Author's notes: Sorry I haven't been on for a while, I've been a little busy with school and what not. Now, we are reaching the end of this story, and very close; I believe one or two more chapters after this and it'll be all over :S. BUT, I love this story, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who does . So yeah, this is Chapter Thirty Two, the title says it all, so enjoy and see ya on the other end ;D.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO: SOMETHING NEW TO SEE
Sakura stared at the two Jounins as they moved about in their spandex. He felt Kuro and Kitsune purr on either side and smiled at them, 'they are so cute,' she inwardly said and returned her gaze at Kakashi, who was hit in the gut for the second time already and was sent backwards.
Kakashi back flipped out of the way and landed staring at Gai while he made the preparations to attack again, 'time to get serious,' he revealed his Sharingan, even though it wouldn't make much use because Taijutsu meant only hand-to-hand combat and no thinking was really involved, so Kakashi didn't always find it useful.
But having said that, Kakashi still thought that using his Sharingan would up his spunk and get his mojo flowing. He instantly copied what Gai was about to do, but of course his body wasn't able to counter it in time and was sent in the air.
"This is getting too old Kakashi," Gai shouted as he appeared behind him in midair and grabbed his waist in preparation of a technique that would most likely knock out the Copy Nin for a while.
Kakashi smirked, "you're getting too old Gai," he spat back sarcastically and vanished, reappearing behind Gai and pushing him off with his hands. As quickly as he could, Kakashi made haste and used as much strength that he could muster and threw the green clad Jounin toward the ground.
The momentum forced Gai off guard and hit the ground in a loud crash. A little dazed, Gai got up slowly, and raised his hand, "nice one Kakashi, we'll stop here," he surrendered in honour, knowing Kakashi would've probably gone off at him again if they went on any longer.
Kakashi stood straight, lowering his guard for now and slumped forward a little, "thanks for the spar Gai-kun," he waved a hand and smiled at the other Jounin.
"Until we meet again, my Eternal Rival," Gai announced, showing off his almighty pose again before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
The Copy Nin rolled his eyes, 'I take it I get to keep the suit…oh well,' he inwardly groaned, but was taken by surprise when Sakura glomped him. With raised eyebrows, the Copy Nin chuckled a bit as he held the medic close and nuzzled her with his nose.
"Lee-san was right; the muscles are shown in detail when you wear one of those," Sakura remarked to no one in particular and buried her face in the crook of Kakashi's neck.
Kakashi chuckled again, the vibrating sound of his voice moving through Sakura while they held each other, "really?" he wondered, arching a brow and looking down at the Kunoichi, whose smile only widened, "yeah, Lee-san said that it attracts all sorts of attention," she teased, running her fingers through Kakashi's silver hair.
Kakashi hummed at that, "ooh, I think I know what sort of attention he was referring to," he replied with a wide grin and winked at her before kissing her through the mask and keeping her close as if she would fall if he let her go.
Sakura closed her eyes in the man's embrace before she was welcomed with an abrupt movement from the man holding her. She looked up, finding Kakashi holding the tiger sign with one hand and a cloud of smoke shrouded them and they appeared in front of the changing rooms where they met Gai earlier.
Without a word, Kakashi left Sakura for a minute or so and disappeared; most likely to change back into his normal attire. About five minutes and the Copy Nin showed up with a sigh and a grin, "alright lets get going," he mused, taking the medic's hand and moving off through the village.
They passed the Yamanaka flower shop and other stores until they were on the other side of Konoha, where not so many people were. On the way of course they were eyed for a bit by the village people when they noticed Kakashi holding Sakura's hand.
As they strolled through the village, they noticed now they managed to see a few new faces; not people, but in fact…foxes. Yes, there was an abundance of foxes around the village.
"Have you noticed how-"
"Foxes?"
"Yeah…"
"I've noticed."
Sakura glanced around and found Hinata smiling in joy with a fox in her arms, purring madly, "hey Hinata-san," Sakura whooped with a wave.
