I'm clearly disappointed that there's only been 2 reviews after I've been slaving myself weeks to get a new chapter out. Sigh, oh well, I'm not one to give up. Hope people will leave more replies. :)

Thanks to Amarxlen, my beta. :) She rocks!

03 / Meeting Team Kakashi

Kakashi's eyes never left the woman walking beside him as they left Tsunade's office. This woman-Hayato Yukari- was such an interesting person. And being related to Asuma as well as the Third certainly made things more interesting. Kakashi could feel thousands of questions popping up in his mind already but he knew better than to assault a new shinobi with his questions. He could probably ask either Tsunade or Shizune later on.

But at the moment, despite not knowing anyone around her, she was still walking with an air of authority that demanded nothing but respect from whoever was talking to her or walking beside her. He knew jounins were supposed to be respected and fearless but the way she was, it was evident that she didn't give a damn about anything that others thought of her.

Once they were outside the Hokage Tower, Kakashi stopped and turned towards her. Noticing that he had stopped walking, she turned to him with a raised eyebrow. It was only then that Kakashi saw what she was wearing underneath her white coat. She had a black top and a loose pair of trousers. Her weapon pouches and holsters were in their respected places.

Even though he was the one who had stopped, she was the one who initiated the conversation. "Is there a place where I can take a quick shower?"

Involuntarily, Kakashi found himself staring at her full, rosy lips. Shaking his head, he gathered his concentration and looked up at her eyes. "Excuse me?"

"I've been travelling nonstop for a few days. I'd like to take a quick shower before meeting the team. And since my apartment still isn't prepared yet, I really don't have any place to take a shower."

Kakashi nodded. "There's the hot springs," he suggested.

She shook her head softly. "I don't have time to relax. I just need a quick shower. Perhaps, your apartment?"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "It might look inappropriate to some people. There's a girl on our team. If you want, I could ask her." He, sure as hell, wasn't going to let her into his apartment. Not many people had been there, except for the few women he had shared some intimate encounters with. And he was starting to feel uneasy about what he might do or try to do if they were left alone somewhere private.

Even right now, he couldn't stop himself from glancing indiscreetly at her full, rosy lips, or from studying her round, not to mention beautiful eyes, from which he could probably learn a lot of things if he had more time to pay attention to.

Her nearly flawless skin which was somewhat pale and looked as if it were carved from marble seemed to be taunting him, making him want to touch or just reach out and caress her smooth cheek. He was already starting to wonder how her skin and lips would feel under his touch, whether they would truly feel as soft as they looked.

Kakashi mentally kicked himself as he tried to concentrate on what she was saying. Where had all these absurd ideas come from? It wasn't like him to get captivated by a single woman so easily. This was totally unheard of, even for someone like him, who couldn't be surprised easily like everyone else. For Kami's sake, he spent so much time with Naruto, the only ninja who kept coming up with jutsus which were both surprising and successful, that he didn't have time to be surprised or amazed at all. But right now, he was experiencing something that had never happened before and he didn't know why or even how it was possible.

He watched as Yukari nodded with what resembled a smile playing on her lips. "That'd be great."

Kakashi motioned for her to follow him as he walked in the direction of the training grounds. Between them, he tried to keep as much distance as possible without attracting her attention. Once they'd reached the gates, he told her to wait and he went on and looked for a certain pink-haired shinobi.

"Sakura!"

Sakura looked up, from her previous position, which was crouching over Sai's shoulders to study his paintings. She walked briskly over to her team leader and stopped before him.

"Yes, Kakashi sensei?"

"You'll find a blue-haired woman standing at the gate. She's a kunoichi from our village and is under Tsunade's orders. She just got here and her apartment isn't ready yet. Right now, she said she wants a shower so I was wondering if you could help her."

"A shower?" Sakura looked at him in disbelief. "What's wrong with your place sensei?"

Kakashi cleared his throat. "I don't think that's appropriate."

Sakura's eyes almost fell out of their sockets. A kunoichi had asked Kakashi for a shower and he had refused to let her into his apartment. That was strange. Konoha's number one pervert had turned down the chance to have a kunoichi inside his apartment. This wasn't like him at all.

Finally, deciding that her questions could wait, Sakura nodded. "I'll be back then sensei." She hinted in her voice that he would have to answer some questions when she was back.

