a/n: Hey guys! So the Lightning Country Arc is officially over. Now we move on to the second of the 3 arcs I had in mind. Yes I rushed the bringing of the two together, but as my father once told me, "Making ends meet is easy. Keeping them together is the real challenge." So here is another slice of my fic! Enjoy!
Chapter 27: Preparations
Within two weeks, preparations for Hinata's and Naruto's wedding had already been underway. They wanted to have their wedding soon so that they didn't have any long-term missions tossed in to ruin their plans. Sakura juggled wedding preparations and hospital work as best she could. Often she would come home at midnight exhausted, to be greeted by the Copy Nin reading his infamous Icha Icha. All of Hinata's girlfriends gave ample help in her dress, and the reception party. Naruto had Sasuke as his best man, and his main advisor for what to do. Sasuke didn't know how to help; he's never gotten married before!
Kakashi was juggling with his own preparations. Hard to believe that the lazy one-eyed shinobi was busy. He was both helping Naruto and preparing Sakura's birthday party. He had visited places, sent out letters, hell even got his ass off the couch and went door to door to find out who would show up. Within the second week, Sakura and Kakashi would arrive home around the same time and plonk into bed the same time without a word between the two. It was as if they were already married.
On the Friday morning, exactly one week before the big day, Kakashi spoke up. "Your birthday is in a week." He said over his morning tea. Sakura looked up from her breakfast as the event came to her finally.
"Oh yeah." She simply said. Kakashi raised an eyebrow. He leaned forward on the table.
"You're turning 18 and you've forgotten all about it?" He asked. The pink haired girl put her chopsticks down and sighed, resting the left side of her face in her left palm.
"So much work to do between the hospital and Naruto's wedding. It's too much for one kunoichi to handle!" She said the last line throwing her hands into the air. Kakashi chuckled at her behavior. He got up and put the empty dishes in the sink. The pink haired kunoichi stood up, grabbed her medical notes, and put on her sandals. "I'll see you tonight." She said quickly. A pair of muscular arms snaking around her waist halted her. "Kakashi-" she was cut off by his masked lips crashing into her soft pink ones. She half-heartedly tried to push away but his grip just became stronger. Her hands made their way around his neck, pulling him in for a deeper kiss. She parted for air. "Kakashi…I'm going to be late…"
"Just tell them you were tangled up." The Copy Nin whispered. His hot breath on her ear sent shivers down her spine, causing her breath to hitch. She groaned with pleasure and then blushed. She pushed him away gently.
"I'll see you tonight." She said quickly and vanished in a whirl of pink petals. The Copy Nin sighed and whipped out his book. Let's see if Junko and his red head companion can calm my nerves.
"And how are we today, Asuma-san?" Sakura asked her patient, without looking up from her clipboard.
"A bit beat up, but nothing major." The Third's son responded. He lit a cigarette and took a long puff. With lightning fast speed, medic nin removed the cancerous narcotic from his mouth and tossed it out the window.
"No smoking in the hospital, Asuma-san." She said, glaring over her clipboard. The Bearded shinobi chuckled and put his hand behind his head. "And you are more than just a little beat up. You have 4 fractured ribs, a 5 inch deep and 7 inch wide kunai wound, and to top it all off YOU'RE SMOKING!" Sakura said, stressing the last part. Asuma sighed.
"Guess I fought a bit too hard eh?" Sakura smiled.
"Yes you did, but there's nothing I can't fix…except for the smoking." She said, getting to work on healing his wounds. The gash slowly healed under the green chakra that came from her palms. She slowly moved her hands over his ribcage, and began to heal the fractured bones. "So what was your mission if I may ask?"
"Ah same old same old. Capture an S-class criminal in the area. We didn't get to capture him, but we left a fairly large amount of damage."
"Really? Who's the criminal?" Asuma was silent.
"I am not permitted to say." Sakura nodded.
"I understand." The chakra dissipated. "There! Good as new!" She said cheerfully. Sarutobi stood up and put a hand on Sakura's shoulder.
"Thanks! And see you at the party."
"What party?" Sakura asked puzzled. SHIT! Asuma said to himself.
"Ah…umm…the…uhh…party tonight at the pub!" He said quickly.
"Oh." Sakura responded, still puzzled. "What's the occasion?" Double Shit.
"Naruto's engagement party." He quickly lied.
"I didn't know there was a party," she said suspiciously, "Eh, might as well show up. I mean Naruto would murder me if I didn't show up. What time is it?"
"Umm…7!" He said quickly. Whew!
"Ok see you at 7!" She said cheerfully and left the room. Dammit now I have to see Naruto Asuma said to himself, lighting a cigarette and poofing out of the hospital.
Kakashi was walking down the street holding two big bags of groceries, with only his shock of silver hair visible over the bags. Though he could not see, he used his training to move around people, and step over small children. He earned many glances from the young kunoichis that walked the streets. A smile came to his face when he heard one talking about asking him out.
He sensed a presence in front of him that wouldn't move, and stopped.
"May I help you?" He asked, looking between his bags. The woman looked fairly young, yet older than Kakashi. She had beautiful blonde hair, and blue eyes that could entice any man. Her figure was perfect. Not ultra skinny like most girls, and not too chubby. Her body fit a perfect S curve and she had an elegant shade of red lipstick. Other than the lipstick she had very little make-up on to enhance her looks. Kakashi was mentally going Ga-Ga over the girl, but kept his lazy expression.
"Can you help me?" She asked in a sultry sweet voice. The Copy Nin raised an eyebrow.
"With what?" He asked. The woman blushed a bit.
"There's something wrong with my sink."
"Do I look like a plumber madam?" Kakashi asked slightly irritated at her pathetic attempts to seduce him.
