Catching Up - Chapter 2

Kurai-Hisaki

Happy New Years everyone! Akemashite Omedetou!

Here's to done with '08, and the start of a new beginning in '09! Have a good one!

"HURRRYY UP, KAKASHI-SENSEI!!" Naruto yelled while running down the street hoping to get to his beloved Ramen shop sooner. Sakura just rolled her eyes. Anything that involved Naruto with Ramen was fast, and Kakashi out of a mission was slow, whether he was distracted or not.

This morning had been quite unusual for Kakashi. He had returned from a mission, and for the first time in 5 years, he ran into Naruto; or rather Naruto ran into him. Literally. It wasn't like he never returned to Konoha after a mission, he took breaks every now and then, but he was never in Konoha for too long. When exhausted from a mission, he would stay for one or two days before heading off again. He didn't really know the reason why he was pushing himself to go on all these missions, but maybe staying in Konoha always brought back memories of his past that he didn't really want to be reminded of.

Running into Naruto would always follow with chaos afterwards, and this proved to be quite true this morning. Seeing his former student, that happened to be female, in a tank-top and tiny shorts, was quite a treat for Kakashi. He found that she was quite cute when embarrassed, especially when her face turned into the colour of her hair, and the reaction he would get when he pointed out something that was embarrassing to her. Therefore, he couldn't resist telling her that her shirt was backwards. Of course, he would have mentioned it sooner or later; it wasn't like he was going to let her walk out of her house with her shirt backwards.

Having her walking around half the village with her shirt backwards would probably be even more embarrassing; besides, Naruto probably wouldn't even notice to tell her.

Kakashi glanced sideways to look at Sakura. To him, she had changed quite a lot in appearance. But that was to be expected as he hasn't really seen her in a good 5 years. He noticed that she was almost a head shorter than him; the top of her head was up to his mouth. Her soft pink hair was the same as always, still short. She had no bangs, and her hair ran down the sides to frame her face.

He let his glance look down a bit. He would say that she had a nice figure, not too busty, a slim waist, and a pair of long creamy coloured legs that looked extra long because she was wearing a skirt and flip-flops. Her v-neck long sleeved shirt showed her collar bones. He noticed her frame was more on the petite side.

She looks a bit thin and fragile.

She wasn't overly thin like all the other girls, who now-a-days are dying to be a bit more like models. But he guessed this was because she had to work out to keep in top shape when she was needed to travel on missions. The Sakura he knew would fall into the general trend, just to be prettier, to fit in, to attract attention. He knew that something had changed in her when he noticed that she didn't use any make-up at all. Whether it was due to the rush this morning or not, she didn't put on any. He always thought that she didn't need it; she had long enough eyelashes that framed her eyes without mascara. Her cheeks were glowing in natural tinge of pink, and pinker when embarrassed. Her lips looked as soft as always, and he could only guess that she put on lip-balm… or something.

"Sensei?"

Damn, caught staring Hatake… way to go.

Kakashi just smiled, looked forward and continued walking like he never heard her. If he wasn't good at hiding his emotions or rather, embarassment, then Tsunade can't punch someone through five walls.

Why do they still call me sensei? I haven't been their sensei in years. Why did I look at Sakura like that... There's something different or odd about her today... Is it because she changed into someone that I haven't seen in a while, yet have known for so long? Is it the outfit she wore when she opened the door?

Kakashi kept walking deep in thought.

Aw hell, too much Icha Icha.

"Sensei!"

He heard Sakura's voice call him again, and he turned sideways to look at her; except she wasn't there.

"Sensei!! Where are you going?"

He turned backwards and found that Naruto and Sakura had already reach Ichiraku's, which was a good few meters behind him. He walked past without knowing. Sakura waved him over with an annoyed look on her face, and he walked towards her with his right hand scratching the back of his head and the other in his pocket.

