Chapter 18

Beta'd by Black Sparrow

On the next day Kakashi sent Shiori with a small caravan to the village closest to the Fire shrine, where she should wait until her fiancé would arrive with their witnesses.

"Who is going to witness?" Shiori asked interested, as far as she knew none of Kakashi's friends were aware of her.

"Mah…probably Shiranui Genma and Maito Gai. Do you know them?" Kakashi answered easily and quite chipper.

"Yes from the tea house but say Kakashi, are you going to tell them what they will be witnessing beforehand?" Shiori asked morbidly curious.

After being together with Kakashi for nearly a year she had a pretty good idea what he found funny, and springing something like this on his friends would be right up his ally.

"Hhm…mah they will find out early enough before our wedding. I will meet you three hours before the ceremony at the shrine, is that okay with you?" Kakashi asked still smiling while he skirted around answering Shiori's question.

"Yes that's fine, be careful?" the black haired civilian asked while suppressing a mischievous giggle, Kakashi could be pretty mean and Shiori bemoaned the fact that it had started to rub off on her.

"Always," Kakashi answered simply before he kissed her one last time and then shunshined to his ANBU shift.

Shiori could only shake her head grinning; those poor, poor men were in for quite a surprise. She then did one last walk through the house before she made her way to the meeting point of the merchant caravan. It would take them less than four hours to arrive at their destination and Shiori was already antsy, because as much as she loved Kakashi and wouldn't have minded marrying him right after he asked her, he had dropped this wedding in such a historical place on her with a week's notice and now she was in desperate need of an appropriate wedding kimono.

Shiori sighed again, if she didn't love that man so much she would kill him for that pressure alone.

XXXXXXX

Both Genma and Gai weren't sure what to think of their location, Kakashi had tracked them down a few hours prior and had seriously asked them for a favor. Both of them had been instantly on guard, Kakashi was as good as never serious and asked even less often for favors, so both had agreed instantly and rather concerned. Neither of them had any upcoming missions in the next week and so while they had looked at each other worriedly when Kakashi had told them they were going outside the village they hadn't voiced any protests.

And now here they were, at the Fire Shrine of Konoha and Kakashi had predictably vanished into thin air.

Genma sighed, he loved Kakashi like a brother, he really did but his eccentrics were sometimes even too much for him, especially when he was dying of curiosity. The senbon wielder's musings were interrupted when he noticed a familiar figure walking closer to them.

"Inoue-san, what a pleasant surprise. May I ask what you are doing here? Giving thanks maybe?" Genma asked friendly.

Like many others of his colleagues he felt affectionate for the dark haired civilian who always took great care to fulfill even the most outlandish of their requests. He hadn't expected to find Mariko's owner here but giving thanks for a good business year wasn't that rare. Especially civilian merchants and business owners like to do this and often hired Konoha ninja to escort them to the various shrines around Fire Country.

Shiori giggled slightly mischievously before she said nonchalantly, "Not quite, Shiranui-san. I am marrying today."

"WHAT?" the voices of the two Jounin vibrated through the corridor.

"Mah mah, keep it down will you," Kakashi said while he walked up to his friends and his fiancée.

"Kakashi, d-did you just hear what she said? Inoue-san is marrying today!" Gai cried out.

"I know, after all it is me who she is marrying," Kakashi said dryly while he put his arm around her waist.

Shiori sent Kakashi a warm smile while the two shinobi in front of them were very busy gapping at the couple, there was a moment of stunned silence before Gai broke into tears.

"Kakashi-san, my hip and cool rival, is it true? Are you and Inoue-san really sailing into the port of youthfulness that is matrimony?" Gai asked in his flowery speech.

