AN: the never ending chapter…
Arigato for 150+ reviews. The lucky winner was… OneRogueAngel, who only read the series the other night. What are the chances? Anyways, there will be a thank you note on my website, and once again I thank all of you who contributed to the staggering 158 reviews "Unmasked" alone is currently sporting. That's 297 across the entire MIA series.
I know it's not much compared to other stories, but hey, it's a huge improvement seen as "Missing in Action" only has 19 reviews individually.
2447 words in this chapter
Unmasked
Chapter 20- Ring
Kakashi woke to feel the brush of soft skin and cold metal against his naked torso and smiled to himself.
Opening his eyes just enough, he saw delicate fingers resting comfortably on his chest and sighed in bliss at the sight of that ring still adorning them.
His gaze drifted affectionately down her arm to see her nestled into his side, hair mussed and face flushed, breathing lightly.
If it wasn't for the almost unnoticeable stroking movements of her hands as she held him close, he might have believed that she was still asleep, the look of pure serenity on her features hypnotizing him so much he was reluctant to ruin the moment. I could watch her like this forever, it's incredible to think that she is mine…
A quick glance at the clock he always claimed not to own convinced him otherwise though and he ran a hand gently through her hair as he called to her in nothing more than a whisper. "Sakura…"
"Hmm…" she turned her head to look up at him and stopped moving her hands.
He couldn't help himself as he lowered his head to give her a soft kiss on the lips. She smiled into it and lifted her hands up to his collarbone as she pulled herself up closer, then returned the kiss more passionately.
He stared up at her with misty eyes as she withdrew but leant up on his chest to be face to face with him, their bare legs tangled together.
"Sakura, I think you overslept." He pointed out quietly.
She smiled sweetly "Can you blame me? You are exhausting"
"No, I mean it, what time was your presentation supposed to start?"
"Eleven O'clock I think." She yawned carelessly, not seeing what he was trying to tell her "They put it near the end of the night so if no-one was interested they could just go home. Why, what time is it now?"
"Half past"
Her eyes went wide and she sat up rigidly "Kuso. We were here for three hours?"
She leapt up off the bed in a panic and started looking around for her clothes.
Kakashi sat up reluctantly with a sigh. "They won't mind, I'm sure"
She turned to glare at him while she slipped her underwear back on "This can't just be shrugged off Kakashi; it's the biggest thing in my career in years. I can't be late"
"You are already late. Most people there are only here for the party anyway" He smiled at her ruffled actions.
"But some of them aren't. Some of them could earn Konoha a lot of money. Give me a hand?" she had slipped her dress back on but was having trouble with the fastenings at the back again.
He quickly pulled his trousers on and threw his shirt over his shoulders before heading over to help with her dress. "Fine"
"You don't have to come aswell." She told him with a guilty expression "I'll be back"
"I wouldn't be a very supportive husband if I didn't, would I? Not to mention that you need to reserve your chakra, so it'll be simpler if I take you there."
She held his hands as they finished tying up the laces at the back and brought them to her front in a hug "Husband?"
"Gomen, fiancé" he corrected himself
"Hurry up if you're coming then" she smirked, letting go of him and picking up her shoes.
He put on his own shoes and she helped him to fasten his shirt.
"What about your tie?" she asked him as he prepared to transport them back towards the hall, grabbing his jacket as he went.
"Leave it, no one will mind."
Sakura stumbled into the hall trying to get one of her stiletto heels back onto her foot and froze at the sight of her presentation.
It was her presentation, but she wasn't up there. Even more surprisingly, the audience seemed to be following what was being said.
She crept up to the edge of the platform and almost laughed when she saw Hoshi talking freely about her latest research.
The 17 year old caught her eye and grinned before turning back to the gathering of Suna officials. "That's just a few of the basics about these treatments. I'm sure the medic in charge of their development can tell you much more. Arigato."
She stepped down and signaled for Sakura to take the stand.