The timid Hyuuga looked up and smiled, "Sakura-san, Kakashi-san, it's so great to see you again," she smiled sweetly while trying to keep the fox under control in her arms.
"That's a cute fox you have there," Kakashi complimented with a small grin behind his mask.
Hinata blushed faintly, "why thank you," she replied, looking down at her fox, "her name is Kiiro; I found her shortly after hearing you two went out on your mission,"
"That's a beautiful name," said Sakura with a great smile of her pale face.
Suddenly, the Hyuuga was surprised when Kuro and Kitsune jumped up to see the newcomer and say hello, "sorry Hinata, Kuro and Kitsune are quite jumpy when meeting new people," Sakura said sincerely as she held the brown fox while Kakashi held the other.
Hinata nodded her head, "that's okay, Kiiro is quite the same at times," she said, petting the fox ever so softly.
Kiiro had the same cute expression as the other two foxes; she was completely white with orange bands going from head-to-tail and black socks like all foxes have. Her wild green eyes shone in the sunlight and her meow was high pitched. By the looks of things, it seemed as though Kuro and Kitsune knew the fox as if they've been friends since birth.
"Her name means yellow; don't ask why, but I think it's because she reminds me so much of Naruto-kun," Hinata bit back a sob and stood her ground bravely.
Sakura smiled sweetly at her and patted her shoulder, "Naruto would've loved that as a name," it sounded a little cheesy coming from Sakura, but it was all she could think of at the time of need.
Hinata smiled back in the same content way, "sorry, but I must go, Kiiro has been waiting to be fed for the past half hour, and I have to get her food quickly," she bowed quickly and walked off with a quick wave.
Kakashi peered around from Sakura at the young Hyuuga and made a small humming sound, "looks like she's made a little recovery of her own during our absence," he noticed plainly and drooped his arm around the medic's shoulders and guided her along to walk.
"So it seems," Sakura replied quietly, resting her head against Kakashi's shoulder and sighed deeply and tiredly.
Ah, good old Ichiraku's, for the last two weeks, Sakura was actually tempted to have some ramen from this place, but seen the fact that she was travelling from place to place on a daily basis for a fought night, she couldn't. There at a stool sat none other than Iruka, slouched over the bar with his bowl of ramen.
Sakura dragged Kakashi along and entered the stand, "hi Iruka-san," Sakura greeted cheerfully. The brown haired Chuunin whipped his head around was relieved to see his friends again, "ah, Sakura, Kakashi, it's great to see you again," he whooped with a quick wave and a smile.
Kakashi sat down next to Sakura, who was right next to Iruka and smiling away her joys before feeling something tug at her feet. It wasn't Kuro or Kitsune; they were sitting on their laps. Sakura glanced down at her feet to find a white figure having a nosey at her feet.
"Nose down Shiro," Iruka tapped the animal on his ears, who whined a little and lay back down.
How could Sakura and Kakashi have missed something so beautiful. It was a pure white fox, and as curious as he was, Shiro's eyes were as blue as the ocean. They gleamed when they made contact with Sakura's. She was captivated by the look in the fox's eyes, but soon returned to reality, where Iruka gazed at her with an arched eyebrow.
"Sorry, just didn't notice how beautiful that fox is," Sakura smiled and eyed the white fox as he stared back.
Iruka chuckled, "no worries, Shiro here is very curious to meet new people," he assured with a grin and returned his attention to his bowl of ramen.
Sakura noticed how Shiro was much bigger than Kitsune and Kuro, "so when did you find Shiro?" Kakashi asked, hunching over on the bar to see the Chuunin properly. Iruka scratched the bridge of his nose in thought and said, "it was that same afternoon when you left I think; he was just sitting there on the windowsill of the classroom during lunchbreak and I found him," he beamed, "and he wouldn't leave me alone so I decided to let him stay with me," the Chuunin patted the white fox at his feet, hearing his loud and steady purr.
