DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything from the Naruto universe. This is my Mito.

Thinking (+ flashbacks, "Mito speaking to Kurama in her mindscape," etc.)

Emphasis

Bijuu, etc. speaking

Bijuu, etc. thinking

Alone together, Kakashi had followed Mito inside hesitantly, feeling as if he were stepping into the world of the surreal. Lately, he'd been dreaming of entering her/her apartment like this - too many times - but this was real. Could possibly end even better.

He was certain that if Mito had on anything at all under the dampened robe hugging her toned, curvaceous form, it might be panties, but that was it. Why would she let him inside, or have even answered the door like this unless she wanted him to… She moved to refill a wine glass. Ah. I guess she's been drinking. The lights were low; some equally low, instrumental music that he couldn't place the genre of was playing; candles were lit here and there; a red pen and what looked like a manuscript - oh, wow - was on the coffee table. As whenever he'd been here before, Mito had a translucent but colorful scarf over the top of a floor lamp that usually sat in the corner. Tonight, though, she must have been using the light coming down from the shade to read by.

"I'll pour you a glass, okay?" Mito smiled, pulling a matching long-stemmed glass off of a rack she'd mounted under one of her upper kitchen cabinets. "I'm not much for sake or some wines but this one isn't bad. Tsunade gave it to me for some seal work at the hospital." It was a minor miracle that her mentor had parted with the rice wine - good stuff, especially.

Kakashi put his hands in his pockets, shoving his headband in for good measure as Mito opened her fridge. The blonde and red-haired woman had demanded his vest and hung it by the door. "Guess I could try. If you don't mind. –Unless you have something stronger." He could use something stronger, frankly. Now that he was here, he was nervous. Or he felt he should be. Kakashi really wasn't sure.

Mito softly grinned, putting the sake away again before pulling out a little step stool. She climbed up to access the cabinet over her tall, skinny fridge, not seeing the way her guest looked her up and down with smoldering, mismatched eyes. "How does Yamazaki 18 sound?"

Surprised, Kakashi whistled as he tore his eyes away from her ass when she turned to face him, looking mischievous. "Pricey!"

"Right?" Mito grinned. "I half-stole it from Momochi Zabuza. He's going to kick my ass and stab me if he finds out."

Kakashi leaned down for a better whiff as she poured a finger or two into new glasses. "'Half' stole? How does that work?" Looking up, Mito smiled at him coyly - something about it making his blood warm dramatically. He tried to get a hold of himself. He was The Copy Ninja, for fuck's sake. A scrubbed-clean pretty face and beautiful wet hair that dripped down, nearly soaking almost the entire length of her yukata just enough to make me want to fall on my knees shouldn't phase him. Why isn't she asking me to leave? Kakashi hoped he knew the reason why.

"Well, he stole a case of it and showed it off to me one night. And he didn't tell me NOT to take a bottle!"

"I'll have to remember that," he grinned, his good eye heavy on her as he held his glass up. She copied his movements. "Here's to sticky fingers."

Mito smirked, looking proud of herself. "You do like it straight, right?"

"Maa, Hime-sama pays attention to my likes." So sweet when she's not being horrible.

Mito rolled her eyes playfully and clinked her glass into his. "Soooo… 'Cheers' as they say." Both took a drink and damn: was this stuff smooth. She almost bit her lip, instead licking away the alcohol lingering there, wondering what Kakashi was thinking as he stared at her mouth with hooded, mismatched eyes. Fuck. And both eyes open: interesting. They each took another long sip and she tried to simply breathe through how hot it felt like it was getting. How hot SHE was getting. She took a deep breath to center herself. "I guess you heard about my little breakdown in Tou-san's office, huh?"

Kakashi had, in fact. Iwashi was quietly talking to Raido and Genma about the whole thing (laughing about it, really: it made Kakashi want to strangle each of them for a good 17 seconds) outside the bar across from the Tower. Kakashi decided to check on her, ensuring that he got here first before the senbon sucker might. Genma's hair was still green from Mito's latest revenge prank so he might be staying away for now but it felt like it wouldn't hurt to be proactive. "Only a little. May I ask what happened?"

