She saw Kakashi off and on throughout the next several weeks but neither of them brought up the deal. Calixta was waiting for Kakashi to make the first move and Kakashi was still trying to figure out exactly what he should do and how he should do it.
So, in the meantime, Calixta decided to do something that needed to be done anyway, regardless of what was done. She made herself stronger. It took several days of conducting interviews before she decided who she wanted to train with, not that those being interviewed knew that's what she was doing. Rather, she simply asked her friends about their routines and when she found someone that she thought she might be able to work with, she asked to join them. This person happened to be Rock Lee.
"Really? You wanna train with me?" Lee pressed one afternoon during lunch, his genuine surprise written all over his face.
"Is that really so strange?" she asked almost meekly. It had taken quite a while, but most of the character traits that she had picked up from Gaara had worn off.
He shrugged. "I guess I just wasn't expecting that. You have a pretty powerful chakra. I would expect you to want to work with someone who's better at that kind of thing, or at least capable of it," he added with a slight grumble.
"That's not what I want to work on. I need my body to be stronger," she affirmed.
"Okay, if you say so. When do you want to start?"
"Whenever is good for you," she conceded.
"Well, I was planning on doing some training on my own after lunch, if you'd like to join me," he offered.
She happily accepted. However, her reason behind choosing Lee wasn't as simple as she was letting on. It was true that she wanted to make herself physically stronger but it was his system of outrageous goals and extreme punishments that clinched the deal. She knew she had to increase her endurance as well as her strength and she knew that the pain of such an incredible workout would help prepare her for her impending encounter with Shukaku.
It was just starting to get dark and they were about half way through a set of five hundred push-ups when Calixta's muscles finally gave and she was unable to force them to start again. Her whole body felt numb to the commands of her brain while every part of her screamed with the pain of having pushed herself so hard in only a few short hours.
They both knew that she wouldn't be able to keep up with Lee, at least not at first, which was another reason why she chose him. She found that more often than not, he didn't not achieve his outrageous goals and unflinchingly went onto what he considered to be an appropriate punishment. That still didn't change the fact that her body always gave out first, not that he ever said anything to her about her shortcomings.
She knew that after this, no matter what he decided to do, she would have to call it a day and ask him to help her home. As she lay on her stomach with her head turned toward him, her almost vacantly exhausted gaze fixed on his face as he pushed himself even harder than he normally would have because she was there.
She could feel his passion and his internal drive. They were more tired and worn than she had ever felt from him. On top of that, she could also feel that she wasn't the only one whose entire body was screaming for mercy. Had she more of her sense about her, she would have tried not to awe so blatantly at him but it didn't matter because his gaze was focused somewhere between the end of his nose and the soft forest floor before him.
It didn't take long before Lee felt her chakra carefully touching his own and shortly after, he realized what it was. For the most part, he was too tired to care and knew that she was too exhausted to really do anything. However, he couldn't help letting himself become somewhat distracted by the strange sensations he would occasionally receive due to the contact. That is, until it felt like she was actively trying to help him. Then he had to put a stop to it.
She hardly realized she was doing it at first but even though her body was nearly incapacitated by that point, her emotions were still running wild within her, either undeterred or even propagated by her physical state.
"Whatever you're doing, I want you to stop it right now," he told her evenly between staggered breaths.
She gave a little whimper and the feelings he was receiving from her waned. As she reigned herself in, her eyes rolled and she gave a heated little groan. When her breathing, which had finally settled, started to become heavy again, she rolled over onto her back. She felt a little flash of guilt for trying to help him, whether she meant to or not.
Lee ignored her and pushed onward. Attempting to ignore her little spectacle actually solidified his resolve to continue even more than her assistance had. However, he couldn't completely block out the little sounds she made, strained little whines of mixed pleasure and pain.
"What's wrong?" he finally asked after another hundred push-ups.
She was barely conscious and his voice sounded very far away. "So tired…" her eyes slid shut and her little sounds waned but she was starting to weakly writhe on the forest floor.
When she gave an exhausted sigh and went all but limp a few minutes later, Lee stopped his exercise, took a moment to wipe his brow and catch his breath, and went over to her. She was laying only a few feet away so he didn't have to go far. "Calixta-san?" he asked carefully.
