AN: Gomenesai for taking so long to update this. I really did have a busy week with preparations for one thing or another.

I am delighted to say, that with my exam results on Thursday, I've been in a much better mood.

In case you are interested, I got A's in Art and English, and B's in Drama and Psychology, which is far better than a lot of people I know, so YAY ME!

Tragically though, my younger sibling, who has her exam results out next Thursday, has been infected rather badly with what many call "wildcats fever" so I am having to listen to Perfume's "Complete Best" album on repeat just to keep "we're all in this together" out of my head.

It's so annoying, it's tragic. She watched the "dance along" version on Thursday and now I've got the dance moves jammed in my head too. You wouldn't think it possible, but believe me, it is.

Thankfully though, she did take a break this morning to ask me for help on a fan art cg piece. What a relief, seriously. It turned out pretty well too- it's a crossover pic of Sasuke as Hunny-sempai from Ouran host club. Sorry- "Sasu-ghey" as she calls him. Anyways, the coloring was done by me, so check it out at my deviantart account favorites (link on profile)

rambling? I'm not sure. I might be… but then I might not.

I've only got ONE comment on my website for "Trash" and it's depressing, so somebody go read it and make me smiley- please.

Getting very close to the 150 reviews mark now, so I may be sending cookies out digitally via my website to whoever finally gets me there. I have also started my own fan art for this fic, which will be appearing on the MIA section of the site as soon as I can get my barsteward of a laptop to except that Paint shop pro is not it's sworn arch-enemy.

Have I been watching too much heroes? It's likely. Have I been eating too many biscuits? Also, very likely. (For I am the biscuit queen and I have my own stashfrom all over the world. Mwah ha ha ha ha) Have I been reading too much Ouran Manga? Only if the entire series counts.

Shut up Izzi-chan. The subjects do not want to hear of your "fascinations". Hehe

Yes Sméagol….

Oh, dear, my spell check does not like me… no preciousss, it doesssn't at alll…

2441 words in this chapter

Unmasked

Chapter 18- Protected

As they stepped outside, a soft breeze caught them both, and Kakashi turned to face her again. He was fully expecting her to be angry with him, after interrupting her like that, but all he could care about right then was that he was awake, feeling fine, and was with Sakura once again.

She looked back at him with a glazed over expression, as though she didn't trust her own wide eyes.

He frowned slightly and stood back, not wanting to disturb her when she was trying to work something out. He was about to walk away and leave her, when she called out quietly, her cheeks reddening. "I have to ask, how did you know?"

"How did I know what?" he replied

"The clip, when to do it, the steps…"

"I'm not sure what you mean"

She looked up nervously, gripping hold of the edges of her dress "It's a reoccurring dream I have. I've had it for years on and off, but every detail was clear. That," she pointed to the inside of the hall "was exactly how it was in my dream"

He couldn't believe his ears. That's impossible, there's no wonder she looked unbelieving, she must think I tricked her or read her mind or something. "I didn't know a thing about a dream; I just did whatever came to me. Gomen that it had to be then"

"What, why are you sorry? What do you mean, then?" she stared blankly in confusion.

"Didn't you realize Sakura?" he smirked internally at having caused her lack of focus "Everyone was watching. That was about as public as physically possible."

Kuso" she snapped her head away as though realizing what had happened. Then her eyes changed slightly and looked around until she found him again.

"Are you alright Sakura, it wasn't that bad, was it?" he grimaced.

She smiled in an unusually meek way at him, despite her recent change of attitude "No, not at all. Was it bad for you?"

"I thought we already covered this Sakura, it doesn't bother me" What's wrong with her? Did the last week affect her so much she's a different person?

"Hmm…" she thought to herself for a while before leaning against the wall, beginning to fiddle with her dress. The second she leant her head to the wall, a metallic clang sounded from the contact and she yelped, startled.

"Careful Sakura, don't break it." He laughed softly and went behind her to check it, staying her with a hand to her hip. "It's fine."

"Huh?" her brows knitted together as he let go of her and moved to face her front again.

"Your clip? You just leant on it."

Her hand moved to the back of her hair and ran wonderingly over the hair accessory. She smiled gently and took it out, letting her hair fall over her shoulder again. Holding it out in front of her, she glanced up with a barely concealed smirk at his upset features. "I don't think I should wear this right now"

I get it… that's not Sakura. She said that stuff weeks ago… He continued to give her a straight expression"Why not? It suits you so well"

"B-but people might think it's a gift from you, that we are together"

He sighed heavily and looked away. "I should have known" so that's what she's after…

"Gomen Kakashi" she bit her lip nervously and moved to be in his sight again. Shyly, she put a gentle hand at the side of his head and pulled herself up to give him a sweet kiss on the lips, which she held for a few seconds, then blushed bright red and stood away from him.

He sighed again and looked up at the stars casually. "I don't know what you are hoping to achieve Ino, but Sakura and I were talking."

"W-what? How did you know?" she stepped back further and her eyes went wide.