Mito sighed, leading him back into the living room. He sat on the other side of her couch (she was secretly pleased that Kakashi hadn't taken the armchair.) "Until today, I'd never known that Naruto was kidnapped at the same time I was." With his other eye shut again, Kakashi's gray eye blinked and widened a bit. She looked away, embarrassed. "And… I guess it was just guilt for never being there that caused me to overreact the way I did. Plus," she added with a sigh and slight slouch of her shoulders, "some stuff that took place around the time of my kidnapping came to light early this morning. I went to the Fire Temple and… well, it doesn't matter." Kakashi had looked up at her sharply, giving her a glance she didn't understand before he blanked his expression. "Naru and Jiraiya were there and they were fine. But I guess that all together, everything made me overly emotional."

"'S fine," he said, looking back into his drink and thinking about that miserable day when he tracked her movements back to the head monk, Chiriku. He was grateful Mito had most likely gone to see Naruto and Jiraiya and not her ex-lover. Especially right after he'd been pulled away from her the night before. Hopefully that monk bastard's her ex.

Mito didn't agree that it was "fine" but appreciated Kakashi coming to check on her, seemingly still without judgment. She crossed one bare leg over the other, glad that she'd just shaved. "I have to thank you again for taking care of Naruto, ya know." She still found even the concept of Naruto being taken horrifying - and felt so guilty she hadn't been in Konoha to prevent it. "You were there and helped get him away from Danzo, right?" Her father told her that Kakashi was also one of the men who had been with him when he found the cell she'd been held in.

"I didn't do much," Kakashi began, glancing up at her and doing a double-take at the soft, beholden look he was getting. He felt his face (and everything else) burn. "Don– don't look at me like that," he murmured, taking another quick drink. "Fucking beautiful," he breathed, barely (and reluctantly) audible as he stood. He drained his glass and stepped toward the kitchen.

Mito's eyes had slowly gone wide. She couldn't believe her ears. What escaped her mouth was terribly embarrassing. "You… think I'm pretty?" She closed her eyes again, realizing how needy, childish, and stupid she sounded, and got up to pour herself - and him - another drink. A bigger, deeper one. If he was staying. "Ha! Sorry about that. You don't have to answer." She almost said "feel free to insult me, in fact," as a joke but couldn't make herself. "Just kidding!"

Kakashi took a deep breath and allowed her to give him a refill. "Were you drinking earlier?"

Mito cocked her head. "I had a glass of wine before you got here. –I'd just gotten out of the bath. Why?"

Liquid courage, Kakashi told himself, relieved she was sober. He shifted on his bare feet and took another gulp of the very good whiskey, feeling it burn down his throat and warm him so. He noticed Mito's perfectly pedicured toenails; the red matched the fiery red in her hair and her fingernails. When she was young, she used to go on weird little tangents with her mother about how sandals led to dirty toes and injuries that could be prevented by boots. He'd argued that it was a bad call, jokingly, because everyone knew Kushina had "swamp feet" and Mito had nearly put him through a wall.

Back to what he wondered about: whether or not she needed to hear how beautiful she was, his mouth moved before his brain caught up to consider it more. "Of course, I- I think you're pretty. Mito. You're gorgeous."

Mito ducked her head, trying not to smile and feeling incredibly warm. Too warm, she realized - although it felt good. Heat was pooling, fast and low in her abdomen and between her legs, as she slowly blinked up at Kakashi, sure that her face was also on fire. God, the way he was looking at her… She'd been reading Jiraiya's latest and had planned for an evening of "alone time" but… Ahem.

Mito knew it wasn't necessarily low self-esteem that was her issue; why she felt so shocked at his compliment. She remembered being very small and vociferously demanding not to be associated with anything close to being called cute, pretty, beautiful, or the like. She'd kept that attitude most of her life. However, hearing something like this now, from Kakashi of all people, didn't seem like a bad thing. Quite the contrary. Surprising. "Thank you," she got out. Kakashi's eye darted around, potentially looking like he wanted to run and the only thing she could think to say was, "I bet you're handsome under that mask."

