AN: Sorry this took so long to update, for some reason for several days this site is not allowing most authors to update in several fandoms, Naruto being one of them. I'd like to thank Scribe of the Apocalypse for helping me to get around the issues. For those that want to update, when you click on edit and get the error message, change the word 'properties' in the URL to 'content' and try again, this will get you to the update screen. I have no idea how long this will take to be fixed but now at last I have a way around it.

Love Song

Chapter 10: Girl Time

Sakura was looking forward to today, ever since Kakashi had told her that Hanare would look after her for a month while everyone else was training for their future fights. She was envious that Sasuke and Naruto both were going into the next round. She was proud of her own fight with Ino but she still would have liked to have won. At least she wasn't going to fall behind the boys, plus without her team around, she didn't know what to do. You could only train so much and she hadn't realized just how lonely things were when she was on her own.

She had gotten so used to being with her team nearly every day that she felt she took it for granted that they were always there. She ran a hand through her now shorter hair, she did kind of miss the longer hair but at least now her hair was cut by a professional and not from her own kunai. Her injuries had healed up nicely, although she still ached in a few places. But she would be spending time with Hanare, which perked her up. She really didn't have any female ninja to look up to around the village, or at least know any personally.

She was so excited, she was wondering what kind of things she would learn in this month? She wanted to show both Sasuke and Naruto that she had grown stronger as well. She smiled a little to herself, things had been changing for all of them since they started this exam. They had all faced such hardships but pulled through. Two things had really changed, Sasuke she was a bit worried about. Whatever had been done to him was actually kind of scary. The way he was when he woke up, although she didn't want to admit it, had scared her a bit. He was acting so secretive about it as well.

Naruto was a major surprise for her, she had never known that Naruto could be so strong as he had shown. Although she was worried for his next match, seeing him lately had made her start to rethink that maybe he wasn't still the 'dead last' of their class anymore. He could have never beaten Kiba while in the academy but he had pulled a victory. She was surprised how she actually had pride that he had won.

But now it was her turn, she was going to work hard so she wouldn't be a burden to them in the future.

Sakura got to the training area and saw that Hanare was already there and in her ninja uniform as well. Sakura ran up to her eager to get started. "Hanare-san!"

"Ah Sakura-chan, glad to see you on time," Hanare smiled not knowing the irony of what she was saying, given that it was always Kakashi that was late for his students. "What happened to your hair?"

"Oh, uh...I just thought I needed a change," Sakura said as her hand went up to feel the shorter cut. "I mean this way no one can grab at it."

Hanare nodded, "I can understand that, I have to keep my hair tied up or else it will get in the way. I would have cut it but you'd be surprised how many times having long hair you can style differently can help with a disguise. But I think that hair suits you." Hanare could see the girl was a little self-conscious of her new look but in all honestly it wasn't bad.

"Thanks," Sakura felt better hearing that from her. "So what kind of training will I be doing?" Sakura asked eagerly.

Hanare had thought long had hard and had come up with a good solution. She passed the girl a backpack, one that was weighed down slightly. She saw the girl's surprise as how much heavier it looked. "First off we need to get your physical body up to standard. You need more stamina and more chakra. Not only that but we'll need to get you on a better diet."

"Diet? But I already am on one." Sakura said confused.

Hanare blinked before she figured out the meaning. "You don't mean the kind that are for losing weight do you?" Sakura nodded her head and suddenly Hanare could see how this could have hampered Sakura's training. "Well from now on you will drop those, they are fine for civilians but for ninja those kinds of diets can get you killed."

"What!"

Hanare crossed her arms getting serious, "You have to understand that those make a person tired and low on energy at times. In a fight if you are already tired you'll easily be killed. Not only that but you deny your body the food it needs at times. Why do you feel you need one of those types of diets anyway?"

Sakura grew a little embarrassed. "Well...I...I just wanted to look better. I mean, don't boys like slim girls?"

"Well that depends on the boy," Hanare said remembering her own classes in how to seduce if she needed to. "But at any rate if you work hard as a ninja you don't need one of those. You burn off more calories training hard than on any diet. Plus it will keep you healthier and most important keep you alive."

"Is that how you got to look so good?" Sakura blushed a bit asking about that.

