Time for another update. ENJOY!

The morning dew was still sparkling on the green trees in the morning sunlight while two figures kept jumping from one tree branch to the other. They were moving silently, both concentrating on the next jump and their surroundings. The taller person signaled for a stop just after the last drops of moisture evaporated into the air, dried by the warm morning sun.

Jumping down to the base of the trees the taller ninja started rummaging through his small backpack and produced a small bento box filled with onigiri and a flask of water.

"No soup? No fruits and no tea?" The smaller ninja whined in disappointment at the lack of variety of today's breakfast.

"Sakura." Kakashi said with a warning in his voice.

"What?"She snapped back at him. "If you're not going to tell where we are going you could at least let me have a normal breakfast in the ryokan."

Kakashi just extended the hand holding the bento box up to pouting Sakura, waiting for her to take some to eat. Some things just never change; she used to be so grumpy as a child when she was denied something.

"Sakura, just eat something. I told you I will explain on the way."

"So? We are on the way, aren't we?" Sakura took the box from him and started eating the small rice balls.

Kakashi rolled his one visible eye at her childish behavior. He would have told her an hour ago if she wasn't so insistent to pry it out of him. He was keeping silent now just to see her get more riled up. I almost forgot how easy was to push her buttons. She looked almost adorable while eating her onigiri as if she was biting his head off.

Kakashi had to turn around so she wouldn't see how he was trying not to laugh. She might try to bite his head off for real if she knew he was pulling her leg. Faking a cough he turned back to her to eat some of the rice balls for breakfast to meet Sakura's not very amused expression.

"For an elite ninja you sure don't know how to mask a laugh." She said and moved the box out of his reach stuffing one of the rice balls into her mouth.

Kakashi sized her with one of his most-serious-warning-stares that put stronger men in their place. She hesitated but only for a split second before a resolve shone in her eyes and she took another step back, effectively getting his breakfast out of his reach.

He hardened his stare and took a step closer to her. Corner of the pinkettes mouth twitched with badly hidden amusement and she took another step back and quickly swallowed the rice. Taking one of the three remaining onigiri in her hand and closing the box, she watched as Kakashi growled her name in warning.

Kakashi's movement was quick but Sakura anticipated it and jumped back with the box under her arm and onigiri prepared in the other to bite.

"You wouldn't dare Sakura." Kakashi warned her one last time and her response was biting into the onigiri ball. That's it. I won't give up my breakfast without a fight. Steeling his resolve he crinkled his eyes in a fake smile and moved his headband up to reveal his sharingan.

The smile that was playing on Sakura's lips froze in an instant. Oh oh. He is serious. Is he mad? It's only a breakfast, for kami's sake. It's time to give up... or run for dear life. Sakura quickly lowered her gaze to his feet as a precaution from his swirling sharingan.

"K-Kakashi...?" She asked hoping she will get a response from him. Instead she saw a small shift in his stance and in a blink of an eye he was gone. Startled she looked around but didn't see him. She strained her eyes and senses to find his location but to no avail.

She gulped. It's time to run. Sakura hastily forced chakra into her feet and jumped up to the branches while stuffing her face with the onigiri. She didn't have time to contemplate the silliness of the situation (fighting with Kakashi over food) before she saw a movement out of the corner of her eye and briskly jumped down and hid behind some bushes where she opened the box and started munching on the fore last rice ball with a very childish thought of 'No evidence, no crime'. Discarding the box and keeping the last piece of breakfast in her hand she moved out of her hiding and back up to the crowns of the trees, keeping her chakra suppressed as much as possible. Looking nervously around she thought about what to do with the last rice ball. She was already full and didn't think she would have space for the last one.

When a shadow suddenly approached her from her side she acted very much on instinct, not realizing she had a rice ball in her hand and not a kunai or shuriken. She ducked before Kakashi's fast advancing hand, moved to his side while standing up and shot her hand with the rice ball forward.

In that precise moment she was very disappointed she didn't have a camera to take a picture because should she tell this tale to anyone, they would dismiss her as a lunatic and call a psychologist for an evaluation.

The rice ball made a dull thud sound as it slid down from Kakashi's face; leaving a trail of rice grains on his mask; to the branch beneath them. If she didn't know better she would say he was on the verge of crying as he watched said food slip down from the branch and fall all the way down to the dirty ground, while his stomach grumbled from hunger.

Kakashi moved his gaze back to Sakura opening his mouth as if to say something. Instead he just shook his head in disappointment and without a word he leapt down to where he left his bag and started walking with slumped shoulders to the direction they were heading to.

The moment she thought he was out of ear shot she deflated and fell down on her knees shaking in laughter, and maybe with a relief as she did survive. She wasn't sure if he would jump at her for a moment back there.

Hastily getting her bearings back she jumped down and quickly found Kakashi leading the way at a steady pace.

The silence started to be very uncomfortable. It was interrupted only occasionally by Sakura either stifling a hiccup or a burp.

Sakura had enough and for the first time in the last hour she stopped and noisily slumped on a nearby stump.

"Can we please stop for a while?" Sakura addressed his retreating and unstopping back. "Kakashi? Please? I'm not feeling so well." She stifled another burp coming up from her belly.

"That's what you get when you eat more than you can digest." Came from Kakashi as he stopped few feet away, refusing to look at her.

"I would feel much better if I knew how far we are going?" She asked hoping to get some information out of him.

Instead he opened one of his many pockets on his vest and threw something small in her way. She caught it her hand and questioningly looked at Kakashi.

