CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

MOMMY DEAREST

When Itachi and Hana rejoined the others, it took everyone a few minutes to figure out why they seemed happier than usual. When they did, the new couple was swarmed by their friends as they gave their congratulations to the happy couple. The girls pulled Hana to the side and asked for all the juicy details. The guys congratulated Itachi with pats on the back and asked him how he did it. Deidara was amazed that the ever stoic Uchiha managed to get a girlfriend, but then again the Uchiha and Inuzuka were once lovers when they were younger.

After all the gossiping was over, they decided that it was time to head back to the hotel. They made the short trek back to the lockers they had rented to get their things and redress. On the walk back to their rooms, they stopped to eat dinner at the outdoor barbecue and seafood place that the resort had near the beach.

They were all seated around a large round table by their hostess. The table was situated atop a square wooden mat and was decorated with a white linen table cloth, with orange cloth napkins, white plates and bowls rimmed with orange and gold with the resort's logo in the center, and polished silver cutlery. In the center of the table was a basket of flowers native to the island.

"Why are the tables here so big," Konan asked confused. Everywhere they had gone they were able to all sit at the table comfortably.

"Latin families are usually large. There's the parents, however many children they have, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends," Ren explained, receiving nothing but blank stares from his ragtag group of delinquents which he returned with a pointed glance. "Don't give me those looks." Everyone went back to looking at their menus.

"We would like to give a warm welcome to our special guest of honor, the lovely and beautiful Bianca Garcia!" The was a round of applause. "She will be here for the New Year's Eve fashion show showcasing all the newest fashions of the new season. Then she will be performing an original song at the New Year's Countdown Party," a man spoke into a microphone, once in Spanish then a second time in English. He was standing at a table that was seating five other people. He gestured to a woman, and she stood up. She had light slightly tanned flawless skin, straight golden brown hair that fell down to her thin waist. Long slim legs put her at five foot eight inches tall, well-endowed figure, but her most noticeable and striking features were her icy blue eyes lined in gray.

"She's hot," Nagato declared, and Naruto had to agree with him. Konan smacked the two upside the head from where she sat between them. The girls looked on at the gorgeous woman with envy, while Kim eyes were set in a hard glare. Ren choked on his drink. He looked over at his daughter, his eyes filled with worry, unsure of how she would react to the sudden a presence of her mother. She was relatively calm save for the scowl marring her features.

Ren watched as his daughter stealthily plucked a dinner roll, smothered in butter, off of Naruto's plate, took aim and fired with great speed. The dinner roll sailed through the air and landed on the woman's bright yellow sun dress. Bianca startled at the direct hit and jumped up and out of her seat in surprise, which made the piece of bread fall off leaving a large grease stain behind. Everyone snapped their heads in mild shock to face Kim, who acted as if she had not just thrown buttered bread at an international super model and sat back taking a sip of her drink.

Soon everyone put the little bread throwing incident out of their minds at the arrival of their food. They talked about their day and the things that they planned to do the next day, which it turned out that they all wanted to go to the private beach. A waiter had gone to their table to ask them if the food was to their liking when Naruto told him of it being Hinata's birthday. The boy left and he came back with a chocolate cake decorated with three sparklers, and they had somehow gotten everyone in the restaurant to sing her happy birthday. The shy girl blushed at all the attention she was getting, and sighed in relief when it was over, smiling as she was handed the first slice of cake.

Everyone stared at the person who was slowly walking up to stand behind Ren. Standing there, was none other than international super model, Bianca Garcia. Ren stood from his seat in warning, towering over the woman as she ran her hands up and down his chest. He was only able to get the first syllable of her name out before she pulled him in for a kiss, shocking everyone at the table and in the restaurant. The media went crazy as cameras flashed and videos were taken. Pulling back, she planted one last kiss on her ex-boyfriends lips and moved on to greet the others at the table.

In the other girl's opinions, Bianca seemed to be a little too friendly with Nagato, Deidara, and Itachi. Every time her gaze passed over Ren she would blow him a kiss. Her smile brightened when she caught sight of the white haired man when he returned to the table, taking a seat beside her daughter. Her icy blue eyes took in the way the man flashed a kind smile at the girl as he retook his seat, even the way he seemed to lean in closer like he was drawn to her by some invisible force. Sauntering over to him she draped her arms over his shoulders, running her hands down his chest, taking in the way his hard muscles rolled at her touch along with the heated stare her daughter gave her.

"Well if it isn't my daughter," the woman said warmly, resting her head atop Kakashi's and looking directly at Kim. "Honey, if you wanted my attention so badly, all you had to do was ask."