Hanare's serious side faltered slightly, "Well I do work out and train a lot, but it's mainly to keep myself in top condition...anyways, put that on. You'll be wearing that for jogs we go on, after you'll eat what I tell you and you will eat all of it. Then we'll work on chakra, tell me do you know how to water walk yet?"

Sakura shook her head.

"Okay we'll work on that and use that to help get you to use more chakra. Chakra is like any muscle the more you use it the stronger it can become." Hanare continued. "When you're done with that, I'll teach you my combat skills."

"Really? I wasn't sure what kind of skill you had, Hanare-san, I mean I never really got to see you fight."

Hanare smiled at her, "Well as a spy and infiltrator I only fight when I need to. But when I do, I'm great at close quarters, hand to hand and ninja tools. I know a few jutsus but we don't have time for that, I don't think. So we'll get your fighting abilities up and Kakashi can take it from there after a month."

"So then, are you ready?" Hanare asked as Sakura quickly got the backpack on. She nodded her head as she started a slight jog as Sakura matched her pace.

-A Week Later-

Sakura panted as the sweat was rolling off her, she was in her fighting stance against Hanare as the older woman was only breathing slightly harder than normal. Sakura had lost track of time in the sparring but she wasn't ready to quit just yet. She still felt that she could push herself just a little bit more. Waiting for the right moment, she launched herself at Hanare.

Hanare was pleased with the progress that Sakura was making, she still had a way to go but they still had the rest of the month to work on things. Sakura's stamina was slowly improving but her hand to hand was getting much better. Hanare easily blocked Sakura's movements, as she was still much faster than the pinkette. Still, in even a week the girl was picking things up quickly. Apparently she had a way to quickly memorize information Hanare suspected that Sakura might had a photographic memory or at least one close to it.

Another thing as the girl's amazing ability with chakra control, she had learned to water walk in under ten minutes. It had taken Hanare a full day to learn how to do that, chakra control was obviously this girl's gift. She could be an excellent student for genjutsu or other arts that required subtle chakra control.

Sakura lashed out with her fist, Hanare easily deflected it with her forearm and with her other hand, used it to take control of the momentum, forcing the girl to keep going. Sakura however remembered her lessons and used her increased momentum instead of fighting against it. She continued to spin as her left leg came up in a sweeping kick to Hanare's ribs. The woman was faster as she managed to catch it.

But Sakura's spin didn't stop, she lost some of the momentum but kicking off with her free foot she spun more, now her free foot went to the side of Hanare's head.

Hanare smiled, the girl learned fast alright. Hanare leaned her head back to narrowly miss the foot and threw the foot she was holding away. Sakura found herself tumbling but rolled with it and jumped up into a guard. Although she was slightly dizzy from all the spinning.

Sakura took a moment before she fell to her knee as she was panting hard now. She was totally out of strength but she was certain that she was able to hold out longer this time. She felt a sense of pride that she was slowly getting better. Hanare walked over to her and offered her a hand, the young genin took it as she was helped up.

Hanare smiled down at her, "You've done well Sakura-chan."

"Thank you, it's all because of you Hanare-san," Sakura smiled back.

Hanare had never really trained anyone before, she liked the feeling. Helping someone grow as a person was very rewarding and the time they spent together was also fun. Maybe one day she too could have her own genin team? It would certainly be exciting to see if she could do it, although mainly jonin were picked, special jonin could also take a team if they made a request and were approved.

But that was for later, she wanted to get some experience first and also training Sakura would help her see if she could one day train her own team. The girl was really pushing herself, although maybe it was time to relax for the rest of the day. Her body could use the time to recover, plus she was thinking of trying something out. She had only heard that the village had them but hadn't tried them yet, now was the perfect time.

"Well since you've been doing so well, I think it's time for a treat," Hanare told her and she led the way.

"Oh?"

"Yes, just wait and see."

It didn't take long and Sakura soon found herself outside the Konoha hot springs. She hadn't been there in a long time plus given the aches and pains she got from training, she couldn't wait to just sink into that hot water to sooth her body. Hanare paid for the both of them as they went to the woman's change rooms, placing their old clothing in the baskets they slipped on the towels and went to the door way.

Although when they got outside they soon found that they weren't the only ones there.

"I think you've had enough." A familiar woman's voice said. "We came here to relax."

"Yeah well until that snake bastard is found I'm not sure I can relax," another female's voice said.

Hanare knew those voices as she looked to see both of her friends there. "Anko, Kurenai?"

