Chapter 9!
Title: "Shortcuts and Rendezvous' "
Discliamer: I own nothing!!!
*Edit: added some tiny things ad corrected lots of spelling errors... *facepalm*... but it's all better now :)
…………………………………………….
"We cannot express our gratitude enough!" The portly underling who had bombarded us with thanks and flattery only two days ago, was once again singing our praises as we were leaving.
The assassin was still alive, and he was already shut away in a high-security facility. They managed to beat some information out of him about the rival family household who hired him… so this region should experience many years of peace. But as fuedal families do, they'll fall back into violence sooner or later.
"You paid for our assistance… that's enough for us." Kakashi reassured the underling once again with his normal, casual voice.
I looked from the bowing subordinate to Kakashi-sensei… my thoughts changed instantly.
This man. Standing right here.
He held me with those arms, kissed me with those...
My heart stumbled along its normal beat for a second.
… I still couldn't really accept it…
I was still in a state of mind that made the whole situation just so unbelievable.
I just couldn't believe that, even though Kakashi-sensei is so much more experienced… so much more stronger and powerful,… he would choose someone like me.
Someone like him... who so many people looked up to, who so many admired... chose me... for some reason.
"But you have done so much for us!" The underling woke me from my daydreaming with his loud, and slightly annoying voice.
Kakashi just waved his hands in front of him, trying to calm the man down.
I had to suppress those kind of thoughts for now…. Otherwise I would get restless…. And we definitely couldn't even talk about what happened, or was going to happen, between us while we were still with the rest of the team.
But we still haven't spoken, or even looked at each other for longer than a second, since last night…
I was getting a little worried.
………………
We left the mansion early in the morning, starting on our 13 hour trek back to Konoha.
But it was probably going to take a little longer since Sai was recently injured… I was able to patch him up, but he's probably sore.
"OK! Another mission well done!" Naruto announced happily, taking his usual spot front of us.
I was walking next to Kakashi, all too aware of every move he made, while trying not to look at him.
I really couldn't control my thoughts when I walked next to him like this… no doubt I would start staring at him without noticing or something.
I decided to talk with Naruto…
It was always a simple way of blocking out drama by talking with Naruto, and maybe even Sai…
But as I tried keeping up with the conversation I kept looking over my shoulder by accident.
He was just reading his book.
Like always.
…
Why did that annoy me?
……………………………………………………………………
Kakashi diverted his attention from his little green book, which he really wasn't reading, to check his watch.
His eyebrow twitched.
She's been talking with him for almost 2 hours.
Yet another sigh left him.
It shouldn't be annoying him so much.
But he was getting genuinely impatient… how long was she going to talk to him?
He stole a glance at the two team members in front of him.
He tried to focus on his book, but every time he read anything concerning romantic love or, the more frequent, physical love, his mind would never terry far from that pink-haired girl in front of him.
Aah… they're laughing again…
He pointed out to himself, even more annoyed.
He closed his little book, stuffing it back into his satchel, concocting a plan.
I really shouldn't…
I can't….
It'll only get awkward…
And Sai's really sharp… he might notice something…
Kakashi eyed Sai, who was walking a few feet to his right, staring ahead with a simple look on his unexpressive face. Sai took notice of Kakashi's stare and smiled his uniform, polite, smile.
Kakashi did the same.
Damn it…
I shouldn't…
But I will…
…………………………………………………………………..
I listened to Naruto rant about his training days, trying not to look behind us at a certain silver-haired man.
"And then Ero-sennin hid out in the gender-mixed onsen all day waiting for-"
"Hey, you two." A familiar voice made my heart jump. I felt his hand fall on my shoulder.
I saw that he was also holding Naruto's shoulder.
"I just remembered an old shortcut my team and I would take." He said a little cheerfully.
His hands dropped from our shoulders at the same moment.
But I felt his fingers graze my arm all the way down.
I immediately looked down to my feet, trying to hide my pink face.
It was always horrible whenever I blushed… my pink hair really didn't help when it matched my face.
"A shortcut?" Naruto asked eagerly.
"If we cross through this forest, instead of around it, we'll cut off at least 4 hours." Kakashi explained like a normal teacher.
"Ok!" Naruto was the first to run off into the trees.
Didn't he know that Kakashi was the only one who knew the shortcut?… He was just going to get lost and we'll have to waste time finding him.
I followed after him, walking just as calmly as before.
But I definitely wasn't calm.
