Chapter 13: Summoned Away
In solidarity with Lee and his stomach troubles, Tenten didn't take much from the inn's breakfast selection and settled for a bowl of okayu with some salted salmon flakes, scallions, and sesame seeds. The consistency of the rice porridge was thicker than the congee she would make at home, but it was similar in its soothing warmth and simplicity.
Lee had a bowl of okayu in front of him as well. He was a little subdued from all the barfing and self-imposed climbing challenges, but otherwise looked much improved from his condition earlier that morning.
Kakashi observed the two younger ninja from across the table.
Tenten had told him she wanted to sit beside her team mate this time, in case Lee needed someone to lean on.
It was becoming more difficult for Kakashi to resist pulling Tenten in for a sudden hug or a kiss. Not as a way of asserting his relationship with her, but simply because she said and did things that made him want to. Even when she was telling him that she intended to sit beside another man.
Kakashi realized long ago that Gai would be the kind of sensei who would instill the proper values in his students. This was just a manifestation of those values.
Tenten might be dating the Sixth Hokage, former Copy Nin, son of the White Fang, Eternal Rival of the Green Beast of Konoha, but she was Lee's team mate and if he needed her, she would be there for Lee.
Seeing the two together would always bring the familiar twinge of loss at the memory of the third member who would have made the picture complete. But it was easy to see the unbreakable bond between the two remaining students of Maito Gai, and the support they had given each other through the years.
Lee and Tenten's closeness could feel a little daunting to a romantic partner. From yesterday's conversation at breakfast, he heard that Lee's own wife was extremely jealous of Tenten.
Kakashi opted to see it in another way.
Tenten's friendship with Lee was evidence that she could sustain a stable and healthy relationship in her life. Kakashi had only learned to form such relationships through Gai, with whom Tenten also had a stable and healthy relationship as her sensei and she as his student. It was a good thing for her to have a support system, and for her to serve as part of one in turn.
"Gai-sensei!"
"Ah, Tenten, you are well past calling anyone sens- urk!"
Gai had taught Tenten to be proficient in various headlocks and grappling techniques specifically to deal with larger and stronger opponents. Kakashi couldn't see why she was using her skills to attack her own mentor, though.
"Happy birthday! Lee says sorry he couldn't be here, but he has a newborn to care for and a wife at home who needs his undivided attention. So he sent me," Tenten squeezed harder, until a sign from the Sixth Hokage caused her to loosen her grip. "What?"
"Lee sent you to kill Gai for him?" Kakashi inquired mildly as Gai gasped and spluttered from his wheelchair.
"He asked me to give our sensei an extra warm and cuddly hug from him," Tenten said defensively. "Twice the hugs means twice the power necessary."
"kk- th-," Gai looked like he wanted to say something, but it had been a taxing day of challenges between him and Kakashi, who had indulged him on his birthday on every possible challenge Gai could come up with. They were both quite worn out from the last contest of seeing who could stay submerged in the public hot baths the longest. Gai was definitely feeling his age.
"Tenten," Kakashi sighed. "That is not how hugs are done."
"Hah," Tenten placed her hands on her hips, "Don't make me laugh, Date-less Hokage. I have had a lot of experience."
She was in her sleeveless outfit with the mesh armor that looked like fishnet stockings from afar. Boys were all over her. Kakashi had never seen so many suitors flock to one kunoichi. There was the issue of some of them being after the rumored Treasures of the Sage of Six Paths, but many of them were quite sincere in courting Tenten.
He wondered who would eventually win her heart.
"How many second dates have you gone on, after you tried hugging them?"
"Doesn't matter," she waved away the inconsequentialities, "I simply haven't clicked with anyone properly."
"You simply…" Kakashi was a little annoyed. He'd sent Tenten on a mission a few years ago to serve as a bodyguard to the actress Reika for the latest Icha Icha movie, and after months of guarding the beautiful woman, Tenten had evidently taken some pointers from the celebrity in glamming herself up, but no amount of prettifying could overcome the obvious influence of growing up with two Green Beasts. She was unwaveringly upbeat and oblivious.