Both women looked up, Anko had a slight blush on her face from the mixture of alcohol and the heat of the open air hot springs. She waved over the woman, "Hey, it's Hanare, plus...I think I know the girl, oh yeah you were with the loud mouthed little brat of Kakashi's right?"

Sakura just nodded, she was surprised that Hanare knew Anko, that woman from the exams was kind of creepy with the whole cutting Naruto's face and then licking up the blood. Although Anko did seem a bit more relaxed than at the forest of death at least.

Hanare and Sakura got into the water together as Hanare asked them what was going on.

"Bastard is back and I couldn't do crap is what," Anko muttered before taking a sip of her sake bottle. "All this time and I couldn't do anything but get my butt kicked." She sighed who actually seemed depressed over it.

"Huh? I don't understand," Hanare asked Kurenai as she was more sober.

Kurenai looked to Sakura at first, "You ran into Orochimaru in the woods correct?" Sakura nodded her head. Kurenai sighed and looked to Anko.

"Ah go ahead, mainly everyone in the village knows my story anyway might as well let them in on it." Anko waved it off as she sat back in the warm water.

Kurenai went on to explain how Anko was once Orochimaru's student back when she was a genin. She had looked up to him, like many had, but then one day she was asked to travel with him. Anko didn't remember much, in fact much of her memories that dealt with Orochimaru were taken from her. Hanare listened on in horror as Kurenai told how Anko had been found wondering and lost and nearly starving.

Hanare looked at her friend in sympathy, "I'm so sorry that happened."

Anko shrugged it off, "It's okay not like you had anything to do with it. I just wanted to finally pay him back but I couldn't even touch him." She reached up to rub the curse seal on her neck. That stupid thing had cost her the fight, with it still on her she might never be able to face him.

"Well I'm glad that you survived," Hanare told her honestly. "You're one of my only friends here and I wouldn't want to lose a friend."

Anko looked to see that Hanare was being honest and just had to give a small smile. It did feel nice that she had friends she could turn to at least. "Ah screw it, I can be depressed later. So," she stated with an evil glint in her eye. "I heard that Kakashi was taking the Uchiha boy out to train for the entire month. Must be lonely at night without him huh?"

Hanare sighed as she sunk down a bit. "Yes, it does get a bit lonely." Of course she meant that she missed seeing him. The others, well they took it to mean what Anko was trying to elude to. Mainly that she was lonely in bed.

Anko burst out laughing as Kurenai and Sakura had at least the decently to blush.

"You and Kakashi seem very close," Anko said as she got hold of herself.

Hanare smiled as she looked down at the water feeling her face heat up a little. "Well we do live together so it stands to reason that we get along."

Kurenai decided to spare Hanare a little and looked to Sakura, "So, Sakura wasn't it? What are you doing with Hanare?"

"Oh, well she's training me during the month so I don't fall behind my teammates," Sakura said to the older woman.

Kurenai nodded in approval, "that's good. Most of my own are doing the same. Shino and Kiba are training with their family, the only one that isn't is Hinata as she's still recovering."

"I can't believe that Neji went that far," Sakura said remembering how bad Hinata was hurt in that fight. "Naruto has to fight him next..."

"I'm sure that Naruto-kun will do well," Hanare told her seeing her worry. "He has a tendency to be very surprising."

"Not to mention loud and that big mouth of his will land him into trouble," Anko chuckled. "But it's very funny how he easily gets freaked out over the little things."

Sakura sweat dropped at what this woman thought of as 'little things', but she didn't want to comment on it. Soon the adults got to talking as she just sat there to relax. Already she felt her muscles feel better in the warm water. Although as she started to look at the three women she couldn't help but start to feel a little inadequate in comparison to them, they were all adult women but all of them were beautiful.

She already knew that Hanare was beautiful, looking at Kurenai she could see how her main of dark hair and red eyes could be alluring, Anko had a very sexy look to her. Looking down at her own body she felt self conscious as she slowly sunk down to her mouth moaning out to herself. She just couldn't compare, and she was wondering if she could ever look that good.

"Say what's with the depressed look there kid?" Anko asked seeing Sakura sink down.

"Uh, it's nothing," Sakura said quickly.

Anko stared at her as Sakura got a little worried. Anko broke out into a grin, "What's the matter? Boy issues or something?"

Sakura blushed brightly as Anko's grin got even wider.