Kakashi kept pace with me, just looking ahead of him, hands in his pockets, just like he always did.
Is it really that easy for him to act normal?!
… maybe he does feel normal…
Like what happened wasn't anything special.
… he didn't really say that he had feelings for me, did he?
… he didn't say much…
… maybe he just took advantage of the situation?
I shook my head to myself.
No… he wouldn't.
Right?
……………………………………………..
I really need to take advantage of this situation.
...
Kakashi peeked over his shoulder.
Sai was looking at the sky, his face empty of any opinion.
Kakashi comically narrowed his eyes, skeptic…
Sometimes it was really troublesome to have such an unreadable kid in my team…
Kakashi had at least an IQ of 200, years of experience with strategic planning, covert skills that were the envy of all his colleagues… yet he was having the hardest time figuring out a way to get Sakura to himself for only a few minutes.
I have to think about this.
How would I solve this if I was on the battlefield?...
An enemy ahead of us and an enemy at the rear… plan an escape route, create a distraction that could preoccupy both.
In a moment, the simplest answer came to mind… he felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner.
……………………………………………………..
"Hey, Sai… go and find Naruto. He's probably lost and confused by now."
I heard Kakashi order Sai with a polite tone.
"Yes, sir." Sai said monotonously, already running passed us, in search of the pork-fighter.
I smiled, remembering the night at the hot springs…
….I knew I would never forget that night… but I didn't think I would ever smile at the memory of it.
A gloved hand suddenly clasped my own.
I felt the wind rush passed me as I was already running to keep up with the silver-haired man who had seemingly just kidnapped me from the rest of my team.
My smile widened, my fingers closed around his hand more securely… his grip tightened in response.
I felt so childish… just holding his hand made my heart beat a bit faster than normal… well, a lot faster than normal.
We kept running.
I wondered how far we were actually going to go before he finally thought it was safe enough to stop…
Then I wondered what exactly we were going to do when we were alone.
A heavy stone of shock plummeted onto my stomach, I almost lost my footing.
…
I don't know if I'm ready to be like this with Kakashi-sensei yet…
…
I knew that he wouldn't go too far, or expect much…
And he was really nice...
But it was really strange trying to prepare yourself to kiss a man who was nothing more than a teacher to you for so many years, until only the night before…
It's not like I don't want to kiss him…
But there were so many other things running through my mind.
I've never had a boyfriend before… I've never kissed anyone before…
Don't people usually wait a few days or weeks before kissing?…
I guess only kids do that…
Am I still a kid?...
No, of course not!....
I'm 16!
I have to grow up sometime!
Would I be a good kisser?
What does he expect of me?
Am I over-thinking this?
He's probably better at kissing… because he's probably kissed so many other girls.
Are we really going to kiss?
Seriously?!
My head was getting so crammed with all these worries… My heart kept freaking out every time I even thought about how it would feel to kiss him… The leaves and branches rushing passed us, the wind was roaring in my ears, my hand was really hot inside of his… Everything was too much… I didn't want to think about anything.
But one question that popped into my head cleared away the havoc… one that I definitely wanted to know the answer to.
Then the roaring and rushing stopped.
I was standing still, but my mind was suffering a little jetlag.
We both caught our breath for a few seconds.
I waited…. Just waited for him to do anything…
He walked away a couple steps, not letting go of my hand.
I stared at his back.
"I wanted to talk to you for a minute." I heard his voice say… his tone was so gentle, I hadn't heard it like that since the last time it rained.
Ok, talking… I can handle that.
…………………………………………………
Kakashi turned around to face Sakura.
She had one of the most flustered, confused expressions on.
He felt like a criminal for thinking it was one of the cutest expressions she's ever made.
An underlying feeling of guilt also came up.
She was probably uncomfortable.
He must be acting too forward… even though he hasn't done anything… he still felt like he would scare her away.
I really shouldn't have gotten her mixed up with me…
He took a deep breath.
……………………………………………….
He had turned to face me.
He was smiling, but his eyes seemed a little sad.
He didn't say anything for what seemed to be the longest time.
Maybe he was having second thoughts about me.
Maybe he was thinking about how yesterday was a mistake.
Maybe he was trying to think of the right words to turn me away.
"You're just confused, Sakura… I didn't mean to lead you on... this is impossible...."
My heart felt like it was being pulled in two directions.
I had to stop him from saying something like that.
"I-I…. I like you, sensei."
I heard my own voice before I could make any sense of those words.
