"Do you really love me?" she asked, as the strap of her dress fell another inch.
"Of course I do," he replied, hands cupping her elbows with an intensity that made her tingle all over.
"How much do you love me?" her breathless voice filled his head with white noise, and his vision blurred momentarily, until the only colour he could see was the red of her gown.
"Let me show you…"
Sakura slammed the book down with a thump on her kitchen table. God only knew why she had started reading it in the first place. In many ways Kakashi's Icha Icha books had become as great a curiosity as the face beneath his mask. When they trained in the early days of Team Seven, she had always wondered what was so great about the novels that he paid more attention to them than his teammates. Now having read almost half of one, she had to agree they were pretty good- perhaps not the epic literature the silver-haired jounin made them out to be, but they were funny in parts. The plot was better than she expected too, though she always put it down before things got too risqué.
Cheeks slightly pinker than usual, she tucked the book into her own pouch and headed out the door. Sakura had been summoned to the Hokage's office for a mission, which meant that Kakashi would undoubtedly be there too. She had spent all of last night paranoid that the man would break into her house or something equally extreme in order to get the book back. She planned to give it back straight after the de-briefing; otherwise the mission would no doubt be far more trouble than it was worth.
Tsunade regarded her from over the top of one of the endless pieces of paperwork needing to be signed. "Sakura-chan. Now that you're here, we can begin."
The pink-haired girl realized that for the first time, she was the last to arrive. Technically she wasn't late, but her ex-sensei, who usually set the benchmark for lateness, was freakishly early. She was almost afraid to meet his eye, especially since he seemed to be almost too happy to see her. She ignored his sinisterly-friendly wave, moving to stand on the other side of the room near Naruto.
"It seems there's been some trouble in the Crane Country. People have been disappearing without a trace, from local children to the few leaf-nin that were stationed there at the time. The townspeople are beginning to suspect that those men may be responsible, either for drawing the attention of a formidable enemy, or-"
"-committing the crimes themselves," Sai finished for her.
"Exactly. Hence you must tread carefully. The Crane's feudal lord is the one that hired us, and he is one of the only people who do not suspect the Hidden Leaf of foul play. He is very generously offering us the chance to clear our reputation and retrieve our men, but to do so as Konoha shinobi would be… unwise."
"So we're going incognito?" Sakura asked.
"In-cog-nee-toh?" Naruto looked confused. "That sounds dirty, Sakura-chan."
"Idiot! It means 'undercover'," she told him as she cuffed him around the ears. "We're going to have to leave our Konoha forehead protectors behind."
"I'm afraid so. Unfortunately Kakashi, your team has developed something of a reputation beyond our own village, so it will be difficult to hide your identities. But due to the sensitive information our missing nin hold, this is an A-rank mission and you are the best team we have available at the moment. Naruto and Kakashi, you will just have to get creative about changing your appearance."
Sakura blinked quickly to smooth the disappointment off her face. Of course it was just Kakashi and Naruto with the reputations. She was only the Hokage's apprentice after all…
You will be posing as civilian travelers at first, to try to get the locals to open up to you. Knowledge is power, so try not to blow this cover until you have enough information about what you're facing. Here is your scroll. You leave as soon as possible. Is there anything else?"
"Just one thing, Hokage-sama," Kakashi said cheerfully as he turned to Sakura. "I lent Sakura a book yesterday that I'd like back."
Sakura wished she could have sunk into the floor. Kakashi held out his hand expectantly, and she knew she'd have to hand it over in front of everyone. What would Tsunade think? At the moment the Hokage seemed annoyed that Kakashi was wasting her time doing this in her office, but if Sakura stalled any more, annoyance could quickly turn to something more dangerous.
"This could've waited, Kakashi," she scowled as she unbuckled her pouch and grabbed the stupid book. Cheeks burning, she shoved it into Kakashi's hand with a look that expressed her thoughts without needing to use offensive language in front of the Hokage.
