Chapter 13

Beta'd by Black Sparrow

Suffice to say Shiori was very nervous on that Saturday evening; she had spent the whole afternoon changing outfits before she finally settled on a very pretty apricot colored summer dress and simple black flats and a matching purse, no need to set yourself up for a painful and embarrassing fall if you weren't used to heels. As far as the make up went she only wore a few brushes of mascara on her eyelashes, she didn't particularly care for it but felt like she should at least make something of an effort; it was a date after all.

When Kakashi arrived at her home he had already expected Shiori to look good, after all she always looked nice but on that evening the dress she wore looked like it was made for her and the mascara enhanced her eyes and let them shine even more intensely. If Kakashi hadn't had extensive training in keeping hold on his poker face he would have probably stood in front of her gaping like an idiot. Instead he greeted her warmly and complimented her on her looks like the aloof bastard he liked to portray himself as. To his delight this colored her cheeks in a light pink and made her look down, he truly loved making her blush. Kakashi would never admit it but asking her out and deciding where to take her had made him a lot more nervous than even some of his A and S ranked missions. Letting somebody in after all these years and setting himself up for a potential heart break was more terrifying to the seasoned ninja than some of the suicide missions he had run with his colleagues.

The silver haired Jounin had finally admitted to himself that he liked Shiori on more than a primal level a week before he finally got up the nerve to ask her out.

Because of his superb senses Kakashi always knew which females were compatible to his bloodline that alone had made Kakashi pay more than the normal amount of attention to Shiori. Additionally to that Kakashi had finally come to the conclusion that it was more than just physical attraction that fascinated him about the younger woman so. After all there had been some women, even kunoichi before that had the same compatible level as Shiori and he HADN'T felt the urge to stalk them like this.

This little black haired civilian and to a lesser extent her staff had just a way of putting him at ease, especially after taxing missions for ANBU.

Quite a lot of his black ops colleagues had followed his example when he had started to frequent Mariko's tea house and it had paid off. Kakashi chuckled inwardly somewhat darkly amused about the irony, the number of the operatives that suffered a breakdown had gone slightly down and general moral had went up after the operatives were actively encouraged to use Shiori's establishment, a civilian owned tea house with civilian servers.

During his more or less regular visits Kakashi had noticed that Shiori was more and more rarely in the tea house. Curious the silver haired Jounin had used his senses to track her down one day and found her house. Her home reflected her personality, it looked warm and inviting and Kakashi had since then developed a bit of a bad habit. After especially harrowing missions he liked to hide in the trees close to Inoue-san's home and watch her while she worked in the garden and around the house.

Hatake Kakashi had been reduced to an ordinary stalker.

This bad habit reached its peak when he lost his last bit of his concentration and chakra control after an especially taxing mission and fell out of the tree and right into the middle of Shiori's back yard.

He couldn't remember a lot of the details from then on but what he recalled was a distinct familiar chakra presence moving him somewhere enclosed before the presence vanished and returned after some time with a more intense chakra signature. As soon as the familiar chakra signature had left the room again Kakashi's body had tensed to defend himself unconsciously. Only when he recognized the standard Konoha medic-nin chakra sequence he relaxed slightly while his most basic defense reflexes were still hyper alert. Kakashi kept careful watch on the foreign chakra that worked inside him and repaired his bruised organs and cracked bones before it checked over his own painfully empty chakra reserves and started to coax them into recovering faster.

Kakashi distinctly remembered the medic saying, "Hatake-san it is obvious that you feel safe here for some reason, so I won't have you moved to the hospital but you need at least forty eight hours to recover from the chakra exhaustion. Please go to sleep soon." And with that the medic-nin left the room.

The chakra signature that felt so familiar seemed to have a short discussion with the medic before the male finally left the house and then the silver haired shinobi's sensing range, only then Kakashi allowed himself to fall into deep unconsciousness.

The next time he awoke was to the slowly moving around of the familiar chakra signature. It took Kakashi a while to move even the fingers of his hand, let alone sit up, when the chakra signature from before peeked into the room. The exhausted shinobi instantly recognized Inoue Shiori who looked concerned and slightly disapproving of the fact that he tried to move. The silver haired Jounin was weak as a kitten at the moment and felt more than slightly uncomfortable which Inoue-san seemed to pick up on instantly, just like always. Kakashi had to smile inwardly, even here in her own home she tried to make him as comfortable as possible. When she turned her back to him while she helped him to drink he marveled over the easy trust she showed him. Even the most obvious civilians were wary of ninja in their personal space and Inoue-san wasn't stupid, far from it. This quiet show of trust was probably also what helped to convince him to take the chakra supplements the medic had left for him before he fell unconscious once again.

Kakashi couldn't tell how much time had gone by since he had fallen asleep once more but when he awoke again Inoue-san had left a glass of water beside his bed once more along with some of her desserts. The pretty female coaxed him into eating with unbelievingly patience always conscious of his pride and feelings, this time she hadn't even left the room before he fell asleep once more, this had made Kakashi slightly wary, after all it was never a good sign if his body betrayed him like this around a person he didn't know well.