I was staring at his vest… not daring to look at his face.
Why did I say that?!
I didn't have to say anything!
He was gonna do the talking!
Now he's just going to be awkward around me!
I felt a warm hand fall on top of my head protector; it curled around to my chin, holding my face up.
"You don't have to say 'sensei', anymore, Sakura." His voice. It was so perfect.
I couldn't say anything as he walked up to me, his other arm folding across my back.
"I always forget." I managed to say.
I brought my arms up, clutching onto his back.
He was so warm.
He smelled like fall forests and winter rivers.
I would never get tired of it.
Suddenly all my worries… all of those crowding thoughts and theories just faded out.
Everything was so calm… so quiet.
It was only me and him.
I wanted to stay like this forever.
But that one question from before still managed to survive the moment.
"Kakashi…" I called his name without any suffix, trying it out. It still felt rude.
"Hmm?..." He hummed back, his chest vibrating agianst my ear. He must've felt that same sense of peace.
"Why do you wear that mask?" I asked, trying to sound normal… but I was really crawling with curiosity.
He should give me a straight answer, right?
Now that we're... ... like this...
He laughed a little, letting me go. I immediatey regretted asking the question if it meant I couldn't feel his warmth anymore.
"Many reasons." He answered vaguely, smiling down at me with his cheeky grin.
He hasn't pulled that face on me since I was thirteen.... wow, that's a strange sort of thought....
He was so stubborn about that mask… what was he trying to hide?!
"Can I see what's underneath it?" I asked bit hopefully.
"Of course." He said with a carefree voice, reaching up to his face.
I got a serious feeling of déjà vu.
He quickly pulled down the blue fabric…. Revealing lighter blue fabric underneath it.
"Old jokes die hard." I commented apathetically.
I could remember the last time he did that... so long ago... back when my mind was always preoccupied with only myself and Sasuke... I pushed that out of my mind easily.
He laughed a little, pulling up his first mask, adjusting it carefully.
"You need to be more specific." He replied, just as carefree as before.
I loved the fact I could talk to him like this, so casually.
"When can I finally see your face?" I asked, a little perturbed.
He turned back to me, "Whenever you really want to."
Something about his voice made it sound like he was being serious.
Would he really let me see his face that easily?!
"R-really?" I stuttered with excitement.
"Yes… Only you…" He said quietly. He ran his hand through my hair. I couldn't suppress a shiver. "But you're the one that has to pull this mask from my face. I won't do it for you."
I froze for a second.
That was a really serious catch.
… It would be kind of embarrassing to take his mask off…
But I really wanted to see.
I lifted my hands towards his face. I gave him a questioning look.
Did he really mean 'whener I really wanted to'?
Because I really want to see, right now.
He didn't say anything.
My fingertips touched his jaw, I slowly brushed them upwards to the top of his mask.
He closed his eyes, I felt his hand fall to the side of face.
My heart was beating hard.
I slipped my fingertips between the fabric and his face, about ready to tug.
"YOU got us LOST!"
"I was only told to find you… when I went back to our path, they were gone. I can't be blamed."
"I was doing fine, but when you showed up, THEN we couldn't find anyone!"
My heart panicked.
I dropped my hands from his face, his hand disappeared from my face.
Kakashi immediately started walking towards the boys, his hands falling back into his pockets.
"Hey, you two!" Kakashi spoke up. His voice was back to normal.
I wondered if he was conscious of how his voice changed every time we were alone.
"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled, waving his arms like he was lost at sea, trying to call over a boat.
I couldn't help but curse under my breath.
I was so close!
Even though I was slightly upset, I still couldn't hold back a smile.
I was so happy.
So happy.
………………………………
We arrived at Konoha a little after 11:00pm.
All those hours of constantly checking myself, trying to act normal, trying to keep up a conversation with Naruto, and feeling a little guilty every time I heard Kakashi sigh behind us, were really tiring.
I wonder if he didn't like it when I talked with Naruto…
We sluggishly entered the Hokage office.
I was dead exhausted, but I still wasn't ready to call it a day.
"Thank you, Team 7." Shizune-san accepted our mission report gratefully. I can't remember ever seeing her sleep.
She must run Konoha at night, when lady Tsunade much preferred to sleeve off a few bottles of sake.
"This one give you guys any trouble?" She asked, actually concerned about our well-being… unlike a certain Hokage.
"Yeah, he was nastier than the normal bad guys." Naruto summed up our troublesome experiences rather childishly. Grinning.
