Kakashi spent the day in a café near the airport. He sat at a shady table in front of the glass front, drank one coffee after another and tried a few of the sweet pastries, although he preferred salty food. His taste had not changed, so he seemed to still tolerate normal food. However, he noticed that he did not feel the need to urinate despite drinking gallons of coffee. He assumed that his new body metabolized nothing but human blood.
As he sat there, sipping a sugared macchiato and ordering a piece of caramel cake from the somewhat pretty waitress, he watched the people on the street. He sensed the pulse of each one, and tried to identify the scent of their blood. Each of them was unique, some smelled pleasant, others disgusting. Kakashi noticed that their scent matched their appearance. He looked at his hand. What flavor was his blood? The next time he was at the Cortez, he should ask Elizabeth. Just out of curiosity.
„Here you go," said the waitress, placing a small plate with the cake on the round table.
„Thank you very much," Kakashi replied with a smile. He couldn't help but notice the pink blush that had spread across her cheeks, and even more so her rapid pulse – with a hint of peanuts. He grinned to himself. „I'd like to pay too," he added, as the woman was still standing there staring at him.
„Uh, y-yes," she said, ripping herself away from her obvious admiration for Kakashi and pulling out a device that looked like a larger and more modern Blackberry, on which she tapped around briefly. „Two cappuccinos, three latte macchiatos and one each of waffle with cream, strawberry cheesecake, vanilla pudding and caramel tart – that's $87."
„Wow," Kakashi replied, but without further comment he took out his private credit card and held it up to the device.
„I have to say, you look very fit for so much sugar," said the waitress, meeting Kakashi's gaze and her cheeks grew even darker. „Uh.. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to.. Well.."
„It's okay. It was a compliment, thank you," said Kakashi gently.
She stared at him again and stuttered softly, „M-might you be interested in going for a coffee with me sometime?"
Kakashi's eyebrows lifted. „That sounds tempting, but unfortunately I still have a flight today, I'm sorry."
„Oh," she exclaimed, tossing her mouse-brown hair around. „Yes, I understand. I hope you have a pleasant day and a smooth flight."
„Thank you," Kakashi smiled. He watched her disappear into the café. Seduction was bloody easy. If he wanted, he could take her. But he didn't want to. She wasn't unique enough. He wanted to make his first time special, but he mustn't be greedy. He had to be careful, otherwise he wouldn't be able to enjoy his new life for long. It required a certain strategy. He wasn't just sitting here to explore his powers and kill the hours until evening, he needed an alibi. A few buildings away was a cheap motel where he had rented a room for the night. But he didn't plan to spend more time there than necessary. It was rancid and the bed had been declared too hard after a short test wiggle. He wasn't thinking about sleep anyway. There was a strip club and a nightclub nearby, and if anyone were to investigate, they would be able to put two and two together. The fact that he had lied to Naruto about spending another night at the Cortez also fit perfectly into his plan. His direct colleagues knew that Kakashi liked to party hard when he was off work, and so it was not unusual for him to check into other hotels at his own expense. At the latest, it would be noticed when the Cortez settled the bill, and everyone in the company would think: 'Oh, it's Kakashi again, looking for fun somewhere else and thinking we don't know about it.' How stupid they were. But it could only be to his advantage that they underestimated him. That way, his true intentions would never come to light.
A glance at the watch told him that it was almost seven. Time to get going. Kakashi emptied his cup, licked the rest of the caramel cream off his fork and put the dishes together neatly. Then he got up, put on his sunglasses and mask, donned his jacket and strolled leisurely over to the motel. It had no cameras and was therefore perfect for him. In his disgusting room, he masturbated in a long shower – as he usually did – and then put on a silk black shirt and black suit trousers. He rolled the sleeves of the shirt up to the elbows and unbuttoned the top two buttons on the collar. His neck injury was now no more than a dark shadow and would be barely visible, if at all, in the club's lighting. His deep-gray eyes met their reflection. He looked good and would have an easy time. He sneered.
