Author's notes: whew...sorry I'm so late for updating, I've been pretty busy lately; mostly at school. Anyway, the lateness is behind me now and I'm here with the next chapter. Hint: this chapter has to be one of my favourites, and you'll see why once you read it. So without further ado, I give you Chapter Eighteen: Things.

Ps: I don't own Naruto or any of the characters, they belong to Masashi Kishimoto. Enjoy

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THINGS

Sakura tried hard not to wake up or even open her eyes; she wanted to keep on dreaming and felt too lazy to fix the breathing problem she only just realised now. Still finding it difficult to breathe properly, Sakura opened her eyes a crack and felt the light burn her eyes. Blinking a few times to get use to the brightness, Sakura finally figured out what was preventing normal respiration.

Sighing deeply - or more trying to - Sakura felt the weight on her chest vibrate softly and create humming noises. Finally. Sakura's eyes widened as she heard a faint 'meow' coming from the buzzing object.

"Kitsune?" Sakura looked down at the brown bundle of fur and smiled.

Finally getting the blood streaming through her system properly, Sakura rubbed her eyes and sat up, cradling Kitsune in the process, "Kitsune oh my god I can't believe you're okay," she exclaimed, nuzzling the brown fox playfully and smiled widely.

"Kuro you're okay too, I'm so glad," Sakura said, pointing at the black fox sitting by the burnt out campfire and purring softly.

Sakura glanced to her left to find her silver haired friend still snoozing under the morning skies. Before long, he groaned at the lack of normal breathing he was getting when Kuro leapt onto his chest with a playful growl.

Kakashi wheezed at the sudden wake up call, "uhhoh…Kuro, you silly fox," he started, squinting his eyes and placing his hand roughly on the fox's head. Obviously, Kakashi didn't want to wake up yet. He rested his head back down with a sigh and closed his eyes, hoping to get back to sleep.

Kuro whined noisily and hopped closer to his masked face and squinted a scheming grin. Kitsune, who was being pampered by Sakura, meowed at Kuro; something neither Sakura and Kakashi would understand but Kuro would. The black fox whined back in protest and nipped at Kakashi's masked chin and pulling down the fabric.

The second Kakashi's mask dropped below his nose, Sakura's heart leapt to her throat and her eyes widened beyond belief. Immediately Kakashi heaved to the side so Sakura wouldn't see his face and shooed Kuro away for the time being, "what the hell man?" he wondered, pulling his mask back where it should be.

Sakura's face turned to an all-new shade of red at the thought of Kakashi's face actually witnessed and shook her head to rid the nasty fantasies from her mind.

Kakashi sat up, "okay, I'm awake," he sighed deeply and glanced at Sakura's priceless look of surprise. Kuro instantly made his way cheerfully to Kakashi's side and purred, nudging the Jounin's side for attention. Kakashi looked down at the smiling fox and returned the smile as a form of mockery before narrowing his eyes evilly at Kuro, "that was very cheeky Kuro, don't do it again," he stated firmly, waving an accusing finger toward the black fox.

Kuro nodded, still grinning as if he crapped himself, before trying it again, but only this time he gripped onto Kakashi's face with his small claws and meowed playfully. Kakashi freaked out at the black fuzz on his face and shrieked, "Kuro get off, get off!" he tried to pull - without hurting the fox of course - Kuro from his face without hurting himself in the process.

Sakura just sat there with a wide grin of excitement and watched the two boys rumble for the upper hand. Kuro meowed again as he reached for Kakashi's mask and finally got a hold of it. Kakashi's eyes widened and finally figured out what Kuro wanted, "Noooo!" he shouted helplessly as Kuro slowly slid down the navy blue fabric covering the lower half of the Jounin's face.

Kakashi ceased struggling with his legs and started using his hands instead (not that Kakashi used his feet for anything in particular), gripping a hold on Kuro's paw that was slowly revealing his face to Sakura, who was hiding how much she wanted to see his true identity. Sakura's wishes had actually come true when Kuro jumped away from Kakashi, forcing the older Jounin to fall back with his mask partway on his chin and lower lip.

Sakura's eyes widened more than she knew they could and felt a nosebleed coming on and cupped her mouth in total shock, "oh my god, Kakashi!" she uttered, not worried about the fact that he just hit the back of his head on the hard ground, but mainly referring to the mighty handsome face he had to show.

Kakashi opened his eyes finally and sighed in defeat, "crap…" he grunted; his movements no longer hasty or worrying, just plain bummed that he got his mask taken off by a damn fox.

"Holy crap!" Sakura was finally able to say, her jaw nearly dropping to the ground.