Sakura skipped over to the gate and looked left and right. She wanted to know what this woman looked like since Kakashi was clearly avoiding her. Was this woman that unattractive that even he had turned down her offer to be in the same room with her? Absentmindedly, she started to imagine all the things that this woman might have.

However, she could not avoid widening her eyes when she saw the blue-haired kunoichi. She was far from what she had imagined. She had long hair, a beautiful face and a nice figure. Judging by her appearance, she looked like she was a few years her senior. Sakura couldn't understand why Kakashi had refused to let this attractive woman into his apartment.

She slowly walked up to the woman and gave a small polite bow. "Kakashi sensei said you needed help."

The woman stood up straight from her previous leaning position. She nodded. "I was wondering if I could use the shower at your place. I just arrived in Konoha today and my place isn't ready yet."

"Of course, please follow me." Sakura led the way towards the busier parts of Konoha. The two of them had to avoid the children running around on the streets.

Feeling uncomfortable with the silence, Sakura spoke. "I'm Haruno Sakura, by the way. I'm a medic nin but I'm still a chunnin." She offered with a smile.

To her pleasure, the woman returned a small smile. "Nice to meet you. I'm Hayato Yukari."

Sakura turned back to the road. "So, you said you just got here. Are you a ninja from another village?"

There was a slight pause before Yukari answered. "No, I'm a leaf ninja. I've just been away for a rather long time." Sakura nodded to show that she was listening and Yukari continued. "I decided to return to Konoha and just stay here instead of going around."

Sakura finally built up the courage she had to ask the question that had been bugging her. "So, are you close with Kakashi sensei? I mean…..it's not everyday that he comes up to me and asks me to help another woman." She tried not to sound too curious, but her voice was giving away her curiosity.

"Actually, I just met him for the first time about an hour ago." The answer was simple and Sakura couldn't tell whether Yukari was telling the truth or not. But she decided to let it go for the moment. She'd bug Kakashi later.

Sakura stopped in front of a small building. "Well, this is it. I rent a room upstairs," she said, pointing to the window on the second floor."

She led the way up the stairs in silence and opened the door to her small room. She stood in the middle of the room and turned to look at Yukari. "It doesn't have much but since I'm a ninja, I'm not here much so doesn't really matter."

Yukari nodded. "Look, you don't have to wait for me here. You can go back if you want and I can come when I'm done." She wasn't about to have someone outside wait for her while she finished her shower.

Sakura gave her a skeptical look. "You sure? I don't want to get scolded by sensei."

Yukari let a small smile grace her lips. "I insist and I don't think it has anything to do with him. He won't scold you, and even if he does, I'll talk to him for you."

Sakura puffed up her cheeks with air and nodded. "Ok then. I'll see you later." She closed the door behind her as she left.

Sakura jumped on the roofs of the houses as she made her way back to the training ground. She couldn't wait to find out who this Hayato Yukari was. It had been sometime since she'd actually seen Kakashi with another woman. She was sure that Naruto would have no problem bugging Kakashi once she'd told him.

She breathed heavily as she walked casually into the training area. Kakashi was reading his porn as usual on a tree while Yamato sat against the same tree's trunk. Sai, Sasuke and Naruto were lying on their backs on the grass and talking.

She stopped directly in front of those three and looked down as they looked up at her. Naruto grinned as he greeted her. "Hi Sakura chan! Where were you? You should have seen me beat Sasuke's ass back in the sparring match!"

Beside him, Sasuke scoffed as he folded his arms on his chest and mumbled something, which could have been a 'hmph'.

Sakura cleared her throat. "Hey Naruto, I met a new leaf kunoichi just now. Kakashi sensei was the one who asked me to take her to my place because she needed a shower. Don't you find that the least bit suspicious?" That certainly grabbed the blond's attention, along with the other two guys.

"Is she Kakashi sensei's new girlfriend?" Naruto asked as he sat up.

Sasuke didn't say anything although he watched and listened carefully. Sai, on the other hand, sat up and had an eager expression on his face. Through the years they had been together, the three of them: Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, mostly with Sasuke's help anyway, had somehow managed to teach Sai more about emotions and now the guy acted as normal as he could ever be around other people.

"Hey Naruto, why don't you try and get something out of sensei?" Sakura suggested.

"What is this girlfriend you are talking about?" Sai asked, sounding curious. "Is it a girl who is Kakashi-san's friend?"