He knew he wasn't supposed to interfere anymore after the Hyuuga fiasco, but the girl was starting to worry him.
"What?" she asked again, raising an eyebrow at him.
He nodded his head, beckoning her, "Why don't you try that again with me, gently this time?"
She crossed her arms, "You're the Hokage, it's inappropriate."
"That wasn't a hug!" he mimicked what she had done with an imaginary foe, "It was a chokehold!"
She looked at him skeptically. "That's not true."
"If you think it's inappropriate to hug me, it's more inappropriate to call me a liar."
"Your opinion of whether I am executing a proper hug isn't important here. It's what Gai thinks, right —Gai?" they saw Gai passed out on his wheelchair. "Gai!"
"Hold on," Kakashi finally reached out and restrained the girl just as she was about to shake her sensei awake. She was so violent. "He's tired. And oxygen-deprived. Let's get him to bed."
Tenten had been waiting for them at Gai's house after their final hot baths challenge. The rest of the village was resting after the New Year's celebrations the night before, and Kakashi's rare day off as Hokage had been spent with his best friend.
Once they reached Gai's bedroom, Kakashi grabbed Gai under his shoulders, while Tenten held Gai's legs. Together, they hoisted the snoring man onto his bed. Gai was already in a sleeping yukata after the bath, so it was quite convenient.
"Um," Tenten said in a hushed tone as she watched Kakashi fluff Gai's pillows under the man's head, "Could you demonstrate the hug with Gai, instead?"
Kakashi stared at her. Was she still fixated on the idea of him and Gai as a couple?
"We don't really hug, Tenten. Well, he hugs me sometimes. I'm not… the hugging sort."
"All right," Tenten squared her shoulders, "Then it's up to me to bring up his birthday hug tally up to the proper number. One from each of us, no more, no less!"
Kakashi quickly bent down and clasped protective arms around his defenseless friend, "Ok, ok. I'm hugging him, see?" He felt like a mother hen shielding her chick with her body from an attacking predator.
"That's not really-" above him, the bun-haired predator loomed menacingly.
"It is, Tenten. This is what an actual hug is like."
Tenten looked at them critically, "You're just… holding him?"
"I can convey my feelings of camaraderie without excessive use of force."
"Hmmm," Tenten absorbed this novel idea. "So that time Neji did his ultra-weak and lukewarm taijutsu attack on me was actually a hug."
Kakashi would always marvel at the contrasts of how well-rounded Gai's students were in some ways, and how utterly clueless they were in others. "You thought he was attacking you?"
"He never explained!" Tenten protested. "Then he got all huffy and red-faced and went away without saying anything."
Kakashi deemed it safe enough to release his friend, but tensed as Tenten came closer and bent over them both. But all she did was sweep Gai's bangs away from his forehead to bestow him a tender kiss.
"Mission: Greet Gai a Happy Birthday – completed," she straightened up, looking satisfied.
Kakashi wondered if Tenten had deliberately choked her sensei to make him pass out because Gai would likely refuse a birthday kiss. Hugs were fine, but Gai still had old-school sensibilities about accepting kisses from Tenten, even if they were already long past their student-teacher days.
Gai was firm in his belief that it was better to avoid such situations, but Kakashi suspected that if Tenten pushed a little bit, the original Green Beast could be swayed to look at her that way. She was terribly attractive, in Kakashi's opinion, and only seemed to become more so to him as time went by.
He supposed that Tenten never truly pushed because she knew she wouldn't be able to handle the full ardor of a distinguished gentleman in the summer of his youth. But she did want to show Gai her affection as a close friend, and so she waited till he was unconscious to do so.
Put that way, the lack of consent on Gai's part was rather troubling. Oh well. Team Gai had always had a strange dynamic.
She and Kakashi made their way outside Gai's home, locking the main door behind them, using Tenten's key. Kakashi was likewise entrusted with a duplicate key to Gai's home, but he was in a yukata from the baths and didn't have it on him.
The night sky was still a little smoggy from the fireworks smoke lingering from the night before. Any of the shinobi with a wind affinity could have cleared the air with the appropriate jutsu, but everyone was still a little hungover from the New Year's festivities to bother.
