Chapter 49!

Title: 'Fiancés and Futons: Part One'

Note: Making a video for you guys, and when I say 'for you guys' I mean that it'll literally be a video with KakaSaku or just plain Kakashi pictures with the usernames of anybody who's favorited Growing Pangs or ever reviewed (even the ones without an account!) So if you want your name in the video, then if you review this chapter I'll add you to the list!

Oh and, for any reason, you don't want your username mentioned, then please message me (or review if you don't have an account) and tell me not to include you. I won't take offense or anything, I guess unless you deliberately say it's because you didn't like the story in the first place… then that might hurt a little. :

But anyways, that's enough from me.

I uploaded two chapters this time since I didn't want to stop too soon and have you guys waiting at a stupid ending.

Enjoy the chapters!

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

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"And the fiancés return!" Momoshita bellowed loudly as Kakashi and I barely made it back to the room, the door was open and successfully filling the hallway with the incoherent shouts and cheering, as well as off-key singing, of the drunken lackeys inside.

Kakashi/Kyousuke nodded appreciatively at Momoshita's welcome while I was still having troubling keeping my towel snugly covering my legs since one of my hands was still held captive Kakashi's. I had tried to tug it away, out of instinct, when we walked up to the door, but he just held on tighter.

I didn't really mind.

No one in the room, beside Momoshita, seemed to care about our return. I imagine Naruto would've, and probably wouldn't have liked the title 'fiances' or the fact Kakashi/Kyousuke and I were holding hands, but he was already passed out on the floor, Sai sitting next to him a little protectively looking up at all the ruckus.

Kakashi's hand pulled me through the doorway a little slowly. I wanted to sigh. I really didn't want to deal with this party again.

And as if the Universe answered my prayers I heard the stocky mob-boss speak up again:

"Now, I know I promised to order a second round for your return, Kyousuke-kun, but I'm afraid I don't think my men or myself can withstand much more excitement." With those words he flicked a few straightened fingers at the lackeys, they seemed to understand what that meant despite the fact they were all red-nosed with alcohol consumption. "But, if you don't mind, we'll be taking the leftovers with us."

"It's no trouble, sir." 'Kyousuke' smiled behind his towel-mask with almost naive charm, addressing the yakuza with respect I had only ever heard Kakashi pay to the Third Hokage. The lackeys shuffled around the small table, picking up plates and bottles.

I took a double take as I realized that they were taking the spiked sake with them… was that really okay? What if they kept drinking it?

"And Hiroki hasn't returned either." The mob-boss continued as he curiously scanned the group of staggering and slumping men who were now lumbering towards the door, hands full. I swallowed a little nervously. As if in reaction to that man's name, Kakashi's hand let go of mine and before I was untouched for more than a moment I felt that hand brush along my back and hinge over my shoulder gently. He pulled me against his side a little tightly. I hadn't noticed until right now that he wasn't wearing a robe or anything. He had walked out here in nothing but his boxers, a hand-towel mask, and a body towel draped over his shoulders widely.

For a man that doesn't like bragging, he doesn't really exercise a lot of modesty.

My bare shoulder and arm pressed against the side of his equally bare chest.

I immediately felt rather embarrassed, I ducked my head as I felt my face threaten to change color.

This wasn't really anything new, but it was still weird for him to be even a little affectionate like this in front of other people, let alone when we were both dressed (or 'undressed', rather) like this. The mob-boss didn't even notice… but for a moment I swore I saw Sai staring at me a little strangely.

I was snapped from that weird moment when 'Kyousuke' spoke up, his side vibrating against my arm with every syllable.

"I believe we saw him wander into a room." Kakashi added with a helpful tone, wary enough to not even let slip the fact that he knew it was Momo's room. I kind of liked the way he said 'we'.

The stocky man laughed with some disturbing version of jolliness, "That boy was always a stupid-drunk. He's probably passed out in a stranger's bed by now."

Kakashi laughed a little, too. He shook against me with each chuckle. I could tell it was a fake laugh right away, but Momo seemed convinced.

"Well, Kyosuke-kun, I'll see you tomorrow at the dining party." The aging yakuza took a few steps towards the door with those words, closing the secretly tense conversation pleasantly.

