Disclaimer: Legal Warning!!!! I don't own Naruto verse or any character therein. Ok Legal stuff done. Shew. Now this is another long chapter. Sorry Blackest Night. Natsu isn't getting kidnaped. I didn't think of it or I might have tried it. Kakashi and Sasuke would definitely have gone ballistic if that had happened. But I do hope you like the story anyway. Remember I didn't list it as primarily an adventure story. It is listed as a Romance. Anyway, we're almost done here. Only a couple more chapters to go but there will be an epilogue and here is chapter Nine. Enjoy.
The Honeymoon Mission
by The Mother Rose
Chapter Nine:
In the morning, after Sasuke had given Sakura the pill and dry toast with plain water Natsu had recommended for her they came to Kakashi and Natsu's rooms. Once they were all seated at the table, Kakashi waited for them to all focus on him. "Ok, Sasuke has done as he was required to do. So has my Yoosei Girl and so have I. But in order to open that scroll we need to know Sakura have you done what you need to do yet?"
Sakura sighed. She nodded her head. Not looking at any of them, she whispered, "That's why, I guess, I was getting drunk last night. Sasuke made it very clear he preferred the thought of having sex with Ami because of her flexibility to being with me and he spent most of yesterday pointing out to me how much more suited Miski is to being a proper Kaasan than I am. He even used Natsu as an example of true grace and poise compared to me. All in all, in every single comparison he gave me, I lost. I couldn't lie any more. I couldn't claim a victory in any of it because even Natsu's grace and poise are true comparisons. I'd always been able to say it was fake before but since she admitted yesterday that she really is this girl she is portraying herself as. . . , I guess I just lost my final advantage."
Kakashi turned to Natsu. "You see, Yoosei Girl? I told you there was a reason to tell her the truth."
"I still think it was unnecessary. She would have admitted it soon enough anyway. No girl can live with a constant rejection of everything about her for very long no matter how determined she is."
"Hai, but why make her go through it long than she needed to?" Natsu looked at him with the honest response of 'why not' in her eyes. She didn't say it but the response was there. Kakashi almost grinned but he locked the answering chuckle away before the grin escaped.
"Are you certain about this, Sakura?" he asked instead. "If I bring out the scroll and it still won't open, we will know you are the one who has not done as you needed to do. Sasuke needed to admit he knew his duty and either name a girl he found suitable or claim you as suitable. You need to admit he is not what you thought he was and that your dream of being his wife was not what you thought it would be. Natsu needed to admit she is a girl and let me in and I needed to claim her as my wife as well as admit I couldn't be more pleased over it. For all that I didn't choose to marry her any more than she chose to marry me, I am very happy we are married. But you, Sakura. Have you really realized the truth now?"
Sakura wiped a few stray tears off her cheeks and nodded. "Hai, Sensei. I could hear quite well yesterday. And all this last two weeks, I was seeing how happy you were with her. Hell, she's had you wrapped around her finger from almost the very beginning of our team. Only a fool couldn't see how you were chasing her and that was when we all thought she was a boy." Sasuke laughed at the shocked expressions of both Natsu and Kakashi who were staring at Sakura and blinking rapidly.
"It is true, Sensei. You might have thought Natsu was Naruto consciously but your subconscious knew exactly who she was. You chose missions you knew damn well we," he indicated himself and Sakura, "would not do. Then when Naruto would go to leave you'd challenge him. He'd tell you off for it and you'd laugh. That right there was the big clue. Naruto was the only person to ever get away with telling you off and he did it almost daily."
Sakura took over again. "Then, when he was out of sight, you'd ignore me and give Sasuke a routine exercise and take off to go watch Naruto. Everyone in the village knew Naruto had you in the palm of her hand though no one seemed to know anything about Natsu. It's probably why though Hokage-sama set this up the way he did. By marrying Sasuke and I first in our regular clothes he effectively took both of us out of the way so we could not protest as the adults married you and Natsu off. I was too deep into my dream coming true to care and Sasuke was too busy trying not to pass out or freak out. This way I didn't even notice the change in her clothes and the set-up the adults used to marry the two of you. I would have if I had not been married off first. And, given who I am, I would have protested Natsu being dressed in that manner."
"I might not have wanted to believe she really was a girl and I may have been trying to remind everyone she wasn't, but I did know the truth even then. Just as you guys saw her grace and poise and all the little things that give away a boy pretending to be a girl, I saw them also. I just didn't want to admit it but the truth is no girl wants to be forcibly married off without her friends around her and no time to prepare for it. It is a big change in our lives for us; one of the most important things that will ever happen to us. Everything about us will change as soon as the ceremony comes to a close. So yeah, if I had been paying attention and thinking, I would have protested her being forced into marrying anyone in that manner. She should have been married by a Shinto Monk. Her wedding should have been a village wide celebration. Not some hole in the office proceeding no one even knew about. It was an insult to her." For the first time Kakashi was seeing things clearly from where Natsu stood. Somehow he doubted any of the other adults truly understood how badly they had all insulted his little Yoosei.