Kakashi and Tenten contemplated the stars that could faintly be seen through the haze above them.
"I was kidding. I know how to hug," she said.
"I don't believe you."
Tenten laughed softly. She gave a quick, companionable hug to the Hokage to prove her point.
"Happy New Year, best friend of my sensei," she knew he preferred 'Kakashi' over all his titles, but they weren't really close enough for her to call him just that. "It's inappropriate to hug the Hokage, but tonight consider it a hug between comrades."
"Oh, was that a hug? I thought it was an ultra-weak and lukewarm taijutsu attack."
Tenten giggled, waving goodbye as she started walking towards her home.
Kakashi watched her, pondering.
His own former student, Sakura, would never try to give him a birthday hug or kiss. They just weren't chummy in that sort of way. Also, now that Sasuke had his head on straight, Kakashi would probably risk some form of bodily injury, perhaps even a gory death, if he asked the Uchiha's wife for such a thing.
It was interesting to observe, and nice to be a part of the Team Gai triad. He enjoyed the warmth that washed over him whenever he saw Tenten being sweet to her sensei, and once in a while he was lucky enough for her affection for her team to spill over to him.
Kakashi had not yet made his New Year's wish.
Looking at Tenten, he thought he might be selfish, for once.
Tenten didn't remember that time, when Kakashi reminded her of it as they made their way back to town this morning. He brought it up after she complained that she never saw him hug anyone, which was why she had been so surprised and passed out at the top of the mountain.
Kakashi better understood what Tenten meant when she said that the feelings behind the actions mattered. Kissing and hugging her had been enjoyable, so far, but somehow it was starting to feel like… something more.
The two younger ninja quietly bickered about the toppings they preferred, with Lee lecturing Tenten that she had to be more adventurous with her food while Tenten ignored him and methodically transferred all her pickled plums to his bowl.
When Tenten looked up at him, Kakashi smiled.
Tenten could not withstand the sight of Kakashi beaming at her so soon after his triple-love strike earlier that morning.
Blushing to the roots of her hair, she looked away and pretended to call for more hot tea.
The moment she turned away from the table, Lee took the opportunity to slip a pickled plum into her porridge. He gave what he thought passed for a sly wink to the confused Sixth.
The next spoonful that Tenten took signaled the end of their idyllic breakfast.
Lee was reintroduced to the basics of grappling and submission as he was forced to find ways to escape from being suffocated without causing a scene and getting them kicked out of the dining area.
Thus, Kakashi learned that Tenten disliked umeboshi with a passion, and Lee successfully, albeit painfully, got Tenten to stop coddling him and return to her rightful place beside her boyfriend.
Gingerly massaging his nearly-crushed windpipe, the Handsome Devil of Konoha grinned blearily and gave a thumbs up to Kakashi, who gave him a deadpan stare in return.
Although Lee claimed at first that he was already well enough to travel, he suddenly changed his mind and decided to 'rest' for another day at the inn when he heard that Tenten intended to help Kakashi give his ninja hounds a bath today.
Tenten clearly saw through what was happening, and deduced Gai's hand behind it.
"He's going to be with us this entire trip, isn't he?" she asked Kakashi as they made their way into the woods away from town so they could have some privacy to contact the ninken. "I'm not exactly offended, but Gai shouldn't be so worried. I'm not going to break your heart."
Kakashi paused between their leaps from tree to tree, and Tenten landed on a branch ahead of him. She looked back. "What is it?"
He gave her a happy eye crease. "Nothing. I'm glad to hear that." They resumed moving forward.
The Sixth was both amused and touched that Tenten had internalized her sensei's concern for him so thoroughly.
"I'm not so emotionally fragile, you know," he did want to clear up that he was already quite stable, and in a good place, mentally.
"Glad to hear that," Tenten parroted his earlier response.
He waited for more, but she didn't say anything else. There was something off.
"What's wrong?"
"Huh?"
"It's just…" he caught up with her, "You're only concerned with breaking my heart? How about your own?"
"Oh," Tenten gave him a reassuring smile, "I'll be okay."