"Of course." Kakashi said just as politely as before, taking a few steps himself, forcing me to, too.

And with that the gangster briskly clapped his hands once, getting the attention of even the drunkest of his men. "To your rooms boys." He ordered them lastly, shooting one last glance back to Kyousuke and I, wearing a friendly smile that I could tell was fake.

It was only a few seconds before we were alone in the room, besides the out-cold Naruto and silent Sai, and the hallway went quiet.

"Well, that went better than expected." Kakashi graded the aftermath of this somewhat crazy night rather lightly after a moment of awkward silence, breaking the mission-mood.

I had no idea what he had been expecting, but it sure didn't feel like things ended up going to any sort of plan to me. Then again Kakashi's plans weren't really tailored for anyone else but him.

"How's he doing?" Kakashi's arm slinked from around my shoulder, his fingers brushing down my arm as he let me go to walk over to our other two teammates. I hadn't realized how cold the air was before.

I tried to ignore the slight disappointment of having to drop the 'fiance' act for right now…

… I would never tell him that I didn't completely hate his plan, ever.

"He consumed too much alcohol." Sai stated the obvious as I walked up, too.

There was a moment's pause.

Even though it hard to read Sai's expressions sometimes, I could totally tell when his eyes scanned over Kakashi and I, focusing on the towels and the lack of clothing, that he was probably wondering if we had taken a bath.

I was about to speak up and explain that we had to break into Momo's room through the hot spring, but Kakashi spoke up before I could, probably aiming to take charge of the explanations like the team-captain he was.

I waited for the long story.

"We weren't able to find any physical evidence. But we did learn more about the deal from 'Hiroki'." Kakashi finished shortly before moving on.

Huh?

"I see." Sai responded, full understanding in his voice.

Both of them moved on, looking towards Naruto, leaving me there to stare into space.

Only a moment passed before my mind caught up with that moment.

Sai KNEW?

I nearly yelled it out loud as I watched Kakashi walk away farther from me, like he really didn't do anything wrong, approaching the snoring Naruto.

You could tell him what the plan was, but you couldn't take a moment to explain everything to ME?

My mind flashed to this afternoon, when he had advised I slept.

He didn't want to tell me the big plan, did he?

It probably would've been boring for him if I already knew what to expect from him.

So he just let me writhe in confusion when he told Sai, and probably Naruto, everything!

I shot him a contained glare that I hoped he could sense.

He just chuckled for a moment as Naruto snorted something in his sleep.

My posture slumped a little at the realization that he really didn't care about the fact that I just discovered his evil plan behind his… evil plan… yeah…

"Yeah, he really helped himself. He'll be out till morning." He graded for a moment, obviously knowing more about alcohol-induced stupors than me or Sai. "But that should be fine. It's about time we all turned in, anyways."

Wait, what?
I forgot my irritation with that.

"There's nothing else to do?" I asked as Kakashi pulled one of Naruto's limp arms over his shoulder.

"Not until tomorrow night."

He walked out ahead of me and Sai, carrying Naruto well enough, but not exercising much care.

I followed after him much like before, confused and eager for answers.

"What are our parts for the dining party?" Sai spoke up before I could. But his question was actually really important, too.

We walked down the hallway quickly, I felt a little self-conscious for not wearing slippers, but I was more focused on keeping the towel up.

I would still have to be Hanako tomorrow night and act like his fiancée again… which isn't bad… but there had to be something else I had to do. Something useful to this mission.
Tonight, I felt more like a pet that Kakashi decided to bring with him to work or something.

Kakashi spoke up with an answer after he tugged Naruto's arm further over his shoulder for more support.

"I'm afraid I can't share all the details now, Sai. But there isn't much to prepare for if that's what you're worried about."

I was actually more worried about what was going to happen between now and tomorrow night. And something told me I probably wouldn't get a chance to 'prepare' for whatever he had planned.

Then again… if he wasn't even telling Sai about this plan, then he wasn't planning on keeping anything from me on purpose this time, right?

The door to Naruto and Sai's room slid open a little quickly. Kakashi went through first, silently dragging Naruto towards the farthest room from the door which had the two futons. The doorways were really wide so I could still see the most of that futon-room. I noticed that the beddings were separated as much as they could be, each at an opposite corner of the room, I could imagine Naruto's whining orders at Sai to keep his distance while dragging the futons apart.