But Sakura wasn't finished yet. "I know everyone thinks I only ever paid attention to Sasuke and what involved him but that's not true. I do pay attention to other things such as a boy running around the village with a girls mannerisms and habits. I've known for a long time Natsu was hiding. I just didn't know why or who she really was but I did figure it wasn't my business. When I let myself consciously think about it I assumed Naruto was gay or something and being an orphan that would be really bad for him if anyone else figured it out. So when we became a team I set myself to helping him hide. Not even he deserved what would have happened to him if others saw the things I saw. This mission has been driving me crazy because she had to be a girl for it so she couldn't protest you guys acting like she was a girl and that left it to me to make sure you didn't forget in the village she's Naruto. But there it was pretty easy to help her. I'd see her do something a girl would do or in the way a girl would do it and I'd usually bash her for it. By the time the bashing was over she'd be off to doing something else and forget about whatever it was I knew only a girl would have done."
"So all those times I thought you were hitting me for no reason. . ." exclaimed Natsu.
"Were times I caught you doing something as a girl would. Hai. Well, mostly," she amended. "I knew everyone thought you were a boy. Everything about you said you were the boy they all thought you were but every once in awhile, you'd do something only a girl would do." She sighed. "But when you finally admitted it yesterday and made it very clear you thought it wouldn't help me come to terms with things, I had to reassess everything about myself. I know you think Sensei only wanted you to admit it so he could claim you and I know as well as you do he didn't need your admission at all for that. But he was right about you needing to be the one to tell me the truth. I've been helping you hide for too long to believe from anyone else you wanted to stop hiding. Sasuke tried to tell me a few times but I kept telling him you were just well trained in how to be a girl and that it was probably because the council wanted you to go into the field as a seductress sooner or later and this was a test run of your ability to do that job. If you got Kakashi-Sensei to bed you then it would prove to the Council you were ready to be played in the field. I know that isn't the truth, Natsu. It was just something I could tell Sasuke."
Natsu had shrunk away from her as she laid out that scenario, her face paling as the words poured out of Sakura. She was beginning to hyperventilate at the mere thought of doing that kind of work. And Kakashi had all he could do to get her to focus on him so he could calm her down. But finally she did look at him, the panic clear in her eyes. "Shh, Yoosei Girl. It isn't going to happen. You aren't a boy pretending to be a girl. Remember? Hokage-sama would never let someone do that to you. Neither would Iruka or Koharu. I think even Hiashi and Sakura's Kaasan would have something nasty to say about that. And I would kill the idiot who tried to give you that kind of mission. It isn't going to happen."
Sakura smirked, "But it is one of the very damn good reasons why Sandaime wanted to marry you off, Natsu. As a single girl, looking like you do with the grace and poise you have, well there was no way to keep you out of that field if something happened to him before you were married. But still he shouldn't have done it the way he did."
Natsu squawked and peered all around the room looking for an exit of any kind. Kakashi pulled her onto his lap and rubbed her back telling Sakura, "That's enough. She had no idea of that line of work being something that was even in the cards for her and, as we all know exactly who her guardian is, it never really was. Hokage-sama has done entirely too much to protect her and keep her safe to risk her that way without preparing her for it. Besides even the damn Daimyo was in on this."
"I know, Sensei, but at the time Sasuke was trying to make me admit this is the real Naruto. I was grasping at any straw I could find to hang onto to my fantasy. I wanted, needed, to believe she was only playing a role. It was the only way my fantasy held any validity because it was only through that belief could I say I had something the other girls he had chosen did not have. He was trying to get me to agree to help expose her but that was something I couldn't have done no matter how much I wanted to believe in my own little world view. Naruto was her safety blanket from the world as was my fantasy of life as Mrs. Uchiha Sasuke. I didn't want anyone to take away my safety blanket so how could I help take away hers? But then she showed me she was stronger than I was by setting it aside herself. I found, when we left the room," She gave them a wicked grin as she added, "not that either of you noticed we were not here any more. . ." Natsu flushed rosily and buried her face in Kakashi's vest as Kakashi grinned and got a very excited glint in his eye. Sakura laughed while Sasuke just hid his smirk in his tea cup he'd brought in with him. She continued speaking. "Anyway, I found I couldn't hang onto my fantasy without the support of hers. So I got drunk last night to say good-bye to it. Waking up on the floor fully dressed was the clincher I needed that I would never get what I thought I wanted. Then I spent some time thinking about why I even wanted it in the first place when I knew he'd never love me or even desire to be with me. By the time my head stopped spinning a counter rhythm to my stomach I realized I really didn't want to be married yet at all. All I could think about was how Kaasan would have been treating me, as rotten as I was feeling, and comparing it to how Sasuke was acting instead. I realized I preferred how Kaasan deals with me to how he does. And now, Sensei, I just want to go home. Home to my mother. Maybe in a few weeks or so I can find a new goal but right now. . . I just want my mom."
"Understandable, Sakura. Let's open the scroll and hopefully go home."
"Wait a minute," said Sasuke. "You said even the Daimyo was in on this. How'd you figure that one out?"
"Oh. Remember when we got called to the tower to meet with the Daimyo? He gave us a story about agreeing to allow people to oversee your training? Do you remember anyone coming to oversee your training? Ever? And we all had to sign a form for him." One by one they nodded. "Well I have a sneaky little feeling Natsu and I signed an application to wed instead of a consent to be overseen by foreigners during training time. A person can not legally be wed unless they have first signed and gotten a licence. That's the only way I can think of that Hokage-sama could possibly have gotten our signatures on any such form."
Sasuke grinned. "I definitely wouldn't have signed one. I know that for sure."
"Nor, at that time, would I. I think they would have had to tie Yoosei to a chair and force her to sign it as well," admitted Kakashi. "I'm very glad both our Daimyo and Hokage are such sneaky men but I still wouldn't have signed it yet. She's too young still."
