～映画物語～

藤原のムラサキ

Murasaki breathed heavily, sweat pouring down her face as the sun beat down on her. This was her least favorite way to spend her free time, but since The Conflict, it had been the only way for her to find some ease, her inkstone and brush now laying forgotten on her desk.

There was no solace in this, just mindless physical exertion that resulted in eventual exhaustion. No solace could be found. Her soldier side told her to suck it up and move on, but she had been human before she became a tool of the Village, and Murasaki could never let that part go.

She leapt and twisted, her spirit becoming one with the world around her as she had learned to do. Murasaki could feel everything: the animals, the plants, the subtle changes in the air, the circular ebb and flow of life itself. Not far away, she could feel the chakra of the Villagers moving about on their daily routine, ANBU reporting in, merchants moving out…
It was calming and maddening simultaneously.

A familiar chakra drew near as Murasaki felt herself falling towards the ground, catching herself on hand and knee, the dirt splitting away as her chakra dispersed into it.

"Nice moves. You may want to tuck your elbows a bit when you land, though. I've seen better shinobi than you sprain their wrists doing that."

Murasaki stood up, her body growing rigid as she brushed a strand of dirt-brown hair away from her face. She was at quite a loss for words at who was drawing towards her, his silver hair glinting in the blinding sunlight.

"You're covered in dirt." Kakashi said with a note of scorn.

Murasaki rubbed her face on her elbow, frowning.

"Well…" she breathed, her voice wispy and out of breath. "It's not a matter of beauty."

"You're going to exhaust your chakra of you continue."

"I need to push it as far as I can. It's dangerous, but it's clear that I need to work on my capacity." She said, her chest heaving wildly, a sudden chill coming over her.

"Take a break, come sit down. I wanted to talk to you." Kakashi said, his muscles rippling slightly under his snug shirt. He put his hand on her back, as if to make sure the former shrine-maiden didn't escape. Murasaki's body was shaking by now, which caused Kakashi's eyebrows to knit beneath his forehead protector. "Don't you pass out on me. You're chakra looks shaky…"

"I won't pass out, I'll be fine." Murasaki said miserably, eyeing him wearily as they sat beneath a large maple tree. He smiled, handing her a canteen of water out of his pouch.

"You pushed yourself too far this time." He said in a maddeningly cool, calm tone.

"What did you want to talk about."

"I just wanted to talk, or maybe just sit in silence for a while...either way it'd be fine." Kakashi fell silent, leaning back against the tree and taking the empty bottle from Murasaki's hand.

"Just tell me what you want." Murasaki said, her heart hammering against her chest without any hint of slowing down. Maybe she had pushed herself to far this time.

Kakashi sighed, lines drawing at the corners of the seventeen year old's eyes.

"I'm about to do something that I'll probably regret. It's going to be really stupid, and may get me killed. I just want to know something…"

Murasaki's heart stopped as Kakashi spoke. These words had something deeper to them, something he wasn't saying…was he…? No…Kakashi could have his pick of any girl in the village, which he had a habit of demonstrating.

No, it couldn't be. It was just wishful thinking on her part, right? There was a long period of silence that befell the training field. A small cluster of yellow butterflies danced across the green grass before a soft breeze thwarted their movements. Murasaki watched in silence as the cloud of fluttering yellow scattered and couldn't help but think how similar it was to she and Kakashi.

Everyone was together, uninhibited and free, until the wind came and scattered them…some fell, while other's just scattered away.

Kakashi stretched, looking at Murasaki with a sigh and a smile. "Meh, never mind. I'm sure I'll be fine. I always am."

Murasaki remained silent, drawing her knees up and resting her head between them, her heart still pounding as she sat there. Kakashi followed her gaze as two of the butterflies returned, fluttering around each other in circles.

"What happened, after they died…why did everyone scatter to the four winds…?" Murasaki asked suddenly, immediately regretting it. She didn't want to know the answer...

Kakashi furrowed his brow, pulling up a fistful of grass and scattering it to the ground.

"In all honesty…pain. You don't want to hear this…but every time I look at you I see them…I can't stand it sometimes, because it's everything I could have done, but didn't. So I distance myself from you, because I have to. I have to move on. For the sake of the Village."

