The Hokage kicked the door down. Kakashi actually squeaked and fled towards his bathroom. Sakura and Tsunade watched as he vanished.

"What happens now?" Sakura asked pleasantly.

"Now I chase him. Make yourself useful and burn those disgusting books of his." Tsunade shot down the small corridor after her prey. Sakura decided to just keep smiling. She made her way to his bookshelf and sat down to read the earliest edition of Icha Icha. By the second page she was already blushing. She half listened as Kakashi begged for mercy.

"But Hokage! It takes two to Tango!"

Sakura rolled her eyes in disbelief. He obviously failed to plead for his life because loud crashes ensued and she winced every time she heard him yelp.

888

"Ow, ow, ow!"

"Quit jiggling!"

"I'm not! OW!"

A small crowd gathered around them. People gazed on in confusion and amusement as a girl with cherry blossom hair plucked rather large looking thorns from various parts of the copy ninja's body.

"I can't believe you find this funny. I rather hoped you'd be on my side. Ouch!"

"Oh, come on, you've had worse than this. Don't be a baby."

"You know, the position we're in right now is like one of the scenes from my favorite Icha Icha paradise book. OUCH! Okay, I'm sorry."

"Not that I don't love it when you talk dirty, but why didn't you just send the Hokage on a wild goose chase after a copy of yourself? It would've saved you from the bush 'miraculously appeared out of thin air'."

"It did! That bush wasn't there the last time I competed against Gai. Therefore, it shouldn't have been there. And anyway, I kind of deserved being beaten up by Lady Tsunade. I shouldn't have taken advantage of you like that. Not that I don't remember half of it."

"Cut the guilt trip already. We were both to blame. And since half the village is overhearing our conversation, fancy going out on a date sometime?"

"..."

"I mean it. You, me, ramen, my treat. What do you say?"

"Really? Why?"

"Don't play dumb, Kakashi, it never suited you. We like each other, the whole village is probably aware of that by now. So what do you say?"