I was about to catch up to Kakashi-sensei, willing to help him -not because I was trying to be particularly nice, but I was mostly impatient to get back to our room so I could have a talk with him about what happened today and what's going to happen tomorrow- but something stopped me.

"Sakura-chan." Sai called my name just as I lifted my foot to take a step. He usually wouldn't use honorifics for me… I guess he's been reading more about girls lately, and how they prefer some sort of respect, too. It was a little refreshing.

"Yes?" I turned back to him, ready to use a polite smile, answer whatever question he had and go ahead and help Kakashi anyways… but he wasn't going to ask I a question. And it certainly wouldn't be anything I could take care of in a few seconds.

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"I think I know what's going on with you and Kakashi-san."

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I froze.

My mind went blank for a moment.

I really wasn't sure if I heard him right.

But even after running his words through my in several times within that second, I still knew exactly what he meant.

Wasn't today just a normal, carefree, day?… Sure, there had been a few comical ups and downs… but today wasn't supposed to be a day that this would happen. Today wasn't supposed to be the day, right?

If I had heard what Sai just said right… and he really knew what was going on… then….

I collected my thoughts quickly after they only momentarily travelled the possibilities of what would happen to us if our secret had finally been discovered by the wrong person.
Feeling like I was suddenly forced on a battlefield even though there wasn't any hostility right now, I still had the instinct to fight whatever suspicions Sai had.

"… There's nothing between me and Kakashi-sensei." I made sure my voice was normal, innocent. I purposefully gave him a weird look, the look I probably would've given him if he had said that a few months ago.

"You're lying." He retorted simply with a sweet voice that didn't sound real.

He gave a little smile, probably his attempt at lightening the mood of this suddenly serious conversation that was too quiet for our team-captain to hear from the other side of the suite. I knew that smile, it's the exact same one he gave me when we had first signed into this onsen, after Kakashi labeled us as fiancés. It was the exact same smile he had when he told me about Asaka, saying he thought I'd want to know about the fact that the history between Kakashi-sensei and Asaka hadn't been completely professional.

He definitely knew something.

He's been figuring it out slowly this whole time.

I had thought he was too emotionally inept to ever figure this out.

My heartbeat quickened.

But I knew better than to admit anything now.

"Sai, I really don't kno-" I was about to deliver a standard 'playing-stupid' line before he cut me off, breaking a basic rule of etiquette that his books no doubt taught him before.

"You have feelings for him, don't you?"

He sounded so certain, so confident in that fact.

I shut up for a moment, expecting the rest of that accusation 'and you two are in some sort of secret relationship.'…

… but it never came.

He just looked at me, as if he had nothing else to say… like that was really all he knew.

I unclenched my jaw, feeling a little less tense suddenly.

I searched his blank expression for a quiet moment longer, I could hear Naruto's snoring get louder as Kakashi flipped him over onto the covers, but I wasn't distracted… Sai really didn't have anything else to say.
That was all he knew!

I could feel the vice that had been squeezing my heart and stomach begin to ease a little.

I blinked, fighting back the conflicting feelings of relief and fear.

"Um-I…" I stuttered for a moment, still trying to figure out what to say. But Sai broke that etiquette rule again.

"I think it's interesting." He said quietly, snapping me out of my stuttering. "So, I'll help you if you want."

Now I was actually really confused.

Interesting?

Help?

"What?" I blurted out a little loudly, I glanced back to our team-captain who had just closed the futon-room door behind him, still too far away to hear the incredibly low volume of this conversation.

Even before I looked back to him, Sai was already answering my abrupt question.

"You want him to return your feelings, right?" He asked rhetorically. "I'll help."

I just stood there, looking at him as he kept his eyes on Kakashi now, completely and utterly shocked by his words.

He thought this… my feelings for Kakashi… were interesting?

He was going to try and help me?

Help me get him to like me back?

I mean… it's not I needed help, I really didn't… but Sai, the most objective rule-follower I knew, was actually offering aide and compassion with my emotions, and was willing to set up a terribly taboo couple because he found it interesting?

