, and peered between it and the wall, to see another samurai join the group. They spoke softly, but herecognized Ito by his similar dark hair–Kakashi's brain suddenly made the connection.
So that's what they were up to. Very clever, Princess Tomoko. Clever indeed.
A minute more and the closet door opened. Shizuka's long dark hair was pulled up into a ponytail, and when wearing the Princess' black and yellow outfit they easily could have been twins. In contrast, Tomoko had let her hair fall loose; the scarf was tied like a bandana, although the change into common garb didn't diminish her presence or dampen the mischief in her grin.
Impulsively, she clasped her maid to her, "Thank you, Shizuka. This shouldn't take long!"
Shizuka squirmed from the sudden embrace, her cheeks flushing crimson. When Tomoko released her, she tried to recover by doing a great impression of the Princess' laugh. She grinned and tossed her hair, "Ha, ha, ha–it's nothing."
Tomoko also clasped Ito's forearm, "And thanks to you too, Ito-san."
"Princess-sama," Ito gave a small bow, the reverence genuine.
Tomoko moved towards Hisagi, and Shizuka led the replacement Samurai over to the steps where they soon disappeared. Kakashi was truly impressed with Shizuka; she'd done such a good job being the invisible handmaiden that nobody would suspect a thing. He had no doubts that when the Lords saw her with Ito in the stands, they would all assume it was Tomoko and Hisagi, without noticing the absence of the maid. The princess had bought herself quite a bit of time.
Tomoko flashed a toothy grin at her guard, and they made their way directly to the exit. Kakashi followed them out into the front of the Stadium, smirking at the archaic form of deception. It almost made him like Tomoko; she was creative and spunky, and had unexpected allies everywhere.
Still… almost.
She had something up her sleeve, and he was prepared to stop her from harming Iruka at all costs.
They made their way through the celebrating village, Tomoko grinning at the small ounce of freedom from her real identity, though Hisagi still took her protection seriously. He allowed her to purchase a Happi-coat at one of the stands for him to wear over his uniform, to help hide the severity of his Shijimi-clan Samurai robes. It didn't look half bad on him. But that was as relaxed as he got.
They seemed to have no real destination, Tomoko carving a path based on something Kakashi couldn't quite figure out. It was when she'd found a cluster of laughing children that she got more excited, and Hisagi followed close behind as she rushed over to them. They were watching a Festival performer juggling on a unicycle, and Tomoko knelt down in their seated group and watched along with them, grinning and clapping her hands at the appropriate times.
"Who are you, nee-chan?" A little girl asked, and Tomoko grinned.
"Shhh!" she held a finger to her lips, "It's a secret!"
The girl's eyes got very wide. "I can keep a secret!" she insisted, and Tomoko laughed.
"You must be a Ninja then!" the Princess smiled, smoothing the girl's hair off her face. "Are you?"
"Yes!" the girl grinned back at her, "I just started in the Academy this year!"
"Wow!" Tomoko beamed at her, "Who is your sensei?"
"Mozuku-sensei!" the girl answered immediately, with pride.
Tomoko inclined her head, "Not Umino Iruka? I heard he's a good teacher."
The girl shook her head, "Not until next year. But Keiko-chan has Iruka-sensei this year!"
The girl turned to her friend, tugging on her sleeve, and Kakashi recognized the second girl from First Night, wearing a much less flowery Yukata than before.
"You're Keiko-chan?" Tomoko asked the second girl, and Keiko nodded, skeptical. Tomoko smiled, holding out her hand, "Nice to meet you." Tomoko gestured for Hisagi to come over, "This is my brother." Kakashi snickered under his breath.
Keiko shook her hand as the Samurai approached, eyeing the two of them warily, and Tomoko laughed, "I'm a friend of Iruka-sensei."
Keiko's whole face lit up, "Iruka-sensei!"
"You know him?" Tomoko asked, smirking, and the girl nodded excitedly.
"Iruka-sensei is the best teacher in the whole wide world!"
Kakashi's heart leapt to hear it, though he kept in mind that this was all a wicked deception on the part of the Princess.
"So I hear!" Tomoko agreed, laughing.
Keiko held her fists to her face with glee, "Are… are you… Are you his girlfriend?" She squealed, and Tomoko laughed heartily. She considered the question, and then spread her hands in a gesture that could mean anything. Keiko squealed again.
"I knew it!" Keiko squealed, and grabbed the arm of yet another girl. "Haruka! Haruka!" The third girl turned around, annoyed by the disturbance.
Keiko kept talking, "This is Iruka-sensei's girlfriend!"
Kakashi gaped nearly as much as Haruka at this news. Good grief!
"Aaaah… pretty!" Haruka commented with big eyes, much to Tomoko's delight.
"Oh no," she waved it off, laughing. "But… We were supposed to have lunch, but I can't seem to find him today. Do you know where he might be?"
"Did you try the Academy?" Keiki asked.
"Do you think he's there?" Tomoko looked forlorn, and the girls ate it up.
"He's always at the Academy," they answered in unison, and Tomoko pouted.
"I don't know which way to go."
"We'll take you!" Keiko and Haruka squealed, and Tomoko beamed at them.
"But I have to ask my Mom first," Keiko added.
"Okay, go ask. I'll wait." Tomoko smiled, rising while the two girls found Keiko's mother not too far away. The woman listened, and then turned to regard the Princess. She broke out in a giant smile and all three of them came shuffling over to Tomoko.
"Oh!" Keiko's mother exclaimed, taking Tomoko's hand with both of hers, "Oh I'm so happy to meet you!"
Tomoko laughed, squeezing her hands and then withdrawing gracefully. "Your daughter is very kind to help me."
"She's a good girl, our Keiko!" the woman continued, nodding her head at the compliment. "We're just so excited that Iruka-sensei has finally found himself a nice, pretty girl!"