The silver haired Jounin chuckled slightly before he simply nodded. Gai lost some of his exuberance while he took the couple in front of him in, then he nodded once in a solemn gesture into Kakashi's direction. His silver haired rival had just entrusted him with his greatest weak point, the knowledge about his girlfriend and soon to be wife, who was a defenseless civilian. Beside him Genma too realized the significance of this gesture, Hatake Kakashi had a lot of enemies and even more people wanted to have some kind of leverage over the copy ninja. So should the information about Shiori ever reach the wrong ears they wouldn't stop searching until they had found her and could put the Hatake under pressure. So for Kakashi to have chosen them to witness his marriage he had to trust them and their skills to avoid capture and never talk about his biggest secret. Both Konoha Jounin were deeply honored by their comrade's request and Genma even removed his senbon to congratulate the pair.

Shiori then informed them that the time of the ceremony was still three hours off and that she would meet them at the entrance to the main hall shortly before then. After the civilian woman had left Genma and Gai rounded up on Kakashi.

"God damn, just god damn, Kakashi. Do you always have to spring such things at us. Marriage? Really? I never thought that you would be the first one out of our circle." Genma shook his head while he watched his former ANBU captain like a hawk before he tentatively continued, "She isn't pregnant is she?"

Kakashi's nonchalant mask turned into one of real amusement while he shook his head, barely suppressing his sniggers. "Genma, do you really think that I would get a woman, a civilian at that, unintentionally pregnant and then marry her out of guilt?"

"Right…stupid question," Genma said while he felt inwardly like hitting himself.

Kakashi was infamous in certain ANBU circles for his sexual exploits, he was one of the best honey trap shinobi Konoha had ever had. The silver haired Jounin had the seduction and contraception jutsus down to an art form, there was no chance of an accidental pregnancy happening to him. And if Kakashi hadn't been an equally skilled if not more so assassin, he would more than likely been stuck with those 'delicate' missions for life or the loss of his good looks.

"Hey wait, you didn't say if she was pregnant or not!" Genma blurted out after he had analyzed Kakashi's answer.

Kakashi just sighed and rolled his eyes. "No, Shiori-chan is not pregnant."

"So if you aren't marrying her because she is pregnant…oh hell no…Kakashi don't tell me…you love her, god damn it, now I have seen it all," Genma whispered in disbelief, his brother in arms was in love with this woman. "B-but, she is a civilian!" Genma nearly whined, he had always thought that whoever caught Kakashi's eye one day would be strong, independent and most importantly a kunoichi!

Kakashi just shrugged his shoulders before he slumped against the nearest tree and looked up at the blue sky, "We just fit Genma, we have the same core values, similar tastes and I never had to hide my shinobi side from her."

Gai and Genma winced at that, this was the main problem in shinobi-civilian relationships, the civilians didn't understand that being a shinobi wasn't just an occupation that you could tune out at the end of the day, it was a way of life that you couldn't just turn off.

"Are you really sure about this? Have you really shown her what it is to live with a ninja?" Genma continued to prod; he didn't want his friend to be stuck in a marriage that was doomed from the beginning.

Kakashi snorted as an answer. "Had Shiori been born in Konoha she would have been snatched up by the T&I division right out of the academy or even civilian school. She probably would have made one hell of an intelligence officer if she had come under Inoichi's or Ibiki's tutelage. Her instincts are phenomenal, she has nerves for this kind of work and is twice as stubborn as your average ninja…you should see how she handles my after mission jitters."

"You let her close during those times?" Gai now asked concerned, he knew from experience that Kakashi could be pretty violent before he had a chance to calm down somewhat.

"My instincts don't recognize her as a threat, not even when I am unconscious. She is probably the only one that could kill me when I am like that," Kakashi said surprisingly frank.

Gai and Genma now looked concerned at each other that could turn out bad.

Gai said tentatively, "My friend is there a possibility that she could be a sleeper agent?"

"Gai, Shiori runs a tea house that caters predominately to ninja, more importantly the black ops. The T&I division routinely checks for any fool play and has complete psychological make ups of each one of Shiori's staff, her included." Kakashi said dryly, "I know that there still might be a chance that she is working for somebody but it is so minimal that I won't jeopardize this relationship with her."

