AN: just a quick thank you to all of my wonderful reviewers. You really do keep me smiling. Quick run through of my most loyal that comment on virtually every chapter I write recently, if not a lot of them:

CommGonn

Boredwithlifeandlove

raineoftears

Paladin-kriss

Takara Yukiko

Hikaru Akurei

TaimaHawk12

TigerWings

Luffs ya all. Even those I haven't mentioned. The support for this is amazing. It's really giving me the confidence I need as a writer and I feel a lot more secure about my novel as a result of it.

Right then wipes tears of mirth from eyes back to the story…

1772 words in this chapter

Back to Surreality

Chapter 17- Rock

There stood Kakashi, in a loose black shirt, barely fastened only by one button at the waist, revealing a fine "V" of his well toned torso, along with loose linen trousers and sandals. He still wore his mask and hatai-ate for obvious reasons, but he had taken extra care with his hair, it not sticking up as much as it usually did.

During her gaping, it took her a while to realize that his eye too was wide in shock, staring down at her as a slight pink tinge became visible around his mask line.

She curiously followed his gaze and gasped when she remembered her own outfit, and the fact that she stood only in her black lace underwear and an unfastened silk dressing gown. She went bright red and snapped her dressing gown shut in embarrassment.

"Kuso Kakashi, you're actually on time!"

He shrugged, trying to pretend that the fact she was covered helped to keep him calm, but the knowledge of what was beneath was very dangerous, especially as the silk didn't do much to hide it. "Eight O'clock. I promised."

"Oh, um… come in for a…" she hesitated, remembering that Tenten was inside, still on a Death kick for the Male sex. She pulled him in by the hand and was about to whisper to tell him to stay quiet when said kunoichi walked into the hallway.

"Ino?" her eyes reached Kakashi, standing with his shirt mostly open, holding an even less dressed Sakura close by the hand and scowled. "What's going on here?"

Kakashi got all flustered and jumpy and let go, standing as far away from Sakura as possible.

Sakura laughed nervously. "Um… nothing really. We… we have a…"

Kakashi pondered whether she was actually going to tell the truth or not, and was about to flush even redder when an idea popped into Sakura's head.

"We have a mission. Undercover. That's where I was going tonight."

"Another one?"

Sakura nodded and flashed a glance at Kakashi to do the same.

He coughed politely and fought to regain dignity. "Oh, right, yeah."

Tenten raised an eyebrow at them. "And you have to what, pretend you are dating?"

"Hai." Sakura answered.

"If you are undercover, then why are you wearing the mask and headband Kakashi? Surely that would give you away?"

"He's going to take them off when we are there. But he doesn't want to show his face in Konoha."

"But you'll be there. Surely that'll be a breech of his conditions."

He shrugged again. "She's seen it before."

Sakura felt like banging her head against the wall. Or his.

Then, whether it was a curse or a godsend, Ino burst through the still half open door, right into the heart of the situation. "Kuso!"

"Konbanwa Ino." Kakashi waved weekly, having picked up on his own stupid mistake shortly after Sakura had.

Ino froze. "Kakashi? I thought you said you'd be here at eight."

"Hai"

"And you actually are? Are you ill?"

He crossed his arms and glared at them all. "Why is that so surprising?"

"hmm…" she ran her eyes with interest over his bare chest and then turned to Sakura with an approving wink. "Come on, we've got to get you dressed. Stay there Kakashi."

"But…" Sakura protested, not wanting to leave him alone with Tenten.

Tenten just smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'll keep him company."

"You see, he'll be fine." Ino pushed her through towards the bedroom.

Muffled voices came through to Tenten and Kakashi as they stood patiently.

"Why… you… just… fiancé… mean you… Ino-pig!"

"Jealous!"

"Did Sakura just yell Fiancé at her?" Tenten asked him.

"Hai."

"Why?" she narrowed her gaze at him.

"How should I know?" He leant back casually against the nearby wall.

"hmm…" she looked at him suspiciously.

"Why are you here Tenten? I thought the Hyuuga clan had a family meal tonight."

"They do. That's why I'm here. Keeping as far away from the cold-hearted, arrogant, inbred morons as I can without abandoning Konoha."

"Fair enough."

"No Icha Icha today pervert?"

He shrugged. "I don't need it."

"I'll bet. One whole evening of ogling Sakura for money could easily put Jiraiya out of business."

He clenched one of his fists angrily, but wary of starting a fight in Sakura's apartment, he fought to control it. "I'll let that slide seen as you're obviously pissed off about something else."

"Pissed off?!" She rounded on him, staring him straight in the face. "Pissed off?! You think you know everything, huh pervert?" she jabbed him harshly in the chest with a sharpened finger nail. "You and your gender don't deserve to know anything! You're all bastards!"

He sighed heavily. "Ah… marital difficulties. I should have guessed."

"Why you…!" she went to slap him, but the hand was caught half way from behind her.

She spun to see Sakura, now dressed in a short pleated skirt and a soft green off the shoulder top that hugged her figure beautifully.

Her hair was half fastened up with a simple silver clip and she had a barely noticeable amount of make up on.

She stared back at Tenten with an annoyed expression. "I understand Tenten, but don't take it out on others. Kakashi's done nothing wrong." She ignored Ino's sniggers coming from behind.

