Chapter 14
When Kakashi had still not kissed her during their third date Shiori began to worry, was she doing something wrong? Or was it just the pace of the civilian dates in this world? Shiori had no idea, the only comparison she had were Eliza's dates in another world.
Gathering up her courage Shiori suggested as their fourth date another picnic but that this time she would cook. The young adult spent the day before it preparing the desserts with special care before she placed them neatly in the two Bento boxes and kept them in the fridge. On the next day the black haired civilian already started to prepare the different dishes at eight in the morning, they had agreed to meet at two o'clock and so she plenty of time to make sure everything was perfect. Beside some tea and water she also packed a bottle of sake for Kakashi into her basket.
Kakashi arrived on the dot and shunshined them to a remote place up in a giant tree close to the Hokage monument, the view was stunning and kept Shiori occupied for the first few minutes, she had never seen the village in this perspective. After returning to the present the civilian woman spread the picnic blanket over the massive branch they were standing on, it could have easily seated four people side by side, so impressive was its size. Their conversation picked up where it stopped the last time and so Shiori listened closely while Kakashi talked about the politic system in Fire country and how it involved and affected Konoha and vice versa. After Kakashi had ended with his explanation about the duties of the court of the Fire Daimyo, Shiori opened the Bentos and presented them to Kakashi who grinned warmly and complemented her on her cooking skills.
They were half way through the meal when Shiori finally pulled herself together and asked Kakashi slightly blushing, "Kakashi-san, why haven't you initiated more physical contact? I mean I really like our dates but I was wondering if I did something wrong." at the last part Shiori looked down at her lap, she was unable to face the shinobi in front of her after voicing her concerns.
"Shiori-chan, look at me." Shiori reluctantly looked up at him while her hands were still fidgeting, "This is my first serious relationship with a civilian. I like you. I like you a lot and I know that you have never been in a relationship before physical or otherwise, so I didn't want to push you." the shinobi explained in a serious but gentle voice.
Shiori was speechless for a second before she smiled gently up at Kakashi and blushed again, "I like you too Kakashi-san. Thank you for your consideration but I wouldn't mind if you kissed me,… concerning the rest,…" at this Shiori blushed bright red in her embarrassment, "I will probably need some time."
Kakashi nodded and gave her a lopsided smile before he sat down his chopsticks and leaned closer to Shiori. Said black haired civilian too let her own chopsticks sink, her heart picked up speed and she relaxed when Kakashi came to sit beside her. He put his left hand slightly behind Shiori to take his weight while his other hand wandered to her face and gently but firmly moved her closer to him. Their lips met in a first tentative brush of lips, Kakashi then tilted Shiori's face a bit and pressed his lips a bit more firmly against hers before he opened his mouth a tiny bit and started to tease her neither lip. Shiori sighed into his actions and moved closer, her hands wandering up his arms and one settled at the base of his neck while the other wandered down a bit and stopped on his side. In return Kakashi's other hand removed itself from the branch and encircled Shiori's waist. With a slightly more insistent tug the silver haired Jounin moved the female beside him into his lap. After a moment of stunned realization Shiori mentally shrugged with her shoulders before she tilted her head up once more in a clear offer in Kakashi's direction.
Said Jounin was amused by the clearly eager behavior of his little lover, or well hopefully soon lover. He refused to call Shiori his girlfriend, it reminded him too much of his fangirls and the other typical civilian women with which his colleagues tended to go out.
The complaints and moans of his fellow comrades about how much more effort these women took had been the reason why Kakashi had never even considered the idea to start a relationship with a civilian before. According to his fellow shinobi they wanted to be romanced all the time, expected presents regularly and moaned over the fact that their shinobi boyfriends had next to no time and couldn't talk about their job. Kakashi looked down at the flushed face of Shiori who smiled up at him, either his comrades had been horribly exaggerating or Shiori was one of the few exceptions,… it was probably a bit of both.
After finishing lunch the two sat a while longer side by side while they watched the village below them. Shortly before Kakashi's early evening shift he returned Shiori to her home and this time kissed her stupid on her front porch.
Before he could leave, Shiori said somewhat breathlessly, "You know Kakashi-san, you don't need to take me out on a date every time you want to see me,... With the exception of Monday and Tuesday I will be home for the rest of the week, so please feel free to drop by whenever you have time."
The silver haired Jounin nodded as an answer before he slipped on his mask again and gave her a slight wave with his hand and then he vanished with a puff of smoke.
In the ANBU HQ Kakashi's obvious good mood raised some eyebrows but nobody was sure if plain asking was worth the possible mental trauma the black ops captain could inflict on them.
Obvious to the thoughts of his colleagues changed his uniform for his ANBU patrol duty while he thought back on this afternoon and especially that last kiss, Shiori's flushed face and heady scent had been well worth the wait Kakashi decided smugly before he led his team on their typical patrol route.
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After the first two weeks together and getting to know each other better, Kakashi had taken Shiori aside one afternoon and had told her in a serious tone about the draw backs of being in a relationship with a high profile Jounin like him. He explained to her that after reaching a certain level of competency enemies were inevitable and especially Jounin had a lot of enemies, who would more than readily use any connections or relationships as bargain chip against him. Shiori had listened to him without comment and after he had ended describing the possibilities of what could happen he also told her about the precautions that he would want her to adhere if Shiori wished to continue a relationship with him. At the end of his speech he also offered to let her go if this was too much for her, the last part was said in a suspiciously flat voice that had Shiori somewhat concerned.