"Finally," snapped Natsu. "Someone admits I'm not over the hill because I turned thirteen."
Laughing they fell to opening the scroll. One at a time, each of them bit their thumbs and put the bloody digits on the symbol for their own name. When Natsu placed her blood on the symbol for her name Kakashi chuckled and whispered, "I knew that was your name." She stuck her tongue out at him but said nothing.
The scroll popped open and the marriage license for Kakashi and Natsu lay on the surface of the scroll. Natsu growled and narrowed her eyes upon seeing it while Kakashi just picked it up and looked it over. He whistled when he saw who was actually listed as the officiating personage. "I think Sakura you're fears that her marriage ceremony was not high profile enough for someone of her station are ungrounded," he said handing her the certificate so she could see the signature herself.
"Wow, Natsu. The Daimyo himself oversaw your wedding. Holy Kami. No ninja gets him to oversee their wedding," she said awe in her tones.
"Doesn't matter," muttered Natsu. "I'm still kicking Jijii's butt when we get home. I'm only thirteen." Everyone laughed as Sarutobi in his office winced. Due to an interactive image projection of Sarutobi now sat in the center of the scroll and was listening to every word the foursome said in the inn.
"So you have each done as required of you? Uchiha Sasuke, please answer verbally. Have you accepted your duty to the village and will you fulfill you obligations to us?"
"That depends, Hokage-sama."
"On what?"
"Do I get a say in who I bed or am I to be no more than a stud bull performing for the village herd?" His voice and expression clearly defined his distaste for the manner in which this matter had been handled. "Pink-haired Uchiha Boys will be the domain of Uchiha Itachi, if that's what you want. I'll even go get the bastard and drag him back here to sire the little boys he can name Sue for you."
Laughter rebounded in the room where Sarutobi was letting Team Seven know there were others listening in on the conversation. "Well, that depends," said a chuckling Hokage. "You can name a female or more of your choice but I will not allow you to choose a male for that purpose. You've had sex ed and you know that doesn't work."
"Well, if I were you I would really give it some very careful thought. And remember those boys will be inheriting the Sharingan one day. Do you really want to be alive when they achieve that if either Itachi or myself have to tell them the reason they are pink haired is because you forced us to marry her? If you think I will hold them back kindly remember I will be deaf from her loud screeching long before then." He gave the projection an angelic smirk and added, "I won't be able to hear a thing they are saying when they find out why they have pink hair."
All four occupants of the hotel room could clear hear the gulps in the tower as Sarutobi and whoever else was there had no problem getting the point Sasuke was making. Pink haired boys would definitely be angry boys and with the sharingan they were a potent threat but not necessarily to the enemy because for them the enemy was whoever was responsible for them having pink hair.
Now Sasuke let himself show his anger over the remark Sarutobi had made about him being gay. "Where the hell did this stupid idea come from that I am gay? Sheesh. Ask a medical expert to run a few genealogy compatibility tests for you and everyone jumps to freaking conclusions." Natsu's tinkling laugh rang out and everyone stopped speaking to listen to it.
"Ok but it was you who kissed Uzumaki Naruto the last day at the academy and it was you that sought out his company afterwards. It was also you that showed no interest in the girls who chased you. So yes, we assumed you preferred your own to girls. Name the girl whom you are interested in and I will see what I can do to make it happen."
"The kiss was an accident which, Natsu did you ever figure who was the one who bumped you?"
Natsu shook her head with a frown. "I'm still looking, Sasuke. I will find the bastard though. I owe him a lot of bumps and bruises."
"As for hanging out with Naruto, wouldn't you choose to hang out with someone who didn't act like you were either a fragile little flower going to break down in tears at the drop of a feather or the next coming of Kami? Of course I chose to hang out with someone who treated me like a person. As for the girls chasing me, HAVE YOU LOST WHAT'S LEFT OF YOUR MIND! Pay attention to one and you have to pay attention to all of them or there's a cat fight and you're the ball of yarn they're fighting over. Hell, there'll probably be a cat fight anyway."
In the tower, Sarutobi said, "I never looked at it that way before. But still tell us a name and I will see what I can do to make it happen."
"All right. That is acceptable so long as I truly am not married to Sakura. She was never fit to be my wife and well you know it."
Sarutobi grinned at him. "I know and she isn't. Your marriage to her was a mock one. If you had bedded her, I would have arranged for a legal certificate to show up but I take it you did not?"
"Of course not! Pink haired Uchiha Boys! Not in my lifetime." This time the laughter was in the Hokage's chambers. "I would have gladly chosen Natsu here but I think Sensei would have killed me over her if I did. Anyway the two girls Kabuto was testing for me were Tobai Miski and Mitarashi Ami. Both would be suitable wives and perfect compliments to each other as well. I can explain my reasons when we get back if you need to know them though I do think it's none of your business."
"Nope. Not right now though Ami's Aunt might want to give you hell over choosing her niece."
"Tell that crazy snake lady to keep her god damned snakes out of my bed. Ami is already amendable with the idea in a year or so. So is Miski actually but both of them want some time as kunoichi first since it is what we have spent our lives training for. Unlike the rest of my clan I am not threatened by strong kunoichi. In fact I need them if the children are to be safe when I am away. I already spoke to them about it and we had planned for me to wed both of them at the same time so neither is the matriarch over the other in any way."
Kakashi inserted, "He also mentioned, if those two women are not enough to give the clan a decent restart, the possibly of adding Hyuuga Hanabi, down the line when she gets older, so as to keep her close to home where her family and kin can still see her but she is only a potential if Ami and Miski do not create enough difference in the blood."
