Their Thoughts
Moving On…
Meika stared at the ceiling.
It was six in the morning. The window showed the light moving smoothly with the shadows in their dance. The dancing went around her body, on the wooden floor, on the packed-up book bag and around the whole room.
It didn't exclude the living room ceiling. The dance was making patterns on it. The cracks were definite and the peeling white paint added to its aging.
She brought up her wrist and stared at the watch until it read ten after six. At that time, she got up, grabbed her bag and walked out, closing the door behind her. (Kakashi made her a spare key.)
Speaking of the devil himself, Kakashi was still asleep under the covers. She had gotten up early to meet up with the team and know them a little better.
The meeting place was at the Third Training Ground. It was a simple training ground that didn't have too much danger in it. It just had a lot of nature that shinobi could perform and perfect their techniques in.
She wondered how Naruto and Sakura were going to react to the news.
o0o0o0o0o0
"WHERE'S KAKASHI-SENSEI?! HE'S ALREADY TEN MINUTES LATE!"
"Quit whining, Naruto. You know by now how he's like."
Naruto groaned and walked up and down a tree in annoyance. Sakura just kept a steady lookout. Every hope they previously had for their sensei to appear early for once had been crushed two years ago. It was such an annoying habit, but there seemed to be no way for him to break out of it.
Naruto stopped pacing and jumped down. "Sakura, who's that woman coming toward us?"
The woman was wearing green and black from her shirt to her skirt. The forehead protector flashed proudly on her forehead. Sakura noticed the bracelet on her right wrist and the watch on her left.
"Are the both of you Naruto and Sakura of Team Kakashi?"
After they nodded, she said, "I am Najika Meika. I have been appointed by the Hokage to go with you all on your mission."
She paused, and then asked, "What is the mission, anyway?"
Naruto was stumped at that question, so Sakura explained that they were traveling to the Land of Mist to keep an eye on their client there. They would stay for a week, fight if necessary and then go back home.
"But what is the client afraid of?"
"Mei-sensei, he claims that he has seen… strange shinobi in the town, so he wants our help."
Naruto piped up, "Are you related to Kakashi-sensei?"
"Well, I'm a friend of his, that's all."
"Have you slept with him before? Are you secretly married to him? What's his weakness? How-"
"NARUTO, WHY ARE YOU ASKING HER SUCH PERSONAL AND STUPID QUESTIONS?! THEY'RE JUST FRIENDS!" Sakura yelled. Before he could protest, she punched his head through a tree trunk. While he started to cry, Sakura began to apologize to Mei-sensei, who was white in the face.
"Well, we'll have to wait for Kakashi. In the meantime, why don't I show you something?" Meika said. She took out her sketching book and sat down on a large rock. Sakura sat next to her and marveled at the sketches.
"Wow Mei-sensei, I really like these. Hey, can you try making a sketch of me? Well, I'm not trying to be mean or anything-"
"Do you want to pose sitting or standing?"
o0o0o0o0o0
Kakashi was walking very fast down the street. He had three possible excuses to tell his team of why he was late this time, including Mei-chan.
"Maybe I should say I stepped on a crack and… no, that's not going to work. My mother isn't around. She's buried with the rest of my family, so why should she break her back in her grave when I've caused her enough trouble already?
"What if I had to help an old lady with her packages? Old ladies do need help sometimes… but that excuse is getting too old.
"Or maybe, Gai challenged me to an arm wrestling match… nah; I can beat him in one minute. But what can I say about not getting there in twenty minutes?"
At this point, he had reached the place where everyone was waiting for him. He jumped in front of everyone and announced, "Sorry I'm late, everyone. I had to help an old lady with her packages."
That's a stereotype of an excuse… you need to be more original… his mind sighed.
"Kakashi-sensei, you're late AGAIN!" Sakura and Naruto yelled. They were annoyed and were pointing fingers at him. As if it was even his fault in the first place…
"Mei-chan, can you back me up here, please?" he beseeched his friend.
She snorted, "The last time I checked, you were talking in your sleep under the covers. I think you were saying that Tsunade-sama needed to be nicer… and something about Make-Out Paradise…"
"Make-Out Paradise… that's the book that Jiraiya wrote- Oh hell, don't tell me you did anything unnatural!"
Meika smiled.
Kakashi felt a chill go down his back. Oh please, oh please, did she do something?
"…Anyway, Sakura, Naruto and Mei-chan, we all know our mission. Therefore, let's go!"
o0o0o0o0o0
In the Hokage's office, Shizune was looking through the huge mountain that was all of Konoha's records. There were records of deaths, births, tests, bills… basically almost everything.
She was currently digging through the records of wills and marriage certificates. As she read a certain will, some sentences caught her eye. She froze, and then started running out the door.
"Excuse me… out of my way please… I have something important for the Hokage!"
Lady Tsunade definitely needs to see this!
o0o0o0o0o0
Meika sighed and sat near the lake's edge. It had been two hours since the team last saw Konoha. According to Sakura, they would be in the Land of Mist by tomorrow evening. She also said that there was an inn by the side of the road they were on, so they would stay there for tonight.
Thankfully, they were resting now.
Please heart, don't fail me now…
Taking out her sketch pad, she mindfully started drawing the beautiful view of the lake. If she had color pencils or crayons, she could emphasize on the slanting lights the sun was reflecting on the water or of the lofty trees with ivy wound around their trunks. The flowers swayed with the grass as a light breeze swept over them.
"I knew you were going to be drawing this lake."
Kakashi plopped down next to her. She made some quick lines on paper and then turned around to face him.
"If you're worried about your precious books, they're safe for now. I never knew you were a perv."
"Now Mei-chan, I can truly explain every single thing that your heart desires, but I'm not a-"
"Quiet Kakashi, reading those books do make you a pervert, as every woman around will agree", Meika smiled, "I'm not planning to beat you up or anything like that."
"Oh… thanks."
"I'll think of something even worse than what I mentioned before."
"Oh hell, I knew… no, I'm not going to lie. I didn't know that was going to happen to me."
"As the books say, expect the unexpected."
Kakashi pointed to her right wrist. "I should mention about that bracelet on you."
"Kakashi, you sent this bracelet to me by messenger ninja. It was so sweet of you."
As any ordinary male who is in love, Kakashi tried not to look embarrassed and became "macho man" to cover up his true feelings.
(Like every female, Meika knew he was trying to cover up, but pretended not to notice.)
o0o0o0o0o0
"What are they saying? Sakura, I can't see or hear. What is going on?"
"Hush Naruto, they are too far away for me to hear."
They jumped down from the tree they had been perched in. Their sensei and his friend were half a mile away near the lake. Mei-sensei was laughing at something that Kakashi-sensei had said while he was rubbing the back of his neck.
"Sakura, are they in love?"
"Maybe, but it's too early to tell!"
Naruto suddenly grinned. "Why don't we find out?"
"And… how do… you propose … we do… that?"
He had an evil grin on his face. "We find out as much as we can about them; then get them on a date! That's how we're going to do it!"
Naruto has an evil scheme in his mind... not a good combination.
If anyone read my other story (Kakashi's Cat), at the last chapter, Kakashi sent out a package by messenger ninja. The bracelet he gave Meika was inside that package. (This won't be the last time I'll refer to that story...)
Sorry about the delay! I'm still studying at school!