Kakashi's eye crinkled up to a smile, and gave a quick glance at Sakura, who was yet again cuddling with Kitsune, "so how was the mission?" Iruka asked, changing the subject.
The two Jounins exchanged glances before they answered, "it was good," Sakura deadpanned, "yeah, quite interesting," Kakashi added with a sigh and cleared his throat.
"That's great to hear; nothing interesting has been happening here lately, besides Shiro showing up of course, but that's just my opinion," Iruka chuckled to himself and slurped up his ramen.
Sakura cocked her head and smiled sweetly at him, "that's nice to here, but we'd better go now; some of our friends haven't heard we returned yet," Sakura slid off her chair with Kitsune in her arms and exited the ramen stand, with Kakashi following right behind her.
"See ya," Iruka waved back with a wide grin, and Shiro just yawned loudly as his way of saying goodbye.
It was quite nice to know that no one had asked questions as to why Kakashi and Sakura are suddenly spending their whole time back together, but it was only day one back in Konoha, and anything was possible.
"Sakura-chan!" came a young voice from behind.
Sakura turned around to find a boy running to her with a smile and waving frantically; his sea blue scarf still present as well as his Konoha symbol shirt, "Konohamaru, so nice to see you," Sakura whooped, hugging the boy.
"I heard you got back from your mission and I was looking all over for you so I could talk to you about it," the short boy grinned sheepishly and was taken aback by the brown fox in the medic's arms, "wow, you have a fox too?" he yipped, staring at the cute fox, who was only staring back in puzzlement.
Sakura and Kakashi raised a brow, "you have a fox as well?" Kakashi stepped in the conversation. Konohamaru nodded his head and looked down at his feet, expecting his fox to be there, but was surprised to see nothing but the ground.
He started to get annoyed, "aargh, Kinpatsu! Not again," he stomped his foot on the ground and looked around for his fox, "sorry Sakura-san, he keeps running off when something new happens, and this time he's just doing it to annoy me," he scowled at the ground and sighed.
"I can see that," Kakashi mused, before getting a soft elbow nudge in his gut from the pink haired medic as a warning to zip it.
Kakashi scratched the back of his neck sheepishly with a chuckle and watched as young Sarutobi looked around frantically for his fox but calmed down with a cheesy grin, "I know where he is now," he reassured, leaning to one side and folding his arms over his chest.
The medic gave him a puzzled look before something furry brushed against her leg, making her jump. Checking her surroundings, both Kuro and Kitsune were in their masters' arms and couldn't have done anything like that unless they were on the ground.
With raised eyebrows, Kakashi watched as his black fox jumped down from his arms and onto the hard dusty ground. He stealthily sneaked his way playfully on the ground as if he was stalking something and then…smack! Kuro landed on something and it was wriggling to get away.
"Kinpatsu, stop harassing the black fox," Konohamaru exclaimed and approached the black fox with a disappointed and annoyed look on his face.
Right before their eyes, the thing that Kuro was somehow wrestling with in midair revealed itself to unveil a grey fox with blue eyes. It was really cute, and somehow fast too.
Kinpatsu, the adorable silvery grey fox ended up in one second by Kuro's side to Konohamaru's shoulder with a mocking grin on his face. The black fox on the ground glared wide eyed at the grey fox and meowed oddly at him. Kinpatsu merely grinned at him and started purring.
Sakura and Kakashi exchanged glances and gave the young Sarutobi a confused stare, "what, I only figured out recently that Kinpatsu could turn invisible, and he's always pulling little jokes on me and a lot of people I talk to, just to get on their angry side," he exclaimed with a mild smirk on his face.
The two Jounins blinked, before Konohamaru gave them another surprised look, "it's not so cool as Iruka-sensei's fox; he can talk," at that both Jounins' eyes went wide and jaws hung agape, "really?" Sakura asked, hoping she heard the boy correctly the first time.