"For her best friend, you really have no idea what Sakura is like. You almost fooled me with the clothes fiddling thing, but the rest was hopeless."

"That's how she is with me." She pouted, crossing her arms over her chest.

He turned to her and smirked before walking a little further from the hall, throwing over his shoulder as he went "She doesn't kiss like that"

Ino scowled; then dropped back to her own body, leaving them alone again.

Sakura jolted back into consciousness and called out to him anxiously "Kakashi?"

He didn't face her, keeping his steady pace "Come; walk with me for a bit"

"Wha-what's going on? I can't remember."

"She's gotten stronger too huh?" he breathed "Ino took over your body. You shouldn't let your guard down"

"Gomenesai, are you alright?" she squeaked and ran to catch up with him.

He looked down and realized that Sakura had removed her heels to walk on the grass in bare feet "She didn't try to kill me, she was just spying"

"Did she find out anything?"

"Probably nothing they couldn't already have guessed."

"Still, that's low of her..."

Kakashi pulled to a stop, seeing that they were out of sight from the hall where the dance was being held. "Sakura, are you going to bitch about Ino all night?"

"Gomen" she lowered her head, looking at the clip she still held in her hand. "Everything was so perfect…"

"Well… we need to talk"

AN: hehe
"That just wasn't fair." Ino continued her scowl as she crossed her own arms over her chest. "How the hell am I supposed to know how Sakura kisses?"

"Yeah, she is a little surprising when it comes to all of that" Kiba smirked "Don't let those bubblegum smiles fool you, she's not gentle. Wouldn't you agree Shika?"

Shikamaru let go of Ino and coughed politely, trying to distract from the subject. Ino glared at him with a more curious than hurt expression on her face.

Kiba continued nevertheless, "Worse than Ino at times, and that's saying something." Blushes spread over everyone's faces except for Kiba, Takahiro and Tenten. Kiba then decided he couldn't be beaten by a kunoichi. "Of course, it isn't fair to comment on a pregnant Hinata, but Ten-chan isn't spoken for, so it really isn't a fair comparison." He stepped a little closer to her, putting on his best charm voice "What do you say sweetheart?"

Her answer was cut short by a voice behind Kiba "She says that she's married."

He spun to see Neji standing with his arms crossed disapprovingly, having returned from his discussions elsewhere.

"Hehe, come on Hyuuga, it's just a bit of harmless fun." Kiba laughed nervously

"I don't appreciate you talking to her like that" Neji glared in return

"If you aren't going to let me have a go then, you could at least contribute." He smirked "What's she like?"

"Kiba," Ino warned "don't go there"

He glanced between the Hyuuga couple and noticed their pink tinged stares "Oh, don't tell me you…"

"Kiba" Ino tried again but it was hopeless

"Kami, is everyone one here a bloody virgin? I mean, seriously, Naruto, Kakashi and now you two aswell."

Naruto's eyes snapped wide as he gasped.

Ino groaned at Kiba's stupidity.

Shikamaru just mumbled a quick "Mendokuse" under his breath

Hinata started giggling quietly in to Takahiro's chest while he smiled down at her, stroking her long hair and not really paying much attention to the conversation at all.

Then Neji and Tenten exclaimed at the same time:

"Kakashi's a virgin?"

"I'm not a virgin"

Everyone turned to Neji in shock. Tenten frowned at him "Nani?"

"I just thought I should clarify. Tenten, shall we go?"

"Hai" She told him crossly and grabbed hold of his arm to drag him away from the others.

When they were out of hearing range, but not out of sight, she turned on him "You aren't?"

"Hai, but that isn't really any of your business" he glared

Her mouth hung open in disbelief as she narrowed her eyes even further "Of course it is, you are my husband. Who was she?"

"It doesn't matter"

"Yes it does. After you told me what a ridiculous notion the idea of my infidelity was, how dare you be such a hypocrite." She snapped

"Hold on…" his expression softened "you think I had an affair?"

She rolled her eyes at him "Well it was implied."

"No Tenten, I wasn't a virgin when I married you."

She froze her anger, stunned "So it was… before?"

"Hai, months before, so it had nothing to do with you. I wasn't going elsewhere and abandoning you. I think you know that I could never do that."

"But you did abandon me" she stared at his chest, not wanting to meet his eyes.

"I had to protect you from myself" he repeated

"So what happens now that you've taken down the barriers? Do I still get protected? Do I still get stuffed in a separate room, not to be seen by you for months?"

"No, your things will be moved into my room if you want. If you don't, you can keep your old room, but you will be sleeping with me from now on."

"Great, so we are back to orders"

"No, that wasn't an order, nor was it a request, it was…" he couldn't stand her looking away, so he brought her face up to his with one hand "You don't have to do anything you don't want to, you don't have to have my children, but both of us have been tragically celibate for years for ridiculous and unnecessary reasons. I fully intend to remedy that the best I can every night until you are sick of it, which hopefully won't be anytime soon." He gave her a determined smirk "Gomen if the idea scares you, but you will be sleeping with me from now on, mainly because I have no ambitions to let you out of my bed."