With a sheepish laugh, he said "I was deep in thought… about… the purpose of life…"

Naruto just turns around in his stool to his best friend and ex-sensei, and yells, "LIAR!" to Kakashi, then turns back around to order his usual meal of 7 bowls of ramen. Sakura just looks at Kakashi with one eyebrow raised; gave him an accusing look, and with a shrug she took her seat on the right of Naruto.

Kakashi put his right hand down, took his left out of his pocket and took a seat on the left of Naruto. He wasn't too fond of sitting beside Naruto when he was shoving his face with 7 bowls of ramen, and spraying half of his meal at Kakashi's face when he was talking; but he also didn't want to give himself another excuse to look at Sakura even more and get caught again. After Kakashi and Sakura ordered, the three fell into a comfortable silence while eating their meals. A short lived silence.

Naruto spoke up first, "I know there's something important today, and I had to tell you guys about it…"

He paused, frowned a little and made a face as if he was thinking hard. Kakashi and Sakura looked over at him, waiting for his answer.

Naruto continued, "… I just can't remember what it was…"

Sakura reached over and slapped him over the head. Naruto landed face first straight into his bowl of ramen. He lifted his head, which was now covered in noodles.

He pretended to be sad, and whimpered to Sakura, "That's not nice Sakura-Chan …" He continued to sniffle, until his face suddenly brightened up and he whispered to Sakura, "Hey! This is our chance to see Kakashi-Sensei's face!" Sakura rolled her eyes, and finished her meal. Naruto turned around to Kakashi only to find that he finished his meal during all the commotion.

Naruto yelled at Kakashi while spraying his food at him, "AWWW!! I MISSED IT AGAIN!"

Kakashi just sat listening to Sakura and Naruto talk. He had to admit, it was nice to see his former students again. He missed seeing them fight. It always seems to amuse him.

"Hey! Forehead!"

Kakashi recognized this familiar face that was now jogging towards them. She was one of Asuma's previous students.

Sakura turned around to see the blue eyed blonde running towards her.

"What are you doing here stuffing yourself with ramen?! You're not going to fit in your dress if you keep stuffing yourself! Did you forget about the New Year's party tonight at the bar?"

Naruto's head snapped up and looked at the girls.

"Oh yeah!!! I remember what I was going to say now! The New Year's Countdown Party is tonight! It starts at 7! Mou… I knew I was forgetting… Something… important…"

Naruto trailed off and went back to eating his fourth bowl of ramen.

Sakura looked confused and responded, "What dress? What party…" She looked like the last thing she wanted to do was party.

Now it was Ino's turn to slap Sakura across the back of the head. Ino, brushed her bangs out of her right eye, and poked Sakura with her right hand; while her left hand remained on her hips.

"Today is New Year's Eve, have you been working so hard that you totally lost track of time? Get a social life! Why do you think you have a break today anyways? You don't usually just get a break in the middle of the week! As for the dress… I have the perfect one for you! I can't wait to let you see it and wear it! You are going to love it or totally kill me for it... but it's a chance I'm willing to take! Hurry up!"

With a squeal Ino dragged Sakura out of the shop and down the street towards her house. Sakura didn't even have a chance to protest or get any word in for that matter. With a whirlwind of dust kicked up at Kakashi and Naruto, the two girls disappeared out of sight.

Kakashi looked at the clock on the wall. It was now close to 12 pm, and the party was tonight. Naruto had said that it started at 7 pm. He wasn't planning to go, but now that he thought about it; he couldn't resist going to see how Sakura was going to walk in heels. He wasn't going to pass up another opportunity to make her embarrassed. It was kind of cute, in a Sakura way. Besides he needed to relax after a couple years of missions.

He figured he had plenty of time to go to the bookstore to pick up what he wanted this morning, go home, freshen up and catch up on his reading. He waited for Naruto to dig into his ramen again and Kakashi made his escape.

When Naruto was finally done, he looked up to see that Sakura had left, so he turned to his other side and said, "Kakashi-sense…" Naruto looked to his right, then left again. He smacked his own head on the table, and thought…

Friggin'… KAKASHI-SENSEI DITCHED ME WITH THE BILL… AGAIN!