"Nnngh?" Her eyes fluttered open.
"I think we're done for the day," he offered.
She barely nodded and tried to sit up. When she failed, she allowed him to help her without protest. Once they were standing, she seemed a little more lucid so he decided to keep talking to her. "What was that?" he asked carefully.
She shook her head. "I'm not really sure. I'm so worn out that I couldn't really think about it," she admitted.
"Well, maybe you shouldn't push yourself so hard," he tried.
"No," she argued as forcefully as she could. "I have to push myself to the absolute limit of what I'm capable of," she insisted.
Her conviction startled him. As far as she knew, she was fairly good at keeping things within moderation. Now, he knew her idea of moderation wasn't exactly the norm but that was to be expected. "Why?"
"Because I have to get stronger," she replied.
"But for what purpose?" he pressed.
"Does it matter? All of you train relentlessly even without a purpose. Why should I be any different?" she tried to argue.
He stopped and looked her in the eye. "Because you've always been different. Besides, we each have our own individual purpose, our own ninja way. Please, tell me what this is all about," he continued to plead.
She weakly shook her head. "It's for Gaara," she finally admitted.
"For Gaara?" he almost dropped her he was so startled. "I was under the impression that your relationship with him was nicer than that."
She faltered. "Well, not just Gaara…for Shukaku as well," she elaborated unwillingly.
"Sh-Shukaku?" he barely repeated.
"You heard me," she asserted.
Lee thought his heart was going to stop. "I've met Shukaku, so to speak. I don't know if anybody can stand up to him, except maybe Naruto and that was sort of a draw," he reasoned.
"If you don't want to help me just say so but don't presume to question my relationships," she snapped.
"It's just that…Shukaku is really dangerous," he tried to reason.
She finally managed enough conviction to push him away and remain standing. "Let me tell you something that you might not understand. It doesn't matter how much stronger I get. Shukaku will push me to my absolute limit regardless of what that is," she tried to explain.
"Then what does it matter if you get stronger? Wouldn't it be safer if you didn't?"
"No one ever said that love was a very safe business," she scoffed.
"But you love Gaara, not Shukaku," Lee argued.
She laughed at him. "I love both of them because their existence is one. Shukaku and I have been together once before. When it happens again, I have to be stronger than the last time or he will get bored and find me worthless."
Lee's eyes grew wide with horror. "W-What…What do you mean you've been with him?" he pressed.
"Just what it sounds like. We met. We talked. We had sex," she nearly spat.
"I-If that's the case…then I think you should find someone else to help you, maybe someone with some kind of ninjutsu or genjutsu," he suggested.
"No amount of chakra manipulation will help me. I need to be physically stronger. I need you because you won't distract me with that other stuff," she told him.
He was taken aback by her words and the conviction behind them and barely caught her when she stumbled. "Hey, take it easy."
"Just, please, help me home. Then, do what you wish but…please keep this between us," she weakly pleaded.
He nodded. "Just one thing then," he broached. "Does Kakashi-sensei know about this training?"
She looked away. "I haven't talked to him yet," she admitted. "I wanted to wait until I found someone who could help me before I brought it up and then we just sort of got going before I could talk to him."
"But you intend to, right?" he pressed.
"If that is what you wish," she conceded.
"Do that and I'll keep letting you train with me," he bargained.
"Deal," she agreed and they walked the rest of the way in silence.
When Kakashi stopped by to see her late the following afternoon, he found her still in her pajamas. Since it was obvious that she had slept in and it had been quite some time since she had emptied her breasts, he took the liberty of relieving her of that strain while he started their more serious conversation. He knew it was sort of an underhanded trick, to take advantage of how relaxed she could become when he nursed from her breasts in just the right ways, but she never complained about it.
"So, what were you doing that's kept you in so late?" he asked as he opened her top and started to massage her breasts.
"I was sleeping in," she admitted.
"Oh? Late night?" he pressed.
"Not exactly. More like…an intense night," she lazily elaborated.
"Oh? May I ask who your lucky partner was? Or maybe it was partners?" he lecherously continued before his lips met her nipple.
She gave a deep sigh and continued to relax. "Not like that," she mumbled.
"Then like what?" he barely stopped to ask.