After the silver haired Jounin had ended talking Shiori had lightly hit him on one arm for thinking her to be so naïve. She then kindly explained to him that she had expected something like this since she had agreed to go out with him. After all even the civilians knew his name and some of his reputation and so the black haired civilian had already anticipated that their relationship wouldn't be able to become public knowledge to prevent any kind of political pressure or blackmail.
Kakashi had looked stunned for a moment before he had kissed her deeply, making Shiori moan involuntarily and gasp for air when he finally released her lips. The way his eye had darkened at her and he had growled deep in his throat had elicited a warm rush between her legs and a desperate whimper from the civilian, for which she was promptly kissed again, god but was the man in front of her hard to resist.
The next two months Kakashi showed up at least once a day at her place when he was in the village and spent quite some time there. Shiori was more than glad for his company and especially around dinner the black haired civilian was grateful for his presence, she had come to dislike eating alone and without conversation since Kakashi had come into her life. The two fell into a comfortable routine and after eating did the dishes together. Kakashi also helped with the heavy lifting around the house, for example he had taken care of the tree that had fallen into the back yard after a particular strong storm. It had taken him less than twenty minutes to reduce the massive tree to firewood and stack it neatly in the room beside the wood burner oven for the coming winter; it was now getting colder with each day and the weather was uncommon harsh for that time of the year.
Kakashi and Shiori had also become a lot more intimate during these months of slowly getting to know each other and their quirks, the relationship with Kakashi reminded Shiori a lot of the few happy years of Eliza's marriage until everything had went downhill.
Their physical attraction had finally cumulated in Kakashi taking Shiori's virginity only a week prior. Thanks to Kakashi's experience she didn't feel any pain, she just experienced the slightly unfamiliar feeling of being entered and felt a somewhat dull soreness on the next day that was easily ignored. To be honest Shiori didn't feel any different than before the event, well okay that was not completely true. She now had the urge to do it again and again and Kakashi was certainly more than happy to indulge her new appetite.
They had discussed the possibilities of an accidental pregnancy beforehand and had decided to use both the jutsu for shinobi and the civilian contraception pills, just to be on the safe side. After all ninja were proven to be crazy fertile after a certain level of chakra mastery and neither wanted to risk an accidental pregnancy before their partner wasn't ready for it.
For that particular evening Shiori was cooking especially rich dishes, Kakashi had been sent on a mission two days prior and he had told her to expect him back sometime late this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Shiori was just putting the finishing touches on the dishes when she heard the front door opening. She had given Kakashi a key shortly after they had been together for a month so that he could enter at any time even when she wasn't there, later Shiori realized that handing over a key was more of a symbol of trust to Kakashi then a necessity, the ninja was after all more than capable to enter without it.
Shiori's lips turned upwards while she listened to the nearly silent noises that came from the entrance area, her ninja boyfriend was thankfully sensitive enough to make some noise to give the young woman some warning, except when he didn't just because he liked to see her jump out of her skin now and then. Shiori's thought then wandered to this other odd quirk her lover seemed to have; he always arrived shortly before she was finished with cooking never mind that that she changed the time for dinner up a few times just to see what would happen.
When the blue eyed young woman heard some noises already in the living room she turned smiling around to greet Kakashi. Shiori just opened her mouth to start to speak when she saw the blank look on his face and the blood on his ANBU uniform.
The black haired woman stilled for a short moment before unhurried put the food away from the hot plates and onto the stone work area to cool down before she made her way to Kakashi in silent trepidation. She took careful note of the bled through bandages and partially destroyed uniform before she reached out with one small hand and touched him on his shoulder, he hadn't sidestepped her, which he had done a few times when he had been in contact with a poison using enemy, Shiori registered this silent tell with relief before she continued to catalog Kakashi's state. The man in front of her hadn't reacted negatively to her touch and so she led him into the bathroom by the staircase. There she grabbed a towel and wetted it with warm water before Shiori moved it with gentle motions over Kakashi's visible face to clean off the dried blood spatters somewhat before she lifted her hands to the claps of his gear. When Shiori started to unclasp the various buckles and buttons he still hadn't said a word but he also hadn't rejected her help, Shiori took it as enough encouragement. As gently as possible the civilian woman removed the bled through bandages and took a look at the wounds. She was thankful at that moment that she had never been squeamish and that the copper scent in the air didn't bother her that much. Most of the injuries were shallow stab wounds that were still weeping somewhat but to her relief it didn't look as if any of them needed immediate attention of a medic.
Kakashi's continued passiveness worried the civilian incredibly but while her thoughts raced around in her head her actions and movements gained confidence until she had her lover stripped down to his boxers and she sent him up into the master bedroom to take a shower. Shiori winced openly when the Jounin just nodded and made his way up to the second floor. Kakashi's mind must really be in a bad condition if he didn't even take some of his weapons with him and left her with his uniform alone, he had never done this before.
Shiori put said uniform, arm and leg protectors along with the discarded weapons in a clothes basket and briskly walked into the cellar where she put the uniform sans scrolls and weapons into the washing machine before she scrubbed the blood and dirt from Kakashi's protective gear and forehead protector. The weapons and scrolls were left alone in the clothes basket for Kakashi to check over on the next day. Her lover had cautioned her against touching his weapons because while he didn't use poison often, it did happen and even the slightest nick could be dangerous for her.
Shiori put the scrubbed protective gear and the headband beside the slowly burning oven and put another two big wood blocks into the fire. Since last week she had started to use the central heating because the weather had gotten even colder and they were now expecting snow this year for the first time in fifteen years according to Emiko-san.