Kakashi lounged around on his worn black leather couch, in his apartment reading his book till it was almost time to go. He already showered and got dressed hours before just so he could spend some time reading. He was dressed in a simple black long sleeved shirt, black dress pants, his usual mask, and hiate-ate to cover his Sharingan. He didn't bother to check himself in the mirror, as he didn't really care what people thought or said about him, and he headed out the door. It was now 8:30pm.

By the time Kakashi arrived at the bar, a quarter of the people were already half-drunk. He estimated that there were a little bit over hundred people in this little bar, and most of the people were in the back of the bar, where there was a dance floor. He noticed that most of the Rookie Nine, including Lee, Tenten and Neji were at the back of the bar, sitting around and just chatting over drinks. But the normal bright haired student of his was no where near them. He also noticed that the usual Uchiha was not with them either. He figured Sasuke hasn't returned from his mission yet from this morning.

Being a Shinobi was a full time job, and sometimes they don't even get Christmas off. After all, protecting civilians and country don't wait until after the Holidays are over. Kakashi was thankful to be home for the New Years; he already missed Christmas here with his friends, and hasn't visited his loved ones in a while.

Kakashi looked up to the ceiling silently, closed his eyes and blocked out the noise around him.

How are you now… Obito and Rin?

It was a little easier to think about them now without feeling depressed.

Kakashi turned to his right and walked over to a seat on one of the stools and ordered a bottle of Sake. Genma walked up to him and swung one of his arms around his shoulders.

"Well, well… if it isn't the copy ninja! So you do socialize! So what brings you here?" With a grin, Genma patted his shoulders and took a seat beside Kakashi.

"Shut up, I figured I might as well come since it is the New Year, and it's rare that I'm in town."

There is no way in hell, I'm telling Genma that part of the reason I'm here is to catch Sakura in a pretty dress and heels. I sound like a pervert even to myself.

Kakashi sighed. Just thinking about that made Kakashi's stomach feel a bit uneasy. Genma had bit of a reputation to screw anything with breasts and legs. It made him an easy going guy, and it was easy to hang around him and feel comfortable, but it also made Kakashi feel nervous thinking that there's a possibility that Genma might check out Sakura too. Maybe it was Kakashi's protectiveness of his students, maybe not. He knew that Sakura was easily hurt especially when it came to matters of love. He also knew that Sakura wouldn't be the type of person to have sex without having her emotions tied to it. He heard Genma whistle, and heard him saying,

"Damn…! She's hot!"

Normally Kakashi couldn't care less, but for some reason, tonight he turned to see what Genma was looking at. He saw the blue eyed blonde from this morning who took Sakura away; walk in with a silky and sparkly purple strapless dress that went up to her thighs, and saw a flash of pink hair hiding behind her.

Sakura…

Kakashi's eyes widen a little as Sakura made herself visible in his line of vision. She wore a simple black halter dress, which was covered in a thin layer of fine mesh that started to flare out at her hipbones and rested above her knees. Her dress slanted from her left thighs to her right knee. Her black heels were like an extension to her legs, they made her an inch or two taller than usual.

Genma made a dash through the crowds towards them instantly.

Sakura turned and met eyes to eyes with Kakashi.

Hatake! Staring… AGAIN! Damn, I haven't stared at anything for a while now. Kami… why did I have to read icha icha before coming.

Kakashi quickly averted his eyes and turned towards the bar.

Sakura politely greeted Genma, and made her way over to Kakashi, leaving Genma with Ino. Surprisingly enough, Sakura didn't question Kakashi about him staring, and she also didn't trip and stumble in the process of walking over to him in her two inch heels.

She smiled at him, and asked, "Is this seat taken?"

Kakashi simply shook his head, and turned back to his own drink.

Her smile is a little bit off tonight, compared to this morning, doesn't seem too genuine… wonder what happened… It's weird she didn't go straight to the back of the bar with Naruto and the rest of her friends.