"Wouldn't it have just been easier to tell someone what you were planning?" asked Sarutobi.
"Wouldn't it have just been easier to ask me instead of throwing Ino or Sakura here at me all the freaking time?" The acid was back in his voice and there was a muttered, 'I did ask you' from someone off camera.
Sasuke replied, "Hiashi, you only ever asked me about Ino or Sakura. You were too afraid I might be looking at Hinata. I wasn't. She's your heir. You need her. You never once considered I might find being married to any of them unsuitable to my continued sanity or might actually have damn good reason why none of those girls are suitable. Nor did you ever once ask who I did have an interest in." He copiied Natsu's head tilting movement as he peered off center from Sarutobi's image. "You really should pay more attention to Hinata, you know. She could have told you what girls I was interested in. That girl of yours watches everything in the village as well as everyone and it was she who first talked to me of the possibility of Hanabi joining the household when she gets older but I won't take her with that damn seal on her head. No one outside my clan will have that kind of control over one of my wives and in exchange for a secure future for her where you can see her every day, you will work on her attitude to make sure she can fit in smoothly. Right now she's too hoity toity and that would not work but she is very young and I know it can change. She does have breeding to offer as well as the training you give your girls in social situations neither Miski nor Ami have been exposed to. While Miski will be a good Kaasan and Ami will make an excellent defender of the home Hanabi will make a good Hostess for those functions I can not get out of attending. She can also teach those skills to Miski and Ami so all three could attend the functions together."
"I will consider it, Sasuke," said Hiashi off screen. "It would be a good alternative if one is needed but you are correct about the attitude adjusting as well. Let me think about it as she grows up some."
"Acceptable. But no more talk of Ino or Sakura."
Sarutobi laughed again shaking his head as he thought what a simple solution it would have been to just treat Sasuke like a real person instead of a stud bull who couldn't talk at all. He turned to Kakashi. "And you, Kakashi. I take it you figured out what you were supposed to do as well?"
"Hai. Though, like Sasuke says, it might have been easier just to tell me months ago and let me do things my own way, you old busybody. I am perfectly capable of getting my own girl. And maybe if you'd just answered my question when I came and asked you why my senses were at war over her I could have gotten her to be herself for me without all this subterfuge."
"Maybe but you've been single a long time and I had absolutely no reason to believe you wished to change that status anytime soon. Besides, the village needs your heir as well as Sasuke's."
"Well, you're gonna wait a few more years for that then. She's only a child still regardless of what you think. Yoosei Girl needs more time for this growth spurt she swears she's gonna have someday. Besides, I don't want to lose her the way her Kaasan died." The comment showed he knew full well exactly who she was and that she wasn't likely to get a lot bigger than she already was. But it also served to tell the Hokage, the old man was not entitled to any say in their marriage since he had made such a bum rush of it. "And then there's the fact that neither of us are over the hill yet. She's only thirteen to my twenty-three. Not like we are short on time or anything you know."
"Yoosei Girl? Twenty-three?"
"Yep. She's as small and dainty as any fairy so that's what I call her. Too bad if you don't like it. I do and you gave her to me so you have no say over what I call her now. And what do you mean by marrying me off if you didn't even remember how old I was? Sheesh. Yeah. I'm twenty-three. What of it?"
"Actually I like it for her. It fits her. As for the children, I can wait a few years now that I've got you tied down. And know how young you both are," he added shame-faced at having forgotten how very young Kakashi was as well. "And you, Yoosei? Did you do what you were supposed to do?"
"Of course I did. How else do you think we got the blasted scroll open Old Man and I am sooo kicking your butt when we get home. I don't care what you thought you were doing. Kakashi-Sensei is right. You could have just asked us first. And what the hell were you thinking in telling the Inn keeper to lock us in that first night. You sooo deserve a butt kicking."
"And you would have said no," he replied calmly ignoring her comments on kicking his backside. "In fact, when I wanted you to tell him that's exactly what you said."
"That's not the same thing, Jijii, and you know it. You were asking me to just tell him I was a girl. You didn't say a word about him marrying me. Not once did you ask me about him in that way. And it's two whole different ball games, Old Man."
"Well how was I supposed to know that? If you wouldn't tell him you were a girl, how was I supposed to know whether or not you'd agree to be his wife."
"I JUST TURNED THIRTEEN for Kami Sake. Sheesh. What is it with old people anyway? Damn. Can't we just grow up a little more before you have to go marrying us off?" She looked a little sheepish as she added, "But if you'd have asked I would have told you he was the right choice IN A FEW MORE YEARS," she finished on a shout they could swear rattled the windows of the tower room.
She settled more firmly into Kakashi's chest after that outburst. He purred under her ear as she raised her hand to feel for the little necklace he now wore. A soft smile graced her face as her fingers found what they were searching for. Kakashi was looking at her as she was searching for the necklace. Somehow he had a feeling she would always search for it when she needed reassurance he cared for her. He was glad he had bought it and had the guy string it for him to wear. He might have been telling the truth when he said she was a child but living with her as she finished growing up was not going to be a chore at all.
Sarutobi had watched the interaction between them as well. He knew how fond Natsu was of lap sitting and didn't find it odd at all that the small girl had obviously already gotten her mate to agree to being her favored seat for her. He turned to where he assumed Sakura would be and was proven correct when he saw her pink hair and watery green eyes. In a kinder voice than he had used so far, he spoke to her. "All right, Sakura-chan. Your turn. Did you come to the realization we wanted you to see?"
