Chapter 15: Look Sensei! No Hands!

The next morning finds me in the forest with the kiddies. No Kakashi today, I made him rest whether he wanted to or not. However he only said he would if I took over the tree walking exercise he was going to teach the lot of them. So, here I am, bright and early, looking at my three students. "Alright kiddies. Seeing as we have absolutely nothing to do due to the face that Tazuna doesn't go back to work till tomorrow...I'm gonna teach you stuff. Kakashi is off resting; using that special eye of his really drains him. Any questions?" Silence. "Good. Now...Can anyone tell me what chakra is?"

"Cat-er-ah? Isn't that the stuff we use to make cool jutsus?" Naruto intones cluelessly. Poor boy.

But, I'm patient. Wouldn't be if it weren't him but that's a different story. "...Well...Yes...But...It's more complicated than that," I tel him, blinking dumbly from his rather unknowledgeable answer. "Sakura," my eyes drift to the smart pink haired girl, "What's chakra?"

"Chakra is the natural combination of one's physical energy and their spiritual energy. Everyone has at least a little bit, and if we run out we're pretty much dead or are dying," the girl tells me without a flaw.

I nod. "Very good," I smile and she beams. "I won't go any further into that lest your minds explode and we get side tracked," I tell them. "Today we'll be working on not only building up your reserves, but also your endurance and you efficiency with chakra use".

"Reserves?" Naruto questions in that loud voice of his, "What reserves?"

"Your chakra reserves, idiot," Sasuke mutters with a roll of his eyes. Naruto turns to yell at the boy, however I clear my throat expectantly.

"Shut it the both of you," I snap, brows furrowed into a glare. They fall silent, and I continue. "Yes, Naruto, reserves. Your chakra reserves rather. Think of there being a pool of energy within you. And in that pool, there's only so much chakra to use. Now, that's not to say that once you run out, you're out forever. No no. Attached to this pool is something of a...stream, that trickles chakra back into the pool once you've started resting or stopped using your chakra for jutsus and the like. If you wait long enough, the pool will refill itself. The amount of time it takes for a person's chakra pool to refill itself is different for just about everyone. Just like everyone has a different sized pool". I stop to make sure they're listening, and then I stop at that. "Now like I said, we're gonna be working on your chakra efficiency and building up your reserves a bit," not that Naruto or Sasuke need the latter, but Naruto needs the former and Sakura needs the latter...Sasuke is close to in the same boat as Naruto. "...By climbing trees". And that's when I get dumbfounded looks from all three of them.

"Wait...By climbing...Trees," Sasuke bluntly tries to reconfirm.

I grin, "Yup!"

Sakura raises her hand as though in class. Silly girl, I'm not a school teacher. "But Cross-sensei, we already know how to climb trees. Naruto does it all the time!"

I waggle my finger at her, making tsking sounds with each wag, "Not climbing trees with both your hands and your feet...Just your feet". I tell her. I pull out a shuriken and throw it to a spot where they'll still see me even as I climb. After gathering chakra to my feet, I casually stride to the tree and like a pro make my way up the bark. I can hear gasps of surprise and amazement. "While being able to stick to vertical surfaces like trees and walls isn't essential to being a ninja, if you can't do it you're at a huge disadvantage and you might as well as call it quits. That's how often it's used".I make it to my shuriken and place it back in the right pouch on my hip. I walk up to a branch and promptly let myself hang upside down, my gravity being the only thing that works its magic on my braid. "Take out a kunai, the three of you," tell them, and they're do as they're told. "Now, the key to this is focusing and maintaining your chakra in your feet. Once you think you've got a steady flow, go up the tree- for you guys a running start would be best. When you start to fall, make sure you mark the tree with that knife, and then work to make it passed that line".

Once I've said this, I swing myself up and sit on the branch I was hanging on, leaning against the tree itself and crossing my arms under my chest for relaxation. I smile at the sight of Sasuke and Naruto being the opposites of one another like they usually are. Naruto uses too little chakra, while Sasuke's flow is too much. Thus making them slip down and be repelled respectively. Sakura in the mean time...

"Hey! This isn't too hard after all!" She beams down to the boys from a branch lower than my own. She swings her legs with a giggle, her hands keeping her from falling.