Everyone stared wide eyed, looking for similarities between the mother and daughter. They had the same lightly tanned flawless skin and Jade finally learned which side of the gene pool her best friend had gotten such large breasts from. Though, those two were the only similarities between them, the rest was all Ren. The most shocking thing was that her mother was alive. They had all assumed that Kim's mother had died, since the woman was never once mentioned, and not even Jade knew of her.

"M...mother? She's your mother," Jade stuttered out, her mouth opening and closing with no other words coming out, making her look like a fish. The ebony haired girl said nothing, opting to glare at the woman standing before her.

"You're not my mother," Kim growled out at the woman.

"How can you say that," Bianca snapped at last, her smile dropping from her face. She released her hold of the Hatake, coming to stand to her full height before her daughter. "I did everything for you. I gave up so much for you. I gave you everything you could ever want. Then you decide to leave me without a word, and all i get is a phone call from your father, telling me you're safe."

"How can I say that," Kim parroted her mother's question, incredulously. "Simple, you're not my mother. You never were, and you never will be. You think you were the perfect mother, and everyone believed you were, but I knew the truth and so did grandma and grandpa. You were horrible! Not only were you always gone, but you were a monster when we were alone. Not once did you ever do anything for me, unless it made you look good to your fans or the media. You gave up nothing, and when you did have to miss one of your little parties, a fashion show, photo shoot, or-or even going out with your friends, you never failed to constantly remind me that it was all my fault.

You may have given me everything, but never what I really wanted. If you still don't know what it is, I'm not going to waste my breath telling you," Kim ranted, her eyes were starting to grow misty, and a lump she couldn't swallow was forming in her throat. She turned to face Hinata. "I'm so sorry I ruined your birthday." Then she turned on her heel and ran trying to keep the tears from falling.

"Ungrateful little brat," the icy blue eyed woman muttered quietly under her breath, through everyone was still able to hear it. She crossed her arms with a huff.

"How can you say that, woman," Ren raged, pulling her out of earshot of the restaurant before a crowd could form. "You know nothing about her. You mistreated her her entire life. A kid needs a parent; she practically had to raise herself. How could you keep the fact that I had a daughter a secret from me? For twelve years?! She had to meet me in a prison through a glass window. She was so desperate just to get away from you, she went to a prison to find her father. She was so broken when she came to me. I didn't know what to do with her, but I tried. She is so kind and caring and, and just all around amazing. She never expects anything in return for whatever she does. The only thing that scares me is the fact that she has it in her mind, that's she's such a horrible person that no one could ever love her. She would give everything, but she wouldn't expect anything." Ren's hands balled into fists as tears trailed down his face. If he didn't have to leave... his daughter could have... No, it didn't do well to dwell on the what if's in life. What's done was done.

"She ruined my life. Everything was perfect before she came along and took the spotlight away from me," the woman explained. She too was reaching her wits end if her trembling form was a thing to go by.

"She didn't do anything," Ren defended. She was just a little girl. "If you want someone to blame, then blame me. I was the one that got you pregnant."

"I'm going to go check on Kim," the white haired man stated as he walked passed them to get to the path that would lead him back to the hotel. When he tried to walk away the icy blue eyed woman stopped him, getting a death grip around his arm.

"You don't have to do that. It's not like she's your girlfriend or anything. If you want we could go out and party," she said with a wink, pushing her chest onto him.

"Yes, she is," Kakashi confirmed immediately and without thinking, making the others gasp in surprise as he worked his arm out of the woman's hold. He didn't know what possessed him to say that, but something did. He did not like the way that woman spoke of her own child. It was like the need to protect her had suddenly kicked in.

The others were all wondering when that had happened. When had Kakashi and Kim gotten together? The man in question gave them all a pointed glance, silently asking them to just go with it. They got the message, and Kakashi hurried back to the hotel.

"That little bitch is always messing up everything," Biance whined, stomping her foot like a petulant child. Her head jerked violently to the side when she was slapped across the face.

"Don't you ever call my sister a bitch. I used to look up to you. I used to think that you were this amazing kind and caring woman, but now I know better. You're nothing but a spoilt brat, and if anyone's a bitch, it's you. The eyes reflect the soul, and yours are icy like your heart," Jade growled. She and Kim might argue and fight over the dumbest things, but they always had each other's backs when it truly counted.

"Yeah! Kimi-nee-chan is amazing and no matter how hot you might be, you're hideous on the inside, dattebayo," Naruto added.

