Chapter Sixteen: Bliss

Rei was so incredibly happy about Tsunade that she didn't even bother complaining about the required bed rest that would put her out of missions because as soon as the surgery was prepared and over, Rei would be able to join each and every single mission her squad would take. She was walking around Konoha, feeling light as a feather and holding several skewers of dango in her hands when she ran into Naruto and Sakura sitting outside a tea shop with Sasuke approaching them.

"Hey guys," she said curiously, "what are you all doing?"

"We're trying to find out what's behind Kakashi's mask!" Naruto exclaimed bursting into fits of childish laughter. She raised an eyebrow as Sakura asked Sasuke how it went. "I got tired of shadowing him." They all seemed disappointed at his answer but Rei was thinking…wondering. What did Kakashi look like under his mask?

Hm.

She imagined something attractive.

"You try, Rei!" Naruto suggested. "We all sort of, eh," he laughed, "well we failed."

"It can't be that hard," Rei thought out loud. Shoving the dangos into Sasuke's hand and taking a cup of tea from Naruto's, she set out to find out how exactly Kakashi looked like. The rest of her team followed behind her, but when Kakashi was close, she all shooed at them to move back. She continued walking - practically skipping - up to Kakashi with the tea carefully in her hands, looking merry all the while. Kakashi's book lowered so slightly when she came into sight and a smile hinted beneath that mask of his.

"Well hello, Rei, you look well," Kakashi noted in a slightly amused tone. She beamed up innocently at her sensei.

"Tsunade's been great!" she said and her voice gave away that something was going to go down. She was too happy, even by Rei standards.

Meanwhile, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were leaning over each other, trying to see what was going on. They were all hiding behind them, and could only see Kakashi's back and Rei smiling up at the jonin. "I wonder what she's going to do," Naruto whispered.

"Something cool, for sure." Sakura commented, remembering the way Rei fought during the invasion. Sasuke didn't say anything, he just watched.

Not that he fully understood what he was witnessing.

Quite literally out of nowhere, the kunoichi accidentally dashed the cup at Kakashi's head. "Hey!" They heard him jump and then Rei's infectious good natured laughter rung as she pulled out a towel. "Sorry, sensei! Here, let me get that for you!" Jerking a magically conjured up towel across his face and wet mask, Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura all scrambled to catch a glimpse but it was impossible. Then Rei froze and stared…and poured the rest of the cup on him.

"Rei!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Just sooo clumsy! You know how it is!"

This time, she slobbered the towel all over his face brutally and when she froze this time, her cheeks started to turn pink and a smile spread across her face. They all ran towards the two ninjas but by the time they got there, Kakashi had his mask up and wiping away the tea off his jacket.

"Now look at what you've done, Rei," he sighed. He looked up to see his students loud and noisy with a declining excitement. "What's the matter with all of you?" Naruto turned his back to his sensei, grabbing the giggling brown haired girl and dragging her away behind a tree.

"What is it! What did you see!?" he cried out enthusiastically, shaking her but Rei wouldn't say anything.

"C'mon, Rei!" Sakura prompted, grabbing a hold of her arm and swinging her around. "Tell us!" But Rei just bit down on her lip, taking back the dangos from a shocked Sasuke and laughing loudly, some may say insanely, proclaiming to everyone about how proud she was that Kakashi was her sensei all the way home.

0-0

"You three have fun!" Rei waved towards Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. They had been assigned their first mission without Kakashi's guidance to the Land of Tea. Usually, Rei would feel left out – but with the surgery coming so soon, Rei was still in that happy mindset to allow a single mission bring her spirits down. "By the time you get back, I'll be up and running." She turned to Sasuke with a hopeful smile. "This will be the last mission I ditch."

"You say that as if it's a good thing," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. She blinked, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth and wanted to reach out for him but resisted the touch. Sakura was there.

"You better get strong enough to join our next mission!" Naruto told her excitedly, pointing his finger at her. She laughed, feeling a sense of bliss and companionship surround her. This is what it feels like to have real friends, Rei realized, to be loved. The "the world is right again" sort of look in her eyes was so obvious that even Sasuke smiled.

She was just so completely happy.

What do you guys feel about SakuraxKakashi? I personally hate the pairing...idk, age difference and everything. Ugh, Kakashi is not a pedophile. Kakashi's a hard character to write a story for, I'm not sure why! And I'm still thinking about a NejixOC.

Any fanfics you wanna recommend for me to read? :)

Anyways, at last! A happy chapter! I felt like just writing it after seeing Episode 101 :) Hope you enjoyed!