Tomoko had the grace to blush, "Really… we're only friends…" But her coy downward glance let Keiko's mother believe anything she wanted. Kakashi clenched his teeth.
"Of course, of course," the woman nodded knowingly. Then she pat the heads of her daughter and her friend. "Now you two take this nice lady to see our favorite teacher, okay? And then come right back here."
"Yes!" Keiko and Haruka agreed in unison, and they each grabbed one of Tomoko's hands and led her off at a fast pace through the streets of Konoha.
Kakashi followed, pausing to spit out the Dango skewer that he'd gnawed through, and catching Tomoko's sly glance over her shoulder at her Samurai lover. Hisagi watched everything with tolerance, following her like he always did.
The girls were good for their word, taking the Princess swiftly to the front of the Academy. Kakashi had quickly hid himself up in his usual Iruka-spying tree, and so he was the first to notice that the school yard wasn't empty. He looked down on the two shinobi eating lunch, and watched as the Princess came on the scene.
On a checkered blanket, one was busily eating handfuls of food from multiple containers. The other was flat on his back, watching the cloudless sky with a lazy expression, his empty lunch dishes beside him.
"Shikamaru-sensei!" Keiko squealed happily, waving with the hand that wasn't clasping Tomoko's. Haruka ducked behind Tomoko's back, her cheeks bright red.
Shikamaru turned his head and took in the newcomers, his expression unchanging. "Hello there," he greeted them, reluctantly rising from his spot to a seated position and scratching the back of his head underneath his ponytail. He glanced at Chouji who kept eating happily, smiling in his benign way.
"We're here to see Iruka-sensei!" Keiko announced, and Kakashi watched Tomoko smile at the Chuunin with every bit of charm she could muster.
"Is that so," Shikamaru commented, yawning.
"I'm a friend of his, have you seen him?" Tomoko asked, and Kakashi saw Shikamaru raise a brow and regard her critically.
"He's probably training for the Hunt. It starts tonight you know," Shikamaru replied.
"Oh," Keiko said, disappointed.
"Doesn't he train in the Restricted Area with you, Shikamaru?" Chouji offered helpfully, eating potato chips and smiling at the girls. Shikamaru glanced at him, not commenting further.
"If it's not too much trouble," Tomoko took a step forward, brushing her long hair back from her shoulder, "Can you tell us how to get there?"
"Oh, you have to be a teacher to use that place," Chouji informed them.
"But she has to see Iruka-sensei!" Keiko argued. "She's his girlfriend!"
"Girlfriend?" Chouji started, hand halfway to his mouth.
Shikamaru sighed, "Oh boy…" He slowly got up, brushing off his dark pants and adjusting his flak jacket, taking his time.
"I guess I can show you there," he yawned, coming towards the group. "You two go on back, okay? Keiko-chan, Haruka-chan?" Keiko grinned up at him, and he pat her head, much like her mother had. Haruka gave a fearful peep from behind Tomoko, and the Princess chuckled softly, her eyes sparkling.
"Run along," Shikamaru said, and Haruka suddenly grabbed Keiko's hand and dragged her away, using her hair to cover her face so she wouldn't have to see–or be seen by–Shikamaru-sensei.
"My thanks," Tomoko grinned, and Shikamaru shrugged.
"I'll be back soon, Chouji," he called, "This won't take long." He turned and set off around the side of the Academy, expecting to be followed. Kakashi silently descended from the tree.
Tomoko quickened her step to fall in beside the teacher, Hisagi not far behind. "So how long have you known Iruka-sensei?"
Shikamaru looked at her, "He was my Sensei once."
"Oh," Tomoko smirked, approving. "Then he really is as good as they say, to have mentored a student into a teacher."
Shikamaru gazed at her in his calculating, yet indifferent way. He shrugged again, putting his hands in his pockets. "I'd expect his girlfriend to already know."
Kakashi was amused at the slight flicker that threw off her practiced expression. Tomoko chuckled, "Ah, well, Keiko-chan got a little carried away…" She tried to look apologetic, but it didn't quite work.
The Chuunin didn't respond, simply taking them through the forest behind the Academy where Kakashi knew the Restricted Area was located. It wasn't as big or as dangerous as some of the ones he used, but this training area served its purpose. He remembered well the times he'd watched Iruka practicing, before their friendship had given him opportunities to get his fix without resorting to ninja trickery.
Shikamaru opened the gate, and Tomoko and Hisagi exchanged a glance before passing through. Kakashi followed them to a clearing, and was surprised they found Iruka so easily–but there he was, absolutely stunning with his hair mussed, his brow sweaty, and a smile glowing on his face.
Kakashi then noticed that Mozuku was also present, standing close to Iruka. They both looked over when Shikamaru called to them, and Kakashi chose a hiding place just at the perimeter of the clearing, noting that Mozuku didn't look like he'd been training.
"Oi, Iruka-sensei," Shikamaru called. "Someone to see you."
Iruka rubbed the back of his hand across his forehead underneath the hitai-ate, tucking a stray piece of hair behind his ear. He moved closer, Mozuku staying to back him up on the left, and held his hand up to block the intense sunlight. He regarded the newcomers for a moment before speaking, lips pressed thin.
"Princess Tomoko," Iruka nodded stiffly, though politely, and Kakashi was proud that he'd seen through her. Mozuku was the only one to gasp from surprise. Tomoko smirked, her attention all on Iruka with her eyes sparkling.
Shikamaru shook his head, rubbing his neck. "I'll leave her to you, then, Iruka. Good day, highness." And with that, Shikamaru left.
Tomoko took a step forward, her hands on her hips. "Well! We meet at last, Iruka-sensei."
[to be continued...]