But nobody bothered to explain to him. Sasuke wasn't interested while Sakura and Naruto were debating on ways to make Kakashi spill the beans. Finally, Naruto stood up and walked over to where Kakashi was with a grin on his face. From the corner of his eyes, Sasuke watched him. The guy just had to mess with everything. He sighed, well he wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't.

Stopping directly under the branch where Kakashi was on, Naruto opened his mouth to speak. "She's not my girlfriend." That totally caught him off guard.

"Who is she then?" Naruto pressed on with a skeptical look and a mischievous glint in his eyes.

"I don't know. I just met her for the first time this morning. She'll be here later on. So just wait till then." Kakashi replied lazily as he turned another page.

By now, Yamato was also listening intently to the two of them. "What is it Naruto?"

"Yamato-taichou! Kakashi sensei has a new girlfriend and he's keeping it a secret!" Naruto yelled and pointed a finger at Kakashi like a five year old would if he had been bullied by some older kid.

Yamato shook his head lightly. "I don't think that's true Naruto. Do you think Kakashi-senpai would go around advertising his girlfriend? I don't think so. Senpai is more secretive and all." He countered with a smirk as Naruto had a defeated look on his face. "But still, it wouldbe an interesting matter if he did have a girlfriend." Yamato continued as he eyed his senpai and the mischievous grin found its way back on to Naruto's face.

Kakashi closed his book with a sigh. He jumped down on to the ground and turned to Yamato. "She's not my girlfriend! She's just a new team member." He nearly growled at them but was able to keep up the nonchalant façade.

"A new team member?" Naruto asked, his eyes becoming as wide as they could be. "But our team is big enough as it is! And I don't want another person from ANBU if that's where she's from. Wouldn't want a girl version of Sai." He folded his arms in front of his chest while glaring daggers at Sai.

Before Kakashi could say anything to assure Naruto that she wasn't a girl version of Sai, the subject of their discussion materialized a few feet from them. He studied her. She had obviously cleaned up and was now wearing a short sleeved black top which slightly resembled the top part of a qipao, much similar to what Sakura usually wore, but only shorter since it stopped right above her navel, exposing an inch or so of her flat abdomen. Not to mention the fact that her navel was pierced, with a small jewel stud placed in it.

Her hitai-ate was placed around her forehead, keeping her dark blue strands out of her eyes. Her dark green pants, which hung loosely to her hips, ended tightly just below her knees. Her wrists were wrapped in bindings before they disappeared into the same fingerless gloves that he wore. The skin around her ankle was also wrapped before her feet, too, disappeared into the open sandals.

Her kunai holster was wrapped around her right thigh just like everyone else in Konoha while the belt around her waist indicated that her shuriken pouch was on the back of her waist as well. But, there were two silvery objects hanging from the belt on each side of her waist, probably some kind of weapon. From his position, they were half hidden under the vest and Kakashi couldn't make out what they were.

The thing that caught Kakashi's attention the most was the jounin vest that she wore. Not many kunoichi wore the vest. It was mostly favored by the male shinobi but here she was, wearing the vest over her top and it was unzipped all the way. Moreover, she didn't look one bit strange with the vest. She looked quite good actually.

Kakashi shook his head. What was wrong with him? Why was he getting these perverted thoughts? She was a complete stranger to her and he didn't even know how she fought or what jutsu she was specially trained in.

He slowly walked over to her and looked her up and down. "Feeling refreshed now?"

She nodded. "I'm ready to meet the team now."

Kakashi turned back to his team and cleared his throat. "Everyone, this is Hayato Yukari and she will be joining Team Kakashi starting from today."

Yukari looked around. All the members had different expressions on; the blond was openly staring at her pierced navel while another guy, probably a high ranked shinobi, was trying his best to keep his eyes from staring at the same thing as well.

The girl she had met earlier, Sakura was offering a small smile while another pale looking boy was outright smiling at her. But the person that caught her attention was neither one of them. It was the ebony haired boy, who was glaring daggers at her from his sitting position beside the pale boy.

"YOU!"

Disclaimer: This work is pure fiction. Any featured celebrities, people, books, or entertainment media sources are borrowed for fictitious fan writing only. There is no malicious, offensive, or libel intent to any person, those associated with the person.

©Midnight Blue Raven, 2008. Distribution of any kind is prohibited without the written consent of Midnight Blue Raven.

11/10/2008.