Kakashi heard alarm bells go off in his head.
There was some kind of drama unfolding between them and for all his memorization of every single plot point in Jiraiya's novels, Kakashi was unable to pinpoint what particular problem this was.
They hadn't had sex yet. It wasn't just a physical relationship between them. They'd even said they loved each other. Things were perfect.
"Tenten."
She didn't stop. In fact, she sped up and leaped ahead of him. "I think the clearing we saw on our way to town is just a little further."
When she found the glade, she landed amidst blue asters growing in a dense array among the grasses. For a moment, she admired the way they spread across the clearing like a colorful carpet in the full light of the sun.
She got a much closer look at the plants when Kakashi flung her to the ground.
She looked up wide-eyed at him as he hovered over her, pinning both hands at either side of her head. The sunlight above them cast his face in shadow.
"What's going on?" his voice was mild, but the grip on her wrists belied his tension.
"Nothing," she answered. She fidgeted under his hard stare. "You're… doing great, Kakashi. You're ready to open up your heart a little more now. I'm happy for you."
"You're happy for me," he echoed.
She nodded. "No matter how things turn out between us, I want to make sure you'll be okay."
Kakashi blinked once. Twice. At a complete loss.
He rolled off her, so they were both lying side by side, staring at the sky. The breeze blew gently through the meadow, as clouds passed slowly above them.
"Are you actually dating me out of pity?" he finally asked.
"No!" Tenten was emphatic, sitting up and facing him. "Of course not! I wouldn't say I loved you if I didn't mean it."
He gave her a look and she deflated a little, "Well, I admit it was an act at the start, but as of yesterday, definitely, I was being honest."
"So what's this talk about my being okay, no matter how things turn out between us? It sounded like you were already pushing me away. This isn't the first time either."
Tenten was startled to see the hurt in Kakashi's eyes.
She couldn't help it. She was blunt and rarely beat around the bush, "We're a really odd couple, Kakashi. I don't know if I'm the right person for you."
Tenten had had a lot of time the evening prior to second-guess her future with the Sixth. She actually couldn't imagine it. She'd resolved to enjoy what time they had, but not to expect anything.
There was a perfect woman out there for Kakashi. The fangirls just had to create the right OC with a mysterious tragic past and amazing powers and write a suitably epic fanfic to do justice to the former Copy Nin.
Kakashi sighed, reaching for Tenten's hand and pulling her towards him. She went willingly, snuggling right into his arms.
He smoothed her bangs away from her face in a gesture that seemed equally for the purpose of soothing himself as well as her. "I leave you alone for one night…." he muttered.
That much was true. "It really shouldn't bother you," she said lightly. "Plenty of other women out there. What we're doing now together, it's… fun."
"I'm not in it for the fun, Tenten." Kakashi looked at her severely, "And Gai didn't send Lee to protect me, it was to protect you. I'm ready to ravish you right now and prove him right."
Tenten squeaked as Kakashi rolled them so he was on top again.
"If we have sex you'll have to stay with me, right?" he began tugging off his gloves, grumbling about heroes living long enough to become villains. And that he hadn't wanted their first time to be in the middle of a forest, of all places, but some things couldn't be helped.
Tenten noticed he wasn't restraining her at all and she could get up anytime she wanted. "Even with sex, there still isn't any assurance that- Kakashi!"
He tugged open the ties to her collar and began placing open-mouthed kisses along her neck and collarbone. She didn't stop him but she flailed around a little and squirmed against him. "Wait!"
His lips found the shell of her ear and he lightly licked at it before nibbling at her earlobe, taking care not to dislodge her earring.
"My heart isn't prepared!" she cried.
Kakashi paused.
They both started to shake with laughter.
"It's 'ready'… your heart isn't 'ready'," Kakashi corrected. He tried to prop himself up but Tenten was clutching his head to her chest as she wheezed.
"I was quoting from the actress' script, not the book. They made changes to the dialogue for the movie adaptation."
"That can't be right, Jiraiya was very particular with the words he chose," Kakashi propped his chin up in the valley between her breasts and looked at her mock-sternly. "You left that detail out of your report."