"Yeah and she will take the spotlight from you at the New Year's Eve concert," Sasuke gave his input. He had heard her singing in her room when she thought no one was around to hear her, and to be honest, she had an amazing voice.

"I'd like to see her try," and with that Bianca Garcia stormed away muttering things that no one could make out under her breath, not they cared to. Everyone turned to face Ren and asked him if he was alright. When he assured them he was fine, they set off to find Kim and Kakashi.

Once Kakashi was out of view, he took off running back to the rooms. When he got there, he went straight to her room only to find that she wasn't there. He was at a loss as to where she would be. Leaning against the wall, he looked out the window to the ocean as the sun was about to set. On the beach there was a lone figure walking along the shore. He formed a few hand seals and disappeared with a puff of smoke.

"Holy shit," Kim cried when she felt a hand on her shoulder, thrusting her elbow back only for it to get caught in a firm grip then placed gently down at her side. She turned around to see a familiar face. "Are you going to yell at me for acting childish? It's not going to make me feel bad, because I don't regret what I said to her."

"I'm not going to reprimand you. I only came out here to make sure that you're okay," he assured her holding his hands up in surrender. She threw her arms around his waist and buried her face in his chest that smelled of sweat, pool water, and something she couldn't quite put her finger on, though it smelled really good. She looked up at him with tear filled eyes.

"I thought since I knew she was here, it would be so much easier when I saw her. I guess I was wrong," she said resting her head on his chest. When she realized what she was doing she jumped back and faintly mumbled, "Sorry."

"It's alright," he told her. Before he could get anything else out, he had the breath squeezed out of him once more. She had thrown her arms around his waist in a tight embrace. Comforting girls, or anyone for that matter, was not exactly Kakashi's strong point. So, he tentatively wrapped his arms around her, awkwardly returning the embrace.

"You suck at this," the ebony haired girl stated with a small giggle.

"I know," he replied, hanging his head in shame. "I have something I need to tell you." She looked up at him then, curiosity shining in her tear-reddened eyes. "I'm kind of your boyfriend now." Her brows furrowed in confusion, head tilting ever so slightly. "You mother was being a… I can't think of the right word for it, but I kind of told her that you're my girlfriend."

"So we're going to have to pretend to be in love until she leaves," Kim guessed, heart beating faster for reasons unknown. "Like in that movie with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston." She buried her face back in his chest.

"I've never seen that movie, but I think so."

It got quiet after that. They watched the sunset, and listened to the sounds of the waves. Kakashi couldn't help but take notice of how right everything felt at that moment, of how at peace he felt. Her small body was pressed flush against his and her body heat was warming him. Unlike her mother's overbearing heat, hers was a more gentle soothing kind; the kind he longed for while away on missions where he was forced to sleep outside, the kind of warmth he could never achieve. He liked how her small body was completely encased in his larger one like she was made just for him. He lo... He stopped himself there. Since when had being in Kim's embrace felt right? When did he start thinking like that? He was a shinobi. An elite of the elite. He was not reckless and careless like a certain blond student of his.

"I guess I should just go back there, and if she tries anything... I'll just ignore her or face her head on."

"Let's go. Everyone should be back in their rooms by now." He looked down at her. He liked the way her skin seemed to give off an ethereal glow in the moonlight. Though, he liked it better when she was in the sunlight when her hair took on a red hue, and her eyes danced. Either way, night or day, she looked like a goddess. Being her pretend boyfriend was going to be the most difficult mission he had ever been assigned.

He knew that they would be leaving them all behind, never to return, when they figured out how to get back to their own dimension. If she did return with them, she could always become a ninja of Konoha. She would make a fine Kunoichi. When they left the Chunin exams were scheduled to take place in a few weeks, with his word she could take part in it. Then she could possibly become a Jonin like him and they could be assigned... He stopped himself again.

He needed to be more professional. He needed to keep his distance. He had his reasons for why they could never be together. When they returned back to the states, they were going to work nonstop on creating that jutsu that would take them home. It was time to stop playing around and get back to what they should have been doing all along. No more stalling, no more games.

"They're so cute together," Jade squealed from where she was hidden behind a tree watching her best friend and the white haired man walking and talking along the shore. Everyone had to agree with her, save for the Uchiha Brothers. They had their own reasons. Sasuke just did not approve of his former Sensei's reading habits, and Itachi knew that the white haired man was not exactly interested in dating. Kakashi was too focused on the mission, he never once allowed himself to slip up or be held back. There was also something else that he could not quite understand. He knew the Hatake was capable of a relationship, he'd witnessed the man charm women before, but there was something also holding him back from really feeling.