I laugh lightly, "Good job Sakura! Now just try to make it higher," I tell her lightly. Then my eyes fall onto the two boys looking up at her, "Looks like the Uchiha clan has one less genius among them, eh Sasuke? I wonder how you're gonna attract the right woman if you can't so much as walk up a tree?" I tap my chin ponderingly. I wonder how Itachi take this news. Probably by saying something about it being a good thing that Sasuke isn't a genius like him and that growing at a normal rate is also good. My I watch as he glares at the ground with clenched hands. Oh ho? Determination is set in his eyes. Now to just give him someone to work against. My eyes fall to Naruto, "And what about you, mister future Hokage? You're not even close enough to being a candidate if you can't do the simplest of things".

"Ahhh no!" Naruto scrubs at his head with wide eyes, "You're right Cross-sensei! I can't let that happen though!" And so he sets to work again. There we go!

It's after fifteen minutes that I decide to leave, telling the kiddies that they know what to do and that once they're too tired to do anything to either rest and let their chakra replenish or simply come back to the house. I tell them, also, not to over do it however. As I walk into the house, I raise a brow as a little black haired boy suddenly finishes running around the corner of the hallway I step into. After pulling off my black kunai heeled shinobi sandals, I journey my way up the steps, minutely wondering where the hell the kid came from unless I'm going insane. I walk into Kakashi's room to find him slowly trying to get out of bed.

"What do you think you're doing?" I raise a brow and cross my arms.

Kakashi stops what he's doing and gives me a wary eye smile, "I just wanted a drink is all," Kakashi states. I can see the lie in his visible facial features.

"Yea okay," I roll my eyes. "There's a cup full of water on your nightstand; I think Tsunami might have brought it in". Next.

"Oh!" The silver haired Jonin jumps lightly. "Well...You see...I need a shower; I'm sweaty and dirty from the fight from before".

"That can wait," I tell him. "You can stand a little grime while you work on healing. But if you're so insistent," I look to the side with a light blush, "I'll help you bathe".

I see his eye open up wide and his body becomes more stiff than before. He doesn't look at me and I barely catch the words of, "Wouldn't that be nice?" From his mouth. But I don't respond to that. He looks to me before sighing, "I just wanted to check on our students. How are they?"

I offer him a smile as he comes clean, before walking forward and placing a hand on his chest only to push him back into bed again. Though this time he's sitting up, propped up by pillows and the like. "Sakura got it down after a little bit. Sasuke and Naruto are going to take a while longer I expect," I inform, "They're duking it out through their training".

"I see...," Kakashi nods once, "They're like...Obito and myself". This makes me raise a brow as I sit on the edge of his bed. He once showed me of the Uchiha, Obito, one of the people we go see every morning when we're home. "I was in the role of Sasuke...Obito had Naruto's luck of not being the most gifted out there...We didn't always get along but we were friends. I just hope history doesn't repeat itself".

I raise a brow, "As in Sasuke becoming a Jonin at a rapid rate, him leading Sakura and Naruto on a mission without us, him and Naruto getting in a fight, Sakura getting caught by the enemy, Naruto and Sasuke saving her, the area around them collapsing, Sasuke getting crushed and giving Naruto- who lost the use of his left eye some how- his awakened Sharingan eye...The Kyubbi attacking the village and you and I sacrificing ourselves to stop him- you as Hokage- and ultimately protect our child?" The last part makes my mind wander for the little bit of silence I leave after all that. Kakashi and I getting married and having kids? That's, I blush, that's a bit far fetched...Right? That's like saying Itachi and I would start a family...That doesn't help my blush at all.

Kakashi too is silent for a moment, staring at me with a weird look in his eye as he does so. What? Isn't it normal to blush a bit at the thought of having sex with either of your best friends? I think it is. "...I was thinking more so along the lines of something simply going wrong".

I blink dumbly, "...Oh. Well...If you think of things like that, then they're sure to happen," I tell him with a light pout, "Stop having dark thoughts, idiot". I gently push his shoulder playfully. Now to get the thoughts of a naked- let alone shirtless- Kakashi out of my head. What about Itachi...? Dear god damn it why did I think of that?! How is my face not bright red?! Wait...Kakashi and Itachi shirtless together...After going swimming...Okay now I'm just torturing myself. Not cool me. Not. Cool. At all. I shake my head back and forth before deciding to change the subject. "So...I'm pretty sure you've been thinking along these lines too but...I don't think Zabuza's dead like you say he is".

