Author's Notes: And now for the next story. Same rules apply, please leave whichever chapter you prefer in the reviews section and I will tally the votes in the coming year to continue on with whichever chapter is picked.

Manipulator

"You're the best, sensei," Naruto crooned, falling short of swinging out of Kakashi's arm when the man smoothly dodged out of the way of the bounding teenager, "seriously, I mean, you're totally awesome. Isn't he Sakura-chan?"

He had long since drowned the teen out after the first ear-splitting screech when he asked his student if he wanted something to eat. Years spent by the blonde's side hardened him to such things.

The medic however, still refused to accept Naruto's loud personality and promptly slapped him upside the back of the head, "Will you keep it down? I've spent the whole day in the hospital nursing the wounded and all you can think about is RAMEN?"

Kakashi, still not used to the more feminine hollering, audibly winced.

"But yeah, thanks Kakashi-sensei, I missed my lunch break," she quietened down considerably and smiled, the huge lump on the blonde's head pulsating from her mighty blow.

In short, Kakashi thought they deserved a break after everything. Konoha was still in total devastation; both he and Naruto had spent the last six and a half hours on the building sites trying to re-construct what was once their beloved village and Sakura had been in the hospital since the wee hours of the morning.

It was mid-afternoon, hot, already three months into Danzo's reign as the new Hokage and everyone was still wondering when things would return to normality. Sakura's stress levels reached an all-time high when she finally realised that it would be a long time before her beloved Master would make a recovery and in that sense; Kakashi was a little worried about the kunoichi's mental health.

She was a strong girl, but he had seen her break down before and the last thing he wanted was that happening again, not when she seemed so together.

And then there was Naruto; the boy with more shit on his plate than anyone he had ever met. Buying them lunch was a mere break from the harsh reality they were all facing.

Everyone had been reduced to living in tents outside the village while the re-construction was going on. The civilians were the first to receive immediate housing, but the majority of Chuunin and Jounin were still homeless, not to mention on important missions. Those who weren't away worked day and night building and tending to the weak.

Despite all that, Naruto seemed his usual, peppy self, bouncing around like a maniac and cracking filthy jokes he could have only learned from his late sensei. Something about his sunny attitude, regardless if he was wearing it as a mask or not, was slightly refreshing.

They dodged a group of men carrying timber and continued on their way through the chaos to find Teuchi's makeshift stand he was sharing with Oeyo-baachan, who owned a tea-house chain through Konoha. They had both greatly slashed their prices to suit the people who had so little money, much to Naruto's delight and Ayame-chan worked her fingers to the bone to get as many people fed as she could.

Builders, construction workers from all over the country and tradesmen regularly ate at Teuchi's tent, and this day was no exception.

The smell of fresh tea, soup and good food filtered out from the tent and hung in the air, reminding Kakashi of just how hungry he was, and some smell of foreign perfume he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Sakura, obviously just feeling her hunger hit her at that moment too, pushed back the canvas of the tent while clutching her stomach and walked inside, Naruto and Kakashi following after her. Unfortunately, the canvas fell back before the Copy-Ninja entered, so Naruto stopped and Kakashi slammed straight into the boy as he pushed it back to enter.

Stumbling slightly and glaring in an offended manner at the orange lump in front, he grew a little worried when his student made no effort to apologise, or even acknowledge that Kakashi had just butted him full-force in the thighs with his knees. The teen stayed motionless, mouth agape, arms slack and feet frozen to the dirt below. The Copy-Ninja followed his line of sight around the interior of the small tent, over the counter where Teuchi was cooking to a row of free seats to-

- Quite possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

She was at the corner of the counter, eyes fixed on the leaves swirling about in her tea held between two elegant, long fingered hands, the steam only slightly obscuring her beautifully defined features. A sharp nose, pale pouty lips curled in a contemplative smile and white eyebrows hugged her brow in high arches. Her hair, a shockingly stark white was held up in an elaborate hairstyle, even brighter in contrast to her already porcelain skin.

If he could guess, by the rich, evening blue silk kimono she was wearing, the light powder of makeup on her face and the golden embroidery on the end of her clothing, she was either incredibly wealthy or very important.

The woman stood out in such a contrast to everyone surrounding it was hard not to look at her. Everyone else seemed to fade away into the background until it was just her sitting at the counter, tea in hand with a light smile and glittering hair styled to perfection wafting such a sweet fragrance-

And the tent was unbearably quiet. Grubby builders shifted uncomfortably, eyes darting to the woman before looking away fiercely. Kakashi rolled his eyes and urged Naruto forwards with two fingers into the small of his back.

"… Hello? What's wrong with you?" Sakura had been punching the teen in the arm for quite some time now, but he had been so fixated on the view that he hadn't even noticed.

