Chapter twelve: The bell test part two
Three hours had gone by, and none of the genin had gotten even remotely close to getting a bell. Sasuke, the I'm-an-avenger-and-don't-need-anyone loser, had decided that the others would have just held him back. Sakura decided to completely ignore Naruto and chase after her beloved emo. Naruto, was stuck upside down in a trap to a tree. Moriko watched the blonde wiggle around helplessly before pulling a kunai out of her pouch, hurling it at the rope imprisoning the kyuubi container. Sensing the familiar presence behind her, she turned her head lazily to face him. "Shouldn't you be out there with the genin, sensei?" Kakashi chuckled, crouched on the branch behind her.
"I've got a clone covering it." She heard a high pitched scream in the distance, crows flying into the sky above. "Sakura?" He nodded. "Illusion of sasuke?" "Yup." She chuckled, stretching to pop her aching back. "Nice." "Hey, Red." She glanced back over at him. "Wondering about my mask?" He barely contained his look of surprise, before nodding. "I thought it would be obvious, since you wear a mask as well." "When will you take yours off?" She laughed outright, amused by his curiosity. "I'll tell you what, Hatake. You show me what's under your mask, and I'll show you what's under mine."
She glanced over to see Naruto attempting to sneak over to the where the bentos were. She felt kakashi disappear from behind her, scaring the crap out of Naruto, before tying the boy up. A few moments later, their time limit was up, and the other two appeared from the forest's cover. Moriko watched as Kakashi lectured to them about teamwork, and how their teammates could be used against them. To her surprise, he walked to the memorial stone, placing his hand on it. "This monument has the names of the ninja, who died in combat." Moriko could see pain and sorrow in his eyes, and her heart ached.
"So he's lost people who are important to him as well…. Poor Kakashi…" She gently placed her hand against her chest, feeling the familiar ache of loss reverberating through her. She glanced back down quick enough to see and hear him tell the genin not to feed the poor blonde, as punishment. He leapt out of sight, doing a full circle before appearing behind her once more. The two watched as Sakura leaned up to feed Naruto a bit of ramen. She glanced up at him, smirking devilishly. "Gonna go scare 'em?" "Yup." Her smirk widened as he appeared before them, shouting angrily. "You!" The three cowered and she burst out laughing as he grinned. "Pass." The three stared at their sensei in confusion, before it set in. Sakura and Naruto cheered while Sasuke smirked, too cool to smile.
She hopped down from the tree, walking over to join the group. "Y'know sensei, there's something I just haven't been able to figure out. If you didn't have me come out here to be tested, why did I have to come out here?" He shrugged before telling them that he was going to treat them to ramen. The three started walking, completely forgetting about the Naruto, who started shouting as Moriko untied him. She chuckled, helping him up. "Let's go catch up to 'em." Naruto grinned before sprinting after the others, shouting happily.
Moriko leapt after them, quickly catching up to the group ahead. She stopped to a lazy walk next to the silver-haired man, her face burning red under her mask. "Damn it face! Stop blushing!" She heard a soft chuckle beside her and glanced over to see Kakashi peering over at her. "Does he… know?" Her face burned brighter, her mortification growing. "Is this some sort of genjutsu? Is he doing this?" She sighed softly, willing her face to go back to its usual pale color. After a few moments, Moriko felt the red-hot heat fade and sighed in relief. She walked into the stand with the others, sitting in between Kakashi and Sasuke, who was sitting by sakura, with Naruto on the end.
She felt Sasuke and Sakura's gazes land on her, and she felt a bead of sweat fall from her forehead. "Why do they want to know what I look like so bad? My face isn't very interesting." She peered over at Kakashi, who was looking at the menu with interest. Her gaze turned back to see the stall vender and his daughter staring at her in awe. "Guess I'm more infamous than I thought." She gave a small nervous chuckle at all the attention and looked at her menu thoughtfully. "Maybe I'll have the seafood ramen this time." Kakashi leaned over, pointing to something on the menu.
"Have you tried the Cajun chicken ramen?" She shook her head, peering thoughtfully at the different types listed. "No, is it good?" "Not my favorite, but it's good." After a moment of thought, she placed the menu back on the stand. "I think I'll try the seafood ramen, this time." When they were served, she felt the others' gazes intensify. She sighed, glancing up. "Is there a reason, why you guys are staring?" Sakura blushed, immediately dropping her gaze to her bowl of miso ramen. Sasuke continued staring, unabashed by her comment.
She reached behind her to take off the mask, deciding that a distraction was in order. She sneakily summoned Ichira, a succubus with long blonde hair and blood red eyes, to cause such distraction. The demoness wrapped her arms around sasuke, giggling and cooing, which caused Sakura to shout and scream at her competition. Silently thanking her summon, she placed her mask down on the counter. Kakashi had pulled down his mask as well, knowing there was no risk of many people seeing his face. She silently studied his features. "Damn, he's hot!" Noticing him staring at her, his jaw slack in shock, she chuckled; placing her pointer finger over her lips in the universal 'hush' gesture. Moriko gave him a soft smile before she glanced down at her bowl and quickly began eating.
"I should have at least twenty minutes before the distraction wears off. I'll have to buy Ichira some dango as thanks later." She swallowed the last few bites, wiping her mouth off with a nearby napkin before placing her mask back on. Ichira smiled before disappearing in a cloud of smoke, much to Sakura's fury. Kakashi had finished his meal just as quickly, his mask back in place as well. His expression was carefully neutral, but Moriko could practically see the gears grinding in his mind. She grinned, as the only two who hadn't seen her face sulked. "No wonder why kakashi has a fan group." Her grin widened, and she turned to him, teasing. "Something on your mind, sensei?"