Kakshi nods his head once, "You're right. I don't think he's dead; I think his death was staged in order to save him from his actual death. What made you think the same?"

I run a hand along my braid- I need a shower- and pout. "Guzen got away from me. A guy that likes to mock and taunt and what not like that...Yea no he's not gonna run away for no reason. And if he did, it'd be while he was half dead". I would know, I've dealt with guys like him before dozens of times.

"What do you suggest we do?" Kakashi questions with a sluggish tilt of his head.

"...Either we find the hide out and strike before they can or...We wait until they attack again; which is surely to be before the bridge is done," I tell him with a thinking tap of my chin.

Kakashi nods once, "I was thinking along the same lines". He sighs, "Are we sure we don't have to call for back up? Zabuza was enough to give me a challenge, and you had your hands full with Guzen. What if a third party enters the fray? We can't protect our Genin if that happens".

I sigh back to him, "Stop being so scared. They are green horns, yes, but it's time that they start growing up. What's gonna happen when they eventually enter the Chunin Exams, huh? They'll have to fight and even kill if they want to survive; they won't know how to do that if you're playing 'over protective parent' with them". There's a look of dead guilt in his eyes, his head bowed, and I sigh before reaching forward and placing a hand on his masked face. That single eye looks up to me, while the other one- seeing as he's still not wearing his hitai-ate- remains closed. I offer him a smile, "You have to balance out the worry for them; believe that they're strong but not invincible. Know they are weak but not powerless".

"How do you know what to do?" He questions, shoulders slumped in his current lostness.

I offer him a fangless smile, "I just...Do. My instincts tell me I'm right or wrong all the time; they've never let me down. They tell me to think the way I do about our students, and nothing more nor less. You should listen to my instincts about this too".

A sigh comes through his nose, and I see his lips turn into a smile from under his mask, "What would I do without you?" He places his bandaged hand over my own, pressing it closer to his cheek and letting me feel warm skin.

Now I grin, fangs and all, "You'd roll up into a tiny ball of woe and shrivel up and die with worrisome thoughts in your head," I tell him playfully. I hear him scoff and I was going to answer if it weren't for the fact that there's the sound of light giggles.

We look at the source finding it to be Tsunami standing in the door way, "Ah," she greets, "I'm sorry, Cross-san. I just thought I'd bring Kakashi-san some food to eat; I would have brought something for you if I'd known you were back". She walks forward and gently places the standing tray on the nightstand next to the glass of water that had been placed there at some point.

"Don't worry about it," I assure her, "I'll come down and get something to eat in time".

"Very well then. Oh! Your student Sakura-san has returned. She asked me to tell you that Saskue and Naruto are still training; she came back as she became rather tired and hungry".

Kakashi nods as I finally take my hand from his face, "That was a smart move on her part".

Tsunami nods before a brighter smile spreads across her face. "If I may...When did you two start dating? You look awfully happy together".

I don't know about Kakashi, but the sudden question has me slipping off the edge of the bed and onto the floor with the least graceful crash I've ever felt in my life. And I've had a lot of ungraceful falls, trust me. What the hell?! "D-dating?!" I stutter out, placing a shaky hand on the bed. I've never thought of dating let alone kissing Kakashi. However for whatever reason, when Tsunami brought up such a possibility, my heart decided to go into over drive and I can't breathe right. Him and I? A thing?

Kakashi laughs it off, being the pro he apparently is at correcting things like this, "We're just old friends, nothing more, Tsunami-san".

Now it's her turn to be embarrassed as her hand flies up to her mouth, "Oh! I-I'm so sorry for assuming! I-It's just that you two are so close it seems and-" she cuts herself off, face a flushed pink.

Again Kakashi chuckles. It's not that funny is it? He acts like it was a joke or something. Come on! I'm not bad looking so why laugh so much? "We've been friends for a good eight years now," he tells her, "It's an honest mistake. We understand". The woman nods before politely excusing herself with a tinge of embarrassment still in her voice, and Kakashi finds me glaring at me as I finally pull myself onto his bed again. "What?"

"You made it sound like some sort of joke," I pout out, "You didn't have to laugh so much".