"Neji…" she gasped, her heart beating so fast it felt like it was going to spontaneously combust any second. She tried to get a steady breathing rate back "I'm not entirely sure… but I think I'm getting quite turned on right now."

"No time to waste then. Do you want to go…?"

"Hai Neji, I do." She said so fast he couldn't finish, and nervously grabbed for one of his hands.

Before they could continue their escape, a short man with dark hair interrupted them "Hyuuga-san, your presence is required with the Suna officials"

"I don't think now is the best time" Neji scowled back at the man.

"It's very important sir. Hiashi-sama has requested it himself"

He looked nervously back to Tenten "Still, I…"

She held a hand up to stop him "It's alright Neji, you should go"

"Huh?"

She gave him a sweet smile and a chaste kiss "We have all night. I understand"

He still seemed reluctant to go, but eventually he nodded, his eyes giving Tenten a silent promise before he disappeared with the man.

Tenten smiled to herself, and then spun around to face the others, who she found were all staring in her direction. They speedily turned to look in various random and conspicuous directions, hoping she hadn't caught them.

She didn't snap at them, but strolled over and nonchalantly asked, "What happened then Ino?"

"You're back?" Ino exclaimed with mock shock and the others turned to face her again.

Tenten smirked back at them "Hai, he had business to take care of. Answer the question"

"Well, it's safe to say they have something going on, but he wasn't too specific on the when, where and how long part."

"What did he actually say?" Takahiro prompted

"She doesn't kiss like that" Ino replied, thinking it spoke for itself.

Kiba laughed at her "That could have meant anything. We've seen them kiss before"

"You've what?" Tenten gasped with surprise

"Tenten, remember that mission…" Ino tried to explain "when you first came to us after Neji… um…"

"Hai, I remember"

"That wasn't a mission"

"You mean they were actually…?"

Ino smirked at her astonished expression "On a date, yes. We've been trying to get them together for a while."

"So… last Sunday? The grass stains…"

"Wait, Sunday?" Now it was Ino's turn to be confused.

"Hai, they were fooling around in the park" Kiba smirked

"We thought the other week, after the date, was the last of it."

Tenten started to think over the last few weeks "Kiba?"

"Hai, Tenten"

"Were you at Sakura's last Monday?"

"No, I was out with Shino"

"I think we've all been fooled. Oh, and from what I could gather, Kakashi hasn't been a virgin for more than a week."

Naruto finally joined the conversation with an angry glare "Nani?"

"Well Sakura was with someone last Monday when I got back from meeting with Neji. Whoever it was vanished pretty quickly once I got back, and when I asked Sakura, she said she was with Kiba. Come to think of it actually, she's been using Kiba as an excuse for a while."

"We were only supposed to be dating when the Suna party was here. That was the agreement" Kiba smirked at Sakura's genius

"Careless of her" Takahiro commented

"Careless of us not to notice, her plan worked remember" Shikamaru pointed out

"Was there anything else?" Hinata asked eagerly

Ino bit her lip, then remembered something "Hai, did anyone else notice something sparkling off Sakura when they were dancing?"

"Hai, all those colors, I thought it was a lighting trick"

"It was no trick. That was a half year's mission pay kind of expensive jeweled hairclip. It was so beautiful to see. And he bought it for her."

"Whoa! Kaka-sensei bought that for her?" Naruto looked disgusted at the notion

"And she wore it?" Shikamaru pointed out the more relevant point

"There's no doubt, they've been hiding things. We should go and ask Genma, see if he knows anything." Kiba suggested.

"Possibly not" Ino looked out at the open door with a thoughtful expression

He raised an eyebrow at her sudden change in attitude "Nani?"

"Well, another thing he said… He said they were 'talking'. He sounded really serious. It didn't sound like they were fooling about out there, even if there was something going on. They might be back soon and then we can ask them directly. If not, then we should respect them."

"You think they might be braking up?" Tenten questioned her

"We don't know for sure that they are even together," Shikamaru noted, understanding from his own discussions with Kakashi what his fiancée might have meant.

AN: had to make some changes here. I almost forgot Hinata and Takahiro altogether, because they weren't there when I first wrote it.

More should happen in the next chapter I hope. My website is updated now with information about it. anyone whom my minor mental attack may have effected physically (laughing so hard sides split) or mentally (sent you as loopy as I am). I was merely experiencing a moment of extreme gravity (typing upside down causes blood rushes and tendencies for fingers to hit keys before the brain begins to function).

I promise to at least attempt a sanity retention exercise before next letting my creative mind loose with air. (Blame Swedish cookies if these aims are not fulfilled. I retain the right in claiming no technical connection to my own brain).

If the last few paragraphs make no sense to you, please scroll up and read my first author note again and you'll soon realize I was actually being more sensible. That, or you are also eating biscuits upside down listening to high-pitched j-pop and should email me about starting a support group.

Oyasumi watashi no hen na tomodahi.

Stay shiny and show the luff

Xx Belizma-chan xX