Chapter 16: Unga Bunga Bunga
Tenten felt uneasy about Kakashi's refusal to look at her as they walked, but let him lead her down the forest path in silence, both of them processing the earlier discussion.
She was tugged off the trail abruptly, then found herself sitting on Kakashi's lap, as he settled down on a fallen log that was shielded from the snow by thick overhanging branches of the surrounding trees.
"Eh?" she automatically wrapped her arms around his shoulders for balance. He smiled at her as his own hands gently encircled her waist.
He wasn't pulling down his mask for a kiss, so Tenten tilted her head at him, trying to decipher the meaning behind their current situation.
It wasn't a feasible position to be caught in should they be suddenly attacked. Tenten didn't imagine she felt as light as a snowflake for him either. While majority of her arsenal was sealed away in scrolls, there were still weapons strapped to her in various places. And even if she didn't carry excess fat, her muscle mass ensured she was no dainty damsel.
She hadn't been worried when they were doing this in a comfortable chair in Konoha, but this was a frozen log out in the forest and she was a little concerned her boyfriend might already be suffering from rheumatism and arthritis.
His expression had turned dry. "Your thoughts are as easy to read as Gai's sometimes, you know."
She hugged him, mortified. "I was just wondering why you weren't saying anything!"
"We're alone and I wanted to snuggle."
"See? That wasn't so hard," she grumbled into his shoulder.
His hand slid under her shirt, warming her skin. Tenten tightened her hold reflexively, but didn't protest.
They sat there for a moment, embracing as Kakashi rubbed away some of the tension from her lower back. Tenten slowly relaxed at the tacit reassurance he was giving her that the secret about Osh had changed nothing between them.
Kakashi had been the Sixth Hokage for a long time. He was not about to act rashly based on the mere hint of potential danger.
Hell, the man pushed the envelope when it came to gauging acceptable risks. Even after Sasuke had outright declared himself a threat to the existence of Konoha, Kakashi had gone to every length to have his student pardoned when he became Hokage. Kakashi was a very compassionate man.
Then again, Kakashi probably blamed himself for what happened with Sasuke.
Tenten harrumphed a little.
She pulled back and looked at her boyfriend square in the eye.
"I'm my own person, okay?"
He blinked slowly. "I take it back. Sometimes I have no idea what you're thinking. Where did that come from?"
"I mean," she sighed, "If I mess up with how I handle my weapon, it's my fault and you shouldn't try to take responsibility or cover for me, okay?"
His face took on a stern demeanor, "But you're MY woman and everything you are belongs to me."
At her squawk of indignation, he quickly recanted "I'm kidding! I just wanted to say that out loud for once."
It was a quote from Icha Icha Violence again and Tenten was a little exasperated he wasn't more worried about Osh.
He put a finger against her lips before she could complain about it, "I don't have enough information to go on yet, Ten. This is me trusting you, and valuing you as your own person."
Kakashi was finding it very easy to turn Tenten to mush. A warm touch, some sweet talk about respecting her boundaries, and she was putty in his fingers.
He ignored the fact that she didn't even have to manipulate him to make him do what she wanted.
She valiantly recovered from his mush attack by diverting the topic, playfully pulling down his hand from her face to complain about something else, "How is it that there are hot springs nearby and we're out here in the cold?"
Kakashi gave a suggestive wink, "We'll stay over at a private onsen when your missions are done."
She stared at him. "Really?"
"Really."
Tenten squealed, peppering his face with kisses.
It was a little discomfiting that she seemed more excited at the prospect of relaxing in the hot springs than the steamy implications he had insinuated. But she was blushing even as she smothered him with feather-light smooches, so it was clear she was not averse to that part of staying alone together at a private onsen either.
The female protagonists in the Icha Icha series were always described as alluring creatures of mystery, endlessly complex and difficult to fathom.
Tenten was nothing like them.
Weapons and hot springs. Cuddles and kisses. Tell her she was loved and back it up with actions.
His girlfriend was as simple as that.
And that made him happy.
Pulling down his mask, he took hold of her face and gave her a deep, wet kiss.
"It will be just you and me. No nin-ken. No Lee. And definitely no shark-nins," he promised her.
Tenten was reeling from the impromptu tongue duel. So it was a long moment before she could ask, "What shark nin, Kakashi?"
Enma lounged on the tatami mat in the rest area, humming softly to himself. He had a nice buzz going from the sake, and Osh was providing a pleasant counterpoint tenor to accompany his deep bass rumble.
"Now that's a tune I can get behind, it's like an earworm in my mind!"
The Monkey King cracked an eyelid open. Around him, Kakashi's nin-ken were likewise splayed out in various positions of repose, but a few of their ears flicked up at the unfamiliar voice.
"I could beatbox a storm to go with that song! How about it, my friend, lemme sing along?"
Enma propped himself up on his elbow and turned to the direction of the rhymer.
A burly dark-skinned man grinned at him from across the room. His extra-large yukata swathed a muscular frame and his white goatee framed his jawline and highlighted the bull's horn tattoo on his left cheek.
"Hmmm," Enma mused, discerning how yet another human was present in an onsen reserved for animal-type summons, "You have the Eight-Tailed Beast within you."
"The name's Killer B, and you're Monkey King Enma. You've got some pipes, man, very pleased 'ta meetc'ha!" Killer B extended his fist.
Bemused, Enma stretched out his own arm, and had his knuckles bumped with gusto. He could faintly detect an inner conversation going on between Gyuki and the jinchuriki along the lines of the tailed beast scolding the human for breaching onsen etiquette and disturbing people who might want to be left alone. Killer B did not look like the quiet type, though.
"Who's your friend in the scroll, with the warm dulcet tones? Your delectable duet hit me deep in my bones!"
Enma raised a hand, alarmed, "No don't encourage—"
"Oho!" Osh was delighted at having a fan. There was a puff of smoke from the scroll as Osh unsealed itself, and Enma was miffed to see the weapon appeared to be the exact replica of the adamantine staff that the Monkey King would transform into when wielded by a summoner.
"Hey, copycat," he chided. "You are never going to look as good as me."
"I am the source of those warm dulcet tones," Osh addressed Killer B grandly, ignoring Enma. "You have a keen ear for melody, although I'm not sure why you're speaking in rap."
"Why are there seven of you?" for once, Killer B's voice was flat, lacking any verse whatsoever.
"Eh?"
"And why do you look like the swords I use? Tell me right now, is this some kind of ruse?" Killer B's mood had shifted from friendly to suspicious.
Enma was perplexed. Apparently, he and Killer B were not seeing Osh in the same way.
Someone drawled, "I wasn't going to bother with telling you all to quiet down, some of us are trying to relax here. But this has gotten interesting."
A blue-skinned man sat indolently with his back against the far wall, the faint curl to his lip revealing pointed lower and triangular upper teeth similar to that of a great white shark's.
"I see you can talk now, Samehada," Hoshigaki Kisame greeted Osh. "It's been a while."
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(6/9/24) A/N: Hello, friends. It has been a while. Posting this chapter on the birthday of Kisame's partner, Itachi, for sentimental reasons. On a scale of one to Neji, Itachi counts high up there among those who never did catch a break for the sake of advancing the story. I like to think he and Kisame shared a camaraderie for the short time they worked together.