It was half past ten. Kakashi was standing at the bar in the club, soaking up the atmosphere for hours. The impressions flooded him, all the different smells clouded his supernatural senses, their hearts throbbed to the beat of the music. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Earth, cinnamon, lavender, vanilla, pumpkin, roses, coriander, jasmine... He raised his eyelids. A few feet away from him, in the darkness that was barely perceptible to him, a woman of perhaps twenty years of age was dancing, clearly too young to be here at all. It was she who smelled of jasmine. Her scent was as lovely as her face. Kakashi became hungry. He licked his upper lip, downed his cocktail, the effects of which he felt only minimally, and moved towards the woman. She waved her arms through the air with her eyes closed, opening her mouth every now and then as if she were calling out something that no one could hear in the bass.
People bumped into Kakashi left and right, perhaps wanting to stop him in his tracks, but they didn't succeed. He reached the girl, touched her bare shoulder and brought her out of her trance. She looked around, saw Kakashi standing calmly in front of her, grinned drunkenly and high and otherwise not what and fell into his arms. Her mouth tasted of alcohol and vomit, not exactly appealing. But it wasn't her saliva he wanted to taste. Without effort, just with a simple mental command, she followed him across the dance floor to the back exit. No one noticed them because everyone who could have crossed their path out of the club happened to change their route or looked in another direction. No one noticed that Kakashi was leading the girl out into the night.
Behind him, the heavy door slammed shut and immediately he pushed her back against the wall of the house, where trees, bushes, a fence and a large rubbish bin provided them with privacy. He could clearly hear her blood pumping through her veins and smell the jasmine in her pulse. It excited him. Without even exchanging a word with her, he pulled her panties out from under her skirt, opened his trousers, lifted her up and thrust into her straight away. She moaned with pleasure, clung to his strong upper arms and wanted to kiss him again, but he didn't want to come into contact with her tongue again, he just couldn't stand it. He slammed her head against the wall and shoved two fingers into her mouth. His thumb squeezed her jaw, revealing the delicate, dark skin on her neck. Her vein pulsed visibly. Kakashi licked over it, biting gently, which elicited an aroused gasp from her. He grinned. Would she also moan like that if she knew what he had planned for her?
He leaned back again, sliding his right hand up from her hip to her neck and now only holding her up with his dick, which rammed into her relentlessly. She let out a half-stifled sound as his fingers squeezed her throat gently. But she kept moaning, clearly coming. Kakashi grinned again. She was a dirty little bitch. Perfect. His fingernails scraped across her skin, digging deep and leaving soft, red welts on her soft, black skin. With his left hand, he caressed her cheek, her full lips, the hairline at the back of her neck, where he finally grabbed a few hairs and pulled her head back. She groaned.
Kakashi pressed the fingers of his right hand deep into her throat. It was a frightening ease to crush, to open, to shred the skin and the flesh around her larynx. The sound of bursting tendons filled his ears. Her warm blood flowed over his forearm, dripping to the floor. She made a gurgling sound, her pretty caramel eyes wide open and staring at Kakashi, who licked his upper lip again and finally lowered his face to her neck. Tenderly, he ran his tongue through her wounds, which tasted of alcohol and cocaine. This hint of honey, mixed with the iron in her blood... A tremendous power flowed through him. He thrust forward, panting loudly and pouring into her trembling body. As he came, he closed his eyes with relish, burying his teeth in her flesh, feeling the frantic pulsing of her heart against his lips, which was probably trying to provide him with even more of her juice, and he drank. He drank until he could no longer breathe and laid his head back, moaning. A cool breeze wafted around the tip of his nose.
Kakashi opened his eyes and saw the stars twinkling far above him, barely visible through the city's light pollution. He laughed roughly and looked down again. The girl was no longer moving. Her lifeless irises were also directed towards the sky.
„Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked her, although she couldn't answer him even if she had understood him. He pulled out of her, kissed her half-open mouth, smearing her own blood on her lips and teeth, and took his hands from her neck. Her body sagged to the ground, just lying there like a wet rag. Her black curls fell over her dead eyes, which continued to stare at the stars.