"Hai, Hokage-sama. It took a while but when Natsu finally admitted she wasn't Naruto like I wanted, needed, her to be I really had no choice but to admit it. Now all I want is to come home and have a good cry in Kaasan's arms like I did when I was a little girl no bigger than Natsu is now. Of course I think I was maybe eight or so then." Everyone laughed as Natsu stuck her tongue out at Sakura who gave her a weak grin to show she was teasing her. "Then I'll pull myself together and find a new goal for my life. But right now. . ." She sighed sadly, tiredly. "I just want my Mom."
"Then come home. And congratulations to all of you. And Kakashi, needless to say but you ever hurt my Sunshine. . . ."
"I'll never hurt her. To do so is to hurt myself. I may be into giving pain to the enemy but I'm not so much into the receiving end of it."
They rolled the scroll up as the Hokage disappeared from view and everyone went to pack their bags for the return journey. Kakashi was wanting to stay another night but he knew Sakura really did need her mother right now and it really was unfair to make her stay any longer than necessary. So they were on the road within the hour. They traveled until the sun went down and Sasuke told Kakashi, he and Sakura would do the night watch because he was perfectly sure Kakashi wanted to be with Natsu too strongly to be able to concentrate on keeping the camp safe. He was correct so Kakashi just shrugged and nodded his acceptance of the offer.
Later that night Sakura said, "I hope we aren't going to do this for them every night, Sasuke. I mean I don't mind tonight but I don't think I can do it three nights in a row."
"I'll give you help if you need it but they need this freedom before we get back to the village and everyone freaks out when they find out Naruto never existed. Remember how you reacted and what you thought when you first saw her? And that was with the little clues you picked up that everyone else missed telling you there was something off about Naruto anyway. Now think about how Ino will act. And Sakura," He gave her a fierce look full of intent. "I expect you to help her in every way she needs help. I expect you to defend her to the other girls and protect her until she's comfortable in her own skin in the village. No matter who she joined Cell Seven as, she is still our teammate and we do not abandon our own. This counts."
"I won't let her be vulnerable. I told you, I knew before we ever left the academy. I've been helping her play the role she chose all along, Sasuke. I don't plan to stop now."
"Good but as for why we are giving them this time back to the village, it has to do with what guys want from their new wives. Sensei wouldn't claim her before she admitted she really is a girl even though he knew it all along. He knew their marriage was for real before I even suspected ours wasn't. So imagine how hard it was to lie beside her every night knowing you could have her and not taking her because she wouldn't tell you she was a real girl."
"Kami," breathed Sakura. "Sensei must be made of steel. Especially if they packed her the same kind of things they packed for me."
Sasuke tried to envision Natsu wearing some of the outfits they had packed for Sakura and he grew angry over the mere idea of her in any of that. Then he remembered what Kakashi had said when he made Sakura put her things back in her bag after her attempt to steal Natsu's little figurines. He smirked. "I don't think they did, Sakura. I honestly think they were trying to get a message through to you whereas with her, Hokage-sama just wanted her to have a strong protector so she could finally be herself. That's something she's never been able to do before."
Sakura went into their tent no longer feeling the pressure to get Sasuke to feel something for her. For the first time in years she fell asleep not wondering how to get him to notice her. She found her dreams full of how she would have felt if she knew she was a little girl but she had to hide from everyone as a little boy. She cried in her sleep for all the things Natsu should have been able to do but never could simply because she couldn't let anyone know she was a girl.
Sasuke stood his half of the night watch. He was tempted to let Sakura keep sleeping but he knew that was a bad idea so he woke her and waited until he was sure she was awake before he fell asleep. He had seen in the flickering light of their campfire their Sensei making love to Natsu and knew it had been the right choice to let the two of them have the nights to themselves. The jutsu may have blocked sound and scents but it did nothing to block images.
The next night Sasuke gave Sakura a caffeine pill explaining to her what it was and why he was giving it to her. He told her to hang onto it until she absolutely needed it because the pills were addictive if she took too many of them. But he also knew she was used to getting a full night of sleep because he knew Naruto had covered her shift more often than he hadn't. Plus, he figured she wouldn't get addicted off two of the small brown pills. Not only that but they tasted like crap. They worked but they didn't taste good enough to make anyone want to take them a second time.
They made it back to the village two days later. Kakashi knew Sasuke and Sakura were taking their time to allow him and Natsu enough alone time before the realities of their lives intruded upon them. As soon as they entered the village all of them went to report in at the tower. Sakura ran to her Mother as soon as she saw her and Kiku just smiled and opened her arms for the girl. "Kaasan," Sakura cried, with a tremulous smile clearly trying not to cry.
"Shh. It's ok now, Kura-chan. We'll go home as soon as you give Hokage-sama the report on the mission. You can tell me all about it then and I'll make it all better for you just as I used to when you were little." She rubbed Sakura's back and spoke to her in a low comforting tone holding the girl close and hiding her from everyone until she composed herself again.
And so Team Seven stepped before the Hokage to give their report on the mission. For the first time in the history of the Honeymoon Mission it was actually used for what it was named for. Kiku herself ran a discreet check on Natsu and Sakura just to be sure neither girl was pregnant and that Sakura was still a virgin while Natsu was not. She gave the Hokage a brief nod indicating all was as it should be and he relaxed. Kiku gave Natsu a shot to which the small girl gave her a dirty look while rubbing her arm. "What was that for?"