"One should be enough. If not, take another in one hour." Without another look he started walking ahead once more. He really wasn't in the mood to listen to the lecture that he knew would come. As if on queue he heard a loud exclamation of "I knew it!" from his pink haired companion.

Sakura quickly put one of the antacids in her mouth and swallowed it and took after Kakashi to give him a lecture on proper care of his digestive system. She knew that eating so fast because of that damn mask would have some side-effects such as bad digestion. He being in possession of these pills just confirmed her suspicions.

Quickly catching up to him she was ready to give him a medical lecture about ulcers and heart burns when he suddenly stopped and she nearly bumped to him.

"What..?" She was ready to ask why he stopped when he moved to side and she saw a valley spread right bellow them with a small city in the middle.

"We're here." Kakashi announced and started to walk down the road at a civilian pace.

"What is this place?"

"Lovely village of Shitamura."

Sakura looked at him hoping he would finally elaborate.

"Why exactly are we here?" She asked after few minutes as Kakashi kept silent.

"We are looking for a family Bed and Breakfast that should be somewhere at the edge of the village."

"Why would we do that exactly?"

"We are following a lead." Kakashi smiled at her and crinkled his eye.

Sakura was ready to explode. "You.. how... why... ah..infuriating." Was all she was able to get out of herself. This was the single most infuriating human being she had the displeasure to meet and work with occasionally. And that is something to say when her other two teammates consisted of a socially inept fake smiling ex-root member and unstoppably cheerful and hyperactive idiot with unexplainable incline to orange clothes.

She resolved to only thing she was able to think of at the moment, without actually beating him to a bloody pulp that is. She sat down on a nearby stone and refused to take another step until he tells her why they are going to that town.

"Sakura." Kakashi tried his persuasive tone with no effect. She just pouted some more and turned her head to the side.

"If I were you I would start walking. I heard it helps to prevent and cure a starting cellulite. You really shouldn't eat so much."

"What!" Screeched the pinkette and quickly stood up to check the state of her thighs in her small black shorts. She quickly composed herself and glared daggers at the annoying male in front of her that was not trying to stiffen his amusement.

His smile froze the minute her clenched fists started glowing a menacing green light and she took few steps closer. Kakashi's hands shot up in defense.

"You're behind is very nice Sakura and I swear there is no trace of cellulite skin. The same goes for your legs. That is a pair of legs that some ladies would kill for."

"Oh, really? Thank you," Sakura said with a feigned sweet voice that Ino would be proud of. "And?" Sakura continued to advance on Kakashi with her glowing fist.

"I'll tell you where we're going?"

"Exactly." Sakura stopped her advance and let her fist drop down to her side.

"I was about to tell you when you decided to eat my breakfast, just so you know." They started walking side by side to the nearby village. "I'm not taking you with me next time. You are a very bad travelling companion. And to think I preferred you to Naruto." Kakashi shook his head.

Sakura playfully bumped him by her side. "You don't mean that. Just admit you like me more."

"Well, even though you are and aggressive, stealing, banshee sometimes, you have a nice side. Especially when you're walking in front of me." Kakashi gave her a wink and smiled as a small blush appeared on her cheeks.

"One could say the same about you." Sakura replied and watched as Kakashi's jaw dropped a little at her cheeky comeback. It made her all warm and fuzzy on the inside to know that even the great Copy-nin can be shocked once in a while.

"Ehm. Well. Village of Shitamura. I'm not sure if you met Ayako's grandmother." Sakura just shook her head in negative. "She is staying in the ryokan because her small Bed and Breakfast burned to the ground here in Shitamura along with her husband."

"That's terrible, but why are we here? Making sure her husband's ghost isn't haunting her?"

"Not exactly. I just remembered one reference in the bingo book. We need to do some digging."

"Digging of what? I hope you don't mean the poor old lady's dead husband."

"Yep." Kakashi confirmed Sakura's assumption. "When I was talking to the staff at the ryokan they all had an alibi for when the ghost appeared. When I asked about the past of when it first appeared they all said the same. Their stories were similar in content but the details were different."

"So? Why are we going digging?"

"Because it felt as if they were lying about something, but telling the truth at the same time."

"Underneath the underneath? Didn't think it would be so literal in this case." Sakura shivered at the thought of a burned and decomposed body. She saw many gruesome things in her career of ninja and medic but the thought of decaying body made her weak in her knees. That was one weakness she wasn't able to loose and Tsunade tried her best to help her. She made her excavate and examine at least dozen bodies before she agreed to pass her from anthropology.

In truth Tsunade had a bet going on with few other medics on how many times would Sakura faint during one autopsy. After she lost twelve times she agreed to pass her. To Sakura's luck she ran out of money to bet at that time.

"I still don't get what tipped you off with the bingo book. I don't remember any old lady being in it." Sakura questioned Kakashi further.

"I don't want to get ahead of myself but let's just call it a hunch that one of them might be behind all of this. Even though I have no idea why he would target a ryokan. Let's just see what we'll find."

With that they entered the village of Shitamura, the birthplace of Kashikoi Ryoori, Ayako's grandmother.

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ANNOUNCEMENT:

Sorry to dissapoint you :( but this might be the last update for a while. *pray's that at least someone will stay loyal to this story* I will not have time to write as my wedding day is approaching :) yaaay me :) so please be patient. I promise I will update as soon as I can and I do plan to finish this story, so no worries. Expect and update sometime in the middle of June.

Thank you everyone who reviewed/faved/alerted or even took the time to read the story. You're the BEST :)