"I left a LOT out of my report, and it was already a hundred pages long." She fondly smoothed his bangs out of his face in mimicry of his earlier gesture. "After all, the things that remain unsaid are often the deepest and most profound."
The smile he gave her for quoting Icha Icha yet again nearly made her faint for the second time that day. He pushed himself up and began gently kissing her.
"Tenten," he murmured between kisses. "When I said what I felt for you wasn't the conventional way people think about love, I want to be clear," he kissed her jawline, then carefully began to refasten the opening of the lapel of her blouse, "My form of love includes being together for the rest of our lives, if possible, while supporting each other and doing our best to make each other happy."
Before Tenten could state the obvious about what he just said being a very widely-accepted concept about love and not unconventional at all, he bent over her again and pressed his forehead to hers.
"Your understanding of love seems to be that if you love something, set it free, even if it doesn't want to be free, and is actually wondering why you keep trying to toss it out. Let's work towards staying together, Tenten. Stop talking about 'what ifs'."
He didn't allow her to answer. He decided that if sex wasn't happening for the moment, then it was high time to practice kissing again, more thoroughly and deeply this time.
Tenten was amenable to the kissing.
"Snogging in a meadow is not going to get the baths ready."
Tenten jumped up, thoroughly flustered, leaves and petals stuck in her hair. "Right! We were giving the ninken a bath today!"
She looked around wildly for the source of the voice. She didn't recognize it as belonging to any of Kakashi's summoned dogs.
"Down here."
She looked at the ground and found a mouse with pure white fur, beady little eyes, and the cutest little snout. Wearing a tiny gray yukata.
"Aiieee!" she crouched down, bringing her hands to cover her mouth. "Kawaii! Kakashi, look!"
Mouse and girl glanced sideways towards the Sixth Hokage. He was lying on the grass, with a stupid, dreamy smile on his face.
He was learning that Tenten tended to get carried away once they started smooching and would insist on being on top. She wasn't even aware she was doing it. The idea that she was unconsciously trying to dominate him was quite enjoyable.
The mouse coughed. "Well. Anyway. Just grab his hand, young lass, and then give me your other hand. I'll take you to where the ninken dwell." He gave her a censuring look, "You know, you mustn't incapacitate the Hokage like that, he's too vulnerable in this open area."
Tenten accepted the lecture, abashed. She reached out and touched Kakashi's hand. He immediately held on to her, turning his head to give her a lazy grin that nearly knocked her out. She incapacitated him? He was the one going around being too handsome all the time!
The mouse 'tsked'.
Tenten offered her other hand in contrition. The mouse grasped her forefinger with a tiny paw, using its other paw to form a hand sign, "Kai!"
Thus, they were summoned into the land where the ninken lived.
Kakashi had warned her beforehand, so Tenten was ready to regulate her temperature when they arrived. The land was much further up north than their original location and covered in snow.
During the previous mission with Mirai to the Land of Steam, they'd worn warmer attire to blend in with civilians, but it was usually more practical for shinobi to manipulate a little chakra to adjust to the cold rather than sacrifice mobility as a result of donning bulkier clothing.
Tenten stared up at the looming bathhouse in awe. She took in the various animals in yukatas walking in and out of the entrance. Then she looked askance at her boyfriend.
"When you promised Pakkun and the others to 'give them a bath' what you actually meant was…"
"Yup," the former Copy Nin nodded genially, "Clean up all the lockers and wash areas in this entire bathhouse so the place is spic and span for a nice hot soak for my cute little ninken."
Her eyes popped out further as she watched the retired Sixth Hokage actually hike up his pants and roll up his sleeves. A mop and a bucket appeared as if by magic in his hands. He handed her a matching set, smiling.
"Let's get to it, shall we, love?"
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A/N: 14 May 2023 Aw, he called her 'love'! And put her to domestic work! What a romantic day this is turning out to be.
Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, including people who self-parented and took on the role of mothers in non-traditional households. Well, who's to say what's traditional anymore. Look at these two lovebirds, nary a mother mentioned in their lives and they sure turned out…
Anyway. Let's all work towards happiness, whatever our circumstances.