Why the hell was she so fixated on that thing? She'd seen him (unconscious) without it. Kakashi's eyes crinkled at her slightly.

"Maa, 'a solid 4' you said, right?"

Mito stalled and then snorted a couple of times, laughing; the sound quite unladylike. She had teased him like that a couple of years ago hadn't she? –Told him that on a scale of 1-10, he might be a nice, robust 4. "That was a joke!"

Kakashi grinned, glad to hear it. "You also said I was skinny…"

"You were skinny."

Kakashi stood up taller, throwing back the rest of his drink. He gave her a cross look; promising he'd never tell her she had been right. "I bulked up."

"Mmm! I noticed."

"Pervert."

Aaaand? Is that a problem? "No. I'm a Medical. Professional," she stated emphatically with a grin, lightly tapping his chest to punctuate her words. She went back to her drink, rocking on the balls of her feet and studying him. "Hey, Kakashi," she said, turning tracts and tilting her head curiously at him. "Just between us, is um… is my father really Yakuza? Or Yakuza like?"

Kakashi really didn't want to talk about her father and told her so. Mito seemed to think that was funny but also stepped closer to him, smiling and looking pleased. And the way she smelled was killing him. Whether she'd admit it or not her scent (and everything else) indicated that she was interested. "Maa. In Konoha, I suppose you could say he's the head of the family or however you might phrase it. So in a way, we are. But what some think is the Yakuza is different in a ninja village, or at least it is in Konoha or Kumo. And it used to be that way in Taki, I think. The system's not perfect…" Not by a long shot.

Wide-eyed again for a second, Mito shook her head. "I'd wondered how the Yakuza operated in a ninja village." She'd feel idiotic for not believing her father controlled everything - freaking dictatorship - but even Anko didn't seem to know everything about her father's power, it seemed. She could only imagine the look on Anko's face if she told her about their Hokage's crazy back tattoo.

Kakashi shrugged. It was more accurate to say that what some people called the yakuza in Konoha was the civilian part of the Hokage's organization. The other order, some called it. Unlike the rest of the yakuza, those in Konoha's underworld had to abide by stringent rules to operate and stay. They were often the Hokage's ears. And many times there are fights about and within it for power, changes, and resources. He took another sip of the whiskey she'd refilled. Once again, his mouth got carried away. "I'd rather talk about us."

Like a dork, Mito mentally swooned, her heart speeding up again. "Us?" she asked, blinking up at him shyly through long red eyelashes.

Kakashi stared at her, thinking about how this subdued version of Mito was so different from the night as Sukea, he brought her back from their date. She'd been fairly bold and quite eager then but now looked so demure and sweet. Had he known she'd be in this kind of mood earlier, he might have avoided her; convinced himself that he wouldn't like it. But actually being with her… Well, he wanted to eat her alive just as much if not more than he ever did.

When Kakashi softly ran his big hand through the ends of her long hair, staring at it, Mito had to hold onto her island's counter to steady herself. She caught the momentary smug look on his face and stepped forward more, almost hiding her face in his shoulder - keeping just enough distance to be polite. Ha. Unsure of why she was acting this way and hating that her heart was racing, that only his presence was making her wet, Mito tried to get him to answer her question. "You said 'us.'"

Kakashi knew he had. He hadn't planned on it - or at least doubted that he'd find his balls for another (few years?) month or more, possibly, but… Fuck. Kakashi realized months ago that he was in love with the powerful, often terrible kunoichi - and/or the woman behind the job - and was also slightly obsessed. HAD been a little obsessed with her since he was a kid. He had to be; Kakashi realized that what was on the table had to be the new Icha-Icha but he didn't find that he cared. Unfortunately Mito, on the other hand, was younger than him and probably just looking for some fun. I mean, she only knew Sukea for a very short time and seemed more than ready to fool around.

He should probably ask her out or something like a gentleman but he'd never done that before, as himself. Plus if she said yes and Minato found out, his sensei would probably do everything he could (only for a while, he tried to tell himself) to break them up. And to break him in half, of course. He'd heal. Probably.