Kakashi tilts his head, "Did I really make it sound like such a bad thing? I'm sorry, I just wanted to get the point across," he offers me one of his famous eye smiles.

"Yes you did!" I pout, brows furrowed. "You made it sound like a joke. What? Am I not good enough for you to be at least embarrassed like I was?"

Kakashi blinks, "Well, no...That's not it," he tells me simply. "It's just that the chances of us being a couple are small".

"Idiot," I scoff, "How could you know if they're small or not if you haven't even tried to ask me? Geeze. And to think that while there are triplets who have no problem simply walking up to me and proposing, yet don't have your fighting skill, you are the opposite". Idiot.

Kakashi is silent for a moment before eye smiling, "Really? I've never seen myself like that. But...If that's how things are going to be then I better not miss my chance, huh?" Is he seriously considering my point? I just threw that out there because I felt a little insulted by him. He stops his eye smiling before opening both eyes- you heard me, both- to meet my own. "Cross...Will you go on a date with me?"

I blink at him silently for one...two...three moments before suddenly my eyes are widen and my face is becoming rather warm. Next thing I know, I'm floored again- literally. Seriously, I'm oh so gracefully flopped on the floor with a pained ass. "I-...I'm sorry?" I whimper out with wide eyes. What'd he just ask?

"Will you go on a date with me?" The silver haired man questions again, just as simply as last time. "I figure dating right away is asking a bit much. So why don't we go on a date first?"

Slowly I pick myself up and stand now on legs that feel like lead. "I-...I uh...," I blink twice before closing my eyes and sighing. Come now me! Why the hell are you freaking out like some sort of school girl! God, don't be like Sakura or some loser who doesn't know how to answer questions! My eyes open to meet his mix matched ones, and I offer a smile and a nod, "Sure Kakashi. I'd love to go on a date with you".

This makes him smile his usual smile and nod, "Excellent".

That night I go down for dinner with Kakashi, helping him down the stairs with his crutches, and have dinner. It's more dramatic than most dinners I've had. Seeing as there's a whinny child complaining about how he lost everything on the day of his father's death. The man was his hero, and that said hero went and died on him, taking his hope with him. Before such an explanation, Naruto had exploded with emotion on the boy, telling him that he hasn't had such a hard life, and went so far as to storm out of the house angrily, blue eyes like a raging cold fire.

And now I find myself crouching on a branch above Naruto as he punches a tree to the point of his growing hands bleeding. I sigh. If I don't stop him now, he'll fuck up his hands or something. That said, I leap down from my perch and land with a soft tap, not even using my wings to lighten the landing. Just as silently, I walk forward, and reach around him in order to catch his currently flying fist.

"What are you doing Cross-sensei!? I need this so that I don't end up hurting that kid!" Naruto snaps, his hand wiggling in my hold angrily, his other hand pushing against said hold to become free. His teeth are gnashed together in a human snarl, blue eyes still alight with fire.

I sigh, before tightening my hold and forcing him to turn and face me. His free hand now comes at my face, however it's caught and held firmly. "I know you're angry, Naruto, angry at the boy. Angry because he doesn't understand the pain you've had to live through. At least he had parents, right?"

Naruto glares up at me, vainly pulling still, "Duh! What do you know though, Cross-sensei?! You're just like any other prodigy, right? Strong parents, a happy family. You said that your clan was strong even though they weren't shinobi! You still know happiness!"

I sigh. He's not going to calm down until he can punch the anger into something else, or simply thrash and lash and yell at someone with an open ear...Maybe he'll calm down if he knows someone understands? "Naruto...If you'll calm down, I'll tell you how I do understand you. I understand you better than you could even imagine. Stop thrashing before I'm forced to hurt you". The boy continues and I grow weary of his stubbornness. "I said, 'stop'," this I say as I squeeze his hands, popping his knuckles and causing the bones to grind against one another. He stops with a yelp of pain. "There. Now...Let's...Sit". I promptly take to sitting my ass on dry grass, pulling him down with me. "Now...If I let go, will you let me explain?" He's silent, but he reluctantly nods, and I release him. He doesn't move. Instead those blue eyes of his are focused on me. Searching as to whether I'll be telling the truth or not. "Before I tell you...If you want proof, just go ask Kakashi later if he's awake. He's a big part of my life after all".