Kakashi glanced at the pink haired medic, who had turned a very, very dark red and huffed, "I know, my mask is gone," he said, sighing again for the nth time already and glaring in total despise at Kuro, who was just smiling happily.

Kakashi pouted, making Sakura's heart nearly skip a beat; his face was absolutely gorgeous. His facials were almost perfect; not a scar on his face, except for that vertical scar across his eye and partway down his face to about the level of his nose. Kakashi's face was flawless and Sakura couldn't deny that.

With her blush slowly fading, Sakura gulped deeply to push the lump down her throat and ease the adrenaline in her system, "well I guess I'm not the only one who doesn't like that mask," she sighed slowly, blushing faintly as Kakashi raised an eyebrow at her statement.

"You didn't like the mask?" Kakashi wondered, a little puzzled over everything at the moment.

"Well duhh, why would you hide a face like that if it's drop-dead gorgeo-" Sakura stopped, and covered her mouth at the words that she had let slip a little too fast. She felt her face burn up again as Kakashi raised an eyebrow in suspicion, though he himself was trying to avoid the humiliation that happened only seconds ago.

Kuro sat there, staring at Kakashi's face with a bright smile. Kakashi narrowed his eyes at the black fox, trying to send him a death glare, which in fact didn't work because Kuro was enjoying the moment too much.

"What I meant was…um…" Sakura trailed off, though not keeping her prying eyes from Kakashi's face.

Kakashi waited patiently as he felt the discomfort sink in, "well…?" he said, crossing his arms across his chest.

Sakura raised a hand in apology and cleared her throat inwardly, "well of course I don't like the mask; it's like I'm not talking to you but that I'm only talking to the mask you wear, and I find that kind of rude," she blushed silently as Kakashi raised a suspicious eyebrow.

Of all the identities Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had thought of, it was none of the sort. In fact, Kakashi's face was something Sakura had never seen before in her entire life. His face was narrow. Slightly pale, but narrow. His nose was completely straight with not a scratch on it. And his lips. Sakura certainly couldn't ignore those. There was just something about Kakashi's lips that made Sakura want to…

'Kiss them?' she said inwardly.

Tempting. Yes, Sakura was tempted to do whatever her mind had screamed out at this point and would die to…NO! Absolutely not! Sakura couldn't. She had to admit that Kakashi was definitely hot, but would never admit it to anyone but herself.

"Drop-dead gorgeous, huh?" Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Eh?" Sakura had to recap on what she had 'accidentally' spat out to him earlier and blushed faintly.

"No!" she protested.

Kakashi chuckled at Sakura's embarrassment, obviously knowing she was lying, but decided to play along, "so you think I'm ugly?" Kakashi pulled the saddest face ever with the pouting lip, making Sakura frown.

"No, I didn't say that you were ugly," she said with a frown and finally looked away.

The silver haired Jounin furrowed his eyebrows, pretending to be really disappointed with Sakura, "then what is it then?" he asked, lying back purposely to annoy the medic. Again, Sakura's face turned redder at the question as well as what Kakashi was doing.

She hesitated for a moment, wondering what to say when, "okay, okay, I admit it," Kakashi rested on his elbows as he leaned back, waiting patiently for Sakura's final answer.

With a sigh and face turning a new shade of red, Sakura said, "I'm being absolutely honest with you by saying that…I think…that you're one of the most attractive guys I have ever met…" there, she said it; her inner most thoughts had just been spilled.

Kakashi choked. He could've sworn he misheard Sakura, but something like that coming from his former student was so surreal; it must've been his imagination playing up again.

"Uhh, come again?" he wondered, leaning forward to make sure he'd hear the medic this time.

Sakura's face turned beet red; she was hoping Kakashi wouldn't ask anything further, especially after what she had just confessed to him. Swallowing deeply, Sakura took a short breath to repeat herself, "I think that you're an attractive guy…" her face turned a darker shade of red and wished the ground would swallow her whole and end her life on the spot.

Kakashi's imagination wasn't playing tricks at all, Sakura really said those words about him and was being completely honest with him. Sakura felt a sweat drop trickle down the side of her face and tried hard to keep a straight and calm face, but her blush just wouldn't go away.

"Really?" Kakashi asked with a slight tease in his voice.

Sakura nodded with her eyes closed and bit her bottom lip, hoping Kakashi would stop right at that point of the conversation and move on. But alas, Kakashi wasn't done quite yet, "well…this is awkward," he muttered. Sakura looked up; not exactly what she had thought he would've said nonetheless.