Murasaki's heart slowed to a dull, painful rhythm, her naturally upturned lips curving downwards as the ache of sadness filled her. "I understand completely."

The jounin stood up, offering his hand. A sudden realization hit Murasaki as she struggled to look up into Kakashi's masked face: He had been there. He was the ANBU that had rescued her after the Conflict…

He cast her a knowing glance, a sad smile playing at the corners of his visible eye. Murasaki stood up on her own, smiling back at him. "Thanks, but I don't kneed the help…"

Kakashi's visible eye arched, and the fabric over his mouth moved into a smile.

"That's what I like about you…" Kakashi said, ruffling her hair slightly. Murasaki blushed at the contact and he stopped, his hand still on top of her head. He leaned down, kissing her forehead through his mask, the soft fabric ghosting over her skin.

"Take care." He whispered, turning away. Murasaki watched him go, the cloud of butterflies flitting around her ankles as she watched him disappear into the misty haze of the Spring day.

XxX

The room was filthy. It wasn't a matter of grime and dirt, but there was a feeling to it; the dimness of the yellowed lights shining in the stone walls, a distinctive smell…the overall tone in the room seemed almost diseased, unwell…

But the thing that made it seem filthy was Kakashi's own mind. Ever since he'd left Konoha on leave five days before, there had been this sense hidden deep inside his subconscious that he himself was dirty…his initial contact with Megumi had only soiled him to the point of no return.

But he had to pretend, as in a charade, that he was madly in love with her.

Now he stood silently in a room, Megumi's black hair shining in the dim lights as she moved before him.

Megumi wasn't unattractive, in fact, it was quite the opposite. She was small, slender, and pale with long dark hair and the slightest hint of purple around her eyes made her look even more frail and delicate.

It was her attitude, her reputation that repulsed him so.

Megumi was clever, and particularly vicious towards other girls, friend or foe, often employing manipulation to get what she wanted. It made Kakashi worry that maybe he was in some way a victim of this, but it made him all the more attentive. After all, turnabout was fair play.

Megumi dressed in short kimono and gladiator sandals, like a woman who might work in a brothel or a cheap cabaret. Everything about her, even her 'fierce' act, seemed fake, flawed, and cheap.

She wasn't willing to get her hands dirty, really dirty: to work for the abilities she coveted, to work for the affections she was so wanting…she wanted it to all fall into her hands. Yes, Megumi had had her fair share of hardships, but they had made her no better: she simply dwelt on them and used them against others in a subtle form of manipulation known as pity and mercy.

Perhaps there was something about her that inspired such feelings, but they would vanish after a short time as if she could turn them on and off like a light switch, and the moment she felt them fading, they would be on again. It was not a becoming trait, but it was effective.

Kakashi prided himself in the fact that she was transparent to him, he could see right through her cheap tricks, but unfortunately it made this mission harder.

Espionage, in the form of being someone's lover, was much easier if one has some small semblance of affection for the other. There were women of much less worldly value in Kakashi's past that had meant much more to him, even after the illusion of affection was gone. Megumi had to be the first in which he personally found no merit.

Perhaps this sense of her worthlessness played upon his own reluctant desire to feel important in the role of the village, and that somehow he was falling short of this role. But then again, perhaps his opinion of Megumi, and all women, hinged upon a juxtaposition with Murasaki.

"You know I'll have to go back soon, they'll notice I'm gone…" He said, leaning back against the headboard of the bed as Megumi sat up, her amber eyes gleaming like two sparks as her lips curved into a smile.

"Oh, come on…" She said, crawling closer until her face was inches from his, her slender form trembling over his. "You don't need them, you have me, and Otogakure…I can give you everything you need."

Kakashi stopped, pretending to consider as he recalled the excuse he'd made up.

"What kind of lover would I be if you supported me like that?" He asked, touching her face tenderly. "It hardly seems fair to you."

"You're so traditional." She cooed, her hair falling between them like a curtain of black silk. "But you should know…I'm not the traditional kind of girl." Megumi murmured against his lips as she straddled his thighs.

Kakashi swallowed, knitting his brows as he tried to find a way out of this one.

A/N: Fie on not having 30 chapters to a story! I'm going to do whatever the fuck I want from now on! I mean, as far as this story goes...

Pffft.

review please? I need the encouragement/inspiration right now.