He needed to consider this more...

The couple of - oh, be honest with yourself: it's… less than a dozen? - women he'd fucked over the years had been "there," available, willing, and boring as hell compared to Mito. Even the one chick with the kinks hadn't interested him beyond the hour (definitely less than that) he'd spent with her. I always have to hold back.

"Kakashi?"

Mito was different, though. And she barely had any clothes on and he could still see the outline and swell of her breasts under her yukata. –Where the hell she put those things when she often looked as flat as a board under her uniform was beyond him. Not that they were "Tsunade-huge" or anything. And not that he would have cared if she was flat, really. He was more of an "ass and legs guy" and generally not terribly picky. Plus, she was Mito.

"Um," Mito began, glancing at her clock.

Kakashi used to only care about whether those coming onto him were "clean," married, a rogue, insane, etc., etc.

Generally, he preferred a woman who could hold her own or maybe even kick his ass, had psychedelic eyes, obnoxiously long blonde or red hair (preferably both,) and never-ending legs and ass. Little scars on the upper lip and eyebrow were also appealing. So were tiny white whisker-like marks on her upper cheeks, it turned out.

Mito snorted, trying to better cover herself, as a reluctant smirk grew on her face for a few seconds before she looked away and huffed. Then she tried to glare at him. "You're staring, ya know."

Startled, Kakashi glanced up into her big, beautiful indigo eyes, wondering if she'd said something. "Hmm?"

Mito raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, Kakashi," she sighed. She's either heard something wrong or… something. Who knows; It had been a long day. Kakashi had seemed catatonic for minutes (she'd begun to worry and began counting the seconds only when she was positive at least a minute had gone by.) Maybe she'd freaked him out by pushing him about what she thought he had said. Nah, she tried to assure herself. Maybe Kakashi had simply had as exhausting a day as she had. She'd been hopeful there for a second. Hopeful that I wouldn't be stuck with only a vibrator waiting for me in my bed. "Bad day?"

"Slept all day," Kakashi muttered, trying to think straight. He might have forgotten to eat after he'd gotten sick following their previous night out drinking. He'd say the whiskey was going straight to his head again but unfortunately, much of it was following his blood elsewhere. Now on top of everything else he had to hide an erection. Fuck.

"Lucky!"

"Very," Kakashi smirked before scratching his head. That was a weird thing to say: normally he felt particularly unlucky. "Maa. Sort of."

"Ah," Mito nodded, understanding and a little disappointed. "Are you hurt or anything?" I.e., why are you really here? Speak, Boy! she thought demandingly. Kakashi understood dog-like orders, right? He probably would appreciate canine orders even less because of that, though. God knows that if someone started treating her like a cat, she'd minimally hiss at them and would probably try to scratch their face off. Hm. "Sooo… What's up?" She refilled his glass again, inappropriately hoping to loosen his weird self up.

"Not much," Kakashi replied, stretching after he moved to the other side of her high island and draped himself over it. "Trying to figure some things out."

Mito nodded. Kami, she was all worked up. She kept her voice low. "Anything I can help with?"

"Oh, you definitely can."

Mito's slanted grin in return became a little pensive the longer she waited for him to say more. "Well, then." She put her hand on her hip, shifting her weight to her other leg, and looked at him challengingly. "Tell me what you want." Kakashi took a half-step backward, but Mito wouldn't apologize for guessing what was happening here.

Kakashi's mismatched gaze became heated. "I want to go slow." When she asked him why, he choked. Damnit. Kakashi hadn't frozen up on her like this in a long time. What a pain he was! She eventually hummed, stepping around the island, but not getting too close. Kakashi was her ANBU partner, (unofficially, to her knowledge since they were both currently loosely classified as "assigned/reserve Jonin specialists" to the organization,) at least as far as training went. She didn't want to screw things up between them. Really, it almost felt too bad that she'd caught feelings for him, although she wasn't sure how deep those feelings were - or what to call them, anyway. She definitely liked him, though: a lot, and had for quite some time. "If you want to go any slower, I think you'll have to reverse time." Her eyes darted to the door before anyone on the other side made a sound, and what - or rather who- she felt made her want to throw a hissy fit. Should've put the other seals back up immediately after Kashi came in.

