"He still hasn't taken off that freaky costume..." Naruto peered suspiciously over his shoulder at Sai.
The artist struggled to lie down on his bedroll, his limbs becoming hopelessly entangled within the generous folds of his cloak. After a minute of valiant wriggling and controlled rocking from side to side, Sai appeared to give up. With only one hand free of the knotted shroud and both of his legs twisted together, it couldn't have been very comfortable. The boy began to stroke the limp beard pooled across his chest.
"I think he's grown attached to it." Sakura's voice was a horrified whisper.
Naruto shuddered and turned back to the dying campfire. He was glad that Ino and Chouji were making such a loud ruckus as they set up their respective nests. Their squabbling drowned out Sai's droning murmurs. Naruto cringed, the last thing he needed on a dark night like this was to hear the artist's emotionless voice whispering affectionate reassurances to inanimate objects as he tried to fall asleep... Maybe Sai took one-to-many hits to the head during our interrogation...
"Don't talk about things like that at night, Sakura-chan," he whined, "I'll have nightmares."
She laughed at his pleading tone and dragged her bedroll over, flopping down next to him with a contented sigh. Naruto quickly buried his smile in the cushiony mat. Yes! Sakura-chan wants to sleep next to me! Again! Nevermind the fact that her choices for a sleep-mate were limited to Chouji, Ino, Sai, and himself--it was destiny!
A moment passed in which Naruto twitched under the strain of containing his happy dance to his mind and Sakura pretended to be oblivious.
The four of them had been ordered to set up camp and get as much sleep as they could with Yamato taking watch. As soon as they had all arrived at the meeting place Shikamaru had suggested another plan to steal the rogue-ninjas' poisons and antidotes. Apparently it was just too dangerous to leave the situation as it was. Naruto thought that was just a fancy way of saying that if they went back to Konoha now Tsunade would rip off their heads. So yeah, failure was not an option.
Shikamaru's plan was to have the majority of the two teams rest up during the night so that they were ready for any possible attacks that might come the following morning. While they were sleeping, or in Naruto's case snoring, as Sakura had helpfully pointed out, Kakashi and himself would sneak back into the rogue-ninja camp. The Shadow-user and the former ANBU would break into the supply tent, steal everything that looked important, and then slip out of the camp without being detected.
Naruto didn't see why they had to everything so sneaky-like! He was all for jumping into the enemy camp, rasengan in hand, and kicking some ass! Honestly, his plan was a lot simpler... But whatever, he didn't mind getting more sleep time.
Sakura picked at some lint contemplatively. She sighed.
"Naruto?"
"Yah?" He perked his head up, frowning a little at her brooding tone.
"Do you think that Kakashi-sensei is..." she paused uncertainly, her green eyes flickering over his expression, "Do you think he's losing his touch?" Her words came out rushed.
"Sakura-chan!"
"I know, nevermind." She blushed a little and her mouth pursed guiltily, "Forget I said anything." She quickly flipped over so that her back was facing him. Naruto blinked slowly. He absentmindedly fingered the worn threads on his bedroll, a sliver of doubt bothering him.
Of course he had defended the Copy-ninja. Kakashi? Losing his touch?--Ridiculous! There was no way that would ever happen, there was just no way. Naruto knew that whenever Kakashi fought it was an awe-inspiring sight, he had seen it himself countless times. In a battle, the man was confidence personified. Every movement was laced with a predatory elegance that was simply chilling to behold.
But...
His former teacher hadn't fought at all when they were caught. There had been no showy jutsus--there hadn't even been a secret backup plan! Kakashi had simply kneeled before the enemy and dropped his weapon. Naruto struggled desperately to repress the feeling of doubt worming it's way through his chest.
Why would he do that?
"No, I..." Naruto whispered reluctantly, "I know what you mean." Sakura rolled back over slowly and her green eyes fixed expectantly upon his own. The Jinchuriki pulled the blanket up to his chin uneasily, he couldn't help but feel like he was betraying his former sensei.
"When he just gave up like that yesterday," Naruto made an uncomfortable face, "I don't know, I just couldn't believe it... It made me feel kinda sick."
Sakura nodded quickly, looking slightly relieved, "Me too! Why didn't he do anything? I just don't understand." She paused and shook her head a little, blinking hard, "He could've at least left and come back for us later! But all he did was drop his weapons and get tied up with us! At first I thought it was all part of some big plan--But he never did anything! I just don't get it! He said that his teammates were the most important thing to him--and he didn't even try to do anything!" Sakura frowned fiercely, something that Naruto had noticed she did when she didn't want to look upset.
"I just don't understand..." she trailed off, looking very tired all of a sudden. Sakura's eyes raised to meet his and Naruto saw the confusion and worry she tried to hide within those green orbs.
Unable to see her upset, Naruto smiled brightly and joked, "He was probably just lulling them into a false sense of security, Sakura-chan! You know how he is!"