"I trained with Lee-san yesterday," she replied.
He didn't ask anything more for a long time after that. It was only when he was finished with her left breast that he bothered to speak to her again. "What kind of training?"
"I just tried to mimic his workout. That was more than enough to exhaust me," she almost laughed and then did when his tongue started teasing her right nipple.
"I imagine," he mused, thinking that even he would have a hard time keeping up with the enthusiastic young man. "Any particular reason?"
"I want to get stronger," she replied without thinking when he gently sucked her hard nipple, slick with saliva and milk, between his lips.
"Why?" he asked when he let it pop from his lips.
She gave a heated little whimper. "For Shukaku," she let it roll off her lips without thinking.
That made him stop to look up into her half-lidded eyes. He nodded. "Then we have much to discuss," he told her seriously before getting back to work.
Once he was finished, they continued their conversation.
"I wanted to let you know what I plan to do about your little bargain," he began.
She nodded, unsurprised by the fact that he felt the need to become further involved.
"I'm going to lie to Baki," he stated with a heavy sigh. "I'm going to tell him that after berating you in every way I know how, I am sure that all you meant was that you promised to see Gaara again within a year but that you were being melodramatic about it."
"You think he'll believe that?" she asked genuinely.
"It'll help that I'm going to tell him how incredibly disturbed I am by the tip he gave me and that I don't intend to simply let the matter drop," he elaborated.
"Okay…so that gets him off my back a little bit but-" she began but stopped when she saw that he was about to continue anyway.
"It's unfortunate that he's monitoring Gaara's mail so closely…" Kakashi thoughtfully continued. "Do you think there's someone else we can send a message to that would still get to Gaara?" he proposed.
She thought for a moment. "I'd trust either Temari or Kankuro with that," she confidently replied.
Kakashi nodded. "That's a good start."
"If we do that…we should have Kiba-kun send it," she suggested.
Kakashi nodded again. "Now, what to put into that message," he pondered aloud.
"Just warn him that I'll be coming, that he should be ready for me because I get the feeling that we're going to be cutting it close. The Monsoon Festival may be starting three days later this season but in the grand scheme of things, that's really not much," she replied flatly.
"I think we should probably do a little more than that," Kakashi chided.
She pursed her lips. "Then tell him…to prepare himself for another short visit because as soon as anybody else finds out, it won't be allowed to last," she bitterly replied, setting her cup down a little harder than intended and revealing her inner tension.
"Okay. I suppose it's better to keep it simple anyway. The more you plan something like this, the more that can go wrong, right? If we just set a goal then we can do whatever we can to achieve it," he assured her.
"I'm a little surprised your so on board for this," she commented carefully.
Kakashi did like the idea of subverting Baki for the sake of bringing two very disturbed young people closer to peace. "We'll leave together. Just let me know when and I'll make the arrangements," he ordered.
"Yes, sensei," she gave a polite little bow.
"I'm not sure if you realize," he began carefully but with the authoritative tone than tended to get her attention, "but you may have to do a fair number of ninja-type things," he quoted her silly and demeaning language intentionally, "to accomplish our goal."
She nodded. "I understand."
That took Kakashi a little aback. This was the first time that she had agreed that that kind of action was an option, if not necessary. He decided not to say anything about it. "So, you'll continue to train with Lee in the meantime?" he presumed as he stood to leave.
"That is my intention, at least, for as long as he'll tolerate me…and when he's not on missions or something, of course," she dismissed.
"Of course," he agreed somewhat mockingly. "Is that the only area you're going to try to improve?" he pressed.
She gave him a playfully accusing look. "I know we haven't really done much training together have we? It's been quite some time since you gave me one of your silly exercises," she mused. "If you think it's my best approach, I will do whatever you ask," she vowed.
He was endeared by her little ramble and couldn't help smiling a little bit. "Actually, that's not what I meant. I was wondering more about your training with Sasuke or if you had someone else in mind to help you work on your more chakra-centric abilities," he elaborated.
"Because you know that Lee-kun and I are not intimate," she chided. "Sasuke and I have discussed resuming some sort of training regimen but right now we're just taking some time to evaluate where we stand, what we need to work on, that kind of thing, before we go at it again," she explained.