"It's a preventative to keep you from getting pregnant before you're ready to. You'll need a new one every three months. You already know that, Natsu, since Iruka has been giving it to you all along now."
Natsu's eyes had gone wide when she'd mentioned the possibility of her already being pregnant and Kiku smirked. "I couldn't have given you the shot if you were, Yoosei."
Again the tiny girl scowled. "Is everybody gonna call me that now? I'm not that small." She stamped her foot in frustration.
"Wanna bet?" smirked Sasuke, unbending enough to tease his teammate.
"I'm big enough to kick your ass, Uchiha," she growled.
"And probably the only one of our year willing to do it who could get away with it," he admitted wryly.
She tilted her head and asked, "Huh? Why is that?"
He looked at her from the top of her head to the tip of her feet before glancing back up again. Kakashi growled and pulled her to him possessively. "Well, that would be one reason," Sasuke admitted. "But then I'd probably be too distracted watching you move to pay attention to the ass kicking I was getting, too. You're every bit as capable of bending in ways that ought to be illegal as Ami is and it's just as distracting on you as it is on her."
All the adults in the room began laughing as Natsu flushed bright red and put her foot to work in kicking his butt right then and there. Kakashi, still laughing caught her and lifted her off her feet, telling her not to ask questions if she didn't want the answers to them. "But that's perverted," she protested looking up at him while pointing at Sasuke.
"No. It was truthful. You are distracting when you fight. And that is a good thing unless it's a spar and the opponent won't fight back. So Sasuke, you're gonna have to get past it. She can't help it she's a girl."
"Ok, the direction of this team has changed," Sarutobi said. "I can not in good conscious have this team with such valuable ninja as front line fighters right now so I am reassigning your duties to village security. Kakashi, you will train your team on their fighting abilities with an eye towards maintaining village security. Also you will train them to recognize the small signs that allow us to identify anyone who might be trying to sneak in or might not be who they say they are. All of you have an above average intelligence so I am also assigning each of you to the espionage department to work in the codes division."
"All of us," asked Sakura, looking at Natsu. She had never even considered the fact that just as Natsu's true sex was hidden under a henge so was her true intelligence and abilities.
"Actually Natsu was the head of your class in intelligence. She dumbed herself down as Naruto so as to make a clear distinction between her two personas," said Iruka from the back of the office.
The team was eventually dismissed and Kakashi took his wife home. She had automatically turned to head for her apartment but he'd caught her hand and steered towards his place instead. "You live with me now, remember?" She blushed but smiled happily as she fell into step alongside him. They ran into Gai on the way who of course insisted on being introduced to the lovely little girl Kakashi was taking care of nowadays.
"Gai," Kakashi sighed. "She's not a little girl I'm taking care of for a few weeks. She's my wife."
"She's your . . .what?"
"She's my wife. She's young. I will grant you that much but she's a ninja and she is my wife."
"But. . .when? Why wasn't I invited to the wedding? How could you get married without me by your side." Typical of Gai he was shouting and gesticulating wildly as he spoke and attracting quite a crowd of observers. Large tears rolled down his face over the thought of his rival getting married and not inviting him to stand as his best man. Kakashi got another clue as to what might have gotten Natsu so upset with her guardian over their marriage. She'd been denied a wedding like all little girls dream of having. He made a mental note to see if there was a away to fix that if she really did wish for a normal wedding.
"It was a quiet, surprise affair because her guardian felt we would both object to being married if given a chance to think of all the reasons not to be married at this time. Her age being the main one I can think of though my own age is also a solid reason against it right now. But it was a legal wedding with the Daimyo presiding over it and signing his consent for her to marry now."
"How old is she, Hatake?" asked Kurenai, who had been attracted along with her boyfriend, Asuma, by the noise Gai was making. "She doesn't look more than nine or ten at the most."
Natsu grumbled, "I'm not that damn small." She gave Kurenai a dirty look for the insult.
Asuma just grinned when he saw her. "Oh she's older than she looks, Kurenai-Dear," he said as Natsu said, "Hi, Uncle Asuma."
"Hi, Natsu-chan. So Pops finally found someone you didn't reject right off the bat, huh?"
She blushed but nodded. "You know I would have kept rejecting everyone until he got to the right one, Uncle."
"Hai, I know but still. . .I'm actually surprised he got to him so fast."
Natsu tilted her head and admitted. "You know, that is kind of surprising. I didn't expect him to get to Sensei for a couple more years yet. I wonder why he did?"
Asuma laughed and pointed at Kakashi who blinked in surprise. "Probably because he was sniffing around and getting under your skin so well. Pops is very smart, Natsu-chan. And most people don't get under your skin that well or easily."
Her finger rose to her lips as she thought about it. Finally she nodded. "Maybe but I still think he had help figuring it out. This is the guy who didn't know Raidou plays for his own team and I thought everyone in the village over five knew that."
Everyone laughed about that as Kurenai asked, "So I ask again who is she? I know I have never seen her before."
"She is my wife. She is Hatake Namikaze Natsu Sukai, age thirteen and a genin of the Hidden Leaf. She is also one of my genin on team seven with Haruno Sakura and Uchiha Sasuke," answered Kakashi putting his hands on her shoulders and making it very clear he claimed the relationship openly and honestly.