Kakashi sighed, closed his trousers and went to a rain barrel to wash the blood off him as best he could, taking great care not to get any drops in his mouth. He really didn't want to catch any diseases here. He stopped in mid-motion, then began to laugh quietly. What the hell was he thinking?! He was immortal, resistant to all bacteria and viruses, he would not be harmed if he came into contact with any pathogens. Grinning, he took a big gulp of the brackish water, but spat it out again immediately. It tasted terrible, like moss and old drains. He shook himself, waved his hands to dry them a little, and looked back at the dead girl a few feet away. She lay there unchanged, in the pale light of the lamp above her.
He returned to her and brushed her hair out of her face. It was a shame, really, that she of all people should be his first victim. Her face was perfect, and Kakashi believed that with her features and her fresh, black skin, which was as dark as bittersweet chocolate, she was here in L.A. to become a model. She certainly had the looks for it. She would have been successful if she hadn't been so unlucky. „I'm sorry, you probably didn't deserve your dream to end like this." He put one arm under her knees, one around her back and lifted her up. Her head bobbed to the side with the movement, causing a few more drops of blood to seep from her neck. Kakashi licked them up, rinsed the stale rainwater away with her jasmine and kissed her on the cheek one last time.
Then he carried her body to a narrow, deserted pedestrian bridge a short distance from the club and, after a final look that was probably meant to be a farewell, threw her down into Ballona Creek. Her body hit the surface with a loud splash. Kakashi looked around to see if anyone was nearby, but he was alone and leaned contentedly on the railing. A shadow drifted away below him in the dark channel. It wouldn't take long for them to find her, probably only a few hours. He watched her disappear into the darkness and stared at the horizon for a long time afterwards. It was quiet, almost eerily calm for a city like this. Everything around him seemed to be asleep, unaware of the horror that this poor girl had experienced. He tilted his head to the side, a little wistfully. Should he have saved her? She had been very pretty. Elizabeth thought he was beautiful, but that wasn't the only reason she gave him her blood. Many people were handsome, so they might be worth giving eternity to, but that was not enough in Kakashi's eyes. If it went by that, there would be too many of their kind. No, he decided that he would only ever turn one person, whoever that might be and whenever it might happen. After all, he had plenty of time to find someone worthy of this gift.
Kakashi stood for hours, lost in thought, looking at the sky, where the faint stars were gradually disappearing, giving way to a gentle blue and finally only a hint of a delicate violet.
He pushed himself away from the railing, cracked his neck and turned his shoulder joints twice. It was already five a.m. and his flight was at eight. He changed in his motel room, freshened up a little, checked his luggage, as is customary before a departure, and left the slowly awakening City of Angels.
Never before had Kakashi slept so well in an airplane. The ten hours to Tokyo were enough to compensate for his sleepless night and the jet lag. Shortly before eleven, he stepped out of the elevator on the 30th floor of his company and greeted Shizune, Tsunade's assistant, politely as he walked past her to Tsunade's office with his wheeled suitcase. After a brief knock, his boss opened the door. The blonde woman in her late 40s looked as if she was pissed off about something, as usual. Surprisingly, her blood smelled of raspberries, which Kakashi hadn't expected. „Ah, Kakashi-san. You're back already?"
„Well, my flight was on time for once," Kakashi replied, following her silent invitation and sitting down at her expansive desk.
„You look far too rested for a ten-hour flight and a time difference of more than half a day," Tsunade remarked with a frown as she sat down in her padded swivel chair.
Kakashi smiled. „I'm doing great. I had a good night and a good sleep on the plane."
Tsunade's wrinkles on her forehead deepened further. If she wasn't careful, they would stay.„You slept on the plane? That's unusual for you." She took a deep breath. „Anyway, did Naruto talk to you about the client?"
„He did," nodded Kakashi. „I doubt it will be necessary for me to revise the plan."
„That's right," Tsunade agreed and opened a folder in front of her. „I also looked at it after Naruto and, as you would expect from you, it was perfect."
Kakashi's smile turned into a grin. Yes, they should all just keep patting his ego. He felt so much energy right now that he wanted to rip open something, any juicy jugular, to feed on it. He cleared his throat. „Thank you very much, Tsunade-sama. It means a lot to hear that from you."