"Yeah, not only that, but Shiro-san is smart as too; he and Iruka-sensei came over while my team and I were training and he gave us a few tips," young Sarutobi nodded his head quickly and smiled.
"But we never heard a word coming from that fox; he was quiet the whole time," Sakura remembered, thinking back to when she was talking to the Chuunin back at Ichiraku's.
Konohamaru closed his eyes as if in thought and replied, "Shiro is pretty shy at times, but when he has something to say or is actually interested to chat, he can talk for a while," Sakura nodded her head in understanding and gave the Copy Nin a quick glance.
Sakura smiled back, "it's great to see you again Konohamaru," she said, changing the subject.
Konohamaru grinned sheepishly, "yeah you too, when I heard you were back I was on the hunt to find you, because it can get so boring here when you guys aren't here," he slouched with a sigh and placed a hand on the grey fox's head with a soft smile.
"Really?" Sakura said with slight sympathy and a raised eyebrow.
Young Sarutobi nodded in disappointment and gave the two Jounins a quizzical glance, "I haven't seen you two walking around together like this before; what's the occasion?" he gave them a devious grin and wriggled his eyebrows to get the point across.
The two older Shinobi rolled their eyes, "we just got back from a mission and we're just having a normal discussion," Kakashi explained smoothly, "now if you don't mind, Sakura and I need to catch up with a few other people before the end of the day," he managed to pull the pink haired medic along with his grip and away from Konohamaru.
"Okay…well see you around Konohamaru," Sakura waved him off and they disappeared around the next corner.
"Patient much?" she pouted toward the older Jounin.
Kakashi chuckled, "sorry, but I was telling the truth back there, I want to see a few other people before it gets late and everyone hits the bar to get pissed," he jerked a thumb to a particular Jounin wading his way to the bar already.
Sakura rolled her eyes, "I guess Genma-kun is getting ready for the evening already; but it's only 5 pm so I guess he must be in a cranky mood and downs his stress in sake," she guessed, placing a finger suggestively on her chin.
Kakashi glanced at the senbon wielding man as he slumped depressingly to the bar where he wouldn't be seen for most likely the remainder of the night until the bars closed, which was around about at two in the morning.
"So it seems," he trailed off, staring thoughtfully at the medic and traced a finger on her cheek, finally catching her attention.
A smile graced her features as she let the Copy Nin do what he wished to her, but keeping him under control while under the public eye. She slung her arms around the Jounin's neck and kissed him softly on the lips, smiling softly as she pulled away from him. Kakashi ran his fingers along the medic's pink hair with a sly grin plastered on his masked face.
"Take it easy now Kakashi-sempai, you're in the public eye," warned a familiar voice.
Instantly Kakashi jerked his head to the sound of the man's voice and sighed in relief when he was sure he knew who it was. He let Sakura go, but stayed close as he eyes the two Jounins approaching them with smiles on their faces.
"Yamato-san, Sai-kun, it's great to see you," he greeted under an awkward grin and waved at the two.
The two other Jounins exchanged glances and back at the so-called lovebirds. They knew something would probably go on between the former student and teacher, but nothing this obvious, "I always knew you would go for the younger women Kakashi-sempai, but never this young," Yamato commented under a chuckle and glanced over to his right where Sai stood as clueless as ever when it came to a particular emotion.
Sakura and Kakashi bartered glances. Sure Yamato respected Kakashi more than anyone he ever knew in his life, but never expected him to be so cool about the Copy Nin being with Sakura, because…well…they were student and teacher.
Kakashi was about to reply to Yamato's little compliment when he caught the sight of a pair of fuzz balls trotting their way to the group. With a creased eyebrow, Kakashi watched as two foxes leapt up to sit on a shoulder - one being Sai and the other being Yamato.
"Are those your foxes?" Sakura asked before the Copy Nin could.
Yamato nodded curtly, "yeah, this is Chairo…" he pointed to the cute dark brown fox with white socks on his shoulder, "…and this is Kurimuson," he indicated to the jet-black fox with a blood-coloured crest on its forehead who sat purring madly on Sai's shoulder.