He glanced at Sakura once again, and noticed that she wore a little bit of Mascara tonight. Her cheeks sparkled a little bit, and her lips were coated with a thin layer of light pink lip-gloss. Kakashi quickly looked back to his drink to avoid the same awkward situation as before.

New Years must be a special occasion to her. She's pretty graceful tonight, doesn't seem like Sakura at all.

Graceful would have been one of the last words that Kakashi would use to describe Sakura, until tonight. Being caught up in his thoughts once again, he didn't look at her again until he heard her exclaim, "WHAT THE …"

Kakashi took notice that she turned wide eyed, and a blush made its way to her face. She was holding the drinks menu.

Kakashi started to wonder what was so interesting or embarrassing on the menu to make her blush like that.

"Wha-at type of dr-ink is slippery nipple, and… … Sex on the beach… Orgaaa…. Orgasm?!" Her face turned even redder as she continued to read the list of alcohol shots. "Cum…Shot? Kami… whaaat? Who drinks stuff like this?"

Kakashi didn't think her eyes could open any wider. Kakashi started to chuckle as Sakura whispered and stuttered to herself like no one else was around her.

She truly was innocent for a 20 year old.

With an overwhelmed look, Sakura looked up to the bartender and said, "umm… do you think you can give me a glass of orange juice…"

Kakashi just plain out laughed at her, and he got the reaction he was waiting for. She looked up at him through her long eyelashes; with her wide emerald eyes, and started to blush.

"Shut up… Kakashi-Sensei… you're mean!"

"First of all, I'm not mean. It's just amusing to see a 20 year old being embarrassed by those names that they give to shots. And second, can you stop calling me Sensei? I haven't been your Sensei in a good couple years, and when you and Naruto call me that, it makes me sound old."

"But Kakashi-Sensei… you ARE old…"

Kakashi just made a face.

"I'm sorry! I just had to say that to annoy you… Ka…ka…shi…" Sakura made a face as she said his name; added "Sensei" quickly, then grinned and laughed.

Just then the bartender came back with her orange juice. Sakura turned her attention back to her drink and began to sip at her orange juice.

Kakashi decided that her laugh was different too. It was not the 12 year old giggles that he once knew, it was just different. It was pleasant. Other people around them started dancing and acting like how drunken people acted; and in the meantime they sat in a comfortable silence while sipping at their drinks.

She has a far away look in her eyes...

But Kakashi wasn't one to ask people about their personal lives, especially when he didn't want other people in his.

They stopped drinking and looked around when they heard the crowd yell, "COUNTDOWN!"

As the people in the bar started the count down, people started to be rowdier. The noise level rose and everyone stood up to count. Kakashi remained seated on his stool to watch the other people countdown. He was never much of a partier, but tonight had been different. He didn't want to party, yet he didn't want to sit at home alone. So he chose to sit where the crowd was. After all, it was New Years Eve.

"10! 9! 8! …"

Kakashi turned towards Sakura to see what she was doing, only to notice that she wasn't sitting where she was before. He looked around and saw that she was nowhere to be found.

"7! 6! 5! …"

Kakashi stood up and wondered where she could have gone.

Was there someone special she wanted to be with at the start of the New Year?

"4! 3! 2! …"

Then something caught Kakashi's attention as he noticed the same flash of pink hair that had caught his eye earlier in the night, now walking towards the exit of the bar.

"1! …"

Kakashi made a step towards the door.

"HAPPY NEW YEARS!!!"

With a blink of an eye, Sakura was gone.

I finished this at a sleepover party when everyone was sleeping *haha*. It is now 6am in the morning. The names of the alcohol shots are actually real. I read it on some menu when I was eating with a bunch of friends back in school. It was amusing, so I just had to put it in here.

And sorry for making Naruto slower than normal, I just find him cuter that way. He's like comedy relief! =] *haha*

Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! I tried to make it a bit longer. =]

Thanks to those people who reviewed! I appreciate and love you guys for it!