"Wait a minute. What happened to Uzumaki Naruto?" asked a random jounin in the crowd. "Did the Demon Brat finally get himself killed?" asked another. Gai had the guy by the throat almost before he finished the question. no one even saw the green beast moving before the loudmouth was daggling in the air with his feet sevearl feet off the ground turning purple in the face and clawing desperately at Gai's meaty hand that was crushing his airway.
Natsu answered for them, silencing both Kakashi and Asuma in an instant. "Naruto is . . .around. But because of idiots like you, he did not wish to stay in the village any more. So he is. . .away."
Kakashi didn't contradict her and neither did Asuma but both wanted to know her reasoning for the lie. Each was sure she had a good one but neither knew exactly what it was. So Kakashi led the way to his place, telling Gai to drop the idiot and when he, Natsu, Kurenai, Asuma and Gai were all inside Kakashi said, "Ok Yoosei Girl, spill it. Why did you lie to him about Naruto?"
"Because I don't want any links between Naruto and I. I am me and he was himself." She sighed as she found the figurines in her bag and brought them out. She unwrapped them and set them on the coffee table so she could play with them as she explained. Kurenai was watching every move the girl made and finding her as delightful to watch as the guys were.
Asuma was looking at the pieces carefully. "They're beautiful, Natsu-chan, but bluebells?"
"Hai. They're little bells, Uncle. They make a soothing sound when I set them in motion. He bought these for me." She pointed to Kakashi.
"Actually I bought the bluebell one and had the other one made for her," Kakashi corrected her. "But still, Yoosei Girl. Someone is going to make the connection sooner or later between you and Naruto."
"Why should they? Naruto was clearly loud and obnoxious. He was rude and very uncouth. He rarely ever thought beyond his next bowl of ramen or his next mission. I am not any of those things. Besides now maybe the village can get over itself and put the past where it belongs. The only reason they held on so long is because he was around to remind everyone of what they lost that day. But he never did anything to dredge it up himself. They did it on their own because they wanted to. Without him to focus on. . ." she let it trail off and one by one the group of jounin had to admit she had a point.
Asuma said, "Ok. I think then we tell Pops and the council her story of Naruto getting tired of dealing with shit here and taking a trip of an unknown duration. Then we forcibly back up the story to anyone we find doubting it. I think we should give it every chance of succeeding."
Kurenai said, "Just one question first. Which one was real? Are you really a little girl who pretended to be a boy or a little boy who is now pretending to be a girl?"
Natsu's tinkling laugh sounded bringing a soft look to Kakashi's face and a smile of genuine joy to Asuma's. "She's a girl, Kurenai. She always was but until Pops could find her a strong husband, and until she reached an age to marry said man, she couldn't be a girl. The villagers would have killed her in a heartbeat if she had tried to be herself or worse. So Pops made her a boy on the day she was born as he took her from her Otousan's arms. Yondaime gave her a name to use as a boy but her Kaasan named the daughter first. She was born Namikaze Natsu Sukai and I always thought the name fit her to a tee but Yoosei Girl is pretty damn good too."
"Hmph," Natsu pouted crossing her arms. "I'm not that short."
"Hai, you are," all the jounin said together. Kurenai added, "Even Hinata looks tall next to you."
"Well, someday I'll grow," she groused. Then to forget the issue she pushed the button on her music box and a smile of pure joy lit up her face. The gamin grin was matched by the clapping of her hands that Kakashi was getting used to hearing as a sparkle entered her eyes and she laughed as the tiny glass fairy danced around the glade. He brought cold beers from the refrigerator for Asuma, Gai, Kurenai and Himself and a soda for Natsu. Then he said, "I only have one question. Who taught her how to act like a girl? She was so perfect during this mission even Sasuke noticed and I swear that boy doesn't notice anything about girls if he can find a way not to."
"Koharu did. She made it her job to make sure that even though Natsu could never be seen in public anywhere she would know everything ladies needed to know so when Pops did find her a strong enough husband she could be herself without having to learn how first. She really does like that, Kakashi," said Asuma.
"Hm. She does. Every time she turns it on she claps her hands and smiles. I think I'll never get tired of watching her enjoy such a simple thing as that."
"She hasn't gotten many gifts over the years that she really likes and the few she did get usually got destroyed if she couldn't put them in her bedroom. Her bedroom was the only room where she could ever be herself and all her treasures had to be kept in there if she wanted them to stay in one piece. There were too many times villagers raided her place to teach the demon a lesson for her to ever openly display pleasure in something like this. She must trust you to have let you see she likes those two pieces this much."
The comment made Kakashi's week. He'd never really thought about things from her point of view before but he'd known she had good reason for hiding herself as soon as the Hokage told him to look at her and then look at his Sensei's portrait.
"So, my rival. Will you need someone to work with your other two genin while you and the youthful Yoosei settle in here?" boomed Gai causing Natsu to jump.
"Gai! Inside voice," snapped Kakashi. "And no. Hokage-sama has given us a week off since we just came home from a Honeymoon Mission for Sakura and Sasuke's benefit."
"A Honeymoon Mission?" questioned Kurenai.
"Hai. A Honeymoon Mission is a last ditch attempt to break a fan-girl of her obsession before it gets a team into hot water they can't get out of. It's only done when the team truly feels the girl in question is worth saving but she won't listen to anyone who tries to tell her the facts of life," explained Asuma.
"Well, it was a little more than that in our case but basically it was for that reason we did have the mission. Hokage-sama felt each of us was hiding behind a shield we needed to drop but would not drop unless he made us."