Sakura finished slipping her shoes on and straightened her dress before walking up to greet them confidently. "Konbanwa, my name is Haruno Sakura; I was, as Hoshi said, in charge of researching these remedies with the help of the Yamanaka flower business. The basis when I started was the theory that years before our culture developed drugs and chakra use, natural remedies were in use that could be applied by anyone, not just trained medical staff. These methods did not have the risk of chakra exhaustion or severe side effects, but were often more accurate in curing minor injuries and illness.
"Of course, these methods are virtually useless for any more harmful injuries, but I have noticed an increasing frequency of injuries from the field that, although they may have started out as something harmless like a cut, over the time taken to travel back from a mission, they have become infected and much more difficult to treat. This can simply be remedied if every ninja team is issued with a kit of natural remedies like these to treat minor wounds and illnesses. It can also benefit our medic shortage, as if a team are unable to include a medic, some injuries at least will not go untreated.
"The uses are not limited to healing and medical demands either. Some techniques have been developed by myself and my team to use certain herbs and natural ingredients for interrogation, poisons, and a number of other purposes that can enable their use as weapons in the field and back in our villages. The fact that no chakra is needed can help to conceal the identity of an attacker, and the use of such traditional methods will be un-suspected by enemies.
"I can see that Hoshi has already given a demonstration on how easy it is to apply these methods, and she is not a trained medic, so you can see how simple it would be for ninja to learn the techniques needed. Any additional information is laid out in the handouts, including the pricing for the techniques and if you want to ask any more questions, feel free to ask me personally anytime and I'll be happy to answer for you."
She stepped down from the stand and went to address Hoshi as people started to get up and move around, talking to each other. "You have no idea how thankful I am Hoshi. I'm so glad I hired you."
"That's no problem, I told you how much I idolize you; it was an honor to demonstrate in your place. When she saw you were going to be late, Yamanaka-san came and asked me to take over, seen as I already have most of your research memorized."
Sakura smiled at her "It's good to know someone supports me"
"No one has seen you since much earlier. Where did you go?"
"That's private information Hoshi." She held her hands up defensively
Hoshi gasped and whispered harshly "You aren't going to marry Kiba Inuzuka, are you?"
Sakura stopped and gave her a confused glare. "What… No. Where did you get that from?"
"Gomen… You are dating him, right? You have an engagement ring on your finger… I guess I just jumped to conclusions."
Sakura just looked down at her hand and blushed, realizing suddenly just how attention grabbing it was. This must have cost twice what that clip did… it's beautiful… "No, this is… just a gift from someone."
A man from the Suna party walked up beside them "Ano, Haruno-san?"
She turned hastily to face him while discretely removing the ring and holding it tight in one hand. "Hai, how can I help you?"
Kakashi strolled in a few minutes later and allowed himself no more than a glance at Sakura, just to figure out how secretive she was being before he wandered over to greet Anko and Genma.
At the signal of the engagement ring disappearing from his fiancée's finger, he knew that she wasn't ready to tell anyone yet, so kept his mouth shut. "Yo"
"Hey Kakashi, did you see Sakura's presentation?" Anko asked innocently
"Hai, I watched from the doorway. I'd just been out for a walk."
"We've been hearing some rumors." Genma smirked untactfully.
He frowned "What rumors?"
"Apparently, after you danced with her, the two of you left the building. No one had seen either of you since. Care to explain?"
"What's to explain? We went for a walk."
"For three hours?" Anko smiled doubtingly
"No"
"Fou might want to explain why half of your clothes are missing too" Anko grinned "Not that I'm complaining, but it is a formal event"
"It's too hot in here, the tie was restricting"
"I'm sure it's smoking hot, what with you getting to have your hands all over our cherry blossom out there" Genma glared at him
"I see I'm not going to have a reasonable conversation here, I'll just leave" he turned around and began to walk off before he was stopped as he walked towards the exit by Naruto.
The blonde glared at him with his arms crossed over his chest. "Kaka-sensei"
"Naruto" he nodded politely in greeting and tried to get passed.
Naruto stopped him with sharp eyes "What did you do to Sakura?"
He looked at him in confusion "Nani?"
"I promised her I wouldn't do anything that last time but I said that if I ever caught you touching her like that again, I'd come after you"
"Like what?"
"Like when you kissed her like that in the hospital. Everyone knows you're a pervert, so you better not have done anything perverted to her or I'll swear I'll…" he stood menacingly close.