Sakura didn't reply. Instead she tossed the sleeping bag aside to stretch out her legs from her sitting position, though she couldn't help but watch Kakashi's expression change so obviously, now that he wasn't wearing his mask anymore. It felt somewhat new to Sakura that Kakashi didn't have the blasted thing covering his face all the time; maybe now Kakashi would leave it down.

Kakashi rubbed his face stressfully, feeling stupid that he had practically let Kuro pull the mask down. The older Jounin wasn't actually used to his bare face himself; he basically felt a bit naked without his mask on and tucked his fingers under the dark navy blue fabric that was scrunched around his neck. He stretched it out a bit before sliding it over his face with a sigh.

Sakura rubbed her arms, noticing that Kakashi had just replaced the mask. She couldn't quite figure it out, but she felt slightly disappointed that Kakashi had covered his face again. Knowing that she had said enough already to last a good few days or perhaps the rest of the mission, Sakura chose not to ask anything about his personal life such as his mask.

Other than the early morning show of awkwardness and humiliation, the day cruised by; Kakashi and Sakura had Kuro and Kitsune on their shoulders and made their way further up the sloping path.

Soon, the trees had almost completely cleared on their right side, with only a few patches on the left. The clearing and the sloping path led up to a cliffy area, where the road followed the direction of the hills flowing alongside the rows of trees.

Kakashi was silent as usual, reading his precious Icha Icha book as they walked. He made a sidelong glance to his former student and noticed she too was very quiet, 'must've been something about what happened this morning,' he thought, pondering a little over what Sakura must've thought about his face. Heck, Kakashi should've known what Sakura was thinking because she practically shouted it out to him, saying it at least three times over. This truly was the most awkward day the silver haired man had ever experienced thus far.

The two Jounins stopped at the peak of the road where it exposed the land ahead. Sakura gleamed at the view with a small smile whilst keeping Kitsune on her shoulder.

Kakashi finally got his eyes peeled from his little orange book to set his sights on the landscape before him, "wow…" he said in a blank tone and returned his eyes to his book. Sakura looked over her shoulder to find Kakashi's nose buried in his orange covered literature, "is the plot that good?" Sakura wondered, raising eyebrows at the older Jounin.

"No, it wasn't that," Kakashi replied, "you caught me on a wrong time after taking a look at the view in front of us; it's quite spectacular really,"

Sakura rolled her eyes and placed her hands on her hips, "you can't look ten seconds at something nice without looking back at your reading material," she started, trying to get Kakashi to take the challenge.

His lone visible eye perked up from the text and sent Sakura the message 'you're on!' but he merely stuck with, "oh?"

Sakura crossed her arms across her chest and said, "Yeah, your weaknesses are those Icha Icha books you read on a daily basis. You wouldn't last five seconds without them," Kakashi raised an eyebrow and lowered the novel.

"And I bet that you wouldn't last five minutes reading this book without falling to bits," Kakashi proposed, returning his gaze to the writing in his hand.

Sakura walked over to the Copy Ninja and placed a finger on top of said book, lowering it, "is that a challenge I hear?" she asked, glaring mischievously at the Jounin with a slight grin creeping on her face. Kakashi grinned back with a single chuckle, "I believe it is. You read Icha Icha, and see how long you can last," he shut the book, avoiding the catch of Sakura's finger inside and tucked it away neatly in his back pouch.

Sakura narrowed her eyes with a light humming sound before saying, "what's the catch?" Kakashi looked up as if deep in thought and glanced back at her with a grin, "okay, if you can read the whole book - doesn't matter how long it takes - you're a bloody legend. If you can read at least the first half of the book without it messing up your little mind, I'll do whatever you want me to do for a whole day," he explained.

Sakura gaped for a moment, "and if I don't get that far or get my mind physically corrupted?" she waited for Kakashi's punishment when he finally stared into her emerald green eyes.

With an obvious grin behind Kakashi's mask, Sakura wasn't going to like what she was about to hear, "you have to do whatever I please for a whole day when we reach the next village," he exclaimed, patting his former student on the head before ruffling up her pink hair childishly.

Sakura stared at him mouth agape, swiped the man's hand from her head, and grinned. She looked off to look at Kitsune, who only shrugged. Another moment of silence and Kakashi pulled out the first volume of Icha Icha, which was the one he was reading currently. He held it up in his hand in front of Sakura and waited, expecting her to decline the offer.

Another minute or so, Sakura finally complied, "you're on!" she snatched the book from the silver haired Jounin's hand with a grin, but before she could run off and start the bet, Kakashi grabbed her arm not so subtly, "if you damage my book, I will decide on a better punishment than being my slave," he warned.