"Ah so you got that kind of problem," Anko sat back, "Well you're still young so I say don't let it worry you. You got a whole future ahead of you after all so why worry about that now?"

"Do you have lots of experience in this?" Sakura asked honestly, hoping that maybe she could get some pointers from them. "I mean, you are all adults right so all of you must have had boyfriends before right?"

All three women suddenly got slightly depressed; Hanare although living with a man she liked, had never really had a boyfriend. Anko had never had a serious relationship and the same with Kurenai, in fact she was even less experience than Anko. Anko was the first to break out of it, "Well we know some things about guys but you should focus more on yourself first."

"That's right," Kurenai spoke up. "Besides why are asking exactly?"

"Well...there's a boy that I like but he doesn't seem me as more than a teammate," Sakura said shyly.

Anko barked out a laugh, "Well no use asking Kurenai about that, she's still too chicken to confess to the guy she likes."

"Anko!" Kurenai yelled out blushing from embarrassment.

"What? It's true." Anko said taking another drink.

"Oh? If you like someone then what's the problem?" Hanare asked although she was secretly wondering if it was the same problem she had. That she didn't want to ruin the friendship she had with Kakashi in case he didn't feel the same way about her. Maybe she could gain some insight into her own problem by listening to Kurenai.

"She wouldn't have any if she used her sex appeal, right Hanare?" Anko winked at her.

"What do you mean by that?" Hanare asked.

"Well what I mean is something like...these!" she quickly moved as her hands wrapped around the woman and started to fondle her breasts. "Oh yeah, perky and full, damn I think you're slightly bigger than me too. Any man that got his hands on these babies would be yours." She laughed and then noticed Sakura sinking back into the water again.

"Oops...well I'm sure you'll grow into them kid, you're still young yet," Anko said trying to not worry the girl.

"I think you've had enough," Kurenai said as she took the sake bottle from where Anko had rested it. This resulted in Anko letting go to try and take it back. Leaving Hanare to sink her chest below the level, not wanting to get groped again like that.

Later that night Hanare was back in the apartment, she felt refreshed from after the hot spring but being alone in the apartment wasn't very enjoyable. She sighed as she was in bed, the clear night sky was outside the window, she could see a full moon and its light the clouds that were out there. She turned to her side as she watched the scene out there. She wondered if Kakashi was looking at the same sight.

She sighed as she rolled to her back, she missed him. The end of this month couldn't get there fast enough. She felt the shirt she had used from Kakashi from the start of sleeping here against her. It had lost its smell of him and now smelt more like her from wearing it for so long. Still, it helped to remind her of him.

In a deserted part of the village, on the top of a small mountain were Kakashi and Sasuke. The genin had fallen asleep hours ago but Kakashi was still up. He was on his sleeping bag looking up at the sky. The training was going well, Sasuke was improving and might actually pull this off. But his mind wasn't on Sasuke at the moment. He found that he was really missing his home, or maybe it was someone in his home.

He hadn't noticed that he really looked forward to going home how and seeing her there, or maybe he was taking it for granted now. He stared at the moon as he thought about her. It was only in these times that he was left to his own thoughts that he could really think about her. She was a friend that was sure, but there was that nagging feeling inside of him. That she might be more than just a friend. He found that he missed her smile, her presence, the music she liked to play and sing. The warm and calming presence she gave and her love for her life in the village.

He also missed her food, living on field rations after eating her food seemed more like a punishment now.

Kakashi sighed as he tried to get comfortable. Well only two weeks left at least, he was sure that Sasuke would be ready but he wasn't going to take any chances. Plus he could use the time to try and sort out his feelings. It was truth that Hanare was unlike any woman he had ever known. But what did he really feel for her? Was this just physical attraction? Sure she was beautiful but was it just that, was that the reason he felt something or was it something deeper?

Kakashi had never been one to say he had been in love before, oh sure he read about it, heard about it from his friends and colleagues but in all honesty, he didn't know what it felt like. For so long he had felt alone that it was just natural to him. Now with Hanare, that was changing, his life felt a bit more full with her in it.

Pulling his headband over both eyes he resolved to get some sleep, they had an early day tomorrow and thinking about this would only keep him up. Still, he couldn't help but think what she was doing now.

Next up chapter 11: Day of the Finals

I felt a bit off about this chapter but don't worry, action and even a hint of romance will be in the next one.