"I haven't, I promise." Kakashi held up a commanding hand "I would never do anything to Sakura that she hadn't asked for. If you ever find out that I have, I'll give you permission to hit me as hard as you like"
"That'll be now then" Naruto snarled
"Naruto, I haven't…"
"You have though. Kiba said he saw you in the park, and Tenten knows you were there last week doing…" he pulled a disgusted face "I can't even say it. Who knows what else you've been doing to her, then you go and dance with her here. I won't ever believe that Sakura wanted you to do that, ever."
"Naruto, I haven't done anything to her. If you don't believe me then fine, ask her yourself."
"But they saw you" he complained, refusing to believe him
"Don't be such a whiney brat Naruto" he snapped, leaning closer and whispering harshly "you aren't the only one who's ever been in love with her"
Naruto's eyes went wide at the sudden outburst "I… I don't believe you"
"And I never believed you would be named as the next Hokage. Strange how some things turn out, isn't it?" he pushed passed him and kept walking until he was back in the hallway.
This is getting to be more trouble than we expected. I hope Sakura tells him soon, or he will take it disastrously. It is interesting though how he would rather blame me than accept that Sakura could like someone else. He really does live in a world of his own…
Deciding against leaving Sakura for good, Kakashi headed to stand just outside, where she could find him if she wanted, but he was away from anyone next in line to confront him about their relationship.
"The hairclip is gone" Ino noted as she circled Sakura suspiciously.
The second she had finished talking to officials, she had strolled back to the group, slightly fearing their questioning, but with her fiancé nowhere in sight, it was really her only option.
"Other than that though, a bit of smudged eye make-up does seem to be the only damage. You were smiling on the way in, so it can't have been too tragic."
Sakura smiled sweetly at her, knowing exactly what she was doing. After what she saw earlier, she was trying to fit pieces together and figure out what happened. "Are you finished yet Sherlock?"
"Yeah, stop poking Ino, you could always just ask" Kiba smirked at her
"Where's Naruto and Tenten?" Sakura asked, looking around the three of them.
"Tenten is with Neji and Naruto went off to kill Kakashi once he arrived." Shikamaru told her
"Kuso. Well, Kakashi can handle himself, but do you think Tenten will be alright?"
Kiba laughed "and some. Oh, wait, you missed it didn't you?"
"Missed what?"
"Neji finally cracked."
Ino joined in "Admitted being head over heels in love with her then sucked her face off for a few minutes."
"They've gone off to populate the Hyuuga clan." Kiba smirked
"Whoa" Sakura's eyes widened a little "that's quite sudden"
"So is 'serious talks' with Kakashi." Ino grinned, proud at her ability to bring a conversation back to her advantage. "Care to explain?"
"I have no idea what you are talking about" she glared at her
"Kakashi told me you were talking"
"Oh that," Sakura smiled, finding a perfect explanation. "I don't know if you noticed, but he has two working eyes now. I was just explaining to him how his Sharingan will work. It took a little while, but after a bit of practice, we got it sorted."
They all gave her a blank expression, clearly unimpressed.
Ino took a slow breath, blinking deliberately hard "Training? You go missing for three hours to keep working? Are you possibly the biggest loser on the entire planet?"
"No, that's Kakashi." Kiba pointed out "At least she's not a 34 year old virgin"
Sakura smirked internally at the irony, but couldn't help the feeling that they had figured out more than they would say. "Gomen if the alternate reality in your heads was more eventful. I really should go and stop Naruto before he does anything rash. I'm tired anyway."
"You are leaving?"
"I am. I don't need to be here any longer, so I'm just going to head home."
"Ok, um… I'll walk you out"
"Kiba, I can walk on my own" she glared at him
He smiled and reached for her hand; the one that held her ring. "I am your boyfriend remember Saku-babe, it's my duty"
AN: This was one of those chapters where I could have added another 500 words, or taken away 700, so I opted for the former. Hope it isn't too bad.
The presentation may be boring, and the Naruto stuff seems a little anti-climactic, but nevermind.
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Xx Belizma-chan xX