"You have changed," Genma finally said after some moments of stunned silence.

This was not the emotionally disconnected shinobi he had come to see first as his captain and then as a younger and annoyingly genius brother during their time as an ANBU team. This was a man who was in love and was starting to build himself a life on top of the shambles that were his destroyed youth.

"For the better I hope," Kakashi said amused before he hesitated and continued, "There is another thing…I'm getting out of ANBU."

Genma lost control of his senbon and narrowly missed his own foot, he stuttered for a moment before he finally blurted out in a disbelieving voice, "You are getting out of ANBU?"

Gai beside him twitched and spasmed but was unable to say anything. For a moment there was silence and then Genma's shoulders started to shake before he burst into laughter and doubled over.

Until now Kakashi had been the last of their former ANBU team who still ran official ANBU missions, the others had all officially left the organization some time ago. Of course the reality was somewhat different, nobody ever left ANBU completely. You just did a lot less of black ops missions and had more 'official' missions that didn't require you to wear an animal mask. Everybody in ANBU who had run missions with the Hatake genius had concurred that the only way he ever would leave ANBU was either through a direct order of the Hokage or due to 'final' retirement, and with that they meant death.

When Genma had finally calmed down somewhat he wiped the tears from his eyes. "Damn! This woman has not only succeeded in making you marry her but she also got you to quit ANBU. I think I will have to take a closer look at Inoue-san. To have accomplished something like this she must be something else!"

Kakashi looked down on the bent over form of his comrade and nearly pouted, it wasn't as funny as Genma was acting. His comrade made it sound like Shiori had accomplished a miracle; he would have gotten out of ANBU on his own one day; at least that was what Kakashi was telling himself stubbornly.

While Genma had given into his mirth, Gai had been unusually quiet through the whole conversation, a curious look in the direction of the green beast made Kakashi stiffen in resignation, he knew what was coming now and there was no way to escape it. Gai's eyes were already swimming with tears when he finally burst into tears and crushed Kakashi in a bear hug.

"MY ETERNAL RIVAL, MAY I OFFER YOU MY CONGRATULATIONS! Shiori-san is not only one of the most beautiful flowers that bloom in Konoha but she also must be brimming with youthfulness to have garnered your attention and led you out of the dark forest and into the light of the thriving glade!" Gai shouted while his teeth shined in the sun.

Kakashi inwardly shook his head; it was so like Gai to use ANBU code in his congratulation speech. Dark forest meant the ANBU forces and glade indicated Konoha and with that the official missions.

The recovered Genma suddenly looked like he had an epiphany over which he was decidedly put out because he growled in an annoyed voice, "Damn it Kakashi, you know what I just realized? Your stupid secrecy has cost us a legendary stag party!"

Kakashi looked at Genma for a while before he could only shake his head and chuckle helplessly. "If that's all? I promise that when my marriage becomes public knowledge you are allowed to plan an ex post stag party."

Hopefully Genma would have forgotten about Kakashi's promise when the time came because the silver haired Jounin would do everything to keep Shiori away from prying eyes as long as possible.

"What a hip idea, I too shall help with the planning of this most youthful event!" Gai shouted in delight while Genma was desperately trying to derail Gai's plan to join him in the preparations.

Throwing a desperate look at the groom the senbon specialist was disappointed when he saw the relaxed form of the Hatake prodigy. There would be no help from Kakashi's side, on the contrary the man had the audacity to even look amused while Genma desperately tried to save a legendary stag party before it even came to fruit. The senbon wielder's musings over the younger man's uselessness were interrupted when he listened with horror to Gai's ideas for that day. There would certainly be NO wrestling between the participants, at most they would go and watch a mud wrestling between two kunoichis…hey that could work, now how did he convince Gai that this was a much better idea?

While his friends were haggling over the details of Kakashi's imaginary stag party, a quick look at the sun assured the Jounin that he still had nearly two hours left until he was going to marry, time enough to get those two idiots into formal wear and take a quick shower.