"Fine, don't worry, I'll take care of it,"

It didn't quite occur to Kakashi until now that it almost sounded like Sakura was eager to read his pornography filled novels. It must've been because of such a decent reward from doing so. Kakashi watched as Sakura hesitantly stared at the orange book, wondering when she'd start reading it.

Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he resumed walking, looking back to find Sakura looking rather confused. He chuckled inwardly, knowing she was determined to win the bet; there was absolutely no way Sakura was going to be Kakashi's maid for an entire day, hell no.

As the day progressed, Sakura stared only at the cover of the book she borrowed, 'just go for it Sakura! Read it and beat Kakashi at his own game!' Inner Sakura whooped, punching the air violently.

Sakura looked up from the cover to find Kakashi staring at the view on his right with his hands in his pockets. To Kakashi, this was something he would never do again, nor would he ever tell anyone he let his former student read those erotic books. But he had to be honest about it, Sakura was no longer a little kid, but a woman; she was now allowed to read those restricting books if she wanted to, but even Kakashi knew she wasn't perverted enough to even touch those things.

Sakura thought about it for a moment and finally opened the book. The inside cover had the title written again along with the author's autograph inside; she should've known Kakashi would've wanted Jiraiya's signature for the books he so happened to depend his life on to create.

Sighing audibly to herself in pity, Sakura turned the page to start her torture of reading Kakashi's favourite reading material. The first page introduced the main character Junko in the story, where it started off when the man was hitting on a nurse. Later in the story, Sakura realised the many illustrations of near naked seductresses posing in every picture. Sakura tried her best not to notice them before a rather interested Jounin slowed down to walk alongside her, "enjoying the illustrations?" he asked teasingly.

"Shut up! You aren't helping in any way," Sakura said, raising a hand in front of the Copy Nin to silence him. Kakashi merely chuckled at Sakura's irritation towards him and sighed.

The two walked down the path where they were getting closer to the view they saw earlier on the cliff. Sakura now had her nose buried in the book; the plot was thickening and actually getting better, but she'd never admit that to Kakashi of course. Sakura was often blushing when she came to a sexual part of the chapter or when Kakashi just grinned at her whenever she looked up at him.

When they finally made it to a small area of trees and the sun was beginning to set, Kakashi and Sakura decided to make camp. Putting the book away for the time being, Sakura couldn't help but look at it while she was dumping a small pile of firewood on the ground; she wanted to read more, even though it was filled with porn, Sakura still wanted to find out how it ended.

By now, the sun had long set and the fire was burning bright. Kakashi had his own Icha Icha novel to read, Icha Icha Fantasies: Junko's revenge. He flipped the pages of the light blue covered literature and glanced up to the pink haired medic, who was staring seriously at the orange novel in her hand, obviously deep in the plot.

With a chuckle, Kakashi put his book away neatly in his bag and lay down with Kuro on his stomach, "well…g'night Sakura-chan," he slurred softly and closed his eyes.

"Night," Sakura said, not looking up from the book she was now apparently into.

After another five minutes, Kakashi opened his eyes, watching Sakura secretly as she read the book, 'so this is how Sakura feels when I read Icha Icha,' he thought, looking up at the clear sky where the stars twinkled in the night with the moon casting a small amount of its light upon the clearing.

Kakashi rolls to his side and closed his eyes with a deep sigh. Sakura decides to turn in for the night and hastily puts the book away and lay down with Kitsune, already sleeping by her side.

'What is wrong with me?' she said inwardly, threading her fingers through her pink hair as she settled under the sleeping bag. Sakura tucked the book in her bag to refrain herself from reading it. The medic stared aimlessly at Kakashi's back, wondering if he was asleep or not and trying to figure out why Kakashi didn't just pull his mask back up the second Kuro jumped off him. It seemed strange to Sakura that Kakashi reacted the way he did that morning; he wasn't really bothered by the fact that his former student had finally seen his face after all these years.

Sakura mentally shook her head to rid the thoughts from her mind and urged herself to get some rest; it had been a long day and Sakura needed some sleep. Slowly, Sakura let her eyes close while still gazing sleepily at Kakashi until slumber finally took over.

Author's notes: giggles didn't expect that did you. I just had to throw something original to reveal Kakashi's face...like throwing Kuro at him I got kinda bored at the point where Sakura starts reading Kakashi's book. See why this is one of my favs? I don't know about you, but I want to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, but I know that won't happen because of my other commitments, but don't worry, I won't forget about my fans here at Fanfiction. Hope you liked this chapter as much as I did, now review please .