Mito stepped around to see to her currently unwanted visitor but Kakashi softly gasped her arm, giving her yukata a significant look. "Yes?"

"Maa. Do you know who it is?"

Mito sighed, wondering what he was doing here. "Genma."

Kakashi's nostrils flared, his lip drawing back in a silent snarl as Mito answered the door. He stood right behind her, possessive and intimidating, and couldn't help but enjoy the way one of his rivals for her affections blanched upon seeing him there. Mito, he noted, had not opened the door as much for Genma as she had for him - which was a good thing, because he didn't want Genma seeing her this way.

"Genma," Mito said tensely to the shocked shinobi, more than a little pissed off. "Fine; tomorrow I'll take the seal off your hair but if you want to be my friend, I can't have you talking to Tou-san about… Well, pretty much anything surrounding me! And I don't need his permission to…" Mito looked back at Kakashi apologetically, blushing madly and able to cut the tension between them with a knife. "I like my privacy, ya know. And, um... You know my father's overbearing." She whispered the last thing pleadingly.

"We're kinda busy, Genma," Kakashi said smoothly - and not unkindly, to Mito's ears. She smiled back at him appreciatively.

"Are you, Mito? 'Busy?'" Genma waited all of five seconds for an answer, scoffed, and (for a ninja) stomped off.

Mito closed the door with a huff and upon turning around, gasped when she felt soft lips on hers. She whimpered and leaned into Kakashi, pressing her body into his. Her hands worked up the hard muscles of his arms as they kissed, and she finally got to tangle her fingers in his wild hair. He held her tightly, one arm wrapped around her waist, his other hand grasping her hair against her head. Finally.

"Keep your eyes closed," he whispered against her lips. Mito snickered - she really was terrible - but it gave him an opportunity to lick into her mouth.

Her kisses were different from when he'd been posing as Sukea. Rather than Mito battling him for dominance (as his books described it,) the way she slid her tongue against his was divine and mind-blowing. Fuck. He was aching for her. THIS was passion…

His mismatched eyes popped open wide when she jumped up and wrapped her legs around his waist. He let out a bark of laughter before she ground down on him. "Fuck!" Finally grasping the meat of her amazing ass, he groaned again, letting his head forehead fall on her shoulder. He shivered and growled at her when she nipped at his jawline by his ear. "FUCK."

"Promises, promises," Mito muttered slyly as she forced herself to break away minutes later, breathless, to activate a security array - and then with a hand seal, she added another measure that would silence any sounds, chakra signatures, or vibrations coming to or from the apartment. She'd come up with the latest part of it when she tried to exorcize the demons from her kitchen, not wanting Yugao to hear her blowing things up again.

Having regained her full attention, Kakashi rubbed his head all against hers. "Sorry. Meant to ask permission first," he admitted, breathing irregularly.

Mito grinned back at him as she rubbed her hips in a circle over his hard-on. God, she liked it. "Permission granted to do… well, pretty much anything you want to with me, within reason, then."

"Fuck, Mito! You shouldn't say things like that when…"

"But," she interrupted, pushing his shoulders away reluctantly before removing the rest of herself with a groan, "you're not getting in my pants with a genjutsu mask on."

Kakashi let out an incredibly frustrated sigh and let her go, but then pulled her back to the couch with him, his hands on her hips. "Sit with me." Frowning, Mito did. Her expression, he thought, was one of a petulant little brat. Fuck, he loved her. He placed his arm over the back of the couch behind her and spoke in just over a whisper. Cool or not, like anyone, Kakashi could be a little afraid of rejection. "Here's the thing, Mito," he admitted without humor. "The Hatake clan originated generations ago from a wolf demon or… wolf demons."

"OKay," Mito thought, trying to keep her expression accepting. A lot of clans around the Elemental Nations and elsewhere believed things like that but it was hard to imagine someone as logical, educated, and smart as Kakashi thinking so, too. Most common concepts involving demons were folklore or culturally driven for various reasons, she thought. BUT Mito did have a chakra "demon" in her gut that made her keep those thoughts to herself. Plus, the Uzumakis had been widely known, once upon a time, to seal demons. Mito still had the seals for it.