Tenten threw off her hand easily. "Yet! Give him time." Then she stomped into the main room again.

"Ino?" Sakura turned, as if nothing had ever happened. "You did catch Shika, right?"

"Hai. He'll be far away tonight. It's a shame. I was going to try and see how far he would let me go without actually breaking the celibacy vow."

"Too much information Ino."

"Are you ready?" Kakashi asked from the opposite wall.

She turned and smiled at him "Hai"

He smoothly stepped closer and put an arm around her waist, leaning down to kiss her lightly on the cheek through his mask and he passed her something from his other hand. He whispered affectionately against her neck. "Shall we go then?"

She nodded with a blush and Ino had just enough time to call a teasing "have fun!" before they disappeared in a flurry of leaves and cherry blossom.

Ino smirked to herself before strolling in after Tenten.

"who were you calling?" Tenten asked with interest as she sat on the sofa with her legs curled up to her chest.

"Nani?"

"when you went out, who were you calling?"

"That's nothing to do with you." Anything to keep her from joining Kiba in the brutalizing Shika club.

"Sakura yelled something about a fiancé earlier."

"So? Unless you didn't realize, Sakura is a nut job at the moment."

"what's going on Ino? Are you hiding something from everyone?"

"No…" she took a deep breath what the hell… "We went public yesterday afternoon, but everyone was in the jonin meeting so word never got out. Nothing is hidden."

"please tell me straight Ino, I really need a distraction."

"fine… Yes, I'm engaged."

Tenten's eyes brightened. "you are? Really?"

"Hai. I'm not even joking this time."

"Tell!" Tenten shrieked in a very out of character girly way.

"You aren't going to go all, "marriage is horrible, the biggest mistake ever"? I thought you hated it."

"No, I hate arranged marriages. You need to tell me everything!"

"like what."

"well... like who?"

Ino cringed in anticipation of her reaction. "Um… don't laugh."

"I promise I won't laugh."

"Shikamaru"

Tenten stopped still, trying to get her head around the concept. "Nara? Seriously? As in… Lazy ass Nara? My ANBU team captain?"

"Hai."

She tried to stop it. She held her breath, bit the insides of her cheeks, and shoved a hand over her mouth, anything she could do to contain herself.

Eventually, Ino just let out a sigh. "Go on, let it out."

And she did. Tenten laughed so hard her sides hurt. It didn't take too long before the laughter subsided, but Ino sat patiently until she had gotten down to a few light giggles.

"Good to see you got your sense of humor back." She commented bitterly.

"Arigato Ino. Oh, and Gomenesai. I just, I never thought you were interested in him."

"Well… neither did I until last week."

"A week?"

"Hai, it was a kind of anniversary today."

"Gomen. Although it does explain why he's been acting weirdly this week. So you've only been together a week and you are already engaged?"

"Hai"

"Kami that's fast." She couldn't keep the huge grin off her face.

"Hai, but you have to remember that we've known each other since I was born."

"I suppose. Have you decided when yet?"

"Next month."

"That's even more sudden."

"I know."

"I thought you of all people would want a spring wedding, because of the flowers."

She just shrugged. "Our parents thought differently."

Tenten stopped, the smile gone. "Oh… It's arranged, isn't it?"

"Technically, yes it is."

"I am so sorry Ino…"

"Don't be." She grinned.

"But… arranged marriages are horrible. I'm proof of that."

"I'm not marrying a Hyuuga." Ino reasoned.

"Hai, but…"

"It was my own choice Tenten."

"Nani?"

"We were going to be told on Monday about the marriage. The irony was that Shika proposed on Sunday. So although technically it is an arranged marriage, we had agreed before they even asked."

"Sunday?"

"Hai. The second you got back from that mission. He had wanted to propose on Saturday, but Tsunade blackmailed him, so we had to wait."

"So that would be… 3 days! You had been together for 3 days when he proposed."

"Not really. I mean, literally, yes. But figuratively he decided to do it on Friday from what he told me, so it was only one day, if not less."

"I am turning green right now. Did he get you an engagement ring?"

"He's lazy, not an idiot." She held up the chain around her neck, bringing the ring out from under her top to show her. The diamond in the center sparkled with the light, set elegantly in a platinum band. Shikamaru had not held back when choosing the ring for Ino. She held it around her neck rather than on her hand because the longer she wore it, the more paranoid she got of losing it.

"Aww…" Tenten pulled a childish face. "I want an ANBU boy!"

"You have one." Ino giggled.

"No, I have an ANBU rock. Engagement ring was another one on the "pointless" list."

"What you have to remember about rocks Tenten, is that most are subject to erosion. If there's a way to make Neji act like a civilized husband, we'll find it."

AN: whoa this really side-tracked a bit. A few people asked to bring Tenten into it, and luckily for you, I had already written this.

Yes there may well be a Neji-Tenten section coming up, but it won't be too much otherwise this could all get very confusing and complicated.

Anyway… the date probably will be the next chapter.

Then, because it is getting so long, I'm thinking of extending the story to a separate story. It's easier to manage that way. Xx

Stay shiny and show the luff

XX Belizma-chan XX