"Yeah right, Naruto!" Sakura easily fell into their familiar banter, "He was probably just being lazy!" Naruto chuckled and snuggled into his blankets. Kakashi was one of the laziest people he knew, second only to Shikamaru. The idea that he would rather hand himself over than execute an elaborate escape plan was really not that far fetched.
Sakura yawned and stretched, indicating that she was satisfied with their conversation and wanted to sleep now. He smiled as she mumbled a sleepy goodnight, her eyes already closing, and rolled over so that her back was facing him. Naruto watched her shoulders rise and fall for a moment, happy that he was able to reassure her somewhat.
The night grew still and quiet around them. Naruto looked away from his teammate and into the surrounding forest where Yamato was keeping watch. As the last embers of the fire sputtered and faded into darkness he felt an acute loneliness echo within his chest. As stupid as it was, Naruto couldn't help but wish that Kakashi was with them now.
"Are you sure this is how they do it in ANBU?"
Shikamaru grunted and readjusted his grip on the older man's feet, pointedly ignoring the fact that only one wore a boot. Kakashi made no reply. The faint tinkling sound of jostled glass continued without pause. Shikamaru gritted his teeth.
For the last twelve minutes he had been in possibly one of the most uncomfortable and awkward positions of his life. With the intention of giving his fellow jounin a boost, Shikamaru found himself backed up against one of the supply racks, his sweating hands cupped around Kakashi's bony heels and his head buried somewhere between the man's knees.
Needless to say there was a lot he didn't understand about their current situation.
For one, if either of them were to give the other a boost, why was it that the smaller, less muscular, of the two was the one doing the lifting? He had never really took Kakashi Hatake to be a cruel man, but given the present circumstances he might just have to reevaluate that opinion. Secondly, how long could it really take to collect all of the poisons and antidotes on the upper shelf? In all honesty, it should not have taken more than a couple seconds! And thirdly--why was his head in Kakashi's crotch of all places?!
Shikamaru jumped at the sound of approaching footsteps. Shit! The Shadow-user forcefully nudged Kakashi's inner thigh with his nose, afraid to speak and unable to move his hands. No response from the otherwise occupied Copy-cat ninja.
The footfalls were getting closer, any second now and they would be found out. Shikamaru's mind raced, trying to think of a way to get the Copy-nin's attention without making any noise that could give them away. The muffled sound of approaching laughter spilled over them in the darkness. Shikamaru's heart beat in his ears. He did the only thing he could think of.
He bit him.
Kakashi spasmed suddenly and violently, his body twisting and thrashing. Shikamaru struggled to keep him aloft, caught off guard by the unexpected ferocity of his teammate's movements. For a split second he found himself trying to juggle the Copy-ninja's kicking feet while he was battered in the head by what felt like their half-filled bag.
The opening to the supply tent was brushed aside and a bright light illuminated them just as Shikamaru missed catching Kakashi's foot. The two rogue-ninja gasped in shock and disgust at the sight that greeted them. The famous Copy-ninja was frozen in the action of straddling the shoulders of a younger man, whose hands seemed to be in the middle of groping his buttocks.
"What the hell?! What--"
The next moment there were two guards lying on the ground with shurikan jutting out of their sluggishly bleeding necks.
The two of them quickly disentangled themselves, after much shoving and grumbled curses. They stared at each other in mortification, breathing hard.
"Gah!" Kakashi cried, stumbling backwards.
"Augh!" Shikamaru cried, looking at his hands in horror.
"Why would you--"
"They were going to--"
"You, you--"
"FIND US!" They both flinched at the loud sound of Shikamaru's shout. There was a tense moment of silence where they listened for any indication that they'd been heard. There was nothing.
"You bit me!" Kakashi accused in a disbelieving whisper. Shikamaru rolled his eyes and rubbed a hand over his weary face. I just had to be a ninja...
"Look," he sighed, reluctantly playing the adult in this situation, "Let's just--"
"Forget this ever happened."
"...Yes."
The two of them sat in silence, Shikamaru rubbing his hands in an unconscious washing motion while Kakashi ran a hand through his silver hair. The camp was perfectly silent, there was only the sound of nocturnal wildlife and the wind whistling through the tents. The flapping sound of tent entrances billowing open and closed...
Kakashi seemed to realize it at the same moment that he did. They both stood up, Shikamaru snatching up the dying torch, and ripped open the tent flap. The camp was deserted.
I have a bad feeling about this...
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated!
I've had really intense track practice/meets, choir competitions, college choosing, research project crap! Ugh, my cup doth runneth over. Anyway, thankyou for reading! I'm sorry that this one's so short and kinda dumb, it'll get better after this. If you're reading, please please review! I will love you forever!
But yeah, incase anyone is confused, the camp that they snuck into was abandoned. And they just noticed. So if the rogue-ninja aren't at their camp, where are they? Cookie for anyone who guesses right :D
Thanks!
~Flintyminty25