Shizune-san smiled politely at him.
"Good night, Shizune-san." Kakashi said quietly, already ready to leave the dimly-lit, paper-scattered Hokage office.
"Oh, and I'll send your mission report on the bottom of the list." She added a little happily.
When a mission report was sent to the bottom of the list, that meant it took longer to review it, which meant it took even longer to send the team who turned it in on another mission.
And with Lady Tsunade as Hokage, this process was usually really slow.
"Thank you, Shizune-san." Kakashi's tired voice said gratefully.
I couldn't stop looking at him.
Even as we all turned around to leave the room, I still found myself wanting to walk next to him… but Sai was in the way.
"Oh, and I almost forgot." Shizune-san spoke up again.
We all turned around a little hesitantly… I think we all just wanted to walk out that door anyways.
"Lady Tsunade has decided to donate her gambling winnings to fund a professional social fundraiser that will take place next week."
We all blinked at her.
"A party." She summarized.
We turned around a little…
"A party?" Kakashi asked for all of us.
"A fundraising party…" she corrected. "Though I don't think any fundraising is going to happen…" She added a little meekly. "Lady Tsunade will decide the theme in a couple days… but she seems really serious about holding this... event." She finished even more quietly.
It was obvious that Shizune must've spent hours trying to convince Tsunade to use the money more practically… but I guess Tsunade's stubbornness won out.
Hokages were entitled to their own fun sometimes... I guess.
"Well, good night!" Shizune added a little perkily.
"You too." Kakashi spoke for us again… seeming completely uninfluenced by it all.
We left the office, trudged down the stairs to the main entrance of the building.
The whole time I could only look at him…
He didn't even glance at me.
...
The whole team stood in the moonlight for a few seconds, bidding our farewells.
"I guess I'll be leaving first." That was Kakashi's usual line. He waved his usual one-flicked wave, hid his hands in his pocket, and walked away. The opposite way I was going. I wanted to call out or something… but I didn't.
Sai waved shortly and practically disappeared in an instant.
"See you next time, Sakura-chan!" Naruto galloped away.
I was left.
I collected my thoughts and started walking home.
……………………..
That was unexpected........
I thought to myself half-way home.
The streets were dark and deserted… everyone went to bed early around here.
I was a little cold.
I had expected something… anything… even just prolonged eye-contact…
I guess I'm just irresponsible.
Kakashi acted the way he was supposed to…
I still didn't like it.
...
I kicked a little rock lightly.
It scuttled away from me with force.
I sighed.
Just as soon as I finished my long sigh, I felt a large hand brush down my arm, reaching my palm.
I whipped my head around.
There he was.
He just appeared, like I had thought him up… but that was the way Kakashi-sensei was.
He would always just silently show up out of nowhere.
My heart fluttered happily… I felt so childish again… but I didn't care.
"Kakashi-sensei…" I said without thinking…
He looked down at me as his hand folded around mine.
"Just Kakashi…" He reminded me a tad bit firmly.
I was hit with a second shot of déjà vu in one day when his hand was suddenly tugging me away from the street.
"Just in case." He whispered aloud as we both walked into the narrow space between the Oden shop and the Yamanaka Flower Shop.
"I thought you were gonna go home." I said a little happily.
"I didn't want to end today like that." He answered softly.
The space was so narrow, even with our backs to the opposite walls, there'd only be a few feet between us.
But right now, only my back was to the wall.
He was leaning so close to me; his hands planted on the wall, one either side of my shoulders.
I felt so surrounded by him… but it wasn't enough.
We stood there, in silence, for only a few seconds before I decided to ask my question.
"You said I could see your face whenever I wanted to, right?" I asked, my heart growing lighter and heavier at the same time.
"Only if you do it." He answered softly, gently taking my hands and placing them on his covered face.
I could feel him smile a little under my palms.
My chest felt like a fire was raging inside. My fingers felt numb with the cold, but tingled with anticipation.
His face slowly lowered towards mine.
Both of his eyes were staring at me so intently… again, I was afraid that his Sharingan could see how my heart was thumping, or see that fire burning away inside of me.
I could feel myself holding my breath… I didn't know why, but I felt like I was running out of air… I didn't care.
My fingers found the space between his mask and face just as they had this afternoon.
I gently started to roll the fabric down.
...
……………………………………………………….
Evil Cliffhanger... I know... I'll be updating reeeeally soon (if not already), don't worry! :D