The dark brown fox known as Chairo glared shyly at the two strange people standing before her. She quivered nervously on the wood user's shoulder and tried to hide behind his head without falling off.
"Chairo, don't be scared, these are friends," Yamato encouraged the brown fox to lighten up a little and be tough.
Yamato sounded as though he was speaking to either a little child who hasn't seen daylight or people in a long time or a retarded person with very bad people skills.
Chairo whined a little under the two Jounins' gaze before finally being a little encouraged to check things out. she leaned forward fretfully, sniffing the air a little and made a cute face that made almost all four of them go off with an 'aww,' all but Sai, who wasn't really paying attention to the brown fuzz ball.
"She is so cute," Sakura said with creased eyes as she reached over to pat the dark brown fox.
Chairo whined yet again and backed away and looked as though she was about to cry or something along those lines. Kakashi's brow furrowed as he gave a mildly interested chuckle, "so what's with all the foxes we've been seeing around the village today?" nonetheless the question had to be asked.
Yamato and Sai gave him a quick glance and put their foxes on the ground in unison as if an important conversation was about to start, "it seems as though everyone started to discover an abundance of foxes around Konoha since Naruto passed away," he gazed at his feet.
Sakura frowned a bit but brushed it off with a shrug and shook her head, "we kind of figured that out as we made our return stroll around the village and found about…five of our close friends with foxes on their shoulder," she mused, placing a finger thoughtfully on her chin and gazed up at the clearing sky.
All four Jounins stood in silence, though still hearing the playfulness coming from the four little foxes at their feet. Kakashi sighed deeply, breaking the silence on purpose so he could do something else besides standing around Konoha in hopes of finding someone alone to corner and say hi to, "well, as much as I enjoy seeing the two of you with smiles on your faces," Kakashi began, not oblivious to the fact that Yamato was inwardly disappointed when began; knowing what was going to come out next, "but Sakura-chan and I have to get going so we can catch up with the others in time before the sun sets,"
Of course Kakashi wasn't being completely truthful, but he just wanted to get away from everyone and have some more alone time with his Cherry Blossom. He grabbed Sakura's hand and started to pull her along, passing the other Jounins and making their way further down the street.
But before Sakura and Kakashi could leave, they were stopped by an abrupt jutsu, blocking their way. The wood moulded and sculpted to an accepted shape of a wall or gate.
Kakashi sighed, "okay Yamato, what do yo-" he was cut short of words when he turned around to find not Yamato creating the wooden wall, but in fact his dark brown fox, Chairo. She sat there on the ground, tail twitching and manipulating wood from within the ground.
"Oh yeah," Yamato started, as if he had forgotten all this time, "I must've forgotten to mention that Chairo here has the Mokuton ability like me," he grinned cheerily.
Chairo didn't say anything, but instead she just stared calmly at the black fox sitting on the Copy Nin's shoulder, "reowr…" she purred sweetly to Kuro, who gave an incredulous growl in return and rose an eyebrow.
Sakura giggled, to only receive an odd glare from the other three Jounins, "what's so funny, Sakura?" Kakashi mused, crossing his arms over his chest and shifted his weight to one leg.
Sakura contained her mirth and glanced from Kuro to Chairo every few seconds, "it seems Chairo has a little crush on Kuro," she said finally under a light giggle and gave Kakashi a thoughtful look with a raised eyebrow and a cheeky grin.
Sai gazed clueless at what was currently taking place and seemed to be thinking over a lot. Yamato grinned widely and gave a tired looking stare at the silver haired man before him, "well, well Kakashi-sempai, looks as though your fox is a bit of a player," he gave the man a quick nudge before he heard an unusual growl from at their feet.
There next to Sakura, sat a very upset Kitsune, eyeballing the emotional Chairo in hopes of sending a message to her saying 'back off, he's mine,' it seemed cute of course, but there were limits, and this was one of them.