It seemed that some of the men were quite offended, by the look of it. They blamed the foreigner for making them look filthy in contrast to her cleanliness, shifted awkwardly as though they felt they had to be quiet, composed, grumbled at the filth caked into their skin and hair. They seemed to think she was judging them.

Kakashi was not so easily intimidated.

Naruto, still a little dazed, sat himself next to Sakura and ordered, and the Copy-Ninja, realising the only seat left in the entire tent was right next to her, slumped wearily onto the seat with his arms folded on the counter, famished.

He could… feel her eyes glancing up at him curiously before looking back down into her tea with half interest. Naruto ordered for them and shifted uncomfortably on his stool, glancing across at the woman every so often. The kunoichi too, seemed interested if only mildly in comparison to her teammate, and possibly only out of sheer curiosity.

Kakashi was suddenly very aware of the absolute filth caked onto every inch of him; he had been helping with the reconstruction and was covered from head to foot in grime, dust, mud, bits of plaster and wood chippings. His hair was a matted, dirt-encrusted mess; the sun burned his shoulders and forearms until they were raw and scarlet red and on top of that, he stank of sweat and labour.

Not that it usually mattered to him, but there was something about the woman's presence that felt like you had to be at your best around her.

A cup of coffee was placed in front of him, and Kakashi knew he was just being foolish as he picked it up robotically, letting the warmth spread over his hands. She obviously didn't care about the state anyone was in, and why he was even worried about it was ridiculous. But he still couldn't shake the feeling of being ever so slightly judged, and while he did try to stamp the feeling down, reminding himself that it honestly didn't matter, it stayed firmly where it was.

Though that feeling of her eyes sweeping over him again sent a shiver down his spine; he turned his head to look at her questioningly and she met his gaze without a single hesitation. They stayed like that for some time, assessing each other's threat value, and gradually she shied her gaze away to the side, before uttering;

"Have we met?"

If he hadn't have seen her mouth move, he would have been sure she hadn't spoken at all. Kakashi scowled, not re-calling ever seeing this woman before. Wracking his brain to try to conjure up the image, he stayed silent for a few moments, searching through some drunken memories he had perhaps overlooked, silently praying she wasn't one of his one-night stands-

If she was, for the life of him he couldn't remember her name. And that was just embarrassing.

"I don't recall," he answered curtly, sipping his coffee and taking note of how her mouth twisted slightly into a frown.

"Hmm, you seem familiar," she said, her voice low and her diction sophisticated; she looked up with inky blue eyes through shockingly white lashes, "would you tell me your name?"

Kakashi wasn't the type of man to carelessly give information away to a total stranger, especially not a foreigner who could just as easily become an enemy the next day and to the Copy-Ninja, his name was very important. The information she could access on him was limitless and just for his name alone; it could easily give her the advantage.

But… that was a very hard face to say no to. Ninja or not, he was still very much a man and she was very much a woman. An incredibly attractive woman with a straight posture and a breathy, intelligent tone and eyes that said butter wouldn't even melt in her mouth. While the question in itself seemed perfectly harmless and her demeanour was relaxed, without hostility, it could be a well placed cover. Torn between the two, Kakashi didn't really know how to answer her. She waited patiently, smiling prettily, one long manicured nail running along the rim of her cup.

Naruto, unfortunately, took his sensei's silence as being rendered speechless and instantly snapped from his daze to elbow the older man in the ribs with an evil grin, muttering; "Go on Kakashi-sensei, the pretty lady wants to know your name. Aren't you going to tell her? What's the matter, Kakashi-sensei, don't tell me you never spoke to a lady befo-"

Luckily he still had enough wits in him to grab the boy by the back of the head and ram him face-first into the counter, hence ceasing his bluster of teasing painfully. Sakura let out a snort of laughter. The woman's smile grew in amusement, a finely arched brow dipping slightly when she shook her head.

"So, Kakashi then," she nodded curtly in greeting, "it seems I do know you."

"Oh really," he asked suspiciously, raising a brow.

"Indeed," he voice had grown bolder, the tone musical, "I doubt there is a village around who hasn't heard of Hatake Kakashi."

The back handed compliment didn't go unnoticed; relating to his… infamy on the battlefield while still acknowledging the fact that he was indeed widely known around the ninja world. But if her look was anything to go on, her chakra signature that was almost undetectable and the flawless, perfect skin on her arms, neck and face; she was no ninja.

Kakashi deduced she was a dignitary, and judging by the three and a half foot sword resting against her hip; a dignitary who could defend herself. If he could locate her guards (and he was sure that someone with political importance would have her own guards) he would have a better advantage should something arise.

"As I can see by your attire, you have been helping with the reconstruction all day, yes?" She asked, looking pointedly at the stains and dirt on their clothes; Kakashi resisted the urge to cover them up in embarrassment.

"Not me," Sakura piped up just as a bowl of dumplings was placed in front of her, "I'm a medic, I've been in the hospital since this morning."

