Chapter twenty- three: The competition
Moriko sighed as a familiar purple-haired kunoichi tossed her bikini after bikini to try on. "Anko, this is the eighteenth pair you had me try on! Isn't there something that doesn't look like floss tied together?" Anko pouted before grabbing a rather cute one off of the rack. "Here try this." She tossed it over the dressing room door and Moriko grinned. "I actually kind of like this one."Pulling the suit on, she took a look in the mirror. Her grin slowly began to fade as she turned slightly and ran her finger down one of the many scars littering the flesh of her back. Even now, you could still see the burn from that night in the alley. She shuddered before opening the door and Anko grinned. "I like it."
Moriko grinned. "So do I. Finally, this shopping trip is over." Anko laughed as Moriko payed for the item and pulled her clothes on over the bikini. "Thanks Anko. I should head out now, I only have ten minutes to get to the training field." Hurrying out of the store, she waved to the purple-haired woman before turning the corner. "Red!" Moriko turned, glancing back to see Kakashi jogging towards her. "Hey Kakashi." He grinned as he stopped beside her, discreetly running his eyes up her body to meet hers.
"Hey, wanna head to the training grounds together?" Moriko's smile was hidden behind her mask. The blonde nodded and kakashi's grin widened slightly. He wrapped an arm around her waist and tossed her onto his shoulder, causing her to yelp in surprise. Within seconds, the duo were surrounded by leaves and disappeared from sight.
They reappeared at the training grounds, where Gai, Iruka, and the rest of team seven were waiting. Sakura, noticing the two, grinned as she noticed how gently her sensei put the blonde down, and how he had his arm wrapped around her waist as they approached. "Looks like kakashi-sensei is marking his territory. Teehee!" Iruka, hiding his own smile, immediately began listing off the rules for the competition.
"Right, we all know this fight is purely taijutsu. use of anything other than taijutsu will automatically forfeit the user. No summons will be allowed in this fight, no weapons, no scrolls, nothing but your fists and feet. Kakashi, you will not be allowed to use your sharingan. Gai, no opening the seven seals." At that, Iruka gave both men a stern look before turning to Moriko. "Red, your mask." The blonde fidgeted nervously before sighing in defeat and reached back to untie her 'security blanket'. Thrusting it into the teacher's hands, she stared at the forest floor, her face flushed from her nerves.
After a few moments, she gathered her wits and looked up to see Gai stare. She tried her hardest to keep from squirming before Gai lifted a hand to give her a thumbs up. "Such youthful beauty!" Once the attention was off of her, she gave a sigh of relief and went to stand by naruto. When the jinchurikki looked up and gave her a bright grin, she smiled and affectionately ruffled his blonde locks. "Ready... go!"
The two now shirtless men ran at each other, fists raised. Moriko blushed, her eyes taking in the sight of a shirtless kakashi. "Psssttt... Mo-chan." She glanced over to see Naruto grin at her. "Your nose is bleeding." "Shit!"She raised two fingers to press at the flesh above her lips, and pulled them away to see that the blonde was right. Moriko stripped out of her tank and pressed it against her nose, trying to make her body stop its traitorous actions. Hearing Naruto cheer, she assumed that kakashi had gotten a hit in and hurried to where sakura was. "Sakura. do you have any tissues?" The pinkette looked up and grinned, handing her the tissues. "Moriko, you pervert."
The blonde blushed and quietly thanked the girl before disappearing behind a tree. She dipped a Kleenex into the water to wash off the blood and sighed as she noticed the blood stop gushing from her nose. However, her shirt was now ruined. Groaning in annoyance, she went to the training ground and tossed it into a nearby waste basket before returning to the group. Naruto grinned, running up to the blonde as she reappeared. "Mo-chan, you missed it! Kakashi won!" Moriko repressed the relieved sigh that threatened to escape and smiled. "Alright, so I have a date with kakashi, huh? So..." She turned to face the silver haired man. "When do you want to do this?"