Chairo pried her gaze off the black fox and glanced at the rather angry Kitsune, who growled a little lower, trying to set the record straight, "leave your prying eyes from Kuro," she hissed, before cheering up a little and trotting past the now stunned Chairo, sending her one last death glare.
To the Jounins above, all they heard from what Kitsune said was just a growl and a small hiss, which in obvious cases was something Kitsune was not so happy about and started complaining in some harsh way.
"It looks as though Kitsune has a bigger crush on Kuro," Sai managed to say under all his thoughts.
No one really paid much attention to him because of what was happening on the ground. Kitsune sauntered past the dark brown fox and approached the black fox, whose grey eyes spoke nothing but a blank image. He cocked his head to the side as he watched Kitsune walk up to him in a happy fashion.
The brown fox glanced back at Kuro, who didn't seem quite pleased with the idea of Kitsune conversing with other male foxes except for him alone. The air was thick with envy and jealousy.
"Hi," Kitsune greeted with a bright smile on her foxy face.
Kurimuson rose an eyebrow and said, "I believe you are the First Tail of the Kyuubi, no?" Kitsune bowed her head as a 'yes' and leaned closer to the jet-black fox, "and I take it you are the Ninth Tail?" another exchange of curt nods and the two foxes hit the conversation of how each found their master.
"Yeah, I found Sai-kun when he was alone making ink drawings in one of his scrolls to perfect a special jutsu he's been working on for a while now," Kurimuson looked up at Sai, who stared aimlessly at the ground where nothing in particular lay.
Kitsune arched a brow in slight surprise, "he's working on a jutsu? That sounds interesting," she squinted under a small smile.
Kuro watched as the two new friends began their conversation, mentally picturing Kurimuson hanging on from a noose while suffering in a blazing fire. He smiled at that, but that grin of his was soon stripped off his furry face when he saw Kitsune lick the black fox on the crimson coloured crest on his forehead.
He cringed when he also heard Sakura, Kakashi and Yamato go 'aww' for the couple.
He was jealous.
Of course his jealousy didn't go by unnoticed; Kakashi chuckled at his envy when he saw him quiver with the thoughts of destroying that black fox and was almost tempted to nudge his fox over with his foot, but let it pass with a sigh.
"We'd better go," mused the silver haired Jounin.
Kuro physically sighed in relief and leapt up on Kakashi's shoulder, watching Kitsune shake her head as if she was wet and flicking the water off. She gave Kurimuson a quick smile and returned to Sakura's side, where she awaited the next moment.
Yamato chuckled, patting the now rather silent Chairo sitting on his shoulder, "it was nice to be able to catch up after your mission," he commented sweetly with a smile, and gave Sai a hard nudge in his side with his elbow, making the emotionally-clueless Jounin pull a fake grin to show he was listening, or to make it seem like he was.
Kakashi glared at Chairo, hoping she wouldn't try to stop them this time and grinned beneath his mask and wrapped an arm around the medic's waist and pulling her close to him.
Pulling the tiger sign with one hand, the two Jounins and their fox companions disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Sai and Yamato on the streets of Konoha alone with their foxes.
Author's notes: Did you pay close attention to how many foxes were around? Good, then I guess you also noticed what Kitsune had said to Kurimuson in their little chat, "and I take it you are the Ninth Tail?" HAHA! It's pretty easy to calculate: Nine foxes scattered around Konoha, each with their own personality and image, and each relates to Naruto and the Kyuubi. There are nine foxes in total (for obvious reasons), but there's one who hasn't made its appearance yet, can you tell me who has that fox? If you can then you are a damn legend :P. HINT: Kitsune, Kuro, Aku, Kiiro, Shiro, Kinpatsu, Chairo and Kurimuson. Where is the Fifth Tail? Have a go at it and see if you're right, and who knows, you may even get it better than the correct answer :P. So Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, and I hope you'll keep reading. Just a little more and it's all over. I'll update a.s.a.p. Laters XD.