More than anything, (even if Mito hadn't known that demon-hunting little nugget of family intel,) it didn't feel okay to doubt Kakashi when she had a giant, very real chakra-fox with a multitude of tails who expressed his snooty opinions on things whenever he bothered to wake his furry ass up and take interest. "I see."

She didn't see.

"Maa, I wear my mask for a variety of reasons. It helps me filter or block strong scents. It helps me maintain an air of mystery that I can endlessly fuck with my students and comrades about..." Mito giggled as he'd hoped she would. "I also look a lot like my father and um…"

"I've seen pictures of your father," Mito mentioned attentively. "He was hot."

Kakashi felt his cheeks and ears burn as he groaned and put his face in his hands. "Kami, Mito! Don't say that!"

Mito quietly laughed at him, more than ready to go back to what they were doing. It was kind of neat to be able to laugh with him, to enjoy his company while waiting and hoping to fuck his brains out. Calm down, you damn pervert, she scolded herself. "I have to hear people say my father's hot all the time."

"Maa, I don't want to hear that either."

Mito beamed at her wolfman, happy and warm - but needy. "It's fine. We both know my father's a dork. Anyway, you were saying…"

"I," Kakashi began to tell her the other thing but stopped himself. "I don't want people to know this. Any of this. Few if any do."

Oh, shit. Color Mito interested! "Okay. I won't tell anyone what you say or um, what goes on here."

Kakashi swallowed hard. "Not even Anko, Mito - or Asuma or especially Naruto or anyone, really, that…"

"I promise," Mito said earnestly, meaning it. "I won't betray your trust."

Kakashi nodded, staring at the floor. He was serious about Mito and he wanted to… Well, he wanted a lot of things. Didn't mean he'd get them but he wanted to finally try. "When I'm in certain emotionally-charged situations, maa... I… can undergo a type of, um, physical… change."

"Don't we all?" she said in a low voice cheekily after a few quiet seconds - with a saucy wink no less - taking a chance to glance toward his erection meaningfully. He might have positioned himself to hide it but she was pretty sure he still had it. Not that she was an expert on how long those things lasted, considering how reasonable and suddenly talkative he was being. One thing was for sure: she wanted to get her hands on it. Kakashi shoved her, and what she could see of his face was burning. "What?! I'm just saying that physical changes are healthy, normal, and universally established." Kakashi let out a breath of nervous laughter and began playing with her hair. "Especially those that take place in 'emotionally charged situations,' ne?" Kakashi, however, looked so damn uncomfortable and tense, she felt bad for him. Felt like maybe she'd gone too far. "Um. When you began to explain this, you mentioned a wolf demon. So does that mean you grow loads of body hair, a tail, and cute ears?"

Kakashi yanked on her hair and scoffed. "No."

"Aww," Mito pouted after inhaling sharply. "That's… too bad. And just so you know: as long as I'm not fighting, I like my hair pulled." She grinned, chuckling when Kakashi put his head back and groaned, and gasping when he pulled at it again, growling at her. Becoming more serious, she softly touched his leg. "These changes happen when you're intimate with someone?"

"They can," Kakashi admitted, keeping a close eye on her and wondering if she'd balk. "And in battle; with maa, bloodlust."

Interesting! Mito tried and failed not to sound too invested in finding out what this big secret was. "Are you gonna tell me? Or do I get to see?"

Kakashi's voice dropped as moved closer and ran his fingers down her cheek. He stopped himself, but continued to pet her neck, desperately yearning to get his hands and mouth on her breasts. Her pulse was racing. "What would you prefer, Mito?"

Mito softly grinned, her pupils blown wide. Her heart was rabbit-fast in her chest but rather than jump him, she offered what she hoped was a bit of an olive branch or something that might make him feel better, anyway. "Let me turn out the light. … But know this: it's up to you - but I want it all."

Ball's in your court.