Kakashi's POV:

"Okay…" Anko said trailing off.

"Okay, what?" I replied naturally in my typical I-don't-have-a-care-in-the-world kind of voice, which concealed the anxiousness that I was feeling at the moment.

"Your first mission is too…" she trailed off again, her eyes glinting maliciously.

She was toying with me, she knew it, I knew it and we both knew that I couldn't do anything about it.

I sighed an exasperated sigh. "Is to what?" I said letting my exasperation at the situation show.

"Your first mission is to spar with me."

My jaw almost dropped in surprise. Almost. She stole my Icha-Icha books…just to spar with me? This woman was completely out of her mind. I just had to confirm this with my own ears….

"Let me get this straight…to get back one of my books, all I need to do is spar with you? Is that right?" I asked, my voice laced with complete and utter disbelief.

"Yeah, sounds about right." She said calmly.

"If that was all, why didn't you just say so ages ago? I could've sparred with you weeks, maybe even months ago, why take my books and want to spar now?" I said quite crazily, waving my hands around for emphasis.

"I did ask you to spar…about a dozen times over the past two months in fact…." She said darkly.

"You did?" I asked her, mildly surprised by that. I didn't recall a single time when she asked me to spar with her at all over the past couple of months.

"Ohhh, I suuuure did ya bastard…" she trailed off angrily, "But, you were always reading that disgusting book of yours and going 'oh not right now' or 'I'm kinda busy at the mo'. " she continued, mimicking me for the quotes.

"I didn't…" I trailed off

-Flash back, two months ago-

I was walking around, just reading my book when all of a sudden, Anko walks by and says, "Yo, Hatake, fancy a friendly sparring match?"

I replied with a, "Nope" before quickly turning around and walking in the other direction.

-A few days later-

Once again, I was just minding my own business, still reading Icha-Icha, when I saw Anko walk out of the dango store with a stick still in her mouth.

She saw me and glared before saying, "Oy, I want a sparring session…now, if you know what's good for you…"

I looked at her with my one eye and said, "Not today Anko" before poofing away.

-A day after that-

I'd just gotten back from a simple mission and went to relax at the training grounds. I'd just lay my head against a tree and had just begun to pull out one of my beloved Icha-Icha books when I heard her voice…again….

"Spar now you bastard! Or is the famous copy-nin just a chicken?" Anko challenged provocatively as she emerged from the shadows of one of the nearby trees.

"What is it with you and your obsession with fighting me?" I asked calmly while still keeping my eye on my book.

"You're the only jounin who I haven't sparred with, and beaten, yet." She grinned…the grin was comparable to a lion who had just cornered it's pray…in short, quite, quite scary.

I sighed before saying, "Well, guess you'll just have to wait some more before you get to fight this jounin." I made a quick hand seal and once again poofed away.

This kind of meeting was repeated several times over the course of the next few days….

-End flash backs-

"Oh…so you did ask to spar with me…repeatedly." I mused, mostly to myself before wondering how I'd forgotten those things so quickly.

Okay, admittedly, I was reading my books at the time. And, yes I thought that she was a minor detail at the time. But I just do not understand how I could have easily forgotten the only purple haired kunoichi of Konoha when she was out and after my blood.

Hmmm, I must be getting old….Eh, fuck no. I thought.

"See?! I told you I asked to spar with you! But nooooooooo, you just read your book like a nerd and poofed away like a total spineless pussy." She said angrily.

"But now…" she continued, "You can't ignore me cuz I've got your books. And you can't poof away cuz you know what'll happen to em" she added, grinning scarily again.

"So, I take that your silence means that you accept my sparring arrangements then?" she said mockingly.

Well, best to get this over with as soon as possible, I thought to myself before saying out loud, "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

She crouched in a fighting stance, her muscles tense and ready to spring at the slightest move that I made.

"Hold up a minute," I said, raising a hand.

She stood straight and looked at me curiously, undoubtedly wondering why I called a stop before even starting.

"So, how does this go? Do you want to go until First blood? Or perhaps stop when one of us gains a decisive advantage over the other…such as a kunai pointed directly at the throat?" I said to her.

She just looked at me, rolled her eyes and resumed her stance. She was getting ready to pounce, I knew it.

Of course, her being the crazy purple haired snake woman of Konoha, she favored an attack heavy style of combat. While she wasn't the most powerful of fighters, she was definitely quick and deadly.

The best way to counter this was to infuriate her…get her angry enough to make her lose concentration….

"You know, it's just out of interest for efficiency. I'd just hate having to beat you in several different ways before you realize that you can't beat me…" I told her while smiling.

At that moment, a guttural growl emanated from her throat. Right, after the sound issued from within her, I knew that my plan had worked.

And, after glancing at her, I found out that maybe I hadn't thought my plan through….