"No, but you look very strong, and very kind man." She slid over to his right and rested her hand on his bicep. She looked up at him with watery eyes. "Please help me kind sir. My little brother and I have tried everything we could." Kakashi sighed.
"Alright, lead the way." He said giving in. Sakura's going to kill me if she finds out about this. The woman's tears dried instantly as she grabbed the jounin's arm and dragged him to her house which was conveniently located a few blocks away from Sakura's house. The woman led him inside. He set the bags down on the kitchen table, and looked at the sink. "That's the area of issue?" Kakashi asked. The blonde nodded.
"Yep." He sighed.
"I'll take a look." He opened up the cabinets and lied down on his back, looking up at the twist of pipes. The sharingan would save me a whole lot of trouble he thought to himself. The Copy nin lifted his hita-ate and looked into the pipes. There seemed to be a small blockage in the first bend in the pipe. So she wasn't lying Kakashi said to himself. He performed a few seals. "Water dragon jutsu!" The water in the sink formed into a dragon that plunged into the pipe and collided with the blockage causing it to break up. Kakashi came out from underneath the sink. The woman was overjoyed.
"My hero!" She squealed giving the Copy Nin a death grip hug.
"It's alright ma'am." Kakashi choked. Her hands started to make their way to his lower end. She squeezed his buttocks, causing the silver haired jounin to jump slightly. "Umm…ma'am." Kakashi pleaded.
"It's alright, my husband doesn't need to know." Her eyes went wide. Oh crap! She thought, biting her tongue.
"Husband?" Kakashi realized where this was going. His eye went wide when he saw a young blonde girl the same age as Sakura walk into the kitchen.
"MOM! What are you doing to Kakashi-sensei?" She cried. Her mother broke off and turned around, blushing.
"Umm, nothing just thanking him for fixing the sink!" She laughed nervously. "Ino don't you have to be at work?"
"I just finished my shift mom." Ino replied. Kakashi pinched his brow. What the hell is wrong with you Hatake? He asked himself.
"Kakashi?" Ino's father had walked into the kitchen hearing the commotion.
"Inoichi-san." Kakashi greeted. "Your wife had asked me to fix some blockage in your sink." Inoichi looked puzzled,
"What blockage? The sink was working fine 15 minutes ago." So that's why it gave it was so easy to get rid of. Kakashi thought to himself. They all turned to his wife, who was blushing madly.
"Umm…Thank you so much Kakashi-sama!" she said quickly pushing the Copy Nin out the door.
"Ah, my groceries." Kakashi said reaching over and grabbing his bags. Inoichi looked furious.
"Yuki!" Inoichi roared. His wife halted in her tracks. Kakashi looked to the couple then poofed out before things got ugly. Outside he sighed and shook his head.
"You crazy old fool." Kakashi said aloud.
It was 6 o'clock and Kakashi had finished all of his errands. He sighed and walked over to the couch. Nap time he said to himself. He heard the door open and shut. Sakura's home early he thought to himself. The medic nin saw her lover sleeping on the couch and decided to wake him up. She rushed over and pounced on him. His sleeping form poofed into a cushion. Sakura looked dumbfounded.
"You know it's not nice to pounce on people like that Sakura." Kakashi said lazily from behind her. She turned around and stuck her tongue out. Kakashi chuckled and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She smiled and hopped off the couch to run into her room. She stuck her head out of the door and looked Kakashi up and down.
"Are you going in that?" She asked.
"Going where?" Kakashi asked, his face blank. Sakura scoffed.
"To Naruto's engagement party! Duhh??" Kakashi was baffled.
"What engagement party?" Sakura was confused.
"Didn't Asuma tell you?" Kakashi opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a knock at the door. He went to open in and was staring into a cloud of smoke.
"Yo Kakashi." Asuma greeted.
"Hey, what's this I hear about Naruto's engagement party?"
"Yeah I was coming by to tell you about that," he said, "It's at 7 tonight. I accidentally let slip about Sakura's—Hey Sakura!" Asuma said quickly seeing the kunoichi come up from behind Kakashi.
"Hey Asuma-san. What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be heading to the party soon?"
"Actually he just came by to inv-" the trench knife user interrupted Kakashi quickly.
"To see if he was going to be on time or late Hahaha!" Asuma said with a nervous laugh. Kakashi turned to him and lifted his hita-ate without Sakura noticing. You told her about the party? He asked telepathically.
It wasn't my fault it slipped! So I had to organize this party at the pub on the spot! He said to Kakashi. The Copy nin sighed and covered up his sharingan. "Yeah I'll be there on time." He told the Third's son.
"Alright see you two then!" He said. Something came to him. "Kakashi I need to talk to you outside for a moment." Kakashi turned and nodded to Sakura who nodded in return and went back into the house. The Copy Nin stepped out to talk to his friend.
"What's up?" Kakashi asked. Asuma took a heavy drag and let it out slowly.
"He's back." He said.
"Who's back?" Asuma looked to Kakashi.
"Orochimaru." Kakashi's eye widened.
"Can't be," he said, "Sasuke killed him."
"Evidently, what was left of him fused with his subordinate, Kabuto, and took over his body. Tsunade had sent me, Ebisu, and Ibiki to go and gather information. He ambushed us and we fought. The other two got scarred up pretty bad, but I got out with only a scratch compared to their condition." Kakashi's eye widened.
"What do you propose we do? What does Tsunade say?"
"Just keep your eyes peeled and watch your 6. If he's back, it's for one of two reasons. He wants Sasuke, or he wants Konoha destroyed. Most likely it's the latter." Asuma bid farewell and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. Behind the door Sakura was clutching her shirt, her eyes wide in fear.
Sasuke…