When Kakashi awoke for the third time it was already dark outside but he could see the light of other rooms from across the courtyard. The last Hatake had been debating if it would be worth it to get up and search the kitchen for food, as hungry as he was he didn't like the thought of being a burden to Inoue-san when said woman peeked into the room and noticed him awake. Five minutes later she moved plate upon plate of delicious smelling food into his room before returning to the other side of the house and leaving him to eat the delicious dishes at his leisure and in privacy.

On the morning after Kakashi had awoken he felt a lot better and was testing if his feet could carry him back to his own flat when Inoue-san caught him red handed in front of the guestroom. She clearly wasn't happy with his attempt to move around and her disappointment alone sent him back to bed, inwardly he was screaming at himself for letting himself be manipulated like that by a civilian woman.

The better part of the day Kakashi spent sleeping to recover his body's functionality while his waking hours were used to stuff himself full with calories that his civilian host so readily supplied. Another highlight was the shower that he was finally able to take after two weeks of spending in the woods. When he was finished with it and had worked himself arduously into the spare clothes he had sealed away in a scroll before the silver haired Jounin more stumbled than walked where his nose was telling him was the kitchen.

Just as Kakashi had thought, the house suited the petite civilian, it was warm and homey and from the smell of it, she had only moved in a few months ago. Unsealing his clothes and then walking around had cost Kakashi quite a bit energy and he could see and smell the worry Shiori was emitting when she took in his unfortunately weak form in. The silver haired Jounin was surprised when she didn't move from her place in the kitchen until he had sank onto the sitting area in the middle of the room. His astonishment was replaced by a fond feeling when the petite woman walked over to him as soon as he was seated on the couch and spread a blanket over his body before she returned to the food. Kakashi was unsure why he enjoyed this subtle kind of fussing when it was coming from her when he normally absolutely hated it when anyone else did this. Sitting in her living room and listening and watching her work turned out to be nearly meditative to him. Her presence soothed his shinobi instincts and helped him to revert somewhat from the mission alertness, so he didn't try to analyze his reactions too much right now.

The next day Kakashi had left before Shiori had even woken up, he had felt her calm chakra signature right above the living room and when he had silently closed the backdoor Kakashi tried to tell himself that he didn't want to be a burden any longer. Deep down in his mind he knew that if he stayed any longer he wouldn't want to leave this soothing place and her comforting presence.

Kakashi snorted inwardly while he thought back at his own naivety…well let's just say trying to forget Shiori didn't work.

From then on his subconsciousness had readily worked against his own decision to leave the civilian alone and he noticed her everywhere. To appease his damn shinobi and canine bloodline instincts, he sought out her company a bit more actively and ensnared her in conversations that left her blushing and smiling whenever he could, he couldn't deny that his ego was soaring at those times.

Because of the now more or less public meetings with Shiori Kakashi tried to quit his stalking habits to minimize any further contact. The Jounin had clearly underestimated his subconsciousness mind because his body had moved automatically to the tune of his instincts and tried to seek her out. And that worked pretty well because meanwhile the active part of his mind was preoccupied with trying to convince himself that stalking was a bad idea and so didn't actively counter his instincts demands.

His body was so out of it that Shiori finally started to notice that something was off and began to actively seek high populated areas. At that moment Kakashi had accepted defeat and decided to do something about his blatant attraction, because when a Jounin's stalking was noticed by his civilian target the shinobi was definitely in deep trouble.

Ripped out of his musings Kakashi absentmindedly put both of them under a small genjutsu before they left for the restaurant he had chosen. The subtle genjutsu would change their appearance to anyone but the highest Jounin and genjutsu specialists and Kakashi had specifically selected a restaurant that was popular with a mostly civilian clientele even if the proximity of the other customers and obstructed exits would make him hyperaware and unlikely to relax.

The pair spent a surprisingly nice evening together even though the date had started out slightly awkward on both sides, especially after Kakashi removed his mask before they entered the restaurant and Shiori got an eyeful of his face.

The black haired woman had blushed bright red, Kakashi wasn't a complete pretty boy but he had distinct features that attracted attention from the females around them on every turn. The silver haired Jounin also had a slightly crooked nose and tiny scars all over his face but this just made him even more handsome in Shiori's opinion and his tiny, slightly crooked smirk had made her heart jump into her throat and her cheeks flush pink.

Kakashi had been positively surprised about how much he had enjoyed Shiori's company and the date. He had never really seen what the rage was about dates but he could come to like them in moderation if they all went like this one. After dinner Kakashi had escorted the younger woman back home and after some mental debate decided against kissing her, instead he had just moved the strands that had fallen into her face out of the way and asked for another date to which Shiori had instantly agreed, much to Kakashi's pleasure.

The next time he took her out they were having a picnic with food from a few good local takeaways between his shifts. Shiori who had started to feel more relaxed and comfortable around Kakashi had felt daring and had teased him right back when the Jounin had prodded her slightly during lunch. The mood of the date had been generally a lot more playful than their first one.