Sai could be surprising sometimes.

But this was shocking.

Before more than a few seconds passed I remembered I was still a part of this incredibly strange discussion.

"That… would be… nice…." I tip-toed around my words lightly. "But…" I added, still feeling like just admitting my own feelings could somehow get both of us in trouble. "…I think it would be best for me to forget my feelings and move on." I added quickly, ending this talk, just before Kakashi walked into hearing distance, feeling a little like a traitor for saying something like that.

A conversation had never seemed to go by so slow and so fast at the same time.

I still wanted a few words with Sai, to somehow convince him to forget all this and believe that I really didn't have any special feelings towards Kakashi, but I also wanted out of the exchange as soon as possible so I didn't mess anything up and somehow confess to what was really happening.

"… oh." I heard Sai's response just as Kakashi walked up to us, completely oblivious to the words that had just been exchanged.

I tried not to seem as outwardly disturbed and confused as I was feeling inwardly right now. I nearly jumped when Kakashi spoke up, not used to the loudness of normal voices again yet.

"Make sure he doesn't lie on his back the whole night, Sai. Wake him up in a few hours and have him drink some water." He advised with teacher-ly concern while I was still in something of a daze, already trying to go back to the room.

"Understood." Sai nodded at the order, walking past Kakashi without giving me another glance.

"Now I suggest we all get some sleep." Kakashi announced loud enough for Sai to hear, too, who was already halfway over to Naruto.

I felt a hand gently wrap around the bottom of my wrist, familiar fingers gripping onto the inside of my hand lightly. He walked towards the door, while I was still kind of busy staring into space.

He tugged me by the hand through the door, like he's done more than a few times tonight.

Now that Sai was out of my sight when we starting walking down the hallway in silence, my brain finally wrapped around Kakashi's seemingly harmless words.

Sleep?

I was reminded of what he had warned me of this afternoon:

'You won't be getting a lot of sleep tonight…'

Before I could even think of anything that would keep me from sleeping tonight we were already walking into the familiar darkness of our room.

"Ka-" I started, not sure if I was going to ask what else he had planned, or to tell him about the deeply disturbing conversation I just had. But I didn't have to decide.

"Get your futon ready, there should be robes prepared next to them." He ordered just as innocently as before. I was little taken-aback by the fact he was still in teacher-mode right now. "I'll set mine up, too. We have a lot to prepare for tomorrow." He finished, keeping up his responsible-voice flawlessly as he closed the door behind me gently.

What?

I followed him a little absent-mindedly into our own futon-room, quickly forgetting Sai and focusing more on the situation at hand when I indeed saw two futons on the floor, set apart at an appropriate distance.

Why would a Couples Suite have two futons?

Maybe he specially ordered it like that?

… It would be kind of an awkward situation if we did only have one futon to sleep in and Naruto or Sai found ou-

My mind went blank again with the thought of Sai.

'I'll help you if you want…'

I scrubbed it from my mind as I wandered over to my own futon, grabbing the yukata-like robe in the darkness a little quickly. I really needed to get that off of my mind.

I'd avoided disaster just then… Sai really only thinks I have some sort of one-sided crush on Kakashi-sensei. That only meant that I wasn't as good of an actor as Kakashi was, which I always knew… but it didn't prove anything wrong was going on.

So there's nothing to worry about.

Nothing to worry about.
I repeated in my mind firmly.

I just have to worry about Sai when Kakashi and I are together in front of him.

I don't have to tear out my hair about it now… not when I was suffering from a certain disappointed confusion when I looked over to Kakashi again, who forgoed the robe-option, but had actually put on some sweatpants when I wasn't looking, and was now flipping open the covers of his own futon.

I followed his lead. Looking away from him, tying the front of my robe and slipping underneath the blankets quietly, making only the slightest noises that interrupted this somewhat awkward silence… feeling like something was off.

What had I been expecting?

This is what's supposed to happen.

This is the responsible thing to do.

Separating ourselves.

And…
I had already pushed things too far in that closet, and jeopardized the mission a little… I can't expect him to trust me after that.

He's probably trying to set up some sort of distance here so that we can still act professionally tomorrow.

I tugged at the covers a little, trying to warm up.

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Onto the next chapter!