„That's good, because you're about to hate me."
„Why?"
„I've assigned you an intern," she said simply, her tone of voice sounding angry as she added, „And I won't tolerate any back talk. You will train her, got it?!"
„Um..." Kakashi scratched his head. „Why me of all people? I'm a field agent, I don't have time for babysitting. Or should she come with me on my travels?"
„That remains to be seen. There are no new projects on the horizon anyway, so you can devote all your overpaid working hours to her."
„Overpaid?" Kakashi asked in surprise. „I thought I was doing a perfect job."
„You do that, indeed, that's why you earn so much," Tsunade replied. „Don't think that I would finance your ass like that if you were constantly making mistakes like some of your colleagues. I think we can agree that your bank account can't complain, right?"
With a half-agreeing expression on his face, Kakashi nodded.
Suddenly there was a knock at the door and Naruto stuck his equally bleached, tousled mop of hair in, grinning. The guy was actually much too casual for a job like this, but he did good work, so Kakashi couldn't complain. Plus, he kind of liked him. „Hello, Kakashi-senpai. Shizune-san just told me you were back. How was the trip?" He brought with him a pleasant scent of sea salt.
„Good," Kakashi replied and stood up so as not to be sitting in front of his assistant. „You always prove your knack for hotels." He smiled at the thought of the Cortez.
„Nice," Naruto grinned back. „Has Tsunade-sama already talked to you about your new... well, project?"
„The intern? Yes, she did."
Naruto nodded. „She's very nice, so don't screw her up."
„Guys, could you take this outside my office?" Tsunade interrupted as Kakashi had already opened his mouth to reply.
„Apologies." The two men bowed and continued their conversation in the hallway as they headed towards Kakashi's own office, which he rarely used. Naruto pulled Kakashi's suitcase. „How am I supposed to screw up the intern?" Kakashi asked. There had been an incident with a colleague, but that had been before Naruto's time and he really couldn't have known about it. At least he shouldn't, Kakashi would make sure of that.
„Well, you usually scare off our interns," said Naruto, and a stone fell from Kakashi's heart. „Because of you, very few of them are taken on."
„I don't even have much contact with them," Kakashi muttered.
„That makes it even worse, doesn't it?" Naruto grinned at him from the side.
Kakashi gave him a slight smile and nodded. „Yes, you may be right."
They had reached the northern end of the floor and Naruto put the trolley next to his desk, on which many documents were stacked. „She's already waiting for you." He pointed to the closed door. Kakashi exhaled in exasperation. „I'm not allowed to plunge into paperwork for a few hours after weeks of absence? Very friendly of Tsunade." After a startled widening of Naruto's eyes, he hastily added a „sama" and smiled crookedly. The boy was really too afraid of Tsunade. „Can you at least serve us some coffee?"
„Sure," said Naruto and nodded. „And, Senpai" – Kakashi, his hand already on the door handle, paused – „please, seriously, be gentle with her. I know her from university, she's got what it takes."
Kakashi sighed and opened the door. Immediately, he was greeted by the intoxicating scent of cherry blossoms, and he had to blink in perplexity. Sitting on the small couch in the corner was a very, very pretty young girl with bright green eyes that shimmered almost turquoise in the indirect sunlight. She smiled at the sight of Kakashi, stood up and bowed. „My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm pleased to meet you, Kakashi-kachou."
„Drop the 'kachou', that makes me feel old," Kakashi said instantly and closed the door behind him. „Sakura? Fascinating."
Without his intervention, a hint of pink appeared on her cheeks. „Um, yes, my parents probably thought they were being philosophical. I was born in a year when the cherry trees bloomed early."
Kakashi smirked. „That name suits you." She would never know how true that statement was. „Well then, Sakura-kouhai. You have been assigned to me to learn from my teachings. But first I want to see what you can do." He sat down in the low armchair, Sakura settled back down on the couch opposite him and nodded, visibly nervous. She brushed a loose strand of black hair behind her ear and took a deep breath, which carried her sweet scent over to Kakashi. He grinned. She would be fucking delicious.