"Truly? That's very good of you, to help the wounded. I hope they pay you well."

Sakura blushed and scratched the back of her head, taken in by the woman's charm; "Well… it's voluntary for the moment. I only get paid for certain missions, but I'm learning a lot so it's worth it, I think."

"Yeah, Sakura-chan is totally amazing at healing; she's even training under the Hokage," Naruto managed to choke out between his furious noodle eating. The kunoichi blushed harder under the flurry of compliments.

"I'm impressed," the swordswoman turned to the blonde, "and I presume by your appetite you too, have been working hard all day?"

"Yeah, well… you know," Kakashi took note of the teen's face reddening madly, "it's not easy. There's, like, sooo much stuff we have to rebuild. Like today, me and Kakashi-sensei helped the construction guys carry the timber over to the plot. Oh, and I learned how to plaster a wall and I nearly killed myself trying to help with the copper piping and…"

The Copy-Ninja soon drowned him out, watching the woman as she listened politely to Naruto's grammatically incorrect spiel of how much work the two of them completed over the course of the day. Despite how much the blonde joked around and played pranks, how clumsy he could truly be and impatient he got, he worked his fingers to the bone the past few weeks. Naruto loved Konoha and everyone in it, and helping rebuild his once beloved home was just a small part of the much bigger deeds he had done to help it, protect it.

But the only thing that bugged him was, despite the politeness, the woman sure asked a lot of questions. He narrowed his eye when she chuckled at something the teen said.

"And you," she turned to him some seconds after Naruto went back to his ramen, "you are their sensei?"

Kakashi nodded.

"… I hope you're proud of them."

Completely taken aback by the statement, he only barely noticed another man entering the tent before he was standing beside the white-haired woman, bowing to her respectfully and apologising for interrupting them.

"Please excuse me," he ground out from, as Kakashi noticed by the wide, puckered scars across his neck; a damaged trachea. The man was nothing but complete and utter muscle. He was huge, not just broad, but tall with arms as thick as tree trunks and a barrelling chest half-hidden underneath a frayed haori. Wild, thick black hair was bound in an angry tuft at the back of his head with stubble to match, broken in places along his jaw where the scars marred his skin. His right eye was missing; in its place was a giant X shaped scar, whitened by time.

The man wore his sword arm in his sleeve, typical of most Ronin samurai, the other arm and corresponding side of his massive chest was bare, his shoulders covered in broken armour. He looked like he just stepped out of a battle.

And if Kakashi hadn't been looking directly at him, he would have sworn he wasn't there at all. There was no chakra signature, even at such a close proximity to the man, he couldn't sense a thing.

The Copy-Ninja's knuckles went white against the counter.

"He's ready for you now," he rumbled to the dignitary, holding out a hand to help her as she stepped gracefully off the stool.

"Thank you," she said offhandedly, turning to face Kakashi with those unreadable, inky-blue eyes, "please accept my apologies to cut this short, but I have something to attend to... I hope we meet again."

… I hope you're proud of them.

"See-ya, onii-chan!" Naruto waved at her as she left, the men in the tent breathing a simultaneous sight of relief as she made her exit.

Every day, he thought, every hour, every single minute I'm proud of them.

It's been hard, the past few years. And not just on Naruto, on all of us. I'm not the type to get close to people, especially not ninja who could so easily be killed the next day, but I can't help but feel that I would miss this – as weird as it seems – brotherly feeling I get from teaching them.

I think, after everything, you could definitely call me proud.

Despite how much he didn't want to admit it, the woman struck a chord with him. And while a little part of him couldn't care less, the rest of him was hoping they didn't have to meet again, because she seemed to get straight to personal terms with him in a few short sentences and Kakashi didn't trust people like that.

It was a clear sign of a manipulator.

While that fact became apparent, he realised; he never asked for her name in return.

Summary: This story will definetly earn it's M rating because the main point of it is that the OC in question is very hard to resist for Kakashi. She spends the majority of her time manipulating him into staying with her while he plots escaping.

The bulk of it takes place in The Land of Ore, a peaceful nation run by my OC, who enjoys toying with Kakashi in order to try to make him forget that she actually kidnapped him. The main points deal with sex and desire, whether or not to give in, the fight-with-ones-libido and so on. While their relationship is a very strained one, alot of the time Kakashi finds himself giving in to her and slowly, it drives him over the edge until he doesn't quite know what he feels anymore. I also like to touch on the etiquette of politics and social grace, self-awarness and low self-esteem issues.

She's not very powerful other than being very intelligent and when faced with someone physically stronger she's very weak and pitiful; I will delve further into that if the story eventually progresses. Honestly, this story, in my opinion, has the most potential plot-wise because it's mainly about Kakashi's descent into madness. However, it's probably the least emotional of the three.