"Thank you, Sakura-chan," he eye-crinkled as he tucked the orange book into his own pocket. He knew his own reputation would be slightly marred by his seeming to lend porn novels to women half his age, but the fact that he had been reading said novels in public for the past few years suggested he didn't really care about appearances anyway. But he knew Sakura did, and that she shame of seeming like a pervert in front of her shishou would teach her a valuable lesson about underestimation. She wanted to be treated like an equal…
Naruto was actually wise enough not to say anything, though he did look like he was trying hard to stifle a laugh as they all left Tsunade's office and went their separate ways. He wondered if Kakashi had planted it on her to break the uneasiness within the group. He also wondered if this would have repercussions on their mission, but he knew Sakura and Kakashi were far too mature to let that happen…
They were to assemble ten minutes later outside the giant double gates of Konoha, after preparing their outfits and packs and making sure their houses wouldn't fall into ruin in their absence. Though Sakura didn't really need to change her appearance as much as the others, she still thought her outfit was too… ninja to be appropriate for the mission. The first thing to go was her beloved medic skirt, which was replaced with a pair of tan Bermuda shorts that would serve her well in the marshlands of the Crane Country. Instead of her favourite red shirt, she wore a long-sleeved green one that did not bear the Haruno clan insignia. She had seen travelers wearing ones just like it before, and it would help protect her arms against bug bites. The hardest bit was removing her forehead protector and leaving it in the drawer beside her bed. She decided to wear her hair up in a short ponytail so that the change wouldn't feel so obvious to her.
Before she left her apartment, she opened and closed the blinds twice in quick succession. It was a signal for her new neighbour that her team was about to leave on a mission if she wanted to say goodbye to everyone. Sakura knew she'd probably see her at the gate.
"You're late again, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, grinning.
"Idiot! I'm not late, Kakashi's still- Oh my god what happened to your face?" Sakura's mouth opened in horror at the deep black scars that marked the blond's face. Not the ones that had always been there, but the new ones that slashed through them vertically right down to his right jaw and criss-crossed on his chin. He even had an Iruka-type scar across the bridge of his nose. In short, he looked terrible.
"Don't I look great? Sai did it for me," Naruto declared proudly. Sakura looked to Sai for a sensible reason why he would willingly slice his teammate's face.
"It's fake," he told her simply. Sakura's heartbeat slowed but her confusion remained. "Naruto's original scar things on his cheeks are apparently rather recognizable, so we thought it would be easier to add more over them rather than try to make them go away." Sai gave one of his rare smiles of true amusement. "Thank you for proving how convincing it is, Sakura-san."
Sakura was about to retort when a voice behind her shouted "Wait!" They turned to see Hinata barreling towards them, cheeks burning and chest heaving. As she drew level she stopped to catch her breath, clutching several small parcels wrapped in a purple scarf. Once she could speak again, she bowed forward to the other ninja, extending the gift.
"I was so worried I wouldn't catch you in time, she told them, sneaking a furtive glance at Naruto's shocking new scars.
"They're fake," he explained, grinning and accepting her present.
"Oh, I know. I checked them with my byakugan as I was running. Um, those are sweet biscuits I just finished making. I thought you might like them for your trip." Her cheeks still burned scarlet in the jinchuuriki's presence, but she was getting better at making audible conversation with him.
"I'm sure they're very good, Hinata-san," Kakashi said politely as he poofed into existence before them, "But I'm afraid Naruto's not going to be able to enjoy them if he's executed for being a Konoha citizen." The others stared at his bizarre statement. He sighed and looked pointedly at Naruto's forehead- where his forehead protector still remained.
Naruto's face fell. "Oops, I knew I forgot something…" he untied the symbol of patriotism with due reverence, folding the fabric carefully. "Just give me one second to run home and I'll put it-"
"We don't have time, Naruto. Just give it to Hinata-san; she'll look after it," Kakashi cut him off, turning and heading out.
Naruto dropped the hitai-ate into Hinata's trembling hand, giving her a grateful look. "Thanks, Hinata-chan. I'll take you out for ramen or something when I get back." Missing her paralysed expression, the boy clapped Sai on the shoulder and sprinted of after Kakashi.
Sakura watched him go with amusement, before turning to the frozen girl with a smirk.
"You got my message then?"
"Ye-yes," she stammered, staring at the strip of black fabric in awe.
"Be sure and look after that. It's important to him; he wouldn't have left it with just anyone, you know."
As the girls went their separate ways, Sakura wished Naruto too could have glimpsed Hinata's suddenly radiant, hopeful smile.
Perhaps then he would get a clue.
AN: SORRY IT HASN'T GOT MUCH OF OUR MAIN CHARACTERS IN IT. THINGS GET INTERESTING IN THE NEXT CHAPTER ;)