"Explain please," Kurenai requested.
"Well, it's like this. Yoosei was hiding as a boy and driving me nuts. My eyes told me she was a boy but my nose was telling me she was a girl. Her actions were just as divided as was her voice. No matter how hard I looked I couldn't figure out if she was a girl or a boy and she wouldn't tell me at all. I was ignoring the other two to try and catch her out but she was just as good in her mask as I am at hunting. We were getting nowhere and I at least was having a lot of fun getting there." He grinned as she made a face.
Gai and Asuma smiled, "We know." Asuma added, "You were trailing Naruto all over the village. And every time he'd get angry and tell you to go to hell and what to do while you were there, you'd just laugh and ask if you could take him with you. Everyone in the village knew you were having fun. I think you even gave up on your books while you were playing with Naruto."
Kakashi thought about that. He blinked in surprise. "You know, I think I did. I know I didn't pack any for this last mission and I didn't even miss them."
Kurenai said, "Anyway, on with the explanation of why your team needed a Honeymoon Mission."
"Oh yeah. Well, Sakura was so into her fantasies she wouldn't hear any talk of how she wasn't right for Sasuke or how she needed to go train. She wouldn't do any mission that might have her getting sweaty or soiled in any way so that Sasuke would not be disgusted with her smell or appearance. Nor would she do anything but sit and watch him as he did his kata and exercises."
"Then there was Sasuke, himself. He also would not do any mission he felt was beneath him and he would not acknowledge his duty to the village in naming a girl he was interested in. That, as it turns out, was more because no one actually asked him who he was interested in than anything else but it also had a lot to do with the mob that chases him everywhere he goes. He wouldn't single out a girl because he didn't want his fan-girls to target her. He actually already had two girls picked out and had spoken to each of them to see how they felt about the idea. My understanding is that in a couple years he will marry both of them at the same time."
"So Hokage-sama set us up. He wanted Yoosei Girl married to me before I could object or she could, which I have to admit we both would have. She because she is only thirteen and doesn't believe she should have had to marry yet and me because we are both too young. But I also like to do my own chasing, not have them handed to me on a platter. But he had his reasons and I find I do not object now. He and the Daimyo both. Actually I haven't objected from the moment I found out it wasn't a mock marriage at all and I found that out once I settled the issue of her identity in my mind and unravelled the seal on the scroll he handed me. By the time I woke her for her first watch shift I was pretty comfortable with the idea of being her husband. Our second day leaping through the trees I was wishing it wasn't a mock marriage at all. And by the time we discovered I couldn't open the scroll at the hotel, I knew it wasn't a mock marriage at all. I still denied it for a day or two but once I unravelled that seal I knew who she was to me and admitted that though Kickball with a Hokage ball sounds like a good new hobby for up and coming shinobi, I really don't mind."
"Sasuke figured out what he was supposed to do pretty dang quickly but she's stubborn. She knew what she was supposed to do and not only would she not do her part, she wouldn't tell me my part either because my part revolved around her. She transcribed the seal for us and the seal said what we were each there to do. She wrote out Sasuke's part and then Sakura's. Then she wrote out mine and when she realize what she'd written, she scratched it out and wrote something new I know damn well Hokage-sama did not include in the seal. Then she denied her name was on there at all. All she'd say about the mission was she was gonna kick Jijii's butt when we got home."
Asuma laughed. Kurenai was smirking and Gai was confused. Kakashi walked over and sat down in the chair behind Natsu. Without thinking about it he reached for her and she climbed into his lap keeping her eyes on her music box fairy as she leaned her head on his chest where she could hear his heart beating. For Gai's benefit, Kakashi said, "I was supposed to claim her, Gai. To commit myself to her and only her. But to do that I had to get her to admit she was the real deal and she wouldn't admit any such thing."
"But Sasuke had also figured out she was really a girl and while he was working on getting Sakura to admit it, I was courting Natsu. Then the night I got her this piece, Sakura stole it from her because if I was going to buy her things then I should also buy things for Sasuke and Sakura. Since I hadn't, Natsu shouldn't get to keep such nice pieces as those. I wasn't as nice as I should have been about getting them back for Natsu but I also didn't care. That fairy in the moonglade is Natsu. It isn't anyone else and I was damned if some spiteful little girl was going to keep it and possibly break it just because her fantasy wasn't working out for her." All three of the jounin took a closer look at the small glass fairy, who wasn't dancing anymore, and realized it was Natsu.
"Holy. . .no wonder she likes it so much," said Asuma. "The guy who made this. . .he's really good."
"That's the second casting he made of her with fairy wings. I have the first one on a chain I wear."
"Show us," said Asuma as Kurenai and Gai both nodded. Natsu had fallen asleep. So carefully, trying not to wake her, he pulled the little fairy out from under his vest. "It's been a long day since we shut up camp at sunrise to make it home today. Sakura really wanted her mom so we didn't dawdle on the way back. We actually traveled as fast as we could for as long as we had light to see by." The small lie didn't bother him at all. He wanted them to go so he could put his wife to bed without their supervision.
Asuma laughed and said, "So in other words you're saying leave now so I can put my wife to bed and get some sleep myself."
Kakashi grinned and nodded. The other jounin all left and Kakashi carried Natsu to their room. He took off her shoes and outerwear before getting her pack from the other room. Then he pulled his favorite of her nightgowns over her head and stripped himself down before crawling in beside her. Just as she had every night for the past couple of weeks she curled into his side and he fell asleep cuddling her.